[4] I would observe here that the doctrine of the Epistle to the Galatians stands intimately connected with chap. xvi., xvii., and I might add, the important doctrine of Israel's future restoration. We also get the doctrine of justification by faith fully ill.u.s.trated in chap. xv.

Ere closing my observations on this section of our narrative, I would add that it is _faith_ alone which can enable one to listen, as Abraham here does, to the promises of Almighty G.o.d, and when faith listens, G.o.d will surely continue to speak. Abram here gets his name changed to Abraham, and the Lord unfolds to him the future greatness and number of his seed, while Abraham hearkens in the unquestioning silence of faith. But when the "Almighty G.o.d" goes on to say with reference to Sarai, "As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." (vers. 15, 16.) He is at once overwhelmed by the pledges of such marvelous power and grace to be exercised towards him. They exceeded anything he had as yet known, and "Abraham fell on his face." This is very instructive.

Abraham with his face in the dust, overcome by the plenitude of almighty power and grace! Surely, we may say, while dwelling upon such a scripture as this, it is only _faith_ that can rightly entertain the "_Almighty G.o.d_," it _alone_ can give Him His due and proper place and honor Him as He should be honored. When the Almighty displays Himself, _self_ must be excluded, hence we find that _Abram_ is set aside in all this--_Sarai_ is lost sight of--"_the bondwoman and her son_" are, for the moment, put far out of view, and nothing is seen but "the Almighty G.o.d" in the sovereignty and fulness of His grace and power, and the faith that could lie prostrate in the dust, in silent adoration of such a display of the divine glories.

How different is this from the preceding chapter! There we find Abram hearkening to the suggestion of Sarai his wife, with regard to the bondwoman--here we find him hearkening to the voice of Jehovah, as Almighty, who is about to quicken the dead womb of Sarah, and to call those things that be not as though they were, that no flesh might glory in His presence. There it is Abram and Sarai _without G.o.d_--here it is G.o.d _without Abram and Sarai_. In a word, there it is _flesh_--here it is spirit--there it is _sight_--here it is _faith_.

Wondrous contrast! Exactly similar to that afterwards displayed by the Apostle to the churches of Galatia, when he sought to restore them from the sad influence of "the beggarly elements" of the flesh and the world, to the full liberty wherewith Christ had made them free.

CHAPTERS XVIII., XIX.

I cla.s.s these two chapters together because, like those we have just been considering, they furnish us with a contrast--a contrast most marked and striking between the position occupied by Abraham in chapter xviii., and that occupied by Lot in chapter xix.

The Lord Jesus when asked by Judas, not Iscariot, "how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?" replied, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make our abode with him." (John xiv. 23.) Again, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. iii. 20.) Now, Abraham furnishes us with an exceedingly happy exemplification of the truth stated in the above pa.s.sages. "The Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and He sat in _the tent door_ in the heat of the day." (chap. xviii. 1.) Here we find Abraham again in the full exhibition of his stranger character. _Mamre_ and _the tent_ are a.s.sociated in our minds with the day of his triumph over the king of Sodom. Abraham is still a stranger and a pilgrim "dwelling in tabernacles." The revelation made unto him by the Almighty G.o.d had not altered the tone of his character in this respect, but had rather imparted fresh vigor and energy thereto. A simple dependence upon the promise of the Almighty G.o.d was the most effectual means of maintaining him in his stranger condition.

Now, it is, in the very highest degree, instructive to see the honor here put upon the character and condition of the stranger. Throughout the wide range of the world there was just _one spot_ in which the Lord could accept the rites of hospitality and make Himself at home, and that was in _the tent of_ "_a pilgrim and stranger_." The Lord would not honor the sumptuous halls and princely palaces of Egypt with His presence. No. All His sympathies and all His affections hung around the stranger of Mamre, who was the only one who, in the midst of an evil world, could be induced to take G.o.d for his portion.

What a season of enjoyment it must have been to Abraham while those heavenly strangers sat with him and partook of the offerings of his generous heart. Mark how he calls forth into action all the energies of his house to do honor to his guests. He hastens from the tent to the field, and from the field to the tent again, and seems to lose sight of himself in his effort to make others happy.

Nor is it merely by partaking of Abraham's hospitality that the Lord gives expression to the high estimation in which He holds him; He renews His promise to him with regard to the son--He opens up His counsels to him with reference to Sodom. "Shall I," says He, "hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? _For I know him_, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." (vers. 17-19.)

Here Abraham is seen as "_the friend of G.o.d_." "The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth," but Abraham was made acquainted with what the Lord was about to do to Sodom, while Lot--the one who was so deeply interested in the solemn event--was left in profound ignorance about it.

How then does Abraham make use of his favored position? Does he use it to strengthen more fully, and place on a firmer basis, the future interests of his house? Surely the natural heart would at once have prompted him to make such a use of his present advantage in the matter of nearness to Jehovah. Does he use it thus? Nay. Abraham had learnt too much of the ways of G.o.d to act in a way savoring so much of the selfishness of a heartless world. But, even had he thought of such a thing, he had no need to utter a syllable on the subject, for "_the Almighty G.o.d_" had most amply satisfied his heart with regard to the everlasting interests of his house--He had fixed it upon such a foundation that an anxious thought would have evidenced a complete want of moral order in Abraham's soul. He therefore entertained not a thought about himself or his house, but like a genuine man of faith, _he takes advantage of his place in the presence of G.o.d to intercede for a brother, whose worldliness had plunged him into the very midst of that place which was about to be given over to everlasting destruction_. "And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" (ver. 23.) "_The righteous!_" to whom can he allude? Can it be to the man who had so deliberately turned aside out of the path of faith to take up his abode at Sodom? Yes; he speaks of Lot--he calls him "_righteous_,"--he speaks of him in the very same terms as the Spirit in the apostle afterward speaks of him when he calls him a "righteous soul." Abraham, therefore, was taught of G.o.d when he could recognize in the man surrounded by all the pollution of Sodom "a righteous soul."[5]

[5] Although I consider Lot the princ.i.p.al object in Abraham's mind, while interceding before the Lord, I do not forget that there is mention made of "fifty," etc.

I doubt not it will be admitted by every one taught of G.o.d that the conduct of Abraham in this chapter, furnishes us with one of the most important results of a holy and separated walk. We observe in it a man pleading with G.o.d in a most urgent strain for one who had turned his back upon him, and selected Sodom as the place of his abode. How completely must Abraham's soul have been lifted above "the things that are seen" when he could thus forget "the strife" and the departure, worldliness and evil of Lot, and plead for him still as "a righteous soul." If Abraham appears as "the _friend_ of G.o.d" under other circ.u.mstances and other scenes, surely he is here seen as the _child_ of G.o.d exhibiting most sweetly those principles which he had learnt in communion with his heavenly Father.

We shall now leave Abraham, for a little, enjoying his happy place before the Lord, while we contemplate the last sad scene in the life of one who seems to have valued the things of this life more highly than was consistent with the character of "a stranger and pilgrim" or "a righteous soul."

From the time that the separation took place between Abraham and Lot, the former seems to have proceeded "from strength to strength;" while the latter, on the contrary, seems to have proceeded only downwards, from one stage of weakness to another, until we find him, at the close, making shipwreck of everything, and merely "escaping with his life." The loss of all his goods in the battle between the "four kings and five" does not seem to have had any effect upon the mind of Lot in the way of teaching him the evil of being mixed up with the world; yea, he seems to have become more deeply involved in worldliness after that event than he had been before; for, at the first, he merely "pitched his tent _towards_ Sodom" (chap. xiii. 12); but now we find him sitting "in the gate" (chap. xix. 1), which, as we know, was then the place of honor. When once a man has put his hand to the plow if he begin to look back, we have been told by Him who cannot err, that "he is not _fit_ for the kingdom of G.o.d." Nor is it possible to count upon the fearful lengths to which a man may go when once the world, in any one of its varied aspects, has taken possession of his heart, or when once he has begun to turn his back upon the people of G.o.d. The terrible declension spoken of in Hebrews x., which stops not short of "trampling under foot the Son of G.o.d," has its beginning in the apparently simple act of "forsaking the a.s.sembling of ourselves together." How needful, therefore, it is that we should take heed to our ways, and watch the avenues of our hearts and minds, lest any evil thing should get dominion over us, which, however trivial in itself, might lead to the most appalling results.

Now, it strikes me, that we have in the circ.u.mstance presented to us in the opening of chapter xix. the full evidence of Lot's fallen condition. The Lord Himself does not appear at all. He remains at a distance from the unholy place, and merely sends _His angels_ to execute His commission upon the devoted city of Sodom. The angels, too, exhibit all the symptoms of distance and strangership--they refuse to go into Lot's house when invited, saying, "_Nay, but we will abide in the street all night_." True, they subsequently enter into his house; but, if they do so, it is not so much to enjoy refreshment as to counteract the sad effects of Lot's wrong circ.u.mstances. How different was the scene at Lot's house from that which they had so lately witnessed at the tent of the stranger of Mamre! The tumult of the men of Sodom--to whom, notwithstanding all their unG.o.dly deeds and unG.o.dly speeches, Lot applies the t.i.tle of "_brethren_"--the evident embarra.s.sment of Lot at being discovered in such painful circ.u.mstances--the shocking proposal which he is constrained to make in order to screen his guests from the violence of the unG.o.dly men of Sodom--the struggle at the door, and Lot's danger--all these things must have shocked the heavenly strangers, and stood in marked contrast with the holy peace and retirement of Abraham's tent, together with his own calm and dignified demeanor throughout the scene. Well might those angels have been astonished to find "a righteous soul" in such a place, when he could have enjoyed, in company with his separated brother, the peaceful and holy joys of his steady and consistent course.

But the time had now arrived for the pouring out of the cup of divine wrath upon Sodom. "The men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides?...

bring them out of _this place_: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." (vers. 12, 13.) The critical moment which the Lord Jesus, in the gospel, notes by the exceedingly solemn word "UNTIL," was now at hand for the careless inhabitants of Sodom, who dreamed not of any interruption to their "eating, and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage." A moment's respite is allowed, during which Lot bears a message to his son-in-law, a testimony as to the rapidly approaching judgment; but, ah! what power could the testimony of one who had voluntarily come in and settled amongst them, have upon those who had lived and moved from their earliest infancy in the midst of the unG.o.dly scene? How could Lot expect that his _words_ would have any weight when his _ways_ had so sadly contradicted them? He might now, with terrified aspect and earnest entreaties, urge them to leave a place which he knew was doomed to everlasting destruction, but they could not forget the calm and deliberate way in which he had at first "pitched his tent toward Sodom," and finally taken his seat "in the gate;" hence, as might be expected, "he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." (ver.

14.) And how, so far as he was concerned, could it be otherwise? His sons-in-law might be, and doubtless were, responsible before G.o.d for the rejection of the testimony; but Lot could not, by any means, expect them to heed him much, indeed, we find that even he himself was tardy in departing from the place; for "_while he lingered_"--while his heart still went after some object or another that was dear to him--"the men _laid hold upon his hand_, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful to him, and _they brought him forth_ and set him without the city."

(ver. 16.) From this statement, it is manifest that, had not the men "laid hold of, and brought forth" Lot, he would, no doubt, have "lingered" on "_until_" the fire of G.o.d's judgment had fallen upon him, and prevented even his "escaping with his life." But they "pulled him out of the fire," because "the Lord had mercy upon him."

But this escape of Lot's only served to put fresh honor upon Abraham, for we read that "when G.o.d destroyed the cities of the plain, _he remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow_"

(ver. 29). Thus, as Abraham's sword had delivered Lot in the time of the conquest of Sodom, his prayer delivered him in the time of its final overthrow, "for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Nor does the contrast between those two men stop here.

There is yet another scene in which they stand at a great distance from each other as to the moral condition of their souls. "Abraham gat him up early in the morning, to the place where he stood before the Lord" (ver. 27). Here the man of faith, the holy pilgrim, once more raises his head amid the mighty scene of desolation. All was over with Sodom and its guilty inhabitants, "the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Sad spectacle! The din and bustle of that once stirring city was hushed; silence reigned around--the buying and selling--the eating and drinking--the marrying and giving in marriage--all the intercourse of social life had been awfully broken in upon. The solemn "UNTIL" had come at last--the only one in all that wicked place who, notwithstanding his failure, could be regarded as "the salt," had been removed--the measure of Sodom's iniquity had been filled up--the day of divine longsuffering closed, and nothing now met the eye of Abraham but misery and desolation throughout all the plain. How melancholy! And yet it was but a type of the far more terrible desolation which shall sweep across this guilty world when the Son of man makes His appearance, "when every eye shall see Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn and wail because of Him."

Thus, "Abraham stood _before the Lord_," completely exempt from all the sad effects of the recent visitation, as far as he was personally concerned. His stranger condition which, in the days of Chedorlaomer, had enabled him to live outside of Sodom and all its circ.u.mstances, still kept him free, and was the means of his escape from Sodom's unutterable woe and misery. Had Abraham, when solicited by the King of Sodom, mixed himself up with the things of Sodom, he would have been involved, in some measure, as was his brother Lot, in its overthrow.

He himself would have been saved, but his work would have been burnt up. But Abraham was looking for "a city that hath foundations," and he knew at once that Sodom was not that city, and hence he would have nothing whatever to do with it. He would "hate even the garment spotted by the flesh"--he would "touch not the unclean thing," and now he was permitted to realize the blessed results of his conduct, for, while Lot had to retreat in confusion and sorrow to a cave in the mountains, his wife and all his possessions being lost, Abraham takes his stand, in all that blessed calmness and dignity which ever characterized him, in the presence of Jehovah, and from thence surveys the heart-rending scene.

But what of Lot? How did he end his course? "Oh, tell it not in Gath!

publish it not in the streets of Askelon!" Well may we desire to throw a veil over the closing scene of the life of one who does not seem to have ever realized, as he should, the power of _the call of G.o.d_. He had always displayed a secret desire for the things of Egypt or those of Sodom. His heart does not seem to have been thoroughly detached from the world, and therefore his course was always unsteady; from the time he separated himself from Abraham, he went from bad to worse--from one stage of evil to another, until at last the scene closes with the shocking transaction in the cave; the sad results of which were seen in the persons of Moab and Ammon, the enemies of the people of G.o.d.

Thus ended the course of Lot, whose history ought to be a solemn warning to all Christians who feel a tendency to be carried away by the world. The history has not been left on record without a purpose.

"Whatever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning," may we therefore learn from the above narrative, "not to l.u.s.t after evil things," for, although "the Lord knows how to deliver the G.o.dly out of temptation," yet it is our place to keep as much out of the way of temptation as we can, and our prayer should ever be "lead us not into temptation." "The world pa.s.seth away, and the l.u.s.t thereof; but he that doeth the will of G.o.d abideth forever" (1 John ii. 17).

CHAPTERS XX., XXI.

Lot has now pa.s.sed off the scene--his sun has gone down amid thick clouds and a gloomy atmosphere; it now remains for us to pursue, for a few moments longer, the narrative of Abraham's ways, and G.o.d's dealings with him.

There was one point involved in chapter xii. which I left untouched, knowing that it would come before us again in this place.

When Abraham went down into Egypt, he entered into a compact with Sarah his wife _to conceal part of the truth_, "Say, I pray thee,"

said he, "thou art my sister" (Chap. xii. 13). One evil ever leads to another. Abraham was moving in the wrong direction when he went down into Egypt for help, and therefore did not exhibit that refinement of conscience which would have told him of the moral unsoundness of this mental reservation. "Speak every man truth with his neighbor," being a divine principle, would always exercise an influence upon one walking in communion with G.o.d; but Abraham's desire to get out of present trial was an evidence of failure in communion, and hence "his moral sense," as a recent writer has termed it, was not as keen or as elevated as it should have been. However, although the Lord plagued Pharaoh's house because of his having taken Sarah into it, and further, although Pharaoh rebukes Abraham for his acting in the matter, yet the latter says nothing whatever about the deliberate compact into which he had entered with his wife, to keep back part of the truth; he silently takes the rebuke and goes on his way, but the root of the evil remained still in his heart, ready to show itself at any time if circ.u.mstances should arise to draw it out.

Now, it is marvelous to behold Abraham coming up out of Egypt--building an altar and pitching a tent--exhibiting the n.o.ble generosity of faith--vanquishing Chedorlaomer and repulsing the temptation of the King of Sodom--urging his request for a son and heir, receiving the most gracious answer--on his face before G.o.d in the sense of His almighty grace and power--entertaining the heavenly strangers and interceding for his brother Lot. In a word, I say, it is marvelous to behold Abraham pa.s.sing through such brilliant scenes, comprising a series of years, and, all the while, this moral point, in which he had erred at the very threshold of his course, remains unsettled in his heart. True, it did not develop itself during the period to which I have just referred, but why did it not? Because Abraham was not in circ.u.mstances to call it out, but there it was notwithstanding. The evil was not _fully brought out_--not confessed, not got rid of,--and the proof of this is, that the moment he again finds himself in circ.u.mstances which could act upon _his weak point_, it is at once made manifest that the weak point is there. The temptation through which he pa.s.sed in the matter of the King of Sodom, was not by any means calculated to touch this peculiar point; nor was anything that occurred to him from the time he came up out of Egypt until he went down into Gerar, calculated to touch it, for had it been touched, it would no doubt have exhibited itself.

We never can know what is in our hearts until circ.u.mstances arise to draw it out. Peter did not imagine that he could deny his Lord, but when he got into circ.u.mstances which were calculated to act upon his peculiar weakness, he showed that the weakness was there.

It required the protracted period of forty years in the wilderness to teach the children of Israel "what was in their hearts" (Deut. viii.

2); and it is one of the grand results of the course of discipline through which each child of G.o.d pa.s.ses, to lead him into a more profound knowledge of his own weakness and nothingness. "We had the _sentence of death in ourselves_, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in G.o.d which raiseth the dead" (2 Cor. i. 9). The more we are growing in the sense of our infirmities, the more shall we see our need of clinging more closely to Christ--drawing more largely upon His grace, and entering more fully into the cleansing virtue and value of His atoning blood. The Christian, at the opening of his course, never knows his own heart; indeed, he could not bear the full knowledge of it; he would be overwhelmed thereby. "The Lord leads us not by the way of the Philistines lest we should see war," and so be plunged in despair. But He graciously leads us by a circuitous route, in order that our apprehension of His grace may keep pace with our growing self-knowledge.

In chapter xx., then, we find Abraham again, after the lapse of many years, falling into the old error, a suppression of truth, for which he has to suffer a rebuke from a mere man of the world. The man of the world, in this scene, seemed, for the moment, to possess a more refined moral sense than the man of G.o.d. "Said he not unto me," says he, "'She is my sister'! and she, even she herself said, 'He is my brother': in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this." But mark how G.o.d enters the scene for the purpose of vindicating His servant. He says to Abimelech, "Behold, thou art but a dead man." Yes, with all "the integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands"--with all his fine moral sense of right and wrong, he was "but a dead man," when it came to be a question, for one moment, between him and even an erring child of G.o.d. G.o.d, in His grace, was looking at His dear servant from quite a different point of view from that adopted by Abimelech. All that the latter could see in Abraham was a man guilty of a manifest piece of deception, but G.o.d saw more than that, and therefore He says to Abimelech, "Now therefore restore the man his wife; _for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live_." What dignity is here put upon Abraham! G.o.d himself vindicates him before the world! Not a syllable of reproof!--not a breath of disapprobation!--no, "he is a prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live." How truly consolatory it is for the poor, weak, and hara.s.sed believer to remember that His Father is ever viewing him through the medium of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees nothing whatever upon His child but the excellency and perfectness of Jesus. Thus, while a man of the world may have to rebuke a child of G.o.d, as in the case before us, G.o.d declares that He values that character which the believer has received from Him more than all the amiability, integrity, and innocency that nature can boast of.

This reminds us of the way in which the Lord vindicates the Baptist before the mult.i.tude, although He had sent a message to himself which must have exercised him deeply;--"I say unto you, among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist"

(Luke vii. 28). Thus, whatever unfavorable aspect the child of G.o.d may wear in the world's view, G.o.d will ever show Himself the vindicator of such. "He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm" (1 Chron. xvi. 21, 22).

However, as was observed with regard to John the Baptist, the message sent from the Lord to His servant must have exercised his spirit deeply in secret, so is it in Abraham's case. Abraham must have felt deeply humbled in his soul at the thought of what had occurred, and the consciousness of the fact that G.o.d would not enter into judgment with him about it would have augmented that feeling. When Abraham fell into the same error in Egypt we do not find that Pharaoh's reproof produced any manifest effect. He was not humbled by it to such a degree as to make a full confession of the whole thing. He takes his departure out of Egypt, but _the root_ of evil remains in his heart, ready to shoot forth its pernicious branches again. Not so in chapter xx.; here we get at once at the root of the matter--Abraham opens up his whole heart, he confesses that from the very first moment of his course he had retained this thing in his heart which had twice betrayed him into an act, which, to say the least of it, would not bear the light. And as there is the full confession of the evil on his part, so is there the complete renunciation of it--he gets rid of it fully, root and branch. The leaven is put forth out of every corner of his heart, he hearkens to Abimelech's reproof and profits by it; it was G.o.d's instrument by which He brought out the matter, and delivered the soul of his servant from the power of evil.

But, in addition to the point upon which we have been dwelling, there was yet another question to be settled ere Abraham could reach the most elevated point of his course as a man of faith. The bondwoman and her son were yet in the house. He must put forth these from _his house_ as he had put forth the evil from _his heart_. The house and the heart must be cleared out. In chapter xxi. we find matters brought to a crisis with regard to the bondwoman and her son, concerning whom we have heard comparatively nothing until now. The element of bondage had heretofore lain dormant in Abraham's house because not roused into action, by anything of an opposite nature and tendency. But, in the birth of Isaac--the son of the free woman--the child of promise--we see a new element introduced. The spirit of liberty and the spirit of bondage are thus brought into contact, and the struggle must issue in the expulsion of either one or the other. They cannot move on in harmony, for "how can two walk together except they be agreed."

Now we are invited by the Apostle, in his epistle to the Galatians, to behold in these two children, "the two covenants," the one gendering to _bondage_, the other to _liberty_; and further, to behold in them samples of the fleshly and spiritual seed of Abraham, the former, "born after the flesh," the latter, "born after the Spirit." Nor can anything be more marked than the line of demarcation between, not only the two covenants, but the two seeds. They are totally distinct the one from the other, and can never, by any operation, be brought to coalesce. Abraham was made to feel, and that painfully, this fact.

"Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac" (Chap. xxi. 10). Here the natural result shows itself. The two elements could not mingle. As well might the north and the south winds be expected to blow in all their strength without exciting a convulsion in the elements.

But it was most painful work to Abraham to be obliged thus to thrust forth his son. "The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son;" but it mattered not, he must be put out, for the son of a bondwoman could never inherit the promises made only to the spiritual seed. If Ishmael were to have been retained, it would have been an open allowance of the claims of the flesh. Abraham would have found something "as pertaining to the flesh" and would thus have had "whereof to glory." But no--all G.o.d's promises are to be made good to those who, like Isaac, are the children of promise, born after the Spirit, "not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of G.o.d" (John i. 13). Ishmael was manifestly born "of the will of the flesh, and of the will of man," and "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of G.o.d." The flesh must therefore be set aside and kept under, no matter how "grievous" it may be to our hearts. The Christian will often find it grievous enough to keep down the old principle which ever l.u.s.ts against the new, but the Lord gives spiritual power for the struggle so that "we are more than conquerors through Him that loves us."

But I must again remind the reader that it is not my present purpose to pursue the doctrinal matter involved in this instructive history[6]; were I to do so it would carry me far beyond the limits I have prescribed for myself in this little paper, the design of which is, as before observed, simply to direct attention to a few leading principles put forward in the narrative. I will therefore pa.s.s on to the next chapter which is the last of the section laid out for consideration.

[6] For a fuller examination and spiritual instruction contained in Abraham's and others' history, see _Genesis in the Light of the New Testament_; from the same publishers.

CHAPTER XXII.

The circ.u.mstances through which Abraham pa.s.sed in chapters twenty and twenty-one were most important indeed. An evil which had long been harbored in his heart had been put away; the bondwoman and her son, who had so long retained quiet possession of his house, were cast out, and he now stands forth as "a vessel sanctified and meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work."

"And it came to pa.s.s _after these things_, that G.o.d did tempt (or try) Abraham." Here Abraham is at once introduced into a place of real dignity and honor. When G.o.d tries an individual it is a certain evidence of His confidence in him. We never read that "G.o.d did tempt Lot"--no, the goods of Sodom furnished a sufficiently strong temptation for Lot. The enemy laid a snare for him in the well-watered plains of Sodom which he seemed but too p.r.o.ne to fall into. Not so with Abraham. He lived more in the presence of G.o.d, and was, therefore, less susceptible of the influence of that which had ensnared his erring brother.

Now, the test to which G.o.d submits Abraham--the furnace in which He tries him, marks at once a pure and genuine metal. Had Abraham's faith not been of the purest and most genuine character, he would a.s.suredly have winced under the fiery ordeal through which we behold him pa.s.sing in this beautiful chapter. When G.o.d promised Abraham a son, he believed the promise "and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

"He staggered not at the promise of G.o.d through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d." But then, having received this son, having realized the truth of the promise, was there not a danger that he would rest in _the gift_ instead of in _the Giver_? Was there not a danger that he would lean upon Isaac, in thinking upon the future seed and future inheritance, rather than upon G.o.d Himself who had promised him the seed? Surely there was, and G.o.d knew that, and therefore tries His servant in a way, more than anything, calculated to put him to the test as to the object on which his soul was resting.

The grand inquiry put to Abraham's heart, in this wondrous transaction, was, "are you still walking before THE ALMIGHTY G.o.d, THE QUICKENER OF THE DEAD?" G.o.d desired to know whether he could apprehend in Him the One who was as able to raise up children from the ashes of his sacrificed son as from the dead womb of Sarah. In other words, G.o.d desired to prove that Abraham's faith reached forth, as some one has observed, TO RESURRECTION, for if it stopped short of this, he never would have responded to the startling command, "Take now, thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Chap. xxii. 2.) But Abraham "staggered not." He at once responds to the call. G.o.d had asked for Isaac, and Isaac must be given, and that too without a breath of murmur. He could give up anything or everything so long as his eye rested upon "the Almighty G.o.d." And mark the point of view in which Abraham puts this journey of his to Mount Moriah, "I and the lad will go yonder _and worship_." Yes, it was an act of worship, for he was about to lay upon the altar of the Quickener of the dead the one in whom all G.o.d's promises centred. It was an act of worship--most elevated worship, for he was about to prove, in the sight of heaven and h.e.l.l, that no other object filled his soul but the Almighty G.o.d.

Hence, what calmness! what self-possession! what pure devotion! what elevation of mind! what self-renunciation! He never falters throughout the scene. He saddles the a.s.s, prepares the wood, and sets off to Mount Moriah, without giving expression to one anxious thought, although, as far as human eye could see, he was about to lose the object of his heart's most tender affection, yea, the one upon whom the future interests of his house, to all appearance, depended.