[kisstheson]

Dear ones,

I just listened again to dear brother John Saunders’ message “Built by the Love of Christ” spoken in June of 2004. I am impressed all over again with how our Lord led brother John to tie together all the mentions of Judah in the book of Genesis to create such a beautiful message. The second half of this message centers on the all the dealings Judah went through in order for the Lord to produce a heart of true brotherly love in him.

Due to WL’s approach in expounding the last 14 chapters of Genesis, he never tied together all these mentions of Judah. WL first expounded these 14 chapters from the point of view of Jacob, and then went back and expounded them from the point of view of Joseph. This is all well and good, but this leaves out an expounding of the story of Judah. Judah's role in these 14 chapters, while certainly less than that of Jacob and Joseph, is still very prominent. Consider the following facts from the book of Genesis:

1. It was Judah who recommended that Joseph be sold to the caravan that was traveling to Egypt (37:26-28).
2. There is a whole chapter (chapter 38) that deals with Judah and his experiences during the many years in which he was separated from the rest of his family. This is a very important chapter in that it covers another step in the lineage that brought forth Jesus Christ.
3. It was Judah who offered himself to Jacob as a guarantee that Benjamin would be brought back safely from Egypt (43:8-9).
4. It was Judah’s long humbling and abasing of himself that finally led Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers (44:16-45:1).
5. Verses like 44:14 and 46:28 point out the prominence of Judah (“When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house . . .” [44:14], “Now he [Jacob] sent Judah before him to Joseph . . .” [46:28]).

By giving only brief references to Judah’s experiences, including very brief references to an entire chapter (chapter 38) and very brief references to Judah’s lengthy humbling and abasing of himself in eighteen verses in chapter 44, WL left an unfilled gap in his normally detailed Life Study of Genesis. WL really should have devoted an entire message to Judah, or at least a significant portion of a message. Because his Life Study of Genesis is incomplete in this regard, and because John Saunders did such a marvelous job tying together the experiences of Judah in the second half of his spoken message “Built by the Love of Christ”, I present this as a second example of the incompleteness of WL’s ministry. I also present dear brother John Saunders as a gifted minister of Christ who was a contemporary of WL and whose speaking is well worthy of our consideration.