The Coming Messiah Part Three: The Lion of Judah

 Genesis 49:8-12

8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;

Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

Your father’s children shall bow down before you.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes;

And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,

And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine,

And his teeth whiter than milk.

Have you ever looked into your family tree?  With today’s current technology it’s amazing how much easier it has become to dive in deep to your family history and see who was a part.  It’s interesting to find the history of our families and find out where we came from.  Genesis 49 begins to shed light on the family tree that will become the Messiah’s.  

So, what’s the big deal about this?  Why is this passage of Scripture so important and what does it have to do with the birth of Christ?  It has an immense amount to do with it.  For the first time since the protoevangelium, we get now a direct glimpse of who’s descendent the Messiah will come from.  As my father used to say about this particular set of Scripture, these are shouting verses!

As the history of Abraham’s family was expanding and the promise of a Messiah was made, many wondered whose line the Messiah would come.  They all knew that the line would trace back to Abraham, but now Israel (Jacob), had 12 descendants!  Out of which line would this beloved man come?  As the pages of history began to unfold, many began to believe that the line of Joseph would see the Messiah.  I mean, look at what Joseph accomplished and think about the dreams that Joseph even proclaimed.  However, on his deathbed, Israel (Jacob) gives them all a shock. The line that would receive the Messiah is actually the most obscure of all the brothers.  The quiet one actually, Judah.  Judah had been rather quiet among the brothers, but now Jacob makes the proclamation that the One, the Messiah, will come from his family.

So, let’s look at this part of the passage of Genesis 49 and see how it ties into the coming of Jesus Christ. 

Verse 8 says,

8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;

Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

Your father’s children shall bow down before you.

Jacob here tells all of the brothers that while they did fall down before Joseph during that time as Joseph had predicted that one day, every one of them will bow down before the line of Judah.  This is true in the person and the Savior Jesus Christ.  Scripture tells us that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11)  

Verse 9 says,

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

Many of you have heard the title given to Jesus Christ, “The Lion of Judah.”  We read in Revelation 5:5, 

5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

Verse 9 is specifically prophesying of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is like a lion.  Majestic, gracious, commanding of all respect, gentle when He needs to be, but ferocious as well when it comes down to business.  No wonder CS Lewis kept this analogy of Jesus Christ when he wrote, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Verse 10 says,

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes;

And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

In this verse we read that God’s chosen kings come from the line of Judah.  The scepter is a kingly item which denotes royalty and power.  We know that when the nation of Israel become irritable they demanded a king in the book of 1 Samuel.  Samuel proclaimed unto them that God was not happy about his decision and their grumbling, but the people demanded.  Therefore, God designated Samuel to give them Saul as their first king, but Saul was from the line of Benjamin.  God did this to show that man cannot force his hand and that when we do, we screw things up.  What happened?  Saul started off good but ended up sinning greatly and causing much strife between the nation of Israel and the Philistines.  In fact, Saul would end up even resorting to witchcraft!  However, God’s promise of a godly line would come through the line of Judah through David.  When that happened, the king line has never truly ended for Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord and Lords!

Verse 11 says,

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,

And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

Verse 11 can be somewhat obscure to some, but think about this in the light of Jesus and it becomes crystal clear.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the week of his crucifixion, we know that he rode in on a donkey colt.  The donkey colt carried the Vine.  We know through this same week through the Lord’s Supper that the wine would represent the blood of Jesus Christ poured out upon us at the crucifixion for the cleansing of our sins.  Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood, our garments are now “white as snow” cleansed from sin.

Verse 12 says,

12 His eyes are darker than wine,

And his teeth whiter than milk.

Verse 12 talks His eyes being darker than wine.  This is not necessarily talking about Christ’s actual eye color.  Instead, this is a reference to what Jesus looks for.  The wine represents the blood of Christ.  When the day of judgment comes, His eyes will look for the blood of Jesus.  Just as in the Passover, God will look for the blood to see whom He needs to pass over when it comes to judgment.  God’s eyes are fixated on the cleansing and pure blood of Jesus Christ.

His “teeth whiter than milk.”  Every single word that was proclaimed from Jesus is pure, righteous, and white in it’s purity and grace.  

So, during this season of Advent and Christmas, we see the fulfilling of prophecy when it comes to the birth of Christ.  Christ fulfilled each and every one of these even upon His birth!  Another promise kept, and that’s what Advent is really about.  God promised the Messiah would come, and the Messiah promised that He would come back.  God keeps His promises.  So we can have hope that the Lion of Judah, will come back in all righteousness, with His scepter in hand, to rule righteously over all as we all bow down, proclaim His name, and for those of us washed in the blood of the Lamb, He will pass over.

Speaking of Passover, that is the focus of tomorrow’s devotion.  We are going to look to see how Advent was promised during the time of Passover.  For tomorrow’s devotion read, Exodus 12.