It is not easy to understand what the Old Testament speaks of if you don’t have the proper view, that is, if you don’t see God’s economy. It is easy to misunderstand and misinterpret the stories and prophecies in the Old Testament if you don’t see what the whole Bible speaks about.
The Apostle Paul wrote extensively in his 14 epistles concerning the types, figures, and allegories in the Old Testament, and he applied them to our Christian experience today in a proper way, since he had a clear view of God’s purpose, God’s economy.
The history of Abraham is very meaningful, and fact that he had two sons – one by the maidservant and one by his wife – is full of significance. In Galatians 4 Paul uses the word “allegory” when he speaks of Sarah and Hagar, saying that these two represent two covenants. Sarah, the free woman, Abraham’s wife, represents the covenant of promise; Hagar, the maid servant, Abraham’s concubine, represents the covenant of law (see Gen. 16:1-3; Gal. 4:24).
It was through Sarah and of God that the seed promised to Abraham was intended to be brought forth, and God wanted to work Himself into Abraham to produce the seed, but Abraham used his own human effort to produce a seed with the maidservant Hagar.
God desires to work Himself into us so that He may bring forth Christ as the seed to live by and He may give us Christ as land for us to live into. God doesn’t need our help in producing Christ; He wants to be wrought into us in order to bring forth Christ for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
We simply need to cooperate with God in His time and in His way, and we should not use our own human effort – no matter how good our intention may be – to help God produce the seed.
What satisfies God is Christ, and He wants this One to be wrought into us and be brought forth out of us; for this, He needs our cooperation – He wants to work on us, in us, and through us, and we simply need to cooperate with Him.
Sarah signifies the Covenant of Promise, the Covenant of Grace
God promised Abraham a seed, and He intended to work Himself into him to produce something for His purpose – with Sarah, his wife. Sarah, the free woman, signifies the covenant of promise (see Gal. 4:23), which is a covenant of grace.
This covenant of grace is that God promised to give Abraham the seed without needing Abraham to do anything to have it – God will do everything. Grace is God working Himself into us and doing everything for us and in us to bring forth Christ for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Today we as believers in Christ are under the covenant of grace, the covenant of the promise, and in this covenant God in Christ as the Spirit is everything to us and He operates in us to bring forth Christ out of us for His purpose.
We see this clearly in the story of Abraham and Sarah: though it was a human impossibility for them to have children at such an old age, Sarah brought forth Isaac not by man’s strength but by God’s grace. It is all from God, of God, through God, and for God. It’s not from us, of us, through us, or for us.
The seed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose is nothing less than Christ Himself wrought by God into, through, and out of us. What God has wrought into us brings in Christ as the seed (Gal. 3:16). This seed will eventually become our land….Within we have Christ as the seed by whom we live, and without we have Christ as the land in whom we live. This is the church life with Christ as our life. This is the only way for us to fulfill God’s purpose. (Life-Study of Genesis, p. 625)
When we try to “bring forth Christ” by ourselves, we are doing things by ourselves and we are under law, being rejected by God. But when we allow God to work Himself into us and do everything for us, Christ will be brought forth and we are under the covenant of grace and under the blessing of the promise. God wants to do a specific work in us through His grace so that Christ would be brought forth.
God wants Isaac to be brought forth out of Abraham with Sarah – as impossible as it may be humanly. Sarah represents the covenant of grace, the covenant of the promise, and in this covenant God promises that He will give Abraham the seed without having any intention that Abraham needed to do anything in order to have it.
Sarah was the free woman, the proper wife of Abraham, and she represents grace – she brought forth Isaac by God’s grace. When Abraham is joined to Sarah – in typology: when faith is joined to grace – Christ is brought forth.
Being Freed from our Human Efforts and Letting God Work Himself into us to Bring forth Christ
We simply need to let God work Himself into us so that He might bring forth Christ as the seed and the land for the fulfillment of His purpose. God’s eternal purpose is to produce many sons for His corporate expression; these sons are produced not by human effort but by the grace of God.
The greatest and the hardest test for someone who loves God and wants to see His purpose accomplished is to be saved from his human efforts to “help God accomplish His purpose.” It is easy to encourage others to repent and forsake their sins, but it is not easy to explain in a rational way WHY God doesn’t need our human effort for the accomplishing of His purpose.
May God bring us to the point where we can say to the Lord, “I want to do Your will! You are within me and You must enable me to do Your will. I am not here to do Your will by myself! It must be You, not I!” (Watchman Nee, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ch. 4)
To God it matters not only the end result but also WHO did it and HOW he do it. In other words, what satisfies God is not merely “a great work for His glory” made by the sweat and effort of man, but the working of Himself into man and Him working through man to bring forth Christ as the seed and the land for the accomplishing of His purpose.
We are simply vessels to be filled with God, contain Him, express Him, and let Him work in us. We simply need to cooperate with the grace of God, allowing God to work Himself into us and, in His time (the time of life) He will bring forth Christ out of us for His glory.
May we be freed from our human efforts to please God, work for God, and do things for God to “help Him” accomplish His purpose, and may we allow Him to work Himself into us until in His time He will bring forth Christ out of us for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Lord, free us from our human efforts to “help You” bring forth Christ. We want to be open vessels allowing You to work Yourself into us until, at the time of life, You will bring forth Christ out of us. Lord, Your purpose is to bring forth Christ: do it in us! Be the One in us doing everything for God’s purpose. It must be of You, through You, and unto You – not of ourselves, through ourselves, or unto ourselves. Keep us under the covenant of grace, the covenant of the promise, being the sons of God who do everything in and by the grace of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 35 (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ch. 4), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 6 / msg 6, The Allegory of Two Women.
- 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. (Hymns #249)
# 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 W. Lee)
# I would cease completely / From my efforts vain, / Let Thy life transform me, / Full release to gain; / Build me up with others / Till in us Thou see / Thy complete expression / Glorifying Thee. (Hymns #841 by W. Lee)
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