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PROGRAM D-7106
Have you given up on yourself, or decided that you don’t have the proper qualifications or talent or abilities to be anyone special? I’m going to look at some women in Scripture who had worse credentials than you, but they were chosen by God for special service. This is a message of great hope.
These women were a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, and in Matthew 1 they are listed by name—the only women listed in that important genealogy. If God can and did use these five people in history, he certainly can use us—you and me.
The first woman mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ is Tamar. You can read her sordid story in Genesis 38, and it is sordid. I won’t take time here to give you all the details, but Tamar was the widow of Er, who was the Son of Judah, and she was left childless, which was considered a disgrace.
When Tamar realized that her father-in-law was not going to keep tradition and allow her to marry one of his other sons so she would not be childless, she planned a clever deception. She disguised herself and fooled her father-in-law into thinking that she was a prostitute, and got pregnant by him. Later on when Judah, her father-in-law, threatens to kill her for disgracing the family with this illegitimate pregnancy, she shows him proof that he is the father, and basically blackmails him.
Through this incestuous, deceptive, despicable episode, Tamar gave birth to twin boys, Perez and Zerah. And Perez was a direct ancestor in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
You’ll have to admit there’s nothing pretty about this story! Why would God allow Tamar to be a part of the great lineage of Jesus Christ? And why would the Holy Spirit make a point of mentioning her name in the gospel of Matthew? Would you have chosen Tamar for this position in history? Probably not. Would you have considered her disqualified because of her past? Yes, I think most of us would have. But God didn’t.
As we look at Tamar and the other four women specifically mentioned in Matthew 1 as part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, the fact that they were allowed to play such an important role in history says to you and me today that there is hope for us, for if God can use them, he can surely use us.