God appeared to Abraham and called him out of his land and out of his house to a land that He would give to him and to his seed after him. If we read the record in the book of Genesis, we see that Abraham sojourned in the land of Canaan, having God’s appearing and fellowshipping with God.
When God would appear to Abraham, he would build an altar, signifying his consecration to God. Specifically, Abraham built three altars in three places – Shechem (Gen. 12:6-7), Bethel (Gen. 12:8), and Hebron (Gen. 13:18). These three places represent the good land which God promised to Abraham, and they are full of spiritual significance.
They typify the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit given as an inheritance for the enjoyment of the New Testament believers in Christ (see Col. 1:12; 2:6-7; Phil. 1:19). We need to see what is the spiritual significance of the three altars Abraham built and how they relate to us in our fellowship with God, our Christian life, and our church life.
Shechem – Receiving God as our Power and Knowing God
In Gen. 12:6-7 we see that Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, and there Jehovah appeared to him and promised him that to Abraham and to his seed God will give this land. There, Abraham built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.
Shechem means “shoulder”, signifying the place of strength (since the shoulder is one of the strongest parts of our body), and Moreh means “teacher” or “teaching”. According to God’s appearing to him and calling him out, Abraham followed God to journey to a land where he could receive God as his power (Shechem) and he could know God and be taught by Him (Moreh).
Today we need to receive God as our power and strength, and we need to know Him through the healthy teaching of God’s economy (Phil. 3:10; 1 Tim. 1:3-6; 6:3). The good land is “powerful” – the power of the good land is the power of life that satisfies man so that he may build God’s house for God’s dwelling on earth.
Today the power of the flowing Triune God satisfies us, causes us to know Christ inwardly, and flows into us, with us, and out of us into the New Jerusalem (see John 4:14; Psa. 84:3, 5-7, 11). As we drink of Christ as the Spirit, the rivers of water of life water us and become into us the fountain (God the Father) springing up in Christ the Son and flowing as the Spirit of life in us, with us, and out of us into the New Jerusalem, the eternal habitation of God and man!
Genuine spiritual knowledge comes from the power of Christ, and the satisfying power of the life of Christ causes us to know God, enjoy God, build and become the New Jerusalem!
Bethel – the House of God, Dealing with our Natural Life
After Shechem, Abraham proceeded to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to Jehovah and called upon the name of Jehovah (Gen. 12:8).
Bethel means “house of God”, and Ai means “a heap of ruins” (see the story in the book of Joshua). In the eyes of Abraham, the called on, only Bethel is worthwhile; everything else is a heap of ruins.
As we advance with the Lord by faith, we will consider the church life, the Body life as being the only thing worthwhile; everything else is dung, a heap of ruins (see Eph. 1:10). God doesn’t want us merely to be strengthened into our inner man (Shechem); He wants us to be built up into His house, His temple.
Christ desires to build up His Body, and the Body of Christ is not merely “a principle to live by”; the Body of Christ is a life. If we merely act according to “the principle of the Body” but we don’t see the life of the Body, we imitate in an outward way.
For us to know the life of the Body of Christ we need to “pitch our tent between Bethel and Ai”, that is, turn our back towards the natural man and the world, and fully choose the house of God. To find out what the house of God is, we need to deal with the life of the flesh, reject our natural man, and be subdued in our natural life.
“Only after our natural life has been dealt with by God, and only after we have been subdued to realize that the natural life should be judged rather than praised, will we be joined spontaneously to the other brothers and sisters. Only then will we be able to live out the life of the Body of Christ.” (Watchman Nee)
Hebron – Fellowship with God and with Others
Abraham moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Jehovah (Gen. 13:18). Hebron means “fellowship”, “communion” or “friendship”, and Mamre means “strength” or “fatness”.
Even though Abraham had his failures by forsaking the altar and the tent, going to Egypt and then down south, there was a recovery with him – he returned to the altar and the tent with calling on the name of the Lord (Gen. 12:9-10; 13:3-4).
We may leave the life of the altar and the tent and backslide into the world and the enjoyment of things seen, but the Lord will recover us back to fellowship with Him through calling on His name (Rom. 10:12-13; 12:1-2). The sealing Spirit is constantly operating in us to infuse us, saturate us, and permeate us with God (Eph. 1:13-14) until we are mingled with God, His image is impressed into our being, and we belong to Him.
We need to advance in our walk by faith to arrive at Hebron, where we fellowship with God and God could fellowship with us, where God could open His heart to us and where He would cause us to intercede for others and for God’s purpose. This involves the dealing with our natural life so that we may have fellowship with God and with one another.
Our fellowship is not only with God but also with the Body. As we judge the natural life, reject our natural man, and deny our self, we will spontaneously be brought into the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
Here, what is impossible with individuals is possible with God in the Body of Christ, in fellowship. Here we have the “oaks of Mamre”, that is, we have the fatness, the riches, and the strength of the Triune God being imparted into us in the fellowship with the Lord and with the saints.
At Hebron we realize that even the seemingly weakest brother or sister can render us some spiritual help, because our natural life is dealt with and we can receive the help.
At Hebron, God is revealed as the God in His human friendship with Abraham so that He might gain an intercessor for Lot, for the bringing forth of Isaac, and for the destruction of Sodom.
When we live in the Body life, having our natural life dealt with and being under the divine sealing and infusion, God comes to us to gain us as intercessors for the backslidden believers, for the bringing forth of Christ, and for the destruction of the works of the devil in His chosen people (James 2:23; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; Gen. 18; 1 John 5:16a; Gal. 4:19; 1 John 3:8).
Lord, keep us going on with You in the steps of our father Abraham. May we cooperate with You to deal with our natural life that we may know the Body life and live in the fellowship of the Body. We treasure the church life, and we consider everything else as a heap of ruins. Lord, we want to live in fellowship with You and in fellowship with the Body in the church life. Recover us from any backsliding or degradation and bring us back to living the life of the altar and the tent with calling on Your name. Lord, we treasure having fellowship with You intimately, to know Your heart, pray for any backslidden brothers, minister Christ to others, and destroy the works of the evil one in the saints. May Shechem, Bethel, and Hebron be our experience today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee (vol. 35, ch. 3), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 2 / msg 2, Living by Faith—Being Today’s River Crossers to Live the Life of the Altar and the Tent.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. (Hymns #784 by Witness Lee)
# By the cross discern the spirit, / With the mind by light renewed, / All emotion consecrated, / And the will in love subdued. / By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. (Hymns #748)
# Intercede! Intercede! For Your people, meet Your need! / Hallelujah! Get Your Bride this way. / Have Your way! Have Your way! Do a building work we pray— / Hallelujah—in our life each day! / Through the cross of Jesus, / By the Spirit filled, / We are blending, building up! / We all are one! / We are…Jerusalem! / Dear Lord Jesus, we ask You to come! (new song on Intercession)
