The hope of Israel was embodied in the promise made at the time of the call of Abraham, and afterward repeated again and again to his posterity, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”Genesis 12:3. As the purpose of God for the redemption of the race was unfolded to Abraham, the Sun of Righteousness shone upon his heart, and his darkness was scattered. And when, at last, the Saviour Himself walked and talked among the sons of men, He bore witness to the Jews of the patriarch’s bright hope of deliverance through the coming of a Redeemer. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day,” Christ declared; “and he saw it, and was glad.”John 8:56.
(PK 683.1)
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This same blessed hope was foreshadowed in the benediction pronounced by the dying patriarch Jacob upon his son Judah:
(PK 683.2)
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“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.... The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.”Genesis 49:8-10.
(PK 683.3)
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