Isaac the Son of Union

Abraham was a man of faith. He was led by the Spirit of God from his home to a land he never saw before. Even while in the Land of Promise, it still was not his home. He sought a spiritual city. Isaac was different than Abraham. Isaac was not a man of faith, seeing things from afar. Isaac was born in the Land of Promise and lived his spiritual life as one in that spiritual city. Abraham walked a path of faith, but Isaac walked in the reality of the faith.

It takes faith to produce reality. For many years we have heard of the greatness of the walk of Abraham, that walk of faith. Myriads of sermons have been preached on Abraham and the message of faith. All have been true and well founded because man is justified by faith in God, and it is experiential. But it is time for the son of Abraham to be born and mature in the church. There is a time for the torch to be passed from faith, the substance of things hoped for, to the very reality of the life of God manifested in a people.

It is difficult for people to have faith for the reality of who they are in Christ. It is difficult for such a belief to be birthed in the saint because for many years the church has professed that perfection (Matthew 5:48, Greek maturity) is attainable only when we "get to heaven." Other ideas such as: "We are sinners saved by grace," express the thought that we are still sinners even though we have experienced salvation. The idea that we now are saints and not sinners, is an idea whose time has come. Abraham saw perfection and deliverance afar off but Isaac revealed the life of God in his own lifetime.

The religious belief structure of the church, that mystical body of Christ, has kept the individual believers from truly believing they are one in Christ. The book of Revelation brings out that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (2:6, 15) is an abomination to God. This is the doctrine of the priesthood over the laity (the body of Christ). This doctrine finds its manifestation in various ways.

Isaac was a man who should not have been born. His name means "laughter". His father and mother named him Isaac because in one sense he was an anomaly, an exception to the norm, an abnormality. What woman at age 99 or what man at age 100 could produce a child? Truly, it was miraculous. But then again, Abraham lived to be 175, so he was only in his middle age when he had Isaac.

Isaac was the promise of Abraham. God had promised to give Abraham a son in whom the nations of the world would be blessed. Fourteen years earlier, at age 86, Abraham knew he was getting old and therefore went to his concubine to conceive a son to carry on his lineage. Abraham tried to perform, tried in the flesh, tried in his carnality to bring forth that which God said He would produce. Abraham looked at himself, realized time was passing him by and that God’s word had not yet been manifested. So, he decided to assist God and produced Ishmael from his concubine, Hagar.

This seed of the flesh, Ishmael, is found in every saint and has to be cast out. For the flesh cannot produce the son. Abraham knowing that the time was coming when he could not produce on the natural plane, tried to hurry up the fulfillment of the promise of God. The natural plane is not a concern to God but is only a concern to a carnal Christian. The carnal saint needs to put away childish things, the elementary doctrines, and produce the life of Isaac.

Isaac was the product of a crucified life. When Abraham came to the end of himself and his self-effort, then God could work. It is only when we stop trying to do things by faith and let God have preeminence that God will produce Himself for us in ourselves. When Abraham was finally crucified, that is, when he no longer had any desire to do anything for God, then he could be used. Abraham decided not to produce after the flesh anymore.

So when this verse states this one was born in Zion, Zion represents the third feast. First there is the nation of Israel (salvation) and within that nation is Jerusalem (baptism of the Spirit) and within that city is the highest hill, Zion (union). Isaac was born out of the crucified life of Abraham right into the full nature of God. We have within us the capability to produce the fullness of Christ. It remains for the church, the body of Christ, to identify itself with Christ as a saint rather than as a sinner.

When one has been taught that Abraham is the great one to follow as a type and shadow, it is hard to discern that there could be another. But God said He was the God of the living, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 22:32). We need to study the truth of all three men.

When we receive Christ as our Savior we receive the fullness of Him. When our life of faith is over, when we move out of faith (Abraham) into the knowledge of who we are (Isaac), we can produce the life of God. But first we must know who we are and that we are in the fullness. Our life is hid with God in Christ (Colossians 3:3).

Isaac was a man born contrary to nature. His father and mother were too old. The Isaac in each of us spiritually is born contrary to the nature of the normal church teachings. There is a son who is going to be born out of us (Revelation 12) and is already born in some. Isaac never walked in the part realm. He, like Jesus, learned obedience through the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:19). Isaac was content in who he was and just walked out the plan of God.

In Genesis 17:24 it states that God dealt with Abraham about circumcision which in the natural is cutting off of the foreskin around the male penis. After Abraham had produced Ishmael, he realized it was a fleshly act, a carnal mistake spiritually. Before the law was given (it came with Moses much later), Abraham in the walk of grace (for grace precedes the law, see Genesis 6:8) felt led to circumcise himself, Ishmael and all the men in his tribe. Symbolically, Abraham was saying that he would no longer produce after the flesh again.

Then in Genesis 21:4 we find that on the eighth day of Isaac’s life, he was circumcised. This is a type and shadow of Christ in the temple and the same being done (Luke 2:21). Medical doctors have determined on the natural plane that the eighth day of a male’s life is the day of the highest natural immunity he will have to infection. After that the immunity that was received from his mother decreases as he builds his own immune system. So Isaac uses the strength of his father/mother to propel him into the fullness.

Eight in the scriptures is the number of new beginning. After the seventh day in which God rested, the eighth starts a whole new cycle. The name ‘Jesus’ is 888 in Bible numerics. Every letter in the Greek is also a number. So Jesus’ name is actually 888. The fallen man is 666. God brings forth Christ to redeem man, a new beginning. Isaac, like Christ, circumcised on the eighth day, speaks of the old flesh production being cut off. The foreskin of the heart being cleansed spiritually (Deuteronomy 10:16).

The foreskin was cut off because it could harbor germs and not be fully cleansed. When placed into a womb these germs then could cause problems for the woman. God wants a man to be fully in His nature that can go back to the woman, the church, and impregnate her with the seed of the third realm, Tabernacles, thereby producing after His nature. But it takes a man who knows who he is and what he can do.

In Genesis 21:8 we note that Isaac was weaned. This was a great time of celebration in the Eastern society when this was done. It has little meaning in Western society. Upon being weaned the child would move into the tent of the Father and begin training and be brought up. It was a time of separation from the mother, not a complete separation as is done when puberty occurs, but a separation nevertheless. Isaac would now learn the way of his father.

We are to leave the mother side of God (Almighty in the Hebrew means the full-breasted one, the one who gives milk). We are to begin to learn the ways of the Spirit. Before, the life of the Spirit was spilt into our mouth from our mother’s breast, but now we are to learn to eat of the meat, leaving the elementary doctrines. We begin to grow in the Father’s tent, even as Jesus grew in the stature and wisdom of God (Luke 2:52).

Galatians 4:25-31 states that Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, is the bondwoman and Ishmael is the Law. These two, the law and the slavery of it are cast out when the son of the promise comes, and grace reigns. For the law was a schoolmaster until the child comes of age. Isaac is the son of fullness.

So, Ishmael is cast out and he and his mother leave with skins of water. But along the way they drink the water, but do not have any water in themselves. Clouds without water as Jude states. The law is spiritual (Romans 7:14) but it does not have life in itself. The tree of knowledge of good (the law is spiritual) and evil (brings forth death) is not the tree of life. Those that live by the rituals, traditions, etc. of the church denominations and never have come to experience the three feasts are like the bondwoman and Ishmael. Their life (water) dries up after a while because that which had sustained them in the natural, runs out. The law is to bring us to Christ.

What do we mean by bringing us to Christ? Many saved and even Spirit-filled, tongue speaking saints are under the law, in Ishmael. How so? For they never come to the fullness. They walk by the faith of Abraham and do not come to the knowledge of who they are in Christ, because they put things off until they get to heaven. Hebrews 10:9 and 9:8 state the first must be removed before the second can be established. The realm of Passover has to be removed in one sense so that the realm of Pentecost can come forth. The part realms of Passover and Pentecost must be removed so that the Holy of Holies can come forth, Tabernacles. Another way of stating it is that the saint must come to the understanding that Adam was removed at the cross and that he is alive in Christ.

Ishmael is like Jerusalem at the time of Christ. The religious leaders were whited sepulchres. They went around in front of everyone looking holy, having outward signs, but not living the life. Today in 1997 in the USA church, the body of Christ, still does the same. They divorce, which shows they do not understand God’s way or plan, they commit adultery, they have abortions and others support euthanasia and gay rights. The saints have not produced the life of God; it is not manifested in the body of Christ, and the law is futile.

Ishmael, that carnal mind, must be cast out in order that the mind of Christ can be brought in (Philippians 2:5). We must be renewed daily (Colossians 3:10). We must come to the knowledge of who we are. Abraham walked by faith, but Isaac walked in who he was. This can only occur as the carnal mind is given no place.

Ishmael had water in the skin. He was willing to drink of the Life of God, but he was unable to know where the well was that had water (Genesis 21:19). For he did not know the way of Life. Isaac knew where the wells of his father were and dug them (26:18). Isaac knew where to find life and knew that the life of God was hidden inside the earth (inside each of us - Luke 17:21).

The Philistines could not touch Isaac because there was no nature in Isaac with which they could contend. When you experience union, Tabernacles, the third feast, you will see that the enemy is no longer dwelling in your heavens. He has been cast out. When you know that you know you are in Christ, there is no room for the enemy. Isaac was born there, in the Holy of Holies, in Zion. We are too from our first spiritual birth, but it has been hid from us.

We note that the realm of life is different. Abraham did not contend with Abimelech. In the Pentecostal order they are always fighting the devil. No, the higher order, the order of Melchizedek, the realm of Tabernacles, even blesses the enemy. For because of Isaac, Abraham gives oxen, sheep etc. to Abimelech (21:28) in order to bless him. Isaac knows that the enemy is his beloved enemy, the one who helps him to manifest the plan of God.

The enemy cannot contend with the one who knows who he is. The Isaac understands the plan of God and because of that he can walk the life in manifestation of God’s will having become God’s will (George Hawtin has a great booklet - Becoming God’s Will). Isaac understands the buffeting and its purpose. Paul understood and that is why he writes about the thorn in the flesh. The thorn was to keep him in that place with God - safe and secure.

There is a substantial difference between an offering and a sacrifice. Genesis 22:2 states that Abraham was told of God to offer Isaac. A sacrifice is needed if there is sin. But Abraham is a man of faith, one who has already experienced the sacrificial Lamb of God in his own life. A sacrifice is no longer needed in such a walk after one has experienced Jesus Christ as your salvation.

What then is an offering? An offering to God is a pleasing savor. It is something given voluntarily without condition. God prefers an offering. Abraham understood this because Abraham was after the order of Melchizedek. He always was giving. He gave to Melchizedek; he gave to Abimelech. But what is the offering that God desires?

When you know who you are in Christ (Isaac) then you can also give yourself up! Most Christians want to hang onto Jesus in them! They are worried about losing their salvation. The only way you can lose it is to keep it! Paul said that he was willing to be cast off if it could bring his Hebrew people in.

We need to understand something about Abraham too. Faith is to sacrifice this life. Many in the Christian walk have no concept of sacrificing this life. Many cry out that they want God to bless them, move upon them, give them prosperity. All these ideas are carnal. Jesus is the pattern. He who had everything set it aside and made Himself a little lower than the angels in order to give life to all. This is the pattern of Isaac.

Isaac knew that his father, Abraham, was called and purposed of God. Yet, Isaac was willing to be separated from his father, even as Christ was from His. Isaac was willing to lay down his life, even as Christ did His. Isaac was raised to sit in authority of his father’s house, even as Christ was raised from the dead and sits on His father’s throne. Isaac counted it all joy (James 1) even as Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

Isaac was willing to be the living offering. He was willing to offer the Christ nature in Himself. Genesis 22:3 states that it was to be a burnt offering. Our God is a consuming fire. He removes with fervent heat all of the earth (the adamic nature 2 Peter 3:7-12). Just as the adamic nature was removed in the flood and the righteous remained, so too the fire shall remove the adamic and the righteous shall remain. To re-enter the Garden one must meet the Cherubim. They have the flaming sword which is to circumcise the foreskin of your heart. Isaac was ready.

Genesis 22:3 reveals that Abraham and Isaac leave early in the morning - it is still dark out. The place of crucifixion is the dawning of a new day, but the results of it are not always seen in the darkness of night. It takes the daylight to reveal the inner workings. The dealings of God are for His elect and not for the hirelings (verse 5). For the hireling must remain behind and not enter into the realm of life. These hirelings were of Abraham’s household, which speaks of Pentecost, but they were not of the elect.

Isaac knew who he was because of his father. Isaac knew that the seed of God would be called in him because his father told him the details. Isaac knew about lambs being slain as offerings to God. He had seen it done by Abraham. Abraham testified to Isaac of things to come. It was the relationship Isaac had with his father that strengthened him in the time of his trial. He knew his father so well that he trusted him in death as well as in life. In fact, he trusted him in death so much so that he believed he would be raised and therefore submitted to the cross.

God is looking upon those whom He has called and chosen to fulfill the role of Isaac in this hour. Every generation must have its Isaac company for the faith to continue.

It is because they do not go by faith, but by sight, by knowing who they are that they have the power to lay down their life and take it up again. It is the resurrection life that enables them to go to the cross for others knowing that the cross cannot contain, hinder nor stop the life that they live in.

Being conformed into the image of the Son is not a self- pleasing, self-gratifying event. On the contrary, it is a call of ministry, sacrifice, offering, etc. for the sake of creation (Romans 8:19-20). It is only the working of the cross in our life that causes us to find out what nature we are in - Adam or Christ’s. But there is a son, an Isaac son, who does not murmur at the wood, the knife nor the fire but cries out "It is finished." Only a true son in the nature of the Father can bear the cross and come forth out of the grave (carnality) bringing all creation in deliverance with Him (him) - Ephesians 4:8, John 14:12. Let us be conformed to His glorious image that He may be glorified IN us (2 Thessalonians 1:10, 12).