The sceptre 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 49:10.
The great controversy between the Prince of life and the prince of darkness has been going forward, strengthening with each successive generation. Severe indeed has been the conflict waged between right and wrong, between truth and error, between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. Truth has fought against error and error against truth. The conflict has existed for thousands of years....
The truth as it is in Jesus will gain the victory that the prophecy assured to it; but to all human appearance, error will overwhelm truth. The larger number of the human race will be swept into idolatry. They will lift up that which Christ has not lifted up and strive to tear down God’s great standard of righteousness....
Satan is referred to as the originator of sin. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Satan’s first manifest defeat was his failure to overcome Christ in the wilderness of temptation....
“The sceptre 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.” This prophecy was uttered by the dying Jacob, and addressed to his sons. But it bore with weight upon future generations.... The scepter is a rod carried in the hands of chiefs and rulers as a badge of authority.... “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah.” The ensign of his tribeship shall remain. Judah shall not cease to be a distinct tribe until Shiloh come.... And the tribe of Judah did maintain its supremacy through all its adversities till Christ’s first advent. It remained a distinct tribe till Shiloh came.
Nearly seventeen hundred years before the death of Christ the dying Jacob uttered this prophecy. Christ Himself threw back the veil, that with prophetic eye Jacob could trace the history of his descendants.... He saw a wonderful Counsellor arise in the midst of this tribe. It was the promised Seed, Shiloh, the Sent of God, who was to set up a spiritual kingdom. Jacob saw the time when the scepter would no longer be in the hands of Judah. The nations would be gathered under the banner of Christ. When the Jews appeared before Pilate to secure Christ, they said, “We have no king but Caesar.” By this they confessed that the scepter had indeed departed from Judah.—Manuscript 110, 1897.
From Christ Triumphant - Page 93
Christ Triumphant
Thought for the Day
In the estimation of Heaven, what is it that constitutes greatness? Not that which the world accounts greatness; not wealth, or rank, or noble descent, or intellectual gifts, in themselves considered. If intellectual greatness, apart from any higher consideration, is worthy of honor, then our homage is due to Satan, whose intellectual power no man has ever equaled. But when perverted to self-serving, the greater the gift, the greater curse it becomes. It is moral worth that God values. Love and purity are the attributes He prizes most.... Unselfish joy in the ministry of Christ presents the highest type of nobility ever revealed in man. Desire of Ages, p. 219