Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #22 of Genesis 31, and we are going to read Genesis 31:38-42:

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 this verse-by-verse study in this incredible book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.  It is wonderful to see the deeper spiritual meaning coming to the surface as we have looked for it.  You know, that is a problem for a lot of people, including theologians and pastors, as they come to the Bible, but they have been trained not to look for the deeper spiritual meaning.  They have been trained with the hermeneutic taught in the seminaries, the plain, literal, historical, grammatical method of interpretation.  They just look for the plain, literal meaning, and they seek no other.  That is actually what seminarians are taught by their professors, and then the seminarians graduate, and they are placed in the congregations of the world, and they go and practice what they were taught.  So when they look at Genesis, they are looking for the historical narrative and how it fit into that time period.  And even with the historical part, they are off by a long ways because they do not recognize the biblical calendar of history.

Then they may look for a moral teaching, like Laban being a deceitful man.  What could they teach?  Well, if you enter a contract, it is good to honor the contract.  There is some basic morality they could teach, but very little else, which is why many in the corporate churches prefer the New Testament Gospel, and they really shun, to a large degree, the Old Testament.  They might incorporate an Old Testament Scripture reading, but they mostly do not like preaching from it.  They pick and choose.  They may preach from the Psalms or some Proverbs, and some very obvious Messianic passages, but overall, they really do not look at Jeremiah and other major sections of the Old Testament because it is very difficult to go verse by verse, and to keep saying the same things about the history and moral teachings, but to leave out the Gospel of the spiritual meaning of the Word of God, which is the purpose for which God gave it.  That is the reason we have it.

For example, God refers to oxen in Deuteronomy where it says, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn,”  but in the New Testament, He makes us think by asking the question, “Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written.” That is how we ought to approach every Bible verse: “What is going on in the deeper spiritual meaning?” 

And the people of God, the elect, do that when we come to the book of Genesis or wherever we are doing a study.  We are looking for that deeper spiritual meaning.  And, lo, and behold, there it is, especially in our time when God has opened the Scriptures to reveal many things. 

So we are seeing many of the spiritual pictures we are seeing, like Jacob’s flocks representing the great multitude during the Great Tribulation; Jacob as a type of Christ; Laban as a type of Satan; and Rachel as a figure of the elect as she was seated on the camel’s furniture over the image underneath, with the image representing the rule of Satan during the Great Tribulation.  Then we saw Laban diligently searching all the “stuff” of Jacob, with Laban as a picture of Satan, the accuser, trying to find a charge he can lay against God’s elect and against the Lord Jesus Christ, but he is unable to do so.  He cannot find any of his “stuff” among Jacob’s stuff, and we saw that this gets into the teaching of the binding of Satan, and his house being spoiled, and the goods taken, the goods or “vessels,” which Romans 9 tells us are “vessels unto honour.”

So that is the beautiful spiritual picture we have been seeing in verse, after verse, and I have been pleasantly surprised because this section from Genesis 27 to Genesis 35 is one in which I had never done much study, although I had read them many times.  I had always preferred the earlier chapters, and then the later chapters when it gets into the famine of Joseph’s day.  I understood that, by God’s grace, so I sort of looked forward to that section.  And, basically, I have to admit I was approaching these recent studies thinking, “Well, we have to go through this section to get to that section.”  And yet, here we are, and now reading Genesis 31 will never be the same for me because I now see some of the spiritual pictures that have become clear, and that is what makes reading the Bible a pleasure and so worthwhile.  It is spiritually nourishing.

So we are going to continue in Genesis 31:38:

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.

Jacob has taken the offensive with Laban after Laban had made his charge and searched all his tents, and he did not find anything.  And now Jacob is mad.  I think we can safely say that.  Historically, he has “had it” with his father-in-law, and he also feels confident because Laban had told him about the dream he had, in Genesis 31:29:

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.

Jacob did not say anything when the search was underway.  Maybe he was a little worried himself, especially after he had said, “With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live.”  What if the thief was one of his sons?  He was probably very concerned while Laban was conducting the search, but now the thorough search was complete, and he had found nothing, so Jacob felt justified and confident, and he also felt secure because God had spoken to Laban and told him not to say anything good or bad, which was protecting Jacob and his family.  So now he lets him have it.  “Where is all the household stuff that belongs to you?  Put it here before our brethren, and let them judge betwixt us.”  And, again, he said in Genesis 31:38-40:

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.

In these verses, we see that Jacob was describing himself as a very good shepherd.  He had been an outstanding shepherd over the flock: “Thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.”  Compare that to what we read in Ezekiel 34:1-6:

And the word of JEHOVAH came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

In these verses, God is charging the pastors of Israel, which would have application to the nation of Israel and their spiritual rulers, but it would also apply to the New Testament churches and congregations and their spiritual rulers, the pastors, elders, and deacons that had oversight over the people that came into their congregations and sat in their pews, listening to their preaching of the Gospel.  But they were not good stewards.  They were not good pastors.  They were basically feeding themselves of the flock, rather than feeding the flock, because what serves to feed the sheep or flock (the people of God) is the truth.  And when the pastor and the elders and the church denomination does not teach the truth , then they are doing the things that are described in these first few verses of Ezekiel 34.  They are not seeking after the sheep.  They are just letting them go or even scattering the sheep, and the sheep are being “devoured.”

God goes on to say in Ezekiel 34:7-10:

Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of JEHOVAH; As I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of JEHOVAH; Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

And there is God’s description of the end of the church age: “I will cause the shepherds to cease from feeding the flock.”  And that is what He did when he ended the church age on May 21, 1988, and God later revealed that the church age was over and commanded His people to depart out of the midst and flee to the mountains.  His people were to get away from these shepherds.  They were not good shepherds and good pastors.  They were false shepherds that did not seek to feed the flock, but to devour and consume them.  So that was the command in Matthew 24:16: “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”

If we keep reading in Ezekiel 34, God had said He would cause the shepherds to cease from feeding the flock, but that is not the end of the story.  It goes on to say in Ezekiel 34:11-15:

For thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord JEHOVAH.

On the mountains of Israel, God will personally feed the flock, and He has done that since we have come out of the churches.  And I can personally attest to this fact.  There has been plentiful provision.  There has been an abundance of spiritual food for me, as a sheep, and I would think this would apply to all the elect that came out.  We can look at the information that was flowing forth during the Great Tribulation through the ministry of Mr. Camping and Family Radio at that time.  It was just gushing out the manna from heaven, as God was unveiling doctrinal truths that had been sealed until the time of the end.  The truths came forth in a great way to feed the sheep, and through it, God saved the great multitude.  And continuing past the Great Tribulation and into this Day of Judgment, God is still revealing a great amount of biblical information.  It is the revelation of his righteous judgment program, and the people of God are now being spiritually nourished through the ministry of EBible Fellowship. 

But it was never Mr. Camping and Family Radio alone, and it was not EBible Fellowship alone, but it was the Lord Jesus Christ working in His people to give His people understanding and opening their minds to make sure they follow the biblical hermeneutic the Bible sets forth, which is to “compare spiritual with spiritual,” here a little, there a little, with precept upon precept, and verse upon verse, and then the Holy Ghost teaches.  And the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ as well, because He is One with the Father and Son. 

So Christ is feeding His sheep, when it comes right down to it because He is in total control, making sure that it is truth that is being revealed as He opens up the understanding of His people, and then we declare it.  But it is all from His hand, and whenever we follow the proper methodology of Bible study, making sure our conclusions harmonize with everything the Bible says,  then it is the Holy Spirit who is actually doing the teaching.

So these pastors, who should have always been “underlings,” were in positions where they should have been doing the things I just described.  They should have been going to the Bible and allowing the Bible to be their guide in defining its own terms to arrive at truth.  But they did not.  Instead, they usurped the power and authority of God’s Word, the Bible, with their confessions and creeds and their denominational stances of their manmade doctrines, and they opted for those things above the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and that is why they could not serve and minister properly to the flock. Therefore, God ended it all – no popes, no bishops, no priests, no pastors, no reverends, no elders, no deacons, or any other titles of authority within the corporate church.  They have no God-given authority to teach any longer and to take the Word of God in their mouths because God has caused them to cease from feeding the flock.  And the only way to feed the flock is to preach or declare what the Bible is saying: “This is what the Bible teaches…” and that is how to feed the flock.  And, of course, these people are still doing their preaching and teaching, as they take the Word of God into their mouths every Sunday and other days of the week, but it is all rebellion against Him.  It is open rebellion, and it is all being done without any God-given authority, which is why we do not listen to them.  They are no longer God’s churches.  God ended the church age, so the churches in the world that are calling themselves “the church of Christ,” or whatever, are on their own.  They have no relationship with the God of the Bible any more.

So when we read in Genesis 31 regarding this 40-year period…and, again, this 40-year period that is in view can be traced to this last 40 years of time from the Jubilee Year of 1994 to the year 2033, which is “outside the churches.” Christ was ministering the Gospel out in the world, and the world was under Satan’s control and power when he was the ruler of the world, and that is why we find the language where Jacob said to Laban, “Thus have I been twenty years in thy house.”  And Laban is a type of Satan.  What is Satan’s house?  It is the same as his kingdom, and it consists of the nations of the world.  And where are the elect of God, the sheep?  They are scattered among the nations.  But now at the end, it was the time that the Lord commanded, “Come out of her, my people.”  We cannot leave the world, but we can separate from the world, and no longer be a part of the world.  So this flight from Haran after 40 years and returning to Canaan, a picture of the kingdom of God, would be completed after 40 years, which is where the year 2033 comes in, and the return  has to with the bringing in of the new heaven and the new earth.

Anyway, the language here describes wonderful, faithful shepherding: “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.”  Such a faithful shepherd, and that can only be describing the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We will finish this study by going to John 10:7-15:

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

That is a description of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, and Jacob’s language in verses 38-41 is fitting because he is a type of Christ, the Good Shepherd.