The Gospel to Judah

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I invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis chapter 49.
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The title of today's message is, The Gospel Given to Judah.
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As many of you know, the Gospel, the word Gospel, means good news.
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We often think the Gospel is a New Testament concept, but the Gospel actually runs through the entire Bible.
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It is not only found in the New Testament.
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Earlier in our study of Genesis, we noted that the first time we hear of good news is right after the entrance of sin, when God promised that one day the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.
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And we trace that anticipation down through the various genealogies which are found in the Bible.
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We watch the juxtaposition of the godly line of Seth from the ungodly line of Cain.
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We see men walking with God like Enoch.
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We see men serving God like Noah.
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We see the division of the three sons of Noah and the exaltation of Shem as his descendants bring forth Abraham who was called the friend of God.
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From Abraham we see two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, with the younger receiving a promise from God.
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And Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob.
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And again, the younger receives the promise and carries it on.
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But Jacob does not have two sons.
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Jacob has twelve sons.
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One of those sons stand out among the rest as a selfless and valiant man, and his name was Joseph.
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Joseph was not the firstborn, but he does receive the double portion of blessing.
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And his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, receive what would have been the blessing of the firstborn.
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But even in that blessing, it was not Joseph's line that would carry the seed of the promise, but rather that promised seed would go to the line of Judah.
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That line would go on to produce kings, most prominently the great king David, a man who the Bible says was a man after God's own heart.
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And from David that line would continue, and with it the promise of the gospel, until one day in the city of David a voice rang out, the voice of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
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He was the promised one.
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He was the one who would crush the head of the serpent.
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He was the second and last Adam.
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He was the true seed of Abraham.
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He was David's greatest and greater son.
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In that manger laid the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
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This is the good news that runs through the whole Bible.
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And today we're going to study the prophecy that was given from Israel to Judah about this promise, about this gospel.
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Today we're going to see the gospel given from Israel to Judah.
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So let's stand.
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We'll read beginning at verse 8.
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"'Judah, your brother shall praise you.
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Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
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Your father's sons shall bow down before you.
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Judah is a lion's cup.
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From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
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He stooped down.
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He crouched as a lion and as a lioness.
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Who dares to rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from beyond his feet until tribute comes to him.
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And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
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Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
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His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk.'" Father God, I ask that You would give me grace to preach today.
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As an imperfect vessel, Lord, I pray that You would keep me from error.
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I pray that every person in this room would be attentive to the Word, not focused on other things, not having their attention drawn and divided on the things of this world, but that they would be focused on the Word of God for this time.
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And Lord, for those who are believers, that You would save, or Lord, that You would encourage them in their salvation.
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But those who are not believers, Lord, that they would see that today is the day of salvation and no one has promised another.
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That they would see the lion of the tribe of Judah is the one to whom we must all face.
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And Lord is the only one who can save.
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And it's in His name we pray.
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Amen.
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It's always important when we study that we remind ourselves in the context where we are in the Scripture, especially when I look out and see so many visitors.
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I'm grateful for you all being here, but you have to understand you're on the latter end of a three-year journey.
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We've been in Genesis...
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I don't even remember preaching anything else.
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I've been doing it so long.
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So we're getting to the end though.
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Just a few weeks and we'll be done.
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But for those of you who don't know sort of what's going on in this book and at this time, Israel is another name for the man called Jacob.
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He was the great grandson of Abraham.
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Abraham had Isaac.
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Isaac had Jacob.
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And Jacob had 12 sons.
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And Jacob was...
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His name was changed from Jacob to Israel.
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So he's called Israel in this text.
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And as Israel is lying on his deathbed, he's gathered his 12 sons around to receive their prophetic blessings.
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Unlike his father, Isaac, who tried to do this quietly in the secret of his tent with no one else watching, Israel is willing and able to stand out among all of his brothers.
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Well, not stand, he's sitting on his deathbed, but sitting among all of his sons without fear because some receive blessings and some receive anti-blessings.
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We talked about that two weeks ago.
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He makes each man hear the other one's blessing or curse.
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And in our last study, we looked at the blessings given to the sons and we noted that Judah is the first one to hear a positive word from his father.
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He begins with the eldest son, Reuben, and he says, and I guess there's a positive word, you are my strength and my dignity because he's his firstborn.
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But then he says, you're unstable as water and you went up to your father's bed.
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And he's talking about the fact that Reuben had tried to usurp his father's authority by sleeping with his concubine.
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So he says, you're not fit to be the leader.
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And then he turns to Levi and Simeon who had in their anger and in revenge for the mistreatment and rape of their sister had killed not only the rapist, but every man in the town and destroyed every person either by death or by taking them into bondage.
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And he says, you two are violent men.
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And you're violent for violence sake.
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Not only do you hurt men, but you hamstrung oxen.
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You're cruel to people and animals.
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You're not fit to lead either.
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Beginning with Judah, he begins to give animal characteristics.
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He says of Issachar, you're a donkey.
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He says of Dan, you're a serpent.
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He says of Naphtali, you're a deer.
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But Judah is given the picture of the lion.
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And one may think based upon the oracle to Judah, one may think that Judah is an exemplary son.
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But you have to understand, he is not.
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It was actually Judah's idea to sell his brother into slavery.
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The other brothers wanted to kill him.
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And he says, no, we'll sell him.
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That way we'll make a buck off of this deal.
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We'll be rid of him and we'll have money.
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Then after he sells him into slavery, he goes back home.
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He abandons his family.
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He moves to Canaan.
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He gets a best friend named Hira.
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They live it up like a couple of rabble-rousers living in the land of Canaan.
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He gets a wife, has three sons.
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Two of them were wicked sons.
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And one of their wives, desperate to receive a child of her own, fools him into sleeping with her by dressing as a prostitute.
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Tells you a little something about his character.
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That she knew at least he'd be willing.
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So lest you think that Judah is virtuous somehow from his youth, he was not.
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But there was a moment in Judah's life where we see redemption come.
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And that's why I say the story from Genesis 37 to Genesis 50, most people say that's the story of Joseph.
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But brothers and sisters, it's not the story of Joseph as much as it is the redemption of Judah.
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Because everything that happens to Joseph has an underlying story that's happening in the background that God is redeeming this man called Judah because it's he that will be the one through whom the promise is kept.
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Not Joseph.
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Judah begins the story in rebellion and wickedness.
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But then in a moment of crisis, he is willing to rise above his brothers and offer himself as a sacrifice on behalf of his youngest brother Benjamin because of the love he had for his father.
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And just a few weeks ago I preached that, so I'm not going to bring it all up again.
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Becoming a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as a substitute for his brother out of the love for his father.
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You understand how that connects to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So lest we think Genesis 37 to 50 is all about the providence of God in the life of Joseph, it's not.
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It's all about the redemption of God in the life of Judah.
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And the redemption is recognized in these five verses.
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Genesis 49 verses 8 to 12.
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We see the redemption of Judah here.
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We see the gospel, the good news.
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God has chosen you, Judah, to be the line.
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Now I didn't put the outline on the screen today.
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It's three Ps.
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Maybe you remember it, maybe you won't.
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The praise of Judah is verse 8.
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The power of Judah is verse 9 and 10.
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And the prosperity of Judah is verse 11 and 12.
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So let's look first at the praise of Judah.
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He says in verse 8, he says, Judah, your brothers shall praise you, your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies, and your father's sons shall bow down before you.
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What's interesting about this is the word Judah actually means praise.
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I don't know if you remember this, but back when Leah, his mother, was having children, every time she had a son, she would name that son after the thought of her heart.
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Remember, she was worried because she wanted to be loved by her husband.
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So she had a child and she named him after that.
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And then she named the next child.
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Maybe now he'll love him.
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But by the time she has Judah, she says, you know what, I'm just going to praise the Lord.
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So she names him Praise.
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And so now we come to this passage.
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And in Hebrew, we don't see this in English, but in Hebrew, there's a play on words here.
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Because what he's saying is he's saying, Yehuda, Yaduka, Yadeka.
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In those three words, he says to Judah, Yehuda, there is praise, Yaduka, and your hand, Yadeka, will be on your enemies' necks.
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You will have power.
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You will have praise among your brothers because you are the preeminent one.
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I want you to think about this.
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Joseph had a dream.
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And Joseph's dream was that his brothers would bow down before him.
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You remember this.
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That dream has been fulfilled.
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When his brothers came to Egypt desperate for food, they bowed down before him.
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In fact, Joseph even said, this is the fulfillment of my dream.
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He said it to himself.
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He said, this is the dream.
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It's happened.
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Understand, Joseph's reign was temporary, and Joseph's reign was in Egypt.
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Judah's reign is to be perpetual in the land of promise.
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That's the difference.
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Because notice what he says.
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Your father's sons shall bow down before you.
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This is the same people who bowed down to Joseph, but now they're going to bow down to you.
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And this is not just Judah himself, but this is a promise that the 12 tribes of Israel, 11 of those tribes would bow to the one tribe, the tribe of Judah.
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There will come a time when all of the tribes would be subjected to the tribe of Judah.
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This, of course, I believe is a picture of the coming of the time of David, when all of the tribes would bow down to King David.
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But understand, it happened even before that.
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Bruce Waltke says this.
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He says, in the wilderness, Judah was by far the largest tribe.
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In the frame of judges, both in the settlement of the land after the conquest and in the civil war against Benjamin, God appoints Judah to lead the tribes.
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And the book of Samuel celebrates David and Judah's hegemony over the other tribes.
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In the book of Kings, the lamp of David remains lit.
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So this is not just David.
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This is the whole tribe of Judah will have preeminence among the other brothers.
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And what we're going to see is that preeminence finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We'll get there in a few minutes.
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But understand, that preeminent line would find its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He is the one to whom every knee will bow.
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So let's look now at the power of Judah.
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So we've seen first the praise of Judah.
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Now let's look at the power of Judah in verse 9.
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Says, Judah is a lion's cub.
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From the prey, my son, you've gone up.
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He stooped down.
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He crouched as a lion and as a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The lion is recognized and has been recognized for thousands of years for its unparalleled power within the animal kingdom.
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Very few other animals in the animal kingdom pose any threat at all to the lion, even those which outweigh him by great amount.
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In fact, what do we call the lion? The king.
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They don't even live in a jungle.
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You ever thought about that? They live out in the desert and the Sahara and all that.
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They don't live in a jungle, but they're still the king.
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Because if they were there, they would rule there too.
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The roar of the lion can be heard up to five miles away.
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The muscular physique and majestic mane outline an impressive beast that could only be described as kingly and majestic.
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The massive raw power and lack of fear make them a formidable enemy.
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And only a fool would go up to a sleeping lioness and wake it up.
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That's what he says.
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As a lioness who dares to rouse him.
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So the lion is the perfect description of the power of Judah's tribe.
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He will have preeminence.
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He will have the power and the scepter.
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Verse 10.
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The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet.
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Now, before we get to the next phrase, because I'm going to have to explain it, just I want to make sure everybody's understanding.
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The scepter was the staff that the king would hold, which represented his authority.
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And that scepter being in his hand was what was the picture of that authority.
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And so, like if a king were dying, he might pass his scepter on to his son.
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And when the son receives the scepter, that's a symbol of receiving that authority.
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So the scepter represents kingship.
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The scepter represents authority, just like the lion.
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Lion is the king of the animal kingdom.
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Judah, you're the lion.
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We get the analogy.
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The scepter will not depart.
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The scepter represents kingship.
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The scepter will not depart.
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It represents authority.
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And we see that power.
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We see that authority.
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We see King David.
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The greatest of all earthly kings in the history of man was David.
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Even with all of his failures, even with all of his mistakes, even with his great sin, for which he did not only receive great punishment, but repented and received the forgiveness of God.
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He was called a man after God's own heart.
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Saul, the king that came before him.
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Saul has killed his thousands, but David, his ten thousands.
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By the way, men, I don't know.
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This ain't even in my notes.
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I'm just going to say we suffer from a pandemic of weakness among men.
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And we got to get rid of that.
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This absolute weakness that we carry about thinking it's virtue because we've been taught to act like women is garbage.
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We are not called to be children and we're not called to be women.
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We are called to be men.
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And the apostle Paul says, act like men.
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David was a man.
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A man after God's own heart.
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And the scepter shall not depart from his house until.
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Boy, that word's important.
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And this is where the teaching is going to get a little deep for just a minute.
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Put on your waders.
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They're going to get a little deep for just a minute because I don't know what Bible you're holding.
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But if you're holding an ESV, it ain't right.
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I'm just going to say it.
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Now, I'm an ESV guy.
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I read the ESV.
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I study out of it.
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I use it.
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But I am not beholden to it.
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The ESV, I believe at this point, tries to satisfy a textual variant with the Septuagint that I think is an unnecessary thing.
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But I want to also say this.
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I ain't sure that.
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All right, so here it is.
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Some of your Bibles say until Shiloh comes, right? Now, we know Shiloh is the name of a city in the Old Testament.
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But it's also a word which means peace.
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And it can mean the name of a person.
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So a lot of people think that it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We'll come back to that in a minute.
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Because I do tend to agree with that.
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But let's focus more, though, on why some translations translate this different.
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The Hebrew word is Shiloh.
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So the King James is not translating it.
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It's simply taking the Hebrew word and putting it in the text.
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They're transliterating.
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It's the same like with the word baptize.
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Baptize means to immerse.
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They don't translate it baptize.
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They just transliterate the Greek word baptizo into English baptize.
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It's not an English word.
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It's a Greek word transliterated in English.
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Same way with the word Shiloh.
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The word Shiloh is transliterated into English.
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And there ain't a scholar alive that agrees.
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Everybody's got a different opinion as to what it means.
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Shiloh in Hebrew, again, like I said, it represents the idea of peace.
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But as I mentioned earlier, the Septuagint, which is an old Greek translation, says the word apokamena.
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And apokamena means that which is appointed or that which is reserved.
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I do think that's what the ESV was trying to get when they put the word tribute there.
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But I think it totally arrests and divides what the intention of the text is.
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Because the intention of the text is that the staff will remain, the scepter will remain until the one for whom it was given comes.
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That's the idea.
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And that's actually translated that way in the New English translation.
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Until he who it belongs to comes.
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That's the idea.
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It's the idea that there's a staff and it is going to be in this tribe of Judah and it's going to be passed along until the one comes to whom it belongs.
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And the one to whom it belongs is the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And that's the concept here.
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There's one coming that this staff belongs to.
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That's why I don't think the idea of tribute.
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Because the idea of tribute in the ESV is the idea that we're giving tribute back to Judah.
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No, we've given tribute to Judah and it's being passed along.
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But there's one coming to whom it belongs.
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And when it gets to him, it ain't going anywhere else.
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There's one coming to whom it belongs.
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And it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
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This becomes a Messianic prophecy saying that there is coming a day where there's one coming to whom this staff belongs.
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Bruce Waltke says this, in spite of the difficulties in interpreting...
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Excuse me, let me try again.
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In spite of the difficulties in the interpretation of Shiloh, all interpreters agree.
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Hear this.
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All interpreters agree that Jacob's blessing, granting the tribe of Judah eternal kingship over the nations, pertains to David and the Davidic covenant.
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But it doesn't stop there.
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One Qumran scroll, and if you're unfamiliar with Qumran, this is the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ones that were pulled out of the cave there in Qumran.
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It interprets it to mean this, quote, until the coming of the Messiah.
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That that's what this means.
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That the scepter will not depart from Judah until the Messiah comes.
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Another Aramaic translation translates this, until the Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom, and him shall the nations obey.
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So in sum, the Old Testament, the prophetic blessing of Judah is fulfilled in David, it is fulfilled in the house of David, but it is greater fulfilled in the New Testament as it is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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Now I could have just said at the beginning, y'all might have been happier, but I'm just saying, I want to show you how I get to where I'm going.
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I don't want somebody saying, well, I don't think that's what it means.
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That's what it means.
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It's telling us that there's a scepter that has been placed in this family, and it's going to go down and down and down until the one to whom it belongs picks it up and with him it will be forever.
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So the power expressed through Judah, given through the monarchy, is finally fulfilled in the kingdom of the Messiah, to whom all the world will bow.
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Notice what it says.
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It says, and to him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
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Notice it's not just the obedience of Israel.
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Notice it's not just the obedience of the tribes, but it's the obedience of everyone.
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And what are we told in the book of Galatians? I'm sorry, in the book of Philippians.
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That at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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I tell you now today, you will bow the knee here, or you will bow the knee there, but no man, I don't care whether he's Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens or any man who says I'm going to stand up and spit in his face, he's going to be broken on his knees, and he's going to be begging for his own mercy.
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When he stands before the living God, don't you for a minute think you're going to talk back to the God who made you.
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Who are you, old man, to answer back to God? The last thing we see is the prosperity of Judah.
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This is verses 11 and 12.
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It says, binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's coat to the choice vine, he's washed his garments in wine, his vesture in the blood of grapes, his eyes are darker than wine, his teeth are whiter than milk.
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I tell you what, that might not make a lot of sense, because it's poetry.
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I ain't never been much of a poet.
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See, I didn't even say it right then.
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I'm not a poet.
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Understanding poetry is sometimes my Achilles heel, but I know what this means.
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He's saying this.
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He's saying that when Shiloh comes, when that one for whom it belongs comes, when this Messiah comes in his glory, he will bring about a prosperity that is unmatched.
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Here's how we know that.
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He says he's going to bind his foal, that's the donkey, to the vine.
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Let me tell you something about agriculture.
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Animals are going to eat anything you give them.
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And you've got to be a fairly well-off guy to go attaching your animal to your grapevine, because that animal is going to eat everything on that vine.
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But if you're a rich man, you don't care.
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If you have an abundance, you don't care what he eats, because you've got a lot of more.
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I don't know if you've ever heard that term, a lot of more, but you've got a lot of more.
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And that's the idea, is you've got more, so he can tie his donkey to the vine and not worry about what the donkey is going to eat.
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He can wash his clothes in wine.
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That doesn't even make sense.
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Wine doesn't make them clean.
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That ain't the point.
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The poetry is, you know what you use to wash your clothes now, right? Tap water.
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You got a little tap and you run it into your house and you wash your clothes.
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Any of you wash your clothes in Evian? No.
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You wash them in bottled water? No, because it's expensive.
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But when the Messiah brings the prosperity of the kingdom, then water, wine will flow like water.
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And it will be in such an abundance that it wouldn't even, it's going to be more than like water.
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What does the Bible tell us? Heaven is like streets of gold.
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Gold is so abundant that it's on the ground and we're walking on it.
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And the wine is so abundant, we wash our clothes in it.
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It's a picture of the prosperity of the kingdom.
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It's a picture of the promise of heaven.
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And he says, and this one will have eyes dark as wine.
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And the word dark there in Hebrew actually can be translated, I think it would be better translated as sparkling.
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That the eyes of the king will sparkle like wine and his teeth will shine like milk.
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That's a picture of his visage, his regal look.
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So the king is there.
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That's the blessing, is the king is there.
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What was the first sign Jesus did? What was the first miracle Jesus did, Bible students? He turned water into wine.
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Why do you think he did that? Could it be, and I'm just asking, could it be that he was showing his connection to this prophecy that in him there will come a prosperity unlike anyone else? And that even the water that flows from the well will be as wine in his kingdom.
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We don't need to wonder about how this passage applies to us.
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Sometimes it's hard, I ain't gonna lie.
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Sometimes figuring out application, once you preach the text, sometimes figuring out how it applies to us is not always easy.
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But this one here is fairly easy because I want you to turn in your Bibles and I'm gonna show you just how this applies to you.
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Turn over to Revelation chapter five.
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In the book of Revelation, John is giving oracles from God.
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And in the book of Revelation chapter five, he says this in verse one.
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Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals.
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And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.
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And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
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And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
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And one of the elders said to me, weep no more.
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Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
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Take note, take note.
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The title of Jesus in this passage is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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He's not one of many lions.
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He's not one in a long line of lions.
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He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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He is the one.
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So when Jacob prophetically spoke to his son Judah that he was a lion, there was a greater point in that imagery.
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And that greater point was the prophecy of the one who would come, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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Understand this, when Jesus came the first time, he was the lamb of God.
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But when he returns, he will be the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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He won't be crying in a manger.
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He's going to be riding a white horse.
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One more turn and we're done.
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Turn to Revelation 19.
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This is the picture.
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What is it going to look like? This is the picture.
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Revelation 19 verse 11.
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Then I saw heaven opened.
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And behold, a white horse.
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And the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True.
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And in righteousness he judges and makes war.
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His eyes are like a flame of fire.
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And on his head are many diadems.
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And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
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He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.
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And the name by which he is called is the Word of God.
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And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses.
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And from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
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And he will rule them with a rod of iron.
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He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
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And on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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This is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
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And this is the one to whom you will answer.
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If you came here today and you don't know Jesus Christ, I've got to tell you there is no hope outside of Him.
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Your only hope at judgment is that the Judge has already pleaded your case in His own blood and given you His righteousness.
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And if you are outside of Him today, my fear, the dread of my heart is upon you.
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Because this one will come without mercy.
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If you were in a cage with a lion, it'd be the scariest moment of your life.
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One day you'll face the Lion of Judah.
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And you can do so without fear if by grace you have received Him in faith.
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In the Chronicles of Narnia, the lion represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
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His name is Aslan.
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And at one point in the story, one of the little girls asks, Is he safe? And her companion says, He's a lion.
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No, he's not safe.
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But he's good.
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Trust in the lion because he's good.
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Father in heaven, I thank you.
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God, give us mercy.
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Open the hearts to trust in your word.
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It's the only you can do.
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In Christ's name, Amen.