Saturday, October 29, 2016

Our Isaac Experience.

Concerning loving family --  Excerpt from Spiritual Man- by Watchman Nee -

'Let it be observed that, humanly speaking, this expression of the soul is quite legitimate, for it is most natural and is not defiled as is sin. Is not the love we have mentioned shared by all men? What illegitimacy can there be in loving those of one’s family?'

Passage under discussion-
Luk 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 
Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

Excerpt continued- 'Hence we know that our Lord is summoning us to overcome the natural, even to denying man’s legal right . . . for the sake of God. God wants us to love Him more than our Isaac.'

Isaac- 

Gen 15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 
Gen 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 
Gen 15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 
Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 
Gen 15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 
Gen 15:6  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 

Gen 16:1  Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 
Gen 16:2  And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 
Gen 16:15  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 
Gen 16:16  And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. 

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 
Gen 17:2  And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 

Gen 18:1  And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 
Gen 18:2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 

Gen 18:9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 
Gen 18:10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 
Gen 18:11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 
Gen 18:12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 
Gen 18:13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 
Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 
Gen 18:15  Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 

Gen 21:1  And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 
Gen 21:2  For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 
Gen 21:3  And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 
Gen 21:4  And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 
Gen 21:5  And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 
Gen 21:6  And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 

Gen 21:8  And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 

Gen 21:34  And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. 

Gen 22:1  And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 
Gen 22:2  And he said, 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. 
Gen 22:3  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 
Gen 22:4  Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 
Gen 22:5  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 
Gen 22:6  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 
Gen 22:7  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 
Gen 22:8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 
Gen 22:9  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 
Gen 22:10  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 
Gen 22:11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 
Gen 22:12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 
Gen 22:13  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 
Gen 22:14  And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 
Gen 22:15  And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 
Gen 22:16  And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 
Gen 22:17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 
Gen 22:18  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 

Excerpt continued- 'Hence we know that our Lord is summoning us to overcome the natural, even to denying man’s legal right . . . for the sake of God. God wants us to love Him more than our Isaac.'

Abraham longed for God to fulfil His promise to him and give him an heir.  He wanted this promise to be fulfilled so much that he and his wife tried to work it out by using his wife's handmaid. The handmaid did NOT fulfil the promise that God made though. Abraham continued to grow older and older and both he and Sarah were passed the time of being able to bear children.

Heb 11:11  Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 
Heb 11:12  Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 

Sarah was past the age and Abraham as good as dead- yet God performed the miracle He'd promised and brought to life the dead womb and seed- allowing it to bring new life- Isaac- the promised son.

We can imagine just how attached Abraham was to Isaac can't we?  None of us have ever been promised children. Those who are barren and desiring children aren't promised them. The barren go to great lengths today to conceive children and they are overwhelmed with joy when they finally have the longed for child. Abraham and Sarah both went PAST the age of being able to conceive and father children and we have to realize by that point both of them were convinced that it was never going to happen- or if not convinced at least super hesitant to believe.  By faith it did happen so there was some belief, but even so the length of time involved that Abraham and Sarah were desiring a child was extremely long. Their attachment to Isaac once he was born had to be beyond normal. The miracle of Isaac was something they probably never forgot for a moment. They had to cherish his existence. The promise was that this son would go on and be used of God to father an uncountable number of offspring throughout time- generation after generation so many would spring from Abraham's seed- furthered by Isaac, then by Jacob and on down the long, long line. The hope for this to occur was heartfelt and assured as Isaac grew older and older. Then, out of nowhere, God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac simply because it was something God desired.

IMAGINE the thoughts that had to go on in Abraham's mind.

So connected to God was Abraham that he didn't hesitate to obey, but we KNOW it couldn't have been easy at all.

To read this excerpt-- 'Hence we know that our Lord is summoning us to overcome the natural, even to denying man’s legal right . . . for the sake of God. God wants us to love Him more than our Isaac.'

-- is to realize that we are ALL called to this experience in our own individual ways.

God wants us to love Him more than our Isaac, our legitimate love towards fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and so on.  Why does God want this?  Because truly if we are loving others MORE than God, we are NOT loving with God's love, and God's love is the only true love that exists. We tend to forget that so easily. We marvel at our own idea of love and we say things like- love doesn't make you choose, love doesn't condemn, love doesn't hate anything.  We've conceptualized our own brand of love and hold fast to it so that when we are confronted with true love we deny it is really love.  I have often heard it said that if God really existed He would never allow suffering in any form, that suffering alone proves God doesn't exist. Or if He does exist and allows suffering than He is cruel and unloving and not someone to follow.  These people can say and believe those things because they've formed their own brand of love and anything outside of that idea of love they have is not love at all in their minds. God's love goes beyond our full comprehension.  We often limit our life to here and now, God has NEVER limited out lives to here and now but has weighed all of them in the light of eternity! God has taken eternity into consideration - not the very, very, incredibly short amount of time we live here on earth right now, or sleep in the grave until the last trump sounds. God's love is so overwhelming in its scope we can only catch glimpses of it through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Still, people will insist upon focusing their belief on love in the here and now. They are right that God would be a very cruel, unloving God if this life was all there was to take into consideration.

The love of God is all love, it is pure and undefiled by any sort of selfishness. The love of God looks beyond now, way beyond the here and now, far into eternity where it will live in a sinless existence.  The love of God could sacrifice the sinless, sacrifice the innocent, sacrifice a God that existed from everlasting to everlasting, putting Him into a death of non-existence, and BROUGHT back that God from death!  We were given an example of pure love in that unfathomable act. God will bring all who choose to have faith in Him and His love back from a sure, inescapable death except for HIM and HIS intervention.

Rom_8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all…

The love we believe we have towards our parents, our children, our husbands and wives, our friends and relatives, a love we staunchly defend as being all important- without God- is worthless.

A love the serves ourselves and our own interests, not God's-  is worthless.

We may believe our love is everything and more, but it's not. 

If we love with God's LOVE towards our parents, our children, our husbands, wives, friends and relatives we are loving them with a love that is PRICELESS.  If that love of God's calls us to a FIGURATIVE Isaac experience, calling on us to give up that parent, child, husband, wife, friend, or relative then whatever reason God has for us to endure the pain and heartache it may cause us, is justified.  We, by HIS grace, need to have FAITH, we need to BELIEVE all is in His hands and it will all work out.

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

And we cry out with the loudest voice we can, shedding many tears along with the father who was desperate for his son to be healed-

Mar_9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF! 

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