In this message we come to Gen. 17, a record of God's crucial dealing with Abraham in confirming His covenant. We have seen that Abraham was called and that he received God's call, promise, and covenant. After God called Abraham, He gave him the promise and then He confirmed the promise by making a covenant with him. After Abraham received the covenant, he accepted his wife's proposal to exercise his flesh along with the expediency of Hagar to produce a seed. The result was Ishmael. Here we see three things: Sarah's proposal, Hagar's expediency, and Abraham's exercise of the flesh to produce Ishmael.
Abraham might have thought that it was not serious for him to exercise his flesh to produce Ishmael, but according to God's economy for His eternal purpose, it was very serious. If we compare the first verse of chapter seventeen with the last verse of chapter sixteen, we can see that between these two chapters there was a period of thirteen years and that there was no record of Abraham's life during those thirteen years. When Abraham brought forth Ishmael, he was eighty-six years of age, and thirteen years later, when he was ninety-nine, God appeared to him again. During that long period of thirteen years, Abraham, a man called by God, a man who was living by faith and who was learning to know grace for the fulfillment of God's purpose, missed God's presence. How serious it is not to have God's presence!
After Abraham had answered God's calling and had begun to live a life by faith in God for his existence, he had a failure. Being short of faith, he went down to Egypt where he was even planning to sacrifice his wife. According to the human concept, that was much worse than using Hagar to produce Ishmael. But if we read these chapters attentively, we shall see that God was not as displeased with Abraham's going down to Egypt as He was with his using Hagar to produce Ishmael. Of course, it was not good for Abraham to go down to Egypt, but that did not offend God as much as his exercise of the flesh to bring forth Ishmael. Going down to Egypt was a failure without, but taking Hagar to produce Ishmael was failure within. It was deeper, for it was not merely related to circumstances but to life. Taking Hagar to produce Ishmael was not simply a matter of right or wrong or of committing a sin; it was a matter of life. Nothing that we do by ourselves is life. Whatever we work by ourselves is not life. Life is God Himself. It is God being something to us in our very being. We should not do anything by ourselves but by God's being wrought into us. Whatever we do by ourselves is not life but death, for it is the issue of our natural self.
In the eyes of God, our natural self is more dirty and more defiling than sin. Although sin is unclean in the presence of God, it is not as offensive to God as our natural self is. While we all recognize the seriousness of sin, not many people realize the seriousness of our natural self. If we commit a sin, we would immediately confess it to God, but if we do certain good things by our natural self, we do not have the sense that we are offending God. If I hate a particular brother, it is easy for me to recognize that this hatred is a sin and confess it as such to God. But if I love this brother by my natural self, it would be difficult to realize that this is against God. Sin only offends God's righteousness, but our natural self offends God Himself. God wants to come into us to be our life and our everything that we may live, work, and do everything by Him. But when we do things by our self, our natural self, we put Him aside. By this we can see that the natural self is against God Himself. It is not only against God's righteousness or holiness but against God Himself.
God's intention with Abraham was that He would work Himself into Abraham so that Abraham might bring forth a child to fulfill God's purpose. God did not intend that Abraham do this by his natural strength. Nevertheless, Abraham used his natural strength to bring forth a child to fulfill God's purpose. Nothing offends God more than this kind of natural doing. Working by our natural self is the most offensive thing to God. To Abraham, it was not so serious for him to take Hagar. His wife, Sarah, even proposed this, thinking that it would help Abraham to produce the seed since Abraham was old and she was out of function. But God had promised that they would have a son. Since they did not know how this could come about, they took the expediency of using Hagar, the Egyptian maid, to produce a child, not realizing how offensive that was to God. It was an insult to Him. Therefore, God disappeared from His dear called one for thirteen years. It was as if God had turned His face away from Abraham and had refused to speak to him for that length of time. There is no record in the Bible of what happened during that period of time. We only know from the last verse of chapter sixteen and the first verse of chapter seventeen that God reappeared to Abraham thirteen years later. According to the Bible record, thirteen years of Abraham's life were wasted. In the heavenly record those years were lost because Abraham exercised his natural self to do something for the fulfilling of God's purpose.
Genesis 17:1 says, "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the all-sufficient God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Heb.). Here we see that God charged Abraham with two things — that Abraham had to walk before the all-sufficient God and that he had to be perfect. In chapter sixteen, Abraham did not walk before God; he walked before Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. Since he had not walked before God, God came and told him to walk before Him and to be perfect. God's telling Abraham to be perfect indicates that before that time he was not perfect. In chapter sixteen, Abraham was imperfect; he lacked something.
Before we consider further what it means to walk before God and to be perfect, we need to learn the meaning of the title of God in 17:1, the all-sufficient God. In Hebrew this title is El-Shaddai. El means the Strong One, the Mighty One, and Shaddai, implying the meaning of breast, udder, means all-sufficient. El-Shaddai is the Mighty One with an udder, the Mighty One who has the all-sufficient supply. An udder produces milk, and milk is the all-sufficient supply, having water, minerals, and many vitamins in it and containing all that we need for our daily living. So El-Shaddai means the all-sufficient Mighty One.
When Abraham did things by his natural self, he forgot the source of his supply. In other words, he forgot God as his all-sufficient source of supply. Therefore, God came to Abraham and seemed to say, "I am the Mighty One with an udder. Are you lacking something? Why don't you come to this udder? Are you hungry or thirsty? Come to this udder. The source of your supply is not your natural self, but I, the Mighty One with an udder. I am the all-sufficient One who can supply everything you need for your living and everything you need for the fulfillment of My eternal purpose. I am the source. You are not the source. You should not live on your own or by yourself. You have to live by Me as the source of your supply."
In chapter seventeen it is not a matter of the Most High God or of the Possessor of heaven and earth as in chapter fourteen; it is absolutely a matter of the Mighty One with an udder. When Abraham was afraid of his enemies, God came in and said, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (15:1). At that time God seemed to say to Abraham, "You don't need to be afraid of your enemies. I am your shield and protection." But after Abraham had done something of his own natural self to fulfill God's purpose, doing something that was against God Himself, God came in and seemed to say, "I am El-Shaddai, the Mighty One with an udder. You should not do anything on your own or by yourself. You must realize that I am your supply." An udder does not give us weapons with which to kill people but milk that comes into us as our supply. God's supply must come into us as milk. God does not want you to energize your strength to produce a seed for the fulfillment of His purpose; He wants you to drink of His milk, to take something of Himself into you so that you might produce a seed. If we did not have the New Testament, we could never understand adequately this title of God, but now we can understand this title adequately. Today we may constantly live by taking the supply of the Mighty One with an udder. Are you receiving the supply from the divine udder day by day? This is not the protection of the shield against the enemy; it is the supply of the udder for producing the seed. This is not a matter of receiving a good job in place of a poor one but of rendering us the supply which, when taken into us, will become the very constituent to produce a child for the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose. What supply are you receiving day after day? We are receiving the supply from the Mighty One with His divine udder. Day by day we are under His udder and have the all-sufficient supply. God is such an all-sufficient Mighty One to us.
In 17:1 God told Abraham to walk before Him. What does this mean? It means to enjoy the Lord. Walking before the Lord means that we constantly enjoy Him and the supply of His udder. Will you walk before Him, enjoying the all-sufficient supply of His divine udder? To walk before God does not mean that we walk before Him fearfully as before the Holy One. No, the Mighty One with the all-sufficient udder supplies all of our daily need. As we are enjoying His supply, we are walking in His presence.
God also told Abraham to be perfect. What does it mean to be perfect? For Abraham to be imperfect did not mean that he was not good; it meant that he was short of God. None of us can be perfected without God. Without God, there is no perfection. Without Him we are always lacking something. Regardless of how perfect we may be in ourselves, we are still short of God and need to be perfected by and with God. If your home life is without God, your home life is not perfect. If God is not in your married life, your married life is imperfect. There is no perfection without God. Suppose your hand had only four fingers. Although it might be a good hand, since it did not have the thumb, it would not be perfect. Your hand would need to be perfected by the addition of the thumb. If one day the thumb would come to be added to your hand, your hand would be perfect. Hence, to be perfect means that we need God to be added to us. To walk before God means to enjoy Him, and to be perfected means to have God added to us. Have you ever realized that your perfection is God Himself? Have you ever realized that regardless of how good you are or how perfect you are in human eyes, without God you are short of something? We do not have the perfecting factor in ourselves, for the perfecting factor is God Himself. God must be added into our lives. If He is not added into our lives, our lives will remain imperfect.
Why did God require Abraham to be perfect? Because God was and still is the all-sufficient Mighty One. Since He is the all-sufficient Mighty One, there is no reason or excuse for us to be imperfect. Whatever we lack, God is. Do you lack strength? God is strength. Do you need energy? God is energy. God is whatever we need. Thus, God's all-sufficiency requires us to be perfect. There is no reason for us to be poor; we have a large deposit in the heavenly bank.
Practically speaking, to be perfect means that we do not rely upon the strength of the flesh but trust in the all-sufficient Mighty One for our life and work. We should not rely upon the exercise of our natural self or upon the energy of our flesh. We must always trust in God's all-sufficiency for everything. Many of us, for example, are troubled by our temper. Why do we lose our temper at certain times? Because at those times we do not trust in God. The losing of our temper should force us to learn one lesson — never to stay away from God but to trust in Him every moment. Do not try to overcome your temper. If you forget your temper and trust in God every moment, your temper will be overcome. Every imperfection is due to one thing: that we keep ourselves away from the all-sufficient Mighty One. When we keep ourselves away from Him, we are like an electrical appliance that will not work because it is cut off from the supply of electricity. We all must learn to keep ourselves constantly in God. This is the way to be perfect.
When as a young Christian I read 17:1, I realized that I was not perfect. I lacked kindness, humility, patience, love, and many other virtues and attributes. Therefore, in my prayer I made the decision that with the help of the Lord I would have love, patience, humility, kindness, and the other virtues that I lacked. But I must tell you that I never succeeded. Whenever I read 17:1 I could not understand what it meant to be perfect. Eventually I saw that the perfecting factor in our life is God Himself and that I needed to have God added into me. The most that we have is four fingers; we do not have the thumb. Regardless of how much we might train our four fingers to do things, they will still be imperfect because they are without the thumb. We need the thumb to be added to our hand to make it perfect.
Now we come to the changing of name. In 17:5 God said to Abraham, "Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee." Abram means an exalted father, and Abraham means the father of a great multitude. Although Abraham was a high father, he was not the father of a multitude, the father of many nations. But in 17:5 his name was changed from exalted father to the father of a multitude. In Hebrew the name Abram is composed of just four letters represented by the English letters A-b-r-m. The name Abraham is composed with one additional letter — h. This indicates four plus one. Four is the number of the creature, and one is the number of the Creator. Hence, as four fingers plus one thumb makes a complete hand, so man plus God equals perfection. Four plus one equals five, the number of responsibility. Regardless of how good we may be as the number four, we are still short of the number one. In order to be the number five, bearing the responsibility to fulfill God's eternal purpose, God must be added to us. What was the significance of the changing of Abraham's name? It was that God was added into him. Before Genesis 17, Abraham was just Abram, a man who did not have God added to him. But in Genesis 17 the man, and not only his name, was changed by having God added into him. One unique letter was added to the four letters, and God was added into man. God is the perfecting factor. Without Him we are imperfect. We all need God to be added into us. This is perfection.
As the person is the reality of one's name, so the changing of Abraham's name signifies the changing of his person. His original name indicated that he was an exalted father. Now God changed his name to indicate that he would be the father of a great multitude. What is needed to fulfill God's eternal purpose is not an exalted father but a father of a great multitude, not an exalted individual but a multiplied person, a person with a great multitude as his multiplication. God needed a great multitude of people to fulfill His purpose, and for this He needed a producing father. Most Christians desire to be a person with exalted spirituality. The more they seek this kind of spirituality, the more they become barren and individualistic, producing no seed. But God needs us to be multiplied in producing seed, not exalted in seeking spirituality. For this we need the changing of name, the changing of our person. The exalted father has to be changed to the father of a great multitude. The exalted-spirituality-seeking person has to be changed to the multitude-producing person. This requires the termination of the spirituality-seeking self. Even this kind of self has to be terminated so that we may be a multiplied person, not an exalted one, for the fulfilling of God's purpose.
In 17:15 we see that Sarah's name was also changed. "And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be." Sarai means my princess and Sarah means princess. The word "my" before princess indicates narrowness, but princess by itself indicates broadness. Sarai's name was changed to Sarah because in a broad way, not in a narrow way, she was to be a mother of many nations. In 17:16 God said, "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." When God is added into us, we become wider and broader. Without God's being added into us, we are not only imperfect but also narrow. Although you may be a brother or sister, if you do not have God added into you, you are a narrow brother or sister. If you are a husband who does not have God added into you, you are a narrow husband. If you are a wife who does not have God added into you, you are a narrow wife. What can widen us? Only God Himself. If you are going to be a broadened person with a broadened view and with a broadened mind, heart, and spirit, you need God to enlarge you. Regardless of who we are, as long as we do not have God added into us, we always say things such as, "my interest," "my profit," "my future," "my growth in life," "my seeking of the Lord," "my function in the church meetings." Unless God enlarges us, we shall not care for others. Our name, which is "my princess," must be changed to "princess." We say, "This is my day, my house, my time, my this, and my that," because we are short of God, but once we have God added to us, we immediately become broadened. When we have God added into us, we shall not only become a father of a great multitude but also a princess of many nations for the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose. We all need such a change, a change which comes from God being added into us to broaden our narrow person.
We all need to be changed from "my princess" to "princess," transformed from our narrow concept of spirituality to a broadened and general spirituality that we may be no longer "my" princess but a "mother of nations," caring for others and having the seed for the fulfillment of God's purpose. This also requires the termination of our old and natural man so that we may be transformed into a new person, producing the seed, caring for many others, and enabling God's purpose to be fulfilled with a great multitude. For God's eternal purpose we need to be the "father of a great multitude" and the "mother of nations." We need to be transformed into a multiplied and multiplying person and into a broadened and general person.
In order for us to have God added into us and to be broadened we need to be circumcised. The covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis 15 was confirmed in Genesis 17 with circumcision. There was no need for God to confirm it again, for He had confirmed it once already, but it had to be confirmed from Abraham's side. While God was faithful to His covenant, Abraham was not because he had used his natural strength to produce Ishmael. Since Abraham's use of his natural energy with Hagar to produce Ishmael was the cause of the trouble, God confirmed His covenant by having Abraham circumcised (17:9-11, 13).
In the New Testament we can find out the significance of circumcision. The spiritual meaning of circumcision is to put off the flesh, to put off the self and the old man. Colossians 2:11-12 says, "In whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, buried together with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised together through the faith of the operation of God, who raised Him from among the dead." Circumcision is a matter of putting off the flesh, the old man; it is not a matter of dealing with sin. In a strict sense, circumcision has nothing to do with the dealing with sin; it is a matter of being crucified and buried with Christ. Circumcision means to terminate your self, to terminate your flesh. Abraham exercised his flesh in Genesis 16, but here, in Genesis 17, God wanted his flesh to be cut off. In Genesis 16 he had energized his natural strength, but in Genesis 17 his strength had to be terminated. This is circumcision.
The problem is the same today. As long as our natural strength remains, it is difficult for God to come in to be our everything for the fulfillment of His purpose. God wants to come into us to be everything to us, but our flesh, our natural being and strength, our old man and our old self, are a frustration to God's being everything to us. This self, this old man, must be terminated. It must be circumcised, that is, crucified. I want to tell you the good news that our old man has been crucified already (Rom. 6:6). With Abraham, it was to be crucified, but with us, it has been crucified already. We all must see this, reckon on it, and take it by faith. By faith we can declare that our flesh, our natural man with its strength, has been crucified. "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). We all need to live with the realization that the old man, the self, has been crucified. If we declare this and live according to it, then the God of resurrection immediately has the way to come into us and to be everything to us for the carrying out of His economy.
Circumcision is a sign, a seal, of justification by faith (Rom. 4:11). However, many Christians neglect this sign. Although they may realize and declare that they have been justified by faith, after having been justified by faith they do not have the sign of the termination of the self. How can you show people that you have been justified by God? You must live a life of the termination of the self. You must show that you are no longer living by yourself but that you are living by Christ. Then your living becomes a sign of your having been justified. To live a crucified life in the resurrection of Christ is a sign of our being justified. Suppose I, a saved person who has been justified by God, still live, act, and work by myself, doing everything by myself. If such is the case, it will be difficult for anyone to recognize that I am a justified person. People may even doubt that I am saved. But if I live a crucified life, putting myself aside and taking Christ as my life, no one could doubt that I have been justified by faith. Everyone would have to say, "Praise the Lord! There is no doubt that here is a brother who has been justified by God." The life of the termination of the self is a sign and a seal of our justification.
The confirmation of the covenant by circumcision concerned the seed and the land for the fulfillment of God's purpose (17:2-8). In order to fulfill God's eternal purpose that man express and represent Him, we need to have Christ as our seed and as our land. In order to have Christ as the seed and the land for the fulfillment of God's purpose, we need to be circumcised and to live a crucified life. Circumcision is for the fulfillment of God's purpose. When the flesh, the self, and the old man have been terminated, the door is open for God to come in and bring forth Isaac.
Among the Jews, circumcision was always practiced on the eighth day (17:12). The eighth day was the first day of a new week and denoted a new start, a new beginning in resurrection. Whenever we live a crucified life, we have a new beginning in resurrection. When we reject and deny our self and live a crucified life, we immediately have a new beginning in resurrection. Although you might have been married for many years, if today you begin to live a crucified life, you will have a new beginning in resurrection in your marriage, and your marriage will be renewed. Whenever there is circumcision there is the eighth day. In other words, whenever we live a crucified life, we are in resurrection.
All of the uncircumcised people were cut off from this covenant. In 17:14 God said to Abraham, "And the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." This is true today. If we do not live a crucified life, we are cut off from Christ, from the church life, and from the supply of the divine udder. Whenever we are unwilling to be circumcised, we are finished with the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose. Today our enjoying God, our living by Christ, and our practicing the church life all depend upon one thing — upon circumcision, upon living a crucified life.
In 17:15-21 we see the birth of Isaac promised more definitely than ever before. We know that it is more definite because the name Isaac was mentioned and his mother was designated. In the foregoing chapters, God said that He would give Abraham a seed and that Abraham would bring forth the seed, but God did not mention that the seed would be out of Sarah. Neither did He say that the seed would be named Isaac. But in these verses we see that God promised in a definite way that the seed would be Isaac and that Isaac would be born of Sarah.
The promise of the birth of the seed was confirmed definitely at the time when Abraham was as old as dead and Sarah was out of function. Perhaps Abraham said to Sarah, "Sarah, I am a hundred years old and you are ninety. I am dying and you are out of function. We both have become nothing and we can do nothing." It is wonderful to become nothing, for then the Mighty One with an udder can come in to do everything for us. I would like to be a hundred years of age and become nothing. Becoming nothing would afford the Almighty One, the all-sufficient One, the best opportunity to feed me and to supply me with whatever He likes. Even today there are times when God would like to give me a new portion of milk, and I say, "No, I still have some way, some energy, some strength." We all need to become a hundred years of age. But do not try to act as if you are already a hundred years of age. After reading this message telling you that you need to be a hundred years of age and become nothing, you may pretend to be a hundred years of age. But you cannot become nothing overnight. The Lord knows how much we still are. Nevertheless, the principle is that we all need to become nothing so that the all-sufficient Mighty One may come in to be our everything with His all-sufficient udder to render us the supply that we need.
After Abraham and Sarah had become nothing, God promised that Isaac would be born of Sarah (17:16, 19, 21). This means that the birth of Isaac was not the result of Abraham and Sarah's energy but that it was absolutely the result of God's gracious visitation. In 18:10, 14 we see clearly that the birth of Isaac was due to God's return to Abraham at the time of life. His gracious visitation to Abraham included His feeding and supplying him with all that He was. God had to be the udder supplying the milk that Abraham needed to bring forth Isaac. Isaac was not produced by any element in Abraham's natural being; he was brought forth by God's all-sufficient supply out of the divine udder.
Ishmael, the seed produced by the flesh, was rejected by God (17:18; 21:10). Whatever we do by our ability or by our natural self will always be rejected by God. Although you may do good by keeping the law, that will be rejected by God. Whatever we live, do, and work by the natural self and the old man will be altogether rejected. Not many Christians realize that even their natural goodness is rejected by God. Whatever we do by our natural self, natural strength, natural ability, or natural man, regardless of whether it is good or bad, will be rejected by God.
Only Isaac, the seed brought forth by God's grace, by the supply out of the divine udder, was established for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose (Gen. 17:19, 21; 21:12; Rom. 9:7-9). God will only honor what is out of Him because only the seed that is produced out of Him by the supply of His grace can fulfill His purpose. This means God will only honor Christ, not anything out of our self, our natural man. Only the Christ whom we experience of the divine udder as our supply of grace can accomplish God's purpose. Only this Christ will be established as the real seed for the fulfillment of God's purpose. Our Ishmael was rejected, but our Isaac, Christ, has been and will be established in God's economy.
Now we can see what grace is. Grace means that God transmits some element out of His being into us to be our supply and that this supply becomes the very element by which we bring forth Isaac for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. After Abraham was called, he learned to live by faith in God for his existence. Then, beginning with Genesis 15, God began to train him in the matter of knowing grace for the fulfillment of God's purpose. We have seen this clearly in chapters fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. Our self, flesh, natural strength, natural man, and old man must be terminated so that we might take God as our supply and that some of God's divine being might be wrought into us to be the element to produce Isaac for the fulfillment of God's promise. This is grace.
