Genesis is a book of the riches of God's divine revelation. The more I stay with this book, the more I enjoy its sweet riches. When we read the book of Genesis, we need the divine enlightenment, for by our human mentality we cannot get anything out of this book except historical records and some interesting stories. When I was young, I was happy to hear the stories in this book, but if we only understand Genesis as a story book, we shall miss a great deal.
Sarah and Hagar, the wife and the concubine of Abraham, God's called one, are an allegory of two covenants (Gal. 4:24). If the Apostle Paul had not written the book of Galatians in which he tells us that these two women are an allegory of two covenants, none of us would ever have dreamed of such a thing. Although some Christians criticize the allegorization of the Bible, Paul took the lead to allegorize the Old Testament. If we are going to appreciate the treasures in the book of Genesis, we must realize that Genesis is a book of allegories. Abraham's biography is an allegory. His wife and his concubine especially are a very meaningful allegory. In this message we shall do our best to probe into the meaning of this allegory.
Before we come to this allegory, however, we need to see something about the book of Genesis. Why is Genesis so sweet and precious? Because it is a book containing many seeds of the divine revelation that were sown by God Himself. This book contains all of the main aspects of God's divine revelation. In the very first chapter we see that God has an intention to express Himself through man and that for this purpose He created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Man was made according to God's image with the intention that he might become God's exact expression and that through this expression God might have a dominion, a kingdom, in which He could exercise His authority. This is God's ultimate intention, His eternal purpose. If you read the Bible with this heavenly light, you will see that the whole Bible covers this divine intention. In order for God to fulfill His intention of having Himself expressed and of obtaining a dominion on earth, He needs to have the seed and the land, both of which are related to Christ. This Christ must be wrought into God's people. God wanted to do this with Adam, but Adam failed. Eventually, God had a new start with a new race, the race of the called ones, the first one of which was Abraham. If you read Abraham's biography, you will see that again and again God came to him with a promise concerning two things — the seed and the land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15-16; 15:5, 7, 18). Abraham was not young when he was first called by God; he was seventy-five years of age when he answered God's calling in a full way.
Although Abraham was seventy-five years of age, he still did not have a child. As far as God was concerned, that was very good. If when God calls you you have nothing, that is very good, for if you have too much, that will frustrate God's calling. When Abraham was called by God, he did not have a child and he lived in a condemned, demonic land, a land out of which God called him. After he was called, Abraham had no child and no land. Suppose a man and his wife today would have no child and no land. Would they not think of themselves as the most pitiful people on earth? Perhaps Abraham said to his wife, "What are we here for? I am seventy-five and you are sixty-five, and we don't have even one child. We have also been called out of our land. Where are we? What are we doing here? Where are we going?" It seems that they were in a pitiful situation. But the more pitiful we are in this way, the better it is for God's purpose. I hope that none of us has a child within nor a land without. If both within and without we have nothing, that would be wonderful. Why? Because God does not want us to have anything for the fulfillment of His purpose. What God wants is to work Christ into us as the seed and then to work Christ out of us as the land. Firstly, the seed must be wrought into us; secondly, it must be worked out of us to become the land. Both the seed and the land are Christ.
We have seen that Abraham answered God's calling in the way of dragging his feet through mud and water. Since God did not give Abraham a child, Abraham took Lot, his nephew, along with him. Abraham could not say that he had nothing, because he had taken Lot with him. Furthermore, it might have been that as he was traveling through Damascus, he found Eliezer and took him along with him. Following that, it might have been that after Abraham fell into Egypt, drifting downstream like a piece of driftwood, he acquired Hagar. Although he planned to sacrifice his wife in Egypt, under God's sovereignty his wife was preserved, and, according to God's good plan, Abraham acquired many riches, including an Egyptian maid named Hagar. In Haran Abraham picked up Lot, in Damascus he found Eliezer, and in Egypt he secured Hagar. But in the good land he did not gain anything. All he obtained in the good land was God's promise in plain words regarding the seed and the land.
Although Abraham was not free to argue with God, within himself he probably said to God, "God, You don't need to promise me over and over again that You will give me a boy. You already told me that my descendants will become a great nation. You have told me three times that I would have a seed, but why don't You do anything? God, don't You realize that one action is better than a thousand words? You've not only made a promise to me but also a covenant. You tell me that the rain is going to come, but I have not yet seen even one drop of water. Also, You told me that You would give me this land. Why don't You give it to me right now? You always say, `I will give it to you,' but don't You know that I need it now?" This was a real testing to Abraham. Firstly, Abraham relied upon Lot. Eventually Lot became a problem to him and separated from him. After that, Abraham put his trust in Eliezer, telling God that Eliezer would be his heir. When God said that Eliezer would not be the heir, Abraham might have said, "God, what are You doing? You have just robbed me. You say no to this and no to that. You don't give me even one yes." In order to strengthen Abraham's faith, God made a covenant with him in a very extraordinary way, using three cattle and two living birds. That covenant made by God was much stronger than just His promise.
After this, Abraham and Sarah might have had a lot of sad fellowship. Abraham might have said to his wife, "Sarah, many years ago God promised that we would have a seed. Where is it? God also promised to give us the land. In order to strengthen our faith, He made a covenant with us. We cannot say that the covenant is not believable or trustworthy, because I offered the cattle and the birds as the Lord told me to. But we still don't have anything." In times like this, the wives are often like Sarah. Often the wives are finer and look at things in more detail. It might have been that while Abraham was talking in such a sad way that Sarah presented him with a good proposal saying, "Abraham, we cannot say that God's word is not trustworthy, but look at how old we are. Didn't God tell you that someone born out of you would be your seed? Now I have a good proposal. It must have been sovereign that we acquired Hagar in Egypt. Why don't you go to her and have a child by her? Then we shall have the seed to fulfill God's purpose." If we had been Abraham we probably would have said, "This is a wonderful idea. I never thought of it, but thank God that you had the wisdom to propose such a plan." Abraham took Sarah's counsel and Ishmael was produced. Perhaps after Ishmael was born Abraham said, "Who can deny this one? He was certainly born of me. Don't you believe that God was sovereign in giving us Hagar in Egypt and in the fact that she gave birth to a boy, not to a girl? God has been sovereign in three respects — in giving us Hagar, in causing her to conceive, and in giving us a boy through her. Praise the Lord! This is surely the sovereignty of God." But after the birth of Ishmael, God stayed away from Abraham for thirteen years (Gen. 16:16; 17:1).
On the one hand, during that period of time Abraham might have been happy because he had a child, but on the other hand, he was suffering because he did not have God's appearing. He might have said to his wife, "Why don't we have God's appearing? What has happened? We didn't go down to Egypt again or do anything wrong. We acted on your proposal to have a seed to fulfill God's purpose. What is wrong with us? We have a child, but we don't have God's presence." As we shall see in the next message, after thirteen years, God finally came in, saying to Abraham, "I am the all-sufficient God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1, Heb.). God seemed to be telling Abraham, "Abraham, you must be perfect. Although you have done no wrong, it is certain that you are not perfect." Then God told him that a seed would be born not only out of him but also out of his wife, saying that He would give Abraham a son by her (Gen. 17:16). Ishmael had been born out of Abraham but not out of Sarah. Abraham, being very reluctant to give up Ishmael, said to God, "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" (Gen. 17:18). God answered Abraham, saying, "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac" (Gen. 17:19). God seemed to be telling Abraham, "Abraham, you have misunderstood Me. The seed must not only be out of you but also out of Sarah. And his name shall be Isaac, not Ishmael." God had rejected Ishmael.
In Galatians Paul tells us that Sarah and Hagar, the two women, are an allegory symbolizing two covenants. Paul could only have seen this through God's revelation. Without Paul's telling us about this, would you ever have dreamed that Sarah was a symbol of the covenant of grace and that Hagar was a symbol of the covenant of law? We should not be content with just knowing the stories in Genesis but should press on to understand the meaning of the allegory.
In Galatians 3:17 Paul said, "And I say this a covenant ratified beforehand by God, the law having come four hundred and thirty years after does not annul, so as to make the promise of none effect." This four hundred thirty years covers the span of time from Genesis 12:1 to the giving of the law in Exodus 20. Before the law was given, there was an allegory. In other words, before the law was given, God took a photograph of what would happen with the law four hundred thirty years later. We all must see this.
Sarah, the freewoman, signifies the covenant of promise (Gal. 4:23). God's covenant of promise with Abraham was a covenant of grace. In that covenant God promised that He would give Abraham the seed, without having any intention that Abraham needed to do anything in order to have it. God would work something into him that he might bring forth a seed to fulfill His purpose. It would be God's doing, not Abraham's. This is grace. Sarah, as the freewoman, the proper wife of Abraham, was a symbol of this covenant of grace. She brought forth Isaac not by man's strength but by God's grace.
Hagar, the bondwoman, signifies the covenant of law (Gal. 4:25). It was when the children of Israel ignored God's work of grace upon them and attempted to please God by themselves that the law was brought in. When man is ignorant of God's grace, he will always endeavor to do something to please God, and this brings in the law, of which Hagar, the bondwoman, the improper wife of Abraham, was the symbol. Since she was the improper wife, she should not have come in. What she brought forth could not remain in God's economy. This signifies that the law should not have come in and that the produce of the law has no position in fulfilling God's purpose. Hagar brought forth Ishmael, who was rejected by God, by man's effort, not by God's grace. The produce of man's effort through the law has no share in the fulfillment of God's purpose.
According to God's economy, a man should only have one wife. Thus, Sarah's proposal that Abraham have a seed by Hagar was absolutely against God's economy. Hagar was not a proper wife but a concubine. Hagar, Abraham's concubine, was a symbol of the law. By this we can see that the position of the law is the position of the concubine. While grace is the proper wife, the mother of the proper heirs (Gal. 4:26, 28, 31), the law is the concubine, the mother of those who are rejected as heirs. According to the ancient custom, men mainly took concubines because their wives could not bear children. This is quite meaningful. When grace has not yet worked and you are in a hurry, you will join yourself to a concubine, to the law. Sarah was a symbol of grace, of the covenant of promise, and Hagar was a symbol of the law. Grace is the proper wife and the law is the concubine.
The promise was given in Gen. 12:2, 7; 13:15-17; 15:4-5, and the covenant was made in Gen. 15:7-21. According to God's intention, the covenant of promise came first. God had no intention of bringing in the law and of having man endeavor to keep it for the fulfillment of His purpose. What He originally intended to do was to work Himself into man to fulfill His purpose through man.
The covenant of law was brought in later by the effort of the flesh in Genesis 16. What we have in Genesis 16 is the effort of the flesh that brought in Hagar, the symbol of law. The promise was given when Abraham was called in Gen. 12, about 1921 B.C., and the law was given in Exo. 20, four hundred thirty years later, after the exodus out of Egypt about 1491 B.C. (Gal. 3:17). Grace always comes first, but the law follows to frustrate. Not very many Christians see that the position of the law is that of a concubine, that it is against God's economy, and that its produce is under God's rejection. Nevertheless they appreciate the law and try their best to keep it, making themselves Ishmaels, the children of the bondwoman.
Without exception, every Christian is like Abraham. After we were saved, we came to realize that God wants us to live a Christ-like life, a heavenly life, a victorious life, a life that constantly pleases God and glorifies Him. Yes, God does want us to live such a life, but He will work Christ into us to live for us a heavenly life to please Him and glorify Him. However, all of us focus on the intention and neglect the grace. The intention is that we live a heavenly life for the glory of God, and the grace is that God will work Christ into us for the fulfillment of His purpose. So firstly we rely upon our Lot, that which we brought with us from our natural background, trying to use him to fulfill God's purpose in living a heavenly life for the glory of God. When God does not allow us to rely upon Lot, then we turn to Eliezer, expecting that he will enable us to live a heavenly life for God's glory. Eventually God tells us, "I don't want that. I don't want anything objective but something subjective from within your own being." Once we realize that God wants this, then we begin to exercise our own energy, our natural strength, to fulfill God's purpose. We all have a Hagar, a maid who is always willing to cooperate with us. We may not have the law given by Moses, but we do have many self-made laws. We all are lawgivers and make laws for ourselves.
Let us consider some examples of these self-made laws. Perhaps you say that never again will you lose your temper with your husband or have a negative attitude towards him. This is your first commandment. The second commandment is that, as a Christian lady and a Christian wife, you need to be nice, sweet, and humble. Your third commandment is never to criticize others, and the fourth is to always love people and never to hate them. These self-made laws are our Hagars. Whether we succeed or not in keeping our laws makes no difference in the eyes of God because in His eyes even our successes do not count. In the past years some sisters nearly succeeded in fulfilling their self-made laws. They had a strong character, a strong will, and a strong intention, and all day long they tried their best to control their temper and to be nice, sweet, and humble. Although such sisters might have been successful at this, what they produced was just an Ishmael. These sisters were happy with their Ishmael and, in a sense, they were proud of him. The principle is exactly the same with the brothers.
Although we may gain an Ishmael who is good in our eyes, we have the deep sensation that we are missing something. We have lost God's presence. Moreover, this Ishmael will always mock the spiritual things (21:9). On the one hand, we do not like this mocking element, but, on the other hand, we still feel that since Ishmael was produced by us, he is not that bad. But, having lost God's presence, we find ourselves in trouble. Just as the descendants of Ishmael are a problem to Israel today, so the Ishmael that we have produced remains a problem to us. Once we are clear about this, we would pray, "Lord, keep me in Your grace. Keep me in the promise. Whether Your promise will be fulfilled today or many years from now does not matter. I only want to care for Your promise." Although it is easy to say this, it is not easy to live it.
What is true in our Christian life is also true in our Christian work. The New Testament tells us that after we are saved we need to preach the gospel and bear fruit. But how much natural effort and strength are exercised in the matter of so-called soul winning! Many kinds of Hagars, all of whom were acquired in Egypt, are used to win souls. Every worldly means of soul-winning is a Hagar. Yes, you may use Hagar to win souls, but what kind of souls will you win? They will not be Isaac but Ishmael. According to the New Testament, the proper fruit-bearing and gospel preaching are by the overflow of the inner life, by God working Christ into, through, and out of us. This means that the proper gospel preaching is by Christ as grace to us.
There are a great many Hagars in the Christian world today. Do you want to live a Christian life by yourself? It is better for you to stop. Do you want to preach the gospel with worldly means? It is better that you stop this as well. Stop living the Christian life by yourself and stop working for the Lord with worldly means. Then you may say, "If I stop, I'll be finished." That is right. That is exactly what God expects. Although Abraham fully answered God's call when he was seventy-five, God did not do anything with him until he was ninety-nine because until then he still had his natural strength. He had Lot and Eliezer to rely upon and Hagar to match his natural strength. Eventually God was forced to stay away from him. Likewise, as long as we have a Lot and an Eliezer to rely upon, or a Hagar to endeavor with, God cannot do anything. As long as we still have the strength to produce an Ishmael, God cannot do anything. After the producing of that Ishmael, He will stay away for a period of time. When Abraham was ninety-nine years of age, according to his figuration, he was a dead person. Romans 4:19 says that "he considered his own body already become dead, being about a hundred years old." Romans 4 also indicates that Sarah was out of function. Both Abraham and Sarah were fully convinced that they were finished and could do nothing themselves. At that point God came in.
All of the revival preachers stir up people, telling them to live for Christ and to work for Him. But in our ministry we are saying that you have to stop living a Christian life by yourselves and doing a Christian work with worldly means. Do not be bothered at our saying this, for regardless how much we tell people to stop, hardly anyone will stop. If anyone will stop trying to live a Christian life by himself or to work for the Lord by worldly means, blessed is he. It is not easy to stop your self-effort in the Christian life and your natural zeal in Christian work. Although it is easy to be called by God, it is most difficult to stop your natural zeal. If the Lord would come in to stop you, you might say, "No, Lord. Look at today's situation. Hardly anyone works for You in what I am burdened to do. I'm nearly the only one. How could I stop my work for You?" But blessed is the one who will stop, for when you stop, God comes in. The end of humanity is the beginning of divinity. When our human life ends, the divine life begins.
When Abraham was eighty-six years of age, he still had too much of his own strength, causing God to wait for another thirteen years. Perhaps God, sitting in the heavens and looking at Abraham, said, "Abraham, you are now eighty-six, but I still have to wait for another thirteen years." While you are praying that God will do something, God is praying that you will stop. While you are saying, "O Lord, help me to do something," God is saying, "It would really be good for you to stop." While Abraham was so busy on earth, God might have looked at him and said, "Poor Abraham, you don't need to be that busy. Won't you stop and let Me come in? Please stop and let Me do it. Since you won't stop, I have to wait until you are ninety-nine years old." God waited until Abraham was a dying person out of function. Then He came in and could say, "Now is My start. Now is My time to begin something."
The produce of the effort of the flesh was Ishmael, but Ishmael was rejected by God (Gen. 17:18-19; 21:10-12a; Gal. 4:30). Not only was Ishmael rejected by God, but he also frustrated God's appearing. Our experience today tells us the same thing, for our Ishmael breaks our fellowship with God and keeps us from God's appearing. We see by this that it is not a matter of what we do or of what we are; it is altogether a matter of whether or not we have God's presence. Do you have God's appearance all the time? We must forget our doing and our working and take care of God's appearing. When God's appearing is with us, we are in the grace, in the covenant of grace. But most Christians today only care for their doing and work, not for God's appearing and presence. Although they may produce many Ishmaels, they do not have God's presence. What we need is God's presence. What we need is not the outward fruit of our outward work but the inward appearing of our God. Do you have the presence of God within you? This is a most crucial test.
The produce of the promise of grace, which is Isaac, is the seed for the fulfillment of God's purpose (Gen. 17:19; 21:12b). The seed for the fulfillment of God's purpose is nothing less than Christ Himself wrought by God into, through, and out of us. What God has wrought into us brings in Christ as the seed (Gal. 3:16). This seed will eventually become our land. Now we have the seed as our life and the land as our living. Within we have Christ as the seed by whom we live, and without we have Christ as the land in whom we live. This is the church life with Christ as our life. This is the only way for us to fulfill God's purpose.
No longer should we consider this story in Genesis merely as a kind of prediction but as an allegory of today's situation. Grace, law, and our natural strength are all here, and we are always being tempted to exercise our natural strength to coordinate Hagar to produce an Ishmael to fulfill God's purpose. But we have a safeguard — to check whether or not we have God's presence in our daily life and in our Christian work. The safeguard is not how much fruit we have; it is God's presence. Do you have the assurance, the confidence, that day after day Christ is being wrought into your being to be the inner life by whom you live? Do you have the assurance that this Christ is even becoming the realm in which you live? This realm is the church life. We need to have the seed and the land, the proper Christian life plus the church life. We need to live by Christ within and we need to live in Christ without. This is the proper way for us to fulfill God's purpose. We need to see this not for others but for ourselves. Abraham's biography is our autobiography, and the allegory of the two women is a portrait of our life. As we live today, we need Christ as the seed and as the land.
