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Loving and Hating

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Malachi 1:2-3 I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, How and in what way have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? says the Lord; yet I loved Jacob (Israel), 3But [in comparison with the degree of love I have for Jacob] I have hated Esau [Edom] and have laid waste his mountains, and his heritage I have given to the jackals of the wilderness.

If you are reading this for the first time it is really offensive. God teaches us to love Him, others, and even our enemies. Who gave Him a pass on hating others? Or is there another way to interpret this passage? Yes! We see the same teaching device used by Jesus in Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple. In this passage, what is known as a hyperbole is being used to teach the high cost of following Jesus. What’s a hyperbole? “Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.” They are exaggerated to make the point: the cost for following Jesus is costly. But what is God saying about Jacob and Esau? He is saying that His love for Jacob was greater than it was for Esau. In other words, His preference for Israel versus Jacob made His comparative love for Esau look like hatred.

But what was it about Jacob – the deceiver; one who seeks to take the place of through any means necessary; the manipulator, and liar – that God loved or valued? Surely, it wasn’t his character traits. The Bible makes no bones about it: He hates sin! If you have ever been repelled by how offensive the crucifixion of Christ was portrayed in the Passion movie then you get a small glimpse of how much God, the Father hates sin. It is offensive to some because it took an offensive act to take care of the offensiveness of our many sins. But what was God seeing in Jacob that clearly his brother Esau did not have? Jacob valued above all things the birthright of his older brother Esau. What was the big deal? The birthright was a gift of spiritual and material inheritance. Esau valued immediate, physical needs more than the long-term spiritual and legal blessings of the birthright, Jacob sought it for its spiritual, and covenant promise value. The birthright included a double portion of inheritance, leadership of the family, and the role of the spiritual head of the household.

Not only did Jacob value the birthright he also valued the patriarchal blessing due to the first born at the father’s passing. What was the significance of the blessing? The patriarchal blessing represented prophetic promises, blessings, and a significant inheritance from God. Jacob was willing to do whatever it took to secure those blessings. You see the same thing happening when Jacob wrestles with the “Angel of the Lord” (an OT manifestation of Jesus). He wrestled through the night til sunup to secure the blessing from this visitor in the night. Now do you see what God saw in Jacob? Do you see what He loved?

What do you value in life and what have you done to secure it? Are you more like Esau or Jacob? Mt. 6:19-21 states, “Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.20 But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal;21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What gift can you give to an individual who owns everything? There is absolutely nothing you can purchase for them so what can you give them? The short answer? Yourself. Guess who God’s treasure is? You and I. How can you lay up treasures in Heaven? How can you lay before God that which is truly valuable to Him? We look for the treasures in others seeking to secure them for Jesus’ Kingdom. As the Moravians used to say, “For the reward of the Lamb and for His suffering.” Every person you have led to Christ; every person you have baptized or discipled; every person you have loved closer to Jesus – are the treasures you are laying before Jesus’ feet. One more crazy question, How many of these “treasures” will greet you when you enter through Heaven’s Gates?

Revelation 7:9 gives us a glimpse of that day: After this I looked and a vast host appeared which no one could count, [gathered out] of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were attired in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. How many people from the nations, tribes, peoples, and languages are there because you partnered with the Godhead in leading them there? I know I’ve got some there. Hallelujah! Do you? Imagine Billy Graham’s treasures. Whew! that will blow your mind. But guess what? In an interview on national TV, as Billy was getting older, he wept, confessing, “My life has been a failure.” If Billy Graham’s life is a failure we are all going to Hell.

Are You A Fan?

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Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Whom do you love, and whom do you hate? In your walk with Christ, does your soul – mind, will, emotions and personality – (the older brother Esau) serve the younger Spirit Man (the younger brother Jacob) or does your Spirit Man serve your Soul Man? Do your affections align with the Father’s or with satan’s? Whom do you love and nurture and whom do you hate?
Are you cooperating in the building of a temple for the Lord’s Presence?

Just to review where we have come from and where we are headed. The “older brother” (Esau) – our souls (mind, will, emotions and personality) are supposed to serve the “younger brother” (Jacob) – our spirit man. But this is impossible when the Spirit man has not been brought to life. This resurrection is made possible only through a surrender of rights. What right is that? The right of the soul to be “god,” the “center,” or “command control.” We agree to allow the Lord to take that “right” from us – dying to our desire to be god, in control, and in command. Through our breaking agreement with the enemy within, and without, the Father raises our spirits from the dead. That resurrection creates a whole new conflict as God drops His garden in us behind enemy lines. From that point on the war between spirit and soul begins.

Watchman Nee says that “It is imperative that a believer know he has a spirit, since as we shall soon learn, every communication of God with man occurs there. If the believer does not discern his own spirit he invariably is ignorant of how to commune with God in the spirit. He easily substitutes the thoughts or emotions of the soul for the works of the spirit. Thus he confines himself to the outer realm, unable ever to reach the spiritual realm.” (The Spiritual Man, Volume 1) Thus we have been learning that God seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. And we learned that worship is more than a song, or posture, but a way of life. Unfortunately, for most in the Western Church that life is non-existent, lived mostly from Watchman Need “outer realm.”

We’ve learned that there were 2 tents: Moses’ Tent of Meeting and the Priestly Tent of Meeting. One was personal, for meeting the Lord outside the “Camp,” and the other was for ministering to the Lord and others, inside the “Camp.” Both tents are accessible only through the “Door” and only through becoming a living sacrifice – facing the fire of the cross of Christ. We meet Jesus outside the “Camp” as we join Him on His Cross – identifying with His death, burial and resurrection. Through meeting His covenant conditions we begin being built into a spiritual house in and for the Lord. This “building” is achieved through alignment with the Word and Spirit. That alignment made possible only through obedience and practice.

We discovered as sons and daughters of God our identification with Him is so intense that the Father’s purpose – which He has for His Son – is also being replicated in us. As Jesus is a Temple, so we too are being built into a temple. We realized that He is the Altar and we are being built into an altar. He is the Bronze Laver, we are being built into a bronze laver. He is the Menorah, the Light of the World, and we are being built into menorahs for the world. And this process is continued on from the Table of Showbread to the Altar of Incense, to the Ark of the Covenant.

Romans 9:12-13 It was said to her that the elder [son] should serve the younger [son]. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (held in relative disregard in comparison with My feeling for Jacob).

The question remains, Whom do you love, and whom do you hate? In your walk with Christ, does the older serve the younger or does your spirit man serve your flesh? Do your affections align with the Father’s or with satan’s? Whom do you love and nurture and whom do you hate? Are you cooperating in the building of a temple for the Lord’s Presence?