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Glimpses of the Israel-Nature · Israel: A Prince with God

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Chapter thirteen of Israel A Prince with God by F. B. Meyer.
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This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Marian Chapter thirteen,
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Glimpses of the Israel Nature Genesis, chapter forty seven. I held it truth
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with him who sings to one clear harp in divers tones, that men may
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rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to higher things Tennyson. As a
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brook runs, it clears itself. So it was with Jacob's life. The
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discipline of life, like a refining fire, did not fail in its purpose.
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The dross of his nature was at last well nigh worked out, and
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the nobler Israel nature became more and more apparent. This change is marked by
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the change in the name by which he is designated. On the Inspired page.
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The old term Jacob is used but sparingly, and for the most part,
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Israel is the title of his nobility. Before we can study the traces
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of his increasing princeliness of character, we should do well to notice that the
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name Jacob, though you sparingly, is not wholly dropped. We can never
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forget what we were, We can never forget what we might be if it
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were not for the restraining grace of God. I cannot agree with those who
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think that the Jacob nature may be expunged, wiped out from our being.
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In my judgment, both scripture and experience are dead against them. The flesh
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lusteth against the Spirit, and will lust though with ever decreasing force, unto
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the end. But it is my joyful belief also that the Spirit lusteth against
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the flesh and represses it with such growing power that it is reduced to the
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last extremity, and we are kept from doing the things that we otherwise would.
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Indeed, the self life can scarcely be said to live, since it
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makes but the faintest response to temptation. If only we walk in the spirit,
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and live in the spirit, and are led by the Spirit, we
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shall not fulfill the luss of the flesh. We shall hardly be aware of
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their presence in our being, and we shall be as good as dead to
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them. But in the moment that we cease to abide in the living union
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with the blessed Spirit, we shall find that the old nature will revive again
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in horrid resurrection, and will sweep us down to a sin like that which
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blackened and saddened all David's later years. Germs of disease may be constantly breeding
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in an infected house, but so long as the disinfecting fluid is well sprinkled
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on the floors and pendent sheets, they are killed off as soon as they
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are formed. So Sin, though present in the heart, may be choked
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off so as to be almost unperceived, because the Holy Ghost is ever at
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work acting as a disinfectant. But so soon as his grace is withdrawn,
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Sin regains its old, deadly sway and breathes forth its pestilence poison. It
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is of the utmost importance, then, to keep in with the Holy Ghost
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when more illustration, though some may deem it far fetched, will clench and
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illustrate my meaning. A mesmerist may weave a spell by passing hands over a
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man of weaker mind, so as to cast him into all the appearances of
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death. But he is not dead, and when the charm is broken,
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the processes of life resume their course. So beneath the spell of the grace
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of God's Holy Spirit, our evil self life may lie as dead, only
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giving faint signs of life. And yet if that spell be spoken, it
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will spring up with robust and deadly vigor. It becomes us then to watch
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and pray lest we enter into temptation. There's a beautiful experiment which readers of
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these lines may try for themselves, and which will give them a vivid idea
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of how the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus can make them
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free from the law of sin and death. If you take a heavy book
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and hold it at arm's length, the pull of the law of gravitation will
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soon draw downwards. But if some friend will pour down that arm a constant
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stream of electricity, the flow of the electric current will set you free from
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the effect of the downward pull. It will still be there, though you
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will have become almost unconscious of it. Thus it will be when we are
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filled with the Spirit of God. The downward tendency may be in us yet,
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but it will be more than counteracted by the habit of that new life
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in which the power of the Living Savior is ever at work through the grace
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of the Holy Ghost. In the earlier stages of the Christian life, the
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habit of abiding ever in communion with the Spirit of God is difficult to form
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and maintain. Some seem to acquire it more habitually and unbrokenly than others.
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Where this is the case, the Jacob nature begins to disappear with a suddenness
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that reminds us of a rapid thaw, which in a single night may rid
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the streets of of snow. In the case of those who learn the sweet
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lesson of unbroken fellowship, more slowly, that Jacob nature keeps breaking in upon
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the Israel life, as the underlying rock strata will break up through the green
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sward of a highland valley. Yet as the years pass on and the habit
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of fellowship becomes a permanent possession, these interruptions become less and less frequent,
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so that at last the Israel nature has the almost undisputed sway in life.
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We have to notice some manifestations of this Israel nature in Jacob, like the
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outshining of the sun, which in the early morning has fought with heavy mists
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for his supremacy, but at last shines out in a cloudless sky and sets
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in radiant glory. For more than twenty years Jacob mourned for Joseph as dead.
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The monotony of those years was only broken by new misfortunes which came upon
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each other's heels. As the messengers of calamity to job, we only catch
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some few sobs from that stricken heart, like the cries of the crucified,
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from amid the dense gloom of the cloths. On first seeing the blood stained
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coat, I will go down into the grave mourning. On learning the first
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tidings about the rough governor, the lord of the land, me, ye
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have bereaved of my children on the appeal of his son's despair. Benjamin,
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my son, shall not go down with you, lest ye bring down my
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gray hairs with sorrow to the grave on their renewed appeal. Wherefore dealt ye
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so ill with me as to tell the man ye had a brother. On
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giving his final consent, in addition to his direction that they should take some
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few delicacies from their almost emptied stores, he said, sadly and almost despairingly,
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God Almighty, give you mercy before the man, that he may send
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away your brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children,
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I am bereaved. But the night of weeping was followed by the morning of
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joy. Joy looked in at the old man's window, and sorrow and sighing
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fled away. What a confusion of emotion must have filled his heart when the
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completed band of his sons stood once again before him with such amazing tidings.
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Benjamin was there, and Simeon Love had welded them together in the furnace of
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sorrow like a twelve linked chain, no link of which would ever again be
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missing. The God of their fathers had met with them, and henceforward would
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supply their needs so fully that they could have no further lack, though the
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famine should last thrice seven years. And above all, Joseph was yet alive,
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and he was governor over all the land of Egypt. What wonder that
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the aged heart stood still, and its machinery almost threatened to break down before
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the pressure of sudden rapture. At first he could not believe it all,
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but the sight of the wagons convinced him. Then there came forth a gleam
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of the royal spirit of faith, the spirit of Jacob revived, and Israel
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said, it is enough, Joseph, my son is yet alive. I
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will go and see him before I die. But before he left Canaan,
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he had one final interview with his almighty friend. It happened at Beersheba,
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the last halting place amid the green pasture lands of the Land of Promise,
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and before they struck into the sand waste that lay between them and Egypt.
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Everything there reminded him of his own early life, which was spent there.
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He could find the ruins of his father's altar and the well which his father
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had sunk, and he offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
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At that time, his mind was engaged in eager debate as to the path
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of duty. On the one hand, love to Joseph and his necessities drew
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him to Egypt. On the other, the memory of how much evil had
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befallen his ancestors whenever they went down to Egypt made him eagerly question whether he
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was justified in going. It was at that time that God made his path
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clear by saying, fear not to go down to Egypt, for I there
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will make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into
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Egypt, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eye. How comfortably our
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God speaks to us when we are sore perplexed. If we will only wait,
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we shall hear a voice behind us saying this is the way, walk
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ye in it, But since the voice speaks from behind, we must not
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run on too far or fast in front. One there's a glimpse of the
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Israel nature in his meeting with Joseph. How feverishly the old man anticipated it.
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And when on the confines of Egypt he learnt that the second chariot in
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the land was bringing his long lost son to his embrace, he roused himself
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to meet him, not as the Jacob of olden days, but as Israel,
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the prince. And Israel said unto Joseph, now let me die,
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since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. Two,
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there is another glimpse of the israel nature. In his blessing of Pharaoh.
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Joseph might almost have been ashamed of his aged father and left him in the
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background. He was old and decrepit and lame. He had spent all his
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life in tents and sheep farms, and was totally ignorant of the manners of
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a court. He was an exile, an emigrant, a man who had
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failed. His very presence there was due to his ruinous losses. What a
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contrast between him and the glorious pharaoh, whose court teemed with science and wit,
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with soldiers and priests, with wealth and splendor. And yet when he
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stood before Pharaoh, there was so much moral grandeur about him that the greatest
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monarch on the world bent eagerly beneath his blessing. How old art thou was?
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The kind inquiry of the mighty monarch to commemorate whom a massive pyramid destined
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to outlast his race was in course of erection. The question was perhaps suggested
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by his bent form and withered Look, the reply was sad enough. It
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was the jacob nature that uttered it. It seemed like an anticipation of the
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cry of Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. It was lit
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up by no single ray of thankfulness or faith or hope. My life has
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been a pilgrimage. Its days have been few and evil, few in comparison
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with those of Tera, Abraham and Isaac, evil in comparison with that of
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Esau, who stood at the head of a great kingdom, the progenitor of
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a line of kings. And yet with this confession ringing in his ears,
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Pharaoh was blessed by those outstretched, trembling hands, and by that quavering voice
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Esau never could have done that without all contradiction. The less is blessed of
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the better. Jacob must have had something about him that rendered him superior to
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the greatest monarch of his time. There were two kings in the royal chamber,
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decorated by weird hieroglyphs and long lines of fantastic figures, the one royal
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with the adventurous distinction of birth and rank, the other a way warm,
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pilgrim royal, with the divine patent of royalty and noble character. And as
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they stood together, it was shown to all the world that the spiritual is
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greater than the material, and that God can endow a human spirit with such
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moral splendor as to compel the world's conquerors to confess themselves conquered before its power.
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You may be crafty, mean, and bargain loving, Yet if you
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will but yield yourself to God and submit to his loving discipline, he will
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make you truly royal, and give you the moral power which masters all other
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power. Beside three, there is yet another glimpse of the israel nature in
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his solemn injunctions to Joseph about his burial. The time drew nigh when Israel
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must die, and he called his son Joseph and said unto him Chapter forty
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seven, verse twenty nine, and Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
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It is the death scene which shows the true nature of a man, and
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its darkness set Jacob's better self in full relief. He was evidently a man
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of faith. He knew the ancient promise made by God, of which Abraham
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may have often spoken to him in his early life, that their sea should
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inherit Canaan. He was sure, therefore, that his people would not always
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abide in Egypt, however fertile its Goshians or friendly its peoples. The trumpet
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would sound the summons for their departure. If then he were buried in Egypt,
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he would be left behind, a stranger among strangers, and this could
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not be. He must be where his people were to him. Therefore,
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burial in the most splendid mausoleum that was ever constructed in that land of silent
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tombs was not, for one moment, to be compared with burial in Machfela's
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solitary and humble cave, which at that time was a mere outpost in a
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distant and hostile land, and he desired it not only because the mortal remains
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of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebecca, and of Leah lay there,
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but because he foresaw the time when it would be surrounded by teeming myriads
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of his children. He could only see this by faith. He had not
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received the promises, but by faith he had seen them far off, and
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was persuaded of them and embraced them. It was by faith that he was
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able to say, behold, I die, but God shall be with you
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and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Bury me not in
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Egypt, but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me
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out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. Was it not Israel
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that spake? Thus faith made him royal, as it will ennoble the coarsest
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and commonest nature, lifting the beggar from the dunghill, making him sit among
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princes. And these noble utterances prove how truly God had done his work of
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en noblement, and how royal was the spirit of the dying patriarch. For
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there is yet another glimpse of the israel nature in his dealings with Joseph's sons.
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In the chapter that records that solemn scene, it is almost entirely on
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Israel that our attention is fixed. Is Israel strengthened himself off his bed.
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Israel beheld Joseph's sons. Israel stretched out his right hand. Israel said,
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unto Joseph, the sands of time had nearly run out in that aged and
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battered body. And when Joseph arrived in his dwelling the gift of his own
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munificence, the dying man seems to have been lying in the extreme of physical
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exhaustion. But the sound of the beloved name of Joseph rallied him, and,
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propped by pillows, he sat up upon his bed. Then, with
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that wonderful accuracy of memory which is so remarkable in the dying, he reviewed
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the past, the vision of the wondrous Ladder with its troops of angels,
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the precious words of promise, which one hundred years could not obliterate from the
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tablets of memory, the scene on the hilly road to Bethlehem where he buried
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Rachel, the successive instances of the guardian care of the angel who had tended
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him as a shepherd does his flock all his life long until that day,
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all passed before his eye, dim with age, but bright with memory and
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hope. Amid this reverie, the old man became aware of the presence of
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Joseph's two sons and inquired who they were, And, when he knew,
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he asked that they might be brought near enough for him to give them an
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old man's blessing. He did this with great affection and solemnity. He kissed
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and embraced them, and asked that his good Angel might bless the lads.
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He ranked them among his own sons, and was led by prophetic insight to
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distinguish between them, crossing his hands and laying his right hand on the head
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of the younger, whom Joseph had placed before his left, and his left
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on the head of the elder, whom the father had placed before his right.
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When Joseph remonstrated with him, thinking it was a mistake due to his
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age and blindness, the old man still held to his choice as one conscious
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of a prerogative in which not even Joseph must interfere. This touching interview ended
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by the gift to Joseph of the parcel of ground which he had wrested from
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the Amorites in Shechem. It had long ago returned to its original owners.
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But he saw down the vista of the future that there would be a reversion
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of the whole to him and his And it was of that future that he
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spoke in faith. The whole of the scene is replete with a dignity born
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of moral greatness and worthy of Israel. The prince time fails to bring out
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the traits of royalty in the closing scene of all which must yield us material
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for our next chapter. It is enough to remind you of them. Ere
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we close. They're evident enough. Twelve strong, bearded men stand around him.
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He is in the last extreme of physical decrepitude, but he does not
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cower or shrink before them, as in other days. His face may be
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shadowed with death, but his eye gleams with the light of prophecy. He
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calls out their names one by one, He arraigns them at the bar of
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judgment. He reviews their past. He apportions them their praise or blame.
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He allots their future. These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this
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it is that their father spake unto them We need not go into further particulars,
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because enough has been said to convince the most careless reader of the Royalty.
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That shone forth from this aged man as the gleaming torchlights flashed from the
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breaking pictures of Gideon's host, And there is enkindled in our hearts the hope
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that God will do as much for us through Him who loveth us, and
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by his death hath made us kings unto God, with whom we shall one
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day reign on Earth. End of Chapter thirteen.