Deut 33:7, And this regarding Judah; so he said, "Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them; And mayest Thou be a help against his adversaries." 
	In this chapter, we have the recorded blessing of Moses upon all the Tribes of Israel. This brings to mind the blessing of Jacob upon his 12 sons. We are specifically looking at the blessing pronounced upon the tribe of Judah this morning. Therefore, it would be a good thing to return to Gen 49:8-12 and read once more what Jacob had to say to Judah. Please turn back to that first book of the Bible, Genesis Chapter 49, verses 8-12.
	Gen 49:8-12, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you." Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. "He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. "His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk. 
    	There is a distinct similarity in these two blessings from these two men. One was the father of Judah, and the other a prophet of God who proclaimed the words that the Lord gave him to speak. We dare not just pass over this pronouncement with only a glimmer of notice. We need to invest ourselves into the truth of what is before us in the Lord’s heart. It is God Who causes these two blessings to meld together into a fabulous and glorious proclamation of what was in store for humanity through this tribe of Judah.
	It is evident that this blessing in our reading is one of the shorter ones that Moses spoke upon the members of the tribes of the Children of Israel. It would be easy to just skim over it in passing and then go onto greater depth with those more detailed blessings given to the other tribes of the nation. However, to do that would be to miss the great declaration of all eternity - past, present, and future. 
It was from the tribe of Judah that two of the greatest kings of the nation of Israel were born. That would be King David and King Solomon. David was the lion of Judah in terms of how he unified all of Israel and led the nation to great victories over the enemies surrounding and harassing them. Solomon was be the king who brought the glory of the nations unto Israel in his human splendor and riches garnered through the wisdom bestowed upon him by the Lord.  
	This was the establishment of the royal kingdom to which Israel would always hope to return in the course of seeking an earthly ruler of power and might and justice and majestic dominance over all the peoples. The populace of the nation were holding to the blessing of Jacob which proclaimed a victorious warrior king whose scepter and staff would be the deliverance of the oppressed. He would be the downfall of all of Israel’s enemies.
	They also saw this victorious warrior king highlighted in the blessing of Moses upon the tribe of Judah as it would be from Judah that there would be one who would contend for the nation and would be receiving the acclamation as the deliverer of the people when he would return from the battle. The Lord would be the help of this one in all the tumult. As a result, the people would heap honor and praise upon him in the course of that triumph. 
	We know that it was initially King David and then King Solomon in the sense of the earthly manifestation of the Lord bringing these blessings to fruition for the physical nation during their short reign on this earth. However, far beyond the measure of their earthly lives, this blessing was fully manifested and accomplished in the One Who was from the lineage of David. He would be the eternal King from Whose hand the scepter would never be taken and the staff would ever be in use to guide and to direct and to bring forth the only true peace to the people who are His own chosen nation.
	This was foretold through the Prophet to King David in 2 Sam 7:8-13, if you would please turn to it. 2 Sam 7:8-13, "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts," I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 
    	This was true of King Solomon to a point. He did succeed his father, David. And he did build a house for the Lord. He was the one who built the earthly temple in Jerusalem, which was a resting place for the ark of God and for the glory of God. However, Solomon’s reign was no more eternal than his father’s.
We know that this was the foretelling of the great and majestic Warrior King Whose reign would be forever and forever. Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His glorious victory over sin and death, through His crucifixion and resurrection is building that eternal House of God for the glory and the majesty and the praise and the adoration of the Majestic and Awesome Triune God. This House is His True Church, you and me, and all who call upon the name of Jesus for salvation. It is the redeemed of the Lord who are being made into the living house of worship and praise unto God.
Christ’s reign will never end and will be fully established in the righteousness and the peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit. He is the great and promised Warrior King Who brings Victory to His people!
Please turn now to Ps 21, so we can rejoice together in the further proclamation of this King from the tribe of Judah over all the nations of the earth. In this passage, David declares the fact that the Lord is faithful to all the promises and the blessings that are proclaimed upon those who trust in Him. The Lord is worthy of all praise and adoration for the fact of His faithfully fulfilling the blessings, such as declared in our morning’s passage. Even more so, the Lord has shown that the kingdom of God will be victoriously in place forever and forever through the One Who is to come. 
Ps 21, O Lord, in Thy strength the king will be glad, And in Thy salvation how greatly he will rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, And Thou hast not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. For Thou dost meet him with the blessings of good things; Thou dost set a crown of fine gold on his head. He asked life of Thee, Thou didst give it to him, Length of days forever and ever. His glory is great through Thy salvation, Splendor and majesty Thou dost place upon him. For Thou dost make him most blessed forever; Thou dost make him joyful with gladness in Thy presence. For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken. Your hand will find out all your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, And fire will devour them. Their offspring Thou wilt destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men. Though they intended evil against Thee, And devised a plot, They will not succeed. For Thou wilt make them turn their back; Thou wilt aim with Thy bowstrings at their faces. Be Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy strength; We will sing and praise Thy power. 
	Again hear the resounding truth of the blessing of the Lord upon His people as voiced in this morning’s passage when it is further recounted in Ps 78:65-72. There is no doubt that the Lord has chosen the tribe of Judah, through the lineage of David, as the source of the Warrior King Who will bring both the scepter and the staff to bear upon His people throughout all of eternity.
	Ps 78:65-72, Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine. And He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever. He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands. 
       	Then in Ps 110:1-4, we have the great and splendid prophetic declaration of how God the Father will glorify the Son as both Eternal Lord and Holy Savior of the whole people of God. There will be no other.
	Ps 110:1-4, The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." The Lord will stretch forth Thy strong scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of Thine enemies." Thy people will volunteer freely in the day of Thy power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Thy youth are to Thee as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, "Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek." 
      	It is because of this so tremendous and unyielding victory of Jesus that God is due all praise and glory and adoration as the Psalmist proclaims so fully in Ps 146. Please turn to it so we can rejoice together in the chorus that should ever be upon our lips and in our hearts and minds.
	Ps 146, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God; Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous; The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; But He thwarts the way of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever, Thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! 
 	The Prophet Isaiah, in Isa 9:6+7, gives voice to the fact that the Lord will place Himself on the throne of David as a man. The Son of God will come to earth as a babe and will be established as the eternal King. It will be the mighty work of the Lord Who will bring this to pass. It will not be dependent upon the will and the miniscule power of mankind. It will be established by the power and the plan and the purpose and the foreknowledge of God Himself.
	Isa 9:6+7, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. 
  	Then, we have the voice of God through the prophet Micah, in Mic 5:2-4, again reiterating the fact that it is from the tribe of Judah that this Mighty Warrior King will come forth. The village of Bethlehem Ephrathah will be the birthplace of this child, who will be the victorious King and Shepherd to the ends of the earth. 
Mic 5:2-4, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." Therefore, He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. 
    	The Prophet Malachi, in Mal 3:1-4, adds to the truth that this Redeemer King of Israel will bring forth the righteousness of God and be the purifier of His people. There will be a messenger who will announce the wondrous manifestation of the Lord’s Anointed. Thereby the righteousness of God will reign through Him.
	Mal 3:1-4, "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts. "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. "And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. 
    	We now rejoice with the Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 7:14-22, if you would please turn to it. There, we have the fact detailed that Jesus Christ is the foretold eternal priest, as described in Ps 110. The covenant that Jesus has established is so much greater than the one that set up the commandments and the priestly sacrifices. These needed to be repeated and repeated and repeated over and over again. Christ’s priestly ministry of salvation is once and for always through the very declaration of God the Father.
	Heb 7:14-22, For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of Him, "Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek." For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as it was not without an oath (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind, 'Thou art a priest forever'"); so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. 
	We will bring this morning to a close with the vision of John in Rev 19:11-16. Here we have the Warrior King of the blessings pronounced upon Judah. Jesus is revealed to all creation as the King of kings and Lord of lords. His scepter and His staff are eternal and righteous and faithful and true. In Him we have peace forevermore.
	Rev 19:11-16, And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." So be it!    
And this regarding Judah; so he said, "Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them; And mayest Thou be a help against his adversaries." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 66:8+9. Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, Who keeps us in life, And does not allow our feet to slip. Amen.