As you read the book of Genesis, you will notice that the records of Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah are quite distinct one from another. The records of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, however, overlap. Genesis, speaking of them, considers them as one corporate man. Isaac's life story began in chapter twenty-one, and Abraham's life story ended in chapter twenty-five. Jacob's life story began in chapter twenty-five, and Isaac's life story ended in chapter thirty-five. Jacob's life story, supplemented by that of Joseph, ended in chapter fifty. The significance of this overlapping is that, according to the experience of life, these three persons are one man, a corporate man. When God created mankind, He created man in a corporate way, for Adam was a corporate man (5:2). It is not a small thing to see this. Do not think that, as a called one, you are complete as an individual. None of us is a complete individual unit. We all need one another. You need me and I need you. In like manner, Abraham needed Isaac and Jacob, Isaac needed Abraham and Jacob, and Jacob needed Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. All of them needed the others in order to have the completion of God's calling.
When some read this, they may ask, "Don't you believe that Abraham was an individual person?" Of course I believe it, just as I believe that you are an individual person. But the Bible tells us that we are members (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:27). A member can never be a separate and complete individual unit. When a member becomes individually complete, that means death. My thumb, for example, is a member of my body. It is not separately complete or individual, for, if it were, that would mean death.
The God who came to call this corporate person and who dealt with this corporate man was the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, He said, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exo. 3:6). In Exodus 3 we see that Moses was called by the angel of the Lord, that the angel of the Lord was the Lord Himself, and that the Lord Himself was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (vv. 2, 4, 6). God did not say, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses." No, He said that He was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This God, who is the Lord, is also the angel of the Lord. Can you figure this out? If you read Exodus 3, you will find that verse 2 speaks of the angel of the Lord and verse 4 of the Lord. Then in verse 6, this angel of the Lord, who is the Lord Himself, told Moses, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Do you believe that these are three gods? Here there are three plus two others, the angel of the Lord and the Lord. Are these five individuals, five gods? The angel of the Lord and the Lord surely are two. Can we say that the angel of the Lord is just the Lord Himself? We can, because the Bible tells us so. No one can exhaust the study of Exodus 3. Eventually, in Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, "I am that I am." God seemed to be saying, "I am the angel of the Lord. I am the Lord. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I am the God of Jacob. I am that I am. I don't care whether you understand this or not—I am that I am. I don't care whether you agree with this or not—I am that I am." This is our God, the God who worked upon the corporate man. This God was the angel of the Lord, the Lord Himself, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the great I Am.