At Christmas time, we’re used to reading the story
of a birth. Just maybe not this birth.
"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
named Zerah.” - Genesis 38:27-30
What a bizarre story found in this tucked away corner
of the Scripture. One son waves hello, gets a scarlet thread tied around
his wrist, and then disappears. The other son somehow intrudes into the process of
birth and makes what the text refers to a “breach.” He pushes his brother back so he can break
out into the world.
And the mama? A
woman named Tamar, whose story is not a family friendly tale. She went through a lot of family disfunction,
was sinned against, sinned herself, and ended up unmarried and pregnant by her
late husband’s father.
And then comes the birth, with this odd occurrence. Two sons. One named Perez, meaning “breach” or “broken out.” The other named Zerah, meaning “dawning” or
“brightness.”
And these twins are a picture of you and your big
brother. Your big brother named Jesus.
This brother Perez – he is everything we are. A man who will push to get his own way, a man
who causes brokeness and breaches. A man
who carries the sin nature.
This brother Zerah – his situation is a foreshadowing,
a hint of the redemption that was on the way. A man who was here before we were, yet came
after man to save man.
Jesus lived
before the beginning of time. He is
eternal God. Yet, since sin entered the
earth, the whole world had been waiting for Him to arrive in the flesh.
And none of
it was a surprise to God. The fall of
man. The entrance of sin. The withering of mankind. He wasn’t
shocked or astounded. He had a
plan. And it was the same plan He had
from the beginning.
The plan
was Jesus.
From the
moment Adam drew breath, the sin of the world was tied to Jesus with a scarlet
thread. God knew
His own son would have to come to save us, so we could be grafted into the
family. And He still
did it. Knowing His son would have to
die a brutal death to save us, He still created us, mankind.
And even
more amazing. Jesus said yes.
He said yes
to the virgin birth. He said yes to
taking on flesh. He said yes to coming
to earth as a baby, putting the fate of mankind into the hands of a carpenter
and his teenage bride. And in
doing so, He said yes to the cross. To
the agony of bearing the sin of the world on His perfect and blameless
shoulders. To the humilation of dying
naked on a tree. He said yes and He
came.
He said yes
because it meant having you.
And for all
the years from the garden to the manger, He waited, with a scarlet thread tied
to his wrist. It was his love for you.
There’s
another labor story we don’t think about much at Christmas.
Jesus’
labor on the cross.
After Jesus
had been on the cross for awhile, with every sin of mankind placed upon Him, after
every vile act from tiny lies to genocide had been tied around His neck, He was
ready to finish what He started in the manger. He bore those
sins to the very end, and then He shouted “IT IS FINISHED!” and He gave up His
spirit.
And a
soldier came a stuck a spear into His side.
And John the disciple, an eyewitness, tells us in John 19 that when the
spear pierced his side, “immediately blood and water came out.”
It was the
fulfillment of the scarlet thread, the fulfillment of the promise. It was the greates birth story ever told. Because the
only time blood and water flow together under natural circumstances is during a
birth.
And Jesus
was indeed birthing something. He was bringing
into the world a new covenant, a new man.
He was closing a door, and opening a new one.
Paul calls
Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 the “last Adam.” This means
something terribly important for everyone who follows Jesus.
It was the
first Adam who brought sin into the world.
It was the
last Adam who brought redemption into the world.
The first
Adam caused mankind to fall.
The last
Adam redeemed it.
The first
Adam imparted a curse to all his sons who came after him.
The last
Adam made a way for all those sons to come home to the Father.
Paul also
says in Colossians that Jesus is the “firstborn of many brothers.”
Jesus…the
most amazing big brother ever.
No longer
do we have to live under the curse of sin.
Our big brother paid for us to be free.
Our brother
who chose to wear the scarlet thread.
