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V. A man:
А. Christ visited Abraham as a man in His humanity — Gen. 18:
1. He was Jehovah with two angels — vv. 1-3, 9-14, 16-18, 22, 33; 19:1.
2. Abraham provided Him with water for foot-washing and asked his wife to prepare a meal for Him — 18:4-8.
3. He told Abraham that his wife Sarah would bring forth a son in the next year — vv. 9-15.
4. Considering that Abraham would become a great nation to be the kingdom of God on the earth for the carrying out of His economy, He told Abraham as His friend (James 2:23; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8) that He would judge the sinful Sodom and Gomorrah — Gen. 18:16-21.
5. Abraham prayed to Jehovah for Sodom; actually, his prayer was for his nephew, Lot, who made his home in Sodom (vv. 22-33), and Jehovah answered him by rescuing Lot from the destruction of Sodom (19:1-29).
B. Christ, who was God, wrestled as a man in His humanity with Jacob — ch. 32:
1. While Jacob was under the threatening that his elder brother Esau would come to destroy him on his way back to his father’s land from Haran, where he could not suffer his uncle Laban’s stripping any longer, Christ came in His humanity to meet Jacob at the time of his need — vv. 1-24.
2. Jacob would not let Him go unless He would bless him — v. 26.
3. Realizing that He could not prevail against Jacob, He touched the socket of his hip so that the socket of his hip was dislocated — v. 25.
4. His touching of the socket of Jacob’s hip transformed Jacob, a heel-holder, into Israel, the prince of God, who was one of the three prominent forefathers of the people of Israel for the carrying out of God’s economy — v. 28.
C. Christ, as a man in His humanity, met Joshua as the Captain of Jehovah’s army to fight for Israel for the carrying out of God’s economy — Josh. 5:13-15.
D. Christ, who was the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself, came as a man in His humanity to tell Manoah’s wife that she would bring forth a son, Samson, to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines for the carrying out of God’s economy — Judg. 13.
We want to continue our fellowship concerning the humanity of Christ in the prophecy concerning the eternal economy of God. This chapter presents Christ appearing as a man four times in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament Christ was prophesied as a man, particularly in four cases. First, Christ, as a man in His humanity, visited His friend, Abraham (Gen. 18). Second, Christ, as a man in His humanity, wrestled with Jacob, a heel-holder (ch. 32). Third, Christ, as a man in His humanity, met Joshua, the general of God’s army, to fight not only for Israel but for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy (Josh. 5:13-15). Fourth, Christ, as a man in His humanity, came purposely to the wife of a common man by the name of Manoah to tell her that she would bring forth a son by the name of Samson to fight for Israel (Judg. 13). Samson would fight the Philistines, signifying a people between the world and religion, who greatly disrupted the carrying out of God’s economy on the earth. It is hard to find out the reason that Christ appeared as a man in these four cases. I want us to notice the following phrase, which is written four times in the outline of this chapter: for the carrying out of God’s economy. In order to carry out God’s economy, Christ needs to be a man.
God became Abraham’s friend. If God would have visited Abraham as God, this would have frightened Abraham. As God, He could not become friends with man. If God came as God to be friends with us, we would run away. In our crystallization-study of Song of Songs, we saw that God came as a “country man” in order to court a “country girl.” One day God came to visit Abraham, not as God but as a man.
Christ was Jehovah, but He came to Abraham as a man with two angels (Gen. 18:1-3, 9-14, 16-18, 22, 33; 19:1). Abraham might have wondered who this One was who came as a guest to his tent. He provided Him with water for foot-washing and asked his wife to prepare a meal for Him (18:4-8). As God, He would not have needed to wash His feet or to eat. He told Abraham that his wife Sarah would bring forth a son in the next year (vv. 9-15). At that time Abraham was about one hundred years old (Rom. 4:19), and Sarah’s age prevented her from bearing children. However, there was One who told Abraham that He would come back and that Sarah would have a son. Actually, the birth of the son would be His coming back (Gen. 18:10).
Considering that Abraham would become a great nation to be the kingdom of God on the earth for the carrying out of God’s economy, Christ told Abraham as His friend (James 2:23; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8) that He would judge the sinful Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-21). Abraham prayed to Jehovah for Sodom; actually, his prayer was for his nephew, Lot, who made his home in Sodom (vv. 22-33), and Jehovah answered him by rescuing Lot from the destruction of Sodom (19:1-29).
Genesis 32 reveals that Christ, who was God, wrestled as a man in His humanity with Jacob. This was during the time that Jacob was under the threatening that his elder brother Esau would come to destroy him on his way back to his father’s land from Haran, where he could not suffer his uncle Laban’s stripping any longer. At that time Christ came in His humanity to meet Jacob at the time of his need (vv. 1-24). Jacob probably realized that this man was God, so he would not let Him go unless He blessed him (v. 26). If God had remained only in His divinity, there would have been no possibility for a man to deal with God in this way. Jacob was so strong that he would not let God go. Realizing that He could not prevail against Jacob, Christ as God touched the socket of his hip so that the socket of his hip was dislocated (v. 25). From that day Jacob became a lame man.
God’s touching of the socket of Jacob’s hip transformed Jacob, a heel-holder, into Israel, the prince of God, for the carrying out of God’s economy (v. 28). Jacob wanted to be the first out of his mother’s womb, so he grasped Esau’s heel. He did not want Esau to be ahead of him. But the Lord transformed him into the prince of God, the meaning of the name Israel. Christ came to visit Abraham as a man in His humanity for the purpose of carrying out God’s economy. Later, Christ wrestled with Jacob as a man in His humanity in order that Jacob would become Israel, who was one of the three prominent forefathers of the people of Israel for the carrying out of God’s economy.
Christ, as a man in His humanity, met Joshua as the Captain of Jehovah’s army to fight for Israel for the carrying out of God’s economy (Josh. 5:13-15). Joshua was neither like Abraham, a common man, nor like Jacob, a cunning person. Joshua was a general, the commander of God’s army, fighting not only for Israel but also for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy.
Christ, who was the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself, came as a man in His humanity to tell Manoah’s wife that she would bring forth a son, Samson, to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy (Judg. 13).
Now we have to find out why Christ needed to be a man to visit Abraham, wrestle with Jacob, meet Joshua, and come to Manoah’s wife. The answer to this question brings us to the unique and deepest truth in the divine revelation of the Holy Scriptures. We need to answer the questions, Why is there a God, why is there a Bible, why does this unique God have an economy, which is revealed in this Bible, and why did God create the old creation with man as its center? The answer to these questions as the one truth is the deepest truth, and it is very hard to explain.
Acts 2:23 says that Christ was crucified, “delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God.” The Triune God in eternity past held a council to make a decision that the second among Them had to become a man for the purpose of visiting His chosen ones and making friends with them (Luke 7:34). When Nathanael saw Christ, he proclaimed that Christ was the Son of God, but Christ referred him to the Son of Man, saying, “You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Christ being a man in His humanity is for God to carry out His economy, and the goal of God’s economy is for the Triune God to be incorporated with man to be an incorporation. The New Jerusalem is the universal incorporation of God with man. For God to carry out His economy to have this incorporation, a constitution of God and man, man needs to be mingled with God. Without this, the universe means nothing. This truth is the unique truth in the universe. God needs man to match Him, to be united with Him, to be mingled with Him, to be incorporated into one incorporation with Him. The New Jerusalem will be the consummate incorporation of God and man. In eternity the New Jerusalem will stand to declare to the universe that this is God’s eternal goal for His expression and for His enlargement.
The sixty-six books of the Bible are very consistent, but to see what the Bible unveils requires light. Apparently, all the books are different, but in the unique truth the entire Bible is consistent. The Bible unveils to us that God’s economy is to have God and man incorporated into an incorporation. Without man, with whom could God be incorporated? Therefore, there is the need of man. The one Bible reveals to us only one thing. First, God wants to be united with man, to have a union with man. Then God wants to be mingled with man. Consummately, God wants to be incorporated with man to be an incorporation. This enlarged, divine-human, universal incorporation is God’s eternal goal, which is the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate union, mingling, and incorporation of God and man. I hope that we all can see this.
