We talked last time, he has these
12 sons, Jacob, that he's pronouncing the blessing of God upon. And
that's what he said, that he's pronouncing the blessing. But
in some cases, it was a withholding of blessing, as we saw with the
first three. But here's Judah in verse 8.
And he says to 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. 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 him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine
and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments
in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall
be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Judah is that son of Jacob through
whom our Lord Jesus Christ came. You know, Abraham had sons, but
his son Isaac was the son of promise that God miraculously
gave them in their old age. And that pictures Christ, a miraculous
birth. And Isaac pictured him in so
many ways. And the Lord came through Isaac.
And Jacob also Typical of our Lord Jesus and David was the
son of Judah and David we've seen so many ways in which he
pictured the Lord Jesus and Judah here also, although we don't
have much detail about Judah's life as we do David and and and
Abraham and Moses and others But Judah, in this prophecy of
his life, his latter days, as Abraham said, I'll tell you what
it's going to be like in your latter day, the days after this.
In these things, he pictures our Lord Jesus Christ for us
so clearly. These images that were brought
to your mind as I read those words, every one of them, and
we'll see that tonight, show forth our Lord. Your brothers are going to praise
you Our Lord has a lot of brothers in Hebrews 2 in verse 10 Let
me let me read that to you for it became him our Lord Jesus
Christ it became him it was appropriate for him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things those are big statements aren't they
and That's what John said. You've created all things and
for your pleasure they are and were created. They were by you
and they're for you. All things. It became him in
bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctifies And
they who are sanctified are all of one. We're one with Christ. Whatever happens to Christ is
what happens to me now, because I'm united to Him in eternal
love and by God-given faith. We're all of one, for which cause
He's not ashamed to call them brethren. Everybody for whom
He suffered and died, and everybody He's going to bring to glory,
He says, you're my brother. And Jacob said, you're the one
whom your brethren are going to praise. There's just one whose
brethren are going to praise him. And he's not ashamed to
call his brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. In the midst of the church. His
brethren. The name Judah means praised. And the text says that those
ones whom our Lord calls brethren are going to praise him. King
David said in Psalm 34 one, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. That's what all of his brothers
say. Jacob said they would. And he prophesied of our Lord
Jesus Christ when he said it. And all of his brothers say that.
I'm just gonna praise him all the time, continually. That's
our desire. That's our heart's desire. Continually. When I feel, and sometimes, and
I know you have too, I feel at times that heaven itself is opened.
And God's blessings are raining down upon me. It's just overwhelming. I'm gonna praise him then. But
David said, that even in those times when it seems as though
heaven is shut up against me and all is darkness, in those
times when I have to say with Job, the Lord has given, but
he's taken away now, may I also say with Job, blessed be the
name of the Lord. Could you have said that on the
day that Job did? The Lord gave me all this. He
gave me all the cattle, all the wealth that I have. my health,
my wife, and my children. And now, this day, He's taking
them all away. Blessed be His name. That's what
Jacob's talking about here. Thy brethren are going to praise
Thee. He is to be praised when He gives. And when He takes away,
He's worthy of all praise. May He teach me that. You praise
somebody when they do well. And it is said of our Lord Jesus
in the scripture, he has done all things well. So he's always
to be praised. Everything he does, he does it
well. You praise someone for a victory. When they win, you
talk about what they did to win and how triumphant they were
over the opposition, over the enemy. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has not only won the victory, but he gave it to us. He has
given us the victory over sin. We can't overcome sin. Everything
that we do to try to undo our sin is sin. And it just gets
worse and worse, but we're sin abounded. My Lord's grace did
much more abound. He's given us the victory over
death. How did he do that? He died and
was raised again. He laid down his life and took
it again. And he said, he that liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Victory over hell, over Satan,
over all of our enemies. He's won the victory and given
it to us. when we, his mortal children,
shall have put on immortality, Paul said. When our bodies, these
bodies, that the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed with his precious blood,
just as he redeemed our souls, he's redeemed our bodies too.
And when he shall have changed our vile bodies, and this is
a quote from the scripture, he shall change our vile bodies
and fashion them like unto his glorious body. Have you thought
about that lately? According to the working whereby
he is able to what? Subdue. Victory. All things unto himself. He's going to change this vile
body and he's going to make it like his glorious body. And he
did that by subduing our enemy death and sin and corruption. And those that win the victory
are to be praised. When he shall have done that,
when he shall have changed this vile body and made it like unto
his glorious body, then shall that saying be brought to pass,
death is swallowed up in victory. And then we're surely enough
Then, when that has happened, we're going to praise Him continually,
sure enough, then. I want to now. Praise is given
to them who are outstanding in character, who are virtuous and
honorable and worthy of praise, just because of who they are.
Solomon said in his song, he, the Lord Jesus, is altogether
of thee. He's, that word lovely means
pleasant and desirable. He's praiseworthy. In Revelation
5, 11, John said, I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels
round about the throne and the beasts and the elders. And the
number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands
saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain. to
receive power. Now he's not saying let's give
him some power. He's saying he's worthy to be
praised and to have power attributed unto him. He's worthy to be seen
in his power and praised for it. Power and riches and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He's worthy. And
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,
heard I say, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto
him, be attributed unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb forever and ever. Your brethren are going to praise
you. for who he is and for what he's done. We're going to praise
him. His brethren are going to praise
him tonight. And we're going to praise him throughout all
eternity. And then as always in the gospel, there's warning. There's always warning. When Paul preached the gospel,
he said, now you beware lest that come upon you, which the
prophet said. You this gospel be preached and
you won't hear it beware lest that come upon you And so there's
warning in our text too in Verse 8 he said your brethren are going
to praise you in your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies Who is that who are his enemies
everybody that's not his brethren You're either his brother or
you're his enemy And that includes the ladies that know him, his
brothers and sisters. He said, those that do the will
of my father, those that follow me, my disciples, those that
hear my word and believe, that's my mother, my sister, my brethren,
my family. And everybody else, his hand
is going to be in the neck of his enemies. In Revelation 6.15
it says this, And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the
dens and in the rocks of the mountains. Those who are the
enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ, John saw them hiding themselves
in caves. And they said to the mountains
and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the
great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to... He's gonna conquer his enemies.
This prophecy of Judah tells that about our Lord. Our master
is described later in the text here as a great lion, a lion's
whelp, a young lion who comes up from the prey. He just destroyed
his enemy, his prey. Now, as I studied this, I thought
about the false Jesus that religion talks about. I've heard quite
a bit of that. I'm just about through. Listen,
I think I've heard enough in my life. I know what they're
still saying. Don't you imagine? Their Jesus doesn't have any
teeth at all. He's not a lion. If Joel Osteen just read that
passage that we just read, just read it, Revelation 6, 15 through
17, without making any comment, just read it. If he would just
accidentally, one time if he would just set his Bible down
and it accidentally fell open, and he actually read from the
scriptures, it would compromise everything that he preaches. Religion's Jesus is nothing like
the sovereign Christ of this book. He is holy and everyone
who does not bow to him is his enemy and he will destroy them.
He's putting up with it for a while. And when I say putting up with
it, I'm using the language of men and his purpose. They have
some freedom now. But when God gets ready, this
is not some epic struggle between good and evil. When the Lord
Jesus Christ gets ready, he's going to put Satan on a chain.
And he now is under his control and he uses him to accomplish
his purposes. And when he gets done with him,
he's going to throw him in hell and everybody that's with him,
everybody that deserves it, all of his enemies. That's the second
death. That's eternal death. My Lord's hand is in the neck
of his enemies right now. And one day we read in the scripture,
that when God's purposes are all wrapped up in this earth,
all of his enemies are going to become his footstool. They're
going to be under his feet. David wrote in Psalm 212, kiss
the son, lest he be angry. This is not an invitation. This is a demand. There are consequences. to refusing the command of the
gospel. Lest he be angry and you perish
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. I'm
thankful that David didn't stop there. He said in the last part
of that verse, Psalm 212, he said, blessed are all they that
put their trust in him. Those ones who do kiss him, blessed
are they. All of his enemies shall be made
his footstool, and even now his hand is on their neck. They can't
do anything against him that he doesn't allow, that he doesn't
cause them to do, so that he might use it for good. And his
enemies are our enemies, and not one of them can harm one
of his little ones. Not a hair of your head will
fall, he said, without your father. Alright, and the third thing,
he said this, your brethren are going to praise you, your hand
is in the neck of your enemies, and your father's children, who
is that? Your brethren, your father's
children, shall bow down before him. That's the truth, isn't
it? Pretty good indication of someone
who is one of Christ's people. if they can bow to the truth,
if they can bow to the Christ of the Bible, if they don't rebel
against the sovereign Christ. His brothers and sisters shall
acknowledge and honor his sovereignty and his authority. When the Lord
was speaking to some of his enemies, or maybe his people were there
with him and some of his enemies were there, but they had taken
up stones to stone him. And he said, hereafter, you're
going to see the son of man ascend to the throne, the right hand
of the majesty on high to the throne of heaven. You're going
to see him ascend. And it says, then they spit on
him. When they heard him say that
they spit on him. That's the one truth. that his enemies cannot
tolerate. This Jesus that they talk about,
he can walk around blessing everybody. He can heal the sick and the
lame and the deaf and the blind. He can give them all the little
things in this life that they want, but he's not going to sit
on the throne, not with them around. But the Christ of this
Bible is already there, whether they like it or not. And one
day he's promised that they and we and everybody Everybody that
has a knee is going to bow it before this Christ. His brethren
are going to bow to him now and everybody sooner or later. That's
what Jacob's talking about here now. All of those like Thomas,
you remember what Thomas said? At one time he said, I will not
believe. And then the Lord appeared to him. and spoke graciously
to him and said, Thomas, don't be faithless, but believing.
Come here and touch my hands and my side. And Thomas bowed
and said, my Lord and my God, all of his brethren are going
to do that. His father's children are going to bow. They're going
to bow in this life. You speak of a sovereign Christ,
you preach the Christ of this Bible, and you'll find that not
many are bowing yet, but they will. They marked him as king. They put that cruel crown of
thorns upon his head and mocked him as king. And they put a reed
in his hand, a mock scepter, and mocked him saying, bow the
knee, bow the knee. And they crucified him as king
and put a sign over his head saying it in three different
languages. In that great day of the Lord, they're going to
bow them but not mock him. They won't be mocking him then.
They're going to bow to the sovereign Christ. But it'll be too late
then for mercy. There won't be any mercy in that
day for his enemies. I'm grateful that the Lord has
caused me to bow now. He's broken my proud, obstinate
heart that says, I will not have this man to reign over me. Thank
God that those who walk in pride, he's able to abase. He's now
willing to abase everybody. But he's able to abase, and he's
willing to abase some. He brought me down. Like Nebuchadnezzar,
I used to strut around and talk about everything I'd done and
all that I'd accomplished. I was garnering praise into myself. I've won the victory. I've done
all of this. Then the Lord revealed to me that I have nothing but
what comes from him. I am nothing but a beast without
his grace. And I can do nothing without
him. He said to me like he did Nebuchadnezzar, this kingdom
that you're strutting around in, I gave it to you and I can
take it away from you. Isaiah said, it's Christ that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth and all of the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers. Is that all right with you? I'm
just glad I'm his grasshopper. Bow to his sovereign authority.
to save whom he will and beg for mercy. That's the last thing
one of his enemies will ever do until he makes them a brother. He saves whom he will. He has
mercy upon whom he will have mercy. He has the sovereign discretion
to give life to whomsoever He will. The Son of Man has authority
to forgive sins on this earth. And He forgives the sins of those
whom He will. He has mercy on whom He will.
And the thing to do is to bow and beg for mercy. Jacob said,
His father's children shall bow down before Him. You know that
old leper in Matthew chapter 8 fulfilled that prophecy right
there. He was one of them. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ
as he walked out of that mountain. And he worshipped him. That word
is he bowed down to him. Saying, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. If you will. He said, Lord, salvation
is not up to my will, it's up to your will. Will you, will
you cleanse me? Will you make me clean? You can,
if you want to. And all of his brothers say the
same thing. Verse nine, he said, Judah is
a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. This is clear now. Talking about
the almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ. The lion is the
king of the jungle. It's hard to even look a lion
in the eye without feeling intimidated. He just looks like you don't
want to mess with him. That's because you don't want
to mess with him. That's why he looks like that. This is the almighty power as
he couched as a lion. He stooped down. He couched as
a lion and as an old lion who shall raise him up. He stooped
down. Our Lord Jesus Christ stooped down. And to this world that
appeared to be weakness. He came down. He left his throne
and came down where we were. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He submitted himself into the
hands of wicked men and everybody said, he's forsaken of God. No,
he was just a couching down lion. What he was doing was winning
the victory for us. What he was doing was destroying
every one of our enemies when he did that. And as an old lion,
who shall rouse him up? the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Revelation chapter 5, look
at Revelation chapter 5, that whole chapter is talking about
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ability to accomplish the
purposes, to finish the work the Father gave Him to do, to
accomplish the purposes The Father sent him to this earth to accomplish. This whole chapter is about that.
John said, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne,
a book written within and on the backside it had writing all
over it. You can't add anything to it.
And sealed with seven seals. You can't even get in it. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy
to open the book? and to loose the seals thereof.
And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was
able to open the book, neither to even look at it. And John
said, I wept. I broke down and cried. You know
why? Because John knew what that book
was. God revealed to him what that
book was. That's all of God's purposes
that are brought to pass upon this earth in the saving of His
elect and in the destroying of all of His enemies. And if that
book doesn't open, they don't come to pass. And so John wept. There's nobody in heaven or earth
or under the earth able to open it. No man was found worthy to
open and to read the book, neither to look their own. And one of
the elders saith unto me, don't cry. This book's going to be
open. Everything that God has written,
everything he's purposed shall come to pass. Behold, who's going
to open it? The one that Jacob talked about.
The lion of the tribe. That lion that Jacob was talking
about in our text. He hath done what to open the
book? Prevailed. It takes power. It takes wonder-working power,
as we say, to open this book, to accomplish all of these purposes.
All of God's promises, all of His purposes toward His elect
in grace and love and mercy that he has promised us shall come
to pass, there yes and amen, where? In Christ. He's opened
the book. Don't weep. Behold, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And as those seven
seals are loosed in the the subsequent chapters in Revelation,
all the things that were in that book came to pass on this earth
as John beheld, was given that special revelation from God.
That's the bringing to pass, his purposes in destroying his
enemies and in saving his elect. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst
of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns. You know what a horn is the symbol
of? Power. You know why there's seven of
them? Because His power is perfect. It's infinite. That's why He
says, I do what I please. I've spoken in and I'll do it.
Nobody can stop me. He's got perfect power. He's
the Almighty God. And seven eyes, which are the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, he came and
took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the
throne nobody else could even look at it he took it out of
the hand of the father and when he had taken the book the 4 and
20 elders fell down before the lamb they did what Jacob said
that day they bowed having every one of them harps and golden
vows full of odors, full of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints. And they sung a new song saying, you are worthy. They did it as they bowed to
him. They said, you're worthy. To
take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain. That's where the Lord said, it's
finished. It's accomplished. It's perfect.
Where, when he was slain, as he hung on that cross, all of
the purposes of God are fulfilled right there. Christ crucified. And you redeemed us to God by
your blood. You read some of the things that
happened when these seven seals were opened, and it's terrifying
what happens to God's enemies. But here's what happened to his
brothers. You redeemed us to God by that blood that you shed
on that cross. Out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. What did Paul say
in Romans 8? If we suffer with him, we'll
reign with him. Why do we reign here? Why are
we kings? And why shall we reign? Because
He reigns. And we're in Him. We just read it a while ago.
He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of
one. All of one. And I beheld, verse 11, and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing
and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under
the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them
heard I say blessing and honor and glory and power authority
sovereignty be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto
the lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen.
And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth
forever and ever. The power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his authority, we bow down to him and rightfully so. He's referred to in this character
here in that chapter that we read. The Lion of the tribe of
Judah hath prevailed to open the book, that is, to bring to
pass every purpose of God in this earth in saving and blessing
his people and in the annihilation of all of his enemies. He goes
up from the prey, having taken them down and destroyed them.
And then in verse 10, Jacob said, the scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Every image that's portrayed
here is Christ. The scepter shall not depart,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. Judah
was the tribe of kings, David and Solomon. were two of Judah's
sons, and this shows the royal sovereignty of our Lord. This
is why we bow. He was born a king on this earth.
He was of the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe. He was born
a king, but his kingdom was not of this world. His is a spiritual
kingdom in which he rules over his people in love, with all
authority, with all power, with all wisdom. and with grace and
mercy. Revelation 22.3 says there shall
be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall
be in it and his servants shall serve him. The reason there was
a curse to begin with is that Adam challenged the authority
of the king. He refused to serve the one on
the throne, the one in authority. That's not going to happen now
that the lamb is on the throne. A lamb as it had been slain is
sitting on that throne. And now those who serve him are
redeemed by him and therefore are just like him. And what are
they going to do? They're going to bow. They're
going to serve him. They're going to do his will and they're going
to praise him forever. There's not gonna be any more
curse because there's not gonna be any more sin There's not gonna
be any more rebellion And he's called shallow in the text Until
shallow come that word, you know what that means. I'm sure it
means peace tranquility rest The Lord is our shadow When he
reigns and all his enemies have been made his footstool There'll
be no rebellion No enemies, no opposition. The Lord alone shall
be exalted in that day. And we're going to serve him
and praise him forever in utter tranquility and complacency. Nothing's going to upset that
scenario. He came to this earth to give
us peace now. He said out here he didn't come
to send peace, but a sword. And that's talking about peace
among people. peace on this earth among individuals. He said he came to bring a sword
and he explained that. Your enemies will be there of
your own household in some cases. There's going to be division
among people, not peace. But his people are going to have
peace in their hearts. Paul talked about the peace that
passeth all understanding. I can't explain it to you. Can
you explain it to me? When everything around you is
in turmoil, you can be at peace. I can't explain it. Don't always
have it, but I have it when I need it. Mickey and I were just talking
about that the other day. Some of the peace that I've had
in the past about things, I think, man, if that happened again,
I'd be in trouble. No, I wouldn't, because he'd
give it to me again. He's faithful. He speaks peace. He says, peace,
be still. And the winds and the waves cease. And this is the peace that he
made with the blood of his cross. Peace in the hearts of his people. Peace with God. There's no other
kind of peace until there's peace with God. In Colossians 119,
turn there with me. I'll just have you turn to a
few verses tonight. Colossians 119. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you. He's reconciling
you to Himself. That's what He did by the blood
of His cross. He made peace. What do you mean?
He reconciled you to Himself. You that were at one time alienated
and enemies in your mind, by wicked words. We were the enemies
of Christ in our mind, never in God's mind. I've never been
His enemy in His mind. But in my mind, I was an enemy
of God. Yet now hath He reconciled. How
did He do that? In the body of his flesh, through
death, he became flesh and blood like you and I, and died in our
place. And when he did, he reconciled
us to God. We can't be reconciled to God
without some basis for reconciliation. And that blood is the basis.
And he did that in order that he might present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God. That'll
give you rest there. Reconciliation, no enmity, no
war, just peace. He made peace by that line. The
lawgiver was made under the law that he might redeem them that
are under the law. And having done so, there's peace
for those whom he redeemed. Paul said in Ephesians 2 14,
for he is our peace. who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. He's made
peace among brethren, Jew and Gentile. The greatest prejudice
that's ever existed on this earth was the Jew against the Gentile.
You bunch of dogs. We couldn't even have anything
to do with them. But he made peace. He broke down the middle
wall of partition. We're brothers. There is no Jew
or Greek in Christ, but Christ is all. having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in
ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making
peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God. He's made reconciliation
between brethren, there's no enmity between those whom he
has redeemed, and all whom he has redeemed are also reconciled
unto God. And He did that in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. We have peace with God. And came and preached peace to
you. He accomplished peace. He wrought
peace. He made it by His precious blood. And now He's preaching it to
us. He did it Himself and He does it through His disciples.
Preach peace to you which were far off and to them that were
not. Peace. And Jacob said this, unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. The people. The people will
be gathered to Christ. He said, I, if I be lifted up
from this earth, shall draw all men unto myself. Well, not all
men are drawn to him out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue
under heaven. What did John say? Well, what
did all those that were gathered around the throne say that John
recorded that we read a while ago? You have redeemed us out
of every kindred. He didn't redeem every kindred,
tribe, nation, and tongue, but he redeemed us out of those nations,
out of those tribes. And that's what he's talking
here. I will draw all unto me. And this he said signifying what
death he should die. When he was lifted up from this
earth on that cross, the gathering of the people were unto him.
And Isaiah said in 43, six, this is the Lord speaking. He said,
I will say to the North, give up and to the South, keep not
back. Bring my sons from far and my
daughters from the ends of the earth. He's going to gather us
unto Him. We all are gathered unto the
Lord Jesus. We're gathered right here tonight.
Who are you gathered unto tonight? Me? Him. Unto Him shall the gathering
of the people be. If He don't meet with us here,
there's nothing to gather for. And we're gathered to honor Him
and to delight in that peace that He's made by that precious
And then he said, binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's
colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine,
and his clothes in the blood of grapes. Now this is a prophecy
of what happened in Matthew 21, 2. When the Lord said to his
disciples, you go into that village over there and you're going to
find an ass tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them
unto me. and all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying
tell ye the daughter of Zion behold thy king cometh unto thee
meek and sitting upon an ass and a colt the foal of an ass
now that prophecy there quoted in Matthew 21 5 is from Zechariah
9 9 but also our text refers to this he's going to tie his
foal to the vine and notice what he does he ties this donkey to
the vine. Now we know who the donkey is.
Do you know who the donkey is? That's you if you know him. We're
born into this world, I believe it was maybe Job that said, like
a wild ass is cold. But the Lord has broken us and
he uses us for his glory. What's the one characteristic
that a donkey has? Stubbornness. They don't want
to do what you want them to do. But what is this donkey going
to do? The Lord's going to ride him into Jerusalem and everybody's
going to throw palm branches down and say, Hosanna to the
King of Kings. He's going to use us for his
praise and glory and honor. The unusable. He's going to use
us anyway. Paul Mahan preached a great message
on that about Three or four years ago several years ago. The title
of it was riding a wild asses colt. I recommend you listen
to it It's a good He has subdued us and uses us
for his glory and he ties us to the vine The Lord Jesus Christ
said I am the vine we're tethered to him and Happy as we can be
about it And having bound us to himself, he washed his clothes,
Jacob said, in the blood of grapes. His garments are covered in blood. He sweat great drops of blood
in the garden of Gethsemane. Can you imagine what he looked
like when he walked out of that garden? I'm not sure it's even
proper to try to imagine, but I know this. He sweat great drops
of blood. as he bore the burden of my sin
there. And he was beaten with stripes
after being falsely accused. And as we said, that crown of
thorns was pressed upon his brow and his precious blood poured
out of his brow. His beard was pulled out of his
face and his hands and his feet were nailed to that cross. And his precious blood poured
down as they mocked him there. And when that spear was thrust
into his side, the rest of his precious blood poured out. And
John said in Revelation 1 5 that he washed us from our sins in
that blood. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. I wish I could preach that. Isaiah
said in 63, 1, who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments
from Basra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. There's the
lion. I that speak in righteousness, mighty to say, wherefore art
thou red in that apparel? And thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine fat. Here's the answer. I have trodden
the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me,
for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my
fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments. We've
talked about this before. His garments were red before
he trampled on his enemies. What's that? That's the precious
blood he shed for his people. But then he also says, the blood
of my enemies will be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. He did that in the same act,
in the same act. On the cross, he destroyed every
enemy and redeemed his people from their sins, both. And it's
explained in verse four, for the day of my vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeeming has come. His garments
are stained red because of that redemption. and because of that
vengeance. And then Jacob said, his eyes
shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. This tells
how he drank the cup of God's wrath against his people. His eyes are red with that cup.
When our Lord was suffering under the weight of my sin in Gethsemane,
he said in Matthew 26, 42, It says that he went away again
the second time and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup may
not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And in John 18, 11, then said
Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into thy sheath, the cup
which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? His eyes
are red with it. And he says to us also to drink
a cup. He said, this cup is the new
covenant in my blood. And as often as you drink it,
do it in remembrance of me. We remember how he drank the
cup of the wrath of God against us. And his teeth are white with
milk. And I had some help on this.
This is something that's difficult to be sure about. But this seems
right. Milk throughout the scriptures
is a picture of, provision and health. The Lord
promised his people a land flowing with what? It's a rich land, it's a bountiful
land, flowing with milk. It speaks of satisfaction in
the scripture. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may be able to grow thereby. It's sustenance
and satisfaction and health And Isaiah said of our Lord in 53,
he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. His teeth are white with milk.
In Song of Solomon 5.1, it says, I am coming to my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spices. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. This is the Lord coming into
his church, his garden. And he said, I've had, I'm eating
honey. We know what that is. That's
the sweetness to the taste. It just makes you glad to eat
honey. It's sweet and enjoyable. It's pleasure. It's pleasant.
And then drunk wine, that's joy. That makes the heart joyful and
light. And then he said, I've drunk
my milk too. That's, Nutrition that's sustenance. That's satisfaction
When the Lord not only drinks but also he said I've drunk my
wine with my milk and then he says this eat Oh friends Drink. Yay drink abundantly. Oh beloved
he drinks he is he has pleasure and joy and sustenance in his
church he delights in us and and rejoices in us. And he also
bids us drink because we also have our joy and our pleasure
and sustenance in his garden where the Lord is with us. What
a prophecy this is. I pray the Lord will give us
grace to hear these words and delight in our Savior. I wish
I could say these things. Let the could preach him as he's
worthy to be preached. But the Lord's able to open our
hearts. Let's bow in prayer.