Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #19 of Genesis 31, and we will be reading Genesis 31:36-42:

And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.

I will stop reading there.  We are continuing to look at this historical parable.  And, again, the “players” are Laban, a type of Satan; Jacob, a picture of Christ; Jacob’s wives, a picture of the people that become the bride of Christ; the multitude of cattle, typifying the great multitude that was saved out of Great Tribulation.

And Laban and his company that represent Satan and his emissaries pursue after Jacob after he had completed his contract and his 40-year stay in the land of Haran.  They chased after him, and they finally caught up to him after seven days.  It was 10 days total because they did not find out he had left for the first three days.  But they caught up with him, and Laban made his accusations.  He had already been told by God to speak neither good nor bad.  And yet, he could not help himself, and he said to Jacob, in Genesis 31:30:

And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?

That is an accusation of theft, and it is an accusation that Jacob has violated the Law of God, because it is God’s Law that commands, “Thou shalt not steal.”  It is one of the Ten Commandments.  Of course the Ten Commandments were not in existence at this point, but the principle of God’s Law certainly was, so Laban was accusing Jacob of transgressing the Law of God. 

So Jacob allowed him to search, as we read in Genesis 31:33-34:

And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservants' tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.

We discussed the spiritual picture where Rachel typifies the elect, especially in her relationship to Jacob who loved her.  She bore four out of 12 of his children, or “one third” of his children, and that ties in with the “one third,” and Leah  bore the other eight children, or “two thirds” of his children.  And the “one third” often typifies the elect of God.

And yet, Rachel had broken the Law of God.  She had stolen the images from her father.  She also dishonored and disrespected her father, and she was lying to him by not confessing that she had the images.  So there were a number of sins she was involved in, over and beyond the theft.

But keep in mind that Laban, a type of Satan, is the one who was doing this searching, and he was searching all the tents in the camp.  Jacob is a type of Christ, so it is like Satan is searching the people of God.  He is trying to find some wrongdoing on their part.  He is looking intently, searching for some sort of transgression that they have done, but he cannot find it in Jacob’s tent.  He cannot find it in Leah’s tent.  He cannot find it in the  maidservants’ tents.  Then he came to Rachel’s tent, and she is guilty.  She had broken the Law of God.  There is no denying it.  The Bible tells us that she did it, back in Genesis 31:19:

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.

Historically, Rachel was guilty.  There is no question about it.  She has sinned.  It is absolutely clear and there is no mistaking that she is guilty of transgressing the Law of God.  And Jacob had said, “With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live.”  The penalty for transgressing the Law of God is death: “For the wages of sin is death.”  And Laban was trying his best to discover the sin.  He knows.  He had put “two and two together.”  Those images had been in his house until Jacob and his wives fled, and now the images were gone, so it was pretty obvious that someone in Jacob’s company – more than likely one of his daughters – had taken these images.  So Laban was confident and sure that the images were in the camp, and he would find them, so he performed a diligent search. 

Now this is akin to Satan searching the elect of God to find some error and some sin that they have done.  Can we really say that?  Does Satan concern himself with the sins and transgressions of the elect people of God?  Does he want to find them and point them out?  Does he perform a diligent search?  We may have thought it was just God who searched the elect.  And that is true, by the way, because God does search the inward parts of man, including His people.  And, in fact, the people of God cry out to God as in Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

We actually ask God to search us inwardly and to examine us, that we might know that we are in the faith and not be self-deceived.  But is that not God’s domain?  If this spiritual picture is correct, then what is Satan doing in searching the people of God in order to find fault and to accuse them? 

Notice the grounds of his search that Laban is bringing up.  He is searching on the basis of the Law of God being broken.  And that would be strange and odd, would it not?  After all, Satan is the original sinner and liar who deceived Adam and Eve and caused them to break the Law of God through his deception, and he is the father of lies.  So why would he seek to accuse the people of God on the basis of Law? 

No – it is not strange.  Actually, when we think of the Devil, we know that he is in opposition to all that is God, so Satan will set people up to present them to God as though they are the true people of God.  And these are false professors of faith.  They are not truly God’s elect people.  They are believers of the lies of Satan, and they are deceived and trust in false gospels.  They are not born again, and God can spot this instantaneously because the Lord looks on the heart, and He sees the “heart of stone” that has never been transformed or changed.  But Satan puts these people forth…and just look at in the corporate church if you do not think so.  There are multitudes of them, and Satan presents them: “Here are the people of God,” and he presents those people as forgiven and cleansed from all iniquity when it is not the case.  They are as filthy as filthy can be in their soul existence.  Their sin is still upon them, and the guilt and shame of their sin is upon them, and they bear it.  There has been no cleansing and no payment made for their sin, and the weight of their iniquity still resides within.  And yet, Satan would present them as spotless lambs.  There is no accusation made against them, but rather the opposite is true.  But God is not deceived.  Again, He knows immediately that these people are not His true people.

On the other hand, when Satan comes to the true elect people of God…and I do not know if he can know absolutely who they are, but he could have a very good idea who they are because they will follow the true Gospel.   They will hear and follow down that path that is lit before them by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.  So that is where Satan will attack under the assumption that these are the true people of God that the Lord has actually saved, and that would mean that all their sins are washed away, and they are as spotless lambs.  The are clean in God’s sight because every sin – although there is a mountain of them – have been paid for, and the Law’s demand for satisfaction has been met.  And now they are free and without sin, and these people are the ones in whom Satan will try to find fault.  He will try to find out their sins.  There must be sin upon them, and so he does this diligent search.

We read in Psalm 64:1-10:

Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.  And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. The righteous shall be glad in JEHOVAH, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

It says, “They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search.”  They are doing what Laban is doing.  “There is sin here.  There is wrongdoing here.  The Law has been broken.  I know it, and I am going to find it.”   So Laban is searching everywhere, but he cannot find it.

So we ask the question: “Was Rachel innocent?”  No – she was guilty of theft.  Nonetheless, Laban could not find her guilt or shame, even though it was right there.  She was seated over it, as the images were under the camel’s furniture, and she was sitting upon it.  We talked about that spiritual picture, about how the elect would rule over the beast in the Day of Judgment, and he would not rule over them any longer.  So Laban was coming like a judge to find fault and to pronounce condemnation, but he was turned away.  He cannot find it.

I think we can safely say that this has been the frustration of Satan throughout history concerning God’s elect.  He is the “accuser of the brethren.”  That is what we read in Revelation 12:10:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Day and night throughout time, he was accusing the brethren.  We can see some of his accusations in the book of Job, as he accused Job before God of worshipping God only because God had blessed Job and made his life easy by giving him so many things.  Then when God struck Job, Satan returned, in chapter 2 of Job, and he made further accusations: “Yes, you did all that, but if you touch his flesh and try him in that area, he will curse you to his face.”  He was imputing motive, and he was really saying to God, “He is a rebel.  He is a sinner, and you cannot trust him.  He will lie.  He will deceive, and he will even curse you when things stop going his way, and you take away his hedge and the comforts of your blessings, and then you will see his sin against you!”  And that is just one example.  Who knows what kind of accusations Satan has been making as he tried to find fault with the brethren, the elect children of God whom He has redeemed and adopted into His family and the kingdom of God?  They are the target of Satan’s wrath.  And yet, he is always frustrated as he seeks to find the sin: “There is sin here.” 

And, of course, he was  right about that, and he was correct about Rachel.  Laban probably had a strong feeling it was Rachel, maybe based on some past conversations or based on just knowing her.  He went into her tent, and he was probably sure he was going to find his images there.  He knew it had to be in the camp, but he could not find it, and that would tie in– if we apply it to our time – with the fact that all of God’s elect that are presently living in this world are still living in sinful bodies.  We are still in the flesh, and the salvation of God has only changed our souls in giving us new resurrected and perfect souls without sin, but in our fleshly bodies there is still sin, and we do sin.  We do wrong and transgress the Law of God, just as Rachel did, and it is right there before the evil one.  Our sin is obvious, but God does not see it because all of our sins from our conception through the day we die (or when this world ends) were laid upon Christ at the foundation of the world, and He bore it in His body on the tree, and He suffered and died for them: “the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.”  God laid that reproach on Him, and that reproach broke His heart and crushed Him, making Him broken and contrite, which was the acceptable sacrifice before God.  In doing so, He paid our debt.  He paid the enormous penalty that we were subject to, the wrath of God and the debt of eternal death where we would be dead forever.  Christ has made payment in full, cleansing us from all iniquity. 

So when Satan performs these searches, and he comes to find fault and error, it is as though we are all as Daniel, where no error or fault could be found in him.  We are all washed, and we wear the clean, white, and fine linen, which is the righteousness of Christ.  The righteousness of Christ is upon us.

On one hand, Rachel is guilty, and everyone can see it.  But on the other hand, no accusation can be made, and this would relate to the things we read in Romans 8:33-34:

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?  The answer is that Satan will gladly attempt to do it.  He will gladly make the charge.  The Greek word translated as “lay any thing” is Strong’s #1458, and it is translated as “accused” four out of seven times where it is found in the New Testament.  We find it in Acts 26.  It says in Acts 26:1-2:

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

He was accused regarding those things of which he was charged.  It is the same word.  Then a little further down, it says in Acts 26:6-7:

And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?  Who will accuse them? 

By the way, this is a different Greek word than used in Revelation 12:10 concerning Satan, the accuser of our brethren that accused them before our God day and night.  It is a different word, but the same idea. 

And the answer is that there is no proper accusation.  No one can make a right or just or proper and lawful accusation against an elect child of God concerning their sin.  We can be charged by the law of the land if we were to steal a car and get caught.  Yes – we could be condemned by the law and sent to prison.  But the sin and guilt of it in the sight of God…and I do not know why an elect person would steal anything…but if we are truly elect, that sin is gone.  It is gone.  The transgression is removed as far as the east is from the west, and it is cast into the depths of the sea, to be remembered no more.  “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”  No matter how diligently Satan or the emissaries of Satan might try to seek it out and find it, they cannot succeed.  They just cannot succeed.