"Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion." (Psalm 114: 2)
Notice that Judah is mentioned first.
Jesus is the Lion of Judah.
Jesus came out of the tribe of David.
He is priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, not after Aaron, a priesthood which blesses only, not curses.
Judah also means "praise".
We praise God because He is our sanctuary.
Yet the original Hebrew reads for sanctuary "qodesh" or holy.
We can just as well read the verse "Judah was holy" or "Judah was holiness".
We praise God because in Christ we receive His righteousness, and as we see more of Him, we are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18).
Israel his dominion: that speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Christ, we receive His righteousness, and He is made unto us sanctification, too (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
By His stripes, we are healed, and we enter into this holy dominion of His governance.
Let us rest assured as we enter into 2014 that God is interested not just in taking us out of Egypt, but that He is bringing us with certainty into a better kingdom, a perfected life in which He has provided all things for us.
He just asks that we believe on Him (John 6: 29)
This year, see how perfectly Jesus has taken you from dead in trespasses to alive and seated in heavenly places with Him (Ephesians 2: 4-6), recognize that you are now a new citizen in the Kingdom of God's dear Son (Colossians 1: 13) and praise the Prince of Peace, who is with God and is God (John 1: 1)