THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION

PROCLAMATION

“And God said unto Abraham … This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised … and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you.”  Genesis 17:9-11 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  When Abram was ninety-nine years old, The Lord God appeared to him.  God told him to be faithful and blameless.  He said that He would make a covenant with him and that he would be the father of many nations. (Genesis 17:1-4)  The Lord changed his name from Abram to Abraham and said that he would be very fruitful and that he would be the father of many kings. (Genesis 17:5-6)  Again God said that He would give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan. (Genesis 15:7 and 17:8)  Then He said that Abraham and his seed after him must keep His covenant. (Genesis 17:7-9)  The covenant was that every male in his household and in the nation must be circumcised.  Every newborn male must be circumcised when he is eight days old. (Genesis 17:10-13)  Anyone in the nation that is not circumcised is to be cut off from the people for breaking the covenant. (Genesis 17:14)  Then The Lord God changed Abraham’s wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah.  And He said that He would bless her with a son at the age of ninety. (Genesis 17:15-21)  After God finished speaking to him, Abraham took his thirteen year son Ishmael and all of the men in his household and they all got circumcised. (Genesis 17:22-27)

 

APPLICATION

Today there are a lot of non-Jewish men and a lot of non-Christian men who have been circumcised.  Many mothers have their infant sons circumcised and there a quite a few adult males who get circumcised.  I have heard non-believers say that it was done for preventive health reasons.  However, the act of circumcision was instituted as a token reminder of the covenant between The Lord God and Abraham and his seed. (Genesis 17:10-11)  Physical circumcision will not save a non-believer.  One must undergo circumcision of the heart in order to be saved. (Romans 2:29)  If our heart and our spirit are not right, then the physical circumcision of the flesh will not matter.  If we believe, then we are God’s people; if we do not then we are not.