In this final segment of Genesis 49:10, we find the 19th old testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled:
Genesis 49:10 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.
“And to Him (Jesus) shall be the obedience of the people be…”
As Christians it is easy for us to forget where our roots are. Jesus came first for the Jews, then for the rest of the world. Throughout the 39 books of the old testament, God was preparing one line of descendants to bring forth the Messiah. Before Jesus was the Savior of the world, He was the promised Messiah to the Jews.
When Jesus finally arrives in the new testament, John records the fact that Jesus had always planned to take the one flock of Israel and the flock of the rest of the world and combine them into one family that would live together and enjoy fellowship with the Lord forever.
John 10:16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Paul devotes the entire chapter of Romans 11 to the fact that God first offered salvation to Israel. In His mind and heart though, He always had the idea to save the whole world through Jesus. When the Jews rejected Jesus as their Savior, it was not because of a lack of proof that Jesus was the Messiah. It was because they refused to see, and their blindness was made complete by God.
When anyone hears the good news about Jesus and rejects that truth, the next time that they hear about Jesus again, as their heart becomes increasingly hardened to the message, God increasingly withdraws Himself from that person who will not see. Eventually, if someone is persistent in rejecting Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit does not continue in seeking to persuade them. God gives the persistently unwilling what they ask for, He turns them over to the deception of their own mind.
Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…
No one is saved apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit. As Israel was unwilling and turned away from Jesus, God in turn gave them over to the deception and blindness that they insisted upon. Knowing that this was the course Israel would take, even before Jesus came, God planned all along to give the whole world the opportunity to find salvation. After the fullness of the Gentile world has come in to Jesus, God will again in the last days, turn to Israel and offer them Jesus once again as He opens their eyes to who He really is.
Romans 11:1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!
Romans 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Romans 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved...
At the mid-way point of the tribulation period, when the antichrist announces to the world that he is their God, the eyes of the Jews will be opened and they will believe that Jesus is their Messiah. Jesus warned the Jews who will be alive during this time in Jerusalem, to be prepared to flee:
Matthew 24:15-22 Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
As Israel realizes that the new world leader is not their Messiah as they had first thought, they will reject him and the worship of him. This rejection will apparently invoke the wrath of the antichrist against Israel and he will send his armies to pursue the Jews as they flee Israel for the wilderness of Petra.
Unless Jesus shortened the time of the antichrist’s reign to just the last 3 1/2 years, Israel as the elect of God would not survive.
At the present time, God has turned His attention to the entire world to offer Salvation to whosoever will believe that Jesus is the only Savior of the world. This is the “Time of the Gentiles”. When the Rapture takes place, the time of the Gentiles will end, and God will once again turn His attention back to Israel.
In Romans chapter 11 Paul concludes by stating that Israel “Was blinded” by God because of their first rejection of Jesus as their Messiah.
Romans 11:7-9 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
As the Jews around the world just before the Rapture occurs, see so many people who are not Jews, enjoying the blessings of God by receiving Jesus as their Savior, it will provoke their jealousy and turn them to Jesus once their eyes are opened.
Romans 11:11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Paul’s goal was to show everyone that they could find out how wonderful Jesus is and persuade many to turn from their sins, to Jesus and be saved. His intent was to provoke the Jews to jealousy as they witnessed the world being saved.
Romans 11:14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.
This final aspect of the many promises of Genesis 49:10 is that Jesus was desiring all along to save both Jew and Gentile and combine the two flocks into one. Thereby fulfilling Genesis 49:10 and the prophecy that: “to Him shall be the obedience of the people…”
Rob Robinson
