Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #24 of Genesis, chapter 28, and we are continuing to read Genesis 28:15-19:

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely JEHOVAH is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

I will stop reading there.  We want to finish looking at verse 15 regarding one last thing in that verse.  Again, it says in Genesis 28:15:

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Once again, this is an important statement that God is making to Jacob as he is experiencing this dream, which was divine revelation.  God was communicating to him, and this was permissible at that time because the Bible was still being compiled, and God was giving information to certain individuals that would become part of the Word of God.  That is why we are reading it here.  And at this point in time, it was when Jacob was fleeing the land of Canaan because his brother wants to kill him, and he is going to find a wife in Haran from his mother’s family.  We have talked about this, but he was 60 years old, and he would be there for 40 years and leave the land of Haran when he was 100. 

This 40-year period ties in with the time of the end, the time in which one brother rises up to slay the other.  Cain killed Abel “in the end of days,” we were told.  At this point it had become known that Jacob was blessed, and Esau was not blessed.  Jacob received the birthright and blessing and the inheritance, the right of the firstborn, even though he was not firstborn.  Esau did not receive it, and this stirred up Esau’s fury and anger and his desire to kill his brother, and this fits in with God’s end-time program in the churches, with the end of the church age when God finally made it known, “These are the wheat and these are the tares.  These are the blessed ones, and these are not the blessed ones.”  So the elect were driven out of the churches and congregations at the end of the church age.

We can pinpoint the official end of the church age as 1994, although the church age ended in 1988 when the Spirit of God departed out and Satan’s spirit entered in.  That is true, but it was not until September 1994 when the “season” turned to the Latter Rain and God was, once again, evangelizing the earth, that it could be known that the churches were no longer being used of God.  They were no longer His representatives to the earth because God was sending forth the Latter Rain outside of the churches and congregations, blessing His Word and saving people outside of the churches.  None of that happened within the churches.  Therefore, in September 1994 it became “official” that the church age was over, and that judgment was upon the house of God.

And from that year 1994, we have a 40-year period that the Bible presents to us of 40 inclusive years from 1994 to the year 2033, and this fits in with Jacob fleeing to Haran for 40 years.  That is why it is important.  He is leaving Canaan, which represents the kingdom of God, because God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they would receive the land of Canaan for an everlasting habitation.  And that could not be fulfilled regarding the physical land in the Middle East.  It can only be fulfilled spiritually with the new heaven and new earth, so Canaan can represent the eternal kingdom of God, as well as its outward representation, just as Israel itself was an outward representation of God’s kingdom on earth; and just as the corporate churches were an outward representation of God’s kingdom on the earth.  So, too, was the land of Canaan an outward representation.  In leaving Canaan, Jacob is picturing the elect who came out of the churches and, yet, God says He “will bring thee again into this land.”  That is not to be understood that when God brought us out of the churches, He will bring us back to the churches.  No – that will not happen.  And the Bible makes a point of stressing that in Scriptures, such as Matthew 24:15-16:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

That is describing the end of the church age.  Judaea is a type and figure of the church, and Judaea is in the land of Canaan.  Then it says in Matthew 24:17:

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

Spiritually, the “housetop” is signifying a place of intense spiritual activity, so continue with spiritual activity, like sharing the Word of God and praying, but make sure you do not go into the “house” because judgment began at the house of God.  The house is a picture of the corporate church. 

Then it says in Matthew 24:18:

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

The field is the world.  At the end of the church age we did go out into the world, evangelizing, and then we remained out in the world.  We left Judaea and fled to “Babylon,” which is the world.  Once we are out in the field (the world) sharing the Word of God and feeding the sheep at this time, we are not to return back.  Whoever looks back, like Lot’s wife, will come under the judgment of God. 

You know, the Bible makes a special point of indicating that when the Israelites came out of Egypt, those that wanted to make a captain and go back to Egypt would be under the wrath of God.  And that is why plagues came upon the children of Israel in the wilderness, because they were returning back to Egypt in their hearts, and going backwards is never the right direction, because behind Christ is Satan: “Get thee behind me, Satan.”  If we are turning back from behind Him, we are going to the one who has been commanded to be back there, and that is Satan.

So it says, “Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.”  Clothes cover our nakedness, and it has to do with the covering for sin and unrighteousness.  Do not go back to the churches, thinking they have some special relationship with God, and they have salvation.  No – they do not have any of that.  And the gospel they are offering in the churches is not a saving Gospel, even if they, somehow and amazingly, started to understand the true Gospel of the Bible, like the faith of Christ, and like salvation being all by grace through God’s election program.  Even if they got all that right, they are still false gospels because of the fact that they are a corporate church in rebellion against God, so there is nothing back there for one of God’s elect.

Therefore, when God says that He “will bring thee again into this land,” it is not a promise to return to the outward representation, the corporate body, but to the land the corporate body represented, which was the actual kingdom of God or the reality of God’s eternal kingdom.  So after 40 years, God would bring Jacob back to the eternal kingdom of heaven.  Likewise, that is our expectation.  We will be brought back to the kingdom of God.  We have come out of the outward representation that God set up on the earth, the churches of His kingdom, yet we have the promise of God that He will bring us back to the thing the churches represented, which is the eternal, glorious, invisible kingdom of heaven.

This kind of statement is made, repeatedly, in the context of the end of the church age, if we go to Jeremiah 12:14-15:

Thus saith JEHOVAH against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

There is the promise.  God brings us out, and then He says He is going to bring us again.  But, you see, the point we must understand that as the coming out of the “physical” or that which is seen (as churches are on every corner), and the returning to the fulfillment of the spiritual promise.  In other words, we are coming out of the physical house of God and, finally, we will go back and enter into the spiritual house of God. 

We also see this in Jeremiah 16:14-15:

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith JEHOVAH, that it shall no more be said, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

Now this is interesting because God is changing the saying, as it says in verse 14: “it shall no more be said, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”  That is, that great deliverance that is highlighted in so many books of the Bible regarding the glorious act of God’s mercy in delivering the physical nation of Israel out of bondage in the land of Egypt.   He raised up Moses, the deliverer, to deliver them, as God plagued Egypt and did mighty miracles in opening up the Red Sea so the people of Israel could pass through.  Then He collapsed the waters upon the Egyptians as they assayed to do the same, and so on.  All these wonderful, true historical accounts about water coming out of a rock, and so forth, was Israel’s great hope, as they recounted the history of the exodus again and again.  And who would not?  “God fought for us and destroyed the mighty power of Egypt.  He slew Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea.  Look at all God did for us.”  So for many, many centuries it was said, “JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”    But God is saying, “That saying will not be said any longer.  Instead there will be a new saying, and that is shown to us in Jeremiah 16:15:

But, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

We wonder about this because the land of the north would be Babylon.  While it is true that the seventy years was really a form of bondage, just as when Israel was in Egypt, but  Egypt was “hard, cruel bondage,” and we do not read of that being the case in Babylon, but they were captives and prisoners in the land of Babylon.  But then God raised up the king of the Medes and Persians, Cyrus (also known as Darius) and the army of the Medes and Persians came against Babylon, and in one night they took the kingdom, put to death the king of Babylon, and Cyrus ruled over that kingdom.  And the Lord moved this great king of the Medes and Persians to issue a proclamation that the Jews could return to their land – leave their bondage and captivity and come out of Babylon and return to Judah.  And he also commanded that they could build the house of God.  So this was certainly a very great event in Israel’s history.  It was glorious on some levels, but come on, there is no comparison between Israel’s coming out of Babylon after 70 years and Israel’s coming out of Egypt, which God forced to happen.  He made Pharaoh set the captives free, and there was tremendous drama involved when Pharaoh refused to let them go, again, and again.  And God showed His mighty power until He made the great king of Egypt to relent and release them.  The whole account is unparalleled.  And, certainly, we do not read of any miracles or mighty workings of God that took place (regarding Babylon).  Yes – it is not to be discounted that God raised up the Medes and Persians and their great army.  Also, not to be discounted is that God moved Cyrus’ heart toward the people of Judah to issue the proclamation (to build the temple).  But that just does not compare to the deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt, but that is what God is saying: “…it shall no more be said, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”

But this is what will be said: “But, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”  Would it surpass the previous event just because it was the latest or newest act of deliverance?  That would be stretching it.  Really, the implication is that God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from the “land of the north” is a greater thing than His deliverance of Israel out of the land of Egypt.  And, again, we just have to scratch our heads again – we just do not see it.  How can that be?

Well, historically, there is no comparison.  The coming out of Babylon just does not surpass the coming out of Egypt.  But, spiritually, it is a different story.  Spiritually, the coming out of Babylon and the end of the Babylonian captivity after 70 years ties in with the Great Tribulation.  And at the end of the Great Tribulation, God saved the great multitude, more than He had ever saved before.  According to the Bible, there were more people saved in the little season of Great Tribulation.  Actually, it was not even the entire 23-year period of Great Tribulation, but it was during the about last 17 years of the Great Tribulation.  There were more people saved in that short period of time than in all the previous centuries of the church age, and even in all previous history, because there were not that many people saved on the Old Testament side of the cross.  And there were not as many people saved during the church age as one might have expected.  God saved the best for last, which is why He is drawing attention to it with these kind of statements: “But, JEHOVAH liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”  This is written in the book of Jeremiah at a time when God was commanding the people of Judah to go into Babylon as captives.  They were to go into the land of the north, and He would bring them again.  Yes – that was the promise.

And even though they did come out of Babylon and return to the land, historically, that is not what is in view.  The spiritual picture of bringing them into the land which He gave to their fathers is of the “eternal land,” as was said to Abraham, “I will give you this land for an everlasting possession.”  It is the eternal kingdom of God, and the context of the whole book of Jeremiah and the particular language of this statement directs our attention to the Great Tribulation as it enters into the Day of Judgment, when, finally, all the elect were spiritually delivered out of Babylon.

By the way, the commands, “Come out of her my people,” or “Flee out of the midst of Babylon,” and those types of commands are linked to the idea of coming out of Egypt.  You know, Egypt can be used as a picture of the world, just as Babylon.  And I remember Mr. Camping saying a couple times that “Babylon” had to be the church because one cannot come out of the world, regarding where God commanded, “Come out of her by people.”  It was a figure of the churches.  That was correct on one level, as the churches became part of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of this world.  But it was incorrect in other ways, and we have talked about how Babylon is an overall picture of the entire kingdom of Satan, the world, and the way one comes out of Babylon is the same way as one comes out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and that is by being delivered through salvation.  If we go to Isaiah 48, I will read Isaiah 48:20:

Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, JEHOVAH hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

Now look carefully at the next verse, Isaiah 48:21:

And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

Did that happen when Israel came out of Babylon?  No – that only happened when they came out of Egypt.  You see, God is merging the two incidents.  It begins by speaking of coming out of Babylon, and then the next verse transitions into language of coming out of Egypt, because it is the same spiritual picture of deliverance in salvation, and that is what it means to “come out of Babylon.”

Well, unfortunately, we have run out of time, and we will have to pick this up in our next Bible study.