Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #9 in Genesis 35, and we are going to read Genesis 35:8-10:
But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth. And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
In our last study, we were continuing to look at the name Deborah, as Deborah was Rebekah’s nurse. The name Deborah comes from the Hebrew “daw-bawr',” and it represents the Word of God. It is a name that represents the Word of God.
Then we started looking at the word “nurse” because Deborah was Rebekah’s nurse, and we saw that this word was translated as “suck” or “suckling” in a few places. We understood this because in 1Peter 2, God speaks of the “milk of the word,” as He said in 1Peter 2:2:
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
The elect child of God is one that is born again, and born from “hearing the Word,” so we are begotten by the Word. Then after our new spiritual birth, the Word provides “suck,” and we drink of the milk of the Word. So it is a clear picture. Deborah’s name alone would lead us to the Word of God, but, so too, the word “nurse,” or “suck,” leads us to the Word of God as we drink of the milk of the Word.
Deborah’s nurse (the one who gave suck) died, and we talked about the number of years between the time she first came on the scene in the Bible, in Genesis 24, and she left Haran with her mistress Rebekah to travel back to Canaan. Then Rebekah married Isaac when Isaac was 40 years old, and that was the year 2027, and this was 1907, 120 years later. I will not go into it again, but we spent a lot of time discussing how it ties together the numbers “12” and “13,” and both point to the end of the world because there should have been 12,000 years of earth’s history until the loosing of Satan, and yet there were 13,000 years. (If you did not hear that explanation, listen to the previous study.) Deborah’s 120 years is leading us to 1988, the 13,000th year of earth’s history, and the beginning stage of the end of the world. And that is the time that Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse who had provided “suck” with the milk of the Word, dies.
Now something else interesting ties in with this, and that is what God has told us of the time of the end, and how He had sealed up much information in the Word of God, and the method of “sealing” was simply to hide spiritual truths in parabolic form. There were many parables, yes, doctrines that were once unknowable by anyone, even the people of God, such as the doctrine that Christ paid for sins at the foundation of the world, or that it is the faith of Christ, and not our faith that saves us. These things were plainly stated in the Bible, but even when things are plainly stated, it still requires the Spirit of God to open the understanding of the child of God to know it. So God’s plan was to hide a large portion of information in parabolic form, and in plain view in the Bible, but no one would understand until the time of the end was reached.
And then at the time of the end, He unsealed the Scriptures, and knowledge increased. The Lord’s people followed the biblical hermeneutic that has been in place throughout time, comparing spiritual with spiritual, and making sure that all conclusions harmonize with the whole of Scripture regarding the deeper spiritual meaning. And, lo and behold, when the time of the end had come, God opened the storehouse of “grain,” as it were, and fed His people. We are now a few decades into that time, and the Lord’s people go to the Bible, and now we can see these doctrines like “the faith of Christ.” We understand that no man is justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Christ – not my faith, but the faith belonging to Him. We understand that Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” as it states directly in Revelation 13:8. Then we also find that it says in Hebrews 4:3, “ …the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” And then other Scriptures began to be considered, like the verse that says, “without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin,” or no forgiveness of sin. How could it be that Christ paid for sin at the cross in 33 A. D. after 11,000 years of earth’s history had already passed, and yet there were saints of God in Old Testament times that were saved, so how were their sins forgiven? “Oh, Christ died (for sin) at the foundation of the world!” So the eyes of understanding began to open for the Lord’s people, and we began to see. And, basically, this was a transition period in which we left the “milk of the word,” and we moved on to the “meat,” or strong doctrine, that the Lord kept in reserve ((hidden) until the time of the end of the world. And the Lord told us that this is what would happen in Hebrews 5:10-11:
Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
Melchisedec must be understood spiritually, and God hid the truth that Melchisedec was actually Jesus, and Jesus became this Priest at the foundation of the world when He offered up Himself for the sins of His elect people. So it really relates to how He was declared to be the Son of God through His ascension after dying at the foundation of the world. He resurrected and ascended up to the right hand of the Father, establishing the priesthood of Melchisedec. It is very deep spiritual information that was not understood during the church age. But at the time of the end, God opened up the Scriptures, and our “dullness of hearing” was rectified, and we began to understand these things. Then it goes on to say in Hebrews 5:12-14:
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Them that are of “full age” means them that are “perfect,” having to do with the fulness of doctrinal understanding, or the perfection of understanding the information the Lord had always intended to open up. Since it was kept hidden until the time of the end, we would have to classify the church age as the time when God fed His people “with milk.” But when the church age came to an end and the seals were taken off the Bible, the Word was unsealed and being revealed, and we graduated to “meat.” Again, it says, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” This passage ties in with 1Corinthians 14:20:
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
The Greek word translated as “men” is not a word that means “men,” but it means “perfect.” So do not be children in understanding, but be perfect (in understanding), just as we read in Hebrews 5:14: “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (or perfect).” You are to be perfect. It is time to grow up spiritually. This also fits in with 1Corinthians 13, and the whole idea of prophesying, as He says in 1Corinthians 13:9:
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
That is, over the course of the 1,955 years of the church age, the doctrinal understanding of the people of God within the churches was partial – they knew in part. So they prophesied in part because they could not know in “fulness.” Keep in mind that verse that says, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (or perfect).” And perfection has the idea of being filled up to its fullest point. But the churches only knew in part, so they could only prophesy in part. Then it goes on to say in 1Corinthians 13:10:
But when that which is perfect is come…
Who is perfect? It is God the Holy Spirit. This was prophesying of the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began in 1994. The book of 1Corinthians was written by Paul as God moved him decades after the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, so why would there be a need for the Spirit to come if He had already come and began to evangelize the world? The churches were established, and the church age had begun, so why would it say, “But when that which is perfect is come”? Compare that with John 16:12:
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
This was Christ speaking, and Christ is the Word. It is very odd that He would say that He has many things to say that they cannot bear now. Then it says in John 16:13:
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come…
Remember what it said in 1Corinthians 13:10: “But when that which is perfect is come…” And what is going to happen when the Spirit of truth is come? It goes on to say in John 16:13:
…he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
We will be guided into all truth. Another way of saying that is to say, “the perfection of truth,” or “the fulness of truth.” It is not partial truth, but full truth, and it would happen at the time of the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which we can pinpoint as 1994 when the Holy Spirit poured out the Latter Rain. But He has continued to operate in the Day of Judgment by revealing the revelation of God’s righteous judgment program, and we continue to learn. That is the point here when it says, “…he will guide you into all truth.” That is, we will understand proper and right truth from the faithful teachings of the Bible. Doctrine will come forth that is true and faithful, and that is what is in view in 1Corinthians 13. It has to do with knowledge. Again, it said 1Corinthians 13:9-10:
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
What was “in part”? Knowledge was “in part.” There was only partial knowledge, but now we will know fully. We will know “perfectly.” No – we are not going to know every deep thing of God. That is what will happen in eternity future when we will be learning the depths of the knowledge of God, and we will never reach the end of that eternity, so we will be forever learning the things of God. But there is an amount, or degree, of doctrinal knowledge that God has measured out for His people for this world. We are limited in our finite physical form to grasp the deep, deep things of God. We would have to be transformed in our bodies to be able to grasp onto that information, but as far as everything regarding this world, there will come a time when God will “fill it up,” and the Spirit will guide us into all truth.
Again, when He is come, that which is in part shall be done away. The church age is over, and their confessions and creeds we now recognize to be “high places,” and they have been done away with. Their understanding of “faith” and how salvation takes places has been done away. Their understanding that water baptism imparts some kind of special grace is done away. Their understanding that Christ paid for sins on the cross in 33 A. D. is done away, and so forth. Corrections have been made as full truth comes forth.
And notice that after God speaks of partial understanding being done away when the perfect is come, and then it goes on to say in 1Corinthians 13:11:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child…
Can we say that children have partial understanding? Yes. They are just learning. They are on the “milk of the word,” spiritually, and children must be carefully and gently nourished, fed, and brought up to the point where they can move on to the “meat.” And the end of the church age at the time of the end was that transition period when the elect children of God “grew up,” as it goes on to say in 1Corinthians 13:11:
…but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
We put away the doctrines of the churches and congregations. Paul was writing in the first century, the time of the church age, so he says in 1Corinthians 13:12:
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…
In our time, we see “face to face,” and that is a phrase God uses when He is indicating that He will reveal “his face,” and He will not speak in parables, but speak plainly, and He will show us the hidden truths. Then it goes on to say in 1Corinthians 13:12:
… now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Knowing in part was during the church age. And “then” is the time of the end, when we will “know even as also I am known.”
And we would have to say that this is what is in view when Deborah Rebekah’s nurse – the one who had given suck and provided milk – died after 120 years. There is no more mere “milk” for the people of God, but it is time to partake of the “meat.”