Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. One of the subtle testimonies
to the veracity of the Bible is seen in the stark honesty
and detail which is often recorded concerning the weakness, sin,
and failure of those who frequently are in the center of its narrative.
There is no attempt to gloss over their faults or to try to
present them in a more righteous light than they are by nature.
Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, yet it was to him that the mantle
of the firstborn fell, since his older brothers all fell out
of Jacob's favor. It was from Judah's loins that
the Lord Jesus was prophesied to come as pertaining to the
flesh. It was of necessity that all these events occurred through
the subsequent wicked acts of Judah, and the product of his
incestuous fornication with Tamar, his own daughter-in-law. Tamar
gives birth to the sons of Judah, as twins are born to her. These
two sons were Zerah, which literally means to return, and Phares,
which literally means the breaker. They are both Judah's sons, but
one is ordained to return to the dust from whence it came,
and the other is ordained to conquer death. Phares, who is
representative of Christ, is that one whose birth signaled
the triumphant entry of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, which
could in no wise be superseded or prevented by flesh and blood.
Though Christ was born in the flesh, he was in no sense less
than the God of heaven and earth, that one whose hand cannot be
stayed, nor his purpose questioned. We read of him in the prophecy
of Micah as he is referred to by the very name given to Phares.
The breaker has come up before them. They have broken up and
have passed through the gate and are gone out by it and their
king shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them.
He is that same one spoken of by Isaiah. Who is this that cometh
from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength.
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Christ is the
breaker, and who can stand before him? He has triumphed gloriously,
the horse and the rider hath he thrown into the sea. He is
indeed mighty to save, as he trod the winepress of God's wrath
alone. No man did stand with him. And
I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that
there was none to uphold. Therefore mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. He has broken the
power of the law to condemn those who were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, who were yet loved by him from before
the foundation of the world, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. He has broken
the ability of the accuser of the brethren to bring any charge
against his elect in whom he delights. And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it. He has broken the power of death,
removed the source of its fear, and brought life and immortality
to light, and delivered them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. He has broken the chains of slavery
to sin. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. For which
thing sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
into which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them? But
now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God. Just as Phares is representative
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the mighty and conquering Savior
who cannot fail, so too we see Zerah, his brother, as representative
of those sons of Adam upon which the grace of Christ has been
bestowed. They are the brethren of Christ,
for he partook of the same flesh and blood. He is their brother
by divine appointment and familial ties. This is manifested in time
by the power of his quickening spirit, which gives them life.
They are marked by the scarlet thread of His redeeming blood
before they were ever born and manifest their sonship by the
operation of the gift of faith. Do you have this faith? If you
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