Blessing is the Overflow of the Divine Life that Inwardly Changes us and Fills us

Genesis 47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

The issue of Jacob’s transformation and maturity was blessing – he blessed everyone! At the end of his life, when he went to Egypt, all Jacob did was to bless: he blessed Pharaoh, he blessed his sons, and he blessed Joseph’s sons.

The issue of maturity in life and of the reigning aspect of a mature life is blessing. To be transformed is to be changed within by the divine life, to be matured is to be filled with the divine life which transforms us, and blessing is the overflow of life.

Jacob was not only transformed by God through the many dealings, breaking, and sufferings he went through; he was a mature person expressing God and representing God, and he blessed everyone.

At the end of his life Jacob was no longer trying to do many things or to obtain many things; he was at peace and happy with God’s sovereign arrangement, and he realized that God is the One who shepherded him all the days of his life.

Jacob realized that it was God who arranged all things in his life, and God took an all-inclusive tender care of him as a shepherd would care for his sheep. Therefore, all he could do was to go along with what God arranged for him (he went to Egypt, even in his old age) and bless everyone with clarity.

In his blessing his grandsons – Joseph’s sons – he mentioned: “the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked” (God the Father), “the God who shepherded me all my life to this day” (God the Spirit), and “the Angel who redeemed me from all evil” (God the Son) (Gen. 48:15-16).

Jacob experienced the Triune God throughout his life, and at the end of his life he came to the realization that the Triune God worked in and around him to care for him, and all this time he experienced not merely sufferings and trials and dealings but the Triune God Himself. Therefore, all he could do is bless others with the Triune God.

In our Christian life we will come to a point where we realize that everything that happened to us is under God’s sovereignty and is part of His shepherding us, and we have been experiencing the Triune God throughout all our life.

Therefore, the best thing we can do is bless others with the Triune God we experienced, overflowing with the divine life that transformed us and fills us to the brim.

Being Changed by Life (transformed), Filled with Life (matured), and Overflowing with Life (blessing)

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.

If we read the story of Jacob in Genesis with the glass of God’s economy on we will realize that what matters is not the many dealings, breaking, or sufferings he went through, but the fact that he was transformed and matured to express God and represent God, thus fulfilling God’s original intention in creating man.

Genesis begins with God creating man in His image and likeness so that man would express Him and represent Him (Gen. 1), and it ends with Jacob who expresses God in his maturity and represents God through his son Joseph, reigning for God.

This man, Jacob, passed through dealings, breaking, transformation, building up, and maturity, and he became a mature person blessing all those around him. He was re-made and transformed to express God in His image and represent God with His dominion.

What does it mean to be transformed? What does it mean to be mature? What does it mean to bless, and what is blessing?

According to the Bible, being transformed is being metabolically changed in our natural life with the divine life we receive at regeneration (see Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).

The last stage of transformation is maturity; to be mature is to be filled with the divine life that changes us. Some believers may be transformed but not mature; they may be changed inwardly with God’s life, but there’s no overflow of life.

Jacob was not only transformed but also mature, and with him there was an overflow of the divine life that changed him.

Blessing is the overflow of life, the overflow of the divine life that changes us inwardly and fills us to the brim to mature us.

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 (48:14-16). 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 (14:18-19; Num. 6:23-27; 2 Cor. 13:14). That Jacob blessed Pharaoh indicates that he was greater than Pharaoh (Heb. 7:7). (Gen. 47:7, footnote 1, Holy Bible Recovery Version)

The whole New Testament ministry is a ministry of blessing, and the Lord Himself is our blessing. Blessing is not something outward or physical; blessing is not a thing but a person, the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit.

As we grow in life unto maturity, the divine life that changes us inwardly and conforms us to God’s image outwardly will eventually fill our whole being and we will overflow with life; this overflow of life is blessing.

The Apostle Paul was a mature believer, bringing the believers into God’s presence and bringing the Triune God into them as grace, love, and fellowship so that they may enjoy the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).

We need to stay under the genuine New Testament ministry, enjoy the flowing life, grow in life unto maturity, and simply overflow to others with the Triune God as life, blessing them with the real blessing – God Himself!

May we be those who are not only transformed but also mature, being filled with the divine life and even overflowing with the divine life to others as blessing!

Lord Jesus, grow in us unto maturity until we are filled with the divine life that metabolically changes us. Lord, transform us into Your image and fill us with the divine life to the brim until we overflow with life toward others. Gain many mature brothers and sisters who simply overflow with the divine life. Gain many mature saints who bless others with the Triune God! Oh Lord, make us those who bring others in God’s presence and bring God into them as grace, love, and fellowship so that they may enjoy the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as their supply and enjoyment!

We Experience the Triune God so that we may Bless Others with the Triune God

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. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis)

When Jacob was about to bless the two sons of Joseph – Manasseh and Ephraim – he spoke of the Triune God in his experience (see Gen. 48:9, 15-16).

It is not accidental that he mentioned three aspects of his God in his blessing: the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked is God the Father, the God who shepherded Jacob all his life to this day is the Spirit, and the Angel who redeemed him from all evil is the Son.

Jacob came to realize that throughout his life he experienced the Triune God in these specific aspects, and he concluded that this God has shepherded him all the days of his life.

Jacob’s realisation was not that Esau hated him, Laban tried to cheat on him, his sons gave him a hard time, and Joseph was taken from him. Rather, his realisation was that he experienced God’s sovereign shepherding care, and God took a good care of him as a shepherd would tenderly care for the sheep.

Jacob realized that his destiny and existence were absolutely in the hands of the shepherding God. Therefore, when he blessed, he blessed others with the Triune God that he experienced.

Our experience of the Triune God is so that we may bless others with the Triune God. When we arrive at a mature stage in our growth in life, we will bless others with the Triune God that we have experienced.

The Lord Himself leads us to the waters of rest, He is with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and He follows us with goodness and mercy (Psa. 23). The Triune God is leading us, He is with us, and He is following us; our entire Christian life we experience the Triune God in many ways and aspects, and He leads us into His house for the building up of His habitation.

The Triune God shepherds us, cares for us, is experienced and enjoyed by us, and fills us to the brim until we bless others with the Triune God as life.

May we be those who experience the goodness (the grace of Christ) and the lovingkindness (the love of God) of God which follow us (the fellowship of the Holy Spirit) all the days of our life, and may we dwell in the house of the Lord (the church life consummating in the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal habitation) all the days of our life, overflowing with the divine life to the saints!

Lord, bring us to the realization that our destiny and existence are absolutely in the hands of our shepherding God. Cause us to see Your tender care and appreciate Your shepherding. Keep us open to Your working inwardly and outwardly so that we may experience the Triune God in many ways. Lord, fill us more with the Triune God and reconstitute us with the divine life so that we may live in the house of God, the church, and bless others with the Triune God we have enjoyed and experienced here!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 94), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3),  week 9 / msg 9, Blessing.
• Picture credit for Gen. 47:7 and more quotes on this topic via, Christian Pics Blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # As I dwell in You, Lord You’re flowing through. / Lord, You’re filling me, overflowing too. / Here we all are one and expressing You. / Here our joy is full as we dwell in You. (Song on Being Filled with God)
  # The flowing of life divine, / In spirit so sweetly flows— / The overflowing life divine, / Nourishing my spirit so— / Bringing the Triune God’s fullness, / In spirit operates and moves, / Bringing me all of His supply— / Life as my supply. (Song on the Overflow of Life)
  # Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me / All the days, all the days of my life. / And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! (Hymns #1170)