Sunday 08/26/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “The Lion of Judah”
Scripture Lesson: 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43
Gospel Lesson: John 6:56-69
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and I am happy to be worshipping with you here this morning!
This morning I want to talk to you about another title that Jesus was given. This title was and is the “Lion of Judah,” which was written by John of Patmos in his “Revelation” of judgment day. We refer to this vision or dream of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Revelation of John of Patmos”. We don’t know if this final book of the New Testament the “Book of Revelation,” was written by the same John as the Gospel of John, as many bible scholars think this John of Patmos might have been a different John. In the Book of Revelation though, it says specifically in chapter 5:5, “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.” This scripture of course as I said, speaks of the second coming of our Lord, or as some would call it, judgment day. Of the many titles for Jesus, I have always been very fond of the title of the “Lion of Judah.” This title is quite significant, as well as the inclusion of the word “Judah” in the title.
Many of us know that historically that Israel had and has twelve different tribes that made up the Kingdom of Israel, such as the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Dan, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Judah, and the others. Certain tribes were known for certain things, such as being a sea faring people, were known for certain trades, were known for the climate and geographical regions of their tribe, were known for the spiritual gifts and graces of their tribes, and etc. Since Jesus was born a Jew then, he was part of one of these twelve tribes of Israel. In fact, he was part of the tribe of Judah. Judah was the southernmost tribe in the Kingdom of Israel. Within Judah or Judea, was also the city of Bethlehem. Jesus as we know was not born of the priestly class, or the wealthy class, but instead was a poor carpenter.
What Jesus looked like as far as his appearance has also been a source of fascination for many, but the reality is we don’t really know what Jesus looked like. Sure we can speculate on his appearance, as the prevailing image is Jesus with long hair and large beard. Because of the Jewish cultural traditions at the time, Jesus would assuredly have had a beard and probably a large head of hair. When viewing people from this area of the world today, many of them have a dark complexion, brown eyes, and dark hair. Further, most people at the time of Jesus were probably not nearly as tall as they are now. So, was Jesus then a dark skinned short man? I guess for me, and you might in your mind think differently, that it doesn’t really matter what Jesus looked like. To me it doesn’t matter if he was six-foot six, or five feet tall! It doesn’t matter is he had blonde hair and blue eyes, or if he portrayed just as we think of him in our minds right in this very instant. To me what is important is that Jesus is the savior of all of humankind! That Jesus Christ was the person that God fused Himself with to spread His gospel, and die for the sins of a broken world. To me what is important is that Jesus died for us, when it seemed all was lost!
We do still wonder don’t we, what Jesus looked like. I wonder when we get to heaven if we will be shocked that the image of Jesus that we had in our minds didn’t quite match up with the actual Jesus! Maybe he will look way different than we think he will!
In continuing to unpack this title though of “the Lion of Judah” this morning of who Jesus was and is, other than just being the Messiah and being fully God and fully human on earth, what of this title? Biblically, what does scripture mean when it says “the Lion of Judah?” To really get the fullness of this scripture and this title, we must look to the prophecies of the Old Testament. You see in the Old Testament, God revealed himself too many Men. He revealed himself to Abraham, to Noah, to Jacob, to Isaac, to Moses, and etc. Yet every time God made a covenant with these men it was always conditional, except for Abraham and David. By this I mean that God promised his rich blessings, as long as his people followed and obeyed him. Every single person that God called in the Old Testament fell short of God’s expectations. In fact, when Moses went up Mount Sinai in Egypt to receive the 10-commandments from God, he put his brother Aaron in charge of the Israelites. Well when Moses came down the people were worshipping golden calves, partying, and living in very sinful ways! I can image Moses thought, “Are you serious I was only gone for five-minutes Aaron!” I think it would have been the equivalency of leaving John Belushi in charge! Maybe you have had an experience like that with your children or a pet, where you say “I only left them alone for a minute!” As a result of God’s people being disloyal and sinful, Moses was forced to lead the twelve tribes of Israelites around the desert for forty years, depending on daily manna from heaven. The group also got quail once and a while, but this was not a fun 40-years of life. You see this covenant with Moses was conditional, and the conditions were all or nothing.
While the Old Testament is full of prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Amos, who were calling the people God back to sanctity and holiness, we could just never stop sinning and offending God. Of all the Old Testament covenants that failed before King David, God promised Abraham that his line and his people would get the Holy Land one day. You know the “Land of Milk and Honey?” When David entered the picture, God did something even more significant with him. While God promised Abraham that one day his people would get the Holy Land and that Abraham would be the father of many nations. David would even greater blessing than Abraham though. In fact, God did not tell David I am going to make you a great King, only if your 100% loyal. Instead God told David that he would “Make him a great name,” and that his “house would rule forever.” Now I’m no expert, but generally when I hear the term “forever” I tend to think that is a pretty long time! This “Davidic Covenant” as it is known is an unconditional covenant that God chose to make with David.
Since God chose to make an infinite contract or covenant with David, God told David that one day someone from your line is going to come that will be the savior of the world! Someone from the house of David will as scripture says “save us from this sinful generation.” You see God’s first official covenant was with Adam in the Garden of Eden, and that covenant failed. God then covenanted again and again with others in the Old Testament. While God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations and his people would get the Holy Land one day, God cemented a covenant with King David that his line would rule forever. Further that the Messiah would come from his tribe, the tribe of Judah! Not only this brothers and sisters, but that this Messiah, whom among many other names and titles, would be called “Emmanuel” or “God is with us,” and would be born in Bethlehem! You see the prophecy said that the Messiah or Emmanuel had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy!
If you have you bible with you today, would you look in the very beginning of the Gospel of Mathew with me for a moment? This is the only Gospel of the four Gospels that starts by explaining the lineage of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, or Emmanuel. This lineage as you will see, traces King David back to Abraham, who was promised the Holy Land and to be father of many nations. This lineage then traces King David, to whom God said one will come of his lineage that will be the Messiah. This lineage of Jesus is established through his father Joseph. We don’t know fully if Jesus’ mother Mary was related to King David and some scholars say yes, and some say no. We also believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, fulfilling yet one more of the Old Testament prophecies. Given this, Joseph was made his father earthly father, and therefore Jesus was validly added to the lineage of David. When glancing at this list in Mathew though, you probably think two things. One, wow this is a lot of names! Two, that if Mathew wrote this in his Gospel, that it must be a true account of Jesus Christ’s lineage!
If you would now turn in your bibles brothers and sisters to the Gospel of Luke 3:23-28. You will notice yet another lineage attempting to establish Jesus Christ as a descendent of King David. Given these two accounts of lineage, given that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was called Emmanuel, that he rode in on a donkey, and etc, and etc. it all proves unequivocally that Jesus was and is the Messiah! If you have ever have chance on the internet type in “The ways that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Prophecies,” and you will find many more that Jesus Christ fulfilled. You see Jesus Christ over turned the Old Covenant, because as scripture says “He makes all things new.”
According to our Gospels then, Jesus through his father and maybe his mother, was the direct descendent of King David! This is once again significant, because God told King David, in our scripture reading in the Old Testament this morning that his line would be forever! In the Gospel reading today, Jesus was saying I am the Messiah, the way to everlasting life! When the ancient Old Testament prophets spoke of one to come then, they were speaking of Jesus Christ! While they might not have known the name of the savior, they knew he was coming as scripture says, to “save us from this sinful generation.”
This is also why at the Last Supper when Jesus raised his glass and said “this is the blood of the New Covenant,” as he was saying “I am the fulfillment of the prophecy.” Jesus’ covenant with us brothers and sisters is not conditional. It is unconditional! This means that it cannot be broken, it cannot be destroyed, and Satan cannot stop the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ! Our salvation is forever and ever!
By accepting the salvation of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, we are accepting salvation in eternity! We must live for Christ then, preach the Gospel, and become more like Christ! We must be imitators of Christ, and we must surrender to Him daily, and in be in communion with Him constantly! You see this is a miraculous thing! If we mess up we will not be banished to the desert for 40-years, because our fulfilled covenant with Jesus through God’s covenant with King David means we have salvation eternal if we accept and follow Him, and live out His Gospel! You see the road of our salvation has been paved by the blood of the Lamb! By the blood of Jesus Christ and by His stripes we are healed! Three nails and one hammer set all of mankind free! We are living through the battle brothers and sisters, but the War is long over. In fact, the war ended on a hill called Golgotha in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago! Jesus defeated sin, conquered death, fulfilled the prophecy of King David, and he is coming back in Glory one day to bring us home! Further, Jesus brothers and sister is a Lion! We don’t worship a weak wimpy savior. We worship the savior who over turned the tables in the temple when people were selling offerings to God at massively inflated prices. Jesus said, as scripture says, “You have turned my Father’s house into a den of thieves.” We worship a mighty savior! A mighty Lion! A mighty Lion of Judah! The one who resisted sin, resisted Satan, overcame every temptation, and conquered death. Jesus Christ is a Lion!
I want to close today with a story. This is one of my favorite stories in the bible, the story of the “Prodigal Son.” Most of us know the story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15:11-32. We know the man was wealthy, we know that he had two sons. We know one stayed home and was loyal, while the other was wayward. We know the wayward son spent everything his father gave him, was down to eating pig food, and was homeless. We may think of people in our own family, our own children, our own friends, who are wayward. That maybe we think, they can’t ever come home to the father. That they are gone forever, and that are spiritually homeless and starving. That the dark night of their souls has lasted so long, that wonder if they will ever see the light of hope again. The light that only Jesus Christ can offer. Maybe you have or have had a wayward child. Maybe you had one or more of these children come home. We know in the Gospel story that rich man ran like the wind to greet his wayward son. To his wayward lost son. We know that he said “you were lost, but now you are found.” We know he put a robe on his son, sandals on his feet, a ring on his finger, and had his finest fattest calf butchered for this wayward son. Sometimes when I read this Gospel story is brings tears to my eyes. I think of the great love a father has for his son and his children. I think of coming home when all is a lost.
Some of you might remember the student I spoke to you about not too long ago that I called “Jim.” I’m pleased to tell you that Jim said not only does he now believe in God, but that he prays every night before he goes to bed. Jim asked me if we could get together for coffee one day, and talk about God. You see this student is really wayward. But be of cheer brothers and sisters, He has overcome the world, and He will welcome always welcome you and lead you home! No matter what we or anyone else has done, if we but ask forgiveness and return to the father, then he run to us, with a robe, a ring, sandals, and prepare the banquet for us. For our savior is fulfillment of the prophecy of old, and he will pursue you. He will surprise you. Also, he will love you, unconditionally. Some here might feel that their father’s didn’t full love them fully, but Jesus will never fail you in this way. He always runs and greets us, as if we were a king. Then again, all of here are royalty, because we stand inherit the greatest Kingdom of all time. The Kingdom of Heaven!
If you are here today, and you don’t know him, I ask in this moment that you break through the stone around your heart, and join the ranks with some 2.2 billion of us Christians world-wide, and profess that you are follower of Jesus Christ. Amen and halleluiah!
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