(3.) Another privilege of Jacoh above Esau was this, that he was taken into covenant with God — ' The blessing of Abraham shall come upon thee.' What is that ? ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed,' Gen. xvii. 7. Oh, this is the great happiness of a people, to have God for our God. This I have opened at large, ver. 16. So it is very notable, when Noah comes to pronounce blessings and curses upon his children in the spirit of pro])hecy : Gen. ix. 26, ' Blessed be the Lord God of Shem — ' there lay h)hem'shap})iness^' and Canaan shall be his servant.' Wlien he comes to curse Kam he curses him in his person ; but when he comes to speak of the blessings of Shem, he doth not bless him so much in person as in the God that was made over to him in covenant. That was happiness enough for Shem, to have God for his God , as he had Ham for his servant, so he had God for his master. This was the great promise which was so often repeated and made to the patriarchs, Gen. xvii. 7. There it was made to Abraham — ■' I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.' Then it is repeated to Isaac : ' Gen. xxvi. 24, ' I am the God of Abraham thy father ; fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee ; ' and then to Jacob : Gen. xxviii. 13, ' I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed : ' and in tliis Heb. xi. 9, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are called 'heirs of the promise.' What was the great privilege that Isaac had above Ishmael ? or Jacob above Esau ? They had God for their God, and were in covenant with God. And afterward the same promise is made to all Israel : Exod. xx. 2, ' I am the Lord thy God . which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.' Hence that dialogue between God and the church : Hosea ii. 23, ' I will say. Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God.' To be a God to any is to supply them with all good things necessary for the temporal or spiritual life, to give them all things per- taining to this life, and to a better. To this life for temporal blessings : Gen. xxviii. 20, 21, 'If God will be with me, and keep me in the way that I shall go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.' You must not understand this place as if Jacob did capitulate, and indent with God upon these terms. If he should not give me raiment to put on, and food to eat, I will not own him to be God ; but the meaning is, Then I shall know him to be a God to me ; — for to be a God to any is to be a storehouse of all kind of good things that they stand in need of ; — then I shall acknowledge him to be the only author of my life and estate.
And then for spiritual blessings. Illumination, and bending the heart to obedience : Jer. xxxi. 33, ' I will put my law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.' So the spirit of regeneration is begged upon
VeR. 20.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 387
this ground : Ps. cxiii. 40, ' Teacli me to do tliy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness.' As if" it were implied in the relation ; if God undertake to be a God to us, it is to give us his Spirit, to write his law in the heart, and bend our mind to the obedience of his will. And then for the happiness of the other world, the resurrection of the body : Mat. xxii. 32, ' I am the God of Abraham, tlie God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.' And the fulness of joy and com- fort in the everlasting state : Eev. xxi. 2, 3, ' They shall be his people, and he will be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,' &c. All this is implied in God's being a God to us, that he will give us all blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.
Use. Well then, do not admire Esau's portion, but Jacob's, and put in for a share of it, Ps. cxliv. 15. If you mark, there is a dialogue there between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh and carnal nature is taken with pomp, and bravery, and outward comforts ; there the flesh speaks, admiring worldly excellences, where there is no complaining in the streets, &c. — ' Oh, happy are the people that are in such a case.' Then the spirit speaks, and corrects the voice of the flesh — ' Yea rather, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.' However 1 be dealt withal as to Esau's portion, let me have Jacob's portion, and be a mem- ber of Christ, in covenant with God.