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Deuteronomy 33: Moses' Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes- Blessed Be He Who Enlarges Gad Introduction and Opening Prayer Welcome to Bible Study with Jairus. Today we will continue our discussion of Moses' blessing and prophecy regarding the future of Gad, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. We will also explore Jacob's prophetic blessing over Gad, and examine what we can learn from Gad's experience as it applies to New Testament Christian life. As I have mentioned many times, each story of the twelve tribes of Israel is a story of transformation from sinner to saint. It does not matter how you have sinned or where you started; both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. The book of Romans tells the story of transforming sinners into the many sons of God who come to the glory of God. So, the story of the twelve tribes is a story of transformation, turning different kinds of sinners into the pearl gates of the New Jerusalem. We have already examined many of Jacob's sons. Today we enter into the prophecy regarding Gad, who was the son of Zilpah, Leah's maid, with Jacob. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to be with us and teach us. We will begin with prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. We come boldly to the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. By His blood, we can come to Your throne of grace to receive mercy, grace, and timely help. We ask for timely help today. We ask for daily manna today. We ask for Your heavenly bread today, because Your Word is bread for us. Illuminate the Word of God in the Old Testament, the word of prophecy through the mouth of Moses and Jacob. Illuminate the Word of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us and upon us. We give glory to the Father and to Jesus Christ the Son, who paved the way for us to ask boldly. The Father gave us the Holy Spirit. We thank You for sending the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. We recognize and acknowledge Your continuous presence of the Holy Spirit within us. We ask for the cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus Christ upon our hearts, our mouths, our minds, our tongues, and our ears. Remove all veils by applying the blood of Christ. We further petition and request the anointing of the oil of the Holy Spirit in our ears and in our mouths. I give all the members of my body as a living sacrifice, as weapons of righteousness, to utter the gracious Word and oracles of God in the name of Jesus Christ. We thank You, Holy Spirit, in advance for Your presence, for Your illumination, and for Your teaching to the people of God today. Amen. The Story of Transformation Each story of Jacob’s twelve sons is a story of transformation. Even if you are like Reuben, who committed sins of immorality and fornication, you will experience salvation and become one of the pearl gates in the New Jerusalem. Or perhaps you are as twisted as Simeon, who thought the solution to his problems was to kill another person. Joseph was his target. So many people today are twisted into thinking that the way to solve their problems is to kill or eliminate others. Simeon was twisted to such a degree that he believed his problem in life was Joseph. He was probably the one who tried his hardest to kill Joseph. Otherwise, we cannot explain why Joseph later bound him up among all the other brothers who went to Egypt. Growing up in a dysfunctional family like Jacob's was difficult. Jacob favored Rachel and her sons Joseph and Benjamin. I mentioned that his favoritism toward Joseph did not begin when he made the colorful coat. No, it started when Rachel took away the mandrakes from Reuben. It probably started early, perhaps when Joseph was allowed to eat the only egg or chicken at the dinner table.  Simeon may not have been allowed to do that. I read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. Do not quote me on this because I am speaking from memory, and I may be wrong. He said that the persecution of Cain toward Abel did not begin the moment Cain killed Abel. It began at the dinner table. Every day, Cain made fun of Abel for raising sheep instead of providing the family with produce. The persecution among God's people always involves a relationship between God's people and God's tools. In Isaiah 19, God mentions that Israel is His inheritance, Egypt is His people (if I remember correctly), but Assyria his handiwork. The word “handiwork” was also translated as “tools” sometimes. Ishmael was His tool as well as Assyria. Ishmael was always a tool for God to chastise Israel. The dynamic relationship among God's people, among those created by God, even within a single family or a church, always includes some people whom Satan uses to instigate persecution against the people of God. But in His infinite wisdom, God uses all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. Joseph’s brothers meant to do evil. They were instigated by Satan to hurt him, but God meant it for good. God turned the evil into good, so Joseph could be trained and perfected through the persecution. Eventually, he became the ruler of nations. That is always the dynamic among the people of God. Even in Revelation, you have the greater body of Christ called "the woman" in chapter 12. Then you have the man child, the stronger part of the overcomer, the victor. All the environment God created, all the people around you, are the woman. All believers in the church are the woman. But out of the woman will come a stronger part: those who are firstfruits, overcomers, resurrected members of excellence, as the apostle Paul mentioned. This does not mean that other members of the body, other members of the woman, other members of humanity will not be saved. No, that is not what it is saying. It is saying that God always works through a remnant, a group of overcomers, to fulfill His purpose. Among God's people, it is always that dynamic. Jacob’s Dysfunctional Family In Jacob’s dysfunctional family, there were twelve sons and one daughter. They hated each other. They showed partiality. They had different statuses: the sons of Leah, the sons of the two concubines or maids, and the sons of Rachel. This made for complicated relationships. But through the strife among different wives and children, God used difficulties to transform Jacob from a heel grabber into Israel, who wrestles with God, even becoming the prince of God. In other words, without so many wives, so many children, and so many struggles in Jacob's life, he would not have experienced the transformation of God. God works through the environment. God hides Himself in all the people and matters in our lives. The dynamic structure of the twelve sons of Jacob, or the Israelites, is a picture of how God deals with any individual today. You may not have four wives. You may not have twelve sons and one daughter, but you have a complicated life with your own circumstances. God is using that complicated network of circumstances, people, and matters around you to work good in you. You are Jacob today. Don’t look at your life as easier than Jacob's. My life is not easier than Jacob's. Even I, with one wife, find that God uses marriage to correct and humble me in ways I would never choose for myself.  I mean that God sometimes uses marriage, uses our spouses, to correct us.  We may not always be joyful when the correction comes through our spouses or the people around us, but that does not mean God is not working through it. Our lives are as complicated as Jacob's, even if we do not have four wives and twelve children. Perhaps you have four wives through divorces. Life can be complicated. Through this complicated network of family matters, people, hatred, strife, and fighting against each other, dynamic relationships and characters are being formed. Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian, mentioned in his writing that none of God's people become saved without experiencing suffering. They either become soft toward God and are transformed like Jacob through the circumstances, or they become hardened. They become hard-hearted. They hate God because their prayers for healing, for their parents, for their mothers, or for other requests were not answered. Their hearts become hard. There are trials and difficulties in life. Through these, you develop character. If God is sovereign, there will be difficult environments, and a difficult network of relationships in life. Your unique characteristics, your way of reacting to your surroundings, are being shaped. The Character of Reuben I said that Reuben was probably reacting to his father's neglect toward his mother and toward Rachel's maid. Both were neglected because Leah did not choose to sleep with another man when her husband neglected her. Instead, she tried to give him babies to woo him and gain back his love. That is why she tried to give him babies one after another. After this last baby, she said, "This time my husband will be united with me because I gave him six sons." Rachel probably had Jacob's attention all the time. To the point that Leah had to rent Jacob for one night to produce Zebulun. That was probably not a pleasant experience when Reuben had to give up his mandrakes to Rachel, becoming the price for his mother to rent his father to sleep with her for one night. It is not a pleasant experience. If I were a child, I definitely would not be proud of this. Of course, Rachel's maid was neglected as well. In Chinese history, there is a story about a wealthy landlord who had many wives. He could not visit all of them. So, some wives, burning with desire, would find a young man to sleep with. Then the rich man would find out and kill the young man or the concubine. It is an everlasting story in Chinese literature because the Chinese have a long tradition of having many wives. It was the same in biblical accounts. I think Rachel's maid was neglected. Both of them were instigated by Satan to fall into fornication and defile Jacob

Bible Study with Jairus Deuteronomy 33: Moses’ Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes — Joseph: Righteous Fruit From Suffering Welcome Back Welcome back to Bible Study with Jairus. It has been a little while since we met last; the holiday season took us out of town for some good family time. But now we are back and returning to our normal schedule. We want to continue our daily Bible study series. We have been working through Deuteronomy, and we hope to finish out Deuteronomy 33. We are also hoping to spend more time on the story of Joseph. I checked, there is so much in the story of Joseph. We have Jacob’s prophecy for Joseph, and also Moses’ blessing to Joseph. I may eventually get into the full details of Deuteronomy 33 verses 13 through 17 or 18 regarding how Moses blessed Joseph. But before that, I want to continue the thought we began last time. I believe it was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Life of Joseph and the Life of Benjamin I mentioned last time that if you don’t have the life of Joseph within you — which represents the freedom in you through the gospel, through knowing the Word of God — then you cannot maintain the freedom outside of you in the land, which is represented by Benjamin. Why do I say that? Because Benjamin is the place where Jerusalem dwells. I talked about the experience of Benjamin; Benjamin is where Jerusalem dwells, where the temple dwells, where the presence of God dwells. In the land of Benjamin, you have the temple and the presence of God. But when the Israelites fell into idol worship and forsook God, God forsook the temple. Of course God loves the temple. The temple is the presence of God. David wanted to build a temple for God. God told him, “Heaven is my sitting place, my seat, and the earth is my footstool. All of heaven and earth belongs to me. I am too big for your temple. But because you desire to build a temple for me, you deserve my presence. I am granting that wish to you, but not through you. You cannot build a temple for me because your hands have much blood on them, because you are man of war. I will raise someone from your loins, Solomon. He will become a prince of peace. He will build the temple for me and I will dwell among my people. You can come to the temple to worship me, and I will bless you with my presence and many other blessings.” But eventually, the Israelites fell into idol worship and fell away from God and lost their freedom in the Word of God. In New Testament terms, from a Christian perspective, when you lose your freedom in the gospel, you become a slave of sin. You become a fallen, degraded, perverted, prodigal son. You fall away from the freedom in Christ Jesus, and then you can no longer maintain the outward presence and manifestation of God, which is the New Jerusalem, the temple of God. So the experience of Joseph represents the freedom within, and the experience of Benjamin represents the freedom without. The Illustration of Europe I use the illustration of Europe. Europe was almost fully Christianized. Most of those countries were Christian countries. On the outside, they had the freedom to worship, the freedom to assemble, and the forms of Christian nations. But when the people of Europe lost the essence of the gospel as well as the freedom within through the gospel and the knowledge of the Word of God; eventually they could not maintain the outward appearance of worship, the freedom of worship, and the outward presence of God. This is not something that only happened to Israel. God allowed Nebuchadnezzar and the Romans to destroy the temple. Of course, God treasured His temple, loved His tabernacle, and loved His presence among His people. In the book of Ezekiel, God showed Ezekiel a vision of His temple, and there were corrupted things within it. And then in that very vision, Ezekiel saw the glory and presence of God depart from the temple. When you cannot maintain the freedom of the gospel and the Word of God within you; when you no longer walk in the freedom that comes from following the law of God; God will not maintain a religious structure on the outside just to make you look good. God would rather abandon a religious institution where there is no longer any presence or movement of the Holy Spirit. God would rather allow your outward religious freedom and freedom of worship to be destroyed, because you have already lost your freedom within. If you cannot maintain Jerusalem in your heart, the presence of God in your heart, you cannot keep Jerusalem on the outside. I am using figurative language here, an illustration. And I am not only drawing from European history, I am drawing from American history as well, especially the last fifty years. America’s Fifty Years of Spiritual Decline We all know the degradation of faith in America and how it has affected the political realm and the morality of society. I have heard people quote the founder Adams, that the Constitution was written on paper, and it was based on a moral people, and a moral people was based on religion. In other words, if we are going to keep the Constitution and live by the principles of the Bible that are built into it, we must have a moral people. When the morality of the American people falls below a certain standard, you can no longer truly follow the Constitution. I have also heard from Christian scholars on the right that when Jefferson wrote his famous letter about the separation of church and state, he was writing to a Baptist church. He was saying that America would not allow a state-sponsored church, referring to the largest denomination at the time, the United Methodist Church. I want to be clear; I am not an American expert, so please look this up yourself. I am only using this as an illustration. Jefferson was saying the state should not set up a state Christian denomination or a state religion, as the European nations had done. The early settlers had fled persecution from the Catholic church and later from state churches. That is what Jefferson was addressing. But over time, that meaning was twisted to mean that the church cannot have any influence in society, politics, or public affairs. We have seen the result. Starting in the 1940s and 1950s, with the removal of the Bible from schools and the banning of public prayer, there came a steady degradation of faith in America, a decrease in the Christian population as a proportion of society, and a decline in moral standards. Religious Freedom Under Threat Eventually America reached a point where the freedom of worship and religion came under real threat. A Christian couple who owned a cake shop could be sued and face prison simply for not cooperating in making a cake for a homosexual wedding. They were exercising their religious freedom and acting according to their conscience, but the law was twisted to frame it as discrimination. Christians found themselves unable to pray publicly at football games or in stadiums. You face genuine persecution and the danger of losing your religious freedom. But because a significant portion of Americans are still Bible-believing Christians, not a majority necessarily, but a large number of patriots who believe the Word of God; they have fought back.   Every wise Christian leader knows this is only a temporary window. If there is no revival to turn the tide of spiritual decline in America; if the morality of the nation is not truly changed, the political effort will not last.  Without a revival coming to America, you will still eventually lose ground. Because, as I said before, if you do not maintain the freedom within, through the knowledge of God and the gospel, you will lose your freedom without. That is certain. I am giving you the example of Europe, the example of America, and I could give more examples from China, Muslim countries, Venezuela, and other parts of the developing world. Why Dictatorships Exist: William Penn’s Principle Why do we have dictatorships in China and in so many Muslim countries? I am quoting William Penn’s famous words: if you don’t serve God, you will serve Pharaoh. You will serve a dictatorship. The very reason we have dictatorships in China and so many other countries is because the majority of the people there have not heard the gospel, do not know God, do not have the life of Jesus Christ, and do not have freedom within. That is why they cannot have freedom without. If you look at Christian countries, especially America; why do they have freedom? It is because they have the freedom within. God allows them the experiment of self-governance, because He trusts that, to a degree, they know the Word of God, they know His law, and they will choose good over evil. That is a sign of maturity. America, as part of the body of Christ, is one of the most mature expressions of the body of Christ in the world. Not only in numbers, with around 67 to 70 percent of the population identifying as Christian in America, compared to only about 6 percent in China, but also in terms of that tradition of faith shaping a people capable of self-governance. Let us set aside the question of quality for a moment and just talk about quantity. If 50 to 70 percent of the population in Iran or any Muslim country were Christians, it would be very difficult for a dictatorship to remain. God would not allow it. The law God has set in the earth would not allow it. If 50 percent of the Chinese population were Christians, I do not believe the dictatorship could last. The very reason people live under darkness and dictatorship is that they do not have freedom in their hearts. I am Chinese. I know this firsthand. A great many Chinese people have very dark hearts, no morality, no faith. I was once a non-believer myself. I grew up in China. I came to faith after coming to America. I experienced the transforming power of the gospel. I experienced transformation through learning and living in America. I am gaining freedom from my sin

Bible Study with Jairus Deuteronomy 33: Moses’ Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes -Joseph: Enlarge Your Tent and Kingdom America as Joseph: The Horn of the Wild Ox Welcome to Bible Study with Jairus. We are going to continue our study of Deuteronomy 33, looking at the experience of Joseph and its application to Christians today, and also to nations, especially America. How can the experience of Joseph give us insight into what it means to represent God, to be the horn of the wild ox, to resist and chastise the nations?   America should be like Joseph, used by God to represent Him and to maintain His justice in the world. You may agree or disagree, but this is the reality: America is the strongest country in the world. Many people, even on the right, do not want America to be the world’s police. They want to focus on their own affairs. But the truth is, everyone knows America is the policeman of the world. That is the calling that comes with being the greatest nation on earth. That is the calling of God. You have to maintain justice in the world, because if you do not, the world falls into chaos.   If you do not maintain power, like the horn of a wild ox as Moses prophesied over Joseph and as Jacob blessed Joseph, you lose your authority. That authority is the iron rod that Jesus prophesied about in His letters to the seven churches. If the church overcomes, it will receive the iron rod to rule over the nations. That is the calling of the church. That is the calling of man, as established in Genesis 1:26 and as David revealed in Psalm 8: man is created a little lower than the angels, but God gave him authority to rule over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and every crawling thing on earth. Eventually, we will crush Satan under our feet. We will have the victory. Opening Prayer I know God has not yet given me a large platform, but let us learn to be faithful in the small things. I am very grateful for the listeners we have across various platforms. It is like a congregation. I appreciate you tuning in to listen to a Chinese man speaking in a non-native accent. We invite the presence of the Holy Spirit. We invite the help of God to be with us, to enter into the richness of the Word of God, so we can experience its transformation. Dear Father God, we come boldly to Your throne of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. We thank You for Jesus, for His blood, His sacrifice, and His finished work on the cross, which allows us to come boldly into Your presence. We are seated together with Christ at the right hand of God. We are His body and His members. We consecrate our physical bodies, our minds, our emotions and wills, our tongues and hearts to You as righteous instruments to bring You glory. We consecrate our whole being to You, that You would fill us with Your glory, with the life of Jesus Christ, with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. That anointing breaks every rope and every yoke. We pray that in the power of the Holy Spirit, You would bring us into the experience of Joseph and help us to become overcomers. Then we can gain the authority You prophesied to Joseph, the horn of the wild ox, to gore and rule over the nations in the life of Jesus Christ. We humbly ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to help us and teach us in this hour. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. The Experience of Joseph and the Experience of Benjamin Let’s get into the experience of Joseph. I have been sharing this over and over, and I need to share it again, because the experience of Joseph represents the freedom of the heart, the freedom within you. The experience of Benjamin represents the freedom of worship, freedom of religion, and freedom in the land. If you do not have freedom in your heart, you cannot maintain freedom in the land. Let’s look at the example of Europe again. Europe was once almost entirely Christianized. But when the people of Europe lost the gospel and lost the freedom of the gospel in their hearts, in their knowledge of God and His Word, they eventually lost the freedom of worship in their land. We saw it plainly during the Paris Olympics, when France openly mocked Christ and taunted the Last Supper. That was certainly from an evil spirit. And that is why you see nations like England and other European countries becoming increasingly Islamized. When you lose your freedom in the heart through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, you lose your freedom in the land. This is the principle God set in the Old Testament as well. When the Israelites lost their freedom in their hearts and turned to idol worship, they forgot the law of God. And eventually they lost their freedom in the land. Their land was taken, they were carried away as captives, and their temples and priesthood were destroyed. God would rather see the outward religious structure destroyed than allow it to remain as an empty shell. Whether through Nebuchadnezzar or through the Roman armies, God destroyed His own temple again and again. That is the life of Benjamin; Benjamin represents Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is in the land of Benjamin. Moses’ prophetic blessing to Benjamin represents the freedom in the land. When you have Benjamin, you have freedom in the land. When you have Joseph, you have freedom in the heart. And when you do not have freedom in the heart, you cannot maintain your freedom in the land. William Penn’s Principle: If You Don’t Serve God, You Serve Pharaoh I also quoted what William Penn said, the founder of Pennsylvania: when you do not serve God, you serve Pharaoh. That is why the Chinese people have a dictatorship. That is why Venezuela has a dictatorship. That is why Muslim countries have dictatorships. The majority of their people do not have freedom in the gospel and in their hearts. And without freedom within, they cannot have freedom without. If you do not have the freedom of the gospel in your heart, you will do worse things. Even the dictatorship, in a certain sense, is used by God to control and chastise a people. For example, in China, if you are caught dealing drugs, you face the death penalty immediately. China suffered deeply from the opium wars and the drug crisis brought by outside forces, and they have a fierce hatred of drugs as a result.  Anyone caught dealing drugs, whether foreigner or Chinese, is dealt with immediately. I am not commenting on whether that is humane. My point is that even a dictator can be used by God to enforce a certain measure of justice over a people whose hearts are deeply corrupt. I can say from my own experience that many people in China have very dark hearts. Sometimes we even joke in Chinese that we cannot live without the Communist Party, and there is some painful truth to that joke, because the hearts of human beings are so corrupt, sometimes it takes a harsh ruler to keep people from doing even worse things. I am not saying there is no hope for the Chinese. There absolutely is hope. But this is the reality of a people without the freedom of the gospel in their hearts. This was true in the history of Israel as well. The Israelites rejected God and rejected Samuel. They did not want God to rule over them directly. They said: give us a king like the other nations. Samuel was grieved, but God said to him: they are not rejecting you; they are rejecting me. They do not want me to rule over them. But I will warn them: a king will take their sons and daughters, will tax them, and will give them a hard time. The Israelites said: we do not care; we want a king anyway. That is the biblical proof of what William Penn said. If you do not serve God, you will serve Pharaoh. If you reject God as your king, you will get a dictator instead. The best outcome, of course, is a king who is after God’s heart, like David. That is the principle. So, you must have freedom in your heart to maintain freedom in the land. Why do the Chinese people not have freedom? Because the majority of Chinese people do not have the freedom of the gospel in their hearts. God cannot entrust freedom to people who will use it to destroy themselves and others. But because the knowledge of the gospel has been more prevalent in America, God gave America the opportunity to experiment with self-governance, a right to govern themselves that is almost unique in human history. Every other civilization has had a king, a dictator, or a ruler. America has this freedom because enough of its people have the law of God written in their hearts and have the maturity to choose good over evil. Jacob, Joseph, and the Journey Out of Captivity I mentioned my own experience last time and how it parallels Jacob’s experience when I left my previous denomination. God was leading me through a period of trial into a new stage. And I shared that you have to have the life of Joseph within you in order to leave certain seasons of captivity. When Jacob was in the land of his uncle Laban, Laban was a kind of Pharaoh to him in a small but real sense. Jacob was a slave to Laban in a certain way. When you do not have the life of Joseph in you, you are a slave. But when you produce the life of Joseph, you become liberated. That is why I noticed that God only spoke to Jacob after Joseph was born and told him it was time to leave. The life of Joseph represents a life of suffering that produces a partaker of God’s holiness, an overcomer, a co-king with Christ and ruler on the earth. That is what it represents. And when the Israelites were in Egypt under Joseph’s authority, they were not slaves. They were honored guests of Pharaoh, friends of Joseph. When the land recognized the life and ruling authority of Joseph, the land was free and the Israelites were free. But when the land no longer recognized the life of Joseph. When a new Pharaoh rose who did not know Joseph, the freedom of worship in Egypt was lost. The entire book of Exodus exists to record Moses

Deuteronomy 33: Moses' Prophecies to the 12 Tribes Rejoice, Issachar, in Your Tents Recap: Zebulun and the Ministry of the Apostle Welcome to Bible study with Jairus. We are going to study Deuteronomy 33 again, looking at the blessing and prophecy Moses spoke over Issachar. Yesterday I talked about the experience and application of Zebulun as the apostle, the sent out one. We looked at Zebulun's character, how he grew up, and how his destiny was predestined by God to bring people, both Gentile and Jewish, to God, to bring the worship of justice up to the mountain of God. That was the experience of Zebulun, and how God determined and predestined that Jesus would begin his ministry in the land of Zebulun. This was a people who were looked down on in the earlier days, but God would bring the great light there. That's also how God called Peter from there to become one of the greatest apostles. The way I bring that into the application for a modern Christian experience is this: all of God's work starts with a humble beginning, and God often hides the greatest revival inside a very humble disguise. Today we are going to talk about the experience of Issachar, and how his character was shaped. We’ll look at how his father saw him as a person of quietness before God, and how that character was used and transformed by God so that he could hear God's voice, know God's timing, and become a prophet for God among his people. We will look at how the prophet Silas and the apostle Paul worked together to build the foundation of the early Church. This powerful New Testament pairing is actually mirrored in Moses' ancient prophecy concerning Zebulun and Issachar. In this dynamic, Zebulun represents the modern apostle, while Issachar represents the modern prophet. Together, these ministries work in harmony to bring glory to God. They call people to the holy mountain to offer right sacrifices, fulfilling the patterns hinted at in Moses’ prophecy. By drawing from the abundance of the sea, representing the Gentiles, and the hidden treasures of the sand, representing the Jews, they gather all of God's chosen people into His kingdom. Finally, we will discuss the character of a prophet and how prophetic gifts should function in today's church. By learning to balance the prophetic and apostolic gifts, we can unlock a more powerful working of the ministry of Jesus Christ in this New Testament age. Opening Prayer Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you, to the throne of grace, in the name of Jesus Christ, through his precious blood. We come boldly to the throne of your grace to receive mercy, grace, and timely help. We acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is the same today as in the past. We recognize that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We recognize that the God of eternity is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What you revealed through Moses in the Old Testament is the same in principle as what you revealed to the apostle Paul in the New Testament. We ask for the cleansing of our members, our tongues, our ears, and our hearts. Circumcise our hearts. Apply your precious blood to our ears, and apply the anointing of the Holy Spirit to our ears and our hearts. Remove every veil, and give us a humble heart to listen to you speaking through the Holy Spirit. We humbly ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to come and teach us, to bring us into the depths of the word of God, into the innermost desire of the heart of God, and into the love of Jesus Christ, which is the church. Let us learn from the Old Testament and the New Testament, from Moses, from Paul, from Jacob, and from Issachar, the lessons you taught them, so that we can better build up the body of Christ today. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, and we give glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. Issachar: A Man Who Understood the Times I already gave a very brief introduction, but I want to repeat it a little, so you have a better understanding. Basically, we are talking about the story of Issachar, who represents the gift of prophecy, because 1 Chronicles 12:32 says Issachar is a people who had an understanding of the times, so that they knew what Israel ought to do, with two hundred chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. In other words, they knew what to do. That's very important. This verse is often quoted as proof that Issachar was a tribe who understood prophetic timing and the revelation of God. We have prophetic gifts and we have people in the church today who can hear God's voice. The prophetic gift is often coupled with the gift of apostleship. The two are meant to work closely together, because in Ephesians the apostle Paul mentions the five great gifts Christ gave the church: first apostle, second prophet, then evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Those are the five major gifts in the body of Christ. Among the first two are the gift of apostleship and the gift of prophecy, and they have to work together. Paul also mentions clearly that the New Testament church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. He was not referring to an Old Testament structure. He was referring to the church, which is, of course, a New Testament reality, not an Old Testament one. The church in the New Testament is built on the foundation of apostle and prophet. I want to bring in the story of the conflict between Barnabas and the apostle Paul, and also the way the prophet Silas and the apostle Paul worked together, to illustrate how God built the New Testament church on the foundation of apostleship and prophecy. After that, I will come back to Deuteronomy 33:18-19, where Moses’ uses prophesies over Zebulun and Issachar, as types to point to the same spiritual principle: Zebulun is a type of the apostle, and Issachar is a type of the prophet. Even in the Old Testament, in order to carry out God's work of bringing all peoples from all nations, both Jew and Gentile, up to the mountain of God to offer right sacrifices, you needed Zebulun, who represents the apostle, or even the evangelist, rejoicing in his going out, working together with Issachar, who represents the prophet, rejoicing in his tents.  They work together to bring God's people back to God.   Paul, Barnabas, and Silas Let's start with the apostle Paul, Barnabas, and Silas. Why do I bring this up? Many people know the story of the conflict between Barnabas and the apostle Paul. Barnabas is the one who introduced Paul to the disciples, back when Paul experienced his radical transformation. Paul wanted to become friends with, and have fellowship with, the believers and apostles in Jerusalem, but nobody would receive him. Only Barnabas received him. Scripture clearly records this in the book of Acts. Barnabas was crucial in bringing the apostle Paul into his destiny. When Paul was led into the wilderness for a season of waiting on God, it was Barnabas who eventually went to where Paul was staying and brought him back onto the stage. I believe Paul was staying in a place called Tarsus. The book of Acts says that it was Barnabas who went to Tarsus to bring Paul back into ministry, and the disciples finally accepted him. Barnabas was the instrument used by God to establish Paul as an apostle. I believe it's in Acts 13, when the teachers and prophets were fasting and fellowshipping together, that the Holy Spirit spoke to them and told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work of the Lord. That was Barnabas and Paul’s calling and confirmation of the apostleship. Later, Saul became Paul, and God used Barnabas and Paul as a pair of apostles. They were both apostles, because in Acts 13, the Holy Spirit spoke to the teachers and the prophets while they were fasting and praying together, telling them to set apart Barnabas and Saul, who later became Paul, to do the work of the Lord. They began their ministry together as apostles, but later they got into an argument. The argument was about whether they should bring Mark along on their journey, since Mark had left them partway through the first one. Paul did not want to bring him, and Barnabas insisted on bringing him. Eventually they split up. From that point on, Scripture never mentions Barnabas’s accomplishments again, even though God certainly used him to bring the apostle Paul into the ministry to become the leading apostolic disciple. Many people read this as simply a personnel issue, a disagreement over whether to bring Mark along. But it was actually much deeper than that. I've talked about this before in my study of the book of Acts. Before this incident happened, Scripture mentions Silas for the first time. If you read the book of Acts, before the argument between Paul and Barnabas, Scripture mentions Silas. Scripture says that Silas and another brother were prophets. They knew the word of God, and they carried a word of prophecy from God. They were sent to the church in Jerusalem, and they gave prophecy and encouragement to the believers there. The believers were encouraged, and Silas and the other prophet were praised among the brothers. Not only were they prophets, they were men of integrity, and they were praised among the believers. After they finished their task, the disciples sent them off in peace. But the book of Acts clearly records that the other prophet left but Silas felt he should stay. I don't know if you remember this detail, but before the argument between Barnabas and Paul happened, God had already prepared Silas to stay in Jerusalem. Silas felt he should stay, though he didn't fully know why. In the next chapter, the split between Barnabas and the apostle Paul takes place. After that, Scripture never mentions Barnabas again, but it does record that Paul selected Silas. Then they went on their journey to preach the gospel. Later we read the story when Paul and Silas were in prison, singing praises to God, and an earthquake shook the prison. That's what

Bible Study with Jairus Deuteronomy 33:26-29: There Is None Like God, O Jeshurun Introduction: Moses' Final Blessing Today we come to the last part of Deuteronomy 33, which is Moses' final blessing to Jeshurun. Jeshurun is a name for Jacob, for the Israelites. It means God's upright ones, God's upright person, the righteous. Moses called the Israelites Jeshurun when he finished his prophecies regarding the twelve tribes of Israel. We have already seen how Jacob's prophecy was the foundation and the seed, given to each tribe according to the characteristics Jacob observed in his children. He then proclaimed their prophetic future with the help of the Holy Spirit. Now, character may not seem directly related to your future, but we always say your character determines your fate. How does a person form their character? God created each person in a certain way, but it is a mixture of God's creation and pre-selection, the damage of sin working through your family and environment, and your own way of reacting. Those three things cause you to form a certain character. Then your character shapes your perception. Everybody perceives the same situation differently. Simeon perceived his environment and chose to harbor hate toward Joseph and wanted to kill him. He thought the way to solve his problem was to get rid of Joseph. But Joseph perceived the same environment differently. He said, you meant evil, but God meant good. Your perception of God, of Satan, of yourself forms the foundation of your mind. Your mind determines your behavior. If you continue a certain behavior, it becomes a pattern. The pattern becomes your character. And your character determines your fate. It is not coincidence but a series of linked events and choices. Based on this foundation, Moses developed his prophecies over the twelve tribes even further. And at the very end, Moses prophesied and blessed all of Israel as a whole. The message was: I have already given you individual blessings, but I know you are going to have a hard time, because you are going to forsake God and forsake His law. When I was alive, you still rebelled and stiffened your necks. When I die, you are going to fall into idol worship. And when you do, God is going to punish you. But even that discipline cannot take away the love of God. Just as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If God gave up His only begotten Son, will He spare anything else? No. The purpose of chastisement and discipline is always growth in life, to know the nature of God, to have fellowship with His holiness, just as Hebrews 12 describes. God will discipline Israel, and He will discipline us, but nothing can separate us from His love. Part One: A Recap of Jacob's Prophecies Over the Twelve Tribes I want to give a brief recap of what we have studied in Moses' prophecies over the twelve tribes of Israel, because this is the crucial foundation for the closing message. The first part of this recap is Jacob's prophecy toward each son, which was the seed. Then Moses' prophecy developed from there. Let me walk through them one by one. Reuben: The Snare of Lust Reuben fornicated and defiled his father’s bed by sleeping with Bilhah. Why did this happen? Why Bilhah? Did she seduce Reuben, or did Reuben seduce her, or did they come together mutually? In Chinese we have a saying when dry wood meets fire. When a man and a woman are both filled with fleshly desire, they come together like dry firewood meeting a flame. They are going to burn. I explained in a previous session that Bilhah was likely a surrogate mother. She was given to Jacob by Rachel to produce children, and Rachel clearly said the children would sit on her own lap and be called her sons. So, Dan and Naphtali were probably taken from Bilhah and raised by Rachel. Think about that situation from Bilhah's perspective. I know many single mothers, and they are remarkable, busy women. If Bilhah had two children around her all the time, would she really have the time or emotional space for a man like Reuben? Yesterday I went to Washington, D.C. for an appointment and had to cut it short to drive an hour and a half back home to pick up my daughter from school. I had to cancel the person I was meeting with. He understood completely and said it reminded him of the same season in his own life. And I only have one child. After four o'clock every day, my schedule revolves around pickups and activities. If you have two children, you are even busier. And in those ancient times there were no piano lessons or tutoring programs, but feeding and caring for two children still consumed enormous time and energy. So, Bilhah was probably not very busy and very isolated. Jacob likely did not spend much time with her. She was put into a very difficult position. And Satan used that human tragedy, that loneliness and vulnerability, to create an opening. Whether Reuben seduced Bilhah, or she seduced him, or they came together mutually, the Chinese idiom describes it well: dry firewood meeting fire. When you go to a barbecue today, you need gasoline to get the flames going. The picture is clear. Everything in that environment, every difficulty and every tragedy, is part of God's plan to form us into mature sons. God is hidden behind every situation. You have to see the flaming fire behind every bush. Everything that happened to Reuben was not by coincidence. It was all working within the three-part structure: God's hidden plan, Satan's strategy to deceive and destroy, and the human reaction, either through sin or through vision. The whole Bible operates within this three-part framework. Everything is about God and His nature and His leading, about Satan and his origin and his fall and his strategies in the past, present and future, and about man, created in God's image, given authority, losing that authority through sin, being saved by God, regaining identity, and gaining the final victory. Every situation in life must be examined through these three lenses. What is God's plan? What is Satan doing? And what is my own reaction? God's plan in the family of Jacob was clear: He wanted to produce the genealogy of Christ through Jacob's descendants. But in the very beginning of the Bible, God never specified which son He would use. Only much later did the Bible reveal, through Micah and other prophets, that from the tribe of Judah would come the Ruler, Jesus Christ. And I want to say again what I have said before: God never said He hated Reuben. He said He hated Esau, but He never said that about Reuben. Reuben's loss was entirely his own fault. He lost not only his earthly blessing as the firstborn but also the heavenly calling to be in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. That is an enormous loss. There is a saying I heard somewhere, and I am not sure who to give credit to: if you truly know God, you will see the flaming fire in every bush. But if you do not have eyes to see God at work, you will only see the bush, even when the fire is burning right there. In other words, every single day we should be having encounters with the living God. God speaks to us through the Bible, through creation, through birds and animals, through our neighbors, our spouses, our pastors, through all the difficult situations of life. God is constantly speaking. The only question is, do you have ears to hear? Do you have eyes to see behind the human surface, and even behind the activity of the second heaven where Satan deceives and destroys, all the way into the third heaven where God's hidden desire is revealed? You have to be able to see through all three layers. Joseph could see through all three layers. That is why he could say to his brothers: you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. He could see human wickedness, Satanic strategy, and God's overruling plan all at once. Reuben could not see through those layers. He only reacted with his flesh and his lust toward his situation. And I want to be direct here: that is how men make their biggest mistakes. They stop thinking about anything else and just react to the immediate desire. Hormones, lust, the impulse of the moment. And in Reuben's case, there was also an element of hatred: he resented that his mother Leah was being put to shame, that he and his brothers were being neglected. So he may have used Bilhah not only to satisfy his lust but to humiliate his father in return for the humiliation he felt his mother had suffered. Lust was the surface reason, but inward there was also hatred and the reaction to a sense of being neglected. Both the lust and the hatred were used by Satan to defile the bed of Jacob. And as a result, Reuben lost his earthly blessing as firstborn and his heavenly blessing of becoming an ancestor of Jesus Christ. That is a lot to lose. I sometimes think about meeting Reuben in heaven one day. What would you even say to him? Reuben might say, yes, I have deep regrets, but God found a way to redeem even me. My name is still on one of the gates of the New Jerusalem. What do you say to that? What can any of us say? Glory to God. Thank you for your grace. Amen. Jacob summarized Reuben's character as full of lust. He said, you were born when I was at the height of my strength. You were supposed to be my firstborn, the excellence of my power. But your lust became your undoing. You could not control yourself. That is the mistake so many men make today. If you ask Christians what their greatest regret is, many will say: if only I could have controlled myself when I was young, so many of my current problems would not exist. Lust is a bondage for human beings, for men especially. Though it affects women and relationships in all directions, if you were to survey ten men, nine of them would probably say: if I could have controlled my lower nature, I would have avoided so much damage in my life. Even Christian ministers have been disqualified for moral failure

Bible Study With Jairus – Deuteronomy 26:12–15 When Love Becomes the Law: Caring for God’s Presence and God’s People   Deuteronomy 26:12–15 (ESV) 12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.   When Moses spoke these words, God’s chosen people were standing right on the edge of a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses understood the nature of the human heart and how easy it would be to forget God’s blessings once the people were surrounded with the comforts of the Promised Land. Chapter after chapter, he repeats the law to the people, not just as a set of instructions or rules, but as a merciful warning against drifting into cycles of rebellion and sin. And right at the end of this powerful warning, he summarizes the law with two key commands that will help God’s people love God and their neighbor. Deuteronomy 26:12–15 as a “Turning Point” The book of Deuteronomy is often misunderstood as a book of merely laws and regulations. But Moses shaped it with great care. He built the book with a clear center, framed by what comes before and what comes after. The book of Deuteronomy contains a long section of warning sandwiched between two words of blessing. Just like a sandwich has a piece of meat in between two pieces of bread, Moses begins his final discourse with a word of encouragement in the first few chapters, then warns the people not to abandon the law of God, and ends the book by blessing the people and giving prophetic promises. Moses begins by reminding the people of their journey through the wilderness and the lessons they learned there, especially the lesson of faith. When God first promised the land of Canaan, the first generation failed to enter. Not because the land was impossible, but because they did not believe. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted that God would give them victory. Moses was aware of their faith and the lessons they learned from their parent’s failure in the wilderness. That was the first piece of bread. In the middle of the book, Moses patiently repeats and reinforces God’s law. He warns the second generation not to forget the Lord once they enter the land of abundance. Moses reiterates all the laws and the wonders of God and warns the Israelites to follow the law. Deuteronomy 26:12-15 comes at the very end of the long middle section of the book. It is placed at the end of the long warning, right before Moses begins to bless the people. This passage plays a pivotal role in Moses’s discourse. In this passage, he summarizes the law the same way Jesus did in Matthew 22:37-39. In essence, he tells the people to love God and love their neighbors. Love God. When Moses commanded the people to take care of the Levites, he was in essence commanding them to demonstrate their love for God. The Levites took care of the presence of God and helped the people communicate with Him. So taking care of the Levites was the same as showing love to God. Giving a tenth of your possessions to the Levites, or to the church in today’s terminology, is a clear sign that you love God. Love people. Taking care of the widow and the sojourner is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. After this admonition, Deuteronomy begins a section of blessings and curses, showing the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He ends the book by speaking blessing over the tribes of Israel, the final piece of bread in the “sandwich.” Blessing: Promise After Repentance In the book of Judges, God’s people did not trust God or obey him. They neglected the entire law. They did not love their neighbors as themselves or take care of the Levites. Instead, they lived according to their own selfish desires. Their society fell into chaos. During this time period, Naomi and her family left the land of Israel and no longer cared for the Levites. In the land of Moab, Naomi’s husband and two sons died as a consequence for their sins. If Naomi and her husband had not abandoned their duty to take care of the Levites and to love God with their whole hearts, they would not have lost these three men from their household. As a consequence of their sin, Naomi was now a widow and a sojourner. But then she repented. She no longer wanted people to call her Naomi, which meant “sweetness,” but to call her Mara, which meant “bitterness.” She acknowledged that the Almighty made her life bitter. Ruth suffered from the consequences of the sins of her husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law. But she chose to go along with Naomi in repentance. The laws in Deuteronomy 26 were specifically designed for a person like Ruth, both a widow and a sojourner. When Ruth arrives in the land of Israel, Boaz obeys these commands. He takes care of Ruth and Naomi, who are widows and sojourners. Because of his obedience, he becomes the ancestor of King David, who becomes the ancestor of the Messiah. Similarly, if we take care of the widows and the sojourners today, Jesus Christ will be born in their hearts. The word of God will be embodied and made flesh in their personal lives. Such a wonderful picture of salvation! The story of Ruth and Boaz is a wonderful picture of restoration. It reminds us that redemption is possible, even after disobedience. Even if God’s people disobeyed his commands given in Deuteronomy, and were cursed for their disobedience, God still invited them to repent. When they turned back to him God would restore them in his loving kindness. Boaz demonstrated love for God and people. The law was fully fulfilled in his life, and he ushered in the era of kingship (1 Samuel). Two Wilderness Lessons: Faith and Obedience Before Israel could inherit the promise, they had to learn what the promise required. Through many trials and tests, God taught them the importance of faith and obedience. Faith The first generation heard God’s promise, but they responded to the spies’ fearful report with fear of their own. They fixed their eyes on the giants in the land instead of trusting the God who had brought them out of Egypt. The promise was real and it never changed. All it required was faith to be received. Their unbelief angered the Lord, and that generation wandered in the wilderness for forty years until it passed away. The second generation begins to respond differently. When they face opposition, they do not remain in unbelief. They turn toward God in prayer. Their posture shifts. They begin to seek the Lord instead of shrinking back. They have learned, at least in part, that promise and faith are intertwined; that God’s promise becomes inheritance only when it is met with trust. Obedience The second wilderness lesson is obedience. However, rather than obeying, the people of Israel often respond with rebellion. As soon as Israel enters the land of Canaan, this pattern of rebellion begins to surface and it continues across generations. Scripture is clear: unbelief rarely stands alone. It is often joined to rebellion. We see this clearly in the life of King Saul. When Saul rebelled against the Lord, the prophet Samuel confronted him with sobering words: “Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23). Rebellion is not just stubborn disobedience. It is a turning of the heart away from God, replacing trust with self-reliance. The writer of Hebrews echoes this warning when reflecting on Israel’s wilderness failure. They did not fall because God’s promise failed, but because of two intertwined sins: unbelief and rebellion. They would not trust God, and they would not submit to Him. Together, unbelief hardened their hearts, and rebellion sealed their fate. Scripture consistently links rebellion with idolatry because whatever replaces trust in God eventually claims the heart’s allegiance. This is why Israel’s story becomes so painful after they enter the land. They do not fully remove the idolatrous nations in the land. What remains unconquered does not disappear or stay neutral. It becomes a snare. The idolatry that Israel tolerated eventually began to shape them, and their rebellion left unaddressed turned their hearts away from the Lord. Despite the disobedience of God’s people, God mercifully raised up priests to guard worship, kings to lead in obedience, and prophets to call the people back whenever the cycle began again. God’s Three Pillars: Priesthood: the presence of God God’s original intention began with the priesthood. He desired a people who lived near His presence, governed by priests who worshiped, obeyed, and shared responsibility. God’s presence in the Old Testament was never just symbolic. It was real and overwhelming. Fire, cloud, and voice revealed His holiness. At Mount Sinai, the people were frightened. They asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf, because they knew they were not yet ready to stand fully before such holiness. The distance didn’t exist because God was unwilling to be close. It existed because the people were not yet ready. Sin made d

Deuteronomy 33: Moses' Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes Dan, the Lion's Cub Springing Out of Bashan Welcome and Opening Prayer Welcome back to Bible study with Jairus. We continue our study of Deuteronomy 33, Moses' prophecy concerning the tribe of Dan. We will look at Moses' words alongside Jacob's earlier prophecy about Dan, and consider what God's salvation looked like in Dan's story. I pray the Holy Spirit gives us understanding. Let's start with prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you humbly. We need your help. We need the Holy Spirit to bring us into the experience of Dan, into his prophecy, and to show us how sinners like Dan can receive your transformation and salvation, until we become a pearl gate in the New Jerusalem. We ask Jesus Christ to cleanse us with his precious blood. We ask the Holy Spirit to anoint us with oil. We ask the Heavenly Father to bless this hour. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. The Story of Rachel, Bilhah, and Dan's Birth According to Genesis 30, Leah had already given birth to four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, before her womb closed for a time. Rachel, meanwhile, could not conceive, and it grieved her deeply. She told Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die,” and Jacob grew angry with her, since the matter was not his to decide. So, Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, that she might bear children on Rachel's behalf. When the first son was born, Rachel named him Dan, saying, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Her humiliation, in other words, had been removed. Later Bilhah bore a second son, Naphtali, of whom we will speak another time. Rachel said of him, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” The rivalry between Rachel and Leah, and the pain, neglect, and strife that surrounded it, formed the environment these children grew up in. It is worth pausing here, because our character is often woven together with our fate. Character Shapes Fate Why do we spend time examining the character of each of Jacob's sons? Because God created each of us with a unique nature, yet how we respond to our environment, especially a difficult one, shapes who we become. Joseph is the clearest example. He suffered as much as any of his brothers, yet he understood his suffering completely differently than they understood theirs. He knew his brothers meant him harm, but that God meant it for good. He could see God's purpose behind human sin and failure. His brothers, especially Simeon, could not see past their immediate trials. They decided Joseph was the problem, and that killing him would solve it. God made us free agents with free will, and the way we interpret the world we are given, the lens we choose to look through, shapes our character and our future. Had Joseph not chosen to see God's hand at work, he would surely have taken revenge on his brothers after their father died. He did not, because he understood that God's will stood behind even the sinful behavior of the people around him. Being born into a complicated, painful family often bends a person's understanding of the world, sometimes into a mindset that Satan can use to build a stronghold within them. Hatred works that way. With that in mind, let me offer some imagination about why Reuben may have slept with Bilhah and defiled his father's bed. Imagining Dan's Early Environment Neglect and a kind of functional divorce can leave a wife bitter, but having children nearby often gives comfort. When I worked as a reporter in Los Angeles, there was a neighborhood we nicknamed “Second Wife Village.” Many corrupt officials from China bought expensive homes in America for their second or third wives, women who were, in effect, mistresses supported by stolen money. These men would visit occasionally, but their children largely grew up without a father's presence. If you are aware of the Chinese community in Lost Angeles, you understand what I’m talking about. Even so, many of these women managed to build a life around their children. A woman can often bear the absence of a husband if she has a child, sometimes more than one, to pour her love into. But take the child away from her, and that becomes far harder to bear. With that in mind, consider Genesis 30 again. When Rachel proposed giving Bilhah to Jacob, she made the terms plain: Bilhah could bear the child, but the child would belong to Rachel, would sit on Rachel's knee as her own. In effect, Rachel took Dan, and later Naphtali, away from Bilhah, since both boys were named by Rachel, not their birth mother. I spent ten years without children before finally having what felt like a miracle child, and during that time I met many people connected to fertility clinics and heard many stories about surrogates. Sometimes a surrogate carries another couple's child for nine months and grows attached, and separating from that baby is agonizing. Bilhah's case was harder still. These were her own children by blood, yet by agreement they would never truly be hers. If Bilhah had been allowed to raise her own two sons herself, she may well have had no need to seek comfort elsewhere. Instead, it is possible that grief, neglect, and unmet longing left her vulnerable, and that both she and Reuben were exploited by this vulnerability to defile Jacob's bed. Many single mothers manage well when they can pour their love into their children. But take the children away, and the loss becomes unbearable. There are many single mothers in America that love and care for their kids. That, I believe, was Bilhah's experience: two sons taken from her because, by agreement, they belonged to Rachel. Growing Up Among Four Older Brothers Seen this way, Dan was the firstborn son in Jacob's household outside of Leah's own children. I mentioned yesterday that Leah's first four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, arrived almost as a single pride of young lions ready to conquer the world. I do not know exactly how Dan fit into that group, but I suspect it was not easy. Perhaps this offers some insight into how Dan grew up: how he responded to a difficult family situation, how his character was shaped, how he later fell, and how God eventually worked salvation through him, all of which Jacob seems to have observed and folded into his prophecy. Character Traits and the Seed of Prophecy The character traits Jacob observed in his sons became the seed of the prophetic blessings he gave them. Take Issachar, for example. Jacob saw in him the quiet patience of a donkey, and prophesied accordingly. Moses later built on that seed, blessing Issachar to rejoice in his tents alongside Zebulun, one carrying an apostolic calling and the other a prophetic one, together drawing Jew and Gentile alike to the mountain of God. First Chronicles 12 even records that the men of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do. You can see how a single observed trait develops, generation after generation, into a fuller calling. God spoke over Zebulun not only through Jacob's blessing and Moses' prophecy, but also through Isaiah in chapter 9, who foretold that Galilee, once a place of contempt, would become the very region from which the ministries of Jesus and Peter emerged. Contempt and humiliation, in other words, can become the starting point for God's greatest work. The same pattern of development shows up in Dan's story. I have already offered a picture of the environment Dan may have grown up in, based on Genesis 30 and common human experience. Now let's turn to Jacob's prophecy itself, and ask the Holy Spirit for further light.   Jacob's Prophecy: Dan Will Provide Justice (Genesis 49:16-17) Jacob said, “Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.” This is vivid, mysterious, prophetic language, and it deserves some unpacking. Why would Jacob say Dan will provide justice for his people? I believe Jacob's blessings, in every case, were rooted first in what he observed in his sons growing up within a large, complicated, and often painful family, itself a small picture of the wider human world: a field of sin, neglect, hatred, and misunderstanding. Yet without anyone fully seeing it, God was already preparing, out of this difficult and sinful family dynamic, a seed of salvation. Eventually a Savior would come from the tribe of Jacob to save the world, and all twelve tribes would one day experience God's transforming power and become the pearl gates of the New Jerusalem. I doubt anyone living in Old Testament times, or even most Jewish people today, holds this full revelation, that the twelve tribes will one day become the twelve pearl gates of New Jerusalem, gates through which both Jew and Gentile enter the mountain of God to worship him. Jacob may have grasped part of this. He was a prophetic man who had encountered God many times, through the suffering of his life, the tension of four wives, twelve sons, and one daughter, and the long process of maturing through pain. By the end of his life he could bless even Pharaoh, the greatest ruler of his day, and speak prophetic promises over his own sons. So in some measure, Jacob may have understood that humanity's temporary suffering leads, in God's hands, toward eternal salvation. The Nature of True Justice Justice is always tied to injustice; wherever there is a cry for justice, an injustice has already occurred. I imagine that as Leah's four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, were growing up, they did not always act righteously toward their younger brothers. There may well have been bullying. And wherever injustice exists, a need for justice follows. We see the same pattern in American history: real injustice was done to Native Americans, and African Americans. Nobody honestly denies this. But where do

Bible Study with Jairus Deuteronomy 33: Moses' Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes Asher: Let His Feet Be Bathed in Oil (Verses 24-25)   Introduction: From Jacob's Observation to Moses' Blessing Welcome back to Bible study with Jairus. Today we are going to look at the prophecy concerning Jacob's son Asher, both the blessing Jacob spoke over him and the blessing Moses later spoke over him. Jacob said that Asher's food would be rich, and that he would provide delicacies fit for a king. That blessing was rooted in something Jacob had observed firsthand: Asher's life was marked by being a peacemaker, by bringing good food to the table, and by serving others with a generous, hospitable spirit. Moses took that same observation and developed it even further. In his blessing, Moses declared that Asher would be the most blessed of all the sons, favored by his brothers above the rest. He would be the peacemaker, embodying what the Apostle Paul later calls the bond of peace in Colossians 3, the peace of Christ ruling in the heart, the bond that holds us together as one body. We are meant to live together in unity as brothers and sisters in God's family. As the psalmist says, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. But the honest truth about Jacob's family is that unity was not the norm. It was a household full of strife. Yet God's calling for his people was never strife; God's calling was to bring unity out of struggle and conflict. In time, God blessed the unity of his people, just as Psalm 133 describes: blessed are those who dwell together in unity, for it is like the precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robe. It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore. In other words, the outward picture is beautiful, but underneath there was real tension between the tribes. Still, God's calling was always to bring them into unity. When God's children walk in unity, they receive a blessing from on high, pictured by that oil flowing from the head of Aaron, down through his beard, down to his garments, and finally to his feet. In his prophetic blessing over Asher, Moses built on Jacob's earlier observation of Asher as a peacemaker, someone who cooked good food and brought delicacies fit for a king, much like a mother in the home whose cooking becomes an act of peacemaking. We see a similar pattern with Stephen in the book of Acts. When strife arose among the believers because the widows were being overlooked and were not receiving food, the apostles set apart Stephen and several others who were full of the Holy Spirit to handle that need. Through their service, they became peacemakers, and the word of God grew because unity was restored. Those who supply food, whether physically or spiritually, often become peacemakers in this way. Stephen was a peacemaker. In the same spirit, Moses developed Jacob's prophecy of Asher as the one who brings food to the table, calling him the most blessed among his brothers. We know that Joseph held a unique place among his brothers and received a remarkable blessing of his own. But why does Moses call Asher the most blessed and the most favored of all his brothers? Because Asher's ministry, fundamentally, was the ministry of a peacemaker. When a peacemaker dwells among God's people, when brothers live together in unity, that oneness releases great power for God's people. Both the Old and New Testaments echo this truth. There is an old saying, using a Chinese illustration, that a single chopstick is easily broken, but when chopsticks are bound together, they cannot be easily broken. One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight. The power of unity is immense. Unity, Reconciliation, and the Power of the Spirit This is the power of reconciliation, and it is the ministry pictured in Asher. The power of unity, built on the bond of love in Christ Jesus, whether among the tribes of the Old Testament or within the church today, becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of God's people. Out of unity comes blessing from on high. Out of unity comes a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In both Testaments, the ministry of Asher is the ministry of the peacemaker, the bond of love and peace that produces unity. Once that unity is established on the firm foundation of Christ's revelation, even Jesus' own teaching reflects it: he told Peter that we should forgive our brother seventy times seven. He also told Peter that he was a rock, but it was the revelation Peter spoke, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that became the true rock and foundation of the church, and the foundation of its unity. A church built on this foundation, built on this ground of oneness in Jesus Christ, is one against which the gates of Hades shall not prevail. So, with the ministry of Asher, building on the prophecy Jacob gave through his observation of his son's character, Moses developed this into a fuller blessing. Most blessed of sons is Asher, Moses says. Let him be favored by his brothers. That means everyone loved Asher; he was the most favored among his brothers. And further, let his feet be bathed in oil. This recalls the picture from Psalm 133, where oil was poured on the head of Aaron the priest and flowed down to his beard, then to his robe, and finally saturated him all the way to his feet. The poetic image of Asher's feet dipped in oil shows that he carried the ministry of reconciliation and unity so completely that, from head to toe, he was saturated with it. He was accepted by every one of his brothers, even amid so much strife elsewhere in the family. His was a ministry of unity and of consolation. Out of this ministry, the tribes of Israel would become one great army of God. That is why Moses continues, saying that the bolts of Asher's gate would be iron and bronze, so that no enemy could break through, and that his strength would equal his days. Think about the situation in America today. There is a rise of antisemitism, and some say we can support the Israeli people but must never criticize the Israeli government, while others say we must understand the strategy of the enemy: if Satan can break the bond between the nation of Israel and Christians, he can far more easily move against all Judeo-Christian, Bible-believing people of God. So, we must be careful, and we must seek balance. Yes, criticism of a government's policies is legitimate, and yes, we should continue to pray for the salvation of the Jewish people, who are not yet saved. But we must understand the strategy of the enemy and work toward unity between Jewish people and Gentile Christians, especially here in America. We cannot allow that bond to be severed. Let us go further still. Imagine if all Christians, whatever their tradition (high church or low church, this denomination or that, Protestant or Catholic), all Bible-believing, Jesus-believing Christians, dwelt together in unity. Can you imagine the power of God we would receive, the blessing from on high, the beauty of a church about which Jesus said the gates of Hades shall not prevail? Just as Moses described, when God's people walk in unity, their gates have bolts of iron and bronze, and they are full of power. Their days are full of strength, whatever number of days they are given, just as it was said of Caleb. They are full of strength and full of power, able to overcome the kingdom of darkness through unity. This is the revelation we are considering today regarding the ministry of Asher. Colossians 3 and the Call to Unity in the Church I want to return to Psalm 133 and also bring in Colossians 3. I will say more about this passage later, but here the Apostle Paul addresses the strife present among the members of his church and exhorts them toward unity. In Colossians 3:12-15, he writes, put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Just as there was strife and hatred among the children of Jacob in that dysfunctional family, a picture of the brokenness of this world, there has also been strife within the church of God, whether in Corinth or in Colossae. But Paul reminds them: remember who you are. You are God's chosen ones. In Colossians 3:12, the Jewish people are described as God's chosen, called to be a holy nation; strife or not, that calling remains. Likewise, we as Christians are chosen, holy, and beloved. There may be strife in the church, but we must remember that the ministry of Jesus Christ is reconciliation. Paul encourages believers to put on, as one would put on clothing, compassion, kindness, love, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another when there is a complaint, just as the Lord has forgiven us, so we must forgive. And above all these, he says, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, and be thankful. This is a beautiful illustration from Paul about the unity of the church. We experience strife, but we are called to put on the compassion and oneness of God, and above all, his love, that we might walk in this unity in Jesus Christ, in harmony. This is a fitting picture for the Old Testament Israelites and for the ministry of Asher. Asher's ministry is a type of reconciliation and unity, for the reasons already given: he was known as someone who put food on the table, food that was good, even fit to be called a king's delicacy. Jacob first observed this, but Moses' prophecy went further, describing Asher as the most favored and most blessed among all his brothers. Everyone loved Asher. And his feet would be dipped in oil, a continuous picture of the blessing of oil flowing on the heads of brothers dwelling together in unity. Whe

Bible Study with Jarius – Deuteronomy 33:6 Let Reuben Live: A Study of Pride, Loss, and Redemption “Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.” – Deuteronomy 33:6   Why Reuben Matters Moses proclaims prophetic blessing over the twelve tribes of Israel in Deuteronomy 33. These blessings are not sentimental farewells. They are spiritual verdicts, prayers, and revelations that expose both human failure and divine mercy. Each tribe carries a distinct story. Each reveals a different way humanity falls, and a different way God saves. Together, the twelve tribes form a complete testimony of redemption — how sinners are confronted, judged, humbled, and ultimately restored by grace. Today, we turn to Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. Reuben is not often preached as a hero. His story is uncomfortable and forces us to look honestly at pride, self-deception, and the devastating cost of unchecked desire. But it also reveals something powerful: God’s refusal to abandon a fallen son. Many believers may see themselves in Reuben. We fail in the same ways time and time again. But let us turn to the story and look into the light of hope found there. Knowing God’s Nature, Not Just His Acts Before we examine Reuben’s failure, we must understand a foundational principle of this study: Knowing God’s nature is essential to spiritual stability. Many believers know what God does, but do not truly know who God is. They know His miracles, His commandments, His blessings — but not His heart. Many believers know what God does, but far fewer know who God is. When we only know God’s actions, faith easily becomes rule-following. Religion and practice replace relationship and love. Obedience becomes external rather than internal. This is how idol worship begins, even inside the church. Knowing God’s nature protects us from falling and reveals His principles. It guards us from pride and from falling into religious legalism. When we know Him in this way, we gain a deeper and fuller understanding of how God views sin, repentance, judgment, and grace. Without that knowing, even sincere believers can slip into religious legalism or idol worship. We may think we are serving God, while actually serving our own pride, our own standards, or our own image of righteousness. This is why Scripture consistently calls God’s people not just to obey, but to know Him. Knowing ourselves and our sinful nature is the next big thing. We must understand our fallen human nature. Knowing God and knowing ourselves are the keys to understand the prophetic word toward the twelve tribes by Jacob and Moses. In both of their prophecies, Jacob and Moses pinpoint the goodness of God and individual characteristics, even failures of each tribe. But their fates do not stop there. These prophetic words also point to their redemption of their future. There are three pillars to understand the prophecies regarding the twelve tribes of Israel: God’s goodness, our fallen nature, and God’s redemption. Only through these lenses, can we understand their prophetic futures. A Warning from the Pharisees Consider this familiar scene from the Gospels that illustrates the danger of legalism. When a sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, the Pharisees were offended. According to the law, she was unclean. According to their religious standards, she should have been rejected. The Pharisees knew the law. They knew the rules. From their perspective, this woman was unworthy. Their judgment was based on external behavior and religious standards. Jesus, however, revealed the heart of God. He did not excuse sin, but He recognized repentance, humility, and love. Where the Pharisees saw a violation, Jesus saw a transformed heart. This moment exposes a dangerous truth: You can follow religious rules and still be completely blind to grace. It is possible to defend religious correctness while actively resisting God’s grace. Without knowing God’s heart, even sincere believers can oppose the very work God is doing. In the case of the Pharisees, they missed the heart of God, and they did not know their own fallen nature. Hence they also missed the prophetic future of this woman. When an amateur sees a gold mine, he only sees dirt. When a professional miner sees it, he discovers gold. When the Pharisees saw only a sinful woman, Jesus saw the prophetic future of a beautiful member of the body of Christ. The Pharisees only saw the dirt, but Jesus saw the gold. Jesus saw a bride without any wrinkle and a royal priesthood. Our perspectives about God’s heart, our fallen nature, and God’s redemption plan determine if we understand any prophecies. Prophecy is about the future; it may require us to see through the dirt of the past (and even the present) to find the gold of the future. Pride: The Veil Over the Heart At the root of Reuben’s story is pride. Pride convinces us that we see clearly when we do not. It places a veil over the heart, making us think that self-examination is unnecessary. Pride is what causes us to feel offended rather than repentant when we are corrected. We consistently think that we are really “not that bad” and devise all kinds of excuses to ignore the seriousness of the harm we cause because of our bad choices and selfish sin. Pride blinds us to God’s heart and His principles of righteousness and truth. When pride governs the heart: We excuse our sin • We underestimate its consequences • We resist accountability • We confuse confidence with righteousness Pride does not merely lead to failure. It hardens the heart against repentance. This is the spiritual environment in which Reuben fell. Pride is a false identity; it cannot handle negligence and humiliation. Thus pride leads to hatred. Reuben’s story and my homeland’s story of pride are similar. China was proud. The Chinese name for China literally means “Central Kingdom” and Japan was always associated with the word “small” in the Chinese history. China proudly called herself “Big China” and called Japan “Small Japan.” This concept lingers even today. My Japanese student in China told me a story. She did not recognize a huge Chinese spring onion as spring onion, so she asked a Chinese chef “What is this?” The Chinese chef proudly said, “This is BIG SPRINGONION, you don’t have this big spring onion in your small Japan, do you?” Pride is a way China tries to disguise the humiliation of almost being conquered by this small Japan. Pride is what lingers today, with the blessing of yesterday. Why was Reuben full of pride? Because he was the first born? Or because he was the son of the first wife of his father? He may have thought he was entitled to everything. Maybe the pride, negligence, and humiliation from Jacob and Rachel toward Leah, Reuben, and his brothers caused them to harbor inner hatred in their hearts. He may have been resentful to his father. Bilhah, the maid of Rachel was also neglected by Jacob. Her two sons were taken away by Rachel. Satan utilized their hatred to commit the sins against Jacob. On the surface it was lust that caused their sin, but in their hearts it was hatred due to negligence and humiliation. Pride is a façade; it is a false identity. Our real identity should be in the Son of God. I believe ancient China worshipped the one true God, but she has fallen to idol worship. This is why God allows humiliation to come upon her. Humiliation can lead to hatred, but it also leads to humbling. China still uses national pride to control and mobilize Chinese people. Whenever there is a crisis for the government, they utilize Japan as a threat and pass humiliation. They claim that only their leadership united the Chinese people to defeat Japan. But this narrative of "defeating Japan" under Communist Party guidance is built on a false foundation — a false identity. China must turn to find God and become a Christian nation—a nation with a true identity. Pride is not unique to a specific group of people. It is a human sin in its nature. It does not only happen in countries without knowledge of the Gospel like China, it also happens to countries that have historically had Christian roots. Today the greatest danger for the Christian West is pride. This is a false identity. We linger in the pride of yesterday’s familiarity with God, but we forget the intimacy with God that we need today. Our true identity in Christ will make us humble before God and become more closely united with him. This will protect us from falling away from any entitlement as Reuben who lost his birthright even though he was the firstborn. Reuben the Firstborn Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son. By birthright, he stood first in authority, inheritance, and responsibility. The firstborn was meant to carry a spiritual symbol of leadership and priestly authority. Yet Reuben committed a grave sin. He defiled his father’s bed (Genesis 49:4, 1 Chronicles 5:1 ESV), violating covenant order and moral boundaries. This was not a private mistake. It was a spiritual rebellion. As a result, Reuben lost what could not be recovered by human effort: His birthright • His authority • His inheritance • His place in the lineage of Jesus Christ Jacob’s words in Genesis 49 over Reuben are severe. Scripture does not minimize the cost of sin. “Sinning” is synonymous with “being lost in identity.” We sin when we forget our identity as children of God. The moment that the prodigal son in Luke 15 lost his identity, he sinned. The moment he realized he was the son of his father and that his father was rich, he stopped sinning. Sinning is a coping mechanism for those who have lost their identity. Just like using drugs, alcohol, and being addicted to pornography is a coping mechanism to ease pain, sinning is a temporary coping mechanism for those who are lost. Reuben lost his identity! Losing his birthright is just a pic

Bible Study with Jairus - Deuteronomy 24:10–18 LAWS ABOUT JUSTICE TOWARD THE OPPRESSED Scripture Reading “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God. You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and counts on it, lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin. Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin. You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I command you to do this.” Deuteronomy 24:10–18 ESV Introduction Today’s passage discusses justice for the fatherless, the widow, the poor, and the immigrant. Before we dive into this topic, I want to connect this passage to the current situation in America. Today, the American church is deeply divided in their attitude toward immigrants. Some Christians quote this passage and others to show that we should be loving towards immigrants and other neighbors. This is clearly taught in the Bible. But other Christians argue that Satan can use our false sympathy to welcome many immigrants whose beliefs are not in line with Christian values. These Christians argue that if we are not aware of Satan’s schemes, our nation may eventually become like Europe, heavily influenced by Islam. This division among Christians contributes to the political and cultural division in society at large. As Christians, how should we interpret this passage in Deuteronomy? I am hoping to interpret it from the perspective of the three pillars of the Bible: Priesthood, Law and Prophets. I pray that this understanding will help us to maneuver the difficult situation in the world today. Three Essential Pillars for Understanding Old Testament Truth Some years ago, a survey revealed that many people do not read the Bible simply because they do not understand it. This statement is supported by a common Chinese saying: “Those who have the privilege of reading the Old Testament often never make it past Exodus, and those who read the New Testament rarely go beyond Romans.” After Exodus, readers encounter laws, rituals, and regulations that feel dense and difficult. Similarly, in the New Testament, after Romans, the depth of doctrine can appear overwhelming and complex. If Chinese Christians, who are some of the most hardworking Bible readers in the world, still struggle with these passages, how much more do many Americans struggle! This is understandable. The Bible is not a book that can be rightly understood without the help of the Holy Spirit and proper instruction. As you read this article, I pray that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things (see John 14:26). To help us understand this passage in Deuteronomy, I want to share three pillars that are essential for understanding the Old Testament and, by extension, the whole Bible. If you asked me to summarize the entire Old Testament, I would say three things: Priesthood, Law, and Prophets. The largest portion of the Old Testament describes the priests and the temple they served. The priests not only took care of the temple of God and maintained the dwelling place for the presence of God, but also helped the poor, the weak, and the sojourners. In the New Testament, Peter says that we as believers are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Another large portion of the Old Testament describes the law given by Moses. The law reflected the nature of God, who cares deeply for those who are weak and deprived. In the New Testament, Paul says that the law has been written on our hearts as the law of spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). Another significant portion of the Old Testament contains the writings and stories of prophets. The ministry of the prophets was to help the people of God find His will in each unique situation. God specifically said that he would decide each case individually, not allowing a child to die for the sins of their fathers or vice versa. The prophets helped bring this individualized, situational wisdom to the people. Like the prophets of old, New Testament believers are anointed by the Holy Spirit, who guides us (1 John 2:27). Understanding these three pillars will help us understand the Old Testament, specifically the passages we are reading today. When we encounter a passage, it is very helpful to ask three questions to better understand it. Priests: How can we fulfill our priestly duty by helping this person with their needs and bringing them closer to him? Law: How is God’s nature shown by this passage? How can we help this person understand the nature of God? Prophets: What is the unique situation here and how is God leading the person? We will examine the Deuteronomy passage using these three aspects. Understanding our present-day priestly ministry, awareness of God’s nature, and attentiveness to God’s leading will help us to not only grasp the meaning of this passage but also apply it to our everyday experience. Note: You may wonder why we are not including the kings in this summary. Please understand that the kingship was set up when the Israelites failed to function as priests to God. The book of 1 Peter uses the words “royal priesthood,” indicating that priesthood and kingship have been reunited as one in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:9). So we are treating them as one entity. The Priesthood First, we must understand the important role of priests. One of the roles of the priests in the Old Testament was to take care of the temple, perform the sacrifices, and assist with worship. They maintained the house of God, the dwelling place for God’s presence. Today, the body of Christ, the church, is also the temple of God on earth (Ephesians 2:21-22). Our individual bodies are also described as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Bible says that sinning against our body is sinning against the Lord, since our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, if we are joined with a prostitute, we are one body with the prostitute, but if we are joined with the Lord, we are one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17). Our holiness and unity are important. We must take care of the unity of Christ’s body and the purity of our individual bodies. In order to remain holy, and tend to the presence of God among us, we must fulfill our priestly duty to deal with sin. In the Old Testament, sin was atoned for through the blood of animals, which covered their sin. In the New Testament, the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin. However, we must also confess and turn from our sin and live holy lives so we can be a pure dwelling place for God’s Spirit. We must first be clean and holy ourselves so we can become mediators on behalf of others.  However, many Christians in America today are not fulfilling their priestly duties. They are living in sinful habits and are unaware of the presence of God. They not only experience personal moral failures, but also mistreat the weak, the poor, the widow, and the sojourner, which is considered sin in the eyes of God. When individual Christians neglect their priestly duty to confess their personal sins and experience the presence of God in their personal lives, it will be difficult for the church at large or the body of Christ as a whole to experience a strong sense of God’s presence. Taking care of our personal holiness and tending to the presence of God in our lives is only one aspect of the duty of the priesthood. We must also take care of others and intercede for them. It is commonly known that Old Testament priests had to help their fellow Israelites prepare their sacrifices. It is hard to imagine a good priest refusing to help an Israelite offer their sacrifice to the Lord. But it’s less commonly known that priests were also required to take care of widows, orphans, poor people, and foreigners. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus denounced the priest who refused to help the man who was beaten almost to death by a thief (Luke 10:31). Similarly, as a holy priesthood, we must take care of people’s physical needs so that they can get closer to God. One Chinese preacher stated that the love and care we show to unbelievers helps prepare them to receive the gospel. Just like a Chinese cook must warm the pot before adding the oil and the other ingredients, we must love people to prepare them to receive Christ’s truth. Showing love and care is like warming the pot. We can draw several other analogies from this metaphor. On the one hand, if we don’t love people, it is like throwing ingredients and oil into a cold pot. The pot will not be pre-warmed and the food will not cook correctly. The person will not be receptive to the gospel. On the other hand, if we love people with purely human sympathy without sharing the Word of God through the Holy Spirit, it is like adding ingredients to a burning-hot pot with no oil in it. The ingredients will scorch and will not cook properly. However, when we warm our listeners with the true love of Christ, their hearts will be prepared to receive God’s word. For example, when we preach to Chinese students on U.S. campuses, we first warm their hearts by loving on them. Then we preach the

Bible Study with Jairus - Deuteronomy 32:48-52 The Nature of God and the Leading of God   Scripture Reading “That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.’” (Deuteronomy 32:48–52 ESV)   Moses’s Death Reviews the Nature and the Leading of God Deuteronomy 32:48–52 records one of the most sobering moments in Scripture: Moses is called to ascend Mount Nebo, to see the Promised Land from a distance, and to die without entering it. This moment is not merely about judgment; it is a revelation of something deeper — the distinction between the nature of God and the leading of God. Moses knew God. Scripture affirms this. He knew God’s ways, His holiness, His righteousness, and His standards. Yet in this final act of his ministry, Moses missed something crucial: not only the nature of God, but the leading of God for that specific moment. This tension forms the heart of this message. The death of Moses sits within a larger redemptive context. The first generation of Israelites was promised entry into Canaan, yet they died in the wilderness. Scripture is clear that this was not because God failed to keep His word but because the people hardened their hearts in unbelief. God remained faithful and unchanged. He is immutable, constant in His nature and purpose. Humanity however is mutable, living in time and subject to change. God who stands both within and beyond time relates to humanity progressively, which often makes His dealings appear unpredictable to finite minds. To assume we can fully comprehend the ways of an infinite God is itself a form of pride. His nature is revealed, but His leading must continually be discerned. Understanding God’s nature guards us from rebellion. Understanding God’s leading guards us from presumption. God’s attributes do not change. His holiness, faithfulness, mercy, and justice remain constant. Yet the way He leads His people may differ across seasons and generations. If we assume that God must move tomorrow exactly as He did yesterday, we risk resisting His present work. At the same time, assuming we can always predict or interpret God’s leading apart from humility is equally dangerous. The balance is found in continual dependence on the Spirit of God.   Moses, the Rock, and the Two Generations The background is familiar. In the wilderness of Zin, Israel lacked water. The first time this occurred, God commanded Moses to strike the rock. Moses obeyed. Water flowed. This act was deeply symbolic. The rock represented Christ, the spiritual Rock who was struck once to bear God’s righteous judgment on behalf of sinful humanity. The anger was not released upon the people, but upon the Rock. This prefigured the cross. Years later, the same situation arose. Another generation. Another moment of thirst. But this time, God’s command was different. Moses was instructed to speak to the rock, not strike it. Instead, Moses struck the rock again. This was not merely disobedience. It was a failure to discern that God’s leading had changed, even though His nature had not. God’s rebuke of Moses was severe because Moses was not merely an individual. He was a representative. His actions shaped Israel’s understanding of who God was. At Meribah, Moses struck the rock in anger when God had commanded him to speak to it. That act mattered not only because of disobedience but because it misrepresented God’s holiness before the people. Scripture later reveals the typological meaning of the rock. “For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4) The rock was struck once. It was not to be struck again. Moses’ second strike disrupted the divine picture God was communicating. Christ would suffer once, not repeatedly.   Moses’ Plea and the Larger Redemptive Picture Moses pleaded with the Lord to enter the Promised Land, but God refused. This refusal was not rooted in cruelty but in revelation. Moses functioned as the mediator of the Law. The Law reveals God’s holy standard and exposes human inability, but it does not grant inheritance. Scripture later makes this distinction clear. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Entrance into God’s promise is ultimately by grace, not works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9) Moses was allowed to see the land, but Joshua led the people into it. Joshua’s name shares the same Hebrew root as Jesus and functions as a typological pointer. The Law reveals. Grace brings in. Joshua’s name means “Jehovah becomes our salvation.” The purpose of Moses’s ministry was to prepare for the ministry of Joshua. The purpose of the law was to set up God’s standard and reveal His nature. The ten commandments reveal who God is in His holiness and how God wants people to interact with Him and their fellow human beings. He gives us a standard regarding our dealings with God and people. Another function of law is to point to Jesus Christ, who is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).   The First and Second Generation: Law and Grace To understand this, we must distinguish between the two generations of Israelites. The first generation represented the old man — rebellious, unbelieving, and unable to enter God’s rest. God’s leading toward them was severe because the purpose was death to the flesh. That generation had to die in the wilderness. The second generation represented something different. They still complained. They still struggled. But they represented the weakness of the flesh in the regenerated man. God’s leading toward them was not to destroy, but to sustain, nurture, and bring them into the Promised Land by grace. Moses treated the second generation the same way God treated the first. That was the mistake. He understood God’s nature, but he missed God’s leading. We can see the same thing happening in the modern church. When I was a new believer, the more mature believers in the church were very patient with me and showed me a lot of grace. I was zealous to serve God but also lived according to my fleshly nature. But these believers understood that transformation takes time, and they gave me space to grow. Likewise, God understood that it would take time for the second generation of Israelites to be transformed. On the outside, they often acted the same as their fathers had. But inwardly, they had already experienced circumcision of the heart. This is similar to the experience of New Testament believers. Our sin has been dealt with on the cross, but it takes time to overcome the habit of living in sin.   The Locomotive Illustration: Position vs Practice This distinction can be illustrated with the image of a locomotive. When a train’s engine is shut off, the train does not stop immediately. It continues to move because of momentum. In the same way, when a believer is crucified with Christ, sin is dealt with positionally. Yet habits, patterns, and practices may continue for a time. Spiritually, the believer is dead to sin. Practically, the flesh still needs to be put to death through the Spirit. This is why Scripture teaches that believers must walk by the Spirit, even though they already live by the Spirit. Paul mentions that we need to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Romans 6:13). In other words, sin has lost its power in the spiritual realm because Jesus Christ already took care of it on the cross. But in our everyday lives, the deeds of the body and the habits of the flesh are still strong. The locomotive’s engine has already shut off, but it will take a while for it to come to a complete stop. This is why God’s leading for a believer is different from His leading for a nonbeliever. But Moses failed to recognize this distinction. God dealt with sin by putting it on the cross, where Jesus bore the wrath of God in our place. There is no room for negotiation. This is why God told Moses to strike the rock. Paul clearly states that the spiritual rock accompanying the Israelites was Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). But God’s approach toward the second generation of Israelites—and toward believers who have found new life in Christ—is much gentler. He asks Moses to speak to the Rock, which symbolizes applying Christ’s work on the cross to our lives. It takes time and repetition. It requires the patience of a father or a nursing mother. When I had my child, a seasoned parent from my Bible study shared some parenting advice with me. He said, “Children won’t absorb your advice or instructions the first time you tell them. They will forget what you say, and you will have to keep reminding them. But don’t get upset. Just keep repeating yourself. Eventually, they will internalize what you are saying.” This is so true. God knows that our flesh is strong, but He is willing to patiently guide us into the abundant life of Jesus Christ.   Sabbath: Nature and Leading Together The Sabbath perfectly illustrates the principle of God’s nature and leading. The Sabbath reveals the nature of God — God rests.

Bible Study with Jairus - Deuteronomy 33:1–5 Knowing God Through Intimacy, Not Just Knowing About Him Scriptures: 1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said, “The Lord came from Sinai     and dawned from Seir upon us;     he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,     with flaming fire at his right hand. 3 Yes, he loved his people,     all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps,     receiving direction from you, 4 when Moses commanded us a law,     as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 5 Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun,     when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. Deuteronomy 33:1–5 ESV   Knowing God Through Intimacy, Not Just His Acts Moses begins his final blessing not by speaking about Israel, but by revealing the nature of God Himself. He describes who God is before he speaks about what God has done. This is intentional. Moses speaks this way because Moses knows God. Unlike the Israelites, who often knew only the acts of God, Moses had encountered the person of God. He had seen God’s glory and stood in His presence. And so, when Moses speaks, he speaks from revelation of God’s personal presence, not merely from experience of God’s acts. This contrast exposes a recurring problem among God’s people. There is a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. Many of the Israelites could recount miracles, deliverance, and provision, yet their hearts remained distant. They knew what God could do, but not who God was. This pattern is not unique to them. It mirrors the condition of many believers today. We may have heard about God, experienced His acts, or benefited from His mercy, yet still lack a true understanding of His intrinsic nature. True faith is not formed by information alone. It is formed by revelation. To know God is far more than being aware of what He does. It is to encounter who He is. That is why Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.” Moses knows God’s ways and God’s character from personal experience. So when he introduces us to who God is, we’d better pay attention. I once heard a wise saying from a successful businessman who is also a Chinese Christian church elder. He said, “A bald man will never be able to convince someone to buy hair growth supplements.” What he meant was that if we have not personally experienced something, it will be very hard for us to convince others about it. But the opposite could also be true. We could hear someone talking from personal experiential knowledge, and yet we may not have ears to hear. Just like Jesus told his disciples, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12) This is what happened with Moses. Even though he spoke about God’s character from an intimate, experiential knowledge and personal relationship with the Lord Jehovah, the Israelites did not believe his words. Instead, they rebelled against his commands, even when Moses was still alive. It’s important not to judge the Israelites, because we could easily make the same mistake. We often let God’s words slip right past us. Instead, we must learn to come to God with the same intimacy as Moses did. Moses often waited for God to speak. He waited on Mount Sinai, Mount Seir, and Mount Paran. Can you relate to Moses? Can you imagine what he might have been feeling? Have you ever waited on God for a long time, hoping to hear from Him? Have you prayed and fasted and hoped to receive an answer to your prayer? Have you begged God earnestly for years to give you the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Have you trusted the Lord for something He promised would come to fruition in your life? Have you experienced the gracious appearance of God after waiting on Him? If you have, then you know how it feels to wait on God. You may have felt anxiety as you doubted whether He would show up for you. You likely felt excitement when he came and spoke to you. We often hear people say, “God is never late, but he is never early. God is right on time.” I don’t think God was already there waiting for Moses when he arrived on Mount Sinai, Mount Seir, or Mount Paran. It was the opposite. It was Moses who had to wait upon the Lord—sometimes for many days and nights! “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalms 27:14) “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” (Psalm 37:7) “…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:25) There are so many verses in the Bible about waiting on the Lord. “Waiting on the Lord” is the lost art of worshipping God with intimacy. It is especially scarce in today’s world, where people’s attention is often consumed by social media and other digital distractions. Imagine you were Moses waiting on the Lord. I can picture Moses waiting for hours and hours, day after day on Mount Sinai, Mount Seir, and Mount Paran. Then suddenly, the Lord appeared! Our passage of scripture compares God’s appearance to a sunrise. If you have ever gotten up early to see the sun rising, you can understand Moses’ excitement. You waited in the cold, dark night, watching expectantly for the dawn. You kept your eyes on the horizon, wondering when the sun would appear. Then suddenly, the sun jumped out from behind the horizon or out of the sea! Can you feel the excitement? If you can picture that excitement, then you can easily picture the excitement Moses felt when God appeared to him. “The Lord came from Sinai     and dawned from Seir upon us;     he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.” Just like the sun jumped out from behind the horizon, God appeared to Moses with splendor! Not only did God appear to him, but also tens of thousands of holy ones. Just like an entourage of fans and bodyguards always follows a celebrity wherever they go, God always has an entourage. The cherubim are always surrounding him. He never appears to us alone! This passage talks about the joy of waiting on God and experiencing His appearance. God says in 2 Timothy 4:8 that he rewards those who love his appearance. If you have never waited on the Lord or experienced His appearance, you are missing out on one of the most exciting experiences in the world! Don’t let Moses’ words slip past you. Pay attention and seek the personal presence of God! God Revealed in Deuteronomy 33 Verses 1-5 In Deuteronomy 33:1 -5, Moses presents God as the One who comes in glory and fire, surrounded by holy ones, yet who lovingly holds His people in His hand. This God is both majestic and intimate, holy and loving, powerful and faithful. Moses does not present God merely as a miracle worker, but as a covenant-keeping King who reigns among His gathered people. Because Moses had encountered God personally, he could reveal God accurately. Those who know only the acts of God often follow Him for benefits. Those who know God Himself follow Him out of love, surrender, and trust. Knowing God transforms the heart. Knowing about God can leave the heart unchanged. The Bible tells us that Jacob saw a vision of two camps[1]: one camp of angels in heaven, and another camp of Israel on earth. Jacob knew what this vision meant. It meant that heaven was open for him and that God and the angelic armies were with him. Jacob was not the only one trying to get back to God’s promised land. It was God who had been leading him this whole time and who continued to lead him. And not only God was with him, but also His angels. God is the Lord of Hosts—the Lord of Angel Armies. He has a big entourage! Moses saw the same vision, so he said, Yes, he loved his people,     all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps,     receiving direction from you,  when Moses commanded us a law,     as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.  Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun,     when the heads of the people were gathered,     all the tribes of Israel together. The Lord is the Lord of the heavenly hosts, and he is also the King in Jeshurun. He is the King in heaven, and he is also the King on earth! He has two camps! Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool (Isaiah 66:1). Nothing in heaven or earth is hidden from God’s sight (Hebrews 4:13). But the problem is that heaven is closed for some of us. But it should not be that way. Heaven can be open for us if we wait on the Lord! Moses waited upon the Lord on Mount Sinai, Mount Seir, and Mount Paran, he saw heaven open and the Lord appear. In these five verses, Moses was simply recounting his experiences of seeing the Lord’s appearance after waiting upon the Lord. I have waited upon the Lord many times and seen his appearance in the spirit. I know what I am talking about and I know what Moses was experiencing here. Understanding the Heart of Man Scripture does not flatter the human heart. Jeremiah declares that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. This means that without divine revelation, people can engage in religious activity and still misunderstand God completely. The Law was never given as a means of earning righteousness. It was given to reveal the holiness of God and expose the true condition of man. Before the Law shows us what is wrong with us, it reveals who God is. The law also shows us our sinfulness. The Hebrews described our inward pull toward sin as the Y

Bible Study With Jairus - Deuteronomy 33:23 The Story of Naphtali: Learning to Respond Redemptively in a Fallen World   Deuteronomy 33: 23 And of Naphtali he said,   “O Naphtali, sated with favor,     and full of the blessing of the Lord,     possess the lake and the south.”   Some of the twelve sons of Israel receive more attention than others. For example, preachers and teachers frequently mention Joseph and Judah, Rueben and Benjamin, and even lesser-known sons such as Dan. These sons receive attention because of the prophecies made about them by Jacob or Moses. But we rarely hear much about Naphtali, even though he is also a son of Jacob whose name will one day appear on one of the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. Like the other sons of Israel, Naphtali went from being a sinner to being worthy of having his name written on one of the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem. So let’s learn a bit more about him. Naphtali deliberately chose to get rid of hatred, forgive others, and saturate himself with the favor and blessing of the Lord. When Moses blessed Naphtali in Deuteronomy 33:23, he said, “he shall take possession of the sea and the south” (BSB). This refers to an enlargement of his kingdom’s influence. “The sea” is often used to refer to the Gentiles, and “the south” usually refers to Jerusalem. (Naphtali’s land is in the north.) When Jacob blessed Naphtali in Genesis 49:21, he said that Naphtali was like “doe set free that bears beautiful fawns” (NIV). In other translations, it says, “He uses beautiful words” (NKJV). This beautiful imagery reminds us of someone who receives the joy of forgiveness and becomes a happy preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we dive into the story of Naphtali, we will see how he suffered from abandonment, how he watched others become dehumanized with hatred, how he chose to forgive and take a different path, and how he eventually became a person full of joy because of the salvation power of the Lord. The story of the transformation of the twelve tribes of Israel is still a work in progress, and their ultimate destiny will be fulfilled when they finally become pearly gates in the New Jerusalem. Similarly, the story of the tribe of Naphtali is not yet complete, but his territory will eventually expand to the sea and the south. He will bring the glad tidings to the Gentiles, leading to the salvation of the whole house of Israel. Progressive Revelation and God Speaking in Stages One of the great truths that Scripture teaches is that God reveals Himself progressively. He does not reveal everything at once, but unfolds His purposes over time. At one point, God spoke through Jacob, a dying father blessing his sons in Genesis 49. Later, God spoke again through Moses, a covenant mediator standing at the edge of the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 33. These were not disconnected moments. Moses’ words were not a contradiction of Jacob’s prophecy. They were a continuation. This reveals something profound. God’s redemptive story unfolds in stages, across generations, according to His eternal purposes. Hebrews 1:1 reminds us that long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. God was not finished with the twelve tribes when Jacob spoke. He was not finished when Moses spoke. And as Paul explains in Romans chapters 9 through 11, God is still at work even when His people experience seasons of hardening, discipline, or divine restraint. Jacob spoke as a father shaped by relationship and observation. Moses spoke as a prophet shaped by covenant and destiny. Together, their words form a single redemptive thread. The prophecies of Jacob toward his sons are seeds and based on his observations of the unique personality and character of each of his sons. Moses’ prophecies are his prophetic declaration of the future of the twelve tribes of Israel. Some of these may only be fulfilled at the end of the age. This teaches us that God does not discard previous revelation. He builds upon it. The story of the twelve tribes is not static. It is transformative. It is still moving toward redemption. Some may ask why the Old Testament matters when we live under the New Covenant. The answer is simple. Scripture is not divided in intention. It is one unified revelation inspired by the all-wise God. What was concealed in the Old Testament is revealed in the New, and what is revealed in the New was already present in seed form in the Old. Dan and the Image of the Serpent Jacob describes Dan with chilling imagery in Genesis 49:17. He calls him a serpent by the way, a viper by the path. This is prophetic language. A serpent does not confront openly. It hides. It waits. It strikes from concealment. Venom is not loud. It is stored. Scripture does not explicitly explain how Dan became this way. What follows is inference, not doctrine, but it is inference guided by the symbolic language Scripture itself employs. Dan, just like his brother Naphtali, was born into a fractured household. His biological mother was Bilhah, a maid. His legal mother was Rachel. His identity was complex and likely contested. In a home marked by rivalry, favoritism, and emotional displacement, identity easily becomes a battlefield. I can imagine words spoken carelessly. “You are not really Rachel’s.” “Your mother is a maid.” I can imagine affection shifting when Joseph was born—Rachel’s biological son, the beloved child of promise described in Genesis 37:3. I can imagine comparison slowly fermenting into resentment. Hatred rarely arrives fully formed. It is nursed. It is fed by silence, neglect, and unresolved wounds. The image of the serpent fits a heart that learned to survive by suspicion. A heart that chose to strike before being struck. A heart that internalized pain until it became poison. To be honest, I have felt this myself. After being wounded deeply by a relative, I sensed bitterness creeping into my heart like a serpent. Quiet. Patient. Waiting. Wanting revenge. My own experience helps me understand Dan not as a villain, but as a warning. Again, this is inference, but it is an inference consistent with biblical symbolism.   A Fallen Household and Divergent Responses Jacob never intended to have four wives. His desire was to marry Rachel alone, as seen in Genesis 29. Yet deception, cultural practices, and human weakness led to a fragmented household. Scripture does not endorse this structure. It records it honestly. This story teaches an important lesson. We live in a fallen world and fallen things happen, even when we never intended them to. Neither Dan nor Naphtali would have wanted to be born in such situations, nor did their father imagine having children in such disordered circumstances. In situations like this, it is important that we trust the Lord to make the best out of our mess. He has the power to make us into people with great impact according to his will if we yield our free will to him. Back to our thought process. From this disorder came rivalry, competition for affection, identity confusion, and moral failure. Reuben’s sin with Bilhah in Genesis 35:22 reveals the moral disintegration that can occur when boundaries collapse. Scripture does not excuse his sin, but it does show us the environment in which it occurred. Dan and Naphtali shared the same origin, the same mother, and the same broken system. Yet their responses diverged. They were both taken away from their mother Bilhah and raised by Rachel. Both of them may have experienced the shock of finding out they were not biological children of Rachel, but her maid. They likely watched as Joseph took their place as the most beloved. They all had to deal with the fact their older brother Reuben slept with their mother. What a sense of shame, negligence, and abandonment they must have felt when they found that out! According to Genesis 49:17, Dan became like a snake, full of hatred. Perhaps he was demonized with hatred. On the other hand, I imagine that Naphtali said to himself, “I am not going to be like Dan. I know that what happened is not fair. But I choose to be released from the bondage of hatred. I choose the freedom of forgiveness.” Dan became associated with deception and idolatry, as seen in Genesis 49:17 and Judges 18. Naphtali, however, was described as a deer let loose (Genesis 49:21) and later as “abounding with favor” and “full of blessing” (Deuteronomy 33:23) Same environment. Same pain. Different responses. This teaches us a sobering truth. Circumstances may shape us, but they do not define us. Naphtali was called “doe set free that bears beautiful fawns” (NIV). In other translations, it says, “He uses beautiful words” (NKJV). I was like Dan before I was saved. I felt the snake was biting my heart and released the venom through me to intend to hurt others who hurt me. I was full of hatred. After I was saved, I released my forgiveness toward this relative and received the joy of God’s salvation and forgiveness. I became full of peace, abounding with the favor of God, just like Naphtali was. God uses a beautiful picture to describe those who receive the joy of salvation through God’s forgiveness of them and their forgiveness of others. He says they are like a deer who jumps for joy, surrounded by many fawns, giving forth the beautiful words of the gospel. There is no better way to describe the blessedness of forgiveness! Pain as Refinement Through Joseph Joseph’s life shows us that suffering can either harden the heart or purify it. Betrayed by his brothers, imprisoned unjustly, and forgotten by men, Joseph nevertheless chose forgiveness. In Genesis 50:20, he declared that what others meant for evil, God meant for good. In the same way, we can be confident that through our pain, God is building something remarkable for His glory. The Bible shows us time and time again how God uses diffi

Bible Study with Jairus – Deuteronomy 33:12 The Journey of Benjamin: From Wolf to Dwelling Place of God   The Prophecy of Benjamin Let us explore the story of Benjamin through the prophecies spoken over him. Moses declared that Benjamin was “the beloved of the Lord,” one who dwelt in safety, surrounded by God all day long, with God dwelling between his shoulders (Deuteronomy 33:12 ESV). This is prophetic and poetic language. It points to Benjamin as a person and to his inheritance and calling in the Promised Land. Canaan, which later became Israel, was divided into twelve portions and given to Jacob’s sons: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, along with Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Levi, rather than receiving land, was set apart for the priestly line. Geographically, the land of Benjamin sat between Judah and Ephraim. Jerusalem itself lay within Benjamin’s territory. Zion, the dwelling place of God, and later the tabernacle and temple, were all located there. Benjamin’s calling was bound up with worship. His tribe was associated with the place where God and humanity would meet. The physical geography reflects a spiritual truth: Benjamin’s destiny was to be a carrier of God’s presence. Yet this destiny did not emerge from an easy beginning. Difficult Beginnings Benjamin’s beginning was marked by sorrow. He was born on the road, during Jacob’s return to the land of promise. His mother Rachel died in childbirth. With her final breath, she named him Ben-Oni, “son of sorrow.” Jacob immediately intervened. He renamed the child Benjamin, “son of the right hand.” This moment reveals two perspectives. Rachel named her son based on her experience of grief, loss, and death. Doubtless, Jacob felt these things too. But he did not move downward into despair; he moved upward toward the land God had promised. Benjamin’s renaming was Jacob’s refusal to allow sorrow to define his son’s future.  And so Benjamin entered the world at the intersection of grief and hope. And throughout his life, he carried both. Jacob’s Prophecy Near the end of his life, Jacob gathered his sons and spoke prophetic words over them. Some of these words were expansive and filled with promise, others, not so much. His words over Benjamin in Genisis 49:27 are brief: “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and at evening he divides the spoil.” This is far from a gentle blessing. In biblical imagery, the wolf often represents cunning, selfishness, and predatory instinct. It is not a flattering picture. Wolves are strong, intelligent, persistent, and driven by appetite. They survive and take what they can. Jacob was naming a real character issue in his son. Benjamin was strong-willed, stubborn, and self-focused. Jacob did not offer a blessing or messianic prophecy. He named what he saw. This begs the question: Why would Jacob see Benjamin this way? Backstory Benjamin was the youngest son. By the time he was born, Jacob had already endured betrayal, exile, rivalry, and reconciliation. He had loved deeply and lost painfully. When Joseph disappeared years later, Benjamin became the last remaining son of Rachel, the wife Jacob loved most. Scripture makes clear that Jacob favored Rachel’s sons. That favoritism shaped the family profoundly. When Joseph was gone, Benjamin became the center of Jacob’s fear and affection. Jacob guarded him intensely. When famine forced the family to consider sending Benjamin to Egypt, Jacob resisted, fearful of losing him as he had lost Joseph. This kind of protection shapes a person. Being the youngest often means growing up shielded. Older siblings carry responsibility earlier. Younger ones are guarded by both their parents and their siblings. This does not make a person morally inferior, but it does affect formation. Jacob’s fear-driven protection likely produced both security and limitation in Benjamin. Overprotection often delays maturity and favoritism can foster self-orientation. These are human patterns observed across cultures and families. These fear-led oversights that allowed self-centeredness and immaturity in Benjamin to thrive may have been the ultimate cause of the wolfish characteristics Jacob saw in Benjamin. From Individual to Tribe Biblical prophecy often unfolds beyond the individual and into the life of a people. Jacob’s words over his sons were not merely personal assessments; they were seeds planted into future generations. When we later encounter the tribe of Benjamin in the book of Judges, we see troubling patterns. The tribe demonstrates fierce loyalty, stubborn resistance, and violent refusal to repent even in the face of national collapse. The tribe is not weak. It is strong. But its strength lacks surrender. This shows a continuity of traits—intensity, persistence, resistance to correction—that echo Jacob’s imagery. The wolf survives. But survival without humility leads to destruction. Understanding Character Through the Sons of Jacob Each of Jacob’s sons carried a unique character shaped by love, neglect, trauma, and family dynamics. We will explore a few of them: Reuben, the firstborn, struggled with lust rooted in resentment and emotional neglect. Yet because he had experienced some of his father’s love, he was not fully hardened. He tried to protect Joseph. Simeon, however, became deeply demonized. His hatred toward Joseph did not begin with the colorful coat. It grew slowly from childhood favoritism and unchecked jealousy. Levi, influenced by Simeon, committed violence, but later chose God decisively. He represents the will transformed. Through obedience, he received blessing. Judah failed but repented. He became a mediator, a foreshadowing of Christ, willing to sacrifice himself to restore relationship between father and son. Each failure became a pathway for transformation. Hatred never solves the problem. Killing the perceived enemy never brings healing. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, because the real problem is never another person, but a heart disconnected from God. Parallel Gates God does not discard broken people. He transforms them into what might be called parallel gates. A parallel gate is a life God uses to bring others into reconciliation, freedom, and worship. No two gates are the same. Each reflects a unique mixture of personality, failure, and redemption. I shared my own experience as the first Christian in my family. Through my testimony, my parents were brought toward the kingdom. If I had not received the gospel, they would not have had that access. Likewise, someone else was a gate for me. We are all called to become such gates. Transformation Into Living Stones Through the Spirit’s work, we are not only made into parallel gates, but living stones. Each stone is different in color, composition, and brilliance. When refined by fire, it retains its uniqueness while revealing God’s glory. Jacob’s twelve sons were different and unique. The twelve apostles were also different and unique. God does not erase personality. He redeems it. And Benjamin’s story must be understood in this light. Worship Requires Inner Freedom Before Jacob could return to worship freely, he had to experience transformation through Joseph. Joseph’s life shows a stark dichotomy of ruling while in captivity. He ruled outwardly in Egypt, but inwardly his life was the continuation of Jacob’s spiritual journey. When Jacob matured spiritually, Joseph was born, and through Joseph, Jacob himself reigned. Freedom must first exist in the heart. Without inner freedom, outer freedom leads to corruption. This pattern is visible throughout history. Where the gospel and truth spread, freedom increases. Where they are absent, oppression grows. Jacob’s journey was upward, toward Jerusalem, toward worship. Rachel (his wife), representing the flesh, was going downward. She named Benjamin Ben-Oni, “son of sorrow,” but Jacob renamed him Benjamin, “son of the right hand.” This renaming declared Jacob’s spiritual direction: upward, toward worship, freedom, and God’s presence. Joseph represents freedom in the heart. Benjamin represents freedom of worship. You cannot worship freely without inner freedom. The Spoiled Son After Joseph disappeared, Benjamin became Jacob’s emotional anchor. Scripture records Jacob’s reluctance to let him go, fearing loss above all else. Spoiling does not arise from cruelty. It arises from fear. But fear-based protection often produces self-centeredness and stubbornness. But spoiling breeds self-centeredness. In my own life as the youngest child, I saw how favoritism shaped selfishness and stubbornness. Benjamin likely developed similar traits. By the end of Jacob’s life, he saw clearly. His final word over Benjamin named this reality: a wolf, driven by appetite, unchanged from morning to evening. Hope Within the Wolf Yet Jacob’s prophecy is not the end of the story. Moses’ later blessing reveals God’s final word. The wolf would become the dwelling place of God. This is grace. Benjamin’s stubbornness, selfishness, and strength were not erased. They were transformed. The same shoulders that once carried self-interest would carry the presence of God. Benjamin’s story reminds us that our destiny is not determined by our beginnings. God transforms character, not by removal, but by redemption. The wolf becomes beloved. The spoiled son becomes sanctuary. The stubborn heart becomes a dwelling place for God. This is the journey of Benjamin. And in many ways, it is our own.   A Closing Devotion Benjamin’s story reminds us that God does not wait for perfection before calling a place or person His dwelling. He does not demand the removal of our sinful traits before He moves in. Instead, He enters what already exists and begins the work of transformation f

Bible Study with Jairus – Deuteronomy 33:18–19 Rejoice, Zebulun, in Your Going Out: A Study of Humiliation, Dwelling, and Mission   Why Zebulun Matters We are continuing our study of Deuteronomy 33. It is Moses’ blessing to the twelve tribes of Israel. Each tribe carries a distinct story, a distinct failure, and a distinct expression of God’s salvation. None of them are interchangeable. Together, they form a complete testimony of how God transforms sinners into sons, and sons into living stones in His eternal dwelling. Today, we turn our attention to Zebulun, the last son of Leah. Zebulun is a tribe many believers know almost nothing about. Judah is familiar. Issachar is often celebrated for discernment. Joseph’s suffering and exaltation are widely preached. Benjamin is remembered for strength and warfare. But Zebulun? Most Christians struggle to describe his calling at all. That lack of familiarity is itself revealing. Zebulun’s story is not obvious. It does not announce itself. It requires careful listening, patient interpretation, and spiritual insight. And yet Scripture preserves three separate prophetic witnesses concerning Zebulun: from Jacob, from Moses, and from Isaiah. When Scripture speaks about something three times, it signals an invitation for us to pay attention. Zebulun’s calling is especially important for believers who have experienced humiliation, obscurity, or contempt, because his destiny is forged precisely through those conditions. A Map of Salvation To understand Zebulun, we must first understand the role of the twelve tribes as a whole. The twelve tribes are not merely ethnic divisions. They are prophetic stories of salvation. Each tribe represents a different human failure and a different aspect of God’s redemptive work. Taken together, they reveal the full arc of salvation history. The apostle Paul makes this clear in Romans. Whether Jew or Gentile, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:9–23 ESV). Yet salvation does not end at forgiveness. It moves toward transformation, maturity, and glory. Scripture uses different Greek words to describe this progression: children of God, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, mature sons. Romans 8 tells us that creation itself is waiting for the revealing of these sons. When they enter into glory, creation will be liberated from corruption. This story reaches its climax in the New Jerusalem. In John’s vision, the city has twelve gates, and each gate bears the name of one of the tribes of Israel. Each gate is made of a single pearl. No one enters the city except through these gates. This tells us something crucial: God’s work with Israel is not bypassed in the New Testament. It is fulfilled. Jews and Gentiles are joined together into one new humanity, built upon Christ the cornerstone. The pearl itself explains the process. A pearl is formed through injury. When an oyster is wounded by a foreign irritant, it does not reject it violently. Instead, it releases life, layer upon layer, transforming pain into beauty. Israel wounded Christ. Christ responded with life. From that wound came a gate of salvation. Zebulun must be understood within this framework. Zebulun as a Dwelling Place Zebulun was the last son born to Leah. Leah lived with rejection. Jacob loved Rachel but merely tolerated Leah. Her sons were born into a household filled with rivalry, neglect, and emotional imbalance. Zebulun did not enter a peaceful family story. He entered a painful one. His name means “to dwell” or “to honor.” After giving birth to Zebulun, Leah declared that now her husband would dwell with and honor her (Genesis 30:19–20 ESV). This is not accidental language. Later, Scripture uses marriage to describe something far greater than human romance. Paul explains that marriage is a mystery pointing to Christ and the church, the union between God and humanity. Zebulun’s very name carries the idea of divine dwelling, of God making His home with people. Zebulun was born with a purpose already inscribed into his identity. He was destined to be associated with God’s dwelling, even though his beginnings were marked by rejection and obscurity. Calling does not erase pain. In fact, calling often grows out of it. Jacob’s Prophecy: Life at the Shore Jacob’s blessing over Zebulun is brief: “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.” (Genesis 49:13 ESV) At first glance, this sounds unimpressive. No royal authority, overflowing abundance, or promises of dominance. But Jacob is not speaking in one-dimensional terms. Zebulun is placed at the edge. At the border. At the sea. A harbor is not a throne room. It is exposed and vulnerable. It is often looked down upon by those who live inland. Harbors are messy places where people come and go, cultures mix, and stability feels fragile. Yet harbors are essential. Jacob reveals Zebulun’s destiny as a gateway tribe. He is positioned where Israel meets the nations. Sheep find refuge there. Ships launch from there. Zebulun is not called to rule from the center. He is called to send from the edge. Moses’ Prophecy: Call the Peoples Then Moses clarifies Zebulun’s calling in Deuteronomy 3:18–19: “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out… They shall call peoples to the mountain; there they shall offer right sacrifices. For they draw from the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.” Here, Zebulun’s mission becomes explicit. His joy is found in going out and calling the peoples, not just Israel. His inheritance comes from both sea and sand. In biblical imagery, the sea often represents the Gentile nations. The sand recalls God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the shore. Zebulun is called to gather both. This aligns perfectly with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9–11: The salvation of the Gentiles and the salvation of Israel are not competing stories. They are interwoven. God uses one to provoke the other, until both are brought into fullness. Zebulun stands at that intersection. Isaiah’s Prophecy: From Contempt to Light Isaiah reveals the cost of this calling: “In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:1b–2a ESV) Before glory comes humiliation. Zebulun’s land becomes Galilee, a region despised by religious elites. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth [located in Galilee]?” (John 1:46 ESV) was not an idle question. It was a cultural judgment. Yet Isaiah declares that this very place would see the great light first. And Matthew tells us plainly that this prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus began His ministry in Galilee, in the region of Zebulun. From there, He preached repentance and called fishermen like Peter and Andrew. From there, the kingdom of God began to spread. God hid His greatest revelation in the most despised place. Zebulun Fulfilled in Christ Jesus embodied Zebulun’s calling. He lived by the sea, gathered fishermen, called the nations, and revealed divine light even in the confines of human humility. Zebulun’s destiny was never about prestige. It was about mission. Pattern for the Church Zebulun’s story continues in the church today. God repeatedly chooses people and places marked by humiliation to initiate revival. He strips away pride. He dismantles false strength. He prepares vessels that will go out with joy, not domination. And often his vessels are found in the most unlikely and humble places. Growing up in rural China, I experienced much humiliation. Even after coming to the United States, I often felt shame and embarrassment. My wife and I saw couples in the church having children, one after another, but we could not. I perceived this as humiliation. I went to a Korean minister to ask for prayer. He told me, “God has a plan to use you in the future. You are going through the same trials as Hannah, Rachel, Rebecca, and Sarah went through in the Bible. God has a plan for you.” This was confirmed to me when God spoke to me in January 2016. He told me that I would have a child that year and that my ministry would be initiated by Him. He also promised me that he would use me greatly if I humbled myself before him. Sometimes I discuss with my wife, if we could do it all again, whether we would choose to avoid the pain and humiliation or if we would choose the hard path. We agree that we would not have achieved the spiritual maturity we have today without experiencing those sufferings. Some people told us that God was not giving us children as a punishment. But it was actually God’s work in us to help us grow and become vessels that he could send. This pattern of humiliation and preparation is visible across history and across cultures. And Zebulun is another reminder of this truth. A Modern Zebulun There are people and nations in our world today who are deeply despised. China is one of them. As a Chinese person living in the United States, I sometimes feel that the Chinese people are among the most despised groups in the world. Some second-generation Chinese Americans even feel ashamed to acknowledge that they are Chinese. Koreans, and even people from Taiwan or Hong Kong, sometimes distance themselves from being identified as Chinese. This attitude exists partly because China is a communist country, but also because of China’s history of defeat in wars against Western imperial powers and Japan. In the past, China took great pride in being the strongest power in the East. Over the past few hundred years, however, she has lost that sense of dignity and honor. Is there a purpose behind this history of hu