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In this chapter we will add a supplementary explanation concerning the calling of Abraham. In the previous chapter we did not present all the spiritual significances related to Abraham. We mainly spoke of the matters that easily touch people’s feelings but omitted those matters that do not. The things that touch people’s feelings are usually shallow, minor, and light. In contrast, the things that do not easily touch people’s feelings are usually deep, great, and weighty. In the previous chapter we saw that God’s appearing and promise were the motive and strength of Abraham’s being called. Now we will consider how Abraham’s being called is related to God’s eternal purpose.
God calls man for His eternal purpose. There are two aspects of God’s eternal purpose: God wants man to have His image for His expression, and He wants man to have His dominion to rule for Him. Image is related to God’s glory, because image is for the expression of God. God expressed is glory. Dominion is a matter of the kingdom.
This is confirmed in our experience. When we heard the gospel, repented, and believed in the Lord, we received the life of God. This life will work and grow in us until we bear the full image of God and thus express the glory of God (2 Cor. 3:18). That is also the time when God will fully reign over us.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 image and glory are joined together. This verse says, “Being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Image and glory are also joined in Romans 8:29 and 30, which say, “Those whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son,” and “these He also glorified.” Our conformation to the image of God’s Son is our glorification and also God’s full glorification. Philippians 3:21 says that the Lord Jesus “will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.” Hebrews 2:10 says that God is “leading many sons into glory.” These verses show that in the Bible image and glory go together. The divine life grows into God’s image, and this image issues in glory. This is an important line in the Bible.
Another line in the Bible concerns God’s dominion. In the Bible dominion is always related to life. A good example is Aaron’s budding rod (Num. 17:1-11). A rod represents authority, but budding symbolizes life. This indicates that authority comes out of life, just as image comes out of life. Revelation 22 speaks of a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (v. 1). The throne is where God’s authority lies, and the river of water of life signifies the flowing of God’s life. This indicates that wherever the throne of God is, there is the flowing out of life. In the same principle, a person who allows God’s life to flow through him has authority.
Aaron’s budding rod also shows that authority comes out of resurrection. Only resurrection life can bring in authority. Are we reigning? If we live in the resurrection life, we will have the authority to reign as kings. Although the reigning spoken of in the Bible refers to our reigning in the coming kingdom (20:4), we can have a foretaste of the powers of the kingdom (Heb. 6:5). If we allow the Lord’s resurrection life to have ground in us, this life will lead us to reign for Him on the earth. Therefore, in the church whoever allows the life of God to pass through him and lives in resurrection has authority. Only this authority can produce the kingdom.
The focus of God’s salvation is for us to have God’s life. On one hand, God’s life is growing in us daily until it is formed in us, and we enter into glory (Col. 1:27; Gal. 4:19; Heb. 2:10). On the other hand, this resurrection life will issue in authority. Revelation 20:6 says, “Blessed...is he who has part in the first resurrection;...they...will reign with Him [Christ] for a thousand years.” The thousand years refer to the kingdom. In the beginning Adam’s life was the highest among the things created by God, because Adam was created according to God’s image. God wanted Adam to look like Him for the expression of His glory. God also wanted Adam to exercise His dominion in order to bring in His kingdom. However, the first man, Adam, fell. As a result, God’s purpose could not be fulfilled in him. Therefore, God came in the flesh as the second man, who accomplished redemption for the release of His resurrection life (John 12:24) and the bringing in of God’s authority (Matt. 28:18-20). Thus, God’s original purpose with man was recovered. For the fulfillment of God’s purpose, the Lord taught us to pray to the Father: “Your kingdom come” (6:10). There must be the kingdom for the exercise of God’s dominion and the expression of His glory.
God’s work throughout the generations is to have a kingdom on the earth for the exercising of His dominion and the expression of His glory. This is God’s eternal purpose, which He planned in eternity past and will obtain in eternity future. This glorious purpose is hidden deep in the Bible. However, people’s feelings are not easily touched by God’s eternal purpose. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is an explanation of God’s purpose. In the beginning of Genesis there are God’s image and dominion (1:26-28). At the end of Revelation there is a city, New Jerusalem, which concerns God’s image and dominion. The New Jerusalem has the glory of God, and her light is like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal (21:11). This is to have God’s image for His expression. Furthermore, in the New Jerusalem is the throne of God and of the Lamb, and here His slaves will serve Him and reign with Him forever and ever (22:3, 5). This is to have God’s dominion to represent God. Thus, Genesis unveils God’s purpose in His intention, and Revelation shows the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
However, between the unveiling and the fulfilling of God’s purpose, man fell. Man did not fall once; he fell repeatedly. Man fell to the extent of annulling God’s image. Eventually, mankind built the tower of Babel to overthrow God’s right and authority, that is, to reject God’s dominion. Hence, God had no choice but to give up created man and call Abraham. God’s intention in calling Abraham was hidden in the promise that He gave to Abraham. We will now consider God’s promise to Abraham.
God’s first promise to Abraham is in Genesis 12:2. The first part of this verse says, “I will make of you a great nation, / And I will bless you.” The first item in God’s promise to Abraham is a nation, and the second item is the blessing. These are the main items of the promise that Abraham received. The middle part of verse 2 says, “And make your name great.” This is related to the kingdom. The last part of verse 2 and verse 3 say, “And you shall be a blessing. / And I will bless those who bless you, / And him who curses you I will curse; / And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” These items are related to the blessing. After Abraham came to Shechem in the land of Canaan, God appeared to him again and said, “To your seed I will give this land” (v. 7). Here God spoke of the land and the seed. However, both the land and the seed are related to the nation and the blessing. The land is the territory of a nation, and the seed inherits the nation and the blessing of the promise.
After Lot separated from Abraham, Jehovah told Abraham to lift up his eyes and look northward, southward, eastward, and westward from the place where he was. Then God said, “All the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever” (13:14-15). Here God’s promise to Abraham is still concerning the land and the seed. Later, when God mentioned the promise, the content was always the land and the seed (15:1-21), both of which are related to the kingdom and the blessing. Therefore, the kingdom and the blessing are the two main items in God’s promise. We can see later in the books of history in the Old Testament that the people of Israel, as sons of Abraham, became the nation of Israel in the land of Canaan, the land that God promised to Abraham. Hence, the two most crucial items in God’s promise to Abraham are the nation and the blessing.
The nation concerns dominion, and the blessing concerns image. It is easy to understand the relationship between nation and dominion. But what is the relationship between blessing and image? What is the greatest blessing in the Bible? Is it to have many children and grandchildren or to have farmlands and houses? No, it is man’s natural concept that these are blessings. What the Bible says concerning the blessing is wonderful. In Galatians 3:1-5 the Spirit is mentioned a number of times. Here, Paul tells the Galatians that they received the Spirit out of the hearing of faith. Verse 8 says, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles out of faith, announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham: ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” These verses reveal that the Spirit is the blessing spoken of in the Bible.
Verse 9 says, “They who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” In verse 2 Paul says, “This only I wish to learn from you, Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” The gospel was preached to Abraham a long time ago. Now all who have believed as Abraham did are blessed with Abraham, who had faith. To be blessed is to receive the Spirit. After the Spirit enters into the believers, He first regenerates them so that they may have the life of God. Then the life of God can grow and be formed in them daily. Eventually, we will express the glory of God. This is the blessing promised by God to Abraham. Hence, the blessing is related to image.
Both the nation and the blessing promised by God to Abraham are related to the seed. Abraham needed a son in order to receive the nation and the blessing promised by God. However, the crucial point is whether this son would be someone already with Abraham or someone Abraham could produce out of himself or someone God would produce. According to Genesis, this son could not be Eliezer, who was already with Abraham (15:2-4), nor could this son be Ishmael, someone Abraham could produce out of himself (16:15; 17:18-19; 21:10-12). If the son were either Eliezer or Ishmael, it would not be a matter of grace.
In verse 14 of chapter 18 Jehovah said to Abraham, “Is anything too marvelous for Jehovah? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” This shows that when God came, Isaac was born. This is grace. Isaac’s birth was for the fulfillment of the nation and the blessing promised by God, that is, the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. Therefore, the bringing forth of Isaac had to be accomplished by God.
We should not think that the God who sits on the throne could not exercise His power to cause Sarah to bring forth Isaac. But this was not His way. He said, “I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” When I read this verse, I am amazed that the birth of Isaac is linked to God’s coming; it is related to the principle of God becoming flesh. Based on this principle, Isaac symbolizes not only Christ but also the many sons of God, that is, all the believers in Christ. The work of bringing forth Christ and the believers in Christ cannot be accomplished by man; it cannot be according to what man has or can do. This work can be accomplished only by God’s coming. Only when God enters into us to be our life, can His work be accomplished. This is the grace revealed in the Bible.
The clearest unveiling of grace in the Bible is found in John 1. Verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality,” and verse 17 says, “Grace...came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is God; He is the Word who became flesh, coming to be grace. Before His incarnation, God created the sun, the air, and prepared the earth for man to live in, but these things are not grace. Before the Word became flesh, whatever God did for man was God’s care, not grace. Grace is God Himself. God became the man Jesus Christ in order to be man’s life and power. This means that God enters into man in order to accomplish His plan and fulfill His purpose. This is grace.
We cannot find a verse in the Bible that says God’s outward care for us is grace. The Bible, however, repeatedly reveals that grace is Christ entering into us, God giving His life to us. Hence, grace is God entering into us to be everything to us. We cannot fulfill the things pertaining to God’s eternal purpose with His image and kingdom. Only by God entering into us, His passing through us, can the things pertaining to His eternal purpose be fulfilled. For this reason, God rejected Eliezer and Ishmael. Abraham already possessed Eliezer, and Abraham produced Ishmael by himself. Hence, both were rejected by God. God accepted only Isaac, who was not what Abraham already possessed or could produce by himself but was produced by God’s coming. This clearly shows that only God is grace; only God can accomplish His plan and purpose.
If we are enlightened, we will realize that everything we do must measure up to God’s standard, which is to produce Isaacs. God is working to conform many people to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) and to lead many sons into glory (Heb. 2:10). If God can gain many sons, He will gain the kingdom, and His image will be expressed. If God cannot gain many sons, there will be no kingdom of God, and there will be no one to inherit His promised blessing. Those who inherit the promised blessing are citizens of the kingdom of God, the many sons of God. Originally there was only one Isaac, but later there will be millions of Isaacs as God’s promised kingdom. We all are Isaacs, and our work is to produce more Isaacs. Therefore, we must understand that God’s promise to Abraham is the gospel that He preached to us. What Abraham heard was the promise, but what we hear is the gospel. The promise and the gospel concern the kingdom and the blessing. The kingdom is related to dominion, and the blessing is related to image. The kingdom and the blessing are obtained through life.
Abraham received the same thing that we have received. The only difference may be that Abraham received a promise, but we have received a fact. The promise and the fact may both be considered the one gospel. With Abraham this gospel had not yet been fulfilled, so it was a promise. With us this gospel has been fulfilled; hence, it is no longer a promise but a fact. The promise that Abraham received could be realized only by the bringing forth of Isaac. The gospel we receive also needs the bringing forth of Isaac not only in others but also in us. We can bring forth Isaac only with God’s coming. When the Son of God grows and is formed in us, we can bring forth Isaac. This results in the producing of the kingdom and the inheriting of God’s promised blessing.
The descendants of Abraham eventually became the nation of Israel. They built the temple in the land that God promised Abraham. According to 1 Kings 8, when the temple was completed, the priests brought the Ark into the Holy of Holies, and the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah (vv. 1-11). Thus, God was expressed in the midst of the people of Israel. God’s glory was expressed on the earth, and His dominion was also exercised among the people of Israel. God’s eternal purpose was thus fulfilled. However, this was only a miniature. The ultimate and full accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose will be in the new heaven and new earth. Until then, in the present age, God will deal with us as He dealt with His called one, Abraham. God dealt with Abraham by giving him a promise. God deals with us by giving us the gospel. Just as with Abraham, God’s purpose can be fulfilled with us only through His coming as grace. Our preaching the gospel and establishing churches cannot be accomplished by what we already have or by what we can do. Everything must be done by the God of grace.
God’s eternal purpose is not fulfilled with the created race but with the called race. God’s purpose is fulfilled when the called ones put aside all that they have and can do and allow God to operate, to pass through them, and to bring forth Isaac, a son. When Christ was brought forth, the kingdom was brought in, and the blessing also came. There were dominion and image. Therefore, this was accomplished by God.
Before Genesis 15 God had not let Abraham learn the lesson of knowing grace. Abraham had learned only a little of the lesson of faith. He was not yet ready to learn the lesson of participating in God’s eternal purpose. Abraham’s being fed and kept warm had no direct relationship with God’s eternal purpose. Even his pitching a tent and building an altar had no direct relationship with God’s eternal purpose. These things were related to Abraham’s earthly life. They were not directly related to God’s eternal purpose; that is, they were not related to the promise God gave Abraham. Abraham built an altar on which to offer sacrifices because he lived for God on the earth, and he lived in a tent because his living was an anti-testimony to the city of Babel. Building an altar and pitching a tent, however, were not directly involved with God’s eternal plan.
Beginning with chapter 15, Genesis does not mention Abraham’s personal living but rather speaks of matters related to God’s eternal purpose, that is, how God’s purpose was fulfilled in Abraham. These matters are related to how Abraham fulfilled the purpose of God’s promise. The birth of Isaac is the central issue for the fulfilling of God’s purpose. But the birth of Isaac could be realized only by God’s coming. Isaac could not be produced by what Abraham possessed or could do. God’s grace had to reach Abraham in order to produce Isaac. Hence, after chapter 15 Abraham learned the lesson of knowing grace.
Concerning grace, we must be clear that grace is not directly related to our existence. In fact, the verses in the Bible concerning grace are not related to living. Grace is related to the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose. For example, having a nice house to live in is not a matter of grace. Strictly speaking, it is God’s care. Grace is God Himself entering into us to be everything to us. The forgiveness of sins is related to grace, but it is not grace itself. Likewise, healing and satisfactory circumstances cannot be counted as grace. The things that can be counted as grace are related to God’s eternal plan.
A person who eats all sorts of delicacies and lives in a beautiful Western-style house may say that he has received grace from God. If this is the case, Paul must have been short of grace, because he often fasted due to poverty and was in hunger and thirst and in nakedness (2 Cor. 11:27). However, Paul received more grace than the others. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he says, “I labored more abundantly than all of them [the apostles].” This means that Paul labored more abundantly than the other apostles in producing sons of God. Then he says, “Yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.” This verse echoes Galatians 2:20, which says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” According to the natural perspective and concept of enjoying peace and prosperity, Paul was extremely poor and was often in hardships and afflictions. Nevertheless, he received the most grace.
In God’s eyes all believers are Abrahams. The promise that God gave to Abraham in the Old Testament has been given to us as the gospel. The question is: How can we accomplish the purpose of God’s promise, His eternal purpose? God did not need what Abraham had or could do, and He does not need what we have or can do. Just as Abraham needed God’s coming for the bringing forth of Isaac, we also need God’s coming for the producing of the Son and for His growth in us. This is the only way for the kingdom of God to come, the image of God to be expressed, and God’s promised purpose and eternal will to be accomplished.
Everything depends on grace. When God comes, Isaac is born. For the accomplishing of God’s will, we must not depend on what we have or trust in what we can do, but we must learn to allow God to be everything to us. God is already in us. May He pass through us for the accomplishing of the purpose of His calling us so that we may express His image and bring in His dominion. This is revealed in Abraham’s being called.
Now we will consider the process of Abraham’s being called. There were two steps in God’s calling. The first step was from Ur, and the second was from Haran.
The first step of Abraham’s being called was his leaving Ur of Chaldea and going to Haran. The Bible says that Abraham was weak in taking action. Abraham, his wife, his father, his nephew, and his father’s house were dwelling in Ur. One day the God of glory appeared to Abraham and called him to leave his land and his relatives (Acts 7:2-3). Abraham was called to leave the land and his relatives. The land refers to Babel, that is, Ur. His relatives included his father’s house. However, the Bible does not say that Abraham came out of Ur; rather, it says that Terah brought Abraham out of Ur (Gen. 11:31). This is proof that Abraham did not have the strength or the courage to go out. It was his father who brought Abraham out, because he was probably waiting for his father. Sometimes, although we have been called, we cannot forsake our loved ones or our family. We often wait for their consent before we answer God’s calling. This may have been Abraham’s situation.
Each of the two steps of the process of Abraham’s being called involved a death. After a death, he took a step, and after another death, he took another step. Genesis 11:28 says, “Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.” Also, verse 30 says that Abraham’s wife was barren. These circumstances caused Terah to love his son Abraham and his grandson Lot. Terah took Abraham his son, Lot his grandson, and Sarah his daughter-in-law from Ur to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, which was halfway, they settled there (v. 31). The name Terah means “to tarry,” “to delay.” Abraham walked slowly because he was delayed by Terah. The name Haran means “dry.” When they settled in Haran, they became dry and were without God’s presence.
“Terah” and “Haran” are the two results of being considerate of our loved ones. Whenever we disobey God’s calling, putting His calling aside to take care of our loved ones, we will be delayed and become dry. In the first step Abraham left his relatives but did not leave his father’s house. He left Ur but did not go to Canaan. In both aspects of God’s call Abraham obeyed only halfway. However, God would not allow Abraham to stop at Haran. Therefore, his father died soon afterwards (v. 32). Then Abraham began to take the second step.
Both of the steps of Abraham’s departure began with a death because he was not willing to obey. God called him again and again, but he was not willing to obey. Because Abraham was not willing to leave his father, God caused his delaying father to die. After his father died, God spoke to Abraham again, saying, “Go from your land / And from your relatives / And from your father’s house / To the land that I will show you” (12:1). Abraham had been dragging his feet because he was not willing to follow God. This time God indicated clearly that he had to leave his father’s house, but when Abraham came out of Haran, he brought his nephew Lot along. Lot was a member of his father’s house. It may have been right to bring a relative to receive grace. However, since God told Abraham to go from his land, from his relatives, and from his father’s house, he should have left Lot behind. Many of the problems that Abraham encountered in the following days were because of Lot. Likewise, the problems we encounter while following the Lord are often caused by the persons, matters, and events that were not thoroughly dealt with from the first day of our calling.
Eventually, Abraham arrived at Canaan (vv. 4-6). Both steps of God’s calling were assisted by deaths: the death of Haran, Abraham’s brother, and the death of Terah, Abraham’s father. It took two callings and two disciplinings in his environment for Abraham to be brought to Canaan. When he entered Canaan, the process of his being called was completed. He became a genuine called one.
