Lion of Judah

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LION OF JUDAH

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

We know these prophetic words are all about Jesus, although Jacob is speaking them to his son Judah. Jesus is the Lion of Judah, the scepter will always be in the hands of Jesus, and he will always be the ruler and all the nations belong to Jesus. Although some do not seem obedient to him, every knee will bow at the great day of judgment. It is Jesus who rode the donkey, the colt of the donkey and He is the vine and we now are the choicest branches. He will and already has, washed us, but another day is coming when our robes will be whiter than milk, bathed in the blood of the Lamb. What else can we say that these prophetic words have not said? We can see how this applies to our lives as we live in Christ and He lives in us. We wait patiently for his return so that we will be with Him for all eternity. However, we also know that He walks with us, as we walk with Him. That is the key to our whole life, and that although we die we will live. We must walk with Jesus every day, every moment of our daily lives. It is one thing to say we are a Christian, or a believer, or even a follower of Jesus, but we must walk with Him. He does the leading, as He is our Great Shepherd carrying his staff in hand making sure our path is safe and secure, that there are no pitfalls in our way, or snake holes that could cause us harm. He knows us by name, and we only follow the sound of His voice, although other voices are screaming for our attention. Because we follow Him, hearing His voice, we give ourselves over to this rebirth of our spirits, being born again, or born from above and that is when we begin our journey with our Great Sheperd, the Lion of Judah, who rules the nations, whose scepter will forever be His. Let us always be listening to His voice, following His lead through this life. We cannot travel apart from Him, wandering off into the wilderness of this world, trying to make our mark, or trying to secure our own future of days, for then we are not following Jesus. That does not mean we cannot have wealth or possessions, due to some level of success, but if that occurs it is not because of our greatness, but it would be due to us seeking first, the key is in the word first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He will add all the stuff we need in this world that the pagans run after. Let us always be listening intently for the voice of our Great Shepherd, watching Him, following His lead, following the Lion of Judah.