Background:
*These stones were taken out of the midst of the Jordan right where the Ark was present. They represent God’s power and authority and ability to deliver His people. They also represent all that God has brought His people through leading up to this point.
*These stones represent the good and the bad that God has brought His people through. At different times and in different ways, God has been faithful to deliver His people out of or lead His people through various situations and issues.
*These stones are a foreshadowing and a type of Christ.
JESUS HIMSELF WAS BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN AND CAME OUT WITH THE BLESSING AND FAVOR AND GOD AND HOLY SPIRIT AND BECAME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE AND THE STONE/ROCK OF OFFENSE. HE BROUGHT PASSAGE INTO THE NEW PROMISED LAND.
*As John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River, he confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees with their system of belief.
And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. Matthew 3:9 (The stones were still there and still served as a reminder to what God was able to do. These 12 tribes were Abraham’s offspring).
*As Jesus is riding into the city on the colt, the people are crying out in praise to Him. Near where what could be the 12 stone monument, the Pharisees urge Jesus to rebuke the disciples and the others for crying out and carrying on.
I tell you, he (Jesus) replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Luke 19:40 (The stones will always stand in readiness to declare what God has done. Failing to step into what God is DOING NOW is our way of allowing the stones to cry out for us).
*We are told that each of these stones are for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. We are going to look together at what each stone represents based upon that understanding.
*First, I want us to look at the mothers who bore these twelve tribes and learn some things about the church from this study. For this message, we are going to look at types in this manner:
n Jacob is going to serve as a type for God.
n The mothers are going to serve as a type of the Church and the different modes or eras she can take on.
n The sons or 12 tribes are going to serve as a type of the offspring or fruit that can be produced from the union of God and the Church.
The 4 Mothers as Types of the Church: Genesis 29:31-30:24
1. Leah
a. Leah was tender eyed. This doesn’t mean she wasn’t attractive, she just didn’t turn a lot of heads. She had her own qualities, but wasn’t highly favored.
b. The name Leah means weary.
i. Over the life of the church, weariness is one of the biggest barriers and obstacles to the life that the church is designed to have.
ii. Weariness will cause you to stop short of the mark. It will cause you to miss out on what is truly available.
c. The name Leah means impatient.
i. The church is often guilty of jumping the gun and going after things before she is ready.
d. The name Leah means grieved.
i. Grief in and of itself is part of life, but the issue with the church is that she often takes on way too much grief and hurt.
ii. A major danger and pitfall in the church is to try and do whatever is necessary to avoid grief and hurt.
e. The name Leah means to be offended.
i. It is impossible to not be offended in life. The issue is how we deal with that.
ii. An offended church becomes quite destructive to themselves and to others around them. Hurting people hurt people.
f. Leah was the one who was ultimately buried with Jacob. The tomb held Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebekah, and Jacob & Leah (Genesis 49:31).
2. Bilhah
a. The name Bilhah means troubled.
b. Bilhah was Rachel’s solution to her barenness. How many times do we try and do God’s work for Him?
i. This concept was generational in that Abram lay with Haggar and Ishmael was the fruit of that relationship.
c. Bilhah and Reuben had an affair (Genesis 35:22). Upon his deathbed, Jacob stripped away Reuben’s place of authority as the firstborn for this act.
d. How often has the church been in a place where she has gone after things that God has not given?
e. A hunger for the forbidden. A hunger for power. A hunger to be or do something that is not for you.
f. How much adultery has the church been involved in?
g. How much has the church sacrificed for their own desires?
3. Zilpah
a. The name Zilpah means a trickling or to trickle as myrrh.
b. Zilpah was Leah’s retaliation to Rachel’s handmaid bearing sons for Jacob.
c. Zilpah can represent one of the more dangerous times for the church. This is where it seems sweet and nice, but a trickle will never bring the river of God that He desires to bring.
d. Leah herself found her happiness through Zilpah to a degree and thought finally this would be when her husband would love her.
e. Zilpah is the time of the church where we feel good about what we have accomplished and can get to the place where it is enough.
4. Rachel
a. The name Rachel means ewe or sheep.
b. Rachel represents the era or type of the church that is truly operating as she should – as the sheep of God.
c. This is the type of the church that God is most in love with. This is the church that He as the Great Shepherd is able to produce the most through.
d. Rachel was beautiful and highly favored and is the one that Jacob loved.
e. It was Rachel’s son, Joseph, who was the recipient of the favor of his father.
*Out of these 4 women came the 12 tribes of Israel. Out of these 4 women came the fruit of God in His people. Out of these 4 women we find the different types and manifestations of the church. As we look at the 12 tribes going forward, we can begin to see what things are produced during these times. With that, we will see that the 12 stones take on new meaning when we realize what they represent and what God has brought us out of or through.
