Again with me to Genesis chapter
35. Last time we talked about how
the believer's life is a journey through a strange land. God's
people are sojourners. They're pilgrims and strangers
in this world. We're only passing through. That
becomes more obvious every day to me, just passing through.
This world's not our home. This journey that we're making
may be a long one. This journey will be a hard one. And while on our journey home,
God's people will lose loved ones along the way. That's what
we see first here tonight after reaching Bethel, which means
the house of God. Jacob, who's now named Israel,
Rebuilt and he renamed the altar of God. He changed the name from
Bethel, the house of God, and he now called it El Bethel, as
we saw, which means God of the house of God. You see, true believers
don't worship the house of God. They worship the God of the house
of God. Big, big difference, big difference. Man is so depraved by nature
that he'll worship just about anything. I think about, and
you probably remember, that big crystal cathedral out in California. I think Robert Shuler was, when
he had that TV program, you know, they'd show that big crystal
cathedral, and I just thought to myself, that's their God.
And I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's so. Men can make a God
out of anything. But the Lord Jesus said, for
the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers, see there
are true worshipers, which means they're false worshipers. The
true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. And Jacob is again,
as we saw, He's again brought back into fellowship with God. Now if you want to, you can call
his experience backsliding. People often credit a lack of
dedication and interest in Christ by professing believers to be
a backslidden state instead of what it really is. If you want
to call being in a lost, unregenerate state backslidden, go ahead.
But when a sinner makes a profession of faith in Christ based upon
false doctrine, their profession will be a false profession. That's
just so. True worshipers worship how? In spirit and in truth. You can't slide away from somewhere
you've never been. And Jacob's problem is the same
as every believing child of God. Even me, even you. I have a problem
with sin, disobedience, lack of faith in God and in Christ,
self-righteousness, fear, doubt, unbelief. That's the things that
plague me. Lack of obedience to the word
of God. So we saw that after rebuilding
and renaming the altar of God in verse seven, we discover a
great loss in the life of Jacob. That's what I mentioned a minute
ago that in this journey that we are in, there's gonna be some
loss along the way. In verse 8, we read this, but
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Bethel
under an oak, and the name of it was called Alana Batcheth. Now you may remember from way
back in our study of Genesis chapter 24, when Abraham sent
Eleazar to retrieve, fetch, as our friend Jack Shanks used to
say, fetch a bride for Isaac. He went and he found Rebekah
there, Isaac's wife, Jacob, and Esau's mother. And Rebekah's
nurse, Deborah, here mentioned, journeyed back to Isaac with
her. We read that in Genesis chapter
24. And they sent away Rebekah, their
sister, and her nurse. and Abraham's servant and his
men." Now, Jacob's mother, Rebecca's death is not recorded in the
scripture. She died, we know, sometime after
Jacob left home and sometime before he returned. That's all
we know. We're not told the specifics.
Possibly during the 10 years that Jacob lived in Shechem.
And that would, to me, explain why Deborah was with Jacob here
on this journey. You see, Deborah had come to
live with Jacob after Rebecca's death. And you might ask, well,
why would she have come to live with him? Well, being Rebecca's
nurse, Rebecca having twins, Deborah was a vital part in the
raising of Jacob and Esau. You know she was, having twins.
Deborah was like a mother to Jacob. No doubt in my mind, this
was a difficult loss for him. It was like losing his mother
again. And as I said a moment ago, in this journey of life
we have, we'll lose some that we love dearly. But the encouraging
thing to me is what we see here. God is always there to comfort
his people, especially in times of loss. One day soon, our friends
and our family are going to bury us. May God be with them and
comfort them. But look at verse nine, and that's
where we read what we looked at last week, and God appeared
unto Jacob again. When he had come out of, Now,
I think I've learned to say this word right. It's Padenarum. I've
been calling it Padanarum. I remember one time in Nashville,
someone asked me directions, and I said, it's down there right
off Demon Bruin. And they looked at me funny,
and they said, Demumbrian? Whatever. It's like Demon Bruin
to me. So anyway, it's Padenarum instead
of Padanarum. And he appeared to him there
and blessed him. And look at verse 10. And God said unto him,
thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called
anymore Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his
name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God
Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations
shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the
land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went
up from him in the place where he talked with him, and Jacob
set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even
a pillar of stone." We know who that picture is. That picture
is the Lord Jesus Christ, that chief cornerstone, that rock
of a fence, that solid rock on which we stand. And it says,
he poured a drink offering there on, and he poured oil there on,
picturing the Holy Spirit. And Jacob called the name of
the place where God spake with him, Bethel. Now this life, this
journey, this pilgrimage continues on. In times of loss, in times
of trouble, this pilgrimage continues. Death is the only thing that
removes us from it. Along the way, we'll pass over
mountains, and along the way, we'll descend into valleys. And
this is how the path of our journey goes. It's one of ups and downs, isn't
it? It's slow and it's fast. It's hard going and sometimes
it's easy. It's hard going up and it's easy
going down. So we see that again, Jacob loses
Deborah, who's like a mother to him. Then God blesses him
again. God gives him great encouragement
to carry on. And as we see, trouble is always
on the horizon. And that'd been your experience.
It's just always on the horizon. And God sends it, and He sends
it for a reason, to teach us and to wean us from this world
and the things of, and to cause us to put all our trust and confidence
in Him. That's why God sends trouble.
We should expect it. And we must again and again and
again, trust God when this trouble comes. Look at verse 16. And they journeyed from Bethel,
and there was just, there was but a little way to Ephrath.
And Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor." Now, let me
say this, that Ephrath here, Ephrath, is the ancient name
for Bethlehem, Judah. Its name means fruitfulness.
You know, years later, this is the same place that you might
remember from our study in Ruth that Elimelech and Naomi left
with their two sons. This is the same place where
Naomi returned with Ruth, her daughter-in-law. This is the
same place that Boaz, the near Kinsman Redeemer, lived. And this is the place where Christ,
the Redeemer, was born. It means fruitfulness. Look at
verse 17, and it came to pass, and every time we read that,
we know that everything comes to pass by the will and the purpose
of God. By the will and purpose of God
it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife
said unto her, fear not. Thou shalt have this son also. Now here, Rebecca's midwife reminds
her of the promise that God gave her back in Genesis chapter 30. God promised to her that she'd
have another son. Do you remember from our studies
in that chapter this? Let me try to refresh your memory.
These two sisters, Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob, they begin
to despise one another. There was great wrestling, the
scripture says, mentions it that way, going on between them, almost
a competition to who could have the most sons. They even got
their handmaids involved. Four women birthing the children
of one man. That in itself is wrong. The
men and women would do anything to obtain what they want. And out of all of these women,
Rachel had the fewest of children. She had one son named Joseph. And she wanted more than anything
to please Jacob with another son. God gave her that desire
and request. But I would have you to understand
this. Rachel's request for another
son was not for the glory and honor of God. Rachel's request
was to satisfy her own lust and desire. And I'll deal with that
more in just a few minutes. In verse 17, we see that Rachel
experiences some hard and difficult labor. You ask any mother and
they'll tell you that labor is hard. But hard labor is really
painful and can even be life-threatening. My birth mother had hard labor,
and she almost died in giving me birth. And it didn't help
that I weighed almost 10 pounds, too. But I mean, this is life-threatening. In verse 18, we read those words
again. And it came to pass. Again, all
things come to pass by the will and purpose of God. And it came
to pass as her soul was in departing. And then in italicis, we read,
for she died. that she called his name Benoni,
but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died and was buried
in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Now, again, these
verses could be easily read over and not given much thought. But
in these verses, there is a picture and a real true lesson found
here. and the death of Rachel, and
the birth of her son, and the two names that he's given. Real lesson, real picture here.
We know that God changed Jacob's name to Israel. And Israel changes
the name of his 12th son. We just read that. Changed it
from Benoni to Benjamin. And from here on out, The scriptures
promised the blessings of God to the 12 tribes of Benjamin,
referring to these 12 sons of Israel, or 12 sons of Jacob,
Benjamin being the last of the 12. Now, God the Holy Spirit's
teaching us something here about Israel. There are two Israels
spoken of in the Bible. There's the Old Testament Israel,
that being the nation of Israel. That being the natural born descendants
of Abraham. Israel in the Old Testament,
that being natural Israel, physical Israel. To them, God gave the
prophets. To them, God gave the promises. To them, God gave the law. Physical Israel, natural Israel. Old Testament Israel. And then
there's New Testament Israel. Paul said in Romans chapter nine,
verses six through eight, he said, for they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy God's seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Just because
you were a natural born seed of Abraham doesn't mean that
you're born of God, spiritually born of God. But he says, but
the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Not all
who were a physical, natural Israel became spiritual Israel. You follow me so far? That's
not hard. And they are referred to spiritual
Israel. They're referred to the elect
of God. They're Jews and Gentiles alike.
Not just Jews, but Jews and Gentiles. They are those who are born of
God. They are all who come to Christ. They are all those who
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for redemption. God changed Jacob's
name to Israel and it's through Israel, Jacob and his 12 sons
that we see a picture of what God is doing here in these verses.
In the Old Testament, we see natural, physical Israel, but
the eternal promises that God made to them were for true believers. They are spiritual Israel. These
were spiritual promises. Now, bear with me. Natural Israel, who's made up
of these 12 tribes, these 12 sons, will enter into the land
of Canaan, which is the land of promise. Eventually, some
years down the road, when Moses leads God's people, Israel, into
the land of promise. That only pictures spiritual
Israel, who will enter into heaven's glory, that true place of promise
and rest. God delivered all Israel's enemies
to them in the land of Canaan. When we studied the book of Joshua,
it's been some time ago now, it was just amazing how God delivered
their enemies to them. You remember that God sent down
hell one time, was knocking them off their horses. I mean, it's
amazing, but trust me when I tell you that only pictures. that
what God, how God will deliver all the enemies of spiritual
Israel's enemies before they enter into the true land of promise. You see the enemies of sin, the
enemies of death, the enemies of hell, God's gonna dispose
of. God's gonna take out all the
enemies so that there's no obstacles left in our way on our journey
to glory in Christ. That's what that picture is.
there in Canaan with Joshua and the people of God. Natural Israel's
crossing that River Jordan. And the Canaan spiritually pictures
the believers crossing from time into eternity. The believers
crossing from the physical to the spiritual realm. That's what
that pictures. Crossing over Jordan into the
land of promise. The believers crossing an entrance
into the spiritual land of promise, that's what it pictures, are
crossing from a physical existence into a spiritual kingdom that
will never end. These are all pictures and types
of what awaits God's true Israel. Now Jacob had two wives. We know
that very well. And in many ways they picture
Old Testament Israel and New Testament Israel. They represent
Old Testament Israel and the fact that they both were a product
of works. Jacob labored seven years for
each wife. Their choosing had nothing to
do with grace. Laban didn't just graciously
give Rachel to Jacob, did he? Jacob showed an interest in Rachel
and he labored for seven years for her and then Laban deceived
him and gave him Leah and made him work another seven years
for Rachel. It was just pure bondage. Their
marriage had everything to do with works. The birth of these
12 sons on the part of Jacob, his wives, and their concubines
had nothing to do with the honor and glory of God and everything
to do with flesh. It had become a thing of competition.
It became a popularity contest between sisters who could win
the affection of Jacob. It was done out of envy and strife
and jealousy. It was a work of the flesh, all
of it. In Old Testament Israel, natural,
physical, fleshly Israel was all about man's work. It was
a covenant of works. Now listen to me, this is very
important. All God's promises, all the laws, the ceremonies,
the sacrifices, the offerings were given by God to point to
Christ. This pictures Christ, this points
to Him and what He does for His people. Yet sinful men and women
made it all about a work of righteousness that they do. God's commandments,
God's law, moral or ceremonial were never given for sinners
to attempt to keep in order to be saved. You know that. They
were given to reveal to sinners their inability of keeping God's
law. They were given to shut sinners
up to the mercy and grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matter of fact, that verse in Galatians 3.24, the next time
that you are there in your private reading, look at it. It says,
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. That's the only way we can be
justified, by faith. But the next time you look at
that verse, look closely. Those words to bring us are italicized. They weren't in the original
verse. So that verse actually reads,
the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be
justified by faith in him. Rachel wanted this son for one
reason and one reason only. She thought that it would bring
her and her husband closer together. She thought that it would give
her an advantage over her sister Leah. And that's why the Jews
in the New Testament had nothing to do with Christ. They thought
that they had an advantage already by the keeping of the law and
claiming to be the children of Abraham. While on many occasions
they said unto the Lord, Abraham is our father, and you know what
our Lord said to them? He said, if you were Abraham's
children, you'd do the works of Abraham. What was the work
of Abraham? He believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. They trusted in a work of righteousness
that they did. And folks still are. They trusted
that through their law keeping, not in the work of the only one
who could keep the law of God perfectly. They trusted in their
keeping of the law. And they thought they had great
advantage. And I tell you, every time, that will lead a man to
arrogancy. Women, too. They'll look down
their nose at you and think that they're better than you. Rebecca
gives us, excuse me, Rachel gives us a true picture here of natural
fleshly Israel who trusted in a work, a birth of righteousness
and obedience that they did. Rachel had grand illusions of
how with this 12th son, her and Jacob would live happily ever
after. She believed that Jacob would
cherish this youngest son more than the rest. I know how the
mind thinks. She believed Jacob would delight
in this youngest son more than all his other sons. She just
knew that Jacob would give all his attention to her and her
two sons, and she would enjoy the preeminence over her sister. But Rachel now knew that that
wasn't possible. Why? because she was dying. Her hard labor and the birth
of this child paid its toll on her. And the scriptures say as
her soul was departing and she was dying, she names this boy
Benoni. That name, Benoni, means son
of sorrows. Son of sorrows. She was sorrowful. in the birth of this son. She
doesn't rejoice in the birth of her son because his birth
does not accomplish what she wanted. What she wanted from this son
was favor from her husband. That's what men and women want
from their self-righteousness works. They want favor of God. That's what they're working for.
They want favor with God. They want to obtain it by something
that they do, by a work of their hands, just like Cain did when
he brought his offering unto God. It was a work of his hands,
and God rejected it because it wasn't a blood sacrifice. Everything
that Rachel wanted from this child was wrapped up and receiving
favor with her husband. But God wouldn't have it. This picture's how God will never,
never, ever, never give favor to a sinner by the accomplishment
of a work done at their hand. In the matter of salvation, God
will not share his glory with another. He never has and he
never will. He gets all the glory and the
honor and the salvation of the sinner. Our Lord said, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. And he told Nicodemus, he said,
marvel not that I said unto thee that you must be born again.
You're gonna have to be born again. You're gonna have to be
born into spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel is born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. John 1.13. And believe me when I tell you,
friends, that if you are to become one of the family of the true
and spiritual Israel, you must be born again. You've got to
be born of God. But in order to receive this
new birth, like Rachel, you're going to have to die first. Die to yourself. Die to sin. Die to this world. Die to your
work. Die to your will. Die to your
way. And when you do, God's going
to change your name from Benelni, son of sorrow, to Benjamin. You know what Benjamin means,
the name Benjamin means? Son of my right hand. Son of
my right hand. Well, who does that picture?
But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Can
you see the death of old mother Israel spiritually? The birth of Christ is the end
of that. Israel sought it for themselves and they continued
to seek for it even after Christ came. And many today still continue
to try to mix the priesthood and the sacrifices and the ceremonies
and the circumcision and all this legalism with the grace
of God. But the two won't mix. Paul said,
if by grace, then no more works, and if by works, then it's no
more grace. They don't go together just like
oil and water don't go together. There's no new life to be found
in Ben-O-Ni. He's nothing but a son of sorrow.
God requires perfection. You need Benjamin, the son of
God's right hand. Perfection can only be found
in the perfect righteousness of a perfect substitute. A perfect
sacrifice is required in order to be accepted of God. I hear
men talk a lot about accepting God, but that's not the issue.
The issue doesn't have anything to do, salvation has nothing
to do with our acceptance of God, but his acceptance of us. We've got to look to Christ.
He alone sits at the right hand of God. And I love to read about
it. Hebrews 1.3, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person. Who's? God's. Jesus Christ is God, friends. And upholding all things by the
word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins. Oh, you better have an interest
in him. He's the only one that can purge your sins. He sat down
on the right hand of God. The majesty on high. Why? Because
He's finished. The work's finished. Hebrews
8-1. We have such a high priest. Oh,
He's such a high priest. Who has sat on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Oh, the right
hand signifying the power and might and authority of God. That's
where our Benjamin sits. Hebrews 10, 12. But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, why? Because that's
all it took. One sacrifice for sins. He sat down on the right
hand of God. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on
the right hand to the throne of the throne of God. Peter said,
Christ who has gone into heaven is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. Who's
on the throne of God? the one who loved you and gave
himself for you. Isn't that good news? Aren't
you glad? Every believer must be brought
to see that old mother Israel must die. That old religion has
to go now. We must walk in newness of life.
There must be a death to this old religion of works. There
must be a birth of the new. I find no comfort at all in the
birth of the natural man. Why? Because the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he
know them. You see, we don't have the ability
to know the things of God. Why? Because we're spiritually
dead. Neither can we know them because they're spiritually discern
the natural man along with old Israel is nothing but Ben-O-Ni,
a son of sorrow." And this is the salvation of sinners. This
is the good news. Every sinner is going to see
themselves in either one or the other. You either see yourself
as Ben-O-Ni, a son of sorrow, or you see yourself in Christ
as Benjamin, son of my right hand. Do you see yourself in
Christ? Oh, I pray that you do. Do you
know what Paul said to his Jewish friends? He said, I'm a Benjamite. That's
what he said. He said, you think you have some
reason, some confidence to trust in your flesh? He said, I'm more. He said, I was circumcised the
eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuted the church. Nobody had more zeal than I did.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. Then he said this, but what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Do you count all things
lost for Christ? Then he repeated and he added
these words, yea, doubtless. In other words, without a doubt,
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord." Do you count all things but loss
for this excellency of the knowledge of Christ your Lord? You know,
the story of Benjamin is the story of every child of God.
Every born again believer has had their name changed by their
gracious and loving father. And in closing, we see where
this new birth occurs. It occurs on the way to Bethlehem,
Judah, the place of fruitfulness, the place where God meets sinners. If you're not yet of true Israel,
spiritual Israel. I pray that God may change your
name and make you one of his right this minute as you journey
on your way to Bethlehem, Judah, the place of bread. My new name,
Benjamin, son of my right hand. Why? Because I'm in Christ, he
who sits on the right hand of God in all power and majesty. And friends, we sit there with
him. My what a place to be. May God enable us to truly see. Our position in Christ. No, no
better comfort. I tell you that. Well, I again
appreciate your attention. I hope that the Lord make that
a blessing to you.