There are three very clear messianic
prophecies made in the book of Genesis. The first is in Genesis 3, verse
15, where he speaks of the woman's seed. The woman's seed. It will bruise Satan's head,
and Satan will bruise his heel. And then the second prophetic
declaration of Christ is to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 in the
first three verses, saying that, in him shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. Now we read that and don't see
much in that, but he tells us in Galatians chapter 3 that the
scripture, the scripture, How did it get to be scripture? Well,
the Holy Spirit inspired men to write it, inspired Moses to
pen these very words that we're reading. Long before Moses was
ever born were these men. He had no personal knowledge
of these men. God inspired him. God, the Holy
Spirit, inspired him to write these things after the days of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We haven't even got into the
story of Moses yet. But in Galatians 3, verse 8,
it said, And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith preached before the gospel. The gospel. Redemption through the Son to
Abraham. How did he do that? telling him
that in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So
this is a Messianic prophecy. And then again in Galatians 3
verse 16, he says this, Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made, all of the promises. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And then
as this book of beginnings begins to come to a close, we're in
chapter 49 of 50. And this book of beginnings is
beginning to draw to a close. He gives this third declaration
of the coming Redeemer through Abraham's grandson, Jacob. Genesis 49, let's read three
verses here beginning with verse 8. He says, Judah, thou art He whom
thy brethren shall praise. Now He's not talking about the
Son that's standing before Him. But He's talking about He for
whom Judah stands as a representative. His tribe, out of His tribe,
this Messiah was going to come. Thou art He whom thy brethren
shall praise. And indeed they did. Throughout
the years, even in a natural sense, there was Judah and then
there was the rest of the children of Israel. They stood alone.
And the government was always upon Judah. And there was always
a controversy between him and the rest of the tribes. 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." Talking about the children of Israel. Judah
is a lion's wealth. 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." Now very clearly this future prophecy is talking
about the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There
can be no denying this as we go through different parts of
the Bible and see that. But one in particular grabbed
my attention when I read this, and that is the fifth chapter
of the book of Revelations. Now you can turn there if you
want, but I'm just going to I'm not going to be doing a whole
lot of reading from there, but I'm just going to tell you what
the content and what was going on over there. In this vision
given to John of the now-resurrected, glorified Christ, he sits before
Him, the eternal God, sitting upon a throne, holding in His
hand a book that's written on the front side, on the back side,
and sealed with seven seals. Now, this book represents all
the eternal purposes of God in redemption. Now, somebody said
that this, no, they said this represented all God's eternal
purposes. Well, God doesn't have any eternal
purposes that's not connected with redemption. That's why he
made the world. That's why he purposed all things
that is. They're all in Christ. There's
nothing outside of redemption. Take redemption away. You just
took away everything. You took away the whole reason
for creation, the whole reason for time and providence and the
universe. You've taken that which connects
all things, that for which all things were made. You've just
taken it out of the way. So I say this, that in this book,
this book sealed with seven seals is all the eternal purposes of
God in redemption. It's his redemptive purpose and
glory. It's his will. And this book
represents the whole of that. And it takes in creation and
providence and salvation. It takes in eternal election,
predestination, every event and advent in time. all the means
and methods of salvation, all the pictures and types, all these
individual lives that we've been reading and studying about. Every
event of time and eternity is recorded in this book. This book
contains the will of God concerning everything that's going to come
to pass. And it was sealed with seven
seals. What's that mean? Those seven
seals, seven is the number of perfection and completeness.
This thing was sealed to me and could not be opened except by
one who could. It stood for the perfections
of God, just to make a long story short. It stands for the perfections
of God. Only He is worthy who can take
this book and open these things, look upon these things, cause
these things to come to pass. govern all things according to
this book without compromising the perfections of God. You see
what he's saying here? Sealed with seven seals. John said he saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book
and to loose the seals thereof? Did you know that's what every
strong angel proclaims? That word angel has to do with
ministers, whether it's talking about these ministering spirits
who sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation,
talking about those angels, or whether he's talking about pastors
and teachers, or preachers, or prophets, or apostles, or any
of these men who stood and declared these things. It's what they
all stood up and proclaimed. Who's worthy? Who's worthy? Is Baal worthy? God proved it
that he wasn't. Well, who is worthy? Was Cain
worthy? No. God rejected him too. Who's worthy? This is the message
of every preacher from every age. And it says here in verse
3, representing these things in Christ. I'm reading over here
in Genesis what's going to be in the last days. That's what
Joseph said. He said, I'm going to tell you
things concerning the last days. Now I'm taking you over here
in Revelations and we're looking at the sum total of what's going
to take place in the last days. And he said, no man, verse 3,
in heaven or in the earth, neither under the earth was able to open
the book, neither to look thereon. He couldn't even look into it.
And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and
read the book, neither to look thereon. Now some men say that
this book that God holds in his hand is not what we call the
Word of God. They say that this book was presented
in a mystical sort of way to represent all these purposes
of God, all these eternal purposes of God, and the will of God,
and the revelation of that will, and so on. I myself have read
their arguments, and I don't see the distinction. This book
declares all those things. And that's what they say these
things are. So I say in a mystical sense that it did stand for this
book. But whether it did or not, it
certainly stood for all these things that God said that concerned
that eternal purpose of God that connects all these things that
I just read to you about. All right. What on earth? Does God sitting on a throne
with a sealed book have to do with a 3,000 year old man blessing
his son while he is dying? Preacher, why did you go to the
book of Revelation? Well, read this next verse in
Revelation chapter 5 and I will show you. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, now listen, The Lion
of the tribe of Judah. Who in the world is that? Huh? That's that coming Redeemer
that Jacob, by the Spirit of God, spoke concerning his son
Judah. The Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David, have prevailed to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof." Old Jacob was standing on the brink
of death and eternity. That's where he was at. Boy,
we get sober when we get thinking about that. We're all well and
good when we're healthy and out there digging in the garden and
doing our thing, but boy, when that doctor comes in and shakes
that head, boy, all this, All that's nothing now. Now I'm standing
on the brink of death and what's after that? The judgment. That's
what he said. Old Jacob's standing here on
the brink of death and eternity and his life's come to an end
and he's still in Canaan. His children are not in Canaan.
He's not in Canaan. He owns only a temporary piece
of ground in Egypt. And yet he, according to Hebrews
11, verse 21, worships God as he blesses these boys. Worships
God as he blesses his son, leaning on the top of his staff. Now
how can a man facing such a solemn thing as death and eternity and
such disappointment as not to see the promises fulfilled, bless
and be blessed? How can you do that? How can
a man stand knowing that he's facing eternity? Knowing that
he's just barely able to get these blessings out and then
Jacob dies. While he was dying, that's what
Paul said, he blessed these twelve boys. How can a man facing such
a solemn thing as death and eternity and such disappointment as to
still be in Egypt, him and all of his sons? God said he's going
to bless every nation in the world, and here they sit in Egypt.
And he's dying. God said he's going to inherit
the king, but he's in Egypt. I'll tell you why. Because he
saw looking forward what John saw in the present. The line
of the tribe of Judah shall prevail. That's what he saw. Now listen
to this description of him here in Genesis. He describes him
in three stages. You've got to read this very
slow because if you, if you, I take these things a lot of
times and take them apart. Just take them apart because
I want to have a sense of what's going on. And these are three
totally different descriptions. This is not one description.
This is three separate things. The first thing is this. He says
in verse 9, Judah is as a lion's whelp. Do you know what a whelp
is? That's a cub. That's a baby. That's a little baby lion. He said, Judah, looking at him,
standing there. Standing there, he don't look
like much of anything, does he? Oh Judah, he said, you're a lion's
whelp right now. Right now. In this prophecy,
men looking at you, you're a baby. You're nothing like this lion
that's going to come. It's just a cub. It's small.
It's weak. It's in its infancy. Hardly any sign of its future
glory and power. And then as his physical son,
and even in type and picture, he gave no evidence of what this
coming Messiah would be. And then he describes him secondly
like this. As a young, mature lion, having
put down his prey and satiated himself or satisfied himself,
he went up. Lions go down in the in the plains,
and they hunt down there. And when they've taken their
prey and eaten their prey to the full, they go back up into
the mountains and hills, into the dens, up there where they
live, up there where they're safe. And they lay down in those
dens. And there was this lion of the
tribe of Judah, and all-consuming hunger was in him. all-consuming
hunger to accomplish the will of His Father and to do what
His nature, this nature of God demanded that He do. And having
satisfied that hunger and having accomplished what He came here
to do, He ascended back to the Father and sat down. He rested. He reposed from all His labors. And then it speaks of Him here
as the old lion, the old lion. fierce and powerful and mature
and experienced and having been tried and tested and victorious
over all things. This ain't a whelp anymore. This
is a full-grown lion in his maturity. And he's not afraid of anything
or anybody. He's got his power. He's come
into himself. He's been victorious. He's been
tested. Those other lions tested him.
Those other animals tested him. And he's mature and he's victorious.
And he couches down. That word means to repose, to
recline is what that word means. It doesn't mean that he got down
in a fighting position. It means that he laid down. He
laid down. He reposed. It means the seat
of repose, of rest. And he said, who's going to rouse
him up? Huh? He lay in there and he ain't
afraid of anything or anybody. He got the power that he was
born to have. Now what are you going to do
with him? You better just leave him alone. You better respect
him. You better bow to him. That's
what this scripture is talking about. I remember I had a nephew. Now, my dad was nothing like
my mother. My mother may tell you once and
then correct you, or she may tell you ten times and then correct
you. You never know with her. But my dad just told you once.
After that, you were had. And we had a, my young nephew
was staying with me, and daddy liked to get in his reclining
chair in the evening and read his paper. And he was reading
his paper, and my little nephew was sitting down by the footstool,
and he was nervous as a cat. He had to be doing something
with his hands all the time. And he reached up and got a hold
of that footstool and he was pulling on it like this. Well, when you
pull on the footstool, it makes the back of the chair do this.
And Daddy kind of looked like Barnard. He looked down over
them glasses and he said, son, don't do that. And then he went
back to reading. Man, he come out of that chair.
My wife was sitting there, scared her to death. She took her way
over to one side, and he had that boy boxed up in the corner
of the living room before he knew what happened. And of course,
he didn't do anything to him, but the boy knew not to pull
on the bottom of that chair. That's what this is saying. That's
exactly what this lion of the tribe of Judah has accomplished
what he came to do, satiated that hunger. And he's full in
maturity now. He's accomplished everything.
He's not in his humility anymore, and he's not a whelp. He's a
full-grown lion, and he's resting at the right hand of God. But
he's resting, expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.
Now, who's going to rouse him up? Isn't that what Psalm chapter
2 is all about? God said, I've set my king on
my holy hill in Zion. And he said, why hath the heathen
said we're going to do this, and we're going to do that, and
we're going to resist him, and we're going to? He said, he'll
laugh. He'll laugh. He's not afraid
of you. He's not hiding from you. He's not intimidated by
you. God will laugh. He said, here's what you better
do. I've declared the decree from all eternity. This is my
son. This day have I begotten him.
Here's what you need to do. Kiss the son. That's what you
better do. Oh, this is an old line. Don't
rouse him up. Don't rouse him up. He's at ease
because he's king and he's conquered all his enemies. He's reposed
because he expects all of his enemies to be put under his feet. And it would be a fearful thing
to provoke such a line. This is the line of the tribe
of Judah. This is the promised one, the
Messiah, the Christ. And then he makes this declaration
in verse 10. He said, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come. Now who's Shiloh? Who's Shiloh? I'm not, I can't say this 100%
for sure, but I know that this is the first time in the scripture
that that word Shiloh appears. Shiloh. And this Shiloh is a
messianic name. It's the name of the coming Redeemer. And Shiloh's mentioned many times
from here throughout the rest of the scripture. But most of
those times, if not all of those times, it's referring to a place,
to a city that was named after the Shiloh that Jacob's talking
about. But this Shiloh, I believe, had
to do with his son Shelah and the events between him and Tamar. And I believe old Jacob saw nothing
in this marriage but death to Sheila. So when he came to age,
he ignored his promise to Tamar. And Tamar subtly posed as a harlot
and slept with old Jacob and had his sons. And there's many,
many reasons. And we've already gone through
this in an earlier study. But I believe God showed Jacob
in these things that that which had befallen his son Judah that
the promised son of Shelah could never produce the true seed of
Israel. That's what he's showing. This
seed was yet to come. And if you, you got to really
go in a roundabout way to do it, but when you do it, you'll
see that the word Shelah and the word Shiloh both come from
the same root word. And they have to do with the
same thing. And an even better place, if you want to go examine
it and see what I'm talking about, is Ruth chapter 4, verse 12.
You can jot that down in your notes and go over there. Because of whom it speaks and
of which son the relationship is given, I believe it has a
lot to do with what happened to old Judah and Tamar and the
son who was promised but never delivered. Now, what does shallow
mean? What does shallow mean? What
does this word mean? Well, it means, first of all,
sent one. You remember over in John chapter
9, the Lord passed by a blind man. And the disciples, you remember
the conversation, they said, who sinned first, him or his
parents, that he was born blind? And they said, neither. This
man was born blind for the glory of God. For the glory of God. And the Lord bent down, spit
on the ground, and made a clay from the spittle and anointed
his eyes. And he told him when he got done,
he said, now you go wash in the pool of Siloam, which by interpretation
means sin. Do you know what the word Shiloh
means? Waters of Shiloh. That's what
it means. Waters of Shiloh. Isaiah talks
about it in either the 8th or 9th chapter and calls them the
waters of Shiloh. And that particular place there,
it has to do with an imitation of the waters of Shiloh. But
here it has to do with the waters of Shiloh, the scent He said,
you go wash in Shiloh. The scripture says this pool
means scent. These waters are the waters of
Shiloh, the scent one, and he's the fountain of living waters
to be our eyes. In order for our eyes to be anointed
to see, we've got to have them washed in the waters of Shiloh.
That's the only way you're ever going to be able to see anything.
And there just isn't any believing until we see him as sent of God. Sent of God. Listen to these
scriptures. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of him that sent me, he tells. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his only
begotten son to be the propitiation for our sins. Our Lord said,
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father who sent him. You see that all through
the book of John. He emphasizes on this thing of
being sent of God. And everything in this book and
everything in time and eternity revolves around this man because
God has determined and set him aside as the sent one. The sent
one. He was in the beginning with
God and was God and without Him was not anything made that was
made. He is the firstborn of every creature. All things were
made by Him and for Him and by Him all things consist. And even
the fall was in consideration of him. Listen to this in Romans
8, verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature or creation waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected
the same in hope. And it's this sent One who has
the preeminence in all things. He is the firstborn of every
creature. He has the preeminence in all
of these things, in creation, in providence, all of these things,
in all of the figures and types. He has the preeminence. Because it pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. This is He who has given
purpose and dignity to all things, opening the blessed book of God's
redemptive purpose in all things. Now let me read you just several
verses here out of the book of John to kind of illustrate what
I'm saying. The Lord said, I have greater
witness than that of John the Baptist. John was a burning and
a shining light and we had him for a season, but he said, I've
got a greater witness than that of John for the works which the
Father who sent me He sent me to finish the same works that
I do, bear witness of me. And the Father Himself, which
hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. You've neither heard His
voice at any time, nor seen His shame. And He said, and you have not
His word abiding in you, for whom He hath sent Him you believe
not. Search the Scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of Me. And you won't come unto Me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I
am come in My Father's name, and you receive Me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you
believe which receive honor one of another and seek not that
honor that cometh from God only?" Now listen. Here's where I'm
going with it. Do not think that I'll accuse
you to the fathers. There's one that accuses you.
Even Moses, whom you trust. Ain't that what we're reading
right here? No? The words of Moses. Listen to this. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me. For he wrote of me. He wrote
of me. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? Brethren, this book from the
dawning of the light of creation and to the light of the brightness
of His glory at the appearance of Christ and unto the final
revelation of John in the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the sent
one. He is sent to reveal the redemptive
glory of God in Christ, His goodness, His mercy, His grace for sinners.
His everlasting love and kindness and long-suffering for chosen
sinners. He is sent to reveal Himself
as the way. Why is He sent? To reveal the
way. What do you mean the way? The
only way that God can be just and justify all those that believe. He is the way of peace. He is
the way of rest. The way of forgiveness. Justification. sanctification. He's the way
of hope. He's the way of reformation.
He's the way of evangelism. He's the way of wisdom. He's
the way of resurrection. He's the way of regeneration
and conversion. He's the way of final glorification
and the way of all government and rule because the scepter
is not going to depart from Judah till Shiloh comes. Does Judah
still have the scepter? Shiloh took it. Shiloh took it. Oh, I tell you, God helped us
as we studied the Scriptures to see what Jacob saw, the coming
of Shiloh who takes the scepter away from the natural and reveals
it where God declared it to be at the beginning, in the hands
of His sent one. David saw it and said, as I quoted
to you a while ago from Psalm chapter 2, He put Him on His
holy hill in Zion and He declared the decree. And from that day, from that day forward, everything
in heaven and earth and everything in time and everything in these
last days testify to this end. The scepter is in His hand. Oh, Jacob, he could stand facing
death and eternity because he stood in Him, who is what eternity
is, and what eternity is all about, and who alone can take
the sting out of death. Now, in closing, let me say this.
I only have one true blessing to leave with anybody. My children
are yours. I just have one blessing. That's
all Jacob has. His whole life long, he searched
like Abraham did for a country that God was going to reveal
to him. And somewhere during that sojourn, God revealed to
him the heavenly side of this thing, the spiritual side of
this thing. And he had only one thing to bless his children with,
and two of them he blessed with it more so than the rest, Joseph
and Judah. And in both of them, he makes
so clear that blessing of Christ. Let me ask you this. Is there
a more worthy hand anywhere to be found than his? Is there anyone anywhere in any
age more worthy to take that scepter than Shiloh? There's not, is there? Then let
us be careful what we tell our children. Let's tell them about
Shiloh. That's the only way you can bless
them. is tell them about Him. Father, bless the lesson tonight. I'll try to be simple and plain
and clear, but all the glory and the joy in knowing Him and
trusting Him, seeing Him, all what glory is bestowed in Him. Give us the desire the willingness
and the way to glorify Him in all things. Do it for Christ's
sake. Amen.