创二五26 随后以扫的弟弟也出来了，他的手抓住以扫的脚跟，因此给他起名叫雅各。……

　　四七7 约瑟领他父亲雅各进去，站在法老面前，雅各就给法老祝福。

　　说到天然，创世记里的雅各……是最好的代表人物。……雅各一生的故事中，最突出的点，还是他天然的努力和办法。所有有办法的人都难免诡诈，雅各也是这样。他的诡诈不过是浮面的表现，天然的生命才是他潜在的特点。雅各在成熟以前，他所有的故事，都给我们看见他的天然。他有能力、有办法、有本事、有干才、有手腕，实在是一个天然很强的人。

　　许多的折磨、打击、难为，都是为着破碎他的天然。……雅各的天然受到这样彻底的破碎，他的生命在神里面就达到了丰满成熟的境地。他……不再是一个诡诈能抓（“雅各”的意思）的人，乃是神的王子（“以色列”的意思）（生命的经历，二九七至二九九页）。

　　Gen. 25:26 And after that his brother came forth, and his hand was holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob…

　　47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

　　When speaking of the natural constitution, Jacob, in the book of Genesis, is the best representative…. The most outstanding characteristic in the entire life of Jacob is his natural endeavoring and scheming. All those who scheme are inevitably crafty. So also was Jacob. His craftiness was but the superficial expression; his natural constitution was his hidden characteristic. Before Jacob became matured, all his history revealed his natural constitution. He was able, resourceful, full of schemes, and very capable and skillful; he was truly one who was exceedingly strong in the natural constitution.

　　The afflictions, sufferings, and troubles that beset him were for the breaking of his natural constitution…. When Jacob’s natural constitution was thoroughly broken, his life in God attained to a mature and full stage…. He was no more a supplanter (the meaning of Jacob) but a prince of God (the meaning of Israel). (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 413-415)

　　神在我们身上的拆毁，不是苦待我们，乃是恩待我们。……神所拆毁的，不过是我们没有价值的己。然而，神所建造的，乃是将至宝、无限量的神自己赐给我们。到了圣经最末了，给我们看见新耶路撒冷，其中有生命树的果子。……新耶路撒冷乃是纯金、珍珠、宝石的构成；这些都是指着神自己说的。新耶路撒冷在性质、形状、性情和荣耀上都是神自己。

　　雅各的一生表明一个生来天然的人必须经过破碎，才能成为“以色列”，就是神的王子。一个人要充满神的成分，非经过拆毁的过程不可。这是雅各在圣经里所代表的地位。……他被起名叫雅各，意思就是抓脚跟的人，是一个抓夺的人（创二五26）；同时，他也是个诡诈、满了章程的人。然而，雅各被神破碎再破碎，拆毁再拆毁，对付再对付，到一个地步，雅各的名字改了，神称他为“以色列”（三二28），意即神的王子。……这意思是，雅各经过神的拆毁后，里面满了神的成分（认识生命与召会，三二二、三二○页）。

　　雅各一生的记载……给我们看见，神在祂拣选、预定和呼召上的定旨，是要将罪人变化为神的王子，有神的形像彰显祂，并施行神的管治权代表祂（参创一26）。神命定雅各终生要过挣扎的生活。不仅如此，神主宰安排了雅各一生中的每一个环境、遭遇和人物，并使这些都互相效力，叫雅各得益处，使祂可以将雅各这抓夺者，抓脚跟的人，变化成以色列，神的王子。……神对付雅各，乃是圣灵在新约信徒里面管教和变化工作的一幅完整图画（罗八28~29，十二2，林后三18）（圣经恢复本，创二五26注1）。

　　雅各生命成熟最有力的表显，乃是他祝福每一个人，包括法老（创四七7、10）、雅各的两个孙子（四八）以及他自己的十二个儿子（四九1~28）。雅各抓夺的手变成祝福的手（四八14~16）。生命成熟是被神这生命充满，祝福是借着在生命里成熟而涌流生命，涌流神。祝福人乃是将人带进神的同在里，并将神带进人里面作恩典、爱和交通，使他们享受三一神—父、子、灵（十四18~19，民六23~27，林后十三14）。雅各祝福法老，指明他比法老更大（来七7）（创四七7注1）。

　　参读：生命的经历，第十一至十二篇；认识生命与召会，第十九至二十篇；创世记生命读经，第六十七篇。

　　God’s breaking is not a matter of being cruel to us but of being gracious to us…. What He tears down is our worthless self. However, what God builds into us is Himself, the peerless and infinite One. The end of the Bible shows the New Jerusalem with the tree of life…. The New Jerusalem is a structure built with pure gold, pearl, and precious stones, all of which refer to God Himself. The New Jerusalem is just God Himself in essence, appearance, nature, and glory.

　　Jacob’s life shows that a natural person must pass through breaking in order to become Israel, that is, a prince of God. For a person to be filled with God’s element, he must pass through the process of breaking. This is what Jacob represents in the Bible…. His name Jacob means “heel holder, supplanter” (Gen. 25:26). He was a person full of schemes and plots, but he was broken, torn down, and dealt with by God again and again to the point that God changed his name and called him Israel (32:28), meaning “prince of God.”…This means that after passing through God’s breaking, Jacob was filled with the element of God. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 338, 336)

　　The record of Jacob’s life… shows us that the purpose of God in His selecting, predestinating, and calling is to transform sinners into royal sons of God who bear God’s image to express Him and exercise God’s dominion to represent Him (cf. Gen. 1:26). God destined Jacob to live a struggling life all his days. Furthermore, God sovereignly arranged every circumstance, situation, and person in Jacob’s life and caused them all to work together for Jacob’s good, so that He could transform Jacob, a supplanter and a heel holder, into Israel, a prince of God…. God’s dealing with Jacob is a full picture of the Holy Spirit’s discipline and His transforming work in the New Testament believers (Rom. 8:28-29; 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). (Gen. 25:26, footnote 1)

　　The strongest manifestation of Jacob’s maturity in life is the fact that Jacob blessed everyone, including Pharaoh (Gen. 47:7, 10), Jacob’s two grandsons (ch. 48), and his own twelve sons (49:1-28). Jacob’s supplanting hands became blessing hands (48:14-16). Maturity in life is a matter of being filled with God as life, and blessing is the overflow of life, the overflow of God through the maturity in life. To bless others is to bring them into the presence of God and to bring God into them as grace, love, and fellowship that they may enjoy the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (14:18-19; Num. 6:23-27; 2 Cor. 13:14). That Jacob blessed Pharaoh indicates that he was greater than Pharaoh (Heb. 7:7). (Gen. 47:7, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” chs. 11-12; CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” chs. 19-20; Life-study of Genesis, msg. 67