Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #36 of Genesis 31, and we are reading Genesis 31:54-55:

And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.

We are coming to the close of this chapter of Genesis, and we have spent the last couple of studies looking at the eating of bread and how it identifies with God’s command to feed His sheep, and that He would provide the “bread” or doctrine, the truth of the Word of God for the Day of Judgment.

In verse 54, it said, “Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.”  The Hebrew word that is translated as “tarried all night” is also translated in other Scripture as “lodge” or “abide.”  For example, let us go to Psalm 91:1:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Again, that is the same word, so you could translate it as, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall tarry all night under the shadow of the Almighty.”  That is something we want to keep in mind. 

Historically, it means they lodged there or spent the night there.  We understand that, but as far as the spiritual meaning, it has to do with them eating bread at the point that the covenant of Judgment Day had been established and the heap of stones had been set up so that none could pass either way, and there they “tarry all night” and eat bread.  That is, throughout the spiritual “night” of Judgment Day, God will feed His people, and they will be provided for, and it is significant that we read that they tarried all night in the mount.  The word “mount” is the same as mountain, and we would think that it would say they tarried all night on the mountain, but it says, “in the mount,” because the mountain identifies with the kingdom of God, and with God Himself.  We read in Psalm 125:1-2:

They that trust in JEHOVAH shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so JEHOVAH is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

JEHOVAH is as the mountains round about Jerusalem.  And of course this is why when we came to the point of the end of the church age, the Lord revealed this fact to His people as He opened up our understanding of Matthew 24:15:

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:)

By the way, this last phrase is important because that tells us that “seeing” the abomination of desolation has nothing to do with physical sight, but it is “seeing” it in the Bible as you read it.  And to “see” something in the Bible is to understand it through eyes of faith.  It is accomplished through reading as God opens our spiritual eyes to “see,” or to understand these things.  So here, God is indicating that the Word that had been sealed until the time of the end would be opened, as it was said to Daniel, “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end…and knowledge shall be increased.”  How will knowledge be increased?  As the people of God read the Bible and compare Scripture with Scripture, then they will understand: “…whoso readeth, let him understand,” or let him “see.”  Then it says in in Matthew 24:16:

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Flee to the mountains that are round about.  God has provided interpretation for the meaning of this through His methodology of “comparing spiritual with spiritual.”  He is telling us that when He loosed Satan, Satan entered into the churches as the “man of sin,” as we read in 2Thessalonians 2.  And when we come to understand that it is the time of the end when the Scriptures are unsealed to reveal this truth, “then let them which be in Judea”…and remember, the Bible tells us that Judea, or Israel, of old is made a “byword” and a “parable.”  The Old Testament tells us that they would go apostate or astray, and God said a few different times that He would make them a byword or a parable.  Let us go to a couple of those verses because I am not sure I quoted it right.  Let us go to 1Kings 9:6-7:

But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

And “proverb” means “parable,” but it does use the word “proverb” here.  So when “Israel” becomes unfaithful and God cuts them off, they will then become “a proverb and a byword.”  It says the same thing in 2Chronicles 7:18-20:

Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

And it is not only in these two verses that God says this, so is it any surprise when we read a verse like 1Peter 4:17 that judgment begins at the “house of God.”  The “house of God” is the Old Testament figure of the “house of God,” like Solomon’s temple or Zerubbabel’s temple, the temple that Christ worshipped in – the house of God.  And yet, it would become a proverb and a byword, and that is why we say again, and again, that the “house of God” identifies with judgment on the churches, and that can be proven from the New Testament in 1Timothy 3:15:

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God…

This is a very clear statement where God is defining the “house of God” as the church.  And, likewise, when we read in the Old Testament about the “house of God,” the temple, it represents the churches, and they would become a proverb and a byword.  Or when we read of Israel or of Judea, which is part of Israel, it is a proverb or a byword of the churches. 

So when God says, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation…stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)… Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

We are to go to God who is the mountain round about Jerusalem, as we read in Psalm 125.  Or we can go to the parallel passage in Luke 21:20-21:

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

(And remember, “to see” is to see with eyes of faith in the Bible.)  It was a command to get out of the churches.  It is a correct, biblical, faithful declaration in the proper time and season, the time of the end.  This is the teaching of the Word of God, for those that can understand it.  It is being taught on the spiritual level, and it must be spiritually discerned as God through His Spirit teaches us these things through the comparison of Scriptures.  And since it is a spiritual teaching, who will understand?  Only the elect will truly understand.  Now some non-elect will follow along for whatever reason, but only the true elect will “see” and understand and obey.  And we did, and that is why this served as such an excellent mechanism, just like a farmer who uses a piece of farm equipment to separate the wheat from the tares.  The command was God’s method, as He revealed the hidden truths, but all the natural-minded people mocked it and reviled: “What are you talking about?  This is only referring to Judah or Jerusalem, and this happened in 70 A. D.”  They go on and on, but they cannot understand anything beyond the surface things, like moral teachings, historical teachings, or grammatical and literal things.  But the real “meat” or depth of meaning does not reside on the surface – it is on the deeper level.  It is the hidden truth, and they cannot understand that, so they fight against it, and they cannot see it.

Well, this is what is in view, and we could go to numerous other verses concerning “mountains,” like Ezekiel 34:13-14, where God says He will feed His people upon the mountains of Israel; or we could go to Isaiah 2:2-4 and read that.  Let us go to one more verse regarding “mountains,” in Joel 3, which is speaking of the final judgment of the world, and it says in the second part verse 12: “…for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”  Then the next few verses discuss the judgment of God, and then we read in Joel 3:17-18:

So shall ye know that I am JEHOVAH your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of JEHOVAH, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

The context is “in that day,” and that is Judgment Day.  “The mountains shall drop down new wine.”  The word translated as “new wine” is almost always used in the context of prophesying (you can check this out).  For example, in Ezekiel 20:46 as God is speaking to Ezekiel, He says, “…drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy…”   It says in Ezekiel 21:2: “…drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy…”  It says in Amos 7:16: “…Prophesy not against Israel, anddrop not thy word against the house of Isaac…”   It says in Micah 2:6: “…Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them…”  The word “prophesy” is mentioned three times, and in every case, it is the word translated as “drop” or “drop down.”  It has everything to do with prophesying or declaring the Word of God.  This is a verse that goes hand-in-hand with a verse in Revelation 10:11 that tells us that we must “prophesy again before many peoples…” In the Day of Judgment, the mountains, or the kingdom of God (as God is round about Jerusalem as the mountains), and the people of God are His mountains, so we completely identify with the mountains.  It is the actual kingdom of God, and from the mountains (from God) will drop down new wine.  There will be a prophesying of “new wine.”  We have talked about the word translated as “new wine.”  You can look at Isaiah 49:26 where it refers to the wicked and it says, “…they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine…”  And “sweet wine” is the same word. 

You know, we have typically understood that the “wine” has to do with the atonement or blood of Christ, as He shed His blood and gave His life for His people.  He atoned for their sin.  So this is keeping the same idea, because in the Day of Judgment, there is no more flowing forth of the Gospel of Christ’s blood because it has already accomplished its purpose, and everyone that was to be saved has been saved.  But in the Day of Judgment, there is still an atonement that must be made.  But it is not the Lord Jesus atoning for the sins of His elect.  Again, all that blood has been applied.  In the Day of Judgment, it is the blood of the wicked.  It is the blood of the unsaved that is being shed now, in a spiritual sense, as they “eat their own flesh and drink their own blood.” 

We cannot help but see the relationship to the language that Jesus used: “Take, eat; this is my body…Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many…”  Christ said that flesh identified with the “bread of life,” His body.  And the “drink” identifies with His blood because He is the essence of the Gospel.  He was the atonement that was available, potentially, for any sinner during the day of salvation.  But in the Day of Judgment, that Gospel and that “wine” is not available.  Instead, it is the “wine” of the atoning of the unsaved for their own sins.   In other words, there will be atonement, as atonement is payment made on behalf of sin.  There will be atonement for every sinner’s sin.  Ironically, what the churches said about there being “atonement for all” will come to pass, and in this case, it will be the individual sinner making payment when God takes his life, and he will be the sacrifice for his own sins.  In paying for his sins, he will be struck dead, and his blood will be shed, and payment in full made for all his sins because the wages of sin is death.  However, once the sinner is slain, he will stay smitten.  He will not rise.  He will not return to life.  He will not be resurrected in any way to any kind of life.  He will be dead for evermore.  God will raise up the dead bodies on the last day, but not to life.

So this is the Gospel that the mountains – the kingdom of God and the Word of God – shall prophesy.  This is the “new wine” that will be prophesied in the Day of Judgment.  This is what the people of God are to carry as messengers going forth.  That is why the Bible refers to the seven last vials of the seven last plagues of God’s wrath.  This is the manner in which the saints will judge the world.  It all ties in and it all fits in.  Thankfully, there is that wonderful task that God has assigned us, and it just shines forth to the people of God, and we do not have to go forth with hatred or anger or spite, as if we are punishing the world with Christ.  No – God in His great wisdom has wisely designed the final judgment program wherein His people will judge the world and pour out those last vials of the wrath of God as we carry and prophesy this terrible message that there is no further salvation and that all to be saved have already been saved.  And it will serve to declare that the unsaved will have to give their own blood for their sins. 

And yet, God in His goodness and mercy toward His elect has given us the task to feed the sheep.  We send forth the truth in order that the great multitude that were saved will understand the things of God and what has happened since May 21, 2011.  So we go forth with that mindset, with the hope that as we share this information (although it be very grievous information), we know the truth always serve to feed the people of God. So we give a tract out, not with the thought that the wrath of God is upon that person, but with the attitude that maybe that person is one of the great multitude that God has saved, and may it spiritually nourish that soul.  Do you see the wisdom and wise counsel of God in giving us this particular job to do that allows us to continue to love our neighbor, and to continue to wish the very best for those with whom we share?  It is just amazing that God has designed things this way, and that He has revealed it to us as He has done.

Lord willing, we will get back to Genesis 31 in our next study, and we will probably end the study of that chapter when we meet once again.