Go Back to God | Genesis 37:26-27

In life, we regret some things we’ve done in the past. There are Bible characters that made mistakes, but some made the right response by correcting their mistakes later in life, while others did not (true repentance vs. fake repentance).

1. WHAT IS FAKE REPENTANCE?

Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve disciples called by Jesus to follow Him. Some interpret his name to be Judas Kerioth, a town in the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:25). The name “Judas” is the Greek form of “Judah”. As a disciple of Jesus, one would expect Judas to love the Lord. After all, he was with Jesus, ate with Him, saw Jesus heal the sick, etc.

But what did Judas do? He betrayed Jesus for a mere 30 pieces of silver, no more than the legal compensation for the life of a slave (Matthew 26:14-16). But before we judge Judas, think about how many times we betrayed Jesus for something even less. Judas eventually regretted his betrayal and returned the money to the priests (Matthew 27:3-25). Judas could have run to Jesus to ask for forgiveness after that. Instead, he just quit and took his own life. Why would Judas do something like that? Perhaps it was because Judas, the “treasurer” among the Twelve disciples, was a thief who stole from the money entrusted to him.

Sin hardens our hearts, and that’s probably what happened to Judas, too. That’s why all that Jesus taught did not penetrate his heart. If we allow sin to stay in our lives, it will harden our hearts; we need to encourage each other to obey God’s voice daily so this does not happen to us (Hebrews 3:13, 15). If you’re a Christian, you cannot continue living in sin. Sin blocks us from seeing the beauty of Jesus Christ.

Fake repentance is just remorse; it is sorrow for the consequences of sin. A truly repentant person is sorry he sinned and goes back to God; a remorseful person is sorry he got caught (2 Corinthians 7:10). Judas was someone who had fake repentance.

Now we look at another “Judah” who demonstrated true repentance. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, who gave her son a name that means “praise”(Genesis 29:34-35). Their family was not a model family. Joseph was Judah’s younger brother and their father’s favorite, who gave a bad report about his brothers to Jacob. As a result, Judah and the rest of his brothers hated Joseph (Genesis 37:2-5). It made matters worse when Joseph told them about a dream where his whole family worshiped him!

Jacob failed to do the right thing for his children because he favored Joseph. Judah had his reasons for treating Joseph the way he did. When the brothers wanted to kill Joseph, Judah convinced them instead to profit from selling Joseph as a slave (Genesis 37:18-20, 26-28).  Judah at least had some decency to spare Joseph’s life; but aside from the money, he also stood to gain from Joseph’s disappearance — Jacob might just favor him after Joseph was gone! Judah and the others did a “cover-up” for what they had done as Jacob mourned and refused to be comforted (Genesis 37:31- 35).

3. THE ROAD TO TRUE REPENTANCE

Imagine Judah with silver coins in his pocket and seeing how sad his father was; would that have changed something in him? Yet Judah doesn’t just commit one mistake in his life. He got his widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar, pregnant (Genesis 38:25-26). For the first time, we see Judah acknowledge his wrongdoing, a very important turning point in his life.

Twenty-one years after they sold Joseph into slavery, the brothers had to travel to Egypt for the first time. Joseph, now a ruler in Egypt, ordered them to leave behind one brother in prison while the rest returned home. Joseph was testing his brothers; if they return, they had to bring the youngest, Benjamin, with them. What they did in the past to Joseph caught up to the brothers (Genesis 42:18-21). They had been living with this guilt for 20 years.

Jacob didn’t want to send Benjamin, so Judah offered himself as the surety for Jacob’s favored son (Genesis 43:8-9). When Benjamin was to be Joseph’s prisoner, Judah intervened. He offered himself to be Joseph’s slave instead of Benjamin. Though given a way out, Judah’s words and actions show that he was a changed man. Although he again stood to gain the status of “favorite son” if Benjamin was no longer around, he no longer desired that. After 21 years, Judah finally did the right thing (Genesis 44:16-20, 30-34). He could profit himself, or he could bring joy to his father. Judah was willing to lose everything because he wanted to make up for the wrong things he had done. True repentance is a change of mind  (heart) which results in a change of action.

Joseph sees Judah’s heart, reveals himself as Joseph, and instructs them to bring Jacob to Egypt! Jacob lived another 20 years; at the end of his life, he blessed Judah with something very much like Joseph’s dream (Genesis 49:1,8, 10)! Best of all, Jesus came from the line of Judah, a broken man who returned to God.  Follow the road to true repentance and go back to God (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 4:30, 2:8-9, John 3:16, Isaiah 55:7)!