Reuben: Behold a Son
Scripture Reading: Genesis 29:32
“And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.”
Reuben: Behold a Son
Today, I want to delve into the significance of the name Reuben, which means “behold a son, see a son.” In Kingdom context, who is a son? Isaiah 9:6 sheds some light: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” What is the difference between a child and a son? A son has all the potential of the father. He is the continuation of the father; he has the stamp and the seal of the father and manifests that authority.
As Christians, we start out as children of God but need to mature until we totally resemble Him, have His authority, and manifest the ability to work in the realm of all that He has made available because we have now grown into sons. That is why the whole creation groans and awaits the manifestation of the sons of God, Romans 8:19–22. So when Reuben was born, a son had been produced: Behold a son, let the son speak, let all the potential in a son speak on my behalf, was the cry of his mother. Leah, in spite of all the challenges she faced, felt that the arrival of a son would change her circumstance and she named him “behold a son,” she named him Reuben.
The question for you and me today is whether we can be called sons of God. Can we be put in a place where we can enjoy all the benefits of sonship or are we still children? Childhood is good but sonship is better because when you are a child, you can look at your father’s car but you can never drive it; you can look at things that adults enjoy but you will never be able to do them; you will see others sitting in serious meetings but you will not be allowed in. When you mature, when sonship manifests, all that is potentially yours becomes actively yours because it is now handed over to you with the priviledge of sonship.
Our Lord was called the Son of God rather than a child of God because He had the character of God. We are described as having “the express image of his person,” Hebrews 1:3. I pray that sonship will manifest in our lives so that we will be described in relationship with our God as sons of God. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God,” 1 John 3:1.
Note that we should be called sons of God, not just children, but sons. The Bible emphasizes the importance of sonship. Hebrews 1:1–3 says, “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, by whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Beloved, everything we need from God is available when we enter into the realm of sonship. God is in Reuben, calling the children of Israel to maturity. He wants us to mature from being just a child to becoming a son; to mature from being just someone who is in the Kingdom to someone who has the ability to inherit all things, someone who has the express image of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer Points:
To those who are already children of God, this is the season of maturity. As a Christian you may be the only manifestation of Jesus some people will see. God is looking for sons. If you are childish in your work with God, pray that the Lord will give you the grace to manifest sonship so that when others see you they behold a son of God. When Jesus was walking the streets they said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. May you be seen as a perfect copy made in the express image of God. May you manifest the attributes and attitudes of a son. We have shortchanged our generation and ourselves in Christianity by childishness. It is time for us to move from childhood to sonship that all the blessings that have been waiting for us will become our reality in Jesus’ name.
I pray for that one who has not even become a child of God. If you have not surrendered your life to the Lord pray with me now, “Dear Lord Jesus, I accept you as my personal Lord and Saviour. Make me a Son of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
