Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #9 of Genesis, chapter 25, and we are reading from Genesis 25:21-23:
And Isaac intreated JEHOVAH for his wife, because she was barren: and JEHOVAH was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of JEHOVAH. And JEHOVAH said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
We have spent a little time looking at the “barren” women in the Bible, and we saw that several of the barren women all brought forth children, which pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. We spent some time looking at the promise God gave from the start after the fall of man into sin thousands of years ago in 11,013 B. C., until the Lord Jesus finally entered into the world in 7 B. C. So the “woman” brought forth the man child as was pictured in Revelation 12 and, therefore, we can understand the aged nature of Sarai, for example, before she would bring forth the promised seed. It is actually very clear, as God is picturing it as a woman bringing forth a child when she was past childbearing age, just as Christ entered into the world after some people had “given up” on it. It is a beautiful picture that God has drawn through the historical parables regarding Sarai and some of the other women.
By the way, regarding Sarai, if we go Isaiah 54, we can see that on one hand the seed or the son she brought forth was Isaac, a type of Christ. But we can also see that the fact that Sarai did conceive as a type of the elect because of what Galatians 3 tells us. The seed “singular” is Christ. However, the elect child of God is counted for the seed by being “in Christ.” So we read in Isaiah 54:1-4:
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith JEHOVAH. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
As it says, “More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife.” The promise to Abraham was that his seed would be as the stars in the heavens for multitude. And, finally, that was fulfilled when God saved that great multitude out of Great Tribulation by the sending forth of the Latter Rain. So, once, again, the seed of the woman is Jesus, but it can also identify with God’s elect that are in Christ. So we have these two pictures.
And God did also wait to save the great multitude. Over the course of the church age of 1,955 years, we do not know how many people were saved, but it was not as many as we might expect. Then came that grievous “famine” of 2,300 evening mornings when virtually no one was saved, so we can see God illustrating the bringing forth of His children or the salvation of His elect as though it was a barren woman that finally conceived and gave birth. He saved a tremendous number of people over the course of about 17 years during the second part of the Great Tribulation, which completed on May 21, 2011.
So we do see how the child or children fit in, even with Rebekah. There were two manner of people in her womb, God told her. There were “two nations,” and I am looking forward to discussing that because it is pictures the whole human race. It pictures all those God saved (Jacob have I loved) and those that are unsaved (Esau have I hated). So there is no question that God uses a child in the womb in a very interesting and special way in the Bible to point to all the elect, in some cases, or to a particular season of “fruit.”
And this is what makes Elisabeth’s pregnancy so interesting. Let us go to Luke 1:5-10:
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
The Greek word translated as “time” would be better translated as “hour.” Then it says in Luke 1:11-15:
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
Now that is the interesting statement – John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. We know that later Mary would come to visit Elisabeth and the baby John leaped in his mother’s womb, as it says in Luke 1:39-41:
And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
The babe leaped with joy. John was filled with the Holy Ghost. He was a saved person. We do not know how long after conception it was before he became saved, but he was conceived in his mother’s womb and God saved him very, very early in the pregnancy, and he was said to be filled with the Holy Ghost. And that is what happens when someone becomes saved, is it not? God fills them with the Holy Spirit, and He indwells them for evermore, and they never lose that Holy Spirit.
Why is this so interesting? It is because of what the Lord tells us in Luke 1:24-25:
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.
What is so interesting to me (and, I am sure, to many others) is that God said Elisabeth conceived and there is “fruit” there, as we read that children are the fruit of the womb in Psalm 127. And this child is full of the Holy Ghost, which pictures that the “fruit” in her womb is God’s elect. It is not like Jacob and Esau, where there was one elect and one unsaved, but there was only John, and he was full of the Holy Ghost. Then it says that after she conceived, she “hid herself five months.” And that is the curious thing. This time reference of “five months” is only found a couple of places in the Bible. It is found here in Luke 1 and also in Revelation 9, a chapter that is describing the final judgment of the world. Revelation 8, the previous chapter, went into detail about the judgment on the “third part,” which typifies the churches. Then after the four trumpets sounded bringing judgment on the third part, it says in Revelation 8:13:
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
If we took the time (which we will not), we would find that referring to the “inhabiters of the earth” after He judges the city called by His name, He turns to the inhabiters of the earth” and He says, “Should ye go utterly unpunished?” No – then He pours out His same cup (of wrath) upon them. So chapter 8 is judgment on the churches, and chapter 9 is judgment on the world, and the “three woes” are the final “three trumpets” that will sound, and they sound simultaneously.
By the way, some people get all worked up over different scenarios since May 21, 2011. They say, “Oh, this is the fifth woe, and then so many years later is the sixth woe,” and so forth. But, no. As we read chapter 8, the four trumpets describe the judgment falling on the “third part” and it was simultaneous judgment, was it not? The judgment came upon the churches for 23 years, a prolonged judgment. Each of the four trumpets describe various aspects of that same judgment.
Likewise, the three trumpets or three woes describe the judgment that began on May 21, 2011, a prolonged judgment that will continue until 2033, if the Biblical evidence is correct. But describing that judgment in Revelation 9, we read of locusts that came out of the smoke of the bottomless pit, because the world has been turned into “hell.” It says in Revelation 9:3-5:
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
It is repeated in Revelation 9:10:
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
The “five months” is a spiritual figure that represents the duration of Judgment Day, which has lasted several years now. We had incorrectly thought it would be a literal five months from May 21, 2011 to October 21, 2011. Before May 21, 2011, that was our understanding, and we had still had some expectation after May 21 and up until October 21, but that was wrong. That was wrong. It was a very understandable mistake, given the 153 days (remember the great catch of 153 fish) was one thing that had tied in with it, and the five months or 150-day reference to the flood in the book of Genesis. (We will look at that in a second.)
However, it was just like the reference to “three and a half years” or “three and a half days” or “time, times and an half,” or the “1,260,” and all the other time periods used in the book of Revelation. They are all spiritual figures used to represent other literal periods of time, and, so, too, with the five months.
So, here, the five months in both cases identifies with Judgment Day that began on May 21, 2011 and is ongoing. Then when we turn back to Genesis 7, it is the time after the flood that came the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year. May 21, 2011 had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of the seventeenth day of the second month, after exactly seven thousand years (a day is as a thousand years), and that is what locked in that date. So what we read here in Genesis 7 is after the flood (judgment) began, in Genesis 7:23-24:
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Does that sound familiar? Noah only remained alive, and those eight souls that were with him. Remember what it says in 1Thessalonians 4:15:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
Then it is repeated in 1Thessalonians 4:17:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
We tied those verses in with other verses, like in Zechariah 13:8-9, where it says that those that are left, the “third part” that endured the flames; or like Isaiah 24:6, where it says, “…therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” There were few left or remaining.
Here, Noah (a type of Christ) and those with him on the ark after the seventeenth day of the second month (after May 21, 2011) are safe and secure, hidden in the safe chamber in Christ, as pictured in Isaiah 26. “Your life is hid with Christ in God,” as we read in Colossians. That is what it means to be “hidden” in the day of JEHOVAH’s fierce anger until the indignation be over past. Likewise, they were “hidden” in the ark. And, you know, it was raining for forty days and forty nights, and the waters were prevailing over the earth. The wrath of God was still falling, but where were they? Were they up in heaven with God in the spiritual realm? No – they were upon the water and on the earth, going through the process of the judgment, but they were safe and secure: “…and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” Again, it says in Genesis 7:24:
And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
The “waters” represent the Word of God and to prevail means to be victorious, and God’s Word is victorious in this Day of Judgment over the kingdom of Satan and all its inhabitants. The waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days (5 x 30), or five months. For five months the water prevailed, typifying that God’s Word would prevail and be victorious over the unsaved, including Satan and all the spiritual forces that are with him, throughout the Day of Judgment until it is complete. So that is another reference to “five months.”
And, yet, we also see that God’s elect are “hid” during the five months in the ark. That brings us back to the matter of John the Baptist inside his mother’s womb. Finally, a barren woman had conceived, and she has the fruit of the womb, which we see can represent God’s elect. And John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had filled him from his mother’s womb. I am sure that it has happened where God has saved a two-week-old baby, just a couple of weeks from conception, as a mother was on her way to an abortion center. I am sure that God has done things like that. But I would say that, in general, it was probably a rare occurrence. It is not something God has done all that often, but it is something that He can do and has done, and we thank the Lord for that. And He did so in the life of John the Baptist, but we must ask the question: “Why did God do so in the life of John the Baptist? And why did his mother Elisabeth hide herself five months?”
Again, we cannot be precise in when God filled John with the Holy Spirit, but let us look at the language used in Luke 1:15:
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
The picture is of an elect individual that is already saved. It is more typical for one of God’s elect to be born before they experience salvation. They would have to live their life to some point that God would bring His Word to them and save them. But John is already saved, and according to this language, it is as though he was saved for “five months.” He has been conceived and his mother hides herself and John. So there is this idea of “withdrawing from the world,” for some reason. And remember that God says in Revelation 18 in a chapter describing the judgment of the world as portrayed by Babylon, “Come out of her my people.” So she is reserved from the world, and it is as though she is protecting her child.
Then what comes after the five months? Again, it says in Luke 1:24-27:
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Then it says in Luke 1:30-31:
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
For five months John was hid in the womb, full of the Holy Ghost, and in the sixth month the Lord Jesus Christ came. He came because He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin. He was not born yet, but he was on the earth, was He not? He had arrived. He was a living Being on the earth.
So, of course, God is portraying a lot of spiritual information in Luke 1, and He had to lay out the whole fulfilment of so many Messianic promises, and the New Testament history would need to play out as Christ entered into the world and went about His ministry. But God takes a couple of verses and relates John the Baptist being full of the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb to “five months.” And everywhere else we look, “five months” is related to Judgment Day, and it just so happens to fit with the idea of those on the ark, and with Isaiah 26:20-21, where God called His people to go into the safe chamber and hide themselves “until the indignation be overpast.”