Rev 5
5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Something I’ve been meditating on lately is the first chapter of Matthew in which we find the genealogy of Jesus Christ. At first glance, this may look like a boring way to start a book, however it provides background information that helps us understand what John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples are talking about in the rest of the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 1
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas…
6 And Jesse begat David the king…
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
According to Matthew chapter 1 Jesus descended from the tribe of Judah through King David hence he is the “lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David”.
From Abraham through to Jesus was about 42 generations (14+14+14). A biblical generation is between 38 and 40 years (Num. 32:13, Deut. 2:14) so it took roughly 1,600 years for the promises made to Abraham to come to spiritual fruition through Jesus Christ.
What were the promises made to Abraham?
God would make of him a great nation (Gen. 12:2). His seed would be as the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5) and with them God would establish an everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:7).
Genesis 46&47 describe how Jacob’s twelve sons moved their families to Egypt.
In Exodus 1:7-14 they multiplied greatly but then became slaves. In Exodus 3:7-10 God heard their cries and sent Moses to release them from bondage.
Israel being led out of Egypt into the wilderness represents Shiddukhin- the preliminary arrangements in an ancient Jewish marriage.
An example of this is when Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac and bring her to him (Genesis 24).
When Israel arrived at mount Sinai and said “we will do” (Ex. 19:8) to the ten commandments her 40 year betrothal period began (Erusin).
Only once entering Canaan was the marriage complete (Nissuin).
Were the promises made to Abraham fulfilled at that time? Not quite.
The Abraham and Exodus stories pointed to a future spiritual fulfilment (future to them not us).
Let’s go back to Matthew 1 and fast forward to the time of King David and his son Solomon.
Matthew 1
6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon…
7 And Solomon begat Roboam…
Solomon, David’s son, build a very grand temple to house the ark of the covenant.
Solomon also married many pagan wives who eventually turned his heart away from God.
This led to a major event…Israel split into two kingdoms.
1 Kings 11
11 Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend -- the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.
13 Howbeit I will not rend away -- all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor…
30 And Ahijah…said to Jeroboam…
31 Behold, I will rend -- the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give -- ten tribes to thee:
36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem…
The Northern kingdom was comprised of 10 tribes and retained the title of Israel. They were based in Samaria. Whilst the tribe of Judah, Benjamin and Levi made up the Southern Kingdom. They were simply called Judah and were based in Jerusalem.
The Northern kingdom was ruled by Jeroboam whilst the southern kingdom was ruled by Solomons son, Rehoboam.
Why did God not entirely rend the kingdom from Solomon? Why was his son Rehoboam still allowed to rule Judah? The messiah was yet to come through Judah.
Israel became very unfaithful to God and as a result her city was destroyed, her people scattered by the Assyrians in around 722 BC.
The Assyrian attack on Israel is mentioned in 2 Kings.
2 Kings 17:5&6
16 And they left -- all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images…and served -- Baal.
17 And they caused -- their sons and -- their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David…
23 …the LORD removed -- Israel out of his sight…So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
Israel being “carried away” by the Assyrians was warned of by Hosea who’s ministry ended (in 725 BC) just a few years before it happened.
Hosea 1
2…take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
2 So he went and took -- Gomer…
6 And she conceived…God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon -- the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon -- the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God.
8…she conceived, and bore a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
The book of Hosea is not just about Israel’s whoredom and God’s rejection of her, it speaks of a future time (future to them not us) in which God would gather BOTH the children of Israel and Judah as ONE again. Spiritually restored Israel would become Gods new bride.
Hosea 1
10…it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head…
Jeremiah, who ministered about one hundred years after Hosea (between 627BC and 586 BC) mentioned how God divorced Israel. I think it makes sense that the divorce was around the time Assyria carried her away.
Jeremiah
6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and -- under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her -- a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Finally Isaiah, who’s ministry overlapped Hosea’s (740BC - 697 BC) mentioned God’s divorce of Israel.
Isaiah 50
1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is -- the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold -- you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Though Judah was unfaithful, nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does it say God divorced her.
She was conquered by the Babylonians in around 586 BC and carried away into captivity. However, unlike Israel, she was released from captivity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
2 Kings 24
11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
14 And he carried away -- all Jerusalem, and -- all the princes, and -- all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives…
15…those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
(2 Kings 25:9&21, 2 Chron. 36:7,19-21, Jer. 52:4,5&13)
In the book of Ezra and Nehemiah we see Judah return to Jerusalem 536 BC after 70 years of captivity to rebuild the temple, re-open the book of the law and re-establish her covenant with God.
Nehemiah 8
1 And all the people gathered themselves together…
2 And Ezra the priest brought -- the law before the congregation both of men and -- women…upon the first day of the seventh month.
3 And he read…from the morning until midday…and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
Nehemiah 9
1…the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone…
38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
When Judah was in captivity something miraculous happened, God moved upon the heart of King Cyrus to let them go back.
Ezra 1
1…the LORD stirred up -- the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom…
2…The LORD God of heaven…hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people?…let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build -- the house of the LORD God of Israel…
7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth -- the vessels of the house of the LORD…
8…and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
Sheshbazzar is a Babylonian name probably given to Zerubbabel the governor of the Judah who was instrumental in rebuilding the temple (Haggai 1:1).
According to Matthew chapter one Zerubbabel was also a direct descend of King David, who was of course descended from Judah.
Matthew 1
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechoniah begat Shealtiel; and Shealtiel begat Zorobabel;
13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud…
Why was Judah not divorced by God in 586 BC when conquered by Babylon? Why did God move upon King Cyrus’s heart to release was her back to Jerusalem? Because the messiah had yet to come through Judah.
Judah’s lineage continued all the way from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, King David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Zerubbabel, through to Joseph who married Mary, who birthed Jesus, the messiah.
The destruction of the second temple by Roman soldiers in 70AD was when God finally divorced Judah.
Revelation 17
1…Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore..
Who is the whore described in Revelation? Not the Catholic Church! not the protestant churches! not a conglomerate of all false religions! No, the whore in Revelation is God’s unfaithful wife Judah!
He had to divorce her in order to marry his new bride, comprised of a remnant from ALL twelve tribes (both Israel and Judah) plus “whosoever will” from among the nations who placed their faith in Jesus.
This was God’s plan from the beginning…that the “heathen” would be saved through faith.
The gospel was foretold in the story of Abraham, as Paul explained in his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 3
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul wrote that those who have faith in Jesus Christ are “Abraham’s seed” thus heirs to the promises made to him.
Galatians 4
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons…
23 …he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants…
25…Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 …Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Just as Abrahams son Isaac was a child of promise, those born after the Spirit are children of promise and heirs to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Paul expressed a similar sentiment in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 9
6…they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
27 Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
When Jesus died on the cross he sparked the second Exodus.
His death was the Shiddukhin- the preliminary arrangements made for his marriage to spiritually restored Israel.
50 days after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection was the betrothal (Erusin) in which a gift was given…the Holy Spirit, the “earnest” of their inheritance (Ephesians 1:14).
Just as Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, there was a 40 year transition period from the Old to New Covenant.
At the destruction of the second temple, when God finally divorced unfaithful Judah, we see the Nissuin take place- the marriage of spiritually restored Israel to Jesus Christ.
Whilst the first Exodus ended when Israel entered a physical promised land, the second Exodus ended when Spiritually restored Israel entered her spiritual promised land, the New Jerusalem.
Paul, in both Galatians and Hebrews explained how Abraham looked for a spiritual, heavenly city “who’s builder and maker is God”.
Hebrews 11
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Hebrews 12
22 But ye are come unto…the heavenly Jerusalem
It took around 1,600 years for the the promises made to Abraham to come to spiritual fruition through Jesus Christ.
That’s why, in the gospel of Matthew, we see John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples continually preach “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
The city Abraham looked for was “at hand” in the first century.
To many this was a great “mystery” however God revealed the “mystery of the kingdom” to Paul which is why his epistles shed such glorious light on Old Testament stories.
In conclusion, the book of Revelation largely describes the divorce of unfaithful Judah in 70AD and Gods marriage to spiritually restored Israel under the New Covenant.
Only Jesus (the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David) was worthy to open the seven seals, enact the divorce/destruction of Judah and consummation of the New Covenant kingdom.
