Gen. 35:27 And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
Jacob was selected and chosen by God even before he was born. However, throughout his life he schemed and struggled to obtain the birthright and the blessing, and he wanted to have his way with everyone – even though the blessing was his by God’s choice.
He cheated on his brother Esau, tricked his father to give him the blessing, ran away from his brother for fear of being killed, was met by God and had a dream of the house of God at Bethel, and went to his uncle Laban where he fell in love with Rachel, and he worked for 14 years for her father to get Rachel, was cheated by Laban and he himself did his best to cheat Laban, and eventually ran away from Laban and was protected by God from Laban’s anger.
He then heard that his brother is coming with an army to meet him and was frightened, made a plan to survive, was met by God and wrestled with God, was touched by God and limped, and was reconciled to Esau.
He journeyed on to Shechem where he settled for a little, and had trouble there (his daughter Dinah was defiled by the son of the ruler of the city, and then Simeon and Levi tricked the people of that city to be circumcised, then killed all of them), and journeyed on to Bethel, the house of God, where God spoke to him again.
Then, Jacob went to Hebron, the place of the fellowship with God, and he dwelt there.
If you read the record in Genesis concerning Jacob you see that he had quite an eventful life; he had some success and lots of failures, but all in all what we see is that he was dealt with by God, he was broken, he was transformed, and he was built up to be part of the house of God.
Through all the situations, people, and things that were in his life, Jacob was being under God’s transforming hand, and eventually he came to Hebron, where he entered into full fellowship with God. Abraham journeyed and dwelt at Hebron, Isaac spent most of his life at Hebron, and now Jacob came to Hebron and dwelt there in fellowship with God.
After we realize what the house of God is (Bethel) and enter into the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to remain and dwell in the fellowship with God and with the Body of Christ.
Entering into Full Fellowship with the Lord and with the Saints in the Body
After Jacob experienced the reality of Bethel by coming there the second time, building an altar, having his name changed in reality, and becoming a corporate person, he then entered into full fellowship with God at Hebron (Gen. 35:27).
After experiencing the deeper and more personal dealings, Jacob entered into full fellowship with God at Hebron. Hebron means fellowship, communion; the fellowship at Hebron means intimacy with God, peace with God, and satisfaction and joy with God. God is faithful – He called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).
It is wonderful to be in the church life, and it is a mercy from the Lord to see the reality of Bethel, the house of God. But we need to apply what the Lord has shown us concerning the building up of His house by entering into a deeper fellowship with God and a sweeter fellowship in the Body.
We need to journey on and come to Hebron to enter into full fellowship with the Lord; here we have complete joy, satisfaction, peace, and intimacy between us and the Lord and the saints.
After experiencing the deeper and more personal dealings, Jacob entered into full fellowship with God at Hebron (Hebron means fellowship, communion). Abraham had come to Shechem (12:6), had passed through Bethel (12:8), and had dwelt in Hebron (13:18; 18:1), and Isaac spent nearly his whole life in Hebron. Jacob followed Abraham’s footsteps to come to Shechem (33:18), to pass through Bethel (35:6), and to dwell in Hebron. In Hebron Jacob enjoyed full rest, joy, satisfaction, intimacy, and fellowship with the Lord. It was in Hebron that he began to mature in life. (Genesis 35:27, footnote 1 in Holy Bible Recovery Version)
After we enter into a full fellowship with the Lord in the Body, we need to dwell here until we reach maturity. We need to remain in fellowship with God and with the other members of the Body, living not merely by knowing the principles of the Body and the meaning of Bethel but in the fellowship daily.
The fellowship at Hebron is the fellowship with God and the fellowship with other members of the Body of Christ (Phil. 2:1; 1 John 1:7).
We are God-men, members of the Body of Christ, and at the same time we are human; we need to open up to the Lord concerning our needs, and we need to open up to the members of the Body also.
The life that flows in the Body of Christ through the fellow members saves us and makes us normal functioning members of the Body. If we know the life of the Body of Christ, we will see the importance of fellowship, and we will realize that apart from the fellowship of the Body we cannot live (1 Cor. 12:14-27).
After passing through the dealings, breaking, transformation, and building up, we will realize that we can do NOTHING on our own; we need the Lord and we need the Body. Everything we do has to be in fellowship, and nothing can be done outside of fellowship.
We have to ask God to show us that we cannot be Christians by ourselves. We have to live in fellowship with God, and we have to live in fellowship with the Body of Christ. (Watchman Nee, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)
We don’t have a practice of “going to fellowship with the brothers” – we NEED the fellowship, and without the fellowship we cannot do anything. Fellowship with the saints in spirit is not just “a behavior” but a life necessity.
It’s not because “in the church life we fellowship with the saints” that we open about our situation; we NEED the fellowship, and as members of the Body we CANNOT LIVE without the fellowship!
Yes, each member of the Body of Christ has the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit to be their supply, but without the supply of the Body there is no other way.
Our destiny is to remain in fellowship with God and with the members of the Body of Christ in the house of God, and today we are learning to enjoy the all-sufficient supply of God in the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
May the Lord really show us that we cannot be Christians by ourselves – we HAVE to live in fellowship with God and we HAVE to live in fellowship with the other members in the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, show us that we cannot be Christians by ourselves. Bring us to the realization that we HAVE to fellowship with God and we HAVE to fellowship with the Body! We want to enter into a deeper fellowship with God and with the Body. Lord, we depend on You and we depend on the Body. Bring us to Hebron, the place of fellowship in intimacy, peace, satisfaction, and joy. Cause us to know the life of the Body of Christ that we may realize that apart from the fellowship of the Body we cannot live!
Losing our Natural Choice to Gain Christ
As Jacob was journeying on, his beloved wife Rachel – his natural choice – was about to give birth to her second child, and she was dying. As she was dying after a long child-labor, she named their son, Ben-Oni, the son of my sorrow and affliction; but Jacob named him, Ben-jamin, the son of my right hand.
Benjamin is a type of Christ, who is both the son of affliction and the son of God’s right hand. In the next blog post there will be more on this topic, but today we need to see that in order for Christ to be brought forth, our natural choice has to die.
When we come into the church life, we love the Lord, we love the saints, we enjoy the home meetings and the Lord’s table meeting, and we are “in the heavens”.
After a period of time though, we will realize that, in order for Christ to be brought forth in us, our natural choice and our preference has to die. We pay the price of losing our natural choice, but we gain Christ and He is manifested through us.
Hallelujah, it is so sweet to have Christ brought forth! Though there is some suffering in our soul by losing our soul-life, our natural choice (just as Jacob lost Rachel), we gain Christ, and we have Him brought forth.
May we be willing to cooperate with the Lord sooner rather than later to have Christ brought forth in us.
Lord Jesus, we want to gain You more in the church life with all the saints. Strengthen us into our inner man to willingly suffer the loss of our natural choice so that we may gain Christ and have Christ brought forth. Lord, keep us in the church life no matter what! Keep us in the fellowship of the Body, enjoying You with all the saints, and opening up to the saints to gain Christ and manifest Him. You know our natural choice; You know our preference. Lord, may Christ be brought forth in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (pp. 1023, 1170-1174), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 4 / msg 4, The Reality of Bethel and the Bringing forth of Christ as the Son of Affliction and the Son of the Right Hand.
- More sharing on this topic via Christian Pictures blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I need Thee every hour, / Most gracious Lord; / No tender voice like Thine / Can peace afford. / I need Thee, oh, I need Thee; / Every hour I need Thee; / Oh, bless me now, my Savior! / I come to Thee. (Hymns #371)
# I come before Thy throne of grace / With hungry heart on Thee to feed, / Thy grace and mercy to receive / To help me in this hour of need. / I long to have such fellowship. / To read and pray and blend with Thee; / I long that Thou wouldst saturate / Till Thou may overflow from me. (Hymns #813)
# I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. (Hymns #847)
# How sweet, how heav’nly is the sight, / When those who love the Lord / In one another’s peace delight, / And so fulfill His Word: / When each can feel his brother’s sigh, / And with him bear a part; / When sorrow flows from eye to eye, / And joy from heart to heart. (Hymns #857)
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