To be transformed
is to be metabolically changed
in our natural life,
to be mature
is to be filled with the divine life
that changes us,
and blessing
is the overflow of life:
As Jacob was about to bless
the two sons of Joseph,
he spoke of
the Triune God in his experience:
The God
before whom Abraham and Isaac walked
is the Father.
The God
who shepherded Jacob
“all my life to this day”
is the Spirit.
The Angel
who redeemed him
from all evil
is the Son.
Jacob realized
that his destiny and existence
were absolutely in
the hands of the shepherding God;
the experience of the Triune God
is so that we
may bless others
with the Triune God.
The strongest sign of Jacob’s maturity
was his blessing of others:
The first thing
Jacob did after arriving in Egypt
was to bless Pharaoh;
according to Hebrews 7:7,
“the lesser
is blessed by the greater”;
this is a proof
that in God’s sight
Jacob was greater than Pharaoh.
In order to bless others,
we must be filled to the brim with life
so that life overflows to them;
Jacob’s mature life
was filled with blessings;
he blessed
Pharaoh, the two sons of Joseph, and his own sons;
those blessings of his sons
were prophecies
related to
the destiny of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The principle of blessing
is that the greater
blesses the lesser:
To be greater or lesser
is not a matter of age
but a matter of
the measure of Christ;
we are greater or lesser
according to our measure of Christ.
Although John the Baptist
was so close to Christ,
he did not have Christ within him;
those in the kingdom of the heavens
are not only close to Christ
but also have Christ within them;
for this reason,
the least in the kingdom of the heavens
is greater than John.
If by having more of Christ
we are greater than others,
then we are qualified to bless them,
for the greater
always blesses the lesser.
To bless others
means to minister Christ to them;
we bless people with the very Christ
in whom we participate
and whom we enjoy;
if we enjoy Christ more,
we have more of Christ
to minister to others.
The meaning of blessing
is that blessing
is the overflow of God
through someone’s maturity in life:
God cannot flow Himself into others
without a human channel;
the only humanity
that God can use as a channel
is the one
saturated and permeated with God.
Maturity in life
is a matter of being filled with God;
when we are full of God,
we have the overflow of God,
and thus we are able to bless everyone
we meet.
The first case of blessing in the Bible
is Melchizedek’s blessing of Abraham;
Melchizedek is
a type of Christ:
Blessing is the overflow of God,
and this overflow
is brought to people
through the priests;
we all need to be priests,
those who bring people to God.
If we would bless others,
we must be close to God ourselves;
people need God’s blessing,
because they are far away from Him.
A priest eliminates
the distance between God and the people;
he brings those
who are far off
into the presence of God.
Before we are blessed by a priest,
there may be
a distance between us and God,
but after he blesses us,
this distance is taken away,
and we are brought
into the presence of God
to share in
the enjoyment of God.
In Numbers 6:22-27
we see a pattern of blessing by the priests;
this blessing
is neither an Old Testament blessing
nor a New Testament blessing;
rather, it is
the eternal blessing of the Triune God,
which is
the Triune God
dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity
into us
for our enjoyment:
Jehovah bless you and keep you
can be ascribed to the Father (v. 24):
The Father blesses us
in every way and in every aspect in His love,
and He keeps us
in every way and in every aspect in His power.
The Lord prayed
that the Father
would keep us in His name;
this is to keep us
in the dispensing Triune God;
the Lord Jesus went on to pray
that the Father would keep us out of
the hands of the evil one (v. 15).
We should pray
for the blessing of being kept
absolutely in the dispensing of the Triune God
and altogether outside of the evil one;
what a blessing
this is!
Jehovah make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
can be ascribed to the Son (Num. 6:25):
In Luke 1:78,
when the Lord Jesus was about to be born,
Zachariah prophesied,
“The rising sun
will visit us from on high”;
the rising sun
is the Son in the Divine Trinity;
this implies God’s incarnation
to show Himself to us
in a shining way (Matt. 4:16; John 8:12).
The word face in Numbers 6:25
signifies presence;
as the One
whose face shines upon us,
Christ the Son
is the visible presence
of the invisible God
(2 Pet. 1:16-18; Matt. 17:1-2).
Numbers 6:25
speaks not only of Jehovah
making His face shine upon us
but also of Jehovah
being gracious to us;
these two points added together
equal John 1:14, 16-17.
God’s incarnation
was the shining of His presence,
and along with this shining,
there was grace;
this grace
is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is actually Christ Himself (2 Cor. 13:14).
Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you
and give you peace
can be ascribed to the Spirit (Num. 6:26):
The face denotes
the presence of the person,
and the countenance denotes
the expression of the person;
to lift up our countenance upon a person
means that we
confirm, assure, promise,
and give everything to that person.
Jesus came as the face of God,
and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God;
if we grieve Him,
His countenance will drop (Eph. 4:30),
but if we obey Him,
He will be happy with us,
and He will lift up His countenance
to confirm us, assure us, guarantee us,
promise us, and give us everything.
The blessing of the apostle Paul
is seen in 2 Corinthians 13:14
—“the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all”:
In the blessing of the apostle Paul,
the Triune God
comes to people for their enjoyment;
Paul not only brought people
into the presence of God
but also brought God
into them.
On the one hand,
to bless others
is to bring them
into the presence of God;
on the other hand,
it is to bring God into them
as love, grace, and fellowship
so that they may enjoy the Triune God
—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Love, grace, and fellowship
are three stages of God
for our enjoyment
—love is within,
grace is love expressed,
and fellowship is
the transmission of grace into us.
The love of God
is the source,
since God is the origin;
the grace of the Lord
is the course
of the love of God,
since the Lord
is the expression of God;
and the fellowship of the Spirit
is the impartation of
the grace of the Lord
with the love of God,
since the Spirit is
the transmission of the Lord with God,
for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God
—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
with Their divine virtues.
The divine revelation
of the Divine Trinity in the holy Word
is not for theological study
but for the apprehending of
how God
in His mysterious and marvelous Divine Trinity
dispenses Himself into His chosen people,
that we
as His chosen and redeemed people
may, as indicated by
the apostle’s blessing
to the Corinthian believers,
participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess
the processed Triune God
now and for eternity.
The Lord’s blessing
crosses man’s natural maneuvering
(Gen. 48:13-20):
Most of the time
our choosing
leads to maneuvering,
and God’s crossing hand
comes in
to bless the one
we did not choose;
the shifting of the birthright
from Manasseh to Ephraim
shows that the Lord’s blessing
does not depend on
man’s natural maneuvering
but on God’s desire and selection.
In any selection
that we make,
there is the possibility of maneuvering
according to our taste and choice;
we must not maneuver,
and we must not be disappointed;
rather,
we must believe
that the Lord’s hand
will cross over to us.
Man’s natural concept
holds back the Lord’s blessing hand;
the one we think is the best
may turn out to be the worst,
but one of the opposers
may become today’s apostle Paul;
many will be raised up
who do not fit our concept.
Jacob’s supplanting hands
eventually became blessing hands:
In Genesis 25
we see that Jacob began his supplanting
even when he was in his mother’s womb,
but in Genesis 47 and 48
we see that these two supplanting hands
have become blessing hands,
bringing people into God’s presence
and ministering God into them
so that they may enjoy Him.
A supplanter, a heel holder,
became the greatest person
on the earth at that time;
he had become able to bless Pharaoh
because he had become greater than Pharaoh;
he became this kind of person
by the way of life.
We need
the growth in life
and the maturity in life
so that we may be filled with Christ
to become those
who are able to bless others.
At the time of Genesis 49,
when Jacob prophesied
concerning his twelve sons
with blessing,
he was a God-man,
a man filled, constituted, permeated,
and even reorganized with God;
whatever he thought
was God’s thought,
and whatever opinion he expressed
was God’s opinion:
In order to prophesy with blessing,
we must know God,
the desire of God’s heart,
and the purpose of God.
In order to prophesy with blessing,
we must know people;
that is,
we must know
the actual situation
of every person involved.
In order to prophesy with blessing,
we must be full of
the riches of Christ.
In order to prophesy with blessing,
we must have
a strong, active spirit.
Hits: 0
7 replies on “Blessing”
Prophecy note, 30 November 2014
The Lord’s blessing
crosses man’s natural maneuvering.
Most of the time
our choosing
leads to maneuvering,
and God’s crossing hand
comes in
to bless the one
we did not choose;
the shifting of the birthright
from Manasseh to Ephraim
shows that the Lord’s blessing
does not depend on
man’s natural maneuvering
but on God’s desire and selection.
Although we never know
where the spiritual blessing will go,
we do know
that the blessing hand of the Lord
always crosses man’s natural maneuvering.
The Lord’s crossing His hands
may be evil in our eyes,
but it is altogether beautiful
in His eyes.
We have seen
that Joseph tried to hold back
his father’s blessing hand.
This indicates
that man’s natural concept
holds back the Lord’s blessing hand.
Joseph’s maneuvering
was according to the natural concept.
According to the natural concept,
Joseph was right.
However,
Jacob crossed his hands.
Although his eyes were dim,
he was very clear
in his spirit.
In the church life,
the Lord will raise up many
we do not like,
and some of them
will become the best elders.
We may have
our human feelings, concepts, and tastes.
But our natural concepts
should be crossed out.
We simply do not know
from which direction
Saul of Tarsus will come.
The one you think is the best
may turn out to be the worst.
But one of the opposers
will become today’s apostle Paul.
Although we do not like him,
the Lord likes him.
Many will be raised up
who do not fit our concept.
In any selection
that we make,
there is the possibility of maneuvering
according to our taste and choice;
we must not maneuver,
and we must not be disappointed;
rather,
we must believe
that the Lord’s hand
will cross over to us.
Day 6
Jacob’s supplanting hands
eventually became blessing hands.
In Genesis 25
we see
that Jacob began his supplanting
even when he was in his mother’s womb.
How skillful he was in supplanting!
But in chapters 47 and 48
we see that these two supplanting hands
have become blessing hands,
bringing people into God’s presence
and ministering God into people
so that they may enjoy Him.
Here we see
the growth and maturity in life.
A supplanter, a heel-holder,
became the greatest person
on earth at the time.
He was able to bless Pharaoh
because he had become greater than Pharaoh.
He became this kind of person
by the way of life.
We need
the growth in life and the maturity in life
so that we may be filled with Christ
to become those
who are able to bless others.
Although we are familiar with
what it means to prophesy,
we may not be familiar with
prophesying with blessing.
Genesis 49
is the only chapter
that reveals this matter.
Although Moses’ blessing in Deuteronomy 33
is close to what is found in Genesis 49,
the blessing there
is not as rich as the blessing here.
The prophesying in chapter 49
is a manifestation of maturity,
for our speaking
always reveals
where we are
and how mature we are.
In order to prophesy with blessing,
we must fulfill four requirements.
The first requirement
is to know
God,
the desire of God’s heart,
and the purpose of God.
God, God’s desire, and God’s purpose
are all revealed
through Jacob’s word in this chapter.
The second requirement
is to know people,
to know the actual situation
of every person involved.
You may think that,
because it should be easy
for a father
to know his son,
it was easy
for Jacob
to know his twelve sons.
However, it is often very difficult
for parents
to truly know their children.
Seemingly,
we parents know our children;
actually,
we know
neither what they are
nor where they are.
But Jacob had
a thorough understanding of his sons.
Every situation, condition, and hidden problem
was clear in his sight.
Likewise,
if we would speak
such a word
in the church,
we must know
the church,
the elders,
and all the brothers and sisters.
This is not easy.
We should not know people
according to our mental understanding;
rather,
we must know them
according to the spirit.
Although we may know
God, God’s heart, and God’s purpose
and although we may know the situation of others,
we shall still not be able to bless them
if we are poor.
Jacob was full of riches.
Because he had no lack of riches,
he could bless others.
In addition to the three requirements
already covered,
we need a strong, active spirit.
Jacob’s word in this chapter
was spoken as he was dying.
In his body
he was dying,
but in his spirit
he was
vigorous, strong and active.
Therefore,
in order to prophesy with blessing,
we must have
the knowledge of God,
the knowledge of people and their situations,
the riches of God,
and a strong spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 7
Paul’s opinion
was God’s word.
In principle,
it is the same with Jacob in Genesis 49.
Whatever Jacob uttered
was God’s word.
Although it was his opinion,
it was also the word of God.
Verses 3 and 4
were the utterance of a man
who was filled with God,
a man
who had been constituted with God
in his entire being.
Jacob was a God-man,
a man filled, constituted, permeated,
and even reorganized with God.
Thus,
whatever he spoke
was God’s word;
whatever he thought
was God’s thought;
and whatever opinion he expressed
was God’s opinion.
Day 5
A priest brings people to God.
An apostle, however,
brings God to people;
he comes to people with God.
In 2 Corinthians 13:14
we see
a gracious visitation of the Triune God.
In the blessing of the apostle Paul,
the Triune God comes to people
for their enjoyment.
This enjoyment
is the love of God
as the grace of Christ
by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Love, grace, and fellowship
are not three separate things;
they are
three aspects or stages
of one thing.
They are
the three stages of God
for our enjoyment.
Love is within,
grace is love expressed,
and fellowship is
the transmission of grace into us.
Love is within God Himself.
When this love
is expressed,
it is grace,
and grace
is transmitted in the fellowship.
I may love a certain brother,
but this love is within me.
I may express it
by giving him a Bible.
The Bible represents grace
as the expression of the love
I have within me
for this brother.
In order to communicate this grace to him,
I must actually hand the Bible to him.
This is fellowship.
When Joseph
brought his sons Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob,
he maneuvered the situation
so that the firstborn, Manasseh,
would be in front of Jacob’s right hand.
The father put the firstborn
in front of the grandfather’s right hand
to receive the first blessing
and the second
in front of the left hand
to receive the second blessing.
Joseph’s maneuvering
was according to the natural concept.
According to the natural concept,
Joseph was right.
However,
Jacob crossed his hands.
Although his eyes were dim,
he was very clear
in his spirit.
Genesis 48:17 says,
“And when Joseph saw
that his father laid his right hand
upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him;
and he took hold of his father’s hand
to remove it from Ephraim’s head
onto Manasseh’s head.”
Then Joseph said,
“Not so, my father,
for this is the firstborn.
Put your right hand upon his head” (v. 18).
Jacob refused and said,
“I know, my son, I know” (v. 19).
Thus, the Lord’s blessing
crossed man’s maneuvering.
In the church life
I have come to have no trust
in my choice.
Often my hand has been held back
in the choice of
elders, deacons, and the leading ones
in the church service
because I have no trust
in my discernment.
Most of the time
our choosing leads to maneuvering,
and God’s crossing hand
comes in
to bless the one
we did not choose.
Those who are parents
and those who are leading ones
in the church service
must be careful about their choosing.
Do not exercise
any kind of maneuvering according
to your likes and dislikes,
for God’s blessing
always crosses our maneuvering.
Although we never know
where the spiritual blessing will go,
we do know
that the blessing hand of the Lord
always crosses man’s natural maneuvering.
The Lord’s crossing His hands
may be evil in your eyes,
but it is altogether beautiful
in His eyes.
Blessing does not depend on
your maneuvering;
it depends on
God’s desire and selection.
In any selection
we make there
is the possibility of maneuvering
according to our taste or choice.
Do not maneuver,
and do not be disappointed.
Rather,
believe that the Lord’s hand
will cross over to you.
We have seen
that Joseph tried to hold back
his father’s blessing hand.
This indicates
that man’s natural concept
holds back the Lord’s blessing hand.
In the church life,
the Lord will raise up many
we do not like,
and some of them
will become the best elders.
Surely I have had
my human feelings, concepts, and tastes.
But my natural concepts
have been crossed out.
We simply do not know
from which direction
Saul of Tarsus will come.
The one you think is the best
may turn out to be the worst.
But one of the opposers
will become today’s apostle Paul.
Although you do not like him,
the Lord likes him.
Many will be raised up
who do not fit your concept.
Day 4
In Numbers 6:23-27
we see a pattern of blessing.
Here God commanded the priests
to bless the people.
The blessing is threefold
because it is a matter of
the dispensing of God into man.
This involves the Trinity:
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The blessing in Numbers 6
is neither an Old Testament blessing
nor a New Testament blessing.
Rather, it is
the eternal blessing of the Triune God,
which is the Triune God
dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity
into us
for our enjoyment.
This is
God’s eternal blessing.
Referring to the Father,
Numbers 6:24 says,
“Jehovah bless you
and keep you.”
The Father blesses us
in every way and in every aspect in His love,
and He keeps us
in every way and in every aspect in His power.
In Numbers 6:24
the word keep
is of crucial importance.
In John 17:11
the Lord Jesus prayed
that the Father would keep us in His name.
This is to keep us
in the dispensing Triune God.
While the Triune God
is dispensing Himself into us,
we are kept in the dispensing One.
In John 17:15
the Lord Jesus went on to pray
that the Father would keep us
from the evil one.
When we are kept
in the dispensing Triune God,
there is nothing
left for the hand of the enemy.
We should pray for the blessing of being kept
absolutely in the dispensing Triune God
and altogether outside of the evil one.
The second part of this blessing says,
“Jehovah make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you” (Num. 6:25).
In Luke 1:78
Zachariah prophesied,
“The rising sun
will visit us from on high.”
This rising sun
is the Son in the Divine Trinity.
This implies God’s incarnation
to show Himself to us
in a shining way.
No one has ever seen God,
but through His incarnation
we have seen His face
and have beheld His glory (John 1:14),
and He has been shining upon us continually.
Wherever He went,
He was a great light
shining upon the people
sitting in darkness (Matt. 4:16),
for He is the light of the world (John 8:12).
The word face in Numbers 6:25
signifies presence.
As the One
whose face shines upon us,
Christ the Son
is the visible presence of the invisible God.
God and His presence
are invisible,
but through His incarnation
He became the shining sun.
This shining sun
is God’s invisible presence becoming visible.
On the Mount of Transfiguration,
some of the Lord’s disciples
beheld Him in His glory
(2 Pet. 1:16-18; Matt. 17:1-2).
Numbers 6:25
speaks not only of Jehovah
making His face to shine upon us,
but also of Jehovah
being gracious to us.
These two points added together
equal John 1:14, 16-17.
God’s incarnation
was the shining of His presence.
Along with this shining
there was grace.
“The Word became flesh
and tabernacled among us
… full of grace” (v. 14).
The Lord is gracious to us;
He has even become grace to us.
For the Lord to be gracious to us
means that He is continually grace to us.
This grace
is the grace of Christ (2 Cor. 13:14a),
which is actually Christ Himself.
When we have Christ,
we have grace.
The Triune God
is altogether gracious to us.
Day after day
we enjoy Him as grace.
The third part of this blessing says,
“Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you
and give you peace” (Num. 6:26).
There is
a difference between the face and the countenance.
The face denotes
the presence of the person,
and the countenance denotes
the expression of the person.
Jesus came as the face of God,
and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God.
If we grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30),
His countenance will drop.
If we obey Him,
He will be happy with us,
and He will lift up His countenance
to confirm us, assure us, guarantee us,
promise us, and give us everything.
Day 3
Blessing is the overflow of God
through someone’s maturity in life.
God cannot flow Himself into others
without a human channel.
If Christ had never been incarnated,
God would not have been able to flow to man,
because there would not have been a channel.
God’s flowing
needs humanity as a channel.
The only humanity
God can use as the channel
is one
saturated and permeated with God.
For this reason
Jacob did not bless anyone
until he had become mature.
Jacob did not bless Laban or Esau.
Even when he saw his brother Esau
after the twenty years with Laban,
he did not bless him.
It was not
until he went down into Egypt
that he blessed
Pharaoh, the highest ruler on earth.
At that time
Jacob was filled with God.
Through Jacob’s blessing of Pharaoh
God’s blessing
overflowed to Pharaoh.
A child two years of age
cannot bless anyone;
however, a child of seven or eight
may perform some kind of blessing.
This illustrates the fact
that blessing others
depends upon maturity in life.
Maturity in life
is a matter of being filled with God.
When you are full of God,
you have the overflow of God,
and thus you are able to bless everyone
you meet.
The first case of blessing in the Bible
is Melchizedek’s blessing of Abraham
(Gen. 14:18-20).
Melchizedek was a type of Christ.
Therefore, Melchizedek’s coming to Abraham
was Christ’s coming to him.
Melchizedek came to Abraham
with bread and wine,
just as the Lord also comes to us
with bread and wine.
Furthermore,
Melchizedek came as the eternal priest,
and Christ became a priest
according to the eternal order of Melchizedek
(Heb. 5:6).
A priest brings people to God.
If you would bless others,
you must be God’s priest.
Later
we shall see
that in the Old Testament
God commanded the priests
to bless His people.
Blessing is the overflow of God,
and this overflow is brought to people
through the priests.
The first blessing
was bestowed by a priest.
We all need to be priests,
those who bring people to God.
If we would bless others,
we must be close to God ourselves.
We must be priests
who bring others to God.
People need God’s blessing
because they are far away from Him.
A priest eliminates
the distance between God and the people;
he brings those
who are far off
into the presence of God.
On the shoulders of the high priest
were two onyx stones
engraved with
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel,
and on his breastplate
there were twelve stones,
also engraved with
the names of the twelve tribes
(Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21).
Whenever the high priest
entered into the Holy of Holies,
he wore
the breastplate and the shoulder plates.
This indicated
that he brought the people of Israel
into the presence of God.
We all realize
that a priest serves God,
but we may never have seen
that he also eliminates
the distance between the people and God.
Before you are blessed by a priest,
there may be
a distance between you and God.
But after he blesses you,
this distance is taken away,
and you are brought into
the presence of God
to share in
the enjoyment of God.
When Melchizedek blessed Abraham,
that blessing brought him into
the presence of God.
Melchizedek even said,
“Blessed be
Abram of God the Most High” (Gen. 14:19).
If you read Genesis 14 carefully,
you will see
that Melchizedek blessed Abraham
with nothing other than God.
He did not say,
“Be blessed with a good house”;
neither did he say,
“Be blessed with two sons.”
Instead,
he said,
“Be blessed of God the Most High.”
In this way,
Melchizedek brought Abraham
much closer to God.
Day 2
The strongest sign of Jacob’s maturity
was his blessing of others.
The first thing
Jacob did after arriving in Egypt
was bless Pharaoh.
Although Pharaoh
was the highest person on earth,
he was under Jacob’s blessing hand.
According to Hebrews 7:7,
“the lesser
is blessed by the greater.”
Thus, the fact
that Jacob blessed Pharaoh
was a proof
that he was greater than Pharaoh.
After Jacob
had been ushered into Pharaoh’s presence,
he did not speak to him
in a polite, political way.
He stretched forth his hand
and blessed him.
This is absolutely different
from human culture and religion.
As Jacob was leaving Pharaoh’s presence,
he blessed him again.
Blessing is
the overflow of life, the overflow of God
through someone’s maturity in life.
In order to bless others,
we must be filled to the brim with life
so that life overflows to them.
Having such an overflow of life,
Jacob blessed
Pharaoh and the two sons of Joseph.
Jacob’s mature life
was filled with blessings.
Jacob blessed his twelve sons,
and those blessings were prophecies
relating to the destiny of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Jacob was so filled with life
that he overflowed blessings
to everyone he met.
This is the strongest manifestation
of Jacob’s maturity in life.
In Hebrews 7:7
we see the principle of blessing:
that the greater
blesses the lesser.
To be greater or lesser
is not mainly a matter of age.
It is a matter of
the measure of Christ.
We are greater or lesser
according to our measure of Christ.
In Matthew 11:11
the Lord Jesus said,
“Truly I say to you,
Among those born of women
there has not arisen
one greater than John the Baptist,
yet he
who is least in the kingdom of the heavens
is greater than he.”
Here the Lord Jesus says
that John the Baptist was greater than all
who had preceded him.
However,
the least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than John.
The reason
John was greater than his predecessors
was that he was very close to Christ.
Although Abraham was great,
he did not see Christ.
However,
John the Baptist
saw Him.
But, although John
was so close to Christ,
he did not have Christ in him.
Those in the kingdom of heaven
are not only close to Christ;
they have Christ within them.
For this reason
the least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than John.
The great ones in the Old Testament
could say
that Christ was coming,
and John the Baptist
could say
that Christ was in front of him.
But all of us in the kingdom of heaven
can say
that Christ is within us.
We can even say,
“For to me,
to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).
Hence, we are closer to Christ
than John the Baptist
and all who went before him.
Whether we are greater or lesser
depends upon our measure of Christ.
If you have more of Christ,
you are greater.
If you have less of Christ,
you are lesser.
If by having more of Christ
we are greater than others,
then we are qualified
to bless them;
for the greater
always blesses the lesser.
The reason for this
is that the greater one
has a larger measure of Christ
to give to others.
If you are greater than I,
it means
that you have
a greater portion of Christ
than I.
If so,
then you have something more of Christ
to minister to me.
To bless others
means to minister Christ to them.
Those who have
just a small measure of Christ
need the blessing of those
who have a greater measure.
We bless them with the very Christ
in whom we participate
and whom we enjoy.
If we enjoy Christ more,
then we have more of Christ
to minister to others.
This ministering of Christ
is blessing.
Day 1
In Genesis 37:1
Jacob was a transformed person,
but he was not yet mature.
To be transformed
is to be metabolically changed
in our natural life;
to be mature
is to be filled with the divine life
that changes us.
We may be changed in our natural life (transformed)
yet not be filled with the divine life (mature).
The last stage of transformation
is maturity.
Jacob’s transformation
began at the time
God touched him (Gen. 32:25),
and it continued until the end of chapter 36,
when the process of transformation
was relatively complete.
Genesis 37:1—43:14
is a record of
the process of Jacob’s maturity.
Genesis shows a complete picture of
how human beings can be remade and transformed
to express God in His image
and represent God with His dominion.
This book ends as it begins
—with God’s image and dominion.
The last fourteen chapters
indicate that after Jacob had become Israel,
he bore the image of God
and, through Joseph,
exercised the dominion of God.
For God’s expression and dominion
there is the need of maturity.
Only a mature life
can bear God’s image
and exercise His dominion.
The strongest manifestation
of Jacob’s maturity in life
is the fact
that Jacob blessed everyone,
including Pharaoh (Gen. 47:7, 10),
Jacob’s two grandsons (ch. 48),
and his own twelve sons (49:1-28).
Jacob’s supplanting hands
became blessing hands.
Maturity in life
is a matter of
being filled with God as life,
and blessing
is the overflow of life,
the overflow of God
through the maturity in life.
To bless others
is to bring them into
the presence of God
and to bring God into them
as grace, love, and fellowship
that they may enjoy the Triune God
—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
That Jacob blessed Pharaoh
indicates that he
was greater than Pharaoh.
When Jacob went to Egypt,
he did not engage in any activity for himself.
This also is a manifestation of his maturity.
Do not think
that Jacob was lazy, tired,
or lacked the energy to act.
If he had not been able to do anything,
he could have ordered his sons
to do things for him.
However,
he did not do this.
Rather,
he was fully satisfied
and rested absolutely
in God’s sovereignty.
He did not depend upon
his own endeavors.
From his experience through the years,
he had come to know
that his destiny
was in the hands of God,
not in his own hands.
As Jacob was about to bless
the two sons of Joseph,
he spoke of God as the One
who had shepherded him
all his life long.
Jacob’s word in 48:15 and 16
is a reference to the Triune God.
Here we see
the Triune God
in Jacob’s experience,
not in doctrine.
Here we see
a threefold mention of God.
The God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked
must be the Father;
the God who shepherded Jacob his whole life
must be the Spirit;
and the Angel who redeemed him from all evil
must be the Son.
This is
the Triune God in Jacob’s experience.
Jacob experienced
God’s sovereign, shepherding care.
Shepherding includes feeding.
The shepherd meets
every need of the sheep,
who only eat and rest.
Every provision for their existence
comes from the shepherd.
The example of the shepherd
is a marvelous illustration
of Jacob’s realization
that his destiny and existence
were absolutely in
the hands of the shepherding God.
Thus,
after he had matured
and had arrived in Egypt,
he did nothing for himself.
This is another sign
of the maturity of life.