God sovereignly did not allow the good news about Joseph to reach Jacob at an early date. As Joseph and his brothers were happy together in Egypt, Jacob was suffering in Canaan, waiting for his sons to return. The longer Jacob's sons remained in Egypt, the more he suffered. But the more Jacob suffered, the better it was for him. Jacob's long wait for the return of his sons was surely a trial. This was under the sovereign hand of God to prolong Jacob's suffering that he might be emptied of everything. When the good news came to Jacob, he was absolutely empty.
Our preoccupations frustrate the growth of life. Due to these preoccupations, there is not much room in our being for the divine life. But when Jacob heard the news about Joseph in Egypt, he had been emptied of every preoccupation. Nothing was occupying his inner being. Rachel had died, his twelve sons had gone away, and Jacob had been utterly emptied out. He was so empty that when the good news came, he was not excited by it. In fact, his heart was even rather cold (45:26, Heb.). When the news came regarding Joseph, Jacob had not only been transformed; he was completely filled with the divine life. He had become mature.
Jacob's history must also become our biography. We must believe that everything in our daily life is under God's sovereign hand. Everything that happened to Jacob was for his transformation and maturity. In order to be transformed, Jacob had to be pressed into situations that gave him no choice except to undergo a change. Like Jacob, after we have been changed, God will sovereignly use persons, things, and events to empty us of everything that has filled us and to take away every preoccupation so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with God.
If we read the book of Genesis again and again, we shall see that the two main aspects of Jacob's experience are transformation and maturity. It is not simply a matter of being chosen, called, saved, and regenerated. We still need the process of transformation and the process of maturity. However, few Christians pay attention to these matters. For this reason, God's economy has been frustrated among His children. Because there is such a lack of transformation and maturity among God's people, we have not yet seen the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. But this lack is now being made up in the Lord's recovery, which today is the recovery of Christ as life and of the church as our living. In the coming days many saints in the Lord's recovery will be transformed. Even now, some are in the process of maturity. The Lord is working among us, on us, and in us to transform us and to cause us to mature.
When I was young, I read a number of books about overcoming sin, but I did not read one book about transformation. With us today it is not simply a matter of overcoming sin. Even if you overcome every sin, you still need to be transformed. If we are not transformed, the overcoming of sin does not mean very much for God's economy. For God's economy we do not merely need the overcoming of sin; we also need the transformation of our being and the fullness of His life. God is concerned about transformation and maturity. This is His need today.
Along with maturity, we also have the aspect of reigning. The mature life becomes the reigning life. We have pointed out that Jacob and Joseph should not be considered as two separate persons, but as two aspects of a complete person who has the fullness of experience. We all should have the aspect of maturity and the aspect of reigning. Actually, it was not Joseph who was reigning in Egypt—it was Jacob, Israel. If you could have asked an Egyptian who was reigning over him, he would have said that a Hebrew, an Israelite, was reigning. Israel was reigning in Egypt because Israel had matured in life. Only a matured life can be used by God for His kingdom, for His reigning.
From Jacob's experience we see that everything that happens to us is under God's sovereignty for our transformation and maturity. Nothing is accidental. God's eternal purpose can only be accomplished through our transformation and maturity. Jacob's experience is an excellent illustration of this.
Jacob actually did not react to all these dealings in the last stage for his maturity. He no longer had his own activity. Rather, without any struggle, he absolutely submitted to his circumstances. He took all the situations as they happened (43:11, 13). Concerning the probable loss of his sons, he said, "If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved" (43:14). What submission this was!
In his early days Jacob always trusted in his own skill and ability. However, after the dealings in the last stage, his trust was no longer in himself, but in God. Jacob had come to know God's mercy. In his experiences through all his life, he eventually realized that it was God's mercy, not his skill and ability, that had counted in his situations. And he had also learned that this merciful God is all-sufficient, not only almighty, to meet his needs in every kind of situation. Hence, Jacob said to his sons, "God all-sufficient give you mercy before the man" (43:14, Heb.). Now his trust and rest are altogether in the mercy of his all-sufficient God, no longer in himself and in his ability. Here we see a man who has been fully transformed for maturity.