二零二一年半年度训练 约书亚记、士师记、路得记结晶读经 (第三周)

晨更经节 —  9 月 13 日 – 9 月 19 日

第三周 过约但河并预备打仗

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每日晨更经节主日       周一       周二      周三      周四      周五      周六


团体追求:《神在祂与人联结中的历史》第五篇 神在时间里的历史(四)在祂圣民(从亚伯到挪亚)身上的工作并对世界(从该隐到巴别)的审判;第六篇 神在时间里的历史(五)在祂选民(从亚伯拉罕到约瑟)身上的工作(一)在亚伯拉罕身上作工并审判所多玛和蛾摩拉

Joshua, Judges, Ruth Training – Week 3

Morning Watch —  September 13 – September 19, 2021

Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle

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Corporate Reading of “The History of God in His Union with Man” Chapter 5 – Sections:
1. The Above Being the Works That God Did before His Calling of Abraham; Judging The World From Cain To Babel; God Judging the Rest of Adam’s Descendants Who Took Satan’s Way of Death; God Having No Regard for Cain and for His Offering; God Judging Cain, Causing Him to Become a Fugitive and a Wanderer on the Earth to Invent the Human, Godless Culture
2. God Judging the Corrupted World, Composed of Men Who Had Become Flesh, by the Deluge to Terminate the Age of Cain; God Judging at Babel the World, Which Had Abandoned Him and Had Joined Satan as One, to Terminate the Race of Adam; God’s Judgment on the World Being a Strong Evidence That the God-created yet Rebelling World Is Still under His Sovereign Ruling
Corporate Reading of “The History of God in His Union with Man” Chapter 6 – Sections:
1.
God’s History In Time (From The Creation Of The Universe To The Final Judgment At The Great White Throne—Genesis 1:1—Revelation 20:15) (5); Working On His Elect From Abraham To Joseph (1); Working On Abraham And Judging Sodom And Gomorrah (paragraphs 1-5)

2. Working On Abraham (paragraphs 1-5)
3. Working On Abraham (paragraphs 6-11) 

The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 4 of 10

In Genesis 22 God tried Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham was obedient to God’s desire, and he was charged to offer Isaac on Mount Moriah (v. 2). Mount Moriah eventually became Mount Zion, the place where the temple was built in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3:1). When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God intervened. Then Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket, and he offered that ram up for a burnt offering instead of his son (Gen. 22:13). God prepared this ram as a substitute for Isaac. This ram typifies Christ. Before Christ was crucified, He was typified as the crucified One on Mount Moriah. Because Abraham did not withhold his only son in obeying God, God promised him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore and that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (vv. 16-18).

In Genesis 22:17 Abraham’s seed is likened to the stars and the sand, not the dust. We have to consider why the Bible likens Abraham’s earthly descendants to dust and then sand. Actually, the sand comes from the dust. When the dust on the seashore is scoured, washed, with water, what is left is the sand. The children of Israel first were dust. Then the “waves of the Great Sea” came upon them again and again. What are these waves? We saw in our life-study of the book of Joel that four kinds of locusts came to devastate Israel (1:4; 2:25). All those locusts were like the waves from the Mediterranean Sea. They came up like waves to scour Israel as the dust again and again. Eventually, what was left was the sand on the seashore of the Mediterranean. Thus, the dust and the sand are eventually one. This fits the historical record. Throughout the centuries the waves of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Greece, and of Rome came upon Israel again and again. The issue of this was the sand. Thus, Abraham had only two kinds of descendants: one is the New Testament believers, who are likened to the heavenly stars, and the other is the Jews, who are likened to both the dust and the sand.

Now we need to consider the significance of Abraham in the divine revelation. What does he signify? The Bible begins to speak of Abraham from the second part of Genesis 11 through Genesis 24. Then Genesis 25 begins to speak about Abraham’s son Isaac. There are many persons, matters, and things in Genesis that signify something. Abraham is a sign, but what does he signify?

Abraham is a sign of God’s chosen people. We are God’s chosen people, but how can we know what kind of people we should be? God prepared a sign in Genesis 11—24 to show us, and this sign is Abraham. Abraham is a sign prepared and provided by God for us to see. As God’s chosen people, we all need to be Abrahams. In a sense, our name should be Abraham. All of us keep the name of our father and forefathers. Lee is my forefathers’ name, so my name is Lee today. In this sense, all of us are Abrahams, since he is our forefather (Rom. 4:12). Abraham is a sign signifying what kind of people we should be. In other words, he is a model, a sign, of the Christian life. What is the Christian life? The Christian life is the life that Abraham lived.

This life of Abraham, which became a sign, was altogether motivated and initiated by God. It was not anything of Abraham by and in himself. Nearly everything he did in a positive way was motivated by God. One thing he did, however, which was absolutely not motivated by God, was his taking of Hagar as his concubine. That was proposed, motivated, and stirred up altogether by his wife (Gen. 16:2-3). The issue of Hagar was a son named Ishmael, but Ishmael was rejected by God (17:18-19; 21:10-12a).

The sign of Abraham shows us that in the Christian life nothing should be of us. Instead, everything should be motivated, stirred up, and initiated by God. Our being saved surely was not motivated by us. We became Christians and entered into the church life because God motivated us. God is the Motivator in our Christian life. In the church life there are people of every color from many different countries. Who collected us together? It was God who motivated us and gathered us together into the church life. We need to realize that whatever is motivated by us will be a calamity. If you motivate your marriage life, be assured that your marriage will sooner or later be a calamity. We Christians should not motivate anything. God should be the Motivator of everything in our lives. Whatever we motivate will be a calamity, a suffering.

The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 3 of 10

WORKING ON ABRAHAM

In this chapter we want to see God’s history in the life of Abraham. When we look at Abraham’s life, we need to see it from the proper angle, the angle of the history of God. When I was with the Brethren, they stressed that Abraham had two kinds of descendants. One was likened to the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5), and the other was likened first to the dust of the earth (13:16) and second to the sand on the seashore (22:17). These three expressions involve the heaven, the earth, and the sea. There are the stars in the heavens, the dust of the earth, and the sand on the seashore. We need to consider the significance of these expressions.

Genesis 13 tells us that God came to visit Abraham after his nephew Lot left him. God was a real friend to Abraham. He realized that Abraham was lonely, so He came to Abraham. The servants of Lot had been fighting with the servants of Abraham, and this fighting was due to the shortage of land. Then Abraham said to Lot, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (v. 9). Lot looked at the land around them, and he chose the plain toward Sodom because that was fertile. That plain was well watered and was like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt (v. 10). Lot chose the best part of the land, and he departed from Abraham.

Then the Lord spoke to Abraham and said, “Now lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever” (vv. 14-15). Northward was toward Lebanon, southward was toward Egypt, eastward was toward the Euphrates, the Great River, and westward was toward the Mediterranean Sea, the Great Sea. As much as Abraham could see in these directions, God would give to him and to his seed. Furthermore, God told him that He would make his seed as the dust of the earth (v. 16).

In Genesis 13 there was a quarrel over the land, and Lot chose his portion, which was the best portion. Then in chapter 14 there was a war, and in that war the very place chosen by Lot, Sodom, was defeated and taken, and Lot, his family, and all their possessions were captured. When Abraham found out about this, he armed his trained servants, three hundred eighteen men, and he defeated the invaders to deliver Lot and his family. Thus, Lot, his family, and his possessions were all recovered (vv. 14-16).

Lot was recovered back into safety, but Abraham may have wondered what he would do if the four kings whom he had defeated would return again to fight against him. At that juncture God came in. This time God asked him to look up at the heavens. God said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be” (15:5). This implies that God was training Abraham. Abraham’s earthly descendants could be captured but not his heavenly descendants. It was as if God said, “Abraham, I, the almighty God, Jehovah, am not only giving you descendants from the earth. I am also giving you descendants from the heavens. Your enemies can deal with your descendants from the earth, but they cannot do anything with your heavenly descendants.”

The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 2 of 10

Thus far, we have seen God’s history in eternity past. We have also seen His history in time in creating the universe, in judging Satan and the universe, and in restoring the judged universe and creating man. Even the creating of man is part of the real history of God. Genesis does not merely tell us a story of how man was created. God’s creation of man is actually a marvelous part of God’s history in this universe.

Genesis 1:26 says that God created man in His own image and according to His own likeness. The model, the prototype, for man’s creation was God Himself! Of course, God is almighty, but I believe that before creating man, God should have had much consideration. Carpenters who make furniture spend much energy to make designs before they actually make a piece of furniture. In His creation of the universe, God spoke things into being. He spoke, and it was (Psa. 33:9). God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). Why would God not say, “Let there be man,” and there was man? God did not create man by speaking him into being. He created man in a marvelous way.

Genesis 2:7 says that God made man with a form. God then breathed the breath of life into this form, and that breath became man’s spirit. The result was that man became a living soul. Then God put this man in a particular place, a garden. On the earth there was a garden, and this garden was full of trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food to nourish man. But among those many trees were two trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 9). By the side of the tree of life was a flowing river, and at the flow of the river there were three precious materials—gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (vv. 10-12). Genesis 2 says that God caused man to sleep, opened up his side, and took out a rib of that man. God used that rib as the material to build up a building, and that building was a female (vv. 21-22). We have to enter into the significance of all these things. Actually, Genesis 1 and 2 are not a history of Adam but a history of the Creator, of the wise Architect, God. The first two chapters of Genesis are a part of God’s history.

We have seen that Genesis 3 reveals how God saved man from his fall. Then we saw how God dealt with Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. With these men we can see the history of the acting God on the positive side. Then on the negative side, God judged those who forsook Him and took the way of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the way of death.

For us to study the Bible by viewing it as the history of God gives us an entirely new view. The Bible is an old book, but we have a new way to study it. The most crucial point in taking a photo is the angle at which you take it. If you do not have the proper angle, you cannot have a proper photo. If we take a picture of someone, and it is a photo of his feet, this means that we took the picture at the wrong angle. We need to view the Bible from the angle of the history of God to have a proper and complete view of the divine revelation.

The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 1 of 10

CHAPTER SIX

GOD’S HISTORY IN TIME 
(FROM THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE 
TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT 
AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE— 
GENESIS 1:1—REVELATION 20:15)

(5)

WORKING ON HIS ELECT 
FROM ABRAHAM TO JOSEPH

(1)

WORKING ON ABRAHAM 
AND 
JUDGING SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Scripture Reading: Gen. 11:31; 12:1-4; Acts 7:2-4; Gen. 22:16-18

OUTLINE

  1. Working on Abraham:
    1. Calling him:
      1. The first time—Gen. 11:31; Acts 7:2-4a:
        1. By appearing to him as the God of glory.
        2. Through his father Terah.
        3. With his nephew Lot and his wife Sarai.
        4. Out of Ur of the Chaldeans and from his relatives.
        5. Into Canaan.
        6. Stopped at Haran.
      2. The second time—Gen. 12:1, 4:
        1. After the death of his father Terah.
        2. Out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father’s house.
        3. Unto the land that Jehovah would show him.
        4. Going with his nephew Lot at seventy-five years of age.
    2. Promising him—vv. 2-3:
      1. To make of him a great nation.
      2. To make his name great.
      3. To bless him and make him a blessing to others.
      4. All the families of the earth to be blessed in him; announcing the gospel beforehand to Abraham (Gal. 3:8).
    3. Appearing to him the third time and promising him that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed—Gen. 12:7.
    4. Saving him from Pharaoh’s insulting of his wife—vv. 10-20.
    5. Promising to give to him and his seed all the land that he saw, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, and to make his seed as the dust of the earth—13:14-17.
    6. The priest of God, as God the Most High, blessing Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God the Most High / Possessor of heaven and earth”—14:19.
    7. Speaking in a vision to Abraham that He is his shield and his exceedingly great reward; only he who will come from his own body shall be his heir; his heirs will be as many as the stars in heaven; he believed in Him, and He accounted it to him for righteousness; and his seed will be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, be afflicted by them for four hundred years, and in their fourth generation return to Canaan; in that day He made a covenant with him to give to his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates—ch. 15.
    8. Not speaking to Abraham for thirteen years because he took Hagar as his concubine, who brought forth for him a son, Ishmael, when he was eighty-six years old—ch. 16.
    9. Appearing the seventh time to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old and making with him the covenant of circumcision so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations, and changing his name from Abram to Abraham and his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah, of whom Abraham would have a son, Isaac—ch. 17.
    10. Appearing the eighth time to him by the oaks of Mamre, fellowshipping with him as with His friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23)—Gen. 18.
    11. Saving his wife from Abimelech, king of Gerar—ch. 20.
    12. Giving him Isaac, a son of Sarah, and casting out Ishmael, his son of Hagar—21:1-14.
    13. Speaking to him the tenth time to prove him by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him and he passing His proving; speaking to him the eleventh time to stop him from offering his son Isaac and he replacing Isaac with a ram (typifying Christ—John 1:29) for a burnt offering; and speaking to him the twelfth time to promise him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore, and in his seed (Christ—Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1b) all the nations of the earth would be blessed—Gen. 22:1-19.
    14. Blessing him and leading his old servant to secure Rebekah as wife to his son Isaac—ch. 24.
  2. Judging Sodom and Gomorrah:
    1. To burn Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain with brimstone and fire—19:24-25.
    2. Because of their grievous sin—18:20.
    3. Because of Abraham God sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow—19:29, 12-22.
    4. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt by looking back—v. 26.