Isaac’s Experience - Isaac is another illustration of this. Isaac’s experience was without beginning or end. He was never called and he never matured. Although he blessed his sons, he did it blindly (27:18-29), not so clearly as Jacob did with his grandsons. Isaac needed the beginning of both Abraham’s and Jacob’s experiences and the end of Jacob’s experience for his completion. Isaac was in the middle. He was never dealt with. Although his father and son were dealt with, he did not need any dealings. He was fully covered by the two ends in the matter of God’s dealings. Many times it is good for us to stay in the midst of other members of the Body, for those ahead of us and those behind us become our completion. This is the coordination among the members of the Body.

Jacob’s Experience - In his experience, Jacob had the best, highest, and most matured end. Although he began as a subtle supplanter, after being dealt with by God, he matured to the uttermost. Although there are so many good ones, such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, in the book of Genesis, no one is as mature as Jacob. After he matured, his supplanting hands became blessing hands. Whenever someone came under his hands, there was no condemnation, only blessing. He not only blessed the descendants of faith but even the worldly people. He was so high and so mature.

Although Jacob was matured in life, he had neither the experience of being called nor of the life of faith. Neither did he have the experience of the inheriting of grace. For his completion, Jacob needed to have Abraham’s being called and Abraham’s experience in the life of faith as well as Isaac’s experience in the inheriting of grace. Jacob was poor in faith. He did not know how to believe; he only knew how to supplant. After Abraham had been blessed by Melchisedec following the slaughter of kings, he met the king of Sodom. The king of Sodom encouraged Abraham, who had gained the victory for him, to take the spoil for himself. But Abraham refused to take even one thread, believing in the sufficiency of the Almighty God (14:19-23). Abraham had received the blessing from Melchisedec and did not need help from the king of Sodom. That was Abraham’s experience of faith. But Jacob’s experience was very different. Wherever he went, he was the first to supplant. In the midst of his supplanting life, Jacob even made a deal with God. When God appeared to him in a dream at Bethel, Jacob said upon waking, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on...then shall the Lord be my God...and of all that thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (28:20-22). Jacob made a deal with God. If God would take care of his needs, Jacob would give Him ten percent in return. Jacob seemed to be saying, “O God, if You will take care of my food, clothing, and all my needs, then I will give You a ten percent commission.” According to that arrangement, Jacob received ninety percent and God only ten percent. We see by this that Jacob did not have Abraham’s faith.

Eventually, however, Jacob was fully matured. He reached such a high level of maturity that Joseph, a part of Jacob, was reigning over the whole world. At that time, the world was under the hand of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh’s authority was altogether with Joseph. In a very real sense, Joseph did not reign for Pharaoh but for Jacob. Here we see the kingdom. The New Testament ends with the kingdom. After the called ones have completed their experiences with the Triune God, the period of reigning will come. That will be the millennium. Joseph only reigned for a period of years, but in the kingdom we shall reign for a thousand years.

If we add together the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we have a clear portrait of the complete experience of the called one. As a help in doing this, let us consider the chart that is printed on page 31. As God’s called ones, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were chosen in eternity past. Then, in time, after their birth, they were called. Many years after Abraham was called, he was circumcised and his name was changed. This is indicated by the curve. This is one line, or one aspect, of the experience of the called ones. We see from this chart that Isaac’s experience is a straight line. It resembles a tasteless glass of plain water. We see another curve when we come to Jacob’s experience. After this supplanting one was touched and dealt with, he became a prince of God. Eventually, all three of the called ones became a straight line. They will all be there in eternity future. We see from this chart that Jacob, or Israel, includes Joseph. The reason for this is, as we have seen, that Joseph was the reigning part of Jacob. While Jacob was a prince of God, Joseph was the one who reigned over the world, reigning over all the earth for Jacob. Joseph was the reigning son and Jacob was the reigning father.

The experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the complete experience of the corporate called one. If we see this, we shall bow down and say, “O God the Father, we need You. We need Your plan, purpose, selection, predestination, calling, justification, acceptance, and care. O God the Son, we need You. We need You to redeem us that we might have the inheritance. We need You to accomplish all that the Father planned, all that the Father intended to do. O God the Spirit, we need You. We need You to regenerate us, to discipline us, to transform us, and to make us grow that we might mature in life. We need You to make us the real Israels. We need You to make all that the Father has planned and all that the Son has accomplished real to us. Our Triune God, how we bow to You, worship You, praise You, and thank You for all that You have done to us and in us!”

After seeing such a thing, we shall be humbled and realize that the whole experience of the corporate called one is too much for us to have individually. I cannot be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph. Since I can only be one of these three, I must learn to rely upon my brothers for the remainder. Even if I were as mature as Israel, I would still need someone to be my Abraham and my Isaac. We all must realize that, at the most, we are only a member of the Body. We need all the other members. According to our traditional background, everyone ranks Abraham at the top, thinking that he exceeds everybody else. But he did not exceed everyone. Although he exceeded others in the matter of faith, he did not surpass them in maturity. As we have seen, Jacob was the most mature.

At present we are all in the process of this experience of God’s called ones. Some of us are Abrahams, some are Isaacs, and others are Jacobs. Now we are enjoying the Triune God in our experience, not in theology. We do not have Him as a doctrinal concept but as an experiential enjoyment. We are enjoying God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. How good it is to enjoy the Father’s calling, justifying, accepting, and caring for us. How wonderful it is to realize the Son’s redeeming, saving, bringing us into the inheritance, and accomplishing of God’s eternal purpose. How excellent it is to experience the Spirit’s regenerating, disciplining, transforming, and causing us to grow and mature. We are not merely discussing the Triune God. We are experiencing Him; we are participating in the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Triune God is with us experientially. In the church life, we are Abrahams, Isaacs, and Jacobs including Josephs experiencing the Triune God. We are enjoying the selection, predestination, calling, justification, acceptance, care, redemption, inheritance, accomplishment of God’s purpose, regeneration, discipline, transformation, growth, maturity, and eventually the reigning. Praise the Lord! This is the Triune God with the corporate called one.