When God introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush, He called Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6), thereby identifying Himself as the Almighty and Sovereign One who justifies, regenerates, and provides perfectly for His own, and remains faithful to His people forever. All this “according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).
The God of Abraham: chose Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans to become the first of a new race, a peculiar people of God’s own possession. Abram was to become the “father of a multitude of nations,” with whom God established a covenant of blessing forever. Abraham “believed in the Lord: and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was justified by faith in the One Who Provides.
God’s policy is Grace.
The God of Isaac: creates life where there seems to be no hope. He miraculously regenerates His people through new birth. Isaac’s physical birth was symbolic of this spiritual truth. We never need to “help God” by human efforts to force our mistakes into the shape of His promises as in the Hagar-Ishmael episode. What God has promised, God will deliver! Note Genesis 17:5-8. “I will make you the father of many nations…I will make you exceedingly fruitful…I will establish My covenant…I will give to you and to your descendants…I will be their God!”
The God of Isaac makes perfect provision for the needs of His people. Later in Isaac’s life, the ram was provided as a substitute for Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. This foreshadowed Jesus who was substituted in death for all of us (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you, me) once and for all, paying the full penalty for our sins. I John 2:2: …and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
God's system is Grace.
The God of Jacob: implants a new nature in the soul of the believer. Over a period of many years and lots of discipline, Jacob became a man of great integrity whose testimony was total faith in the plan and purpose of “the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day” (Genesis 48:15). That isn’t the way he started out. He was a selfish, swindling cheat for much of his adult life. He looked out for number one, as we’re inclined to say. Jacob’s story begins in Genesis 25 and goes all the way to chapter 50; most of it is a sordid tale indeed. However, as we come to chapter 48 and see the unflinching faith of this man, we can believe that he had grown into his new name…Israel. The conniving supplanter had become the Prince of God.
Now, why didn’t God identify Himself as the God of Israel? Because it was to Jacob that He confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 28:13-24, and to whom He made this wonderful promise in verse 15: “And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.”
God remains faithful. He knows who are His.(2 Timothy 2:13,19).
Philippians 1:6 “…He who began a good work in you will perfect it. (2:13)…for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
God's production is Grace.
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