GENESIS - CHAPTER 17
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
17:1.
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram,
and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
If chapter 16 is the account
of the failure that results from confidence in the flesh and lack of complete trust
in God, chapter 17 is the record of recovery, of God’s drawing near in grace to
bring hope out of the ruin resulting from having had recourse to fleshly expedient.
Abram sat disconsolate amid
the ruin of his and Sarai’s schemes, and the prospect was even more hopeless than
before. Not only was Sarai barren, she
was now also too old to bear children, and as for himself, he too was old and “his
own body now dead” (Ro 4:19). Discord
and unhappiness dwelt in his home, and Ishmael, the child he loved, is found after
all not to be the child of promise, not the seed through whom all the promised
blessings were to come.
But into the midst of this
darkness came God, “I am the almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect.” It was the same Almighty God Who had appeared amid the ruin of the
original creation in Ge 1:2, bringing light out of darkness, cosmos out of chaos,
life out of death. It was God, the God
of resurrection. Man’s extremity is
God’s opportunity to come in and put forth His almighty power on man’s behalf,
bringing out of the chaos of our wrecked schemes the same light, order and life that
He brought out of the ruin of the original creation.
What was the cause behind
the disaster of chapter 16? Was it not
that God had said all His promises were to find fulfillment through a promised seed,
but Abram had been looking at himself instead of at God to provide that seed?
Don’t most of our troubles have the same origin?
We look to self instead of God to make good the promises given in His Word.
But instead of allowing Him, through the Holy Spirit, to produce in us Christ
the true Seed through Whom all God’s promises are to be fulfilled, we turn to such
worthless expedients as law-keeping.
God began the work of
recovery by bidding Abram to look, not at self, but at Him.
“I am the Almighty God.” That
is where all recovery must begin. Whether
it be the salvation of a sinner, or the recovery of a saint, the eye must be turned
to God.
Then He revealed the next
step, “Walk before me, and be thou perfect.”
He leads us a step at a time, and for a very good reason: to reveal the end
before we come to it would negate the operation of faith, and we are called upon to
walk by faith, not by sight (2 Co 5:7), so that we might at the end receive the
reward of faith, no small part of that recompense being the vindication of our faith.
The perfection spoken of
here is not the perfection of sinlessness, but rather that perfection of heart that
will have perfect faith in God, trusting Him implicitly “to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20).
Chapter 16 is the record of
man’s puny efforts, and the result is ruin. Chapter
17 is the record of the Almighty God at work on man’s behalf: “ I am,” “I
will make,” “I will multiply,” “I will establish,” “I will give,” “I
will be,” and the result is indeed beyond anything Abram could have asked or
thought.
Chapter 16 contains no
record of any conversation between Abram and God, for the simple reason that the
activity of the flesh and communion with God can’t coexist.
We are on dangerous ground when we permit the breakdown of that communion.
Prayer is the human side of the conversation, for in prayer we speak to God.
The Word is the divine side. In
it God speaks to us.
In chapter 16 Abram was
still capable of begetting offspring. It
was a period marked by activity of the flesh and its attendant ruin.
In chapter 17 he is ninety-nine and his body “dead,” and he sits in the
midst of the ruin his folly has wrought, powerless to effect a remedy.
This is where man must be in order for God to draw near and act on his behalf.
Man must first see the failure of his own efforts, must realize his own
helplessness, before God will reveal Himself and undo man’s ruin.
Abram’s age, 99, is
further confirmation that resurrection is the theme of this section, for 3 is the
prominent factor of 99, and 3 is the Biblical number of resurrection.
17:2.
“And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee
exceedingly.”
Having allowed Abram to
learn the futility of fleshly activity, and having revealed Himself as El Shaddai
(the Almighty God), God continues with the assurance, “I will make my covenant
between me and thee....” In pure
grace, and without any reason except His love for man, the Almighty God bound Himself
by an unbreakable covenant to bless Abram, whose sole part was to accept this
covenant, and allow God to fulfill it.
This is a picture of God’s
love and grace to humanity. He has bound
Himself by an immutable covenant to pardon the sins of every believer, and to bless
that same believer with the gift of eternal life.
There is one vast difference, however, between that covenant made with Abram,
and the great eternal covenant of which it is but a type: the Abramic covenant cost
God nothing, the covenant which bestows pardon and eternal life upon believing
sinners cost the Lord Jesus Christ His life.
The promise, “and will
multiply thee exceedingly,” implies the continuation of Abram’s progeny through
endless generations, and therefore, the continuation of Abram’s own life, for a
man’s life is perpetuated in his descendants.
This is a picture of the endless life bestowed upon the believer under the
terms of the covenant of grace sealed with the blood of God’s Son.
17:3.
“And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,”
There is no activity of the
flesh here. Abram, old, powerless,
discouraged, listened while God talked. And
the words he heard were the same as those poured into the ear of all who will take
the same place of submission before God. It
was no longer a question of what Abram could do - he could do nothing.
It was now a matter of what God would do, for it was His covenant, and He had
bound Himself to its fulfillment. And He
is the Almighty God. He can do
everything. Abram had no part in it
except to receive its blessings, for when it was made and sealed with the blood of
sacrifice in chapter 15 Abram was in “a deep sleep.”
We would do well to remember that the covenant by which God has pledged to
bless us, “with all spiritual blessings” (Eph 1:3) is one in which we have no
part except to receive the blessings, for we were in the “deep sleep” of
spiritual death when it was made and sealed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If that Abramic covenant,
sealed only with the blood of animals, guaranteed such blessings, well might Paul
write of that better covenant sealed with the blood of God’s only Son, “Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Co 2:9).
17:4.
“As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations.”
All the glory belongs to
God. When Abram’s body was “alive” he could beget only a “wild
ass man,” but now his “dead” body cannot beget even that. But El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the God of resurrection, will
take up that “dead” body, as he will also the “dead” body of Sarai, and out
of them bring the promised seed through whom their own lives would be perpetuated to
endless generations. As has been noted
already, Abraham represents faith, and Sarah, grace, so that God’s using these two
to beget the promised seed, is the symbolic announcement of the truth that only the
union of faith and grace can produce the true Seed (Christ) in the believer’s life.
This is a foreshadowing of
the miracle of grace in which God takes up sinners “dead in trespasses and sins”
and imparts His gift of eternal life. And
the assurance that it is available to all men is given in the promise, “and thou
shalt be a father of many nations.” “For
the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his
seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise
made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no
transgression. Therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be to all the seed; not to
that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who
is the father of us all. (As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations) before him whom he believed, even
God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they
were. Who against hope believed in hope,
that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken,
So shall thy seed be. And being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of
God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for
us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification” (Ro 4:13-25).
17:5.
“Neither shall they name any more be called Abram father is exalted,
but thy name shall be called Abraham father of a great multitude; for a father
of many nations have I made thee.”
In Scripture a change of
name always indicates a change of state, e.g., Jacob he will take by the heel:
supplanter, upon entering into a new relationship with God, became Israel he
shall be prince of God. Saul requested
became Paul little the great Apostle.
In Abraham’s case the
change of state is greater than is sometimes realized.
It would seem from the information given in chapters 11 and 12 that Terah was
indeed exalted by Abram, for it is evident that it was he who influenced Abram to
render only partial obedience to God in the matter of the divine command to leave Ur.
It was not until after the death of Terah that Abram entered the land of
promise. From a human viewpoint it might
seem that that was the time when his name should have been changed, but the
perfection of God’s timing will be appreciated all the more when we consider the
circumstances under which the change finally took place.
It was when “his own body was now dead.”
It is when the perpetuation of the natural line is humanly impossible that God
comes in with His promise, “a father of many nations have I made thee.”
The lesson isn’t difficult
to discern. Before there can be
spiritual life (typified in Isaac) there must be the death of all that belongs to the
old natural life. Ishmael, begotten by
the energy of the flesh, was the perpetuation of the old line, but Isaac, begotten by
the power of God, was to be the beginning of a completely new line.
God doesn’t remake the flesh. He
sets it aside completely. Men begotten
of the Spirit are a new creation. It was
when the flesh in Abram was dead that God changed his name to Abraham and empowered
him to become the father of a new line altogether.
This principle governs all that belongs to the new creation.
It is not until I see in my crucified Substitute, the death of all that was
mine as being in the line of condemned Adam, that I find myself standing as a new
creature in the line of the last Adam, taken by death out of that state of
condemnation, and brought by resurrection into the enjoyment of a new state in which
there is no condemnation.
It is significant that God
speaks as though what He had promised were already accomplished, “a father of many
nations have I made thee.” With God,
promise and fulfillment are the same thing.
17:6.
“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee,
and kings shall come out of thee.”
Abram, by the energy of the
flesh, could beget only one “wild ass man,” but Abraham, now as the channel of
the Holy Spirit’s power, was to be made exceeding fruitful.
Abraham is the “father” of every believer, and his fruitfulness may be
gauged from the impossibility of even beginning to number that vast multitude.
Apart from the fact that Abraham is the literal father of the Jews as well as
the Arabs, there is the transcendent fact that he is also the “father” of every
believer, and his spiritual children are found in every nation under the sun.
The promise that he should
be the father of kings has also been literally fulfilled - all the Jewish kings were
descended from him, the crowning fulfillment of that promise, of course, being the
Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to human genealogy, came from Abraham.
17:7.
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after
thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee.”
The emphasis is upon the
fact that this is God’s covenant, and that He has bound Himself to fulfill it.
Its eternal duration is indicated in the words, “thy seed after thee in
their generations for an everlasting covenant.”
The promise “to be a God
unto thee,” doesn’t of course imply that God is just one God among others.
It is rather the assurance that since the Covenant-maker is none other than
God, then the beneficiaries are justified in expecting limitless blessings since God
is not limited in what He has to give. That the covenant will be literally fulfilled in the Millennium is
abundantly clear, but that its blessings will continue into the eternal state is
equally clear.
17:8.
“And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I
will be their God.”
The promise is explicit:
Abraham and his descendants are to be given the land of Canaan, and their possession
is to be of no brief duration: the promise gives them “an everlasting
possession.”
It might be well at this
point to take time to note the circumstances under which the promise will be
fulfilled. Other Scriptures make it
clear that in the Millennium the land of Canaan will be occupied by literal
flesh-and-blood Jews who will have been converted in the Tribulation, and who will
have physically survived its horrors. The
converts from the nations (saved in the Tribulation, and having also physically
survived its carnage) will inhabit the remainder of the millennial earth.
The saints of this present age, will be resurrected and raptured before the
Tribulation begins. Then at the end of
the Tribulation, the saints of the OT age, together with believers who will have died
in the Tribulation, will be resurrected, and from the heavenly Jerusalem, which will
then be poised over the earth, will reign with us over the millennial earth without
actually being on it. There is nothing
in Scripture to indicate that the millennial earth will be peopled by resurrected
individuals.
Since the Millennium will be
superseded by the new heavens and the new earth, it seems reasonable to take everlasting
in its fullest sense of meaning eternal rather than just for the duration of time.
Reiteration of the promise,
“I will be their God,” simply confirms that there is no limit to the blessings to
be enjoyed by the beneficiaries of this covenant.
17:9.
“And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and
thy seed after thee in their generations.”
There is a wealth of
spiritual instruction in this verse which we do well not to miss.
While it is abundantly clear that God, of His own volition, made this
covenant, and bound Himself to fulfill it, it is equally clear that the blessings
were to be enjoyed only upon certain conditions: Abraham and his descendants were to
obey God, their obedience being the evidence of their faith.
Obedience is still the evidence of saving faith - a criterion that calls in
question many of today’s professions. There
is no Scriptural support for the notion that a loving God will set aside justice and
receive every man into heaven eventually. Only
men and women of faith will stand in heaven, for “without faith it is impossible to
please God” (Heb 11:6).
The idea that a man may
attain the right to enter heaven by good works is also refuted, for faith and works
are two separate things which should not be confused.
The fact that a genuine faith will of necessity produce good works, has led
some to conclude, wrongly, that it is the works that bring salvation.
It is God Himself Who warns, “Faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:20), but
works without faith are equally worthless.
This also refutes the error
that salvation is predestinated according to the arbitrary choice of a capricious
God. Man is a responsible creature to
whom God has given a free will, with the obligation to use that will to accept or
reject salvation. Apart from faith
Abraham would receive none of the covenanted blessings, nor would his progeny.
And this applies to all men, for without faith there is no blessing.
17:10.
“This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed
after thee: Every man child among you shall be circumcised.”
A condition must be met:
every man child must be circumcised. Romans
chapter four, however, makes it clear that the covenant was made with Abraham before
he was circumcised, and that circumcision was nothing more than the outward sign of
the inward faith which made him righteous in God’s sight, “... we say that faith
was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in
uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but
in uncircumcision. And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being yet
uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be
not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: and the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in
the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised” (Ro 49-12).
Physical circumcision was
nothing more than the outward sign of an inward faith that trusted God completely,
and renounced all confidence in the flesh. Today’s
spiritual counterpart is different only in regard to the outward sign of the inward
faith. The believer’s faith is just
the same as Abraham’s, but the outward sign of that faith is no longer the cutting
off of the flesh literally, but the “cutting off” of the deeds of the flesh.
The righteous life is the outward sign or evidence of the inward faith.
“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise
is not of men, but of God” (Ro 2:28-29).
“... which ye shall
keep” emphasizes Abraham’s responsibility to be obedient.
The lesson for all men is that salvation is a blessing to be enjoyed only by
those who have fulfilled their responsibility to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as
Savior, an obedient life being the confirmation of the reality of the profession.
It is scarcely necessary to
note that the words, “every man child,” do not exclude women from the blessings
of the covenant. Since the woman was
taken out of the man, she is viewed as being comprehended in him.
17:11.
“And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token
of the covenant betwixt me and you.”
As circumcision was the
visible sign of the Abrahamic covenant, an obedient life is to be the sign that marks
the man who is under the new covenant. And
as there was pain connected with receiving the mark of the one, so is there pain
connected with receiving the mark of the other.
To have its deeds cut off is always painful to the flesh, but the faith that
led to Abraham’s compliance with God’s command is the same faith that will
produce obedience in the life of the believer today.
17:12.
“And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man
child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any
stranger, which is not of thy seed.”
In the numerology of
Scripture eight always signifies a new beginning, and God’s command to
circumcise on the eighth day was the symbolic declaration that those receiving the
sign were those who stood in a new relationship with Him.
The spiritual truth being demonstrated is that there is a new beginning when
man sees the hopelessness of the flesh and its works as a means of blessing, and is
willing to renounce all confidence in it, leaving himself in God’s hands, for Him
to bestow blessing in the new life which He brings out of the death of the old.
That God’s blessings are
available to the Gentile as well as the Jew is declared in the words, “he that is
born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.”
The Jew is the one “born in the house,” and the Gentile is the one
“bought with money ... not of thy seed.”
As the blessings of the
Abrahamic covenant were available to the obedient Gentile, so also are the blessings
of the new covenant. The great
difference, however, is that the Gentile in Abraham’s house was bought with money,
but we who are members of the household of faith are there as the result of having
been bought, not with silver or gold, “but with the precious blood of Christ” (1
Pe 1:19). For the one as for the other,
it was not his national origin that determined his fitness to receive the covenant
blessings: it was whether he was a member of Abraham’s house, and whether he had
been circumcised. Translated into
spiritual language, it is simply a question of whether the man is willing to trust in
Christ, and renounce all confidence in the flesh.
17:13.
“He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must
needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant.”
Circumcision wasn’t an
option: it was a command. He who would
enjoy the covenant blessings must be circumcised.
Holiness for the believer is not an option: it is a command.
He who would be blessed must be obedient.
We must be careful, however,
to distinguish between the obedience that brings pardon and eternal life to the
sinner, and that which brings blessing to the saint.
Obedience to God’s command to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior,
brings the blessing of eternal life, and that life can never be lost.
But the obedience of the saint is connected with the enjoyment of that life.
Salvation can’t be lost, but the enjoyment of it can; and the disobedience
that robs me of joy here on earth will rob me also of eternal reward at the judgment
seat of Christ. It matters a great deal
how we live here on earth.
“... for an everlasting
covenant,” reminds us that obedience is required, not just for a part of our lives,
but for all of them, because the results are everlasting.
17:14.
“And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not
circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my
covenant.”
This declares the fatal
consequences of trusting in the flesh. Until
all confidence in it is renounced, there can neither be life for the sinner nor
blessing for the saint. He who will not
“cut off” the flesh, must himself be “cut off” by God.
17:15.
“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her
name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.”
Sarai my princesses
is now to be called Sarah a princess. As
has been noted already, Sarah represents the principle of grace, and as Abraham’s
wife, she represents grace joined to faith, for Abraham is the representative of
faith. As Sarai my princesses she
seems to represent Abraham’s conception of grace up to this point in his life, the
plural meaning of her name indicating that he viewed grace simply as consisting of a
number of blessings, rather than as an exclusive principle governing all God’s
dealings with him, and with all men of faith. It
would seem that he had the same very inadequate conception of grace as is entertained
by many today: they see it only as consisting of blessings given as reward for works.
Having learned the worthlessness of all self-effort, he is now taught the true
meaning of grace: it is God’s outpouring of unlimited blessing upon one who can do
nothing to merit it. Grace is not reward
for works: it is the bestowal of blessing upon those who deserve nothing but
judgment.
Henceforth his wife’s name
is to mean a princess, a princess of the nations and kings of which she is to
be the mother. Whereas her former name
seems to speak merely of blessings, her new name speaks of the great principle which
governs God in bestowing His blessings.
In the attempt to produce
the promised seed by fleshly expedient, Sarai was compelled to share her royal
dignity with an Egyptian maid, who eventually mocked her; but now as Sarah, the one
who alone is to bear that seed, she is to share her dignity with none. She is to be in every sense a princess.
Such is grace.
Abraham’s correct
conception of the nature of grace - indicated by his wife’s changed name - came
only when he had first learnt his own worthlessness, and the equal worthlessness of
all his own efforts. It comes to men
today in exactly the same way.
God would set before us here
more than the record of Sarah’s exaltation: He would have us learn the royal
dignity of grace. We become the
beneficiaries of grace, not as beggars receiving charity, but as sons and daughters
in God’s royal family, enjoying the riches of a Father Who is also God. It is only the distorted vision of the fleshly mind that sees
God’s gracious giving as charity bestowed on beggars. There is that false pride and blindness in man that will insist
upon working for salvation, refusing to accept it as the unmerited gift of grace,
saying in fact, if not in actual words, “If I can’t earn it, I won’t accept
it.” God never treats us as beggars.
Even in the matter of salvation we don’t have to beg.
It is He Who entreats us, for the eternal life offered by God as a gift
is priceless, beyond the ability of any man to buy.
His attitude towards us is
beautifully displayed in the story of the prodigal son.
Even in his rags he was never regarded by his father as a beggar (that was his
own right estimate of himself), but as his son returned.
What is ours under grace is a Father’s bounty bestowed on His royal sons and
daughters. There is a world of
difference between the beggar at a rich man’s door receiving of that man’s money,
food or clothing, and that same man’s children enjoying his riches because they are
his children. There is a royal dignity
connected with grace that we often fail to see.
Sarah (grace) is indeed a princess.
17:16.
“And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless
her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”
Having been brought to an
end of his own resources, and having learned that all must be of God, Abraham was
then shown what God would do now that there was nothing of the flesh to impede His
work. He learned that the promised seed
would come, not through the activity of the flesh in conjunction with law, but by the
power of God working through grace.
Sarah was to become the
mother of the promised seed, and the lesson God would teach us is that true blessing
is His production of Christ (the true Seed) in every believer.
We fall far short of understanding the meaning of blessing when we equate it
with wealth, ease, fame, honor, health, pleasure, etc. True blessing is in our being perfectly conformed to the image of
Christ; and in spite of all that the flesh would do to hinder, God will fulfill His
purpose, for His Word assures us that, “... whom he did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Ro 8:29).
(It is to be noted that this not a predestination to eternal life, but to
conformity to the image of Christ in those who have already obtained eternal life
through their free-will choice of Christ as Savior).
Just as Abraham had turned
to Hagar (representative of the principle of law) in an attempt to produce the
promised seed, so had the Galatians turned again to law-keeping, and Paul had to
rebuke their folly, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you” (Ga 4:19). Grace,
and grace alone will produce Christ in us, and conform us to His image.
Sarah was to become the
mother of nations and kings. In this God
would teach us that it is the union of grace and faith that will produce the vast
multitude of worshippers out of all nations described in Re 5:9-10, “And they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on (over) the earth.”
The confession of the
redeemed through eternal ages will be, “All through grace.”
17:17.
“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall
a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is
ninety years old, bear?”
The magnitude of God’s
grace was too much for even Abraham to grasp, for he still had his eye on self, and
what he saw there produced the laughter of unbelief.
In chapter sixteen only Sarah was too old to bear, but now Abraham also is too
old, humanly speaking, to hope for children. When
God is left out of our reckoning the sphere of possibility becomes small indeed.
But it is against the dark background of dead nature that the glory of the
Almighty God shines forth in all its splendor, for out of death he brings forth life,
and not just the same kind of life that has died, and which must therefore die again.
He brings forth a life which is as far above nature as He Himself is above
man. The life which the God of
resurrection brings out of death is spiritual, immortal.
It is His own Life. The believer
will never die. “I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (Jn 11:25-26).
17:18.
“And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”
Still failing to grasp the
extent of God’s power, and still not having learned that there is nothing of the
flesh which is acceptable to God, Abraham pleads that Ishmael, - who, like every
firstborn, represents the flesh - might be accepted as the promised seed. How slow we are to learn the lesson that the flesh is fallen,
ruined, corrupt, and that even the best it can produce is tainted with that
contagion! “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.... Ye must be born
again.... Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn
3:3,6,7). “Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Co
15:50).
17:19.
“And God said, 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.”
Sarah, and only Sarah, can
be the mother of the promised seed, for she represents grace, and the new life which
Isaac here represents, comes only from the union of grace, and faith, which Abraham
represents. The only life acceptable to
God is that which He Himself provides, for it alone is free from nature’s
corruption. It is resurrection life
(Isaac came out of two bodies as good as dead, see Ro 4:19), coming only when we see
ourselves as being dead in trespasses and sins; coming through faith in Christ,
crucified with Him, but then raised up as new creatures possessing His life, His
nature. And man has no part in
producing it. It must be received by
grace through faith, as God’s gift.
The promise is accompanied
by a command, “Thou shalt call his name Isaac he shall laugh,” for joy and
laughter are characteristic of the new life which Isaac represents.
The look at self can produce only the laughter of incredulity; but when the
eye is turned to God the hollow laughter of unbelief is replaced with that of joy and
gladness.
It is through the one whom
God Himself gives, that the covenant is to be established, and as it was with
Abraham, so is it also with the believer: God’s covenant is established eternally
with the man who has Christ, the One of Whom Isaac is but a type.
17:20.
“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.”
In God’s sovereign choice
of Isaac the secondborn, over Ishmael the firstborn, it is clear that we have another
demonstration of the operation of the principle annunciated in Heb .10:9, “He
taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”
God would remind us repeatedly of the need to be born again.
Flesh must be set aside and replaced with spirit.
In the divine promise to
bless Ishmael, however, God would guard against the wrong assumption that in being
rejected as the promised seed, he was thus being predestinated to lose his soul. The divine appointment of his position was for time, not for
eternity. He had no choice in the matter
of whether he would be the promised seed for the fulfillment of God’s covenant
promises, but there is nothing in this that deprived him of the freedom of choice in
regard to the salvation of his soul. The
divine appointment that gives one man wealth, and another poverty; one man health,
and another sickness, never deprives the individual of the freedom of choice to
accept or reject God’s gift of eternal life.
The literal fulfillment of
the promise that Ishmael would beget twelve princes is recorded in Ge 25:12-18. There can be little doubt, however, that the full measure of
fulfillment awaits the Millennium. Just
as Isaac represents Abraham’s spiritual posterity, Ishmael represents his literal
physical descendants, and their full measure of earthly blessing will come in the
Millennium.
17:21.
“But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto
thee at this set time in the next year.”
In His choice of Isaac as
the promised seed, God would teach us that there are two aspects of the divine will:
one is directive; the other, permissive. Within
the sphere of the latter, man is free to exercise his own will, including the
decision to accept or reject God’s gift of eternal life.
There are many things, however, which do not lie within that sphere.
Man, for example, has no choice in regard to his birth.
He is born at the time appointed by God; of parents chosen by God; with
physical and mental endowments which are according to God’s choice. Many of the things which befall him are beyond his control, e.g.,
illness or accident. (The believer
recognizes that there are no accidents with God, however.
The seeming accidents are but the means by which God accomplishes His Own
sovereign purposes).
It is clear that in
exercising His divine prerogative, God does not act capriciously.
We may not always be able to discern it, but He has a reason for everything He
does.
We have learned that in the
sovereign purpose of God, Ishmael’s birth was permitted for one purpose at least:
to teach man the folly of attempting to accomplish the divine will through an effort
to keep the law, or, in fact, by any activity of the flesh.
Ishmael was rejected as the channel of blessing, not because of good or bad in
him, but because God in His wisdom had chosen another (also apart from good or bad in
him), to teach us that the gift of eternal life is by grace through faith, without
regard to good or bad in those to whom it is offered.
The great lesson of this
verse is the helplessness of man, and the exercise of the divine sovereignty to meet
that need. It is “My (God’s)
covenant”; “will I (God) establish” - God would execute it; “with Isaac” -
the one through whom it would be made good was the man of God’s choice; “which
Sarah shall bear” - the woman who would bring forth the chosen man was herself the
woman of God’s choice; “bear unto
thee” - the seed would be produced by the power of God using a “dead” body as
His channel; “at this set time in the next year” - all would be accomplished in
God’s time. “When the fullness of
the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Ga
4:4-5).
17:22.
“And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.”
The language of the KJ
version here is ambiguous: it was God Who left off talking with Abraham.
One of the lessons to be learnt here is that when God gives a command it must
be obeyed before we can expect any further communication from Him.
We must be obedient to the truth already possessed before He will impart
deeper truth. Having commanded Abraham
and his household to be circumcised, He then withdrew Himself, giving time for the
command to be obeyed.
17:23.
“And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and
all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house;
and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto
him.”
An outstanding
characteristic of Abraham was the punctuality with which he obeyed God’s commands. When told to cast out Hagar and Ishmael in chapter 21, we read in
verse 14 that he rose up early in the morning to obey; and in chapter 22, when
commanded to offer up Isaac, we read again that he rose up early in the morning.
And in the matter of circumcision, there was no delay in obeying the divine
command. Obedience was yielded in the
selfsame day.
Not only was he punctual in
the matter of obedience generally: he was equally careful as to detail. God had said every manchild, and we read that Abraham
circumcised every male - none was left out. A question we might well ask ourselves is whether we display the
same meticulous care in obeying God’s commands.
17:24.
“And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the
flesh of his foreskin.”
The factors of ninety are 2
x 3 x 5; and of nine, 3 x 3. The
prominent factor is three (number of resurrection); but its being linked with two
(number of witness or testimony), and five (number of responsibility), reminds
us that the man of faith, whom Abraham represents, is responsible to testify by word
and deed that he is one, who having become dead to the world through the cross of
Christ, nevertheless now lives as a new man in Christ.
His life is to be marked by holiness.
17:25.
“And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the
flesh of his foreskin.”
From the oldest to the
youngest, all were to be circumcised. People
of all ages comprise the household of faith, but whether it be the babe in Christ or
the mature believer, the need to cut off the deeds of the flesh is the same.
“We are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live” (Ro 8:12-13).
“Mortify (cut off, put to death) therefore your members which are upon the
earth....” (Ga 3:5).
Since thirteen is a
prime number, we derive its meaning by separating one (the number of God),
which leaves twelve (the number of divine government on display).
We are responsible to live lives which demonstrate that we are men and women
under God’s government.
The question may be asked,
What is represented by the circumcision of Ishmael, since, as a firstborn, he is
himself a type of the flesh? As noted in
verse 20, he is a type also of the Israel that will inherit Millennial blessings, and
the same holiness will be required of them as is required of believers in this
present age.
17:26.
In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.”
This continues to emphasize
the punctuality of Abraham’s obedience, as it continues to remind us of the need to
yield the same prompt obedience.
17:27.
“And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of
the stranger, were circumcised with him.”
As noted already, the one born
in the house may represent the believing Jew; while the one bought with money
of the stranger may represent the believing Gentile.
The one is under the same necessity as the other to renounce all confidence in
the flesh, and to cut off its deeds.
There is undoubtedly also
the practical lesson for fathers to see that they govern their own houses according
to divine standards, as far as it lies in their power;
but there is clearly also a lesson here for the fathers of assemblies, i.e.,
the elders. They have a responsibility
to see that those whom the Holy Spirit has placed in their care, walk as becomes
those professing faith in Christ. That
responsibility is to be discharged impartially. It is God’s Word that is to be obeyed; God’s honor that is to
be maintained.
[Genesis
18]
