Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #22 in Genesis 35, and I will read Genesis 35:16-20: 

And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.  And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

We have been looking at the word “travail” in the Bible, and it took us to 1Thessalonians 5:2-3:

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 

In the last couple of studies, we were looking at the language here, and how it relates to Luke 21:34-36, and we see that it has to do with the final judgment of God on the world.  He likened Judgment Day to a period of time that brings sudden destruction.  And when we look at the Greek word “sudden,” we see it is a compound word.  It has the Greek negative prefix attached to the word, and the word it is attached to is “seen,” or “appear,” and it negates it so that it is “not seen,” or “not appear.”  So it is a destruction that is not seen, or is unseen, or does not appear, which fits the whole idea of a spiritual judgment perfectly because spiritual things are unseen, or invisible.

We also saw in the book of Revelation that the Lord Jesus warned the churches that if they did not watch, He would come upon them “as a thief in the night,” and He also warned them that He would “come quickly.”  As we examine these things, we see that God’s end time judgment program is a program where He carries out a two-fold judgment plan: judgment first beginning at the house of God, the corporate church, during the Great Tribulation; followed by judgment on the unsaved inhabitants of the whole world, and this can also be understood as a second tribulation (judgment).   In both cases, it is a spiritual judgment.

We discussed some of the things found in this verse, and how it is related to a passage in Luke 21:41-46 that is describing the final judgment on the world.  Christ would come spiritually (invisibly) because spiritual things are invisible, and obviously it was an unseen judgment on the churches, followed by unseen judgment on the world.  This is God’s end time judgment program that He likens to “unseen destruction” that cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.  We also that to “not escape” has to do with not being saved.  If you are saved, you have found the escape God has made available to you, as the only way of escape is salvation through Christ.

But the ungodly shall not escape.  They shall not be delivered, but they will experience the wrath of God as destruction coming upon them as travail upon a woman with child.  But what does this mean?  What is the spiritual meaning of a woman travailing with child, and why does God use it so often in relationship to His judgment?  If you remember back a few studies, it was used in relationship to the judgment on the churches and the judgment on the world.  Our verse in Genesis 35 regarding Rachel is one in which she was coming out of Bethel, and she was headed to Bethlehem, the house of bread.  So we can understand her travail as having to do with God’s judgment on the house of God because Bethel means “house of God.”  So this is what has us so interested in this language.

The Greek word “travail” is Strong’s #5604, and it is only found four times in the New Testament.  For example, it is the word we find in Matthew 24:7-8:

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

And keep in mind that the word “sorrows” is the same Greek word translated as “travail” in 1Thessalonians 5:3.  It is also used in Mark 13:8:

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

These are the beginnings of “sorrows” or “travails.”  Matthew 24 lays it out a little better when it says, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” 

The previous verse in Matthew 24 is a verse that lets us know that when we hear of “wars and rumours of wars,” it is typical, so let us read that in Matthew 24:6:

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

In other words, wars are not an indicator, or sign post, that points to the end time judgment of God in any way.  We cannot look at a war (even if it includes many nations), and then conclude that the war indicates that we are at the time of the end.  If that were the case, then we could look at World War I when practically the whole world was involved, and millions upon millions of people died, and that would have been the time of the end.  Or, again, with World War II, there were also many nations involved, and many millions of people died, but that was not the end of the world.  You can go back for centuries, and there have been wars among nations throughout the centuries of the world.  That is why the Lord says, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”  Do not look at the physical warfare that you see in the world.  Again, that is not where you should be looking.  So it is impossible to biblically say, “Well, this war is a war that indicates the end of the world,” because many great wars have come before it, and they have not indicated the end of the world.

So when God makes that statement, and then in the very next verse He says in Matthew 24:7, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” we might think it is a continuation of the statement.  But, no, this is saying something different.  It is saying that “nation” (singular) shall rise against “nation,” singular, and “kingdom” (singular) against “kingdom” (singular).  So we see “two nations,” or “two kingdoms” that are being referred to, so keep in mind what God said to Rebekah when the twin boys, Jacob and Esau, were struggling together in her womb.  They were fighting one another, so Rebekah inquired of God, in Genesis 25:22-23:

And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of JEHOVAH. And JEHOVAH said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

There were “two nations” in her womb.  That is, Jacob represented one nation, and Esau represented another nation.  There were “two manner of people.”  And God tells us elsewhere about these two boys that were twins, which means they were conceived by God in identical circumstances at the same time.  They were born of the same mother, and they came forth in the same way, with Esau coming forth slightly before the younger, in order that Esau be the elder.  And God said of these two: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  That is a good summary statement of the whole human race.   As we look out at the world, there are many political nations, and there are many different languages that people speak, and they are from different geographical nations, and sometimes these nations are separated by oceans.  And these nations have been known to do battle and war with one another, but that is an earthly way of looking at the nations.  However, spiritually, when God looks at the world, He sees only “two nations,” or “two manner of people,” which are those that He loves, as typified by Jacob, and those which He has hated, as represented by Esau.  There people are hated because of their sins that remain upon them.  God hates all workers of iniquity, as we read in the Psalms, and Esau represents all (unsaved) mankind.  Remember he is also called “Edom,” which is very close to the name “Adam,” the first man.  God gave Esau the name “Edom” because he is being used as a type and figure of unsaved man.

And these are the “two nations” that Matthew 24 refers to in Matthew 24:7:

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…

Obviously, one kingdom would be the kingdom of God.  If you look up the word kingdom, especially in the New Testament, you will see many references to the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God.  That is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the kingdom of God’s dear Son.  It is the kingdom that the Bible uses in a figure as the kingdom of David, the kingdom of Israel with David as their king.  The kingdom of spiritual Israel is ruled over by Christ.   Christ came to earth, and He was declared to be King of the Jews.  The wise man that came from the east asked Herod, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?”  When the Lord Jesus was brought before Pilot, Pilot asked him, “Art thou a king then?”  Jesus responded, “Thou sayest that I am a king.”  He told Pilot, “My kingdom is not of this world…”  His is a spiritual kingdom consisting of those God had chosen out of the world and given to the Lord Jesus Christ, and for whose sins He had died.  That is the kingdom that the Lord Jesus Christ purchased for Himself and ruled over, leaving all the rest in the kingdom of the unsaved, the ungodly of the world that are under the power and authority of Satan.  And Satan would rule over that kingdom, as we see in Revelation 16:10:

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast…

The word “seat” is the same word translated as “throne,” and the beast refers to Satan, so it is the throne of Satan who was king over the world.  But in the Day of Judgment that kingdom was targeted by God as the fifth angel (messenger) poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast.  And then it says in Revelation 16:10:

… and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

That is, the whole world is the object of the wrath of God, and the throne of Satan was targeted by God as He put Satan down from all official rule in the Day of Judgment.

Again, Matthew 24 says, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”  When does this happen especially?  Yes, this battle has been raging over the history of the world, and especially during the New Testament era when the Lord Jesus Christ went forth conquering and to conquer, as He delivered the souls of His elect people that were being held in the dark kingdom in a dungeon of despair, being bound to sin and to Satan.  And Christ delivered His people and loosed them from that spiritual bondage; He set the captives free.   And that was the battle ground throughout history.  But especially at the time of the end, Christ loosed Satan, and Satan rose up out of the bottomless pit.  And if we go to Revelation 20, we will see that something spectacular occurred as Satan gathered his forces to battle.  We read in Revelation 20:7-9:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

He was loosed.  He is typified by “Gog,” and he gathered together “Magog,” the nations (Gentiles).  He gathered the multitudes of the ungodly who had entered into the churches and congregations and compassed about the camp of the saints, as it were.  And Satan was victorious over the corporate church and over those professed Christians that had worn the name of Christ and were representatives of God’s kingdom on earth.  It was kingdom against kingdom.  And the kingdom of Satan was at its most powerful, and it was at the height of its power and authority in that time of Satan’s loosing.  At that time, the Holy Spirit had also begun to withdraw His hand of restraint against sin in the hearts of man, and iniquity multiplied in the earth among the nations as Satan was exercising his greatest rule.  And remember that Satan’s rule over the earth is likened to various epochs, or stages, of history.  It says in Revelation 17:9-10:

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

(Mountains represent kingdoms in the Bible.)  Five were fallen (up to the time of the cross); one is, which represents Satan’s rule in his bound spiritual condition; and the other had not yet come, which represents Satan’s rule at the end at the time of his loosing.  And that would “continue a short space,” referring to the little season of the Great Tribulation.  You see, he is typified as a king over a kingdom, which would be the last kingdom of Satan on this earth, and the last period of his rule, and it began with this final battle between these “two nations,” which are the only two nations that exist spiritually; and these “two kingdoms,” which are the only two kingdoms that exist spiritually. 

And this all began in earnest with the Great Tribulation.  Again, it said in Matthew 24:7:

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Was there a famine in the churches?  Were the churches and congregations of the world experiencing famine during the Great Tribulation?  Absolutely!  Remember the verse that God gives us in Amos 8:11:

Behold, the days come, saith the JEHOVAH, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of JEHOVAH:

In the historical context, this has to do with Samaria and Israel, which would point to the churches and congregations.  And the pestilences and earthquakes indicate the wrath of God that came down upon the churches and congregations.  How can we say that about an earthquake?  How can we say that an earthquake points to the wrath of God?  How do we prove that?  If we go to Jeremiah 10, we see the subject is God’s judgment on Judah, which was a byword and a parable pointing to the judgment of God on the churches.  It says in Jeremiah 10:20-22:

My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought JEHOVAH: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

The word “commotion” in the Hebrew is the word that is translated as “earthquake” in other places.  So there is a “great earthquake” out of the north country, and that is where the Babylonians came from to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.  And we know that the king of Babylon represents Satan, and the armies of Satan represent the nations (Gentiles), so it is another way of saying, “Gog and Magog.”  And they are coming out of the north, which is the opposite direction of the south.  And Judah was in the south, and therefore represented the kingdom of God.  The opposing kingdom came from the opposite direction, and came against the people of God.

So when we read in Matthew 24, “

…famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” it is pointing to the judgment that came upon the churches and congregations.  It was an awful and terrible judgment that involved the loosing of Satan, with Satan entering into the churches to rule as the man of sin.  This is summed up in Matthew 24:8:

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

All these are the beginning of “travail.”  The “travail” at the end of the world began with the Great Tribulation period, and it continues into the Day of Judgment.  And this is why it comes into focus, as we saw when we looked up the word “travail” in the Old Testament, where it identifies with judgment on Judah (the churches), or on the world, and the context determines which judgment is in view.