The Rescue Story

Introduction

Well, good morning and Merry Christmas! Listen, I always love when we get to come together on Christmas Day as God’s people to worship. I mean that’s what Christmas is about, right? That’s why we put so much emphasis on this time of the year…why it’s so important to us…because of the promise God made…the promise God kept when He sent His Son to save us from ourselves…to save us from the hostility we created. That’s what Christmas is about. It’s a rescue story.

And listen, that’s why I love the book of Genesis so much…it’s not just a book about our origin…it’s not just about creation and what happened in the beginning…if I could sum the book of Genesis up with just one phrase…it’s a rescue story…and it’s rescue story that involves all of us. Genesis…it tells us the story of Christmas, long before the first Christmas ever occurred. And I think if you were with us last week, you got a snapshot of that through the promise we looked at in chapter 3. In the midst of our rebellion…in the process of Him disciplining Adam and Eve…Jesus promises to send Himself. If you remember, He promises to send a seed…an offspring…that would crush the head of Satan. And of course, we know that’s fulfilled in the Christmas accounts…in the story of Jesus…we know what Jesus did at the cross and how He brought us all salvation through His sacrifice.

But listen, this morning…I wanna continue looking at Genesis and how it really paints the picture of Christmas. In Genesis 3, we got an awesome sneak peak at what God was planning to do long before He ever did it, right?…He promised to send a person…a seed to destroy sin and evil. But in those accounts, it was just a promise…there really wasn’t any details…but when we come to the end of Genesis…God gives us a much clearer understanding of what this serpent crusher’ll look like…In fact, He gives us a very vivid picture of this Savior.

But listen, we can’t understand what God’s trying to communicate here, without first understanding the grand narrative of Genesis…and so, before we look at our passages in Genesis 49, I wanna do a quick fly over of all 50 chapters in the book of Genesis…Listen, that’s why we brought you guys together this morning, so we’d have more time to walk through this…I figured I’d get 2 hours instead of 1, right?…I’m only joking.

a. God created us for relationship with Him but we broke that relationship (Gen. 1-11)

Listen, we know that the Bible teaches us that in the beginning God created everything…and that He did it with just the sound of His voice....It says He spoke and then there just was…but listen, the first 11 chapters are so much more than that. What it teaches us…even beyond creation…its that God created us for relationship with Him. That was His purpose…and it says in Genesis 1:27 that He did that by creating us in His image. It says, “So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” And guys, He didn’t just create us with the purposes of relationship with Him, but also with others. That’s why He says to Adam, “It’s not okay that you’re alone,” right? And so, He created Eve. We were created to be relational beings. We thrive in our relationships with God and with others.

But what the first 11 chapters teach us…its that we broke that relationship with God…and because of that, we broke it with others as well. We looked at that last week when we dug into chapter 3 and the story of the fall. But listen, the purpose of those chapters, its met to show us that no matter what God does, we’ll always choose rebellion…after he wiped the world out through the flood and started over with Noah…it went right back to the same thing. We always wanna glorify ourselves…and it doesn’t matter the cost. We’re just rebellious people. He was showing us that if He left salvation up to us, none of us would be saved from the destruction that awaited us.

That’s the first 11 chapters. And of course, we know in those chapters that God promised someone would come and save us from this situation.

b. God uses the most unlikely people to rescue our broken relationship (Gen. 12-50)

In the second half of Genesis, chapters 12 through 50…what we see there is that God uses the most unlikely people to restore that broken relationship between us and Himself. In chapter 12, God tells Abram, “I will make you a great nation…and that through him…Abram…all the families of the earth would be blessed.” You see, as we read those chapters and learn about Abraham and his family…what we see is that they were just as messed up as Adam and Eve…they’re just as messed up as us. Abraham was a pagan that worshipped false gods and we see time and time again him lie in different situations…which would of course impact his family for generations to come, right? Isaac, his son, he would try and go against God’s plan by blessing the other son…Jacob was known as a deceiver…and of course, if you know the history of Israel…they would live in the sins of their fathers for thousands of years. God used the most unlikely people to bring about His promise.

But never the less, God would use this family as the forefathers of the promised offspring…of the promised Messiah…the serpent crusher…which of course brings us to our passage this morning.

c. God promises to send a rescuer to restore our broken relationship (Gen. 49:8-12)

If you have a copy of God’s Word with you…turn with me to Genesis chapter 49....Genesis chapter 49. We’re gonna read verses 8 through 12 this morning…but listen, in these verses, God gives one of the most descriptive pictures of what this Messiah will come and do…and again, He does that through Jacob…someone unworthy…someone just as fallen as you and me…and listen, even when Jacob’s speaking here, he has no idea even the significance of the words he shares with his sons in these accounts.

And so, if you’re there with me, let’s stand together as we read starting in verse 8. It says this,

“8  “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;

your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

9  Judah is a lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

10  The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

11  Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

12  His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

Thank you, you can be seated.

Now listen, to put things in context here…this is Jacob speaking to his sons…and of course we know that his sons would eventually be the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel…but when he speaks and proclaims these blessings and these curses…they’re prophetic in natural…these aren’t necessarily things his son’ll experience. You understand? And so, when he proclaims these things…Jacob…through the Holy Spirit…is proclaiming things that’ll happen in the future through the descendants of his sons.

And in our passage this morning, Jacob’s proclaiming the blessing on his son Judah…which in itself’s a pretty remarkable story because its one of grace and forgiveness as well…but listen, through this blessing, God gives us a glimpse of this Savior that’ll come. And we know he’s talking about Jesus, the promised seed…our rescuer because of what Matthew says in his gospel at the beginning…He says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.” You see, Matthew wanted his readers to know that his gospel was about one person…it was about the Lion of Judah…the promised rescuer found all the way back in Genesis 49…he wanted his readers to know that this seed…this descendant of Judah is the story of Christmas…He’s the fulfillment of the promise made in Genesis 3:15.

And listen, what I love about these accounts here in Genesis 49, its that we don’t just get a picture of this loving God that came down to us in the most humble of ways…but we really get an understanding of God’s intentions through the Christmas story and what its intended to do in the end.

There’s four things here that really define this rescuer that God sends.

1.) This rescuer will be praised (v. 8)

Look at verse 8 again. It says, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.”

Now again, we have to remember that Jacob’s not speaking about things that’ll necessarily happen to his son Judah…He’s speaking about the tribe of Judah. What he’s saying…all the other the tribes, they’re gonna bow down before Judah. The kings and those that’ll rule their nation…it’ll come from Judah…and eventually the promised seed…the Messiah, He’ll come from Judah.

And again, this story’s really fascinating if we had time to break it down this morning because Judah’s character, its questionable. Joseph's the real hero of this particular story that God uses to preserve His people and so the fact that this promise and blessing is being given to Judah, its really remarkable....which I think just shows us that if Christmas were dependent on the character of a man, it would’ve never come to pass. Judah and his story, its really a picture of God’s grace. He was a man of many sins…he had a part to play in selling Joseph to the Egyptians. The text says he married a pagan woman…he did business with prostitutes, right?

But never the less, it says that all the other tribes, they’re gonna praise Judah. It’s a verse showing us that instead of bowing to Joseph, if you’re familiar with the story, and acknowledging his leadership…the tribes of Israel, they’re gonna give that honor to Judah. And that word “praise,” there in that verse…it’s a word very seldom attached to humans. Only twice is it seen in that structure…which in itself is pointing to divinity. It’s connecting Judah to the promised Messiah.

And so, what we learn about this rescuer that God promises in Genesis chapter 3…its that this rescuer will be praised. He deserves our praise…He deserves to be glorified and exalted. It’s why Paul says in Philippians chapter 2 that “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

That’s the first thing we see here…its that this rescuer’ll be praised and that it’s our responsibility to praise Him.

2.) This rescuer will be feared (v. 9)

The second thing we see about this rescuer, its that He’ll be feared. Look at verse 9 again. It says, “Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey , my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?”

Judah’s compared to a lion here in this text. And listen, in the Hebrew culture…there was several very distinct words that were used to represent the different ages and degrees of strength and fierceness of a lion....three of ‘em are used in this verse alone. We see the lion’s growing power when he’s compared to a lion’s whelp…or a lion’s cub…meaning there’s more growth to expect…who’s only in the beginning of his strength. Meaning, when He comes, this lion of Judah…that strength…its only the beginning....while He might come as One humbled…as a servant…His power, its gonna look a whole lot different later on.

It shows us His righteous power when it says, “he crouched as a lion and as a lioness.” And listen, finally…it shows us a strength to be dreaded when Jacob tells him, “who dares rouse him?” Meaning…men will stand in dread of his power against themselves.

Listen, this rescuer…He’s at rest as a lion going up from the prey; seated at the right-hand of God as a lion cub…reposing after His conquest over the powers of darkness, and it’s at the peril of the greatest monarchs to rouse Him up.

And guys listen, Revelation 5:5, its a direct reference to this passage. Here’s the apostle John crying because no one’s worthy to open the scroll with the seven seals and he writes, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

That’s exactly the same reason why C. S. Lewis depicts Aslan as a lion in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Guys, when we think about the Christmas story, we think about this baby Jesus coming into this world…the Son of God…humbled in the form of humanity…humbled in His servanthood…we think about the joy and the peace and love…the hope that’s offered through this child. And listen, while all those things are true, very rarely do we fear this child. Very rarely do we see Him for how we’ll see Him at the judgement seat of Christ. He’s a lion…He’s to be feared…because He will deal with unrighteousness…He’ll set things right. He’ll fix all the problems we talked about last week that started in Genesis 3…because that’s the reason He came. To bring restoration. And those that oppose Him…those that walk in sin…those that reject Him....they’ll fear Him. That’s why the demons tremble at the sound of His name…He comes as One feared.

That’s the second thing here.

3.) This rescuer will rule with authority (v. 10)

The third thing…this rescuer will rule with authority. Look at verse 10. It says, “10  The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

This imagery here…it’s definitely Messianic in nature. The use of the term “scepter,” it’s reflective of a staff in the hand of a ruler. The scepter, it was a symbol of royal command. This rescuer, this seed or offspring…He’s gonna rule…and He’s gonna do it with authority. Of course, this had a short sighted meaning and a future oriented one as well. The line of David…it would stem from Judah and they would rule over Israel until this Messiah came.

Jesus is that ruler…and He’s not just our Savior…He’s not just the sustainer…He’s not just our Creator…but He rules over every aspect of life…over the physical things…the spiritual things…over everything.

And according to Paul…because we’ve been made new in Him…this seed…this Savior…He says, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Guys listen, because Jesus rules with all authority…because Paul says Jesus is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion…because He’s above every name that is named…in this age and the age to come…because of those things, and because we’re one in Him…we have authority over the problems we face. We have authority through the power of Christ…through the indwelling of the Spirit of God, as His children, to overcome the power of sin and death. Because this rescuer rules will authority…we have hope…That’s the message of Christmas…we now have the power and authority to rule our desires…to rule our flesh.

That’s the third thing.

4.) This rescuer will conquer (vv. 11-12)

And then, the last thing we see here this morning is that this rescuer will conquer…these last two verses, they depict Jesus’s righteous acts in conquering His enemies. There’s imagery here of the fulfillment of Zechariah chapter 9 where it says, “Behold Israel your King comes to you riding on the foal of a donkey.” And in those prophetic verses, it speaks about this rescuer coming with the purpose of conquering His enemies…It says He’ll cut off the chariot from Ephraim…He’ll cut down the war horse from Jerusalem…His rule shall be from sea to sea....the battle bow shall be cut off. Right? It’s about conquering.

And guys, the reason that’s important for us this morning…the reason it’s worth talking about here at Christmas time…its because at that first Christmas…Jesus came to conquer sin and death....and He did it through His sacrifice…through His death on the cross and through His resurrection.

But pay attention to the rest of that verse....there’s imagery of the winepress here…which is describing the hope we have as Christians. There will be a day that our Savior comes back for the church…for His bride…and on that day…its when He’ll tread the winepress of the grapes of God’s wrath in righteous judgement…just as it describes in Revelation. He’ll spill the blood of His enemies...and on that day, our Messiah King…He’ll uphold God’s righteousness.

Closing

Guys, that’s the reason for Christmas…that’s the reason Jesus came that night…it was to establish His kingdom…His rule over the nations....so that we might have real salvation from this world…from the wickedness of this world…and that’s why Christmas brings us so much hope…Its that what we couldn’t accomplish on our own…what we couldn’t overcome, this child…this seed…Jesus our Savior…He would. God’s intention for Christmas…it goes far beyond what we typically think about when it comes to this time of the year.

And so listen, as we bow our heads…close our eyes…would you reflect on the Christmas story with me for a moment.

Guys, one of the most popular songs we sing at Christmas time…Joy to the World…it speaks about this conquering Savior…this Jesus that will come and establish His rule and reign…it’s why we have joy…it what Christmas is all about. It says:

To our Almighty Maker, God, New honors be addressed; His great salvation shines abroad, And makes the nations blest. He spake the word to Abraham first; His truth fulfils the grace; The Gentiles make his name their trust, And learn his righteousness. Let the whole earth his love proclaim With all her diff’rent tongues, And spread the honors of his name In melody and songs. Joy to the world! the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heav’n and nature sing. Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love.

Listen, this morning if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior…can I challenge you to reflect on how you observe the Christmas season? The fact that Jesus came as a conquering King…it should give you the sense of urgency to reach your friends and family…because listen, you understand what Jesus’ll do…He’ll conquer. And so, when we think about this time of the year…and all the different things we do with those we love…we see them as opportunities to point them to this rescuer.

But what about those that have never turned to Jesus or placed their trust in Him? Guys, I urge this morning to see the real meaning of Christmas…And guys, I challenge you to repent and believe in the One that’s came…the One that was promised…the only One that can save you from your destiny and actually restore you. Guys, Christmas isn’t what we all make it out to be…its a message of hope and joy and peace and love because in our world there’s none of those things. Jesus came to conquer all the bad and He came to replace it with good. Turn to Him this morning.

Let us pray!

[Prayer]