It is Leah whom we hate who is developing in us the law of Israel, the moral iron of him who struggles with God:

Leah forms in us the strong heart of the priest—the person who is willing to bear the burden of others. Notice how Aaron was directed to bear the burden of Israel on his shoulders and the care of the people on his heart.

And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. (Exodus 28:12)

And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. (Exodus 28:29)

To reject Rachel, on the other hand, is to lose one's touch with the world of man, to become excessively spiritual. The nations of the earth are waiting to be loved. They are waiting for deliverance, for the spiritual kings and priests who are to come and rule them and care for them. It is Leah who gives us the iron but it is Rachel who gives us the love for the people.

To divorce Rachel, the one who moved us with joy in the first place, is to attempt to become as an angel of God rather than a human being. We become so preoccupied with perfecting our spiritual nature that we no longer are attracted to the world of people, to the nations of the earth. Our religious perfections become our goal; not Christ and His inheritance, but spiritual excellence.

The devil showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world. Jesus did not say, "I want nothing to do with the world, I am interested in going to Heaven." Rather, Jesus responded: "It is written that man is to serve and worship God and no one else."

The issue of the Kingdom of God is not that of leaving the earth and going to Heaven. The issue of the Kingdom is that of performing God's will in a redeemed earth—the earth of Rachel.

How frequently the Christian salvation is presented as a means of leaving the earth and going to Heaven! This is to reject Rachel. Rachel is our tie to the people whom God has created. There comes a time in our life when God breaks our heart for the nations. It is the love of Jesus in us, for Jesus' inheritance is the nations.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Psalms 2:8)

God promised Abraham he would be a father of many nations, not just of the one nation, Israel, but of "many nations" (Genesis 17:4).

The Abrahamic blessing concerning the nations of the earth was brought forward in Jacob:

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 28:14)

To be continued.