As we have pointed out a number of times, the record of Jacob's blessing found in Genesis 49 begins with a sinner and ends with the universal blessing and the eternal dwelling. If we have a proper knowledge of the Bible, we shall see that the entire Bible issues in the universal blessing of God and in His eternal dwelling. For eternity, we shall be under the universal blessing to be God's eternal dwelling. This is the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem. The new heaven and new earth will be a realm of universal blessing. We shall be under this blessing in order that we may be the New Jerusalem. According to the picture in Revelation 21 and 22, in the environment of the new heaven and new earth there is nothing but blessing, blessing upon blessing. Everything in that environment will be a blessing to the New Jerusalem, God's eternal dwelling. We, God's chosen people, shall be that dwelling within and under the universal blessing. This is the ultimate consummation of the revelation of the Bible.
It is very interesting to see that the short record of Jacob's prophetic blessing issues in the same conclusion as does the entire Bible. Although there is no sin in the first two chapters of Genesis, sin enters the scene in chapter three. The sinner in Genesis chapter three was a real Reuben. However, in the last two chapters of the Bible, there will be the real Joseph and Benjamin. We may say that Joseph is the sign of the universal blessing. All the blessings are upon the head of the one who was separate from his brothers. Benjamin is the symbol of God's eternal dwelling. Hallelujah, the church in the Lord's recovery today is a miniature of the universal blessing and the eternal dwelling! In the churches we have blessing upon blessing. Under such a blessing, we are the dwelling of God.
These two matters, blessing and dwelling, are found in the New Testament Epistles. Probably not many Christians have paid attention to these matters in the Epistles. But these two words provide the outline of the Epistles, for all the Epistles are on God's blessing. Take Ephesians as a representative illustration. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ." Here we have the matter of the blessings. Ephesians 1:23 speaks of the Body, and Ephesians 2:22 speaks of the habitation, both of which are symbols of God's dwelling. In Ephesians 3:16 and 17 the Apostle Paul prayed that the Father would strengthen us through His Spirit into the inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts. Hence, in the short book of Ephesians, both the blessings and the dwelling are covered. God has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies for the purpose that we might become His dwelling.
If you would ask me to say what the Epistles reveal, I would say that they reveal the matters of blessing and dwelling. To see this, however, we need light and vision. Without light and vision, we may read the Epistles again and again and see only things such as the charge for wives to submit to their husbands and for husbands to love their wives, to redeem the time, to be diligent, and to love our neighbors. If we view the Epistles with our natural sight, without the light and the vision, we shall mainly see these minor points and miss the blessing and the dwelling in the Epistles. The New Testament is concerned with the matters of blessing and dwelling.
So many excellent and wonderful points are covered in Genesis 49. How I thank the Lord that Jacob's first son was Reuben and that the last two were Joseph and Benjamin! If Joseph and Benjamin had been the first two and Reuben the last, everything would have been upside down. Praise the Lord that once we were Reubens, but today we are Josephs and Benjamins! I can testify that I am today's Joseph and Benjamin. Day and night, I am under God's blessing, and I am God's dwelling place. Even the young people, those in junior high and high school, must be Josephs and Benjamins. Before we came into the church, we never realized the significance of Joseph and Benjamin. But if we in the Lord's recovery are not Josephs and Benjamins, then who is? Are you not a Joseph and a Benjamin? Are you not under God's universal blessing, and are you not God's eternal dwelling? As today's Benjamin, God dwells in me, and not only in me, but between my shoulders.