I trust you pick up on the theme of that song. It's actually quite challenging to sing. It's about spending time with the Lord each day. Take this hour and make me more like you. It's a prayer to the Lord to help us concerning the need to walk with him. It talks about the rapid pace. You ever feel yourself caught up in the rapid pace of life and you can so easily neglect the holy place, can't you? because of the rapid pace and so that's what the challenge of the song is about to take time out of the rapid pace of life to have that holy place in our daily lives to meet with the Lord to pray and to read His Word and we trust to be made more like the Lord Jesus. Right, if you have your Bibles there this evening, turn with me to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis, as I mentioned this morning, we are trying to finish off what has been our Sunday morning series and I feel the Lord would have us just spend today and next week finishing off the remaining chapters of Genesis. and trust that you have received a blessing over the last two years as we've been going through this book. Pray with me, usually as a pastor I try and pray, Lord what book do you want us to study? And of course we do have times when we deal with just individual topics but just pray with me, I feel at this stage that we'll probably just go right on into the book of Exodus, very powerful book there, but just pray with me there, the Lord will just give me wisdom. and God willing we'll try and focus a bit of attention once we finish Genesis back on to the King James series and just see how the Lord leads each step of the way. Genesis chapter 47, turn back there, we read the most of the chapter this morning but I want to reread a few verses and then we're going to read chapter 48 and God willing, if time permits, we'll even get into the first part of chapter 49 tonight. We'll see how we go for time but we're going to try and move along here as we deal with the final chapter of Jacob's life as he draws close to death and the blessings that he pronounces upon his seed. So we're going to pick up the reading in verse 27 of Genesis 47, then we'll read on to the end of chapter 48. Follow along in your Bibles, please. The Bible reads, "...and Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen. They had possessions therein and grew and multiplied exceedingly. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so the whole age of Jacob was one hundred forty and seven years." It's a long life, isn't it? And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. And he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. and he said swear unto me and he swear unto him he made a solemn oath and israel bowed himself upon the bed's head chapter 48 now and it came to pass after these things that one told joseph behold thy father is sick and he took with him his two sons manasseh and efrain one told jacob and said behold thy son joseph cometh under thee and israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt are mine, as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine. And thy issue which thou begettest after them shall be thine and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, special town, Bethlehem. It's the same Bethlehem where Jesus was born, Rachel was buried nearby. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, These are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dimmed for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God, hast shewed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. Nisar stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly. For Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long under this day, angel which redeemed me from all evil blessed the lads and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim it displeased him and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head under Manasseh's head. Joseph said under his father not so my father for this is the firstborn put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it my son, I know it. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he. We've encountered similar things before haven't we? And his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for tonight and for the opportunity to preach your word to these dear folks. Thank you for gathering us together, Lord, and assembling us here in this place. We thank you for the church, which is a called-out assembly, Lord, that you've called us out of the world together as a body of believers, Father, to worship you, to know you. You are our head. Lord, and we acknowledge that tonight and pray that You would minister to us Your thoughts and Your heart through the Word of God. Help me as the preacher to just be in line with the will of Your Spirit tonight and not to get in the way of what You would have us to study. Lord, just help us to know Your direction there and Your blessing upon this time in Your Word, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I've entitled this message, Standing at Dad's Deathbed. standing at dad's deathbed because here in chapter 48 of Genesis and in chapter 49 of Genesis we have the sons of Jacob gathering around Jacob's deathbed. It contains Jacob's final words to his sons. And in chapter 48, we have a prophecy and a blessing concerning Joseph's sons. And then in chapter 49, a prophecy and a blessing concerning Jacob's sons. And so Jacob is at the end of his life. He is now 147 years of age. And the time has come for him to depart this world. And so he gives the patriarchal blessing. And it's not just a blessing, it also contains a real prophetic element. There are predictions concerning the various tribes and Jacob really shows shrewd insight or demonstrates real insight into the character of each of his individual sons and also with the help, no doubt, of the Holy Spirit, he sees their future and certain aspects of their future. So it really does make for a fascinating study, these final words of Jacob. And so we're going to spend two messages on this and we're going to look at the prophecy concerning Joseph's sons in chapter 48 and the prophecy concerning Jacob's sons in Genesis 49, just two simple headings there. and at God willing tonight we'll deal with the prophecy concerning Joseph's sons and then if we have some time we'll also just make a start on chapter 49 and starting with Reuben and going down there but we'll probably only get to about Judah. So the prophecy concerning Joseph's sons and in chapter 47 we read verse 27 to the end of the chapter there because it really sets the scene for chapter 48 and 49. So let's look at the context of Jacob's final words here. The context of Jacob's final words. The Bible tells us Jacob's age in verse 28, that he was 147 years of age. And verse 29 says, So the time had come for Israel to depart this life. You just notice there, the words must die. This was God's appointed time for Jacob, this great man of faith, to depart this life. It's a reminder, isn't it, tonight, that we each have our appointment with death, and God is the one who sets that appointment. It was time now for Jacob to die. He must die. The time drew nigh that Israel must die. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 2, that there is a time die. And so we see Jacob making preparations for his death in his final moments, pronouncing his blessings upon his children. And so because of the fact that the time of his death was drawing near, Jacob summons Joseph there and gets him to make a solemn oath that he would bury him in Canaan and not in Egypt. You see here that Jacob's heart was back in Canaan land, a promised land. He had lived now in Egypt for 17 years but he wanted to be buried back in the land of Canaan because that's where God's promises were. God had promised Israel the land and really this demonstrates an act of faith on Jacob's behalf. He was believing that while his seed would spend some time sojourning in Egypt, God would eventually take them back to the land that he had promised them. So we see the context of Jacob's final words in chapter 47 and verse 27 to 31. Now we note the content of Jacob's final words in chapter 48 and following and it's interesting to note what was on Jacob's heart during his final moments on earth here. And so you get the picture here, it's Jacob's deathbed, he's about to pass on but he summons some strength there and he has this first audience with Joseph his beloved son, the son that he had not seen for so many years until he had been reunited with him there and he'd been blessed with 17 years in Joseph's company. But it's fitting that he would have this audience with Joseph first and then the rest of his brothers after. it's interesting to see what was on Jacob's heart at this time and he speaks firstly there of the promises of God, verse 1 to 6. So the promises of God were upon the heart of Jacob. and he takes his thinking right back to where God first met him at Bethel. Remember that? Right back in Genesis 28 and how he was fleeing from... he saw his brother and God gave him that vision, how he saw the angels of God ascending and descending and God met with him there and God gave him certain promises. I believe that that really marked the point of Jacob's conversion when he first really came to know God because that was just a... he wasn't the same after that. Yes, there was a lot of work still to do in Jacob's life but Jacob's life changed from that point, he received the promises of God, he had the revelation of God to him personally there and he's looking back on that event all these many years later at 147 years of age and he's about to die because by the time you get to the end of Jacob blessing his children, he dies on the bed there. So these are his final moments and I think that's a fitting thing, isn't it? When you get to your final moments, if you're conscious What a wonderful thing to be able to cast your mind back to the day you met the Lord and to know that you came into contact with God and that you have been saved. So we see here, Jacob as an old man, as a dying man, is thinking upon the promises of God and God's goodness to him as a man of God and how God had promised to multiply him and to give him the land, give the land to his seed for an everlasting possession. Let's just pause and think about that for a moment as I was preparing this in light of what's going on. God gave the land of Israel to Israel as a permanent home. He gave the land to Israel for an everlasting possession. The land of Israel is Israel's forever. That would settle a lot of disputes. Now, Brother Sean actually was asking me, he sent me an email the other day about what are the dimensions, the actual dimensions of the land God promised. It goes from the river of Egypt, and you've got to check that, it's not the Euphrates River, it's a little bit further across, but it goes from the river of Egypt all the way up to the river Euphrates. Did you know that modern-day Lebanon is actually in the area of the land promised to Israel? So let's not try and take off the tiny little percentage of land that they hold now, it's actually a fraction of what God actually promised them. And I believe that they won't fully possess all of that until the millennial reign. But let's just remind ourselves of that. God promised Jacob the land to his seed for an everlasting possession. Now our hearts go out to the Palestinian peoples and we're not saying we don't want to see them saved as well but they do not have any right to the land. It is not their land, it is Israel's land. That's not politically correct but that's biblical. I'm surprised so many Christians don't see this clearly and we have to be careful because anti-semitism is sweeping the world and I'll say, as an Australian, I'm very concerned at some of these protests in Sydney, something in the order of 10,000 people protesting against Israel, excuse me, Palestine went in and the Palestinians went in and butchered those Israeli children, men, women and children and just mark it down, anti-semitism is satanic. is satanic and all these countries meddling in the land and saying, well we need to give this to this one and listen, the land is Israel's, God gave it to Israel for an everlasting possession. That settles it. so God had been faithful to this promise and had multiplied Jacob's seed because Jacob references this in verse 5 and 6. And so God had been faithful to Jacob in multiplying his seed And so Jacob is, in his final words here, is thinking back upon the promises of God. He also recounts the pain of the past. Interesting how this just comes up in the old man's heart here, verse 7, Old age is a time of reflection, isn't it? and I'm not speaking from experience because I'm not there yet but I'm just learning from Jacob's example here, I assume that that's what happens, you reminisce these things and here Jacob is pondering the goodness of God, he's also thinking about some of the pain of the past and how he lost Rachel. Then we have in verse 8 to 22 the prophecy for the future and let's look at this prophecy now. Verse 8, and Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, who are these? So Jacob, his eyes were dim at this time, he's elderly, but clearly he could see just dimly, he could see enough just to work out that there were two other people there with Joseph. He wasn't able to see them well enough to know who they were and he says, who are these? And Joseph says unto his father, they are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, bring them, I pray thee unto me and I will bless them. So he begins to bless Jacob's seed. sorry, begins to bless Joseph's two sons here, Joseph's seed and so the Bible says that the eyes of Israel were dimmed for age so that he could not see and he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. And so Joseph brings his two sons, he brings the eldest in his left hand, guiding him towards Israel's right hand. Right, okay, if you're sitting here, someone's coming that way, does that make sense? Okay, so if I was bringing someone to you, I'd be bringing them in, if I wanted to bring them to your right hand, I'd bring them in my left hand. that's too much deeper truth for Sunday night isn't it for some of you but there you go. Okay and so he's guiding Manasseh, Manasseh is the firstborn, he's bringing him towards Jacob, this elderly man. The patriarchal blessing was very important in these ancient times and then he brings Ephraim in his right hand guiding him towards Jacob's left hand and something strange takes place at this point, the old man takes his quivering hands and he crosses them over and he puts his right hand on the head of Ephraim and his left hand on the head of Manasseh. And the Bible says he guided his hands wittingly, he knew what he was doing. And he begins to bless the two lads and understand the right hand being significant, obviously the right hand would normally be laid upon the head of the eldest, it signifies a priority there and an order, but his right hand is resting on the head of Ephraim, the younger of the two. And he begins to bless them. Verse 15, And Jacob speaks of the person of God in this blessing. And of course it is the character of God which gives the blessing its value. And so it's lovely just to see what Jacob says here in relation to his God. God, he refers to him as God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. We could say that Jacob's God was the unchangeable God, he was the God of Abraham and Isaac his father. He says, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, we could say that refers to the faithfulness of God. God is the unchangeable God, He is the faithful God. Jacob had experienced God's sustaining grace throughout his earthly pilgrimage. The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. So, interesting the word angel here, you notice in your Bible it should be with a capital A, can you see that? The word angel means messenger, you look at the Hebrew word means messenger and it's capitalized here, that's interesting, isn't it? And this angel redeemed him from all evil, this is the first time the word redeem is used in the Bible and it's significant that it occurs as a description of the work of the great angel of Jehovah or messenger of Jehovah whom I would submit to you in this context is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. So very interesting there. Okay, so this messenger of Jehovah, we've seen some of the Christophanies, the pre-incarnate visitations of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the revealing member of the Godhead and so he would be therefore the messenger of Jehovah who had redeemed Jacob. Precious picture there. Okay, the redemptive work of the Son of God. He is the one who provides redemption. So that is the person of the prophecy and he's referring to his God and then the priority of the prophecy we have another example here of the younger being put before the elder and it's worth noting that God did this a number of times bypassing the oldest son in favor of a younger. Isaac was chosen instead of Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, Joseph instead of Reuben and now Ephraim instead of Manasseh. Why does God do that or why did God do that? I don't know, except that I would suggest that God's choice was for spiritual reasons, not just chronological reasons, okay? God doesn't always work according to the chronological order in a family and God in his wisdom knew that sometimes the younger one would maybe be more spiritual or would be used in a special way and we're just reminded of God's sovereignty there in these things. Then we note the particulars of the prophecy. What was actually pronounced as a blessing upon them there? Well, there was the blessing of reputation, that Ephraim and Manasseh would have reputation. Verse 16, he says, let my name be named on them, that's Jacob's name, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. So that speaks of reputation within the nation of Israel, they would be given reputation, also the blessing of multiplication and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And this is what happens, Ephraim becomes a very Ephraim and Manasseh became very dominant within the tribes of Israel and Ephraim particularly, so much so, that eventually the northern kingdom sometimes is just referred to as Ephraim. You'll find that in the Bible, when in the time of the divided kingdom, you would often have reference to Ephraim, referring to just the whole northern kingdom, and Judah, the south. So what you will see coming out of Jacob's sons are two very dominant streams. You have Joseph's seed and Judah's seed forming very dominant and prominent positions within the tribes of Israel. So the blessing of reputation, the blessing of multiplication, the blessing of abundance, verse 20 and 21. And he blessed them that day, saying, in these shall Israel bless, saying, God, make these Ephraim and his Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Now, of course, Joseph saw what was happening here and was displeased and tried to grab his dad's hands and reorganize them and said, no, dad, you know, this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it. he also shall become a people and he also shall be great but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.' So that's exactly what happened. So you can see here that as Jacob is giving a blessing upon his seed, he's also giving a prophecy of what's going to happen in the future and Ephraim would become the more dominant and the larger of the two out of Ephraim and Manasseh. we notice the postlude to the prophecy, verse 22, moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow and so Joseph has received a special blessing here, he is bequeathed an extra portion of land to Joseph, or Jacob bequeaths an extra portion of land to Joseph. Now I would say in light of all that Joseph had been through at the hands of his brothers this was more than fair. Okay, so that's the prophecy concerning Joseph's sons. Then we have number two, the prophecy concerning Jacob's sons. I just want to make a start into chapter 49 here and see the prophecy now and the final words of Jacob concerning each of his 12 sons. Verse one of chapter 49, and Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. My, if the history of Israel back then was the last days, we must be in the last of the last days right now. Gather yourselves together, he says, and hear ye sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. wonder what it would have been like to be those 12 boys, one of those 12 boys. Oh boy, what's Dad going to say? Some of them maybe didn't feel so worried, others had some things to worry about and here's the picture, Jacob the old man of faith, 147 years of age and he gathers his 12 sons, see the picture there, they're gathered around his bed and he's going to speak a special word to each of them and and you will notice that there is keen insight into the character of each son but also a reference to their future and you'll see that as you go through and there's a real poetic sort of feel with it, there's a lot of imagery that Jacob uses and no doubt he was speaking in the spirit, in the true sense of the word there, guided by the Holy Spirit and there's a prophetic tone in Jacob's words as you will see, some very important prophecies are found in Jacob's final words here. So let's just look at a four of the sons tonight and then we'll continue with the next message but we have firstly Reuben in verse 3 and 4. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defilest thou it, he went up to my couch.' So Reuben was Jacob's firstborn, the beginning of his strength. Something special about the firstborn, isn't there? And that first child and especially within this patriarchal system of the Old Testament. However, Reuben forfeited his birthright, remember the birthright came with certain privileges and responsibilities, and he forfeited that birthright because of his unclean activity with his father's concubine, Bilhart, documented there in Genesis 35, 22. Reuben's life should remind us that sin robs us of true and lasting blessings. Did you hear that? Sin always robs us of true and lasting blessings. Do you know what most people do? They sacrifice lasting blessings on the altar of just the immediate. Don't sacrifice, one preacher said, don't sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate, that's what the devil tries to get you to do. Just have this quick pleasure now, just have this quick moment of delight now and don't think about the future, no, no, no, no, it's much better to wait on God, it's much better to follow God and experience lasting joy and lasting blessing rather than exchanging lasting blessings for just temporary lusts. So Jacob prophesied, you see there's an insight into Reuben's character, he's unstable as water, there was a real instability in Reuben, a real double-mindedness and because of that he would not excel. That was a prophecy that he gave and it was fulfilled literally in Israel's history. As you read the Bible, correct me if I'm wrong, you will never find the tribe of Reuben producing any great leaders. can't think of one great leader that came out of the tribe of Reuben. In later journeys to the Promised Land, the Reubenites were the first tribe to ask for a place to settle, not waiting to cross the Jordan with the others, Numbers 32. And Dathan and Abiram, those two dudes, those two fellas, were Reubenites who gave leadership in the rebellion of Korah, number 16-1. So yes, the Reubenites don't have a good name in the Bible but they helped there with the rebellion of Korah which led to the deaths of thousands of people. So there's a prophecy here concerning Reuben, he would not excel and that's exactly what happened. Then we have Simeon and Levi, verse 5 to 7. Simeon and Levi are brethren, they're coupled together because they were of the same spirit. Oh, my two kids are two peas in a pod, watch out, that might not be a good thing, depending on what they're united about. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Oh, that's not very good, is it? O my soul, come thou not into their secret, under their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united. So here Jacob is still so distressed over this, he's talking to himself, saying, O my soul, come not thou into their secret, I don't want to have any part in this secret pact they had together. And under their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united, he's saying, I'm not going to connect myself in any way in support of what has happened here, I'm not going to tie my honour in unity with what they did, for in their anger they slew a man and in their self-will they digged down a wall. So Simeon and Levi grouped together because they were said to be of the same character and sadly these two brothers were united for evil rather than good. Simeon and Levi are noted for their anger and cruelty and clearly Jacob is referring back to Simeon and Levi's leading role in the unjust slaughter of the Shechemites, Genesis 34. I think we could learn from Simeon and Levi this lesson, be aware of where anger can take you. True? In the case of Simeon and Levi, their anger led them to murder. Jacob makes it clear he would have no part in their wicked deed and notice now the prediction of their future, verse 7, cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel. You see the connection between anger and cruelty? So how can some people do such cruel things? Probably it's fueled by anger. Deep-seated, boiling anger. Anger makes you very cruel. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel. Here's the prediction, I will what? Divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.' And that's exactly what happened. You see God's wisdom there? You got these two brothers together, they had been very united in their anger and their cruel activity and God says, I'm going to divide them, I'm not going to allow them to stay united and working together in that way, I'm going to divide them in Israel. it's a good thing sometimes. If you've got two family members united in evil, sometimes the best thing that can happen is for them to be divided. I'm serious. Have you ever seen rebels united? It sometimes happens in families, you get two siblings and they're going to be like this for something wicked. Sometimes it's a great thing if the Lord will just put a wedge in there and just divide it. because while they're together they cause damage. Rebel syndicates. Now, it's much better as siblings to be united in something good, isn't it? Nothing wrong with being close and sometimes it's just a natural thing, I'm not saying we should have favouritism in a family but sometimes, you know, a couple of siblings can be just, they just get on well and that's not necessarily wrong but just make sure you're united for something good and not something evil. So as a consequence, Simeon and Levi would be divided, God would see to it that their evil alliance was broken and this was literally fulfilled in Israel's history. If you look at a map of the division of the land, you will find that Simeon was basically swallowed up within Judah's territory. Judah had a huge territory and Simeon was given a section of territory within Judah. So Simeon was surrounded by Judah and then Levites, well the Levites weren't even given a specific territory, they were scattered all over the nation, they were given 48 cities because they became the priestly tribe, which is a testament to God's grace of course, that God could use Levi and that's what happened, they were given 48 cities to dwell in throughout the land, Joshua 21 and so exactly what Jacob predicted took place. They were divided within Israel and scattered there, Levi was scattered throughout the land and thankfully though the Levites would go on to take the priestly function for the nation and Moses, a great giant of the faith, was a descendant of Levi so God's grace is still there isn't it? to use the Levites of this world and their descendants. Then we come to Judah and I just want to finish on Judah because Judah is a significant name here and there's a very important prophecy concerning Judah in verse 8 to 12. Here's what Jacob had to say on his deathbed about Judah. Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, 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? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and under him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal under the vine and his asses colt under the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. So Jacob had a lot more to say about Judah than the first three sons and we note several things about Judah and his future. Judah would be number one, a praiseworthy tribe. A praiseworthy tribe. Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise and the name Judah of course means praise again, we see the grace of God at work because in the early part of his life, Judah had not lived a very praiseworthy life. But we saw a great change in Judah, didn't we, as we followed the story of Joseph and how Judah changed in time. There was clear evidence of repentance in Judah's life and Judah became the one who would take on the Messianic line. And we still praise God today for the tribe of Judah because the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, came through the line of Judah. So it would be a praiseworthy tribe, it would also be a powerful tribe. because it says in verse 8 again, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemy. So Judah would become a tribe with great military power and if you're a Bible reader you can see that, you just look at the numbers of soldiers within Judah as one tribe compared to the other tribes, Judah was a very powerful military tribe, very strong tribe and the picture of course is reinforced in verse 9 where Judah's described as a lion. So Judah would be a praiseworthy tribe, a powerful tribe. Number three, a princely tribe. Verse 9 and 10, a princely tribe. And we notice a number of things about this. We see a symbol of Judah in verse 9. Judah is spoken of in terms of a lion. Now the lion is the king of the beasts, isn't it? So Judah would be the dominant ruling tribe within Israel. Albert Barnes in his commentary notes, in physical strength Judah is compared to the lion, the king of beasts. At first he is the lion's whelp, the young lion, giving promise of future vigor. then the full-grown lion, exalting in his irresistible force, seizing and overmastering the prey, and after reaping the fruits of his victory, ascending to his mound and lair, and reposing in undisturbed security." Let's read it there, verse 9, Judah is a lion's whelp, that means a lion cub, so that's the first picture of vigor and strength, 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? Well, I'm not going to wake up an old lion, are you? That's the picture there, who's going to rouse an old lion? Even if he's old, you're going to leave him alone. So the picture there is of strength, of power, of kingliness and rulership. ultimately this was a prophecy of the coming King of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, because Revelation 5.5 no doubt referring back to this ancient prophecy or connected to this ancient prophecy says, "...and one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof." So the Lord Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, that goes right back to this ancient prophecy of Jacob here. And as I think about the Lord Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, I'm just thankful that Satan, the roaring lion, is no match for Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. So we have the symbol of Judah, the Lion. Then the scepter of Judah, look at verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. So the scepter is symbolic of what? Rulership. So here's another part of this prophecy, the scepter would not depart from Judah until someone called Shiloh came. Interesting, very powerful prophecy this. So, this was exactly fulfilled because from the time of David, the scepter did not depart from Judah, Israel's greatest kings were from Judah. Judah was always the dominant ruling tribe, especially from the time of David and the scepter did not depart from Judah until Messiah came and I believe it's the Messiah who's been spoken of here, the word Shiloh literally means tranquil or peaceable, therefore it refers to a man of peace, the one who brings peace. In fact, the form of the word, I'm told, is related to the Hebrew word for peace, Shalom. So, prediction here is that Judah would be the ruling tribe until the man of peace, the one who brings peace would come, Shiloh, tranquility, peace, and unto him would the gathering of the people be. This is very powerful evidence that Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah, the promised Messiah, because the Messiah must have come sometime before A.D. 70, okay? As Henry Morris says, once the tribe of Judah under King David attained the leadership over the nation, the scepter never departed from Judah until after Christ came. This fact incidentally confirms that the Messiah did come and that he must have come sometime before A.D. 70 since the scepter passed from Judah about that time. So Here's the prediction, that Judah would hold the scepter of rulership until Shiloh came, the peaceful one came, and unto him would the gathering of the people be. Well that was fulfilled, wasn't it, when the Lord Jesus was here, we see the crowds flocking to him, the people gathering unto him. during his earthly ministry. So here we have a very powerful prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and we're reminded, aren't we, by the word Shiloh there, that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is the Prince of Peace. It's a lovely name, isn't it? Shiloh meaning peace, tranquility. It's a lot of disturbed souls out there. A lot of broken hearts, a lot of troubled minds, only the Lord Jesus, the one who brings peace, can truly bring peace to the heart and to the life. Only the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can bring peace to a troubled world. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. So here we have a clear prophecy of the Messiah who would come. So it's a very important prophecy here. Also, the other aspect here is that Judah would be a prosperous tribe. So as we look at this prophecy concerning Judah, we see it would be a praiseworthy tribe, a powerful tribe, there'd be military might, a princely tribe, Messiah the Prince would come and they would have kings and the scepter and then a prosperous tribe because verse 11 and 12 really describes prosperity. "...binding his foal under the vine and his asses colt under the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. The wine or the pure grape juice here and the milk speak of fruitfulness, blessing and prosperity. So Judah would be a prosperous tribe. But I would also say the figure seems to also look beyond and into the future to anticipate the future kingdom age when the Messiah will rule and reign. So, we'll leave it there and we'll continue in the next message but here we see Jacob blessing his sons before he dies, he's getting ready to depart this life and there are blessings for his sons, there are also some words of rebuke and admonition and it's a good reminder isn't it, to make sure we're living for things that last and to not trade true blessings for temporary lusts and sins. Let's bow for prayer, shall we? Father, we thank you tonight for your word and we thank you for this prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, this prophecy of the Messiah, Shiloh, the peaceful one, the one who brings peace and we thank you that you do bring peace to our hearts when we get saved and so we thank you for your word to us tonight, pray you just minister those thoughts to our hearts in some way and bless us as we finish off our series in this book, we ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you.