Turn to 1 Chronicles 4, I want to look at verses 9 and 10 but I will read from the beginning of the chapter, 1 Chronicles 4:
The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. And Reaiah the son of Shobal begat Jahath; and Jahath begat Ahumai, and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites. And these were of the father of Etam; Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi: And Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem. And Ashur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. And Naarah bare him Ahuzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. And the sons of Helah were, Zereth, and Jezoar, and Ethnan. And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
When I first began to take an interest in the Bible I just wanted to read it from front to back just to get the general sense of what it was all about. In several books of the Bible you will come across genealogies, just long lists of names of someone who begat someone who begat someone and the different families and certainly the twelve tribes of Jacob after it comes to Jacob. I used to skip through them and I would say, “Oh what is the use of reading these, let me just get the general story here.” But we have come to learn in recent years that the genealogies are in there for a reason.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
We have learned, number one, that these genealogies give us a calendar they actually tell us how old the world is. The world in 1988 was exactly 13,000 years old, that it was created in 1113BC. Also you will be reading along in a genealogy and God will be going through one name after another and then He will come to a certain person and He will add a little bit about that person and again we learn from that. Just look right back there in 1 Chronicles 1, just for one example of this. In 1 Chronicles 1:19 we read:
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan.
Very simply that is all He says about Peleg, “in his days the earth was divided.” Now archeologists and scientists know that at one time, they are pretty much in agreement, that at one time it was one big continent on this earth and there came a time when the continent separated and here it is in black and white:
… because in his days the earth was divided: …
As you work through the genealogies Peleg was born 3100BC and now there is a lot of evidence that that is when the division of the continents occurred. We know that the South American Indians I believe it was the Mayas have a foundation date for all their historical events and again it is around 3100BC and certainly that would have occurred if that huge catastrophe had happened at that time. I just wanted to give you one example there of how we are to pay attention to every word that God writes and that we can learn just as much from the Gospel in these genealogies here as we can anywhere else in the Bible.
So in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 we read about this man Jabez, we read:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
Now here it seems as though this is a faithful man, a child of God and that is all we are to get from this and we just go on. But if you work through this carefully I am absolutely convicted that we are to see Christ in this man Jabez and we will look at this a little bit closely, a little bit more closely with the words of Psalm 119:18 in mind. Psalm 119:18 says:
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
When God uses the word “law” He is speaking of the whole Bible. The entire Psalm, Psalm 119 is speaking of the Word of God and He refers to it as “His statutes,” “His judgments,” “His commandments,” “His laws,” or His “precepts,” etc. I am absolutely convicted that we are going to see Christ here. We compare Scripture with Scripture that is the way we come to understand the Bible and God teaches us that all through the Bible. Look at the first verse of chapter 4, 1 Chronicles 4:1 says:
The sons of Judah; …
This chapter is an enumeration of “the tribe of Judah,” “the sons of Judah.” Then we read here:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
Who of “the tribe of Judah” “was more honourable than all his brethren”? Certainly Christ. Look at 1 Chronicles 5:1 says:
Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
But look at verse 2:
For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; …
Now who is that speaking of? Certainly that is speaking of Christ “the chief ruler,” of “the tribe of Judah,” “came the chief ruler.” Or turn to Isaiah 65, in Isaiah 65:8-9 we read:
Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
“Out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains,” and again this is speaking of Christ. The believers are also spoken of as “his inheritance,” we will look at that a little bit more. But we read back here, just keep your Bible’s open to 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 and we read:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
Let us look at this word “honourable.” Turn to Leviticus 10, in Leviticus 10 in the beginning we read this account of how God slew the two sons of Aaron, the Priest, because “they offered strange fire before the LORD.” In Leviticus 10:1-3 we read:
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. …
That is the word “honourable” in 1 Chronicles 4:9. God is the One that gets all the honour and the glory. Nadab and Abihu had “offered strange fire” something that had not been commanded and they are actually a picture of those that claim to be the people of the LORD God and they are trying to add to His commandments to make themselves more holy. They are a picture of the church those in the church that want to add to God’s commandments. So He struck them down He consumed them because it is God that gets all the honour and the glory. But here again in 1 Chronicles 4:9 we read:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
Turn to Isaiah 58 and this is a passage you all are familiar with it has to do with the Sabbath and how God has commanded us to set the whole day apart, leave the things of the world behind and engage ourselves completely in the things of the Lord on the Sabbath day. In Isaiah 58:13-14 we read:
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; …
That is the word.
… and shalt honour him, …
Again the same word.
… and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, …
The Lord is to be “honoured “on the Sabbath day and the Lord is “honourable” and here we read:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
Each phrase we read here about Jabez is going to tell us that he is Christ, not just a believer but he is Christ. We go onto read in verse 9 of 1 Chronicles 4:
… and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
If you look up the word “Jabez” in the Concordance, they do not understand, they just do not know what that Hebrew word meant, but here God helps us. It has to do with “sorrow.”
… and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
Turn back to Genesis 3, this is when Adam and Eve fell, they sinned, and God cursed the earth. In Genesis 3:16 we read:
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Part of the curse was that now the woman was going to give birth in sorrow and pain and anguish but that has a spiritual meaning to it. Turn to 1 Timothy 2, in 1 Timothy 2 now we read about Adam and Eve and God is speaking of the different roles He has given to men and women. He has put the Gospel itself in the very creation. In 1 Timothy 2:12, we read because the woman is a figure of the church and Adam was a figure of Christ she “was in the transgression” but she brought him down with her and we read that right here.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Again because Adam, the man, in every family the man is a picture of Christ and the wife is a picture of the church. And He goes onto say in verses 13-14:
For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
But look at verse 15:
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Our salvation is still going to come through that Messiah that was born of the woman so that is what we are reading here in 1 Chronicles 4:9:
… and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
There is another principle here too, God used Israel, again, corporately, as a picture of His wife and yet they were in tribulation for years and many of them were in despair they thought the Messiah was never going to come. Finally He did come that Messiah that was to bring salvation to Israel, a picture of God’s people.
Turn to Isaiah 54 again another passage you all are familiar with or most of you that have been in the Word for any time. Here God is telling Israel to rejoice because the Messiah is going to be born through the nation of Israel. Isaiah 54:1-2 says:
Sing, O barren, …
A “barren” woman could not before this time bear.
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
This is also speaking of how God’s people, His wife, are going to be used to beget believers. That also is another picture in the Bible that comes through that picture of the union of Christ and His church that new believers are begotten. That is what this is saying also because it speaks of the “Gentiles” coming in. But verses 3-8 says:
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved …
A woman in “sorrow” in spirit.
For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Verse 13 says:
And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
But again we read that Jabez:
… his mother called his name Jabez, …
Somehow that word has to do with “sorrow” because she “bare him with sorrow.” We could go on working in that principle; it is in many other places in the Bible that the Lord Jesus finally did come when Israel was in great affliction and “sorrow.”
Just one more thing about part of that verse where it says:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
Christ speaks of the Disciples or of any of the true believers as His “brethren” in Matthew 23:8. Christ tells the Apostles in Matthew 23:8:
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
And again:
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: …
And Jabez was of “the tribe of Judah.” “The tribe of Judah” is also used by God as a picture of the true believers among all the tribes of Israel. Just all types and figures where we read in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 4:9 at the end of the verse we read:
… Because I bare him with sorrow.
Then we read in verse 10:
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! …
He is praying to the Lord to bless him. We know that Christ is the Blessed of the Lord. He spoke of Him in that sense in many different places in the Bible. Turn to Psalm 21, and I believe this is a Messianic Psalm this is “A Psalm of David.” I believe we are to hear Christ speaking here. In Psalm 21:1-3 we read:
The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
Now this is speaking of “the king,” or a king’s son and again all the believers are spoken of in the Bible as kings. This is speaking of Christ in the first instance. Verses 4-6 says:
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
Here Jabez is asking God the Father if He would bless him and enlarge his coast, we will look at that in a minute. Turn to Psalm 32 we will look a little more at this word “blessing.” The ultimate “blessing” spoken of in the Bible is salvation. In Psalm 32:1-2 we read:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Christ did have to pray for salvation we read that in Hebrews 5, we will look at that in a minute. But here we will look at Psalm 45. Psalm 45:1-3 says:
My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: …
This Psalm, again, is speaking of Christ.
… therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
“God hath blessed thee”:
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
Turn to Hebrews 5 we will see where Christ prayed for salvation. Hebrews 5 is comparing Christ to the earthly priest or the earthly high priest. Verses 7-8 of Hebrews 5 speaking of Christ, says:
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
He “was heard,” Christ “was heard in that he feared.” Christ is our example He feared God. We will also read that Jabez was heard. We could also look at Abram/Abraham it is a huge study in itself of how God came to him and told him He was going to establish His covenant with him and in that again Abraham was a picture of Christ and from him was going to come a multitude of nations and that Sarai his wife who is going to be a picture of the bride of Christ but again if you read in Genesis 12, Genesis 22, and Genesis 26 you will read that God says to Abraham He is going to bless him and multiply him and make him a multitude of nations. Let us look at one verse, turn to Genesis 18:17 God is getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah here and we read, we will start in verses 16-19:
And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. …
These men are a picture of God they came to Abraham, and here it just says “the LORD” these men are likened to “the LORD,” they are “the LORD” really. Verses 17-19 says:
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
And He is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah:
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Again we are to see Christ in this that Abraham is a figure of Christ because the beginning of verse 19 says:
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment;
So back here in 1 Chronicles 4:10 we read:
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, …
Now that word “coast” is very often translated “borders.” It is speaking of the “borders” of his inheritance. Well all through Joshua, the book of Joshua, as they are dividing the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of Israel it uses the word “borders.” It describes all the “borders” of all the different tribes and again that is a picture of the inheritance of salvation to the twelve tribes of Jacob, the twelve sons of Jacob which represent the believers but their “borders” were all described in Joshua.
In Exodus 34 we will look at one place where this word “coast” is used and it is translated there “borders.” Exodus 34 God has given the Israelites the three feasts when they were to appear before the Lord. The three feasts in the year: the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Verses 23-24 of Exodus 34 says:
Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: …
They are the same words, “enlarge my coast.”
For I will cast out the nations before thee, …
He is going to cast out the heathen tribes in “the land of Canaan.” “The land of Canaan” is a picture of the Kingdom of God and the children of Israel are going to inherit it.
For I will cast out the nations before thee, …
“Enlarge thy borders.”
… neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
So here Jabez is calling on the Lord and asking him if He would enlarge his coast and what we are to see spiritually in this is that he is asking God that He would bless him as Christ Jesus does His work in bringing in God’s people to Him. He is asking God that that nation might be increased. That word “enlarge” can be translated “multiply” or “increase.” Very often again in those early chapters God says to Noah or to Abraham be “fruitful, and multiply” it is the same word that is translated “enlarge” there in 1 Chronicles 4:10:
… bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, …
Or increase my borders, multiply my borders. Look at Psalm 71:19-20, it says:
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, …
And again this is Messianic, this is speaking of Christ in the first place in the Atonement but again all true believers identify with this. Verses 20-21:
Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, …
Bring me back to life, put “a new spirit” in me.
… and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. …
And again in the first instance I believe we are to see Christ in this.
Thou shalt increase my greatness, …
As God blesses the work that Christ does. We could look at one other, turn to Isaiah 51, in Isaiah 51:1-3 says:
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah …
Again there is that picture and Sarah she is a picture of the church.
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, …
Again speaking of Christ.
… and blessed him, and increased him.
There is the same word again, “increased him.”
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, …
Speaking of the Kingdom of God again.
… and her desert like the garden of the LORD; …
Jabez prayed to the “God of Jacob” that He would increase his borders that he would bless the work which he came to do as the Saviour. And again I mentioned earlier that the Kingdom of God all the true believers are spoken of as the Lord’s inheritance. Turn to Psalm 33, so again here, Jabez as Christ is asking the Lord that He would increase the borders of his inheritance. His inheritance is the elect, the children of God. Psalm 33:12 says:
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Or look at Exodus 34 starting in verse 8, Moses is interceding for the rebellious Israelites here I believe. Exodus 34:8-9 says:
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
Again the elect, the children of God are spoken of as God’s inheritance. So Jabez’s prayer says here in verse 10:
… Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, …
We read in many places in the Bible that “the hand” speaks of the will of God. Turn to Psalm 109:23, again a Messianic passage here and probably this whole Psalm is Messianic. And I believe we are to see Christ in the Atonement here. Again, every believer identifies with this as they supplicate to God for His salvation. Psalm 109:21-29 says:
But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: That they may know that this is thy hand; …
This is the will of God the salvation of Christ and His elect.
That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
Speaking of the hand of God and how it was on Christ and is on His people. 1 Chronicles 4:10 goes onto say:
… Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! …
And the “evil” spoken of there is the “evil” of judgment, the “evil” of being under the wrath of God. Isaiah 57:1 says:
The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Speaking of the judgment of God. Or look at Proverbs 16:4, Proverbs 16:4 says:
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Jabez is praying to be kept “from evil, that it may not grieve me!” or vex him, or cause him sorrow. Look at Isaiah 54 again, one place where that word “grieve” is used. Isaiah 54 and we already read this, Isaiah 54:6 says:
For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
It is speaking of before the woman, God’s people, before salvation were under the wrath of God, they were “forsaken and grieved.” It is the same word here as in 1 Chronicles 4:10 where Jabez says:
… Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, …
“Keep me” from Thy wrath, Thy judgment:
… that it may not grieve me! …
Then we read in the end of that verse:
… And God granted him that which he requested.
Turn to Psalm 21, in many places in the Bible and in these Messianic Psalms we read of the supplications and the requests of Christ to God. We will end with this passage here. And again this is “A Psalm of David” and a Messianic Psalm speaking of salvation. Psalm 21 says:
The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. …
God has given Christ His desire.
… Selah.
Verses 3-6 says:
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
Again verse 2 says:
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. …
And we read in the end of 1 Chronicles 4:10:
… And God granted him that which he requested.
I am absolutely convicted that every word in those verses is actually speaking of Christ. And could it be that this salvation will be granted to anyone that is hearing. Thank God that it still is, in His mercy, the day of salvation.
Shall we pray.