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Question 5
Genesis 49 portrays Judah’s lion “bows down and sleeps… and who shall rouse him?”; how does framing resurrection as an unanswered question (“Who will raise him?”) function spiritually—does it force dependence, worship, awe, or something else—and how is that different from treating resurrection as a doctrinal fact you already “have down”?
Another way to ask: Genesis 49 asks, “Who will wake the lion?” as if resurrection is an open question. How does that kind of question affect your faith (dependence, worship, awe, or something else), and how is it different from just knowing resurrection as a fact?

Direct Answer In Chuck Pike’s presentation, the open question “Who shall rouse him?” is meant to provoke awe and inquiry that leads to worshipful dependence—because it drives you to ask who has the power to raise the Messiah, and the answer is God the Father.

Support from Transcript:

  • Genesis 49: “He bows down and sleeps as a lion… And who shall rouse him?”
  • Chuck calls it “the mysterious question that is not answered in Genesis.”
  • Hippolytus: Jacob’s “Who shall rouse him?” matches Paul’s answer: “God the Father who raised him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1).
  • Eusebius says the question was added “so as to impel us to ask who it was that raised up our Lord.”
  • Chuck links the “sleep” to voluntary death: the lion “will bow down voluntarily and sleep or die… give up his life voluntarily,” making the “rousing” entirely God’s work.
Discussion Follow-ups Do you experience resurrection as something that still makes you ask and marvel, or mainly as a settled concept you repeat?