Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm the pastor here at Shine Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.
A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here and we're glad that you're here.
Not because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.
Which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.
We're finishing this morning our series for Advent in the book of Genesis and we're jumping forward.
Last Sunday we were in Genesis chapter 22 and now we're going forward all the way to chapter 49.
So it means that we've skipped a large part of the story, but if you're familiar with the book of Genesis, you know that we've tracked the story of Abraham,
followed by Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
And we're coming to this story now where Jacob, also called Israel, calls his sons to him to give them a blessing.
And so I'm going to invite you to turn there with me, Genesis chapter 49.
You can turn in your worship guide or in your Bible or in your phone.
No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word and God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.
And it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.
And so that's why we read now Genesis chapter 49, starting at verse 1.
And now we're going to skip to verse 8.
Verse 9.
Verse 11.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you again that you speak to us as you always do through your Word.
And we also confess that we come this morning with many distractions.
We come with the normal, everyday distractions that hit us week by week of work and family and emails and phone calls and text messages.
And we also come to you with the special distractions of this season.
As we rush from event to event, as we worry about what to buy and who to buy it for,
as we look forward and plan all the details of our celebrations later this week.
We ask that you would help us this morning.
That you would help us to reorient our minds and to fix our eyes on you.
That no matter the distractions that face us, we would see Jesus now as you show him to us in your Word.
That we wouldn't miss his glory and his beauty.
We ask that you would show us our desperate need for your grace.
And you'd also show us how you meet us at that very same point of need.
And we ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In October of 2019, feels like more than two years ago, but only about two years ago,
the national news broke with shock and curiosity and amusement
because the rapper and fashion designer, Kanye West, came out with his new album,
which he called Jesus is King.
Now, if you're familiar with Kanye, you know this was partially surprising
because most of his albums had been about him worshipping himself more than anyone else.
But this album got a lot of attention as people questioned
whether Kanye's conversion to Christianity was true and authentic.
Now, for many people, the surprising part was the fact that Kanye was the one
who had come out with this album.
I'm going to suggest for you this morning, though,
that there is at least one other very surprising element of this
that was overlooked, perhaps, by many, and that is this.
Kanye tells us that his album was meant to be an expression of the gospel.
And if his album was meant to be that, we would have expected a different title, right?
In America, we would have said, Jesus is Savior, right?
Or Jesus saves.
That's the phrase that we're familiar with.
That's the way that Christians in America talk.
If we saw a billboard or a bumper sticker, that's what it would read for us.
It would just say, Jesus saves.
Come to salvation in Jesus.
But in fact, Kanye is highlighting something for us that's important to remember,
which is that Jesus' salvation cannot be separated from his kingship.
Jesus as king is actually an essential part of the proclamation of the gospel.
And so as we've gone through the book of Genesis together,
we've seen a variety of categories.
Remember Genesis 3.
Genesis 3.
We see one of the most neglected aspects of Jesus today,
and that is Jesus as our king.
And in fact, that's something that we maybe overlook,
but we celebrate and sing about during Christmas.
It's one of the reasons, by the way, that we sing and why songs are important.
They shape our theology.
So this morning, we sang,
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which says this,
O Come, O King of Nations, find.
We also sang the first Noel, where we said over and over,
Born is the king of Israel.
If you come on Christmas Eve this Friday,
we're going to sing Joy to the World, which says this,
Let the earth receive her king.
We're also going to sing Joyful Joyful We Adore You,
which says, Praise resounds as earth rejoices in the birth of Christ the king.
And so we're going to do something simple this morning.
As we look at Genesis chapter 49,
we're simply going to dream together.
We're going to be reminded of what type of king Jesus is.
And we're going to dream together
and be reminded of what kind of kingdom it is that he brings.
What is it going to look like?
Why is this promise in prediction that we find here?
Why is it actually good news?
We're going to have something of a movie preview here.
We're going to get a taste.
We're going to get a small picture of what it is that we're looking forward to,
what it is that we're longing for and celebrating and singing about at Advent.
We're going to get a contour, a bit of an outline of what is to come.
And as we do this, it's important to remember that we,
as we live our lives in this world,
we look to all sorts of kings and places and people and experiences
to bring in a perfect world.
But what the Bible reminds us of is that it is Jesus
who is our only hope to bring a world without suffering and without pain.
And so it's tempting to walk around looking 20 feet ahead of us,
just seeing what's before our feet.
What we're going to do this morning is actually look up.
We're going to bring our eyes up and look up at the horizon.
That we would have a greater and broader perspective of this world
and Jesus' role in it.
That we would know the great hope that we have
as we look forward to the King who has come
and also the King who is coming.
And Genesis chapter 49 is going to help us with that.
So I'm going to jump right in.
We're given this prediction by Jacob, also known as Israel,
as what's going to happen with the tribe of Judah.
And you might be wondering what in the world this has to do with Jesus.
And in a sense, that's a fair question
because he's talking about something
that's going to have some fulfillment
in the near future rather than the far future.
But Judah is also the tribe from which Jesus comes.
And so there's multiple layers to this prophecy
that he gives us about his son Judah,
this tribe that's going to become great in Israel.
Some of it we're going to see fulfilled in King David,
the greatest king of Israel.
King David, however, points us forward to King Jesus.
And so when we see these things,
they are true in one sense of David,
true in an ultimate and fuller sense in Jesus.
And so we see first in chapter 8
that we are going to have this king
who is going to be ruling here over Judah.
He's going to be the greatest of all the tribes of Israel.
In fact, this is something that we know
as you read the genealogies around Advent.
If you read Matthew chapter 1, verse 1,
what does it say about Jesus?
It says he's the son of David, the son of Abraham.
So we're meant to be reminded that Jesus is the one
who is pointing us back to these promises made to Judah.
Jesus is born in Bethlehem, also known as the city of David.
So he shares a birthplace with the great king.
He shares that origin of the tribe of Judah.
And so David for us is the proximate king of Israel.
He's the proximate fulfillment of this.
He is not the ultimate king from the tribe of Judah.
We're told who that is in the book of Revelation,
the very end of the Bible.
Revelation chapter 5, verse 5 tells us this,
and one of the elders said to me,
weep no more.
Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David has conquered
so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
In other words, Jesus is the lion from the tribe of Judah.
He comes as the tribe that's greatest
among all the tribes of Israel.
That's what we're told here in verse 8.
Your brothers shall praise you.
Your father's sons shall bow down before you.
We find out here, though, he's not just a leader over Judah.
He's also going to be victorious over many enemies.
So we see the first picture again in verse 8.
We're told your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
Now, if your hand is on the neck of your enemies,
this is a way of saying that the battle is over.
It is time for that person to tap out.
They are on the ground.
This is a picture that we're being given
of dominance and power and victory.
And if that weren't enough,
we see the same thing in verse 9.
We have this picture of this lion
who's going out and is successful in killing prey.
He's a wonderful predator.
Verse 9, Judah is a lion's cub.
From the prey, my son, you have gone up,
which is a way of saying this lion has killed another animal.
Now he's going to go on the hunt again.
He stooped down.
He crouched as a lion.
In other words, this lion has finished with one prey.
He's sitting and waiting for another.
No one wants to mess with him.
That's why we're told at the very end of verse 9,
who dares rouse him?
In other words, leave this lion alone.
He is not just the king of Israel.
He's also victorious in battle.
And so this gives us our first picture here
of what it is that we're longing for
as we lift our eyes up from 20 feet in front of us
and we look up at the horizon
to get a bigger picture of this world
and what is coming for it.
You know that if you've ever been in a foreign country
for any amount of time,
you begin to think about all the things
that you miss in your home country.
You begin to think about all the things
that you long for.
Maybe you even make a list
of what you can't wait to get back to.
Maybe it's Reese's peanut butter cups.
Maybe it's the large variety of soft drinks
that we have access to in America.
Maybe it's simply being back in a place
where the language of the country
is also your language.
As Christians, we want to have this same sort of longing
for our true home,
the home where Jesus reigns and rules as king.
And so if we're going to make a list
of what we long for,
what we learn about this lion
is he's going to rule a place that looks like this.
It's going to be a place
where bullies don't win anymore.
That's what his kingdom is going to look like.
It's going to look like a place
where the powerful don't oppress the weak.
Instead, they use their power to protect them.
One of my favorite definitions of authority is this.
Good and true authority is when the person
who has authority over you cares about you
more than you care about yourself.
They love you more than you love you.
That's what this king is going to be like.
This kingdom where this lion conquers all his enemies
is going to be the type of kingdom
where when you go to check on your relatives
in the nursing home,
you're not going to worry about
whether someone stole something from them
or took advantage of them.
In fact, there won't be nursing homes.
We'll have restored and full bodies.
This is going to be the kind of kingdom,
the kingdom ruled by this powerful lion
where when you walk to your car at night,
you don't worry about
who might be lurking in the dark.
This is the sort of kingdom
when you're driving around,
you don't wonder if you remember to lock your door.
This is the sort of kingdom
where you're not going to buy insurance
for identity theft.
LifeLock is going to be out of business.
You're not going to worry about
how secure your passwords are.
You're not going to worry about
changing them every three months,
and you're not going to be concerned
of whether they have the right number of letters
and symbols and exclamation marks.
You're not going to worry about
whether the police show up in time.
You're not going to feel any need
as you go through your life
to conceal carry.
That's going to be the type of kingdom
that Jesus rules over.
That's what we see in this lion.
Yes, he is gracious and kind,
and he is powerful and ferocious.
The king who comes from Judah,
verse 9, is a lion's cub.
He crouches down as a lion.
And so no one dares to rouse him.
This king, however,
is not just going to be powerful.
He's also going to be a worldwide king.
We see this expansion
from just ruling over tribes
to ruling over the entire world
in verse 10.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah
or the ruler's staff
from between his feet
until tribute comes to him.
And here's the key part.
And to him shall be the obedience
of the peoples.
Tribute comes to him.
This is something that's going to happen
for the worldwide king.
All the nations are going to come
and worship him.
The Davidic king,
the one who's meant to be
the great ruler over all of Israel,
is not just going to rule Israel.
He is going to rule the entire world.
This rule is going to expand.
It's going to grow.
And again, we see this
in Matthew's genealogy.
After we're told
where Jesus comes from,
that he's the descendant
of Abraham and David,
we see wise men
who come to visit him,
bringing gifts from afar,
which is the first fulfillment
of this king
receiving tribute
from the nations.
Okay?
Yes, Jesus is a man
come to earth
to die for our sins,
and he's also the king.
That's what the magi
know and understand.
They're bringing tribute
as people from other nations.
And so that's the beginning
of the fulfillment
of this promise.
We see it in a small part
in King David
from the tribe of Judah,
but of course,
he doesn't fulfill it, right?
David does not rule
over the entire world.
Instead, we look
to the great and glorious future
that only comes with Jesus,
often referred to
as David's greater son.
And so there's going to be
this worldwide kingdom.
In fact, we're told about it
in Revelation chapter 7.
There's a part
that we still look forward to,
right, as we're longing
and thinking about
what the kingdom will be.
Revelation chapter 7
says this,
This is this picture
of the entire world
coming to worship God.
We get a similar vision
in Revelation chapter 21.
We're told this,
The city, that is the New Jerusalem,
has no need of sun or moon
to shine on it,
for the glory of God
gives its light,
and its lamp is the Lamb.
By its light will the nations walk,
and the kings of the earth
will bring their glory into it.
It's another picture
of the tribute coming in.
And its gates will never be shut by day,
and there will be no night there.
They will bring into it
the glory and honor of the nations,
but nothing unclean
will ever enter it,
nor anyone who does
what is detestable or false,
but only those who are written
in the Lamb's book of life.
So John in Revelation
is giving us another picture
of all the nations coming
to worship this worldwide king.
He's helping us see
what we've already been told
in verse 10,
Until tribute comes to him,
and to him
shall be the obedience
of the peoples.
And so what do we dream about then
as we look at Jesus' kingdom?
Well, it's going to be
the end of wars.
It's going to be
the end of international politics.
When Jesus is king,
we're not going to worry
about problems
between Russia and the Ukraine.
When Jesus is king,
we're not going to worry
about the rise
of rogue states.
All the nations
are simply going to come
and bring their tribute to him.
He is going to be
the worldwide king.
This passage, though,
doesn't just tell us
about Jesus' glory
and his rule,
his power,
his dominion.
It also gives us
one final picture
of what this world
is going to look like,
what the kingdom
of the Lion of Judah
is going to offer to us.
And it's going to be
a place of great
and tremendous wealth.
And so look with me
at verses 11 and 12.
In verse 11,
we're told he's going
to bind his foal
to the vine
and his donkey's colt
to the choice vine,
which may seem
enigmatic at first,
but what the author
of Genesis is trying
to tell us is this.
There's going to be
an incredible grape harvest.
Okay?
This grape harvest
is going to be so great
that the man in charge of it
is not going to hesitate
to tie his donkey
to one of the grape vines.
In other words,
he has so many grapes
and so many grape vines,
he couldn't care less
if the donkey eats up
some of his best.
He has more of the best
than he knows
what to do with.
So he ties a donkey to it
and doesn't even think about it.
And it's shocking here, right?
Because we,
if we're people living
and receiving this message
for the first time,
we're thinking
as agricultural farmers,
what a reckless thing it is
to tie your donkey
to your grape vine.
There's so much wealth,
it just doesn't matter.
There's always going to be
more precious grapes.
So you can let the donkey
run free
and eat the finest things
you have.
It would be like this.
It would be like someone
in America,
me telling you,
you know what?
The kingdom is going to be
so great
that people are going to
cook up whole wagyu steaks
and give them to their dog.
Okay?
Not just the scraps.
No.
The dog is going to get
his own steak.
Okay?
That's how much abundance
and wealth is here.
People are going to buy
filet mignons,
they're going to cut them
in fine strips
and they're going to put them
in the cat bowl.
That's how much abundance
there is in this world.
Okay?
That's the image
we're given here
of the wine.
What would you know
about that person?
If that person was
cooking up whole wagyu steaks
and giving them to the dog
and cooking up a filet mignon
and putting it in the cat's bowl,
what would you say
about that person?
Yeah, you could say
they're crazy.
You could also say,
wow,
that person has
a lot of money.
Right?
In this kingdom,
there is going to be
an overabundance.
That's going to be
how much wealth
this kingdom has.
People are going to tie
their donkeys
to great grapevines.
They're going to let
their animals eat
their finest food.
That's the same image
we have here
in verses 11 and 12.
So verse 11,
at the end,
he's washed his garments
in wine
and his vesture
in the blood of grapes.
Now there's two ways
of taking this.
One is,
there's so much wine,
they're treating it like water.
So they're washing
their clothes
in $500 bottles of wine
because they just have
so many of them.
The other possibility
is that they're
threshing out this wine,
they're stomping on it
to make wine,
and there's so many grapes,
it's just squirting up
all over their clothes
and it's washing it.
That's how abundant it is.
Either way,
the point is the same.
There's this unprecedented wealth.
There's just everything
that you would need
and more, right?
Verse 12,
also some debate
over what this means.
The big point of verse 12
is that they are full
of health and vitality.
Okay?
They have this food
that is making them strong.
It's been pointed out
that the Bible
begins and ends
in this place
of great wealth.
Genesis chapter 1,
the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Eve
are given dominion
over the whole earth
and they're told
that every plant and tree
is theirs for food.
And then if we fast forward
to the last book
of the Bible,
Revelation chapter 21,
the New Jerusalem
as it's described
is a place
of incredible wealth.
Now one of the most
famous descriptions
comes from verse 21
which tells us this,
the street of the city
was pure gold
like transparent glass.
There's so much gold,
they're paving
the streets with it.
There's so much wine
and good grapes,
they're letting their animals
eat the very best food.
We want an age
of prosperity, right?
It's common for
there to be talk
about the end of poverty
or the end of hunger.
We want abundance
to be normalized.
We want to have enough
that we don't worry
about budgeting, right?
Bad news is this,
that's not going to happen
in this world.
No one who tells you
that they have a plan
to make it happen
understands the state
of humanity.
Good news,
it will happen.
It's just not going to happen
with an earthly king.
We can't have it
with a mere human.
And so again,
as we dream together,
as we work
our imagination,
I want you to think
about this.
This is what
the kingdom
that the lion
from the tribe of Judah
is going to look like.
People are going to work
simply for the joy of it.
You're not going to worry
about whether you've
worked enough
or whether you've
saved enough.
You're not going to worry
about whether you have
enough to retire.
couples will not argue
about finances.
In fact,
Matthew chapter 22
tells us there won't be
marriage in heaven.
You're not going to worry
about college funds.
There's going to be
plenty
and more than plenty.
You're not going to feel shame
about not having as much
as other people
in the community around you.
You're not going to feel shame
about not being able
to afford
the same experiences
or provide the same things
for your family.
There is not going to be
any more poverty.
Poverty is not an issue
when people are washing
their clothes
in fine wine, right?
Parents won't pressure
their kids
into lucrative careers.
People won't be chasing
their dreams
by trying to leverage assets
and generate passive income.
There's just going to be
this abundance.
There's going to be
this overflowing
in the kingdom.
There aren't going to be
arguments about
which money belongs
to who.
Lawyers will not be
helping resolve
inheritance disputes.
They're going to have
a lot less business.
There's just going to be
more than enough
in every category.
There's going to be
more than you can ask
or imagine.
As you know,
presidents love
to take credit
for economic growth.
Anything good
that happens
while they're in office?
Brag about a booming
economy, right?
This kingdom
is going to be
the pinnacle.
It's going to be
the most booming economy.
It's going to be
when we see
the greatest economy
of all time.
Now at this point
you might be wondering
what in the world
does any of this
have to do
with the gospel?
Gospel, right?
Our belief that Jesus
comes to die
and save sinners.
Well,
Jesus is the Savior
and he is saving you
from something.
He is saving you
from God's wrath
and his punishment.
However,
Jesus is not just
saving you
from something.
Jesus is saving you
into something.
Jesus is saving you
into a kingdom
where he is king.
He's saving you
into a kingdom
where he is king.
And so we get to see
this picture here
of how the story ends.
If you're a Christian,
you don't know
the future in one sense.
You don't know
what the rest of your life
is going to look like.
You do know
the future
in another sense.
You know,
no matter what happens
to you in this world,
how your story
is going to end.
Your story
is going to end
in this kingdom
that we've been
dreaming about.
Your story
is going to end
in a place
that is ruled
by this king.
And so that's
what we sang
right before
the sermon,
O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem.
It's a story
of longing.
It's a song
of longing.
It's a song
of looking forward
to the future
that we know
is coming.
And so we talked
about the wealth
together when we sang
this.
They have told us
of a table
where the poor
are honored guests,
where all the weary
wanderers
come in
to bless
and rest.
That's the place
where people
tie their donkeys
to the finest
grapevines.
that's the place
where people
serve steaks
to their pets.
It's going
to be a feast.
Now Jesus,
our Lord Jesus
also tells us
about a feast
in Matthew
chapter 22.
He tells this
parable
of the wedding
feast.
You're welcome
to turn there
with me now.
It's in Matthew
chapter 22
verses 1
through 14.
And he tells
them this.
The kingdom
of heaven
may be compared
to a king
who gave a wedding
feast for his son
and sent his servants
to call those
who were invited
to the wedding feast,
but they would not
come.
Again,
he sent other
servants saying,
tell those
who are invited,
see,
I have prepared
my dinner,
my oxen,
and my fat calves
have been slaughtered
and everything is ready.
Come to the wedding feast.
So Jesus has a feast.
He's inviting people.
Many aren't listening.
Verse 5.
But they paid no attention
and went off,
one to his farm,
another to his business,
while the rest seized
his servants,
treated them shamefully,
and killed them.
The king was angry,
and he sent his troops
and destroyed those
murderers and burned
their city.
Then he said to his
servants,
the wedding feast
is ready,
but those invited
are not worthy.
Go therefore
to the main roads
and invite to the wedding
feast as many
as you find.
And those servants
went out into the roads
and gathered all
whom they found,
both bad and good.
So the wedding hall
was filled with guests.
In other words,
Jesus is telling us this.
There is a feast
and a kingdom
that he has prepared.
And it is for those
who accept his invitation
to the wedding.
This kingdom
is for
and is only for
those who have faith
and hope
in Jesus Christ.
It is for
and only for
those who have
looked to Christ
and seen
that he is the one
who lived the perfect life
that they should have lived.
He is the one
who died the death
that they should have died
accepting
his sacrifice
on their behalf,
knowing that
when he died,
he took
the wrath of God
that we deserve.
For anyone
and everyone
who has faith
in Jesus Christ,
this is the feast
that is waiting for them.
This is the wedding feast.
This is the picture
that we're given
about the kingdom
that is ruled
by the lion
from the tribe
of Judah.
And so the final question
for us this morning
is this,
will you be
at the feast?
Will you come
when the king
invites you?
If you have more questions
about that,
one of the things
that we've done recently
in our worship guide,
you'll see
near the end,
we have a long
explanation
of what it means
to be someone
who follows
after the king
on page 10.
And so,
not necessarily now,
but I invite you
to take your worship guide
home with you
to review it.
If you have more questions
about this king
or this kingdom,
of course,
we're happy to talk
with you.
And I invite you
to look through
that page
and think about
whether Jesus
is your king,
what it means
for you to follow him
and to trust him
so that you can be
someone who shows up
to the wedding feast.
Now,
earlier,
I gave you
a list
of Christmas hymns
that we sang
this morning
that pointed
to Jesus
as our king.
And there's one hymn
that I didn't mention
on page 6
because we haven't
sung it yet.
But we're about
to sing it.
It's called
What Child Is This?
And first,
it tells us
in the chorus,
this is Christ,
the king
whom shepherds guard
and angels sing.
And then we're told
this in the final verse.
So bring him incense,
gold, and myrrh.
Come, peasant king,
to own him.
The king of kings
salvation brings.
Let loving hearts
enthrone him.
And so that's the hope
and command for us
as well,
that our hearts
would enthrone
this baby
who comes
into the world
not just as one
to die,
but one who comes
to rule and reign
as the king.
As the lion
from the tribe
of Judah.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven,
we praise you
and thank you
this morning
that you give us hope
that no matter
what happens
in this world,
you are a king
who's bringing a kingdom.
We ask that you would
use that truth
in our lives
to keep us
from despair
and to grow our hope.
We ask that you
would remind us
of that,
that it would be
for the front
of our minds,
Father,
in the many distractions
that come against us
this week
and this coming year
that we would never forget
that you are our great savior
and our great king.
We ask all these things
in the mighty name
of our king,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I invite you to stand
for our closing hymn.
Amen.