W e c o m e t o y o u now with think ing concerning one of the sons of Jacob, which bore the name Asher. The onyx stone was the jewel repre sentative of him as the head of the tribe bearing his name. If you have your Bible open at Gen esis 49:20, let us read the words of Ja cob marking out this son: “Out of Ash er his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” Now with reference to the above statement, some have tried to point out the richness of the soil in the allotted territory that was given to the tribe of Asher, but I think there is something far deeper in the Bible than that. It was Dr. Slemming who said, “The whole of the statements concerning Asher reveal quality. His bread shall be fat and this speaks of quality. How much like the Lord Jesus Christ that really is. Christ is the Bread of Life to His own people, isn’t He? Wondrous- ly given to us. That Bread is not chaff nor is it cheap. It is fat of high quality and it satisfies the hungry soul.” What, did David cry out in the Psalms? “My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness” and again he said, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.” You see the com of the Holy Land is far better than the leeks and the onions of the land of Egypt and captivity. And Asher represents those people who feed upon the finest of the wheat. They know a living and abiding communion with Jesus Christ. Dr. Pink said, “The Word of God to this kind of person is a daily portion.’’ Job said in chapter 23 and verse 12, “I have esteemed the
words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” You see the natural result of a heal thy intake is a barrel output. Asher yielded royal dainties, dainties attrac tive, appetizing, and wholesome. Be cause a nation has lost normal appe tite by reason of a rundown condition physically he is not fed with husks and waterless beef extract but he is fed, instead, with the contents of the whole food in order that he might be come strong. Yes, with the fatness of the land shall he be fed. The Church of Jesus Christ must learn to accept the solid meat of the Word of God, the fat bread of God’s own precious Word. Many, many a church, and you might be a member of one, has been reduced to husks and peelings of sociality and compromise with the world in which the food has entirely lost its proteins, spiritual val ue in every sense of the word. Many a minister, because he did not believe, led his people away from the richness which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a tragic mistake and will never make for a healthy recovery. Our methods may have to change. Our material of fundamental Gospel truth must never be changed no matter what the day may be. We change our meth ods; we do not change our message. Men of God ought to feed on the fat ness of God’s Word so that like Asher they might be able to give to the people royal dainties straight from the King’s banqueting chamber. The word from Proverbs is that a word fitly spoken is (Continued on Next Page) 21
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