All right, Genesis chapter 30.
Genesis chapter 30. This is the second part. I've entitled this The Twelve
Sons of Jacob, part two. And that's, we said before, twelve
sons are going to be born to Jacob through his wives, Leah,
Rachel, their handmaids, given by Rachel and Leah, given Jacob their handmaids to
also bear children. And these twelve sons that are
going to be born are the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob, who
God declared him to be Israel, a prince with God. And in these
12 sons, as we considered last time, when they're born and named,
I'll give you the meaning of the name, but it's the comment
that is made by the wives, Leah and Rachel. They'll make comments. when these boys are born. And these comments set forth
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ toward His people. Now understand,
these 12 boys represent the whole Church of God. So these boys
carry great significance. The Spirit of God has set them
forth to teach us something of ourselves before the Lord. See,
last time we looked at the first four boys born, and now tonight
I want us to look at four more. I want to read again the first
six verses of the 30th chapter. When Rachel saw that she bare
Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob,
give me children or else I die. Now here's the situation. Rachel is the one that Jacob
loves. She's the one that Jacob wanted
to marry, but Leah was given first. He couldn't have the second
without fulfilling the obligation to the first. We can consider
what that meant. But now Rachel, when she realized
she's barren, and she's jealous, she's jealous really of Leah
because now Leah has had four, four boys. And she tells Jacob,
give me children or else I die. She couldn't stand the thought,
the thought. They knew the promise of God
to Abraham, the promise to Isaac, the promise to Jacob, and the
promise of the seed of the promised Messiah that would come through
the lineage of those men. And here she is, Rachel, is married
to Jacob, the one that God loves. The one that God Almighty has
blessed and the one that has been given the birthright, the
blessing. And she knows that the Messiah
is going to come through the lineage of her family because
of her husband. And she envies, she is envious
of Rachel. And she knew, she knew. the thought of me not having
children. She said, you give me children
or else I have no reason to live. I die. Jacob's anger, verse 2,
was kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead? Do you think I'm in the place
of God, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Brethren,
let's remember this. Life, physical, spiritual, is
in the hands and the power of Almighty God. Man does not have
the power to create spiritual life. That's the message of false
religion, that it's in man's hands. It's in your will. You exercise your will. You give
your heart to the Lord. And when you give your heart
to the Lord, they say, life is imparted. She said, you give
me children or someone will die. He said, you think I stand in
the place of God? I can't do that. We are impotent. We're spiritually
impotent. But though we're spiritually
impotent, thanks be unto God, our weakness does not stifle,
stop the will, power of Almighty God. Rachel being buried, now,
the scripture says, verse three, behold, my maid Bilhah go in
unto her, She shall bear upon my knees that I may also have
children by her. This is what Sarah did. She was barren with Abraham.
And it was an accepted thing. Here's the thing, it never was
like this from the beginning. I've had people ask me, they
said, now why did God allow? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. All I know is that
these things happened. The Lord told him when he came,
he said it never was like this from the beginning. For this
reason shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave
unto his wife. His wife. In the beginning, God
created man, male and female. One or the other, one or the
other. So Rachel gives Bilhah, her maid unto Jacob, that she
might bear a son for Jacob, but it would be Rachel's. And the
maid conceives and bears Jacob's fifth son. Leah had the first
four. So she has a son, and she names him, the scripture says,
she names him Dan. Go in, she gave him her handmaid
wife, and he came to her, verse five, built her, conceived, bared
Jacob her son, Jacob said, God hath judged me, and hath also
heard my voice, and hath given me a son. Therefore called she
his name Dan. Now, I said that the comments
that were made by the wives, the comments gives us great understanding. Dan, his name means, if you've
got a margin in your Bible, I've got one, it means judging. Judging,
that's what Dan means, judging. But when you look up the meanings
of the word, the name, Dan, it also means to contend, to plead,
to minister, judgment, to govern. But her wording is best interpreted,
God has pled my cause. God has judged. God has made
a judgment call. That's how we would understand
it. If you were in court of law and the judge made a judgment
He made a judgment call, got all the evidence, and here's
the evidence, and here's the call of the judge. God has pled
my cause. And here we behold the mercy
and compassion that is shown to all of God's people that He's
everlastingly loved and determined to save from their sins in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rachel, obviously, was barren. That's what scripture said for
her. And it was the Lord that made
her so. It's in the power of the Lord
to give or to withhold. And so for reasons known only
to Him, only to the Lord, He had dealt with her according
to His all-wise, just, and sovereign will. And He brought her to the
end of herself. I don't know, the scripture doesn't
bear out. I know she was jealous because of Leah having children,
but I don't know the thoughts that went through Rachel's mind.
The Spirit of God didn't record them, but whatever they were,
I can only speculate. Don't want to, but I just think,
I mean, she was the younger one, she was the more beautiful one,
she was the one that Jacob chose, and I mean, I can think of a
bunch of reasons why she would, I don't know why, I don't know
why, but nonetheless, she had that first boy through her maid,
Bilhah, and God gave a son to Jacob, the fifth son, of the
12 that would be born. And she said, God is judged. This is the way God has seen
fit to do it. The Lord has brought her to herself,
to enter herself and gave her handmaid that Jacob might go
into her. And you know, I think about these
things that we read and we can look at them and try to reason
with them Well, why would this, why would, I wonder why the Lord,
Romans 11, 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. Isn't that right, Neal? How unsearchable. Wonder why he had, why didn't
he just give Rachel, why didn't he, Brethren, we can never justify,
we never justify any act of sin, rebellion, when it comes to the
Lord ruling and overruling, even in the midst of our shortcomings
and failures. Psalm 145, 17 says, the Lord
is righteous in all his ways and holy. merciful and bountiful in all
his works. Why did God do it this way? Because
God did it that way. That's the reason. Who art thou,
old man, that replies against God? Yeah, but she was how unsearchable? Unsearchable are his judgments. I think about David, King David,
taking Bathsheba took this man's wife. Was that right or wrong?
Answer, wrong. David had Bathsheba's husband
killed. Was that right or wrong? Wrong.
What did God do? He sent a prophet, Nathan, to
David. That's what he did. And David
said, you're the man. You're the man. The child that
has been born to you through Bathsheba is gonna die. He's gonna die. But do you know
who the next son was? Solomon. Solomon. We never excuse sin and we never
question God's providence. We bow. We bow. Through her handmaid,
Bilhah, had a son, Jacob's son, fifth son, and she said, God
hath judged me. God has made the judgment call
concerning me. And Bilhah, verse seven and eight,
Rachel's maid conceived again and bare Jacob a second son,
which would be actually the sixth. son, but the second son through
Bilhah. And Rachel said, with great wrestlings
have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she
called his name Naphtali. Naphtali, my wrestlings. Now, it seems like Rachel, like
all of us, needed to be reminded of our weakness, spiritual weakness,
physical weakness. She had appealed to Jacob, her
husband. She appealed to the arm of the
flesh at first. That's what she said at the very first verse
that we looked at tonight. Give me children or I die. She
appealed in her bearingness to her husband, but we forget Scripture
says, Psalm 127, 3, children are a heritage of the Lord. But though Jacob had to reprove
her for her forgetfulness, am I in the stead of God? Am I standing
in God's place? He reproved her for her forgetfulness
of God's sovereign right and power to give or withhold children. And Jacob's reproof was because
of his love for her. He loved her. Proverbs 27, five
and six says, open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. But now
we find that Rachel's handmaid, Bilhah, she has another son,
she has a second son. And she conceived and she bore
Jacob's sixth son and named him Naphtali. Now, it means by wrestling. And here was the comment that
was made. Like I said, just listen to what
these comments are because these comments are inspired, inspired
of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's profitable. So here's what
she said. She said, at the birth of Naphtali,
with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. Now, I looked this up pretty
carefully to make sure that I was very comfortable about being
right on what I'm about to say. It wasn't that she was, I mean,
she was envious of her sister. The scripture bears that out.
She was envious of her sister. But the Lord had corrected her.
He said, God has judged me. I'm where I am because this is
where God put me. This is my lot. God's judged
me. But here she's got one, and she
names this next one through Bilhah, Naphtali, my wrestling. And she's
not saying that she was actually wrestling in rivalry with Leah,
even though she was envious of her. That's not what her words
mean. That's not what her sentence,
her declaration with great wrestling said, I wrestle with my sister.
Rather, the wrestling is with God. Young's literal translation. I always try to give you these
where I get them, just in case you might want to look. Young's
literal translation seems to give the the literal meaning
of Rachel's words. It says, with wrestlings of God,
I have wrestled with my sister, yea, I have prevailed. What she
was saying is, I'm doing the same thing Leah's doing. Leah
was wrestling with God too. Wrestling with God, in what way? Well, she was wrestling with
the Lord, and when she said, I've wrestled with the Lord,
and I have prevailed, Here again it doesn't mean. I'm going to
give you the meaning of what she meant here in just a second.
I've wrestled with the Lord and I have prevailed. I've wrestled
with my sister. I've wrestled with God in conjunction
with my sister doing the same thing. And I have prevailed.
Not that her own ability or her own wits means that she's been
able to overpower, but she was, and here's where it says prevailed,
able, endured, to have power by the good pleasure of God,
to understand that by faith, God has made me to prevail, is
what she's saying. You know, we enter in, we all
do this, God's people do this, we enter into spiritual strugglings,
wrestlings in the times of our need. And the Lord brings us
to these places where a decision's got to be made. Something is
going on. Something's in our life. And
it's trying, and it's heavy, and there's a struggle that's
going on. And you're wanting to pray. And
it's not that we foolishly think that we can change the will of
God. We know we don't. as Jacob did in Genesis 32, the
details that we'll go over when we get there. I won't go into,
you know, it's when Jacob wrestled with the man, he wrestled with
the Lord. But the thought, I want you to turn to Hosea, Hosea,
and Hosea is right after the book of Daniel, find the book
of Daniel. Hosea 12, three and four. Listen what the Spirit
of God taught Hosea. You can go back and read the
account in chapter 32 of Genesis and what the Spirit of God moved
upon Moses to write in that account of chapter 32. Hosea, the Spirit
of God taught him something else about that event that Moses wrote
about. That's the amazing thing. Hosea
12, three and four says this, talking about Jacob. He took
his brother, Hosea 12, 3. He took his brother by the heel
in the womb. And by his strength, he had power
with God. Yea, he had power over the angel. That's what's talking about in
chapter 32 of Genesis. And prevailed. He wept and made
supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel. And there
he spake with us. Now, here's what the scripture
was talking about when, about Jacob wrestling and prevailing. It's talking about Jacob wrestled
with a man in chapter, and prevailed. Well, he's talking about also
Rachel saying, when she had Naphtali through her handmaid, she said,
you know, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister,
and I have prevailed. What did she mean? It's the same
word, same meaning. Here's what I'm gonna tell you
what it is right here. Jacob wrestled with his brother in
the womb of his mother. Now, we know that. Scripture
says it. Here she was struggling, and
she said, this battle is going on. Why am I thus? What is this? There was a war that was going
on. There was two natures. And they're contrary, flesh and
spirit. They're contrary, one against
the other. So here it is, Jacob wrestled with his brother Esau
in the womb, then he wrestled at the time of his birth. He
reached out and grabbed hold of his brother's heel. Esau came
out first, Jacob right behind him, they're twin boys, but Jacob
was moments older at birth. than Jacob was. And then he wrestled
with God at Bethel the night before he was to meet his brother,
Esau, years later. He's gonna wrestle with the Lord.
But by his strength, according to the scripture that we just
read in Hosea, where the Spirit of God taught Hosea, it said
when he wrestled with the Lord, and the scripture says concerning
Jacob, and he had power. He had power with God. And looking
up the meaning of that, he behaved himself princely. He had power
with God. He behaved himself. Yea, he had
power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. Jacob, and here's the prevailing
right here. Here's the prevailing. He prevailed
by faith. By faith. By faith he prevailed,
meaning he believed He believed the God of covenant mercy who
had promised, who had promised. Jacob in 32, I don't want to
get into 32 because we'll get there, but I want to and I don't
want to. But he wrestled with the man. The man said, let me
go, let me go. And thinking about that promise,
the covenant mercy, let me go. No, no, no, I don't want to,
not unless you bless me. Not unless you bless me. What's
your name, Jacob? Your name's gonna be Israel.
You're a prince with God. Scripture says he wrestled with
God and he prevailed. By faith, he believed God. He believed God's word concerning
the blessings of redemption and salvation in Christ Jesus, the
Lord. And by faith, he took hold of
the strength of God's covenant promise. This is all he had. How did he prevail? God wouldn't
let him go. He was kept by the power of God. Through faith, he prevailed with
God. By faith, he prevailed. This
was the confession of Rachel at the birth of Jacob's sixth
son through Bilhah. It's what she said. With great
wrestlings, and this is the confession of every believer. We believe
God, we could just start naming the promises that God has given
him, and we believe him, and we believe him, and we believe
him. With great wrestlings, have I wrestled with my sister. I've
wrestled in conjunction with, as my sister, wrestling with
God, and I have prevailed by the grace of God, the glory and
honor Belonged to the Lord. Didn't belong to Rachel or Leah.
She believed God. She wrestled with God by faith. She prevailed with God because
the Lord kept her. And then the last verses for
this evening, back in Genesis 30, verses 9 to 13. When Leah
saw that she had left Bering, she took Zilpah, her maid, and
gave her Jacob to wife. Zilpah, Leah's maid, bear Jacob
a son. And Leah said, a troop cometh,
and she called his name Gad. I'm going to read the rest of
it and put these two boys together and I'll show you why. And Zilpah,
Leah's maid, bear Jacob her second son. And Leah said, happy am
I, for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his
name Asher, Asher. Now with the birth of the, actually
the seventh and eighth son that was born to Jacob through Leah,
Leah's handmaid and Rachel's handmaid, the Spirit of God relates
a blessed truth and a sure heart of gratitude that is experienced
and expressed by all of God's people. This is what God's people
say. This is the heart of God's people.
At the birth of the seventh son, Leah called his name Gad, and
this was her comment. A troop cometh. A troop cometh. And you could
go all over the place. You could talk about, you know,
God's got a people out of every nation and kindred and tribe
and tongue, but that's not what it means. Here's what it means. The meaning is, the word actually
means fortune or good fortune. When it says a troop cometh,
well, this is what it means. A fortune, good fortune, good
fortune. It's a word that comes from a
root that means to crowd upon, to attack, to invade, to overcome. And here's the, let me just say
it in a way you can understand. We have the good fortune. We
have the good fortune because of the victory that has been
wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. So Gad, when she said, a troop
cometh, you interpret that, it means good fortune. Good fortune
has come to me through the Lord Himself overcoming. And as we
consider Gad's name with the name of the eighth boy, Asher,
now his name means happy. And then here's her comment,
Leah's comment upon that, happy am I for the daughters will call
me blessed. Now, when we look at these two
boys, these last two boys, we behold the victory, the glorious
victory that we have over death, hell, sin, the grave. We have all of this, the good
fortune according to God's mercy in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the happiness, turn to Romans
8, the happiness of heart that we possess with the realization
of our eternal and settled security in him. Now, let me just tell
you, Romans chapter 8, Romans 8, a troop cometh, good fortune,
good fortune. The last boy's name is Happy,
Happy. Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us? You want to talk about victory?
You want to talk about a truth that cometh? The fortune, the
good fortune? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? or tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. For
I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Oh, the mighty victory that is
wrought by the Lord's perfect obedience given unto us. His perfect obedience to the
law, the shedding of his precious blood and the happiness and the
blessing of his mercy toward the vessels of his love. First
Peter 4.14 says, if ye be reproached, For the name of Christ, happy
are ye. For the spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you. On their part, he's evil spoken
of, but on your part, he's glorified. Whenever the angel of the Lord
came to Mary and told her of God's mercy toward her, that
she would be the one that would bear the Messiah. Mary came to
see her cousin, Elizabeth. And Elizabeth was six months
farther down the road in her pregnancy than Mary was. And when Elizabeth heard Mary's
voice, Mary came in, spoke to Elizabeth. And here's Elizabeth
carrying John the Baptist. And here's Mary being the virgin
that bore the Lord of Glory that had been placed there by the
Spirit of God. And the scripture says when Elizabeth
heard Mary's voice, the baby in Elizabeth's womb, John the
Baptist, it leaped. And after that conversation between
the two mothers, this is what Mary said. In Luke 1, 46 to 48,
she said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath
rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the lowest
state of his handmaiden, For behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed, fortunate. They don't call me fortunate,
happy. How blessed and happy are those
made to see their need of Christ and drawn to cast themselves
upon the Lord for mercy. Eight boys have been born to
Jacob. I look at this, situation and
I've read some things. Some have said, I mean, I guess
I understand what they're trying to say, you know, this is a dysfunctional
family and this, that and the other. I said, you know, where
sin did abound, grace did much more abound. You know, I look
at this and I think, you know, how are you going to say anything
other than but for the grace of God. But for the grace of
God. The Lord rules and overrules. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
that God doesn't leave us or deal with us according to our
iniquity? That he shows mercy in spite
of us. The Lord's purpose. Jacob's gonna
have 12 sons. He's gonna have them. And he's
gonna have them just exactly the way the Lord's ordained.
And it's all going to be to the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's going to be for the eternal
good of God's people. And for that, we're very thankful.