THE HEAVENLY MAN AND THE BELOVED SON OF THE FATHER
A great extent is covered by these passages, because in chapter 22, it is a matter of the Father and the Son, and in chapter 24, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but particularly the Father and the Spirit: of the Father as having the initiative, and the Spirit as realising the Father’s thought. What comes out in chapter 22 in figure is that the establishment of everything is assured by Christ: dead, raised, and gone up into heaven. As one has often remarked, it is not said that Isaac came down from the mountain. He therefore represents Christ seen as being in heaven.
Chapter 23 mentions the death of Sarah, an allusion to the dispensational point of view of the setting aside of Israel.
Then in chapter 24, the assembly appears in Rebecca as being the wife of the heavenly Man.
The seed of Abraham which is spoken of at the beginning of chapter 25 is no doubt an allusion to other earthly families, but Isaac keeps his unique character brought out in verse 5 of chapter 25 and verse 36 of chapter 24. So there is there what we read of in chapter 3 of the gospel of John (v 35): “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”.
We see in Abraham and Isaac in chapter 22, the Father and the Son moving together to furnish by sacrifice the foundation on which the full extent of God’s thoughts will be established.
The Lord says in John 16: 15: “All things that the Father has are mine; on account of this I have said that he receives of mine and shall announce it to you”. So this world of glory that faith apprehends is constituted by the Father’s things and those of Christ because the Father has put all things into the hands of the Son, and we must find our interest there because they belong to Christ. We must be impressed by this great system of love which has its origin in the Father, and of which Christ is the Centre; and I think that our appreciation of God is increased if we see that in its totality and understand that the Centre is in the Son who has a position of love there.
Twice in chapter 22, it is said that they went “both of them together”, showing the complete accord of heart and mind between the Father and the Son, and the greatness of the sacrifice which was going to allow the establishment of God’s will—not only on the part of the Son but also on the Father’s part—because on the one hand Isaac is laden with the wood and actually put it on the altar, but on the other it is said that Abraham took “the fire in his hand, and the knife”. That extended over a journey of three days and during all that time, Isaac carried the wood, and Abraham carried the fire and the knife. It is indeed remarkable that God has thus given us early in the history of the world a view of the sacrifice which would secure the realisation of His purpose, showing how that was in His heart. The purpose existed before the foundation of the world, and the world has been called into being as the place where the purpose would be effectuated. God then created man on the earth and introduced the idea of the family to initiate us in this relationship of father and son and to make us able to grasp the thought of affection that He was going to present in Himself and Christ. So when Christ appeared, He was to be discerned as being “an only-begotten with a father”.
In chapter 8 of Proverbs, wisdom says, “I was by him his nursling”, this word also meaning ‘artificer’. There is in that the double thought of someone who occupies a position of love and at the same time effects with skill what God desires. This wisdom really implies the coming of Christ in flesh and the coming of the Spirit; this is what we find in figure in chapter 24 of Genesis. It is the presentation of a complete Economy: the Father, the Son and the Spirit and the saints also, because the Economy has been introduced in relation to man.
We must now consider these passages in the light of a double aspect: on the one hand, in thinking of the affections of the Father and the Son, and on the other, of the exercises of faith, particularly in Abraham, when he says to the young men (Gen 22: 5), “Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you”. There was something entirely secret between Abraham and Isaac and that corresponds to the darkness that covered the land when the moment came for the accomplishment of everything in Christ. All that unfolded secretly between Him and God. Abraham’s faith shines again in verse 7 when he is put to the test by Isaac’s question about the lamb. We often think about what the sacrifice of Christ involved for Himself, but we might not think enough of what it must have been for the Father. The Spirit would desire, I think, that we should feel more from the details which He gives: “he took the fire in his hand, and the knife, and they went both of them together” (v 6), and here in verse 9: “And Abraham built the altar there, and piled the wood; and he bound Isaac his son …”, and in verse 10: “And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slaughter his son”. We understand without doubt a little of the feelings that were experienced by Abraham in his affection for his son. It speaks in verse 6 of the wood of the burnt-offering, and it all really had the value of a burnt-offering of which the odour went up to God. In verse 13, the ram is furnished for the burnt-offering and Abraham offers it instead of his son. Thus Isaac and the ram together give a complete figure of the sacrifice of Christ; the ram was held by its horns to a thicket. Christ coming into this world to secure those who were in God’s purpose, found them involved in what the thicket represents. His devotion led Him to sacrifice Himself to bring to light those God had in mind, and all the great results which must flow from that sacrifice. “And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham from the heavens a second time, and said, By myself I swear, saith Jehovah, that, because thou hast done this … I will richly bless thee, and greatly multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea-shore … and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves …”, vv 16-18.
Then the details in chapter 24 suggest how the assembly is secured for Christ. The servant received the mission to find a bride for Isaac. Abraham insists on the fact that his son must not return to the country from which he himself has gone out. So we have to consider Isaac as the heavenly Man and remember that the assembly’s calling is a heavenly calling. Our minds go back to the gospel of John where Christ is seen as being from heaven and come from heaven, before being presented as the beloved Son of the Father.
This chapter 24 does not go beyond the accomplishment of the servant’s mission, a bride secured for Isaac. In verse 7, we find an interesting thought: “he will send his angel before thee”. I believe that in the present dispensation, we benefit not only from the service of the Spirit but also from angelic service which is exercised to clear a path for the testimony. For example, the fact that the Roman empire had been raised up and the way in which it extended its influence over the western world has opened the way to Christianity. God is behind all these things and we know from the Scriptures that He uses angels in His ways towards us. Their service does not have the spiritual character that the Spirit’s has, but is exercised rather to remove difficulties so that the work of God may go on. We see that particularly in the first chapters of the Acts, for example in chapters 5: 19, and 12: 7 and 23.
The angels have an active part in the realisation of divine thoughts and are fully at the disposition of God to prepare favourable conditions for the activities of the Spirit, in view of securing the assembly for Christ, as well as other families that will come into evidence after the assembly’s departure.
I speak of all that simply to show all that is going on currently through the service of the Spirit and that of the angels in relation to the assembly so that we should be enlarged in our understanding of the things that belong to Christ, and all that the Father has placed in the hands of His beloved Son.
At the end of chapter 24, there is something of an emphasis on the service of the Spirit and an indication of what the Lord may find for the joy of His heart in His assembly. Isaac “lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, camels were coming” (v 63), that is to say, moving together in his direction. What really rejoices the heart of Christ is to see the saints united in the movements of the assembly towards Him, particularly on the first day of the week. We are, so to say, in the moment when Isaac lifts up his eyes. Every occasion when we break bread has in view to set us together and to direct our affections upon Christ. It is important that we should be set together first: we break bread and we drink from the same cup; then unity being thus realised, the Spirit can produce true assembly affections for Christ.
Verses 62 and 63 are interesting: it is said that Isaac “had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi; for he was dwelling in the south country. And Isaac had gone out to meditate in the fields toward the beginning of evening”. On the one hand, he was in relation to the ‘well of the living who reveals himself’, which leads our thoughts to the full revelation of God in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Isaac was free of all occupation at that moment; as Christ is entirely available to occupy Himself with his bride and bestow His love upon her. On her side, Rebecca “took the veil, and covered herself”, v 65. That brings to our minds 1 Corinthians 11: 15, where it is said, “But woman, if she have long hair, it is glory to her; for the long hair is given to her in lieu of a veil”. It is a matter of what is beautiful in the eyes of Christ. The idea of the veil is that the woman is out of sight, she remains hidden, to be entirely for the joy of her husband. It is not said that Rebecca had been led by Isaac to his father, but she had actually been led to one who was the beloved son of the father. In Genesis 24: 36, the testimony of the servant relates to the fact that Isaac was born to Abraham in Sarah’s old age and that he had given him all that he had. It is an indication that Isaac was for Abraham and when Rebecca is led to him and becomes his wife, she knew that Isaac had the place of an only son in his father’s affections.
Summary of a reading
ST ETIENNE
10th November 1957
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’,
July-August 1959
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