All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 35. After Rachel, having given birth
to the last of Jacob's sons, named Benjamin, the scripture
reveals how the Lord directed Jacob, the object of his mercy. The scripture says, in verse
21, and Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the tower
of Edah. Now, it may appear that this
verse of scripture is just giving us some information concerning
Jacob's traveling. But this verse of scripture,
blessed to our hearts by the Spirit of God, is truly a fountain
of revelation and blessing concerning the love of Almighty God to His
people. It starts off and says this,
And Jacob journeyed. You know, what a comfort we find
the Holy Spirit moving Moses to address Jacob as Israel. This is the name that was given
unto this vessel of mercy by the Lord himself. And how wonderfully
we behold that name as being an evidence, the evidence, of
covenant mercy. And Jacob journeyed. He knew who he was. I want you to hold your place
there and turn to a passage of scripture. I often quote just
a couple Exodus 33. I'll quote just a couple of verses
out of this, but I want to read Exodus 33. I'd like to read verses
12 to 19. Now let me tell you the setting
right here. Moses has gone up on Mount Sinai,
and the Lord has, by the finger of God, has written out two tablets,
tablets of stone, and has given These two tablets to Moses, the
Lord told Moses, you need to go down. There's some trouble
down among the people. That's when Aaron had made that
golden calf and the people were dancing around that golden calf. And Moses' anger was kindled
and he threw those tablets and broke them. He's now gone back up and the
Lord has yet to renew the second set of tablets. It's in that
time period between the first and the second. This is when
all this took place. Moses is up on the mount, he's
talking with the Lord. And he said in Exodus 33 verse
12, Moses said unto the Lord, just remember now, This is after
they've been down there. God has taken them out of the
land of Egypt. He brought them through the Red Sea. He's delivered
them from the bondage of Pharaoh. He's kept them. And they've started
worshiping that calf. Now here's Moses. Moses said
unto the Lord, see thou sayest unto me, bring up this people. Thou hast not let me know whom
thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee
by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Therefore
I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now
thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy
sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he
said, my presence shall go with me and I will give thee rest.
And he said unto him, if thy present go not with me, carry
us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is
it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated,
I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face
of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will do this thing also, that thou hast spoken, for thou hast
found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious,
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. to reveal to a sinner. You are a prince with God. This means that that one who
is proclaimed to be an Israel with God is one for whom the
Lord has eternally stood as surety. I will answer eternally. before they were ever created, when there was God and wisdom,
declares, I was ever before him. I ever beheld him. I was one
brought up with him. He told him, he said, you are
a prince with God. You're an Israel, the one for
whom Christ would shed his blood One for whom right now the Lord
Jesus Christ ever liveth to make intercession. One that has been
effectually called out of the darkness of sin and unbelief
powerfully. God coming to them and just removing
that heart of stone, giving them a hard flesh. Writing on their
hearts, I'm your God, you're my people. I've always loved
you. Always loved you. You're Israel. Israel, the one to whom God has
been pleased to show mercy and compassion. And Israel journeyed. I just, it has such a, if I put my name there, Mitch
and Marvin journeyed, I think. Lord, thank you for that. Thank
you that you'd show mercy to one like me. The scripture says
that Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the tower of
Edar. Now, he journeyed, it actually
means he was led out, he was removed, he marched in stages. He journeyed as a pilgrim. in
this world. That's the lot of God's people.
We're just, we're just traveling through this world. This world
is not our home. We know that. A lot of you are
from here. I've said this before. So many
of you are from right here, right here. I ain't from here. I've, I've, I've, I've been all
over the place. I'm born in central Louisiana,
moved down to south Louisiana. Lived in Tennessee, multiple
places. When I was still in Louisiana,
went from the sixth grade till a senior in high school. I didn't
go to the same year two years in a row. Move, move, move, move,
move. All over the place. And I happen
to be right here in this place right now. This happens to be
where I live right now. But I know this, this is not
my eternal home. I know that, I've been taught
something of having to journey through this world. This world
is temporary for us. And we're taught by the Lord
to number our days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom. We are, we're getting older.
I'm looking around, I'm seeing people that There's more gray
hair here now than it was when I got here. But you know, you're
more precious now than when I first got here, Kevin. More precious. You know, you get around somebody
and you get to know them and they're family. And you're traveling through
this world with them. They're with you. But we're all just
journeying. We're journeying through this
world. And we need to, and we want to be instructed by the
Lord to teach us concerning our estimate of this life being just
days. Teach us to remember our days.
Brother Henry said, not our years, not even our months or weeks,
just our days. We want to consider how rapidly
we're passing away and how soon we're going to stand before God. How quickly these last 20 years
has passed for me. And I think if the Lord were
to give me that, I think I'm old now, I'd be old, be old. But closer to him, closer to
that time. But here we are, we're just traveling
through. Israel was just journeying. And he journeyed with the steps
being ordered by the Lord. And it was for God's purpose
for Israel to spread his tent, just a tabernacle. He just, he
lived in tents. Just something you can tear down
and put back up just quickly. He spread his tent beyond the
Tower of Edar. Now that Tower of Edar, what
it means is Tower of the Flock. Tower of the Flock, that's what
it means. Now that place that he tabernacled was a place that
would, in time, be shown to be of great significance. It was
outside of Bethlehem, and there was a tower there. I looked this
up, I tried to do a little research on this, and it was actually
a tower. the Tower of Edar. It meant Tower
of the Flock. And outside of Bethlehem, there
was, in a field out there, it was a tower. It was a watchtower.
And it was a place from which the shepherds could watch over
and guard. They'd get up in this tower and
they could see. to see and watch and guard the
sheep. But that tower, the Tower of Edah, it's shown to be a beautiful
picture type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to hold
your place and turn to the book of Micah. Now listen, if you're
flipping through there and you happen to come to the book of
Jonah, if you see Jonah, just go one more book. Find Jonah,
and you can go over, if you got a Bible like mine, Micah chapter
four, it's actually on page 1155. But Micah, gospel according to
Micah. Micah chapter four, verses six
to eight. I was reading these three verses
of scripture, and I thought, my, what a beautiful, this would
be a beautiful passage to preach out of. I guess all of them would
be beautiful to preach out of, the Lord gives you a message.
Micah 4, 6, in that day, saith the Lord, I will assemble her
that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her
that I have afflicted, and I will make her that halted a remnant,
and her that was cast off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign
over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever. And thou, O Tower of the Flock,"
I looked that phrase up right there. Guess what it means? Tower of Edar. That's what it
means. And thou, O Tower of the Flock, the stronghold of the
daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion.
The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Jacob, Jacob, I'm sorry, Israel,
Israel. Israel journeyed, spread his
tent beyond the Tower of Edah. What a blessed promise to all,
who by the grace of God have been made to behold something
of their weakness. I was reading that passage. He
said, I'm gonna cause all those, I'm gonna gather all those that
halteth. I mean, how can we read that
without thinking about Jacob wrestling with the Lord? The
Lord touched the hollow of his thigh. He halted on his thigh. Just, you know, I'm gonna gather.
They're gonna be my remnant. I'm gonna be their tower, their
tower of the flock. I'm gonna keep them. I'm gonna
show them who I am, who they are. It's a blessing. I'm gonna
gather those that halteth. Those that are made to know something. of their weakness. Those that
have been spiritually touched in the hollow of their thigh
and know that their only strength is in Him who is the tower, the
watchtower. That's what it means, the watchtower
of the flock, the mighty God of Israel, the one who lovingly
guards His bride, His remnant according of the election of
grace. They're going to be assembled,
gathered. They are the Lord's gift from
the Father. The Lord's by the purchase of
His own blood and they're His by their willing submission unto
Him being made willing in the day of His power to cast themselves
upon His mercy. He is the tower of the flock,
the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. So here we find Israel. He's directed, spreads his tent
beyond the Tower of Edah, the very place, this is where in
the fullness of time, the shepherds are gonna be keeping their flocks
by night, and they're gonna hear the angels announce the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is the tower of defense for
the flock of God. Ezekiel 34, 30, and 31 says this,
thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God, am with them,
and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith
the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of
my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God. I was thinking about that part
right there, they shall know that I, the Lord their God, I
am with them. I was talking to a dear friend,
I may have told you this the other day, but I'll repeat it
anyway. I was talking to someone, I was
talking to his brother, his own brother. They attend the same
assembly, and he was, the younger of the two was telling his brother,
he said, I just, he said, sometimes wonder, do I truly love the Lord
as I should? And his brother told him, he
said, we don't, not as we should. He said, but God's people love
him. He said, let me ask you this. He said, if you heard someone
actually announce that you'd go to heaven, you would go to
heaven. But they said, the Lord won't be there. But you'll go
to heaven, but the Lord won't be there. He said, then I don't
want to go. He said, that's right. He said, that's the evidence
of our love. We want to be with him. We want
to be where he is. We want him to be with us. This
is what he's telling us. Thus saith, thus the Lord, thus
they shall know that I, the Lord, their God, am with them. And
that they, even the house of my flock, they're my people,
saith the Lord. You're my flock, the flock of
my pasture. I'm your God. But while God's servant was journeying,
Israel journeyed to spread his tent beyond the Tower of Edah.
The Lord's leading him to that place where he shall be born.
His heart was going to be made to suffer. We're going to have
some trials in this world. In this world you shall have
tribulation. Listen to what it says. It came to pass when Israel
dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his
father's concubine, and Israel heard it. It is italicized, it said in
Israel heard. The Spirit of God was pleased
to be silent on any other detail concerning Jacob's son, Reuben,
his oldest boy. While he was in that land, Reuben
went and lay with his father's concubine. Nothing else was said. Nothing else was needed. We're
left by the silence of the Spirit of God to muse upon the pain
of that father. And we know that in time, that
act right there, it doesn't say that Israel said anything to
it. He just heard it. And even as
I'm just saying that right now, I just seem to feel his pain. His own son, his own son. About 40 years later, hold your
place and turn over to Genesis 49. About 40 years later, Israel was going to speak in
the blessing of his sons. Genesis 49 verses 1 to 4. 40 years, nothing has been said
till right now. And Jacob called unto his sons
and said, gather yourselves together that I might tell you that which
shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together
and hear you sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father.
Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of
my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of
power, unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou
wentest up to thy father's bed, then defiledst thou it. He went
up to my couch. I am sure that immediately after
the act, Reuben desired that all would be hidden. His daddy
wouldn't know about it. But the Lord, according to the
good pleasure, perfect will, was pleased So write it in scripture. And we all know it. Ecclesiastes 10.20 says, curse
not the king. No, not in thy thought, in your
conscience. Curse not the rich in thy bedchamber. For a bird of the air shall carry
the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. The Lord graciously put that
in scripture, spoke of the pain that he caused. One of Jacob's sons, this is
one of the patriarchs, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. But let me tell you a blessing
in that pain. God didn't cast him off. The
very next part of verse 22 says, now the sons of Jacob were 12. Reuben absolutely suffered the
shame for the rest of his life because of the incestuous relationship
that he had with Bilhah, his father's concubine. The apostle
Paul was moved in 1 Corinthians, I'll read this to you, 1 Corinthians
5, verse one, to write this. It is reported commonly that
there's fornication among you and such fornication as is not
so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's
wife. But having discovered the shame
of Reuben's sin, how graciously we behold the unchanging mercy
and grace of almighty God. I read those words again and
I thought to myself, how merciful the Lord's been to me, first
of all, to not write down Marvin's acts in scripture. But how thankful I am too that
the scripture does not say, here's what it says, Now the sons of
Jacob were 12. I'm so thankful that it does
not say now the sons of Jacob were now 11 because Reuben having
committed incest with his father's concubine was cut off. The Lord
has promised I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And how thankful I am for that.
Verse 23, the sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, and
Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of Rachel,
Joseph, and Benjamin, the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid,
Dan, and Naphtali, the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, Gad,
and Asher, these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to
him, Pend and Abram. as we considered previously,
I thought about this and I read that which happened and I think
how merciful, how merciful. Aren't you glad, you that know
him, aren't you glad God doesn't cut off his people? For Christ's
sake, he kept us. The names of all 12 in the next
book, the book of Exodus, there's gonna be a breastplate made for
that great, not the great, but for the high priest there in
the wilderness. Those stones and all 12 of the names of Jacob
are on that. And I can just, just in my mind,
I think, Lord, thank you for your mercy. There was a stone
on the breastplate of that high priest and on that stone was
written Reuben. on one of those stones on his
shoulders. Reuben. Reuben. Oh, the Lord is merciful
to his people. Christ bore the guilt of his
people in his own body and he put that guilt away. The pain of it is there. And we will go to our grave with
the remembrance What we are, that's what Paul said. Oh, wretched
man that I am. I see in me, that is in my flesh,
there dwelleth no good thing. Oh, how thankful we are. And
we cry as the four and 20 elders cried. Book of Revelation chapter
five, verse nine, 10, thou art worthy to take the book and open
the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to
God. by thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation, thou hast made us unto God, unto
God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And
the scripture says in the last three verses, and Jacob came
unto Isaac his father in memory under the city of Arpa, which
is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. Mamre was that
place, that's where the field of Matpila, where Abraham bought
that field. That's where Isaac's daddy and
his mama were buried. He came to that place, days of
Isaac were 104 score years. Now, I can tell you this, the
announcement of Isaac's death is set forth right here. But
there's going to be some, some events revealed that happened
after this time that concerning Isaac, but his, his, his surety
of his death, his passing is, is brought to pass right here.
And Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his
people being old, full of days. His days were fulfilled that
which the Lord purpose for him. When I read that right there,
being old and full of days, full of days. There was, during his
days, he was born with a miraculous birth. His mama was barren, remember,
and she gave her a handmaid, you know, a garb. to Abraham,
you have a son. The Lord told him, he said, no,
you're not gonna, that's not gonna be your son. Your son's
gonna be out of your wife's womb. I'm gonna give you and your wife. And his birth was miraculous,
porting to the miracle of spiritual birth. We're not born by the
flesh, by the works of the law, we're born spiritually. And this
man, during his days, he was used of God, go up on that mount. The Lord told Abraham, you go
up on the mount, you, and I want you to take Isaac, your son,
your only son, your only son. And I want you to sacrifice him
there unto me for a burnt offering. I've told you before, when we
studied years ago in the book of Leviticus, that burnt offering,
that was a sweet savor offering. It was only for the Lord. It
was completely, the priest had no part in it, and it was a sweet
savor offering, and it was picturing the obedience and the willingness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to lay down his life. for the redemption
of his people. He said, I want you to take your
son, your only son, and you sacrifice him unto me. Went up there and
laid that boy on that altar, bound him, raised that knife.
God stopped him. Told him, I want you to look,
turn around. There was a ram caught in the thicket. Take that
ram, put it on there. Through Isaac, through the means
of Isaac, we beheld the substitutionary redemption of God's people. Isaac, this man, all these days,
what we were taught through this man, have God used him, blessed
him. And the scripture says in the
days of his old age, he was full of days, and he died. He died. God had taught us through him. And Esau and Jacob buried him. Two brothers, twins, born moments
apart, moments apart. Humanly speaking, there wasn't
a bit of difference between them. Came from the same daddy, same
mama. But scripture says, mother, Rebecca
was told there's two nations in you, two nations. I've loved one of them. The other
one, I hate. Jacob, all the blessing of being
able, here he is, the one that God loved, and he's with his
brother. And I'm sure that, you know,
they've had their problems. But there's been some reconciliation
made. There's cordial thoughts, words
being exchanged, and here they are, and they're burying their
daddy. He went the way we're all gonna go. I think in that
day, in that day, he buried his daddy, their daddy, and I think
in that day, you know what matters? What? Thank you, Christ. That's
all that matters. I pray God bless this to our
hearts.