Reading: Psalm 24; Gen. 25:24-34.
We shall turn to Psalm 24. We have already seen some of the
lessons in this word of the Lord. The word that is standing right
out is fulness, and there you are confronted with
something that is too big for man to grasp. It reaches beyond all
human conception of things, it speaks of resources that can never
be exhausted, it speaks of something that can never run dry. And
when we come to the New Testament we find that fulness is
associated with Jesus Christ.
In these past days when we have been studying Colossians we have
seen this fulness: "It pleased the Father that in Him should all
fulness dwell". If there is any barrenness it is not because the
Lord is bankrupt. We learned that the fulness of Christ has
resulted in creation because all fulness dwells in Him; He could
breathe upon disorder and bring a world into being - the fulness
of the earth is the Lord. "The whole earth is full of His glory"
(Isa. 6:3), or "The fulness of the earth is His glory". And in
this psalm you have fulness and glory brought together: "Who is
the King of glory", "Open the gates and the King of Glory shall
come in". Perhaps the reason for our barrenness is because we have
not realised that the King of glory must be there; the Lord of
hosts is His name. Then you notice this, that right in between the
fulness and the King of glory, there is a man. That man has
reached the place where the King of Glory has come in and the
fulness. The place the man has risen to is the place of ascension.
Perhaps we have not learned to come to the right place for the
fulness. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall
stand in His holy place?" In the holy place there was the
candlestick all made of gold in which there was the oil causing
the light to shine and then there was the table of show-bread,
signifying sufficiency. And there was the altar of incense rising
up and filling the holy place, and it is when we come into the
experience of standing in the holy place that the fulness comes
in. When we get there then the King of Glory shall be manifest and
the fulness realised.
There are four facts given about the man who has come into the
holy place.
(1) He is a man with clean hands - what he does is clean. "But we
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags". "He that touches the dead body of any man shall be
unclean seven days" (Num. 19:11) - the dead thing may be beautiful
perhaps to our hearts, but the touch of a dead thing is unclean.
(2) He is a man with a pure heart - his affairs are right; he is
a man who lives in a right way; he has a proper devotion. He loves
the right One - he is there because of his devotion to the Person,
not because of his works or what he has done. In Rev. 2:4 the Lord
says: "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love."
(3) His life is straight - his soul is not stooping to falsehood
(the soul is the person). He has not turned aside from the
perpendicular; he is straight up and down; his life is not a lie.
(4) "Nor sworn deceitfully" - he is open to God and hides
nothing. That is the man who will stand in the hill of God; he is
the man who will bring the fulness and the glory in.
If that were all, we could not stand at all, but in Psalm 24:6 we
read "This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek thy
face, even Jacob". This man who shall ascend to the holy hill,
well, he is a generation and a Jacob generation, not an Abraham
nor an Isaac generation, but a Jacob generation. He is the man who
is going to receive the blessing. Were Jacob's hands clean? Was
Jacob's heart pure? Was Jacob's soul straight? Was Jacob's life
open? "Even Jacob..." and because that is in the Word we can
rejoice, even we. If there is one man in the Scriptures who has
failure, deceit, falsehood and craftiness wrapped up in his being,
that man is Jacob, and yet "This is the generation of them that
seek Him." So when we go to the psalm we say, "How did Jacob come
to this place and if Jacob did it, how can we get into this?" It
creates the desire that we might come into the holy place, because
the bringing of the fulness in and the Man of Glory are bound up
with that.
There is one word that stands out for Jacob and God can do
anything with us if this is true of us also: "This is the
generation of them that seek Him." Behind all that black history
there was a desire, a longing, a reaching out after, a seeking of
the face of God. He is a man who is bent on getting into close
quarters with God. There are many of God's people today who have
not any of these bad things which are characteristic of Jacob; but
there was one thing that Jacob had that they lack. Jacob was never
indifferent to God. Many of God's people have no striving after
God. If God is before their face, well and good, but if something
else is before them, well, they are content with that.
One thing that God loved about Jacob was that he was a 'right'
man. In fact in Genesis 25:27 the word "plain" (KJV) is hardly
right; in the margin it says he was a perfect man. This man who
was stooping to these things, he was a right man behind all that;
his heart was right and, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of
them whose heart is perfect (or sincere) toward Him". Some of us
have not got to the place where Jacob was; there is no desire for
face to face contact with God Almighty. This word "seek" is the
same word as in Luke 23:52 - begged or longed for, and in Acts
16:10 "endeavoured". His endeavour was toward God; his heart was
after God and God can do something with people like that, although
they may be as deceitful as Jacob and as crooked as Jacob. Jacob
knew perfectly well that if his love for God was to be realised,
he must have the birthright.
Speaking naturally Esau got it by being a few seconds earlier.
Morally speaking, everything was against Jacob having the
birthright. There were three things wrapped up in the birthright.
(1) It belonged to the firstborn and secured for the firstborn a
double portion "Then it shall be when he makes his sons to inherit
that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved
firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the
firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the
firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for
he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is
his" (Deut.21:16-17).
Now, here is Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah is just about to be
caught up to heaven and Elijah says: "What do you want Elisha",
and Elisha says: "Give me a double portion of thy spirit". And
Elijah says: "You have asked a hard thing". In Hebrews 12 we read
"You are come unto Mount Sion (that is a great place) to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly (that is a
great company) and church of the firstborn, which are written in
heaven (that is all the double portion)... and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant". A double portion of that spirit,
and so this birthright had something that was translated.
The only means whereby we can stand in the holy place is
something of a holy nature, there was oil in the candlesticks, and
we will never see His face if we are moving out on any other
plain. Elisha had to get to Gilgal - the place of the knife; and
from there to Bethel - the House of God; and then to Jordan - the
place of burial; then to Jericho - where there was conflict. And
then he could say: "Elijah, give me the double portion." And
unless we are prepared for the Holy Spirit to make it real, we
will never have it; if we want the double portion we will have to
take our hands off things. Are we prepared to let the Holy Spirit
take charge? Do we believe in the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit?
You only have the double portion by seeing the One who has
ascended.
(2) The one who had the double portion had the right to come into
the headship. That takes us to Ephesians 1. There is a company of
the Lord's people and Paul says: "After I heard of your faith in
the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, I cease not to give
thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know
what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power... which He wrought in Christ, when He
raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right own right
hand in the heavenly places... and gave Him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him
that fills all in all" (Eph. 1:15-23). That is headship and the
possessing of the headship meant a coming into that. It means the
lifting up out of the places of death, far above all; fulness and
glory are related to that. But that is going to cost something
because there can be no fulness if the body is broken and the
church scattered. Christians must come into one place into the
Head.
(3) Jacob wanted the birthright because the one who had the
birthright came into the priesthood. "We have a great high priest,
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God". He is
sitting there doing a mighty priestly work at the throne. The high
priest could behold the glory of the Lord and see the outshining
of His matchless splendor. It means we take our place right inside
the holy place. Yes, the birthright secured priesthood. "He ever
lives to make intercession". "He is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him". And if ever a man was in the
uttermost it was Jacob. And yet he wanted the birthright so that
he could be a priest to deal with people to the uttermost. But God
says that you are not going to get the birthright by making
pottage. The word 'supplanter' means 'take by the heel'; it is a
satanic way "thou shalt bruise his heel". Flesh cannot come into
the birthright or the securing of it. Therefore, Jacob, you have
got to get rid of it.
Are we striving after God, and because of that we want the
birthright that will satisfy all we desire? Well, you cannot get
the birthright by pandering to the flesh; you have got to let the
flesh die. Am I prepared to die as a means to obtaining the
birthright? "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Christ, the firstborn from among
the dead; Christ risen, ascended; Christ, the high priest. This
Christ is living inside because I am crucified; the old Jacob has
been dealt with and now it is the double portion that is inside
me. "When I ascend on high I will send you the Holy Spirit and He
will guide you." The Man who died on Calvary dealt with the old
Jacob. The man who shall stand in the holy place, he shall receive
the blessing. It is the priestly man inside him that means the
bringing in of the King of Glory.
Are we out for the double portion - the headship, the priesthood?
They are there for us, but we must be prepared to get them not as
Jacob by providing something for our flesh, but by taking the
cross.
Edited and supplied by the Golden Candlestick Trust.