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Grounded-In-Biblical-Truth | |
Sovereign Grace Doctrine
Concerning 'THE GOSPEL' - JESUS CHRIST
Christ's Marriage Typified by Jacob's (1)
Genesis 29:1-30
Good News From The Redeemer
DANIEL E. PARKS, PASTOR
SEPTEMBER 25, 1999 - RADIO MESSAGE #286
The account of the marriage of Jacob and Rachel, and the events leading to it, is recorded in Genesis 29:1-30.
This account is typical of the marriage of Christ and His church (the congregation of God’s saints, as in Matthew 16:18 & Acts 2:47b) in the following regards.
I. Jacob and Rachel are here typical of Christ and the church. Jacob was sent by his father to a faraway place to obtain a wife (28:1-5); the wife he obtained was Rachel (the present text). Jacob’s father, Isaac, would not permit him marry a woman from the land in which he dwelt. Isaac therefore sent Jacob his own countrymen in a faraway country.
Likewise, Christ was sent by His Father to a faraway place to obtain a wife; the wife He obtained is the church. None of the heavenly host, the angels, is suitable as a bride for the Son of God. His Father therefore sent Him to earth to obtain a wife from His own people, His elect (those chosen to salvation before the foundation of the world, as in Ephesians 1:4 & 2 Thessalonians 2:13). Samuel J. Stone rightly declares these truths in his hymn The Church’s One Foundation. He describes the church as Elect from every nation / Yet one o’er all the earth .... And he continues: From heav’n He came and sought her / To be His holy bride, With His own blood He bought her, / And for her life He died.
II. Rachel was a “shepherdess” in charge of “her father’s sheep” (v.9).
Likewise is the church. In the Song of Solomon, the courtship of Solomon and the Shulamite woman is typical of the courtship of Christ and His church. Solomon acknowledges her as the shepherdess of her father’s sheep when he asks “where do you feed your flock” (Song of Solomon 1:7). Likewise, the church is a metaphorical shepherdess of the flock of the heavenly Father.
III. “Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance” (v.17).
Likewise is the church of Christ. In the Song of Solomon we also read that he says the Shulamite is “fairest among women” (Song of Solomon 1:8). And he vividly describes her physical beauty of form and appearance, concluding “How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights!” (7:1-7). What is here said of the physical beauty of the bride of Solomon is descriptive also of the spiritual beauty of the church of Christ.
IV. Jacob was familially related to Rachel (vv.12,14): “Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative”; and her father acknowledged him as “my bone and my flesh.”
Likewise, Christ is familially related to His church. By virtue of the assumption of humanity by Christ (John 1:14), “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). The church therefore acknowledges Him as “my bone and my flesh.” And Abraham is father to both Christ (Matthew 1:1) and the church (Galatians 3:7,29). Therefore “both He who sanctifies [i.e. Christ] and those who are being sanctified [i.e. the church, “the seed of Abraham” in v.16] are all of one [family], for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11-17).
V. Jacob loved Rachel above all other women (v.30): “Jacob ... loved Rachel more than Leah” (more on Leah later).
Likewise, Christ loves His church above all others (Ephesians 5:25-27): “Christ ... loved the church” more than any other earthly entity.
VI. “Jacob ... watered the flock” of Rachel (vv.9f).
Likewise, Christ provides water for His church. The “church of God” is Christ’s “flock” (Acts 20:28). She therefore acknowledges herself as the sheep of Christ, and declares that “He leads me beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:1f) -- those of His grace.
(To be continued.)
Your servant for Jesus' sake.
Address all questions to pastor
Daniel E. Parks (2 Corinthians 4:5) e-mail RedeemerBC@aol.com
Pastor, Redeemer Baptist Church
2801 Cleveland Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40206 / 502.899-9205
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