Today’s devotion comes from Genesis 35:22-26.
“It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.
Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.” Genesis 35:22-26.
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It may seem odd and distasteful to introduce the sons of Israel a/k/a Jacob by mentioning “that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine”, but Scripture exposes and punishes sin.
Likewise, “TULIP”, the nutshell summary of the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation as more fully taught in the Reformed confession of faith called Canons of Dordt, starts with man’s “Total Depravity”, the “T” of “TULIP”.
We first notice from today’s Scripture that “Israel heard of it.” Later, we read of Israel’s curse on Reuben in his prophecies of his sons.
“Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.
2 “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob;
And listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.” Genesis 49:1-4.
More generally, man may think that he has hidden his sin, but God knows all things and exposes and punishes sins.
“For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.” Mark 4:22. Similar Scriptures are Luke 8:17 and Luke 12:2.
“The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion;
He will exile you no longer.
But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;
He will expose your sins!” Lamentations 4:22.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” Romans 1:18.
“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 5-7.
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.” 2 Peter 2:4-10.
“But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” Luke 12:5.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 