stempublishing.com : J. N. Darby : Synopsis : Genesis : Chapter 12 | Next chapter |
Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapters 6 to 8 Chapter 9 Chapters 10 and 11 Chapter 12 Chapters 13 and 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapters 20 and 21 Chapters 22 to 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapters 29 to 35 Chapter 36 Chapters 37 to 41 Chapters 42 to 47 Chapters 48 to 50 |
A new order of events
From chapter 12 then there is developed altogether a new order
of events, which refer to the call of God, to His covenants, to His
promises, to the manifestation of His people as a distinct people
on the earth, to the counsels of God. Before the deluge, it was
man such as he was — fallen before God; and though there was a
testimony from the beginning, still no dispensational intervention
of God in His own ways, but man, with that testimony as to divine
institutions*, left to himself, resulting in such violence and
corruption as brought on the deluge in judgment on the
world. Afterwards, God having interposed in judgment and begun the
world that now is, there was the government of that world and its
failure and the consequences of this failure; but, the nations
being established and having submitted themselves to the power of
demons, the call of God, the deposit of promise in him who was
chosen of God, His elect ones (seed of the depositary of the
promises), and subsequently His people, rise up to our view. The call to separateHence we find them at once called upon to separate themselves entirely from all that connected them with their position in nature on the earth, and to belong to God on the ground of promise and confidence in His word. "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee." This was a solemn event. It was in principle the judgment of the world, though in the way of grace to those called out if it. The world and its prince, and Abram the root of the tree of promiseThat we may fully understand this, we must remember that the world had been constituted by the judgment of God passed upon the enterprise of building the tower. Countries and nations had been formed, as it is to this day. That was the world. Satan had full hold of it, and the very world which God had providentially formed Abram had to leave. God would have a family, a people for Himself, not of it, though out of it. Another fact adds to Abram's importance. There had been saints individually, known and unknown, but no head of a race since Adam. Adam fallen was the head of a fallen race. Abram was called to be the root of the tree of promise, of God's people natural or spiritual. He was the father of the circumcision, and of all them that believe. A new principle to ruleIn the outset however, Abram still held to his family; or at least, if it held to him, he did not break with it; and though he quitted his country on the call of God, he stops as far from the land of promise as before. For, thus called, man must belong wholly to God on a new principle. In fine, he sets out as God had said to him. Abram called out by the manifestation of the glory of God
We have then here Abram called by the manifestation of the glory
of God (compare Acts 7) for the journey of faith. The promises are
given to him, whether of a numerous posterity, or of the blessing
of all the families on the earth in him*. He sets out,
he arrives. There are not many experiences, though there will be
deeper knowledge of God, in a path which is purely of faith: power
is there, and man walks with God. In the history of Jacob we have
many. Arrived in Canaan, Abraham enters into possession of nothing,
for his life must still be of faith. And here we see, by comparing
this passage with Hebrews 11, the effect of being left as pilgrims
and strangers on the earth, not yet in possession of what is
promised. Abraham goes in the obedience of faith to the promised
land, and there has not so much as to set foot upon; but in virtue
of this — as God, though He could prove, could not leave faith
without an answer; nor, indeed, where tried, without leading it on
to the knowledge of further blessing, for He never does — he has
before him the city which has foundations, and the yet better
country. The energy of faith through grace put him in a position
which, as it was not possession, necessarily set him in connection
with higher and better things; for he was under the personal
calling of God for blessing: so, practically, we are come into the
body and heavenly things below. But there is the path of faith —
not possession — and the heavenly scene opens before us. Abraham
in Ur could not see the heavenly portion; a stranger in the land of
promise, it was his natural object under grace. Such is our own
case. Only Abraham rises above his calling; we enter by the Spirit
into what we are called to. A second revelation of the Lord for communion and worshipBut then there is a second revelation of the Lord to him in the land, in the place into which he had been called. The first was to call him out of the place he was in, and make him walk in the path of promise. Now the Lord reveals Himself to him for communion, where he is; speaks with him; unfolds to him how the promise will be accomplished, and Abraham thereon worships Him. He has in the land his tent and his altar. This is the second part of the life of faith. The revelation of God, when far from Him, sets us out on the journey of faith, inspires the walk toward heaven. When in the heavenly position, God reveals Himself for communion and worship and a full revelation of His ways. The Canaanite is in the land; the heir of promise has no possession of the thing promised. We have to do with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, but the Lord reveals Himself, shews the heir and inheritance when the Canaanite will be gone; and so Abram worships by faith, as before he walked by faith. This is the full double function of faith. Abram's lack of faith
The rest of the chapter is the history of his personal want of
it. Pressed by circumstances, he does not consult God, finds
himself in the presence of the world, where he has sought help and
refuge, and denies his true relationship with his wife (just as has
been done in respect of the church), is cherished by the world,
which God at last judges, sending Abram again out from it. During
this period, and until he was returned to the place from which he
started, he had no altar. When he left Egypt and returned to his
strangership in Canaan, he had what he had before. But he must
return first to the same place and find his altar again. What a
warning for Christians as to the relationship of the church with
Christ *! And, however the world may be a help for the church,
this relationship cannot be maintained when we seek that help. I would again recall here a remark made elsewhere, that in types the woman presents the position in which those prefigured are placed; the man, the conduct, faithful or unfaithful, of those that are there. |
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