Gen 17:5 Your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 1 Cor 4:15 For though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
[Part 1 of 2] Abram means an exalted father, and Abraham means the father of a great multitude. Although Abraham was a high father, he was not the father of a multitude, the father of many nations. But in 17:5 his name was changed from exalted father to the father of a multitude. As the person is the reality of one's name, so the changing of Abraham's name signifies the changing of his person. His original name indicated that he was an exalted father. Now God changed his name to indicate that he would be the father of a great multitude. What is needed to fulfill God's eternal purpose is.not an exalted individual but a multiplied person, a person with a great multitude.of people to fulfill His purpose, and for this He needed a producing father. Most Christians desire to be a person with exalted spirituality. The more they seek this kind of spirituality, the more they become barren and individualistic, producing no seed. But God needs us to be multiplied in producing seed, not exalted in seeking spirituality. For this we need the changing of name, the changing of our person. The exalted father has to be changed to the father of a great multitude. The exalted- spirituality-seeking person has to be changed to the multitude-producing person. This requires the termination of the spirituality-seeking self. Even this kind of self has to be terminated so that we may be a multiplied person, not an exalted one, for the fulfilling of God's purpose. [continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Genesis, 1987, pp. 633-634. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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