With this message we conclude the series of messages on chapter forty-nine. Chapter forty-nine is a record of Jacob's prophetic blessing of his sons. These blessings are given in figures, signs, and symbols, all of which need to be allegorized. We have seen that in Genesis the seeds of nearly all the truths in the Bible are sown. The seeds sown in this book are developed in the following books and are harvested in the book of Revelation. Because Genesis is a book of the seeds of the truths contained in the Bible, the conclusion of Gen. 49 must correspond to the conclusion of the whole Bible. In the last two chapters of Revelation there are two main things: the universal blessing and the eternal dwelling of God with men.
Before we consider this universal blessing and the eternal dwelling, we need to review chapter forty-nine. The first four sons of Jacob were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. According to the record of the Old Testament, these four sons were evil. The first and the fourth, Reuben and Judah, were full of lust. The second and the third, Simeon and Levi, were full of anger. Lust and anger characterize evil people. In the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens decreed in Matthew chapters five, six, and seven, the Lord Jesus covered lust and anger in a strong way. If a man can be kept from these two things, he will not be sinful. A man becomes sinful mostly because he is full of lust and anger. We praise the Lord that in His grace He saved the first four sons of Jacob. Moreover, two of them were transformed into something marvelous. Levi was transformed to become the priests, and Judah was transformed to become the kings. Sinners have become priests and kings. This has been accomplished by a kingly salvation.
This salvation was sent out to the Gentile world by Zebulun, the fifth son of Jacob. After the gospel was shipped out by Zebulun, Issachar came in as rest, rest in the gospel accomplished by Judah and preached by Zebulun. The saved one rests in God's salvation. After Issachar came Dan and with him a form of apostasy. Although Dan deviated from God's way, Gad came in to restore the situation. Thus, with Dan we have apostasy, and with Gad we have recovery. The recovery with Gad issues in the sufficiency of the riches of Christ symbolized by Asher. Naphtali, who follows Asher, signifies resurrection in which are the riches of Christ.
After the first ten sons, we come to the last two, Joseph and Benjamin. If you read the record of these two sons carefully, you will see that there is no account of any defect or failure in them. Although there is a long record regarding Joseph in the Bible, there is no hint that he was wrong in anything or that he failed. Joseph was perfect. Although we cannot say that Benjamin was perfect, there is no record of any defect in his life either. Joseph was called the son of a fruitful tree, and Benjamin, the son at the right hand. It is very meaningful that Joseph was fruitful and that Benjamin was at the right hand of God. Both are in resurrection. These two characteristics can easily be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only Son of the fruitful tree, and He is also the only Son at the right hand of God. Hence, both Joseph and Benjamin were types of Christ. Joseph was a type of Christ issuing in God's unlimited, boundless, universal blessing. The perfect Christ typified by Joseph brought in God's boundless blessing. Benjamin was a type of Christ as the One who brought in God's eternal dwelling place.
Gen. 49:22-26 and Deut. 33:13-16 indicate that the blessing upon Joseph is universal and eternal. It is from the ancient mountains to the eternal hills. This indicates space and time. The blessing that Christ has brought in fills every part of the universe. When the new heaven and the new earth come, there will be nothing but blessing in the whole universe. There will be blessing upon blessing. This is the life of Joseph, the life that issues in blessing.
The record concerning Benjamin in Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33 is very short. But this short record gives us a clear picture of Benjamin's life. His life issues in the dwelling of God. Eventually, this dwelling becomes God's eternal dwelling. In the record of Joseph and Benjamin we find a strong indication of what the desire of God's heart is. In his word concerning Joseph, Moses spoke about "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush" (Deut. 33:16). When God called Moses, Moses saw a burning bush. Out of that burning bush God spoke to him. Moses later came to realize that the God who dwelt in the bush desired to have a dwelling place on earth. This was the reason He called the children of Israel out of Egypt, led them into the wilderness, and charged them to build Him a tabernacle. When God called Moses, He spoke to him out of the bush. But after the tabernacle was built, God spoke out of the tabernacle (Lev. 1:1). This reveals that God's intention was to have a dwelling place with man on earth.
Deuteronomy 33:12 says, "And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders." This verse says that God will dwell between Benjamin's shoulders and that Benjamin will dwell in safety by the Lord. In other words, Benjamin will be the next-door neighbor of the Lord. Many think that Jerusalem was in Judah, but it was actually in Benjamin. Although the king came from Judah, the capital was in Benjamin. Jerusalem, the capital, was the dwelling place of God. Geographically speaking, it was located between Benjamin's shoulders. Because the Lord made His home there and Benjamin lived in the Lord's neighborhood, Benjamin dwelt in safety.
The concept of blessing and dwelling is very strong in Jacob's prophetic blessing of his twelve sons. These two matters issue in the universal blessing and the eternal dwelling. As we have pointed out, the ultimate consummation of the Bible is precisely these two things. In Genesis chapter three, man became a sinner. Out from among all the sinners, a good number have been saved. Many of the saved ones have been transformed into priests and kings. The kingly salvation has been preached as the gospel of the kingdom, and the saved ones have come to rest in this gospel. After the apostasy and the restoration, we have the issue of the riches in resurrection life. Therefore, all that is covered in the Bible is represented by Jacob's prophetic blessing.
Both in the Bible and in history there have been many Reubens, Simeons, Levis, and Judahs. Moreover, many saved ones have been transformed into priests and kings. Out of the kingship has come a salvation preached as a kingly salvation. The saved ones, as symbolized by Issachar, rest in this salvation. But Dan, the fall into apostasy, has come in. Following the apostasy, there is the recovery, the restoration, with Gad, which issues in the riches of Asher and in the resurrection of Naphtali. Eventually, Joseph and Benjamin appear, both of whom typify Christ. This is a general sketch of the Bible. This sketch, however, is rather doctrinal; hence we need to come now to the matter of experience.
We were Reubens and Simeons who have been saved and transformed into Levis and Judahs. In the church life today we are priests and kings. However, Dan, the apostate church, has come in. But following Dan came Gad signifying the recovery, which issues in the sufficiency of Asher. Asher is in Naphtali, in resurrection. All this results in Joseph and Benjamin. Therefore, today we are not Reubens and Simeons, but Levis, Judahs, Josephs, and Benjamins. From my conscience, I can testify that I used to be a Reuben and a Simeon full of lust and anger. But through the years I have been transformed into a Levi, a priest, and into a Judah, a king. Furthermore, I have been transformed into a Joseph, one full of blessing, and into a Benjamin, one who has become God's dwelling place. How about you? Are you a Joseph and a Benjamin?
Let us now consider the universal blessing and the eternal dwelling in more detail.
In Rev. 21:1 John saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21:5 says, "And He who sits upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." The universal blessing has a very peculiar and strange characteristic: all things are made new. God's blessing does not go with anything old. Rather, His blessing goes with things that have been renewed. If we expect to receive blessing from God with respect to our spiritual life, health, our families, or our homes, all these things must be new. We need to be renewed, and our families and our homes need to be renewed also. According to the Bible, anything that is kept away from God is old, but anything that comes back to God is new. For example, you may have a new wife. However, if your wife is away from God, she is an old wife, even if you married her just today. But if a man has been married to his wife for fifty years and his wife has come back to God, she is a new wife.
Whether a person or a thing is new or old depends upon its relationship with God. Only God is new. There is no suggestion in the Bible that our God needs to be renewed. We are the ones who need the renewing. The heavens and the earth and everything in them need to be renewed, but God is ever fresh and ever new. He is the most ancient One, yet He is the most new One, the most fresh One. Our way of reckoning oldness is different from God's. Our way is to count by the age. But God's way is to count on the relationship of someone or something to Him. If a wife is close to God, she is new. If she gets closer to God, she becomes newer. And if she is one with God and mingled with God, she is the newest wife. As strange as it may sound, even a desk, a table, or a chair, if they are consecrated to the Lord, can become new. For example, a sister may say, "Lord, this morning I consecrate to You my kitchen and all the utensils, furniture, and appliances in it." If she does this, her kitchen and everything in it will become new. You may have a brand new house. However, if this house is kept away from God, it will become an old house. You may have a poor, old car. But if you say, "Lord, this is Your car; take a ride with me," your car immediately becomes a new car. On the contrary, you may have a new car and put two movie stars in it and your car becomes very old.
The new heaven and the new earth will be filled with God's blessing because the first heaven and the first earth will have passed away. Many years ago I thought that the new heaven and the new earth were absolutely new. Later I learned that the new heaven and the new earth will be the old heaven and the old earth renewed. It is the same with us. When we were regenerated, we were renewed. To be renewed means to come back to God and to have something of God put into us. The first heaven and the first earth became old because they were kept away from God by Satan, the head of the angelic race, and then by Adam, the head of the human race, both of whom were rebellious against God. Because the angels and mankind were kept away from God, both heaven and earth became old. Praise the Lord that in Christ we have come back to God and have received something of God into us! Thus, we are renewed.
We all expect to receive some blessing from God. The secret of receiving God's blessing is to bring everything to God and to let Him get into everything. For example, bring your kitchen to God and allow God to come into your kitchen. Do the same thing with your children and even with your bank account. If you bring your children and your bank account to God, there will be blessing. Although we are not actually in the new heaven and new earth today, we may have a foretaste. Many times I have the realization that I am in the foretaste of the new heaven and the new earth because I am surrounded by blessing. Everything around me is blessing.
When the new heaven and new earth appear, there will be no more sea (Rev. 21:1). The sea is the source of the demons, which keep things away from God. Since Satan's rebellion, God has been continually working to eliminate the sea. In Genesis 1 God limited the water of the sea. Throughout the centuries, God has done much to reduce the sea. Every time a sinner is saved, the sea is limited a little more. If a hundred sinners would be saved today, the sea would be limited a great deal. Eventually, in the new heaven and new earth, the sea will be reduced to nothing. The source of the things which have kept heaven and earth away from God will be no more.
Revelation 21:4 says, "And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain — they shall be no more; for the former things have passed away." When the sea is no more, there will also be no more tears. All tears come from the sea. After the sea has been dried up, it will be impossible for us to shed tears.
Furthermore, there will be no death, which includes sickness and weakness. According to 1 Corinthians 11, we first have weakness, then sickness, and finally death. To say that there will be no more death also means that there will be no more weakness and sickness. The sea is the source of death, weakness, and sickness. When the sea has been eliminated, there will be no more tears, no more death, no more weakness, and no more sickness. Moreover, there will be no more sorrow, crying, or pain. Although you may have read the Bible for years, you have probably never realized that the source of sorrow, crying, and pain is the sea. Spiritually speaking, the sea causes all these things. When the sea is no more, these things also will be no more.
Revelation 22:3 says, "And there shall no longer be any curse." Today on earth there is a curse almost everywhere. But the day is coming when there will be no more curse, for the source of the curse — the sea — will be dried up.
Revelation 22:5 says, "And night shall be no more." To say that there is no more night means that there is no more darkness. Under God's universal blessing everything will be bright and crystal clear. There will be no darkness, no opaqueness. This is the condition of the new heaven and the new earth.
We need to apply all these aspects of the universal blessing to ourselves. In your life is there still the sea? Are there still tears, death, weakness, and sickness? Are there sorrow, crying, pain, the curse, and darkness? If these things are in your life, it indicates that you are short of blessing. When we come to the life of Joseph, we shall see that in his life there was no darkness, opaqueness, or curse. Even the result of his being put into prison was not a curse, but a blessing. Although he was persecuted by his brothers, the issue of that persecution was blessing.
Today we may have a foretaste of the new heaven and the new earth in which there is no curse, only blessing. If we still quarrel with our wife or husband, we are under the sea, death, weakness, sickness, and darkness. We are in a thick night without light. But suppose in our married life there is neither quarreling nor complaining, but praises to the Lord. This indicates that the sea in our married life has been dried up.
One characteristic of Joseph is very striking. Although he suffered a great deal, he never complained. When he made himself known to his brothers, he seemed to say, "It was not you who sent me here. It was God. I don't complain against you — I praise God." With Joseph, there is no complaining, only praising, because he was under the blessing, not under the curse. If you complain, it is a sign that you are still under the curse. You may have many reasons to complain, but every reason is a curse. If you are one under God's blessing, there will be no complaining. Instead of complaining, you will say, "Praise the Lord! Everything works for good to me!"
It is easy to read the Scriptures in an objective, doctrinal way. But we need to see that the things recorded in the Bible are for us even today. Do not wait for the new heaven and new earth. Today we can live in a foretaste of the conditions of the new heaven and new earth. We can live without complaint, blame, curse, or darkness. We can have a life full of blessing. All our tears may be tears of joy, not tears of sorrow. This is a miniature of the universal blessing which we may enjoy today.
The word "universal" means that blessing is everywhere. It does not mean that I am blessed when my wife is good to me and cursed when she is not good. Whether or not something is a blessing does not depend on your wife — it depends on you. If you complain, the way your wife treats you will be a curse. If you praise the Lord, it will be a blessing.
Let me tell you a secret: Our praises turn the curse into blessing. This is the reason the New Testament tells us to thank the Lord for all things (Eph. 5:20). This includes rumors, persecution, defamation, opposition, and condemnation. We need to praise God for everything. When we praise Him for all things, even the unpleasant things become good things. When we thank the Lord for the opposition, it becomes a blessing. This is the secret of enjoying the universal blessing today. Although we are living in a dark age we may have a foretaste of life in the new heaven and new earth. It all depends upon our realization and practice. If we practice praising instead of blaming, we shall be under the blessing. Otherwise, we shall be under the curse. Hallelujah, in the church we are in a miniature of the new heaven and new earth! Everything here is a blessing.
Now we go on to consider the eternal dwelling. Revelation 21:3 says, "And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them." According to the New Testament, God's people are His dwelling place. Some Christians think that God's dwelling place is among us not in an inward way, but in an outward way. If there are one thousand saints and God is dwelling among them, they will consider God to be number one thousand one. God, however, is inside of us, and His dwelling place is among us in an inward way. If one thousand saints are together and God is among them, God is not number one thousand one; rather, He is in the one thousand saints.
Some Christians do not believe in the matter of the mingling of God and man. Nevertheless, the Bible is filled with the thought that God is mingled with His people, for God's people become His dwelling place. God's dwelling is both small and large. When we come together, we all are one corporate dwelling. However, if I stay at home, I myself am God's dwelling. If I come together with others and insist that I myself am God's dwelling place and that all the others are individual dwelling places for Him, that will be erroneous. When we come together, we are not many dwellings; we are one dwelling place of God. However, when we are all at home alone, we are each God's dwelling. At such a time, God has many dwellings. When I am alone, I may say, "Lord, now You have a house. I am Your house, Your dwelling." But when I come to the meeting of the church, I should not come as an individual house of the Lord separate from the others. If I do that in the meeting, I will no longer be God's dwelling. When I am alone, I have the sense that I am God's dwelling and that God is with me. But if I still cling to this concept in the church meeting, I will sense that I am no longer the house of God. When we come together, we are just one house, one dwelling of God. This is a matter of experience, not a matter of doctrine.
When God dwells in us, we enjoy Him as our neighbor. God is the best neighbor. Therefore, we will never be alone, for He is always with us. Because God is beside us, we have safety. Everyone today, especially little children, desires safety. When my grandchildren are with their grandmother, they feel safe. But in the presence of a stranger they feel insecure. When God, the best neighbor, is with us, we are safe.
The eternal dwelling of God is composed of His redeemed, both of the Old Testament represented by the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and of the New Testament represented by the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. In His redemption God dwells within and in His people. Hence, we shall be His eternal dwelling.
Pay no attention to the misleading teaching that there is no mingling of God and man and that we do not have the divine nature in us. What God has bestowed upon us and imparted into us is much more than this. Eventually, we become God's house, His dwelling, and God and the Lamb become our temple (Rev. 21:22). The New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God, God's dwelling place, composed, on the one hand, of all the redeemed and, on the other hand, of God and the Lamb. In God's eternal dwelling there will be no temple because God and the Lamb will be the temple. In the Old Testament the temple was not only the dwelling place of God, but also the place in which the priests served God. As God's redeemed people, we shall dwell in God forever. We shall be His dwelling (John 14:23), and He will be our dwelling (Psa. 90:1). Thus, there will be a mutual dwelling. God will dwell in us, and we shall dwell in Him. He will become our enjoyment, and we shall become His enjoyment. To see His face will be our pleasure, and to see our face will be His joy.
In the eternal dwelling God within us will be our light, and Christ will be our lamp to express the very God who is within us (Rev. 21:11, 23; 22:5).
Revelation 22 says that we may enjoy God's throne. When He dwells in us, His throne is with us, right within us. Therefore, we have the throne, the authority of God, as the source of supply.
Out of the throne of God flows the water of life with the tree of life in it as the supply (Rev. 22:1-2). If we have God dwelling in us, we have the life supply.
In the New Jerusalem we shall participate in His authority and enjoy His face and His name (Rev. 22:3-4). We shall see His face all the time, and His name will be on our forehead forever. This will be our chief enjoyment in the New Jerusalem.
These are different aspects of God's dwelling in us. We do not need to wait for the New Jerusalem to experience them. Even today we can experience all these things. However, when we enter the New Jerusalem we shall discover something new. We may say, "Oh, we have never experienced these things in such a way. Now we are discovering something that we never thought we could experience."
At the end of chapter forty-nine there are no more sinners, no more Reuben and Simeon. Instead, there is Joseph, indicating that God has become our blessing, and Benjamin, indicating that we have become God's dwelling place. Because Benjamin was the place of God's dwelling, he enjoyed God's presence. Benjamin enjoyed safety, and God enjoyed Benjamin as His dwelling place. God has become our blessing, and we have become God's dwelling place. Whatever God is, whatever God has, and whatever God can do becomes our enjoyment and blessing; and whatever we are and have becomes God's dwelling place. Eventually, God and we, we and God, become one. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem there are no more sinners and no more sea, death, weakness, sickness, tears, sorrow, pain, or night. Everything is God. God is a blessing to us, and we are a dwelling place to God. We enjoy Him, and He enjoys us. This is the ultimate consummation of Jacob's prophetic blessing upon His twelve sons. Today we are these twelve sons enjoying God to the uttermost and becoming God's dwelling place. Therefore, we can enjoy God, and He can be in us to enjoy all that we are to Him.
