May 24

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And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. Genesis 29:10

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🔊 Jacob loved Rachel at first sight.  He “lifted up his voice and wept” because of the great love he felt for her!  It is a beautiful story, and speaks of Jesus’ love for sinners.  The focus here is on the well that is blocked by the great stone.  The stone could not be moved by Rachel, nor by the sheep, and it blocked the flow of water by which they would have life.  Jacob’s great strength to roll away the stone came from his love for Rachel.  There is only one other stone that was rolled away in the Bible – the stone that the angel rolled away from Jesus’ tomb, thus demonstrating that He was risen from the dead.  The heavy stone that blocks us from drinking of the Holy Spirit is our past sins, that make us worthy of death, and that bar the way to the tree of life, and to the fountain of living waters.  Jesus looked on our helpless state and rolled away the stone.  There are many powerful things in the human heart.  One is anger – it rises like a fierce storm; but love is by far stronger than any other power, and causes people to do the impossible.  Jesus’ love for us stirred Him to do the impossible – to remove utterly all our shame and guilt, and declare us worthy before God’s throne.  Jesus swallowed the power of sin and death and took away the things that disqualified us, and now invites us to eat and drink with Him in His kingdom.