Day: October 3, 2021

THE GOD OF CHANGELESSNESS

God is also the God of changelessness in keeping the principle of His grace, in recognizing Isaac, Abraham’s son of Sarah, as his only son, in His ninth speaking to Abraham (21:1-12). The God of Abraham is the God of changelessness in keeping His word, His promise.

THE GOD WITH HIS TRIAL

Genesis 22:1-10 reveals the God with His trial, in proving Abraham, His intimate human friend, by asking him to present his only son, whom he loved, for a burnt offering to God, in His tenth speaking to Abraham.

THE TRIUNE GOD OF PROVISION

Genesis 22:11-14 reveals the Triune God of provision, in His providing a ram to replace Isaac for a burnt offering to God (as the Angel of Jehovah—Christ). This was God’s eleventh speaking to Abraham. The One who spoke to Abraham was Jehovah, yet this was the Angel of Jehovah. Therefore, in Genesis 22 we see Christ in two aspects. Christ is typified as a ram and is seen as the Angel of Jehovah. The ram is the substitute for sinners, and the Angel of Jehovah is the One who serves Jehovah in taking care of God’s friend.

THE TRIUNE GOD OF BLESSING

The Triune God of blessing, in His twelfth (last) speaking to Abraham, promised him that He (as the Angel of Jehovah—Christ) would bless him and multiply his seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand upon the seashore, and in Abraham’s seed (Christ) all the nations of the earth would be blessed (vv. 15-18).

THE GOD OF FRIENDSHIP ON THE HUMAN LEVEL

The God of Abraham is seen as the God of friendship on the human level, in leading the old servant of His friend Abraham to secure a wife for his son Isaac (ch. 24). Though this was not directly motivated by God, it was carried out by God. Abraham charged his old servant to find Isaac a wife, and his old servant did it by following God’s leading.

THE GOD WITH HIS HUMAN FRIENDSHIP

From this point God acted as a friend to Abraham. God with His human friendship came (in His fourth appearing with His eighth speaking to Abraham) as a man, in the form of a man, to visit Abraham as His friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) on the level of humanity (Gen. 18—19).

The first time God visited man was when He visited Adam. Adam became fallen, and God came to seek him. God asked Adam, “Where are you?” (3:9). With Abraham, God’s visit was different. He came to visit Abraham as His friend on the level of humanity, not on the level of divinity. God did not appear to Abraham as a divine being but as a human being. As a man, God came to talk to Abraham, and Abraham gave Him water for Him to wash His feet. Abraham also served this One a meal prepared by his wife. This is all on the human level.

God’s appearing to Moses was different from this because it was on the level of divinity. In Isaiah 6 God appeared to Isaiah as the One on the throne in the heavens. That was also His appearing on the level of divinity. But here in Genesis 18 the appearing of God was on the level of humanity. Abraham walked with God, and God conversed with Abraham as one human friend to another. I believe that Abraham’s walking with God was different from Enoch’s walking with God (5:24). I do not believe that Enoch walked with God as with a man. But Abraham walked with God as with a man, and God conversed with Abraham as a human friend. He spoke to Abraham concerning His judgment of Sodom, where Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived. God came to His friend to rescue His friend’s nephew. Again, we can see God’s hidden care, His secret care, for Lot as one of His elect.

THE GOD WITH FRIENDSHIP IN HUMANITY

The God with friendship in humanity is revealed in His sending of Abraham’s nephew and his two daughters out from the overthrow of Sodom, for the remembrance of Abraham as His intimate friend (19:29, 12-22). The God of Abraham is a God of human friendship, and Abraham’s God is our God.

THE ALMIGHTY GOD

Genesis 20 shows us the almighty God with His friendly care, in saving His close friend Abraham, with His almighty power, from the loss of his wife to Abimelech, king of Gerar. God caused that king’s family to lose the capacity to beget children (vv. 17-18). That was God’s exercise of His almighty power. Then God told that king that Abraham would pray for him. Abraham later prayed for him, and the women of his house were healed. God exercised a friendly care for Abraham by His almighty power.