Abraham—Called by God: KNOWING GRACE FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S PURPOSE GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

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KNOWING GRACE FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S PURPOSE GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

And he said unto him, 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? And he said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst.… And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land…

Genesis 15:7-10, 17-18

In the last message we saw that whatever Abraham experienced prior to Genesis 15 was a matter of God’s blessing for his existence. But God’s calling of Abraham was not merely that Abraham should exist; it was that God’s eternal purpose might be fulfilled through him. Beginning with chapter fifteen, God came in to show Abraham that he needed grace for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. Abraham not only needed outward blessings in his environment but also grace in his life. If we read Genesis 15 through 22 carefully, we shall see that in these chapters God was dealing with Abraham in order to bring him to the realization that he needed His grace in order to fulfill His eternal purpose. So God came in not simply to bless Abraham outwardly but to work Himself into him as grace in order that Abraham might have something substantial for the carrying out of God’s eternal purpose.

As we saw in the previous message, two things were needed for Abraham to fulfill God’s purpose—the seed and the land. If you read Genesis 15 again, you will see that these two things, the seed and the land, are mentioned repeatedly. We have seen that both the seed and the land are Christ. Firstly, the seed is the individual, personal Christ, and eventually it is the corporate Christ. Galatians 3:16 reveals that Christ is the seed of Abraham. Initially the seed was the individual Christ, but ultimately it has become the corporate Christ—the Christ who is the Head with all of us as His Body. This is the seed that is needed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

Christ is also the land. The concept that Christ is the land may seem rather new or strange because in the past many of us were told that the good land of Canaan was a type, a symbol, of heaven. This concept is held by many Christians, but if we return to the pure Word, we can see that the land actually symbolizes Christ. In type, the land is the place where God’s people have rest and where God can defeat all of His enemies and establish His kingdom with His habitation for His expression and representation. Please remember the following points regarding the land: that it is the place where God’s people may have rest; that it is the place where all of God’s enemies can be slaughtered; and that it is the place where God establishes His kingdom and builds up His habitation that He may be expressed and represented on this rebellious earth. What is qualified to be such a land? Nothing other than Christ. In Christ, we have rest and we slaughter the enemies. In Christ, God establishes His kingdom and builds His habitation, the church, for His expression and representation. Have you seen that both the seed and the land are Christ? The seed that God promised Abraham is today the corporate Christ, and the land that God promised him is the wonderful resurrected and elevated Christ in whom we rest and slaughter our enemies and in whom God establishes His kingdom and builds up His habitation that He might be expressed and represented.

When God promised Abraham that he would have a seed, Abraham believed God for this immediately (15:6). When Abraham believed in God for the promise concerning the seed, his faith, which was so precious to God, was counted as righteousness to him by God. At that time, Abraham was justified by faith, by the faith that believed that God would give him the seed to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. When Abraham believed in God for that, God was happy with him. After this, however, when God also promised Abraham that He would give him the land, Abraham fell short, saying to the Lord, “Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (v. 8). Although he was able to believe in God for the promise concerning the seed, he could not believe in Him for the promise concerning the land.

The principle is the same today. To believe that Christ is the seed is easy, but to believe that Christ is the land is difficult. It is easier to believe that Christ is our life than it is to believe that Christ can be our church life. Many Christians believe in God for Christ’s being their life, but when they come to the matter of the church life, the good land where we can rest, slaughter the enemies, and afford God the ground to establish His kingdom and build up His habitation, they say that it is impossible for us to have this today. Many Christians seem to be saying, “It is possible for us to live by Christ, but it is impossible to have the church life.” It is easier for them to believe that Christ can be their life than that the church can be their living. They cannot believe that it is possible to have the church life today. Once again we see that we are the same as Abraham, finding it easy to believe in God for the seed but finding it difficult to believe in Him for the land. Do you have Christ as the seed? Do you also have Him as the land? It is not such a simple matter to have Christ as the land for us to live in so that we may have the church life and that God may have His kingdom with His habitation for His expression and representation.

Years ago, before we came into the church life, we ministered on the matter of living by Christ, but we ourselves were not in the rest. We wandered restlessly until one day, by His grace, we came into the church. When we came into the church, we began to have the sensation that we were in the rest. Before we came into the church life, it was very difficult for us to slaughter the enemies, but after coming into the church life, we found that it was easy to slaughter them all. In the church life God’s kingdom is set up, His habitation is built up, and God is expressed and represented. This is the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose today.

GOD CONFIRMING HIS PROMISE BY MAKING A COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM THROUGH CHRIST

Because Abraham found it difficult to believe in God regarding the promise of the land, God was forced to make a covenant with him. In 15:9-21 we see that God confirmed His promise by making a covenant with Abraham through Christ. The way in which God made this covenant with Abraham was very peculiar. This portion of the Word is difficult for people to understand. We need to see that God was forced to make this covenant with Abraham. As far as God was concerned, there was no need for Him to do this. If Abraham had immediately believed in God for the promise of the land, Genesis 15 would have been much shorter than it is now. There would have been no need for many things that are mentioned there: the dividing of the heifer, the she-goat, and the ram; the offering of the turtledove and the young pigeon; the deep sleep that fell upon Abraham; the horror of great darkness that came upon him; God’s passing through the pieces as a smoking furnace and as a torch of fire; and the mention of the four hundred years. It seems that nothing was pleasant. It was not the time of sunrise but of sunset, and God did not come in a lovely way but as a smoking furnace and a flaming torch. If we had witnessed such a scene, we probably would have been frightened to death, being unable to withstand it and finding it altogether a terrifying thing. This scene, however, has a very sweet flavor because in it God made a covenant with His dear called one; He had no intention of terrifying him.

I have spent much time in trying to understand this portion of the Word. In the early days I could not understand it because I lacked experience. I looked into some books, but none of them said anything helpful about this matter. But eventually by experiences through the years the Lord has shown me the real significance of this portion of the Word. This incident in Genesis 15 is the consummation of a covenant, the record of God’s enacting of a covenant. The first covenant that God made was with Noah (9:8-17), a covenant that had a rainbow as its sign. Here, in Genesis 15, is the second covenant made by God with man. We need to keep this fact firmly in mind.

THREE CATTLE SIGNIFYING THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST • In making His covenant with Abraham, God told him to take a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon (v. 9). The three cattle, all of which were three years of age, were divided in half, but the two birds were not; they were kept alive. It was through these that God made His covenant with Abraham, implying that it was in this way that Abraham could fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

We need to see the significance of the three cattle and the two birds. In typology, all things offered to God by man are a type of Christ. Based upon this principle, each of these five things undoubtedly is a type of Christ. Christ is firstly the crucified Christ, the cut Christ, and secondly He is the resurrected, living Christ. If we see this, then we can immediately understand that the three cattle, which were cut and killed, are types of the crucified Christ. The crucified Christ was the One who became flesh, living on earth in His humanity. John chapter one says that the Word who was God became flesh (v. 14). Then it speaks of this One as the Lamb of God (v. 29). The Lamb of God was the One who was the Word of God becoming flesh. Thus, the three cattle in Genesis 15 should signify Christ in His humanity being crucified for us.

If we read Genesis 15 along with the book of Leviticus, we can see that the female heifer was for a peace offering (Lev. 3:1). Why does the peace offering come first? Because when God was making a covenant with His called one, there was the need of peace. In making a covenant or any agreement between two parties there is the need of peace. In order for God to make a covenant with His called one, there was firstly the need of a peace offering. And Christ was that peace offering. The she-goat was a type of Christ as our sin offering (Lev. 4:28; 5:6). Regardless of how good we may be as God’s called ones, we are still sinful. Thus, following the peace offering we need the sin offering. Hallelujah, the problem of sin has been settled! It has been taken away by Christ as our she-goat, as our sin offering. Following this there was the need of the burnt offering, the offering which signifies that everything must be for God (Lev. 1:10). After the peace offering, there was the sin offering, and after the sin offering, there was the burnt offering. Christ was all of the offerings that God passed through in making a covenant with His called one.

Why were the three cattle all three years old? Because Christ was not killed in death but in resurrection. He was not offered in death but in resurrection. Referring to His crucifixion, the Lord told the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The Lord was killed when He was “three years old,” meaning that He was killed in resurrection. Even before He was killed He was already in resurrection because He was always in resurrection (John 11:25). Therefore, when He was killed, He was killed in resurrection, and this was why He could be resurrected. Christ offered Himself to God in resurrection. He was nailed to the cross in resurrection. Regardless of how strong you may be, if you were to be killed, you would be killed in death, not in resurrection. But the Lord Jesus was killed in resurrection.

TWO BIRDS SIGNIFYING THE RESURRECTED CHRIST • The two birds, neither of which was killed, signify the resurrected, living Christ (Lev. 14:6-7). This resurrected Christ is mainly in His divinity because, according to the Bible, a dove in typology signifies the Holy Spirit (John 1:32). Therefore, while the cattle typify Christ in His humanity, the birds typify Him in His divinity. So the birds in Genesis 15 signify the heavenly Christ, the Christ who came from and who still is in heaven (John 3:13), the Christ who was and who still is living. Christ has been crucified, yet He lives. He was killed in His humanity, but He lives in His divinity. He was killed as a man who walked on this earth, but now He is living as the heavenly One soaring in the heavens. While His humanity was good for Him to be all the sacrifices, His divinity is good for Him to be the living One. He was sacrificed for us in His humanity, and He is living for us in His divinity.

In typology, the turtledove signifies a suffering life and the young pigeon signifies a believing life, a life of faith. While He was living on earth, the Lord Jesus was always suffering and believing. In His suffering life He was the turtledove and in His believing life He was the young pigeon.

There were two birds, and the number two means testimony, bearing witness (Acts 5:32). The two living birds bear testimony of Christ as the resurrected One living in us and for us (John 14:19-20; Gal. 2:20). The living Jesus is the testimony, the One who constantly bears witness. In Revelation 1 the Lord Jesus said, “I am…the living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever” (v. 18). His living forever is His testimony, for the testimony of Jesus is always related to the matter of being living. If a local church is not living, it does not have the testimony of Jesus. The more living we are, the more we are the testimony of the living Jesus.

There were three cattle and two birds, making a total of five items. The number five is the number of responsibility, indicating here that Christ as the crucified and living One is now bearing all the responsibility for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.

AS FOWL FROM THE AIR, SATAN AND HIS ANGELS COMING TO MAKE CHRIST OF NONE EFFECT • When the sacrifices were made ready, the fowl from the air came down trying to eat them (v. 11). This signifies that Satan and his angels come to make Christ of none effect for the church life (Gal. 5:2, 4). Today Satan and his angels (2 Cor. 11:13-15) are doing their best to rob Christians of the enjoyment of Christ for the church life (Col. 2:8). As Abraham drove the fowl away, so we must drive Satan and his angels away from what Christ is to us for the church life.

THE COVENANTING GOD PASSING BETWEEN THE PIECES OF THE SACRIFICES • It was through the sacrifices as types of Christ that God passed to make a covenant with Abraham (vv. 17-18; cf. Jer. 34:18-19). After Abraham divided the cattle and arranged all the sacrifices, “when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him” (vv. 11-12). When Abraham was in this kind of situation, God came in. Verse 17 says, “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a torch of fire that passed between those pieces” (v. 18, Heb.). God did not come in a very lovely way but as a smoking furnace and as a flaming torch. A furnace is for refining, and a torch is for enlightening. In the midst of a dark situation God came in to refine and to enlighten. This happens quite often in the church life. Suddenly the sunrise becomes the sunset, a dark night descends upon us, many saints are sleepy and out of function, and there is suffering on every side. During such a time of affliction, we may begin to doubt, saying, “What is this? Is something wrong with us?” At such a time God will always come in as a furnace to refine us, to burn us out, and also as a torch to enlighten us. People often say of those in the church life, “How can you people have so much light? What light there is among you! How the torch is flaming!” The light mainly comes from the sufferings. Look at Abraham’s situation: the sun went down, night came, Abraham was sleeping, and God came in, not as a comforter but as a furnace to burn and as a torch to enlighten. On the one hand God is burning us and we are suffering; on the other hand He is enlightening us and we are under the light. At such a time, even if we are in a dark night, we shall be so clear.

It was in this kind of a situation that God passed between the pieces of the sacrifices, and that was the enacting of God’s covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham in the way of passing through all of the sacrifices as a smoking furnace and a torch of fire. It was in this way that God confirmed His promise to Abraham by making a covenant with him for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.

THE CALLED ONE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST BY OFFERING HIM TO GOD • Whenever people offered something to God in the Old Testament, they laid their hand upon the sacrifice, signifying their union or identification with it. God’s asking Abraham to offer the cattle and birds to Him implied that Abraham had to be one with all of the things that he offered to God. God seemed to be saying to him, “Abraham, you must be in union with all of the things that you offer to Me. You must be identified with the cattle and the birds.” This indicates that we also have to be cut in Christ’s being cut and crucified in His crucifixion. Our natural man, our flesh, and our self must be cut and crucified. As we are identified with Him in His crucifixion, we are also identified with Him in His resurrection. We are dead in His death (Rom. 6:5a, 8a) and we are living in His resurrection (Rom. 6:5b, 8b) to fulfill God’s purpose. We were terminated in His crucifixion and we were germinated in His resurrection. It is in this way that we are enabled to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

It is impossible for the natural man to have the church life. Among us we have many different kinds of brothers and sisters. Humanly speaking, it is impossible for us to be one. Nevertheless, in the church we are truly one by the crucified and resurrected Christ. We are so one in Him that even the Devil has to admit that we are one. Our old man was terminated in Christ’s crucifixion. Whenever my terminated old man comes out of the grave, I immediately rebuke him, saying, “What are you doing here? You have been terminated already. It is wrong for you to come here.” We all have been terminated in Christ’s crucifixion and germinated in His resurrection. In His resurrection we all are living, not living by ourselves but by the resurrected Christ who lives within us and who enables us to have the church life.

Now we see how God can have such a wonderful seed and land as the people and the sphere in and with which He can establish His kingdom and build up His habitation for His expression and representation. How can God do this? Only by Christ’s being crucified as our peace offering, sin offering, and burnt offering and being resurrected to be our life. Now we, the called ones, those who offer Christ to God and are identified with Him, are one with Christ. When Christ was crucified and resurrected, we also were crucified and resurrected with Him. We were crucified in His crucifixion and resurrected in His resurrection. Now we can all declare, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). It is by this fact that we can be living today in order to have the church life. In the church life we have Christ within as the seed and Christ without as the land. How can we get into such a land, into such a church life? Only through the crucified and resurrected Christ, through the heifer, she-goat, ram, turtledove, and pigeon. On the one hand, we all have been crucified; on the other hand, we all are living. So here God can have the seed and the land for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. Hallelujah for such a Christ as the seed for us to live by and as the land for us to live in!

THE AFFLICTION OF THE PROMISED SEED

SIGNIFIED BY THE GREAT DARKNESS • Verses 12 through 16 speak of the affliction of the promised seed. This affliction was signified by the great darkness that fell upon Abraham. As the sun was going down, Abraham fell into a deep sleep, and a horror of a great darkness came upon him. In that darkness God prophesied concerning Abraham’s seed, saying, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years…but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again” (vv. 13, 16). God seemed to be telling Abraham, “Abraham, you should not doubt that I will give you the land. Your seed will inherit the land. But your descendants are going to suffer affliction for four hundred years.” The Lord’s prophecy here is very meaningful. In the church life today, at a certain point the sun will go down, the dark night will come, and most of the people will be sleeping, that is, they will be out of function and no longer useful. Such a time is a time of affliction. Here with Abraham we see three things: that the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and that a horror of a great darkness fell upon him. It is during such a time that God’s called people are under suffering. God told Abraham that his seed would be suffering like that for four hundred years. Those four hundred years were to be one long night, a dark age when all the children of Israel would be sleeping, out of function, and suffering affliction. Abraham’s sleep signified that the four hundred years were to the children of Israel a dark night through which they passed.

FROM ISHMAEL’S PERSECUTION OF ISAAC TO THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT • History proves that Abraham’s seed did suffer affliction for a period of four hundred years beginning with Ishmael’s persecution of Isaac (21:9; Gal. 4:29) about 1891 B.C. until the exodus out of Egypt about 1491 B.C. (Exo. 3:7-8; Acts 7:6). Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac was the start of the affliction of Abraham’s seed that was to continue for four hundred years. What is the significance of the number four hundred? This number is composed of ten times forty. In the Bible, the number forty is the number of trials, sufferings, and tests. Thus, four hundred indicates ten times of trials. Before the children of Israel were tested in the wilderness for forty years, they had been tested for ten times forty years already. From Ishmael’s persecution of Isaac, the promised seed, until the exodus out of Egypt was four hundred years. Why then does Exodus 12:40-41 (cf. Gal. 3:17) speak of four hundred thirty years? This four hundred thirty years began with Genesis 12:1-6, from about the year 1921 B.C. From the day that Abraham was called in Genesis 12 to the persecution of Isaac by Ishmael was exactly thirty years, the period in which God’s called ones lived in a strange land. While Abraham was in Canaan, it was a strange land to him, and it remained a strange land to God’s called ones until the day they entered into it as the good land. The persecution of the seed began thirty years after Abraham was called in Genesis 12 and continued for four hundred years.

This is not merely a doctrinal matter, for the principle is the same in the church life today. While we are enjoying Christ as the seed within and as the land without, a dark night may fall upon us and some trials and testings may come. What is the purpose of this? For the purpose that, in the midst of the dark night, the lack of function of the called ones, and the affliction, God might come in as a smoking furnace to refine us and as a flaming torch to enlighten us that we may fulfill His purpose by the seed and by the land.

AS A SIGN FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S COVENANT • In making the covenant with Abraham, God sovereignly made an environment of darkness in which He told Abraham that his descendants would suffer affliction for four hundred years. This prophecy, which was fulfilled accordingly, was a sign for the fulfillment of God’s covenant made here. The affliction of the promised seed was a sign that God would fulfill His covenant. By suffering the affliction as God prophesied, God’s people should be assured that God would fulfill His covenant. It is the same with us today. The suffering of the church in dark times is a strong sign that God will fulfill His covenant for the church life with Christ as the seed and the land.

In verse 18 the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and said, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” Abraham’s seed was given a spacious land, from the river of Egypt to the great river of Euphrates. The nation of Israel today has only a narrow strip of land, but the promised land is more spacious than this. In typology, this means that after all of the experiences of affliction, the church life will be expanded and become spacious. Then we shall have a richer seed and a wider, broader church life. The seed within us will be richer, and the land without us will be broader. It is here that we fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

I believe that now, by the Lord’s mercy, Genesis 15, a chapter which has been so difficult to understand, has been made clear to us. In this chapter we have the seed and the land. Here we have Christ as the crucified One and as the resurrected and living One. Here we also have our identification with Him. In this chapter there are the four hundred years of affliction and God’s coming in as a furnace and a torch. It is here that God enacted His covenant that we might fulfill His eternal purpose. How did God enact His covenant? In the way of Christ’s being crucified as the peace offering, sin offering, and burnt offering and being resurrected as the living One; in the way of our offering Christ and being fully identified with Him in His crucifixion and resurrection; and in the way of our realizing that we shall have the dark night, the affliction, and God’s coming in as the furnace and the torch to refine and enlighten us. It is here in Genesis 15 that we are in the covenant made through Christ that enables us to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. It is here that in the church life we enjoy Christ as the seed and as the good land. It is here that we enjoy Him as the all-sufficient grace for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.