Gen. 15:4-5 “But then the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir, but he who will come out from your own body shall be your heir. And He brought him outside and said, Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be.”
In Genesis 12 we see that God came to Abraham and called him out to go to a land which He would give him and to his seed. Later, God appeared to Abraham, again and again, promising him a seed, and in Gen. 15:4-5 we see that,
The word of Jehovah came to him, saying,…[He] who will come out from your own body shall be your heir. And He brought him outside and said, Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be.
How does the promised seed come into being? How is this seed – in whom all the nations will be blessed and who will inherit the good land – produced? Abraham and Sarah didn’t have any children, yet God promised him a seed.
Abraham suggested that Eliezer – the slave he found in Damascus and brought into his house, who was faithful to him in everything – would be the promised seed. But God told him, No, Someone who will come out from your own body will be the seed.
As time went by, since Abraham and Sarah were both getting old, Abraham thought he could “help God” with the seed by having a son with Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. Thus Ishmael came forth “out of his own body” but not from God, and God didn’t appear to Abraham for a long time. Ishmael was not received by God since he was not the seed.
When Abraham was very old and almost dead, 99 years old, God appeared to him again and promised that next year he and Sarah will have a son. When everything naturally seems to be close to dying, then God can come in to produce the seed. Nothing of our natural man can be used by God to produce the seed.
Only the Christ who is wrought into us and comes out of us can be the seed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. When we come to our end in our natural life, when we are simply open to the Lord for Him to work Himself into us, we can have something that comes out of our own body to be the seed pleasing to God for His purpose.
The Seed Needed for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose Cannot Be Anything We Possess or Can Produce out of Ourselves
For the fulfillment of His purpose, God needs a seed; this seed cannot be anything that we already possess or can produce out of ourselves. Abraham suggested that Eliezer – his servant, his possession – would be the seed (Gen. 15:2), and later he even tried to produce something out of himself – Ishmael (Gen. 16:15) – but both were rejected by God.
It is the same with David the king: he wanted to build God a house, but God told him that only after he will fall asleep with his fathers, his seed after him will build God a house (2 Sam. 7).
Anything that we possess naturally, our education, our status, our wealth, our position, etc can be considered as our “Eliezer”; they are useful to us in our day-to-day living, but they are not “the seed” for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Our business skills, our management abilities, etc cannot be useful to God in a natural way in the church life to bring forth Christ.
Even more: anything that naturally comes from us and which God has put in us by birth, things such as our natural smartness, our cleverness, our schemes, our good ideas, our intelligence, our love, etc – all these are “our Ishmael”, and they are rejected by God.
God wants to have Christ lived out in us and expressed through us, but He doesn’t need our natural capacity, ability, smartness, or possessions for this. Something of God has to be first wrought into us so that God Himself would be the source of the seed; it is not of us in a natural way.
Only what God Works of Himself into us Can Bring Forth Christ, the Seed
Only what God works into us through His grace can bring forth Christ as the seed to fulfill God’s purpose. Witness Lee
How much of God do you have in your being? How much could Christ be wrought into you? We may be zealous for God, having certain abilities, spiritual knowledge, and skills; but how much of this is God working Himself into us? Before the seed, Christ, can be lived out and expressed through us, we need that God would work Himself into us first.
Many Christians because of their completeness and wholesomeness, because they are so capable and strong, when they serve the Lord – in a sense – they don’t even need the Lord; they can do things without prayer, without the Lord, and without seeking God’s will.
We need to see that if God is not working something of Himself into us, there’s nothing that comes out of us that can be considered worthy to be the seed for God’s purpose! In Abraham’s case God waited until he was 99 years old, until he was “as good as dead”, hopeless, and then He could come in to bring forth the seed.
Footnote 1 in the Recovery Version on Gen. 15:4 helps us understand this,
The seed needed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose could not be anything Abraham already possessed (Eliezer—Gen. 15:2) or could produce out of himself (Ishmael—16:15). Only that which God worked into Abraham could bring forth from Abraham the required seed. Likewise, only what God works into us through His grace can bring forth Christ as the seed to fulfill God’s purpose. (Gen. 15:4, footnote 1)
The bringing forth of Isaac is the coming of God (God promised that He would return this time next year, and when He comes Isaac will come). It was the same with David: he was zealous to build a house for God, but God told him that it is his seed that will build God a house.
Only what God works into us through His grace (typified by Sarah, our mother) can bring forth Christ as the seed to fulfill God’s purpose.
In the New Testament, we see Paul who, before his conversion, was very zealous for God and for the law. He was full of zeal, ability, learning, tradition, and background; but then one day God met him, knocked him down, and spoke to him.
Later in his epistles we see that Paul realized that he is no longer serving God in an outward way but it pleased God to reveal His Son in him (Gal. 1:16), he was crucified with Christ and now lived by faith in Him (Gal. 2:20), Christ was making His home in his heart (Eph. 3:17), Christ was being formed in him (Gal. 4:19), and for him to live was Christ (Phil. 2:13).
The way God brings forth Christ as the seed is organic: He is first revealed in us, He regenerates us, He transforms us, He is formed in us, He lives in us, He is our life and life-supply, and He then is lived out in us.
In this intrinsic process of allowing God to work Himself into us, we forsake all the “Eliezers” – we count all things as dung on behalf of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, seeking to be found in Him, having His righteousness.
And this is all of grace and through grace; it is not of law or through works, but it is through the enjoyment of the Triune God as grace. Sarah signifies grace and Hagar signifies the law. We need to enjoy grace and receive God’s grace abundantly so that we Christ may be wrought into us as the seed (John 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:10).
When we are brought to our end, realizing that nothing we have or can do is useful to God in bringing forth Christ, we will allow Christ to be wrought into us. We will daily pray Eph. 3:17, asking the Lord to make His home in our heart.
When we are brought to our end and allow Christ to be wrought into us, we will cooperate with the grace of God so that Christ may come forth and be expressed in us for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Lord, if You are not working Yourself into us there’s nothing that comes out of us that can be considered worthy to be the seed for God’s purpose! Lord Jesus, we open to You. We admit that nothing we have or can do is useful to You in bringing forth Christ. Lord, work Yourself into us. May we be open vessels, allowing You to be revealed in us, live in us, make Your home in us, be formed in us, and live in us. Keep us enjoying You as grace until everything we do is by the grace of God! Lord, gain many open vessels who allow You to work Yourself into them that Christ may be brought forth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 44), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 3 / msg 3, The Seed for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God’s intention is for Christ / To be wrought into His chosen people / That they may become the sons of God / For His corporate expression. / We need to be rescued / Out of the present evil age / By the revelation of God’s Son in us. (new song on, God’s intention)
# Make home in my heart, O Lord Jesus, / Make home in my heart, I pray; / That we may be filled with Your fullness, / Make home in my heart today. / To Him who is able to do it / Above all we think or say, / We open our hearts wide and welcome / Him into our heart today. (Hymns #1134)
# It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be wrought in me; / Nothing outwardly performing, / But His Christ my all to be. (Hymns #538 by Witness Lee)
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