Jacob’s life in the Old Testament is a picture of dispensational truth.  As we know, his life was far from perfect, yet God still used it to teach us some eternal truths about God’s program for both Israel and the Church.

Remember: The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed. The New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament. And the New is concealed in the shadows of the Old – it is hidden, but it is there for those who like to search for hidden treasure.

God’s Program: Israel & The Church

• Christ came the first time to Israel and was rejected by those He came to save
• They have been set aside for a time
• He is now calling out a Gentile Bride, the Church
• After she is called out, He will return again to Israel
• This time He will be their Saviour, Deliverer and Lord
• Then He shall establish His kingdom on earth
• And every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord of all

God made a covenant with Abraham:

“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:15-18

Then the covenant was confirmed to Isaac and Jacob

Abraham               —›             Isaac         —›             Jacob Israel

(God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel”).  Israel had 12 sons, which became the 12 tribes of Israel: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Isaachar, Judah, Levi, Mannaseh, Naphtali, Rueben, Simeon, Zebulun

God’s promises were made to Israel

Sometimes the Church forgets that the New Covenant was made to Israel & Judah:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34 (emphasis mine)

But Israel rejected their Messiah, as prophesied in Isaiah 53, so God turned to the Gentiles

The Gentiles

““And now the Lord says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, And My God shall be My strength), Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Isaiah 49:5, 6

• “I will call them My people who were not My people and her beloved, who was not beloved” Romans 9:25
• “Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” Romans 11:25

So now the Gentiles are being brought in to the New Covenant that God made with Israel.  As Gentiles we are as branches from a wild olive tree, being grafted in to the Jewish olive tree, ie the New Covenant that God made with the House of Judah and Israel.  We are grafted in by faith in the Messiah Christ Jesus. (see Romans 11:16-24).  By faith He is making “one new man”, that is His Bride/the Church, from both Jew and Gentile believers.

“He is  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:14-16

However God has not finished with Israel “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jer 31:3

Which leads to …

Jacob & His Two Wives

Genesis 29

Jacob here is a picture of Jesus Christ:

Jacobs Two Wives, Rachel & Leah

Jacob chose Rachel first. He laboured for her.  But at the end of his labour he didn’t receive her, he received a different bride, Leah.

He then served 7 more years for Rachel.

But second bride Leah was fruitful and bore Jacob many children.  Rachel was barren: until she cried out to God in distress.

Jacob chose Rachel first but she was set aside for a time while Leah bore many children and took her place.

Rachel = Israel

Leah = the Church

Israel today is barren and the Church is fulfilling the purposes of God. However when the Church is taken up in the rapture, then the Lord will deal with Israel again, in the Tribulation.  It is when Israel cries out to God in distress that she will too become fruitful and many will turn to Jehovah through the instrument of Israel.

“…that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Israel); for this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins’.” Romans 11:25-27