Yet when judgment is in hand, it is the Lord's strange work: only two men are in view, and the Lord afar off, for “he went his way.” Though He can visit thus and bless His saints, and the land through them, yet neither can He dwell with them, nor in it. His character in connection with men in flesh, though chosen ones on the earth, had never been vindicated, so that He could not own a public connection with them, lest the truth of His character might be obscured, and His name linked with their unrighteousness, instead of giving them communion with His holiness.
Still less was it possible He could dwell in man'! This could not be until the precious blood of Christ was shed, which sanctifieth, not to the purifying of the flesh, but to the purging of Our sins and consciences.
Then, and then alone, could He dwell in men, and among men; since only then would God the Father be perfectly glorified, perfectly manifested, perfectly vindicated, regarding man.
But the time was about to come, in the purpose of God, for Him to manifest the glories of His name, Jehovah. Grace in earthly blessing had been fully manifested by Him. Tacitly to man had been confided the exhibition of righteousness in man, as, for instance, in Abraham's entreaty with Jehovah touching the cities of the plain. Jehovah comes down in grace to find, if possible, some plea by reason of which mercy might still stay justice. “I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, and if not, I will know.” Jehovah comes in grace, Abraham urges righteousness— “Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Let not the Lord be angry."
But what the friend of God does not get, because he dares not ask, since he has a conscience of righteousness, that very thing the Lord, with instant unhesitating grace, accords to the fearful cry of vexed, unstable Lot, a cry wrung from him by dread, and finding vent in paltry and distrustful arguments; showing what the Lord's heart, and will, and mind were; gladly hailing any mediator that would urge a plea for mercy on the ground of grace alone, “for he said, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing, also that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything until thou be come thither.” And if for such a mediator He so freely spare, what will He not do for Him who, for them for whom He pleads, and in His death and resurrection, has justified and reconciled them?
Failure in man, as the witness for Jehovah of righteousness, had resulted, but in such a way, that grace could bear with it and overlook it for the time being: except, indeed, in the case of Lot, where the very ground of possible blessing was departed from, and the foundation of God's ways of mercy rejected, thereby bringing judgment on the scene wherein he should have been the salt. For the word of the Lord God by Noah had been, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be. . . Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.” Yet Lot is found sitting in the gate of Sodom, a servant to the Canaanite; unlike Abraham, who, when he had to do with the powers of the world, took entirely a separate place, and responsibility before the Lord alone. (Gen. 21:28.) But now the moment had arrived for all things to be measured by a divine standard, and for men to be brought into an acknowledged, established, divine relationship, with God dwelling in their midst, and to provide a suitable dwelling-place and maintenance in accordance with His revealed character.
This responsibility Jacob takes up, saying—
1. Jehovah shall be my God.
2. This atone shall be God's house.
3. I will surely given tenth unto thee.
And who was this about to assert his claim to such relationship, and that he is able to provide such a dwelling-place, and to maintain it? Is it one who has proved himself by faithfulness amid the things in which he is found, and who besides has shown such qualities as would declare his fitness to fill the post? Nay! but one above all others who from the first is seen as a supplanter, taking his brother by the heel and supplanting him in the birthright; and whose life up to the above-noted moment had been characterized only by an act of selfish deceit, chicanery, and lies—not righteous but unrighteous; not upright, but a groveler; not peaceable and yielding, but a paltry grasper. And such a man presumes to put himself on terms with God; making the acknowledgment of Him, and rendering of His due, conditional upon His keeping equity, judgment, and truth, insinuating thus a possibility of failure, judging Him to be such another as Himself, making himself the measure of God's truth. So true is it that we think of God by nature according to the state of our own consciences. But not only so, really making blessing to depend, not upon what God is, but upon his own faithfulness, saying, “If the Lord do this, then will I do that.” So that though the Lord proved faithful and true, yet that would not suffice to bring in the needed blessing, for Jacob would still have to do his part. And did he? Let the word declare! Is there not now a counterpart to this? making God's blessing hinge upon man's faithfulness? Abiding blessing cannot come until God has His due, and when it comes, it is none apart from Him. He Himself is good, and in Him only is any.
The good about to be revealed to man in the earth was this—the Lord dwelling with His people. Unbidden, with all the hurry of flesh, Jacob would make this dependent upon him—a bruised reed indeed, a stinking torch—and rushes in, with legal mind, rash step and grasp, instead of leaving the Lord God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, to work it out by grace in His own time. “If I come again to my father's house in peace, Jehovah shall be my God,” this shall be God's house, and I will maintain it.
All turns upon Jacob: he, the jewel-center, so adamantine in his righteousness, that all God's purposes may work upon him I so inflexible, immovable, that God can use him as the fulcrum upon which His eternal will may be rested, and His glory lifted from the dust.
But man from Adam's stock has ever come short of God's glory, proving worthless for His purposes. In his flesh dwells no good thing, an instrument unfit for use; opposed to His efforts, at enmity with His will, doubting God's word, mistrusting His grace, discrediting His power, and therefore taking really the whole burden and responsibility of the work upon himself. Has not this always been the way of flesh, in blind temerity? How different are the ways of God! He holds Himself responsible for all, from first to last. He foreknew from the first, and predestinated the extent and character of the blessing, and at the due time called forth the appointed vessel.
Still the grace and truth of God credits Jacob with faith and love, and therefore sets him in the path by which the desired end should be attained. What is that end? That “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14.)
Note here the double character of blessing—full well declaring the stability of God's eternal counsel. Surely there is a blessing “Too Jacob,” “to him,” to have and hold, secured by God's faithfulness, but dependent for its enjoyment upon Jacob's faithfulness. But, blessed be God, there is also a blessing “in Jacob,” the burden of which rests upon God alone (“the genealogy” which fell to Judah, of whom came Shiloh, the chief ruler, as distinct from the birthright which was given unto the sons of Joseph, from thence the shepherd, the stone of Israel Gen. 49:24; 1 Chron. 5:1, 2), independent altogether of the active instrument. “To thee and to thy seed. . . In thee and in thy seed.” Also to Abraham was it not the same (Gen. 12:2, 3): “I will make of thee a great nation.... and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” The first committed into Abram's charge, the other held in God's hand alone; the former referring to possession and the land, the last to blessing towards all.
Again (Gen. 17:8), “To thee and to thy seed will I give the land;” and both Ishmael and Isaac have their part in this covenant of possession, but it is with Isaac—the seed unborn—the covenant is established (Gen. 17:21; 21:12), and in him alone the seed is called. Again, in Gen. 22:17, 18, when it is a matter of possession and man's power, it is to Abraham; but if it is a question of eternal blessing from God towards all, it is in his Seed alone, secured and sealed by the immutability of His counsel and the oath of God; in the Seed, the Forerunner who has for us entered into that within the veil, fulfilling all the counsel of God, taking up all the responsibility of man, coming to do God's will in the prepared body, in the path of perfect obedience, bearing the sins of many in the offering of His own body, sanctifying them through the offering of His body once, and by that one offering perfecting for aver them that are sanctified. Thus do we see Him come not only to put away sin by Himself, but to bring in a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; and not only a vindicated God, dwelling in the land among a redeemed people, but a glorified God, dwelling with men in a righteous heavens and a righteous earth.
Ignorantly does faulty, foolish, failing Jacob undertake this mighty work, taking it from the ground of grace, and placing it upon the shoulders of his own faithfulness! Behold him, in unwise haste, while yet it is high day, and the flocks ungathered, rolling the stone from the well's mouth, and watering Laban's sheep! Thus did not Abraham's servant, who waited and prayed and wondered in silence, and let the virgin haste and run and draw to give him drink and all his camels. Thus did not the meek and lowly One, who, in tender grace and long-suffering patience, refused to fulfill a single wish, as Messiah, Son of man, or Head of all things, with His bride, the church, until the due time and the Father's will required.
What a scene there follows—Jacob fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, blown about by every wind of circumstance—the sport of lust! He could well believe Jehovah would bless others, but as for his own house, himself must provide for that. So flesh provided for, but fills its lust, and in those things which it naturally knows it corrupts itself; worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, it is given up to vile affections; not liking to retain the knowledge of God, it is given up to a reprobate mind.
At length Jacob has attained the utmost limit of his desire by deceit, chicanery, and fraud. Through all, and in spite of all, the unseen God has heard the desire of Jacob's heart, and given him to the full, yet in his own thought he has done it all—God little; known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, and thought, and fraud have gained it all; all is his. Jacob's cattle are strong, and “the man” (note that word), “the man increased exceedingly, had much cattle, maid-servants, men-servants, camels, and asses."
And now God's time has come. Jacob had uttered his before the Lord, and God's promise must be fulfilled, to bring him back to his father's home in peace, so that it may be tested whether he will perform his vow. So, in view of His eternal purpose, the Lord says to Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred. “I am the God of Bethel, where thou vowedst a vow unto me. Arise, get thee out of this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” “Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons, and his wives upon camels, and he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods, which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten, in Padan-Aram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.” How fares it with God's name—God's house—God's dues? This depends, in Jacob's view, upon his recognition of the fact that God had been with him, giving him bread and raiment; if so, Jacob would return a tenth, set up the house, and own Jehovah. He has been taken at his word, and Jehovah in faithfulness performs his part. But notice Jacob's thought! Has God given him aught? Nay, naught. All is his getting which he had gotten. Had he not cared for himself, he had been left bare indeed. To Jacob's conscience these were not the gifts which God had given, but Laban's heart and Laban's images which he had stolen; the objects of Laban's love and worship. (Gen. 31:19, 20, margin.) Has not this always been the tale of religious profession when faith has failed? To serve the world for wages, for bread and raiment, and to end with appropriating the objects of its love and worship—the way of Balsam, and the teaching of Jezebel.
“He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” If Jacob has not received from God, he has been heaping up treasure to himself, of which he must be stripped as bare as a withered branch, ere he can become a worshipper of God, not to speak of being a witness for His name, a builder and maintainer of His house.
Gently, and with loving, firm, unsparing hand does Jehovah prune away his fruitless branches. The times of ignorance are now passed, and Jacob is taken in hand. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the wretched, and the miserable, and poor and blind and naked.” Laban's flock he had watered while yet high day, in fleshly hurry, at the first; now, at the close of his sojourn, he hastens to depart, ere yet he had completed the perfect term of service. Is not this religious flesh? In impatient zeal joining with the world, to serve it for its profit, and in the end thereof, with undue eagerness, severing that connection. For his two wives twice seven years he served, but only six years for the cattle. Withal he was not in the place where God would have him. Behold the contrast with the Bridegroom yearning greatly for the bride, yet content to be cut off and have nothing!—refusing to serve the world for hire—content to be a stranger unto His brethren, an alien unto His mother's children. To serve His Father in the appointed place—surely profiting the worm—becoming obedient unto death-loving the wages of righteousness, having a right to all, yet taking none, that He might receive all in resurrection. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again."
But see what religions flesh, found with the man elected and loved of God, has done! Concealed beneath her skirts the idols of the world! It was not the Jewish bride, Rebekah, that has done this; nor Leah, the wearied one, who found her resting-place with that which had gone before, became wearied and faint in mind, resisted not unto blood, and fell back unto the mountain that might be touched and burned with fire. It is Rachel the loved one of the flock, the younger; that had the heart of Jacob, the beautiful well-favored one, who travailed in hard labor, and in departing brought forth the son of her sorrow, now at God's right hand, the appointed ruler in Israel. Note, that between the travailing with Benoni, and the bringing forth and naming of him Benjamin, Rachel's soul departs; and from Mic. 5:2, 3 we learn that, during this momentary interval, this little while, the thousands of Judah shall be given up, and the “rampant of his brethren” will occupy the earthly scene, who shall not return unto the children of Israel until the bringing forth shall be accomplished. Rachel, therefore, represents in type those to whom the Lord said, “A little while, and ye do not behold me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me. Verily, verily, I say to you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, but ye will be grieved, but your grief shall be turned to joy. A woman, when she gives birth to a child, has grief, because her hour has come; but when the child is born, she no longer remembers her trouble, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world. And ye now, therefore, have grief, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you.” The remnant of his brethren, bearing the name of God's Israel, and owning wifely responsibility at the time of the giving up of Judah, and before the return unto the children of Israel; the remnant of his brethren; departing from earthly places in bringing forth Benoni, the child of her sorrow, whom she knew as a dew from the Lord in the midst of many people (Deut. 33:18; Gen. 49:28), but who, when owned of Jacob, will also be Benjamin, the remnant of Jacob, among the nations, in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest (Gen. 49:27).
This crime, the theft of Laban's images, is worthy of death, but Jacob knows not of it, and, sheltered by the mighty hand of God, is secure from all but Him. A “heap of witness” separates him from all evil occurrent, and, until that heap of witness be removed, and the pillar be taken out of the way, the world will not seek the hurt of the chosen of God, neither will His saints call for judgment on the world.
The tower of watching is set up by the saint of God, a sign for them that, until their Lord comes, there is peace for and with the world; while for the world the presence of God's saints is a witness that He will avenge unrighteousness and oppression. The “heap of witness” is set up by those of the world who claim relationship with the saints of God, and is a sign for them that so long as the witness remains—religions profession—no harm can come to them. Notice, that Laban covenants not to pass the heap for harm to Jacob, whereas both heap and pillar mast be passed over for Jacob ere the day of reconciliation ends. God, as it were, is set between as judge. So the world will trample Christian profession under foot before personal harm can come to Jacob's seed as Christ's; while wrath cannot be poured out upon the world until not only: Christian watching for the Lord is overpast, but for the conscience of the world no righteous judge exists.
In spite of the protecting interposition of God and His security from every foe, Jacob, in his heart, claims all the praise, for “he aware by the fear of his father Isaac.” Was this what he had agreed to do? According to his own confession God had been with him. Had he not had bread and raiment these twenty years? Now surely was the time to own Jehovah his God. But no, it needed faith. Other dangers were yet to be encountered. Jehovah must, as it were, be held to His word, and proved to the end, before the heart's worship can be His. Besides, Jacob, in bargaining with Laban for his hire, had stood upon righteousness (Gen. 30-33). Had he been righteous? And now, with bold front and swelling words, he asks, What is my trespass? Certainly he knew Jehovah would not own his ways; so he swears by the fear of his father lease. Faith and sin judged were needed before Jehovah could be owned his God.
God's grace had come in, and saved Jacob and his seed from the fruit of his deeds in the service of Laban; but now a deeper danger shows itself, a heavier storm lowers in the distance.
What is the sting of this new scourge? What bolt lies hid in this fresh thunder-cloud? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Is not God’s grace equal to the crisis? Is anything wanting on His part to assure us of His ability to save? Nay His revelations are ever suited to the occasion, and sufficient.
“Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him, and he said, God's host!” Will he not now judge his ways, and will Jehovah his God? He called that piece Mahanaim—two hosts—God's host and his host. If God is there so is Jacob; and when the day of trial stifles; God vanishes from his thoughts, and Jacob alone remains, for he divides the people with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands thus filling the whole field of his vision. Jacob, without faith in exercise, is under sin and under law, and unfit to apprehend grace.
Despite the host of God, he is greatly afraid and distressed upon receipt of the tidings about Esau; his guilt, half forgotten, stinging him to fear, bringing his and into bondage before God; for however little in his own sight he might be, at any rate he had become two bands. (Gen. 32:7-10.)
All is Jacob here, and not Jehovah; Jehovah's: glory set aside and only Jacob's blessing thought of. Therefore Jacob's state of soul is such that he is morally incapable of owning Jehovah as his God, and being His witness among men. I, I, I, occupies the scene, and is the whole subject of his prayer. Therefore in this hour of trial he fails to fulfill his vow, and only owns Jehovah as the God of his father Abraham, the God of his father Isaac, the Jehovah who spake to him, but not his God.
Jehovah, as such, in God in righteous grace. Jacob had not judged sin, and therefore would not trust love.
If Jacob will not own Jehovah by His new name, God will in grace give him a blessing other than he sought.
Jehovah’s glory from men depended, as we have seen, upon man trusting truth in God: man's blessing from Jehovah rests anon the finding truth in man. In vain, for ages, has God looked on earth. At the first He saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth; and the whole mind of the thought of his heart evil only every day. A second time the cry was great, because the sin was very grievous, the cry of them waxed great before the face of the Lord. Again He looked, seeking good, and found they were all gone aside, together become. filthy, none that doeth good, no, not one; until at length a Babe was born in Bethlehem—the Son of the Highest, the Son of God, yet conceived in the womb of the virgin (the Holy Spirit coming upon her in the power of the Highest), taking part in flesh and blood, in this made like unto the seed of Abraham in all things:—then immediately the glory of Jehovah shines, for truth is found in man, and glory is to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.
Truth is found in man, and it is Jehovah's glory to bless him; but this is not man's trusting truth in God, upon which Jehovah's glory, manifested in men, depends. Glory in the highest there is, but not glory, only peace, on earth.
Thirty circling seasons pass, and on that same humbled One the heavens open, and God the Spirit, dovelike, descends and abides; and a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Then can blessing flow unhindered. “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” This is glory in heaven and man blessed, but not glory on earth and God blessed. A second time, and the glory of the Father comes to earth, but the place is a high mountain apart, and it rested upon One only map, and a voice came out of it, saying again, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight,” adding the words, “hear him,” to indicate that He by work and word would create all things new in Himself, so that the tabernacle of God might be with men, that He should tabernacle with them, and they be His people, and God Himself with them, their God. A third time the Father spoke from heaven. He had been blessed and glorified in that One man, and would be again glorified in His vindication: but meanwhile that corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, and in His death brings forth much fruit, that from the mouths of multitudes might glory flow “to him who loveth them, and washed them from their sins. in his blood, making them a kingdom, priests, unto his God and Father;” and they might worship Him, and say, “Thou art worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory, and honor, and power! Thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood.” “Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. To him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb,. blessing, and honor, and glory, and might be to the ages of ages."
Thus is He that sitteth upon the throne, and the Lamb, blessed and glorified by man in a full outflow of praise: but how comes it thus to pass? The man now raised to the highest pinnacle of glory, the center of it all, is the One who stooped to the deepest depth of woe, and in that depth was deserted of His God; yet, in the eternal darkness of that forsaken place, while bearing our sins, the wrath and judgment due to them, being made to drink into His soul all the bitterness, made a curse from God for us, made sin for us, pleading our sins while bearing the bruise and wound of each, yet in His body bearing each, until every one had been wiped, out from God's, sight in His blood forever; yet in that place, of darkness, distance, confusion of face, and unutterable dismay, distress of soul, aversion of God's face, and seeming reversal of His ways, amidst it all He yet trusted in Him. He cried in the daytime, and He was not heard, in the night-season and no reply—forsaken, unhelped; unheard—yet He trusted in the Lord. Never yet had the feeblest creature been so dealt with as now His righteous servant. They that reproached, and the despisers, the mockers, and revilers even said, “He trusted on the Lord,” yet God had brought Him into the dust of death. Through through dark; by day, by night; in life, in death, He trusted on the Lord; in the days of His flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to Him who was able to save Him out of death, with strong crying and tears.
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)