From Birthright to Blessing

Can a thief be used of God as a thief? Can a liar, cheat and duplicitous person be performing God’s will? Can a deceiver, supplanter be changed into the image of God? Who hardened Pharoah’s heart (Exodus 4:21)? Who directs a man’s footsteps? Who makes the blind, the lame and the halt (Exodus 4:11)? Who creates the darkness as well as the light (Isaiah 45:7)? Even He who created the blind man for His glory (John 9:3) can change a man like Jacob to Israel.

The gifts and callings of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29). The twins, the Gemini, of Rebekah (Genesis 25:23) were two nations who warred until reconciled. Unlike Ishmael and Isaac of Galatians 4, there is a different conflict between Esau/Jacob. The conflict of Ishmael/Isaac was a conflict between one from Mt Sinai, the flesh and the other from Mt Zion; a conflict between the seed of the antichrist and the spirit of Christ. One kingdom was on the natural plane, that of Ishmael. The other, Isaac, was the promised seed and a spiritual kingdom.

These two children, Esau/Jacob, were of the seed of the promised kingdom and had nothing to do with the flesh plane. Two nations within the household of God’s promised seed were born to Rebekah. The one, Esau, came forth with the hand of the second holding onto his heel, even trying to overcome his brother in birth.

The desire to be first, even though destined to be second, began a struggle in the womb. The struggle between the carnal Christian (Esau) and the spiritual Christian (Jacob) is an eternal struggle that still cavorts in the hearts of men. But the answer is settled in the heavens by the One Who created the struggle.

Esau, although selling his birthright for a pot of porridge early in his life (Genesis 25:31), in the end is brought into a full relationship of restoration with Jacob (Genesis 33:4). We find that Esau: (1) ran to meet Jacob, (2) embraced him, (3) fell on his neck, (4) kissed him and (5) wept. There is a type and shadow here from which we can glean some truth. Esau, a type of the carnal Christian, yields to the dealings of God and allows the work of the five-fold ministry of Pentecost (Ephesians 4:11-13) to bring him to the mature, full stature of Christ. Just as the woman at the well had five husbands, but turned to Christ, so we find a five-step work done in Esau.

It was said of Esau…"The first came forth red all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau" (Genesis 25:25). Esau, called of God, part of the plan of God, was concerned with the natural. He became a hunter, a man of the field (Genesis 25:27). Esau liked the challenges and battles provided in the field and in hunting. He preferred to deal with things of the outer nature. He desired to conquer them by his own skill and efforts. Esau was called by the Spirit of God, part of the household of faith, but oblivious to any spiritual development. He focused his efforts on the natural plane.

Jacob, on the other hand, desired nothing on the natural plane but desired to be spiritual. He used carnal means rather than natural means to accomplish his spiritual desires. It is easier to change a man to a spiritual man once the natural is taken away from him then it is to change a carnal man into a spiritual man! For the spiritual man (Jacob), senses the spiritual and empowers the flesh to develop the spirit. Esau was not spiritual and was only earthly minded. He did not have the struggle a spiritual man like Jacob has to overcome his flesh.

The carnal saint is found in the realm of Pentecost. Esau is found in the outer court of the Tabernacle where there is natural sun light; whereas, Jacob is inside the Tabernacle and has the spiritual light of the candlestick. However, the light of the candlestick does not dispel the darkness of the carnal nature but rather illuminates the room so you can see dimly in limited light.

The natural (Esau) cannot inherit the spiritual (Jacob). But the carnal man (Jacob) can have the candlestick, Holy Place realm, removed by the glory of the Holy of Holies which dispels all darkness. The desire of the carnal Christian to receive the birthright is a spiritual desire. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). The only problem with Jacob was that he sought the kingdom to be manifested on the natural plane - the sin of a carnal mind. For many in the realm of Pentecost seek to have the blessings in the flesh at the cost of the spiritual. The desire to have material things and prosperity is a carnal thought in juxtaposition to seeking the kingdom of God first.

Saul, later called Paul, had a desire from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:14-16) to serve God. It was carnally developed in that he used the current religious system of the day to kill Christians, thinking it was his God-given duty. But that same desire which led to Stephen’s death was also the cause of his salvation and conversion to the service to God. Jacob’s situation is similar.

In John 8 Jesus calls the Pharisees the sons of the devil while the Pharisees think they are the sons of Abraham. A spiritual desire to follow God is not sufficient. Carnality will reign supreme if not crucified. Jacob’s name means to be a deceiver, a liar, a supplanter. The carnal nature deceives one into thinking it must come into a religious format.

Christianity is not a religion. If Christianity is a religion it is no different from Islam or Hinduism. Christianity is a lifestyle, a way of living. But the carnal mind at enmity against God (Romans 8:7) creates a beast nature, that sin of Adam, that mark of the beast, emblazoned on the mind and the hand with the doing of religious things for God.

Jacob’s desired the spiritual kingdom, but being controlled by the carnal mind, stole the birthright from his brother. The carnal mind cannot see spiritually and never will because it is of a religious fallen nature. The carnal mind will always take spiritual things and corrupt them to a lower level of performance. Rituals, traditions, preformed prayers, rosaries, etc. are all efforts of the carnal mind to have a spiritual life.

The nature of Jacob is to deceive while desiring the way of the Lord. Fortunately, God sees the heart and cares little about the carnal mind. God knows that the desire for the birthright will, in due season, bring about the destruction of the carnal mind by the humbling of the vessel. So we must be patient with the vessels that God is dealing with.

A spiritual person can see the carnal mind in another. This is spiritual growth to a point. It reveals development in the faith, the beginning of a crucified life. But it also reveals a partial work of grace in the vessel that can identify the carnal mind. If you can see the carnality in another saint, the next step of crucifixion is the removing of the beam from your own eye. The work of the cross in oneself begins with the desire to have the birthright. But to come of age, to have the adult right or privilege to inherit your father’s kingdom, to run the business of the Lord, begins with the birthright. You must come into the nature of your Father. Joseph had to go by way of slavery (humbling) before he received the king’s signet ring that gave him the privilege to rule Egypt. The desire for the birthright is the desire of the cross. One must be crucified before one can be elevated.

A truly spiritual person does not see the carnality of another but only sees the person in Christ. God has never seen a sinner! He sees everyone in Christ. Christ was slain from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8) - before Adam was created or fell. The cross already done its work. In fact, in Genesis 3:11, God addresses Adam and asked him - "Who told you that you were naked?" God did not see Adam naked or in a sinful state. He saw Adam in Christ. When the work of the spirit has crucified the beast within, then the life of God emanates out. The saint has entered into his rest (Hebrews 4:10). The saint sees only life in all, even as God sees because of the work of the cross - the desire of the birthright.

Jacob’s call was begun out of the heavens. The desire for the birthright is the desire to serve God. That desire because it is holy will have a complete work. Jacob so wanted the blessing of the birthright that he disguised himself as Esau. He had the wool skin of a goat placed on his hands, neck and arms so that when his father felt him he would feel and smell like Esau. That outerskin which he placed on himself is an indication of Jacob’s lack of understanding of the inner nature. Again, Jacob wanted the birthright but failed to grasp it spiritually. Jacob tried to make it be seen on the outer man without the work of the cross being done on the inner man first.

Jacob knew that the birthright came with a blessing (Genesis 27:36). Carnality always tries to produce the blessing in the flesh. Carnality always seeks to use the birthright for selfish gain. But the blessing can only be given by one who was crucified (Isaac, Christ). With the blessing of the order of Melchizedek, Isaac blessed Jacob - "abundance of grain (bread) and wine (new life)." The blessing of God is a life pro-cess to bring us into the crucified life. The Melchizedek order is bread that is broken for the sustenance of others. The life is poured out of a broken vessel to transfer to others. Jesus was poured out (Psalm 22:14) and He is our pattern to follow (1 Peter 2:21). We know that Jesus did not have a broken bone in His body but 1 Corinthians 11 states: "This is my body broken for you." The body of Christ is to be broken in order to be served for the kingdom of God.

The desire for the birthright, the law of primogeniture, states that the firstborn son inherits all the father has and is responsible for the estate. The firstborn is required to maintain, enhance and establish the estate of the father. It is the firstborn’s birthright to take care of his brothers and sisters - all that are of the father’s household. Jesus was the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15). Therefore he laid down his life for the creation. Because the Father loved us, He sent His Son who was obedient to the cross. The son was willing to do the Father’s will, willing to be a sacrifice, a servant of the Father’s estate. Since Jesus was slain from the beginning, since Isaac was offered up, these two were giving life after the order of Melchizedek. It is the birthright that causes the laying down of one’s life. This is the blessing.

Jacob, being carnal not knowing the ways of the spirit, led by the woman nature of his mother, a symbol of Eve, that carnal mind, he devised his own way - he tried to fake it by using the wool of a goat. Again he used the outer man to reveal something that the inner man had not produced. It was only something the carnal mind had produced.

But Isaac, a symbol of Christ, still gave a blessing because the blessing will always produce life. It can do nothing else. Genesis 27:29 goes on to say the blessing will cause all nations to bow down to Jacob. While Jacob took this to mean a literal earthly kingdom, we know from 1Corinthians 10:6 and Romans 15:4 that this is a spiritual word. All the kingdoms in each of us as well as in Jacob will bow down to the blessing. Who is the blessing but none other than Christ Jesus.

So the blessing Isaac gives is one that causes all nations within us to bow down. The first nation to have its kingdom removed is the religious nation, the antichrist system within. Then the beast system of the flesh will be challenged and destroyed by the ascendancy of Christ. The blessing that Isaac gave to Jacob is a blessing of performance because it changes his nature.

Later in the story of Jacob he comes to Bethel which means house of God. Jacob comes to the knowledge that he is the place that God inhabits. God is not off in a heaven somewhere. The Father and Son have made their abode in us - John 14:23. The kingdom of God is within - Luke 17:21. Christ is within us - Colossians 1:27. It is quite a revelation to Jacob.

Jacob lays his head on the rock (Genesis 28:11) which is a type and shadow of Christ. In other words, Jacob was willing to lay his head down, be beheaded for Christ so that his mind could be changed into the nature of God by receiving the mind of Christ.

While he is sleeping, that is, while his carnal mind is in death, God reveals a spiritual truth to him. The active carnal mind, his religious nature, kept him from hearing God. But the blessing of God, the cross, was at work. Jacob sees angels ascending from the earth. The earth, the dust of the Adamic nature has arising from it, coming forth from the tomb, the heavenly creation - the new creation man, one who not only sees the the kingdom of God (John 3:3) but is born of the water (Pentecost) and the spirit (Tabernacles) John 3:5. Jacob sees a man rising into the heavens from out of the carnal nature, and he sees the same person returning to the earth to serve, for the birthright has finished its work, and the blessing of a crucified life is seen in service which is led of the spirit.

Most people are like the disciple Thomas. They want to see the results of the crucified life, not hear about it. Most people want to know the one who has the carnality removed out of their own life. Peter did not want to see Jesus crucified because he did not see the life in Christ because he was looking with the carnal eye. Thomas was trying to spiritually discern life. Peter could not discern but looked with the carnal eye.

Jacob awakens out of his slumber a changed man - but not totally. He has left the nurture of his mother but is going to find another woman to whom he will be married. This woman is the new mind in Christ Jesus, but is seen in Genesis as Rachel.

God speaks to Jacob at Bethel and gives him an assurance of salvation: "I am with you and will keep you…" But the birthright promise goes even further in Genesis 28:15 and states: "For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Before Jacob can go home, God is going to have a finished work in his life that will be able to manifest in his flesh the bread and wine of the Melchizedek order.

As he awakens from his slumber he states in Genesis 28:16: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." The carnal religious mind cannot recognize God in a place, but the Rock is faithful to overcome the flesh (John 16:33). So struck by the spirit is Jacob that he changes the name of the place from Luz (meaning tree) to Bethel, house of God. A pillar is set there as a reminder that God met him in salvation. But the carnal mind still thrives, although wounded in the head by the spirit (Revelation 13), it must yet be removed through death.

As Jacob travels he comes to the well, the place of life and sees three flocks of sheep there, speaking of the three realms in God - 30, 60 and 100 fold. This also patterns our three experiences in Christ - salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit and Union.

Jesus came to the same well in John 4:6-10. In fact, He was the stone on the well that Jacob saw sitting at the well. Jesus seeing the need of the woman, thirsted to give her life, so He asked to serve her. He desired to feed her, give her bread and wine, and so asked a Samaritan to follow the same principle - the order of Melchizedek. She did not understand at first, but in the end (John 4:29) she brought the whole town to Christ.

Rachel ran home to her father, just as the woman ran back to town. Laban hearing of Jacob’s story states in Genesis 29:14 "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." While stating a Hebrew colloquialism (see Job 2:5 where bone refers to wife and flesh refers to children). Laban was stating that He and Jacob were of the same carnal nature. Laban knew that Jacob was a relative in the natural genealogy, but the spiritual side of this is that both men were of the same conniving nature.

Jacob, being spiritually carnal but not destitute, felt comfortable with someone of the same vision. Little did Jacob know of the crucifixion that was coming to him by the "brother" Laban. For God would have a man made of the gold of Ophir (Isaiah 13:12).

But there is leaven in Pentecost. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira is in the realm of the carnal mind. Jacob agrees to work for seven years to marry Rachel. At the end of the seven years there is a feast (Pentecostal). Jacob a man of vision who has seen Rachel from afar off expects her to be his bride.

But he is given Leah, the one with poor vision (Genesis 29:17,23). While Jacob thought he was ready for the glory (Rachel) God knew he needed more dealing, a more effective work of the cross, because his vision was blurred (Leah).

Leah was not loved by Jacob (Genesis 29:31), but God opened her womb. Leah hoped that she would be loved by childbearing. Her first born was named Reuben, and she said to the Lord, "Surely I will be loved," but no. When Simeon came along she said "God knows that I am hated." When her third son came along she called him Levi which means "attached." She believed Jacob would like her then. But when she had the fourth son, Judah, when she was satisfied in herself and who she was, she called him Judah meaning "praise." This is the first time praise is used in Scripture. But through her came Christ Jesus the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Rejected by Jacob, a man who was still carnal and who could not see the finished work of Christ that God saw, Leah was nevertheless content to praise God in her calling. Hated by sister, father and husband Leah found her worth not through others or what she did but in what she produced - praise to God.

Jacob didn’t know what he had in Leah because he was still a carnal Christian. He was still looking on the outside of a vessel. Jacob loved Rachel because he saw a finished work of beauty in her but God closed Rachel’s womb (Genesis 30:22) for Jacob’s sake. God did not want Jacob to produce a child from Rachel if he were carnal. Spiritually speaking this means that Jacob would have produced a bastard. Jacob would have corrupted a true revelation, because he was in the wrong place spiritually. He was required to work seven more years for a total of fourteen years. Fourteen in the Scriptures is the number of generations. There is a fourteen year difference between Ishmael and Isaac. The forty-second generation (3 x 14) found in Matthew is the sons of God. A completed work had to be done in Jacob before his vision was clear.

When a work had been done in Jacob, his desire to return home became a passion. Rachel bore Joseph, her first child. Joseph means to "add." Jacob produced the promised seed through Rachel. The beauty he saw in her from the beginning had been waiting for the correct moment of manifestation - fourteen years.

Laban a "carnal Christian," one in league with Jacob in the beginning, now sees that Jacob had a deeper call and that he, Laban, had been blessed by Jacob (Genesis 30:27). Laban, that Pentecostal church, will always seek the blessing - but will not change to become the blessing. Laban wanted the fruit of the cross but not the dealings of the cross.

Jacob learned that he had to be a life giver after the order of Melchizedek. When Laban offered of his things to Jacob (Genesis 30:31), Jacob refused. He did not want to produce after the lower order. He wanted to produce life. Jacob had come to learn to rejoice in the dealings of God whether he was abasing or abounding (2 Corinthians 11:30). Sometimes God hides us in the trials.

So Jacob selected the rejected sheep. Having raised sheep to put myself through college, I can truthfully say that speckled wool is worth very little. Jesus was the stone that was rejected. Jacob took the sheep that were rejected. His identification with the cross, the blessing of the birthright, was complete.

Consider. Though he works for seven years for Rachel, he gets Leah, a cross of another seven years. He is ready to return to his father, having learned of the crucified life and again is crucified by the selection of the speckled goats and black sheep.

Laban separated himself from three days journey from Jacob (Genesis 30:36). Three days distance - what does it mean? Jacob knew the dealings of the cross. These sheep and goats were worthless in the natural but now he was a spiritual man, living by the faith of God and rejoicing in what God had given him. He did not look at the outer any longer, but looked at the resurrection. He had come to know that the cross brings the resurrection - just three days away! Eating of the showbread of Pentecost (eating of Christ); using the candlestick to grow (Holy Spirit) into perfection in the second vessel; the third, the altar of incense is the crucified life. When the crucified life is in ashes it goes into the censer and into the Holy of Holies as a pleasing aroma to God - to the realm of life, resurrection. Jacob had come to know life.

Genesis 31:2 notes that Laban was no longer friendly towards Jacob. When kingdom life begins to manifest, Pentecost looks feeble. Jacob tells Rachel that Laban changed his wages ten times. Ten is the number of personal testing in the Scriptures. Jacob was tested - but gave his all (31:6) to Laban. He labored faithfully in the realm of Pentecost. But leaven, sin, is in Pentecost and he was used by Laban. Yet, Jacob rejoices seeing even that which was meant for evil turned to his good (Genesis 31:7, Romans 8:28).

God spoke to Jacob (Genesis 31:13) and reminded him of the oath that God would perform. By this time even Rachel sees that her father had used them in the past (Genesis 31:!4). For twenty years (Genesis 31:41) Jacob served Laban. Twenty is the number of redemption in the Scriptures. Rachel steals her father’s gods, idols that controlled his life. Her life in God was strong enough to remove and cover her father’s sinful worship. She sat on the idols and he could not find them for the cross of Christ in her husband was sufficient enough to remove them from Laban’s nature.

The spirit (Jacob) and the soul/mind (Rachel) of Christ will remove the flesh of Pentecost, the idols of the lower order - prosperity message, rapture, etc. For the crucified life the blessing of the birthright gives life and does not create death. Yet, Laban, his doctrines removed still does not yield to the dealing of God but contends for his idols rather than join the order of Melchizedek. Laban preferred "things" and blessings rather than life and the cross.

So a second time, now at Mizpah (judgment) another pillar is set up. The pillar is a symbol of Jacob going on to the fullness, leaving Pentecost. A line had been drawn. But moving in the Holy of Holies realm, there is a time to mature. There was no turning back and the angel of God (Genesis 32:2) met him to affirm the high calling and the realm he walked in. Perfection is not done yet.

When Jacob finds that Esau is coming with four hundred men, Jacob reminds God that he is standing in the word of life that God gave him to return (Genesis 32:9). But fear of his brother based upon the lower order of the past, enters. Jacob may be in the 100 fold realm but he has not matured in that realm yet.

Jacob called the place of the angels Mahanaim (Genesis 32:2) because he became two companies (Genesis 32:10). He received of God a double portion, as Elisha did. The west side of the Tabernacle is led by the standard of Camp of Ephraim (son of Joseph) and Ephraim means to be doubly fruitful.

Jacob crossed the Euphrates leaving Laban (Genesis 31:21) and now he crosses the River Jabbok (Genesis 32:22). This is the final test. All that he has, he sends forward to Esau, including his family. Jacob remains.

Left alone with God Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32:24). It states that God cripples his thigh. His walk is changed. The double anointing is to take you to the cross again so that you can have the walk of Christ. Oh, the blessing of the birthright is the call! Not only is Jacob’s mind changed, but now he would walk as a suffering servant, having sent all that he had before him, there would be nothing left but God.

There are some indications that in those days that men swore by their "thigh." In reality, this means that if they lied, their male sexual organ would be cut off. So the crippling that Jacob had could have the connotation that God crucified him there from producing life in the carnal realm so that God’s life could be produced.

It was this struggle that changed the name of Jacob to Israel. Israel means "God prevails." No longer was the conniving, deceitful, lying, supplanter nature alive. The carnality of the flesh was removed when God met him in the Holy of Holies experience. The birthright, to inherit all of the father, is what Jacob wanted. Here he found it. It cost him his whole life. In fact, in the losing of the Jacob nature, he says "I have seen God face to face; yet my life has been preserved." (Genesis 32:31) He lived because God prevailed in the struggle. The vision (my people perish for lack of a vision) of the desire for the birthright, sustained Jacob during his transformation into the nature of God.

Jacob asked the man (Genesis 32:24) with whom he wrestled what his name was(Genesis 32:29). Jacob wanted to know his name, that is, his nature, character, attributes etc. because Jacob wanted to be like him.

As Jacob approached his brother Esau, he bowed down to the earth seven times (Genesis 33:3) his nations were humbled in him (Genesis 27:29). He came to realize that he was a servant even to those on the natural plane like Esau. He came as a servant to his brother, because he had seen God face to face. The power of seeing God face to face removed all fear of his brother, removed all fear of death because his life was hid in God through Christ. Jacob came forth in the nature of God, which is the revelation of the cross, the blessing of the birthright.

There was such an effectual work done in Jacob that not only was his name changed but even a larger vision was given. Seeing God face to face Jacob now knew who God was. The order of Melchizedek is to produce life. Jacob came to give presents (life) to Esau (Genesis 33:10). Initially, he sent his family ahead in fear of his own life, but now having wrestled with God, Jacob (Israel) having seen God he can only give because he has entered into the realm of life.

How much life did Israel receive from God? More than any church system would teach. For Genesis 33:10 states: "For I see your face as one sees the face of God (NAS)." The truly crucified life, fully identified with God, sees everyone in God, even as God. I ask you. Did God see you as a sinner before you were saved or did God see you in Him? Truly it is the latter. God never saw Adam naked (Genesis 3:11).

"The earth (Adam) is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof." Jesus, the pre-existent Christ, who was only manifested about 2,000 years ago (Romans 16:25), had the blessing of the birthright worked out in Him spiritually. He was slain from before the foundation of the world. Then in due time He manifested it in the flesh. God has called a people to spiritually have the birthright worked out in them. The manifestation of the blessing (the crucified life) is to see Esau (everyone) as God - fully redeemed.

For the working of the cross, the blessing of the birthright, is to take the death nature out of creation. The cross is the realm of life. It sees no death. Jacob changed into Israel, saw what God did in his life and knew that God would be the savior of all men, especially those that believed (1 Timothy 4:10).

To inherit all things of the father’s estate means the birthright includes in Christ all things above, below and in the earth (Ephesians 1:10, Philippians 2:10). Jacob saw his brother in the image of God.

The beam of the adamic nature keeps our eye from seeing the other in Christ. It is the working of the vision, the desire for the birthright, that removes the beam. When we see Him in others, we shall be like Him. How can any man love God whom he has not seen if he cannot love his brother whom he has seen? (1 John 4:20) Jacob had a change. He saw Esau as God and all things were made new. Old things passed away.

Only when the cross has its full work in you, when you wrestle with God does a change come. Jacob now builds the third pillar. The first stone where he laid his head was at Bethel with that stone being Christ. In Genesis 35:7 Jacob returns to Bethel. He renames the place El-Bethel which means God of the House of God.

In Genesis 35:10 we see God visits him. In Genesis 32:10 God told Jacob his name was Israel but for three chapters still calls him Jacob. God knew that Jacob was Israel but there were still some things to be worked into Jacob. It is only when we see the other person in Christ that the beam is taken out of our own eye and are able to see ourselves in the nature of God.

Only when we know that our nature is now God’s can God cause us to multiply (Genesis 35:11) and cause the kingdom of men to be produced out of us. Jacob built a pillar there (Genesis 35:14) as a reminder and statement of the oath that God swore. It was in Ephrath that Rachel produced Benjamin, her last son, the son of the right hand. He was born in Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19). Jacob placed a pillar there. Benjamin is a type of Christ who too was born in Bethlehem and sat down on the right hand of the Father.

Yet Revelation 3:21 states that we sit with the Lord on His throne, on the right hand of God. Only when we know who we are can we produce Benjamin and that only after we know our brother as God. All this is accomplished by the vision of the birthright becoming the blessing of the cross.