Judges 3:7-11 The Lion of God

[0:00] A series that we're working through is a redemptive historical look of the book of Judges, namely how it points to Christ, that is the shadow of Christ in the book of Judges.

[0:10] And you might be wondering, having read through the book of Judges, there's just so much, they're so flawed. The judges are flawed and as it progresses through it we see more and more things that are troubling.

[0:24] The thing to remember while we work through the book of Judges is that these human deliverers for Israel, they are not heroes. That's not the point. The point is that God saves his people and that it points to Christ who is the hero. Christ who is the perfect, complete and final deliverer.

[0:43] So for today, before we jump into Judges, a quick review of the setting that's going on before the book of Judges. That is the relationship between God and his people. That is the covenant relationship where he will be their God and they will be their people.

[1:03] So follow along with me. Joshua 24 verses 20 to 22. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good.

[1:21] So notice the covenant sanctions. Should they disobey, there are threats. Continues. And the people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord.

[1:32] So Joshua said to the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses.

[1:43] Now we find ourselves in the book of Judges where the people of Israel are settling into the promised land. And the command which they were given was to displace the inhabitants to drive out the evil, the pagan religions and the pagan practices in the land.

[2:02] So how successful are they at following God's commands? Let's look at chapter 2 verses 11 to 13. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

[2:18] And they forsook the Lord of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them.

[2:30] And they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Now jump down to 16.

[2:42] Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them.

[2:55] They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do. And now jump over to chapter 3 verse 6 is where we left off last Lord's Day.

[3:13] And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served their gods. So this is the setting in which we're at, where we left off with, where we find ourselves in the narrative of the people of Israel as they're settling in the promised land to be a covenant people with God.

[3:33] And as we consider the fast-paced apostasy, we might wonder, how did it come to this? How did it happen this way and how did it happen so quickly?

[3:45] Notice the canonization that takes place in Israel. That is, they were to drive out the evil that was there, the pagan practices and the pagan religions.

[3:58] Not only did they fail to obey God in driving out the evil, but they also took the pagan inhabitants' daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons.

[4:11] Not only that, but they also served their gods. You could probably imagine what it would look like in a household where if one spouse is serving the Lord and the other spouse in the house is serving pagan gods, the way in which the household would be run would be devoted to two different kinds of religion.

[4:37] And at first it might be, I accept the fact that you go and you do your thing, but then it would probably turn into maybe in the morning they serve the Lord and in the afternoon they serve the Baals and the Ashtoreth.

[4:51] And eventually they would find that serving the Lord and the Lord's commandments is getting in the way of the practices of the pagan gods. Now these pagan gods and practices, to put a little bit of context to it, it involves obscene figures and idols as well as temple prostitutes.

[5:18] And notice this now to see the effect that this has. And we'll kind of draw that out as we go. But of course, God's commandments to be holy would quite certainly get in the way of their desires to participate in these pagan religion practices of prostitution.

[5:42] So the cycle begins. And the cycle begins as we will read today. And the cycle continues through Judges. And we'll notice a downward cycle into canonization of the continuing effects as a cancer of the pagan religions and practices that is in Israel.

[6:02] So today we will be looking at Judges 3, verses 7 to 11. So if you'll flip over to Judges 3. Judges 3, verses 7 all the way to 11.

[6:24] So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he told them, sorry, he hold them, sold them into the hand of Kashan Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia.

[6:46] And the children of Israel served Kashan Rishathayim eight years. When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

[7:05] The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Kashan Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand.

[7:19] And his hand prevailed over Kashan Rishathayim, so the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

[7:32] Lord, we thank you for your word, infallible truth, which is supernatural revelation for us. We pray, Lord, that you would lead us into all truth, illuminate your word to us, that we might not only know truth, Lord, but have wisdom, which is from above, that we may behold you, your glory, and Lord, that we might walk worthy as those who are called into your kingdom.

[7:58] I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So our examination this morning will be verses 7 to 11. That is, the first judge. The first judge which the Lord raised up to save Israel, to deliver Israel.

[8:13] And what's going on in this text, what we're going to see, is that the Lord raised up a lion of God to deliver his people from the oppression of their evil enemy.

[8:26] So again, the Lord raised up a lion of God to deliver his people from the oppression of their evil enemy. So first of all, the marks of Canaanization.

[8:38] Second, God's agent of deliverance. And third, Christ, our deliverer. So first, marks of Canaanization. That is, they did evil.

[8:50] And it starts by saying, they forgot the Lord their God. Now the word forget can be taken different ways. Perhaps on our way into church, maybe we forgot to grab our coffee before we headed into town, and we go to reach for it during the drive, and it's, oh, I forgot.

[9:05] That's not what's going on here. It's more than just a temporal lapse of memory. It's also not the case that they were people who knew and trusted the objective truth of the Lord and his salvation, yet for a time had undergone a time of an absence of subjective zeal.

[9:27] It's not that there was a lack of subjective zeal. No. So what's going on here in our text when it says that they forgot the Lord is that they did evil. It's not that they didn't serve the Lord the way that they were supposed to.

[9:41] They forsook the Lord, and they served the false gods, and they embraced the evil practices of the pagan religion. So they did evil. They served false gods.

[9:53] They intermarried and yoked themselves to pagan beliefs and practices. They forsook the Lord. They did not know the Lord, and they forgot the Lord their God. Now, again, imagine what it would have been like for spouses with different religious practices, a spouse who seeks to serve the Lord and a spouse who seeks to serve false gods.

[10:15] And I truly do think it is a mercy when there is a man and wife who are unsaved and when God saves them both, that within the same home they both serve the Lord.

[10:25] I truly think it is a mercy. And for kids who are, in many years away, desire to marry, not only is it God's command to not be yoked, unequally yoked with unbelievers, but the turmoil within the home of trying to serve the Lord.

[10:48] What was going on here with Israel is they intermarried, and within the same home they were trying to serve Yahweh, the Lord, and trying to serve the pagan gods.

[11:00] And as mentioned before, they would have discovered that God's commands and God's call to live a holy life would be getting in the way of the graphically pornographic lifestyle and religion of the pagans and of the pagan gods.

[11:19] So, in their desires to gratify their sinful natures, it was not so much of, oh, I forgot the Lord. It's more as the Lord.

[11:29] Forget that. So, they forgot the Lord, their God. Now, we'll notice as the cycles of Judges works through in the book of Judges, is the people did evil on the side of the Lord.

[11:43] They did evil, and because of the evil, then we see the Lord's sanctions, that is, threats for disobedience. And as we read in Joshua 24.

[11:55] Now, we need to remember exactly how this relationship is, this covenant relationship with God as their God and them as his people, and that this covenant was a temporal covenant for the kingdom of Israel.

[12:10] That is, God made a covenant with Abraham to multiply his descendants and to inherit the land, and that through him would come the one through whom the nations would be blessed.

[12:21] So, Abraham's expanded descendants are the Israelites. They've inherited the land. They've taken on the land of promise. And then the Mosaic covenant, the covenant God made with Moses before they entered into the land at Mount Sinai, was to regulate the people of Israel, to regulate Abraham's descendants in the promised land.

[12:45] And this is a temporal covenant in the sense that the benefits for obedience are in the land, and temporal, and the threats for disobedience.

[12:58] So, what we see here is disobedience. They did what was evil, and then covenant sanctions, the threats. Because they disobeyed, God will not deliver them from their enemies, but delivers them over to their enemies.

[13:09] And then the cycle continues, and because of the oppression of their enemies, eventually they find themselves weary of it, and they cry out to God. And then God gives them a judge who delivers them from their enemies.

[13:23] Then they have rest, and then being in rest, but the remaining canonization within the land, they continue to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. And then the cycle continues.

[13:36] So, the subsequent punishment for their doing evil, and forgetting the Lord their God, was eight years of oppression. And notice, this eight years of oppression was sent by God.

[13:50] This is important for us to understand. It tells us, the Lord sent them into the hand of their enemy. Now, we might, and when we read, when we're reading through our morning reading, and we read through the book of Judges, we probably read through it quickly, and don't stop to think about who their enemy is.

[14:11] Their enemy, in this case, the Lord sent them into the hand of Kishon Rishathayim. So, what does that name mean? This is significant. Rishathayim means double evil, or double wicked.

[14:26] So, their enemy, this Mesopotamian king, is a king, whose name represents double evil. So, we can call him, their evil enemy.

[14:39] Okay? So, eight years of oppression, under their evil enemy, they find themselves under oppression, suffering, sorrow, grief, pain, and calamity.

[14:51] And this is sent by God. Even calamity, is sent by God. Actually, turn over to Isaiah 45, verse 7. Keep your finger here in Judges, we'll flip back to it momentarily.

[15:04] But Isaiah 45, 7 says this. Actually, starting in 6. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light, and create darkness.

[15:15] I make peace, and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. The calamity, the oppression, the suffering, and sorrow, which Israel was subject to, was sent by the Lord.

[15:31] Why? Why would God send oppression and suffering to his covenant people? It's because God loves his people too much.

[15:44] God loves his people enough to bring them back from the danger and destruction of sin. Going down the path of sin leads to danger and destruction, and he loves his covenant people too much to allow them to go down that path.

[15:57] Dale Ralph Davis on this text, he says, it shows that the covenant God who has bound himself to his people will not allow them to become cozy in their infidelity.

[16:08] Steadfast love pursues them in their iniquity and is not above inflicting misery in order to awaken them. It may be the only sign of hope for God's people even though they may be yet unaware of the fact.

[16:23] And then, in Hebrews, in the New Testament, Hebrews 6, 7, 6 to 7 says, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

[16:34] If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom the Father does not chasten? Now, when we read the Old Testament, there's a wrong way to interpret it and there's a right way to interpret it.

[16:50] The wrong way to interpret it, though at times you may come to an acceptable conclusion, there is certainly, when interpreting it the wrong way, there's certainly the possibility of coming to the wrong conclusion, which in today's age happens quite frequently.

[17:10] The wrong way of interpreting Judges 3, 7 to 11 is to jump directly from the text to myself. The wrong way to interpret it is to say, what does this mean to me?

[17:25] Which would result in moralistic interpretation or spiritualized allegory. So we don't want to interpret it the wrong way. Because not all sorrow, when we consider the oppression which God sent to Israel for their disobedience, we need to remember that not all sorrow is a direct result of punishment of particular sin or apostasy.

[17:52] And a very clear example which we have is of course God's servant Job, whom he said was blameless. The redeemed still live in a sin-cursed world.

[18:04] Being redeemed, being saved, does not free believers of oppression and of sin and of, of oppression and of suffering and of sorrow. Living in a sin-cursed world, we groan under the effects of sin and the curse.

[18:19] All of creation is under the curse. So we don't want to interpret the Old Testament the wrong way, we want to interpret the Old Testament the right way. So with our text, what is the right way of interpreting the Old Testament or Judges 3, 7 to 11 to understand how it applies to us, what we are to understand from it?

[18:40] So, first of all, we want to look at the text and we ask the question, what does this Old Testament truth signify? What we are reading is not allegorical, what we are reading is historical.

[18:54] This actually happened. Because it actually happened, there is an Old Testament truth contained in it. So in the context of the Old Testament truth, we want to see what does this signify, first of all, as an Old Testament truth.

[19:07] And then once we see what it signifies, then we ask the question, how is this Old Testament truth in the history of redemption and revelation fulfilled in Christ?

[19:19] How does what is signified become fulfilled in Christ? And then as we see how it is fulfilled in Christ, how it is typified through signs or through types in the Old Testament?

[19:31] And then we ask the question, seeing how what the Old Testament truth signifies, which is fulfilled in Christ, then we can ask the question, what significance does this fulfillment in Christ have on those who are in Christ?

[19:46] So, in light of that, that brings us to our second point, which is that when they cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer who delivered them.

[19:58] When they cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer who delivered them. So, secondly, the agent of deliverance. In this account of Israel in the Promised Land, we see our first agent of deliverance.

[20:15] It's the first of seven. And seven, in the Hebrew language, it symbolizes fulfillment or completion. And as we work through the book of Judges, we'll see there is seven agents of deliverance through whom the Lord delivers his people.

[20:32] But, at the end of the book of Judges, deliverance is not complete. Salvation is not fulfilled. Rather, at the end of the book of Judges, through these seven deliverers, we have painted before us a clear picture of the perfect deliverer yet to come.

[20:51] So, the agent of deliverance here is the Lion of God. Othniel. We see the name Othniel here in our text, but it's not the first time we've seen it, is it?

[21:06] If we had started by reading in verse one to get to verse three, we'll have read about Othniel already. And what we know so far about Othniel is that he is faithful and he's battle-tested.

[21:21] He's God's warrior and weapon of deliverance. And we also know that he's in the tribe of Judah, which is also very important. And in Judges chapter one verses one to twenty-one, we see that the Lord was with Judah.

[21:39] And this is not without consequence. Now, in Judges chapter one, when we first learn about Othniel, we learn a little bit about Caleb.

[21:51] But this also isn't the first time we've heard about Caleb, is it? This is the same Caleb from Numbers 3-6. Caleb was a leader of Judah and he was one of the faithful spies.

[22:04] He was the one whom, during the Exodus, spies were chosen to spy on the promised land. And Caleb was one of them. He was a leader of Judah who was chosen to be a spy and he was faithful.

[22:19] Israel did not want to enter the promised land. They were afraid. But Caleb was faithful. And in Numbers 13-30 it says this, Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it.

[22:38] Caleb was faithful even though Israel was not. And that generation died in the wilderness because they did not have faith. But Caleb, because his faith, he did enter the promised land.

[22:53] We notice in Numbers 14-24 it says, But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went and his descendants shall inherit it.

[23:06] This is the Caleb which it is referring to. Caleb was faithful. Caleb was a leader of Judah. And Caleb entered into the promised land. Now, Caleb, this is quite interesting of what happens next.

[23:19] And we wouldn't realize it before reading Judges, but we see a significant change that occurs starting with Caleb being faithful to the effects of Canaanization as it unfolds in Israel.

[23:37] But, notice what happens with the relationship between Caleb and Othniel. This is where we first learn about Othniel in Judges chapter 1. So, Caleb in the promised land, Caleb, in reference to his daughter, treated his daughter with much dignity and respect and love.

[23:56] And this is the result of doing things God's way. So far, the people were doing God's commands by the conquest and entering into the promised land.

[24:07] Caleb was faithful. Caleb was obedient to God's commands. And the results of that, or the fruit of that, was that he had a high view of female dignity.

[24:21] And he had much respect and love for his daughter. And as such, he wanted nothing but the best of men to be a husband to his daughter. So, through his desire for this, he says, whoever attacks, whoever takes Kirjath Sefer, and takes it, he will give his daughter in marriage.

[24:45] So, he wants only the best, only the most faithful, battle-tested, in order to give his daughter in marriage, because of his view of female dignity. And who is it that attacks and takes Kirjath Sefer?

[25:00] Well, it's Othniel. Othniel is faithful, Othniel is battle-tested, and Othniel, of course, wins the girl. And then, the account that follows demonstrates the results of God's way in that the correspondence between Caleb's daughter and Caleb, the way in which they treat each other is of respect.

[25:24] She, out of respect for her father, speaks to him with respect in a request for a field with springs in it.

[25:35] And he treats her with female dignity by granting her request. he sees his daughter, or let's stretch it a little bit further, he sees women as being made in the image, rational souls made after the image of God.

[25:56] And that is the view of women as we start off by those who are faithful in God's commands. This is important to make note of and to remember, and keep this in the back of your mind as we work through the book of Judges and we see the effects of canonization through the cycles and the degrading view they have upon women and certain things happen.

[26:18] And remember when we read of things in this narrative, it is historical, it did happen, it's not normative, as in just because this happened by people whom are either Israelites or judges does not mean it's normative or prescriptive of us, rather it's narrative.

[26:36] This is what happened and it's important to see the context to understand why, why did this happen. But for now, we have a high view of women and a high view of male headship, but as we see the cycles of canonization throughout the judges, we'll see their view of women degrading significantly to, for examples, of theft from one's own mother, significant theft, and seeing one's own daughter as discardable to the very end where a Levite traveling with his concubine and Benjamin, the children of Benjamin, they mob the home to, well, to rape the Levite, it would be homosexual rape, and he, out of a, well, the master of the home, out of a complete disregard for not only women but his own daughter, offers up his virgin daughter to the mob, but that's not evil enough for them, so the Levite offers his concubine, whom they abuse all night, and then the

[27:45] Levite, with complete disregard for her in the morning, merely says to her, get up, we're on our way, and then he ends up cutting her body into pieces and sending it out. So we read things like this, and it's horrific, and again, it's not normative.

[27:58] We're going to read some things that are shocking, but it's not normative, but pay attention to how things start, and the progress to how things end, and the effects of canonization, and when I say canonization, I mean not driving out the evil, the evil, pagan, false gods, false religions, and practices, and namely the sexualization of women, treating them as objects for human gratification, and the effects that that has on the people to such heinous acts at the end of the book.

[28:35] Anyways, let's get back to Othniel. So Caleb blessed her with her requested springs of water, and this is demonstrative of Israel's treatment of women prior to canonization.

[28:50] Now watch the effects that the inhabitant evil in the land has the downward cycle throughout the judges, and the increasingly heinous treatment towards women. But we have here Othniel, our first judge, our first deliverer, and the word Othniel, the name Othniel, what it means is significant as well.

[29:13] The name Othniel means lion of God, or strength of God. So Othniel, the lion of God, is in the tribe of Judah. So Othniel, the lion of God, and the tribe of Judah.

[29:27] Now there's kind of a double emphasis here, that Othniel is a lion of God in the tribe of Judah. It's like saying the lion of God from the lion of a tribe.

[29:40] Flip over to Genesis 49, 9 and 10. Genesis 49, 9 and 10.

[30:02] Judah is a lion's well. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who shall arouse him.

[30:13] The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people.

[30:24] So the fact that Othniel, his name is lion of God, and he is in the tribe of Judah, Othniel, the lion of God from the tribe of Judah, it's stating doubly the lion of God and the strength of God.

[30:38] So this is Othniel. And Othniel, God raised up Othniel to deliver his people. Now what does it tell us about Othniel in our account in verses 7 to 11, as he delivers God's people from their double evil enemy?

[30:56] It says, the spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now remember how I said that the book of Judges isn't about human heroes. It's not to place the human judges as the hero, but about God's deliverance through them, which points to the true and perfect flawless deliverer to come.

[31:17] So with Othniel, it says, the spirit of the Lord came upon him. What spirit is this? What spirit of the Lord is this? This is the spirit of God that proceeds from the Father and the Son.

[31:28] The spirit of God described in the creation account. The spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead. The spirit of God in the book of Acts that saves 3,000 in one day. This is the spirit of God who claims each of the elect, indwells and seals them as a guarantee of the inheritance of the saints.

[31:47] This is the spirit of God who makes dead sinners alive in Christ. And in our text it tells us the spirit of the Lord came upon him.

[31:58] Why is this so important? Why is this worth mentioning in such a small narrative of what occurred? Because it is God. It was God who delivered Israel from their enemies.

[32:10] It's not about human heroes. It's about God delivering from their evil enemies. Now, believers, those whom are redeemed, those whom have been saved, have remaining corruption.

[32:25] And why do we think sometimes that we are going to overcome, or why do we think that we are going to overthrow our evil enemy on our own strength?

[32:36] In Ephesians 6.12 it describes our evil enemy. And it says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

[32:52] Why is it that believers who are redeemed think that they are going to overthrow their evil enemies in their own strength? Why do we think that we will overcome in our finite and fickle, creaturely strength?

[33:06] We talked about the right interpretation, we talked about the wrong interpretation of the Old Testament, a wrong interpretation of Genesis, I'm sorry, of Judges 3, 7 to 11, would be to think that Othniel points to us, to think that Othniel had strength and defeated his enemies, therefore I have strength and I'll defeat my enemies.

[33:26] That would be the wrong interpretation. That is not what's in view here. It doesn't. It points to Christ. It's the work of God by the power of God accomplished in us.

[33:39] That which was procured by Christ on the cross and worked in us by the Spirit of God. Believers do have remaining corruption in this world, in a sin-cursed world, but we are not Othniel.

[33:53] Othniel does not point to us. We overcome remaining corruption by the objective reality of Christ's victory over sin. Our union with him, that is, our deliverer, and the power of the Spirit of God upon every single one of the elect, purposed by the Father, purchased by the Son, and claimed by the Spirit.

[34:15] If you've ever read the book The Holy War by John Bunyan, it's a really good book. It wasn't as popular as Pilgrim's Progress, but it also is an allegory about, the allegory is about a city, and the city's name is Mansoul.

[34:31] So the allegory is, of course, about a person's soul. And in the allegory, the king goes away on a journey, and in the king's absence, the enemy, the evil enemy, comes and takes the city captive and takes over the city, but then the king comes back and reclaims the city of Mansoul.

[34:51] But as the city had been reclaimed, some of the generals of the evil enemy remain hidden within the city and wreak havoc as they are found and cast out.

[35:05] So through Othniel, back to our text, through Othniel, the Lord delivered their evil enemy into his hand. And then the land had rest for 40 years.

[35:18] For 40 years, the land had rest. Then Othniel died. Now this is another cliffhanger.

[35:30] Where we left off last week, in verse 6, left us with a cliffhanger. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. This is the result of Canaanization.

[35:43] But through the deliverer, God delivered their evil enemy into his hands, but then their deliverer died. This is another cliffhanger.

[35:56] We might be wondering, well, what happened without Othniel to deliver their people? Well, it takes us the very next verse to find out. And the children of Israel, again, did evil in the sight of the Lord.

[36:10] So remember, they had rest for 40 years. After only 40 years, again, they took the Audubon to apostasy. Because the deliverer died.

[36:24] Israel needs a deliverer who will never die. Now Othniel, again, this is not about human heroes. Othniel was not the promised skull-crushing seed of the woman from Genesis 3.15.

[36:40] Remember Genesis 3.15 and the declaration of the curse. We have the promise of the gospel, of the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. And Israel, or all of creation, would be waiting and looking and wondering, is this the promised seed of the woman who will deliver the final crushing blow to the serpent, the evil enemy?

[37:03] And that was not Othniel. Othniel was not the promised skull-crushing seed of the woman. But Othniel points to and reveals by farther steps the Savior to come, the one Genesis 3.15 promises.

[37:20] So that brings us to our third point. Our evil enemy has been delivered into the hand of our Savior. Point three is Christ our deliverer, the Lion of Judah.

[37:33] You recall, our evil enemy, as it is described as the forces of darkness in Ephesians 6.12, our evil enemy has been delivered into the hand of our Savior, the Lion of God, that is, the Lion of Judah, who was raised, ascended, exalted, and reigns on high.

[37:55] Remember what Genesis 49 speaks about, the tribe of Judah as a lion and the strength of the tribe. Well, keep your finger in Judges and flip over to Revelation 5.

[38:18] The tribe of Judah was described as a lion in its strength and its scepter. Othniel was of the tribe of Judah. Judah in his name meant Lion of God. Othniel, the Lion of God of the tribe of Judah, who points to Christ the Deliverer.

[38:35] Notice what Revelation 5 says, starting in verse, Revelation chapter 5, starting in verse 5. But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

[38:52] Now jump down to verse 9. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

[39:09] Now jump down to verse 12. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

[39:22] And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

[39:37] Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. So, our account in the book of Judges in the Old Testament with Othniel who delivered, through whom God delivered Israel, I'm going to summarize the account of Othniel.

[39:58] I'm going to summarize the account of Israel. Okay? God handed his sinful wandering people over to their evil enemy who held them captive. They grew weary of their bondage.

[40:08] They cried out to God. God delivered them through a line of God from the tribe of Judah. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him who saved God's covenant people by defeating the evil enemy to whom they were enslaved because of their sins.

[40:24] So, this is summarizing the account of Othniel and the people of Israel. Now, I'm going to say the exact same thing but this time think of Jesus Christ. God handed his sinful wandering people over to their evil enemy who held them captive.

[40:40] They grew weary of their bondage. They cried out to God. God delivered them through a line of God from the tribe of Judah. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him who saved God's covenant people by defeating the evil enemy to whom they were enslaved because of their sins.

[40:56] Othniel points to Jesus who is the complete and final deliverer of God's people. The fulfillment of this truth, what it signifies, is found in Jesus Christ.

[41:08] And we know that the Spirit of God was on him. In Luke 4.18 it says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

[41:20] He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. So the eschatological fulfillment, if you remember from last week, the word eschatological is the study of the things of last things, or the study of last things.

[41:40] So the focus and movement towards last things, the eschatological fulfillment, is found in the Lion of Judah of Revelation 5, the Lamb who was slain, slain to defeat sin and death once for all by his atoning death on the cross.

[41:58] Where it was complete, it was fulfilled, where it was finished once for all. So some concluding uses that we can take from this.

[42:09] First of all, to parents. We are called as parents to both correct and admonish our children. Do you let them stray into disobedience and sin uncorrected, or do you love them enough as God did?

[42:27] Do you love them enough to send them suffering as a consequence of their disobedience and sin to bring them back into safety? Not only to bring them away from the destruction and dangers of sin into safety, but also in demonstrating that there is divine holiness and justice and righteousness does demand punishment.

[42:46] It does demand consequences, which makes the gospel so wonderful because divine justice was satisfied in Christ where the punishment for the sins of his people was paid through Christ's suffering and death.

[43:01] second of all, also again to parents, instruct your children in the Lord. Remember with the Israelites, they forgot the Lord. It only took one generation to forget the Lord.

[43:15] This is what Dale Ralph Davis calls generation degeneration. So parents need to instruct our children in the Lord and catechize them. Third concluding use is regards to suffering and sorrow in a sin-cursed world.

[43:33] Christians still undergo suffering and sorrow this side of glory because we are in a fallen, broken world which is cursed by sin. And suffering and sorrow is a foretaste of God's judgment against sin.

[43:48] There is judgment against sin and in this fallen, sin-cursed world we see a foretaste of that which is to come for those who do not have forgiveness in Christ and Christ's righteousness which is received by faith.

[44:05] So the fourth concluding use then is how was Israel delivered? Remember they grew weary under the oppression of their evil enemy.

[44:16] We can say the same about today about those who grew weary under the oppression of their evil enemy of the forces of darkness and sin. How was Israel delivered?

[44:27] Do you recall? Was it by fixing themselves? No. Was it by getting their act together? No. Was it by their cleaning themselves up and proving to God their own personal worth and merit?

[44:44] Absolutely not. What did they do? How were they delivered? What did they do to be delivered? They cried out to the Lord. Are you enslaved under the oppressive power of your sin and alienated from God?

[44:58] Your sin condemns you to suffering the wrath of God in hell without end. But if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Cry out to God for salvation and his deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[45:13] It is in him and in him alone that we may have rest. And this rest is not for forty years but to all eternity and a new creation kingdom of glory because our redeemer lives, our savior lives.

[45:30] Lifted up was he to die, it is finished, was his cry, now in heaven, exalted high. Hallelujah, what a savior. Lord, we thank you for your work of redemption, we thank you for the shadow of Christ and his kingdom in the Old Testament which helps us to better understand the depths of that which is not seen but believed by faith.

[45:54] I pray, Lord, that you would indeed stir us to rejoice in the work of redemption for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as deliverer, as savior.

[46:05] I pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes and open their hearts and that we would see your kingdom advanced and for all believers, I pray, Lord, that you would indeed comfort and encourage them in salvation in Christ alone who delivers us from the oppression of our evil enemy and delivers us from the punishment of sin.

[46:28] I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you take your hymnals, we'll stand and sing hymn 100 and 75. That's one, seven, five, man of sorrows.