Today’s message is specifically for the people who have a burden to outreach. We talk about the kingship, we talk about the priesthood, and we talk about the prophethood — these three things are intertwined in today’s New Testament ministry. But for any person who wants to preach the gospel according to the New Testament ministry — you have to understand who you are. It’s not showing people a business card saying you are a servant of the Lord. It’s not showcasing your high degrees or human accomplishments. It doesn’t work that way. The reality of who we are is more important than all of these. Before we are busy preparing a feast when inviting someone to our home, we have to know — what is next? The answer to this question is the key for us to be able to touch people’s lives without losing our own standing. There are many different kinds of people in the world who have grown up with all sorts of backgrounds. But if we want to serve with reality, we need to talk about who we are.
Judah, your brothers will praise you; / Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; / Your father’s sons will bow down before you. / Judah is a young lion; / From the prey, my son, you have gone up. / He couches, he stretches out like a lion, / And like a lioness; who will rouse him up? / The scepter will not depart from Judah, / Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, / Until Shiloh comes, / And to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples. / Binding his foal to the vine, / And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, / He washes his garment in wine, / And his robe in the blood of grapes. / Dark are his eyes with wine, / And white are his teeth with milk. (Gen. 49:8-12)
Jacob’s prophesying of the 12 tribes is a summary of the entire Bible. In this portion of Genesis, we see each perspective of the ministry depicted ahead of time, before the priestly service described in the final chapters of Exodus came to fruition. Here, we come to Judah, a person reigning in all aspects — a picture of a people serving from a kingly perspective. We find a key to who we are in everything we do. Even in something as small as inviting a friend to your home, you need to be reigning. You can only influence people when you live well. When we say “live well,” we mean that you have something that others don’t — a high life, a noble life.
“Judah, your brothers will praise you;” (v. 8)
In Judah, there is a nature that yields out an attribute, presenting his life in a virtuous way, leading all his brothers to praise him. What does this look like in application to our churching today? If a brother serves brothers in the brother’s house and they can praise him, it is because there is something beyond just what he does physically. There is something in his life that they do not have; there is something to be admired — to be praised. He cannot be a custodian, giving out rules and discipline yet never building a relationship in life with others. Serving is not based on who has the better method — who is smarter, who can help you to choose a career, lose weight, or get married. Those things are from calculation; they won’t work. A believer’s life has to be virtuous. A believer’s life has to have a yielding attribute. That yielding attribute is related to who you are, which is the nature of who Judah is in the Father’s eyes.
Many young people today try to be someone by presenting themselves as if they have something praise-worthy, but that is not Judah. The praise from his brothers is the result of the attributes of Judah’s reigning condition — it is who he is. We should have confidence. And this confidence is different from pride. As a serving one, our confidence should come from that attribute, which is reigning. Our virtues present and yield our confidence. Because our virtues have a reality, we are able to even conquer — to reign — in any situation. This is what people are lacking in the world. Today, we are not persuading people to stay here; people have to find that virtue not in theory, but in reality.
“Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;” (v. 8)
This kingly attribute yields out through our living as our virtues — it is the key to reigning in every situation, or controlling any situation by “the neck.” Today the enemy has power; he is a snake. How do you control a snake? By the neck. It is not by killing it or slaughtering its head, but by grasping it by the neck. The world is our enemy, and the worldly people are not our “friends.” Sometimes we outreach with a good heart, hoping to serve people who seem vulnerable or lonely. But the world is not simple. These people don’t want you or want a relationship; they want to have a method so that they can be successful. They are lonely because they are ambitious. Sometimes, after their situation improves and they feel better, they kick us away. That’s the world. Don’t waste your time setting out a feast for them or spending time doing physical preparation without understanding; you need to have your hand on the “neck” of the situation to serve them.
“Your father’s sons will bow down before you.” (v. 8)
When you have a burden to serve or outreach, whosoever coordinates with you — whosoever is in your family — needs to understand you are Judah. It’s not that we have a rank by title in the church life — but the church life does have a rank in life. Judah can only be a king because of life; without that, serving is only a showcase.
Unfortunately, sometimes in the middle of serving, we contradict each other. This is the worst situation: there are two directions at work, the coordination pulling in opposite ways. This is very subtle and generates division. For example, in a meeting we may talk about a passage of scripture from one perspective, and suddenly a brother stands up to give another testimony. Seemingly nothing is wrong, but if you listen closely to his sharing, there is something questionable. What is his motivation at this moment? Why is there the smell of ambition? Leadership is not by rank or by being more powerful than the other. A serving one is powerful because the Lord has His kingship — the reigning in the church life. Our focus should not be on the person executing, but the kingship of the Lord in the serving. If we don’t recognize the kingship — or in other words, if we don’t recognize the serving ones — there’s no building up the house of God, and our brothers will start to rebel against this household. Why do people rebel, or why do siblings strive in God’s house? Because they don’t understand the Bible. Here — “Your father’s sons will bow down before you” — is not really putting anyone on an unnecessary pedestal to reign over others. The whole point is how we enter into the building work of God’s house.
From the twelve tribes, eventually, Jerusalem is established. By the end of the Bible, that city becomes the complete expression of God’s household on the earth. Jerusalem has 12 colors of precious stones. Even the colors — why this one is blue, this one purple, and another one red — all come back to Genesis 49. If you want to have a clear sky — to have blue, purple, red — you can find all of these already set in place in Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49. The entire Bible is about life and building. We don’t need to demand others to listen to us or receive our serving; we have to make sure this brother recognizes life. There are some people who, no matter how hard we try, will not see life and will not see the building. If you see the building — that the Bible is all about building up — then personal interests and personal power struggles will not be important anymore because the real testimony is to build up the house. Other than that, anything can become a division or a striving.
“Judah is a young lion; / From the prey, my son, you have gone up. / He couches, he stretches out like a lion,” (v. 9)
Judah is a young lion, but a young lion doesn’t have any power among lions. When a mature lion looks at you, you will be scared. But as a young lion Judah, in a way, is not yet there — he has not yet come to the stage. Although Judah was young and people despised him, there is something in him that the Father sees. This kind of reigning doesn’t need that kind of ferocious eyesight to have authority. Unfortunately, many people bring their badges and ranks to their serving, like they are giving the Lord a favor. This is the world being brought into the church life. To purposely give even a subtle indication that we are “servants of the Lord,” or to use it as a title or rank, is wrong by nature. But to those who have been ignored, been laid aside by rank or by the world, He says, “my son.” This son knows what the Father wants, and without a display, he can go out and get the prey. And “you have gone up.” It’s not just that he is going to go up; he already did. When no one was aware of what was happening, the prey was already presented — that’s Judah.
How can he do this? This person knows who he is. “He couches, he stretches out like a lion” (v. 9). If you know you will be a king, you can couch, you can stretch. You have the life of a lion. “Stretches” means that you push yourself, willing to undergo misunderstanding or mistreatment because you know who you are. But the question is, do we know who we are? Unfortunately, many believers stay superficial and do not fully understand who they are, so they cannot be pushed. Serving these ones to grow and mature is very difficult because they want to remain comfortable. When something or someone pushes them over that line of comfort, they become numb, small, and shortsighted. A serving one’s help becomes unbearable pressure and a point of dispute rather than a true help; such ones don’t see the need to grow but rather complain that they are being pushed too hard: “I’m just raised this way.” But the reigning life from the Father in Judah is all about life. If you always feel the pressure is all the fault of others, you cannot grow. It cannot be from others pushing you to live this life. Look at Judah. Judah is a young lion. He has already presented and gone up from his prey. He is willing to be stretched. Are we?
“And like a lioness; who will rouse him up?” (v. 9)
No one can rouse him up. It is not about what Judah did. It is about who he is. He is a lion, born to be free, born to reign. Do you know why he is free? Because he is at the top. He is above everything; above money, power, social status, and human greediness. What kind of life is free? What kind of life is born to be free? The Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5). Nothing can bind Him. He wants nothing because He has everything. That is Judah.
“The scepter will not depart from Judah, / Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, / Until Shiloh comes, / And to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (v. 10)
In this verse, there are two very significant things: “the scepter” and “Shiloh.” The scepter represents authority. The executed authority in a king’s life is his staff. A king needs a staff not just for authority, but also to be placed between his two feet. We need something so that we are able to “walk the walk” — that is our authority. The scepter must be related to the king’s nature — related to the way a king can walk as a king or a lion can live as a lion. There is a distinction between life and life. In the natural world, there is a difference between lions and hyenas, for example. Hyenas live like thieves; lions are not that way. Lions fight in a noble way, pacing around the field. All they have to do is roar and other animals, like the hyenas, will back off. Lions don’t steal; they just walk. Even sitting, they are the king of the field. That is how they fight and that is how they walk. This is all because the scepter is functioning as the authority of their living in that reigning life.
In our lives as believers, we have to walk in that very specific reigning life. And with that reigning, there is also “Shiloh.” There is an application of this word that refers to tranquility, and to a condition that holds a “born free, absolute reigning” demeanor. “Until Shiloh comes,” or until that tranquility comes, refers to the resulting peace of a king established on this authority, as someone claiming ownership of the staff and the scepter. Whosoever wants to be king needs this lived-out authority — this reigning.
When we serve or when we preach the gospel, we don’t do so in a low way. People should be attracted from miles away and wonder who we are, and we should tell people who Shiloh is. We should tell them that what they are missing is this. People have been enslaved, living like thieves. They are not living in true freedom yet, and cannot find it no matter how much they look. We cannot force or teach people how, either. A king’s son might receive all the skills, techniques, lessons, and know-how from the father king, but what will make the young son a good king is beyond artificial instruction. True kingship is born out of the inward, reigning life of the Father.
“To Him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (v. 10).
People is already plural, but here it’s “peoples.” It is not just a king of someone, a country or nation or race. This is a person who serves humanity. People say this is talking about Christ. Actually, this is also talking about us — or whoever serves the priesthood in the King’s power. Do you want to be a human being? There is no true human being other than being a believer and serving Shiloh. We need that to live our true human life. Otherwise, we’ll be disappointed. Judah is not fake — this is what this prophecy is about. This reigning has to be from something inward — out of virtue expressed in our humanity. The “obedience of people” is because we have that demeanor of Shiloh, because we are living a high, rich, noble human life.
Today, we want to outreach. We want to gain people. But how? By knowing who we are. We are Judah — kingly, powerful, and reigning over all situations. Before we cook a good meal or clean our house, before we spend time thinking of ways to attract people, before we put all our good effort toward the gospel, we need to have this reigning condition that stems not from our actions or trying, but from the King’s virtues within us. In this way, we can live out something truly worth admiring and give that “something” to those around us. In this way, we can truly coordinate in the church life, submitting ourselves to the King’s authority in one another. In this way, we can be expanded in all the aspects of our humanity. This is our church life’s reigning power infused in a real and practical way through this reigning life, constituting and shining out from among us, lived out for the world to see. This Lion of the tribe of Judah is our reality if we know who we are, and since Genesis, God has already unveiled His divine intention for us. We can reign in every situation, seamlessly entering into the building work of the Lord for His own household. We, indeed, are a beautiful people living out a beautiful life. That is our gospel.