(Gen. 49:8-12; Rev. 5:1-5)
One of the great laws of life is that a person reaps what he sows in life. God has decreed it to be so (Gal. 6:6-7). Whatever we sow, we shall reap. If we do good, we shall reap good; if we do bad, we shall reap bad. Usually, this principle holds true in this life; that is, we usually reap in this life exactly what we sow. But not always. Many people sin and do wrong in this life yet never suffer the consequences. But God has declared that a day of judgement is coming—a terrifying judgment—a judgement where perfect justice will be executed (Acts 17:31; Jude 14-15). But God is loving as well as just; He is perfect love. Pure and perfect love and knowledge are what move him rather than emotions. Therefore, no person will ever be judged for anything for which he is not guilty. God will execute perfect justice. We will not reap anything other than what we have done. We will never suffer a single thing other than that for which we are truly guilty. But we will reap exactly what we have sown. There is no passage of Scripture where this is better demonstrated than Genesis 49:1-28 where Jacob pronounced prophetic blessings upon his children. Among the most significant of these blessings was the prophecy concerning Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. An interesting thing about the prophetic blessing pronounced over Judah is that in that day and time, a father’s birthright included a double portion of the inheritance and the leadership of the family. But in the case of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—it also included God’s promise of the very special promised seed, the Saviour of the world. Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, had forfeited his right to the birthright and so had Simeon and Levi.
Consequently, Jacob, under God’s prophetic utterance, passed the birthright not to one son, but to two sons, to both Judah and Joseph. The Bible clearly states this in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2. “1 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright, 2 and though Judah was the strongest of his brothers and a ruler came from him, the rights of the firstborn belonged to Joseph)” What is it about Judah that made him to experience God’s unusual blessings? In spite of being the fourth son of the family, Judah’s life is a beautiful picture of a person growing into spiritual maturity. As a young man, although he spoke out against their killing of Joseph, he gave the advice that he should be sold into slavery (Genesis 37:26-27— “26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed”). He was also part of the plot to deceive his father about Joseph’s fate. Sometime later, he left the godly influence of his father to go out into the world and live a worldly life. He lived with a certain Adullamite named Hirah and married a worldly Canaanite woman named Shua, who bore him three sons (Gen. 38:1-5). Judah was later deceived into committing a shameful sin of immorality with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, the widow of his late son, Er. However, despite this period of carnality in his life, he was the one who humbled himself and emerged as the leader among his brothers when Joseph tested him. The change in his heart and life can be seen in three events: One, before his father, he offered himself as surety for Benjamin (Genesis 43:8-10). In Genesis 42, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to seek food during the famine. Joseph recognised them, and sent them home with food, but kept Simeon until they returned with Benjamin, his full brother (the only other son of Rachel). Jacob, having already lost one of his favourite sons, did not want Benjamin to go. Reuben asked Jacob to send Benjamin, saying in Genesis 42:37, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” This was a terrible idea! Should two grandsons be killed because a son is lost? No, Jacob said, I will not trust you with my son. But, in Genesis 43:8–9, we read the following: “8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, ‘Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.’” Reuben’s idea was horrible, while Judah’s idea was honourable. Judah said, “I will guarantee his safety;” “I will bear the blame for him.” Jacob agreed and entrusted Benjamin to Judah. Two, before Joseph, he pleaded and offered his life in the place of Benjamin (Gen. 44:18-34). The brothers returned to Egypt, dined in Joseph’s house (where Benjamin got five times the portions given to the others), and then were sent home with more food. However, an Egyptian who claimed someone had stolen Joseph’s silver cup caught up with them from behind. The cup, planted by Joseph, was found in Benjamin’s pack. The brothers returned to Joseph, and Judah stepped forward to give the longest speech in the book of Genesis and the climax of the whole book. At the end, he said, in Gen. 44:32–34, “32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ 33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.” Judah’s stepping forward to offer himself in Benjamin’s place made them to pass the test Joseph had set up. Judah’s pledge of safety and readiness to bear Benjamin’s blame demonstrated love (instead of envy), and showed Joseph that he, and his brothers, had changed. Three, before the land of Egypt, he was acknowledged as the leader by his father (Genesis 46:28-30). As Jacob and his family neared Egypt, Jacob chose Judah to go ahead of the family to let Joseph know they would soon be arriving. The family needed to find out where in Goshen Joseph wanted them to camp. The fact that Jacob turned to Judah to accomplish this task means that he had been chosen by his father to be the leader among the sons of Jacob. What were the unusual blessings that Judah experienced? (Genesis 49:8-9). First, Judah would earn the praise of his brothers for his military leadership and prowess (49:8). His hand would be on the neck of his enemies; that is, he would defeat them, and the other tribes would bow down before him, that is, would follow his leadership in battle. Second, Judah would be like a lion (49:9). The lion is the king of the forest, and a symbol of courage, strength, security and sovereignty. The implication of this is that Judah would rule over the other tribes. The third and greatest blessing is that Judah would be the tribe from which Shiloh, the Messiah and Saviour of the world, would come (49:10). One of the titles of the Messiah is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) and it has its origin in the prophetic blessing upon Judah. Both of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke record that Jesus is a descendant of the tribe of Judah. Jesus is the long-awaited “Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Jacob also said, “The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his” (Genesis 49:10). A sceptre symbolises a ruler’s absolute power and authority over a tribe or nation. Jacob was giving, in part, a divine prediction concerning the children of Judah. Centuries later, when Jacob’s descendants formed a nation in the Promised Land and kings began to rule, it was the line of Judah that became the royal line. Starting with David, the line of Judah’s kings continued through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and many others, all the way through Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Jacob’s prophecy came true: the tribe of Judah possessed the sceptre—the kings of the Davidic dynasty were all descended from Jacob’s fourth son, Judah. In addition, Jacob said that the tribe of Judah would possess the sceptre “until the coming of the One to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honour” (Genesis 49:10, NLT). Some more literal translations, such as the KJV and the NASB, render the prophecy as “until Shiloh comes”—Shiloh being a title of the Messiah. Last week we saw how God told King David, a descendant of Judah, that his throne would be established forever, confirming that the Messiah would be descended from him (2 Samuel 7:8–16). The One who fulfils this prophecy is Jesus Christ, the Son of David, whose kingdom is eternal (2 Peter 1:11). Jesus is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” (Revelation 5:5). Because of Jesus Christ, the sceptre has not departed from Judah. What lesson can we learn from all that we have shared about Judah’s unusual blessings? Judah experienced God’s unusual blessings because he offered his own life to guarantee the safety of his brother, Benjamin. Just as Judah came to offer himself to free his brother, rather than enslave him, so God means for his leaders to embrace the cost and inconvenience and loss of personal comfort and private joy for the greater joy of meeting other’s needs. God means for those who lead his people — whether as pastors or husbands or fathers or influential figures — to not use others or domineer over others but to lift others up and serve them; to sacrifice for others, rather than be selfish; to use their God-given strength and energy and resources and finances and influence to help others, rather than hurt them. This is the legacy of Judah: not exploiting others but sacrificing for them. Not pushing others down, but lifting them up. Not using power to hurt others but to help. This is the kind of man God wants to lavish His unusual blessings on. This is the kind of person that God wants to be king over his people, and leaders in society, and pastors in churches, and husbands and fathers. The legacy of Judah, of course, is not just for men, but women as well. But I speak today as a man to my fellow men. Brothers, God has put two Judahs before us this morning — the old Judah of chapter 38 whose words cannot be trusted, whose morality is compromised, and who wields his authority to hurt others. And God gives us the new Judah of chapter 44 who puts himself at risk to protect others; whose word is as good as gold; and who stands ready to sacrifice himself for the good of others. Brothers, God is calling us— in our homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces, and nation—to become what Judah became, no matter how pathetic your past, men who give sacrificially of ourselves for the good of others. Men who joyfully sacrifice their own time, energy, finances, and comforts to do the hard work of leading, providing for, and protecting others. Men, there are few visions more pathetic than the Judah of Genesis 38. And there are few visions more glorious than the Judah of Genesis 44. Brothers, God made you for this, and you will feel so alive, as a man, when you press past your laziness and past your fear and past your selfishness and live to protect others, not yourself; to put yourself on the line to be a pledge of safety for others. But the legacy of Judah is more than simply a call for us to be pledges of safety for others. The reason we can have hope, despite our glaring flaws, and the reason we can step forward to sacrifice self for the good of others, is because we ourselves have a Pledge of Safety for us. There is only one king, and only one man, who is the perfect embodiment of Judah’s legacy: “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered” (Revelation 5:5). Brothers and sisters, picture Jesus himself turning to his Father and saying about you, “I will be a pledge of his safety; I will be a pledge of her safety.” Father, I will not come back without him (her). I will bear the blame for him (her). And Jesus came and offered himself in your place, as your substitute. What enables us to be the kind of people who become pledges of safety for others is that, first and foremost, we have Jesus as our Pledge of Safety. And when it gets hard, and when you feel weak, and when it feels like it’s more than you can bear, you have a lion to lean on: the Lion of Judah, who has conquered. He will hold you fast. He will keep you safe. He will bring you home to his Father.
Your eternal salvation and spiritual well-being are our concern. If you wish to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, you can pray the following prayer to God: “Dear God, I thank you for sending Jesus into the world to die for my sins. I repent of my sins right now and invite Him into my life to be my Lord and Saviour. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you offered this prayer to God, please write to let us know through the address below. You are also invited to join us in worshipping the Lord every Sunday in Yoruba language at 7.20 a.m. and in English language at 9.00 a.m.
- Good News Baptist Church,
47/49, Olufemi Road, Off Ogunlana Drive,
P. O. Box 3781, Surulere, Lagos.
