Jacob’s firstborn, Reuben, had it all, then he didn’t. For the rest of his life, he lived in the shadow of what might have been. But his story reminds us that there was a day coming when a new covenant was so powerful that it did what no amount of regret could ever do.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honour, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” (Genesis 49 v 3-4)
There was a time when Reuben had the world at his feet. Read verse 3 again.
However, verse 4 is the ‘but’.
Back in Genesis 35:22, Reuben slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. We don’t know whether this was pure lust or a bid to take power from his father. But we do know Jacob said nothing and filed it away, until now. His birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh.
Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel. One regretful act, and his birthright was passed to other hands. How had he lived with this throughout his life? Maybe when he suggested that his brothers did not kill Joseph, but throw him into the cistern instead, he was trying to undo what could not be undone.
And yet …
Reuben still had a tribe and a place among the twelve. Though Jacob’s words were true and Reuben would not be what he could have become, there was still a place for him. This is mercy.
Reuben never got his birthright back. But he was still a son and part of God’s story.
There are things in our lives we cannot undo, and perhaps today you desperately wish you could.
Satan may want you to believe you are finished, that somehow you are erased from God’s plans and that what was meant for you is now with someone else. The truth is that there may have been consequences that you have had to pay, but God still knows your name. God still has a plan for your life. You are still part of what God is doing. You are not cast aside and forgotten. You feature in the purposes of God for today.
This, you see, is 2026. This is not the time of Reuben. Something happened that this whole story in Genesis repeatedly speaks prophetically about, the story of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ!
You may liken yourself to Reuben. However, because of the blood of Jesus, you are at the table as a full son/daughter, not a diminished version of one.
The New Testament (such as Ephesians 1) tells us that we have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ. We do not have the leftovers. We have every blessing.
We are not living as Reuben’s generation did. He died under a covenant that recorded sin. We live under a covenant that fully redeems it. Amen! Under the blood of Jesus, we are reinstated. Amen!
Missions Paul 