God of all grace, I change not. God does not change in His nature. He does not change in His purpose,
in His will, in His mind. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. He does not change in His promise,
His promise of salvation by His grace through Christ. There never
has been, nor will there ever be, any other way of salvation.
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man
cometh unto the Father but by me. And then he says, therefore,
for this reason, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Who are these sons of Jacob?
Well, as I said last time, this whole thing is connected with
a direct prophecy. of the Messiah to come, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the messenger of the covenant. So we understand
that he's not speaking of the old covenant, the law of Moses
here. He's talking about the everlasting covenant of grace
made before the world began in Christ. And the sons of Jacob
are the sons of promise. They're the elect of God. This
is an identification and a distinction of the spiritual children of
God, the children of Christ, the seed of Christ. We're identified
as sons of Jacob because we're so much like Jacob personally.
And that's what I dealt with last time. Jacob was a sinner
saved by the grace of God. And if we're in Christ, that's
exactly what we are. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Jacob had no hope in himself.
Jacob could not save himself. Jacob had no righteousness of
his own. to plead before a holy God. Jacob
was a person who was in need of mercy. It's of the Lord's
mercies that any of us are not consumed. Jacob was a man to
whom the Lord revealed himself. You remember Jacob's dream of
the ladder with the angels ascending, descending, and ascending. It's
a picture of Christ coming down from heaven, doing his great
work on the cross of Calvary, his death, burial, and resurrection,
and his ascending unto the Father. He went unto the Father because
He put away the sins of His people, the sons of Jacob. He put away
the sins of His church. He redeemed not just His elect
out of Israel, but His elect out of all nations by His blood
on the cross. He put away our sins. He made
an end of sin. He established the only righteousness
whereby we as sinners could come before God and stand accepted
and justified and righteous. Jacob was a man who saw his need
of Christ and would not let him go that Jacob wrestling with
with the angel which I believe was a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ himself speaking of the fact that once God reveals
himself to a center that center will run the Christ and he will
not let go and were preserved by God unto life sons of Jacob
now whoever these sons of Jacob are they're not concerned And
so what I want us to do tonight, I want you to first turn back
with me to Genesis chapter 49. And I want you to look at the
literal sons of Jacob in Genesis chapter 49. This is Jacob on
his deathbed saying his last words to his literal 12 sons. And what I want you to see is
an illustration here, a spiritual illustration. about how these
literal sons of Jacob, many times in their names, but in the blessing
that Jacob gave to them, illustrate the entire life of a believer,
a child of God, how they do that. And so I want you to use this
outline in your mind. It's an outline you're very familiar
with. You've heard me preach it, you've heard several men,
a lot of men from this pulpit preach it, this outline, and
it's what we call the three R's. of salvation. And that is, number
one, ruined by the fall. That's the first R. The second
one is redeemed by the blood. That's the second R. And the
third one is regenerated by the Spirit, speaking of the new birth.
Ruined, redeemed, regenerated. These 12 sons represent or illustrate
that spiritual life. of being ruined by the fall redeemed
by the blood and regenerated by the spirit. So let's look
first of all number one at sons of Jacob ruined and it's illustrated
by the first three sons here in Genesis chapter forty nine.
That's that's Reuben and Simeon and Levi the first three. Now
why are there three. You know some some some people
will will speak negatively about what we call biblical numerology
And I think some people get too caught up in and I do and they
try to do some figuring or they try to apply human logic to the
scriptures and it won't work. But numbers do symbolize things
in the scripture I just I just happen to believe that God doesn't
put anything in here by accident and I believe it's all for a
purpose even even our arithmetic is has something to do with the
with the divine origin. And why are there three? Well,
three is the number of completeness. We might say the number of perfection,
but not always in the way of holiness. For example, when we
talk about God, we know that God is one God who reveals himself
in three distinct persons, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. That is the completeness of God,
the three in one. God is completely and perfectly
holy and righteous and good. But now when it comes to man
and how the number three applies to man is this way. Man is completely
sinful. Completely ruined. completely
depraved. That's what man is. Man is sinful. That's what these first three
boys represent. Sons of Jacob ruined. Listen
to it, verse 3. Here's Jacob speaking. He begins
with Reuben, his firstborn. Reuben, thou art my firstborn. And he says, my might. You see,
the firstborn had such a prominent place in this society, this patriarchal
society, and then later on in the Old Covenant. The firstborn
meant something. He was to be the strength of
the family and the beginning of my strength. In other words,
the family was to be measured by the firstborn. And he said
the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. That's
Reuben, he says. The firstborn had the birthright.
You remember Esau who disparaged the birthright, denied the birthright?
Well, Reuben had the birthright. What was that birthright? Well,
it was the excellency of the dignity of power. It was the
best of the family, the best of Jacob, you see. It was the
priesthood of the family. Back during this time before
the Old Covenant, the firstborn, was the priest of the family.
He was the spiritual leader of the family. He was the one who
was to guide and lead the family in the truth. Spiritual truth. And so this was his place, you
see. So we look at Reuben as the best that Jacob could produce. But look at verse 4. Here's what
he says about Reuben. Unstable as water, thou shalt
not excel. because thou wentest up to thy
father's bed." I'm not going to go into all the details of
this, but let me just say this one. Here's Reuben, the firstborn,
who sought to take a place that didn't belong to him. It belonged
only to his father. He trespassed into an area that
he had no business being. And what do we see? We see, just
like our father Adam, the firstborn of creation in that sense. What
did Adam do? He fell. He was the excellency
of humanity. He was the power, the dignity
of humanity in his first estate. But then he sought to take a
place that didn't belong to him. He sought to be as God's. He
sought sovereignty over God. He sought his independence from
God. He rebelled against God and brought
the whole human race into sin and depravity, ruination. That's
what he did. Reuben represents that he said
then defiled stallion. He went up to my couch Reuben
you're my firstborn Supposed to be the excellency of the dignity
and the power of the family, but you're as unstable as water
in that like us sinful depraved creatures who have no hope of
salvation based upon our best. The best Jacob could produce
was this right here. The best we can produce is nothing,
even less than nothing. That's why salvation must be
by grace. And then look at the next two
boys. He brings Simeon and Levi together. He says in verse 5,
Simeon and Levi are brethren. In other words, they're born
of the same family. We're born of Adam. We're born
of Adam's sinful human family. And we're all brothers and sisters
in that sense. There's none of us better than
anybody else. There's none righteous. No, not one. None good. No, not
one. Simeon and Levi, they're brethren. They're the same nature. Sinful,
fallen, human nature. And he says instruments of cruelty
are in their habitation. You can read the biographies
in Genesis of Simeon and Levi and how they connived and how
they were cruel. How they wiped out a whole city.
because the king's son raped their sister. And they made a
deal with them and they devised cruelty against those men. They sinned greatly. Cruelty. Instruments of cruelty. You know,
I want you to think about it. You know, man, by nature, is
the cruelest of all creatures. I used to watch these nature
shows on television, you know, where you'd see the predator
and the prey and you'd see like a lion or a leopard or something
go out there and get a little innocent deer and kill them.
And I used to think how cruel that is. You know what? That's
not cruel at all. That's just their nature. They're
just trying to survive. But man, look at the history
of mankind. Man devises ways of being cruel. Man invents instruments of cruelty. Devices of cruelty. That's what
man does. And that's man by nature. Now,
the issue of total depravity doesn't mean that we're all as
bad as we could be. Thank God we're not. But it does
mean this. Look at this. He says in verse
5 or verse 6, O my soul, come not thou into their secret, under
their assembly, mine honor. Be not thou united, for in their
anger they slew a man, and in their self-will. That's man by
nature. Self-will. You see, you don't
have free will. Your will is enslaved to self. So whatever your self is, that's
what your will is. And what is our self? According
to the scriptures, sinful human beings. Out for ourselves. They dig down a wall. Bring everything
down. He says in verse 7, Cursed be
their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Now,
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, for what we know from the scripture,
they were consumed personally. They represent the sons of Jacob
ruined. Complete, perfect sin. The perfection of sin, you might
say. That sounds like a contradiction. But that's a complete view of
man by nature in sin. As God is the completeness of
holiness, the perfection of holiness, man is the completeness of sin.
and shown through these boys. Well, here's the second thing. Now, think about this. Sons of
Jacob redeemed. And you'll find that in verse
8. Here comes the next one. Judah. He said, Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise. The name Judah means I will praise
the Lord. He says, thy hand shall be in
the neck of thine enemies. Means you're going to defeat
your enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah
is a lion's wealth. And from the prey, my son, thou
art gone up. You know who this is talking
about. It's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a
prophecy of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, according
to His humanity, came from the tribe of Judah. And this is talking
about Him. He's a lion's wealth. In other
words, He would be born in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a child.
For unto us a child is born, a son is given. He stooped down,
he couched as a lion, he came to this earth to do a work. He
was going to be the predator and his prey was going to be
sin and Satan in the world. And as an old lion who shall
rouse him up, he says in verse 10, the scepter, the king's scepter
of judgment and righteousness. This is the issue now. He's going
to execute judgment and justice in the earth. He said, that scepter
shall not depart from Judah, the kingly line, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet until Shiloh come. Peace. That's what that's
talking about. Peace made between God and sinners
by the work of Christ. Shiloh. To him shall the gathering
of the people be. To Judah. Now that's talking
about not Judah personally here, not Jacob's natural son Judah. That's talking about Christ.
To him shall the gathering of the people be. You see, who does
the church go to? They go to Christ. He said, come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. He said in verse 11, binding his foe unto the vine,
and his asses cold unto the choice vine, I think about Christ riding
in triumphantly into Jerusalem on that donkey. But it says,
He washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood
of grapes. He was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He went under the
wrath of God. Jim, you read about it in the
study in Psalm 22. Christ hanging there on that
cross. having the sins of his people charged, accounted, imputed
to him. And he cried out, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? He gave up the ghost, he finished
the work, gave up the ghost and was buried and rose again the
third day because of our justification before God. His eyes shall be
red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Now, sons of Jacob
redeemed. Do you want to notice something
here? This is the work of Christ. This is the person and work of
Christ. And notice there's just one here. There's just one here. Because there's only... Listen.
To redeem His people, it took one person and one great work. And that's it. Not two, not three. This is the one and only way
of salvation. This is the one, he is the one
and only way of the forgiveness of sins. He is the one and only
way of righteousness for sin. There's no other way, there's
no other addition. This is the simplicity, the singleness
of Christ. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's it. This is the only,
the only one which has included with him a prophecy of Christ,
redeemed by the blood. There is no other redemption.
Nothing else can redeem us. No one else can pay the price
of redemption. No one else can put away sin. It took the blood of the Lamb
of God. Now, the rest of these sons,
there's eight more, and they represent sons of Jacob regenerated. That's the fruit of Shiloh. That's the fruit of the work
of Christ on the cross. What is the fruit, the result,
the product of what Christ accomplished on Calvary? It's the salvation,
the justification, the regeneration and conversion and calling of
all His people. Those sons of Jacob that are
not consumed. And there's eight of them. Why
would there be eight? Well, eight is the number of
new beginnings. It's the number of regeneration. That's what it is. For example,
Christ arose on the first day of the week. We know that to
be so. If you add that to the seven
days before, that's the eighth day. The Hebrew children, the
males, were to be circumcised on the eighth day. What does
circumcision represent? The new birth, circumcision of
the heart. It's a new beginning. And what he's teaching here is
out of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, out of his finished
work, comes the new life, the new heart, the new beginning
of his people. And listen, let's just go through
them quickly. This is being born again and living in Christ. Look
at the verse 13. He speaks of Zebulun. Zebulun
means dwelling. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven
of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border
shall be unto Zidon. In other words, this is the safety
and the security of every child of God in Christ. We dwell in
him. And also, he dwells in us. We
dwell in Christ. He is our haven. He's our safe
haven from the sea. You know, back then, the sea
was looked upon as a dangerous place. A place where people drowned
and got killed. Well Christ is our haven from
the sea of God's wrath. He's our haven from the sea of
sin and all danger and all that would come against us. But also
he by his spirit he dwells within us by his spirit and by his word.
That's what Zebulun represents. Issachar look at verse 14. Issachar
means hired or purchased. Issachar is a strong ass couching
down between two burdens and he saw that rest was good in
the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear
and become a servant under tribute. He's one who's been purchased
as a willing, loving bond slave of Christ and he bears the burdens.
He bears the burden of his own sin in the sense that we still
have to fight the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. He
has this bondage of this body, but he's been redeemed by the
blood of Christ, and he sees that rest is good. Now, where
do we rest? Who is our Sabbath? The Lord
Jesus Christ. He's our rest from all our burdens.
He's our rest from our bondage. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. That's what Issachar
does. He saw that rest was good. He's
got burdens. Even as believers, you have burdens,
don't you? You have the burdens of the flesh,
you have the burdens of your family, the burdens of the world.
But you see this, rest is good. That's why you're here tonight.
I hope that's why you're here tonight. Because you see that
rest is good. I must have Christ and His word
to rest. Look at the next one, verse 16. Here comes Dan. And I just want
to read verse 16 and I'm going to leave this After a while,
and then I want you to come back here, but it says, Dan shall
judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. That speaks
of judging or discernment. That's what Dan means. What does
it mean, he shall judge the people? Well, any time when we see a
spiritual application, or the people of God, or the ministers
of God, or the church of God doing the judging, he's not talking
about setting ourselves up self-righteously as judges of other people. He's
not talking about trying to judge other men's motives. We can't
do that. We're not God. Only God looks on the heart.
What's he talking about? He's talking about preaching
the gospel. That's what this judgment is. Every time I preach
the gospel, it's a judgment. It's a discernment. It shows
there's only one way of salvation and every other way is a false
way. That's the judgment of God in the preaching of the gospel.
There's only one way of salvation, one way of forgiveness, one way
of righteousness. Every other way is a false way.
That's the judgment that is set forth. This word, judgment, or
this, and then judge, also means to umpire. We think of an umpire
in sports, don't we? What does an umpire do? Well,
we hope he makes the right call. That's what an umpire does. Well,
anytime we preach the gospel, we're making the right call.
Anytime we point sinners to Christ, and Him crucified and risen again,
we're making the right call. Any other call is the wrong call.
You see, we're all fouled up in our sins. We need Christ,
and He's the only way. So that's the gospel in His Word.
Now, I'll come back to verse 17. Look at verse 19. Here's
the next one. Gad, a troop shall overcome him,
but he shall overcome at the last. Gad means a troop or a
company. And it says here, a troop shall
overcome him. But, look at that. He shall overcome
at the last. God's going to win in the end.
He's overcome now. Even as believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're overcome in many ways. We're overcome
by remaining sin. Paul said, I cannot do that which
I want to do because of remaining sin. We're overcome sometimes
by the world, by our own feelings, by our own family. Sometimes
we get so down, We enter into doubts, sinful doubts and unbelief,
but here's the fact of the matter. We're going to overcome at the
last. Christ is our overcomer. He is our victor. He is our victory. Look at verse 20. Here's Asher.
Out of Asher his bread shall be fat. This is verse 20. Out
of Asher his bread shall be fat and he shall yield royal dainties. Asher means happy. We equate
that with being blessed, not a feeling, but a state. You see,
our happiness is not just a feeling. We're not always happy. If we
are, there's something wrong with us, isn't there? We're not
looking at reality, but we're always blessed. And that's what
it means. What's that talking about? It's
talking about our prosperity. And what he's saying here in
Asher is an illustration of how the believer's life as it is
overpowered, thank God, by the grace of God, as it is shielded
by the grace of God. And as God is working His providence,
the believer's life is always going to be prosperous. Now,
that doesn't mean that you're always going to get a good return
on your money. That doesn't mean if you always
take your vitamin C, you'll never get heart disease. That doesn't
mean that. But here's what it does mean.
It means all things work together for good to them that love the
Lord who are the called according to his purpose. That's what it
means. It is ultimately going to bless us in some way or another. That's what Asher means. Look
at the next one. Look at verse 21. This is Naphtali. Naphtali means wrestling. Look
at it, verse 21. Naphtali is a hind. It's like
a deer. Let loose, and He giveth goodly
words. Naphtali, we have our struggles,
we have our wrestlings, but my friend, we're free in Christ. That's our liberty in Christ.
That's what it means, we're let loose in Him. Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. That doesn't mean we're not going
to have our wrestlings and our struggles, we are. But we're
free in Christ. We're free to serve God. We're
free from the bondage of sin. We're free from the condemnation
of sin. And we're free to serve God as
willing, loving bond slaves of Christ. Look at the next one,
verse 22. Here's Joseph. Joseph means adding. God said, I'm going to add to
you. He says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, like a branch of a tree
bearing fruit. Even a fruitful bough by a well,
watered well. This is a tree with a fruitful
branch, and there's plenty of water, whose branches run over
the wall. That's Joseph. What does that
mean? That's talking about our fruitfulness
in Christ, that our leaf will not fade, as Psalm 1 tells us. How we bear fruit unto God. No longer fruit unto death, but
fruit unto God. That's what we are. How we have
within our hearts, and our minds, and our affections, and our will,
the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5. Love, peace,
and joy. All of that. It's the fruitfulness
because it comes from the water of life, which is Christ. It's
a well of water springing up inside of us, you see. These
are spiritual terms. And then look at verse 27. Go
down to verse 27. Here's Benjamin. He says, Benjamin. That means son of his right hand.
Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. He's going to be hungry like
a wolf. That's what he's saying. In the morning he shall devour
the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil. I believe that's
talking about the believer's hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The believer's hunger and thirst for the Word of God. And I believe
it's talking about the believer's hunger and thirst to defeat all
our enemies. That is there. And that's going
to be filled. That's what Christ said. Now
there's the life of a believer that comes as the fruit of what
Christ accomplished on the cross. That's a picture of the sons
of Jacob that are not going to be consumed. These boys here,
many of them were consumed. Many of them died in unbelief.
Not all of them. But the sons of Jacob, the spiritual
sons of Jacob shall not be consumed. So I believe it's talking about
spiritual Israel when Malachi wrote that. The complete church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now last Wednesday I showed you
in Exodus 28, you don't have to turn there, how under the
old coven, that high priest had 12 names on his breastplate.
the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob. He
had twelve names on the amulets on his shoulder, six on this
side, six on that side, showing how Christ, our great high priest...
Here's the picture. These men were men to be wondered
at, the prophets say. That means they were signs, they
were pictures, they were types. And they were signs and pictures
and types and prophecies of Christ, our great high priest, having
the names of his children on his heart. particular redemption,
that's what that's talking about. He went in for his children,
his people, these sons of Jacob that are not conserved. And on
his shoulders, he bore the responsibility, all the conditions, requirements
of our salvation as Christ, our high priest. Just as there were
12 sons of Jacob, that number 12, what does it symbolize? It symbolizes the complete leadership
of the church and the whole church. the church as a whole. For example,
there were 12 patriarchs from Seth to Noah, and then there
were 12 from Shem to Jacob. There were 12 judges in Israel
from Athnael to Samuel. In the New Testament, there were
12 apostles. Turn over to Revelation chapter
4 with me. See, the 12 sons of Jacob represent
The leadership and the completeness of the church. Look at Revelation
chapter 4. Look at verse 4. Talking about
the throne. Round about the throne. It says
we're four and twenty seats. Verse 4. And upon the seats I
saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and
they had on their heads crowns of gold." Who's this talking
about? Well, talking about the twelve witnesses, patriarchs
of the Old Testament, and the twelve apostles of the New Testament.
Put together, you have the completed Church of God dressed in white
raiment, the witnesses of Christ. bearing his righteousness, imputed,
charged, accounted to them with crowns of gold on their head,
meaning that they are made a kingdom of priests under the Lord, ambassadors
of Christ. And then look down at verse 10.
It says, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that
sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever
and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Why are
they doing it? They're worshiping Christ. That's the sons of Jacob not
consumed. They worship Christ. The only way you and I are not
going to be consumed is to believe in, rest in, and serve Christ.
And he said, For thou hast created all things for thy pleasure,
and they are and were created. Well, look at Revelation 7. This
is the passage that Brother Stan read. Revelation 7. Now, he talks about the four
angels here holding back the four winds of the earth. That's
the wrath of God held back, tempered, you might say, in the four corners
of the earth, all over the world, manifestations of the wrath of
God, but they're tempered with God's long-suffering. In other
words, the world is not yet... We see manifestations of God's
wrath even today, but the world is not yet completely, 100% destroyed. It will be. This world is coming
to an end. And it's going to get worse and
worse as we approach the second coming of Christ. But it says
in verse 3 of Revelation 7, "'Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, "'till we have sealed the servants of our God
in their foreheads.'" What does the forehead represent? It represents
the mind and the heart. You remember the high priest
had on that plate, on his miter, On his, over his forehead, written,
it was on a gold plate, and it was written, Holiness unto the
Lord. That was to be on his mind, on his heart. And he says in
verse 4, And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and
there were sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand of all the
tribes of the children of Israel. A hundred and forty-four thousand.
What's a hundred and forty-four thousand? Well, some people believe
that this is an exact number of a hundred and forty-four thousand
witnesses of Christ that will come out of Israel. That could
be, but I don't believe that's what it's talking about. What
I believe it's talking about is twelve times twelve. There's
the completed witness and a thousand in the Hebrew way of thinking
was an indefinite number that only God knew. So he's talking
about the completed church. Well, he mentions here the tribes
of Israel. But look how he mentions it.
It's a little different than Genesis 49, isn't it? How did
Genesis 49 start out when Jacob was dealing with his children? He started out with who? Reuben,
the firstborn. Look at this in verse 5. The
first one he deals with is, of the tribe of Judah were sealed
12,000. Judah's first, not Reuben. It's almost like when you look
at Jacob and Esau. The elder shall serve the younger.
Well, you know what Judah represents. That's the kingly tribe. That's
the tribe out of whom our Savior came. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till Shiloh come. What's he saying here? In the
spiritual kingdom of Christ, in the church, the sons of Jacob
that are not consumed, Judah has the preeminence, not Reuben.
What does that mean? Are you talking about the literal
tribe? No, we're talking about Christ has the preeminence. Christ has the preeminence. And
then he gives them in a different order. He mentions Reuben here
in verse 5. Reuben, 12,000. Is he talking
about literally 12,000 out of each tribe? I believe he's speaking
symbolically. But I won't park company with
you over that. If you think it's a literal number,
that's fine. I know this. Here's where we cannot park company.
They're all under the headship of Christ. Am I right? They're
all redeemed by the blood of... These fellas are not going to
be consumed. These are sons of Jacob who are
not consumed because they're washed in the blood and clothed
in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? But he goes on down. He mentions
Reuben. He mentions Gad, verse 6. He mentions Aser, that's Asher.
Nephthalim, that's Nephtali, same one. And then he says Manassas. Now back in Genesis 49, Manassas
wasn't even mentioned, was he? Hold on to that thought. He mentions
Simeon in verse 7. He mentions Levi. Then the tribe
of Issachar. And of the tribe of Zebulun,
verse 8. Then he mentions the tribe of
Joseph and the tribe of Benjamin. Now there they are. And he tells
you here, that these stood before the throne and before the Lamb
clothed in white robes, they're justified before God based on
the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, they're not going to
be consumed, you see, their sins are put away, and they had palms
in their hands, meaning they're worshipping Christ. They're worshipping
Him. So whether you believe it's literally
144,000, 12,000 out of each tribe, Or not. We can disagree over
there. But we can't disagree over this.
They're not going to be consumed because of the grace of God in
Christ. They're witnesses of Christ and salvation by His grace. Now, as I said, there's a different
order. There's even one tribe that's
left out here in Revelation 7. Did you notice that? The tribe
of Dan is left out. Now, why is that? Well, back
over here in Genesis 49. Remember when Jacob was talking
about these boys and Dan in verse 16. He says, Dan shall judge
his people as one of the tribes of Israel. But look at verse
17. What's going to happen to the tribe of Dan? He says, Dan
shall be a serpent by the way. Now what does the serpent symbolize
in the scripture? Satan. Dan is going to do something
satanic and add her in the path that biteth the horse so that
his rider shall fall backward. Going to be defeated. Going to
be consumed. Dan led a great rebellion in
Israel. That's what he's talking about.
That's prophetic. And Dan was left out. Right here. Talking about the literal tribe
of Dan. So Dan, because of their critical and back-biting nature,
they aligned this tribe with the kingdom of Satan rather than
the kingdom of God. Man fulfilling his nature of
sin without redemption. But did you notice something
else over here in Revelation 7? There was one added, Manassas. Turn to Genesis chapter 48. Now,
who was Manassas? Well, Manassas was Joseph's,
one of Joseph's sons. Look at Genesis 48. Joseph had
two sons, Manassas and Ephraim. Look at verse 1 of Genesis 48.
It says, And it came to pass after these things, that one
told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him
his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said,
Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. And Israel strengthened
himself and sat upon the bank." Isn't it interesting how the
original language keeps calling, it goes from Jacob to Israel.
You know, Jacob to one who prevailed with God. He's a sinner saved
by grace. And he says, And Jacob said unto Joseph, verse 3, God
Almighty appeared unto me at Lutz in the land of Canaan, and
blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful,
and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people,
and will give this land to thy seed, and after thee for an everlasting
possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim
and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt
before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine. Jacob took those
two boys for himself. They're mine. Just like Reuben's
mine. Just like Simeon is mine. They'll
be mine. He took them as his sons. I don't know what all that involved.
There were no legal papers involved here, but Jacob said they're
mine. Your sons, Joseph, are mine. And so many times they're
listed in the tribes of Israel. In the sons of Jacob. And so
somebody said, well, wouldn't that make 13 tribes then? instead
instead of twelve well the answer is no because later on the tribe
of Levi you know when they came into the promised land and and
and Joshua cast lots to divide the land up you know who didn't
get any land the tribe of Levi they didn't own any land they
were the priestly tribe they were dispersed throughout the
tribes to lead the people spiritually so they didn't get it So you
have in, you look at the list, you'll have Manasseh and Ephraim.
But now over here in Revelation 7, Ephraim is left out. Manasseh
is included. But Ephraim was left out. Well,
why was Ephraim left out? Well, Ephraim, Hosea chapter
4 and verse 17 makes this statement. It says, Ephraim is joined to
idols. Let him alone. Now that's referring to the whole
northern kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes. But Ephraim was the
main, leading, most populous tribe, and they led in rebellion. They're left out. Dan's left
out. Manasseh is added. Twelve sons. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. God's dealings in these areas.
Isn't that amazing? But I'll tell you what. There's
no one in Christ who's going to be consumed. Isn't that right?
Let me read one more verse and I'll quit. Revelation 14. Look
over at Revelation 14. Let's just read these verses
and then I'll close. That'll be our close. Revelation
14. He says in verse 1, And I looked,
and, lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred
and forty-four thousand. Again, I believe 12 times 12
plus 1,000. That's the completed church. The witnesses of Christ. Having
His Father's name written on their foreheads, in their hearts,
in their minds, in their affections. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. This
is worship. This is worship. And they sang as it were a new
song before the throne and before the four beasts, the four living
creatures, witnesses north, south, east, west of the glory of Christ
and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. The song of the
lamb, the new song, song of the redeemed. And these are they
which were not defiled with women. That's talking about spiritual
purity, spiritual loyalty for their virgins spiritually. In
Christ, I've espoused you to one husband, Paul said. These
are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Now again,
remember what I said. Whether you believe that's a
literal 144,000 or a symbolic number, I know this about them.
They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. That's the key, isn't
it? These were redeemed from among
men. They're the redeemed. I know he redeemed more than
144,000. How about you? You believe that? I believe he
redeemed a lot more than 144,000. I don't know how many, but I
believe it's more than that. And he says, redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, and in their
mouth was found no guile. That's talking in this matter
of salvation. They preach Christ. They preach
his blood and his righteousness. For they are without fault before
the throne of God. They're without fault. How's
that possible? Think about Jacob himself. How's
Jacob standing before God without fault? He's washed in the blood,
clothed in the righteousness of Christ imputed. How are you
going to stand before God without fault? Not but one way, and that's
the only way, isn't it? In Christ. All right.