"By faith
Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a
place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he
went out, not knowing whither he went… By faith
Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had
gladly received the promises was offering up his only
begotten son; even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall
thy seed be called: accounting that God is able to raise
up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a
figure receive him back" (Hebrews 11:8, 17-19).
We have so far spoken in
a very general way about these matters related to faith -
what God is seeking in enlargement, establishment and
life. We will now go a step further, and see these things
being worked out in the life and experience of His
people, individually and collectively, bringing these
truths into practical application and relationship to
life. We shall therefore return first of all to the very
practical outworking of truth in the life of Abraham.
Abraham's life can be gathered up into four things: faith
in relation to God's purpose, faith in relation to God's
principle, faith in relation to God's patience, and faith
in relation to God's passion. That comprehensive
statement covers the whole course and meaning of his
life.
God's
Purpose In Calling Abraham
We know, I think,
without any further comment or explanation, what God's
purpose was in calling Abraham. That is perfectly clear
in the very statements that we have read from the Book of
Genesis. The Lord told him that He was going to do with
him and through him: to make of him a great nation, and
from him a multitude of nations - here was a great
purpose, to have a seed according to God's own heart.
Into that purpose Abraham was called. But the realization
of the Divine purpose and the calling - for you notice
that that is the word that is used: "Abraham, when
he was called…" - was along the line of
many testings of faith.
The
Covenant Sign
I want to come
particularly, at the present time, to the second of those
four things - faith and God's principle. We know that, at
a certain point in Abraham's relationship with God and
God's dealings with him, a covenant sign was established,
in the form of a rite, which was indelibly registered in
his flesh and became the covenant sign for all his seed
(Gen. 17:10-14, 23-27). That covenant sign or rite became
the central meaning of Abraham's life, the very basis of
all the thoughts of God where he was concerned. Its
significance - for it was, after all, only a sign; Paul
makes it perfectly clear that this is not merely a rite,
but a principle - the significance of this sign or rite
gathered into it everything of God's meaning. The
principle of the thing had already been at work in the
life of Abraham before it was formulated into the
definite act, and it continued to be applied in principle
right to the end of his life - that is, from the
introduction of Abram on to the platform of Divine
activities. It runs, moreover, not only through his life,
but through the whole history of Israel, and is then
taken up in its spiritual meaning in Christianity. The
spiritual significance and principle of that rite is
always the basis upon which God works.
It is found here right
at the beginning, then, with the introduction of Abraham
into our known history: "By faith Abraham, when he
was called…" Stephen said: "The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia" (Acts 7:2); and you remember the terms
of the call. "Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land
that I will show thee" (Gen. 12:1). "By faith,
Abraham, when he was called, obeyed": he went out.
The principle of circumcision began to work right at that
point. It was faith's basic renunciation, by which there
began to be placed between the old life and relationships
and an entirely new one a severance, a cutting, a
separation. On the one side was the ground of judgment -
Ur of the Chaldees, and all that that meant; on the other
side, the ground of righteousness. This is Paul's whole
argument about Abraham in his letter to the Romans. So
far as God's mind was concerned, it was intended to be a
distinct act of severance from the ground of judgment to
the ground of righteousness.
Separation
From Country And Kindred
We are told in the Book
of Joshua that Abraham "served other gods"
beyond the Euphrates (Josh. 24:2). Recent excavations in
Ur have revealed a good deal about the times of Abraham,
and amongst these uncoverings there have come to light
the names of no fewer than five thousand gods who were
worshipped at that time by the people of Chaldee in Ur.
'Your fathers worshipped other gods beyond the River'.
"Get thee out of thy country". The
significance, then, is: Come right out from every other
object and form of worship, right out from anything and
everything that shares the ground with God, right out
from all that which disputes the rights of God - that is,
from all the ground which lies under judgment.
Idolatry is a principle,
not a form. When we speak about idolatry, there is
usually conjured up in our minds some form of idols which
the heathen worship, to which they bow down, or the ikons
and images of a false 'Christian' system - paganism and
heathenism of any kind, wherever it is found. But
idolatry is a far, far bigger thing than that. If there
were five thousand gods in Ur of the Chaldees, there are
five hundred thousand in the world. They are everywhere.
They are in your heart and in mine - that which
challenge's God's ground, that which disputes the rights
of God, that which shares between God and something else.
That is idolatry. I repeat: it is a principle, not just a
form. The principle of circumcision is so much bigger
than the rite. That is what the New Testament seeks to
make clear. This thing is so much more than a rite in the
body: this is something that ranges the whole realm of
the flesh, the natural man. "Get thee out of thy
country". This is thorough-going, drastic,
tremendous; it leaves nothing outside.
"From thy kindred,
and from thy father's house". Well, Abram started
out from his country, as we know; but instead of
fulfilling the whole commandment, he took his kindred and
his father's house with him, and so the journey was
arrested. The fact is that they moved to Haran, which was
still in Chaldea, and so still under the government of
these gods. They were even yet in the old territory, on
the ground of judgment, still in the place where God's
rights were challenged and disputed. And so God said, 'We
cannot go any further while there is anything of that
left.' And the move never came until Abram's father died.
Now, this may represent
many things, but for the present I want to indicate that
this means that we are not only called upon in an
objective way to leave the world. The world has got to
leave us. You can take a certain position in an outward
way in relation to Christianity, but you may have carried
it all with you in your heart. That is what Israel did in
the wilderness. They left Egypt, but Egypt did not leave
them: Egypt was still in their hearts, and they were
constantly harking back to Egypt. This has got to become
no mechanical profession, no association and attachment
in an outward way to the things of God. This must be a
matter of the heart. The father's house, the kindred -
the sentimental associations, the affectional
relationships, the deep-down hereditary connections -
these have to be severed. It has got to be a fundamental
and drastic renunciation. "Out of thy country…
from thy kindred… from thy father's house, unto the
land that I will show thee".
Abraham
In The Land
So, when his father was
dead, he moved. But he still took some of his kindred
with him who, until that connection was finally severed,
were a constant nuisance to him. There were Lot and his
family. However, he did move into the land. Yet here he
is moving up and down in the land and not possessing one
foot of it, dwelling in tents; he is in the land, but
with no possession.
A Deep
Work Of The Cross
Why? I think for two
reasons. On the one hand, something had still to be done
in Abraham; but, on the other hand, the land itself was
full of idolatry. So that on the one side there was the
idolatry of Chaldea, on the other side the idolatry of
Canaan: and in between a wait, a long wait, before his
seed could possess the land. You see, God is not
realizing His full purpose while there is any idolatry at
all on the right hand or on the left. God is establishing
and standing by his irrevocable position: 'I am going to
be all or nothing. Whether it be Ur of the Chaldees or
whether it be the land of Canaan, I am not going to share
with anybody. And so, Abraham, I have got to bring you to
the place where I am your all, and you have nothing else,
before we can realize our full purpose'.
That is the principle of
circumcision - of the rite of the covenant. It is the
registration of a very, very drastic work of God. Paul
says that it is a type of the Cross of the Lord Jesus. He
puts the two together, and says quite clearly that the
circumcision of the Old Testament was only a symbol of
the Cross of the Lord Jesus, by which this very utter
separation is made, between all the ground where God's
rights are challenged or disputed, and the ground where
God is all.
Now you notice that the
process and the progress of this application of a
principle was from without to within, and ever more
deeply within. From without: "thy country".
That may be very much outward, and yet it is a very real
thing. Unfortunately we still sometimes have to use a
phrase which is a contradiction in terms - and a very,
very terrible phrase it is, when you think of it in the
light of the Cross of the Lord Jesus - 'worldly
Christians'. That is a contradiction in terms. From God's
standpoint there is no such thing as a 'worldly
Christian', or a 'worldly church'. And yet, in some form
or other, this idolatry that is in the world may be
associated with Christians, and Christians associated
with it. Perhaps the best way in which I can speak of it
without going into details is this. You notice that when
the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in a life on the
principle of the Cross of the Lord Jesus - that is, our
death and burial with Him and our resurrection with Him
to newness of life - when He is allowed to apply the
principle of the Cross, you see all sorts of things
beginning to happen spontaneously in the lives concerned.
As time goes on and they are seeking to follow the Lord,
you notice that they are changing certain things, of
which at the beginning they seemed to be hardly
conscious, or they are dropping them. These people say,
'The Lord has shown me that He is not pleased with this,
does not agree with that.' The ground that lies under
judgment is coming under the Holy Spirit's conviction.
Now, as we have said,
this process starts on the outside. But do not think that
you have got a long way on when you begin to do that sort
of thing! That is only the beginning; that is only
leaving your country. There is a lot more to be done yet:
but you will not get any further until that is done. It
has got to be done. You may hold the Lord up on some
little matter like that; perhaps a matter of dress -
perhaps a matter of 'make-believe'. It is not a very
advanced point when you begin to deal with things like
that; it is quite elementary. But do not do anything just
because someone says you should - that is legalism. Ask
the Lord that His Spirit may work in your heart on the
principle of the Cross of the Lord Jesus. You will find
that the Holy Spirit will be quietly singling things out,
and there will be changes.
But that is only leaving
your country. The Lord is working from the outward to the
inward, getting closer and closer to the heart. He is
going to press this thing more and more inwardly. From
"thy country" to "thy kindred" - that
is getting closer, is it not? Those affectional
relationships to which we cling. I am not going to dwell
on this, but many a life has been held up by clinging to,
and many another life has found its complete release by
dealing with, some affectional relationship. Oh, the
tragedies of unequal marriages of Christians - all
because of an unwillingness, at a certain point, before
the covenant was entered into, to face this whole matter
of common ground in the Lord. On the other hand, when the
knife of circumcision is applied to something in that
realm, to some relationship which is not on the common
ground of Christ, yet very near to the heart, how
wonderful has been the release that has come, even in the
midst of great suffering. But everything is held up until
it is done. That was the point with Abraham's hold-up:
the whole purpose of God was held up too. This is
applying principles in a practical way.
So the Lord goes on with
His servant; and in the next phase he is in the land. He
is in the land - but with no possession, and this
represents a still more inward movement of the knife. Was
there some mixture in the heart of Abraham? It is not for
us to say that there was, to judge him; but, from certain
things that arise, to which I shall refer in a moment, I
wonder - was there, after all, in his heart some mixture
of ambition in relation to the Divine call?
"…Unto the land that I will show thee: and I
will make of thee a great nation… and make thy name
great". Did the thought enter his heart: 'I would
like to be a great nation, I would like to be something
great'? I am not charging Abraham with anything, but in a
moment, in the next step, you will see that there may be
some justification for raising a question like this. In
any case, there could have been just some personal
interest, some thought of self-realization, associated
with his act of obedience.
Now, whether it was true
in Abraham's case or not, you know there does come into
our relationship with the things of God a good deal of
personal interest. What pathetic stories can be told of
the tragedy of ambition in the realm of the things
of God. I have recently had very close and painful
association with such a case: one who went into what is
called 'the ministry', married a wife who was
tremendously ambitious for her husband and did everything
to push him forward, and he became actuated and obsessed
by this idea of getting on. Now, that man started with a
real sense of Divine things. He was closely associated
with Oswald Chambers in the heyday of his ministry, and
we together had much fellowship in the things of the
Lord. And then, by this ambition of his wife and himself,
he got on and got on. He got to the very top in one of
the biggest of the denominations, and was granted a very
high honour in a degree from a well-known university for
his work. Today, now that he has got it all, that man has
no assurance of salvation. He is a complete wreck -
mentally, physically and spiritually. I have spent long
and terrible hours trying to help him, trying to get his
faith on to its feet, to believe God at all.
That is ambition in the
realm of the things of God. You may say that I have given
an extreme case: but you see it started in quite a simple
way at a certain point - some opportunity of an advantage
in the realm of God's things - and that led to the next
step. Now, God is going to have none of that in relation
to His full purpose. Let us be before God about ambition:
it can be a terrible, terrible snare. In the end, it can
mean the frustration of all that God ever intended in our
lives. Let us remember that Christ "made Himself of
no reputation" (Phil. 2:7; A.V.).
Was Abraham's long
waiting, between the two worlds, so to speak - the world
of the past and the world of the promise - this marching
up and down, this living in tents - was it God's way of
pressing the principle of circumcision deeper still, in
regard to this matter of dividedness of heart, really to
sever the last remaining tires, to shatter the last
fragments of personal interest? If that is true, it goes
very deep, does it not? Take the matter of patience. If
there is one thing that will slay anything like ambition
more thoroughly than anything else, it is being kept
waiting. There is nothing that disciplines our motives
more than to be kept in suspense, to be made to know how
impatient we are, and how much patience we need. Abraham
had to be brought into oneness with God's patience. The
sword was thereby entering his soul and searching out all
this personal interest.
Now, in order that you
may see that I am not altogether imputing something wrong
to Abraham, we come to his supreme crisis - that of
Isaac. Isaac became the point at which the sword entered
most deeply. "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom
thou lovest, even Isaac… and offer him…"
(Gen. 22:2). Can anything be more inward than that? No;
God has driven the thing right to its innermost point
now. But why? What is the explanation? We know that in
principle and in figure God is bringing this man into
fellowship with Himself in His own passion, the offering
of His own well-beloved and only Son. Yes, but there is
another factor. Do you remember, when the Lord one day
was speaking to Abraham, what Abraham said to the Lord?
In effect he said, 'Yes, that is all very well - but what
wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and that which
is born in my house is not my child?' (Gen. 15:2-3).
'What wilt Thou give me?' God gave him Isaac, but
even so this element of 'give me' had got to be destroyed
- God had to root out the 'me'. And so Abraham was called
upon to give back to God, to have the last fragment of
'me' eliminated; and then he got Isaac back, and there
was no 'me' in it at all.
Now, I think we see what
God wants, what God is after. Where are we? It may be
that there is one reading this word who has not yet made
the first response to the call to leave that which
corresponds to their country. You are still on the ground
where God has not got His place in your life, where other
lords have dominion, where the principle of idolatry is
in some way at work, keeping you from responding to the
Divine call. Let me say this to you, that that to which
God calls you is nothing less than the great, vast
purpose of God in Christ. You are not called just to be a
Christian. You are not called just to say 'I accept
Christ as my Saviour', and to do what other people called
Christians do. You are called with a great, an immense
calling, which is only commenced in time and reaches to
and spreads over all the ages to the ages to come. That
is the calling with which you are called.
Abraham, while he
emerged at last, in his life here on earth, into that of
which I am speaking, is but a figure of that. When God
said to Abraham, 'Thy seed shall be as the stars of
heaven and as the sand on the sea-shore for multitude',
and spoke to him of 'the land which I will give thee', it
had its literal fulfilment; but it is only a figure. It
is a type, as the New Testament shows, of something very
much more than that. Its full realization is in Christ -
so the Apostle Paul makes clear. We are called in Christ
to the realization of a great, eternal purpose; but
nothing is possible until we have made that first
response to the call: "Get thee out of thy
country".
It may be that you who
read have made that response. You are no longer in the
world, in that sense. You have made a gesture, a
movement, and gone so far with the Lord, and then stopped
- perhaps because there is still something from which you
are not prepared to separate. So we could take it, stage
by stage, right up to the final application.
But, taking it
altogether, my point is this. Have any of us stopped
short? Have we really made this fundamental and
complete renunciation? You see, there is more in this
than appears. The Lord Jesus said a drastic thing:
"Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that
he hath, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33).
'Renounceth all that he hath' - why? You see, dear
friends, if there is anything less than that, it is
giving Satan a foothold in our lives. It is dividing
things with God. It is in effect saying, 'The Lord is not
all'. Until it is 'No one else and nothing else but the
Lord', it is a hazardous Christian life - our Christian
life is in jeopardy. The Lord says, 'For your own safety,
for your own eternal future, and for the realization of
My purpose, I must just be all. You must have no
gods besides Me; you must have nothing that divides the
ground with Me at all'. Listen to Paul, whom we have
already quoted: "…as always, so now also Christ
shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by
death. For to me to live is Christ…" (Phil.
1:20-21). The principle of circumcision is just this -
that God has all the ground, and there is nothing else
there to dispute it with Him.
An Act
Of Faith
To give God that ground
calls for an act of faith. "By faith
Abraham…" God is not going to give you anything
that will undercut faith. He will say, 'Look here, I am
telling you nothing about it.' It will be 'into a land
which I will show you'. Abraham "went out, not
knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8). God had not
given him a rosy painting. Up to that time, God had not
defined or described the inheritance. He simply said, 'I
will show you: you go on - I will show you. When you have
taken the step, I will show you'. In the meantime, it was
not knowing, not knowing, not knowing - that principle of
faith. His attitude was: 'I believe that, God having
called me, God knows that it is worth-while to call me to
make such a renunciation, and that is all I want to
know.'
God does not do this
sort of thing to get us into a trap, to deceive us, to
rob us of anything, to take anything away, to lessen our
lives. God does this sort of thing because He is the God
of Purpose that He is, whose aim and end is fulness. That
is all I want to know. This is faith in God - faith that
believes that, whatever the step means, God means more.
"By faith Abraham… obeyed… went out, not
knowing…"; but faith was this - 'God has called
me, and I believe that God never calls without some real
justifying purpose.' If it costs, the compensation must
be far greater; it must be, because God is what He is.
I ask you: Have all your
gods of Chaldea been gods like that? Have they really
'filled your bill'? Have they really satisfied you? In
holding on to that someone, or to those some things, do
you find real contentment? If you are honest, you will
have to say 'No'.
Let us, then, hasten to
the point where we say, 'The Lord only! By God's grace,
it is going to be the Lord only. It is not going to be a
move just so far, and another move just so far, and then
stop. It is going to be, by the grace of God, all the way
- right to God's end, with no reserve; the Lord all.' Let
Him make that real. As I have said, if God ever says a
thing, you can believe that there is a great deal more
behind it than appears in what He says. We should look at
the Bible like this. If we find in the Bible a statement
or a requirement, a command or an exhortation, where on
the face of it it just says that a certain thing is to be
done, or something else not done, we should never stop
there. We should say Why? Or, Why not? What has God got
in His mind when He says that? God is not just giving out
platitudes, little rules and regulations for our life.
Behind everything He says, God has got His full knowledge
of the immensity of it all. There is such an immense
reason behind the least thing that God says. It is as big
as God Himself. So we need to enquire - What is behind
this? We need to ask, in a spirit, not of questioning,
but of seeking to understand: Why should I do this? Why
should I not do that? There is a big answer to that
'Why?' You may take it that, if God calls, the reason for
it is as big as Himself - something that you will never
compass.