FAITH, LOVE AND SPIRITUALITY
[p. 216] FAITH, LOVE AND SPIRITUALITY
Galatians 5:6; Genesis 29:1 - 14; Genesis 48:11 - 22
The verse I read in Galatians indicates what I have in my mind, dear brethren — faith working by love. I may allude to one or two others as further indicating what I have before me to enlarge upon, namely that we are to serve one another by love; that is in the same chapter. And then in chapter 6 we have allusion to those that are spiritual; if one be overtaken in some fault “ye which are spiritual, restore such a one”. Galatians 6:1 And then again in that chapter we have the statement that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision but new creation. “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God”. Galatians 6:16 These are leading thoughts in the epistle to the Galatians, which epistle is intended to deliver the people of God from the retrograde movement tending towards legality, and from the beggarly elements of the accredited religions of the world. We are brought according to these passages into the realm of faith working by love, and by love serving one another, and into the realm of spirituality and new creation, so that the Israel of God should come to light; and that is the mind of God for us; and so I am encouraged to go to Genesis to work out these thoughts. For I perceive that in Jacob they develop in a beautiful blend culminating in the most spiritual act recorded of faith, in Jacob as he was dying, the Spirit of God recording of him in the New Testament that as he was dying he blessed by faith both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. Now in proceeding by the Lord’s help to work out these features, namely, faith, love and spirituality, I would remark that it is in Jacob we get the number twelve. The number is [p. 217] worked out in connection with his posterity, and implies the formation of the people of God in the divine nature. Abraham and Isaac are viewed as on a high plane, I mean in the sense that they are taken up as representative of the saints viewed as in Christ. Wonderful things are intimated in them for us.
Abraham is introduced in the New Testament by Stephen as singled out for the God of glory to appear to, God thus indicating that He had intended to shine out in His purposes and in His love, for that is what is meant in the wonderful expression, the God of glory. And then Isaac following upon Abraham is the heavenly man. We may take account of ourselves, beloved brethren, both as seen in Abraham and as in Isaac. But if we are by divine intention and moral process to reach qualification to enter upon these great heavenly features we have to come down to Jacob. For it is in the history of Jacob we see ourselves as specially in the divine mind, and in the history we see the varied incongruities and inconsistencies and irregularities of the flesh in believers. Others represent the flesh in unbelievers, but God would teach us by setting out in a man of like passions with ourselves what the flesh is in the believers. A very uninviting picture, I grant, but then concurrently with that picture you have patiently developed the workings of love; the thread of gold runs through and supersedes and eclipses completely in the end the flesh. God will take care of us and work His thoughts out. He said to Moses that He would destroy Israel and make of him a great nation — He could do that. That would be a matter of His power, but where would be His patience? The great patience of God is a very great feature with Him, a feature of His testimony, one of the leading features of the apostle too, as Paul says: “In all patience”. 2 Corinthians 12:12 And so God is pleased to take us up knowing well what we are. He is never disappointed with any one [p. 218] of us, and He intends by the histories He gives that we should not be disappointed with ourselves, with those incongruities, those lawlessnesses, those sins; we are not to be surprised, we are to be humbled. If we carefully study the history of Jacob, the history of Moses, the history of David, the history of Peter, all of them believers, all of them servants of God, honoured servants, we shall never be surprised at the manifestations of the flesh. Not that they are ever admissible. God never admits the necessity of sin in anyone, and never condones it either. Sin in a believer is none the less sin than it is with a sinner in the world — it is sin in whomsoever it appears. And it brings forth death, too, that is the principle of it, we cannot escape the consequences of sin, I mean to say in a disciplinary way, for if we sow to the flesh it is inevitable we reap of the flesh corruption. But then, what these histories mean, and I dwell upon Jacob tonight, what these histories mean for us is that God can work out His thoughts in us in spite of it; that is the idea. And so in the blessing of Jacob, to illustrate what I mean, recorded in Genesis 49, you have the whole history as it were outlined. We have for instance the apostasy of Dan, but yet at the end we find that every tribe was blessed by Jacob; that is to say the blessing comes in spite of these things, for God is God, and His gifts and callings are without repentance. Then in the blessing of Moses you have not a word about fleshly lusts in the tribes. There it is not a question of God blessing His people in spite of sin, but blessing them because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, for that is the point of view in Deuteronomy. So that two most encouraging thoughts are applicable to us as believers. On the one hand God blesses us, as it is said, “Yea, and he shall be blessed” Genesis 27:33; He blesses us in spite of sin in us, and its workings. On the other hand He blesses because of the Holy Spirit in us. That is to say, in [p. 219] the presence of the Spirit, there is the full development of the mind of God, so that the tribes seen in Deuteronomy have none of these marks. They are viewed, I may say, abstractedly, and God is entitled to view His work abstractedly. Indeed, I doubt whether any christian is really fixed, grounded in his soul until he is able to see himself abstractedly in Christ, until he is able to see how it is said: “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not”. 1 John 5:18 Well, now you see in Jacob how this work proceeds in spite of one of the crookedest characters in a believer that Scripture affords. For he is a true believer, is Jacob. He has marks of divine work from the very outset, he has divine instincts; and everyone should challenge himself whether he has got these; if he has got these God will carry him through. He took his brother by the heel; he supplanted the man after the flesh. He had power with God. And then we find he secures the blessing of God by the aid of his mother, by subterfuge, but nevertheless he secures the blessing; and his father Isaac said: “Yea, and he shall be blessed”. Genesis 27:33. There was no recalling it. In securing that blessing he had the aid of his mother. She was a remarkable mother, one of the most remarkable mothers in Scripture; and I believe the great defect of most of us is in the mother. Rebecca said to Jacob, “Upon me be thy curse, my son”. Genesis 27:30 There is a mother! It is the spirit of Christ — He took the curse. Rebecca did not, but there was the attitude; and Jacob began thus his journey in the light of such a mother; and now we are told that he arrived in Syria where his mother’s brethren resided. Much might be said about chapter 28, a well-known chapter in which God for the first time, as far as Scripture records, appears to him. However much in us precedes the definite divine [p. 220] manifestation, that is never forgotten. Jacob ever reverts to it. Do not ignore this matter of divine manifestation. It takes the form usually in the young of an impression of divine interest and care, but nevertheless a manifestation, and a consequent impression that is never to fade, that is to go with you always; you ever revert to it. That is chapter 28. Every young believer should study chapter 28. It is not the beginning of spiritual history; it is the confirmation, beloved of the work of God which may date back years, and no one should be without it. To go steadily on his way he needs it and that is what you find with Jacob. Jacob continued his journey. Many stop, as did the Galatians: “ye ran well, who has stopped you?”. Galatians 5:7 One might ask that question here tonight: “Who has stopped you?”. Jacob was not stopped; he was on a journey, moving under orders. He had something definitely in view in the journey and he went on it, he went on his journey.
Now I want to show you, dear brethren, how as having gone on his journey he finds himself in remarkable circumstances, a set of circumstances that challenge the reality of his love, if he had any. The apostle says: “If I ... have not love I am nothing”. 1 Corinthians 13:2 A very sweeping word. Without love I am nothing. But with it — what can I say? — I hope to say much. Now has Jacob got any? He went on his journey, he arrived at the children of the east. He looked around and he sees a well. He is observant. He is not looking out for the sights of the eastern country. Every country has its own sights and people run to and fro to see the sights: but what sights? What is Jacob looking for? He sees a well and three flocks lying by it. And there was a stone on the well’s mouth. Now, beloved brethren, who is there that has not been in such circumstances — a well, three flocks needing to be watered, and yet a stone on the well’s mouth? Has Jacob any love? If not, faith is dead.
[p. 221] Faith without works is dead, says James. So it is. Faith was not dead in Jacob; love was there, but it is not acting yet. “Whence are ye?” he says. They reply, “Of Haran are we”. It is well to enquire who they are. No open principles with Jacob, no loose principles. Faith would enquire who the people are. “Whence are ye?” “Of Haran are we”. Jacob says, as it were, ‘A relative of mine is there’. I wonder how much we enquire for our relatives, because if we have love in our hearts they are the ones to express it to. Is there anybody here I can love, that is the thing? In God love acts sovereignly, but if I love I must have an object. “Do ye know Laban?” “We do know him ... and behold, there comes Rachel his daughter with the sheep”. Now relatives are not only spoken of, but they come to light. Jacob could say, Well, it is high day, why don’t you water the flocks? He could tell people what to do, but he was not doing it yet, a very common thing, dear brethren. There are those who know what to do and can tell others to do it, and are not doing it, and so far are dead. It is not faith working by love to tell people to do a thing I can do myself. Nor will the Lord do it for me. If you do not do what you can do you are losing. So it was with Jacob. But presently Rachel comes, the near relation. Oh, I say, dear brethren, what are we doing with our relatives, how are we regarding our relatives? In the history of Jacob we have four mothers in his family. How are we going to get a family where love is to be worked out with four mothers? Well, that is where love is worked out. That is exactly where love is worked out, it is exactly in those circumstances, where there are twelve sons of four mothers. God says, I am going to work out love in spite of those mothers, two of them slaves. There are mothers in christendom today who are like those slaves — “which is in bondage with her children”. Galatians 4:25 Babylon is like that. She is [p. 222] seen in the desert, and she has got daughters, corrupt ones too. There are other systems, and they have children also, and alas! many of our dear relatives are found under the influence of these mothers. And it is extremely hard to exercise love towards them, they will not let you. It is a question of love which never fails, never! That is the statement — love never fails. And so, dear brethren, the point is they are our relatives, near relatives; they are christians, and we must have them. Love must have its object. And so faith works by love; faith has a wonderful weapon in love and it works by it; and then if we serve, we are not to serve otherwise but by love. That is what marks the epistle to the Galatians, faith working by love.
And so Jacob, as soon as he sees Rachel with her father’s flock, moves away the stone from the well’s mouth. She was his true kin; Rachel was the daughter of his mother’s brother. She was a near relative; as every true christian is to us, every one of them, even in Rome, or in any other system. They are our near relatives, and God will have us to exercise love, faith working by love. Faith is brought in, and love is attracted. We will leave no stone unturned until it has its object. And so Jacob rolls the stone away in love, so that Rachel’s flock, or Laban’s flock which Rachel cared for, might be watered. That was a great service, beloved. Our near relations all around us are thirsting and the stone is not rolled away, the whole system is against it. But love rolls the stone away and the water is available, and the flock is watered; and then there is the expression of love in the kiss. And the consummation of all is in the house, the family of Laban, where relationship is established, for Laban recognises Jacob as his bone and flesh. Is it not so with our brethren, our bone, our flesh? Yea, the bone and flesh of Christ, and they surely are worth serving by love.
[p. 223] Well, now I want just briefly to show the spiritual side, for they run together. In chapter 30 Jacob as soon as Joseph is born starts his journey again. The journey out is towards Rachel, the journey back is towards Isaac. And Jacob begins his journey back as soon as Joseph is born, that is to say, Christ comes in. And then God meets him and changes his name to Israel, and then he returns to Bethel, where God confirms his change of name. He is at Bethel now, a spiritual man, and receives another appearing of God; and again he resumes the journey which ended in Hebron, where Isaac was. Now we see, beloved, the full identity of Hebron is given in chapter 35. It is where Abraham and Isaac sojourned, the very Hebron that was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, the world that was in the purposes of God. Jacob has reached the confines of a new world in resurrection. He is in a new world now in the exercise of his love and his spiritual energy: and then we get the history of Esau, the man after the flesh. But before we get his history we have a spiritual man and the confines of another world and so God can afford to portray before our eyes the history of Esau — no golden thread in that history. Esau hated Jacob; he had no brotherly spirit, he was devoid of brotherly love. And then we have the history of Joseph. In chapter 37: “These are the generations of Jacob — Joseph”, Genesis 37:2 and you get no more. Only the history of Joseph proceeds, culminating in his being lord of all Egypt; but is he to eclipse his father? No! No man eclipses his father, that is not the divine thought. What comes to light is this, that the beautiful blend of love and spirituality culminates in superiority, and so Jacob blesses even Pharaoh, for without contradiction the less is blessed of the better. He is greater than Pharaoh. You see, dear brethren, what I am at for the moment is moral greatness. We are not living in the days of officialdom;
[p. 224] that is past. But moral greatness remains, and the saints recognise it; God will see to that. So that the spiritual man is morally great. Here is a man with the appearance of a shepherd and he blesses the great monarchs of the world. That is moral greatness and it is indisputable. Pharaoh dare not resent it. Jacob blesses Pharaoh. But what about Joseph; is Joseph greater than Pharaoh? He was morally, not officially obviously, but morally. Is he greater than Jacob? Oh no, he is not greater than Jacob. And that although there is not a single charge of sin made against him, not a blemish. He represents in Genesis the incorruptible. That is what Joseph is. But he is in the presence of a greater. How? Well, Jacob is blessing Joseph. The less is blessed of the greater again, but more than that, it is the first time that we have a failure in Joseph. And I suppose it is very largely to bring out what I am saying, that this wonderful workmanship of God in Jacob is to shine in all its lustre in the presence of Joseph. It is to eclipse Joseph. You will notice the recurrence of the word ‘Israel’. It is the Israel of God we were speaking of in Galatians. Jacob had reached the confines of the world of resurrection. Galatians touches on new creation. That is what we are touching here. He is passing out of this world in splendour, the splendour of moral greatness, a wonderful combination of love and spirituality worked out in contrariety and failure. And so Israel blesses Joseph, and he blesses the sons of Joseph, and he says to Joseph: I want these two children here, they are mine. I say to Jacob, ‘What good are they to you? You are dying’. But he is not going to die, he is in the light of the resurrection. That is the position here, he is the Israel of God, and he knows it. He is dying in power, that is what he is doing. So he says, I want these too, and the Lord wants us on these lines, on spiritual lines, not on natural lines. He says, I don’t want them on natural lines; what is nature to me? I am dying, I want the spiritual. And so he crossed his hands wittingly. Joseph brought them out from between his knees. This great servant of God is wrong, he is natural when he should be spiritual, he brought them out from between his knees, carefully putting Manasseh on the right hand and Ephraim on the left hand as if he were to determine what this great Jacob, this great spiritual man, should do. Is nature to govern? No! No! Jacob represents God and he says to Joseph: “I know it, my son”. He is spiritually intelligent. And Joseph is brushed aside, the natural is brushed aside. You cannot introduce the natural into the realm of the spiritual, God will not allow it. Think of Joseph saying: “Not so, my father”. It is virtually saying, ‘Not so’, to God. But Jacob would not allow it, and so he set Ephraim before Manasseh. It is an act of power, an act of moral greatness too, beloved brethren; he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Israel did it. It is a question of spiritual power and discernment.
Well, that is all I have to say, but I think you can see how it applies. If we are to be in the assembly according to God we must follow out these features and see how God works out, in spite of the flesh, a state of love and spirituality among His people so that His mind prevails; it never will prevail while the flesh has place, as long as nature moves us in relation to the things of God. God prevails, we must make up our minds to it, He will turn the world upside down; God will have His way. So here Israel put Ephraim before Manasseh, and Ephraim was never displaced, for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance.