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Beginning with this chapter we will consider Abraham’s third experience, knowing grace. The first experience of a called one is being called, and the second experience is learning to not trust in himself for his living but in God. This is a living by faith. This is confirmed in our experience. From the day we are saved, the lessons and experiences that God leads us to learn are according to the steps of first being called and then living by faith. Like Abraham, when we come to know that God is the Possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:22) and that He bears all our responsibilities, we are learning the lesson of living by faith. At this time God will lead us to experience the third lesson, knowing grace.
What does the Bible say concerning grace? According to the divine revelation, the Old Testament belongs to the age of law, and the New Testament belongs to the age of grace. These two ages have two great items respectively: law and grace. The principle of the law is that everything is done by man’s strength and effort. In other words, everything is fulfilled and done by man and is worked out by his own effort. The principle of grace is that everything is done and fulfilled by God; everything is of God’s power and His life, that is, of God Himself. The highest definition of grace in the Scriptures is that God and His life enter into man to be man’s life and strength. In other words, God and His life have been gained by us to be the strength for our life and walk. This is grace. To know grace is to know that there is no need for us to do or fulfill anything; there is no need for our strength or effort, because God does everything, fulfills everything, and is responsible for everything.
In Genesis 12 the central item of God’s promise to Abraham was that Abraham would have a seed (v. 7). God said to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation” (v. 2). In order to form a nation, there is the need of people to be its citizens. God also promised Abraham that he would be the father of a multitude of nations (17:4-5). In order to be a father, there is the need for a seed, for descendants. Therefore, the central item of God’s promise to Abraham lies in the seed.
But who would fulfill this promise concerning the seed? Would it be Abraham or God? If Abraham were to fulfill it, it would be of the law, not of grace. But if God were to fulfill it, it would be grace. Genesis shows that God’s promise to Abraham was grace, for God Himself would fulfill it. Therefore, from chapter 15 onward, God led Abraham to know grace. In other words, God wanted Abraham to know that His promise did not need Abraham’s strength for its fulfillment. It would be fulfilled entirely by God’s strength.
According to our experience, however, the first lesson we learn after we are saved is that we are called, and the second lesson is to trust in God, knowing that everything related to us is in God’s hand. However, at this point we do not yet know that everything depends on God’s strength and is accomplished by God and that our strength is not needed and must therefore be stopped.
In the third trial Abraham led three hundred eighteen of his trained men to rescue Lot (14:14-16). Abraham might have thought that he was the one rescuing Lot. He might have said, “I rescued Lot, but I thank and praise God for helping me and being with me.” In the three trials that Abraham encountered, he learned the lesson that everything depended on God and not on him. However, he did not see or learn that his strength and his doing were not needed, because God’s strength, which is God Himself, would do everything. Abraham did not go by himself to rescue Lot; three hundred eighteen trained men went with him. Abraham might have thought that God helped him rescue Lot but that his strength and effort were still needed. Hence, beginning in chapter 15 God led him to take another step in order to see that the accomplishment of God’s promise did not require his strength or his effort. Chapters 15 through 17 were a deep lesson to Abraham. God wanted him to see that everything he had, everything he did, and everything he was capable of doing would be rejected.
Some say that it is not easy to discern between the experience of living by faith and the experience of knowing grace. On the surface, these two experiences are intertwined. Most people consider living by faith to be the experience of grace, because everything in such a living is done by the grace of God. In saying this, I am concerned that the saints may ask, “Do you mean that our living by faith is not the grace of God and that we do not know the grace of God?” Hence, I will give some explanation to help us differentiate between living by faith and knowing grace.
Living by faith concerns external, material things, but knowing grace concerns our inward being. The record in Genesis 12—14 mainly concerns the life that Abraham lived before God and the things that happened in his life. For example, Abraham’s building an altar was his life of service before God (12:7-8); it was not his accomplishing God’s will. Abraham’s pitching a tent was the living of a sojourner’s life before God (v. 8). Afterward, Abraham went through three trials. First, he went down to Egypt because he encountered severe famine in the south (vv. 9-10). This was a matter of his living. Next, he encountered the brother’s striving. This was strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen concerning pastures. It had nothing to do with God’s will (13:5-9). The pastures were the place where they maintained their life; hence, this was also a matter related to living. Third, Abraham encountered the captivity of Lot, and he went and rescued Lot (14:11-16). This was one of the duties in his life. According to the flesh, Lot was Abraham’s nephew, and according to their relationship in God, Lot was Abraham’s brother (13:8). Because of this twofold status, Abraham could not be indifferent. Hence, this was his fulfilling his human duty, not his doing something for God.
The record in the section from Abraham’s arriving in Canaan to his rescuing Lot concerns Abraham’s living. This section rarely mentions Abraham’s working for God or his accomplishing God’s will. During this period Abraham learned the lesson of living by faith, that is, knowing that God was responsible for everything in his life. In other words, as a called one living for God on the earth, Abraham came to know that God was responsible for his living and that he did not bear this responsibility. Therefore, from the time he was initially called by God to the time he rescued Lot, the lesson that Abraham learned before God was the lesson of living by faith.
Some may ask, “Is it not the grace of God when He bears the responsibility and cares for our living in such a way?” In order to answer this question, first we must consider the meaning of grace. What the Scriptures reveal concerning grace differs from our concept of grace. We think that Abraham’s maintaining his living and being preserved in his environment was God’s grace. We usually consider God’s care for us in our environment and His supply for our living to be His grace. However, if we look in the Bible, and in the New Testament in particular, we will realize that it is difficult to find a verse that says grace is God’s care and supply in our environment.
According to the Bible, what is grace? John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” Verse 17 says, “Grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” These two verses show that grace and reality came when the Lord Jesus as the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among men. At the end of many of his Epistles, Paul often uses the greeting “Grace be with you” (Titus 3:15; Heb. 13:25; Col. 4:18; 1 Tim. 6:21; 2 Tim. 4:22). First Corinthians 15:10 says, “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.” This shows that the grace of God can be with us and in us. Furthermore, Galatians 6:18 says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” This shows that the grace of God is with us in our spirit. From the use of grace in the aforementioned verses, we can understand that in the Bible the proper meaning of grace is that God and His life enter into man to be man’s life and strength.
The Bible does not refer to grace as our being kept by God in our environment and receiving His supply for our needs. Regrettably, when God’s children receive His care in their environment, they immediately say that they have received great grace from God. They consider God’s care and supply in their living to be grace. They say, “This is grace,” or “That is grace.” In fact, none of these can be considered grace; they are merely God’s care. In Philippians the apostle Paul suffered the loss of all things and counted them as refuse, dung. In his eyes, only Christ is the excellent One (3:8). How could God give us as grace the things that Paul considered as dung? Hence, God’s care for us and His supply to us in our living are merely God’s care and cannot be counted as His grace. Grace is God Himself and His life. Only this is God’s great gift to us. I hope that we would have a proper understanding of grace. We should no longer mistakenly use the word grace for things apart from God, for grace is lofty and honorable.
Because of an insufficient knowledge concerning the meaning of grace, the saints often misuse this word. For example, I went to visit a brother who recently began renting a nice house. I said to him, “Brother, this house is very nice.” He immediately replied, “It is the Lord’s grace.” We later sat to drink tea, and I said, “This tea is excellent.” He again replied, “It is the grace of the Lord.” I was shocked and wondered how tea could be considered grace. There is another brother who was unemployed and who prayed every day, asking the Lord to be gracious to him. When he found a job, he joyfully told others, “Thank the Lord, He has given me exceedingly great grace.” Furthermore, a certain sick saint prayed and was healed, and he then testified, “This is the Lord’s greatest grace to me.” These examples show how much we belittle God’s grace. Those who do not know the meaning of grace will always treasure the things that are dung and consider them as grace. However, the Bible reveals that only God Himself and His life in us are genuine grace, apart from which nothing is grace. We must firmly grasp this principle.
A nice house, a good job, healing, and other such things are not the grace of God. They are but God’s care. What is grace in our daily life? When we are sick, we may enjoy God’s presence and support in our fellowship with Him. This is grace. If a person is unemployed, prays, and finds a job, or if he is in a difficult situation and the problem is solved through prayer, he has enjoyed God’s care, not grace. But if after losing a job, he enjoys God as his inner strength that enables him to pass through the trial, he has enjoyed grace. If a sister is having a difficult time, but God’s comfort and joy within enable her to face the problem, she is enjoying grace. However, comfort and joy in themselves are not grace, but the presence of God that gives comfort and joy is grace. Therefore, what we receive while living by faith is merely God’s care, which cannot be counted as His grace. God’s grace is God Himself and His life with His strength becoming our inner enjoyment.
The first lesson that Abraham learned after being called, or the first experience he had, was living by faith. However, what he received while living by faith was God’s care, not God’s grace. Even at the end of Genesis 14 Abraham was still receiving God’s care. God let him learn and know that a called one living on earth for God did not bear responsibility for his living, for God bears this responsibility. God showed Abraham that it was His hand that did everything. God took care of him, preserved him, saved him, and led him. It was not necessary for Abraham to have any hesitation or to worry, and it was also unnecessary for him to use tricks or schemes. God seemed to be saying to him, “I want you to remain in the land of Canaan. You should simply remain here. When you are in a trial, I am with you to bear the responsibility for you. You do not need to be responsible. Even when you encounter the brother’s striving, you should not fight for yourself but let him have his choice. I will bear every responsibility for you. When your brother is captured, it is your duty to rescue him. I will give you the strength to rescue your brother.” This is what it means to experience living by faith. This is also the lesson of living by faith.
From Genesis 15 through 21 Abraham was learning another lesson, the lesson of knowing grace. This lesson was not concerning his living, but it was concerning God’s promise, that is, God’s will and kingdom. God’s purpose in calling Abraham was not to deliver him from the punishment of the lake of fire. Rather, God’s calling of Abraham was related to His purpose in creating man, which is for man to have God’s image and likeness for God’s expression and to have God’s dominion to reign for God on the earth (1:26). However, man fell and failed to the extent that man was unable to fulfill God’s purpose and instead rebelled against God and attempted to overthrow God’s right and authority (11:4). Therefore, God chose one person, Abraham, out of the corrupted mankind in order to have a transfer to a new race for the fulfillment of His purpose, which fallen mankind had failed to fulfill. Hence, when God called Abraham, He promised to make him a great nation (12:2). In order to become a great nation, one must have a seed. When there is a seed, there is the possibility of becoming a nation. When there is a nation, God can rule on earth and express His glory. Thus, the fulfillment of God’s purpose in creating and calling man required Abraham to have a son. For this reason, beginning in Genesis 15, the Bible no longer focuses on Abraham’s living but on Abraham’s seed.
When God first called Abraham, He explicitly promised to make Abraham a great nation. However, after approximately ten years Abraham still did not have a son. Without a seed, there was no way for a nation to come into existence. Hence, the seed is the focus in the fulfillment of God’s will. Whether God’s will could be accomplished, whether God could obtain a nation through the called one for the expression of His glory and the exercise of His dominion, depended on whether Abraham had a seed.
According to the Bible, the descendants of Abraham became the nation of Israel, which was the kingdom of God. Afterward, Solomon, the son of David, built the temple for God. Thus, in Solomon’s kingdom there was the holy temple as the expression of God’s glory, and there was the throne as the expression of God’s dominion. This was a response to God’s purpose in creating man. Hence, in order for God’s purpose to be fulfilled, Abraham had to have a seed.
We should not think that Abraham’s begetting a son was merely for him to have an heir. In itself, Abraham’s having a son was an insignificant matter, but whether he had a seed that would become a nation was of great importance. If Abraham did not have a seed, God would not have a kingdom on the earth. Consequently, God’s glory would not be expressed, and His dominion would not be exercised on the earth. God’s purpose concerning man, the expression of His glory and the exercising of His dominion, required that a group of people be gained on the earth. Abraham was called by God out of the rebellious human race. If he did not have a seed, God’s purpose concerning man would be finished. Therefore, Abraham’s begetting a son was not a personal matter. It concerned the fulfillment of God’s purpose and will. Hence, Abraham’s knowing and experiencing grace in order to bring forth a seed was for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
