"THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM"
“THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM”
Galatians 3:6 - 9; Luke 19:1 - 10
It is said of Abraham, in Galatians 3, that the gospel was preached to him by the Scriptures, and it is also said of him that he is “heir of the world”, Romans 4:13. We read also concerning Noah that he “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith”. Hebrews 11:6. We may all become heirs of this, and for the sinner there could be no greater inheritance than the righteousness which is by faith. If you are an unforgiven sinner, and you are convicted, it will be interesting to you to know about this righteousness, the righteousness which is by faith. It is for you to claim it and to appropriate and apply it. It will bring relief to your conscience. Later you will find that you are heir to other things, but you now need this inheritance sorely. Not only is there an inheritance of righteousness which is by faith, but God takes great pains to let it be known, not only by informing people, but by commissioning men to preach it. Noah was “a preacher of righteousness”, 2 Peter 2:5 he preached it in dark days. Righteousness is being preached now, God having fitted men to preach so that it should be forced home upon the needy, for there is power in preaching. Preaching is not merely informing you of things; it does, of course, impart information, but there is divinely given force in the preaching, indeed it is said that it is “preached ... with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven”. 1 Peter 1:12. There is a divine commission behind it. There is power in what is preached by the Holy Spirit. If you have a needy, convicted conscience, the Spirit would give you to know, as He can, that this inheritance is yours, that is righteousness not by works, but by faith.
[p. 173] Now, following on Noah, Abraham is said to be heir of the world, and believers, according to Galatians, are his sons, as it is stated in the passage, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children (sons) of Abraham”, and again, “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful (or believing) Abraham”. Thus you see that you are brought into good company in taking up this inheritance. Abraham is only used conveniently in this scripture to bring the gospel close to us, and so we are told at the end of the chapter that “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”. Galatians 3:29. Abraham is thus brought in by the Spirit of God to bring the gospel down to us and simplify it, so that we might appropriate it and understand what a company we are brought into, as blessed with such a man as Abraham.
Now Abraham is portrayed by the Spirit of God in the gospel narrative, of Luke 16, as speaking to a man in hades. God takes up this remarkable personage so as to aid men in believing the gospel, and escaping the punishment that is meted out to those who reject it. You will remember the Lord’s vivid parable of hades, the place to which the “rich man” Luke 16:19 went when he died. No unbeliever can ignore the fact that death is staring him in the face. We christians, of course, are expecting, not death, but the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, as we are told. It is the hope of our hearts, but if in the meantime we do die, the Lord Jesus has to say to the death of each, and He takes us to Himself, for as absent from the body we are present with the Lord; 2 Corinthians 5:8. In the parable to which I have referred, Abraham’s bosom, into which Lazarus is carried by the angels, symbolises this truth. Lazarus is seen in Abraham’s bosom. Having died, he is attended by angels, those mighty beings that were created before men, servants of God from the outset. When the foundations of the [p. 174] earth were laid angels were there. Now they are employed, according to the Lord’s own words, in carrying this departed saint into the bosom of Abraham. It is a parable, and Abraham is used by the Spirit of God, and by the Lord Himself, to bring the truth home to us and make it simple. What a privilege belongs to christians when departing this life, or, as the Spirit of God would say, of them “which sleep in Jesus”, 1 Thessalonians 4:14 that means, falling asleep through Jesus. The Lord does it. He has to do with the closing of the eyes of the christian. This is a blessed sleep indeed. When the Lord comes the christians alive on the earth will be changed and caught up with the saints raised from the dead, to be for ever with Him. Lazarus is borne by angels into Abraham’s bosom. He is received there.
It is also of interest to note that Abraham is conversant with the Pentateuch, for he speaks about Moses, although he died years before Moses was born. Such is God’s way, for when we come to God in the gospel we come to the God of the living, and all live to Him. We are dealing with a living state of things. As the Lord Jesus said, that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and all live for Him; Luke 20:38. Viewed in that way Abraham is living for God, and God is pleased to use him as in the realm of the departed to symbolise the place of blessing, “the bosom of Abraham”, Luke 16:22 a remarkable expression. We can understand, dear friends, that it could not be literal; it indicates the place of blessedness, which is the portion of those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. It is God’s way to come down to our minds and feelings, and to show how we are cared for as believers with believing Abraham, for indeed we are his sons. This is set forth in the parable, for Lazarus had that place, but we christians realise that we are sons of God. This is a much greater thought, but still God comes down to [p. 175] us and makes things simple. If anyone here is a believer in Jesus, however feeble he may be, and he dies, or ‘falls asleep’, the Lord Jesus has to do with that.
On the other hand, the rich man could speak to Abraham. What a picture the Lord gives us there! Is there one here who does not trust in Jesus, who fails to join with believing Abraham in believing in the Lord Jesus? What will happen if you die? Jesus will not close your eyes, nor will angels have to do with you either. You may have a burial here, and you will doubtless have mourners, men will speak well of you possibly, but there will be no attention from heaven. “In hades” the rich man, “lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he sees Abraham afar off” Luke 16:23 — understand this is not the hell of the damned, the final place, the lake of fire, it is a provisional place, but still a place of suffering; let no one be infidel about this. These are the words of Jesus, and to reject the parable of Luke 16 is to reject the words of Jesus and make Him a liar. Think of that! — and men do it.
The Lord tells us that the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and he spoke to Abraham. Lazarus is seen in the bosom of Abraham, as if God would bring the redeemed who are in comfort into the view of condemned unbelievers who are in suffering, though there is a great gulf between them. A conversation is carried on. You can understand this is not final, for there is no such thing as a conversation between the saved and the unsaved in the eternal place of punishment. This is a provisional state of things to bring the position vividly before us, so that we should not be foolish and reject the gospel and thus find ourselves in company with that sufferer. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus to him, but Abraham said, No, there is no possibility of that. He is perfectly conversant with the whole position, and [p. 176] he can answer the man who refers to his relatives here on earth. He begs him to send to his brothers who were yet alive on the earth, but Abraham says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead”. How conversant he was with the truth, and how he would bring it home to us, beloved friends, that unless we believe the Scriptures today, the same doom will be ours.
I now speak a little about Abraham being heir of the world. As heir of the world he has a great outlook, and we may place ourselves beside him. When God spoke to him according to Genesis, He showed Abraham that he was to be heir of the world. Those words are not found in Genesis, they are in Romans 4, but their substance is in Genesis, and Jehovah said to him, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. Genesis 12:3.
Suppose you had been alongside of Abraham at that time, what an outlook would have been yours! What an outlook he had! We learn that he prayed for the nations. God said to Abimelech, the Philistine king, “he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee” Genesis 20:7; that was his position. In other words Abraham represents the world in reconciliation, for God is looking at it in relation to Abraham. He says, I am going to bless the world in you, so that we get an outlook of grace in placing ourselves alongside of Abraham in the book of Genesis, and the scriptures say of him, “In thee shall all nations be blessed”. Now that is the world in reconciliation, and it is in that way that Abraham is taken up in the New Testament, because he represents such a great thought, a thought that is very little taken into account, that the world is now in reconciliation; Romans 11:15.
Well, someone may say, Does not the Lord say, “Now is the judgment of this world”? John 12:31. Yes, but the Spirit of God says later that the casting away of the [p. 177] Jews means the reconciliation of the world, so that the Lord evidently meant the Jewish world. The apostle Paul speaks of the gentile world, and says that the world has come into reconciliation because of the casting away of God’s ancient people. We are in a wonderful time, and hence I would enlist your interest in Abraham, that you might see how God speaks to you in relation to him, and presents the gospel so that you might see that we come into sonship through it. We come into sonship in this great personage who is heir of the world. All that, of course, comes down to Christ, He is Son of Abraham, and as Son of Abraham He is heir of the world. He is heir of all things, but God is pleased to occupy us with Abraham so as to simplify the matter, and to show how He will bless us. He blesses us with believing Abraham. We christians here take up that attitude; we are blessed with believing Abraham.
Now I come to Luke to show you how these sons of Abraham are brought in. We have a daughter of Abraham in chapter 13:16, and John the baptist says to the Jews in chapter 3:8, that God can raise up from these stones children to Abraham. He could do that, so that in the gospel of Luke we are introduced at once to Abraham, and to the purpose of God as to him, and the power of God to raise up children to him, even out of stones. It is a question of God’s ability, a very great thought in the gospel, what God can do, and I am here to present what He can do for the hardest heart in this world. God forbid that your heart should be hard. I have no difficulty in preaching to believers, I get on better with them, for normally their hearts are tender, but if you are an unbeliever, God can do great things even with your hard heart. God says to Jeremiah, “Is not my word ... like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29. God can do that; He can raise up [p. 178] children to Abraham even from stones. He does it in affecting our hearts, and I want to show you from Luke’s gospel how He does it. Luke knew that there were hard hearts. What hard-hearted people were abroad in the gentile world, and what hard-hearted people there are today. I do not believe there ever was a time when the soil was harder than it is now. Apostate soil is hard, and that is the governing spirit at this moment throughout christendom; so the word is “harden not your hearts”, Hebrews 3:8. The fact that you are ready to listen encourages us to believe that there is some little softening. It may be that God has taken away a loved one. He uses that to soften our hearts and seizes the softened time to speak to us, and to embrace us. It may be some other kind of sorrow, for God uses many sorrows to soften our hearts, and so the word is “harden not”. If there be any little softening of heart under the governmental dealings of God, do not allow the hardening process to be resumed, “harden not” your heart, retain that bit of softness. God is seeking to bless you, and He would make something out of that hard heart of yours, He can turn a stone into a child of Abraham. In chapter 13 of Luke’s gospel we read of a woman who had been bent together by Satan. Eighteen years earlier Satan had had to do with her — he had bound her. We are told that he goes about like a roaring lion. I do not say that her heart was hardened, but I do say that the devil had something to do with her, and it is he who hardens hearts. If there is a little bit of faith in our hearts God shelters us, but perhaps will is at work. Some young person turns away from the authority of a mother or a father and takes her own way. The devil is waiting for such. The Lord says of this woman that eighteen years before she was bound by Satan. She must have been comparatively young then. We are not told how old she was,
[p. 179] but eighteen years is a considerable period, and the Lord goes back over those years, and, looking at that woman, He says, “Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years”. Luke 13:16. As I said, she may have been young, and drifted away, taking her own way, and Satan laid in wait and bent her over. He damaged her, and the damage remained up to that moment. Maybe you are like that.
I often refer to this woman, for she is a very striking example of Satan’s work. People come under his influence through their own wills, unquestionably. God lifts His hand and the devil is ready to attack. Eighteen years ago! It is possible that you may be aware of something that happened years back. It has never been settled, and you have never been able to pray since, never been able to look up to God. You have never confessed that guilt, and there you are like a cow or a sheep, looking down instead of looking up; no place in the christian company, unable to pray, unable to sing praises to God. Satan has done that, and it is not undone yet, whereas the Son of God has come, as John says, “to undo the works of the devil”. 1 John 3:8. He is ready now by the gospel to undo that work, whatever it may be. Whether it be a year ago, or two, or three, or four, or eighteen, the Lord is here to undo what the devil did, and straighten you out, so that you might look up and join the saints, join with believing Abraham as one of his sons or daughters, as the Lord says, she is “a daughter of Abraham” Luke 13:16. He said that of this woman as straightened out. God says of Abraham that he commanded his house and his children after him to do judgment and justice. God will have a world with people like that, and the Son of God is ready through the gospel to straighten you out. Perhaps you have had to do with the devil and have come under his influence, and the matter has never been settled. The Lord is ready to help you; to [p. 180] straighten the matter out so that you may look up to Him in faith.
Then there is the son of Abraham, of whom we read in Luke 19, and I want especially to speak about him, that is Zacchaeus. The Lord takes special interest in this man. One loves to notice any particular movement of the Lord. He called the woman to Him, and He said, “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity”. Luke 13:12. That was a matter of words. In the case of this “son of Abraham”, the Lord takes great pains with him. It may be that there is someone here like that. The Lord has taken much trouble with you, and there has been no definite result so far. In this gospel we find that the first mention of Simon Peter is that the Lord entered into his house; Luke 4:38. His wife’s mother was sick of a fever, and the Lord stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, but it did not appear to have any effect upon Peter. The Lord had come very near to him. He had come into Peter’s house, and performed this wonderful cure on his mother-in-law, changing the whole atmosphere in that house. It must have been an uncomfortable house. There are today, alas, great domestic disturbances, even among the people of God, and the service of God is hindered by these disturbances. The Lord took great pains with Peter’s mother-in-law. He went into the house and, standing over her, healed her, and she arose and served, causing great change in the house, and yet apparently Peter was not affected. Is your case like that?
The next point in connection with Peter, is that the Lord entered into his business affairs. He has His eye on you, and if you are in the purpose of God, He will have you. If He cannot affect you in domestic affairs, He will enter into your commercial matters. The Lord had great interest in Peter, and in entering into his business affairs — taking his boat and using it — He secured him. What joy there was in heaven [p. 181] as the skill of the Lord secured that man! Some persons would detach their business from their christianity. The Lord says, No, you cannot do that, I will come into your business if you are not right. It was by this means that He secured Peter.
So it is with Zacchaeus, the Lord takes much trouble with him. Jesus passed through Jericho, and Zacchaeus wished to see Him, and he could not. He was the chief tax-gatherer, a notorious man, as we understand such officials were. Every person in the surroundings branded that man as a sinner. That was his reputation, he was the subject of general resentment, and the Lord knew that. It is not so where the gospel is preached; there is no such atmosphere as that in a company of christians. I always regard these gospel meetings as a great advantage. Persons seeking help from the Lord have the advantage of an excellent and sympathetic atmosphere, but concerning Zacchaeus they all pointed him out as a sinner, and murmured that the Lord “was gone to be guest” with such a man. But the Lord knew. The Lord would have His man — a chief tax-gatherer; he was rich, and he was little, but he had a desire in his heart that the surrounding crowd did not know of, and possibly that is going on with you. In spite of the bad feelings there may be against you, or the hard judgment about you, you have in your heart a desire to know who the Lord Jesus is. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, “who he was”, mark you, or who He is, for what He was He is. The Lord knows what is going on in your heart. Satan did not put into this man’s mind the desire to know Jesus, who He was; no! he did not do that. Satan had no transaction with this man as he had with the woman. On the contrary, God had had to do with him, and that is what is so comforting about such meetings as this. In many instances God works beforehand with persons that attend them; the seed [p. 182] is already in their souls; something has happened before, but the transaction was God’s not the devil’s. The crowd did not know of this in Zacchaeus’ case, but the Lord knew. The Spirit of God says that he ran before the Lord and got up into a sycamore tree. He wanted to see Jesus, who He was. Is there anyone here like that, with a desire to know who Jesus is? This is really one of the leading difficulties at the present time. Who is He? God had had to do with that man before. Satan would never suggest it to him, or put it into his mind that he should know who Jesus is. He would turn him away and occupy him with politics, or business, but he would never occupy him with Jesus, whereas he was occupied with Jesus, however vaguely. He had the desire in his mind to know about Jesus, and the Lord saw to it that he should know. He says, I will see to it that you will know. I say that for your encouragement. This meeting is that you should know. The Lord knows what is in your heart, and His desire is that you should know “who he is”. Zacchaeus went on and got up into the tree, and the Lord moved on to the spot where he was.
You will notice that the scripture says, “when Jesus came to the place he looked up”. He ought not to have needed to look up, the Lord should never have to look up to a creature, but He does it in grace. Perhaps some of us have a little status in this world, a little money, ancestry, learning, or whatever it may be; we think ourselves big, and perhaps we would have the Lord look up to us! We may expect the most spiritual man on earth to look up to us; but that should not be. Naaman, the Syrian, expected Elisha to recognise his greatness, but he did not. God is a God of measure, and His measure is a spiritual one, and no spiritual man should have to look up to an unspiritual man, however great he is in this world, but in grace the Lord did look up. Luke says, “most excellent Theophilus”, Luke 1:3 but that is grace. You cannot conceive of Luke saying that to any nobleman by and by, but in this setting and in the time of grace we must not allow anything to hinder us in reaching needy souls. The Lord looked up when He came to the place, He did not turn away from the tree because that man ran up there. He came to the place, and He said, “Zacchaeus”. It is most touching. He knew his name. All the crowd thought that the man was a sinner, but not only is he in the Lord’s mind, but the Lord knew there was something going on within him that was changing his texture, so to speak, and He was going to finish that work. This meeting is in order that He might finish what He has begun. Some of us remain unfinished, we do not go on, but the Lord intended to continue the work, and He said, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down”, and he did. It was not a command merely, but the Lord added a premium to it; He says, “today I must abide at thy house”, not simply, I will look in, but I will stay. It is His intention to get this man. He went to Calvary, into death, to secure him, He suffered on the cross to this end. Paul said, “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. Galatians 2:20. The same could be said by Zacchaeus, and doubtless was said many a time afterwards. Every son of Abraham will glorify Jesus and love Jesus, for Jesus is Heir to everything. What belonged to Abraham and to David belongs to Jesus.
The Lord is bent on securing this man, and He says, “I must abide at thy house”. The murmurers say, “He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner”. Never mind what people say, if faith is operative in you. The Lord knows what is in your heart and that you really want to know Him; He is ready to make Himself known to you. He went into death to make Himself known, and He surely does it in detail. Zacchaeus came down quickly. Let me [p. 184] appeal to anyone here who is hesitating. Do not delay another moment. Zacchaeus did not, he came down quickly, and he was in his house before the Lord arrived, we might say, to receive Him gladly. How beautiful that is! It gives joy to the Lord. If you receive the Lord into your heart now it will be a joy to Him. Do not delay. I believe the Lord was peculiarly glad with the kind of reception He got; he “received him gladly”. Unlike Martha, for on the first visit to Martha’s house there was no gladness, no reception. The Lord must have been uncomfortable in Martha’s house, but not so in the house of Zacchaeus. He said, “I must abide at thy house”. The Lord comes into our hearts to stay. He is to remain there, it is His home surely, it belongs to Him, “ye in me, and I in you”. John 14:20. “Christ in you the hope of glory”. Colossians 1:27. Is it too much to say that? Not at all, it is the gospel. The Lord is ready to enter and to remain there, and then to make known to you all the glories that belong to you. Zacchaeus speaks with great respect and reverence. He says, “If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”. He speaks now as a son of Abraham, that is, he speaks righteously; every son of Abraham must be righteous, so that he establishes his righteousness and the Lord says, he is a son of Abraham. “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”. May God bless this word in the gospel.