Genesis 49:10 "Establishing the Divine Right"

Introduction:

I think it interesting that people actually think they can eliminate Christmas from society.

When I see the attempts that the secularist make it just makes me want to put my tree up even earlier.

I do get kind of defensive about cultural battles when it comes to Christmas but I have come to realize that human beings will never be able to stop Christmas.

The reason is, is because the real truth of Christmas didn’t originate with human beings.

And no I am not talking about all the traditions that have been added to Christmas over the centuries.

It is helpful for us to know the difference between real Christmas and what Christmas has become.

I don’t think that the additions are necessarily all bad but we can’t let the things associated with Christmas eclipse what Christmas is really about.

Christmas originated with God and it is rooted back in His divine decrees.

And God did this and progressively revealed His plan in His Holy Word throughout time.

One of the key themes of the eternal decree of Christmas is that God is sending His Son into the world to establish His Kingdom over which the Messiah King will rule.

This Advent we are going to explore this theme as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.

The reality of this Messianic rule can be seen in our text this morning all the way back to Genesis 49:10.

As we look to Unpack The Text it is important for us to know something of the background.

I. Unpack the Text

A. The Background:

Jacob is near the end of His life so he calls his 12 sons before him and he speaks prophetic oracles over them.

It is in this context that his son Judah comes before him and Jacob speaks over Judah who is his 4th son in order of birth. Look at verses 8-9 of the context.

We learn a few things here about Judah.

Judah will be supreme in his prominence over his brothers. His brothers will praise Judah and they will bow down before him. And he will also exercise dominion over his enemies.

Judah is compared to a lion’s cub who is ready to pounce on it’s prey (9).

All of these descriptions speak of the supremacy and dominion of Judah. But this sounds closer to Joseph than it does Judah. I mean Judah never got the opportunity to do such things.

Then we have our original text for this morning. Where the prophetic oracle spoken by Jacob establishes the divine right of the line of Judah to reign:

B. The Reign (10).

The scepter and the ruler’s staff not departing from Judah denotes the idea of an extended rule that will come through Judah’s line.

And that rule will continue until he receives the tribute that is due him. God’s Messiah in the end will rule over all the nations of the world.

The Spiritual aspects of this are alive and well in our day. Christ is seated in the heavenlies exalted to the highest place in the Universe.

And we know that according to I Corinthians 15:26 that the last enemy to be destroyed will be death.

And that rule over the nations will be a physical reality at His second coming.

But yet at this very moment Christ is seated in glory exercising His dominion over the nations even though the nations could care less.

C. The Application:

It seems to me that the application to our lives is largely derived from this last section of verse 10: and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

This denotes that the people of the earth will pursue a life of obedience to Him. The will demonstrate an allegiance to His rule and reign.

This is where we may look at the current state of the nations of the world and observe that people groups of the world do not live in such a manner.

People appear to be living for other things than Christ. For some it is a false religion and for others it is just some aspect of human pleasure that we live for. For others it may even be the good things that God has given us that we have moved to the supreme place of our lives.

The problem with such idols is that idols leave us unfulfilled. This is because our meaning and purpose in life is not derived from our idols.

We were made for God and we were redeemed by Him. Our purpose is ultimately lived out in Christ. Colossians 3:3 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

You see Christian, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the most transforming event in all of history.

Because it was establishing once and for all time who the rightful King is and calling and redeeming sinners into His Kingdom.

One of the great fallacies of the human condition is that fallen man seeks out his own self-imposed and self-defined purpose and meaning to life. And then commits his allegiance to something that will never measure up to his expectations.

This is why you can’t find ultimate fulfillment in your spouse or your job or your bank account or your material possessions or the pursuit of worldly pleasures.

The idols that I have served in my life have left me in the end feeling empty. And what I thought would bring about fulfillment and liberty in the end seemed much more like a prison.

Christian, this is why our ultimate purpose could never be found in anything less than in God through Jesus Christ alone.

Jesus Christ came into the world to liberate us by securing us to Himself by redeeming us and reconciling us to God.

So hard for us to have this Kingdom perspective because it looks to us that the nations are in turmoil. There is so much evil in the world.

Oh we like the idea of Him ruling the nations but in our experience it seems so contrary to how things are in the world.

Christian in this spiritual Kingdom Jesus Christ is conquering the nations one heart at a time.

Have you ever noticed that we can see so clearly what is wrong with the nations of the world but we are blind to the reality of sin in our own lives.

It is said that the Christian writer G.K. Chesterton one replied to a newspaper column that was asking people to write in and give their response to the question: What is wrong with the world?Chesterton wrote:

Dear Sir,

What is wrong with the world?

I am,

Yours sincerely,

G.K. Chesterton

Conclusion:

Christian you can’t have real, biblical Christmas without the Supreme rule and reign of Christ and the plan of redemption coming into the world. It is decreed to be the only true and real Christmas.

Oh I know we can have what the world tries to tells us Christmas is but you can’t have the real thing apart from Christ.

Unbeliever-Believe the gospel.

Believer- Cast your idols away. They will leave you empty and unfulfilled. Christ is our supreme treasure. God has established the divine right of the rule of Christ over us.

Rest in Him and in the sufficiency of His grace. He has given us exactly what we need for Christmas.

Confess and receive. Let’s Pray