The Lion of Judah

[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to today's episode. The lion of a prophetic legacy. In this sermon, we examine the powerful and prophetic threads woven through Scripture. We trace the promise of the Messiah from the first whispers in Genesis to the triumphant revelation in the New Testament. We will start with the first declaration of hope in Genesis 3:15 and travel through the lineage of Judah, uncovering how this tribe carried the promise of salvation and kingship. From Jacob's prophetic blessings in Genesis 49 to the royal lineage of David and the fulfillment in Christ, we see the intricate design of God's redemptive plan. Journey with us to understand how ancient Jewish traditions and writings like the Targums reflected the anticipation of Shiloh, the peace giver and the lion of Judah. We will also uncover how this majestic lion is revealed as the Lamb in Revelation, a powerful image of triumph and sacrifice. Through this message, discover the depth of God's promises and the challenge for believers today to live as reflections of the great truth sealed by the Holy Spirit and called to proclaim his glory. Let's investigate the survey of faith and prophecy. [00:01:22] Speaker B: As I was finishing up chapter four and we talked about Grieve, not the Holy Spirit, I had mentioned Genesis 3:15, which, for lack of a better theological term, is called the protoevangelium. It's simply where Christ, or where God said to the serpent that the seed would crush the head of the serpent and he would bite the heel. It was the first picture in the Old Testament of the promise that even though sin had entered into the world, there was a promise of God doing something to correct, to change, to defeat the sin that entered into the world this morning. And a lot of these that I'm going to be sharing with you are pictures throughout the Old Testament. Some of them are in the Psalms, some are in the Prophets. But do you realize that God's promise of a coming Savior is even found in the first book of the Old Testament? It is why Israel as a whole was looking for a messiah. And I want to turn to the book. I'm going to say Ephesians too many times and you're all going to get confused. But I'm going to tell. I want you to go to Genesis chapter 49. In Genesis, chapter 49, we come to the point of time. They have come out of Canaan, they've gone down into Egypt because of Joseph. And Joseph is supplying the needs for a time of famine. And when everything was revealed, Joseph brought his entire family, including his father Jacob. Now, Jacob was already an old man, but it came to the point in time which as long as the Lord tarries, there will be times when we will face that time when the Lord says, come on home. And Jacob was at that place. Now, I want you to picture this. All of the sons who had originally decided to turn against Joseph and they had plotted to actually murder him, were now all under his protection as second in command in all of Egypt, probably under one of the Ptolemies. And at that point, Jacob called his sons around. And I want to read verses one and two just to set the picture. When Jacob called for his sons, he said, gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Wow. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to your father, Israel. Remember that everything that we have recorded the Old Testament, probably up to the time of the second Temple, had been told and repeated as through the family. What's amazing is that the older and older manuscripts and articles that we can find in archaeology attest to the integrity of God's Word. Now, recognizing that when we talk and tell family stories, do you have any one of those wonderful family stories you tell? You can think of a couple of them. I think of my Uncle Mac, who was in World War II in the Pacific Theater, and the pictures came back of him on the dock and everything, and the family didn't know anything. He had a very terrible war injury. Foot caught between a boat and a dock. He had broken his toe. But do you think of all the other family stories that go along, the ones that you hear? And yes, they may change a little bit, but they're still part of that family. Do you realize that today, a Jewish family, when they are celebrating the Seder at Passover, they actually sit there around the table in a good. Normally, the conservative and definitely the orthodox Jewish families will sit around the table and the eldest will tell the story of how God delivered Israel out of Egypt and the Passover angel. So what we have here is just before that time where Jacob has called together his sons. He is ready to die. And he is telling them, listen to me, because I'm going to tell you what's going to happen to you. That's unique. And so he began with the eldest child, and he didn't really give a sterling report as he was going through the children. But if you come down to verse eight and you come to Judah. Now, if you remember your story of Joseph, Judah was the one who did not want them to murder Joseph. And so he got them to sell Joseph into slavery to get rid of him. That was Judah. Now, when Jacob was calling his sons together. In verse 8 he says, Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lions club cub, Judah. You return from the prey, my son, like a lion he crouches and lies down like a lioness who dares to rouse him. Verse 10 says, the scepter or the shepherd's staff, the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come. And the obedience of the nations shall be His. Verse 11 says, he will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. Now that may seem a little bit interesting to say anything, but in verse 9, he refers to Judah as a lion's whelp. Your father's children will bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey. My son, you've gone up. He bows down. He lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who shall rouse him. You don't want to disturb the lions. That's what he's saying. What this passage talks about and what it gets translated as is that Judah was the promise of the lion of Judah. The lion represented majesty. It represented authority. And this is what Jacob is prophesying over Judah. That's strange. Out of all of his children, he's going to tell them that Judah, who's not even the firstborn, is going to be the one having authority over all of the family. When you take a quick rundown through the life of the family of Judah, when they came out of Egypt and they came into the promised land, they came to the place where God first time, was going to take them into the promised land. And they sent out 12 spies. 10 of them came back with a bad report. Two of them came back with the Lord's with us. They were Joshua, Caleb. Joshua came from the line of Ephraim. Judah had sent a spy whose name was Caleb. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who were loud when they came back the second time, ready to go back into the land. And all of those who were basically 20 and older at the time of that first time, where the nation of Israel rejected God and said, no, we can't go in there. Those people are too big. Only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to go into the promised land. You go down further through the family, and you come to a man named Boaz, who took as his wife Ruth. You go down further through the family, and you come to David, who is king and Solomon, where God said that he would establish the kingship of David eternally. And then Israel split. Ten tribes followed one side, and two tribes in the south of the promised land stayed true to God. The two tribes, Benjamin and Judah. When Jesus was born, they were in Bethlehem because they had to register for taxes according to the family registry. And Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because they were of the lineage. Both of them were of the lineage of David of the tribe of Judah. When you look at this, why do we even think about the lion of Judah as being associated with Christ other than a family lineage? I won't make you turn there, but I will tell you. I will go to the Book of Revelation. In the Book of Revelation, chapter 5 and verse 5, it talks about John was standing there and looking, and no one was found who could open the seven seals. And he began to weep, and he said, no, there's no one here that can do it. And one of the elders in verse five says, and one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Now, if you want to understand a little bit more about those seven seals, just real quick, this is a free and for nothing today, but the seven seals was actually a very Roman custom. And when you go and buy a house, you got to have the deed and it's got to be certified. That's what you pay all that extra money for. It goes through all of the proving that the title deed can be transferred and written. In Roman times, those title deeds to property were primarily on a scroll. And to make sure that it was official and it was sealed, they would put seven drops of wax along that scroll as the certification that this was truly a transfer that was approved. So John sees this in his vision as a scroll that God's going to open up and reveal what God is going to do in judgment over all who have ever been born. And in that last day. So there's a definite link in our thinking concerning the lion, the tribe of Judah. Now, I have told you a number of times that when I grew up, I grew up around a larger community of conservative Jewish people. I still regret not going with them to synagogue and learning Hebrew before I went to seminary. Should have done that. But when I have looked at this and I said There are many older documents. One of those documents that captured all of the thinking of the Jewish nation are captured in what we call the Targums. Basically, it was something that would have been put into the great library at Alexandria, Virginia, or not Virginia. No, let's go to Egypt. I got Virginia on the brain. But in that great library at Alexandria, this is where many of these documents were held. And there was one that's called the Targum of Oncylus. It is probably the oldest extant writing that talks about how the Jewish nation and how Jews would communicate what had happened in the past. So this gets back to those family stories. I want you to listen to the Targum of Uncleus for just a minute. Recognizing where the Scripture is, but what they've added. It says, judah, you confessed and were not embarrassed. Therefore your brothers will praise you. Well, Judah confessed that he did not want to have his brother murdered. And so he confessed that he was the one that got him sold off. Your hand shall prevail against your adversaries. Your enemies shall be shattered. They shall turn the nape from you. Your father's sons shall come before you and salute you from the house of Judah. Now listen to this. This is what the Jewish writings said about verse nine. From the house of Judah. Dominion shall emerge in the beginning, and a king shall be raised in the end through the line of Judah. Because you, my son, withdrew yourself from the sentence of death. He shall rest and dwell with strength like a lion and like a lioness. There is no kingdom that could move him. Don't ever think that Israel from back in Genesis heard about God's plan, even though it's veiled. Think of it this way. How many of you love digging into the Book of Revelation? It gets a little bit deep and we don't understand everything, but God's going to reveal it. I can't wait to the day that I appear before the Lord and I can start asking my questions so that I understand and see the pattern that God has planned. But from Genesis 49, you have a promise that there is going to be a king. And it says that that king's reign is never going to end. There is the lion of Judah, the one with authority. When you go to verse 10, this is what the Targum Oncylus. The ruler shall never depart from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children's children forevermore. I'm reading exactly what's written. Your children's children forevermore, until the Messiah comes. Jewish tradition taught that the Messiah was going to come out of the lineage of Judah. And it says, to whom belongs the kingdom and him shall all nations obey? Scripture says that in the end times, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not only is the lion of Judah the one in authority, but it also talks about the staff that he has. It says in some translations, the scepter. In other places, it translates the same word as a shepherd's staff. And it says, it shall not depart from between his feet. In other words, it's always going to be right there. It predicted that the Messiah would come and would have the staff or scepter of authority. Big deal. We know that in our minds. We say, yeah, okay, we know God's going to control. Do we? How many times do we say, lord, you have control of my life. We will stand in the last day. And for those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, who have come to put their faith in him, we will still stand, but we will be judged for the praises, for the jewels. Go back to the old country song. Will there be any jewels, any jewels in my crown? I don't know whether you've ever heard that song or not, but it's true, because it says that in the end times. And I want you to understand what this means. It's not that we're going to sit there and get promoted and say, hey, look, I did good. Reminds me of the old story about Billy Graham going to the St. Peter's gates. And St. Peter said, oh, you've been such a good evangelist, I'm glad to welcome you. And here's your roller skates. Okay? While he was standing there, another man came up, rather rough, shoddy guy. And St. Peter says, oh, I'm glad you're here. By the way, here's your Bentley. Billy Graham looked at St. Peter, says, Wait a second, I was an evangelist. I had all these meetings. Why do I get roller skates and he gets a Bentley? He says, oh, he was a taxi driver in New York. He scared the hell out of more people. But you see, there is a fact that we will receive rewards. But scripture says that the 4 and 20 elders surrounding the throne, what do they do with their crowns? We're going to cast them at Jesus feet because they're to his praise and to his glory. When I serve the Lord, I am doing it to glorify God for what he has done in my life. I look at the path that the Lord has brought me over these 76 years. Good grief. There are some things that are not very praiseworthy. There are some things that I can only turn back to the Lord and say, lord, you have supplied. I look at how the Lord has led and I've got to turn around and give praise. I'm going to throw my crown at Jesus feet because there's nothing that I can do but look at what God has done. He is a righteous judge. It says in verse 11. He shall lead Israel around the city. The people shall build his temple. The righteousness or the righteous shall be round about him. And they that carry out the law shall be with him in study. Whoo hoo. This is what the Targum says. This is what the Jewish people believed and were teaching. How often do we study God's word? I have told you before, I have to sit down and I have to look at the original text. My boss at work says to me, why are you doing that? I said, because I can't understand it unless I translate to figure out what God intends in his word. Because I believe Scripture is inspired God breathed, and I believe that that's literal. So I want to go back as far as I can and to understand what God wanted communicated. How often do we study to know the God of Israel, to know the lion of Judah who is righteous and will judge us absolutely fairly for believers, praise the Lord. He will judge us fairly because we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ and he has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. But for those who have never put their trust in Jesus Christ, and I look at it this way. If Jesus Christ came and died so that Scripture be true, whosoever will may come, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. Believe and confess with your mouth is what Paul says in Romans. If that is true, God has actually provided the way of salvation. One of the first things that those who have rejected Christ will face is they have rejected God's free gift. That's tantamount. Put it in a very personal way, that's tantamount. At Christmastime you have bought the most perfect gift for your spouse. I want to give my wife the best. So I went to Jared's and I went and bought a beautiful diamond ring. And you know, I've gone overboard. And on Christmas Day, I was so glad to offer her that box. And she says, I don't want that. I'm going to get my own. Good luck. I have the checkbook. But you see, that is exactly what someone is saying to Christ. I want to communicate, I want to share. And that is exactly what the church is supposed to be doing. It says, go ye therefore into all the world and proclaim the good news and make disciples of those who put their trust in Christ. You may realize that in other places it says, when it talks about when the Messiah comes, it uses the word Shiloh. That's in a number of other translations. And when Shiloh comes in this text, and that's in the original text in Hebrew, the word Shiloh can come from two different places. Hebrew is a lot looser than Greek because in Hebrew, there's three letters. Everything is three letters. And by the way, unless you're reading a Babylonian pointed text, a Masoretic text, there's no vowels at the bottom. So just think about this. Put any three letters down. Think about Father, you'd have an F, a th, and an R. Would you get farther out of that? I might get further. Don't think I'd get to fatter, but I would get further. But you see, that's the uniqueness of this text. But in Hebrew, there are two places that that word Shiloh can come from. The first one, which many translators favor, is it comes from the word shalom, which means peace. And Shiloh means the peace giver. Christ will come out of the tribe of Judah. And when Shiloh comes, when the peace giver comes to the believer, it's the peace that he provides, a peace that passes all understanding, but he will also bring peace. The second word that it can come from is the word shalah. And it to me just means the same thing. Shelah means to rest. He is the one that gives rest. I will gladly tell you that on Thursday when I got home from work, it had been a very full day. We had our audit. I had my Muslim auditor, and we were still talking about the difference between God and Islam. And he gave me fair warning. He says, I can't wait. He says, I'm going to take a whole day off. And he says, I'm going to come and visit you and we're going to talk. He says, I got lots of questions. Oh, Lord, help me. I'm excited about it. And I'm going to still keep reading every book I can find so that I understand where he's coming from. Because I know my God is correct. I know my God and Savior is the one who is coming again. One last thing that I want to show you. In the book of Revelation, in those verses we were reading, in verse five, it said that he said, do not weep. See the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. But verse six says that John looked up and it says, and then I saw a lamb. I saw a lamb, not a lion, but a lamb. And it says in here and I saw then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. When John was told that the lion of Judah had come and was there and able to open the seven seals, he looked up and he saw the lamb slain before the foundations of the world, folks. If that's what God communicated in the Old Testament, looking forward and Israel understood, Jacob understood God opened his eyes so that he could share with his sons what would be we Like John the apostle said, we have seen him, our hands have handled, We've talked to the Lord. And like we pointed out last week, for those who have accepted Jesus Christ, you are sealed a seal of our inheritance in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within each and every believer, and the Holy Spirit is the one who leads us in all truth. You see, we have an even greater responsibility because the Word of God said, there is no other way. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If that is the God we serve, how are we to live? How are we to serve God the Lion from the Tribe of Judah. [00:41:18] Speaker C: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you were blessed by this episode, share it with a friend. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. Until next time, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith, and keep growing in Christ.