When God appeared to Jacob in his dream at Bethel, He said to him: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed; and your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 28:13-14)
This was the repetition of the promise that God had already made to Abraham and Isaac, and which they both understood. It was the promise "that he should be the heir of the world," (Romans 4:13) and was "to Abraham and to his seed." (Luke 1:55)
That same land that was promised to Jacob that night, had also been promised to Abraham and to his seed, "for an everlasting possession." (Genesis 17:8)
Now the world--"this present evil world" (Galatians 1:4)--"passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God abides for ever," (1 John 2:17) and his everlasting abiding place is this earth made new and fit for new creatures, as in the beginning. This new earth is the land which was promised to Jacob, and the promise holds good to us, if we keep God's commandments; for we read: "Honor your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you." (Exodus 20:12)
To that land--the earth made new--the true church occupies a peculiar relation--a relation which the church has vainly sought to attain in this world. This will be better understood when we learn that God's purpose with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not to build up a nation, like the nations of the earth, but a congregation of worshipers, nowadays known as a church.
This appears in the parting blessing of Isaac to Jacob, but is concealed by our translation of the word. Isaac said to Jacob: "God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a multitude of people." (Genesis 28:3)
In the margin we find, "an assembly of people," and in the Revised Version, "a company of peoples," both of which more nearly express the real meaning. The Hebrew word in this place is the same that in almost every instance of its occurrence is rendered "congregation," and sometimes "assembly," which is the same thing. Take, for instance: "In the midst of the congregation will I praise You." (Psalm 22:22)
This text is quoted in (Hebrews 2:12), where we find the word "congregation" rendered in the Greek by the word commonly translated "church," which appears in the English. So, coming back to our study, we may read Isaac's inspired words to Jacob thus: "God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you; that you may be a church of people," that is, a vast congregation of people "called out" from the world, and separated from it. That this blessing was realized, we see in the vast host that God called out of Egypt by Moses, which is called: "the church in the wilderness." (Acts 7:38)
They did not enjoy the fullness of the blessing, however, because they lost sight of the object, and fixed their affections on this earth, instead of on heavenly things. They wanted to be like the nations, and such they became. But as such they lost their power; for all the power either the churches as a whole or its individual members can have, is over the world to come. Whenever the church and Christians seek any sort of worldly power, they become weak: "like any other man," (Judges 16:17) but when they are entirely separated from the world and worldly policy they have real power, above that of all the kings of the earth.--Present Truth, August 29, 1901--Genesis 28:13-14.
E.J. Waggoner