Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.
— Proverbs 29:18
By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;
even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called:
accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back.
— Hebrews 11:17-19
Our hearts are full of gratitude. You love us to such an extent that You gave Your life for us and shed Your blood for us. We can never forget such love.
We pray that Your love will continue to constrain us, that our hearts will always turn toward You. No matter what our surroundings may be, may our hearts turn toward You.
We thank You that in these days You are mindful of us. As we meet in Your presence this very last time, we turn our hearts and look up to You.
We long for Your glory to fill this meeting place. We pray that Your glory will remove all that is not of You, and that in Your glory You will gain our hearts totally for Yourself.
May You be glorified in our bodies, because all is from You, all is through You, and all must be unto You. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Thank God that by His grace we can gather for this conference. The theme of the conference is vision, worship, and service.
We use Abraham as the theme for our fellowship because vision is not something abstract. Strictly speaking, there is nothing more real than vision. Even though vision is heavenly, it can be operated and carried out right here on earth.
We must notice this in our spiritual life: vision is absolutely necessary. If there is no vision, there is no possible way for us to have a spiritual life. Unless there is vision, there is no way we can continually move forward.
In a way, vision is quite simple, though it includes many aspects. It includes everything, yet it is very simple. Simply speaking, vision is when God reveals Himself. When God appears Himself to us, then we see that vision.
Vision is God Himself. This is God’s glory. Vision is God opening His heart to us. It is when God reveals His will to us and tells us what He intends to do with us—what will really satisfy God’s heart.
Our whole life is to be led by vision until vision becomes our heavenly vocation. Then our living will be in the good of that vision, and that vision will become a testimony in our lives.
Vision separates us from all that is not of God, and vision leads us all the way to Who God is. Vision delivers us from all that is earthly, of the flesh, and of this world, so that we may enter into the heavenly. It changes us into the likeness of God’s beloved Son.
We see this in the whole life of Abraham. When God revealed Himself to him, at that very moment Abraham began his life of faith. Before God revealed Himself to him, he was living in darkness and groping in darkness.
But when God’s glory appeared to him, that vision and that glory drew Abraham to God Himself. That vision enabled him to leave his country, his relatives, and all that he had achieved.
He left and went out, though he did not know where he was going. God intended to bring him into Canaan and to give it to him and to his descendants. But, strictly speaking, God wanted Abraham to enter into God Himself and to possess all that God intended to give him.
By faith Abraham left his country and his relatives, just as we do today because God’s glory has appeared to us. God’s glory is now seen in the face of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we see God’s Son, His glory attracts us so that we may leave sin, arise, and follow Him. That begins our spiritual life of faith.
The life of faith is walking in the light of a vision, because faith is to see that which is not visible. Faith will not permit us to see merely our surroundings, or even ourselves. We place ourselves in the hands of the God Who is invisible, because in faith we see Him Who is invisible.
The life of faith is never easy. To convert vision into our living is never easy.
Abraham’s life extended from the age of seventy-five until the offering of Isaac. During that long period, God led Abraham by grace. Abraham was weak, and apart from God he had many other things. God used all kinds of situations in that long period, leading him to walk the way of the cross.
Today our life is the same. God has already given us His vision, and He Himself will do a work in our lives. He will bring us into the depths of that vision and bring that vision completely into us.
But in the process there are many crises through which we must pass, because in our lives we carry much baggage. Those things are not suitable for the vision into which we are going.
Only vision can enable us to leave those things behind. Only the cross can convert vision into our vocation.
We know how God dealt with Abraham step by step to remove from him his flesh and his compromises with the world.
Because of the weakness of his flesh, Abraham negotiated with his parents. His father, Terah, took Abraham and his family and left Ur of the Chaldeans. But Terah possessed no vision. He did it because he loved his son Abraham, and they settled in Haran.
Terah did not walk the way God intended him to walk. But thank God, He continued to work His grace into Abraham’s life. God removed Terah so that Abraham might follow and do the will of God.
Lot was still holding on, but God raised up circumstances and removed Lot from Abraham’s life.
At times Abraham’s faith was very weak. When there was famine, he went to Egypt. But God, in His mercy, rescued him from Egypt. Still, the seed of Egypt had already been planted in his life.
The Scriptures say that because of faith, Abraham lived in the promised land as though he were a foreigner. Yet after ten years, Sarah was not able to bear him a child.
Sarah wanted to help Abraham, and to Sarah this was a great sacrifice because of her love for Abraham. She suggested that Abraham take Hagar as his wife. We know that Hagar came from Egypt.
This was the fruit of fleshly weakness—what the flesh brought forth. But God would not allow this to stand.
From the time Hagar bore Ishmael, when Abraham was eighty-six years old, until he was ninety-nine, God did not speak to Abraham. For thirteen years God did not appear to him, as though God was not mindful of him.
For Abraham, these were certainly the most difficult years of his life. He had once seen God Himself. God had spoken to him before. Yet now God’s face was no longer seen by him, and he could not hear God’s voice.
Still, he was living in tents. He did not give up his faith. He still believed that God’s promise would surely be fulfilled. But it seemed that between him and God there was no longer the intimacy of fellowship.
In our Christian spiritual life, at the very beginning, sin is a great issue. God has to deal with all our sins. We may assume that from that moment we can never sin again. As far as God’s salvation is concerned, it is indeed true.
Our Lord not only bore our sins; He also took our old man and crucified him with Himself. The old man is already crucified and dead to sin, so that we may live unto God. God’s salvation is fully completed.
But to enter into the fullness of that redemption is another matter. For a new believer, the greatest issue he faces may be the issue of sin.
All the time we are enlightened within. We know what is pleasing to Him because the Holy Spirit already resides in our hearts. He teaches us in all things—not only in big things, but even in small things. The anointing teaches from within.
The one who belongs to the Lord knows within what is pleasing to God and what is not pleasing to Him.
Just like Romans 7: “I know what I ought to do, but I have no strength to do it. I know what I do not want to do, and from within I know that I do not want to do those things. But somehow I do them. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
At the first period of our spiritual life, the most important issue is sin, until we are brought to the point where we are completely disappointed with ourselves. Then, through Jesus Christ, God opens our understanding and allows us to see the Lord’s cross.
The cross not only nails our sins to the cross; it also nails the sinner to the cross, so that we may be delivered from the power and dominion of sin and become able to obey God’s will.
But after sin, we encounter another problem: the world.
Though we have been delivered from the world, we discover that the world is still within us. Just like the Israelites, when they entered trials they began to think about what they had back in Egypt.
When we came out of the world, we brought much of the world with us. As far as God is concerned, He has already delivered us out of the world. There seems to be a separation. But we may not realize that the world still has a foothold in our lives.
Therefore, God must gradually deliver the world from within. That is also the work of the cross.
The cross stands between us and the world. As Galatians teaches, through the cross the world has been crucified unto us, and we unto the world.
Apart from sin and apart from the world, there is our self—the old self, the flesh. This self-life is still within us.
Who is our greatest enemy? Our greatest enemy is not the world. Our greatest enemy is not even sin. Our greatest enemy is ourselves.
One servant of God put it this way: “I am not afraid of all the popes, but I am afraid of the pope within me.” He was fearful of himself. This self, this flesh, is indeed our greatest enemy.
In Abraham’s life, God delivered him from sin and separated him from the world. Abraham refused what was offered by the king of Sodom. He chose to remain in tents, as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land, looking for the heavenly home.
But the longest and most severe dealings of God with Abraham concerned Abraham himself. God was dealing with the self-life within him.
Do not think that self is altogether evil. If the self-life were entirely corrupt, it would be easy to recognize. It is true that self is corrupt, selfish, self-centered, and full of self-love. We think continually about ourselves.
Yet there is also a good part in the flesh. The flesh can even sustain a person in loving God.
Remember Peter. In his good intention, he was willing to die for the Lord. The so-called good part of man may include humility, gentleness, and good intentions.
But as long as it is merely the good of man, it is still not acceptable in God’s sight. God’s dealing with the good of the flesh is often more severe than His dealings with other things.
When Abraham accepted Sarah’s good suggestion and took Hagar as his wife, he obtained Ishmael. But because of that, God was silent for thirteen years.
God’s intention is to convert our vision into our heavenly vocation. The object of His dealings with us is the good that is in the flesh. We can never take what is naturally good and make it take the place of that which is spiritual. Good intentions can never substitute for the will of God.
Scripture tells us that we who have obtained mercy are to do good in God’s sight. But Scripture defines what is good. What Scripture calls good is not necessarily what human beings consider good.
In the world, many things are considered good. We may not commit obvious sins, we may come to meetings, and we may do what is called sacred work. Yet the Lord says:
Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not by Thy name prophesy, and by Thy name cast out demons, and by Thy name do many mighty works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
— Matthew 7:22-23
Why? Because they failed to do His will.
In this area, God’s dealings may be most severe. Our natural goodness must come to an end.
If we are naturally gentle, God may raise up circumstances that bring our natural gentleness to an end. If we think we are humble, God may raise up circumstances in which we cannot humble ourselves in the way we want.
If we think we are wise and capable, not only in worldly things but even in spiritual matters, God may bring us to a point where there is no way out at all for us.
If God is leading us in this way, it is because He loves us.
The silence of God is the silence of love. We often think that when God is silent, His heart has changed and His love has withdrawn.
When He speaks to us, He loves us. If He is silent, He still loves us.
He deals with us by His silence in order to bring us to an end of ourselves.
For Abraham, those thirteen years were the most painful years of his life. Yet, praise God, he still lived in tents and still lived a life of faith.
In his feeling and experience, everything seemed contrary. It was as though he had missed the presence of God and his prayers only hit the ceiling. But God’s grace was still upon him.
God did not allow him to go back to Egypt. He did not allow him to go back to what he had come from, nor did He allow him to build his own house within the promised land. God was still leading him.
Jacob had a heart for God. He longed for God’s blessing and was willing to sacrifice earthly things if he could gain the birthright and the place of the firstborn.
God knew what was in Jacob’s heart, and God dealt with him. Jacob was very wise, very capable, and always found a way to get what he wanted. He would not accept defeat. He remained the old Jacob.
It took twenty years of wandering away from home, and for the rest of his life he never saw his mother again. God used all kinds of means in dealing with him, but Jacob was strong. He thought he knew all his ways.
When Jacob left Laban, he was still the same old Jacob. He had a large family and many possessions. But when he returned from his wandering and was about to see his brother Esau, he was afraid.
He tried to scheme. He sent gifts to his brother. He divided all his people into groups, thinking that if the first group were captured, the others might escape. He sent his family across the river Jabbok, but he still felt insecure and uneasy.
Then a man came and wrestled with him all night. Before sunrise, that man touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and his joint was put out of place. Jacob’s strength was gone.
At that moment he embraced the man and would not let Him go. “You must bless me. Unless You bless me, I will not let You go. I have nothing now. I have exhausted all my strength.”
Then the Lord changed his name: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.”
For thirteen years God was silent with Abraham. It was a painful work of the cross. Yet God sustained him until, at the age of ninety-nine, God revealed Himself to him again.
At the end of that wrestling, Abraham came to an end of himself. His natural strength, natural ability, and natural beauty all came to an end. Then God appeared to him.
I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.
— Genesis 17:1
God was saying, “I am Almighty. I am all-sufficient. I am all that you need. I do not need your help. I take full responsibility. I have no need of help from anyone.”
Vision demands a complete work in our lives. If God is not your all in all, He is not God to you at all. If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
Have you been brought to an end of yourself? Is there still something in your natural strength that sustains your life? Is there something in your life that substitutes for God Himself?
Our God is a jealous God. If He is not all, then He is not all at all. Therefore God said to Abraham, “Walk before Me, and be blameless,” because of Who He is.
God changed Abraham’s name. Before, he was Abram—“exalted father.” Now he was Abraham—“father of a multitude.”
Humanly speaking, this was foolish. Here was a man who was childless, yet he was called “father of a multitude.” The name and the reality seemed completely opposite.
But faith sees the unseen future reality. God made a covenant with Abraham.
There would be a sign of the covenant: every male in his household must be circumcised. What does this mean? If we are to inherit God’s promise and covenant, there is no place for the flesh. The flesh must be removed.
All God’s promises are in Christ Jesus. Aside from Christ, in the flesh, there is nothing at all.
At this point, Abraham’s vision gradually became his very life and his heavenly vocation. The vision entered into his very being. God Himself entered into his life, and God’s will was being completed in him.
The same is true with us today. Why does God use so much time and so many events, as though He is continually dealing with us?
Sometimes we say, “If we did not know the Lord, perhaps we would have a better life. Things would seem to go smoothly.” But when we follow the Lord, we encounter all kinds of difficulties.
It is because He loves us and because He intends to finish His work in us. He intends to convert that vision into our life’s vocation.
Until our name is changed, we are changed persons. Christ is fully formed in us. The sin of the flesh and the good of the flesh are removed. There is nothing of ourselves left, and He becomes our all.
Praise God.
At the end of Abraham’s life, two things happened: the offering of Isaac and the seeking of a bride for Isaac, Rebekah. These two events were his victory.
The vision had become a reality within Abraham. Now that vision expressed God’s glory through Abraham’s life. The glory that had appeared to Abraham was now expressed through him. That is victory.
The first event was the offering of Isaac. Isaac was no longer a little child. He may have been in his thirties, yet to Abraham he was still his beloved son.
Scripture says that God tested Abraham. God never tempts anyone. James 1 teaches that God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. Temptation comes from Satan, arousing lust within, and the result is sin.
But God tests. Before testing comes, God has worked His grace into us. He has put Himself into us, and He allows circumstances to bring forth what He has already deposited within.
Testing brings out what God has worked in. What is expressed is glory.
Therefore, at this moment God wanted to test Abraham. God was saying, “The work I have done in you, I now want to bring out, that it may become your testimony.”
God told Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and offer him for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
This was a tremendous challenge. “Take your son—your only begotten son, the son of your old age, the son of promise, the one upon whom all the promises of God rest, the one whom you love—and offer him up as a sacrifice.”
If you heard such a word from the Lord, what would your reaction be? Human reasoning would say, “God is not man. He cannot promise me a son and then take him back. All the promises are centered upon this one son. If I offer him up, all will be lost.”
That is human reasoning. It seems very reasonable. But Abraham knew God. He knew God to such an extent that there was no question.
The next day he rose early. He did not negotiate with flesh and blood. He took his son, two servants, the wood, the fire, and the knife, and they journeyed toward Mount Moriah.
God allowed Abraham three days. If he wanted to return, he could have returned. But because of his faith, and because he knew God to such an extent, he was completely yielded to God Himself.
When they arrived, Abraham left the servants at the foot of the mountain so that they could not interfere. He took Isaac up the mountain. He placed the wood upon Isaac, while he carried the fire and the knife.
Isaac said to his father, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the sacrifice?”
Abraham answered, “God will provide Himself a lamb.”
Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood, bound his son, and laid him upon the altar. Then he took the knife.
But God spoke: “Abraham, Abraham! Do not do anything to your son. Now I know your heart.”
God prepared a ram there to take Isaac’s place.
Abraham was prepared to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. He never turned back. He believed that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead—not for himself, but for God’s glory, so that all God’s promises might be fulfilled.
Romans 4 tells us that Abraham believed in God, Who gives life to the dead and calls the things that are not as though they were.
At that moment God gained His glory. How satisfied God must have been. This was the victory of faith.
The whole purpose of life is for that glory. God created us for His glory. We are not for ourselves; we are for His will and for His glory.
What can glorify Him? It is when He becomes our all in all, when we can be offered up absolutely unto Him. That is worship. That is service. That brings God His glory.
Abraham’s offering of Isaac expressed what was truly in God’s heart. God so loved us that He was willing to give His Son to us. He did not hold anything back from us. He gave His all to us in His Son.
God’s true heart was revealed. That is glory.
At the end, Abraham also prepared a bride for his son. The bride was not to be from the daughters of Canaan, but from his own country.
You are familiar with this story in Genesis 24. It is a very beautiful story. Abraham sent his old servant to seek a wife for his son.
The servant looked to God, and God led him to Rebekah. There was much within this young lady. She was diligent and willing.
Finally, the servant brought her back to Canaan. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, and his heart was comforted.
Through this event, God’s heart was finally revealed. God loves His children, and He is preparing a bride for His Son—a bride suitable for Him, a bride like Him—so that His heart may be comforted.
That bride is the church. This is the New Jerusalem, the city built by God for God’s glory.
This is what God accomplished at the end of Abraham’s life.
From the moment God appeared to Abraham, he saw a vision and believed God. Then, throughout many years, God’s grace worked in him and operated in him until that vision became his very life.
Now that vision, from within, manifested God’s glory. This is what God wants to do with each one of us.
He loves us beyond what we could ever think or imagine. God wants this vision to become our testimony.
Everything is His work. We do not know how much we resist His work, but thank God, He can never be defeated.
Those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son. Those whom He called, He justified; and those whom He justified, He glorified.
God of glory, we worship at Your feet. From beginning to end, it is all grace.
We are often only a hindrance to You. Many times we have misunderstood You, and often we have resisted You. But You will never give us up. You never give in.
We give You praise. You will persist in working in our hearts until Your heart is fully satisfied.
Lord, allow us to see Your glory. Do not let us go away from the glory that You are working into us.
Bring all Your many sons together. All glory belongs to You. In Christ’s name, amen.