The Bible Keeps Its Promises—The Messiah Is a Lion
The Messiah Is a Lion
Judah is a lion's whelp: 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? ~ Gen 49:9
Abraham begat Isaac. Then Isaac begat two sons, Esau and Jacob. Ordinarily the older son would receive a larger inheritance, and for Abraham and his descendants no greater inheritance could be given than the privilege of being one of Jesus’ ancestors, a blessing that usually went to the first born. But God told Isaac that the Messianic bloodline would flow through Jacob, the younger of the two. Then Jacob had 12 sons, who fathered the 12 tribes of Israel. At the end of his life, Jacob gathered his sons to his bedside to give a blessing and pronounce a prophecy over each. In that moment Jacob revealed that his fourth son Judah would be next in the bloodline of the Messiah. In Jacob’s blessing of Judah, we learn that the baby born in Bethlehem was not only destined to be the lamb Who would die for the sins of the world. He would also be a lion, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who would rule over the nations with great strength and swift justice. As it says in Genesis 49:9, “Who dares to rouse him?” The Lamb of God died on the cross, but it was the Lion of Judah Who commanded His disciples to conquer the world by making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Parting Thought: Sometimes when a promise is made, we think we understand it, only to later realize that much more was intended. Who knew when God promised the woman’s seed would crush Satan’s head that He was talking about His only Son? (Rom. 1:5)