June 7 – Genesis 43:1-34

June 14 – Genesis 44:1-34

June 21 – Genesis 45:1-47:27

June 28 – Genesis 47:28-50:26

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I love graduation ceremonies. The graduates represent a great potential for positive world-change as they launch out. They have studied and prepared for this next season, and now they are unleashing their hard-earned lessons wherever their new journey will take them. I love all the “Pomp and Circumstance” – the academic regalia, the music, the speeches, etc. And it seems like the higher up you go in education, graduations become more pomp-y and circumstance-y. Most university graduation ceremonies involve lot of professors with doctoral robes and hoods and puffy hats with tassels, and the university president gets to wear a huge medallion known as a “Chain of Office.” And then there’s the huge university “mace” or “scepter.” It’s usually an ornate, wooden club with special plaques or other shiny adornments. The scepter is a symbol of the school’s governing authority and signifies that the proceedings are officially sanctioned and the degrees that are being conferred are legitimate.

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Here in the United States, university graduations may be the only time we see scepters being deployed. But in countries that have retained a monarch, scepters come out for other official ceremonies. In the United Kingdom, for example, the king or queen gets to wield the “Sovereign’s Sceptre.” Originally made for Charles II in 1661, it now contains the Cullinan I diamond, the largest colorless cut diamond in the world at 530 carats! Historians have traced the use of scepters back to ancient times. For thousands of years, scepters have denoted the power and rule of kings and queens. In fact, there 

are scepters in the Bible, such as the golden one that King Xerxes held out to Esther and welcomed her into his court.

 

Here at the end of Genesis, we’re going to read about a scepter and the royal line that it represents. So far, we’ve seen many kings from the pagan nations around Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now Joseph has risen to power as the vizier, the second-in-command, in Egypt where Pharaoh carries the scepter (the earliest use of scepters was in Egypt). Joseph is the first royal official in this special family that God is making for himself, his own covenant people. Joseph is clearly God’s chosen instrument in this fourth generation of Abraham’s offspring. It would make sense that Joseph’s descendants would now carry on the kingly line, right?

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The Lord does not operate like we do (thankfully!). We have seen how Jacob’s sons are a mess – Simeon and Levi are murderously violent. Reuben takes his father’s concubine for himself. And Judah, oh Judah … Genesis 38 is one of the most shocking and sordid chapters in all of Scripture. Judah slept with his own daughter-in-law, fathering his own grandkids. And yet, look at what his father tells him in Genesis 49:8, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.” Wait – what?!? Doesn’t he mean Joseph instead of Judah? That was Joseph’s dream, remember? And keep reading, verse 10 says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him.” What is happening here?

 

You have to keep reading for it to make sense … all the way to the New Testament. Judah actually shows up in the third verse of the New Testament. Matthew 1:2-3 trace the line of Jesus Christ back to Abraham, “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron.” And Judah is not the only shocking name in this list of 42 generations that span from the patriarchs to Christ. Judah’s great-great-great-great grandson would marry a prostitute named Rahab. And their son, Boaz, would marry a foreign woman named Ruth. But their great-grandson would become the greatest king that Israel ever had – the mighty King David.

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So Jacob’s prophecy was correct. David and his sons ruled in Judea … for a time. After the Babylonians carried the Judeans off into captivity, the land would be conquered by the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans. Who from Judah’s line would once again wield the scepter and deliver God’s people? Again, keep reading. The author of Hebrews tells us, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” And then in verse 8, the writer quotes the Father speaking to Jesus, “Of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.”

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My prayer for this month is that we would learn to follow King Jesus more fully and live into his forever-Kingdom. The Lord is sovereignly working out his purposes to build his Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. And we can be assured, King Jesus is on his throne, and the scepter will never depart from his hand.

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Grace and peace,

 

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