Right, Amen. We're up to Genesis 49. Like I said, we're going to hit this in two goes.
There's a lot here to get through. I'm not going to be able to do that, I'll give it justice in an hour.
So we're going to go to verse 15, so it'll be part 1 verses 1 to 15.
Last week in Genesis 48, we saw the meeting between the sick Jacob and Joseph
along with Manasseh and Ephraim taking place, and we looked at how this actually
for me seemed to take place soon after the division of the land with the new tax
system of the previous chapter. That's why I think that was placed. With Jacob
dying, we saw described in Hebrews 11 as well, he was sick and seemingly close to death.
However, he then survived for another 15 years, the events having many similarities
with Hezekiah well over a thousand years later. And I'm not going to go into all that again,
but please, you know, if you're unsure about that or you're wondering or you didn't see that,
re-watch or watch that sermon to see all the reasons why that seemed to be the case.
I think as you go through it, it becomes clearer and clearer.
Now, during it all, Jacob blessed Joseph's young children, okay, his prophesying of the younger
Ephraim's line being the stronger, and then he made a point of giving Joseph's line the extra
portion that would have been due to Reuben as the eldest. It said in verse 20 there of Genesis
48, and he blessed them that day saying, And thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim
and as Manasseh, and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die,
but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have
given to thee one portion above thy brethren which I took out of the hand of the Amorite,
with my sword and with my bow. Then we go to Genesis 49 and verse 1 says, And Jacob called
unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall
befall you in the last days. I'd like to pray and get started with this chapter. Father, thank
you for your word. Thank you for this chapter of the Bible, Lord, this first half I'm
going to preach through tonight and the truths we can get out of it, Lord, and the studying that,
you know, that we need to do to be able to understand it more. And, Lord, help me to just
do that, you know, in a way that people will be able to just pay attention and learn from
your word and take in what your word is saying. Lord, help me to do that in an accurate way
and fully your spirit as well, Lord, and boldly as well, Lord, and help everyone to have
a tent of his. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Okay, so we're jumping forward now to the end of Jacob's life.
It said, And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell
you that which shall befall you in the last days. And we're going to see him die at the end of this.
Now, when he says here that which shall befall you in the last days, what days is he talking
about? If you've ever looked at this, is it the last days of their lives, of the world as we
know it, lots of people talk about the last days, you're talking about going into sort of the New
Testament days, and some would refer to those as the last days. Well, as we go through this, okay,
it seems to be the last days of each individual tribe, that's what I believe here, with some last,
some of those tribes lasting longer than others. You're going to see that. It's the last days,
but it's of those tribes. Remember, these are the fathers of the tribes, okay, so when he says the
last days, he's not going to talk about their days, okay, but he's also not talking about the
last days going into necessarily the New Testament, but we're going to see that with
with one of those tribes. However, what we are seeing is the last days of each of these tribes
again. I think that helps us to understand it as we go through that. It said in verse one,
and you need to bear that in mind, where it said, and Jacob called unto his son said,
gather yourselves together, I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Okay, definitely not talk about what we would call the last days, because that wouldn't
make sense with half of these tribes dying out much earlier. Like I said, it applies to
their last days as tribes, okay, individual. Gather yourselves together and hear ye sons
of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, now art my firstborn my might,
and the beginning of my strength, and the excellency of dignity, and the excellency
of power. Now, rather than being a quality of Reuben, okay, this seems to be a common description
of the firstborn. So in case you're looking at that thinking, he's saying, oh he's so great,
excellency of dignity, excellency of power, beginning of my strength. This is just what
the firstborn is meant to be, okay. In Psalm 105 of verse 36, it's up to you if you want
to turn it on, when describing the ten plagues of Egypt before the exodus, the psalmist said,
he smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. Okay,
so, and we see this in other places as well, the firstborn, even of animals,
described as a chief, chief of the strength of the, of, of, you know, that family of whatever
it is, okay. So really what this is here, it's a slight on Reuben as the firstborn,
he's supposed to be Jacob's. He's supposed to be Jacob's might and the beginning of his strength,
he's supposed to be the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
Now, think about it like this again, the firstborn, this is a way I like to describe it,
they usually learn more from their parents than other siblings. They usually will learn directly
more from their parents. They'll have more attention from their parents in those early
years. They'll learn less, like I said, from other siblings. The firstborn learns leadership
from early being the eldest as well. And this seems to be backed up and there's maybe some
other reasons as well with more recent studies that the eldest generally perform better at school
as well. I don't know if anyone's ever looked into this stuff before. So the data from
international surveys found that the oldest kids had higher IQs. And again, it depends on what
your view of IQs is, but regardless, it shows that at least amongst their own, they're higher
in IQs, performed better at school in terms of grades, and they're believed to be more
accomplished. So I'm just going to read a bit of a study that I looked at on this.
The 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth was used by researchers to assess parents'
evaluations of children, and they found that mums are more likely to view their first child
as a high achiever, with the later children seen as more average. Here are the theories,
okay, so you can work out what you think of this right now. My daughter's sitting there with
a huge grin on her face. Okay, but firstly, there's the divided attention, the other two
are scowling at me, and luckily the other two are asleep. Okay, here are the theories.
Okay, firstly, there's a divided attention theory that claims the firstborn receives more
time and attention because the attention isn't split between multiple children. Okay,
then there's a bad genes theory, okay, claiming that higher IQ is dished out to the eldest and
then diminishes per child. There's the I've had it with kids theory, believing that if
their second plus child is difficult, then they'll stop having children. The no one to
teach theory, okay, this is the idea that older siblings benefit from the ability to teach
their younger brothers and sisters. Building these teaching skills helps them build learning
that makes them better in school, so I don't know if you've ever heard of that sort of thing before,
so teaching helps you kind of, helps you actually improve yourself. Okay, the divorce
theory, family crises like divorce are far more likely to happen after the first child is born.
First marriage and divorce and a first child is not a common sequence, obviously, and they
can disrupt later kids upbringing. And then there's the lazy parent theory. The general idea
here is that first time parents scared of messing up their new child are much more on it
with teaching the first, but the second or third child, they relax more. Now, I want to put this
to the test, so who here is a first child? Definitely doesn't make sense.
Although I haven't met your siblings, so I don't know.
Okay, first child, do you believe this? No? Oh, well, no, yeah, yeah, what do you think,
is the first children here? Yeah, yeah, okay, 100%. You should see what, what do you think? Yeah, 100%.
Okay, so, point being though, we're in verse three where Jacob said,
Ruben now up my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of
dignity, the excellency of power, so there does seem to be some support that they'll achieve more
in one way or another. And like I said, at the least they're meant to have some leadership
ability, they're meant to have some leadership qualities. This is a description, like I said,
of the generic firstborn. However, look at verse four, unstable as water, thou shalt not excel,
because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defileth thou it, he went up to my couch.
Now, this is referring to him committing adultery with one of his stepmothers, Bilhah.
A couch is similar to a bed, basically, and sometimes you see in the Bible all the time,
just give like interchanging language, it doesn't mean it's like a second kind of,
a bit of, you know, a new situation or something else, it's just talking about
bed or couch being another word for it, I believe here. Okay, so, okay, he committed adultery
with Bilhah, and we've gone through Ruben a few times during Genesis, so I'm not going to go
into it in depth again, how he lay with his father's wife, it was his half-brothers,
Dan and Neftali's mum as well, okay, that's pretty messed up, just thinking about it from
that angle as well, I mean, what on earth, right? And these guys, look, they're living together and
stuff like this, they're around together, this isn't like, you know, even worse, is it? He's
looking at them in the eye after this, like, what a horrific, right? And I've given you my
views on Ruben, instead of rescuing Joseph, he had him thrown in a pit, okay, he could have,
you know, he could have not thrown him in a pit, claiming that he was doing him a favour,
to seemingly, it seemed like he wanted to be the hero of the story, be the one that rescued him,
took him to his father, he was more worried about himself when he then got, when Joseph was sold,
and then later changed the story to how he told them not to harm him, so if you remember
all of this, as we kind of looked into it in more depth, it wasn't just a clear case of Ruben
the Goody, or Ruben, who's a little bit good and a little bit bad, for me, the guy's
wicked, okay? Then later he's offering to have his two sons killed if he doesn't return with
Benjamin, and as we pointed out, what normal people offer to sacrifice their two sons if
they don't fulfil a task which was by no means a sure kind of winner either, it wasn't like,
well of course he's going to retire with Benjamin, no, I mean, how did he, how could he
have any idea whether he would or wouldn't, right? And he was offering to, and whether or not he
thought that was going to happen, how does that even come into your head, just kill my kids if
I don't come back? Then here he's being told he's unstable as Walter, which isn't stable,
like, Walter's not stable, and ultimately I don't think it's talking about, well, you know, does it
have a stable boiling point? I think that's not what he's talking about, he's just talking about
basically like standing, standing still, being in one place, the stability, Walter doesn't have that
at all, okay? So he's told he shall not excel, okay, either, and like I said, I believe that about
Ruben, you'd have to go back to sort of, you know, some of the the earlier chapters if you
want to look, look at, you know, sort of for me some of the evidence of what I believe Ruben is a
wicked person, okay? And to the point where if you think about it as well, Judah with all his
past problems, his father Jacob's like, no chance, Ruben, I'm not having you go back and be
responsible for him, but then not long after he says, okay, to Judah, yeah, you can be the one who
takes responsibility, okay? So anyway, that's what I believe with that, but most of you have heard
that preaching over the previous chapters. Okay, now he's told that he should not excel, and really
the tribe of Ruben seemed to fade away, being one of the tribes that chose to stay on the east
of Jordan, if you remember, that wanted that part. They did come and join in with the battles,
but then they came back to their, they chose that land, you know, beyond the other side of Jordan.
They didn't get involved much in many of the wars, when you look through and you look at
the history, you don't really hear Ruben mention much of many of the stuff that goes on
through the Book of Judges and onwards, and eventually being the first to be carried away
by the King of Assyria as well, it seems, okay? Ruben was the, seemed to be one of the earliest
ones to be carried away. Now, for me, look, what he's basically talking about is the end of his life,
and he's saying he shall not excel, and he didn't excel, okay? The end years, the end years
of that tribe did not excel, they just basically faded into obscurity and got carried away, okay?
That's what happened with Ruben. Now Simeon and Levi, then, says the brethren, instruments of cruelty
are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, mine honour,
be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self will they dig down
a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide
them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Now Simeon and Levi, being the two that slaughtered
the men of Shechem, if you remember that story, due to the the one of them fornicating with their
sister Dina, and again it was like completely, look, you know, it was so kind of out of
proportion for what happened, just going and slaughtering a whole city because of this one guy,
okay? Because of that one leader, the son of the leader of the city there is, and
remember it's calling it a city, it's probably more like we would call a castle or a fort or
something like that, okay? Now what's interesting is that both tribes ended up with very different
futures here, okay? So you've got Simeon and Levi, he talks about what they did.
He said, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, so basically like don't be close to these
these guys and to these tribes, mine honour, be not thou united, for in their anger
they slew a man, in their self will they dig down a wall, talking about basically destroying that
city. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide them in
Jacob, Scaph them in Israel. Now Simeon's numbers were decimated by nearly two-thirds in the
wilderness going from, in the first numbering there were 59,300, and then they went down to
22,200 after that wandering in the wilderness, and they basically just continued to fade into
obscurity, okay? With little mention of them over the following years afterwards as well, you
hardly hear Simeon mentioned, hardly at all as you go through the Old Testament. Whereas Levi
rose to a position of prominence, really on the back of the golden calf incident, okay?
Being, obviously they were kinsmen of Moses as well. Moses obviously came from the tribe of Levi,
he was a Levite, so was Aaron obviously as well. However, it was on the back of that, it was in
Exodus 32, 26, you have to turn there, where it says that Moses stood in the gate of the camp, said who is on the
Lord's side? Let him come unto me, and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
And then we basically see soon after them getting the job of being those closest to the Lord,
ministering, you know, the things of the tabernacle and everything else, was given to Levi,
really on the back of this, okay? Because very soon after they get given all of that
that job, the service of the tabernacle. Now turn to John chapter one though.
At the end of their history, okay, when Jesus returned, I believe that they were those chief
priests, they were those priests that we see described, because they were coming from that
from that line. Of course the chief priests, you know, and the priests came from that line of
Aaron, but he was a Levite as well, ultimately. And they were still described as the Levites, okay,
but seemed to also be closely linked to the Pharisees. So look at John chapter one and verse 19.
John 1 19 says, and this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites, okay? So
they're still recognized as Levites here. From Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he
confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art
thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou not prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they
unto him, who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest
thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the
way of the Lord, as said the prophet, as I is. And they which were sent were of the
Pharisees. So these priests and Levites from verse 19, which were sent by the Jews to ask
John who he was, were of the Pharisees, okay? So what eventually happened to the majority of
these priests and Pharisees, eventually? Well verse 7, back in where you were in Genesis 49,
says, cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide
them in Jacob. Oh yes, Simeon and Levi were were divided and scattered them in Israel. Now
they may have been divided from the tribe of Simeon, but they were all scattered in the end,
weren't they? Okay, so they were divided earlier on, but they were scattered. They
were scattered, eventually, ultimately, they were scattered when it came to that destruction of
Jerusalem in AD 70. He said in verse 6, O my soul, come not thou unto their secret,
unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united, for in their anger they still
abandon theirself while they dig down a wall. Which I believe is saying that they would be,
I think, divided due to the cruelty when they come together. When they come together,
it's bad for them and we see them divided and Levi going on to do some great stuff previously,
but then eventually they just send up one of these, basically, of the Pharisees. They're
making up some of this kind of group that are clearly just so far away from God by the time
Jesus Christ arrives in the New Testament, or at least, you know, before the New Testament starts.
Like I said, dig down a wall was destroying that, you know, small city. Maybe cast the
foot we'd call it, okay. So, again, what's he talking about with both of these, really,
it's the end of what happens to them. They're not joined together. We see Simeon end up
getting scattered pretty quickly earlier on, but eventually the scattering does happen to the
Levites as well, with, let's put it this way, most of them completely scattered soon after 70 AD.
Okay, now verse eight though says, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,
thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down
before thee. Now remember that Judah means praise and, of course, aside from the line of kings
after David, when talking of the end of the tribe's days, okay, which is what we're talking about
here, this is fulfilled through the Lord Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of Judah. His hand is
in the neck of his enemies, in that it's himself, the Lord, that will destroy his enemies, okay.
His hand is in the neck of them, he has ultimate control over the destruction of them,
and if you think about it, when will they really bow down? Because he said, thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children
shall bow down before thee. Which could mean two things there, but it could also be talking about
ultimately, if we're prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's believers shall bow down
before thee. But when will people, and if you could say when will just the multitude of people
bow down, it's going to be in the millennial reign really, isn't it? Okay, that's when the
multitude of people bow down. Now let's have a look at this, because verse nine says 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. Now a lion's whelp is a lion's cub, with the prophecy
perhaps being of Christ coming as a baby, as a child, obviously he starts as a lion's whelp,
being hunted but surviving, he said from the prey my son thou art gone up, okay, so he manages
to still come forth having been the prey, from the prey my son thou gone up, could be if
you're looking at it from that point of view, and then it says he stooped down, he couched as a lion,
and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up. Judah eventually, like Judah, eventually humbled himself,
so did the Lord Jesus, stooping down and couching, yeah, you have to turn to Philippians 2
8 says, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. So for me this is maybe slightly cryptic, but this is a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ here, Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey my son thou gone up, he stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up, and he was aroused wasn't
he? How was he aroused? Or maybe we would say risen from the dead, right? Revelation 5 5,
you don't have to turn there says, one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the
tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book to loose the seven seals thereof.
He's the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, right, he's the root of David,
and he does prevail, he prevailed because he defeated death, all right. So he is, he is roused
up. Then verse 10 says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Now I believe
that it's talking about the end of the millennial reign, I'm going to show you this
why. Remember that it's the last days, okay, it's the last days, we saw right at the beginning
of Genesis 49, he said that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
And for the tribe of Judah, those last days continue into eternity, don't they?
Because ultimately Jesus Christ is eternal and anyone that, what, how do you become a Jew?
Well you're a Jew by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, right. So what are, what are Judah's
last days? What's the tribe of Judah's last days? Well he's definitely not talking about back
in the Old Testament and he's not talking about the destruction of them because we're seeing all
of this prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the last days would be on this current earth,
okay, with the new heaven and new earth ending that for me. Turn to Revelation 21, okay,
where we're post-millennial reign in Revelation chapter 21. So the great white throne of
judgment has happened, the millennial reign happened before that, we see the thousand years,
we see Satan loosed for a season, after that there's a great white throne of judgment.
Revelation 21 and verse 1 says this, Revelation 21 one, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for a husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
behold the tabernacle of God is with men, he will dwell with them and they
shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are
passed away. So that, that ultimately is happening after the millennial reign,
because in millennial reign there's still going to be, there's going to be a battle at the end
of the millennial reign. Now don't get me wrong, millennial reign is going to be amazing,
right, it'll be under the ruling of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're still going to be
unsaved people, they're still going to eventually be, probably the whole time, bad people as well.
This is different now. When it goes into just full eternity with the new heaven and new earth,
now it's saying God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There should be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are
passed away. Now I personally believe that this is Shiloh. I believe this is Shiloh and
when I say this, if you're going, wait a second, this is only a bit far-fetched here,
isn't Shiloh the Lord Jesus Christ? Why? Why is Shiloh the Lord Jesus Christ? This is just a
historic view of Christians, have just gone, I must be talking about Jesus. Well, what does Shiloh
actually mean? Now there was, there was a town or a city called Shiloh in the Old Testament,
that it seems to just mean peace or tranquility. Peace or tranquility. Now, keep a finger here,
okay, we're coming back to Revelation. Verse 10, keep a finger though in Revelation, but verse 10
said in, in Genesis 49, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall be the gathering, shall the gathering of the
people be. Now many, like I said, have decided this is a name for Christ, but there's no kind of,
it's just kind of a theory, right? But I believe that Christ is already being prophesied as Judah
here. We've just seen that, haven't we? Yeah, couching down, etc. We're going to see it as we
continue through into the next couple of verses as well. He said, the sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, and we're talking about the end of Judah as a tribe, and ultimately that's in the
Lord Jesus Christ, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, but then it's still
talking about Judah for me, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. So the sceptre
and lawgiver being a person, okay, wasn't the Christ, wasn't the case when Christ did come.
So neither Joseph nor, and Joseph being the stepfather, but who they assumed was who
he came from, nor Mary's lines were ruling. Joseph was a kingly line, but none of these
people were ruling. Joseph wasn't ruling from his carpenter's stall, you know, there was no ruling
there, there was no sceptre there at that point. Herod and his family were eidomians, or eidomites,
okay, they weren't from the tribe of Judah. So for me, Judah here, okay, continuing from that
couch line is the prophesied Christ who will rule and reign until the end of the millennial reign.
The people shall be gathered unto him, as opposed to Shiloh being him, okay, unto him being that
Judah, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. He's ruling with
a sceptre, and what is a sceptre? What is it? What does it mean? It's the staff for a rod,
and who rules with a staff for a rod? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to
turn there, but you can if you want, as you've got something in Revelation. Revelation 12
and verse 5, Revelation 12 says that she brought forth a man child who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. So he will
rule with the law of God until that final battle of Gog and Magog, followed by the
great white throne of judgment, okay. And then it's a gathering of his people in the new
heaven and the new earth, and back in verse 11, the prophecies of Christ from the tribe of Judah
continue, and we're going to see like a couple, there's a couple of things here, because we're
going to see pictures of obviously Jesus Christ, death, etc, but also you're going to see what
it's describing here in a minute. Look at verse 11, with that in mind, back in Genesis 49.
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass his colt unto the choice vine, he washed his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. Now this is a prophecy of the death of
Christ, you know, or that's one of the things that this is. Remember him riding into Jerusalem
on that colt? Matthew 21 5 says, tell ye the daughters of Sion, behold thy king cometh unto
thee meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt, the foal of an ass. Now washing his garments in wine
in the blood of grapes, he's talking about the blood of Christ shed for our sins obviously,
but I believe the inclusion of the vine here with those young animals is a picture
of believers being branches of the vine, okay? Turn to John 15, John 15, keep something still
in Revelation, where Jesus Christ gives this analogy in John 15 and verse 1. John 15
1 says this, we've just read binding his foal unto the vine and his ass his colt unto the choice
vine, and John 15 1 says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman, every branch of me that
beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it
may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,
abide in me and I and you, as a branch cannot bear fruit for itself, except it abide in a vine,
no more can ye accept ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth
me and I and him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. So with
the foal and colt, picturing those who have taken that rest in Christ, so he said binding his
foal unto the vine and his ass his colt unto the choice vine. Do you remember when we looked
through the Bible study of Matthew, and Matthew 11 30 talks about, for my yoke is easier, my burden
is light, so light that a colt and foal are able to bear it, and that's a picture of him riding
into Jerusalem on the back of basically very young animals that shouldn't be bearing him,
but he's being bared upon them because it's a picture of that easy yoke, that light burden.
But here's the thing, although these are, you know, for me some prophecies, some pictures, or at least
some kind of allusions to his death, this is describing the return in Christ. Look at verse 10,
where it said in Genesis 49, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal
unto the vine, his ass his colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine,
and his clothes in the blood of grapes, his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white
with milk. Go back to Revelation chapter 19, this is giving us an image of those last days,
okay, look at the similarities of the description of the return in Christ. So Revelation 19 and
verse 11, we've just read, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh come, until him shall be the gathering of the people be. Binding his
foal unto the vine, his ass his colt unto the choice vine, for me picturing believers
being joined to him, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes,
his eyes shall be red with wine, his teeth white with milk. Well verse 11 in Revelation 19
says, and I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of
fire, we've just seen, his eyes shall be red with wine, and on his head were many crowns,
and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood. We've just seen that he washed his garments in wine, his clothes in
the blood of grapes, and his name is called the word of God, and the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, we just saw, binding his foal unto the vine, his ass his
colt unto the choice vine, they followed on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
and out of, so they're obviously believers, and out of his mouth goeth the sharp sword,
and we've just read, and his teeth white with milk, okay, and with it he should smite,
and I'm going to explain it to you in a second, and with it he should smite the nation,
he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and obviously we've just seen about that
scepter, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of wrath of almighty God. Now the sword
that we've just seen here, and it said his teeth white with milk, the sword is the word of God,
also described as the milk of the word, okay. Verse 16, and he hath on his restaurant on this
sire name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, with that thousand year reign to come in
Judah's last days. That's what I believe that that picture is of, that's what that prophecy
is of, it's of the returning Lord Jesus Christ. I'd be interested what you think afterwards, I think
that's what we're seeing there, that's what that picture is about, and ultimately that's
the end of the days of Judah, isn't it, in terms of at least the end of days as we know it,
until we then go into a new heaven and new earth after that. Verse 13, back in Genesis 49,
says this, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and
his borders shall be under some soil. This is before I go on, so like I said, you can believe what
you're like with that, but Shiloh for me, that's what it's talking about, it's talking about
that coming last, that coming peace, that coming tranquility that will be at the end of the
millennial reign, because as we know, we've still got to deal with that last battle at the end of the
millennial reign, and that's ultimately what it's talking about, those end of days, and
a picture of him in those end of days is with a flame, the eyes is a flame of fire,
that's dipped in blood, mouth githe a sharp sword, he's got a rod of iron, that's what it's talking
about. Verse 13 anyway, back in Genesis 49, says Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea,
and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his borders shall be unto Zion. So again, did Zebulun
carry on all the way through till the end of time? No, so this is the end of days for Zebulun, okay,
so they're ultimately before that tribe is carried away, they're known as being a haven for ships,
at the end of days for them as a tribe. In Joshua 1911, their land allocation starts with this,
it says, and their border went up toward the sea and Marilla, and reached to Dabasheth,
and reach to the river that is before Jockneam, okay, so they were basically on the coast there,
but the land actually, it seemed probably stretched all the way in the south to the edge of the
Sea of Galilee, if you don't know Matthew 4 quickly, we'll just see that, goes all the way
over as well to the Sea of Galilee, where there's obviously ships as well,
so it seems to be they're kind of in the middle, they seem to stretch between the two.
Matthew 4 13 talks about Christ, where it says, and leaving Nazareth, Matthew 4 13,
he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebulun and
Nephthalim. So they were eventually carried away by the Assyrians too, but maybe there was a
mixed remnant there that were blessed by the Lord's ministry there, I don't know, maybe they,
there were some left or some mixed up with the people of the land, as we know,
you know, there was kind of, it was still being called the borders of Zebulun and Nephthalim,
at least, you know, that's how, you know, it was known to those reading that there,
but that's what happened with them, and that was the end of their days, they were just known
as these, you know, on the sea coast there, and then we get to verse 14 back in,
back in Genesis 49, where it talks about Issachar, which says, Issachar is a strong ass couching down
between two burdens, and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and
sorry, bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. Now Issachar's end is
described here as becoming a servant to tribute, okay, so having to pay a tax or tribute to
someone else, basically, he was a servant to that. Now they, like the other 10 northern tribes,
were eventually carried away to Assyria, they seemed to have some good land, some fertile land
before that, but it seems that before this, Issachar was dominated at some point before this,
and it's not really clear, I'll be honest, you know, I try to look for this, and it's not a very
clear thing to find, you know, in the history of those tribes, but regardless, we're being told
about this, so for me, look, there's a bit of application we're going to get from this here,
I'm going to finish up anyway on this verse, so I want to, I want to talk a little bit about
the picture that we're being given here, and something that we don't really, we're not really
given an example in the future, we don't see this exactly happening, but we see that he's
described the tribe as a strong ass, couching down between two burdens, and he saw that rest
was good in the land, it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant
unto tribute. So why is it that he was dominated? Well, having been described as strong,
verse 15 then says that he saw that rest was good, and that the land that it was pleasant,
so he's a strong, he was described as a strong ass, however, he was able even, it seems to maybe,
you know, to bring two burdens or something like that, but then he saw this good rest and this
pleasant land, and for me it seems that rather than fight, the people, Issachar here, were happy
to submit for an easier life, that's what I think we're being told here, is what happened
towards the end of the days for Issachar, before they eventually carried away,
and I want to talk about, like I said, some application here, because this is a choice that
every one of us has to regularly make in a Christian life, okay, you have to constantly
make this choice. Rest seems good, doesn't it? I don't know, rest seems good to me, I'm, you know,
generally, you know, you're kind of looking for some rest, the easy life seems pleasant sometimes,
you know, looking out there thinking, oh man, I could do with an easy life right now, I could
do with things a bit easier in one way or another, but if you avoid the battles,
you only end up having some other burdens to bear, in life in general, if you just constantly
shirk and avoid battles, you avoid dealing with things, you're just going to bear burdens because of
that, and I'm not just talking about being in church, soul winning, serving God, although that's an
obvious clear application, isn't it? Okay, you avoid that part of the battle, you swerve that,
you're just going to be in the burden of sin anyway, you're going to be bearing burdens in
other areas anyway, so you go, it's such a burden coming to church, it's such a burden
going out soul winning, it's such a burden reading my Bible, it's such a burden praying,
believe me, you give up that stuff, you're just going to have all those, those weights weighing
you down, all that sin that does so easily beset us, all those weights, all those burdens in life
will just mount up and mount up and mount up on you, okay, that's pretty obvious, right, but often
as well, there's another area you can look at as well, where often tough decisions come up,
don't they in life, tough situations, things that need dealing with, and when we choose to avoid
them, they just continue to burden us, don't they, so when you just avoid, you're constantly trying
to find the easy option, the kind of non, and look, don't get me wrong, don't aim for
confrontation, but sometimes people go too far the other way, where they're just avoiding everything,
and then you just end up with a burden from that, sometimes you've just got to choose to fight,
sometimes you've got to choose to fight spiritually, and sometimes you've just got to deal
with things, don't you, and there are sometimes situations where you don't want to, it'd be much
easier to be like, oh man, do I have to deal with this, and the flesh would love to just go, no,
let's go for the easy life, let's go for the rest, let's go for the pleasant land, let's go
without that, but you're just going to get burdens from that, okay, and obviously, you know, for me, I
look at it from a position of church leadership, this is often the case, right, it's much easier
to just ignore the problems, isn't it, it's just easier to just go, I just can't even be bothered
to deal with this, it would be easier just to not mention a thing, not to preach about a thing,
preach feel-good sermons, just, you know, ones where everyone's just smiling after is going, yeah,
smash the sodomites for the third time this month, you know, let's keep going, you know, and
just things that no one really, you know, has to deal with, but it's not just preaching either,
sometimes there's situations, issues, problems, things that you have to deal with, and it is easier
to ignore it, it would be nice to, it'd be easier just to go, well, they look a little bit queer, but,
you know, let's just let them in anyway, you know, because this is a bit of a stress to have to
kick someone out and go, get out, you sodomite, yeah, but sometimes you've just got to do that,
don't you, sometimes you've just got to go, honestly, right, and obviously we dealt with
that recently, but sometimes, and it's in as many other areas as well, but it's easier just
to do nothing, it's easier just to let it go, it's easier not to deal with church discipline,
it's easier not to do any of that stuff, we have this site, all these crazy people that
we've kicked out over the years, they like to get together like, we're just on a, you know,
on a hair trigger to kick anyone out, what a load of nonsense, because it's uncomfortable,
it's not nice, they don't just disappear, they don't ride off into the sunset, it's, oh man,
I've got to deal with slander off this person now for the rest of my life, or something else,
so it's not the pleasant thing, but sometimes you've got to do it, but this isn't just about
myself or anyone who maybe goes into church leadership in the future, in the home this is
often the case, isn't it, it's in the home, it's so much easier sometimes to just ignore
the problems, it's so much easier to just not deal with issues, now here's the thing is, most of us
as parents know what happens when we do this with kids, don't we, when your kid's playing up and
they're being a brat in one way or another and you just keep ignoring it, you keep ignoring it,
what usually happens is an hour or two or whatever it is later you go, I should have just
dealt with them later, because it's just getting worse and worse and worse and worse, I should
have just dealt with it, and then when you deal with it you think, I should have dealt with it two
hours ago, we wouldn't have had this last two hours of nonsense, and so often you're putting
it off and you want the peace, you want the rest, you want the pleasant land, but you kind of got to
fight for that, you've got to, ultimately life is just going to be a battle, you're just going to
have to keep fighting, and it's the same sometimes in a marriage, sometimes in a marriage, you've
got to sometimes hash some things out, you've got to sometimes have those uncomfortable
conversations, because often you think, well if I just never say anything, never do anything,
what happens? You carry the burden of not dealing with your problem and then
and eventually a spouse ends up going, you know, they just snap, you know, and the whole time
they've just had this burden weighing them down that they haven't just dealt with and gone, look,
in the right time, in the right place, you know, as adults growing up and gone, look, I've got a bit
of a problem with you doing this, or this happening, or the way this is going on, whatever else,
sometimes you've got to deal with stuff, right? Now there's obviously a time and a place,
sometimes you have to be patient, okay? Sometimes, look, there is patience, we need patience in life,
that's part of the Christian life, you can't just fly ahead long into everything, there's a time
and a place for dealing with lots of things, you don't want to just literally be right, we
need a discussion, like spouse, because it's the next thing on the list that I want to deal with,
you know, sometimes there's a time, sometimes there's a place, sometimes you can deal with it
without it getting confrontational, without having to have like awkward conversations, but you, we
know when it's a choice to act or ignore, don't we? Whether it's in the home, whether it's in the
workplace, whether it's in church, whether it's with family, friends, Issachar here as a tribe
was strong, but they liked the quiet life too much, and it was their undoing, said Issachar
is a strong ass, couching down between the two, sorry, between two burdens, and he saw that rest
was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant
under tribute, and like that tribe was then, they were there to fight, and we're here to fight,
only ours is spiritual, we're here to fight, you're, you're, you're, look, you're part of God's army
basically, you know, you're spiritual Israel, we talk about that a lot, don't we, yeah, you know,
spiritual Israel, spiritual Jews, and it's, well, what was physical Israel doing for most of their life?
Fighting, in wars, in battles, that's not all like, oh well, you know, it's interesting to hear how
they swung swords around, no, it's because it's all, it's, all of it applies to our spiritual life,
and you've just got to battle, you've got to fight, and you've got to have the nerve for it, and
some people, you know, they like to think they're, you know, maybe they're tough in one way or
another, or maybe they could, you know, they could deal with this situation or that, the reality of
it is, is you've got to be spiritually tough to get through the Christian life, you've got to man
up, you've got to, you've got to just dig deep and be like, no, I'm, I'm going to battle, because
the back, the attacks are coming in from every angle, it's not just to pull you out of church,
it's to get you into sin, it's to stop your soul winning, stop you doing stuff, it's to just
pull your attention away from the things of God, but we're here to fight. You know,
I've turned in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, Paul told the Corinthian church, what did he say? He said,
you know, love each other, pat each other on the back, now we should love each other, we should
pat each other on the back. Did he say, oh, just, you know, when you meet up, just, you know,
say nice things and just talk about the love of God? No, one of the last things he said to the
Corinthian church, in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, was watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men,
be strong. He said, you've got to, you, you guys better toughen up, if you want to get through
the Christian life, if you want this church to survive, you better, you better quit you like men,
you better be strong, you better stand fast, you better stand strong, and that's something
we all have to just accept, and that's not just the men, it's the women as well, it's the
children as well, because same with the children, at the end of the day, the devil wants you out of this
church. You've got to man up, you've got to stiffen up your back, straighten up your back, and say,
look, I need to, I need to make sure I'm in my Bible, I need to make sure I'm getting right,
I need to make sure I'm putting away that sin, because you build those habits when you're young,
and that'll be something you'll be toyed with for the rest of your life, kids. But same, you know,
the mums, the women here, the ladies here, same thing, it's not just about your husband
dealing with it all, you need to be strong, you need to strengthen up and understand that
you're getting attacked. That's just, that's just the way it is. You're in a war, you're in a battle,
you're in a battle, Issachar should have known you're in a battle, and instead they bowed down,
they tried to just go, oh, we'll just get the peaceful life, we'll just have the nice easy life,
the pleasant land, we've got some nice land, we'll just pay a bit of tribute, we'll just
accept a bit of burden. What happened? Where's Issachar? Gone, carried away by the Assyrians,
done, wiped out. And that's what happens, you don't have the choice, you either fight or you lose.
And we all, we've got to remember that, because look, the battle's just going to continue.
And you know, I was saying this to someone recently, I was saying, you don't really know
what battle everyone in here is going through at different times, and we don't really know.
Some people, like, want to talk about it and share certain things, we don't really know the
extent of it, you know. Everyone here is going through different battles, different struggles,
different persecutions, different tribulations, and a lot of that is spiritual, and a lot of it
will be spiritual attacks. You're all going through stuff, but what's the answer?
You've just got to fight. Fight on, keep grafting, keep just fighting on for the Lord,
because you're in a battle. And you know what, you could go, oh but I wish I could just go and
quit and go off. You could just replace the burden of fighting with other burdens.
It's your choice, which burdens do you want? I want the burdens that,
I want to deal with burdens with God on my side. Or you can go and deal with burdens without
God on your side. And that's ultimately what it comes down to. And like I said, rather than
looking for the easy peaceful life, we should just, just look for the Lord. That's what it
comes down to, isn't it? Is just fight, keep fighting, keep going strong, keep digging deep,
keep grafting, keep just getting through it, keep battling through them, draw closer and
closer to God as you do that, and get a fulfilling life. And then when we're up there
in heaven celebrating with a cup of tea in our hands, you think they've got tea in heaven?
We'll just be looking back going, man that was a graph, wasn't it worth it, right?
And be able to look back and not regret it all, not having just, not having quit. Instead
of quitting like men in terms of keep going like men, just quitting. And sadly so many do,
don't they? Now that was the first six tribes, okay, and I wanted to stop on six tribes.
But, but, think about this on, on that final note as well, okay? They were all present when
Jacob was prophesying all of this. So they were all standing there, they were standing there
when he rebuked Reuben for being a pervert, okay? Reuben was there, so were the rest of them.
I mean that got to be pretty awkward, wasn't it? Pretty uncomfortable when he's like,
right, let me give you some, ready for like a final prophecy before I die. Reuben, you're a pervert.
And it's all going downhill for you and for your, and for the whole, your whole line
are just going to basically not excel at anything because you're unstable as water,
you weirdo. And basically that's what he said, Simeon and Levi, they were present and so
was everyone else while he's basically rebuking them for being self-willed, cruel, angry murderers.
He didn't mince his words, did he, really? Even right at the end of his life. And my point is,
is that, I mean, Jacob here, he's saying it how it is. I think it would have been nicer
for him to have just gone, oh come here, let's have like a last family cuddle.
Love you guys, I hope it all goes well. Instead he's just, he's rebuking them at the
end of his life, he's telling them things are going to go badly for you, you're going to get,
you guys are going to get scattered, you're ain't going to excel, it's all going wrong for you.
And right till the end of his life he's still preaching the hard stuff, isn't he? He's still
in the battle, he's still in the fight, he's doing things that are uncomfortable.
And that was the first six tribes and we're going to look at the second half next week
and on that we're going to finish up in the word of prayer. Well thank you for, well,
the lessons that we've got out of that first part of the chapter there, Lord. And I hope
that I've preached that accurately, I hope, and in a way that people will kind of understand
what angle I'm coming from there and, you know, if that's wrong, Lord, we'll help people to just,
to see clearly from Scripture, Lord, and to take what your word says above everything else,
Lord. Help us to apply that final message to our lives, Lord, that message to just dig deep
and fight and not to just accept, you know, try and find some sort of peaceful life because
if we just end up with other burdens, a burden of tribute, there we see in the end of this, a car.
Lord, help us to keep fighting, to keep battling, to keep winning battles, Lord,
and just be with us and help us and guide us, strengthen us, help us to continue that as we
finish the week off, Lord, and then help us to just return on Sunday as well to start
the week in the right way in your house. In Jesus' name, pray all of this. Amen.