晨更经节 — 9 月 20 日 – 9 月 26 日
第四周 神的子民需要寻求主的指引，有主的同在，以展示祂的得胜，好建造祂的身体并扩展祂的国度
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团体追求:《神在祂与人联结中的历史》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
Day: September 19, 2021
Joshua, Judges, Ruth Training – Week 4
Morning Watch — September 20 – September 26, 2021
The Need for God’s People to Seek the Lord’s Direction and Have the Lord’s Presence to Display His Victory for the Building Up of His Body and the Spreading of His Kingdom
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Corporate Reading of “The History of God in His Union with Man” Chapter 6 – Sections:
1. Calling Him The First Time; The Second Time
2. God’s Promise to Abraham; Appearing to Him the Third Time; Saving Him from Pharaoh’s Insulting of His Wife; Promising to Give Him and His Seed All the Land That He Saw
3. The Priest of God,; Speaking in a Vision to Abraham That He Was His Shield and His Exceedingly Great Reward
4. Not Speaking to Abraham for Thirteen Years; Appearing the Seventh Time to Abraham When He Was Ninety-nine Years Old; Appearing the Eighth Time to Him by the Oaks of Mamre
5. Saving His Wife from Abimelech, King of Gerar; Giving Him Isaac and Casting Out Ishmael; Speaking to Him the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Times; Blessing Him and Leading His Old Servant to Secure Rebekah as Wife to His Son Isaac
6. Judging Sodom And Gomorrah
The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 10 of 10
JUDGING SODOM AND GOMORRAH
The negative side of God’s history during the life of Abraham was God’s judging of Sodom and Gomorrah. The positive side was God’s motivating, stirring up, and initiating the divine things in Abraham’s life, which is a sign of the Christian life. On the negative side, God judged Sodom and Gomorrah.
He burned Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain with brimstone and fire (19:24-25) because of their grievous sin (18:20). Because of Abraham God sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow (19:29, 12-22). This is also a part of God’s history. When God judged the evil world, God remembered His friend’s talk with Him concerning Lot, even though they did not mention Lot. When Lot and his family were fleeing, Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt by looking back (v. 26). Her lingering look back at Sodom indicated that she loved and treasured the evil world that God was going to judge and utterly destroy.
We can see that Abraham suffered from two sources—from his wife Sarah and from his nephew Lot. In Genesis 13 Abraham had to solve the problem with Lot over the shortage of land. Then in Genesis 14 Abraham had to fight for Lot. Eventually, by the time of Genesis 18 and 19 Lot had entered into Sodom, the center of sin, which was condemned and judged by fire from heaven. Lot escaped from God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah to the mountains. But his two daughters made him drunk and committed incest with him. The children they had by this incest were Moab and Ammon. The Moabites and Ammonites were rejected by God even to their tenth generation (Deut. 23:3). This record of Lot should be a warning to us.
Through our fellowship in this chapter we can see that Abraham is a sign of the life of God’s chosen people. He is a sign of the Christian life. We all are the descendants of Abraham. He is our forefather and a sign to us. We should live according to the model of his life.
The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 9 of 10
Saving His Wife from Abimelech, King of Gerar
Genesis 20 shows how God saved Abraham’s wife from Abimelech, king of Gerar. This was like the trouble that Abraham had regarding Sarah with Pharaoh in Genesis 12. First, Abraham was in trouble with the king of Egypt because of his wife. Then he was in trouble with the king of Gerar because of her. Both times God came in to save him.
Giving Him Isaac and Casting Out Ishmael
God gave Abraham Isaac, his son of Sarah, and cast out Ishmael, his son of Hagar (21:1-14). This is a part of God’s history. God’s giving of Isaac to Abraham and His casting out of Ishmael are also signs, signifying that everyone who is born of grace through faith is a real son of Abraham. Anyone who is taking the law as the source, according to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is a descendant rejected by God. These two sons with two mothers are an allegory of the grace of the New Testament and the law of the Old Testament. This is fully developed in Galatians 4.
Speaking to Him the Tenth,
Eleventh, and Twelfth Times
God spoke to Abraham the tenth time to prove him, to try him, by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him. Abraham passed God’s proving. Then God spoke to him the eleventh time to stop him from offering his son Isaac and he replaced Isaac with a ram (typifying Christ—John 1:29) for a burnt offering. God spoke further to Abraham the twelfth time to promise him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand on the seashore. God told Abraham that in his seed (Christ—Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1b) all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:1-19).
Blessing Him and Leading His Old Servant
to Secure Rebekah as Wife to His Son Isaac
Genesis 24 shows that God blessed Abraham and led his old servant to secure Rebekah as wife to his son Isaac. The last thing God did for Abraham was to help him get a daughter-in-law.
The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 8 of 10
Not Speaking to Abraham for Thirteen Years
God did not speak 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). Abraham offended God, his Friend. Thus, God would not fellowship with Abraham for thirteen years. Genesis 16:16 says, “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.” Then Genesis 17:1 says, “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram.” This shows that for thirteen years there was not any communication, fellowship, or speaking between God and Abraham.
Appearing the Seventh Time to Abraham
When He Was Ninety-nine Years Old
God appeared the seventh time to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old and made with him the covenant of circumcision so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations. He also changed 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). The covenant of circumcision is a sign. All the chosen ones of God should be circumcised, meaning that they should cut off, crucify, their flesh (Gal. 5:24). The body of the flesh should be cut off, crucified (Col. 2:11), to regenerate us and renew us, making us a new person. Abraham was living a model of the Christian life, because the covenant of circumcision signifies that he was crucified, regenerated, and renewed. This was so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations.
Furthermore, his name and his wife’s name were changed from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. Because the person is changed, the name should also be changed. Eventually, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. This means that after we have been crucified and regenerated, we will bring forth the real seed. Otherwise, we will produce Ishmael. If we are not crucified, regenerated, and renewed, we cannot produce Isaac. We will produce false Christians, not the real believers. We can produce the real believers only by being circumcised, that is, by being crucified, regenerated, and renewed.
Appearing the Eighth Time to Him
by the Oaks of Mamre
God appeared the eighth time to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, fellowshipping with him as with His friend (Gen. 18; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23). In the past I wondered why God came with two angels to visit and stay with Abraham. God conversed with Abraham. Abraham served Him water for Him to wash His feet, and Abraham’s wife made a meal for Him. God talked with Abraham as a friend. Abraham saw God, conversed with God, and walked with God. Then God was forced to tell him what He was about to do to Sodom. God indicated that He could not hide this from Abraham, because Abraham was His intimate friend. Actually, God’s purpose and intention in coming to visit Abraham was for Lot’s sake.
God told Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom, with the intention that Abraham would intercede. God was motivating Abraham to pray for Lot. Actually, God and Abraham, as close friends, were speaking of Lot, but they did not mention Lot’s name. Eventually, Lot was saved from Sodom, meaning that God answered Abraham’s prayer. Genesis 19:29 says that when God destroyed Sodom, He remembered Abraham and sent Lot out. This means that He answered Abraham’s intercession. This shows that our living the Christian life must be to the extent that we become God’s friend and God becomes our Friend.
The History of God in His Union With Man, Ch. 6, Sec. 7 of 10
The Priest of God,
as God the Most High, Blessing Abraham
The priest of God, as God the Most High, blessed Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God the Most High, / Possessor of heaven and earth” (14:19). This was something apparently not motivated by God but motivated by Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of God. Abraham was the victor who had defeated the enemies of God. Through Abraham God could be declared as the Possessor of heaven and earth. In other instances in the Bible, God could be called only the God of heaven (2 Chron. 36:23; Neh. 1:5; 2:4, 20) because of the lack of someone standing with God on earth to defeat God’s enemies and gain the victory for God. But when Melchizedek came to bless Abraham, he could refer to God as the Possessor of heaven and earth. This means that there was a victor, an overcomer, on earth who stood with God.
Speaking in a Vision to Abraham That He
Was His Shield and His Exceedingly Great Reward
In Genesis 15 God spoke in a vision to Abraham that He was his shield and his exceedingly great reward (v. 1). The Lord was both Abraham’s protection and his reward. God rewarded Abraham because Abraham was victorious over all of God’s enemies.
God also told Abraham in Genesis 15 that only the one who would come from Abraham’s own body would be his heir (v. 4). In Genesis 16 Hagar became Abraham’s concubine through the motivation of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Sarah proposed this to Abraham, and Abraham agreed. But God denied and rejected the son produced through Hagar. God told Abraham that his heir must be from his own body and that his heirs would be as many as the stars in heaven (15:5).
Abraham believed in God, and God accounted it to him for righteousness (v. 6). Romans 4 develops this point strongly by saying that Abraham was a forefather of all the ones who are justified by God through believing into Jesus Christ. Abraham was a pattern, a model, a sign. Thus, the model of the Christian life is one who is first called by God and then justified by God. After being called, you must be justified by God. Being justified by God means that you are in harmony with God. In other words, between you and God there is nothing contradicting and there is a harmonious situation and condition. This means that you are righteous according to God’s righteousness. When you are justified, your righteousness matches God’s righteousness. Abraham entered into a situation that was absolutely in harmony with God.
In Genesis 15 God told Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars in heaven. Genesis also reveals that his earthly descendants would be as the sand on the seashore. We pointed out that the oppressing nations were like the waves out of the Mediterranean Sea coming upon Israel again and again to make Israel as the sand of the seashore. Actually, the first wave of water came from Egypt. God told Abraham in Genesis 15 that his seed would be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, and be afflicted by them for four hundred years (v. 13). In their fourth generation they returned to Canaan. God also made a covenant with Abraham in the day that He spoke to him in Genesis 15 to give to his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates (v. 18).
Two things are very prominent in the life of Abraham. First, God made Abraham’s descendants as the stars in the heaven. These are the New Testament believers as his heavenly descendants. Second, He would make Abraham’s earthly descendants as the sand on the seashore. The remnant of Israel as the dust of the earth passes through wave after wave of tribulation. Eventually, in the millennium the remnant of Israel, who have passed through the scouring waters, will become as the sand on the Mediterranean seashore.