I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 49. Genesis 49. I'd like to look at one verse tonight Verse 9, Genesis 49. Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey. My son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion and as an old lion who shall rouse Now we've been going through this next to last chapter in the book of Genesis, and coming to this 49th chapter, we're seeing what the Spirit of God has moved upon Jacob to say to his sons. We considered Jacob's first word last time to Judah. In verse 8, last time, it said this, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

Now, looking at that passage of scripture, seeing. Now remember this, Judah is a picture of Christ. Judah is a picture of Christ. Lose that thought and you lose the truth of this scripture. Judah pictures our Lord. And in verse 8, when we read verse 8, knowing that Judah is a type of the Lord Jesus, due to thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, and thy father's children shall bow down before thee."

Anyone else except the Lord Jesus Christ, anybody else, is giving a man way too much credit, way too much honor. Who is every child of God going to praise? He's going to praise the Lord Jesus. He's going to praise God's precious Son. Now, knowing that Judah is a picture of the Lord Jesus, verse 9, verse 9, Judah is a lion's whelp.

Now, here we behold something of the glorious person of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world for an express purpose. And I know this is why he came. I know why he came. I know exactly why he came. Because he said, I am come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's why he came. He came into this world to seek and to save His people.

He's got a people in this world. He's got a people that God Almighty has chosen before the foundation of the world. And the Lord is going to save them. He's not going to lose any of God's sheep. There's no possibility. He's going to save God's people.

And so now we consider this passage of Scripture, this 9th verse. With that thought in mind I want you to understand, and for me to understand, this is what it was going to take for the Lord to save His people from their sins. What is it going to take? We're going to look at it in this 9th verse right here. This is what it's going to take for God to save His people.

First part, That ninth verse says, Judah is a lion's whelp. All right. What is a lion's whelp? Well, you know, it's a young lion. It's a lion's cub. I've looked this up just to see what it means. But as we're looking at that truth, Judah is a lion's whelp. He's a young lion. And when I'm saying a young lion, I'm talking about a lion, when you look at the word whelp, when I started looking at that whelp, I'm talking about a nursing young lion, or nursing young child. I'm talking about a child that can do nothing but nurse. That's all he can do. That's all he can do. He's just a newborn. Just a newborn child, newborn animal, newborn.

A lion's whelp. Now while the message, the meaning of this description of the Lord Jesus Christ, Judah, he's a picture of Christ. Judah is a lion's whelp. And we might read that and you think, Okay, I know Judah's a picture of Christ. I know what a whelp is. It's a young animal, or here, this Judah is a young nursing child. Who's Judah picture? The Lord Jesus Christ.

What's it gonna take for God to save his people? Christ is gonna have to come to this world and save his people, and this is how he's gonna do it. He came into this world as a young lion, as a nursing child. He was born in this world. Judah, Christ, came into this world as a picture of what we are by nature. You just look at Judah as a lion's whelp, little nursing Just helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless himself. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, made himself of no reputation, born into this world in a manger, and now we're going to see what the Spirit of God has got to say about Judah.

The Lord Jesus, he's a lion's whelp. That which is born, he was a lion. He was still a lion. All the strength, all the vigor, and all the might of the lion. And what I'm about to say is we're going to listen to what God has to say, and this is what God has to say. about the Lord Jesus Christ. How did he come into this world? He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He grew in his mother's womb nine months. A little baby. He came forth out of his mother's womb like all children do. And here was this, this scripture refers to him as this holy thing.

I read, I read some things that were said about this, different ones. They were talking about how disrespectful it was to refer to the Lord as this, as this thing. And I thought, you know, You can go ahead and say what you want to say. But I'm going to listen to what God has to say about it.

If God says that this holy thing, which the Spirit of God referred to the Lord Jesus. This is this is how he was born into this world. I'm talking about Almighty God that spoke this world into existence. That oppose all things by the word of his power. This precious, precious truth. Judah is a lion's whelp.

He came into this world as a nursing cub. And except by faith, we cannot enter into the depth of his humility. What is it going to take for him to save his people? He's going to have to be made like unto his brethren. Now, how'd you get here? Now, how'd you get into this world? You were conceived, you grew for nine months, and you were born. And you came out of your mother's womb, and you were fed, nursed, at her breast and you grew. Now Judah, in order to save his people, he came into this world just like Adam came into this world. He came into this world and Adam fell in the garden. How long was he in the garden before he fell? I don't know. But I can tell you this, he fell. He fell in sin.

And Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world, and he came into this world as a lion's whelp, as a baby, as an infant. Now, except we believe what God has to say, we'd never perceive That almighty God who changes not, that's what Malachi says, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God almighty, who is before all things, almighty God, who by him alone all things consist, the eternal God.

Now listen to this. I tell you what, hold your place right there. Turn over to John, the book of John, chapter one, John one. John one. Now this is what the scripture, got to say. John 1, I'm going to read verses 1 to 5, then I'm going to read verse 14.

John 1, 1 to 5, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning. In the beginning of what? in the beginning. Here's the amazing thing. God is eternal. God is eternal. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And verse 14, and the word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, as the only generated by the Father.

Now, you know, I don't know how it is with you, but let me tell you how it is with me. The more I read and think I understand everything I'm reading, the more ignorant I realize I am. You listen to what these words are saying. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, the only one generated, the only generated one of the Father, the eternal God, who was generated by the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, here's this blessed truth. Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's a lion's whelp. He is the Word.

I looked it up. In the beginning was the Word. the essential personal wisdom and power of God. I've told you before, I love the mysteriousness of God. I can't figure him out. You can't either. And about the time we think we get to knowing something, we're going to realize how ignorant we really are.

Lord, as you say it is, it is. The word was made flesh. The word, the Messiah, was made as we're made, what we are. He's made, he was made this, this is flesh. You know the difference between what he was made and us? He knew no sin. He knew no sin. He was made like we are. He aged like we do. He grew older. Here we are. In the same type flesh, he was made flesh and dwelt among us.

God in Christ was made to be the very same nature. He was a man, the God man, who knew no sin. Same nature, same nature of Adam that fell in the garden. Same nature, made like unto his brother, yet without sin. Same This, right here. The same nature that was corrupted, but not his. Not his.

Listen to this, 1 Timothy 3.16. Without controversy. Without argument. Without discussion. This is unanswerable, without controversy.

Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. That holy thing. revealed by the Spirit of God in Luke 135, was revealed to be the eternal God. One of the disciples says, John said, we beheld His glory.

We watched Him. We lived with Him. We ate with Him. Talked with Him. God in human flesh about Judah being a lion's whelp. God in human flesh depended upon the milk of Mary who nursed him. He was made, he was a man. God, man. And here he was, nursed at his mom's breast Oh, what condescension, what a miracle.

And to deny that he was a lion's whelp is to deny the scripture. God Almighty, he who will oppose all things by the word of his power, who as a child, now again, I'm going to say this, and I'm going to tell you as I'm saying it, I'm going to tell you right now, it's going to just still, it's going to amaze me. I'm going to tell you something that I know is true from the scriptures, and it still amazes me.

The scripture says that he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He learned obedience. I've said before, there's been some things that I've, by the grace of God, been taught from me, you know, and I know for you, you learn things. But you know how you really learn them?

Is you go through them. You want to know how weak you are? Just try to read, try to read, I've told you recently, try to read a card that somebody sends to you when you're in the hospital and you can't even figure out the letters. And you're looking at the letters and you know it's a letter out of the alphabet and you can't read it. You don't know how to read it. That's pitiful. That's pitiful.

The Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience in the things that he suffered. As a lion's whelp, as a young man growing up, he learned how to walk. He learned how to walk as a child. He learned how to talk. He learned how to do what he did. He learned, when it says, in the things that he suffered, this is what it means. He learned by use and practice. by what he experienced. He learned. He learned. We're talking about the almighty omniscient. He knows everything.

But he humbled himself. To save this wretched sinner, he was going to have to be made just like me. Just like me. He was made like unto his brethren. Like any other child, yet here is the immutable, omniscient, omnipotent God in human flesh. One God. He lived as a man, a perfect man before heaven and earth. He was submissive. every point of the law.

Exodus 20 verse 12 says this, honor thy father and thy mother. I looked at word up on her. Obey, respect, reverence that thy days may be long upon the land. which the Lord thy God giveth thee. He submitted himself unto his parents, and in all the while, ever submissive to his Father in heaven.

Now this is, as I said before, this may not grab you, I don't know, it just, for me, I'm just, I'm reading these words, And I'm knowing he wasn't pretending. He wasn't pretending to be a man. It wasn't play-like with him. He was made like to his brethren.

When you have kids, when you were teaching them how to walk, did you ever stick your fingers out there and say, hold on, hold on, come on, get up. There you go, there you go. Come on, come on. Good, good, good. He learned. He learned. His mom and dad brought him. Turn with me. Hold your place.

Turn with me to Luke 2. Luke 2. Luke 2. Luke 2, 40 to 52. Here's this young man. the Lord of glory, the one who is a lion's whelp, strength of a lion as a child, as an infant. Luke 2, verse 40 to 52. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon him.

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew it not. But they, supposing him, to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk, an acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

And it came to pass, after three days, they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed.

And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us? Behold thy father, and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that thou sought me? Wist not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake. unto them, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, that is in age, and in favor with God and man. For the life of me, I cannot logically grasp hold of this. I cannot.

You ask yourself, what did he know? He was God. When he's growing up as a child, what did he know? He learned. You see what I'm saying? God is beyond our comprehension. Who can perceive the depth of the knowledge of Almighty God? What was it going to take for God to save a sinner like me?

He's going to have to become as I am, made like unto his brother, yet without sin. He's going to have to come up as a man. He's going to have to learn. Oh, what significance. is declared by Jacob's son Judah, who was, as I said, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ that would humble himself. Humble himself. We read those words and we don't get it. We don't get it. Humble himself. And accomplished all that God Almighty required of a man. and earned the righteousness of God as a man.

There's a man right now in glory sitting on the throne of God who earned the right to sit there as a man. Behold the man. This man, the scripture says, that was a lion's Next few lines there in verse 9, Judah as a lion's whelp, from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up?

I believe that the Lord has given me some light. on what's being said. Now, when you read, well, let me just speak for myself. When I first read, from the prey, from the prey, that's the next line in verse nine. Judas, the lions wept, from the prey, my son, thou art gone up, from the prey. Now, when you look it up, When you look up that phrase, from the prey, here's what it's going to say. If you want to look it up, I mean, you can look it up in a good dictionary, good Hebrew dictionary. And the word that you're going to find, from the prey, it's going to be H2964. And it's from. The next one I found out was H-2963.

What does it mean? What, I mean, what does that got, what is from the prey? What are you saying when you say from the prey, P-R-E-Y? What it means is, it means something that is plucked off. It means something that is a fragment. Something that is a fresh green leaf plucked off.

Now, if you want to just kind of think about that for a second and put yourself in my place the first time I read that, and I'm thinking, I don't get it. But I believe, I think the Lord's given me some light on this. Here's what this lion's whelp has done. the prey, that which is plucked off, that which is like a green leaf plucked off.

He came into this world because there was a people in this world, green leaves. There was some people, some fragments, that's what it means, a fragment. He came into this world because God had a people, a fragment, a remnant according to the election of grace, from the prey. One writer said it means with the prey. But whichever way you want to say it, it's because there was a people, a prey, a P-R-E-Y, because there was some that God had chosen to show mercy.

The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world That one writer, I thought this was good, was talking about this green leaf, and he referred to it as the promise of life that God Almighty had been pleased to show to a people that had gone through the flood.

And Noah sent out this dove. He sent out this raven, and the raven never came back. But then there was a dove that went out and he came back and he had a little olive leaf in his mouth. You know what that was? It was a promise that the water was going down, that God's wrath had been satisfied. It was a picture of God's promise to show mercy and compassion to his people. Everybody that had gone through that flood that lived through that flood. You know where they were? They were in that ark. If they weren't in the ark, they weren't saved.

That ark was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that little green plucked off leaf was a promise. God's wrath had been satisfied. He was a just God. But there were some people shuckin' that boat. He said, I'm a just God, and I'm a savior. Judah is a lion's whelp.

He came into this world to save a people. How you gonna save him? He gonna have to be made like him. He gonna have to be. He gonna have to satisfy God. God made man, created man in God's image. And when man rebelled against God, man died. How's he going to have life? Christ is going to give him life. What's the Lord going to have to do? He's going to have to live before God and earn the righteousness that they couldn't earn, that they'd lost the innocence.

The scripture says now, Judas the lion's whelp, from the prey, from those that God had been pleased to show mercy, from the remnant. That's what it was. You look it up that word, you're gonna see remnant. God's electing grace is what it says. My son, thou art gone up. Actually, it means to climb up.

He was lifted up. He was lifted up at Calvary, bearing all the guilt of all of his people. And he did so willingly. No man takes my life from me. He laid down his life. Next part of that, verse 9 says, he'd gone up and he stooped down. He stooped down, stooped down. in obedience and humility to his father's will as the chosen, accepted sacrifice who paid the debt that was due to God's law for justice, putting away the sin of his people, paying what they could not pay.

There ain't no way in the world in myself I could ever please God. I cannot. You can talk about all the good works you want to. Let me tell you something. Man by nature is nothing but a filthy maggot. And the only righteousness that any man, any woman is ever going to have that's going to be accepted of God is going to have to be the imputed righteousness of Christ, who stooped down as a lion.

It says he stooped down. couched as a lion and as an old lion who shall rouse him." I looked that up and said, what was he talking about? He couched down. It means he reclined. He couched down. He just, he laid down as an old lion that got his prey. He was talking about when a lion goes out and the king of the beast and he takes his victim and he satisfies, he's filled, and then he lays down, he lies down as an old lion when at rest from all of his labors. And who shall rouse him up? Who's going to stir him up? Who's going to disturb him?

Almighty God has a people. that he loved. And to save them, he's going to have to come into this world being made like they are, live like they did, born like they were, live like they did. And all that he did, he did it in absolute obedience to God. He learned in the things that he suffered. Like us, like us, no sin. And there in that one verse right there, the totality of what Almighty God has eternally purposed to do and did in the saving of His people. And you know how many people He's going to have in heaven with Him? All that the Father gave Him. And nobody's going to stir Him up. I pray God bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake.