Greetings,
When Jacob had the dream of a ladder extending to heaven and angels ascending and descending to the place of his resting, he took the rock that was his pillow and he set it upright as a pillar. The symbolism of this act implies a standing where there was previously a sleeping. It implies living with an expectation of becoming the house of God and no longer living for the comfort of one’s own house. It is important for every member of the house of God to stand. The strength of a family is every member standing. When every member stands for the destiny of the family the family grows in the posterity of the family name and the family inheritance. When partners in a marriage choose to stand for one another, the marriage flourishes and grows in maturity through every circumstance of life.
When family members stand for one another they remain awake for the destiny of the family. That is to be awake. Here we are. We are standing for the family. To the degree that we stand is the degree that we are. The church, the body of Christ, is the place where members stand for one another. When everyone shows up and stands for one another the body is alive. When we become confused towards this truth of corporate standing we can become confused in our thinking. We are deceived when we think, I would stand, but no one stands for me. The problem with that thinking is it proves we are not standing. When we don’t measure others how they stand, but we simply stand for relationship we invite the supernatural presence of God to overcome the gates of hell. The toughest place on planet earth to stand is in the church. The toughest place to stand in the earth is the body of Christ. Sometimes there is pain in the offering. The foundation of our standing must be set upon love and a revelation of the purpose of our standing together as one.
Jacob was an individual called to be a nation, but as a man he was an awesome man. When he was born, he shared the same dwelling place as his brother Esau. They lived in the same dwelling place in their mother’s womb, but Jacob’s spirit was different than Esau’s spirit. Jacob was a seeker of God, but Esau was a seeker of self. In the natural, whoever comes out of the womb first would receive the inheritance of their father Isaac. In the birth of these children Esau came out first. As he was coming out of his mother’s womb, Jacob reached out and grabbed his heal. I don’t believe that Jacob was selfish. I think his little spirit discerned the spirit of his brother. If Esau would have had a spirit of being a God-seeker Jacob would have said, Yes! Go for it! Go do it! Go for it brother! I am right behind you! I am with you! But His little spirit discerned his brother’s spirit and he knew Esau would not fulfill the plan of destiny. God had prophesied before the birth of the children to say that the older would serve the younger. Jacob had the spirt of the firstborn, but in the natural he came out second.
As Jacob grew up, he was destined to be the firstborn but he had a problem. He came out second. One day Esau was out hunting, but he wasn’t hunting to satisfy anyone but himself. He came home starving. I didn’t get any animals. I am going to die! I am hungry! What is there for me to eat? Jacob had a stew. Esau smelled the stew and begged Jacob to give him some. Jacob made a deal. I will give you some stew for the birthright. Esau said, what is the birthright to me? What is destiny to me? I am hungry. I don’t care about corporate purpose. I am hungry. What is the hope of His calling to me? I am about to die. What good is the riches of his inheritance to me? I am about to die. Give me some of your stew! What is the working of His power to me? Esau traded the birthright for some stew. He traded corporate destiny for something that satisfied is immediate need. Jacob now had the birthright. Esau didn’t run to his dad Isaac and confess that he had sold the birthright to Jacob. Esau was still pretending. You can only receive the blessing of the inheritance if you have the birthright. When Isaac got old and he was about to die, it was time to give the inheritance to the son with the birthright. He thought that Esau was still the inheritor, but at that point in life Esau didn’t have the birthright anymore. His brother Jacob purchased it. What is the birthright? What is the inheritance? The inheritance is becoming the house of God. It is the hope of His calling. It is the riches of His inheritance. It is the working of His power. The inheritance is becoming the place of God’s influence in the earth. The inheritance is the place of being a blessing. It is not the place of being blessed. It is the place of being the blessing. Jacob wanted it. Jacob purchased it.
When the point of blessing had come, the good news was that Isaac was blind. He could not tell the difference between Jacob or Esau by vision. He could not see the difference between Jacob and Esau. Rebekah, Jacob’s mom, helped Jacob. She killed a goat and put the skin on Jacob, because Esau was a hairy man. She put the skin of the goat on Jacob. She cooked food to pretend it was Esau’s game from his hunt. She made Jacob feel and smell like his brother Esau, the firstborn. When Jacob came to his father Isaac, Isaac said, you sound like Jacob but your feel like Esau. He gave the blessing to Jacob. Who did the blessing belong to at that point? It belonged to Jacob because he had purchased it from his brother Esau. Who had the greater sin? Esau had the sin. He did not value the birthright. He didn’t value the place of corporate inheritance. He traded it for stew, something that fed himself. He traded his part in the eternal testimony of the family for something that satisfied an immediate desire in his life. Jacob didn’t steal the birthright. He valued it more than his brother did. I believe that Jacob understood the inheritance and made a deal with one who didn’t.
Do we value the birthright? We are part of something big. It is the corporate body of Christ, the Israel of God in the earth. It is the gate of heaven and we must stand in our part in the hope of Christ’s calling, as a part of the riches of His inheritance, and as a part of the testimony of His power at work in us that prevails above all principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, and names of every age.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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