“Exceedingly Prosperous” (Gen 30:25-43)

“And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.” (vs41-43)

Jesus Christ must have the reward of His labor. He has served God under the law for us, and now, the captives must be free. We read, “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you” (vs26). Death can't hold Him. He is risen, and He must have His glory and His church must be His forever (Acts 2:25-28). He cannot serve and then not have us. He has appeased God, answered justice, and brought in everlasting righteousness.

Laban is unwise. He mistreats the One whom God has blessed, rather than rejoicing in being BLESSED with Him. He had said, “I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake”, but he does him harm and not good (vs27). Yet, the transaction is just. Just as Goliath challenged Israel, Satan challenged God in Jesus Christ and lost.

It will be eternally known that He deserves the redemption He gives. He said, “You shall not give me anything... So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me” (vs31-33). He won't take any who are not sinful and helpless, who don't believe, who weren't given to Him by God already, marked out as His. He will save all who call on Him and none else. He has laid the terms.

Justice entered the contract, and Jesus fulfilled the terms with blood atonement and obedience. All the disfigured, all the despised of the earth, all the sinners, all who like Blind Bartimaeus cry out incessantly to Him - though rejected of men, shall be saved, and none else! He makes a distinction, separating us from the lost and proving His greatness by our redemption.

Jacob, our Lord Jesus, saves by His life from the dead (vs37-43). We read, “Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees (fruit bearing), peeled white strips in them (showing life), and exposed the white which was in the rods”, so that He saves by revealing that He is alive from the dead, holy and clean. Peter writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).

His holiness is revealed by the death that He accomplished, and His life is glorious by the fact that He laid it DOWN to take it up again (John 10:17-18). He died SO we could live, and His resurrection to die no more is proof that we shall live too.

As we drink the gospel, we see the living Christ, and the church grows. We read, “And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the vlocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink” (vs38). As He is preached, those who receive His word are saved. We drink, receiving His victory as our hope, and we live.

It is imperative to hear the word, for FAITH comes by hearing. What you need is given by the ear drum, as faith produces fruit. His plan works perfectly, and His kingdom prospers on schedule, saving all the Father gave Him, all who believe, and every sinner in need.

He separates down here by the new birth and good works, and He'll separate His sheep from Satan's goats at the Day. We read, “Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock” (vs40). We are in the world but not of the world, we are the sheep of His pasture, we hear the Shepherd and follow Him. We will be with Him, forever.

This life giving process is unique. We look to Him for life is in a look. But, He only saves WHOM He pleases. We read again, “whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the living stock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's” (vs41-42). He is willing, but He has a people who WILL be saved by power and not chance. The kingdom of Christ shall reign and prosper until the end, growing great by His faithfulness and life giving strength. Not only did He earn salvation, but He gives us victory and every good thing. His church is more than can be numbered, as the sand of the sea and stars of heaven, a multitude the Revelation calls, “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” (Rev 5:11). It is true, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev 5:12). We are part of His glory, the beauty and size of His elect, our willing and loving service, honors Him who saved us!

“Stood Firm On Dry Ground” (Joshua 3)

“Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan” (vs17).

Obedience involves believing on Christ for the cleansing and removing of sins, for reconciliation with God accomplished by Someone Else, and receiving the benefits of His one act as why all grace is yours. This path of righteousness must be followed; it is the only way to avail with God, by believing that Christ SUCCEEDED and He's rightfully gracious. We read, “and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:3-4).

The blood of Christ is a sin-conquering payment, so that WRATH cannot hurt us. His death, the sin-bearing atonement that He made, is enough for God's wrath to be pacified and the way to blessings be on “dry ground” of no condemnation. His death means that we have paid and will not die! We read again, “And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canannites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites (all the enemies of sin and fear) and the Amorites and the Jebusites: Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan... And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap” (vs10-13).

This wasn't anything short of miraculous: the raging flood of God's wrath on sin, the wrath that punished Christ, that flooded the world and rained brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, this FURIOUS wrath of God is pacified, so that He has PEACE for all who believe. Hear John who says, “And He Himself is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Joshua wrote, “So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho” (vs14-16).

Augustus Toplady said it best:

From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hath not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin
Which, Lord, was charged on thee?

Complete atonement thou hast made,
And to the utmost farthing paid
Whate’er thy people owed;
How then can wrath on me take place
If sheltered in thy righteousness,
And sprinkled with thy blood?

If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my room endured
The whole of wrath divine,
Payment God cannot twice demand—
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.

Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest!
The merits of thy great High Priest
Have bought thy liberty;
Trust in his efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banishment from God,
Since Jesus died for thee.

Lastly, this gospel isn't wishy-washy; it is sure. They stood “firm on dry ground”, and we are safe in Christ completely. There is no partial wrath for the past; it is ALL washed away, all forgiven, all gone, and all appeased by blood. There is nothing for you but God's hand from here on out. Take it by faith, “Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan” (vs17).

Complete Atonement Thou Hast Made - August Toplady

From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hath not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin
Which, Lord, was charged on thee?

Complete atonement thou hast made,
And to the utmost farthing paid
Whate’er thy people owed;
How then can wrath on me take place
If sheltered in thy righteousness,
And sprinkled with thy blood?

If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my room endured
The whole of wrath divine,
Payment God cannot twice demand—
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.

Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest!
The merits of thy great High Priest
Have bought thy liberty;
Trust in his efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banishment from God,a
Since Jesus died for thee.

“Never Again” (Gen 8:20-9:17)

(vs8-11) Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, "and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Never again shall God's wrath be upon us, says God. He's given promise, and He WON'T go back on it for any reason, not because of man's sinfulness, not yours or mine. All for whom He died, the Son has secured an immovable inheritance, and WRATH upon you who believe is gone, forever.

God illustrates this in Isaiah 54:9, where He says, “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you”. In covenant mercy, God has said that He will not punish us, though He hides His face in reproof. He says, “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you” (vs7). He will CORRECT us, but He won't cast us out. And, this hope strengthens sinners and saints to come to Him for cleansing, to hope again. God's grace is permanent to all who believe Christ is why the promise is good.

First, Christ is why the anger is gone, “the Lord smelled a soothing aroma” (Gen 8:20-21). Christ appeased God as a substitute, paying the price and putting away sin, “although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth”. Eye for an eye was exacted when the Son paid for us, and the wrath is gone. God is PLEASED regarding Christ *. He is not furious regarding the sins that He paid in full already. He will help you now.

The Father's promised, secondly, that we shall be secure because of the covenant, “so God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth... they are given into your hand... I have given you all things” (Gen 9:1-3). Not only is protection yours, but provision and blessing is yours, also. God's determined you will conquer and prevail. You have His promises, and He is working for you miraculously to secure you.

Your happiness, and not merely your holiness, is SECURED in the covenant, “And if you are Christ's [by faith], then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29). His pleasure with Christ has earned it, and we receive it by faith.

Thirdly, the covenant has a sign to it, a rainbow in the clouds, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you... I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth... and it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant between Me and you” (Gen 9:12-15). When wrath comes in conscience, when life looks wasted, when chastisements for wrongs appear to be numerous, deserved, and without much hope of cessation, God comes through with a PROMISE. “I will not be angry with you” (Is 54:9).

He gives you signs of His love, tokens, and He sets the sign in the heaven above, even Christ at the right hand of God, securing every blessing of grace, “and there was a rainbow round about the throne” (Rev 4:3). He will give you signs of your safety as you look to Him, even love, joy, and peace, so that the storms will not cause you to doubt the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and miss the hope of life.

He will SHOW you and me in the gospel and prove His love repeatedly, by SHINING upon us in storms, so that we see Him walking on water to us.

We are wise, finally, to walk humbly and confidently with God. The atoning work of Christ RECONCILED us to Him, now take His promises as your own, repeatedly. Ask and expect great things in your life by His word.

The Glory of the Blood

1. Paid in full. Christ died to put away sins, and He accomplished it for all who shall be saved. He paid SPECIFICALLY for the elect, ransomed them to God, and guaranteed that all who's names are in, “the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, shall be saved (Rev 13:8). No name outside of the Book shall be saved, but every name in the book, even those who are not yet born, shall be saved by the Lamb's blood. He paid the actual price for sins and wiped them from the books.

2. God gives salvation FREELY by the blood. The blood is the only thing needed for BLESSINGS to hypocrites, harlots, and every manner of diseased. The gospel of God's GLORY is God GIVING to us by the blood His Son paid, so that it is JUST and free (Rom 3:26).

3. The suffering of His agony, as His soul was made an offering for sin (Is 53:10). The Son of God didn't give blood; He DIED, paying the price of hell's fury for every sin. The wrath of eternal God beat upon Him mercilessly, exacting payment for the crimes that we have done.

4. He willingly gave Himself to Calvary. He didn't die as kicking against His will, but in submission: He humbled Himself and gave Himself to die for sins of sinners (Is 53:7). He didn't love us less as He suffered in our place, bearing shame.

These aspects of the glorious blood strengthen faith and give power.

The Demand of the Atonement (James Denney)

The demand that the Atonement shall be exhibited in vital relation to a new life in which sin is overcome... is entirely legitimate, and it touches a weak point in the traditional Protestant doctrine. Dr. (Thomas) Chalmers tells us that he was brought up -- such was the effect of the current orthodoxy upon him -- in a certain distrust of good works. Some were certainly wanted, but not as being themselves salvation, only, as he puts it, as tokens of justification. It was a distinct stage in his religious progress when he realized that true justification sanctifies, and that the soul can and ought to abandon itself spontaneously and joyfully to do the good that it delights in. The modern mind assumes what Dr. Chalmers painfully discovered. An atonement that does not regenerate, it truly holds, is not an atonement in which men can be asked to believe.

Made to Be Sin (Spurgeon)

God looked on Christ as if Christ had been sin; not as if He had taken up the sins of His people, or as if they were laid on Him, though that were true, but as if He Himself had positively been that noxious- that God-hating-that soul damning thing, called sin.  When the judge of all the earth said, “Where is Sin?”  Christ presented himself. 

What a grim picture that is, to conceive of sin gathered up into one mass -murderer, lust and stealing, and adultery. And the Father looked on Christ as if He were that mass of sin.  He was not sin, but the Father looked upon Him as made sin for us. Christ stands in our place, assumes our guilt, takes on our iniquity and God treats Him as if He had been sin.  How can any punishment fall on that man who ceases to possess sin, because his sin was cast upon Christ and Christ has suffered in his place?  Oh, glorious triumph of faith to be able to say, whenever I feel the guilt of sin, whenever conscience pricks me, “Yes, it is true but my Lord is answerable for it all, for He has taken it all upon Himself and suffered in my place.”

“Plague is Begun” (Numb 16:44-48)

 “And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly to the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the middle of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.”  (vs46-48)

Atonement is the only appeasement of wrath, and here we SEE Christ, according to the law of Moses, interceding for transgressors, sinners who would kill Him.  He doesn’t mediate for all men, for all are not saved, but He DOES mediate for rebels and God-hating sinners, saving us from sin.

I deserve death, but I GET life through Christ’s atonement for me, whereby He intercedes to God on my behalf by the blood He shed for God to bless me as He has promised. Christ has EARNED good things for bad people, even the worst.  Ps 68 says, “You have ascended on high, you have led captivity captive: you have received GIFTS for men; yes, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them”.  That we might be blessed of God, Christ ascended God’s right hand to GIVE us repentance and the Spirit, sending the gift of the Spirit by the blood He shed to save His people (Ps 68:18-19). 

Do not fear that you can’t be blessed, but know it is mercy, if you turn to Christ now, because there are many who die in their sin.  All are not saved, but all who are saved get LIFE for sins, rather than death from God.