第三根柱子，是在往伯利恒路上的柱子（创三五16-20）。在伯特利，雅各筑了一座坛，并且立了一根柱子。他不但答应神的呼召，也将自己献给神，以完成神要得着伯特利的愿望。然而，雅各的一生不是结束在三十五章十五节。十六节说，他从伯特利起行。当雅各起行的时候，他有了兼有乐与苦、得与失的经历。雅各得着了一个儿子便雅悯，失去了他的爱妻拉结。
雅各不太爱利亚，她生了六个儿子。雅各爱的对象是拉结，她只生了一个儿子－约瑟，这名字的意思是『增添。』约瑟出生的时候，拉结盼望得着第二个儿子，就说，『愿耶和华再增添我一个儿子。』（创三十24）。她盼望得着另一个儿子，她似乎说，『神除去了我的羞耻，赐给我一个儿子。但一个儿子不够，我还要另一个。因此，我要给我第一个儿子起名叫约瑟。』拉结生第二个孩子的时候，雅各必定很喜乐。但他忽然看到他心爱的拉结要死了。便雅悯来了，但拉结离去了。便雅悯的生和拉结的死同时发生，意思是雅各乃藉失去他天然的拣选，得着一个儿子。雅各一生中的第三根柱子，就是见证神对付他天然的拣选。
有神看顾的见证和神家的见证很美妙，但甚至神的家也不是神终极的目标。神终极的目标乃是要彰显基督。基督的彰显不是个人的事，乃是在神家中团体的事。教会是神的家，乃是为着基督的彰显。要彰显基督，必须有教会。然而，基督徒多半以为，没有教会也能彰显基督。但离了教会，就不可能充分的彰显基督。除了神看顾的柱子和神家的柱子以外，我们还必须有第三根柱子，就是为着基督团体彰显的柱子。这根柱子是很花代价的。
创世记三十五章二十节说，雅各在拉结的坟上立了一根柱子，这『就是拉结的墓碑，到今日还在。』这墓标出雅各天然拣选、心头拣选的死去。拉结的死表征我们天然拣选的死。我们所立的头两根柱子，不是叫我们有快乐的生活，乃是叫我们存活以建造神的家，作基督的彰显。虽然雅各有十一个儿子，但没有一个是基督完整的预表。没有一个是忧患之子和右手之子。约瑟很了不起，然而在便雅悯出生以前，他不是基督的预表。在预表上，约瑟是便雅悯的延续。这含示无论我们有了多少属灵的经历，到这时候为止，还没有一个是基督的彰显。我们还需要便雅悯。便雅悯要出生，我们天然的拣选，我们的『拉结』必须死去。
信息重点：第三根柱子见证天然拣选的死，为着基督的产生和彰显。便雅悯的生和拉结的死同时发生；雅各藉着失去天然的拣选得着了基督。神最终的目标乃是在神的家中彰显基督。
应用祷告：主耶稣，我愿把天然的爱、愿望和拣选交在你手中。求你使我不只经历你的看顾和你的家，更让天然的生命受对付，使基督更多产生并彰显在我里面。阿们。
请享受诗歌 (点击诗歌名）
The Three Pillars — The Pillar on the Way to Bethlehem — Gen. 35:18
The third pillar is the pillar on the way to Bethlehem (Gen. 35:16-20). At Bethel, Jacob built an altar and set up a pillar. He not only answered God’s call but also offered himself to God, so as to fulfill God’s desire to gain Bethel. However, Jacob’s life did not end at Genesis 35:15. Verse 16 says that he journeyed on from Bethel. As Jacob journeyed on, he had an experience that combined both joy and sorrow, gain and loss. Jacob gained a son, Benjamin, but lost his beloved wife Rachel.
Jacob did not love Leah very much, yet she bore him six sons. The one Jacob loved was Rachel, and she bore only one son, Joseph, whose name means “increase.” When Joseph was born, Rachel hoped for a second son and said, “May the LORD give me another son” (Gen. 30:24). Hoping for another son, she seemed to be saying, “God has taken away my reproach and given me a son. But one son is not enough; I want another. Therefore I will name my first son Joseph.” When Rachel bore her second child, Jacob must have been full of joy. But suddenly he saw his beloved Rachel dying. Benjamin came, but Rachel departed. Benjamin’s birth and Rachel’s death happened together, meaning that Jacob gained a son through the loss of his natural choice. Jacob’s third pillar in his life is a testimony to God’s dealing with his natural choice.
The testimony of God’s care and the testimony of God’s house are both wonderful, but even God’s house is not God’s ultimate goal. God’s ultimate goal is to express Christ. The expression of Christ is not an individual matter but a corporate matter in God’s house. The church is God’s house, for the expression of Christ. To express Christ, there must be the church. However, most Christians assume that Christ can be expressed even without the church. But apart from the church, Christ cannot be fully expressed. Besides the pillar of God’s care and the pillar of God’s house, we must also have a third pillar, the pillar for the corporate expression of Christ. This pillar costs a great price.
Genesis 35:20 says that Jacob set up a pillar over Rachel’s grave; “that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.” This grave marks the death of Jacob’s natural choice, the choice of his heart. Rachel’s death signifies the death of our natural choice. The first two pillars we set up are not meant to give us a happy life but to enable us to live for the building up of God’s house, for the expression of Christ. Although Jacob had eleven sons at that point, not one of them was a complete type of Christ. None of them was both the son of sorrow and the son of the right hand. Joseph was remarkable, yet before Benjamin was born, he was not a type of Christ. Typologically, Joseph was a continuation pointing to Benjamin. This implies that no matter how much spiritual experience we have had, up to this point none of it is the expression of Christ. We still need Benjamin. For Benjamin to be born, our natural choice, our “Rachel,” must die.
Message Major Points: The third pillar testifies to the death of our natural choice, for the producing and expression of Christ. Benjamin’s birth and Rachel’s death happened at the same time; through the loss of his natural choice, Jacob gained Christ. God’s ultimate goal is to express Christ in God’s house.
Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am willing to put my natural love, desires, and choices into Your hand. Grant that I would not only experience Your care and Your house, but also let my natural life be dealt with, so that Christ may be produced and expressed more in me. Amen.