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INTRODUCTION
Scripture Reading: Exo. 3:6, 15-16; Matt. 22:31-32
ONE
First Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now these things happened to them as an example…” The Bible records the history of the Israelites as an example to us. It is for the purpose of our edification. Although there is an outward difference between God’s work in the Old Testament and His work in the New Testament, they are the same in principle. The principle of God’s work is the same today as it was in the past.
God chose the Israelites to be His people, and He also chose men from among the Gentiles to be His people (Acts 15:14). The Bible says that we are fellow citizens and members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19). It also says that we are the true Jews (Rom. 2:29). Hence, the history of the Israelites is a pattern to us. In this book we will consider the way God deals with His people; in other words, the way God edifies His people. Putting it another way, this book will show the kind of experience we must acquire before we can become the people of God. We will discuss this subject through a consideration of the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because each of these three persons occupies a particular place in the Bible.
TWO
The Bible shows us that God’s people had two beginnings. The first beginning was with Abraham because God’s selection and calling began with Abraham. The other beginning was with the nation of Israel. God told the Israelites that they would be a people to Him among all the nations. They would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exo. 19:5-6). Hence, Abraham was a definite beginning for God’s people, and the nation of Israel was also a definite beginning for God’s people. In between these two beginnings, God gained three persons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. First there was Abraham, then there was Isaac, then Jacob, and then the nation of Israel. From that point on, the nation of Israel became the people of God, and God had a people of His own. Hence, we can say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the foundations of the nation of Israel. Without Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there would not be the nation of Israel, and without Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there would not be a people of God. God’s people became His people through the experience of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
THREE
It is interesting to note that God said, “I am…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exo. 3:6). He said this in the Old Testament, and the Lord Jesus quoted it in the New Testament. “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” is quoted in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Furthermore, the Lord Jesus said that we would see “Abraham and Isaac and Jacob..in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:28), and that “many will come from the east and the west and will recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 8:11). Here, He does not mention anyone else’s names, only the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This shows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each occupy a special place in the Bible.
FOUR
Why do Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob occupy such a special place in the Bible? It is because God wants to select a group of people to come under His name and to make them His people. Beginning with Abraham, God began to gain a people. God had a spiritual beginning with Abraham, and He did something in Abraham for the purpose of showing us the necessary experience that God’s people have to go through. All of God’s people have to go through the same kind of experiences. He did something in Abraham first, giving him some particular experiences, and through him He conveyed these experiences to all of His people. The nation of Israel is founded upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Hence, God has worked not only in Abraham, but also in Isaac, giving him some particular experiences, and through him He conveyed these experiences to all of His people as well. Similarly, God did some work in Jacob, giving him some particular experiences, and through him He conveyed these experiences to all of His people. The dealings which these three received before God and the experiences they went through culminated in a people of God. Hence, the total experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the experiences that all of God’s people should have. The attainments of these three should be the attainments of all the people of God. It is not enough to make us God’s people if we merely have Abraham’s experience. It is not enough to make us God’s people if we merely have Isaac’s experience, and it is not enough to make us God’s people if we merely have Jacob’s experience. We must have the attainments of Abraham plus Isaac plus Jacob before we can become God’s people.
God told Isaac, “I am the God of Abraham thy father…I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen. 26:24). He told Jacob, “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed” (28:13). He also told the Israelites, “I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage” (Exo. 6:8). This shows us that the Israelites entered into the inheritance of the three men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They did not have any inheritance of their own. Instead, they entered into the inheritance of the three men, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Each of these men occupies a particular position before God. Their different spiritual experiences typify three different kinds of spiritual principles. In other words, all the people of God should have the element of Abraham, the element of Isaac, and the element of Jacob in them. Without these elements, we cannot become God’s people. God’s people must have the element of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All true Israelites and all genuine people of God must say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors. To say that Abraham is our ancestor is not enough, because Ishmael and his descendants can also say that their ancestor is Abraham. Neither is it enough to say that both Abraham and Isaac are our ancestors, because Esau and his descendents can say the same thing. God’s people must say that their ancestors are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob must be included for complete qualification. All three must be together before we can justifiably be a people of God.
FIVE
Abraham’s original name was Abram. Later God changed his name to Abraham (Gen. 17:5). Within both of these two names is the root Abra, which in the original language means “father.” Abraham was a father himself, and the lesson he learned was to know God as the Father. Throughout his whole life, he learned this one lesson—knowing God as the Father.
What does it mean to know God as the Father? It means that everything is from God. The Lord Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I also am working” (John 5:17). He did not say, “My God is working until now,” but “My Father is working until now.” For God to be the Father means that God is the Creator, the unique Initiator. The Son was sent from the Father. “The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing, for whatever that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner” (v. 19). This must be our experience. We must receive grace from God to realize that we cannot initiate anything. We are not worthy of initiating anything. Genesis 1 begins by saying, “In the beginning God…” In the beginning it was not us, but God. God is the Father, and everything originates from Him.
The day that God shows you that He is the Father will be a blessed day. On that day you will realize that you cannot do anything and that you are helpless. You will not have to try to hold yourself back from doing this thing or that thing. Instead you will ask, “Has God initiated this?” This is the experience of Abraham. His experience shows us that he had no thought of becoming God’s people. Abraham did not initiate anything. It was God who initiated. It was God who brought him from the other side of the Euphrates River (Gen. 12:1-5). God wanted him, and He called him out. Abraham never thought of this. Hallelujah! God wanted him and God did the work.
God is the Father. Abraham did not volunteer to go to the land flowing with milk and honey. God said it first, and then Abraham went and possessed it. He did not know anything about it beforehand. When he was called to go out, he did not know where he was going (Heb. 11:8). He left his father’s land without knowing where he was going. This was Abraham. God was the Initiator of everything for him; he had nothing to do with it. If you know that God is the Father, you will not be so confident and will not say that you can do whatever you want. You will only say, “If the Lord is willing, I will do this and that. Whatever the Lord says, I will do.” This does not mean that you should be indecisive. It means that you truly do not know what to do and that you only know after the Father has revealed His will.
This was not all. Abraham did not know that he was going to beget a son. He even had to receive his son from God. Abraham could not initiate anything. His son was given to him by God. This was Abraham.
Abraham knew God as the Father. This kind of knowledge is not a knowledge in doctrine. It is a knowledge in which one is brought to the point of confessing, “God, I am not the source. You are the source of everything, and You are my source. Without You, I cannot have a beginning.” This was Abraham. If we do not have Abraham’s realization, we cannot be God’s people. The first lesson we have to learn is to realize that we can do nothing and that everything depends on God. He is the Father, and He is the Initiator of everything.
SIX
What is the lesson we learn from Isaac? Galatians 4 says that Isaac is the promised son (v. 23). In Isaac we see that everything comes from the Father. The history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis 11 through 50 shows us that Isaac was an ordinary and unexceptional man. He was not like Abraham, and he was not like Jacob. Abraham came from the other side of the great river; he was a pioneer. Isaac was not like this. But neither was Isaac like Jacob, whose life was filled with difficulties and who suffered many dealings. Isaac’s whole life was an enjoyment of his father’s inheritance. It is true that Isaac dug a few wells. But even the wells were first dug by his father. “And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them” (Gen. 26:18). The lesson that Isaac teaches us is that we have nothing other than what we have inherited from the Father. Paul asked a question: “And what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7). In other words, there is nothing that we have that has not been received. All that we have comes from the Father. This is Isaac.
Many people cannot be in the position of Abraham because they cannot be in the position of Isaac. Many people fail to become Abraham because they fail to become Isaac. It is impossible to have the experience of Abraham without the experience of Isaac. It is also impossible to have the experience of Isaac without the experience of Abraham. We have to see that God is the Father and that everything proceeds from Him. We also have to see that we are sons and that everything we have is from Him. The life of the Son which we inherit comes from Him. In the eyes of God we are only those who receive. Salvation is received, victory is received, justification is received, sanctification is received, forgiveness is received, and freedom is received. The principle of receiving is the principle of Isaac. We have to say, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Everything we have is from God. We see from God’s Word that everything He promised to Abraham was promised also to Isaac. God did not give anything additional to Isaac; He gave Isaac what He gave his father. This is our salvation; this is our liberation.
SEVEN
Now let us come to Jacob. Many Christians see that God is the source of everything. They also see that everything they have comes through receiving. But there is a problem: Many Christians do not receive. We know that everything we have comes by receiving and that if we do not receive anything, we will be left with vanity and emptiness. But we still do not receive, and we still try to do things ourselves. Why? We do not overcome by the law of life; instead, we try to overcome by our own will. Why? One reason is that the principle of Jacob is still in us. The activity of the flesh is still present, the power of the soul is still present, and the natural life is still present. We know doctrinally that God is the Initiator of everything, yet in reality we initiate many things. We remember a doctrine for two weeks, but by the third week we have forgotten it. Then we try to initiate something again. We behave this way because Jacob is still present within us. If a doctrine of overcoming or a teaching of sanctification only tells us that everything comes from God and that everything is received, without telling us that the natural life needs to be dealt with, the doctrine of overcoming and the teaching of sanctification are incomplete and impractical. If a teaching does not touch the soul-life, it will only make us happy for a few days. Then everything will be over. We have to see that God is the Head of all things. We have to see that we are those who receive. At the same time, we have to see that our natural life must be checked. Only then will we see the goodness of the Son and the way of submission to the Father. Whether or not we can receive the promise of the Son and whether or not we can take the way of the Father depend on whether we accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit and whether we are willing to have our natural life touched. We can see this from the life of Jacob.
The outstanding characteristic of Jacob’s natural constitution was his cleverness. He was an exceptionally clever person. He could deceive anyone. He deceived his brother, father, and uncle. He could devise anything, he could do everything, and he could achieve anything. He was not like his father, who was just a son. He went to his uncle empty-handed and came back with his hands full. This was Jacob.
What is the lesson we learn from Jacob? Abraham speaks to us of the Father, Isaac speaks to us of the Son, and Jacob speaks to us of the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that Jacob represents the Holy Spirit, but that his experiences represent the work of the Holy Spirit. Jacob’s history is a type of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. We see a crafty person who was filled with schemes and deceits. But at the same time, we see a person whom the Holy Spirit disciplined step by step. He held his older brother’s heel, yet he still ended up being the younger brother. He supplanted his brother with a pottage of lentils and usurped the birthright, but he, not his brother, eventually had to run away from home. He received his father’s blessing, but he, not his brother, became a wanderer. When he went to stay with his uncle, he wanted to marry Rachel, but Laban gave him Leah, not Rachel first. For twenty years, the drought consumed him in the day, and the frost consumed him by night (Gen. 31:40). Indeed, he lived a toilsome and hard life. All these experiences were the discipline of the Holy Spirit; they were the trials that a clever man had to go through. Those who can scheme and who are resourceful will see God’s hand upon them. The natural life has to be pressed out. Jacob’s history is a picture of the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Some brothers and sisters are exceptionally clever, thoughtful, shrewd, calculating, and resourceful. But we must remember that we do not walk in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God (2 Cor. 1:12). Jacob experienced the continual discipline of the Holy Spirit. As a result, his cleverness was never able to have its way. On the night at Peniel, Jacob learned the greatest lesson; it was actually the best night of his life! He thought he could have his way with anyone and could similarly have his way with God. But when he came face to face with God, God touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and he became crippled (Gen. 32:25). The sinew of the hollow of the thigh is the strongest sinew in the whole body. For Jacob’s hollow to be touched meant that God had touched the strongest part of his natural life. From that day on, he was crippled! Before he was crippled, he was Jacob. After he was crippled, Israel came into being (v. 28)! From that day on, he was no longer a supplanter but one who was being supplanted. Before that time, he deceived his father. After that day, he was deceived by his sons (37:28-35). The formerly clever Jacob would never have been carried away by the deception of his sons, because he was such a deceiver himself; he would never have believed in others. The more a person deceives, the more he does not trust in others, because he judges others according to his own heart. But now things were different. The latter Jacob was different from the former Jacob. He no longer trusted in his own cleverness. This is why he could be deceived by his own sons. He shed many tears, and his natural strength was dealt with and was stripped away by God. This is the kind of experience that makes us the people of God. One day God will shine on you and show you how evil, wicked, and conniving you are. When God shows you who you are, you will not be able to lift up your head. God’s light will terminate you and force you to admit that you are finished. You will acknowledge that you dare not serve God anymore and that you are not qualified to serve Him any longer! From that point on, you will no longer trust in yourself. This is the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
EIGHT
In conclusion, Abraham shows us that everything is of God; we cannot do anything by ourselves. Isaac shows us that everything comes from God, and our place is to receive. But if we only receive and do not have the discipline of the Holy Spirit, something will go wrong. This is what Jacob shows us. One day the Lord will come to us, touch us, and twist the hollow of our thigh; He will deal with our natural life. Then we will become humble and follow the Lord in fear and trembling. Then we will not be careless and make proposals rashly. How easy it is for us to make proposals, and how easy it is for us to act without prayer. How easy it is for us to develop a confidence apart from God. God has to touch our natural life in a drastic way; He has to break apart our natural life and show us that we can do nothing by ourselves. From that day on, we will be lame men. Being lame does not mean that we cannot walk; rather, it means that every time we walk, we realize our weakness and our lameness. This is the common trait of all those who know God. Before God brings a man to such a point, he does not have the experience of Peniel. All those who are still resourceful, confident, and powerful have not experienced the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
May God open our eyes to see the relationship between these three kinds of experiences. All three experiences are particular experiences, and yet all three are interrelated in their accomplishment. We cannot have just one or two of the three. We have to be clear about all three experiences before we can advance in the way of God.