Identity
Can one person make a difference?
Here is a reminder of your history and identity in Christ
The Lion of Judah is the symbol of the Hebrew Jewish tribe of Judah. According to the Torah, the tribe consists of the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The association between Judah and the lion, can be found in the blessing given by Jacob to his son Judah in Genesis 49:8-10
Identity and authority bestowed on Jacob
“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you. 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? 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.
Jacob’s himself had twelve sons, in this order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. His only daughter mentioned in Genesis is Dinah. The twelve sons became the progenitors of the “Tribes of Israel”
Here below is the family tree of Jacob starting with Noah, following the great world wide flood.
The Tribe of Judah its conquests, and the centrality of its capital in Jerusalem for the worship of the God Yahweh figure prominently in the Deuteronomistic history, According to the account in the Book of Joshua, following a partial conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes (the Jebusites still held Jerusalem), Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Judah’s divinely ordained portion is described in Joshua 15 as encompassing most of the southern portion of the Land of Israel, including the Negev, the Wilderness of Zin as well as Jerusalem.
Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. He was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom God made a covenant. He is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham, the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah.
Identity of the Patriarchs
In the opening words of the Book of Judges, following the death of Joshua, the Israelites “asked the Lord” which tribe should be first to go to occupy its allotted territory, and the tribe of Judah was identified as the first tribe. According to the narrative in the Book of Judges, the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon to fight with them in alliance to secure each of their allotted territories.
The Book of Samuel describes God’s repudiation of a monarchic line arising from the northern Tribe of Benjamin due to the sinfulness of King Saul, which was then bestowed onto the Tribe of Judah for all time in the person of King David.
The Lion of Judah is also mentioned in the Book of Revelation 5:1-5, as a term representing Jesus:
And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.
4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
For those in Christ, see yourself, as God sees you.
Galatians 2:20
Ephesians 2:4-6
John 15:4-5
If you are the only Christian at your place of work, business, evening class, or social group, it matters not.
……..Go and establish His kingdom here on earth, as it is in heaven.