This Day in History: 0000-12-17

December 17 – Genesis 49:9-10

Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness – who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.

PROPHECY

The Messiah (The Lion of Judah) would come from the tribe of Judah

FULFILLMENT

Luke 3:23-33 – …Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Heli. Heli was the son of Matthat. Matthat was the son of… Hezron was the son of Perez. Perez was the son of Judah.

Hebrews 7:14 – What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

Have you ever wondered why the genealogy of Jesus was so important that it was recorded in great detail in two of the four Gospels? It’s because there were SO many prophesies detailing the family line of Messiah. God told Adam that Salvation for mankind would come through the descendants of Seth, He told Noah it would come through Shem’s line, and He told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they were in line too. But it didn’t stop there.

When God renamed Jacob, and divided the new nation of Israel up into tribes headed by each of Jacob’s 12 sons, He made sure to let them all know which tribe would bring forth the promised Messiah. It was through the family line of Judah. God promised that this tribe would rule the others, producing the Kings for His people until the time when the One True King would come.

What’s really cool about Jesus is, both Joseph and Mary were of the tribe of Judah, members of Israel’s royal line. Once again, Jesus was a perfect fulfillment of prophecy, and still, the people didn’t recognize Him.

They thought He would come as a conquering King and reclaim His throne, but that is a part of the story still unwritten. We are still waiting for the day when the Lion of Judah will re-appear to rule forever with truth and justice from the throne of David. As His dearly loved children, may we never forget, that day is near. May we be ready!

Revelation 5:5 – But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.