Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #15 of Genesis 31, and we will be reading Genesis 31:24-29:

And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

We started to look at the statements in verse 24 and 29, where God told Laban in a dream that he take heed not to speak to Jacob either good or bad.  And we saw there was good reason for the Lord to say this.  First, it indicates that man should not speak when God has determined to do a thing, which is the will of God.  And we saw that back in Genesis 24: “The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.”  We also saw it with Balaam who said, according to the command of God, “I cannot go beyond the commandment of JEHOVAH, to do either good or bad of mine own mind.”  

We also saw that the unsaved individual does not have the ability, oftentimes, to discern “good or bad,” or “right and wrong,” so he is fully able to believe that something good is evil, and that something evil is good.  So it was a wise thing for the Lord to tell Laban (who gave every appearance of being unsaved) that he should not speak to Jacob either good or bad.  Do not try to curse him or reproach him negatively, and also do not speak good to him.  This would likely also have prevented Laban from trying to make another deal through flattering his son-in-law by telling him all the good things he had done.  You know, those kind of words can be pretty persuasive:  “Oh, you are a good shepherd.  I have been blessed because of you.”  We like to hear that kind of thing.  Then, after a while, he would say, “It would be really good to have you stay just a while longer.  Maybe we will make it a short period of time, like just another year, because this is what you are meant to do, and the Lord has really blessed me for your sake.”  But God caused that not to be an issue by prohibiting Laban from speaking good or bad.

One other thing before we move on.  Remember that Laban is a type and figure of Satan, and Satan fancies himself to be as a god.  And, certainly, he has had a longstanding desire to be God.  The Bible is clear about that, and during the time of the Great Tribulation, the Bible indicates that he as “the man of sin” was “shewing himself that he is God,” as it says in 2Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Satan took his seat in the corporate church and was ruling “as God,” full of pride and arrogance.  And yet, God had allowed him to do this.  The Lord loosed him, knowing that he would do this, and that is what he did.  We also have information in the book of Revelation about “the beast” that came up out of the sea, which is another figure of Satan, in Revelation 13:14:

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

You see, that is language of idolatry – to make an image of the beast to worship.  The book of Daniel gets into this subject regarding King Nebuchadnezzar, who was a type of Satan, in a chapter where he made a golden image according to a dream he had, and then he commanded all the people in his kingdom to fall down and worship it.  It is a historical parable pointing to Satan’s desire to be as God and to be worshipped as God during the Great Tribulation’s 23-year period when he triumphed and prevailed over the churches and congregations of the world, as well as the nations of the world.  He had never had the power and authority in history that he had during that little season of the Great Tribulation, and he demanded to be worshipped as God.

And because Laban is a type and figure of Satan and the great multitude of cattle typify the people saved out of Great Tribulation during the time that Satan had been ruling, the pursuit of the flock by Laban is picturing Satan’s persecution of the people of God that were saved out of Great Tribulation.  So when Laban finally caught up to Jacob in mount Gilead, God said to Laban, “ Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”

Another reason for this can be seen in a couple of places, like Isaiah 41:22-23:

Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Do you see what God is saying?  Show the things that are to come that we may know you are gods.  Then further, it says, “yea, do good, or do evil.”  That is, if you are gods, then you should have the ability to “do good, or to do evil.”  God has that ability.  He can save, on one hand, and He can destroy, on the other hand.  He saved a people for Himself, and the rest of mankind He will utterly destroy.  He can do good or “evil,” in the sense of judgment, which is an “evil” thing as far as mankind is concerned, but it not that we can assign God with “wickedness.”  But He can do good or do evil, and a God should have the power to do both of those things.  In that historical account in the book of Daniel, he commanded that the furnace be heated seven times more than it was want to be done, and then they cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the burning, fiery furnace.  He was trying to do evil.  He was trying to show himself to be God, and that he had the power to judge and destroy like God.  And yet, when they threw the three young men into the furnace, they were not harmed because there was a fourth “like unto the Son of man” in the fire protecting them.  Not a piece of their clothing was even singed after they came out of that extremely hot fire.  There was injury or harm done because Satan is not God.  He wants to be as God, but he was never God, and he will never be God.  There is only one God.  And Satan cannot do “good or evil” as God.

We also read in Jeremiah 10:3-6:

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

This is a very accurate description of an idol that is fashioned by a man.  They cut down a tree.  They carve an image.  They decorate it with gold and silver.  They put it in a prominent place in whatever temple they worship in, and there it sits.  It will not move.  It is not going anywhere.   It cannot speak.  It cannot hear.  It cannot see.  And it cannot do good nor evil.  It cannot do either one.  It is lifeless and powerless.  It lacks any ability because it is just a figment of man’s imagination.  It is not God. 

And that is the emphasis and point that God is driving home to Laban.  He is speaking to Laban, but spiritually it applies to Satan: “Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”  That is, “You are no god.  You will not make determination regarding who will live and who will by.  You will not hurt anyone that I will not allow you to hurt.” 

You see, Satan was really “all puffed up.”  He had been bound over the course of the church age, but then the church age ended, and God loosed him, and the Bible records that “his deadly wound was healed.”  It was the time of the end of the world, and the Holy Spirit who had been restraining sin in the hearts of men was lifting His hand of restraint more and more off the peoples of the nations of the world, and iniquity was abounding.  Certainly, it gave every appearance that Satan had won.  Then the place where the Word of God was and where the people of God were to be found, in the churches and congregations, was now the place where Satan had entered in and taken his seat to rule.  The churches were overrun with false gospels.  They were overrun with charismatic teachings, like speaking in tongues, falling over backwards, and holy laughter.  It was making a mockery of the Word of God within the churches, and it was all Satan’s activity, as God gave no resistance because the Spirit of Christ had departed out of the midst.  Satan had free reign, and he was now triumphant not only in the world.  The world had been trampling the Laws of God underfoot more, and more.  That was pleasing the Devil, but now in the churches the elect were being driven out.  The true Gospel was no longer there, in the sense that there was no salvation taking place (in the churches), and it became a “house of bondage,” or spiritual Egypt or spiritual Sodom.  And we would have to say that the Devil delighted in this turn of events and his change of circumstances from being “bound” to being “loosed,” and everything seemed to be going his way.  He was the King of the earth, the King of the churches.  He was probably likening himself to “King of kings and LORD of Lords.

But it was all according to the plan of God as He allowed Satan to exalt himself up to the heavens, but then came May 21, 2011, Judgment Day, and he was brought down to hell.  And that is exactly what took place.

Here in Genesis 31, after warning Laban that he speak neither good nor evil, it says in Genesis 31:25:

Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead.

Laban pursued Jacob, and now he had overtaken Jacob.   The Lord is going to reveal something here that is pretty interesting, and it definitely ties in with the circumstances of the Great Tribulation and after the Tribulation.  During the Tribulation when Satan pursued and came with his emissaries (Gog and Magog) against the camp of the saints, he would overtake or overcome the saints.  We read in Lamentations 1:1-3:

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

If you remember, we were looking at the word “pursued” a couple of studies ago.  Laban pursued Jacob, and that word is the same word that was used of Pharaoh in Exodus 14 and Exodus 15 when he pursued after Israel as they came out of Egypt.  It is also the same word translated as “persecute” a number of times, including here: “…all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.”   Historically, that is speaking of Jerusalem or Judah, the outward representation of the kingdom of God on earth, and it was overtaken by the king of Babylon, which is a figure of Satan, and by the army of the king of Babylon, a figure of the unsaved people of the world. 

We see the same kind of language in 2Kings 25:2-7:

And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

The word “pursued” is our word that can also be translated as “persecuted.”   Zedekiah was made blind physically to match his spiritual condition.  He was an unsaved person that was under the wrath of God, and he was the leader of Israel, the people of God and the outward representation of God’s kingdom to the nations of the world.  And yet, at this time, God gave him up to judgment, and He turned him over to the king of Babylon and his army.  That is a historical parable that teaches us what would happen to the corporate church at the time of the end.  And this is already past, as it happened to the churches during the Great Tribulation, which was 23 exact years of judgment on the churches and congregations of the world from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011.  It was 23 years in which Satan pursued and persecuted the people of God and overtook them.  He overtook the churches. 

We see another word in Revelation 11.  It is not the word “overtook,” but it is the same thing.  It is speaking of the two witnesses, and it says in Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The beast is Satan, and he would overcome them.  He would pursue and overtake them, as he did King Zedekiah.

In Revelation 13, we read of the beast again, and it says in Revelation 13:6-7:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

He would overcome the camp of the saints.  You know, this is the language God uses concerning the battle over the corporate church.  It was not much of a battle because God was not fighting on the side of the churches.  He was on the side of the enemy, God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant, in the book of Jeremiah, and He used Satan as a destroying weapon to bring judgment on the house of God.  So Satan was used to pursuing or persecuting, and overtaking.  He came against the whole church world.  Hundreds of millions of people were in the churches, and he pursued and overtook them.  He was victorious. 

What we are reading about in Genesis 31 is the end of the Great Tribulation.  During the Great Tribulation, the great multitude were saved.  Jacob had worked and obtained the cattle, but now he had all the cattle he needs and for which he had worked.  He is a type of Christ that did the work of faith on behalf of His people.  He has what he came for – the bride – and now He is going back to the kingdom of God, as represented by the land of Canaan.  And Laban pursued and overtook him.  Going to the spiritual dimension, Satan was thinking he would rise up as beforetime, and he would overcome them once more, just as he did to these others that were called the people of God.  And yet, he was all wrong.  He was quite mistaken because God commanded him, “Do not say good or bad.”  That is, the will of God would be done in this matter, and Laban would not be able to interfere.  He would not be able to convince Jacob to return, whether under force or under flattery, and Jacob would go his way.

This also relates to the people of God as they are coming out Babylon.  They will come out of her as God commands in Revelation 18:4: “Come out of her, my people.”  And they would go to God, to the Word of God.

We do not have time to get into this further in this study.  Lord willing, we will discuss this a little bit more when we get together in our next Bible study in the book of Genesis.