Abram has
had several trials of faith. We see his
progress much like the climbing record on the meteorological chart. Not one straight undeviating line does
Abram’s record leave. He falls a few
degrees, and advances a few more, but it is to be thankfully noted that he does
advance. One, and One only, ever walked
the straight path of perfect faith, and while Abraham may twice figure in the
list of those who received a good report through faith, Christ Himself alone is
the Author and Perfecter of faith (Hebrews xi., xii.). Nevertheless, Abram is a follower of the Lord,
and to him as to all believers comes the call to go on unto perfection:--
“And when Abram was ninety years old and
nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him. I am El Shaddai; walk before Me and be thou perfect.”
When He was
revealed as Abram’s shield and reward, Abram believed Him unto justification
and inheritance. Something fuller and
deeper lies before Abram now. Up to this
point Abram is the father of all that believe.
Every believing child of God is justified and will receive a share of
His inheritance. Not all believers,
however, “go on unto perfection”. Even
Paul, sure as he was of his justification and of his fitness for the
inheritance in the light, yet says, “Not as though i were already
perfect”. When Abram is called upon to
“be perfect”, a fuller revelation of God is made to him. It will be helpful to observe the different
titles of God that appear in the various phases of Abram’s walk of faith.
Stephen
tells us that “The God of glory” appeared to Abram and bade him leave Ur of the
Chaldees for the land of promise. This
title of the Lord is in vivid contrast to the idolatrous and passing world of
Abram’s nativity. As “The Most High God,
possessor of heaven and earth”, the Lord was revealed to Abram before he met
the temptation of the king of Sodom. As
Abram’s shield and exceeding great reward the Lord is revealed Who was to
justify him and pledge his inheritance through all the trials that awaited him
and his seed.
His
title, when He lets Abram know that his inheritance is sure, is “The Lord that
brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees” — implying the truth otherwise
expressed “that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ”. This characterized
Abram’s faith (see Rom. iv. 21). As “The Almighty God”, or El Shaddai, the Lord appeared to Abram
when He would urge him on to perfection.
If justification by faith supposes the deadness of nature and the
resurrection power of the Lord, subsequent perfection will necessitate that God
Himself shall be all in all. El Shaddai
has been curiously rendered, “The enough God”;
the idea is expressed by the apostle when he said, “Our sufficiency is
of God”.
Abram’s
name is here changed to Abraham, “The father of many nations”, and this is
spoken of at some length by the apostle in
Rom. iv. 16-25. The land of Canaan is given here to Abraham
and his seed for “an everlasting” possession, by an “everlasting” covenant, or
a possession for the age of undefined limits.
Thus Israel is called the ancient people, or the everlasting people, the
people for the age (Isa. xliv. 7). The
connection of this “everlasting” character of the blessing with “perfecting”
will be more fully dealt with in the articles on The Epistle to the Hebrews.
The first
occurrence in the New Testament of the title “Almighty” is II Cor. vi. 18 where it is preceded by separation, as in
Abram’s case, and followed by cleansing from the filthiness of flesh and
spirit, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God”. Seeing that the word “perfect” in Genesis xvii. is the word used of Noah in Gen. vi. 9,
who “was uncontaminated in his pedigree”, and considering the insistent
attempts of Satan to corrupt the line of the promised Seed, as in the case of
Pharaoh and Sodom already noticed, there may be an allusion here to the
intrusion of the flesh resulting in the birth of Ishmael.
Three
important aspects of truth are indicated in Genesis xvii.:--
1. The Lord reveals Himself. — “I
AM” (1).
2. The Lord reveals His
intention. — “I WILL” (seven times, 2-8).
3. The Lord reveals something
for Abraham to do. — “Thou shalt keep” (9-14).
The Lord
is Alpha (I am), and Omega (I will) before Abraham is called upon to
do anything. The seventh “I will”
pledges the fulness of El Shaddai in
that day to Abraham’s seed, “I will be their God”. Further, Abram’s name is changed to Abraham
before a conditional covenant is made with him.
Abraham
can be justified without
circumcision, but not perfected. This is vividly brought out by the apostle
in Philippians iii. where before speaking of the perfection to
which he pressed, he spoke of those who were likeminded believers as “the
circumcision who had no confidence in the flesh”. That is the true significance of the
rite. The flesh is repudiated. After having begun in the spirit, asked Paul
of the Galatians, are you now made perfect by the flesh? To the Colossians the apostle expressed his
earnest desire that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This statement follows the record of their perfect acceptance in Christ, and is followed by the reference to their
circumcision in Christ.
1. “In the body of His flesh to
present you holy and unblameable” (i. 22).
2. “That we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus” (i. 28).
3. “In Whom ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in the putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ”
(ii. 11).
So it is that
the changed name follows the command to be perfect, and is in turn followed by
“My covenant which ye shall keep”. This
was to be the token of the “everlasting covenant” already mentioned.
Sarai’s
name is now changed to Sarah. The
meaning of the two names does not differ much.
Sarai means “princely” and Sarah “princess”. The same letter “H” which was added to
Abram’s is added to Sarai’s.
There are
eight covenants that are made with Abraham, and each is suggestive when we
observe its numerical order:--
1. The great nation. “Thee” (personal) seven times (Gen. xii.
1-3).
2. The Seed. Redemption.
Altar (Gen. xii. 7).
3. The land. Only Abraham’s in resurrection (Gen. xiii.
14-17).
4. Boundaries.
400 years. 4th
generation (Gen. xv. 13-21).
5. Grace, the changed
name. “H” = 5 in Hebrew. Circumcision and perfection. “Abraham laughed” (Gen. xvii. 1-22).
6. The flesh a failure. “Sarah laughed” (Gen. xviii. 9-15).
7. Isaac, not Ishmael. “Let him laugh” (Gen. xxi. 12).
AFTER THE OFFERING OF ISAAC.
8. Blessing in
resurrection. The oath (Gen. xxii.
15-18).
It may
also have been remarked that in chapter
xvii. we have a fuller statement of the
sevenfold covenant of Genesis xii. This
covenant has seven “I wills”, but the promises are fuller. It commences the second set of four
covenants. The first four are concerning
the great nation, the promised seed, the promised land, and its geographical
boundaries. These are covenants made
with Abram. The second four are covenants made with Abraham.
They include circumcision as the token, the promise concerning Sarah,
the exclusion of Ishmael, and the “better promises” obtained by Abraham,
revealed for the first time centuries after in the epistle to the Hebrews. The earthly inheritance is given in Genesis xv. 13-21, the heavenly is contained in xxii. 16-18.
Doctrinally we
must repudiate the Ishmaels of our failures, but practically we may have to
shoulder our burdens and responsibilities to them. Thus the apostle did not instruct a believing
husband to put away his wife who may have still remained a pagan. This would have brought the name of the Lord
into disgrace. Abraham remembers his
responsibility regarding Ishmael.
Rightly or wrongly, Abraham was his father, and he pleads for Ishmael
before the Lord. The Lord replied:--
“Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son
indeed; and thou shalt call his name
Isaac: and I will establish My covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold I have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly;
twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my
covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at
this set time in the next year. And He
left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham” (Gen. xvii.
19-22).
Ishmael
should be blessed, but the covenant was in Isaac. Both Ishmael and Isaac were circumcised, yet
one was of the flesh, while the other was of promise. Isaac was circumcised on the eighth day — the day of resurrection,
whereas Ishmael was circumcised in his thirteenth year, the number of
rebellion.
Thus
Abraham was instructed, when he set out upon his walk before God, that to be
perfect involved the putting off of the body of the flesh. Ishmael cannot inherit the promises of the
covenant. All must be of God and not of
the flesh. Thus did Abraham learn his
first lesson when he was ninety years old and nine. Thus did he laugh the laugh of faith when he
believed that a child should be born to one a hundred years old.
The Scriptures
in setting forth the truth of perfection allow
no room in connection with it the flesh.
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