In this message we come to Gen. 18, which contains an intimate record of Abraham's experience with God. If we take an overall view of Abraham's experience with God as found in chapter eleven through chapter twenty-four, we shall see that his experience is in four major sections. Firstly, while he was living in the demonic land of Chaldea, he was called by God. Suddenly, much to his surprise, the God of glory appeared to him (Acts 7:2). That was the beginning of his experience with God.
Secondly, in chapters twelve through fourteen, Abraham experienced living by faith in God for his existence. He had been called by God for the fulfillment of God's divine purpose, but, as a human being, he still had to have food, protection, and all that was necessary to maintain his existence. He was a stranger in a new land, having no property of his own. Thus, God trained him to exercise the very faith which God had infused into him to trust in God for his existence.
Following that, in chapters fifteen through seventeen, the third section, God trained him to know grace for the fulfillment of His purpose. Here Abraham learned not to do anything by himself or on his own but to do everything by and with God. Although God needed him, God did not need anything of him. All that Abraham had, was, and could do was absolutely repudiated by God. God spent at least fifteen years to train Abraham in this matter. For thirteen years, God disappeared from him because he did not behave himself properly. Abraham was trained, disciplined, and very much in God's favor, but he did not walk in the presence of God. Rather, he walked in the presence of his wife, the one who proposed that he exercise his flesh to produce a seed for the fulfillment of God's purpose. Abraham expected that Ishmael, his seed, could fulfill God's purpose. Nevertheless, God seemed to say, "No, I don't approve of Ishmael. He is the issue of your effort, the produce of your doing. I reject him and you must not keep him. Abram, you must learn that nothing that you can do means anything to Me. I only need you, not your ability and strength. I don't need your Lot, Eliezer, Hagar, or anything of you. You must walk before Me, not doing anything by yourself or on your own. You must be nourished and supplied by the sufficiency of My divine udder. Then you will be able to produce something not only for Me but also of Me. I only accept and approve what is out of Myself. I shall not produce an Isaac without you. I shall produce an Isaac through you, but not out of you. You are My channel, not the source. Whenever you consider yourself to be the source, you insult Me. I am the unique, all-sufficient source. You have known Me as the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. Now you must know Me as El-Shaddai, as the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder. Stay under My udder and be supplied and nourished constantly by My all-sufficiency. This is the way to walk before Me." As Abraham learned to know grace for the fulfillment of God's purpose, God changed him in both name and in nature. God changed Abraham's constitution by having him circumcised. Abram was terminated and Abraham came into being. This is the third major section of Abraham's experience of God.
Immediately after this, he was ushered into a glorious section — living in fellowship with God (18:1—24:67). Abraham had been called, had learned to live by faith in God for his existence, and had come to know grace for the fulfillment of God's purpose. Now he has been brought into constant fellowship with God. The fourth section of his experience is found in chapters eighteen through twenty-four. Everything revealed in these seven chapters is an aspect of Abraham's intimate fellowship with God.
In the first section of his experience, God appeared to Abraham as the God of glory. In the second section He revealed Himself as the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. In the third section He came to Abraham as El-Shaddai, as the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder. In the fourth section God came in a very different way — as a mortal man. As Abraham sat in the door of his tent during the heat of the day, he saw three mortal men approaching (vv. 1-2). In Hebrew, the word translated "men" in verse 2 means mortal men, human beings. God appeared to Abraham in such a form. At first, Abraham did not realize that one of these men was the Lord, Jehovah, and that the other two were angels.
Of these forms of God's appearing — as the God of glory, as the Most High God, as El-Shaddai, and as a mortal man — which do you prefer? Do you prefer that God appear to you as the God of glory? If He did, you would be terrified. Would you like Him to come as the Most High God? If the president of the United States were to come to me and say, "I am the most high president of the United States coming to visit a little man," I would feel uneasy. But if he were to come as a man the same as me, I would say, "Sir, how are you? Please come in and rest and be refreshed." If he were to come in this way, revealing later that he was the president of the United States, I could have a very good time with him. Of these four ways of God's appearing, I prefer that He come to me in the form of a mortal man, not in His divine glory, in His most high position, nor in His all-sufficiency.
We all need to experience our God to such an extent. At the beginning of our experience, we sense Him as the God of glory. But the more we experience Him, the more we realize that He comes in a human form, the same as we are. If God had not come to Abraham in such a human form, how could Abraham have been called His friend? Genesis 18 reveals that Abraham and God spoke with one another like friends. Abraham said to Him, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree" (vv. 3-4). Abraham prepared water for God to wash His feet, and God rested under a tree in front of Abraham's tent.
Very few Christians think that God would ever come in the form of a mortal man, rest under the shade of a tree, and wash His feet with the water that was prepared by a man. Which do you think is more pleasant — for God to sit on His throne demanding that we bow down to Him and worship Him, or for God to sit under a tree and wash His feet? Before the feet of the Lord Jesus were washed with the woman's tears in the house of Simon (Luke 7:38, 44), God's feet were washed in front of Abraham's tent. While Jesus was in the house of Simon having His feet washed and anointed, the priests of Judaism were worshipping God in the temple. Where was God at that time — in the temple in Jerusalem or in the house of Simon? Surely He was in the house of Simon. Likewise, where was God in Gen. 18 — sitting on His throne waiting for Abraham to worship Him, or washing His feet beneath the tree in front of Abraham's tent? How marvelous it was that He was in the form of a mortal man washing His feet in front of Abraham's tent! Where is your God in your experience? Is He sitting on a throne in heaven or washing His feet at your tent? Do you prefer to have your God sitting on the throne, waiting for you to say, "Holy, Holy, Holy" to Him, or do you prefer to have Him sitting at your tent door? God came to Abraham on his level and in a human form. Since He came in this way, He and Abraham could be friends. In this chapter there is no religious worship or fear, just sweet intimacy. How wonderful! Who is your God today? Is He only the God of glory, the Most High God, and the El-Shaddai, or One in the form of a mortal man, the same as you are?
I do not say that God was a mortal man in Genesis 18; for He was just in the form of a mortal man. One of the three men who appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18 was Jehovah God. Verse 13 mentions "the Lord." In Hebrew, the Lord here is Jehovah. It was Jehovah who came to Abraham in the form of a man!
When I read Genesis 18 years ago, I was troubled by it. In this chapter Abraham certainly saw the Lord, but the New Testament says that no man has ever seen God (John 1:18). Abraham did not see God in His divine form, but God in a human form. God appeared to him as a man. It was the same when the Lord Jesus was on earth. People did not see God in His divine form; they saw God in the man Jesus. Firstly, God appeared to Abraham in His divine glory. Then He came in His most high position and as the El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder. Lastly, He came in the form of a man. Abraham did not see the form of God but the form of man. He saw three mortal men, not realizing at first that one of them was Jehovah.
God likes to appear to us in this way. He does not come in the form of God but in the form of man, without making any declaration that He is Jehovah God. God talked with Abraham as one man talks with another. Suddenly He asked Abraham, "Where is Sarah thy wife?" This might have shocked Abraham, and he might have thought, "This man knows my wife! How could He know her? Isn't he a stranger?" Then the Lord said, "I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life" (v. 10). Abraham might have said, "Who are you? You must be the very El-Shaddai who gave me the promise of Isaac's birth" (17:19, 21). Probably Abraham was still uncertain about this until God said, "Sarah thy wife shall have a son." Sarah laughed when she heard this. No human being could have known at that time that Sarah was laughing within, but the Lord said, "Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?" (v. 13). At this juncture, the Lord clearly unveiled to Abraham that He was Jehovah God by saying, "Is anything too marvelous for the Lord [Jehovah]?" When Sarah denied laughing He said, "Nay; but thou didst laugh" (v. 15), indicating that He was the omniscient God, the One who knows everything, even what is in man's heart. At this time Abraham was clear that this man was the Almighty Jehovah, the very El-Shaddai. In like manner, the disciples of Jesus gradually came to know that the man Jesus was God.
We all need to experience God in this way. We should not practice a religious form of meeting with God, saying, "Now is the time to worship God. I must dress up, comb my hair, and reverently walk into the cathedral where I shall be with God." If we take this way, God may not appear to us. Many times God comes to us while we are sitting at our tent door. Although we may be unprepared to worship God, we may see someone approaching and ask him to stay with us for a while. Eventually we learn that this One is God. Have you not had this kind of experience? According to religion, God visits people in a cathedral or chapel. But God often visits us in a very normal way, in a way which is extraordinary as far as religion is concerned. I like the God who appeared to Abraham in the form of a mortal man at his tent door. Many sisters have the experience that while they are cooking in their kitchens or doing the laundry, the Lord comes to them in a very intimate, human way, and they have a pleasant time of sweet fellowship with the Lord, conversing with Him as with a friend. Many brothers have the same kind of experience. While they are working on their jobs or resting at home, the Lord comes to them as a dear friend, and they have an intimate conversation with the Lord. This is the experience of the Lord coming to visit us on our human level so that we can commune with Him as with an intimate friend.
In which of the four sections of Abraham's experience are you? Are you experiencing God as the God of glory, as the Most High God, as the El-Shaddai, or as the One in the form of a mortal man? Are you living in intimate fellowship with God on a human level? How sweet it is when God comes to us not with His divine glory or in His high position but in the form of a mortal man!
Abraham's fellowship with God began after he was circumcised and had been terminated (17:24-27). He had not only been called and learned to live by faith in God for his existence, but he had learned to reject and deny his natural strength and to trust in God for everything for the fulfillment of His purpose. After becoming such a person, he began to live in fellowship with God. In his circumcised state, God came to visit him, and as a circumcised person Abraham had an intimate communion with the visiting God. He did not need to go to God; God came to visit him. Religion always charges people to go to God, but Genesis 18 reveals that God came to visit His circumcised one. The circumcised one did not need to go to a temple or cathedral; his tent became God's tabernacle, the place where God enjoyed His circumcised one's ministry of water and food. It is after our flesh has been circumcised and our natural man has been terminated that God comes to visit us and we minister water and food to Him for His refreshment and satisfaction in our intimate fellowship with Him.
As Abraham lived in fellowship with God, God considered him to be his friend (James 2:23; Isa. 41:8; 2 Chron. 20:7). The conversation between Abraham and God in this chapter resembles that between two friends. This happened by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, where Abraham lived according to God's pleasure (13:18). The name Hebron in Hebrew means fellowship, communion, and friendship. It was at this place of fellowship and friendship that God came to visit Abraham as a friend, and Abraham welcomed God as a friend, preparing water for God to wash His feet for His refreshment and feeding God with a rich meal for His satisfaction. Abraham did all this in the intimate fellowship with his Friend at his tent door under the shadow of the oak trees, not in the religious worship of "God" in a cathedral or sanctuary under the service of a "priest" or "minister."
When Abraham was sitting in the tent door to cool himself in the heat of the day, God appeared to him with the two angels. When he saw them approaching, he ran to welcome them and asked them to stay with him. He prepared water for them to wash their feet and served them a rich meal of three cakes of fine wheat flour baked on embers, a tender and good calf, and butter and milk (vv. 4-8). In ancient times, three measures, or three seahs, were the equivalent of an ephah. According to 1 Samuel 1:24 and Judges 6:19, the normal portion for a meal was an ephah of fine flour. Why then does 18:6, like Matthew 13:33, mention three measures, not one ephah? Because in both Genesis 18 and Matthew 13 three measures of fine flour signify the resurrected Christ in His humanity. Such a Christ is the fine flour baked into cakes to be food for both God and man. Abraham also prepared a tender calf. This calf, like the fatted calf used to feed the prodigal son in Luke 15:23, was also a figure of Christ. Abraham also served God and the angels butter and milk. God drank the milk of the good land much earlier than the children of Israel did. The cakes, the calf, and the butter and milk all signify the riches of the all-inclusive Christ for the satisfaction of both God and man.
Although the Bible does not say that Abraham presented this meal to God as an offering, in actuality he did so. Years later, when the children of Israel went to their yearly feasts, they offered God the produce of the good land, offering Him the produce of either the vegetable or animal life. In principle, Abraham did the same thing in Genesis 18. Whenever we enjoy a good time with God, having intimate fellowship with Him, at that time Christ not only is supplied to us, but we offer Christ to God, offering Him the riches of Christ for His enjoyment. In other words, we offer Christ to God as three measures of fine flour, as a tender and good calf, and as butter and milk. Thank the Lord that we have had at least some experience of this. While we were enjoying intimate fellowship with God, we not only received Christ from God but also offered Christ to God as God's food. We offered Christ in His resurrected humanity as three measures of fine flour, we offered Christ as the tender and good calf, and we presented all the riches of Christ to God for His enjoyment. A good number of times at the Lord's table I have not enjoyed the Lord as much as when I have offered Christ to God for God's enjoyment. When guests come to visit you in your house, you do not expect them to feed you. Rather, you enjoy feeding them. The sisters especially enjoy serving a meal and watching the guests eat it. The more the guests eat, the happier the sisters are. We all need to be in such an intimate fellowship with God that we not only enjoy Christ but also offer Christ to God for His enjoyment. The highest fellowship is not when we enjoy Christ so much before God but when God enjoys Him in us more than we do. The highest and richest meeting in the church is the meeting in which we offer Christ to God for His satisfaction.
As Abraham was enjoying such sweet fellowship with God, he received revelation from Him regarding the birth of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom. These are the two basic things concerning which God will always deal with us. The birth of Isaac is related to Christ, and the destruction of Sodom is related to God's judgment upon sin. Isaac must come and Sodom must go. This means that Christ must come in and sin must go out. Today God is not only accomplishing His plan to fulfill His purpose, but as the Lord over all men He is also judging sin. The principle is the same in every aspect of our lives: in our married life, home life, personal life, Christian life, and church life. God's concern is to bring Christ forth through us and to eliminate all the sinful things. He intends to produce Christ and to destroy the "Sodom" in our home life, work life, and even in our Christian and church life. All the revelation that we have received and shall receive from God mostly concerns these two items. If you consider your own experience, you will find that this is so. Whenever you have received revelation from God during the course of your fellowship with Him, it has always concerned Christ on the positive side and sin on the negative side. Positively we see more of Christ and say, "I have seen something new of Christ. How I hate that I have not lived more by Him." This is the revelation regarding the birth of Isaac, the revelation that Christ will be brought forth in your life. But negatively we see our sins and say, "O Lord, forgive me. There is still so much selfishness, hatred, and jealousy in me. I have so many failures, shortcomings, and even sinful things. Lord, I judge these things and want them destroyed." This, in principle, is God's judgment upon and destruction of sin. In our Christian life, Christ must be brought in and "Sodom" must be destroyed. Likewise, in the church life, Christ must increase and sin must be abolished.
How can Christ be brought forth? Firstly, there is the promise. The promise made to Abraham regarding the birth of Isaac in 17:19 and 21 was confirmed in 18:10. Not only did God promise Abraham that he would give birth to Isaac through Sarah, but in the whole Bible, especially in the New Testament, there is the rich promise concerning Christ. We have the promise that Christ will be our life, our supply, and our everything. How much the New Testament promises concerning Christ! All these promises can be fulfilled by the gracious visitation of God.
The birth of Isaac was at the time of life, at the appointed time (17:21; 18:10, 14). Christ always has been and always will be increased in us and brought forth through us at the time of life. We need to have many such times of life. I would like to have one every day. The time of life is always the appointed time, the time appointed by God. God made the appointment, not Abraham. It is the same with us today, for it is God who makes the appointments, not you and I. Our past experiences will help us to understand this. Whenever God comes to visit us to bring forth Christ, that time is the appointed time, the time of life.
The time of life for Abraham and Sarah was the time when they had become nothing. Isaac was born when Abraham had become as old as dead and Sarah had become out of function (vv. 11-13). Likewise, whenever we become nothing, that is a good time, a divinely appointed time, for us to participate in more life.
In verse 14 the Lord said, "Is anything too marvelous [or wonderful] for the Lord?" (Heb.). Every experience of Christ is marvelous in our eyes; it is a wonderful doing of the Lord. How could Sarah have brought forth Isaac? It was humanly impossible. If that had happened to us, it would have been a wonderful and marvelous thing in our eyes. Christian experiences are always like this because the Christian life is a life of impossibilities. How marvelous it is that all the impossibilities become possibilities with Christ! We can do what other people cannot do and we can be what others cannot be because Christ is marvelous and wonderful in our experience of Him.
The second revelation that Abraham received concerned the destruction of Sodom (vv. 16-21). After enjoying such intimate fellowship with Abraham, God and the two angels were satisfied, strengthened, and refreshed. Verse 16 says that then "the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way." Abraham walked with them for a certain distance to conduct them, to send them away. Often when guests come to visit us, we walk them out to their car after their visit, seeing them on their way. Abraham's walking with his visitors was like one sending his friend away.
As Abraham was bringing God on His way, "The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" (v. 17). God could not hide His intention from Abraham, but told him of His intention to judge Sodom saying, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know" (vv. 20-21). God's heart was concerned about Lot, but He could do nothing for him without an intercessor. As we shall see in the next message, God here was seeking for an intercessor. Although God did not mention Lot's name, He knew within His heart that Abraham understood what He was doing. God and Abraham spoke to one another in a mysterious way, neither of them mentioning Lot's name. The outsiders did not understand what they meant, but they each understood.
Verse 22 says, "And the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom: but Abraham remained still standing before the Lord" (Heb.). When the two angels left, Abraham did not tell the Lord good-bye. No, he remained standing before the Lord. As we shall see, the purpose of his standing before the Lord was for intercession.
In Genesis 18 we see that Abraham, a circumcised man, had peace with God. Although Abraham did not expect such a visitation, God appeared to him in the form of a mortal man, conversing with him as with a friend. There was nothing religious about such intimate fellowship. In that fellowship Abraham received revelation from God positively concerning the birth of Isaac and negatively concerning the destruction of Sodom. Then, after the angels had left for Sodom, Abraham remained in the presence of God. God had found a man to whom He could commit what was on His heart, a man to respond to His heart's intention and echo His heart's desire. In this chapter we see that the sweetest and most intimate experience of God is like what we have with our most intimate friend.
