Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #34 of Genesis, chapter 28, and we are going to read Genesis 28:20-22:

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall JEHOVAH be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

We are the point in this chapter where Jacob is having a discussion with God, and he made this vow.  Someone might read this and think, “It sounds like he is sort of setting conditions down for God,” when he said, “ If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall JEHOVAH be my God.”  It may sound to us as if he is saying, “If you do all these things for me, then you are my God.” 

And what would be different than the kinds of things some people say today” “Lord, I love you and praise you, and give me this desire.  I want a wife.  I want a well-paying job.  I want these things, and if you do that, then you are my God.” 

But, you see, that would be a misreading of what Jacob is saying.   We can understand Jacob laying out these things and then saying, “If they come to pass, then shall JEHOVAH be my God,” in the same way that we understand what is being said in Matthew 24:13:

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

This also sounds as if it is saying, “If we can just endure to the end, then our endurance will bring us salvation – the same shall be saved.  You will be saved if you endure.”  But that is not correct.  That is not the right way to read that verse.  What God is really saying is that the only ones that endure to the end will be His elect, and these are the only ones that could possibly endure the events God had planned for Judgment Day.  And that includes judgment beginning on the house of God and then transitioning to judgment on the world.  The only people who will endure to the end are the elect, and they will endure because God has (already) saved them.  And, therefore, the summary statement, “the same shall be saved,” is just providing the matter-of-fact reason for their endurance, and that is because God had saved them.  And the evidence that God has saved them is that they will endure to the end all these things that are coming on the world.

Likewise, this is true with Jacob’s statement, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go.”  Now do not think so much about his sojourning on the way from Canaan to Haran, but think of it as “the way of Christ.”  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  No matter where our earthly life takes us – whether we go north, south, east or west in the world – is unimportant.  The important thing is our spiritual direction, meaning that we follow the Lord and we go the way of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We follow the truth of the Bible.  And if God keeps us in that way (and that is the only way we would be able to do it) and if He would not leave us, but be with us and keep us in the way of Christ as we go. 

Then it says, “…and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on.”  The “bread” is what we are going to look at a little bit in this study and, spiritually, there is no secret here.  The bread identifies with Christ, and the raiment identifies with Christ.  The raiment is a covering or clothing, and those that Christ has saved receive the righteousness of Christ as a garment; it is that which covers us.  It is what is in view in 1Timothy 6:6:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

The food and raiment point to Jesus.  There are some that are God’s elect and they do not have sufficient physical food or raiment (clothing), and, yet, God has saved them, and they have spiritual food and spiritual raiment.  And in that, be content.  That is, there is no need for anything more.  It is everything and all that we need.  If we have physical food and physical clothing, we can still be needful when it comes to spiritual things, like salvation.  But in having food and raiment, be content. 

The supremacy and greatness of Christ in His salvation that provides spiritual food and covering is seen in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.  The rich man had physical food and physical raiment.   The poor man lacked these things, but the beggar Lazarus had spiritual food and spiritual raiment, and the rich man lacked those things.  Then when they both died, we see which was the greater and supremely more important thing, and that was to have their spiritual needs fulfilled.  We can do without whatever physical things there are, although it may not be pleasant, and it may be very troubling while we live on the earth, but it is not the “catastrophe” that lacking spiritual bread and spiritual raiment brings.

Regarding “bread,” we are familiar with this in the Bible, but if we go to John 6, this provides a spiritual definition.  It says in John 6:48:

I am that bread of life.

And this is Jesus making one of His “I AM” statements which, by the way, declares that He is God.  Again, it says in John 6:48-51:

I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Chris is the “bread of life.”  So Jacob, who is a type of the elect, is saying, “If God will give me bread, then He will be my God.”  Of course, we can see the connection.  We need the Lord Jesus in order for God to be our God, so Christ is that “bread,” and He is the bread that has always been in view, for example, in the petition of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:1-4:

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.  Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

That is the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that has been repeated and memorized by multitudes down through the centuries, all throughout the church age and into the Great Tribulation period.  This request for “bread” and the request to “forgive us our sins” was the God-given prayer for His people.  That is, Christ gave this prayer in response to the disciples’ request to teach them to pray, and this is how He said to pray.

However, the Lord’s Prayer, given its built-in petition for salvation (the forgiveness of sins), was designed by God to be the prayer that had application to the day of salvation.  Obviously, once the day of salvation ended and the season changed from the day of salvation to the Day of Judgment, we went from the “day” to the “night,” wherein no man can work; that is, Christ cannot perform the “work,” and that work is explained in John 6:28-29 to be the work “that ye believe.”   He no longer will perform the work of saving sinners because He has accomplished it.  He completed it within the timeframe of “the day,” the 12-hour workday, the last hour of which (the eleventh to the twelfth hour) identifies with the Great Tribulation.  Then the 12-hour day was completed (6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and the even or “night” came, and men do not work in the night, typically.  The “day” was the time for work.  And now Christ says that He can no longer do that work of saving.

So, here we are after the Great Tribulation (after the eleventh to twelfth hour was completed), and we are now living on the earth in the Day of Judgment.  So do we take this Lord’s Prayer to God and say, “Forgive us our sins,” and make petition for salvation, and do we encourage others to pray this prayer?  No, we would no more do that than we would to go back to the Old Testament and find scriptures where God gave admonition to the Jews to carry out certain tasks, duties and ceremonial laws that had to do with the sacrificial system.  Why would we not do it, if it is in the Bible?  It is because the “time and season” changed when Christ went to the cross, fulfilling those ceremonial laws and, therefore, we no longer offer sacrifices, and so forth.  And we read those Scriptures with that understanding and, so, too when we read the Lord’s Prayer.

So what prayer can we now make?  You see, the disciples were asking Him to teach them to pray, and the Lord answered twice here in Luke 11.  The first time, in verses 2 through 4, He responded with the Lord’s Prayer that was applicable to the day of salvation, and that day of salvation concluded on May 21, 2011.  But knowing that His people would still be on the earth and would still be desirous to know how to pray at that point in time, Christ gave a second instruction, in Luke 11:5:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight…

In the Bible, “midnight” is a word that identifies with judgment, and the context determines which judgment is in view.  Then it says in Luke 11:5:

…and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

The word “loaves” is the same word as “bread,” so the “bread” in the Lord’s Prayer is still in view: “Give us day by day our daily bread.”  And now, here is a man going to his friend, and what is he doing?  He is asking for “bread.”  Just as there is a built-in petition for “bread” in the second Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Christ gave for Judgment Day, and the time when “midnight has come.”  Then notice that it says in Luke 11:6-7:

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

Do you see how God is making that statement in order to let us know something?  You see, the Lord’s Prayer had its time, but now it is “midnight” or Judgment Day, and the door is shut.  It is the time after the end of the Great Tribulation, and the time when judgment has begun on all those that obey not the Gospel – it is the judgment of the world and all the inhabitants of the earth.  And, yet, here is how you pray, and here is how you come to God for your daily bread.  It is “three loaves,” indicating the purpose of God. 

It is just like in John 21 after the great catch of fish, when the Lord said to Peter, “Lovest thou me?”  How many times did He ask Peter this?  Three times.  Peter responded, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”  How many times did Peter respond that way?  Three times.  Then Jesus concludes, “Feed my sheep.”  And how many times did He say that?  Three times.  Feed the sheep – bread – the same thing after the great catch of fish came out of Great Tribulation and, therefore, after May 21, 2011.  Feed the sheep.  Here is your task: go bring them bread.  And there would be a need and desire for “bread” by the people of God, even though the door is shut.  The people of God come to our friend; as Abraham was a friend of God, so, too, all of God’s people are friends of God.  We come to our friend at “midnight” in the judgment, and the door is shut, but our petition is the same.  “Give us bread.”  We need three loaves or three of “bread.”  And the response is that the door is shut.  And, yet, it says in Luke 11:8:

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

What the Lord is indicating is that it is a “bold thing.”  It is brazen.  It is Judgment Day in the world and, yet, you are still coming to God, and it is God who is now pouring out His wrath in the Day of Judgment upon the inhabitants of the earth, and we are in that place in a world that has been turned into hell.  We are in the “grave,” as it were.  We are standing in hell and, yet, we are still making our petition unto God, and that is the importunity.  That is the boldness of God’s elect who have “boldness in the day of judgment.”  So God gives us as many as we need.  The request was for three, indicating the purpose of God.  “But come as often as you wish, and for as much as you need, and I will give it,” as God has indicated.

Notice that it goes on to say here in Luke 9:11:

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

How many different stanzas are there?  Ask, seek and knock. Three.  There is a strong emphasis on the number “three” in this passage, just as there is in John 21.  You ask, seek and knock, and you will find, and it shall be opened unto you.  Then it says in Luke 9:10:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Again, it says, “ask, seek and knock.”  Three times.  And then it says in Luke 9:11-12:

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

There are three examples of asking.  Three, three, three.  It is God’s purpose for Judgment Day that we still come to Him in prayer, and we still make our petition, and we still seek Him for bread.

And, yet, in verse 13 we see a passage that some try to use to prove that God is still saving.  It says in Luke 9:13:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

They say, “You see, the door is shut.  It is midnight, and God is still giving the Holy Spirit and, therefore, He is still saving.”  Of course, there are many problems with what they are saying, and the first problem is that they deny that May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day, and they deny that the door is shut, indicating that God has shut the door of heaven.  And, yet, they try to look at verse 7 that says the door is shut, and they apply it to this period of time.  The problem is that they’re trying to have it both ways, so they either have to figure out what the door being shut refers to, if it is not May 21, 2011, or they cannot apply this passage to a time period after May 21, 2011.  God’s elect are saying, “Yes, the Bible teaches that God shut the door on that date, and it will remain shut because it is Judgment Day.”  We are very clear and consistent with that teaching since that time.  It does not change.  So these people originally heard that, and now they try to respond by saying, “Yes, the door is shut, but God is still saving.”  And now they have backtracked from that position, and they are speaking out of both sides of their mouths.  They have to determine what the “shut door” mean here, if they want to understand the statement, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” as giving salvation.

And, of course, that is the second problem.  It is not referring to giving salvation here.  Does the giving of the Holy Spirit point to salvation in the Bible?  Yes.  Does the giving of the Holy Spirit point to the giving of salvation in this context?  Then the third question is: “Is it possible for God to give the Holy Spirit in some other way than in salvation?”  Yes – and that is what He is doing here.

First, He says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children.”  And this is how it was set up in verse 11: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father.”  It is all based on a relationship between a father and children.  That is why it has to do with God the Father giving the Spirit to those that are already His children, as the statement was made: “My children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.”  The children are in the house.  God has saved everyone He intended to save.  All the children of God are safe and secure in the kingdom of heaven in the house of God, spiritually. 

So the statement has to do with the Heavenly Father giving the Holy Spirit to His children.  And that would be consistent with the examples that were provided.  Also, if we look up the idea of God giving the Holy Spirit, we find that the Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us truth, in 1Corinthians 2.  The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth, according to John 16:13.  And Christ said, “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” and it is the Holy Spirit who gives us knowledge and understanding of the Bible’s mysteries.  And that is, more specifically, what is in view here.

But let us turn to 1Corinthians 12:8:

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

The Spirit gives the word of wisdom and knowledge when He opens up our eyes to see and understand the Bible’s verses.

This will be the last verse we look at today, in Ephesians 1:17-18:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened…

That is what is in view in Luke 11: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”  In the Day of Judgment, God is opening up the Word to reveal the revelation of His righteous judgment program to His people.