2013冬季训练
总题:创世记结晶读经(一)
总题:创世记结晶读经(一)
Message Eight The God of Abraham Seen in His Dealings with Abraham
Scripture Reading: Acts 7:2; Gen. 12:7-8; 13:14-17; 14:17-20; 15:1; 17:1; 18:1; 24:14
I. The God of Abraham (Exo. 3:15) is seen in His dealings with Abraham as follows:
A. The God of Abraham is the God of glory, in His first appearing with His first calling and His first speaking to Abraham, as the vast magnet and the great motivation to Abraham that moved him to come out of the country of satanic idolatry— Gen. 11:31; Acts 7:2-4a:
1. Through His repeated appearing to Abraham, God transfused Himself into him, causing him to experience a spiritual infusion— Gen. 12:1-3, 7-8; 13:14-17; 15:1-7; Rom. 4:3; Gen. 18:17-19; cf. Acts 26:16; 22:14-15.
2. Abraham was able to reach Canaan because God was persistent; God holds His people fast; He is a God who will not let go— John 10:28-30; Jude 24.
3. God was revealed to Abraham as the Justifier of His believing people who have been transfused with Him as their believing element to be their faith, which is their appreciation of Him as a divine reaction to His attraction— Gen. 15:1-6; Heb. 12:1- 2a; Gal. 2:20.
B. The God of Abraham is the God of blessing, in His second calling with His second speaking to Abraham, promising him that He would make of him a great country, make his name great, and make him a blessing to others and that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him; this attracted Abraham to go into the good land of the divine promise — Gen. 12:1-4:
1. According to Galatians 3:14, the blessing promised here is actually God Himself as the Spirit; the greatest blessing is the Triune God—the Father, Son, and Spirit—as the processed, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit dwelling in us in a most subjective way for our enjoyment—6:18; Phil. 1:19.
2. Whoever curses God's people receives a curse, and whoever blesses God's people receives a blessing—Num. 23:21; 24:5, 9; cf. 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:17.
C. The God of Abraham is the God of the earth, in His second appearing with His third speaking, in promising Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed— Gen. 12:6-7.
D. The God of Abraham is the God of secret care for His elect, in saving Abraham from Pharaoh's insulting of his wife — vv. 10-20.
E. The God of Abraham is the God of comfort and encouragement, in His fourth speaking, after Lot left Abraham, in promising to give to Abraham and to his seed the land of Canaan as far as he could see in four directions and to make his seed as numerous as the dust of the earth—13:14-17:
1. Christ as the seed of Abraham must be wrought into us so that He may be brought forth through us for His increase— Gal. 3:16; 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19.
2. The land of Canaan signifies the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit for our enjoyment so that we may be constituted with Him for His corporate expression— Col. 1:12; 2:6-7; Gal. 3:14; 5:16, 25.
F. The God of Abraham is God the Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, in His divine supply with His blessing to Abraham through His priest Melchizedek after Abraham fought the battle against the four kings— Gen. 14:17-20.
G. The God of Abraham is the God of shield and great reward, in His fifth speaking (this time in a vision) to Abraham, when he was afraid of the four kings' avenging, in pointing out to Abraham that his heavenly seed in their divine nature would be as many as the stars in heaven who could never be touched by anyone on earth; Abraham believed in Jehovah, and Jehovah accounted it to him as righteousness—15:1-6.
H. The God of Abraham is the God of faithfulness, in foretelling to Abraham, in His sixth speaking to him in his deep sleep, that his earthly seed in their human nature would be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, be afflicted by them for four hundred years, and in their fourth generation return to Canaan; and He is the God of faithfulness, in making a covenant with him that He would give to his seed the land from the river of Egypt to the Great River, Euphrates—vv. 12-21.
I. The God of Abraham is the God of silence, due to the fact that Abraham listened to his wife Sarah and married Hagar to get a son by the exercise of his flesh when he was eighty-six years old (16:1-4, 15-16); then God became silent to Abraham for thirteen years, until he became ninety-nine years old, and God appeared to him again (17:1).
J. The God of Abraham is the God of all-sufficiency, in His third appearing with His seventh speaking to Abraham, in being the God of circumcision to cut off His chosen people's natural man in the flesh that they may become God's new creation, signified by Isaac who was born by God's grace, not by Ishmael who was born by Abraham's flesh—vv. 1-21; Gal. 4:22-31:
1. God is revealed as the All-sufficient God (Heb. El Shaddai) for His believing ones to walk in His presence, constantly enjoying Him and His all-sufficient supply, and to have God added to them as the element and factor of their perfection— Gen. 17:1.
2. The divine title El Shaddai is composed of two Hebrew words—El means "the Mighty One," and Shaddai comes from the Hebrew word meaning "breast" or "udder."
3. Thus, God is the Mighty One with an udder, the all-sufficient Mighty One to be the Nourisher, Strength-giver, and bountiful Supplier of His called ones, who continually receive Him—Phil. 1:19-21a; Gal. 3:2, 5; John 1:16.
4. The All-sufficient God is the God of crucifixion for the termination of our natural man in the flesh and the God of resurrection for the germination of our new man for the new creation— Gen. 17:1-21; 22:1-10; Col. 2:11; Gal. 5:24; 1 Pet. 1:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; Phil. 3:3. son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked together.
K. The God of Abraham is the God with His human friendship, in His coming (in His fourth appearing with His eighth speaking to Abraham) as a man, in the form of a man, to visit Abraham as His friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) on the level of humanity, with whom Abraham walked and who conversed with Abraham as a human friend with a human friend, concerning His judgment of Sodom, where His friend's nephew Lot and his family lived— Gen. 18—19.
L. The God of Abraham is the God with friendship in humanity, in sending Abraham's nephew and his two daughters out from the overthrow of Sodom, for the remembrance of Abraham as His intimate friend—vv. 29, 12-22.
M. The God of Abraham is the almighty God with His friendly care, in saving His close friend Abraham, with His almighty power, from the loss of his wife to Abimelech, king of Gerar— ch. 20.
N. The God of Abraham is the God of changelessness in keeping the principle of His grace, in recognizing Isaac, his son of Sarah, as his only son, in His ninth speaking to Abraham— 21:1-12.
O. The God of Abraham is the God with His trial, in proving Abraham, His intimate human friend, by asking him to present his only son, whom he loved, for a burnt offering to Him, in His tenth speaking to Abraham—22:1-10.
P. The God of Abraham is the Triune God of provision (Heb. Jehovah-jireh), in His providing a ram to replace Isaac for a burnt offering to Him (as the Angel of Jehovah— Christ), in His eleventh speaking to Abraham—vv. 11-14.
Q. The God of Abraham is the Triune God of blessing, in His twelfth (last) speaking to Abraham, promising him that He (as the Angel of Jehovah— Christ) would bless him and multiply his seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand upon the seashore and that in his seed (Christ) would all the nations of the earth be blessed—vv. 15-18.
R. The God of Abraham is the God of friendship on the human level, in leading the old servant of His friend Abraham to secure a wife for his son Isaac— ch. 24.
II. As a whole, the God of Abraham is the God of speaking in His appearing, with calling, in a vision, and in the human friendship, to unveil to His intimate friend on the earth what He aspired for him to be and what He wanted him to do according to His heart's desire for the accomplishment of the eternal economy for the Divine Trinity.