第八週■週三

w08d03-ch

晨興餧養

創十二 7 ～ 8『耶和華向亞伯蘭顯現，說，我要把這地賜給你的後裔。亞伯蘭就在那裏爲向他顯現的耶和華築了一座壇。從那裏他又遷到伯特利東邊的山，支搭帳棚；…他在那裏又爲耶和華築了一座壇，並且呼求耶和華的名。』

壇的意義就是我們不爲自己保留甚麼。壇的意義就是我們曉得我們在地上是爲着神。壇的意義就是我們的生活是爲着神，神是我們的生命，並且我們生活的意義就是神，所以我們把一切都放在壇上。我們在這裏不是傳揚自己的名；我們爲祂名的緣故，把一切都放在壇上。

亞伯拉罕在摩利爲耶和華築壇之後，他就走遍那地。…亞伯拉罕…來到伯特利和艾中間的地方，…築了另一座壇。（創十二 8，十三 3 ～ 4。）伯特利的意思是神的家，艾的意思是亂堆。伯特利和艾互成對比。這對比…就是說，在蒙召者的眼中，只有神的家是有價值的，其他的一切不過是亂堆。今天對我們原則也是一樣。一面我們有伯特利，神的家，召會生活；與此相對的是亂堆。凡與召會生活相反的，都是亂堆。…對亞伯拉罕而言，首要的事是把一切獻給神，敬拜事奉神，並與神有交通。然後亞伯拉罕纔爲他的生活支搭帳棚。亞伯拉罕住帳棚，指明他不屬於世界，反而對人是一個見證。（來十一 9。）（創世記生命讀經，六七四至六七五、六七七、六七九頁。）

信息選讀

後來亞伯拉罕把帳棚遷到希伯崙，希伯崙的意思是交通。（創十三 18。）…因着亞伯拉罕支搭帳棚，神在地上就有一個能與人來往交通的地方。他的帳棚把神從天上帶到地上。

不要以爲支搭帳棚是件小事。後來亞伯拉罕的後裔蒙召出埃及，進入曠野，神就吩咐他們造帳棚，並且吩咐他們在帳棚前築壇。（出二六 1，二七 1。）在出埃及記那裏，我們看見祭壇和帳棚，就是帳幕。那個帳幕是神在地上的家。…亞伯拉罕的帳棚是他的後裔在曠野所造，作神和祭司居所之帳幕的豫像。在創世記這裏我們看見，一個和神同住在帳棚裏，名叫亞伯拉罕的祭司，在帳棚旁邊有一座祭壇。

無論何時我們答應神的呼召，而神再次向我們顯現，我們也爲神築一座壇，告訴神我們所是和所有的一切都是爲着祂，我們就會立刻支搭帳棚。人們自然會看見，這是我們不屬這世界的表現和宣告。藉着支搭帳棚，我們宣告我們屬於另一個家鄉。…我們不喜歡這一個家鄉，就是這地，這世界。我們指望進入另一個家鄉。我們因着信，像在異地作客。（來十一 9。）

希伯來十一章十節說，亞伯拉罕『等候那座有根基的城，其設計者並建築者乃是神』。這座有根基的城無疑就是新耶路撒冷，有神所設立建造的堅固根基。（啓二一 14，19 ～ 20。）當亞伯拉罕住在沒有根基的帳棚裏，他是在仰望並等候一座有根基的城。但我不信亞伯拉罕知道，他是在等候新耶路撒冷。甚至許多基督徒也不知道，他們所等候的乃是新耶路撒冷。但我們必須清楚，我們今天是住在召會生活的帳棚裏，等候召會終極的完成，就是新耶路撒冷，神那座有根基的城。…亞伯拉罕的帳棚是新耶路撒冷的小影，新耶路撒冷是神在宇宙中終極的帳幕。（2 ～ 3。）（創世記生命讀經，六八○至六八二頁。）

參讀：創世記生命讀經，第四十一篇。

WEEK 8 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Gen. 12:7-8 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him. And he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent…; and there he built an altar to Jehovah and called upon the name of Jehovah.

An altar means that we do not keep anything for ourselves. An altar means that we realize that we are here on earth for God. An altar means that our life is for God, that God is our life, and that the meaning of our life is God. So we put everything on the altar. We are not here making a name for ourselves; we are putting everything on the altar for the sake of His name.

After Abraham built an altar to the Lord at Moreh, he traveled through the land…[and] came to a place that was between Bethel and Ai…Here…Abraham built another altar (Gen. 12:8; 13:3-4). Bethel means “house of God,” and Ai means “a heap of ruins.” Bethel and Ai stand in contrast one to another… This contrast…means that in the eyes of the called ones only God’s house is worthwhile. Everything else is just a heap of ruins. The principle is the same with us today. On the one hand, we have Bethel, God’s house, the church life. Opposite to this is a heap of ruins. Everything that is contrary to the church life is a heap of ruins…With Abraham, the primary matter was to consecrate everything to God, to worship and serve God, and to have fellowship with God. Only then did Abraham pitch a tent for his living. Abraham’s dwelling in a tent indicated that he did not belong to the world but was a testimony to the people (Heb. 11:9). (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 556, 558-560)

Today’s Reading

Later, Abraham removed his tent to Hebron, which means fellowship (Gen. 13:18)…By Abraham’s pitching a tent God had a place on earth where He could communicate and fellowship with man. His tent brought God from
heaven to earth.

Do not think that this matter of a tent is a small thing. Later, when Abraham’s descendants were called out of Egypt and entered into the wilderness, God commanded them to build a tent, and in front of the tent He commanded them to build an altar (Exo. 26:1; 27:1). There, in Exodus, we see an altar with a tent, a tabernacle. That tabernacle was God’s house on earth…Abraham’s tent was a prefigure of the tabernacle built by Abraham’s descendants in the wilderness as the dwelling place for God and for the priests. Here in Genesis we see a priest named Abraham who lived with God in his tent. At the side of this tent there was an altar.

Whenever we answer God’s calling and God reappears to us and we build an altar for God, telling Him that everything we are and have is for Him, we shall immediately erect a tent. Spontaneously, people will see that this is an expression, a declaration, that we do not belong to this world. By pitching a tent we declare that we belong to another country…We do not like this country, this earth, this world. We expect to come into another country. We are sojourning by faith as in a strange country (Heb. 11:9).

Hebrews 11:10 says that Abraham “waited for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.” This city which has foundations is undoubtedly the New Jerusalem, which has solid foundations laid and built by God (Rev. 21:14, 19-20). While Abraham was living in a tent without any foundations, he was looking and waiting for a city with foundations. But I do not believe that Abraham knew that he was waiting for the New Jerusalem. Even many Christians do not know that what they are waiting for is the New Jerusalem. But we have to be clear that we are living
in the tent of the church life today, waiting for its ultimate consummation, which will be the New Jerusalem—the city of God with foundations. Abraham’s tent was a miniature of the New Jerusalem, which will be the ultimate tabernacle of God in the universe (vv. 2-3). (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 560-562)

Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 41