Unparalleled Rule

Would you take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49, you follow as I read verses 8 through 12. Genesis 49, 8 through 12. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his fold to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. Let's pray. Father, would you open our eyes today to the truth of this scripture? We tend to forget that this is the very word of God to us and think primarily it is the word of an old man to his son centuries and centuries ago. My prayer, Father, is that you would exalt Christ as we look at this, that you would help us and give us hope that we might see your glory in this, that we might live for that glory because of it.

Thank you for your word today, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. You turn on your television at night, and as you watch the news, it's not very long before you see a whole group of protesters, and pretty soon you see the signs popping up that say, not my president. Now, if you're an anti-Trumper, you're saying, this guy may have been elected, but I am against everything he stands for and everything he's going to propose.

On the other hand if you a Trumper you saying grow up We won You lost Get over it you big babies But either way no matter where you are on that issue either way, the effect is the same. You have people hating one another, dissension and division, tearing apart the fabric of the country, disunity, producing weakness, and ineffective government. and yet we all want a leader who can unite us lead us in the right direction protect us from our enemies and most of all frankly to make the good life easier to achieve well all of that seems embodied in jacob's fourth son judah we come now to the blessing pronounced over Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. Now Joseph, as the favored son, we have already seen, receives the promise of land and children.

Verses 22 through 26, he's received an abundance of the treasures of the covenant. It is an unparalleled abundance. However, Judah, though not receiving the same blessings of treasure, receives, as we've just read, great power and authority. Although this prophetic blessing comes in the natural order of blessings, Judah is the fourth son. Judah is the fourth one to be addressed, to be blessed.

Yet his blessing seems to be, at least to me, the most noteworthy of all of the sons. It is unparalleled in the rule that is predicted of him and it is remarkable in its fulfillment let's look at it together here's what we need to see in verses 8 through 12 we need to know that God fulfills covenant promises through unparalleled rule God fulfills his covenant promises through unparalleled rule verse 8 Judah your brother shall praise you your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies your father's sons shall bow down before you his rule will be with he will rule with unparalleled recognition he will rule with unparalleled recognition all of the brothers and the tribes that descend from him are going to say about Judah that he deserves the preeminent position that he occupies Now remember this is a fractious band of brothers Imagining them uniting under any other brother is almost beyond imagination But all of them will recognize this preeminent position of Judah. Note, do you note what Jacob says?

He says, your father's sons shall bow down. Now if he had said your mother's sons, that would have been his brothers by Leah. The four sons that came from Leah. But he doesn't say that. He says your father's sons, all of them will bow down and give honor to Judah. They will praise him.

They will honor him as king. And they do so because he is going to achieve fierce, unquestioned victories over their enemies. The middle part of verse 8, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, refers to the conquest of their enemies. Now my wife comes from a farm family. You go to Iowa, in the old days at least, you'd go out there and in the feeding floor there would be these big silver looking metal hog feeders. and when my father-in-law would go out there to move the hog feeders all those little rat terriers would go out there little rat terriers, they're these little dogs, right? these rat terriers would go out there and they'd just be all around that hog feeder and when they moved it, the rats would just scatter all over the place and those dogs would just go and grab those rats and just shake them until those rats were dead alright that's the picture he's drawing here Judah's going to get the enemies by their neck and just shake them until they're dead he's going to defeat them he grabs his enemies by the neck and he destroys them he's going to take this fractious bunch of tribes and unite them under his leadership you're not going to see any signs reading Judah's not my king and their gatherings.

So this blessing announces that Judah will possess unparalleled recognition, recognition from all the other brothers that he indeed is the king. He's going to rule with unparalleled power Verse 9 Judah is a lion cub from the prey my son you gone up He stooped down he crouched as a lion and as a lioness Who dares rouse him Now Jacob here draws the picture of a lion. Now don't let cub, lion, and lioness throw you.

He's just using all the possible phrases he could use to tell you that Judas is a lion. It's a picture that says, hey, Judah is a lion. In that day, the lion was also a symbol of kingship. Why? Because the lion is majestic in appearance. He is swift in his movements.

He is fearless against attackers. in other words they had the same attitude that is expressed today the lion is the king of the jungle the lion is the king all right and so what jacob is saying is he's going to rule with unparalleled power he's going to be like a lion and like a lion he kills and then walks away from his prey as if it's nothing it's nothing he stoops down and he crouches now that's not he's not saying and he stoops down and he crouches, getting ready to spring. Notice the parallelism. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness.

Who dares rouse him? So it's a picture of a lion who's laying down, if you will. Okay? You don't walk over to a resting lion and start poking at him. Right? Or a lioness.

You don't do that. That's the picture he's drawing here. You don't poke at this Judah. You're not going to be able to poke at Judah and get away with it. Alright? In other words, don't mess with the lion.

Jacob pronouncing a blessing that says about Judah, this king will have such power that he will inspire fear. The royal family, verse 8, will inspire unity with the people of God. But on the other hand, this same family will inspire fear in the enemies of this people. He's a lion. Don't mess with him. He's powerful.

And so this blessing promises that Judah will have unparalleled power. And then verses 10 through 12, he will rule in unparalleled glory. Notice what it says. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his fall to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes, his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

He will rule in unparalleled glory. It is glorious because his rule is permanent. His rule is permanent. The scepter, or as it's called here, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet. The scepter was a staff that symbolized the king's power and authority, and he's saying that's going to be Judah's permanent possession.

He'll never lose that. All right. Now, when you see the president speak somewhere, you always see the presidential seal. All right. The presidential seal. That's a sign of his power and his authority.

And by the way, I don't know if you've ever noticed, but it's only the president who makes speeches when that seal is up. All right. And you know that that seal travels with him. So that no matter where he goes. if he were to stand in this place and make an address, if our president would make an address to you, the presidential seal would be right here.

Always is with him. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. But it would be on this pulpit. Why? It's a reminder, a constant reminder that the guy talking to you right now has the power and authority to say what he's saying. The same thing was true with that scepter.

It was a staff, right? It was a staff. And the picture he draws is the king sitting on his throne with the top of the staff resting on his shoulder and the bottom sitting between his feet. As he sits on the throne with that scepter, that great staff of his authority. He says it's going to be his permanently. That staff, that scepter will not pass to anybody else.

Judah is going to have that authority permanently. And then you notice I changed something here. It's not until tribute comes to him. If you notice if you have an ESV maybe in the NIV you have a little footnote there and it says by a slight revocalization a slight emendation yields until he comes to whom it belongs I think that the better translation, until he comes to whom it belongs, to what belongs, the scepter.

So Judah's going to have it permanently, until the one to whom it belongs comes, comes. The rule resides there until that one comes to whom the scepter belongs. In other words, here is a veiled reference, ever so just a glimmer of the fact that Jacob is looking forward to a ruler, a great ruler that's going to come from Judah. There's just a glimmer of that here.

Until he who comes to whom it belongs. Judah, you're going to have this permanently until there one comes from your tribe to whom that scepter belongs. And so he's talking about, evidently, some great ruler who's yet to come from Judah. And it will be a great rule because he will receive, note, the obedience of the peoples. His rule is glorious because it's universal.

Now again, here is something that is just amazing to me. at this stage in the story of the people of God. We're very early, right? We don't even have a whole nation of Israel yet. We still have just these 12 sons and their children and grandchildren. And yet he says this rule will be one of world dominion. Because when he says all the peoples, that word peoples there is a statement that all the readers in that day would understand is non-covenant people, non-Jewish people, all the peoples.

He's talking about peoples of the world. He's not only going to have the praise and honor of the tribes of his family, but also all the tribes and peoples of the world. There will be unity as the world submits to this one king. This is amazing to me. As I look at Jacob, the third in the line of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, now saying at this stage there's coming one from Judah.

Or Judah at this point Judah is going to have a worldwide universal dominion Not just his sons and all their descendants are going to recognize his preeminence but the world, the peoples of the world will do so as well. This is amazing to me. So it's glorious because it's universal. and lastly verses 10 through 12 or 11 through 12 it's glorious because it fosters unprecedented opulence the the picture he draws in verses 11 and 12 is a picture of incredible opulence and riches unbelievable riches note verses 11 and 12 binding his fold to the vine and his donkey's colt of the choice vine he has washed his garments in wine in his vesture in the blood of grapes his eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk note his rule will be so unbelievably prosperous that he'll tie his donkey to a grapevine you say what's so big about that other than the donkey can you know rip up a vine in no no time at all what's the point of that the point is this Grape vines were so valuable that they were carefully protected.

And because it takes several years for them to produce fruit, vines are incredibly valuable plants. You would never tie a donkey to a grapevine. He'll just uproot it. Grapevines are extraordinarily valuable. You don't treat them that way. but what he's saying is those vines are going to be so common that you just tie up your donkey to one there'll be so many of those valuable things they'll be so common you can just tie your donkey up it's like watching a guy light his cigar with $100 bills right? that's the picture he's giving you here like a guy who lights his expensive cigars with $100 bills that's the opulence that's coming with the rule of Judah and the crazy crazy abundance of this world will be so unrestricted that even wine will be as common as wash water he's got the picture of washing garments and wine now of course we're looking at that saying that would just give me a bunch of purple robes wouldn it yeah but you missing the point the point is that the wine is so common that you be able to wash your clothes in it It just as common and invaluable as water right That's how opulent it is.

And you're going to see a ruler of unsurpassed beauty and health, which, much as we hate to admit it, that does register with us, right? You know, how many votes would a hunched over crippled guy get for president? Let's face it. This leader, Judah, is going to have unsurpassed beauty and health. Now look, in these pictures, in verses 11 through 12, you get a glimpse, the very first glimpse of paradise.

This early in the story, you start getting a glimpse. The hope is engendered in a human heart of rule that's going to come that will be so amazing that we will live in a world where the things that we count valuable are so common that we won't even recognize it. It's a golden age where care and thrift are thrown to the winds. now you know what it means to live in a world that's fallen where scarcity is is the way it is right it's everywhere at hand okay so the pasmas and the parkers get together and we're going to grill hamburgers you know we're all going to have this big hamburger party and and becca makes homemade hamburger buns okay oh yeah some of you are just like wow, I've never had homemade hamburger buns.

Let me tell you, they are great. Okay? So we have these homemade hamburger buns. But we have some left over. You know what? We don't throw those away.

They become French toast the next day. Right? And guess what? If we don't use them all making French toast, then we make crumbs out of them to put on the next casserole. You know why? Because you don't waste stuff.

You just don't waste stuff. You make sure you have it. Because it's scarce. You know, you don't want to waste any of that. Well, look, what he's drawing here is a picture in which there's no waste. It's so common.

You can throw it away. That's how rich it's going to be. No scarcity. No thrift. No cash. It is incredibly rich.

That's the picture he's drawing here. To me, this is amazing. At this early stage, we get the first glimmer of the new earth that's going to come through the rule of this tribe. This is going to be an age, if we've got it right, in what is described here, we're going to have an age of universal peace where the ruler defeats all of his enemies. the whole world gives allegiance to one king in a kingdom with no corruption to hinder anything.

That's the picture Jacob draws of the rule of this Judah, this tribe. This is the first glimmer of paradise, the first glimmer of glory. Now God gives his people a peek at that because a ruler does come from Judah and his name is David. His name is David. David comes upon the scene. And what tribe does David come from?

He comes from Judah. He is a member of the tribe of Judah. And as we look at the story of David, and frankly right now, we don't have time to read all of 1 and 2 Samuel. Okay? I hope that doesn't bother you. so you're just going to have to trust me to fill in some of the gaps. When you read the story of David, you recall that when Saul was killed by the Philistines, one of his sons by the name of Ish-bosheth began to rule.

But he ruled in the north. David became king in Hebron, and he ruled his own tribe. but after seven years what happened turn to second samuel chapter five after seven years what do we what do we see happen by the way you know how i've how i've talked about how all these tribes are all these brothers are a fractious lot who don't get along you read their history in the book of judges all those tribes don't get along they're always mad at each other there's civil war sometimes they some of them say well i not going to go and fight with you forget it right so the book of judges shows this fractious bunch of people Saul comes along he from the tribe of Benjamin and Saul comes along and kind of unites them, but as you read the story of Saul, you see that as a king, he has to really work hard at that, to call out all the tribes to come to battle. Now we come to his son, Ish-bosheth is ruled, Ish-bosheth is killed, and then we read in 2 Samuel chapter 5 verse 1 then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said behold we are your bone and flesh in times past when Saul was king over us it was you who let out and brought in Israel and the Lord said to you you shall be the shepherd of my peace Israel and you shall be prince over Israel so all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel what do you see here you see all the tribes praising and honoring David one of the reasons as they've said you've won a lot of victories you've conquered our enemies right and so they give him their allegiance their praise and glory the rest of the book up through chapter 11 up through chapter 11 you see that David continues getting victory after victory after victory so that in chapter 8 verse 14 then he put garrisons in Edom throughout all Edom he put garrisons and all the Edomites became David's servants and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went he is victorious he conquers all their enemies he's like that rat terrier right and and by the way i only read a little part of verse 8 verse chapter 8 i'm sorry chapter 8 lists king after king after king after king after king and nation after nation of all the people peoples that he defeated in second samuel chapter 7 which was our old testament reading what do you find there you find very clearly that god says to him number one i'm going to give you rest from all your enemies, right?

You're going to have conquered all your enemies. But this very thing, he says, I'm going to give you the throne of this people and a descendant is going to come from you who will sit on the throne forever Your descendants David your descendants will always sit on the throne There's that staff never departing from Judah's possession. And then when you look at Psalm 2, Psalm 2 verses 7 through 9, And think of this, Psalm 2 is a hymn that's sung at the coronation of Solomon, if you will.

Okay? And verses 7 through 9 of Psalm 2, imagine now this being sung at the temple, at the coronation of Solomon, and maybe at the coronation of all succeeding kings. It says this, I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Here is God saying to the king of, from Judah, I'm going to give you possession of all the nations. Alright? By the way, you see the same thing, if I can just throw this out there, Psalm 73. Same thing is said, right? By the way, Psalm 73, where it talks about God promising his king an incredible rule over the world, that's where we get the hymn, Jesus shall reign, where'er the sun, doth its journey continually run.

That's where we get that psalm. It's addressed to a king from the tribe of Judah. But here's the problem. After David's son Solomon, everything starts falling apart. Guess what? The ruler that's David's descendant rules in Judah and rules over Judah and Benjamin.

Ten tribes split. They don't recognize the king anymore. Not all the tribes are giving him allegiance. Pretty soon those ten tribes are gone. The Assyrians come and wipe them out. 200 years later Judah wiped out And so we come to Psalm 89 I want you to turn there Psalm 89 Let start reading in verse 38 Now listen to this psalm But now, he's just talked about all the wonderful things that God has done in this psalm that God has done for his king from Judah.

And now he says this. But now you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. That's the king. You have renounced the covenant with your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.

You have breached all his walls. You have laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him. He's become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes. You have made all his enemies rejoice.

You have also turned back the edge of his sword and have not made him stand in battle. You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame. It's almost as if this psalmist is saying, Jacob's words were false. The crown is in the dust.

Permanent rule? glorious rule the walls are not down we're plundered are we conquering anybody no they're conquering us has Jacob's words fallen to the ground unfulfilled that's the question it seemed like Jacob's words were coming true with David and Solomon and then slowly but surely it started declining until at the very end there's no king. There's no rule. They are captive to other nations.

Where is the promise of God? In Jacob's blessing. Here's the point. Know that God fulfills his covenant promises through the unparalleled rule of Jesus. See, it all comes together in him. all of these words from long ago, these words from centuries and centuries and centuries ago, all come together in the person of Jesus. Let's look at that.

With the coming of Jesus, God begins to fulfill this promise made to Judah. the scepter will never depart from Jesus, David's son from the tribe of Judah. See, Jesus was also from the tribe of Judah, being a son of David. And did you hear the New Testament reading this morning from Luke chapter 1? Did you hear what Gabriel said? Can you understand how this would reverberate in the ears of a Jewish woman when he says, and the Lord God will give to him, that is the son that you're going to bear, the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob what forever and of his kingdom there will be no end first said way back in the time of Jacob the scepter will never depart from his feet and here is this angel saying the son you're going to bear will permanently forever sit on the throne of David he's going to rule and isn't it interesting I didn't notice this before until just now.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Wow. I wish I'd thought about that more before I got up here. These are Jacob's words saying these things. And now here's this angel saying he's going to rule over the house of Jacob. He's going to have the recognition of all.

And now he sits on the throne of that kingdom and he will never drop the crown in the dust again. By the way, turn to Acts chapter 2. You know, I've preached here now for 32 years, and I think I've been in Acts chapter 2 probably three times out of every one of those years. That sermon by Peter is so pivotal in opening up the New Testament to us. But listen to what Peter says to the people who crucified Jesus.

Again, it looks like, doesn't it? It looks like the one to whom this promise is made. He will rule the house of Jacob forever. Of his kingdom there will be no end, said the angel to Mary. And then what? They nail him to a cross.

It looks like the crown's in the dust again, doesn't it? But listen to what Peter says to the people who crucified Jesus. After his resurrection, he's just quoted Psalm 16. And we don't have time to look at it. In Acts chapter 2, he's quoted Psalm 16, where David says that your Holy One your Anointed One will never see decay Alright And then he never see decay And here what Peter interprets that to mean Psalm 110, and he interprets it this way.

Brothers, I'm looking at verse 29 of Acts chapter 2. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Well, good night. David just said, the anointed one, me. It appears he's saying me. I'll never see corruption. but look what Peter says being therefore a prophet and knowing note that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ of the anointed one of the king that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption this Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witness being therefore therefore exalted at the right hand of god and having received from the father the promise of the holy spirit he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing for david did not ascend into the heavens but he himself says quoting now psalm 16 the lord psalm 110 the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ anointed one king this Jesus whom you crucified you see Peter is saying is Jesus is sitting on the throne of that kingdom now and he will never ever lose that throne the crown will never again be in the dust he now sits on the throne and he will sit there forever because this is the promised descendant.

You say, what about his universal rule? His rule, this very moment, is extending over all the world, calling for the obedience of the peoples. Do you know where you see that? You know where you see that? You see that in Matthew 28. What do you think is going on in Matthew 28?

Here's what Jesus says. We all know it. It's the Great Commission. How does Jesus begin? All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. I've got authority over the whole thing.

Hmm. And what does he say to the disciples? Go therefore and make disciples of all nations Now you could translate it this way Go and make disciples of all peoples It the same word that translated that way The peoples, the nations, those outside. Go and make disciples of all the peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to what?

Obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. what's going on here. Jesus is calling for universal obedience and the gospel is going out and reaching people and changing people so that they now bow the knee to King Jesus. And that is happening all over the world. I'm going to a country where I will be with men and women and children who have heard the summons of the king and are now obedient to him.

You say, well, what about that golden age in a wonderful environment without a curse? Jesus began that too. You look at all of the miracles that he did. He reverses the curse in so many instances. And it's interesting to note. Now, I want you to think about this with me.

What did we see? What did we see in the prophecy that Jacob made? Grape vines are going to be so common, you'll tie donkeys to them. You're going to have so much wine. You use it for wash water? Do you remember what the very first miracle that John, the gospel writer John, records?

What is it? Turning water into wine. In these huge receptacles that were meant for washing water. And he made a ton of it. Now, of course, he didn't make it all over the world, but there is a sign. there is a connection there with what Jacob is saying. So with the coming of Jesus, God begins to fulfill this, but with the return of Jesus, God completely fulfills the words of Jacob.

Revelation chapter 5. Turn to Revelation chapter 5. There's a reason why this is here. Listen to Revelation chapter 5. Verse 1. And of him who was seated on the throne a scroll, written within and on the back, and sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more.

Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. There it is. There's the lion. and he will permanently, his rule will be permanent and it will be universal. Turn over to chapter 11 of Revelation. Chapter 11 of Revelation. Those of you who are in the choir are going to remember this statement from the Messiah, or not the Messiah, the Hallelujah Chorus that we sing or attempt to sing every year.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. And He will reign in glory where there will be so much opulence where the curse is no more. Where the curse no longer has its grip on us. Revelation 21 Listen to the words verses 1 through 4 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold the dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away no curse no curse None.

This king is going to rule in a world where there will be nothing hindering our allegiance to him, nothing that hinders the ground from producing what it should, nothing from hindering the opulence that we see that Jacob talks about. God will fulfill his promises through the unparalleled rule of King Jesus. Jacob spoke more than to his sons that day did he not Jacob opens the door for us to step through and see the glory of Jesus I don't think Jacob knew all that was going to happen with what he was saying but we know it now and what he does is open the door ever so slightly opening the door so we now can see all that god intended with that blessing and what did he intend just to bless judah no because through judah was going to come the seed that would bless the nations and the lion that conquers as a lamb, who has dealt with the problem that causes all the problems and that is sin Jacob gives us a glimpse of Jesus the one who fulfills it all Father, thank you for your word.

Father, thank you for the words of Jacob that give us hope, that gives us hope by saying, you did remain faithful to your promise. You did do this, just as Jacob said. You did it all. You did it in ways that we never could have imagined, but you did it. You give us hope by saying that this ruler, who will always possess that staff of authority and power, rules today.

And he is uniting a people from all over the world to give allegiance to his name. and that someday that rule and that reign will be obvious to all. It will be an unhindered, glorious reign. Father, thank you for words that give us hope. Words that tell us that indeed you are faithful to keep your word and we will see glory. Thank you for Jesus, our King. the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who will lead us to that place.

We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.