The title "the God of Jacob" implies how the Holy Spirit disciplined Jacob, how He dealt with Jacob's natural life, how He constituted Christ into Jacob, and how He bore the fruit of the Spirit in Jacob. If we want to know the God of Jacob, we have to know the constitution by the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. If we want to know the God of Jacob, we need to allow the Spirit to perform His work in us, to deal with our natural life, to constitute Christ into our inward being, and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in us so that we can become the vessels of God's testimony.
God deals with our natural life for the purpose of ushering us into the carving work of the Spirit, the processing by the Spirit, and the constituting of the Spirit. What is the meaning of constitution? The constitution referred to here is a vertical and horizontal interweaving of knitwork. The constitution of the Spirit means that the Spirit constitutes Christ into our being to the point that we and Christ become one. Therefore, the constitution of the Spirit is one step more advanced than Christ being our life. Christ being our life is the foundation; the Spirit constituting Christ into our being is maturity. Christ being our life is Christ within us living for us. The constitution of the Spirit is the constituting of Christ into us to the extent that Christ's character becomes our character. God's goal in dealing with our natural life is that we would have the constitution of the Spirit. The knowledge of the God of Isaac is a knowledge of the God who has given Christ to us for our enjoyment. The knowledge of the God of Jacob is the knowledge of the Spirit who is constituting Christ into our being. This condition is like the weaving and constituting of an embroidery work.
Hebrews 12:9-10 says, "The Father of spirits...disciplined...for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness." God deals with us and the Spirit works in us step by step, leading us through many hardships and distressing situations for the purpose of making us partakers of "His holiness." "His holiness" here is not the "sanctification" spoken of in 1 Corinthians 1:30. The sanctification in 1 Corinthians 1 is a matter of Christ being our sanctification; Christ is made sanctification to us. Hebrews 12 speaks of the Father of spirits who takes us through disciplines and trials so that we may partake of His holiness. Such a holiness is produced through our trials. It is wrought out of discipline and produced by the Spirit through all the difficult and adverse environments we encounter. "Now no discipline at the present time seems to be a matter of joy, but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it" (Heb. 12:11). This is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
The natural life of some Christians is inclined to exhibition. They are like Hezekiah, who was fond of showing off all that he had to others (2 Kings 20:12-13). When God heals them of a particular kind of sickness, they incessantly "testify" of this matter to others. Actually this is not testifying, but idle talking, and the particular sickness often returns because these people are prone to show themselves off; therefore, God has to discipline them. When they eventually become tired of their exhibition, they will spontaneously stop their bragging "testimonies." They will not need to grit their teeth and make up their minds to not brag anymore. They will have been dealt with by God to such an extent that the peaceable fruit has been produced spontaneously, and they no longer act the way they once did. This is the constitution of the Spirit. God has not only given Christ to us to be our life, but He is constituting Christ into our being to be our character. Christ being our life is the foundation, while the nature of Christ becoming our nature is the constitution of the Spirit. The Spirit deals with our natural life with the purpose of producing a new character in us. God uses all kinds of ways to discipline us so that we may partake of His holiness and bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
This is what the history of Jacob shows. Jacob not only knew that God is the beginning of everything and the strength behind everything; he also acquired a new character. God worked on him and constituted Christ's character into him so that Christ's character became his character. In his later years, Jacob was entirely changed because Christ's character was constituted into him.