Are you an Abel? I can strongly testify that, as one who has returned to God, I am an Abel. More than fifty years ago, I was far away from God. But one day I turned around and came back to Him. At that time, I became an Abel. Are you still walking away from God, or have you returned to Him? Hallelujah, we have returned! We are not Cains; we are Abels.
Are you also an Enosh, one who calls on the name of the Lord? Throughout the more than fifty years of my Christian life, I have been calling on the Lord for help. Many times I called on the Lord to help me with my temper because I was not able to deal with it. At other times I called on Him because I could not bear certain troubles. Realizing that I was weak and fragile, I said, “O Lord Jesus, help me.” I am sorry to say that some Christians do not agree with this matter of calling on the name of the Lord. In times of peace they do not call on Him. However, in times of trouble they spontaneously call, “O Lord!” There is not one Christian who has never called on the name of the Lord. Why should we wait for trouble to come before we call on the Lord? Why not call on His name day by day? If you have never tried this in a daily way, I would ask you to try it now. There is no need to pray in the old way, saying, “Lord, I need You. My temper is uncontrollable, and my wife is difficult. I need Your help, Lord.” Instead of praying this way, say, “O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!” Some say that this calling is too noisy. Although I agree that sometimes we should not be too loud and that we should not disturb others, we can still call upon the Lord in a subdued way.
Lamentations 3:55 and 56 indicate that to call on the name of the Lord is to breathe. Verse 55 says, “I called upon thy Name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.” The writer here was in a very low state, even in a low dungeon, when he called upon the Lord. Then verse 56 says, “Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.” This indicates that our calling on the Lord is our breathing. There is no need to call with a loud voice. We can call on Him in the way of breathing Him in. This matter of calling on the name of the Lord began with Enosh, the third generation of mankind. Like Enosh, we all need to be those who call on the name of the Lord. The more we call on Him, the more help we shall receive from Him.
We should not only be an Abel and an Enosh, but also an Enoch walking with God. Although we all are Abels who have returned to God, I wonder if we all are Enochs who walk with Him day by day. Enoch walked with God by calling on the name of the Lord. If we would walk with God today, we also need to call on Him. As you are about to lose your temper, you should say, “Lord, I am walking with You and I am about to lose my temper.” If you say this, you will find it very difficult to lose your temper. The more you walk with God, the more difficult it will be to lose your temper.
We also should be a Noah, not only walking with God and preparing salvation for ourselves and others, but also reigning for God. As Noahs, we enjoy God’s full salvation, with God’s dominion over the earth as the issue.
In addition to being Abels, Enoshes, Enochs, and Noahs, we also should be Abrahams, Isaacs, and Jacobs. Certainly, like Abraham, we have been justified. Furthermore, like Isaac, we should daily enjoy our inheritance and be under God’s blessing. Perhaps you may say that you do not want to be a Jacob, for Jacob was a supplanter, a heel-holder, one who deceived nearly everybody. Although you may not desire to be such a person, do not forget that Jacob was eventually transformed into Israel, the prince of God. We all shall be transformed Jacobs. Many can say that they have called on the name of the Lord, but not many can say that they have been transformed. However, we have returned to the Lord, we are calling on Him, we are walking with Him, and we are preparing salvation for ourselves and others that we may reign for God. At the same time, we are in the process of transformation.
The issue of the process of transformation through which Jacob passed was the twelve tribes that formed the house of Israel. The house of Israel is a full type of the church. In the Old Testament there was the house of Israel, and in the New Testament there is the church as God’s house. Thus, the house of Israel was a type of the church as God’s house. The house of Israel came out of Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Today we are in the Lord’s recovery. The Lord’s recovery is mainly the recovery of Christ as our life and of the church as our living. However, although many Christians talk about the church, they do not have the practical church life. They have the doctrine of the church, but they do not have the practicality of the church. One reason for this is that they have not seen that the church is the issue of these significant persons in the book of Genesis. In order to have the proper church life, we need to be an Abel, an Enosh, an Enoch, a Noah, an Abraham, an Isaac, and a Jacob. We must not only return to God, but also undergo the process of transformation. It is in this way that we have the twelve tribes, the components of the house of God.
We all need to pray to the Lord, “Lord, grant me a clear vision of the kernel of the Bible. Cause me to see Christ and the church. I do not want to see Christ in a doctrinal way, but in the way of experience. And, Lord, I also need to see the practical church life that I may be a part of the real house of Israel today.” We all need to pray this prayer. If we do, the vision will come to us, and we shall see that the Bible is a book of Christ as life and of the church as our living. Then we shall know the kernel of the Bible. I look to the Lord that we all may see this vision. We all should say, “I must have the experience of Christ and of the practical church life! I don’t care for theology. I want to see Christ as my life, and I want to see the church as my daily living.” This is the kernel of the Bible.
In the following messages we shall continue with Exodus and other books of the Old Testament and New Testament. In all these books we shall see the kernel of the Bible, Christ and the church.