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Scripture Reading: Gen. 25:5-6, 11a; 26:1-5, 23-24
God is not after just Abraham. He is after a corporate vessel. He is after the descendants of Abraham, the church, who will fulfill His purpose. Abraham's history includes both his own experience and the necessary experience of every vessel of God. Abraham was not just an individual; he was the father of those who are of faith (Gal. 3:7). Just as he had to go through these experiences, all those who are of faith must go through the same experiences. In reading the history of Abraham, we have to realize that it is not only a description of Abraham's experience in being dealt with by the Lord, but it is also a description of the standard by which God deals with all of His people. Abraham's experience is God's requirement on every believer. If we do not meet this requirement, we cannot satisfy God's heart, and we cannot reach His goal.
God wants us to be His vessels for the fulfillment of His own plan; He wants us to have a part in His recovery work. Abraham's experiences were wonderful, and the dealings he received were precious. In the beginning he was an ordinary person, but God brought him through many experiences until one day he became a shining and glowing person in Genesis 22. Here a question arises. Why do some of us still not shine even though we have been Christians for many years? If Abraham is the standard of God's people, how can we reach that standard? How can we allow God to accomplish in us what He accomplished in Abraham? God gained a vessel in Abraham. Will He gain a vessel in us? This is the question before us.
The Bible tells us that God is not only called the God of Abraham, but also the God of Isaac. After this, He is also called the God of Jacob. As far as God's goal is concerned, Abraham was complete in himself. But as far as God's work is concerned, he was not complete. God needed Isaac and Jacob before there could be the completion. This is a very important principle in the Bible. In order for God to gain a person, he must know God as the Father, even as Abraham knew Him as the Father. He must be delivered from the work of the flesh like Abraham was delivered. He must also know God as the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. A person must know the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob before he can gain what Abraham gained. God's purpose rested entirely on Abraham, and whatever was given to Isaac had been given to Abraham already. Isaac did not go beyond Abraham, and Jacob did not travel further than Abraham. If Abraham touched the peak, why was he not able to inherit a kingdom immediately? He could not because there was still the need of supplementary experiences. There was still the need of Isaac and Jacob to be added to Abraham before God could gain what He intended to gain in Abraham. In other words, we need the experience of Abraham, and we need the experience of Isaac and the experience of Jacob as well. Abraham is a standard for us. But between Abraham and the nation of Israel, there was still Isaac and Jacob. God could not jump over Isaac and Jacob and go directly to the nation of Israel. There first had to be the experiences of the God that Isaac knew and the God that Jacob knew, before there could be the nation of Israel and before there could be the corporate experience. God is after a corporate vessel. In order to be a corporate vessel, one has to know God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. We have to remember God's word continually: "I am...the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exo. 3:6). As soon as God was called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the nation of Israel appeared. This is revealed in the book of Exodus. Once this point is reached, God has His corporate vessel. Now let us consider the meaning of the God of Isaac.
We have seen the meaning of the God of Abraham. Abraham himself was a father. On the one hand, God led him to realize that He is the Father. On the other hand, He made Abraham a father. Abraham's original name was Abram, which means "father." Later he was called Abraham, which also means "father," but in a more superlative form; it means the father of many nations. Abraham knew God as the Father, and as a result, he also became a father. He was a father in every sense of the word. As far as God's recovery work is concerned, Abraham was the initiator, and as such he was the father. As far as God's selection is concerned, he was the first to be chosen as one of God's people, and therefore, he was also the father. As far as his acts were concerned, he was the first one to cross the river, and therefore, he was also a father. For two thousand years after Adam, who among all men was a Hebrew? Who did God call to leave his country, kindred, and father's house to go into Canaan? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who communicated with God and who was so intimate with God that he was called a friend of God? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who begot a child after passing the age of child begetting? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who had a son when he was a hundred years old, and who later offered the son as a sacrifice? Abraham was the first. We see from the Bible that many things were first done by Abraham. Indeed, Abraham is the father.
Now that we have seen Abraham as the father, we have to go on to see Isaac as the son. No one's history depicts the Lord Jesus as the Son as much as Isaac's history. Isaac's birth was not according to the flesh but according to God's promise. The first two chapters of Matthew in the New Testament correspond with Genesis in the Old Testament. There was only one person in the New Testament who was not born according to the flesh, and there was only one person in the Old Testament who was not born according to the flesh. Not only was the Lord Jesus born apart from the flesh, but He was an only begotten Son, One who was the beloved of His Father. He was placed on the altar and received back from the altar as the One who had come back from the dead (Heb. 11:19). He is the Son whom God loves, who died and resurrected. His Father also sent a servant to His own country and own kindred to find a wife for Him. Those who study the Bible carefully know that this is the Holy Spirit seeking out the church for Christ. The church is according to the Lord's will; it is begotten of God and belongs to the same household of the Lord Jesus. Isaac and Rebekah were of the same household. God's children, the church, are begotten of God in the same way that the Lord Jesus was begotten of God.
Abraham left Canaan once to go into Egypt, and Jacob spent his entire old age in Egypt. But Isaac was born in Canaan and died in Canaan; he never left Canaan. This is the Son, who was born in Canaan, raised up in Canaan, and died in Canaan. The Son is the One who "descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven" (John 3:13). He is "the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father" (1:18). When He was on earth, He expressed the Father, yet He never left the bosom of the Father. Hence, in typology, Isaac is the best figure of the Son.
According to typology, Isaac indeed typified the Son. But what kind of experiences did Isaac have? We can say that Isaac's experiences were all very common. Unlike Abraham, who did many things which had never been done before, Isaac only did what others had already accomplished. Abraham was truly the father, while Isaac was truly the son. In Genesis 21 Ishmael was mocking on the day Isaac was weaned, but we do not see any record of what Isaac did when he was young. When Abraham put the wood for the burnt offering on him, he did not say a word. When Abraham bound him and laid him on the altar upon the wood, he did not say anything either. He went wherever his father told him to go and did not say anything. At such a critical moment, he only said, "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (22:7). In Genesis 23 his mother died, and in chapter twenty-four his father found a wife for him. He did not make any decisions, and he did not do anything for himself. He had nothing of his own. When he was sixty years old, he had two sons, which was not unusual, because Abraham also had two sons. God commanded Abraham to cast out the first son and put the second son on the altar, but He did not command Isaac to do this. Although God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Mal. 1:2-3), He did not ask Isaac to do anything. Abraham experienced a famine in Canaan, and Isaac also experienced a famine in Canaan (Gen. 12:10; 26:1). When the famine came, Abraham went down to Egypt. While he was there he told others that his wife was his sister. In the end he was rebuked by Pharaoh (12:18-19). Although Isaac did not go down to Egypt when the famine came, he went down to Gerar. He also said that his wife was his sister. In the end he was rebuked by Abimelech (26:9-10). Later, Isaac dug some wells, but the wells that he dug were those that his father had dug when he was alive. After his father died, the Philistines covered up the wells, and Isaac opened them up again. He called them by the same name that his father had called them (v. 18). After he died, he was buried in his father's grave. Even his grave was prepared by his father (49:30-31). This is the history of Isaac.
We have to learn the lesson of knowing God as the Son from these experiences. Not only do we have to know God as the Father, but we have to know Christ as the Son. What is the meaning of God as the Son? It means that everything is received and nothing is initiated by Him. In Abraham we see God's purpose. In Isaac we see God's power. In Abraham we see the standard which God requires of His people. In Isaac we see the life which enables God's people to reach that standard. Many Christians have one basic problem: They only see God's purpose but do not see God's provisions. They see God's standard but do not see God's life. They see God's demands, but do not see the power that meets these demands. This is why we have to consider Isaac as well as Abraham.
We have to pay attention to two things in Isaac's life. The first is Isaac's relationship with Abraham, and the second is Isaac's relationship with God.
Genesis 24:36 says, "And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath." This son was Isaac. Isaac means that we do not do anything ourselves or seek for anything ourselves. Isaac is the enjoyment of everything of Abraham. Everything is from the father. "Unto him hath he given all that he hath."
Read 25:5 again. "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac." Isaac received nothing and acquired nothing through his own efforts. His prosperity had nothing to do with himself; it was from God. The Bible shows us that Isaac's characteristic was to inherit. Everything he had was from his father. He did not have to do anything. His father came to Canaan; he was born in Canaan. He did not have to worry about anything.
Isaac's relationship with Abraham was one of receiving. What was Isaac's relationship with God? Genesis 26:2-3 says, "And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries." If we stopped here, we would think that God had established a direct relationship with Isaac and had made a covenant with him. But then God clearly said, "And I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father." God did not bless Isaac because of himself, but because of his father Abraham. God's oath was given to Isaac's father. Now God was blessing Isaac as a confirmation of the covenant. Verse 4 says, "And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." God had spoken these words to Abraham (22:17-18). He did not give anything new to Isaac. He gave to Isaac what He had already given to Abraham. How could all the nations of the earth be blessed? Genesis 26:5 says "Because that Abraham"; it was not because of Isaac but because of Abraham. God says that He is first the God of Abraham and then the God of Isaac. Genesis 26:24 says, "And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father." This is the relationship between God and Isaac. Then God said, "Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." God's Word shows us clearly that Isaac's relationship with God was based on Abraham's relationship with God. God blessed Isaac because he was the son of Abraham. God was the God of Abraham his father. Therefore, He blessed Isaac.
From these two relationships, we can see Isaac's characteristics. Throughout his entire life, everything he had was a matter of enjoyment and receiving. What does it mean to know the God of Isaac? Knowing the God of Isaac means only one thing: knowing God as the Supplier and that everything comes from Him. If we want to know the Father, we have to know the Son. In order to know the God of Abraham, we have to know the God of Isaac. We are helpless if we only know the God of Abraham because He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). But thank the Lord that He is also the God of Isaac. This means that everything that Abraham had was Isaac's. It also means that everything comes by receiving.
If a Christian does not know the God of Isaac, he cannot go on. If a Christian does not know the meaning of Isaac, he cannot reach God's goal. In other words, if we do not know how to receive, we will never reach God's goal. Those who do not know Isaac can live only under Mount Sinai. Those who do not know Isaac in life and do not express Isaac in living possess nothing but the law. When God has a demand, they try to do it according to themselves. When God wants something, they try to offer it according to themselves. This is not Isaac. This kind of Christian eventually can only sigh and say, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not" (Rom. 7:18). The person in Romans 7 was willing to do good; he was very desirous of being good. But he himself was doing the work; he did not see that God must deliver him. He did not see that everything is in Christ, and he did not see the riches God has prepared in Christ. He did not see the inheritance in Isaac. He did not realize that the secret to victory is in receiving. He did not realize that Christians are Christians by virtue of who they are; they do not act out the Christian life. He did not see that God delivers a person by giving him the law of life. Therefore, he could only exercise his will.
The problem with God's children is that they realize God's demand on Abraham, but they do not see the way to meet this demand. After God's children see His goal, they think that they should do something to attain the goal. They do not realize that the Christian life, the overcoming life of freedom and sanctification, is obtained and not attained. The principle of Isaac is that everything is received. Salvation is something that the Lord Jesus has accomplished. Once we receive it, we are saved. Salvation does not involve a race to climb up the heavenly ladder, in which there is no assurance until one has struggled tortuously to the top rung. Salvation is not acquired in heaven; rather, God sends it to us from heaven. The same is true with victory. We do not have to strive for victory day after day. We do not overcome our sins by possessing an extraordinarily strong will. Just as salvation is received, victory is received. There is no need to do anything by ourselves; all that we have to do is receive. Once we see and receive, we can say, "Lord, I thank and praise You because I have received all in Christ!"
Second Peter 1:4 is a very precious verse: "Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust." We do not know how many Christians have noticed the words "having escaped." How wonderful these words are! Many Christians say, "I wish I could escape." But God says, "Having escaped." He does not ask us to escape, nor did He say that He will work to the extent that we can escape. He says, "Having escaped!" Having escaped means that the escaping is done. All that we have to do is receive. This is Isaac.
The meaning of Isaac is that God does the work and we receive the work. We do not crave, pursue, or hope over and over again. Rather, we sit down and reap the fruit. There is no need for us to worry about anything, because we are the sons and we are already "in." Since we are the sons, we are also the heirs and are qualified to inherit the possession of the family. Since we are Isaac, we can enjoy. This is all God's grace.
However, what do many Christians do? They try to force themselves to do what they cannot do. There are things that they do not want to do, but they realize that God wants them to do these things. Therefore, they force themselves to do these things. Or they want to do something, and they know that God does not want them to do it. Therefore, they force themselves not to do it. They are Christians by their "doings"! This is absolutely wrong. This is not Isaac, because there is no enjoyment.
The proper way is to do things by the life that God has given us in Christ. This life spontaneously does what God wants us to do; it does not force us to do anything. At the same time, this life turns away from things that God does not want us to do. As a result, we do not have to force ourselves to turn away from certain things. We can turn away from them spontaneously. Whether we do certain things or do not do certain things, everything is spontaneous. There is no need to force ourselves to do anything. This is Isaac. God has a provision, and we should put ourselves under this provision. This is being an Isaac. When Abraham was about to offer up Isaac to God, Isaac only asked one question: "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" This was his only question. But his father answered, "God will provide himself." This is the characteristic of Isaac; his characteristic is to enjoy God's provision.
What then is the meaning of the God of Isaac? The God of Isaac means that all of God's demands, expectations, and standards which He set forth in Abraham are fulfilled by God alone. In Abraham we see God's purpose, and in Isaac we see the operation of God's life. God's demands and standards are seen in Abraham, while God's provision and storehouse are found in Isaac.
The God of Abraham speaks of God setting up a standard for the vessel. The God of Isaac speaks of the fact that all the life and power one needs to become such a vessel and reach such a standard come from the Son of God. Isaac is the son, and the son inherits everything from the father. There is no need for a son to strive with his own strength. We will not reach God's goal just by knowing the God of Abraham. In order to reach God's goal, we have to learn to know the God of Isaac. But we cannot stop there. We also should know the God of Jacob. It is not enough just to have Abraham, and it is not enough just to add Isaac; Jacob must also be added.
Jacob was a crafty and deceitful person. Yet he met God. God's work in Isaac was a supplying work, while His work in Jacob was a smiting and disciplining work. These two kinds of work are different. God was always supplying Isaac, while He was always stripping Jacob. Isaac continually received grace before the Lord, while Jacob was continually chastised by the Lord. In other words, in Isaac we see God supplying Christ to us, while in Jacob we see the Holy Spirit disciplining us. Isaac shows us the meaning of the enjoyment of the overcoming life, while Jacob shows us the meaning of the dealing of the natural life. Isaac shows us the riches of the resurrection life of Christ which God has given to His children, while Jacob shows us how God deals with the natural life, the soulish life, and the fleshly energy until one day the root is cut off, and the hollow of the thigh is touched. God will not stop working on us until we realize that it is spiritually useless to do anything according to our planning, our wisdom, and our strength. God wants to teach us one deep lesson, which is to remove our self. In other words, the God of Jacob completes the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is for the God of Isaac. The life that God has given us is bound by our natural life and cannot be free. Therefore, God needs to deal with the natural life step by step. A Christian must be dealt with by God to the extent that others see a mortal blow in him. Unfortunately, some Christians have been dealt with by God tens and even hundreds of times, yet they have not received a mortal blow. Only a mortal blow will subdue Jacob and stop him from his scheming, planning, energy, and activity. Once the activity of the natural life ceases, the life that God gives us will be liberated. If we want to see everything that is in Christ being perfected in us, we must make sure that nothing in us comes from the natural life. We must cease from everything that is natural before Christ can be fully manifested in us.
What kinds of experiences should we Christians seek? We need a vision before God like Abraham had, we need a life like Isaac had, and we need the discipline of the Holy Spirit like Jacob had. These are the three specific experiences that we should pursue. We should never think that one of them is good enough. We must have all three experiences before we can become valuable in the eyes of the Lord. We must have a vision that sees what God is after. We must have a vision that sees that everything is of Him and that He is the Father. At the same time, we must know the life of Christ and know that His grace is our strength. If we live by the flesh, we will not reach God's goal. His work, not ours, will make us His vessel. After we have seen the life of Christ, we may still be ignorant of our flesh. Consequently, it is easy for us to replace the life of Christ with our natural strength and take the grace of the Lord to glorify ourselves and use it as our boast and our pride. This is why we need the discipline, like that which Jacob experienced.
When we have the vision, we see what God is doing. When we have the life, the overcoming life, we can praise and have the confidence to overcome. But there is still another aspect; God has to deal with us. If we know the God of Isaac, we will have the confidence to say, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ" (2 Cor. 2:14). "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. 8:35). However, we still need to know the God of Jacob. God's dealings with Jacob tell us that it is still possible for us to fail. We cannot guarantee our trustworthiness. If the Lord does not protect us, we can become weak and fallen at any time. In Isaac we know Christ. In Jacob we know ourselves. Because we know Christ, we have confidence, and because we know ourselves, we lose our own confidence. When these two combine together, we will fully live Christ.
Some people have seen that God is the Father, that He is everything, and that everything is of Him. Yet they still try to deal with themselves, suppress themselves, and restrict themselves by their own effort. While they are doing these things, there is nothing within them to positively support them. As a result, they go through much suffering only to find that they have not yet attained. This is not the spiritual way. Other people have seen that Christ is life. They have received Christ and the overcoming life. But they forget that their natural life still exists. They have not seen that their natural life needs to be dealt with just as their sins needed to be dealt with. As a result, they mistakenly regard things that pertain to the natural life as manifestations of the overcoming life. Again, this is not the spiritual way. It is not enough just to realize that Christ is the overcoming life. We must also see the natural life.
In order for us to be God's people, to be His vessel, to maintain His testimony, and to reach His goal, we have to know God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. All three experiences are necessary. Having just one or two is not enough. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see the vision of His demands. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see His work in Christ and that Christ is our life. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see that He has to touch our natural life and break its strength. If we see these three things, we will go forward. I repeat that these three things are specific experiences. Just as God revealed Himself to Abraham and became the God of Abraham, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. Just as He revealed Himself to Isaac and became the God of Isaac, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. Just as He revealed Himself to Jacob and became the God of Jacob, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. We must know God in these three aspects. We have to know the meaning of God being the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. We must have these three experiences before we can go on in a proper way.
