Seeing Our Spiritual Journey in the Lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph

     I’ve heard it said that Genesis is a book of pictures.  And if you take the snapshots from the lives of just Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, what do you think you would see?  From my reading of chapter 66 of the Life-Study of Genesis I found out that all of their lives would show us one believer’s spiritual journey!

My husband took this picture of Mt. Shasta
 when he and my son were on a road trip.

In case you’re thinking, what's up with that?  I’m going to put the excerpts on pages 867 and 869 so you can see how all these four stories overlap to make the story of one believer:  

"God called Abraham and he was caught. But the genuine beginning did not start in Chaldea; it started  with God’s selection before the foundation of the world.  This beginning is found in Jacob, not in Abraham….We do not see that Abraham was transformed into a prince of God. If we would see the beginning and ending of the experience of God, we must come to Jacob….What is the purpose of God’s calling? It is to transform us into kings. We can see this in Jacob, but not in Abraham or Isaac. Isaac only knew to eat “savory meat.” ..…God’s purpose for Jacob was not to give him peace, joy, and a happy life and then to take him to heaven. God’s purpose was to deal with this pitiful supplanter until he was transformed into a prince of God bearing His image to express Him and expressing His dominion to represent Him. This is God’s goal. When we come to the end of Genesis, we see that Israel was exactly this type of person....Furthermore, through Joseph, he was the one who had dominion over the whole earth, representing God on the earth" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Genesis. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1974 Print).

     Seeing this has helped me to go beyond just reading and thinking about the accounts of these patriarch’s lives  in Genesis as isolated Bible stories. Probably what jolted me the most was seeing the purpose of God’s calling.

    Here’s a what I came away with after reading this chapter:   Before we were even born,1 Peter 1:2 tells us that God foreknew us. Then in Romans 9 Paul goes into how God chose Jacob before he and Esau could have done good or bad (9:11-13). We were just God’s choice—and there’s no figuring that out.   Like Paul says in Romans 9:14-16, we'd have to say that our salvation is all because of God’s mercy. But our calling has a purpose, and it’s not a ticket to heaven while you do whatever you want now and hope it all works out. 

    In this Life-Study I learned that Ephesians 1:4 and 5 clearly state that the purpose of God's selecting, predestinating, and calling us is to make us sons. But that’s not the end of the story.  Look at yourself and you’ll have to admit you’re a long way off from looking like Jacob and Joseph did at the end of their lives.

      In the last paragraph of this chapter Witness Lee says that today we are all on the way of Jacob.  All of our sufferings, afflictions, trials, and hardships have one purpose and that is to conform us like Romans 8:29 says into the image of the Son of God.  I don’t know about you but hearing this makes everything in my life make sense.  And I know that whatever this new year brings, it's part of my own spiritual journey!

You can  also listen to live excerpts from these messages on  Genesis on Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.  

Other Posts on the Life-Study of Genesis:

From the Life-Study of Genesis - What is the Focus of the Bible?
What Happened Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?
Why Did God Create Man in Genesis 1:26?
Why Did God Create Man With 3 Parts in Genesis 2:7?
Why Did God Put Man in Front of the Two Trees in Genesis 2?
Seeing God's Purpose of Life & Building in the Book of Genesis
What is the Story Behind the Story of Cain & Abel?
What Did Enosh Learn to Do in Genesis 4:26?
How Did Enoch Escape Death in Genesis 5:24?
Why Did Noah Need to Find Grace in Genesis 6:8?
What Does the Rainbow Symbolize in Genesis 9:13?
How Did God Call Abraham in Genesis 12:1?
How Did God Fulfill the Birth of Isaac in Genesis 12:7?
What Does the Marriage of Isaac & Rebekah Show in Genesis 24?
How Does the Story of Jacob Show God's Selection in Genesis 25?
Why Did Jacob Dream About a Ladder in Genesis 28:12?
Seeing Our Spiritual Journey in the Lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, & Joseph
Why Did Jacob Call the Two Altars in Genesis 33 & 35 By Different Names?
How Do the Stories of Jacob & Joseph Mirror God's Purpose in Genesis 1:26?
How Did Joseph's Dreams Really Get Fulfilled in Genesis 41?
How Did the Lord Shepherd Jacob in Genesis 45:18?