Date: 1940Place: UnrecordedScripture Reading: Gen. 25:5-6, 11; 26:5-6, 23-24
These verses show us that as far as God's purpose was concerned, Abraham was perfect. But as far as God's work was concerned, Abraham was not yet complete. There was the need of Isaac and Jacob before the work could be complete. "The God of Abraham" shows that God is the Father and that man's natural constitution and the flesh need to be dealt with.
All the blessings that God gave Isaac were blessings that He had promised to his father. Abraham did not receive these blessings; Isaac received them. He inherited all the blessings which God promised to Abraham. In Isaac we see clearly two things. First, we see the inheriting of the kingdom. In order to have the kingdom, we must pass through Isaac. Abraham was the father, and he had to learn to know God as the Father. Isaac was the son. No person in the Bible depicts Christ as the Son as clearly as Isaac. In the Old Testament only Isaac was not born of the flesh; he was born of promise. In the New Testament only Christ was not born of the flesh. Both Isaac and Christ are only begottens, both were offered up as sacrifices, and both were resurrected from the dead. Second, Isaac's life and experience were very ordinary. He did not do anything extraordinary. He was the son, and he was obedient in every way. When he was being offered up as a sacrifice, he did not say anything. He only asked his father: "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (Gen. 22:7). When Abraham tied him up, he did not resist. When Abraham placed him on the altar, he did not resist. When Abraham asked him to come down from the altar, he came down. He was not married until he was forty years old, and the marriage was arranged by his father through an old servant. He happily accepted this marriage. Isaac did not propose anything and made no suggestions of his own. By the time he was sixty, he had two sons. During the famine years he went to Gerar and said that his wife was his sister. The lie he told was a repetition of his father's lie. When the Philistines covered up his well, he did not say anything. After he died, he was buried in his father's tomb. Isaac lived a very ordinary life.
In Abraham we know God as the Father. In Isaac we know God as the Son. Everything Isaac gained was gained through receiving. In Abraham we see God's goal and standard. In Isaac we see God's power and life and that He is the Provider. Everything that Isaac had was obtained and not attained. The Christian life originates from God; it is spontaneous and not artificial. There was only one question in Isaac's life: "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" The answer is: "Jehovah-Jireh" — the Lord will provide.
In Jacob we see something altogether different. He was a naughty, conniving, scheming, supplanting, and selfish person. The God of Jacob was not the God of provision but the God of discipline. Isaac found favor in the sight of the Lord, but Jacob was disciplined. Isaac represents the supply of the resurrection life of Christ, while Jacob represents the crushing of the natural life through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The hollow of his thigh was touched, and he became crippled; he could no longer be naughty. Some people only see Christ's life and forget their own natural life. As a result their natural life creeps in. Some people only see the natural life, and forget the riches in Christ. We need the experience of Isaac as well as the experience of Jacob.
May the Lord open our eyes to see that Abraham represents God the Father, Isaac represents God the Son, and Jacob represents God the Spirit. In God's work there is the need of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
