Whenever we set out on any serious study of Bible Prophecy, it is important to remember that within just one verse of scripture, there may be multiple predictions. Genesis chapter 49 is one of those places.
In this 16th old testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled, we see that it was the intention of God that the tribe of Judah would be the line through which the Messiah would come. The obvious choice would have been Reuben, since he is the first born, but due to sexual sin with his father’s wife, Reuben was disqualified.
As with Reuben, all of us have lost our birthright. As the sons and daughters of Adam we could not obtain eternal life because of our sin. We needed a redeemer, someone who was righteous and could stand in the gap for us.
The spiritual choice from Jacob’s sons was Judah because of his many attributes that were pictures of what Jesus would be like when He came.
In these five verses of Genesis 49:8-12, there are seven references in Jacob’s description of Judah that point to Jesus:
Judah’s name means “Praise”, even as Jesus’ Name meant Praise to the Father for His obedience in laying down His life for all men:
Genesis 49:8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Judah shall overcome his enemies, even as Jesus will finally put down every enemy:
Genesis 49:8 Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
All of Jesus’ brothers in Israel will someday bow down to Him as their Messiah:
Genesis 49:8 Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Judah is the “Lion” as Jesus is the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah”:
Genesis 49:9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
The rulership for Israel is placed in the hands of Judah, as will be all Rulership be given to Jesus as Lord of the Universe:
Genesis 49:10 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.
Upon Jesus entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He was riding in as a King on the foal of a donkey, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9.
Genesis 49:11 Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus garments are said to be splashed with the blood of those He has slain and trampled in the valley of Armageddon:
Genesis 49:11 He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk.”
Both Mary’s Genealogy in Luke and Joseph’s Genealogy in Matthew, show that Jesus came from the tribe of Judah.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, through Joseph’s genealogy, Jesus came from Abraham and David. The Messiah had to come from the seed of Abraham and be from the house of David. This genealogy in Matthew showing Joseph’s line, proves that Jesus has the Legal right to the throne of David.
Mary’s genealogy in the Gospel of Luke traces Jesus’ line all the way back to Adam, to prove that Jesus was qualified to be the Second Adam and Savior of all men, because He is from the first man, Adam. Mary’s genealogy proves that Jesus has the Physical right to be the Messiah.
Although Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus, He did convey to Jesus the legal right to the throne as the Messiah because Joseph as his stepfather was descended from David and Abraham.
If you carefully examine Joseph’s Genealogy that is given by Matthew, you will see a man by the name of “Jechonias”.
In the Book of Jeremiah 22:30 the Lord pronounces a curse upon the entire line of Jechonias:
Jeremiah 22:30 Thus says the LORD: “Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.”
This presents a huge problem for the Lord in that the Messiah must come from the line of David. Jeconiah is from the line of David, down to Joseph who is the stepfather of Jesus.
If Joseph had been the birth father of Jesus, Jesus would have been disqualified from sitting on the throne of David because He is descended from the line of Jechonia.
One can imagine the jubilation in satan’s camp when God pronounced the curse of Jechonias’ line. Satan must have thought that God had made a mistake in curing this line because it would mean that everyone from the line of Jechonia was disqualified from being the Messiah, including Jesus.
Except for this fact: David had two sons, Nathan and Solomon.
Joseph came from Solomon’s line, from where Jeconiah was cursed and no son could ever be the Messiah.
Mary came from Nathan’s line, from where Jesus was qualified to sit on David’s throne.
This is why the Holy Spirit present to us two Genealogies in Matthew and Luke, so that we can see that Jesus is qualified to be the Messiah because He is from the Tribe of Judah, from where Genesis 49:10 states the ruler must come.
Jesus is also qualified to be the Messiah because He is descended from Adam, Abraham, and David.
For the sake of clarity and so that you have a visual reference of Jesus’ Genealogy, I included the complete lineage of Joseph and Mary.
The Genealogy from Adam to Jesus Christ:
ADAM (1)“The Son of God” and The First Adam(14) DAVID (34)
m. Bathsheba (Luke 3:31)(14) JEHOIAKIM
(who had brothers, Matthew 1:11)Widowed daughter
husband deceased(Evidently Salathiel died childless and Pedaiah, his brother, married his widow according to Deut. 25,5,6)wife m. PEDAIAH
(Ouite legally according to the Mosaic law, Pedaiah’s name does not appear as the father of Zerubbabel in either Matthew or Luke.)(3) ZERUBBABEL (57)
(1 Chr. 3:19)daughter
SHELOMITH –> m RHESA (58)(14) JESUS (77)
The Son of God and the Last Adam
Rob Robinson
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at 12:15 am and is filed under 365 Prophecies, Rob Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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