晨興聖言-亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的神-(W4-5)
第四週■週五
晨興餧養
創二二 17 ～ 18『論福，我必賜福給你；論繁增，我必使你的後裔繁增，如同天上的星，海邊的沙；你的後裔必得着仇敵的城門；並且地上萬國，都必因你的後裔得福；因爲你聽從了我的話。』
亞伯拉罕蒙神賜福。這裏的福不是物質的事物。…我們都聽過，要一一數算主給我們的祝福，就如我們的學位、升遷、妻子、房子與兒女。…在創世記二十二章，神沒有這樣祝福亞伯拉罕。神乃是以繁增的後裔祝福他。…（17。）我不在意物質的福，我在意繁增。我首先願意在美國看見五十個召會，然後一百個，再後一千個。我也願意看見這種繁增從美國擴展到非洲、澳洲、歐洲，甚至回到耶路撒冷。這是我所要看見的福。（創世記生命讀經，九三二至九三三頁。）
信息選讀
神以兩類的人祝福亞伯拉罕，一類好比天上的星，（創二二 17，十五 5，）另一類好比海邊的沙，（二二 17，）也好比地上的塵沙。（十三 16。）…我們基督徒是星，是亞伯拉罕屬天的子孫；而真正的猶太人，神屬地的子民，是沙、塵沙。最終，猶太人要在地上作神的祭司，並要教導萬國。在撒迦利亞八章二十至二十三節清楚的豫言這事。爲甚麼神把猶太人描述爲沙和塵沙？海表徵撒但所敗壞的世界，而塵沙屬於神所創造的地。猶太人已經被恢復到神的創造，因此他們由沙來表徵，沙就是海邊的塵沙。雖然他們是屬地的子民，但他們不是海底的塵沙，乃是海邊的塵沙。他們從敗壞的海，從撒但所敗壞的世界分別出來。然而，星不僅從敗壞的世界分別出來，並且還是屬天的。
照着啓示錄二十章八至九節，在千年國末了，歌革和瑪各要與聖徒的營和蒙愛的城爭戰。聖徒的營是一切屬天之星的營，蒙愛的城耶路撒冷是分別之沙的城。亞伯拉罕的這兩類子孫，那時要顧到神在宇宙中的權益，他們要受到歌革和瑪各在撒但煽動下的攻擊。那是宇宙的末了一次戰爭，是屬魔鬼的人與亞伯拉罕子孫之間的戰爭。
新耶路撒冷是由代表舊約聖徒的以色列十二支派，和代表新約信徒的十二使徒所組成。由使徒所代表的人是屬天的星，由十二支派所代表的人是海邊的沙。這兩班人最終要同被建造，成爲永遠的新耶路撒冷。因此，永遠的新耶路撒冷乃是亞伯拉罕後裔的終極完成。這就是神給亞伯拉罕的福。…我們看見了這點以後，需要說，『讚美主，神的祝福不是好房子、好汽車、學位、升遷、妻子或兒女。神的祝福乃是聖徒在神恢復裏的繁增，和召會的繁增。』我盼望有一天，新耶路撒冷的一部分將是我們的繁增，作爲神所給我們的福。…只有在神祝福裏的繁增要存到永遠。我們要看見在新耶路撒冷裏神繁增的福，直到永遠。
在創世記二十二章這裏，我們看見一個基本的原則，就是凡神所賜給我們的，都要繁增。神給亞伯拉罕一個以撒，亞伯拉罕將他獻回給神，然後這一個以撒就繁增成無數的星和沙。亞伯拉罕若不願將以撒獻回給神，他可能只有一個以撒。但亞伯拉罕將以撒獻回給神以後，以撒就繁增爲新耶路撒冷。將神所賜給我們的獻回給神，這就是使神的恩賜在我們身上繁增的路。（創世記生命讀經，九三三至九三五頁。）
參讀：創世記生命讀經，第五十八篇。
WEEK 4 — DAY 5
Morning Nourishment
Gen. 22:17-18 I will surely bless you and will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
Abraham was blessed by God. The blessing here is not that of material things…We have all been told to count our blessings one by one, counting such things as our degree, promotion, wife, house, and children…In Genesis 22 God did not bless Abraham in this way. Rather, He blessed him with the multiplied seed…(v. 17). I do not care for material blessing. I care for multiplication. I would first like to see fifty churches in the United States, then a hundred, and then a thousand…[and] that from the United States the multiplication would spread to Africa, Australasia, Europe, and even back to Jerusalem. This is the blessing I want to see. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 766)
Todays Reading
Abraham was blessed with two categories of people, one likened to the stars of the heavens (Gen. 22:17; 15:5) and the other to the sand on the seashore (22:17), which is also likened to the dust of the earth (13:16)…We, the Christians, are the stars, the heavenly descendants of Abraham; and the genuine Jews, God’s earthly people, are the sand, the dust. Eventually, the Jewish people will be God’s priests on earth and will teach all the nations. This is prophesied clearly in Zechariah 8:20-23. Why are the Jews described both as the sand and as the dust? The sea signifies the world corrupted by Satan, and the dust is of the earth created by God. The Jews have been restored to God’s creation. Hence, they are signified by the sand, which is the dust beside the sea. Although they are an earthly people, they are not the dust under the sea but the dust, the sand, by the seashore. They are separated from the corrupted sea, Satan’s corrupted world. However, the stars are not only separated from the corrupted world but are also heavenly.
According to Revelation 20:8 and 9, at the end of the millennium, Gog and Magog will fight against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. The camp of the saints is the camp of all the heavenly stars, and the beloved city, Jerusalem, is the city of the separated sand. The two categories of Abraham’s descendants, who at that time will be caring for God’s interests in the universe, will be attacked by Gog and Magog under Satan’s instigation. That will be the last war in the universe, a war between the devilish people and Abraham’s descendants.
The New Jerusalem is composed of the twelve tribes of Israel, representing the Old Testament saints, and the twelve apostles, representing the New Testament believers. Those represented by the apostles are the heavenly stars, and those represented by the twelve tribes are the sand of the seashore. These two peoples eventually will be built together into the eternal New Jerusalem. Hence, the eternal New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of Abraham’s seed. This is God’s blessing to Abraham. After seeing this, we need to say, “Praise the Lord, God’s blessing is not a good house, car, degree, promotion, wife, or child. It is the multiplication of the saints in God’s recovery and the multiplication of the churches.” I hope that one day a part of the New Jerusalem will be our multiplication as God’s blessing to us…Only the multiplication in God’s blessing will remain forever. We will see the blessing in God’s multiplication in the New Jerusalem for eternity.
Here in Genesis 22 we see a basic principle; that is, whatever God gives us will be multiplied. God gave Abraham one Isaac, and Abraham offered him back to God. Then this one Isaac was multiplied into numberless stars and sand. If Abraham would not have offered Isaac back to God, he might have had only one Isaac. But having been offered back to God by Abraham, Isaac was multiplied into the New Jerusalem. This is the way to have God’s gift multiplied in us—offer back to God what He has given us. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 766-768)
Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 58
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