The Lord's Day (February 18, 2024) at Rainsville First Baptist Church

We, in America, really don't take naming children as seriously as they do in other parts of the world, and certainly has important as in Bible days.  The Biblical characters, names had meaning reflecting a dream or purpose for the child or answering what God is doing in the parents' life at the time of birth.

This is seen clearly in the life of Jacob when his eleven sons are named as recorded in Genesis 29-30.  As we observed last Sunday, these names reflected the turmoil of Leah and Rachel as they fought among themselves for the love of Jacob and to bear his children.

But these names were also prophetic and this is what we will discover together this Sunday as we gather for worship.  Each name will paint a picture of the future of their lives lived out from Egypt to the height of the Kingdom of David.  But this progression is also a story of the Gospel.

After the resurrection of Jesus, He was traveling road to Emmaus with some disciples when Luke 24:27 tells us "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

This Sunday we will see how the naming of the sons of Jacob (who will later be called the twelve tribes of Israel) is a foreshadowing of Jesus and the Gospel.