After rejecting Abraham's proposal, God promised him that He would do something for him so that he might have seed born of himself, even as many as the stars in heaven (15:5). Abraham believed in the Lord according to His word, and the Lord counted his believing to him for righteousness (15:6). It is the kind of faith that believes that God will work in us to bring forth Christ, the seed, that is precious to God and is our righteousness in the eyes of God. This is the faith for receiving God's grace, not for receiving His blessing.
Today, most Christians care for blessing, not much for grace. Although this is the New Testament age, many Christians still live in the Old Testament dispensation, caring only for blessings, not for grace. In the Lord's recovery we do need the blessings. It is a great blessing to meet together all of the time. But, more than this, we need grace. We need God to come in and say, "What you have does not count. What you can do and will do does not count either. I will work something into you, and this will bring forth the seed. Do you believe in this?" If we believe this, this kind of faith is precious to God. This is not the faith that believes that God will give us all that we need for our existence; it is the faith that believes that God is working Himself into us in order to bring forth Christ as the unique seed, the seed that is needed for the fulfillment of God's purpose.
The second thing needed for the fulfillment of God's purpose was the land (15:17-21; see 12:7; 13:14-15, 17; 17:8).
What is the land? Many Christians think that the land is heaven, considering physical death as the Jordan River. This concept is altogether not according to the proper understanding of the Holy Word. During Abraham's time, the land was a place in which he could live. Abraham needed a place to live in and to live on. Hence, the land is a place for God's people to live in and to live on. Furthermore, during Abraham's time, the land was a place in which Abraham could defeat all of his enemies in order that God might have a kingdom on earth. Moreover, the land was the place where God could have a habitation as the expression of Himself. Thus, we see five points concerning the land: that it was a place for God's people to live in, a place for them to live on, a place where God's enemies could be defeated, a place where God could have His kingdom, and a place where God could have a habitation for His expression. Eventually, in the land, the kingdom of God was established, the temple was built for God's habitation, and the glory of God was manifested. All of that was a miniature of the fulfillment of God's purpose. This was altogether a different matter from Abraham's existence. It was one thing for Abraham to exist; it was another thing for him to have the seed and the land for the fulfillment of God's purpose.
What is the land for us today? Undoubtedly, the land is Christ who is living in us and in whom we are living. Today, we must live in Christ and on Christ. But many Christians do not practice this. They care neither for Christ's being wrought into them as the seed nor for their living in Christ as their land for the fulfillment of God's purpose. To them, Christ is not the land for them to live in and to live on; neither is He the land for them to slaughter all their enemies. Where can we slaughter our enemies? In Christ our land. Christ is the very place in which we slaughter our Chedorlaomer and all of the other kings. Christ is also the land for the kingdom of God where God's habitation can be built.
If we see this, then we know how greatly most Christians have missed the mark in seeking only for God's blessings. We do not need to pay that much attention to our existence or to be so concerned about God's blessings, because our Father knows what we need. We should let Him take care of us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).
In this matter of God's purpose we should not count on what we have or on what we can do. What we have is Eliezer and what we can do is Ishmael. Eliezer was what Abraham had and Ishmael was what Abraham could do, and neither of them counted for the fulfillment of God's purpose. What we have and what we can do does not count. It has to be God Himself. After a certain time, when we truly have become nothing, God will work Himself into us, and that which He has worked into us will bring forth Christ as the seed and will also bring us into Christ as our land. Christ should be the seed within us. Christ should also be the land in which we live. Do we not have Christ in us? Yes, but He must be the seed. Are we not in Christ today? Yes, but we must live in Him as our land.
Today the land is also the church, for the church is the enlargement of Christ. The Body of Christ, the church, is the expansion of Christ. In the church we live in Christ and on Christ; in the church we slaughter the enemies; and in the church we have the kingdom of God with the habitation of God. For this reason, when we came into the church, we immediately had the sensation that we had come home. Now we are no longer wandering but have a place in which and on which to live, a place in which to slaughter all our enemies, a place in which we may have the kingdom of God with the habitation of God. Before we came into the church, we did not have the proper Christian living, but after coming into the church, what a positive change has happened to our living!
Before coming into the church, it was difficult for us to defeat any of our enemies, but after coming into the church, it was so easy. Chedorlaomer is afraid of the church. Where can we slaughter all of our enemies? In Canaan. What is today's Canaan? It is the church, the enlarged Christ. Where is the kingdom of God with God's habitation today? Also in the church. The church, the enlarged Christ, is our good land today.
Both the seed and the land are Christ. The seed is Christ in us and the land is the Christ in whom we live. Christ lives in us as the seed, and we live in Him as the land. He is both the seed and the land for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose.
In this chapter God not only repeated His promise to Abraham concerning the seed but also the promise to him concerning the land. The promise concerning the seed is fully covered in the first six verses. Abraham believed in the Lord for that promise concerning the seed. The promise concerning the land is affirmatively made by God in verse 7, but Abraham lacked faith to believe in God for this promise concerning the land. By this we can see that believing in God for the seed is easier than believing in God for the land. It is easier for us to let Christ live in us as the seed than it is to live in Christ as the land. To take Christ as the seed living in us is easier than to take Christ as the land for us to have the church life for God's kingdom with God's habitation. Because Abraham was like us, lacking faith in God in this respect, God was forced to make a covenant with him to confirm His promise concerning the land. In the next message we shall see the details concerning the covenant that God made with Abraham.