You will remember that Jacob
had twelve sons, and Genesis chapter 49 is his prophecy regarding
each one of his sons. And we're going to consider the
prophecy regarding his fourth son tonight, Judah. Let's begin reading in verse
8 of Genesis chapter 49. Now, before I go on reading,
you'll remember his prophecy concerning Reuben, Simeon, and
Levi. He had nothing good to say at
all about those men. But now he begins speaking of
Judah, his fourth son. 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, 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." Do you know
who the Lord came through? You know He came through Hebrews
chapter 7 verse 14 says it is evident that our Lord sprang
out of Judah. He didn't come from any of the
other 11. He came through Judah. Now this is Jacob's prophecy
concerning his fourth son, Judah, and these things said of him
were true literally. You know, his name means praise,
and he is the one King David came through. That's how Important
this man is that you know as well as I know that these words
are words concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. Every word in here speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look in verse eight, Judah. Thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Now, His name means praise and
is not the Lord Jesus Christ the object of our praise. Now, I don't care where you're
at, how up you are or how down you are. If you're a believer,
this is something that's a blessing to you. Christ Jesus the Lord
is worthy of all praise and adoration without respect to what happens
to me or you. He is the object of divine praise. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Now, I want you to think about
this. We're called his brethren. Now, that is incredible to me.
Rich, the Lord calls you his brother. That can be said of every believer. Isn't that amazing? Brethren
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Hebrews 2.11, For
both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all
of one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed of me. He's
not ashamed to own me as his brother, saying, I'll declare
thy name unto my brethren. Every believer is called the
brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is just amazing. Now, truly, his brethren praise
him. For who he is. And what he has done and. You
know, my praise is only accepted for Christ's sake, I realize
that I never I never feel like, boy, this is good praise, but
I know this. In my heart right now, I'm praising
him who calls me his brother, Judah, the one of all praise. And look what it says next. Judah,
thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall
be in the neck of thine enemies. Everybody who is not a believer
is an enemy of Jesus Christ. I want to repeat that, and I
want you to think about it. Everybody who is not a believer is an enemy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody who does not believe
hates Him and would kill Him if it were in their power. Now,
most folks have never really even heard of the true Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Christ they've heard of, they don't hate. He's
not one to even be afraid of. But when people hear the true
Christ, the Christ as He's revealed in Scripture, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the natural man hates Him and would kill Him
if it were in His power. And really, my dear friends,
that's what God's got against me and you. What we thought of
His Son by nature. Now, you think of how the Father
loves His Son. How do you reckon the Father
feels about the enemies of His Son? But here's something that's
glorious to think about. His hand is on the neck of his
enemies. Yes, he has enemies, but they
can't do what they want to do because he is the Lord. All of his enemies will be made
his footstool. Listen to this scripture. Sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. His hand is upon the neck of
his enemies. And then it says, thy father's
children shall bow down before thee. Now, who are his father's
children? It's the elect. That's every
believer. Listen to this scripture from
Hebrews chapter two, verse 13. The Lord says, the children which
thou hast given me. And what do they do? They bow
down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in spirit. That's what I'm doing right now.
I'm bowing down at His feet and worshiping Him who is God over
all, blessed forever, the blessed and only potentate, the Lord
of lords and the King of kings, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach to, to whom no man has
seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. We bow in spirit at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's easy to bow at His feet,
isn't it? You know, it's easy to grovel at His feet. I don't
know how else to say it. I mean, you wouldn't do that
with any man, mere man, but the Lord Jesus Christ. We truly bow
before Him. Quidditch says in verse 9, Judah
is a lion's welp. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down and cast as a
lion, and as an old lion, who shall rise him up? Judy is a
lion's welp. Now, this speaks of the power
of the Lord Jesus. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. From the prey. You know, the
Lord's power is such as the lion of the tribe of Judah that he
has the power to rip all of his enemies to pieces. From the prey,
my son, thou have gone about. And you look at how he's defeated.
He's defeated sin. He put it away. He totally defeated. He defeated death. There is no
death for the believer. We live eternally. Yes, we'll
die physically, but that's when our life begins. We'll live eternally
in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He defeated Satan,
the prince of this world, who is judged, is condemned. Oh,
he's a mighty lion, a lion's will. And all of his enemies
are nothing more than his prey, who he destroys. None can stand before this mighty
lion as an old lion in the fullness of age and strength. Who shall
rouse him? Who shall dare grapple with him?
Look what verse 10 says. The scepter. The scepter of kingship,
of sovereignty. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. Now, the scepter speaks of his
royal sovereignty. Judah is the absolute sovereign. I love the way this reads. The
scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver. Look at
the position from between the state. Now, this is how high
and lofty and glorious Judah is. He's not under any law. He's the lawgiver. And the Lawgiver
is said to be between His feet. Now that's big. That's huge.
The Lawgiver. Who is the Lawgiver? The only
true Lawgiver is God Himself. And this is, Judy is all we're
ever going to see of God. That's how big Judy is. He is
the Lawgiver and the scepter shall not depart from Him. And
that scepter represents His sovereign power and authority. Now I want
you to think just for a few moments about the power of Jesus Christ
the Lord. He's a real person. He's a man,
the man Christ Jesus. And he said, all power, all authority,
all control is given unto me. This speaks of the sovereignty
of Jesus Christ. He has a will. There is such
a thing as the will of Christ. He has the power to make sure
his will always comes to pass. He has the right because of who
he is to make sure his will always comes to pass. And here's where
the rubber hits the road. He does, in fact, cause his will
to come to pass. It's not that simply that he
has the right to do his will. He does his will. Where's your
God, David? Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done. He hath done whatsoever he had
pleased. Psalm 135, verse 6 says, What
the Lord pleased that, did he, in heaven, in earth, in the sea,
and in all deep places, the scepter shall not depart from Judah until
Shiloh come." Now, what a name! This is the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, until Shiloh come. Now, I read everything I could
regarding what this name means, and I've got these meanings,
and every one of them were a blessing. One man said Shiloh means the
sent one. Is that not exactly who the Lord
Jesus Christ is? The Father sent Him. We believe
He was sent of the Father and He did what the Father sent Him
to do. Another fellow said it means
the Son. Christ Jesus is the Son. He's the Son of God. He's the
Son of Man. Truly He is the Son. Another
writer said this means, and there's a scripture that backs this up
in Ezekiel, he to whom it belongs. That's what Shiloh means. He
to whom it belongs. What belongs to him? Everything.
All glory, all power, all authority. Shiloh. He whose right it is. Now, here's another name. It comes from, it's very close
to Shiloh. This Shiloh is very close to
Shalom, which means peace. It means the peace giver. And
he is the Prince of Peace, the peace bearer, the Messiah. And look what it says regarding
this one. 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. Here is why God's people meet
together. Do you have any other desire?
Now, I want you to think about this. I'm speaking to brothers
and sisters in Christ. Do you have any other desire
than to be here than other than to worship Him? That's why you want to be here.
This is what this gathering is all about. It's to worship the
Lord Jesus Christ unto Him. shall the gathering of the people
be. That's why all of God's people want to meet together. It's to
worship Him. It's not to just go through the
form and ceremony of religion. It's to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. To Him shall the gathering of
the people be. Verse 11. Binding His fold unto
the vine. And his asses cold under the
choice line. Now, what this is a reference
to, actually, it's a prophecy concerning you think of the of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been talking about his
greatness, his scepter, his sovereignty, his his deity. Oh, you can't
extol him high enough. And yet, when our Lord comes
into Jerusalem, you think he'd be on a big, big, strong looking
horse, but how's he come? He comes on a donkey. He comes
on a donkey riding into Jerusalem. And this is a prophecy regarding
that. But notice, he says, this donkey that he rides in on, it's
bound to the vine. Our Lord is the vine. Remember
how he said, I am the vine. You are the branches. Without
me, you can do nothing. This glorious Savior who comes
in such humility on this foal, he's bound to the vine. Now look at verse 12. Verse 11,
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, I don't have any doubt that
what this refers to, you don't generally think of washing your
clothes in the blood of grapes, but what this is a reference
to is Gethsemane when he was in the garden of Gethsemane and
this is when he began to experience the wrath and the judgment of
God. It didn't begin on the cross. It began in Gethsemane when the
scripture says he was sore amazed and being in agony. So on the
scripture says he actually sweat great drops of blood. Now, I
don't know how that physically took place, but he was under
such And I don't understand. We're talking about his power
and his glory and so on. But yet, when he faced being
made sin, when he faced being the sinner's substitute, when
he faced the wrath of God, he was under such stress. He was
under such strain that he cried out, if it be possible, If it
be thy will, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. What
cup? This cup I'm going to drink,
this cup of the wrath of God. Let it pass from me. His clothing
became red at that time as he sweat great drops of blood. And
I don't understand how all this works, but it was just the thought
of being made sin. I listened to that message that
Bruce Crabtree preached here a couple of weeks ago, and he
made this statement. I never heard it said like this,
but it seems the truth. He said, at this time, the Son of God
flinched. He flinched at the thought of
being made sin. He washed his garments in the
blood of grace. But I want you to think of the
washing that took place through him washing his garments in the
blood of grace. What kind of washing took place?
The washing away of all my sin. I do not have any sin. None. It's washed away and I
have Now, that's the washing that
took place by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He washed
away the sins of everybody he represented. Isn't that wonderful?
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not
in part, but the whole, has been nailed to the cross and I bear
it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Verse 12, his eyes shall be red
with wine and his teeth white with milk. Now you know that's
not saying he was intoxicated with wine, but he was intoxicated
under the wrath of God. This refers to the cup of wine
of the wrath of God that he had to drink. He was crushed under
the wrath of God, and every faculty of his soul felt this. I tell
you, there's something to think about his eyes being red through
this cup of trembling that he was made to drink as the sinner's
substitute. Who can understand all the things
that the Lord Jesus was made to go through as the sinner's
substitute? His eyes are red with wine and
his teeth white. with milk, even while experiencing
this, he still has white teeth. This
speaks of his purity and strength. Now, this is a glorious picture
and statement regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. Now, can anybody guess where
I'm going to go next? I bet you can't. Turn with me to Revelation
chapter five. Revelation chapter 5, verse 1. Now, we read in the first book
in the Bible of the lion of the tribe of Judah. Now we're going
to read in the last book of the Bible of the lion of the tribe
of Judah. John says in verse 1, And I saw
in the right hand of him that sat on the throne A book written
within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. Now, what is
this book? It's the same book spoken of
in Psalm chapter 40, verse 7, where the Lord said, Lo, I come
in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to
do thy will, O God. Now, when this book was written,
it was before the Bible was ever written. This is an eternal book. This is the book of God's decrees.
It's the book of God's saving purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And notice, it was written on the front side, on the back side.
Nothing else could be added to it. It was complete. God doesn't
have to have a plan B or a contingency plan. Everything is according
to His purpose. It's a book written on the front
side, the back side. Nothing can be added to it at
all. This is the book spoken of where
Christ said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's written
of Me. I delight to do Thy will, O God. Absolute predestination sealed
with seven seals. Verse 2, And I saw a strong angel,
and I don't reckon there's any other kinds of angels but strong
angels, but he said, I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud
voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals
thereof." Who has sufficient strength? Who has sufficient
merit to open this book and open up these seals so we can see
what the saving purposes of God are or that they will take place? Verse 3, And no man in heaven nor on earth,
neither under the earth, was able To open the book, there
was a complete lack of ability to do that, neither to look thereon.
Couldn't even look at it. That deals with the inability
of all men. No man was found who was worthy,
who was able to open this book. And John says in verse 4, I wept
much. I wept much because no man was
found worthy. Now, No man was found worthy. Now you think of the men that
are included in this group. What about you, Abraham? Abraham
is called the friend of God. Abraham, are you worthy? Oh,
no, no. What about Moses, the man God
used to write the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through
Deuteronomy, the one in whom he said, a prophet with the Lord
God raised up like unto me. Him you'll hear. Moses, are you
worthy? No, I have no right at all. What about David? King David,
the man after God's own heart? Are you worthy, David? No, I wouldn't dare. What about
Isaiah, the great prophet who spoke more of the Lord Jesus
Christ than any of the other prophets? What about you, Isaiah?
No, no. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
I dwell in the midst of a people of ungrievance. I'm not worthy.
What about the Apostle John, the one who laid his head upon
the bosom of the Savior? Are you worthy, John? No, no,
no. What about Paul the Apostle,
the wise master builder, the man God used more than anybody
else? Are you worthy to open up this book and take a look?
No, I'm the chief of sinners. What about the Pope? He didn't
even know there was one. No man was found worthy. No man was found worthy. And John said, I wept much because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to even look thereon. Verse five. And one of the elders
saith unto me, Now this is one of the twenty-four
elders. They represent the Old Testament
and the New Testament believers, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve
apostles of the Lamb. They represent believers, Old
Testament and New Testament. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed to open the book And to lose the seven
seals thereof, the one foretold of in Genesis 49, he's prevailed,
he's conquered, he's won the victory. And this refers to his
victory on the cross. This is how he prevailed. It's
not just talking about his strength to be able to pick up the book
and open the seals. This is talking about the victory
he won on the cross when he finished the salvation of everybody he
died for and completely accomplished. their salvation. He hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, verse 6, John says,
he's looking for a lion. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, remember that scepter shall never depart.
It's in the midst of the throne that he sees Him. And we never
see Him unless we see Him sitting on a throne ruling and reigning. 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." The Lion is what? A Lamb. The Lamb of God. As it had been
slain, but He's not slain anymore. He's standing up. What a picture,
this lamb who had been slain, who died, but he's alive now
and he's alive forever. And the scripture says he had
seven horns. Horns represents power. Seven
is the number of perfection. This lamb is almighty. He's omnipotent. He had Seven
eyes, which represents knowledge, omniscience, seven, the number
of perfection. He has omniscience. He knows
all things. He is all wise. And he has the
seven spirits of God sent forth unto all the earth, the seven
spirits of God. Once again, the number of perfection.
It represents the spirit of God and Christ Jesus. Listen to this. The spirit of God is called the
spirit of Christ. And this is this tells you about
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, he's called in Isaiah,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father. That's who he's called,
and he's also called the Spirit of Christ. All you and I, and
listen to me, all you and I are ever going to see of God is Jesus
Christ. And what did he do? Verse seven.
He came and he took the book out of the
right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Now, what a sight
this must be. He comes to the Father as his
equal, and he takes the book out of his right hand. In verse 8, and when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and four twin elders fell down before
the Lamb. Now, this taking of the book
tells us that the saving purpose of God written in this book has
been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 10 for a moment. Now, this is a quotation from
Psalm 40. In burnt offerings, verse 6,
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 6, in burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Now you think of the thousands,
the tens of thousands, maybe the hundreds of thousands of
animals that were slain. Did God give any pleasure at
all out of that? Any satisfaction? Absolutely
none. They're given merely to picture
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he said, and burn offerings
and sacrifices for sin, thou shalt no pleasure. Then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book if written of me to
do thy will, O God. Now, him taking the book tells
us that he did, in fact, do the Father's will. Now, let's go
and read. Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt
offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither has
pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. That's
talking about the first covenant, the covenant of works. He takes
that away that he may establish forever the second by the which
will, by God's will. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God, by the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, that is a perfectly completed
action that never needs to be repeated. It says we are. Everybody
He died for. We are sanctified. We are declared by God to be
holy. Now, if God says I'm holy, am
I? Yes, sir. Every believer is sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Verse 11, And every high priest tends daily ministry, and offering
oftentimes over and over and over again the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified, set apart by him." Now, what that says
is, I hope God gives everybody in here the grace to believe
this. If you're a believer, you will believe this. You have already
been perfected. And you might have come in here
with a heavy heart over so many things, but in Christ Jesus,
it can't get any better. You are perfect in Him. He came and He took the book. out of the right, you think of
the power, I mean, can you imagine walking up to God and taking
something out of His hand? He does because He's equal with
the Father. He is God. He came and took the
book. Now back to Revelation 5. And when He had taken the book,
verse 8, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb. Having every one of them hearts
and golden bowels full of odors, which are the prayers of the
saints. Do you have any problem falling down before the Lamb? Oh, it's
easy to fall at His feet. I'm right there with Him right
now. I mean, this is heavenly worship. I'm not entering into
it the way they are, but I'm falling down before the Lamb. And they sang a new song, verse
9, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the
seals thereof. And here's why. Thou wast slain." Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
was slain. He was put to death. And there's
only one reason why He would be put to death. Sin. The sins of His people became
His. God did not view him as not guilty,
but I'm going to go ahead and punish you as the substitute
of your people. That's not the way it works at
all. He became guilty. When he took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own. He took bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. He was slain, but he didn't stay
slain, did he? He was raised from the dead,
God accepting what He did. And here's this song they're
singing. For thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation. I need
to bring this out. Notice He didn't say you've redeemed every
kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation. He said you've redeemed
us out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Everybody He died for, they're redeemed. He said Thou hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people
and nation. And look what verse 10 says. You've made us unto
our God. Kings. You? Me? Yeah. This is the power of his blood,
the power of his work, the power of union with him. You've made
us unto our God kings and priests. Now, you want to talk about significance. Every believer, when God views
him, he views him as a king, a kingdom of priests. You are
a chosen generation, Peter said, and a royal, that's a kingly
priesthood. Now that's what he made us, isn't
it? You think about that. Now you
think about what you are in and of yourself. Not much. Not much. You know that. But before God,
you really are. You really are. This is not,
he doesn't just cast you this way. You really are a king and
a priest. Now that's the power of the blood
of Jesus Christ. He's made us unto our God kings
and priests and we shall reign on the earth. Verse 11, And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the
thrones, 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, This is no doubt a typical number,
but good grief, 10,000 times 10,000 is 100 million. So this
was some kind of choir, wasn't it? Saying with a loud voice,
what were they singing? 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 saying, blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. Can you say Amen to that? And before him twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Now let's go back to Genesis
49 and just read it again in light of this being the Lord
Jesus Christ. And just no point in commenting
on it anymore, but it's a blessed thing to read. And instead of
Judah, I'm going to read this as Jesus, because that's exactly
who he is. 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. Jesus is a lion's wealth. From
the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down. He couched
as a lion, as an old lion. Who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah Jesus. nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, 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." Let's pray together.