Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 20
Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 20
Scripture Reading: Genesis 20 (KJV)
There are two distinct points in this chapter: first, the moral degradation to which the child of God sometimes subjects himself, in the view of the world; and, second, the moral dignity that always belongs to him in the view of God. Abraham again exhibits the dread of circumstances, which the heart can so easily understand. He sojourns in Gerar, and fears the men of that place. Judging that God was not there, he forgets that He is always with him. He seems to be more occupied with the men of Gerar than with the One who was stronger than they. Forgetting God's ability to protect his wife, he has recourse to the same stratagem that he had adopted in Egypt years before. This is very admonitory. By taking his eye off God, the father of the faithful was carried away. For a little time he lost his center in God, and, therefore, gave way. How true it is, in the sense of our perfect weakness we are only strong as we cling to God. As long as we are in the path of His appointment, nothing can harm us. Had Abraham simply leaned on God, the men of Gerar would not have meddled with him; and it would have been his privilege to vindicate God's faithfulness in the midst of appalling difficulties. Also, he would have maintained his own dignity, as a man of faith.
It is often a source of sorrow to the heart to mark how the children of God dishonor Him, and, as a consequence, lower themselves before the world, by losing the sense of His sufficiency. May we live in the realization of the truth that all our springs are in God. There is nothing as elevating to the whole moral being as faith: it carries one entirely beyond the reach of this world's thoughts. How can men of the world, or even worldly minded Christians, understand the life of faith? They can’t, because the springs on which it draws lie far beyond their comprehension. They live on the surface – on present things. As long as they can see what they deem a proper foundation for hope and confidence; as long as they are hopeful and confident; they can never understand the idea of resting solely on the promise of an unseen God. But the man of faith is calm in the midst of scenes in which nature can see nothing. In the judgment of nature, faith seems a reckless, improvident, visionary thing. Only those who know God, can approve the actions of faith, because only they truly understand the solid and truly reasonable ground of such actions.
In this chapter we find the man of God, by reason of his actions, actually exposing himself to the rebuke and reproach of the men of the world, when under the power of unbelief. It is always this way. Nothing but faith can impart true elevation to a person's course and character. While it is true that some are naturally upright and honorable in their ways, still, nature's uprightness and honor cannot be trusted, because such uprightness and honor rests on a bad foundation, and is likely to give way at any moment. However, faith imparts a truly elevated moral tone, because it connects the soul in living power with God, the only source of true morality. It is a remarkable fact that when those whom God has graciously taken up stray off the path of faith, they sank even lower than other men. This accounts for Abraham's conduct in this part of his history.
But there is another important point of interest and value brought out here – Abraham harbored an evil thing for a number of years. It seems he had started on his course with a reserve in his soul that was the result of his lack of full, unqualified confidence in God. Had he been able to fully trust God in reference to Sarah, there would have been no need of any reserve or subterfuge. God would have fenced her in from every ill; after all, who can harm those who are the happy subjects of His unslumbering guardianship? However, through mercy Abraham is enabled to bring out the root of the whole matter – to thoroughly confess and judge it, and get rid of it. This is the true way to act. There can be no real blessing and power till every particle of leaven is brought forth into the light and trampled under foot. God's patience is exhaustless. He can wait. He can bear with us; but, while leaven remains known and unjudged, He will never conduct a soul to the culminating point of blessing and power, i.e., Abimelech and Abraham. Let us briefly consider the moral dignity of the latter from God’s view.
Whether we look at the history of God’s people as a whole or as individuals, we are often struck with the amazing difference between what they are in God's view, and what they are in the view of the world. God sees His people in Christ. He looks at them through Christ; and hence He sees them "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." They are as Christ is before God; through Christ they are perfected forever. "They are not in the flesh but in the spirit."
But, in themselves, they are poor, feeble, imperfect, stumbling, inconsistent creatures; and, it is because of what they are in themselves, and that alone, that the world takes knowledge of; thus, that is the difference that seems so great between the Divine and the human estimate.
Yet it is God's prerogative to set forth the beauty, dignity, and perfection of His people. It is His exclusive prerogative, because it is He Himself who has bestowed those things. They are only comely through the comeliness that He has put on them. Therefore, it is up to Him to declare what that comeliness is; and He does so in a manner worthy of Himself, and never more blessedly than when the enemy comes out to injure, curse, or accuse. So, when Balak seeks to curse the seed of Abraham, Jehovah's word is, "I have not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither have I seen perverseness in Israel." "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel.” Again, when Satan stands forth to resist Joshua, the word is, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan . . . is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" In this way, God always puts Himself between His people and every tongue that would accuse them. He does not answer the accusation by a reference to what His people are in themselves, or to what they are in view of this world, but to what He Himself has made them, and where He has set them.
Thus, Abraham might lower himself in the view of Abimelech, king of Gerar; and Abimelech might have to rebuke him, yet, when God comes to deal with it, He says to Abimelech, "Behold, thou art but a dead man;" and of Abraham he says, "He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee." Yes, with all "the integrity of his heart, and the innocency of his hands," the king of Gerar was "but a dead man;" and, for the restoration of the health of his household, he must be a debtor to the prayers of the erring and inconsistent stranger. Such is the manner of God: He may have a secret controversy with His child, on the ground of his practical ways; but when the enemy enters a suit against him, Jehovah always pleads His servant's cause. "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." "It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?” No dart of the enemy can penetrate the shield behind which the Lord has hidden the feeblest lamb of His blood-bought flock. He hides His people in His pavilion, sets their feet upon the rock of ages, lifts their heads above their enemies, and fills their hearts with the everlasting joy of His salivation.
His name be praised for evermore.
