Turn back to Genesis 49, if you
will. There's some blessed spiritual
lessons to be learned here. There's glory here for our Master
and our Lord. If God is pleased to speak through
his servant tonight, and to speak not only to your ears, but to
your hearts, Now God has spoken to us by his son, and in days
gone by God spoke to his people, our fathers, by the prophets.
But before the written word, before the written word, before
God spake by the prophets through the written word, God spoke to
our fathers about Christ. I wonder How much did Abel know
about the atonement? I wonder how much did Abel know
about the cleansing blood? While you hold Genesis 49, turn
to Hebrews 11. I ask, I wonder what he knew,
but in my heart I believe he knew a lot more than I think
he knew. Who can say what Abel understood? His offering speaks of sacrifice. His offering speaks of death
for sin. His offering speaks of suffering.
Blood cannot be shed without suffering. His offering speaks
of substitution. His offering speaks against the
works and merit and efforts and righteousness of the flesh. And
Hebrews 11.4 says it's still speaking, though he's dead. Listen,
by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his guilt, and by it he being dead, yet speaketh, is yet spoken
of, and yet speaketh. He knew something, didn't he?
And then this man Enoch. Paul Edward was asking me about
Enoch the other day. He's not mentioned very often
in the scriptures, three or four times. was the seventh from Adam,
and Enoch walked with God. He walked with God and walked
right on into heaven. One day God took him without
dying. But the book of Jude says something about Enoch that people
overlook. Enoch knew something about redemption,
about the Lord Jesus, about his coming to this earth. Turn over
there, if you will, to the book of Jude, and let me read you
a verse. It's Jude 14. There's only one chapter in this
book. And this verse, verse 14, now
listen to this, this was before the written word. This was before
Abraham, before Moses. This was before the Ark. This
was back under the seventh from Adam. And Enoch also, the seventh
from Adam, prophesied of these saying, Behold the Lord coming
with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all
and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
The Lord's coming. Enoch preached the second coming.
That's the coming when our Lord shall come as the Lion, as the
Judge, that's what Enoch's talking about. And then what about Abraham? Christ said, Abraham saw my day. He saw the day of redemption.
Abraham saw the day of substitution. Abraham saw the day of the atonement
by the Son of God. Abraham saw my day, Christ said. Not a day or a great day, but
my day. He saw my day. And then when
Abraham started up that mountain, and that boy Isaac, and Isaac
was a wise young man, His father had taught him well. He said,
Father, here's the wood and here's the fire, where's the lamb? There's
no approach to God without blood. There's no coming to God in fellowship
or worship or prayer, communion, without a sacrifice. Where's
the lamb? And Abraham spoke these mighty
words. Scott Richardson brought a message
on it recently. My son, God will provide himself
a lamb. God will provide the lamb. God
will provide the lamb for himself or to himself, and God will himself
be that lamb. That's theology. That's redemptive
theology. That's salvation theology, and
that was spoken before one word was written in this Bible. And
then what about Moses? Of course, Moses wrote the first
five books, but let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy
18. Let's turn over there a moment. This was before the Word was
written. In Deuteronomy 18, verse 15,
this is that scripture, Bruce, that you mentioned this morning
or yesterday morning in Bible school. In Deuteronomy 18, verse
15, Moses is talking to the people of Israel, and he says, "...the
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet." He'll raise up a prophet. From
the midst of thee and of thy brethren like unto me, unto him
shall ye hearken. Who do you think he's talking
about there? He's talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. That prophet,
that priest, that king. Our Lord has a threefold office
work. Prophet to reveal the Father,
priest to redeem the people, and king to reign over us. And
Moses is saying, from the midst of thee, out of the tribes of
Israel, from the people of God, he'll raise up that prophet.
And they referred from then on to that prophet of whom Moses
spoke. In other words, somebody asked the Lord one day, are thou
that prophet? Are you that prophet? Look at
verse 18. I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee, I'll put my words
in his mouth, And he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And then what about Isaiah? Turn
to Isaiah chapter 53. Somebody called Isaiah, the book
of Isaiah, the gospel according to Isaiah. Or the gospel of the
Old Testament. You could stay in the book of
Isaiah for the rest of your ministry and preach substitution and redemption
and salvation by God's grace by the blood of Christ. and never
go to another book except as reference. Isaiah 53 verse 4. No clearer gospel sermon was
ever preached than this sermon right here. In Isaiah 53, skipping
on down to verse 4, he talks about in the early verses our
Lord Jesus Christ beginning as a root out of dry ground, a dead
nation, from a kingly line that had slipped down to a carpenter
named Joseph and his espoused wife named Mary, but look at
verse 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,
but he was wounded for our transgressions. And notice, this is in the past
tense, hundreds of years before Christ came. He was wounded for
our transgressions. Isaiah saw his day too. Isaiah
saw his day. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we're healed. I don't know what
these men understood. It says over here in the book
of Hebrews that these all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of the truth of them, and they embraced them. How much God revealed
to these men, I don't know, but I believe they saw a great deal.
I believe divine revelation opened their minds and their heart to
perceive what other men did not perceive. And now Judah. Turn over here to Genesis 49.
Let's listen to Jacob talking about his son Judah. Now Jacob
had 12 sons. And in our text, the dying Jacob,
Genesis 49, the dying Jacob had gathered his 12 sons around him. He was down in Egypt. Joseph,
you know, had brought them there. And Jacob gathered, he was dying,
weak-eyed old man, he was dying, and he gathered these 12 sons
about him, and he said, I'm going to tell you what shall befall
you in the last day. And he spoke to them, I know
that he spoke to them, as representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel,
and he spoke to them individually. But he spoke to them prophetically.
And he began with the oldest one, Reuben, and then you can
read it, I didn't have the time tonight to deal with all of them,
couldn't deal with them anyway, but you can read the rest of
it, what he had to say to these other boys, but he started with
Reuben, and he came down to Judah, and I think his words to Judah
are the center of this whole thing. His words to Judah. He speaks to Judah. Judah was
the tribe from which Christ came. He was of the tribe of Judah.
He was of the family of Jesse. Jesus Christ, our Lord, came
through this man Judah and through this tribe. In other words, the
Israelites are called, not only Israelites, but Jews after Judah. And when our Lord died on the
cross, there was put by Pilate over his head these words, Jesus
of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, written in Hebrew, Latin,
and Greek. For the whole world to read.
And somebody came and said, don't write up there, Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. Right, he said he was the King
of the Jews, and Pilate said, well, I've written, I've written.
It remains right there. Jesus of Nazareth, King of Judah. King of the Jews. And what Jacob
said of Judah, he spoke in regard to Christ. That's who he's talking
about. Just like when Moses wrote of that prophet, he was talking
about Christ. When Isaiah talked of the one
who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,
he talked of Christ. Just as Abel brought the blood
sacrifice, he portrayed and pictured Christ. all the way through the
Word of God, it's Christ on every page. Let's take the prophecy
and word for word or sentence by sentence, beginning with verse
8. Now he talked to Reuben, Jacob had, he talked to Simeon and
Levi, and he didn't have very good things to say about them
or to them. But he turned to Judah, and I think this is just
the climax, the highlight, the center of the whole thing. And
he said, and Judah, and Judah, Thou art he, verse 8, whom thy
brethren shall praise. Now Judah didn't live to see
the day when his brethren personally praised him. He was just one
of the twelve. He was one of the eleven that
later after their father died and they took him down there
and buried him in the cave, they came back to Joseph and Judah
really bowed to Joseph because these brethren thought now that
daddy's dead, Joseph will get even with us. That's what they
thought. They thought, you know, they
sold him into slavery and threw him in the pit and told his daddy
he was dead. And then he went through all that hardship, and
he brought him and his father and his brother Benjamin down
to Egypt. But when the daddy died, when Jacob died, and they
took him down and buried him and came back, they said, they
got together 11 of them, and they said, now Joseph's going
to get even with us, so we better go and talk to him. And they
were serious about it. They went to him, and they fell
on their faces before him and did obedience or whatever you
do. And they said, Joseph, before our daddy died, he said, for
us to tell you to take care of us and forget the past. And Joseph
said, you don't have to worry about that. The past is all forgotten.
You meant this for evil, but God meant it for good. So really,
when Jacob looked at Judah through these dim, dying eyes and said,
Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, he wasn't talking
about Judah. He was talking about Judah's
son. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know Judah's name means praise? Turn over to Genesis
29. Let me show you that in the scripture. When he came along, his mother,
Genesis 29, his mother called him Judah, Genesis 29, 35, and
that's what that word means, praise. Praise. In Genesis 29, 35, and she conceived
again, and bear a son, and she said, Now will I praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name
Judah." You see there in your margin, you have a reference
that is praise and left bearing. Jacob is saying this, that thy
brethren shall praise the Son of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writer put it this way,
now to the Lord that makes us know the wonders of his dying
love. be humble honors paid below and
strains of nobler praise above. T'was he that cleansed my foulest
sins and washed me in his richest blood. T'is he that makes me
a priest and king and brings this rebel near to God. To Jesus
Christ, my atoning priest, to Jesus Christ, my ruling king,
be everlasting praise confessed in every tongue, his glory saying. I wish I could praise him as
he ought to be praised. I wish we here at 13th Street
Baptist Church could learn to praise the Lord. I wish we knew
something and could learn something of what it is to praise Christ. I just believe that a quarreling,
grumbling, unhappy Christian is not according to the Word
of God. Rejoice in the Lord. That's what Paul said. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And he said again, I say, rejoice
in the Lord. Christ is worthy to be praised.
When you sing hymns about the Lord Jesus, doesn't, isn't your
heart lifted? When you read this word about
the Lord Jesus, isn't your heart lifted? When you hear a message
exalting the Lord Jesus, isn't your heart lifted? Judah, thy
brethren shall praise thee. And they will. If they're brethren,
they'll praise the Lord. Every cherubim, every seraphim,
every angel, every man shall praise the Lord. Notice the next
word quickly. We move along. He said, In thy
hand, Judah, thou art he, whom thy brethren shall praise. And
thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemy. Preacher, what
does that mean? Well, when one has his hand securely
about the neck of his enemy, He can stop his breath and destroy
him. And that's what this is talking
about here. He's talking about our Lord Jesus Christ having
his hand about the neck of his enemy to cut off his strength
and power and breath and destroy him. And that's what Christ did.
When our Lord met Satan's temptations on the mountain, even in a weakened
condition, Our Lord had been on that mountain for forty days,
the scripture said, fasting without food. And Satan caught him at
this moment and he said, if you are the Son of God, turn these
stones into bread. Our Lord Jesus Christ met every
trial and every test and every temptation of that strong, mighty,
arch enemy to whom even the angel of God said, the Lord rebuked
thee, Satan. Christ met him and defeated him.
And then our Lord met our sins at the cross and he conquered
them. And then our Lord met death,
awful, awful death that cannot be stayed or stopped by any power
except God. He met our death in the tomb
and arose. And our Lord right now, is not
the poor, frustrated, disappointed, defeated Jesus boy that you hear
a lot of folks preaching. But our Lord this day has his
hand on the neck of every enemy, and he shall ultimately conquer
them all. Oh, behold the man of sorrows!
Oh, behold him in plain view! But he is the mighty conqueror
since he rent the veil in two. Our Lord even turned to those
who followed him to the cross when he was bound, and when he
was beaten, and when he was bleeding, and when he was suffering, and
when he was in subjection to the forces of evil. He turned
to those following him and said, don't weep for me. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves
and for your children. He's the conquering king. Even
on the cross, he turned that cross into a throne. Even on
the cross, he's the conqueror, he's the victor. Christ has his
hand on the neck of his enemy. And he'll destroy every one of
them. Don't feel sorry for Jesus. Preachers waste their time trying
to generate in men's hearts pity for the Son of God. Don't weep
over the cure, weep over the cause. Don't weep over the power,
weep over the weakness. Don't weep over the conqueror,
weep over the conquered. Our Lord, that's what he said.
Judah, your brethren will praise you. And Judah, you have your
hand on the neck of your enemy. You have him strangled. You have
him in an impossible position and the last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death. Christ is the conqueror. Our
Lord was once a babe, but we don't know him as a babe. You
may wonder why we never have around this church a nativity
scene. As long as I'm pastor and these men are deacons, we
never will. We never will. Our Lord's not a babe. He's a
king on a throne. You wonder why we don't have
a crucifix here. I'll tell you a story that'll
shock you. I held two or three meetings up in Elkhorn City,
Kentucky for a Baptist church up there. Had a pastor, had been
there 10 or 12 years. And we got to be pretty good
friends. He was a very old man, and he
was going to retire. And he did. Retired and moved
to Ashland. And next time I saw him, he said
to me, he said, Brother Maine, he said, you know what, you know
what that church gave me for going away present? I said, no,
what'd they give you? He said, that group of people
I pastored for ten years gave me a nine pound bronze crucifix. I said, you're kidding me. He
said, no, I wish I were kidding you. Brother, let me tell you
something. Our Lord's not on a cross. And
we don't have any crosses around here. Usually there are crosses
on pulpits somewhere. We don't worship crosses. We
bow before and worship and exalt a king. He was in a manger. He was on the earth. He was on
a cross. He was in a tomb. But he is no
more. He is the ascended Lord, before
whom all men... Well, let's look at the next
line. And thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Philippians 2, 9 through 11.
Let's look at that. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians chapter 2, who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Look at verse 9. Wherefore God
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name, greater than Moses, greater than Israel, greater
than angels, greater than all. God's given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow." That's what old Jacob's saying here. That old
dying man is speaking by the liberty and power of God's Spirit,
and he's prophesying something will take place 3,000 years later. Thy brethren shall praise thee,
thine enemies shall be conquered by thee, and thy old men shall
bow before thee. And he says, at the name of Jesus,
every knee should bow in heaven, in earth, and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Paul wrote in Romans 14 to this
end, Christ both died and revived that he might be what? Lord of
the dead and the living. Jesus Christ is Lord by eternal
sovereign decree. Jesus Christ is Lord by purchase. He bought that right. He bought
that right. Jesus Christ is Lord by the Father's
exaltation. He's already made him Lord. He's every man's Lord. We preachers
ought to watch our terminology, and terminology means something.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Somebody says,
well, I didn't mean it that way. Well, say it like you mean it
then. But I hear preachers say, won't you come and make Christ
your Lord? It's too late. God's already
made Him Lord. You can't add anything to His
glory. God's given Him all glory. God's bested everything in the
hands of Christ. He's turned the whole world over
to Christ, the whole universe over to Christ. It's not you
make Christ your Lord, it's you bow and recognize that He's your
Lord. That's the terminology we need
to use. And it's not even if you'll make
him Lord. You will, sometimes. Now, by
grace, some of these days, under God's judgment. But he's Lord. Every knee's gonna bow. Every
tongue shall confess that he's Lord. Our brethren shall bow. That's what Judah's saying. Look
at verse 9. This is an interesting verse. And this is one of the,
this is, let me give you a reference that'll show you definitely that
this is talking about Christ. Turn to whole Genesis 49 and
turn to Revelation 5. Revelation 5, verse 5. Turn over there a minute. And
then you know when John saw the book that nobody was worthy to
open? And he wept because no one was found worthy to open
the book. The book had to be opened. And finally one of the
elders, verse 5, spoke up and said, don't we? The line of the
tribe of Judah. He'll take care of it. Isn't
that beautiful? That's who he's talking about.
The line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. Now listen
to old Jacob. John's writing about what did
happen and what will happen because of Christ. But here old Jacob's
talking about what's going to happen years before Christ came. Divine revelation. That's how
any man must learn anything. There's no possible way of educating
anybody into a communion with God. That's regeneration. That's revelation. And Jacob
had a divine revelation, and he says, listen, Judah is a lion's
cub, a young, strong lion, king of the beast, strong of the beast. And 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? Now watch
this picture, compliments of Dr. John Gill and Charles Ferdinand,
and a little bit of everybody else. But anyway, the young lion,
in his strength and vigor and power, sits on the mountain,
the high place. He spots his prey. He comes down
out of that mountain, and he couches down, he stoops down.
And he moves along silently, powerfully, on purpose, and he
gets that prey, and he destroys it, eats it, or takes it back
with him. And then he goes back up, dark
gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and then he
went back up, and he lay down. The battle's over. He fought
the enemy, and killed him, and devoured him, and he's tired. and he won the victory, and he
goes back up there to his den, and he lies down to rest. Who's
foolish enough to rouse him up? Who's foolish enough to disturb
that young lion in his rest, or that old lioness in her peace? You just better stay away. The
battle's over. Now listen to this. Christ the
King left heaven's glory. Christ the King stooped down. And somebody says, was there
ever a stoop like that? He came down on purpose. He saw
the prey. He saw the battle. He saw the
need. He came down. Was ever love so
strong? Was ever crime so wrong that
Jesus suffered long? He entered the battle and he
won the victory. And thou art gone up, my son.
And he hath ascended on high, and he hath sat down, he hath
entered into his rest, the scripture says. Who shall disturb him? Who shall trouble him in his
rest? Who shall interfere with his
purpose? Who shall stand against him? Who shall rouse him? Nobody. The conqueror sits down, and
I'll tell you what's wise is for us to enter that rest with
him. cease from our labors and be seated with Christ. Somebody
said, we're striving for heaven. Well, I don't want to be a smart
aleck, but I'm not striving for heaven. In the person of Christ,
I've already entered in. Nearer, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be, for in the person of his Son, I'm as near as he.
Christ came down here and fought my battle, and won my victory,
and conquered my enemy, and went back to glory, and took me with
him, and took possession of that city, and sat down. And he's
entered into his rest, of which the Sabbath is a title, of which
Canaan is a title. And I've entered that rest. I've
already crossed the Jordan and entered into the rest. It's already
done. I'm already glorified. whom he
foreknew, he predestinated, whom he predestinated, he called,
whom he called, he justified, whom he justified, he glorified. There's just some time to be
put in down here and some things to be done and some trials to
endure, etc., etc., but we've already entered in. The old line
has conquered its foe. Who's going to rouse him? Who's
going to interfere with him? Who's going to tamper with him? And then that great prophecy,
verse 10, the scepter, the rod of authority,
rule, sovereignty, shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh
come. That's a beautiful word, Shiloh. You know what Spurgeon said?
He said, where did he get that name? Where did Jacob get that
name? Did God give it to him? I don't
know, he said. And I hadn't found any other
writer that knew either, except to say that God gave it to him. Shallow. And it may be that this
is a special name, a pet name for a special person. Well, he
called Jacob Israel, then he said, your name will no longer
be supplanter, but Israel. Prince! A prince. And he changed Simon's name,
Simon Barjona. Thy name shall be a little stone,
Peter. Solitarsus, no longer Solitarsus
but Paul. Well anyway, Jacob knew what
he meant. He knew what he meant. And several
people have taken a shot at what they thought he meant, and I'm
going to give you just four of them briefly and let you go.
But several writers have given their opinion. Jacob said, Judah,
the scepter, the rod of sovereignty and rule shall not depart from
Judah, the tribe of Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet
till shallow. Well, one writer says the word
shallow means sin, S-E-N-T. That's all right. So where'd
he get it? Well, he got it from John 9.
Let's look over there a minute and see where he got it. John
chapter 9. John the ninth chapter, verse
7. He says the likeness between
the words shallow and shallow give them the same meaning. In
verse 7 of John 9, it says, And he said unto him, Go wash in
the pool of shallow. which is by interpretation, sent. Well, that's all right. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah until the one whom God sends shall
come. That's all right. Christ called
himself the sent one. He said, I am come to do the
will of him that sent me. He said again, as my father sent
me, even so send I you. He said again, I am sent to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is our confidence. Our Lord does not use up authority
that doesn't belong to him. God sent him. Everything he did,
God sent him to do. The Father sent him. Everything
he said, the Father sent him to say. He said, the works that
I do, they're not mine, but the works of him that sent me. So
that's all right. If they want to say shallow means
the sent one, That gives me great confidence to rest in him whom
the Father sent. Another writer says that Shiloh
means the son, S-O-N, the son. He says the scepter shall not
depart from Judah until the true son comes. Now these kings usually
handed the scepter down to their son, David. gave it to Solomon,
and Solomon gave it to his son, and he gave it to his son, and
right on down they gave it to different sons. Well, that's
all right. Shallow may mean the son. Jesus
Christ is the son of David. Turn to Psalm 89. We know that.
We know that he's the rightful heir to the throne of David.
We know that. We know that both Mary and Joseph
were of the lineage and household of David. That's right. Jesus Christ came from David,
from the tribe of Judah. His mother actually was of the
household of David. She went down to Bethlehem to
be taxed. But in Psalms 89 verse 3, God
said, I've made a covenant with my chosen. I've sworn unto David
my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever
and build up thy throne to all generations. That's a covenant
God made with David, that the throne shall go right on down
from David to Jesus Christ. And then he's not only the son
of David, but he's the son of God. The Heavenly Father said,
this is my son. This is my son. Hear ye him. This one is my son. This is not
an imposter. This is my son. And then he's
not only the son of God, but he's the son of man. Now this
is important. He's bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh, for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He's
my kinsman redeemer." You and I can have great confidence
in the atonement of Christ, not only because he is of the lineage
of David, not only because he is the Son of God, but did you
know tonight on God's right hand, now listen to me, And you think
about this and don't argue about it until you've studied it a
little while. On God's right hand tonight, there is a man,
there's a man, who has gone into heaven. It's a good possibility
that this man will enter there because a man is there now, identified
with me, who is my brother, who lived, was born as I was born,
and that is of a woman, and lived as I lived, and was tempted as
I was tempted, and represented me, and he's gone into heaven.
Turn to 1 Timothy 2. Let me show you that. 1 Timothy
chapter 2. Jesus Christ intercedes for us not only as God, but he
intercedes for us as a man. We have a high priest who can
be touched with a feeling of our infirmity, seeing that he
was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. He can
succor them that are tempted because he himself was a man.
First Timothy 2.5, there's one God and one mediator between
God and men. What does it say? The man, Christ
Jesus. The man. The same one of whom
Pilate said, behold, the man. The man. The same one who said,
the Son of Man is come to seek and to save the lost. The same
one who sat down with his disciples after his resurrection and ate
bread and fish. That's a man. The same one who
said to his disciples, touch me, handle me. A spirit, a ghost
doesn't have flesh and bones as you see me have. And when
he led them out on that mountain and they stood and watched him
ascend up to heaven, the angel said, this same Jesus will come
again in like manner as you've seen him go. There's a man on God's right
hand. He's the true son. Son of David. Rightful heir of
the throne. Son of God. Son of man. God in human flesh. And then
someone says, Shiloh, this is beautiful. Turn to Ezekiel. And
you'll notice the reference there by Shiloh refers you to Ezekiel
21 in your marginal reference. Ezekiel 21. I like this right
here. I'd love to preach a whole sermon
on this sometime. It says here that shallow means
the one to whom it belongs. The scepter shall not, watch
it now, before I read it, the scepter shall not depart from
Judah till he comes to whom it really belongs. It's his. See, David had a borrowed scepter.
Solomon had a borrowed scepter. All the rulers of this world,
they rule as God gives them the ability and the right to rule. designates their authority. All
authority in heaven and earth is Christ. That's what he said. I have all authority in heaven
and earth. All power over all flesh. So
look at Ezekiel 21 verse 27. God said, Ezekiel 21, 27, I will
overturn, overturn, overturn it and it shall be no more until
he comes whose right it is and I'll give it to him. I'll give
it to him when he comes. Turn it over to him. And it's
been turned over. He bought the world. It's been
turned over to him. It belongs to him. That's what
he said. I have all authority over all
flesh that I should give eternal life As many as thou hast given
me. Christ has all authority. That's
what it says in Colossians. Let me read you this. You don't
need to turn over there. You know it most of you by heart. It says,
All things were made by Him. All things were created by Him
that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible, invisible,
whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him. He's before all
things and by Him all things consist. All right, we've got three down.
This is the last one. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till the one comes whom God will send, till the
Son, the true Son comes, the Son of God and the Son of Man,
until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs. And he's come, and he's
taken his scepter. Now then, the next word, and
this is what I think is the real meaning of the word Shallow is
peace. Peace. The King of Peace. And if you look it up in the
Hebrew, I think you'll find that this is the first meaning. It
comes from the same word as Salem, the same root word as Salem,
King of Peace. Until the King of Peace comes.
Shoot Judah, the scepter shall not depart from your tribe until
the King of Peace shall come. One reference, Romans 5 verse
1. Will you turn over there a moment? And this, I tell you, this ought
to give believers assurance and confidence and strength and comfort
and everything we need. In Romans 5-1, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Do I know what peace really means? That peace of which the Prophet
wrote, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee, because he trusted in thee. Do you know what peace
means? That peace of which our Lord spake when he said, My peace
I give unto you, let not your heart be troubled. This peace has to be considered
in a twofold manner. There's the fact of peace and
the experience of peace. There's the state of peace and
there's the sense of peace. Now let me read you this in the
Amplified Bible. Will you listen a moment? The
Amplified Bible reads this way in Romans 5.1. Therefore, since
we are justified, we are acquitted. We are declared righteous and
given a right standing before God. Now that's the fact of peace. I have nothing to do with that.
Not a thing in this world. Christ did it all. Since I am
justified, that's the state of peace, that's the fact of peace.
But let's go on. Therefore, since we are justified,
our sins are put away, we are acquitted, not guilty, we're
declared righteous, we're given a right standing before God.
Therefore, let us grasp the fact that we have peace, the peace
of reconciliation, and hold to it and enjoy it. That's the sense
of it. That's the feeling of it. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One. The fact of
peace is the King of Peace has come. He has made peace with
God. We're at war no more. The enmity
has been put away. God has been reconciled. Enjoy
your peace. Therefore, since you're justified
and acquitted and declared righteous and have a right standing with
God, hold to it. Don't let anybody take it away
from you and rob you of it and put you under a bondage of legalism
and go to Sinai for sanctification. Enjoy your peace. Enjoy that
fellowship with your Lord. Shallows come. from every stormy
wind that blows, from every swelling tide of woes, there's a calm,
there's a safe retreat. It's found beneath the mercy
seat. There's a place where Jesus sheds the oil of gladness on
our heads, a place that makes all more sweet. It's the blood-stained
mercy seat. There's a spot where spirits
blend, where friend holds friendleship with friend. Though divided far
by faith we meet, around the common mercy seat, the fact of
peace and the experience of it, all in Christ. Our Father, how
we thank Thee that these blind eyes have been opened, not by
any strength or power or will of our own, but by Thy grace.
and these poor deaf ears that are so tuned to the world and
to the voices of evil.