Weekly Pursuit – Week 4 of August
Verse:
Gen. 35:6-7 “And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.”
Gen. 35:11 “And God said to him, I am the All-sufficient God: Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins.”
Excerpts:
Prior to chapter thirty-five, God was called the God of a certain person, for example, the God of Abraham or the God of Isaac. He was the God of individual persons. But in 35:7 we have “El-Beth-el,” the God of the house of God. He is no longer simply the God of individuals; He is now the God of a corporate body, the house of God. Many Christians only experience God as their individual God. Not many have the experience of God as the God of the house of God. How much experience do you have of God as the God of a corporate body? We all must experience God in such a way that He is not only God to us individually, but also the God of the house of God. There is a great difference between the two. (Life-study of Genesis, msg. 80)
In Shechem he called God the God of Israel, while in 35:7 he called God the God of Bethel. He advanced from the individual experience to the corporate experience. In Shechem he knew God as the God of Israel. When he reached Bethel, he knew God as the God of His house. When he reached Bethel, he realized that the vessel God is after is a house, a corporate vessel. God was not only his God, but the God of His house. He was brought to a broadened place.
Thank and praise the Lord that God is not heaping up piles of isolated stones; He is building a house that expresses Him. There must be the corporate testimony before God’s goal can be reached. (CWWN, Set. 2, Vol. 15, chap. 10)
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