In this message we come to Genesis 18, which contains an intimate record of Abraham’s experience with God. If we take an overall view of Abraham’s experience with God as found in chapter eleven through chapter twenty-four, we shall see that his experience is in four major sections. Firstly, while he was living in the demonic land of Chaldea, he was called by God. Suddenly, much to his surprise, the God of glory appeared to him (Acts 7:2). That was the beginning of his experience with God.
Secondly, in chapters twelve through fourteen, Abraham experienced living by faith in God for his existence. He had been called by God for the fulfillment of God’s divine purpose, but, as a human being, he still had to have food, protection, and all that was necessary to maintain his existence. He was a stranger in a new land, having no property of his own. Thus, God trained him to exercise the very faith which God had infused into him to trust in God for his existence.
Following that, in chapters fifteen through seventeen, the third section, God trained him to know grace for the fulfillment of His purpose. Here Abraham learned not to do anything by himself or on his own but to do everything by and with God. Although God needed him, God did not need anything of him. All that Abraham had, was, and could do was absolutely repudiated by God. God spent at least fifteen years to train Abraham in this matter. For thirteen years, God disappeared from him because he did not behave himself properly. Abraham was trained, disciplined, and very much in God’s favor, but he did not walk in the presence of God. Rather, he walked in the presence of his wife, the one who proposed that he exercise his flesh to produce a seed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Abraham expected that Ishmael, his seed, could fulfill God’s purpose. Nevertheless, God seemed to say, “No, I don’t approve of Ishmael. He is the issue of your effort, the produce of your doing. I reject him and you must not keep him. Abram, you must learn that nothing that you can do means anything to Me. I only need you, not your ability and strength. I don’t need your Lot, Eliezer, Hagar, or anything of you. You must walk before Me, not doing anything by yourself or on your own. You must be nourished and supplied by the sufficiency of My divine udder. Then you will be able to produce something not only for Me but also of Me. I only accept and approve what is out of Myself. I shall not produce an Isaac without you. I shall produce an Isaac through you, but not out of you. You are My channel, not the source. Whenever you consider yourself to be the source, you insult Me. I am the unique, all-sufficient source. You have known Me as the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. Now you must know Me as El-Shaddai, as the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder. Stay under My udder and be supplied and nourished constantly by My all-sufficiency. This is the way to walk before Me.” As Abraham learned to know grace for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, God changed him in both name and in nature. God changed Abraham’s constitution by having him circumcised. Abram was terminated and Abraham came into being. This is the third major section of Abraham’s experience of God.
Immediately after this, he was ushered into a glorious section-living in fellowship with God (18:1-24:67). Abraham had been called, had learned to live by faith in God for his existence, and had come to know grace for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Now he has been brought into constant fellowship with God. The fourth section of his experience is found in chapters eighteen through twenty-four. Everything revealed in these seven chapters is an aspect of Abraham’s intimate fellowship with God.
In the first section of his experience, God appeared to Abraham as the God of glory. In the second section He revealed Himself as the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. In the third section He came to Abraham as El-Shaddai, as the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder. In the fourth section God came in a very different way-as a mortal man. As Abraham sat in the door of his tent during the heat of the day, he saw three mortal men approaching (vv. 1-2). In Hebrew, the word translated “men” in verse 2 means mortal men, human beings. God appeared to Abraham in such a form. At first, Abraham did not realize that one of these men was the Lord, Jehovah, and that the other two were angels.
Of these forms of God’s appearing-as the God of glory, as the Most High God, as El-Shaddai, and as a mortal man-which do you prefer? Do you prefer that God appear to you as the God of glory? If He did, you would be terrified. Would you like Him to come as the Most High God? If the president of the United States were to come to me and say, “I am the most high president of the United States coming to visit a little man,” I would feel uneasy. But if he were to come as a man the same as me, I would say, “Sir, how are you? Please come in and rest and be refreshed.” If he were to come in this way, revealing later that he was the president of the United States, I could have a very good time with him. Of these four ways of God’s appearing, I prefer that He come to me in the form of a mortal man, not in His divine glory, in His most high position, nor in His all-sufficiency.
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