In the
two chapters now before us we shall again be brought face to face with the
conflict of spirit and flesh, of faith and works, of liberty and bondage, in
short with the key words of the epistle to the Galatians, and the very allegory
which the apostle uses in that epistle.
In
response to the words which were given to Abram in the vision, “Fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward”, Abram said:--
“Lord God, what will Thou give me, seeing
i go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given
no seed; and, lo, one born in my house
is mine heir.”
This must
not be interpreted to mean that upon the mention of the word “reward” Abram
evidenced a grasping spirit — rather the contrary is the true meaning. Here he was a stranger among strangers. His nearer relative had parted from him for
the greater attraction of Sodom. He was
getting well on in years and still childless.
Hence he says, “What wilt Thou give me?”; as much as to say, Thou hast already loaded
me with blessings, what can more of the same avail, seeing that in the ordinary
course (and according to the law of the land at the time) it must all go to
Eliezer my steward? (For the code of
Khammurabi, to which Abram refers here, see
volume VI, p.104).
God had
promised Abram a seed, and Abram began to think that the intention of the Lord
was to run along the lines of human codes.
In this he was mistaken:--
“And behold the word of the Lord came unto
him saying, This shall not be thine heir;
but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine
heir.”
This definite
statement removed Eliezer from the field conferred upon Abram in his old age
the assured hope of literal parenthood.
Not yet
did Abram’s faith firmly grasp the fact that this promise encircled Sarah also; this is evident by the sequel, yet he
believed the literal statement of the Lord and for the time that was all the
Lord intended. When Abram stood alone,
rid of the society of Lot, the Lord used the simile of the dust of the earth to
indicate the number of his seed. Now
Abram’s eyes are directed heavenward:--
“And He brought him forth abroad, and
said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them: and He said unto him, so shall thy
seed be.”
Abram
stood before that heavenly host, a childless old man, yet the simple statement
is made — grand in its simplicity — “And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for
righteousness”. This sentence brings us
to one of the most important utterances of Scripture. Upon the truth contained therein the apostle
Paul founded his gospel. The epistles to
the Romans and the Galatians are impossible apart from it: It will therefore warrant a pause and a
prayerful consideration.
“He believed in the Lord.” -- Romans iv.
3 says, “Abraham believed God”. Had not Abraham believed in the Lord, or
believed God when he obeyed the command to leave Ur of the Chaldees? He certainly did, for Hebrews xi.
definitely says that he acted “by faith”. Was not the response recorded in Gen. xii. 7
the act of a worshipper who believed?
Did not Abraham believe the Most High God when he preferred His blessing
to Sodom’s gifts? Surely he did. Then what is the reason for this statement
here? We believe the whole secret is
wrapped up in the fact that Abraham’s belief in the Lord on this particular
occasion embraced the idea of resurrection. This is elaborated in Romans iv.
in connection with the fuller statement concerning Abraham’s seed given
in Genesis xvii. That
is the character of the faith which justifies.
The purpose
of justification goes back as far as Genesis xii., for
Gal. iii. 8 says:--
“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”
Justification
by faith was incipient in the covenant of
Genesis xii., it arrives at full
consciousness, so to speak, in Genesis
xv. Take the words “counted for”. If we turn to
Rom.iv.1-8, we find the
expression “counted for”, and also “reckoned” and “imputed”, the same word
being translated by these various terms.
The important thing to notice is that faith is “counted FOR”, whereas
righteousness, sin and reward are “counted”.
The difference is this, righteousness, sin and reward are real value in
themselves, whereas faith is only of value by virtue of the work of another and
the ordinance of God.
A
treasury note is worth £1, yet its intrinsic value is practically nil. Drop a treasury note in the fire and its
value ceases. Drop a sovereign in the
fire and its value remains the same.
Faith is the treasury note. It is
counted for, but it is not of itself counted as, righteousness. The moment we look on faith in itself as a
meritorious cause of justification, that moment we make it a work which is
excluded.
Abraham’s
faith, as exhibited in Genesis xv., confessed the utter inability of the flesh
to accomplish anything for God. His
faith said practically, "unless God is the One who quickeneth the dead, i
have no ground of hope".
Following
upon this justifying faith comes the confirmatory covenant concerning the
inheritance. “Whom He justified, them He
also glorified”; that is the sequence
expressed doctrinally. “Joint heirs with
Christ, if so be we suffer with Him”; that
is the reason for the affliction of Abraham’s seed. “God works all things together for good to
them that love God, to those who are called according to a purpose”; this expresses the superintending hand of God
in all the strange pathways of His covenant people. Thus the history of Genesis xv. and the doctrine of Romans viii., bear united testimony. Even though justification leads on to glory,
it does not exempt from intermediate suffering, but rather supports the
teaching that it must come.
The Lord
said to Abram, “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to
give thee this land to inherit it”. And
he said, “Lord God, whereby shall i know that i shall inherit it?” There are two questions in this chapter, and
there are two answers. Indeed the
answers precede the questions:--
“I AM THY SHIELD.” — This was the pledge
of Abraham’s justification.
“I AM THY EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD.” — This
was the pledge of Abraham’s inheritance.
“WHAT WILT THOU GIVE ME?” — External
confirmation. — The stars.
“WHEREBY SHALL I KNOW?” — External
confirmation. — The smoking furnace and the burning lamp.
Space prevents
us from quoting the verses of Genesis
xv., the reader is expected to “search
and see” with regard to all the articles of this magazine.
Offerings
are arranged for the purpose of making a covenant, but Abram falls into a deep
sleep that the covenant may be manifestly unconditional.
The
question must arise, Why was it necessary for Israel to go down into Egypt, to
be oppressed there, to be delivered out of it, and to be brought back to the
same land wherein Abraham already was?
Why should not Abraham’s descendants just continue without a break in
the land of their inheritance? This
question expressed in different terms is asked all down the age regarding the
strange providence of suffering. The
answer is a revelation of God’s character and purpose:--
“But in the fourth generation they shall
come hither again, FOR THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITES IS NOT YET FULL.”
The
bondage in Egypt was not only for the discipline of Israel and the
manifestation of redemption, it was because the longsuffering of God waits
until the workers of iniquity have proved themselves incorrigible. That this is a Fundamental of Dispensational Truth we shall find by other
scriptures:--
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full,
a king of fierce countenance … shall stand up … but he shall be broken without
hand” (Dan. viii. 23-25).
In Matt. xxiii. 32-36; I
Thess. ii. 16 we find the words:--
“Fill
ye up then the measure of your fathers … that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth … All these things shall come upon this
generation”.
“Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles
that they may be saved, to fill up their
sins always: for the wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost.”
“Filled
up” sins are met with “filled up” wrath.
John saw “seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God” (Rev. xv. 1).
There are
spiritual and human workers of iniquity for whose fulness the inheritance
waits. The book of the Revelation shows
human and Satanic iniquity fully ripe.
The bondage of the redeemed will then come to an end. Those that afflict them will be judged, and
afterward the redeemed shall “come out with great substance”.
Another
covenant is made by God, which defined the geographical boundaries of the land
of promise. This land has never yet been
possessed by Israel. It is the “good
land and large” that awaits them. When
they enter it they will dispossess 10 nations, “the Kenites … the Jebusites”,
which is typical of the overthrowing of the 10 antichristian kings at the time
of the end. An episode follows this
chapter of faith which again shows the failure of the flesh.
Abraham
believed that the son and heir promised to him should be his own flesh and
blood, but both Abraham and Sarah seemed to have concluded that Sarah was not
to be the mother of the child. Indeed
Sarah says that the Lord had restrained her, when He had done nothing of the
kind. One of the hardest things for the
believer to do is to WAIT. The promise
seems to tarry, and the flesh counts the longsuffering of God “slackness”. The flesh also seeks to help God to fulfil
His own unconditional covenant, and the end is always disaster.
Ten years
had passed, and the trial of faith proved too much. “Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai”, sad
repetition of Gen. iii. 17. The
transactions of this sixteenth chapter of Genesis seem strange to our ideas,
but it was strictly in accord with the law of the land at the time. This is specially to be remembered when
considering verses 3 & 6.
The
result of the intrusion of the FLESH into the realm of FAITH was the birth of
Ishmael. The epistle to the Galatians
has much to say concerning the flesh and the spirit and the enmity between the
son of the bondmaid and the son of the freewoman. The one indicates law which can only touch
the flesh. The other indicates faith
which can only apply to the spirit. The
reader is referred to the whole epistle as an inspired comment upon these
chapters. The individual working out of
the comparisons and allusions will be a helpful study. We have the beginner in mind in this series,
and nothing is worse than never to allow the beginner the opportunity of
searching the Scriptures and receiving the training which results from
exercise.
Hagar had
a wonderful experience. If Hagar was to
wander later in the wilderness of Beer-sheba (the well of the oath) she
is first of all to know Beer-lahai-roi (the
well of living after seeing).
Another interpretation of this name is The well of the living and the visible One, and when we remember
the revelation of Christ to a fallen woman of Samaria (John iv.), the
possibility of this equally wonderful revelation being made to the outcast
Hagar is not to be dismissed.
When
Ishmael was born Abram was eighty-six years old. Faith had yet to be strengthened by longer
waiting, for chapter xvii. opens with a childless Sarai, when Abram had
reached ninety and nine years of age.
We shall
continually meet with these examples of failure because of not waiting. May the lesson be not wasted upon
ourselves. “Wait, I say, on the Lord”. “Which worketh for him that waiteth for Him”
(Isa. lxiv. 4, R.V.).
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