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Bible Study with Jarius – Deuteronomy 33:6
Let Reuben Live: A Study of Pride, Loss, and Redemption
“Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.” – Deuteronomy 33:6
Why Reuben Matters
Moses proclaims prophetic blessing over the twelve tribes of Israel in Deuteronomy 33. These blessings are not sentimental farewells. They are spiritual verdicts, prayers, and revelations that expose both human failure and divine mercy.
Each tribe carries a distinct story. Each reveals a different way humanity falls, and a different way God saves. Together, the twelve tribes form a complete testimony of redemption — how sinners are confronted, judged, humbled, and ultimately restored by grace.
Today, we turn to Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
Reuben is not often preached as a hero. His story is uncomfortable and forces us to look honestly at pride, self-deception, and the devastating cost of unchecked desire. But it also reveals something powerful: God’s refusal to abandon a fallen son.
Many believers may see themselves in Reuben. We fail in the same ways time and time again. But let us turn to the story and look into the light of hope found there.
Knowing God’s Nature, Not Just His Acts
Before we examine Reuben’s failure, we must understand a foundational principle of this study: Knowing God’s nature is essential to spiritual stability.
Many believers know what God does, but do not truly know who God is. They know His miracles, His commandments, His blessings — but not His heart.
Many believers know what God does, but far fewer know who God is.
When we only know God’s actions, faith easily becomes rule-following. Religion and practice replace relationship and love. Obedience becomes external rather than internal. This is how idol worship begins, even inside the church.
Knowing God’s nature protects us from falling and reveals His principles. It guards us from pride and from falling into religious legalism. When we know Him in this way, we gain a deeper and fuller understanding of how God views sin, repentance, judgment, and grace.
Without that knowing, even sincere believers can slip into religious legalism or idol worship. We may think we are serving God, while actually serving our own pride, our own standards, or our own image of righteousness.
This is why Scripture consistently calls God’s people not just to obey, but to know Him.
Knowing ourselves and our sinful nature is the next big thing. We must understand our fallen human nature. Knowing God and knowing ourselves are the keys to understand the prophetic word toward the twelve tribes by Jacob and Moses. In both of their prophecies, Jacob and Moses pinpoint the goodness of God and individual characteristics, even failures of each tribe. But their fates do not stop there. These prophetic words also point to their redemption of their future. There are three pillars to understand the prophecies regarding the twelve tribes of Israel: God’s goodness, our fallen nature, and God’s redemption. Only through these lenses, can we understand their prophetic futures.
A Warning from the Pharisees
Consider this familiar scene from the Gospels that illustrates the danger of legalism.
When a sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, the Pharisees were offended. According to the law, she was unclean. According to their religious standards, she should have been rejected. The Pharisees knew the law. They knew the rules. From their perspective, this woman was unworthy. Their judgment was based on external behavior and religious standards.
Jesus, however, revealed the heart of God. He did not excuse sin, but He recognized repentance, humility, and love. Where the Pharisees saw a violation, Jesus saw a transformed heart. This moment exposes a dangerous truth: You can follow religious rules and still be completely blind to grace.
It is possible to defend religious correctness while actively resisting God’s grace. Without knowing God’s heart, even sincere believers can oppose the very work God is doing. In the case of the Pharisees, they missed the heart of God, and they did not know their own fallen nature. Hence they also missed the prophetic future of this woman. When an amateur sees a gold mine, he only sees dirt. When a professional miner sees it, he discovers gold.
When the Pharisees saw only a sinful woman, Jesus saw the prophetic future of a beautiful member of the body of Christ. The Pharisees only saw the dirt, but Jesus saw the gold. Jesus saw a bride without any wrinkle and a royal priesthood. Our perspectives about God’s heart, our fallen nature, and God’s redemption plan determine if we understand any prophecies. Prophecy is about the future; it may require us to see through the dirt of the past (and even the present) to find the gold of the future.
Pride: The Veil Over the Heart
At the root of Reuben’s story is pride. Pride convinces us that we see clearly when we do not. It places a veil over the heart, making us think that self-examination is unnecessary. Pride is what causes us to feel offended rather than repentant when we are corrected. We consistently think that we are really “not that bad” and devise all kinds of excuses to ignore the seriousness of the harm we cause because of our bad choices and selfish sin.
Pride blinds us to God’s heart and His principles of righteousness and truth. When pride governs the heart:
- We excuse our sin
• We underestimate its consequences
• We resist accountability
• We confuse confidence with righteousness
Pride does not merely lead to failure. It hardens the heart against repentance. This is the spiritual environment in which Reuben fell.
Pride is a false identity; it cannot handle negligence and humiliation. Thus pride leads to hatred. Reuben’s story and my homeland’s story of pride are similar. China was proud. The Chinese name for China literally means “Central Kingdom” and Japan was always associated with the word “small” in the Chinese history. China proudly called herself “Big China” and called Japan “Small Japan.” This concept lingers even today. My Japanese student in China told me a story. She did not recognize a huge Chinese spring onion as spring onion, so she asked a Chinese chef “What is this?” The Chinese chef proudly said, “This is BIG SPRINGONION, you don’t have this big spring onion in your small Japan, do you?”
Pride is a way China tries to disguise the humiliation of almost being conquered by this small Japan. Pride is what lingers today, with the blessing of yesterday.
Why was Reuben full of pride? Because he was the first born? Or because he was the son of the first wife of his father? He may have thought he was entitled to everything. Maybe the pride, negligence, and humiliation from Jacob and Rachel toward Leah, Reuben, and his brothers caused them to harbor inner hatred in their hearts. He may have been resentful to his father.
Bilhah, the maid of Rachel was also neglected by Jacob. Her two sons were taken away by Rachel. Satan utilized their hatred to commit the sins against Jacob. On the surface it was lust that caused their sin, but in their hearts it was hatred due to negligence and humiliation.
Pride is a façade; it is a false identity. Our real identity should be in the Son of God. I believe ancient China worshipped the one true God, but she has fallen to idol worship. This is why God allows humiliation to come upon her.
Humiliation can lead to hatred, but it also leads to humbling. China still uses national pride to control and mobilize Chinese people. Whenever there is a crisis for the government, they utilize Japan as a threat and pass humiliation. They claim that only their leadership united the Chinese people to defeat Japan. But this narrative of "defeating Japan" under Communist Party guidance is built on a false foundation — a false identity.
China must turn to find God and become a Christian nation—a nation with a true identity.
Pride is not unique to a specific group of people. It is a human sin in its nature. It does not only happen in countries without knowledge of the Gospel like China, it also happens to countries that have historically had Christian roots. Today the greatest danger for the Christian West is pride. This is a false identity. We linger in the pride of yesterday’s familiarity with God, but we forget the intimacy with God that we need today. Our true identity in Christ will make us humble before God and become more closely united with him. This will protect us from falling away from any entitlement as Reuben who lost his birthright even though he was the firstborn.
Reuben the Firstborn
Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son. By birthright, he stood first in authority, inheritance, and responsibility. The firstborn was meant to carry a spiritual symbol of leadership and priestly authority.
Yet Reuben committed a grave sin. He defiled his father’s bed (Genesis 49:4, 1 Chronicles 5:1 ESV), violating covenant order and moral boundaries. This was not a private mistake. It was a spiritual rebellion.
As a result, Reuben lost what could not be recovered by human effort:
- His birthright
• His authority
• His inheritance
• His place in the lineage of Jesus Christ
Jacob’s words in Genesis 49 over Reuben are severe. Scripture does not minimize the cost of sin.
“Sinning” is synonymous with “being lost in identity.” We sin when we forget our identity as children of God. The moment that the prodigal son in Luke 15 lost his identity, he sinned. The moment he realized he was the son of his father and that his father was rich, he stopped sinning.
Sinning is a coping mechanism for those who have lost their identity. Just like using drugs, alcohol, and being addicted to pornography is a coping mechanism to ease pain, sinning is a temporary coping mechanism for those who are lost. Reuben lost his identity! Losing his birthright is just a picture of the fact that he lost his identity.
There is no sin in the first three chapters of the Bible in Genesis or in the last three chapters of the Bible in Revelation. Sin is only temporary in time and there is no sin in eternity. We are on a journey where sin is present with us. But just because sin is temporary does not mean it does not have consequences, even huge consequences.
Consequences Written into History
Reuben’s failure echoed through generations: His tribe became small. His influence diminished. His legacy was marked by instability.
Most significantly, Reuben lost the heavenly blessing of becoming part of Christ’s genealogy. The firstborn position passed to his brother, Joseph. “His birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son” (1 Chronicles 5:1b ESV).
This is a sobering reminder: Grace does not eliminate consequences. God forgives, but sin still causes irreversible damage. Yet the damage is not the end of the story.
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV). It is true for us today and it was true for Reuben then.
Moses’ Prayer: Let Reuben Live
When Moses blesses the tribes in Deuteronomy 33:6 (ESV), he speaks a short but powerful prayer: “Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.”
This prayer reveals the heart of God beyond the judgment of the law. Reuben deserved total annihilation, but Moses asks that God, in His mercy, would let him live and limit his punishment.
Notice that the consequence remains. Moses does not ask God to restore Reuben’s birthright. He does not reverse history. Instead, he intercedes for mercy on Reuben’s behalf.
Generations later, something remarkable happens. Reuben’s descendants do not remain passive. They search their hearts. They repent. They rise up to fight alongside the other tribes for God’s kingdom. And their story shifts from failure to faithfulness.
In the final vision we find in Scripture, Reuben is not missing. His name is included on the pearly gates of New Jerusalem. “And on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed” (Revelation 21:12 ESV).
How can humiliation bring forth real humility? How does a curse become blessing? It takes time to realize and it requires God’s illumination. God not only works through words, but also through circumstances. That is called the discipline of the Holy Spirit. God will allow you to go through troubles until you come to repentance. It takes time and it also takes another life. It is the life of Christ, and it is the life of a pearl.
From Sinful Son to Pearly Gate
A pearl is formed through irritation and injury. What begins as a damaging wound becomes something beautiful through patience and transformation. Reuben’s story follows this pattern.
What began as disgrace becomes an entrance into glory.
This reveals a deep truth about salvation: God does not merely forgive sinners. He transforms them into gateways of grace for others.
Imagine Reuben talking with his brothers on the pearly gates of New Jerusalem. Reuben says, “I thought I was the firstborn and that I should receive all the attention. But both me and my mom were neglected. Negligence caused me to harbor hate toward my father and my aunt Rachel. I defiled the bed of my father with Bihah. I lost my earthly blessing, and I missed the opportunity to become an ancestor of Christ. God would not have deprived me of this blessing if I had not sinned.” Simeon says, “My heart was full of hatred toward Joseph, and I thought the way to solve my problem was to go rid of Joseph. I lost that blessing too.” Levi says, “I blindly followed Simeon, I killed many people. I lost the blessing too.” Judah says, “I also lost my identity by leaving the land of Judah. I got lost in the land of Moab and my wife and two sons died. It is God’s chastisement to me. I would’ve never made it into the genealogy of Christ without Tamar. She is more righteous than I.” Reuben says finally, “Brothers, thank God! We are all here now and our names are all written on the pearl gates of New Jerusalem. God is good. What Satan meant for evil, God used for good. He used our pain to transform us while Satan tried to use it to demonize us. Finally, God has won! We are transformed to the living stone of God’s temple. Praise God!”
Failure Does Not Define You
Reuben’s story speaks directly to believers who carry shame: Failure is not your identity. Sin is serious. Consequences are real. But repentance and grace open a future that the law and judgment alone would close. Salvation is not determined by human theology or religious reputation. It is judged by God, who sees the heart. Through Christ, sinners become sons. Broken stories become testimonies. Loss becomes purpose.
I am a living illustration of this truth. When I came to London to study, I encountered the Gospel on the street. I heard people were mimicking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a play and the word of the Gospel pierced my heart. I realized I was a total failure. I was broke and had no money to finish my schooling. I was sinful to betray those who loved me. An English sister, Emma, told me about Jesus and asked me to receive him. She prayed for me, “I pray a group of loving Christians will surround you in America.” I came to America and almost became homeless. But God answered Emma’s prayer to send a group of Christians to help me.
I was saved through the Gospel because others acted as pearl gates in my life — believers who carried the message of salvation and opened a way for grace to enter. I testified to my parents, and they were baptized in the name of Jesus. I became the pearl gate to bring them into New Jerusalem.
This is the calling of the church. This is also the calling of the Jews in the end time as God says in the time of restoration, all the Gentles will grab the clothes of Jews to beg them to bring them to worship God in Zion (Zechariah 8:22-23). We are not saved merely for ourselves. We are shaped to become entrances through which others may encounter Christ.
A Call to Share the Word
If this message has touched your heart, I invite you to partner in spreading the gospel.
Please consider leaving a Google review for Jarius Bible Word Ministry. Like, comment, forward, and share this message so that it may reach others.
The platform may be small. Language may feel limited. But the Holy Spirit is not limited.
Let all those like Rueben, all who have fallen into the snare of sin and death, rise again through the grace of God to live anew for truth and righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let us be the gates through which others are led into the heavenly kingdom.
Devotional Reflection
Reuben confronts us with uncomfortable honesty. Pride blinds. Sin destroys. You will face consequences. This is a truth that applies to all of us, no matter the sin. Pride is a presumption of who we are not, and it is a false identity. Sin is a coping mechanism and an acronym for losing your identity.
Yet grace persists. Jesus Christ is the oyster and we are the pearls. Though his wounds and ours, we will become the gate of God’s city. Sinners can come in if they repent and the king of the earth will bring forth the glory to the city (Revelation 21:24).
If you are carrying regret, ask the Holy Spirit what He may be redeeming through it. Loss is not always the end. Sometimes it is the beginning of transformation.
Reflection Questions
- Where might pride be preventing honest self-examination in your life?
- What consequences of past choices are you still carrying?
- How does Moses’ prayer for Reuben reshape your understanding of grace?
- In what ways could God be transforming your failure into a doorway for others?
- What would it mean for you to live as a “pearl gate” of salvation today?
