We have seen that Noah continued until within two years of the birth of Abram, and we learn from Josh. 24:22And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2), that Terah and his fathers " served other gods," thus proving that before the death of Noah man had fallen into idolatry. Not only were they independent of God, but they worshipped those who by nature are no gods."
It is important for us to preserve a view of the earth as it was morally at the time of Noah's death. Ham (the cursed) takes the lead in occupying the earth, especially that part which should eventually belong to the descendants of Shem, of whom it was said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;" and from whom the people of God should spring. I have already called attention to the fact, that God allows man to expoSe the full opposition of his heart in contrast to His revelation (the maintenance of which is the only true testimony) before He sets up another; and when He does set up another, it is manifestly and peculiarly distinct and in contrast to the features of the declension then prevailing. Most interesting, therefore, and helpful is it for us, to keep before our minds the condition of things on which the sun of testimony (at least that particular phase of it) sets, and in which the light has not been comprehended; man having proved that the greater the revelation to him, the greater his natural repugnance to yield himself to it, and therefore he has studiously presented the converse of the divine mind, instead of the reflection of it, which the light of testimony vouchsafed by God, as suited to the condition of things, would have produced if comprehended. The manifestation of good calls forth, according to its order and quality, a correlative evil from man, because of his innate corruption. strikingly is this exemplified in the days of which we are treating; for before the death of Noah, the then vessel of God's testimony, independence of God and idolatry had become a confirmed characteristic of man; and this notwithstanding the testimony committed to Noah, and maintained by him, having circulated through his children into all the earth; for by the families of the sons of Noah after their generations were the nations divided throughout the earth after the flood, and in every ancient record or monument we find traces of the testimony, though almost lost in the perversion in which man always represents divine things.
As to locality, it is generally admitted that Ham and his descendants eventually occupied Africa, for the most part; Japhet Europe, and Shem Asia; but the important point for us to keep in mind, is the moral state of man when Abram, about 74 years of age, is addressed by the God of glory in the words, " Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." This call embodied an entirely new principle. Abel by faith had offered; Enoch by faith had been translated; Noah by faith had prepared an ark for salvation; but now the earth on which man was is set under another covenant, and God's witness in the person of Abram is called to hold no place in it but in dependence on God and on His word. All he had naturally he must surrender, and assert or maintain no title or right to any place but by faith. Abram is to come into the land that God would show him, not to get possession in it, as we shall see, but to maintain this unique position, holding everything that he held, not by right of possession, but by faith in God. In a word, that he had no place on earth as a man, or after man by the rights of man, to whom the earth was given on new terms after the flood. Man had proved himself unworthy of those terms and unfit for them, and now God raises up, in the person of Abram, a new testimony, viz., that His people on the earth hold no place on it by the right of possession or inheritance, but by the word of God and in dependence on it; for it is not the land that I have acquired or have by inheritance succeeded to, but the land that He will show.
This testimony was most significant and needed, because man, to whom the earth had been committed by God on new terms, had entirely forgotten his allegiance to Him; and had not only denied dependence on Him, but had served devils (" other gods"). The full exposure of the principles of man's independence of, and alienation from, God demanded a testimony, which would declare that everything on the earth was to be held solely by the word of God and in the most complete dependence on Him (and this in addition to the surrender of every natural tie and association); and would disclaim and rebuke the rebellion and presumptuousness into which man had wandered and which he, without remorse, arrogantly maintained; now to be a witness of this truth, God calls out Abram. It is evident that Babel was the first kingdom founded. Here the seeds of man's presumption, independence, and self-confidence, were first sown; hence, Babel, called afterward Babylon, represents and embodies all the evil workings of man; and it is in the face of all those workings, and as a witness against them, that Abram is called out of Ur of the Chaldees from the scene of the tower of Babel, to declare that he had no place on the earth but in dependence on God; and therefore he gave up all he had by birth, and went out not knowing whither he went. Truly he looked for a city which hath foundations; he knew that God would not call him from anything without guaranteeing to him a superior; and he rested in the assurance that the builder and maker was God.
It would appear that Abram was a man of considerable consequence and means in the world, and his move must have been well known. His father, Terah, whether believing or not, accords with his son's call, for we read, " And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go unto the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haron and dwelt there." After the death of Terah, as we read further, " Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son and went forth to go into the land of Canaan: and into the land of Canaan they came." Abram's move had in it a voice to all the world. He had left the place he had in it by birth and association, and went forth dependent on the word of God. This was the testimony. He " passed through the land unto the place of Sichem unto the plain of Moreb, and the Canaanite (the descendants of Ham) was then in the land." Now the Lord appears to him again and says, " Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded be an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him." He holds his place on the earth by faith, builds his altar where the Lord appears to him in acknowledgment of his homage and link unto Him, asserts no claim to anything of the earth, but lets the Lord determine everything for him. What a remarkable testimony must this have been in contrast to all that was passing around! Man in full independence was seeking and maintaining government on the earth as possessors of it, owning no allegiance to God, worshipping them who are no gods. And here was a great man-a prince as known among men-leaving all his inherited or acknowledged rights, and following the word of God, dependent only on that word, " not knowing whither he went," and owning the unseen God by an altar of sacrifice where He appeared unto him. How instructive and interesting to grasp the nature and power of the faith which worked in Abram, and made him a fit witness for God in that evil day, declaring to us the true instincts of divine grace when brought in contact with the same order and character of evil. And this is essentially and particularly what we ought to learn and become imbued with while studying the testimony of God. The testimony is suited and in direct divine contrast with the form of evil rife, and working; and because it is of God, who is thus vindicating Himself while the enemy comes in like a flood, though the enemy be the more exasperated, and so on to the close; and therefore he comes with a more fearful opposition and evil virus in proportion to the manifestation of the purpose of God in His grace toward man.
Abram fails for a moment to maintain this testimony, and goes down into Egypt. The failure only showed how impossible it was to maintain it but in divine power. The more simply divine our path is, the more absolutely must we be kept there by divine power, and therefore there is oftener failure in that which is most divine than in that which is not. And the failure always has, through God's grace, this effect on us, that of making us distrustful of our -selves and reliant on Him, so that we return to the true path, more assured related in this chapter (14) are typical of the closing scenes in the earth's history, and are presented to us to exhibit the nature of the testimony which should be borne by the faithful at such a time. This conflict of kings has in it the elements of the final conflict; and the supremacy sought to be maintained by Chedorlaomer indicates that which the willful king will assert and assume in the latter day. The character of the passions working among men, and the way in which men were using their power, is presented to us in the scene here described, not so much to give an idea of the ultimate struggles for power, but as embodying a state of things which required a certain testimony for God, and which, in such a state, Abram is enabled to render. " Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled." Lot-representing God's people who have sought a present portion on the earth—is carried away by this successful power. What is the testimony for God at such a juncture? Why, to do as Abram did.
We must bear in mind that God is disclosing the characteristics of His own grace, in opposition to the violence and pride of man; and we are learning, not the history of Abram, but the grace of God, and how it calls on one, standing for God on earth, to act, and this in testimony for God with reference to the current state of things; and thus ever (for God's principles are unchangeable) in a similar state of things at any time.
Abram, though personally, entirely aloof from the scene of conflict, musters all his resources, and without reserve or personal consideration devotes all to the rescue of his brother Lot. By night (and night it was to them) be smote them and pursued them, and brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother. The reigning powers of the earth are in one way or another made to know the strength by which God's witness is sustained in his peculiar path. And God, as He is, is testified of as a truth. To Abram, returning from the slaughter of the kings is vouchsafed a revelation of the grace of God in the person of Melchisedec, which strengthens his soul in God and enables him still more distinctly to walk independently of man, or of his gifts on the earth. It is hard to live here and assert no claim to any place here. It is harder still to devote all our resources, at every risk, for the service of others, and yet receive no reward for it; nay, because of our dependence on God to refuse all acknowledgment from man, for the beneficial results to man from your services to the people of God. Doubtless, service rendered to the individual (as to the legion), confers a general benefit on the community at large. But as dependent on God, I must refuse all acknowledgment for it from man. When the Lord saw that the people would take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain by Himself alone. But God acknowledges the service. Abram's soul is enriched and strengthened, even as is the fruit-bearing disciple in John 15:5-165I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:5‑16).
Melchisedec meets Abram, and so invigorates him that he is strong to refuse all the offers of the king of Sodom, whereby he displays another principle of the testimony committed to him; and the king of Sodom hears from his lips how the blessing of God, and the sure word of His promise, though the fulfillment of it be still future, can make a soul proof against even those things which are everything to the natural man.
(To be continued)