Listen to the audio above which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com, while following along in the transcript below….
Okay, we’re ready to begin. Brother Paul said earlier that I might be interrupted by a mighty rushing wind. That’s okay.
As we come again to look into the word of the Lord, there’s a principle of Bible Study that is absolutely indispensable. We can’t take it for granted and we can’t live without it, and that is total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. This is His Bible and He inspired it and He wants to breathe on it again and make it alive to our heart. So, we need to trust Him for that.
Before we go to prayer, there are a couple of verses I’d like to share. I don’t think this is on the sheet. Colossians 2:17, “Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath Day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” That last expression, “Things which are a mere shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ,” as we look today into the word, we’re going to be contrasting the picture, the reality, the shadow and the substance. In connection with that verse, Song of Solomon 2:16&17, this is the union, the relationship picturing the church and our Lord Jesus, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies,” you know lily-life, what that is. He has explained that. So, that’s where we get fed, among the lilies, “until the cool of the day,” this touches my heart, “and the shadows flee away.” The shadows, the pictures; God has given us so many pictures, that we look forward to the day when it’s all substance, and it’s all Christ and it’s all reality. So, let’s go to prayer.
Our Father, we thank You that You’ve gathered us again. You are so faithful. We ask, Lord, that You would dawn Christ on us in a fresh and living way. Take us forward in a heart knowledge of Yourself. You know all about us, our hungers, our needs, our capacities. Meet us where we are and take us where You would have us. We commit this session, this meditation unto You, and we thank You in advance that You are going speak. Lord, I just ask You to protect Your people from anything I might say that is flesh and blood. We just want to hear from You. So, thank You for Your word. Now, we commit our session unto You in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, I’ll begin by saying that I’m filled with gratitude and a little bit of amazement that it’s my privilege again to address you in the name of the Lord. It sort of feels like those captive ones in the Psalms. It says, “I’m like those who dream; my mouth is filled with praise.” So, I just thank the Lord. I never expected to have this honor again, to be honest with you, this opportunity, this place, and how often the Lord has visited us in this place. I thank the Lord for this opportunity and thank the elders of Family Ministries for giving me that privilege again. Nothing has changed in the last forty-seven years as far as the message is concerned. We’re gathered to behold the Lord again. We want to know Him and see Him in the worship, in the songs, in the testimonies, in the morning prayer, at lunch and with all the activities, meeting face to face, fellowshipping together, the children and their ministry. We just want to see the Lord; this is a weekend and may God detach you from everything, even legitimate things that you are concerned about, and just set you free so that we can behold the Lord together.
Let me begin by giving you the direction of where we’ll be going in our little series this weekend. I personally believe an introduction study is vital; it’s very, very important. It’s going to set the stage, a little bit of donkey work but it’s going to show you where we’re heading in this marvelous illustration. I think it’s been announced and expected that our direction is Jesus, as always. The Bible record that’s going to illustrate that for us this weekend is the history, the Bible redemptive history and testimony of His servant, Jacob. That’s what we’re going to be looking at.
Jacob is a strategic character in God’s history of redemption. It’s through Jacob, through Jacob’s line, through Judah that Christ came. Well, that’s this weekend. It’s through Jacob we’re going to get to Jesus because that’s the goal, and Jacob through his line came our Lord Jesus.
The story of Jacob covers a lot of inspired space. I don’t know if you are familiar with the fact that Jacob is mentioned in twenty-three different books of the Bible. He’s an important character. In the New Testament he’s mentioned in Matthew, he’s mentioned in Luke, he’s mentioned in John, he’s mentioned in Acts, he’s mentioned in Romans, he’s mentioned in Hebrews; there’s a lot what God has to say about Jacob. The Bible is full of references to Jacob. He lived 147 years, and so we’re going to look at 147 years this weekend in these few messages. So, we have to be selective, of course. We can’t look at everything; there’s just too much.
I think across the board when people think about Jacob, they have a preconceived idea. It would be true like if I said the name “Job”, somebody would say, “Well, that’s suffering.” That’s a preconceived idea. When you say Job. If I said “Noah” people would think the ark and the flood and the animals, and so on. If I said “Moses” you would probably think of the Ten Commandments, the Law, and something like that. If I said “Jonah” I know what people would think of; they would think of the fish, and so on. So, in the minds of many, maybe most, when you say the name “Jacob” you think about heal snatcher, you think about deceiver, schemer and somebody who is trying who is trying to manipulate and get things done his own way – self sufficient Jacob, flesh. We think about Jacob in that way. There is plenty of reason to think that way; there is a lot of scripture that bends in that direction. A great part of his living was nothing but Jacob-life and not Christ-life.
Jacob, as you know, was born a twin. He was born a twin when his father, Isaac, was sixty years old. He was brought up in a dysfunctional family. His father has a favorite, and that was Esau. His mother has a favorite, and that was Jacob. To the natural eye, I guess, Esay would look like the favorite. He would look like the achiever, skillful hunter, man’s man. Genesis 25:25, “First came out forth red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.” That would be interesting to see him as a newborn baby. They should have name him Harry.
Anyway, he was a man and Jacob is sometimes presented almost as a mamma’s boy. Genesis 25:27, “When the boys grew up, Esay became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man.” Another translation says, “But Jacob was a smooth man.” He was smooth in more ways than one, and we’re going to see that as we go along.
The story of Jacob begins, of course, long before Jacob took his first breath, before he was born. Rebeccas was given a word. Genesis 25:22, “The children struggled together within her, and she said, ‘If it’s so, why am I this way?’ So, she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other; the older shall serve the younger.’” That was before Jacob was born. In the foreknowledge of the Lord, He predicted through the prophet that Jacob would end up with the spiritual heart. Hosea 12:3&4, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel. In his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought His favor; He found Him at Bethel.” So, that’s the man that we’re going to look at this weekend.
I believe all who have studied the life of Jacob under the guidance of the Holy Spirit have studied in terms of these two things. Jacob was striving after the birthright, and Jacob was striving after the blessing. The birthright and the blessing. Jot that down in your heart because that’s what we’re going to look at.
You know the first event when he got the birthright which naturally belonged to the first born, Esau, Genesis 25:29, “When Jacob has cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please, let be have a swallow of that red stuff; I’m famished.’ Therefore, his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘Behold, I’m about to die, so of what use is the birthright to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘First swear to me.’ So, he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stews, and he ate, drank and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Jacob not only took advantage of his brother, Esau, to get the birthright but later on his mother, Rebecca, devised a scheme that he could also give the blessing that belonged to the firstborn, that belonged to Esau, even though God said, “The older will serve the younger,” she wasn’t trying to do anything spiritual. The whole story is recorded in Genesis 27. We’re not going to look at that now, the first 29 verses.
Anyway, those two events, the birthright and the blessing. The whole story of Jacob, all 147 years revolved around the birthright and the blessing. The whole story of Jacob, here is how Esay described it, Genesis 27:36, “He said, ‘Is he not rightly name Jacob; he supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright and behold now he’s taken away my blessing.
In this introduction lesson I’m going to try to set before you those two things, the birthright and the blessing. The birthright and the blessing in the Jacob story is not new. The birthright and the blessing tells the story of the church, of every Christian, of you, of me. I’m not going to do it but I wonder if I went through and just said, “We’ve got a picture called the birthright. That’s a picture; that’s a shadow. What’s the reality?” I wonder how many would know. What’s the reality of birthright? And the blessing is the same thing. That’s a picture. What’s the reality? Jacob did not know the reality. The birthright and the blessing belongs to every Christian, and we need to know, and I pray by the time we leave this conference; you are going to be praising God for the birthright and the blessing because that’s the entire message.
I want to give a little timeline because I think sometimes people, because stories are so close in the Bible, have the idea that it took place one right after another. The fact is that when Jacob stole the birthright, he is about 18 – 20 years old. He’s a young guy, teenager or beyond that. But when he took the blessing, we can show you from the Bible that he was 77 years old, almost 60 years later. The stories are not just piggy-backed; it covers a lifetime. Jacob, he lives to get the birthright and the blessing and giving almost his whole life just to get the birthright and the blessing, except he doesn’t know what it is. He’s chasing a picture; he’s chasing a shadow. He has no clue of the spiritual reality.
Let me give you the Holy Spirit’s commentary on these two, and then you’ll see why God is contrasting Jacob and Esau. Hebrew 12:14, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God and no route of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled, that there be no immoral or Godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal. You know even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears.” In the KJV Esau is called, “a profane person, a Godless person, an immoral person,” and it was in terms of this act of selling his birthright for a single meal that he got that name – immoral, Godless, profane.
Genesis 25:34, “Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate, drank and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised the birthright.” Why does God tell us the story of Jacob and Esau when neither one saw the reality? What is the contrast? In both cases, these are God ordained pictures. The birthright has a reality. The blessing has a reality. They are shadows by themselves. It’s like if you are cold, would it help if you had a picture of a fire? I don’t think so. If you’re hungry and I gave you a picture of a banquet, would that help. If you are sick, you don’t want a picture of a doctor; you need a physician. If you are naked, it would be nice to have clothes and not just a picture of a wardrobe.
Pictures are designed to point to some reality, and Jacob’s history is not going to make sense until you understand that Jacob was not spiritual at this point. He wasn’t going after some spiritual reality. He was not running after the Lord. He heard about the birthright and said, “I want that.” He heard about the blessing and said, “I want that.” I’m amazed at many of my commentators who suggest that Jacob was just some misled individual who wanted to serve the Lord and ran after the birthright and the blessing in order to serve the Lord, but his problem was he did it in his own energy, in the energy of the flesh. That’s not the Bible record of Jacob; he wasn’t running after anything spiritual. He had no clue about spiritual things. He knew about his father Abraham. He knew about the history of his family, but as far as experience he had no clue of the reality. He just ran and pursued the picture.
Proverbs 2:1-5 gives us God’s heart, His longing for you, for me and anybody that goes after the reality. Listen to these verbs; this is going after the reality and not the picture, “My son, if you will receive My words, treasure My commandments, make your ear attendant to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding, cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, and if you seek her as silver and search for her as hid treasures, then you’ll discover the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. That passion and desire to receive and treasure and make your ear attentive and incline your heart, and cry for discernment, and dig for treasures; go after the reality with that kind of a passion. Jacob went after the picture with that kind of passion. He was hungering just to get the picture. It would be a wonderful thing if God’s people would hunger after the substance with the same zeal that Jacob went after just the picture. That’s what God wants us to see. The reason God gave us Jacob and Esau is not because Jacob was spiritual and Esau wasn’t, but it’s because Jacob has a pursuing heart. It was after the wrong thing. He went for it and Esau despised it. Esau had no appetite for the things of reality of God.
On the level of earth the picture was attractive. Let me show you that. Jacob was inclined to go after that. Why was he so disappointed that he wasn’t born first? The answer is what he heard about the birthright and the blessing. He wanted a double portion.
I remember my son, firstborn son, David, came and reminded me that he was firstborn and he’s going to get a double blessing. I’m not a mathematician, but what’s two times zero?
It meant a double portion. Listen to Deuteronomy 21:17, “He shall acknowledge the first born by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength and to him belongs the right of the firstborn.” Jacob says, “I want that double portion. That’s awesome!” And there are other scriptures like Genesis 49 that say, “To the firstborn went prominence and dignity and preeminent in power,” and so on. The firstborn got the best, the most and the highest, and for a reason. Genesis 47, that also included lordship over the rest of the family, and he liked that idea, as well. He was running after the picture only.
Basically, three things were included. Try to put yourself at this point in Jacob’s shoes, kind of fleshly, worldly and hearing this. Here’s what he heard, three things, “For him, firstborn gets real estate, land.” He liked that idea. Genesis 15:18, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, ‘To your descendants I’ve given this land, from the river in Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, know as the Promised Land, land of milk and honey.” I’m going to read a couple of passage describing the land and why Jacob was excited. Deuteronomy 6:10, “It shall come about when the Lord God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you great and splendid cities which you did not build, and house full of good things which you did not build, hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied.” Jacob said, “Alright, I’m going to get all that land.” Deuteronomy 8:7, “The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and water, fountains and spring flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees, pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you’ll eat food without scarcity in which you’ll not lack anything, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you’ll bless the Lord your God for the good land that He’s given you.” That’s the first thing that turned him on, “Wow, I can get all that property, all that real estate?”
The second has to do with family. Genesis 13:15&16, “For all the land which you see I’ll give it to you and your descendants forever. I’ll make your descendants as of the dust of the earth. If anyone can number the dust of the earth, your descendants can also be numbered.” Genesis 15:5, “He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendants be.” Get into Jacob’s thought pattern. Jacob is hearing about all this land, and it’s all going to go to his family. He’s in favor of that, “My kids are going to get it and my grandkids are going to pass it on.”
The third part is in Genesis 12:3, “I’ll bless those who bless you. The one who curses you I’ll curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. I have influence over the earth; I have authority.”
“Boy, that’s great! I want to be firstborn. I want to be rich, I want to have land, I want to have a family, I want them to be blessed, and I want to have power, and I want to have authority over the earth.” That’s all he saw. That was a shadow – money, family, authority. On the low level of earth, I say that we can’t blame Jacob for wanting those things, but he only saw the shadow. God said, “To your seed…” He said “seed”. Family. Galatians said, “No, no, no. Your seed which is Christ. He didn’t see that. He saw a land of milk and honey. He didn’t know that was a picture of our Lord Jesus, and we’re to go into the land and settle down and live, the richness of Christ. He didn’t see the reality. He said, “I’m going to have authority, and I’ll be able to rule and bless the whole earth.” He didn’t know that blessing was to bring Christ to the world and the word of salvation and liberty.
Let me set before your heart God’s description of the reality. What is the reality of the birthright. It’s not what Jacob saw; it’s not just land, family, power. The birthright is actually explained in the word “birthright”. It’s the right of those who are born first. Let me give it to you as a principle and then we’ll try to develop it. It was the right and privilege of the firstborn, as I already said. We’re going to start with Jacob and he gave Christ. The birthright was the privilege that God gave illustrated, of course, by the firstborn to become the human channel, the instrument by which God would manifest Himself to the world. That was in the firstborn, to become the privileged person for your generation to manifest Christ to a hungry world. What a birthright!
It’s not new, this idea of birthright. This picture goes all through the Bible. When Israel failed to be the firstborn, God set them aside and took the tribe of Levi, and then Christ became the firstborn. Right from the beginning when God created man, He had this purpose. That’s why He created him in the image of God. You don’t need to read a lot of books on what is the image of God. Just read 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Christ who is the image of God.” That’s the image of God – Christ. God created man to display, to manifest Christ. It was God’s purpose when He looked down from heaven when He created man, and to see His Son. If man hadn’t sinned, that’s how it would be. God would be looking down seeing His image which is Christ; seeing Himself. That’s why you were created and that’s why you were redeemed, to get back to the purpose that you were created. That’s God’s first and only intention, that man would manifest Christ.
When He gave a double portion to the firstborn, it’s not because He loved the firstborn more than the second born or the third born, but He wanted to find somebody to put Him on display, so others looking can say, “Oh, that’s what God wants to give me.” That’s the privilege of the firstborn; “God blesses us,” says Psalm 67, that the ends of the earth might fear Him.” He wants to put on display in your life and mine the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the blessing. That’s why we were created. So, the firstborn is the right, the privilege, the honor of manifesting Jesus. That’s what the firstborn is. When man sinned, he lost that privilege. Through the blood of our Lamb He’s restoring that privilege.
Listen to Hebrews 12:23, “To the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” The church of the firstborn; that’s you; that’s me; that’s us. The firstborn is the privilege to manifest Christ to a hungry world. After the picture, that’s the reality. When you gave your heart to the Lord and He accepted you as His own personal child, you became the firstborn and you have that privilege.
What’s the blessing? If the privilege is to manifest Christ, what’s the blessing? Let me state it in simple words and then show you. The blessing is God’s free, supernatural provision to that one person who is the firstborn. It’s God’s provision, and I have the privilege to manifest Christ but I don’t have the power; I don’t have the enablement; I don’t have what it takes. The privilege is to manifest, and the power is the enablement to fulfill the privilege; that’s the birthright and the blessing.
Abraham understood that. Jacob wanted the blessing that God gave to Abraham, but Abraham saw the reality and Jacob didn’t. Listen to Galatians 3:8, “The scripture for seeing that God would justify the gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” Abraham got the gospel preached to him. He understood the promise of the seed. Galatians 3:16, “Promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say to seeds, as referring to many. Rather, to one, to your seed; that’s Christ. Genesis 22:18, “Your seed, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Abraham saw that and he not only saw the Christ as the seed, but he saw the way to receive it. Romans 4:2,3, “If Abraham is justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” What does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works, his wage is not credited as favor, but what is due. But the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Abraham became the father of faith. It’s by grace; it’s by faith; it’s Christ. My privilege to manifest Christ, the blessing is the enablement, the power to do that, by the life of Christ through faith through grace. All weekend that’s what you’re going to hear, Christ and grace. That’s all there is; Christ and grace, the birthright and the blessing. There’s nothing else.
But Jacob didn’t go after that. It’s a great deliverance when God opens these eyes to the purpose for which you were created. You were created to manifest Him. And by His indwelling Life you now have the enablement, the blessing to manifest Him. How does God take His people to stop chasing pictures and to embrace the reality? That’s why we’re studying Jacob, because the exact way He did it for Jacob, He’ll do it for you. And exactly the way He did it for Jacob, He’ll do it for me. And exactly the way He did it for Jacob, He’ll do it for us.
Those who have studied Jacob’s life know that there were two great turning points in his life. The first was the vision he had at Bethel – the ladder. Do you remember that great vision. The second was the wrestling match he had in Genesis 32. What God taught Jacob at the ladder, he resisted. He walked away from it 20 years. When He finally taught him 20 years later at the wrestling match. We’ve got to learn that He’s going to wrestle. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens.
I’m going to set this before your heart. Let me ask and try to answer this question. When Jacob was alive, “I need the blessing, I need the blessing,” when was Jacob actually blessed? Was it in Genesis 27 when he dressed up to look like and smell like his brother Esau? Was that when he was blessed? Isaac gave a blessing at that time. Was he blessed in Genesis 28 after he’s running because Esau wants to kill him, and God finally opens Isaac’s eyes, and it says that Isaac blessed him again. This is after he was deceived, and now he’s blessing him again, just before he goes to Laban’s house. Is that when he got blessed?
We know from the book of Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob.” When did he do it by faith? It wasn’t the first time. Well, you say it’s here in chapter 28 just before he goes, he gives him the blessing again. He finally learned what God told his wife, Genesis 32:26, “Your older shall serve the younger.” The answer to the question of when was he blessed, he wasn’t blessed when Isaac was deceived. When Isaac blessed him the second time, I know it’s an answer that is very unsatisfying. Was he blessed then? The answer is yes and no; it’s both, yes and no. In what sense was he blessed? Because Isaac blessed him by faith, he was put into the position to be blessed, but he wasn’t yet blessed.
I think all of you are familiar with what we mean when we say, “positional truth”. He was put in a position to be blessed. God saw him; God saw his heart. What did he look like in God’s eyes? Isaac blessed Jacob with the Abrahamic blessing, but Jacob at this point only had it in position. He was in the position to have it. It’s like every Christian I say is firstborn. When you got saved, you became the firstborn and you were blessed. Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” But was that God’s heart for Jacob? Is that God’s heart for you, that you just receive a blessing as it is in God’s eyes, positionally? If he was fully blessed then, why do we hear him crying out in Genesis 32:26, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” He wasn’t blessed until that wrestling match. “I’ll not let you go until You take Your blessing out of my position and put it in my life, put it in my experience.” That’s when you are blessed, when God can take all that He sees, all that He knows, all that’s true about you, but you haven’t, when God takes that and puts it in your experience, that’s what He wants to do.
My heart goes out to many firstborn who are only blessed in position. They say, “Jesus sees me as perfect,” and all that, and yet they live like the devil. May God help us! We have privilege to manifest Christ and that’s the birthright. God has given us a provision and enablement, the very life of the Lord Jesus in our heart. But the blessing becomes ours when He puts it out of our position and puts it in our experience. Genesis 32:29, “Jacob asked Him, ‘Tell me Your name.’ He says, ‘Why is it that you ask My name?’ And He blessed him there.” That’s when he got the blessing. By God helping us, we need to find our where “there” is because that’s what He wants for us.
This weekend we’re going to meditate on God’s method because like I said, what He did with Jacob, He’s going to take you to Bethel and He’s going to take you to the Brook Jabbok and Penuel, so that He’ll take the blessing out of your position and put it in your life.
I was glad that, brother Paul, that you said what you said about baptism because it’s just a picture and it’s not the reality; it’s a shadow. Some people say, “I’ve been baptized. Alright, I’m living a good Christian life.” No! Sometime this weekend we’ll be sharing the Lord’s Table; that’s just a picture. It means nothing if you don’t have the reality. Don’t think Christians don’t chase pictures. They do. Tithing is not a reality; it’s a picture. If you are just going through the motions in tithing, you are missing the substance; you are missing the reality. Church leadership – pastor, deacon, teacher, steward – are pictures. It’s not the reality. May God help us go after the reality. I love the Bible. That’s a picture. “They search the scriptures; they thought in them they had eternal life.” They didn’t come to Christ. “You’ll not come to Me.” It’s just a picture. Don’t think you are a good Christian because you’ve been baptized and you gather with the saints. The local church is a picture. National Israel is a picture, and Christians are running after pictures, pictures, pictures. This weekend God wants to set you free from chasing shadows to embrace the substance which is Christ. The privilege you have to manifest Him. That’s why you were created and why you were redeemed and that’s the only purpose of your life, to manifest Christ. You have the birthright, not positionally but in your life, “I can’t. Now I can because I have the indwelling Life of God by faith through grace – Christ/grace.
God is going to take us on a little journey and we’re going to walk with Jacob. We’re going to see how God does it. How can He deliver me completely from shadow to substance? Those who have studied Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you know over and over again we read, “He’s the God of Abraham, He’s the God of Isaac, He’s the God of Jacob”. Why doesn’t it say that He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah? Why does He stop? It’s because Abraham gives us the picture of faith; he believed God and he became the father of faith. Isaac was the heir and the one who surrendered. Faith/surrender. But we’re here to look at Jacob and Jacob got the birthright and he got the blessing. How does God take you? Once you have faith/Abraham, surrender/Isaac, and you are manifesting Christ by the Life of Christ, you’re done. That’s it; that’s why it stops with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
As I get ready to close, I want to remind you that unless He’s the God of all three, that we haven’t quite arrived. Psalm 24:6, “This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, even Jacob.” Psalm 146:5, “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Psalm 20:1, “Now, may the God of Jacob set you securely on high.” Psalm 44:4, “You are my King, oh God. Command victories for Jacob.”
We were created and redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, that we might manifest Christ by the indwelling Life of Christ. May God set us free from all the pictures! Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for Your word and what is Your word we ask You to bless and plant in our heart such a way that the enemy will not come and steal it. Prepare our hearts we pray as we look at the life of Jacob, so that we might know Your patience and Your wonderful forbearance with us, to take us to that place, finally, where there is no more Jacob, but Israel. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.