#52: God’s Promise To Jacob Points To A Global Church

This week we trace two “perplexing” lines in Genesis 35:11 and follow them from Eden to Bethel to the cross to a global church. We wrestle with messy sons, a faithful God, and how “be fruitful and multiply” becomes everyday disciple making.

• creation mandate echoed in Genesis 35 and clarified in Christ
• the Seed as the true blessing to the nations
• one nation giving rise to an assembly of nations in Jesus
• true circumcision as the heart’s work by the Spirit
• repentance, new identity, and mission as the biblical pattern
• practical fruitfulness in family life and disciple making
• blessed to be a blessing across cultures and generations

Transcript

Why Genesis 35:11 Feels Perplexing

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Beyond the Pulpit, exploring the life and ministry of Walnut Creek Church downtown. Walnut Creek Church exists to glorify God by making authentic disciples of Jesus Christ who love and worship him in all they do. All right, welcome to Beyond the Pulpit. My name is Derek Wadley, and I'm joined here by Lou Cookie. Hey everyone, how's it going? And Dan Rood. What's up, everybody? And this last weekend, uh, we continued our series in Genesis and dove into Genesis 35. There's a lot there, and there's a lot more that could have been said. But Dan, you you mentioned as we were talking right before this that you were perplexed. Uh perplexed. Perplexed. Good word. Two statements in Genesis 35, 11.

Creation Mandate Before And After The Fall

SPEAKER_02 0:44

That's correct. Yeah. Whenever you're studying the Bible, uh, it seems like there's kind of a top, top layer of meaning that is usually pretty easy to get at. But then as you get beneath that layer into another layer, deeper and deeper, sometimes you you find ideas that uh that can appear to be very confusing. You're like, what what does this mean? And why why is it said here and not other places? And uh so yeah, so it's it's so it's so deep. Um one scholar says that the Bible is so deep that you can swim in it your entire life and never reach the bottom, but it is shallow enough for a child to come to it and get a drink. And I I think that's exactly right. You know, there's so much, so much depth uh in in the scriptures, and uh it's such a joy to study it. And uh verse 11, there there are two perplexing statements that I've been thinking about uh all week long, and uh I didn't really have uh enough time to flesh out those those uh statements, um, but this is what the podcast is for. So we're gonna dive. We're gonna dive into it. Um so verse verse 11. Beyond the pulpit. Beyond the pulpit. Okay, so God also said to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. So I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. So Jacob is back in the land. Um he's back in the land, he's back at Bethel. God has uh graciously come to Jacob and called him to repentance, and Jacob has repented. He's he's brought his family uh to Bethel. They've gotten rid of their idols, at least his family has gotten rid of their idols for now. For now. For now. And uh so they're they're moving in the right direction. God appears to him again, reminds him of of who he is, and uh blesses Jacob, um, changes his name to Israel, and then he then he said, I am God Almighty, be fruitful, multiply. Okay, so why is this perplexing? Uh a few reasons. One, this is the creation mandate. It's the creation mandate. So you see it in Genesis chapter one and in Genesis chapter two that God gives the creation mandate to Adam and Eve be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

That's before the fall. It's before the fall. Before sin ever enters the world.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yes. Yeah, so that that that's the purpose that God gives to Adam and Eve. Now, certainly they're to know God and walk with God and love God, but they are to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. Okay, so what does that mean? Well, it means that Adam and Eve, uh, God performs the first marriage ceremony in human history. They get married, the two become one flesh, and they were to have children, and those children were to multiply and fill the earth so that these image bearers of God would fill the earth with the with the with the glory of God, the image of uh of God in the world. That was his that was his plan. But then Adam and Eve sin, they fall, and uh the whole creation falls with it. Then you work through the book of Genesis, and you see the the trajectory is just into deeper and deeper darkness. Toilet bowl. Toilet bowl, it's circling that circling the drain. And then uh God says, I I regret that I've made mankind and I'm gonna wipe everybody out.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Much like a toilet needs filled in order to empty the earth gets filled, oh Lord water and empty. Oh Lord.

Abraham’s Promise Versus Command

Jacob’s Sons And The Problem Of “Blessing”

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Okay, uh edit that, Derek. I'm just kidding. Um But but then the flood comes, so he saved Noah he saves Noah and his family, and right when Noah gets off the ark, God gives the creation mandate again. So there are eight and all who are saved. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. Then uh the there's the tower of Babel, and it continue the story continues to people humanity didn't we didn't learn our lesson after the fall. No one got better. No one got better. And then God chooses Abraham, makes these great promises to Abraham, um, and he says, I will, I will make your your descendants. You have no kids, Abraham, but I'm gonna make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. But he does not give the command to Abraham, be fruitful and multiply. He says, I will multiply your descendants, but he doesn't give the command. Uh and then here comes Isaac, and uh God says, I I will multiply your descendants. But he doesn't say you, you, Isaac, be fruitful and multiply it. So here in chapter 35, verse 11, after Jacob is nearing the end of his life, and he says to Jacob, Be fruitful, multiply. So he gives the creation mandate again. So you're like, okay, okay, so why is it perplexing again? Uh well, Jacob isn't gonna have any more kids. Yeah, you know that uh his his wife Rachel is pregnant with Benjamin at this point. Um but after that, that he's not gonna have any more kids. So be fruitful, have children, multiply, but he's not gonna have any more kids. So it must apply to his to his sons. Okay, so why is that confusing? Well, it's confusing because God also gives the command or the promise to Abraham that um through through you all the the nations of the earth will be blessed through your children. That's kind of interesting. So why be fruitful and multiply? So the nations will be blessed, but his kids are not. I mean, in the story, how obvious is it that his kids are not a blessing? I mean, it's wild. Levi, Simeon wipe out a whole town, his other sons join them in plundering the city. Pretty soon, uh, later in chapter 35, Reuben is going to sleep with Bilha uh after Rachel's death, and that's an act of rebellion, uh, an act of perversion. And you're like, we don't need any more Reubens, we don't need any more Levi's, we don't need any more Simeons. Um, the sons of Jacob later, I can't remember what chapter it is, if it's chapter 38, they're gonna sell they're gonna sell Joseph into slavery after they decide not to kill him. Not to kill him. We're such good people, we're not gonna kill you, we're just gonna sell you as a slave. And you're like, oh my goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So I mean these Judah gets one chapter dedicated to him, and he does not look at it. Yeah, I know it does not go well for Judah. I know, I know. So you're like, okay, is this the blessing?

Christ As The Seed And True Blessing

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Is this the blessing? And and so there's a tension there um in the story, and it's resolved uh by we see it resolved in Galatians three, where Paul says that the meaning of the promise to Abraham is it's so interesting. It's it's not that the physical descendants are the blessing. It's through the physical descendants that the seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come and he would be the blessing to the nation. So I'm not saying that Israel, the descendants of Abraham, are not a blessing, or they've never been a blessing, or they're uniquely sinful. That's not what I'm saying. We that's not what we believe. It it just shows uh in the in chapter 34 and the rest of the Bible that the nation of Israel are sin their sinners just like us. They're just like us. No better, no worse, even though they're in the covenant.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Yep.

How “Be Fruitful” Applies Today

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Even though they're in the covenant. Okay, so what does it mean then when he says, be fruitful and multiply? Like, how does so it's have children so that Jesus would come into the world and he would redeem the world. Okay, so how does it apply to us? What do you guys think? Be fruitful, multiply. How does that how does that uh shake out in our lives today?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

I think that there's probably two, right? There's the physical, like, you know, like obeying the creation mandate. There's have have babies, like that's part of God's design, you know, have have children. Yes. Um that you know doesn't mean that like if you're trying to have kids and you're unable to, that you're somehow outside of like the will of God. Certainly. Uh you're not like in some unique rebellion, like the fall has caused all sorts of havoc, but generally the design is that people would get married, have babies, and those babies would grow up and get married and have babies. But there's also like a spiritual um side of it as well that that we would um be fruitful and multiply by the sharing the gospel by making disciples. Um Jesus reaffirms and as Jesus does, takes something from the Old Testament and makes it bigger uh in uh Matthew 28 when he gives the Great Commission. Therefore go make disciples of all nations, be fruitful and multiply.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

It's the same, it's the same idea. This is in some ways, it's it's like the Great Commission of the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yep.

Repentance, New Identity, And Mission

Perplexing Statement Two: Assembly Of Nations

SPEAKER_02 9:43

I mean, it ri it really is. And so I I just find it to be so so interesting that he gives it to him there, here or here in verse 11. And it's after God has been so patient with Jacob. You know, he's called Jacob to to turn away from his idols and and to come to Bethel and worship God alone, and he reminds him of his new identity. And then he it it this is an invitation for Jacob to join God, Jacob and his family to join God and what he's doing in the world, his his plan of redemption. And I think that is the pattern in the scriptures that God he calls people to repentance, he calls people to repentance when people repent and believe, they're forgiven, they're they're washed clean, they're purified, they're given the righteousness of Christ, they're given a new identity. Uh, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation, the old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. We have a new life in Christ. And at this at the very heart of that new life with Christ, walking with Christ, is that we join God and what he's doing in the world. Namely, we give ourselves uh to certainly raising our families and uh making disciples. And so the God's plan is to multiply it that it's for God's people to multiply uh throughout throughout the earth. And um and so it's just I just think it's interesting that there is con there is continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament and how it it's it's actually a similar idea, just like you said, Deed, to the Great Commission. Uh this is the Great Commission in some ways of of the Old Testament, which is awesome. So that's that's perplexing statement number one. Um perplexing uh statement number two is um a nation indeed, verse eleven. A nation indeed, an assembly of nations will come from you, and kings will descend from you. Okay, so how many nations come from Jacob? Or from Israel. Luke, what's the answer to that question? One. And then he says, the shallow water. Yeah, this is the shallow water. Yeah, one nation. A nation, and then he says, indeed, an assembly of nations. So how many nations is it that comes from Israel? A nation, indeed, an assembly of nations will come from you, and kings will descend from you. Okay, help help help me with that. How do what do we do with those verses?

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah, it seems that uh God here is saying there's more than one nation that's going to come from you.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

What nation is that? But uh Is it France?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Israel and France.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

That's right.

From Israel To Every Tribe And Tongue

True Circumcision And True Worshippers

SPEAKER_01 12:28

The French are not included. Uh no, I think he's saying, Okay, so there's assembly of nations, plural, uh, will come from you. Obviously, we know that there's only one nation, the nation of Israel, that comes from Jacob. And there's many there are uh the tribes of Israel, but those are not different nations. And uh so it seems to be that God is speaking to something further, deeper, again, swimming and we're moving from the shallow into the deeper, the deeper depth of the water. And it would get to, I think, the idea of back to where you talked about before, um, is that Israel is not the blessing to the world, but they are uh they are the blessing comes from comes forth from meeting Jesus. And so how do you get to there will be an assembly of nations? Well, you get into Revelation, where we are told that all uh there'll be all uh people from all tribes, tongues, and languages gather around the throne. And so um it seems that clearly what God is foreshadowing in this statement is that through Jesus uh there be many from all different tribes, tongues, and nations who have come to faith in Christ, and thus they would be assembled around the throne of God, many nations, but one body in Jesus. And um and so from Israel, in a sense, Jesus comes from the line of Israel, or from the nation of Israel, from the line of uh King David, Judah, and uh it's through him that people from all different nations are then made into one body in Christ. And uh and so you see this picture in Revelation of where people from all tribes, tongues, and languages will be gathered around the throne because of Jesus. So I think that's where that's where uh God is going, though if you're Jacob, you would not understand. Jacob would not understand that. You have no idea. So it's it's the New Testament, uh New Covenant that is helping inform our understanding of the old, which is an important hermeneutic for the Bible.

One New Humanity In Christ

Blessed To Be A Blessing

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah, it's it's like a little marker like tucked away, uh, a little clue tucked away in into these verses that like you said, Jacob Jacob would not have seen this. He wouldn't have seen, oh yeah, this I bet that the whole world is going to be you know um belonging to Christ one day. He he that's not on his radar, uh, but but it is on Paul's radar. It is, it is on Paul, I mean it's on Jesus' radar. Um in Romans chapter 2, it says um verse 27. He says, A man who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will judge you who are lawbreaker, in spite of having the letter of the law in circumcision. And then he explains himself in verse 28. For a person is not a Jew. Okay, so now let's think about that for a second. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. Now, this would this would have sounded like blasphemy to first century Jewish people. They'd say, what do you mean? Like, I mean, what do you mean? A per a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly. They would say that's like the what is the definition of a of a Jewish person, a descendant of of Abraham? What is like the definition of a Jew? They would say it's one who is uh uh biologically a descendant of Abraham and carries the mark of circumcision. Um they would say that's like what makes you a Jew. That's like and then the law of God and the the history of of Israel, they would say all of this is it it's what has made us a distinct people. But what Paul is saying in in uh Romans chapter two is that the true essence of being a Jew, uh or or a true worshiper of God or a true descendant of Abraham, it's not actually physical. It's not a physical mark in the flesh. And I think uh Genesis 34 is a brilliant example of that reality. It is a brilliant, it is a brilliant example of that reality because when you read the default about the defilement of Dinah and Simeon and Levi, it's Simeon and Levi who have the mark of the external mark of the covenant, who misuse the mark of the covenant, uh the sign of the covenant circumcision to exploit and to kill. And it's it's the Shechemites, the Canaanites who who actually accept the mark of the covenant, but it's obvious that when they were circumcised, they didn't become true worshippers of God. No, they didn't that wasn't even in their radar. It wasn't it wasn't even it wasn't it was not on their radar. They accepted the physical mark of the covenant. We want money, money, women, money and women, power, money, women. Yep. And so they said, Well, we'll we will be circumcised. Yeah, and then at the same time, you have Levi and Simeon who say we're gonna use circumcision to exploit and to kill. And so there's it's there's no possible way that the physical mark of circumcision is what makes someone a true worshiper of God. It's impossible. And you see it so clearly in the story, there's no way that that that is what God is after. You know, I don't care what you do or how you live or how you think or what motivates you. As long as you got the mark on your body, that's all I care about. It's like there's no way that's what God is after. And so Paul Paul clarifies in verse 28 for a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew. Now think about this what makes a true descendant of Abraham a true Jew? A person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the spirit, not the letter. That person's praise is not from people, but from God. And so what God is after is true worshippers. And that's what Jesus said. You know, remember when he showed up. Um I was thinking about this, it's kind of crazy. I I I should verify this, um, so if I'm wrong, you can correct me. But when he goes to um when he goes when Jesus goes to the woman at the will, at the well, aren't they in Shechem? I think Shechem. Jacob's well. Probably. We can we can verify this further in real time. Um in Jerusalem, right? You can you can look it up. Um it may not be, so if it's if I'm wrong, just strike that, strike that from the record. Anyways, but Jesus goes and what's true is that he explains to the woman that the woman at the well that that God is looking for true worshippers. That's what he's looking for, who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Yep. And uh that's what that's what makes someone uh a true Jew. It's not the physical mark. And so when J when Jacob God says to Jacob, or now Israel, he says, Be f I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation indeed, an assembly of nations will come from you. What what God has in mind at that point is a world filled with people who are worshiping him from the heart, which is a great commission. Yeah. And I just love that. God, he's not just concerned about the nation of Israel, he is, but it's through the nation of Israel that all the families of the earth will be blessed in Christ, which is it's a glorious, it's a glorious picture.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Well, it seems like Paul later in Romans 4, when he's talking about how uh Abraham was like the promise was granted through Abraham's faith. Yes, he says, uh now it was credited to now it was credited to him, like the promise by faith. Credit was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. And so it's like even from the beginning, like Abraham the promise wasn't confirmed with Abraham because he accepted the physical sign of, you know, it's just like salvation for us isn't um tied to the physical signs of baptism and communion, certainly their outward um outward expressions of inward realities. Um but it but it is like the faith, the inward reality that the grant the promise.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, you know, Ephesians 2 um emphasizes the same. I mean, obviously Paul's writing about this repeatedly, the the need for circumcision of the heart, and what is a true worshiper of God is not just someone who's been marked externally. But he says in uh chapter 2, verse 11, so then remember that at one time you were gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands. And so he's pointing out, okay, at one point, you Gentiles, so a Gentile is everyone except for a Jew. So they're all all the other people of the world, so we are Gentiles. You were the uncircumcised by those called the circumcised, meaning the Jews. And he says, which was done by the flesh by human, in the flesh by human hands. So there's a physical circumcision that was done that marked them out as a Jew. At that time, you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners of uh to the covenants of promise without hope. And without God in the world. So here's who you were. You were cut off, disconnected, cut off. You were not part of the promises of God, the covenant of God. But then he says in verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus, you who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh he made no effect of the law consisting of the commands of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from two, resulting in peace. And so you have this picture of okay, how do all these when he says uh indeed assembly of nations will come from you? Uh how does that work? Well, it's in Christ that the two now become one. And so all peoples of the world Gentiles. One in many. Exactly. Yep. All the Gentiles are now who believe in Christ, have now brought been brought near. That we do now belong to the covenant promises that God has uh God has made uh through Jesus. And so he is our peace. And he says, uh in the two uh in himself one man from two resulting in peace, he did this so that we might be reconciled, so that he might reconcile both God in one body through the cross by which he put hostility to death. And he came and proclaimed the good news of peace to who are far away, and peace to those who are near to both the Jew and the Gentiles. That's right. And so Jesus is the the the uniting force, he is the one who makes uh the many nations come out of Israel and to one body, to one nation. One man a new man.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yep. And I I just I love I love the thought that um God's God's pattern is that he blesses his people that we might be a blessing. That's what he does to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so when he gives the command, be fruitful and multiply, what happens right before that is he says, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God appeared to him again and he blessed him. And uh you look at those verses and you're like, okay, God has appeared to Jacob so many times and he blesses, he's blessed him so many times. And when he says, Be fruitful and multiply, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply, uh, the heart of God is to bless the nations. That's his his his plan. And so we have been infinitely blessed, eternally blessed in Christ. And so the command to go make disciples of all nations is the fulfillment in so many ways of all the whole world being blessed in Christ. And so that means that God blesses us, that we might be a blessing to the whole world. Totally. And so God's heart, God's heart for the nations is to bless them, to give them an eternal blessing in Christ. And I I just love that to think uh I I love to think that way about Christians because uh right now, uh, or I should say often, uh Christians are talked about as kind of the scum of the earth. I mean, in the culture. You hear people, they just say they're I heard an interview, uh I heard an interview where this woman was talking about how Christians, evangelical, Bible-believing Christians, she said, they are a cancer to society. That's what she said. I thought I said, tell me what you really think, lady. What do you tell what do you actually think? By that I thought, oh my, oh my. But really, God's heart is for us to be the salt and the light and to be a blessing to the whole world. And and um, and so it flows from a heart of love that God's God loves the world and that to be a Christian is to be blessed, and to be a blessing, it's to extend the the love, the love and the mercy and the grace of God uh to the whole world. And so it's a it's an awesome, it's an awesome uh uh verse, verse 11, Genesis thirty-five, verse eleven. It is an awesome verse. I mean, it's like it's it's like a portal to the rest of the Bible that helps us understand our lives.