I want to show you something that you have never seen before. In Matt. 1:1-16 is recorded the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I want you to pay close attention to the first three verses,

"A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,"

Question! Why are there two sons of Judah named here? Why does it not say, "Abraham was the father of Issac and Ishmael and Isaac was the father of Jacob and Esau? And why does it not say that Jacob was the father of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah?

The main reason is that they are not a part of the lineage of Christ. But when it gets to Judah, it says, "Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar! In order to answer this question we must read Gen. 38,

"At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD'S sight; so the LORD put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD'S sight; so he put him to death also.

Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, just like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house. After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you."

"And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked. "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said. "Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. He said, "What pledge should I give you?" "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again.

Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here," they said. So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.'"

Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her."

About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!"

As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again.

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out first." But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "So this is how you have broken out!" And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah.

The name 'Perez' means a break or a breach; a breaking fourth. He was named this because he came out even after his brother had stuck his hand out. The name 'Zerah' means from a rising of light; like the rising of the sun. It also means 'seed'. As a seed shoots fourth.

Judah sure didn't deserve to have the lineage of Christ go through him because he should have been cut off. This, again, shows the faithfulness of God's word to Joseph and his two sons and it should show us that He is going to accomplish what He has promised us in spite of what we do.

This leaves absolutely no room for our self-righteousness. God said in Gen. 49:10, (NKJV)

‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people."

Even though Judah failed, God will be faithful to the promise that He made. David is of the lineage of Pharaz or Parez who is of the lineage of Judah. But so is Zarah of the lineage of Judah. As long as the promises God gave to Judah goes through any of the lineage of Judah, God has been faithful to his promises. God made a promise to David, who is of Judah's and Pharez's lineage, that there would never come a time when one of his seed did not sit on a throne. This is so, even to this day. There were earthly kings of the lineage of David who sit on the throne of the Tribe of Judah until Jesus came.

There were kings from the lineage of Parez on the throne until Zedekiah was led into Babyloian captivity where he and all of his sons died causing the end of the Parez linage. In Zedekiah's 11th year as king, the Chaldean armies besieged Jerusalem, entered it; the city was broken up, the palace and temple destroyed. All the sons of King Zedekiah were killed before his eyes. So that there would be no man to carry on his dynasty, all the princes of Judah were also slain. King Zedekiah's eyes were put out, and he was bound in chains and carried to Babylon where he died. You will read of all this captivity in II Kings 25,11 Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 39, and 52. Since there were no sons left alive to carry on the Parez linage did Judah's linage stop?

What happened to the promise of the Lord that,

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people."????