Jacob's Family Part 2

Turn with me in your bible if you would Back to genesis chapter 29 and genesis chapter 30. We're going to examine once again Jacob's family and we're going to do that over the next couple of weeks. I thought that we would do it just today But I decided that's not going to happen because I probably won't get past the first son today And that would mean if I took one son a week, it would be 12 weeks I promise you it won't be that long these 12 boys that were born to jacob They play a significant part in the history of man in the history of the world god would take this family a family Unlike any other family and use them to birth a nation A nation unlike any other nation the world has ever known the nation of israel But the boys born to him 11 of them in chapter 29 and chapter 30 and then one more in chapter 35 those 12 boys Birth a nation and from that nation comes the promised seed the messiah specifically through the son the fourth son born to leah judah And these boys unlike any other boys When we read about their lives in the weeks and months ahead throughout the remaining chapters of the book of genesis are quite remarkable But it's significant to note that god would use these boys And their offspring to birth an incredible nation a nation that he would use To represent him to a pagan culture a nation that he would use that he would give his law to That he would give the written revelation of himself to in order that this nation might bring light to the other nations He says over in the book of deuteronomy The seventh chapter the sixth verse for you are a holy people to the lord your god The lord your god has chosen you to be a people for his own possession Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth The lord did not send his love on you nor choose you because you are more in number than any of the peoples For you were the fewest of all peoples But because the lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers The lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt But i'm way ahead of myself Because in genesis 29 and genesis 30 We have the birth of these boys And these boys Come to play a significant role in the plan and purpose of god And each of these boys would receive a name And each of the names of these boys plays a significant part in the redemption of god As he prefigures in each of these boys through their names his specific plan of redemption Let me give you an example a modern day example when I was born my my parents named me lance My middle name is insignificant But my first name is very significant they named me lance my parents were not believers at the time of my birth They knew not what my name meant Later in life, they would learn that name and what it meant But they named me lance and and they were saved later in my years and I wasn't saved until I was the age 14 but I came to realize the meaning of my name god's warrior And since I found the meaning of my name I I have set my heart and life To measure up to the meaning of that name And it just so happens that throughout my life.

I have been a warrior for god whether it's on a secular christian liberal arts campus where I had to stand firm on the the inspiration and the authority of the scripture or whether it was in a A church that would preach a different gospel and I would stand for for the true gospel No matter what situation I found myself in I found myself fighting the good fight of the faith I find myself in a a warrior's position and so I see myself as god's warrior god's man to defend the truth to stand for the truth to fight for that which is right and for those of you who Know me, you know, I have a supreme passion for truth and will stand firm on that truth not to compromise In any way the truth of god for the church is the pillar and the foundation of truth And so now I have found myself in the position of a pastor still being god's warrior Now when you received your name Your parents probably did not know the significance of the meaning of that name In jewish homes They named their children specifically with a name That will mark the character of that individual And that's what jewish families do and so in genesis 29 and genesis 30 When leah and rachel would name their children, they would name them In a very significant way to represent what was happening in their lives at the time Not knowing that what they were doing was naming the redemptive plan of god through history Because god rules over everything and we've examined the family and and and as we've examined the text of genesis 28 and genesis chapter 29 and genesis chapter 30 We see something happening in the life of an individual that seems like something you'd watch on afternoon television A man who was looking to to marry this beautiful woman named rachel and would commit his life to working seven years for her Only to find that on the night of his honeymoon.

He got the wrong woman He got leah instead of rachel and then had to work another seven years In order to obtain that individual that he so desperately wanted and the bible tells us that he loved Rachel dearly he had leah as his first wife.

He had rachel as his second wife He loved rachel He did not love leah because leah reminded him of his deceptive past because she was a woman of deception She coerced with her father this plan to get married and she would veil herself in rachel's garb She would put on the perfume of rachel and trick jacob into believing that she was rachel only to find out The next day that it was leah He was married to and so he didn't love her and the bible is very clear that he loved rachel and didn't love leah but god was Merciful to leah and god opened her womb all the while.

He closed the womb of rachel Leah's womb was open and she gave birth to four consecutive boys The first one was ruben his name means in your notes c a son a son Now my husband will be drawn to me because I have given him a son and in every jewish home a father wants a son To carry on the name of his family But jacob didn't respond She had a had another son and his name of course was Um, excuse me.

Ruben was the first one. Simon was the second one Which means which means to hear god has heard my affliction God has has heard what has taken place in my life and and responded to my affliction and now that god has heard Now my husband will hear But he didn't Then he had she had a third son and that third son's name was levi which means to be joined to or Attached and now my husband would join himself to me after three Boys three is a charm Certainly now he will join himself to me attach himself to me.

He'll leave rachel. He'll stick with me But he didn't so she had a fourth son. She named him judah judah's name means to praise And she would give praise to almighty god for what he had done in her life And leah was beginning to learn that she needed to praise her god And the bible says she stopped bearing children rachel was watching all this she was grieved in her heart She became jealous and over in genesis chapter 30 It says rachel saw that jacob bore her no children She became jealous of her sister and james 3 tells us that jealousy and an envious heart produces nothing nothing But trouble in the home and sure enough There was nothing but trouble in her home because she was a bitter woman and she said to jacob Give me children or I die and jacob said listen It's not my fault rachel that you're not having kids leah's having all kinds of kids through me.

It's not my problem It's your problem. Like every loving husband would say to his wife when she was barren And rachel devised a plan isn't it interesting that every woman in this line whether it be sarah Rebecca or rachel they all devised a plan to accomplish their purposes and sure enough rachel did and she got her maid servant to go in to to to jacob and and uh, She would lie And to conceive a child she would bear herself up under Um, uh bill hall and she would lay underneath her as as bill hall would deliver that child so she would feel the the sweat and the tension and the and the strife that bill hall was Was facing as she delivered that child and so she would be a part of that birth and that son came out And that son's name was dan meaning judgment Oh now god has has passed judgment on me and and proven that that what I did was the right thing by By by giving me a son and then she had another son Nathalie nathalie which means wrestling or or or to struggle and and and she was saying to herself that I am struggling I am wrestling with my sister leah and now as a result of nathalie being born.

I will become the victor I will overrule and I will have my sons through through bill hall my maid servant All the while leah was watching this decided to do the same thing And so she gave her maid servant zilpah to jacob and jacob then went into her and she received Two children conceived two children. The first one was gad which means Good fortune has come my way and then the second one asher Which means happy and all women will count me as blessed and they will see my happy spirit But leah was still unhappy because jacob still did not love her And then came the whole mandrakes thing, you know mandrakes were that erotic fruit that Was a superstition that if you were to eat it It would increase sexual desires and cause you to become fertile and ruben the oldest son Saw these mandrakes out on the field and brought them home to leah because leah had not given birth to any children since judah And so he came back and said mom Look, I I found some mandrakes and and now you can eat these you'll become fertile again You'll give birth to more children and rachel heard what was happening and went into leah and said leah, please Give me your mandrakes.

I am barren. Please give them to me so that I I might be able to to birth children leah was upset with her You've taken my husband now you want to take my mandrakes as well And so rachel said listen if you give me the mandrakes I'll let you lie with jacob I thought that was a good idea. She went out and met jacob on his way back from the field said jacob I have hired you. I have bought your services for this evening I have given the mandrakes to rachel you are mine for the evening And of course she conceived and the name of that child was issachar which means to hire Then she gave birth to another son His name was zebulon, which means dwelling or habitation for certainly now my husband will dwell with me and not with rachel But he did not because jacob Loved rachel and not leah She conceived and bore a daughter her name was dinah, which means vindication thinking certainly now god has vindicated me and I have given birth To the first child in the family, uh first female child in the family and jacob now will come to me, but he never did And then it says down in verse number 22 Then god remembered rachel and gave he to her and opened her womb So she conceived and bore a son and said god has taken away my reproach and she named him joseph saying may the lord Give me another son Joseph was born has twofold meaning god has taken away something and god will add something He has taken away my reproach The stigma of being barren and he will add to me more children and she began to trust god Probably for the very first time in her life And god would add to her another child and that child would be born in genesis 35.

His name is benjamin His name means the son of my right hand now having reviewed all that for you those boys Become the fathers of a nation that god himself would choose To represent himself to a pagan world God would take all the the immorality and the deception and the lying to bring about 12 boys 12 boys That play a significant role in the history of the greatest nation in the world america is not the greatest nation in the world Never has and never will be in the eyes of god Israel is the greatest nation in the world Everything that happens in the world all goes back to the middle east all goes back to israel It's all about israel.

God has a plan. He's going to redeem that nation one day He has promised that he has set them aside romans 11. He's grafted him out And right now he's using the church the bride of christ to be his representative to a lost world But after the rapture of the church the tribulation on earth begins again The nation of israel will become the focal point and god will redeem that nation and god will fulfill the abrahamic and davidic covenants Given to that nation fully because he has kept his word and will do so but in the meantime these 12 boys Give to us the plan of redemption first son named ruben his name means See a son it prefigures the ultimate son Which gives us this point number one in ruben we see the person of redemption The person of Redemption and that is the son See a son has been born And the person of redemption is the only begotten Son, right for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever Believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life for god the divine person so loved His divine passion so loved the world that he gave he gave What his only begotten son You see the plan of redemption centers around a person and the person is a son You go all the way back to genesis chapter 3 in verse number 15 and god said to the serpent I will put enmity between you and the woman between her seed singular and your seed plural Oh And that seed the singular seed will crush the serpent's head but your seed your seed will bruise bruises heal Way back in genesis chapter 3 verse number 15 Was the first prophecy given about the son that would come it would come to the seed Of the woman and that woman would give birth to a son And years went by and all of a sudden then one day There was a man by the name of abram And god came to abram in a place called ur ur the caldeas And god said to abram Back in genesis chapter 12 these words Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land Which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great And so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you And the one who curses you I will curse and in you All the families of the earth shall be blessed God came to abram in ur of the caldeas And told him this is what I want you to do because in you all the descendants of the world Will be blessed through you abram and abram would leave ur of the caldeas He would cross over the great euphrates river and he would come to the land of promise And he became the father of the hebrew people because the word hebrew means to cross the river And he was the first to cross the river who believed in the almighty god who would give his life to god It would be through abraham that the seed would come And so when when leah would name that first son ruben look see a son She prefigured the son that would come that the angels Would say to you this day in the city of david has been born for you a child A savior who is christ the lord the son would come And god would provide a land Yahweh Yira god my provider It would be on that mount mount moriah that you can visit this very day where the dome of the rock sits The place in which christ himself was crucified For he was crucified on a mount called calvary But it was really called moriah the place foreseen by god it was all about the son the son that would come through abraham And as we understand more of the prophecy concerning this son these people Would wait for him anticipate him and judah would be born and and and judah the fourth son of leah would would would be the The the individual through whom the messiah would come the tribe of judah the lion of the tribe Of judah, it was all about the son the son that would be given over in second samuel chapter 7 when david said I I want to build a temple for god and and honor him and Pay tribute to him and here I am living in this marvelous cedar home and kingdom and and it's so great But god's out there in this tent and I got to get him out of the tent and get him in a temple So i'm gonna build this marvelous temple for him and nathan said man.

That's great. David. What a tremendous idea How come I didn't think of that and david said well because you're not the king and I am So i'm gonna build a temple and they said that's a great idea But nathan forgot to converse with god about it and god went to nathan said hey nathan You tell david he ain't gonna build a temple great idea, but he's not gonna do it instead his son is Listen to what god says when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers david I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom Oh, who's that?

That's solomon. He should build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever Well, who's that? It's not solomon Because solomon didn't have a kingdom that lasted forever He only has a kingdom that lasted for a short time And it goes on as he begins to talk about this covenant in second samuel 23 David says this is a covenant from god That there will be a kingdom.

It will last forever solomon and it will come from from my loins as as david the king Sure enough He was the son of david He was born Into the house and lineage of david That it was a son that would be born And on that lonely day or that lonely evening in bethlehem The christ child was born It says over in isaiah chapter 11 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of jesse who was jesse jesse was the father of david Jesse was the father of kings Because there was david there was solomon there was hezekiah There was josiah, but none of them would have a kingdom that would last forever, but they all came from the stem of jesse And a branch from his roots will bear fruit and the spirit of the lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and strength the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the lord and he will delight in the fear of The lord and he will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear But with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips He will slay the wicked who is that?

That's the son of david. That's the messiah. That's the king himself who would come You see all the prophecies centered around his son That would be given all the way from genesis 3 all through the old testament And even up to those 400 silent years when nothing happened between malachi and matthew Even in malachi the last prophecy dealt with the with the with the day star the the the sun Rising and the and the brightness of the one who would come And finally he finally he would come he would be born but very few people were looking to see A son.

Oh, there was simeon. There was anna. There was elizabeth. Zacharias mary and joseph But there were a few others looking for a son And he was born in bethlehem the king of the world The child was born The son was not the son was given but the child The child was the one who was born see a son And the amazing thing was is that is that the nation of israel that they just completely missed him When zacharias gave his prophecy in luke chapter one, he talked about his son He said and you child will be called the prophet of the most high for you will go on before the lord to prepare his ways And he would preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and they killed john the baptist Jesus would follow the forerunner and he would repeat repeat repent for the kingdom of heaven is before you and they killed jesus So the apostles came on the scene and they preached repent And be baptized for the remission of your sins and they killed the the apostles Why because the world doesn't like to be told that they are sinners and they are separated from god But they are and so when they're told the truth, they don't like it And they kill those who who preach the truth, but the message hasn't changed There's still centers around repentance and believing the gospel of jesus christ our lord The one who came to take away the sin of the world See a son The nation of israel through whom the messiah came Did not see the son.

They missed him But one day one day it says in revelation chapter one verse number seven every tribe will see him and they will mourn over him As a mother would mourn over her only child That was lost They will weep profusely for they will look upon the one in whom they have Pierced And then they will all see the son for who he really is This morning I ask you. Have you seen the son? Have you seen him for who he really is? Leah had no idea that when she named the firstborn see a son that it would prefigure the person of redemption the second son simeon means hearing and that Prefigures something Else that's very significant and that is the preaching of redemption for faith cometh by what hearing and hearing by the word of god But we'll talk more about that next time.

Let's pray together