Principle V: Abraham’s Promise
“He knows our danger, and that Satan hath desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat. While the Saviour thus regards us with compassion and with sympathy, He has no lower standards for us, no lower aim, than He had for Himself. We are to be in the world as He was, to overcome as He overcame, and to end even where the Lord is; it is Christ’s will, that where He is, we who believe in Him should be likewise. As He was in heaven, even while He lived on earth, so He desires that, even while in the wilderness, we should have our citizenship in heaven.”
- Adolph Saphir, Epistle to the Hebrews
introduction
Following after the previous principle where the scheme of the devil is made clear for us, we find ourselves in a condemned state. We are determined guilty by Adam, and are lovers of evil because none understand God. And the fruit of our labor in our separation from God is only and always death because eternal life is purposed in God alone through Christ. As the Apostle said:
“There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.”
- Romans 3:11
faith is a verb
This is the present setting in the world after the fall, and this is our danger. The remaining effort of mankind in their separation from God is only and always a vain effort, but God does not relent. He knows our danger, and He would make a way to redeem the work. God’s way to salvation would be through righteousness attained by faith.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast”
- Ephesians 2:8,9
Here we are introduced to faith as the only means to salvation. The first appearance of the word “faith” in the history is in Deuteronomy where the Lord, God says:
“I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faith.”
The word for faith used here is 'ēmûn, meaning “faithfulness,” and “trusting”. Isaiah might help clarify the meaning as he declared that on the day of salvation, it will be said:
“Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which keeps 'ēmûn may enter in.You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.Trust in the LORD forever,
For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength”
- Isaiah 26:2-4
Here we are given reason to faith. It is the children of faith God does not hide from, and it is these that enter in on the day of salvation.
Furthermore, the root of the word “faith” is 'āman and it first appears in the account of Abraham, saying”
“And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
- Genesis 15:6
The root word of faith is a verb meaning to “trust in,” and “believe in”. That belief is of and to a person, not a thing. Paul clarifies Abraham’s trust saying:
“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’”
- Romans 4:20-22
Faith believes that God is able to perform that which He has promised. Faith admits that there is no work or deed that can be done that is able to justify, lest anyone should boast. Faith admits that there is a problem only God can absolve.
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 9:23
And,
“But ‘he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”’
- II Corinthians 10:17
the better wage
The Scriptures are clear throughout saying that God cannot be pleased without faith, and that He rewards those that seek Him. Faith realigns us with God’s intent. God gives to those that look in earnest expectation for that which He has promised from the beginning.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
– Hebrews 11:6
It is here that we are presented with the idea of a reward from God. The concept of a reward by faith should peak our interest if we understand it as a hope in our helpless state. The word “rewarder” used here is “misthapodotēs” which means, “one who pays wages”. The same language is used when it was said to Abraham:
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
– Genesis 15:1
The language used is telling of one who comes to a man to hire him for a wage, for compensation, or a reward. The word “śāḵār” said to him is a “payment of contract,” or “price for which anything is hired.” Here is the prospect of the Lord in an age where humanity was only due death. God comes to Abraham with a wage of His own, and a proper reward by way of faith. Christ said:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.”
– Matthew 20:1
Here the history takes a turn from our fall by inherited sin, into the presented reward by the promise of God to Abraham. Where death was the only wage by the fall, another wage of God is given to Abraham saying, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” We see that God essentially hired Abraham by a better wage because of his faith.
the better country
The premise of this principle is in understanding what God means to say by naming Himself as this shield and reward as a solution to the position humanity had inherited in sin. He came to Abraham to offer Himself as a reward by faith. Abraham believed and obeyed God when He came to him in his own country.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going.”
– Hebrews 11:8
And though the text states that Abraham did not know where he was going, we cannot think that faith in God leaves His people aimless, or without a heading. The text means to highlight Abraham first as a pilgrim called out of his country by the new heading. In every way, Abraham had more sight in God than any man did in his day by this promise. The text means to say that Abraham was called out of his own country and into a better one. The critical point is that God called him out of a place, and into an unseen, and unfamiliar region that was to be his everlasting inheritance. It was there that the Scriptures say he waited for the city “whose builder and maker is God”.
This is the Christian effort to this day. It is built on this same promise and spirit of faith that calls us out of the wasteland. The Christian effort accepts the calling up and out of our country for an eternal wage. This principle seeks to establish a calling and claim to a fruitful inheritance in a far better country; a place He has gone to prepare. The Christian effort is choosing between the lot you have made for yourself by your own wealth, power, and wisdom here in your country, that is the world, or the lot He has built for those who believe in His name.
The promise given said:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
- Genesis 12:1-3
And upon arriving in the land of Canaan, it states:
“Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.”
- Genesis 12:7
Here is a man who did seek God’s way where sin led the world each to their own way. Against the devils attempt to disqualify the work from salvation by that condemnation in sin, we see by Abraham’s promise that there remains a hope in God. We see here a given shield and reward. It is the masterful guard against the devil’s attempt by the previous principle where the devil lifted himself up over humanity as their chief adversary. As there in the wasteland that was the world in sin, Abraham beheld the beauty of the Most High God by the hope declared saying, “'All the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise is a striking contrast against the inherited condemnation by the fall that says to humanity, “In Adam all die.” It becomes clear that there are two wages presented. There is the wage of sin by our faithlessness, and the wage of God by faith.
“If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.”- II Timothy 2:13
In summary, God separates for Himself a house of pilgrims from the earth by the promise given to Abraham and his descendants. It is an exodus from the bondage of that high principality in Egypt, so to speak. We are promised a better wage and shield in God, as we are plucked from the power that oppresses and led into an eternal promised land. God calls them to a better land as an everlasting inheritance. Abraham believed God and was called righteous. Abraham believed and went.
“But my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- Hebrews 10:38
the power of signs
There is no persuasion left to tickle the doubting heart. The Lord means to extinguish the power of hell. It makes no difference whether He gives the skeptic hearts convincing signs and wonders, or whether He stands before our eyes Himself. Faith in the Scriptures tells us that if we do not believe by hearing, these same ones will not believe it if one would rise from the dead before their eyes. As Christ said:
“If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”
- Luke 16:31
We understand then that faith is not the fruit of a marvelous display of convincing signs and wonders. God is not interested in persuasion by magic tricks. The apostle makes the explicit point saying faith comes only by hearing.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
- Romans 10:17-18
Some would argue that signs are needed for assurance. However, there is no shortage of signs that will satisfy us. There is no persuasion left should we shrink back from His voice. The signs given by the history of God are laid out before their eyes. God left His people without excuse when He led them Himself in the most marvelous way. The results by countless signs are written saying:
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will these people reject Me, and how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs I have performed among them?’”
- Numbers 14:11
And,
“Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”
- Numbers 14:22,23
Even Christ declared:
“‘A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.’ And He left them and departed.”
- Matthew 16:4
And much can be seen in Jonah. He is the prophet that saw the acceptance of a foreign nation that did hear and believe. The word was heeded. There is no exclusion then because Christ is greater than Jonah, and if those who are near shrink back, then those far off, like Nineveh was to Israel, who do turn from their sin and believe in Him will be accepted first. This is the only sign Christ will give the faithless. It is another one bearing the fruit of the promise. Israel did not obey even with signs, and they were prohibited from entering the promise. The sign of Jonah itself is a kind of irony as a response given to faithless hearts.
However, the faithful, like Abraham, would get up at His voice and turn their way to that new heading by the promise spoken. Only the word was given to Abraham and he went. Much in the same way, our true habitation and inheritance is not of this world, but we are called to a better one. Of these found righteous in history who desired as the Lord did, and in faith acted accordingly, it says:
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
– Hebrews 11:13
It is clear that we are pilgrims on the earth by that spirit of faith. We can also be sure that faith is the conviction of the truth according to the promise of God. The object of our faith is God’s will accomplished from the beginning that He would establish the work Himself and at the last hour He would say.
“Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.”
– Matthew 20:8
The intent by the wage and reward of God is to highlight the eternal prospect there in it for humanity. Where sin by the first man had separated us from that heavenly glory prepared, there remains in Him alone a righteous path. There is a reward to those that seek Him. The explicit point here is that in the desert of our inherited sin, where each end in us, even by our best effort, was only death, God makes a way to life. He gives Himself to humanity even by the tabernacle in the desert as a sign. He sees the effect of the one who deceives and oppresses and God does not relent in the work He determined from before the beginning. Where there seemed to be no other way by the Fall, He would make it so in the promise of Abraham. The wage of God would swallow the wage of sin. Only believe as Caleb and Joshua pleaded with Israel at the border to that promised land saying:
“If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
- Numbers 14:8,9
If you deny the depravity in us by the Fall; if you cannot see for yourself that here in the world there is nothing good as a collective reward and inheritance for all the families of the world; If the unquenchable thirst for what is righteous and good passes you by, and the hopelessness of that sinful condition here in the world does not weigh on your shoulders, then it would be difficult to understand the necessity of the promise God gives. It would be difficult to imagine a far better habitation when we feel we have every need met here in the world.
However, many imagine themselves in their comfort to be decent people and are content to accept their lot in life as good enough to satisfy that “eternity” God has set in our hearts. But our citizenship is elsewhere as Paul says:
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
- Philippians 3:20
But those that prefer their own country are like the rich man who came to Christ having lived a good life. He had enough wealth, a good name, and saw no fault in himself because he kept all the commandments. The man asked Christ:
“Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
- Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
- Mark 10:17 & 21
This is a notable story. Here we begin to uncover the nature of the reward God would give us. It is in contrast to the possessions given to us here in the world. The rich man wanted an eternal reward, but could not surrender his possessions. What eternal value does wealth have against the power of sin and death? The world, in all its “goodness”, is like one condemned, and no power on earth could help it. The rich man was able to satisfy himself enough to fool his own heart with his possessions. But the Scriptures tell us that those that hunger and thirst for righteousness in the parched land are heard, and they will be filled to true satisfaction.
“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.”
- Isaiah 41:17,18
We see that God would satisfy all that hunger and thirst in the wilderness. Those that cannot find any satisfaction for their souls in the world are heard. He hears and understands that longing that the people have when they cry out for hope where they feel only oppression. God would desire to make all that hunger and thirst rich in Him, whereas the world would leave many in longing. Therefore, God sets out to make a spring in the wilderness saying:
“That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
- Isaiah 41:20
Hope for all the world is secured by the appearance of the promises in Abraham. We were not called to work tirelessly so that our wages would die with us. For the man was placed in the garden to “tend and keep it,” and to “be fruitful.” We were not placed in the wilderness of the fruitless vine. The wage of sin weighed heavy on the world, but the promise given is like a river appearing in desolate heights. As even in the wilderness and in the desert, God would not forsake them. God would lead them to the promised inheritance. Though Eden was behind them, God would work to restore them Himself into a far better country. He would hear them cry out in thirst as even in the valley of death’s shadow He would give Himself as our shield, and true pasture. As David said:
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
- Psalm 23:2-4
They would see in the parched land that God has done it; that in our depraved state He would make a way to righteousness and restore us to His end. For those that did seek God with open eyes and open ears desired a far better country, flowing with milk and honey, as Abraham was promised this very thing. As was said:
“But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
– Hebrews 11:16
The picture of Abraham’s going is prophetic. Faith like Abraham longs for God’s city built on His foundation. Faith like Abraham goes out in hope and sees in God a glimpse of His country and His divine will accomplished. Abraham sees in God an exodus. He remained a pilgrim on the earth looking for a better country by faith. Even the night sky testified as Abraham was led to look up and see that the children of God would be like the stars laid out before him and also like every grain of sand in the desert. Even the night sky and the barren desert testified that these are the children given. They were a shadow of substance for his hope, and a type of evidence of the unseen. As was said:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
– Hebrews 11:1
In Abraham, the wage of God is given for those who believe that God’s purpose is true. The eternal wage is set against the wage of death. Without the promise, where else can we find hope? We can make it clear by saying that this reward of God, this eternal treasure, and the compensation promised to Abraham is by nature a heavenly treasure. We can bring to mind the rich man who preferred his own treasures, but he did not have faith to see Christ offering a better treasure. The rich man, when offered to trade one treasure for the better one, made his choice and left in sorrow. The rich man’s wealth was established here, and he saw no need for a heavenly treasure. He would rather have his own goodness acknowledged. After this Christ turned to His disciples:
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
- Matthew 19:23-26
between two kings
Even Abraham was sure to receive the reward promised as from the Lord alone. The exceedingly great reward is of God and is God. There is no other name, and there is no other way to it. Even when the king of Sodom offered to Abraham all the spoils of Sodom and Gomorrah as a fine reward after the slaughter of the kings, Abraham refused.
“But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’.”
– Genesis 14:23
His contract was with God, and God alone would make him great. Because his heart was with God, so was his treasure. What could this king of Sodom give him? The promise comes to the credit of no other power or name. Not even by a thread of another power. Abraham was patient in faith and waited on the Lord, and was content to live his life in the land of promise by way of pitched tents. He was content to live humbly as a pilgrim whose pride was in the Most High God.
“By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he [Abraham] waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
– Hebrews 11:10
If God had told him to build a house, and establish a city, he would have done so, but he went in obedience and remained a pilgrim. His hand was pledged to the Lord, the Possessor of heaven and earth. The framework of God in the foundation He prepared in heaven is our habitation from the beginning. Even Abraham looked toward that heavenly country and city in faith by way of the land of Canaan which stood for him as a kind of picture of God’s true habitation for us. The patriarchs, by example, chose the way of the pilgrim and looked toward a heavenly treasure and foundation, “whose builder and maker is God.” The apostle Paul says:
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.”
– II Corinthians 5:1,2
Abraham did not desire the corruptible, but he was mindful of the incorruptible. He could not be persuaded to take any other perishable gift as a reward because God Himself would provide the gift to the credit of His name alone. Abraham accepted the promise of God by faith. He took nothing from men, that it would be evident that God has done it; that God has provided.
Then we see another king, Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, come to him, and Abraham approached him in service. Being blessed by this priesthood, he gave Melchizedek a tithe of his own portion. The question stands: What separated this mysterious king of peace, from the king of Sodom? Where one kings gift was refused for what was perishable, the other king was honored for what was imperishable. In Melchizedek we come see that a mysterious priesthood is honored by Abraham.
But David prophesied of the Messiah saying:
“The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’.”
– Psalm 110:4
This is what the Lord said to the Lord at His right hand in the Psalm of David. The Lord at the right hand of our God would be a Priest in the order of the king of Salem. He has sworn it, and He does not relent. The Scriptures clarify:
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated ‘king of righteousness,’ and then also king of Salem, meaning ‘king of peace,’ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”
– Hebrews 7:1-3
It is said that Melchizedek serves as a kind of Christophany, or manifestation of the Christ for us. We see that this priest and king is of the eternal priesthood of the Messiah according to David. His name is “king of righteousness,” “king of peace,” and priest of the Most High God.
This word used for peace is “eirēnē” which means to say tranquility between nations and/or individuals, and peace as the way that leads to salvation, and also peace as the tranquil assurance of salvation regardless of the given earthly lot; He is “Shiloh”. He is peace for us because He is also priest in that there is one who stands as our intercessor. The appearance of this priest of the Most High is telling that there is one who intercedes on our behalf, and he is even before Abraham. We know that there is one who condemns, and here we see that there is also one who intercedes. It is the appearance of a curious Priesthood, “made like the Son of God”, without beginning or end. As even Christ said to Israel:
“Truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am.”
– John 8:58
And, as it was seen by David in the Psalm, and again in Hebrews saying:
“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.”
– Hebrews 8:1,2
Here again is the heavenly picture as the “true tabernacle”. The One at the right hand of God is of an eternal priesthood in the tabernacle the Lord has established in heaven. This is the vision David declared of the Lord’s Anointed. This is the hope of Abraham honored in the priesthood of Melchizedek. David declared that they are of the same Priesthood, and there is only one eternal Priest. The Minister of the tabernacle of heaven appeared and intercedes. Despite the despondent state in the affliction of humanity as sinful and condemned, we see by a priest who appeared to him that we would know that the tabernacle of God remains with men, and He has established it.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God will be with them and be their God.”
– Revelation 21:3
Such a tabernacle demands a High Priest and we see the way of peace made in the order of Melchizedek, the priesthood of the heavenly tabernacle. He is the appearance of the appointed and eternal priesthood in the Messiah from the beginning as the Lord said to Him at His right hand. The author of Hebrews makes the point clear saying that even the constructed tabernacle in the law by Levi and the appointed priesthood in Israel served as a shadow and copy of the vision given on the mountain of God. They are mere copies of the heavenly Priest and tabernacle. It says:
“ – Since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed as he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”
– Hebrews 8:3-5
It is this eternal priesthood by that heavenly habitation that appeared to Abraham. The imperishable priesthood came first and is seen in Melchizedek and is also declared by David. This heavenly priesthood was seen and honored by Abraham, and it was also this priesthood that blessed Abraham.
“Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.”
– Hebrews 7:7
And,
“Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.”
– Hebrews 7:9,10
Abraham was not blind, but he saw from afar the things to come. The wages of faith, and the heavenly reward, are then made explicit by the history noted in Abraham whose hope was in an everlasting promise, where death is, in contrast, the only reward for those who do not seek Him. For the reward of God for those who diligently seek Him by faith, is Himself that we would live forever by the gift of our High Priest who intercedes.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Romans 6:23
But we must choose between the two treasures. Between the wealth of the rich man, and the wealth of God as the exceedingly great reward. We must choose between the wealth of Sodom, and the blessing of Melchizedek. Abraham did not establish himself by the wealth of a natural kingdom, but he invested, by the tithe given to Melchizedek, into the eternal priesthood and kingdom. His heart was in heaven, and his treasure by his investment into the priesthood, was also heavenly.
We are told of another rich man who lived his life garbed in the finest clothes, whom also had a gate where a beggar named Lazarus lived. Christ tells us that there at the rich man’s gate, the beggar was content with the mere desire for crumbs from the table of the rich man. When the two men died, the rich man was tormented and there in the afterlife he looked to Abraham and begged for mercy. But the parable Christ states says:
“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.’”
- Luke 16:25
But if the rich man had been prudent in wealth, he would have loved the beggar at his gate. He would have satisfied the beggar’s desire for crumbs with a loaf and some wine from his own table. James says:
“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?”
- James 2:15
And John says:
“But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
- I John 3:17
And even Solomon tells us,
“He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,
And He will pay back what he has given.”- Proverbs 19:17
We see by the story of this rich man that the wealth of the world will come to nothing, and the desires laid in the hearts of all who have turned away from God are deceiving in that they yield no eternal return. But let Abraham teach us the way of faith. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Christ said:
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
- Matthew 6:20,21
And,
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
- Matthew 6:24
The word “mommon” is mamōnas which means “treasure”, and “riches” as the object of our trust. It is opposed to God when it is loved, and worshiped as a false security. We must make a choice between the two. We must choose to live in the security of this world by trusting the possessions we have stored up for ourselves here, or else be ready to leave it all behind in a moment that we would gain eternal life when Christ calls us to the promised inheritance. It is fair to wonder what benefit there is when we choose to count it all as loss. Even Peter was bold enough to ask Christ of that benefit after Christ spoke about the rich man.
“Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’
So Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
- Matthew 19:27-30
Christ does not shy away from the question from those that follow Him. The exchange cannot be more explicit. Those who have left much will receive eternal life and a hundred-fold more.
Now it must be stated to the one who would look to be a poor manager of wealth and think that God would be pleased. God is not so foolish. We cannot be so careless and think we are so clever to believe that a poor manager would be justified. We cannot think that a lazy steward has any advantage. Christ commands us to be just and faithful even with “unrighteous mammon”.
“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?”
- Luke 16:10-12
We are urged to be faithful stewards, that He would commit to us by our faithfulness “true riches” whether we are rich or poor. The word used for “true riches” is alēthinos meaning “that which has not only the name and semblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name,” and also that which is “opposed to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated, pretended.” He would give to the faithful “riches” as He meant them to be.
Even Abraham had wealth and lived as a pilgrim. Having wealth, he invested his portion by faith into what was eternal as a good steward. He was generous with what he was given. Being faithful and also wise, he multiplied what he was given, and did not bury it in the ground. Christ makes it known that we will give an account for our stewardship, or lack thereof. However, we are warned to not be lovers of money.
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
- I Timothy 6:6-10
But Christ tells us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. This is true for us, whether we are rich or poor. Even Abraham understood that what he had was not his own, but his hand was raised to God, the Possessor of heaven and earth.
We can come to understand that it is the poor in spirit, and those who thirst for what is good and righteous that are blessed. The poor in spirit are accepted. Though they may be rich or poor by the world, they see the world as a vain reward, and they believe in God salvation from evil.
“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
- James 2:5
It is those who admit the trouble of their fruitless position, and approach Him in contrition. It is to those who see in God the only way to something eternal. It is those who are not comforted by the wisdom of this world apart from the knowledge of God. It is those who cannot find anything good in the world. Even Solomon took it upon himself to search all the wisdom of the world, and this wisdom was given to him. Yet, the sole conclusion of all that he observed was, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” saying:
“For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”
- Ecclessiastes 2:22
And,
“There is one alone, without companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
’For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?’
This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.”- Ecclesiastes 4:8
And,
“And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter.”- Ecclesiastes 4:1
The condition observed in the effort of humanity by the wisdom of Solomon is evident. The heritage we work for in the world does not follow us to our grave. Another one comes and makes my lot his own. Solomon calls this “a great evil”. The reward for a life of burdensome work has no lasting name. “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?” We also see there is oppression on one side and power is kept from the oppressed. But God is not like the oppressor, but His effort rescues the oppressed. God seeks to lift up the lowly, and humble the proud. Equity and equal wage is His promise.
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.”
- Deuteronomy 10:17,18
What we see is that the effort in our striving in the world is the same now and God is not blind to the evil of a nameless reward. He has seen all the vanities we are subjected to in the world. He knows the frustration of the restless worker who sees no lasting wage for his daily strife. He also sees the tears of those oppressed by unfair advantage. Even Solomon concluded that there is nothing better for the worker but to rejoice in the fruit of his entire effort saying:
“I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.”
- Ecclesiastes 3:12
But when heaven and earth vanish and are made new in Him, and the descendant that are blessed by the promise inhabit the better country, we see the joy of His people restored when He says by Isaiah:
“They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and another eat;
For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,
And their offspring with them.”- Isaiah 65:21-23
This promise made is like a table set before us in the presence of our adversary. “It is the gift of God.” It is a banquet for those who hunger and thirst for what is good that He sets up for us in heaven. We see that God would not forsake all the families of the earth to the way of evil in the valley of death. The psalmist, David, understands the higher habitation by the promise saying:
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.”- Psalm 23:5,6
This desolation is what God has called his people out of, by Jesus Christ, that they would long for a better and heavenly reward. Our dwelling place is in the house of God forever. Our habitation is with Him, out of sight, but ours by faith in Christ, the Priest who intercedes. God has made a way out of the desolate place by the promise. The righteous path is provided to those that believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him. It is those who admit to having nothing good in the world that He lifts up to true riches when they look to Him and do not shrink back. As there on the mountain Christ said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.”- Matthew 5:3-7
There is One in the tabernacle of heaven who has been appointed as High Priest for us that intercedes. This Priest, the Christ, is the one who stands as the gate for us to enter into this promise by. He has blessed Abraham’s going. Where all the world could offer is vanity in every age the same, and oppression by the proud that lord their authority over the weak, God would offer a more precious, eternal gift by the One who intercedes in heaven. It is given to all the families of the earth in Jesus Christ by Abraham’s promise. We must understand that these riches of heaven are not given without our sins first being washed away. This is the necessity of that heavenly Priesthood that appeared to Abraham and His offering.
But what was the gift and the sacrifice fitting for such a High Priest in heaven that would give us a reasonable hope to stand on? We know that Christ intercedes, but what is the offering He is appointed to give that would cleans the descendants of faith from all unrighteousness?
“For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.”
– Hebrews 8:3
A high priest is appointed an offering. What is Christ’s appointed ministry as the High Priest and intercessor of those who would inherit the gift of God? We know and are well aware that God would provide the way to the credit of His name, “That they may see and know that the hand of the Lord has done this.” The Scriptures say:
“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once and for all when He offered Himself.”
– Hebrews 7:26,27
As the appointed One, the heavenly priesthood’s offering for us was Himself as Immanuel, the Son of God. We see that The Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, is the offering.
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
– Hebrews 2:14
As John the Baptist declared when Christ approached him:
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
– John 1:29
Here is the appearance of the shield of God, as God Himself. He is the gate for us. It was fitting that the Lord of the tabernacle, by the promise, be manifest in flesh and be given to death that He would bring to an end the power of death by the devil who deceives the world. Christ did so to become to all a merciful and faithful High Priest.
“Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
– Hebrews 2:17
This is why faith in the Scriptures is called a shield. It is the guard against the violence of the evil one, saying:
"Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."
- Ephesians 6:16
The “wicked one” is the devil. It is not merely poetic language, but it is consistent in the language God used when He said to him, "I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." He knows our danger, and gives to us a shield of faith. Faith in Him is the necessary shield by which we guard ourselves from the devil, because he is a liar, and wages war against those who hold the testimony of Christ, the Priest who intercedes. It was the devil that deceived the world that they would be separated from the glory God determined for us from before the beginning. The devil is the one who had lifted himself up as our oppressor that divides us and binds us in the chains of his accusations by our sin. But faith in Christ, and in the offering given, is our righteousness and our shield just the same as it was to Abraham who believed without seeing it. We are now guarded under the offering of Christ as our shield against the efforts of the devil, and against the arrows shot from far away. Satan would have us dead and disqualified by any means, but Christ means to liberate humanity from the breaking of those chains of deceit. The devil’s attempt was to bind them all to death. Even when David was delivered from the strength of the false king, Saul, he declared:
“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;”
- Psalm 18:2
David was surrounded by the armies of Saul, and death was there at his doorstep. Yet, God would not forsake the faithful confronted with death. He would rescue those condemned by the one who despised the Anointed One. Saul despised David’s anointing and wanted to end David’s life just as Satan sought to devour the Seed. But we are reminded of how Saul had fallen on his own sword, and we know that God was David’s shield even in the valley of death. We know that God led the anointed one along the righteous path in the valley of the shadow. David continued:
“The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry entered His ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.”
- I Samuel 22:6-8
Such is the vengeance of God. From the heavenly temple, God heard the cry of the anointed one confronted with death, and of the people surrounded. He gave them a shield against their adversary, and a heavenly reward to be rest assured of in their spiritual poverty by the word of promise. The power of that oppressor would be brought down by a weight of glory established in heaven. The point is clear by the appearance of Melchizedek. This is the priesthood that blessed Abraham. This is a far better wage set that would swallow up the wages of sin.
And even when the Lord promised Himself with all these things in mind to Abraham, and He blessed him by the everlasting priesthood, and by the offering of the High Priest at the right hand, there followed another sign of these things. God came to Abraham and also promised an heir to be born to him in Isaac, his son.
“Then God said, ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
– Genesis 17:19
In Isaac is the legacy of Abraham as the son of promise through whom God would establish his everlasting covenant. But when the son of promise was born, the Lord then called to Abraham.
“Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”
- Genesis 22:2
Isaac was his beloved son, and only heir given by God. Not only that, he was the son of promise by the spoken word, and the descendants by him were said to likewise share in the everlasting covenant. Would the heir to the everlasting promise be able to do this from the grave? But Abraham was obedient to surrender him to the fire before the Lord.
“So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’
And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’
Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’
And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together.”
– Genesis 22:6-8
He believed God would make a way, saying God would provide the offering. Nevertheless, Abraham was obedient to lay his own son down upon the altar on the mountain, even the son as the heir to his promised inheritance. And as he raised his hand to strike his son, the Lord intervened:
“But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’
And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide [YHWH Yireh]; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’”
– Genesis 22:13,14
Here now is the clearest picture of the son designated as the offering to God; as the High Priest offering Himself for us. The point is this: The Lord will provide, “as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’” And the Lamb of God provided is Christ, the Son of God, and Great High Priest, and the Inheritor of all God made. It is evident in the history by the priesthood of Melchizedek, that it is His ministry to offer Himself for us that all our sins would be taken away. The offering of Abraham was a test of faith and a sign of divine intent by that given promise.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
– Hebrews 11:17-19
Their Heir would be able to do this from the grave. The prophetic image is clear by the obedience and faith of Abraham. The Lord would do it, and the Lord did do it before their eyes in Christ.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
– John 3:16
The history of Abraham is telling. It serves as an allusion to the intent of God by His Son from the beginning, and to the suffering and death of the Anointed One, who is Christ, the Son of God. He means to destroy the power of death by the devil. He means to satisfy the judgement of death given to the man once and for all by the Lamb. Afterward, the Angel of the Lord declared to Abraham after the two returned from the mountain saying:
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
– Genesis 18:22
The Seed that would bless the nations is secured to him because of his faith. The apostles clarify that the Seed is Christ, saying:
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to your seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”
– Galatians 3:16
And,
“If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
- Galatians 3:29
Christ is all in all. Where Melchizedek came to be a sign of the eternal priesthood in Christ as the High Priest, Isaac serves as the sign of His suffering by the offering of God. He is our shield against the devil, and the exceedingly great reward in heaven. Where no other name or power would make a way, we see that on the mountain He did provide a way.
“‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.’
Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
- John 14:1-6
Christ is the way provided. He is the gate. We see that Christ was received by Abraham in faith. We know that Christ was there to bless Abraham and to be the blessing of Abraham for us. The begotten Son, and the Priest forever were present there as a testimony to Jesus Christ in the history of Abraham. And here is the manifest expression of the two:
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’
As He also says in another place:
‘You are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’;
Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek.’”
– Hebrews 5:5-10
He is Son and High Priest, and also Shield and Reward. In a manner of speaking, Abraham believed in Christ by the promise and that is why is says:
“And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
- Genesis 15:6
Here is the pillar to this principle: The righteous are justified by faith in Christ that we would be armed by the word of power in the same righteousness and faith by Abraham. We arm ourselves against the adversary that comes to oppress. We believe God has called us out of our country, so to speak, out of Egypt, and into a true, heavenly inheritance in the city God has prepared for us in heaven. It is God who has done it, and it is marvelous before their eyes,
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
- Romans 4:2
Let faith by the new heading given by God be our labor. Our pride is in the labor of God. and our reward is in heaven. Let the those that hunger and thirst be satisfied at His table. Let those that labor earn a far better wage in heaven. We are in the world but not of the world. The children of Abraham, the father of many nations, are those who have faith by the same spirit in the salvation God gives by the promise.
“Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”
- Romans 4:16-21
Now we know by this principle, that He came to him with hope when there was none. It says, “contrary to hope, in hope believed.” He came to sow Christ in Abraham and by faith, that the righteous who believed would be given the right to become children of God.
The Scriptures also say:
“But as many as received Him [Christ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
- John 1:12,13
And,
“Therefore, from one man [Abraham], and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”
– Hebrews 11:12
The High Priest, and the Son of God in Jesus Christ remain. God calls all people by the promise out of their country, that is the world, into a new eternal commonwealth in heaven. We are called to pull away from the conformity here in the world, that we would be changed. He calls the workers to His field for a far better wage, saying:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
- Matthew 11:30
His labor is not vanity. He does not lift Himself up to oppress. He is fair with His workers that they would be rewarded equally against the one who enslaves the worker to no true reward. He calls the poor in spirit, and those who are thirsty for what is good and righteous in God alone. He gives them a place at His table that we would rejoice in the work He has done. Though they cannot see it for themselves, by their faith in Christ, God is able to save them and deliver them into a heavenly country.
“But He [Christ], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
- Hebrews 7:24,23
The calling of Abraham still stands, so to speak. Get out of your country, and lay claim to that which God has prepared for us in heaven by His Son, Jesus Christ.
“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian
