Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph are a complete unit in the experience of life. We should not consider them as four separate individuals, but as four different aspects of one's complete experience. Now we come to the third aspect—the aspect of Jacob. In Abraham, we have God's calling, justification by faith, living by faith in God, and living in fellowship with God. In Isaac, we have the inheriting of grace and the resting and enjoying. In Isaac we do not see justification by faith, for that is covered in Abraham's experience. But with Isaac we have the inheriting and enjoying of grace, which we do not see in Abraham's record. In this we see the different aspects of the experience of life. In Jacob, we see God's selection and God's dealings. Although we all love to inherit and enjoy grace, we do not like the dealings. In Jacob, we do not see the aspect of enjoyment; rather, we see the aspect of God's dealings. Because Jacob supplanted so much, God's hand was always upon him. Jacob's supplanting brought in God's dealings. God might have said, "Jacob, you are able to supplant, but I am able to deal with you. In every step of your supplanting, My dealings will come in." This was not God's punishment; it was God's dealings for the purpose of Jacob's transformation.
As I was considering this message in the presence of the Lord, I laughed when I noticed that Jacob began to fight even before he was born. Rebekah had conceived and "the children struggled together within her" (25:22). This fighting was probably started by Jacob, not by Esau. Esau's fighting must have been defensive. Jacob might have said, "Esau, you shouldn't go ahead of me. I must be first." Then Esau might have said, "No, I'm in front of you. I must get out first." The two children were fighting, and the mother, being unable to tolerate it, inquired of the Lord concerning it (25:22). Under the sovereignty of God, Esau came out first, but Jacob did not stop striving. After he came out, he still took hold of Esau's heel (25:26). Because of this, he was given the name of Jacob, which means heel-holder. Since Jacob was such a heel-holder, God had to deal with him. The issue of God's dealing was transformation. At a mature age, Jacob was no longer Jacob—he was Israel, a prince of God. Eventually, God put the whole world, including Pharaoh, under him.
I say again that these four persons constitute a complete unit of the experience of God. We are all Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph. At present, we are still under the process of God's transformation. But one day we shall all become Israels, the princes of God, ruling with our "Joseph" over all the world.
In Jacob, we see God's selection, the matter of Jacob's being chosen (25:21-26; 1 Pet. 2:9). Do you believe that you have been chosen? How do you know this? Although we may stand on the Word of God and say, "I know that I have been chosen because the Bible tells me so," I would still ask this question: how do we know from our experience that we have been chosen by God? We know it by the fact that we cannot get away from Him. During the past fifty years of my Christian life, I have tried many times to get away from the Lord. I have even said to Him, "Lord, I am tired of the Christian life. I am running away." Although I tried to run away, I could not do it. While some Christian workers are afraid of your staying away from the Lord, I have the boldness to encourage you to stay away from Him. Try your best to do it, telling Him, "Lord, I don't love You anymore. I'm through with being a Christian." You may say this to the Lord, but He will reply, "Are you through with Me? It's not up to you. You may be through, but I am not. Where shall you go—to Egypt? If you go there, I'll go there to wait for you. When you get there, you will find that I'm already there." We all have been trapped, and there is no escape. This is strong proof that we have been chosen by God.