Scripture Reading: Gen. 26:3-4, 12-33; Gal. 6:18; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Rev. 22:21
Ⅰ
Isaac was a model, a pattern, of the enjoyment of God's grace for God's good pleasure—Gen. 24:36; 25:5; 26:3-4, 12-33; Rom. 5:1-2; Acts 4:33; 11:23:
A
Grace is God in Christ as the Spirit wrought into our being for our enjoyment to be everything to us and do everything in us, through us, and for us so that He can become the constituent of our being for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—John 1:16-17; Heb. 10:29b; 1 Cor. 15:10; cf. Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 13:14.
B
It is our destiny to enjoy the grace of God; this destiny was preordained before the foundation of the world—Eph. 1:3-6; 2:7.
C
El Shaddai, the All-sufficient God, is the all-sufficient grace to supply His called ones with the riches of His divine being that they might bring forth Christ as the seed for the fulfillment of His purpose—Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 2 Cor. 12:9; Phil. 1:19-21a.
D
After Abraham's natural strength and self-effort were dealt with by God, Isaac was born (Gen. 17:15-19; 18:10-14; 21:1-7); this implies that Isaac was born of grace, which is represented by Sarah (Gal. 4:23-28, 31; 1 Pet. 3:7):
１
Abraham's life reveals that if we would enjoy God's grace and have the full enjoyment of His riches, we must suffer loss and have our natural life circumcised, cut off; the greatest frustration to knowing and experiencing grace is the self—Gen. 17:10, 19; cf. Phil. 3:3.
２
Isaac's life reveals that our suffering to terminate our natural life is for the enjoyment of God's grace—cf. 2 Cor. 1:8-9, 12; 12:7-10; Rom. 5:1-5.
E
Isaac was grown up in grace; to grow in grace is to grow in the enjoyment of all that Christ is to us as our spiritual food and living water—Gen. 21:8; 1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor. 3:2, 6; Eph. 3:8; 4:15:
１
The Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) is the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7), the varied grace of God (4:10), the God of all grace (5:10), and the all-sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:9); this grace is now with our spirit (Gal. 6:18).
２
The way to daily receive and enjoy grace is through the blood, the word, the Spirit, and the church:
ａ
The redeeming blood, the blood of the covenant, God's own blood, brings sinful, corrupted people into the eternal enjoyment of God—Acts 20:28; Matt. 26:28; Lev. 16:11-16; Heb. 10:19-20; 1 John 1:7, 9.
ｂ
The word of grace can be eaten by us and become to us the gladness and joy of our heart—Acts 20:32; Jer. 15:16; John 6:63.
ｃ
The Spirit of grace as the bountiful supply of the processed and consummated God is the oil of exultant joy with which we are anointed as the partners of Christ—Heb. 1:9; 10:29b; Zech. 12:10a.
ｄ
The church of God experiences the fresh and refreshing grace of God as the descending dew, which comes to us from the heavens through God's compassions to water and transform us—Psa. 133:2; Lam. 3:22-23; 2 Cor. 13:14; Acts 11:23.
３
The way to daily receive and enjoy grace is to turn to the spirit, exercise the spirit, and enthrone the Lord—Heb. 4:16; Rom. 5:17, 21; cf. Rev. 4:2:
ａ
God's throne is the source of the flowing grace; whenever we fail to enthrone the Lord, dethroning Him, the flow of grace stops—22:1; Col. 1:18b; Rev. 2:4; 1 Pet. 5:5.
ｂ
If we enthrone the Lord Jesus within us, the Spirit as the river of water of life will flow out from the throne of grace to supply us; in this way we shall receive grace and enjoy grace—Rev. 22:1; Hymns, #770.
４
The way to daily receive and enjoy grace is to love the Lord, consecrate ourselves to the Lord, and contact the Lord in His Word by means of all prayer—2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 6:24; Lev. 6:12-13; Eph. 6:17-18; Acts 20:32.
F
Isaac became the heir in grace; we also are heirs of God, enjoying Him as the pledge of our inheritance for us to inherit Him and for Him to inherit us—Gen. 21:9-12; 24:36; 25:5; Rom. 8:17; Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:11, 14, 18.
G
Isaac obeyed in grace; whenever we obey in grace, we shall meet the provision of God—Gen. 22:5-10, 13; John 1:17:
１
God's grace is powerful, enabling us to bear anything—2 Tim. 2:1.
２
Grace can reign over all things—Rom. 5:21; Heb. 4:16.
３
To go back to the law is to reject this grace, to nullify this grace, to fall from grace—Gal. 2:21; 5:4; cf. Gen. 16:16—17:1:
ａ
To fall from grace is to be brought to nought, reduced to nothing, separated from Christ, deprived of all profit from Christ—cf. John 15:5.
ｂ
If we go to anything other than Christ, such as the law or character improvement, and do not cleave to Christ that we may enjoy Him all the time, our enjoyment of Christ will be confiscated—cf. Col. 2:18.
H
Isaac inherited all things from his father (Gen. 24:36; 25:5); in the New Testament all the called believers are heirs of God's absolute and unconditional grace, inheriting all the riches of the divine fullness for our enjoyment (Eph. 1:3, 6; 3:8, 19).
I
Although Isaac enjoyed God's unconditional grace, finding enjoyment and satisfaction in every place that he went (Gen. 25:11; 26:15-22), Beer-sheba was the unique place in which he experienced God's appearing, received His promise, built an altar, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched a tent as a testimony (vv. 23-25); this shows that we must come to the unique place that God has chosen and remain there for His good pleasure (Deut. 12:5, 18).
Ⅱ
Isaac inherited the promise which God had given to his father concerning the good land and the unique seed, which is Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed—Gen. 26:3-5; Gal. 3:14, 16:
A
The unique seed of Abraham as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit, who is the blessing of Abraham (the reality of the good land), for the dispensing of Himself into the believers of Christ to make them the corporate seed of Abraham—vv. 14, 16, 29; 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 12:24; Isa. 53:10.
B
This promise was for the fulfillment of God's purpose that God might have a kingdom on the earth in which to express Himself through a corporate people—Gen. 1:26; Mark 4:26; Dan. 2:34-35.
C
Through our enjoyment of grace, the kingdom of God will be realized, and God in Christ will be fully expressed for eternity—Rev. 22:21; Eph. 2:10.