Jacob’s ‘Last Days’ Prophecy—What It REALLY Means [Eschatology Matters]

0:00steadfastegars.com. Use promo code covenant 10 for 10% off your order. Welcome to the based boomer podcast on eschatology matters, part of the fight-lap feast network. Genesis 49, Jacob's farewell prophecy to his sons and Christ's kingly reign. The continuity of the Bible is mind-blowing. 66 different books, written by 40 or so different authors over 1500 years in Hebrew and Greek with a little Aramaic thrown in. And yet it is one consistent message. The entirety of redemptive history is found in microcosm in the account of the fall in Genesis 3. God's curse on the serpent and his promise to fix it. And I will put emnity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel. From there the story plays out in a very crooked line directly

1:03toward ultimate victory in Revelation 22 and the total consummation of all things. In chapter 21 we're given a taste of this life to come. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. A brief apologetics aside. The continuity and consistency

2:04from Genesis 315 to this redeemed, renewed and restored heaven and earth is a powerful reason I believe the Bible could not have been made up. Mirror human invention, fiction to one degree or another. Remember for 300 years the Bible's critics have asserted not only could it be made up but in fact was and could easily be so. And Christians have been on the defensive ever since. Both they the critics and we act as if we are the only ones who have the burden of proof, not true. Since they think it would be a piece of cake to make it all up, let them provide evidence that it was. Reading or listening to such critics will quickly realize all they have are assertions based on question begging anti supernatural bias. Conclusions assumed with questionable justification. The mental gymnastics and pretzel logic they have used over the years is truly impressive and that people bought it uncritically pun intended is quite the feat. For many reasons,

3:10secular critical scholars don't have the credibility they once did and they never again will but the biased and assertions remain. Recently reading Genesis 49, I was reminded of this continuity and consistency. Jacob is about to die and tell his sons what is to come. In verse 1 he says, gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Most English translation, say, translations, say days to come. But the Hebrew literally says, last days, the after part or end. The phrase last days is a common one to Christians. We see it in a variety of verses in the old and New Testaments, always referring to the Messianic period after Christ. He speaks to all 12 and here is what Jacob says to Judah. Judah, your brothers will praise you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub Judah.

4:13You return from the prey my son like a lion couches and lies down like a lioness who dares to rouse him. The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet until he whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his cult to the choicest branch. He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes, his eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth, wider than milk. The picture is one of complete dominance and flourishing of this descendant of Judah. And by extension, we know because of God's promise to Abram in Genesis 12, this means blessing to all peoples on earth. Remember that what we're reading here is something that took place 400 years before the Exodus and it will be a very long time before any descendant of Jacob's will be anything other than slaves. We'll be probably another seven or 800 years before the nation of Israel will even have a land of its own

5:18let alone any power over any other nations. As I often say, God is never in a hurry. But think about how crazy this must have sounded. For hundreds of years, Hebrews slaves were told this first official biblical prophecy coming through a man and nothing changed ever. God's word often sounded crazy to God's people and often still does, but his track record is pretty good so we are compelled to trust him. Why we can trust him is specifically because of this dominance and flourishing Jacob predicts as we'll explore in due course. The lion of the tribe of Judah. First though, I want to look more carefully at the metaphor of Jesus as a lion as a messianic declaration it is specifically speaking of his divinity in Isaiah 31 for the lion metaphor speaks of Yahweh as the warrior for his

6:21people. This is what the Lord says to me as a lion growls a great lion over its prey and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor so the Lord Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights. In Jeremiah 50, Yahweh is like a lion doing battle for Israel against Babylon and there are four different references to Yahweh as a lion doing battle for his people in Hosea. There are several other such references in other prophets as well so in New Testament hindsight we conclude the lion Jacob refers to is Yahweh is Jesus the Messiah. The most well-known of phrases related to Jesus as lion comes from Revelation 5 where Jesus is referred to as the lion of the tribe of Judah. The context is significantly related to Jacob's prophecy about this descendant

7:23of Judah. He who sits on the throne is holding in his right hand a scroll with riding on both sides in sealed with seven seals. John weeps because no one is found worthy to open it but an elder tells him this lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy. In a counterintuitive move the lion becomes like a lamb who was slain and he takes the scroll and all of heaven breaks into joyous worship singing a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you are slain and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nations. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on earth. We will see how this relates to Jacob's prophecy of over 1500 years before but this lion as a slain lamb's victory is attained through his slaughter the shedding of his blood to literally buy the people he will turn

8:26into a kingdom and servants of God and not only is this connected to Jacob's prophecy but it goes directly back to Genesis 3 and God's promise that the woman's seed would strike the serpent's head while the serpent would only strike the heel of the seed but victory in this cosmic spiritual war came in a way nobody could predict until it happened. The very absurdity of it makes it profoundly compelling as the truth. At the very moment when the forces of darkness were convinced they had defeated Almighty God he mocks them. Peter tells us in Acts 4 that Psalm 2 is a picture of the crucifixion and resurrection. The one enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord scoffs at them he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath saying I have installed my king on Zion my holy mountain I will proclaim the Lord's decree. He said to me you are my son today I have become your father

9:29ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance the ends of the earth your possession you will break them with a rod of iron you will dash them to pieces like pottery in the resurrection God in Christ had defeated his foe and Satan was now bound and cast down no longer with any ultimate power to deceive the nations after the ascension and the Holy Spirit coming upon God's people at Pentecost was when the lion of the tribe of Judah officially started his reign on earth. Satan's power and the curse of sin would now be slowly pushed back as God's kingdom had come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven. After 2000 years Jacob's prophecy was finally fulfilled and he to whom the scepter belongs had arrived and the obedience of the nations shall be his Jacob's prophecy for now or only for the life to come

10:30at this point how we view quote in times and our eschatology will determine how we interpret Jacob's prophecy unlike for much of Christian history today most Christians believe the obedience of the nations and Jesus receiving the nations as his inheritance will only happen when he returns at his second coming or advent the great commission in this understanding is primarily witnessing and seeing the gospel preach the results of that preaching are not the primary point though fervently wished for most Christians unfortunately have not thought through their eschatology in any depth but if you ask them they will likely say any fundamental transformation of this world only happen when Jesus returns which I used to believe and prior to that things would inevitably get worse until Jesus finally comes back to clean up the mess once and for all which I also used to believe until that is I embraced post millennialism. I hadn't thought through this in any

11:37depth either but I guess I saw the great commission as there being Christian conversions in every nation and once that happened maybe that means the nations had been discipled in this view the making of disciples baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded them is severely constricted to individuals the effects on the culture and society are byproducts of what happens in the church and in the individual lives of Christians we are the best Christians we can be in some way this leaks out to the rest of the society and a Christian nation or Christian culture is the result as a Christian culture warrior I didn't even believe this but I hadn't thought through it enough to have any firm convictions in the name of this channel eschatology matters I just didn't know it yet this perspective on the Christian life is the fruit of piotism the 17th century

12:38German Lutheran movement that eventually took over American evangelical Christianity in the 19th century and the end result is that we see our faith as primarily personal another way to put it is that Jacob's prophecy has nothing to do with life in this fallen world it's as if redemptive history after Christ descended to heaven and at the right hand of God only applies to individuals and maybe church communities but the rest of humanity is out of luck I don't see it that way anymore and I'll give a very brief glimpse here of why I now read passages like this in Genesis 49 and I'm off to the races I see connections everywhere I no longer see Jacob's prophecy as of passing interest because I believe it refers only to Christ coming to set all things right at the end of time in other words I don't believe its relevance is primarily if not solely eschatological in the technical meaning of the word only about the end of things it's bringing the end of things

13:40into the present on a practical level prior to my eschatological awakening I saw Jesus as only king in the hearts of his people he was obviously not king of this fallen world isn't it obvious how could he be king if everyone is it obeying him and acknowledging him as king these are very good questions but can't be answered in any depth here but I will answer them as best I can in the time I have remaining based on the passages passages from above from Genesis 49 revelation 5 and Psalm 2 via Acts 4 the obedience of the nations shall be his through his body the reality and idea of nations and God dealing with them as nations is common throughout scripture as post-enlightenment secular westerners most Christians are secular the opposite side of the coin of pietism we see the world through a personal and individual lens everything that happens is interpreted for how it affects

14:44individuals not families communities groups or nations but God never deals with individuals apart from the larger context in which they live think about your reading through the Old Testament early on God dealt with people groups like those spoken of in Genesis 15 19 through 21 the land of the canites canisites catamites hit tites as time went on nations became more well-defined by geographical boundaries like the Egyptians Philistines Assyrians and Babylonians but nothing like the modern Westphalian nation-state with permanent borders for example when God called Jonah to preach his word of judgment to the great city of Nineveh that city eventually repented and turned from their evil ways God relented and didn't bring his judgment on the city the judgment or blessing as was to fall on the entire nation or take God's covenant to the patriarchs the purpose was to bless the nations not just individuals this is clear from Jacob's prophecy and its

15:50direct connection to Acts 4 via Acts 4 to Psalm 2 at the moment of the resurrection Jesus was installed on God's holy mountain and the nations at that moment became his inheritance and possession he did not have to wait until he returned at the end of time when he ascended to the right hand of God to take all authority in heaven and on earth and on earth and sent his holy spirit at Pentecost Pentecost the actual slow step by step process of taking possession of his nations to bless them for God's covenant promises began too many Christians don't seem to understand that God is never in a hurry as I said we're 4,000 years into this thing and we think it has to be close to over what if it's not what if we're not even halfway through God extending Christ's reign on earth and building his kingdom through expanding his church his people we're in this for the long haul brothers and sisters we need to stop this obsession among conservative Christians of whining about it being so

16:55bad Jesus must be coming back any day and get to work building the kingdom where his body his hands and arms and legs and this is how it is done through us when we read in Revelation that Christ purchased us to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and that we will reign on earth we need to start acting like it doing nothing and cowering in fear as if the works of the devil and the power of sin is greater than our God and Christ and his righteousness is dishonoring to Almighty God who so loved the world he gave himself up for it we find ourselves in a pivotal era filled with defining moments and global shits what's the significance of it all while many perceive doom and gloom going back to find the way forward argues that these times are not only clarifying but also immensely hopeful there's a silver lining waiting to be seized the metaphorical red pill has awakened millions to truths previously obscured enter Donald Trump the relentless dispenser of this awakening

18:01as truth comes to light the enemies of honesty are unmasked marking the onset of another great awakening our contemporary awakening fuels a renewed confidence at the possibility of a refounded nation true human flourishing and liberty and justice for all available at Amazon Barnes and Noble Audible and iTunes the steadfast legacy Sumatra is a bold cigar with a nice balance of spice leather and dried fruit you can find these in all our other premium cigars steadfastcigars.com use promo code eschatology10 for 10% off your order remain steadfast and hold the line