32. Wherein afterwards the faithful put on Christ in the flesh, in their faith, yet only as to that heavenly image which was extinguished in Adam, as Mary [did], where Christ embraces the poor souls in his arms, and encompasses them with the power of God, and infuses and flows in with his love into them; which love preserves and defends them from the anger of God, from sin, death, the devil, and hell.
33. This is a brief summary of the true ground, what the spirit of God has prefigured and typified by the patriarchs, in that he has led them so wonderfully, and has thus alluded with the figure of Christ how it would come to pass afterwards.
34. For Jacob was now the stock, out of which the great and wide tree of Israel should spread abroad in the dividing of its branches, as a genealogy; therefore must he go away from his father's house, and take wives of his father's genealogy, viz. of Abraham's brother's son, that the people Israel, viz. the line of the Covenant, might come of one stock.
35. Now, when Jacob awaked from the dream of the divine vision, where the Lord appeared to him and established the Covenant, he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How holy is this place! here is no other than the house of God, here is the gate of heaven (Gen. xxviii. 16, 17). This is a figure, showing how it would go with God's children, when God was manifest in them, that they continue to be in fear and trembling, and suppose God is afar off and has forsaken them.
36. For where God withdraws himself in man, there will always sin and the anger of God be first manifested in that man, so that he will acknowledge and tremble at his sin, and enter into repentance; then appears to him God's friendly countenance and comforts him. For if the soul goes forth from sin, then God's grace enters into it; and then it says, Surely the Lord was with me in my anxiety, and I knew it not; now I see that the Lord is with the troubled heart, which is troubled in a divine zeal or jealousy, There is the place of God, and the gate of heaven.
- 37. Further it signifies, how the highest love of God in this Covenant in Christ would be immersed into our humanity; and how the humanity of Christ would be conversant in trouble, in that he took upon him all our trouble and misery; and how the humanity of Christ would be astonished before the anger of God and hell. As was in the mount of Olives, where in his agony he sweat a bloody sweat (Luke
- xxii. 39-44), and Christ in his humanity said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me (Matt. xxvi. 39); where instantly the gates of God appeared and comforted the humanity. As here to Jacob, when
he must in trouble depart from his father's house, in fear and trembling at his brother Esau, who lay in wait to murder him. All which is a figure concerning Christ, when God's anger in our humanity did lie in wait to murder him, that he would be in an agony, heaviness and distress; and how he would pray to his Father, and how his Father would comfort him; all which was done before he was crucified,l especially in the mount of Olives, in which place this figure of Jacob was fulfilled.
38. And as Jacob took the stone which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a remembrance, and poured oil thereupon (Gen. xxviii. 18), so has Christ set up his anguish or agony for a remembrance to us poor men, and poured forth his oil of joy and victory upon it in our troubled terrified hearts; and of that same stone 2 has erected his Church for a continual remembrance; of all which this type of Jacob was a prefiguration.
39. Which Jacob signifies in plain words where he says, If God will be with me, and defend me in the way which I travel, and give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, and bring me home with peace to my father, then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all which you give unto me I will give the tenth to you (Gen. xxviii. 20-22); where he clearly under this figure signifies the Levitical, and afterwards the evangelical, priesthood, as it would be hereafter.
1 Or, his Passion.
32. Wherein afterwards the faithful put on Christ in the flesh, in their faith, yet only as to that heavenly image which was extinguished in Adam, as Mary [did], where Christ embraces the poor souls in his arms, and encompasses them with the power of God, and infuses and flows in with his love into them; which love preserves and defends them from the anger of God, from sin, death, the devil, and hell.
33. This is a brief summary of the true ground, what the spirit of God has prefigured and typified by the patriarchs, in that he has led them so wonderfully, and has thus alluded with the figure of Christ how it would come to pass afterwards.
34. For Jacob was now the stock, out of which the great and wide tree of Israel should spread abroad in the dividing of its branches, as a genealogy; therefore must he go away from his father's house, and take wives of his father's genealogy, viz. of Abraham's brother's son, that the people Israel, viz. the line of the Covenant, might come of one stock.
35. Now, when Jacob awaked from the dream of the divine vision, where the Lord appeared to him and established the Covenant, he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How holy is this place! here is no other than the house of God, here is the gate of heaven (Gen. xxviii. 16, 17). This is a figure, showing how it would go with God's children, when God was manifest in them, that they continue to be in fear and trembling, and suppose God is afar off and has forsaken them.
36. For where God withdraws himself in man, there will always sin and the anger of God be first manifested in that man, so that he will acknowledge and tremble at his sin, and enter into repentance; then appears to him God's friendly countenance and comforts him. For if the soul goes forth from sin, then God's grace enters into it; and then it says, Surely the Lord was with me in my anxiety, and I knew it not; now I see that the Lord is with the troubled heart, which is troubled in a divine zeal or jealousy, There is the place of God, and the gate of heaven.
- 37. Further it signifies, how the highest love of God in this Covenant in Christ would be immersed into our humanity; and how the humanity of Christ would be conversant in trouble, in that he took upon him all our trouble and misery; and how the humanity of Christ would be astonished before the anger of God and hell. As was in the mount of Olives, where in his agony he sweat a bloody sweat (Luke
- xxii. 39-44), and Christ in his humanity said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me (Matt. xxvi. 39); where instantly the gates of God appeared and comforted the humanity. As here to Jacob, when
he must in trouble depart from his father's house, in fear and trembling at his brother Esau, who lay in wait to murder him. All which is a figure concerning Christ, when God's anger in our humanity did lie in wait to murder him, that he would be in an agony, heaviness and distress; and how he would pray to his Father, and how his Father would comfort him; all which was done before he was crucified,l especially in the mount of Olives, in which place this figure of Jacob was fulfilled.
38. And as Jacob took the stone which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a remembrance, and poured oil thereupon (Gen. xxviii. 18), so has Christ set up his anguish or agony for a remembrance to us poor men, and poured forth his oil of joy and victory upon it in our troubled terrified hearts; and of that same stone 2 has erected his Church for a continual remembrance; of all which this type of Jacob was a prefiguration.
39. Which Jacob signifies in plain words where he says, If God will be with me, and defend me in the way which I travel, and give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, and bring me home with peace to my father, then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all which you give unto me I will give the tenth to you (Gen. xxviii. 20-22); where he clearly under this figure signifies the Levitical, and afterwards the evangelical, priesthood, as it would be hereafter.
1 Or, his Passion.
No commentary for this page.
There is commentary on page 1.