Day: September 26, 2021

THE GOD OF ALL-SUFFICIENCY

When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God came in to reconfirm His covenant, which became a covenant of circumcision (17:9-14). In God’s third appearing with His seventh speaking to Abraham, He is the God of all-sufficiency in being the God of circumcision to cut off His chosen people’s natural man in the flesh so that they may become God’s new creation, signified by Isaac who was born by God’s grace, not as Ishmael who was born by Abraham’s flesh (vv. 1-21; Gal. 4:22-31).

Circumcision is the cutting off of the flesh, signifying that the flesh of our fallen man, our natural man, has to be cut off, ended, terminated. The apostle Paul said that the physical circumcision in the Old Testament was a full type of the crucifixion of Christ in dealing with the flesh of our body (Col. 2:11). Christ’s death on the cross, His crucifixion, is our real circumcision which cuts off our flesh with its passions and its lusts (Gal. 5:24).

Even after God had made the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, he still did not want to give up Ishmael (Gen. 17:18). He asked God to let Ishmael remain, but God told him that He would establish His covenant only with Isaac (v. 19). God would recognize only Abraham’s seed who was brought forth by Sarah. According to Galatians 4, Isaac was a type of one born of grace, and grace is typified by Sarah (vv. 22-31). Only one who is born of God’s grace will be counted by God as a legal seed, a legal heir, to inherit what God has promised to Abraham and what God has covenanted with Abraham.

Circumcision indicates that God wants our natural man to be cut off. Then God wants us to be reborn by His grace in resurrection, typified by Isaac. Thus, Genesis 17 reveals Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The crucifixion is to cut off the old man; the resurrection is to bring forth, or to beget, the new man, and the new man is signified by Isaac.

The birth of Isaac is a sign of Christ’s resurrection. God would recognize only the people brought forth by Christ’s resurrection as the legal seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29). In Genesis 17 Christ’s crucifixion is signified by circumcision, and Christ’s resurrection is signified by Sarah’s begetting Isaac. First Peter 1:3 says that we all have been regenerated by the resurrection of Christ. Christ’s crucifixion is a termination, and His resurrection is a germination. Christ’s death terminated our old man, and Christ’s resurrection germinated our new man to make us the new creation.

Isaac was born of the free woman, born of grace. He was a pattern of the New Testament believers. We, the New Testament believers, are all born of the free woman, the grace of God. Thus, Isaac as Abraham’s seed typifies both Christ (Gal. 3:16) and all of the New Testament believers (v. 29). Christ is the Head, and the believers are His Body. Isaac was not born by the flesh of the old man but by God’s grace in resurrection.

In Genesis 17:1 God appeared to Abraham and declared to him that He is the God of all-sufficiency. Most of the versions translate this as “the almighty God,” but the Hebrew word here indicates all-sufficiency. Genesis 17 actually covers the new covenant, the new testament. God’s economy in the New Testament is all-sufficient. In the New Testament we have everything. We have the death of Christ to cut off our old man, and we have the new birth through Christ’s resurrection. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have everything in the New Testament. Philippians 1:19 indicates that the Spirit of Jesus Christ has a bountiful supply that is all-sufficient.

THE GOD OF SILENCE

God is also seen as the God of silence to Abraham. This was due to the fact that Abraham listened to his wife Sarah and married Hagar to get a son by the exercise of his flesh when he was eighty-six years old (16:1-4, 15-16). That offended God to the uttermost. Then God became silent to Abraham for thirteen years, until he became ninety-nine years old, and God appeared to him again (17:1).

After Abraham was called out of Haran and went into Canaan, “Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land” (12:7). This word spoken to Abraham was God’s promise to him, indicating that God would give a seed to him to inherit the land of Canaan as his possession.

When Abraham’s nephew Lot was separated from him, leaving him lonely with no heir to inherit his possession, God said to him, “All the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth” (13:15-16). This was to repeat the promise to Abraham in 12:7, with a strong confirmation of God’s unchangeable promise to make his seed as numerous as the dust of the earth.

When Abraham was afraid that the four kings might come to seek vengeance, after he had recovered his nephew Lot and his family from the four capturing kings, at this point in Genesis 15 God spoke to Abraham in a vision. God promised him that his seed would be as many as the stars in heaven (v. 5) and made a covenant with him. In Genesis 12 God spoke a word as a promise to Abraham. In Genesis 13 God repeated that promise and confirmed it. In Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham (vv. 8-12, 18) to reconfirm that promise.

In spite of God’s repeated promise and His confirming covenant, in Genesis 16 Abraham’s wife proposed that he take Hagar her maid to bear a child for her (vv. 1-3). Abraham took, by exercising his flesh, Hagar, and she bore a son by the name of Ishmael. This was a real offense to God. And God became silent to Abraham for that long time of thirteen years.

GOD THE MOST HIGH

The God of Abraham is seen as God the Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, in His divine supply with His blessing to Abraham through His priest Melchizedek after Abraham fought the battle against the four kings (14:17-20). He is not only the God of the heaven but also the God of the earth, so He is the Most High. Abraham took three hundred eighteen of his trained servants to defeat the four kings who captured Lot (v. 14). In that victory he recovered Lot and his family with their possessions (v. 16). At that time Abraham needed some supply and refreshment. The priest of God came to serve him with bread and wine as a kind of refreshment, and that refreshment resembled the Lord’s table (Matt. 26:26-28). In the Lord’s table, He supplies us and refreshes us, the tired, weary sinners.

THE GOD OF SHIELD 
AND EXCEEDINGLY GREAT REWARD

The God of Abraham is revealed as the God of shield and exceedingly great reward in His fifth speaking (this time in a vision) to Abraham (Gen. 15:1-6). A vision is a kind of divine scenery, not a physical scenery. In that vision God spoke to Abraham. After defeating the four kings, Abraham may have been afraid of their avenging. Thus, God came in to tell Abraham that He would be a shield to protect him. He would also be Abraham’s reward for his rescue of Lot. God was concerned for Lot, and Abraham cooperated with God to rescue him. This was a real credit to Abraham before God, so God rewarded him for this. This shows us that God is very fine in taking care of His people.

In His fifth speaking in a vision to Abraham, God also promised Abraham that his heavenly seed in their divine nature would be as many as the stars in heaven, which could never be touched by anyone on earth. Abraham believed in Jehovah, and Jehovah accounted this believing to him for righteousness (vv. 5-6). In Romans 4 Paul considers this as the example of justification. God is the shield, God is the exceedingly great reward, and God is also the Justifier. God’s justifying of Abraham meant that God became happy with Abraham and that Abraham was altogether in harmony with God. He was altogether acceptable to God, having no problem with God.

THE GOD OF FAITHFULNESS

God is revealed as the God of faithfulness in His sixth speaking to Abraham in his deep sleep. In Genesis 15:1-6 God spoke to Abraham in a vision. In 15:12-21 God went on to speak to him when he was in a deep sleep. God spoke to Abraham in a dream, foretelling that his earthly seed in their human nature as “the dust of the earth” (13:16) would be sojourners in Egypt. They would be aliens in a foreign country and live there, serve the Egyptians, be afflicted by them for four hundred years, and in the fourth generation return to Canaan. Because of His faithfulness in keeping His promise, He also made a covenant with him to assure him of His faithfulness in His promise that He has given to his seed the land from the river of Egypt, the Nile, to the great river, the river Euphrates. Such a covenant was a confirmation of God’s promise to Abraham in 12:7; 13:14-17.

THE GOD OF THE EARTH

God is revealed as the God of the earth, in His second appearing with His third speaking, in promising Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed (Gen. 12:6-7). In His first appearing God called Abraham. In His second appearing He promised Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed. Abraham’s seed, generally speaking, refers to his earthly descendants, the Jews, Israel. But narrowly speaking, the seed refers to Christ (Gal. 3:16).

Even until today, the Jews have not fully inherited the land. They will not fully inherit it until the time of restoration when Christ returns. Christ will return as the unique seed of Abraham and will inherit the good land from the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, to the great river, the river Euphrates. There have been disputes and conferences about the boundaries of the nation of Israel for years, but when Jesus comes back as the unique seed of Abraham, He will clear up the situation and inherit the good land.

God gave this land to Abraham’s seed because God is the God of the land, the God, the Owner, of the earth. The earthly governments may think that their respective territories belong to them, but actually the entire earth belongs to Jehovah God (Psa. 24:1). The God of Abraham is the God of the land. As the Possessor and Owner of the land, He has the right to give it to His friend’s descendants.

THE GOD OF SECRET CARE FOR HIS ELECT

The God of Abraham is seen as the God of secret care for His elect in saving Abraham from Pharaoh’s insulting of his wife (Gen. 12:10-20). God exercised His hidden care, His secret care, to save His friend Abraham and his wife. He is the God of secret care for His elect to rescue His elect from their troubles.

THE GOD OF COMFORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT

God is seen as the God of comfort and encouragement in His fourth speaking to Abraham after Lot left him. In His speaking God promised to give to Abraham and to his seed the land of Canaan as far as he could see in four directions and to make his seed as numerous as the dust of the earth (13:14-17). Abraham and Lot both became rich. They had many flocks, herds, and tents, and the land was too small for them to dwell together. Then Abraham asked Lot to choose the part of the land that he desired, and Lot left him.

Abraham was left in a lonely state. His father was dead, and his nephew Lot departed. Then God came to comfort and encourage him in promising to give him and his seed the land of Canaan as far as he could see and to make his seed as numerous as the dust of the earth. No one can count how many descendants God has given to Abraham, because they are innumerable. Many of his descendants were killed by the four kinds of locusts in Joel 1:4, signifying the Gentile governments with their invading armies. These locusts were like the waves from the Mediterranean Sea, which came to scour Israel as the dust. But regardless of how much the water washed away the dust, there was still some sand left. This is why in Genesis 22:17, Abraham’s descendants are not likened to the dust but to the sand on the seashore. Some of Abraham’s descendants are in the heavens as the stars. Some are the dust, but many of them were scoured away. The ones who remain after the scouring are as the sand on the seashore of the Mediterranean. Through our fellowship, I hope that we can realize that in God’s eyes and in God’s heart, Abraham was a special person.