Jacob’s life mirrors the stages of growth of a normal Christian’s life. The life of Jacob has three stages: In the 1st stage Jacob grew up as a typical “second-generation” believer, knowing many spiritual things objectively. He followed his father Isaac, but he did not have a God who was real to him. In the 2nd stage after Jacob left home he began to have real experiences of the Lord. He came to know the Lord personally and subjectively. His life became romantic. In the 3rd stage Jacob became one with the romantic God in His operation. He became a blessing to the entire earth.
Article 1: The Divine Romance
In the beginning of the Bible there was God, who created the universe. At the end of the Bible there is a couple, Christ and His Bride. Thus the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a divine romance. A “romance” implies a continual transaction – a cycle of action and reaction. In a romance, each action brings in a reaction, which brings in a further action, which brings in a further reaction. This process continues throughout the romance.
Article 2: The Divine Courtship
With every romance there must be a courtship. In the divine romance God Himself is courting us. In other words He is dating us. His desire is that we would become His counterpart, His beloved Bride. For this He needs to do three things. He must choose us, predestinate us, and then attract us by unveiling Himself to us.
Article 3: The Heavenly Provision for the Divine Courtship
God’s first provision for us in the divine courtship is our wonderful heavenly origin. We are descendants of Abraham, the father of height. God allows us to live under Abimelech, the father of kings, so that we can be brought to maturity.
Article 4: The Well of Beer-lahai-roi and the Protection of our Parents
First God gives us His divine life as our source, and then He gives us a continuous life supply by causing us to dwell by Beer-lahai-roi. With this life supply we have the very God who is beholding us. The third provision is our physical parents. Our parents are a good protection for us from the Lord.
Article 5: The Opportunities for Development
The fourth heavenly provision for the divine courtship is that the Lord gives us many opportunities for our development. Eventually how spiritual we can become, and how much we can mature, is based on whether we know how to develop ourselves.
Article 6: Enlargement through God’s Arranged Environment
From Beer-lahai-roi there were three possible directions for Isaac and Rebekah to go: 1) Egypt, 2) the good land, and 3) Gerar. During a famine Isaac wanted to go to Egypt, but the Lord intervened and told him to go to Gerar (which was to follow his father Abraham’s footsteps). Abimelech (the “father of kings”) was the king in Gerar. This environment at Gerar was for the sake of Isaac’s enlargement.
