DIVINE INTEREST IN MAN
[p. 89] DIVINE INTEREST IN MAN
Genesis 28: 12 - 17; Genesis 32:1,2; Genesis 32:24 - 31; Genesis 35: 9 - 12
My thought is to speak about the divine interest in man. It is important, I think, to remember that whilst God’s interest in His people is necessarily special, He is interested in all men, and for the reason that they are men, and I wish to show that His thought is for the moment to bring man into His house. The great evidence of His interest in His people is that He has got a provisional place for them now, pending the coming of the Lord when we shall be taken up to heaven. God has a house and distinction is seen between the two thoughts; that is to say, between our place in heaven and the provisional place which God has instituted down here. The distinction is seen in the two gospels-that of Luke and that of John.
The house from John’s point of view is the Father’s house; that is to say, it is the sphere of the family. The house according to Luke is God’s house, the provisional order of things set up here in relation to the gospel. Hence it is that into which God would introduce man, and that is what I want to dwell upon, beloved friends, if the Lord help me.
I want to show you the interest that God has in man and I venture to select Jacob, because whilst he is a man of promise, the seed of Abraham and Isaac, yet he is a type of man that in no sense merited anything. Jacob in no sense presents to us a man that in himself merits anything. It is well to begin in that simple way lest you might have the thought that you cannot be included among those in whom God is interested. It is well to have the light of God, for there has been your past history; it is well to have it judged, but I do not dwell upon that. I wish you to understand that your past history has nothing to do with God’s interest in you; the occasion for the moment of God’s interest in you is that you are part of the human race. That is a most comforting thing, to my mind, to receive into the soul. The fact that Jesus has become a Man and that God has placed Him in the highest place in heaven shows that it is the day of favour, all men are taken into favour. It is not the day of imputation, of reckoning, of judgment; it is the day of favour; that is to say, God would make it as easy as possible. He would remove every possible hindrance out of your way so that you might come into touch with Him. I have often compared the difference between the cherubim as seen in the tabernacle and as seen in the house according to the books of Chronicles or Kings. In the tabernacle the cherubim looked down upon the mercy-seat; in the house they looked out toward the door of the house. The position was thus changed; that is to say, on the ground of the sacrifice of Christ, the blood of Christ being placed on the mercy-seat, God is free now to look out and, beloved friends, He has a long look-out. He looks out toward the door of the house, which really implies that He is looking out upon humanity and His eye reaches to the utmost bounds of the race; there is none that escapes His notice. He looks out upon the whole race of man. On the ground of the death of Christ, the blood having been carried into the holiest and placed upon the mercy-seat, the cherubim of glory are now enabled to look for blessing, not for judgment, and directly there is a move in your heart Godward (and I would define that to be that you begin to think aright, you take account of things as they are in the world, and in yourself, and in your circumstances), directly any movement of that kind takes place in the soul, God sees it.
When you come to the New Testament, it is not only the look-out of the cherubim of glory, but there is God the Father, viewed as the father of the prodigal,
[p. 91] He is looking out. Wonderful thought! God is on the watch! The Old Testament speaks of being on the watch tower. Now think of God having placed Himself in that position! He is on the look-out and He is the first to notice a movement in your heart. He knows more about that movement than you do. He knows just what has brought that movement to pass there; He knows how to interpret it and He does not wait for you to come. It is not now simply that He is looking out; He moves out, He runs! Think of God running, beloved friends! I am using the figure. I am referring to things that are very simple and well-known to you all, but it cannot but be affecting to think of God looking out, and directly there is a movement-it may be of the tiniest nature — He takes account of it. The prodigal made a speech as you remember, and God took account of that, but it says, “While he was yet a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses”, Luke 15: 20. I only touch on that to show you the situation, that God is looking out on the race of man, and He takes the whole race in His view. You remember what Simeon said of the Child, “A light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”, meaning that the gentiles have come into view; the cloud is lifted. Christ has brought them into view; they have come under the divine notice for blessing.
Well now, as I said, I would encourage you if there is a movement in your heart; it may be very tiny, it may be just this, that you have come to think of things seriously; you have been in the habit of looking at things in a very trivial sort of way, taking things up lightly, but you have become serious; it may be that you have begun to pray a little. God notices that prayer of yours at night, He takes account of it. Satan has not brought that to pass in you. God brings it to [p. 92] pass in you. There is a certain regard for the things of God, a certain fear has entered your heart. Well now, in view of that change in your heart, God sets things in movement. A movement in God’s heart in heaven is sure to bring to pass a movement on earth; the whole moral system is affected. I am not exaggerating, beloved friends, “there is joy before the angels of God”-not for one saint, but-”for one repenting sinner”. There is a movement in the heart of God, and a movement there is sure to bring about a movement elsewhere.
Now see Jacob. I refer to him in Genesis 28, to show you what divine interest is. Here was a lone man with a character not worth having! There was no merit whatsoever in the character of this man; he is a supplanter; he is a liar; he is a deceiver. I am not speaking now of the purpose of God, I am speaking of Jacob’s conduct and what he was. He is fleeing from the wrath of his brother-a lone man with a stone for his pillow! Think of him there, endeavouring to go to sleep, and he did go to sleep, on that spot. Now think of the divine interest and of what ordering there was, as seen in the angels attending, the swift messengers of the divine will. They were attending and all their movements had in view a poor man lying on the earth with a stone for his pillow. He had nothing, no character, no friends, save his father and mother, and those who knew him best hated him! Think of that! You are not worse than Jacob. Think of the activity in heaven and that ladder being set up and, more than that, angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder. And what was it all about? That man lying there on the earth, with his head on a stone and no one with him. Doubtless his father and mother had sympathies, but the world knew nothing of that man; there was no sympathy there. Look at the wealth of what is here, the angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder,
[p. 93] and that lone man lying there, the object of all that attention! Does it not affect your heart? Christians ought to be profoundly affected by the thought of God’s interest in them long before they knew Him. Alas! how little we do appreciate it. That same attention goes on day by day and night by night; it never ceases.
Now this was God’s interest in Jacob when he was setting out, as you may say, to make his mark in the world. He was setting out as young men do; every young man has his own prospects, his own desires and expectations; he has got something before him. There were twenty years ahead of Jacob; God knew all about that. His heart was bent on something, but that did not prevent the divine interest in him. No waywardness, no crookedness, no wilfulness, can interfere with the interest of heaven in us. I am not encouraging these things, you know, I am only showing you what God is. God’s interest was in that man, be that man’s motives what they were, God had set His heart upon him. Jacob was in a poor way to appreciate it all. How many are like that! He says, “How dreadful is this place!”. He had a right judgment of it, he knew what it was. I have seen many young people-they knew well enough where the truth was — they knew the people of God were right-they knew the gospel was true, but it was all dreadful. Such was Jacob’s state. This is a dreadful place!-and yet he gives it its right name: “This is none other but the house of God”. God is in this place. Little he knew about God; he really knew nothing about God. Had he known the heart of God, he would not have thought of using the word ‘dreadful’ in regard of His house, the home of divine affections, but that was his judgment. But then that did not interfere in the least degree with God’s interest in him. He says, ‘I am going to be with you, Jacob, I know what is in your heart; you are going in for things, you are going to have something’. Sure enough he did have something, he did not serve his twenty years for nothing. He got his salary; it was changed ten times; God allows that. Many of us have been permitted to secure something; we have set our hearts on it and we have attained it. It is remarkable how men attain to things, but what I desire to show, beloved friends, is that, whilst all that is not excusable in the least degree and you have to judge it, yet God’s interest remains in you. He never gives you up. He allowed Jacob to go to Syria and to remain there twenty years, but He had placed in Jacob’s heart an impression that he never got rid of; that is the effect of the gospel.
The light of God entering your soul places an impression there that is remaining; that is the work of God. That vision was not for nothing; there was a foundation laid in Jacob’s soul that God could refer to twenty years after. God knows just what He has done; He produces an impression in your soul by the light, and that impression is there for ever. It is the work of God. Your will may be stronger than it for the moment, very often it is so; it was so in Jacob’s case. Our will may be stronger than the light we have; it may be too strong for us and we go our own way; but God says, ‘I am going to be with you’. The government of God is inexorable; nothing fails it; it touches you. But God’s interest remains in you and He never gives you up till you are brought back to the first impression produced in your heart by the light of God. You are never recovered till then. Now in chapter 32, Jacob is on his way back. He has flocks and herds and wives and children; he is a wealthy man; he is well off. We must not think that because a man is wealthy God is not interested in him. Jacob was wealthy, he had not spent his time for nothing, but God’s interest remained. What we find now is that Jacob returns, and he is met by two camps of angels-that is the word “Mahanaim”. I [p. 95] just want to dwell upon that, for it is, as it were, a full testimony of the interest of God. It says, “The angels of God met him”. What a moment for Jacob; how he would be reminded of that night! He had seen those beings before; he had seen them on the ladder. Now he meets two camps of them, they come to meet him. I do not know exactly what I may call them in regard to the history of believers now; angels usually set forth what is providential. God gives providential evidences of His interest in you, but that is not Him self; He has not met you Himself yet. At Luz God was at the top of the ladder, but He did not come down then; the angels came down, there was testimony of God’s interest, but not God Himself yet. So with Job, God testifies to Job by one instance and another, but finally He spoke to Job Himself. When God meets you face to face, and touches you, all is over with you; you have no more to say. You notice here that having met these two camps of angels, Jacob still speaks. He is wealthy, he would send to Esau a testimony of what he was, no ordinary man; he was not a poor man now. He was a man of means; he had secured wealth in this world and he would have us know about it. He was simply full of himself and his acquirements and even the meeting with the angels did not displace this in his heart. But all the droves of cattle and the wives and children go over the brook and Jacob was left alone, but left alone with God. No angels now, for it is really the Lord Himself.
Let me enquire as to whether you have had a direct transaction with God. It is of moment that you should hear the preacher, for the preacher is sent, such as an angel in that sense, the evangelist is exactly that, and it is well to listen to the preacher, but then the preacher is not God. It is well to get the light and to let it have a place in your heart, let it bring about repentance, but do not stop there, let God have to say to you. I do not undertake to tell you how; He has [p. 96] His own way of getting at the soul. He allowed Jacob to get all that made him great in the world, but that had gone, gone over the brook, and he was left alone, but he was alone with God. Now you come to what Jacob really is according to God. God had been with him and had been working in him; God had produced an impression in his heart at Luz that never left him; it was divine. Now he wrestles with God till the breaking of day. How in earnest he was! Would that there were a soul in such earnest as Jacob now! He positively refused to let go until He blessed him. How one admires that! I believe it was delightful to God. It was God Himself there, and Jacob was so intensely interested now in the presence of God that he wrestled till the breaking of day. The man said, “Let me go, for the dawn ariseth”, but Jacob says, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”. How delightful to God that was! You remember what Elisha’s prayer was-I admire it! He said to Elijah, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me”. A double portion! One cannot but admire the boldness of that prayer. If there is anything God delights in it is boldness in prayer on the part of man-you cannot ask too much! Elijah said, “Thou hast asked a hard thing”. Nevertheless it was not denied him; he received it. It was a marvellous prayer! I believe Elisha understood what was coming, for a double responsibility was to lie upon him; he was to maintain the testimony of grace in the presence of Ahab. Elijah maintained the testimony of judgment, and Elisha was not to set that aside. But while that was maintained, he would add to it the testimony of grace and, in the double portion of Elijah’s spirit, he had the means of maintaining it in the presence of the house of Ahab. You remember the house of Ahab remained during all the testimony of Elijah. Elijah was sent to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and [p. 97] Elisha to be prophet in his stead, and him that escaped the sword of Hazael Jehu was to slay, and him that escaped the sword of Jehu Elisha was to slay (see 1 Kings 19). Now what happens? Elisha’s administration comes in first. All that is understood instinctively by the prophet and he asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. That is to say, he maintained the testimony of grace in the presence of the house of Ahab and when the reign of grace was over, he anointed Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab (see 2 Kings 9). That was Elisha’s prayer.
Now look at Jacob here, he refuses to let the angel go until he blesses him. How one would encourage individual transactions with God. Turn to God, He is there to meet you. Jacob says, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”. Then he is asked, “What is thy name?”. And it is all out; Jacob has to make a confession. You know we are often depressed in our souls and hampered, and progress hindered, because we do not make confessions. Now Jacob’s confession of his name was really to confess that his whole course was a crooked one, Jacob, the supplanter, a crooked scheming man! He told it out to God.
What a relief! I believe it was a positive relief to his soul to have it all out. That is the end of Jacob’s history as a crooked, scheming, wretched man, all that he was as a man in the flesh. Now God gives him a name. I would desire greatly to be able to convey to you the import of the name that God was pleased to give Jacob. He says, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob”. What a change! What, am I to be relieved for ever of all the shame of my past history? Is all that to be cancelled? Yes, beloved friends, cancelled for ever as far as God is concerned! That name is cancelled: it is no more yours. You have owned to it; you have had it all out with God. Now it is blotted out for ever, the name and all the sins attached to the name gone into oblivion for ever!
[p. 98] That is the grace of God. He says, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob”. Never mind what men call you, it is a matter of no consequence, it is a question of what God calls you. He only can give you a name that is to endure for ever. Now what was the name? It was ‘a prince’. The word ‘Israel’ means that. What elevation! He says, “Thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”. Would that one could convey to you what the word ‘prince’ involves. Christians are in God’s account princes, because their names have been changed. God has changed our names and the new name involves that we are dignified and qualified for a place in His house. What I understand by that is that God gives us the Spirit. The past history is cancelled. God could not give the Spirit with that history. He could not seal that history; it must therefore be cancelled vicariously in the cross of Christ before God could give the Spirit. The death of Christ cancels that history for us, beloved friends, and so God gives the Spirit to us. Now the possession of the Spirit involves power. It says here, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”. The possession of the Spirit enables the christian to prevail, so that he not only has the title, but he has the power. He has that which supports the title. One would enlarge upon that. You see a christian moving about in this world, entirely independent of the world, entirely independent of the flesh; he has access to God; he can, as it were, move God, speaking reverently. He has influence with God, he has prevailed; he has power with God and then, on the other hand, he has power with men. A christian is a man who has power with God; he has access to God, he prevails with God and with men. He has got very little if he has not power with men. If you have not power with God, you surely have not with men; but as having [p. 99] power with God, you have power with men, and as having these things you are a ‘prince’, your name is ‘Israel’.
Well, in this passage, Jacob has not arrived at the house yet, but he is on the way to it now. He is not yet qualified for it. I want you to see what I am saying, that God would bring you to His house; that is the great end here. Now Jacob asks, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name”. But God denies him His name now, but it was a desire that God did not spurn. God loves our prayers. He does not always answer them when we make them, for He reserves His right to answer them as He pleases, and what He pleases is perfect. Jacob’s petition to know Jehovah’s name was not answered till he arrived at Bethel. I need not turn aside to the sorrowful history of chapters 33 and 34. Alas! there is many a counterpart in christians! Instead of going straight to Bethel, he turned aside and bought a house; he came short of God’s purpose for him. God had a house, and God had produced an impression in his soul twenty years before as to that house, yet Jacob turns aside to build one for himself. But God finally says, “Arise, go up to Bethel”. That is what God would say to you tonight, wherever you are-”Go up to Bethel”. I just hasten on to show you how Jacob buried the idols at Shechem and how he set out for Bethel. Now notice, directly he moves to Bethel, the terror of God is upon his enemies. God is bent on that man arriving at Bethel and the enemies are all terrorised: the terror of God is upon them.
Now upon Jacob’s arrival at Bethel, God appears to him again, and He answers the prayer that he had made at Penuel, and that was that Jacob should know God’s name. Have you such a desire? It is a most wonderful thing to know God’s name!-the God who has interested Himself in you, the God who has given His Son for you, the God who loves you! Do you [p. 100] want to know His name? Jacob desired it and God waited till he arrived at Bethel to answer that prayer. What you notice in verses 9 and 10 is, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel”. The name is confirmed at Bethel, that is to say, in the house of God. The new name is confirmed to you so that you are certain about it; you have no doubt about it; you are in the presence of God in full suitability to God. Dignity is conferred upon you that constitutes you equal to the position. But now, God does not stop there, He said unto him, “I am the Almighty God”, as much as to say, ‘That is My name; your name is Israel; that is power, but I am Almighty power. You have power; My power is Almighty’. What a meeting that is! Those who inhabit the house of God are constituted men of power by God. Their name signifies that they are princes. They know God’s name, and that name is Almighty God. I need not add that in christianity we have the name of Father. Here it is simply, “God said to him, I am the Almighty God”. In order to know God’s name and all the affections and the relationships that are involved in it you have to go into the house of God; you do not get that outside. God reserves His right to answer your desire in His house. If you want to know a man, you know him in his house, and when Jacob arrived at Bethel God disclosed to him His name. He opens up His heart to us; His name has been declared by the Son so that it may be known by us. In Luke 15, the prodigal is inside and the Father’s affections flow to him. What a scene it was! What kind of a son was he? He was a living son. He had been dead, but he was living. Such was Jacob in principle. The prodigal was a living son. The elder brother is not called a son, although the Authorised Version uses the word in verse 31, and Israel after the flesh had that place with God. But it really is, “Child, thou art ever with me”. The prodigal, however, was a son, and a living son. Such are the inhabitants, those who dwell in the house of God and they know God’s name.
Well, all that is to show you what divine interest is and how it pursues its object until it establishes him in the house.
May the Lord bless the word to us!