Overcome

DEVOTION

GENESIS

OVERCOME

Gen 49:8-12

8 "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter 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. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.  

NIV

Having side aside his first three sons, so to speak, Jacob releases a heap of blessings upon Judah. Much of what Jacob speaks here refers to Christ. Jesus came through the line of Judah. Jesus is called the lion of Judah.

Rev 5:5

5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

NIV

There is so much prophetic words about Christ and so many have written so much about all these words and the scripture is full of other references that use similar, if not the same, words that it would take volumes to discuss in the fullness of detail this truly requires. Words like, scepter, donkey and colt, choicest branch, obedience of the nations, wash his garments, robes in the blood. All these words point to Jesus. We could discuss the fact that Jacob is giving Judah the firstborn rights. The whole of the southern kingdom is called his name, Judah. Certainly Caleb, one of the ten spies sent ahead to spy out the land and was one of two who returns saying they could defeat the people and take the land, was from the tribe of Judah. Caleb also led the battle and took the land assigned to Judah.  What can we learn for our lives from all this?  Although we have to live in this world and are to some degree subject to the physical rules of living in this body, we will also have our hand upon the neck of our enemies, the forces of darkness. Because we are in Christ evendually the world, our fellow humans, our brothers, will bow down to us, as we rule and reign with Christ in the thousand year reign.  Our robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and we will be made whiter then milk. But what about this life? Is there anything we can use here that affects our current situation in life? We certainly have the hope of things to come. We have the hope of eternal life. We have the hope of seeing Jesus. Therefore we should lift up our head and walk with confidence in this life. Because we see Jesus throughout the whole of scripture, both Old and New Testaments, we have that confidence. We could spend our lives focused on the material, the physical things of life. We could focus on our monetary condition, our health, our aches and pains, our careers, our retirement and a host of other temporal things. We could be crushed under the burdens of this life if we allowed them that predominance in our thoughts. But we are believers in Christ, we are from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we are from the tribe of Judah, we live with the promise of God. His hand upon us, so we lift up our head, we walk tall, we walk through this life with confidence, not with fear and trembling. We will overcome.