Month: August 2012

Genesis 17:15-27
The Promised Son – A Time for Laughter

Introduction: There are times when things occur in our lives and we may wonder why God has let it happen. Maybe a family member dies, financial troubles wipe out our life savings, our home may burn down, or any of another million bad things occurs.

I’ve seen people get angry at God, accuse God, blame God, walk away from church, go back to old, bad habits and the like when troubles come. But one thing we should remember is that there is nothing that happens to us – no matter how bad – that is unique.

The ungodly suffer and the ungodly receive blessings. God’s people have suffered and God’s people have received blessings and each of us too will suffer and we too will receive blessings.

But even more than God’s people, we have the ultimate example of both suffering and loss – God’s own Son, Jesus, shared in our humanity. He was tempted just as we are and He went through the same ordeals we go through, and many were far worse.

Throughout the Bible is a thread which weaves God’s people into a great plan to heal what is broken, to right that which is wrong, and to replace sadness with joy. Today we will see another step in the unfolding of this plan and the thread which weaves together a tapestry of joy and laughter.

Text Verse: Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, And we are glad. Psalm 126:2, 3

Yes, the Lord has done great things for us, just as He did great things for Abraham, the man of faith, whose life was adorned with laughter, and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. From a Princess to the Princess

Three specific entities are addressed in chapter 17 of Genesis in relation to the covenant between God and Abraham. The first is God speaking of Himself. This occurred in verses 4 through 8 –

“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” We looked at those verses 2 weeks ago.

Next, last week we looked at the second addressee of the covenant, God speaking to Abraham. This happened in verses 9-14 –

“And God said to Abraham: ‘As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

The third is to be found in our first two verses today, verses 15 and 16 and they are being spoken to Abraham about his wife –

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

Sarah is the third one addressed by the word of God of whom something is expected. In His statement about her, God renames her from Sarai to Sarah, but when He does, it is done through Abraham. “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.”

Just as God works through Christ to meet with Christ’s bride, so He goes through Abraham for the name to be changed. Over the years, feminists in particular have found fault with the Bible’s use of family hierarchies and the submission of women to men.

But when we look at how God Himself developed the hierarchies and the purposes they serve, we realize that this is the appropriate way to handle these things. One thing is for sure, whether someone likes the way these things are presented in the Bible or not is irrelevant. They are the way God has ordained them.

People who want to pray to God outside of Christ can do so, and they do so all the time. But they are only wasting their efforts in the process. Without Christ to mediate our prayers, they dissolve into the ether, unheard by the ears of God.

In the same way, when the family hierarchy which has been established by God is rejected, it inevitably leads to an unprofitable family life. This has been born out through history and it is being born out now.

As America moves away from the traditional father-led family established by God, it may appear on the surface to be freeing women from some perceived bondage, but in the end, it only leads to disorder, societal breakdown, and a loss of morality.

Another thing about Sarai’s name change… it’s done in the same way that Abraham’s name was changed – by adding a single letter to the name – a letter equivalent to our letter “H.” Actually in the case of Sarai, the H replaces an I.

Both names basically mean the same thing, “Princess.” But in the case of Sarah, it has a fuller meaning, like a noblewoman. It is like a transition from a local to a global meaning or something specific to something general.

Sarai is like “a princess” as if she is in a room with many princesses. But Sarah is like “the princess.” She is over all the princesses and the mother of all people who would come from her. Sarah is noted by Peter in his first epistle for being the epitome of the submissive wife whom God favors –

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, ² when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. ³ Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— ⁴ rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. ⁵ For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, ⁶ as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

The significance of this H letter being added to both their names is believed to associate these two people more closely to the Lord Himself. The letters for the divine name Yahweh are YHVH. By adding the H to their names, it seems He is imparting to them a portion of His own nature.

This then is an elevation beyond the temporal to the spiritual realm. God has conferred a special dignity on them by this addition. It is a way of pointing out His eternal power and Godhead as it is working through them.

This notion is going to be borne out in the coming verses in the circumcising of the household.

Before we go on, I’d like to assure you that if you’re in Christ, you also have moved from the temporal, earthly realm to the spiritual, heavenly realm (Eph 2:4-7). In fulfillment of that, in Revelation God promises you a new name. Your name is already selected and your destiny is already assured because of your faith in Jesus.

¹⁶ And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”

The Lord promises to bless Sarah and He says He will “also give you a son by her.” In other words, “Just as you have received a son through Hagar, so you will now receive a son from Sarah. But the son to be born will be the son of promise.”

This is now the 5^th time we see God working through the second son instead of the firstborn. This demonstrates to us the doctrine of divine election. We saw it when God accepted Abel’s offering over the offering of his older brother.

We saw it when Seth, the son of Adam, replaced Cain his older brother. We saw it again when Noah’s second son Shem was placed into the messianic line before his older brother Japheth. Again it occurred when Abraham replaced his older brother Haran.

And this pattern will continue and grow richly in the pages of the Bible. God is sovereignly choosing people and circumstances which lead to the Messiah apart from birth order. This doctrine ultimately finds its fulfillment in the Person of His own Son, Jesus, who replaces Adam and who is the true Israel.

As the Bible unfolds, we will continue to look at each instance and draw patterns out which will show us the wonderful hand of God upon time, upon humanity, and upon all variables which lead us to, and teach us about, Jesus.

In the promise of a son through Sarah, God says that she shall become nations – meaning many groups of people, and that kings shall come from her. Through Sarah will come King Saul, King David, King Solomon, and many other kings. And ultimately from her would come the King of kings, Jesus.

The thing that is hardest to get my mind around is that the Lord is working through time and people to bring about the incarnation of Himself when He will unite with humanity in Mary’s womb.

Time is what keeps everything from happening at once, and God, who created time, is working in the stream of time to come to the point that has been in His mind since before creation.

Everything that we are experiencing, and everything that has ever been experienced, is happening simultaneously in God’s mind and yet because of what He has created, it can happen in a sequence which we participate in. It’s just too much to fully grasp.

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Every reasonable commentary that I’ve read about this verse says the same thing – that Abraham’s laughter was of joy, not of unbelief. Any commentary which says otherwise has been made by someone who doesn’t understand the context, the man, or the supporting Bible passages which clearly identify Abraham’s laughter as that of faith mixed with Joy.

In Romans 4, it says this – “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” EXPLAIN

In John 8:56, Jesus probably refers to this incident and Abraham’s surety that this son of promise would lead to the Messiah –

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

After laughing, his internal question has also been misconstrued – “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Abraham was a man of faith and his question was a rhetorical one, not a doubting one. In fact, he will have many more children in the years ahead and so it’s obvious he’s not talking about ability, but rather what is reasonable. And this is absolutely certain because of his next words to God…

¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

Abraham has a son, and despite how we look at the way Ishmael came about in the modern world, it was a normal birth to Abraham. He was promised a son and the Lord gave him a son. Up to this point in time, Sarah hasn’t been mentioned in any of the promises.

By now, Ishmael is 13 years old and Abraham probably loves him very much. So instead of going through the whole process again, why isn’t Ishmael suitable for the task? But God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

What God decides is what is right and perfect. But Abraham is thinking from a human perspective. There is nothing wrong with him making known his request to God and it is a parent’s duty to pray for their children, just as he is doing for Ishmael.

He is praying for him to be kept in the covenant and to have the grace of walking before God in uprightness. But God determines the “who” and the “why.” Ishmael will participate in the earthly blessings, but it is Isaac who will participate in both the temporal and spiritual ones.

II. The Lord Brings Laughter

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son..

Let’s look at how different translations read here for fun –

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son…
And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son…
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed;…
God replied, “No! Your wife Sarah will give you a son,…
and God saith, ‘Sarah thy wife is certainly bearing a son to thee…

The word is aval in Hebrew and it can be translated in a variety of ways. This is what we call Translator’s Preference. Some say “no,” some say “Yes, but” and some say “indeed” or “certainly.” The reason for differences is what the translators feel is being relayed. People who stick to a single translation not only get myopia, but they miss out on what could otherwise be the correct translation.

And sometimes differences in translations can actually mean the exact same thing, but they stress a different point of view. In other words, “Yes, but” can mean the exact same thing as “No” in the ultimate sense, but it does it by stressing the immediate in one case, and showing the distinction at a later point.

To support any translation, the rest of the Bible needs to be taken in context. This is something you will never get from a topical sermon preacher. And so unless you’re willing to study the Bible, you will never come to these precious insights which God really wants you to know and think about.

^{19 (con’t)} and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

A son will come through Sarah and he will be called Yitsak – the exact same word that describes what Abraham did when he heard. Abraham laughed and laughter is his name – Yitsak. It is through this child of joy that the everlasting covenant of grace will continue.

Just as the promise was made to Abraham, it is being transferred through this coming child. Ishmael will live before Abraham and the Lord, but it will only be as a physical son lives in our world. To understand both the renaming of Sarah and the selection of Isaac, even before his birth, we need to look at Paul’s explanation in Galatians 4 –

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷ For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

As you can see, the “Yes, but” of the NIV translators is not a bad choice of the previous verse after all. When Abraham asked that Ishmael would live before the Lord, he in fact would and indeed he would be blessed. Here is what Bishop Thomas Newton says about this verse –

“It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity, that a man’s whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, and the same customs, throughout all ages! These are the only people besides the Jews who have subsisted as a distinct people from the beginning, and in some respects they very much resemble each other – 1. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from the father of the faithful. 2. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived this ceremony from Abraham. 3. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs, who were their princes or governors. 4. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, marry among themselves, and in their own tribes. 5. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the Divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history. We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having, as it were, ocular demonstration for our faith.”

²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”

Despite the promised blessing to Ishmael, which has surely been fulfilled in an amazing degree, the covenant established in Abraham would likewise be established in Isaac through Sarah. This tells us with all certainty that the covenant is based upon what is spiritual, even if it includes the earthly.

This blessing will reach to the Messiah and then through Him to each of us, who, through His blood are brought near to God and in whose presence we will dwell. But at the time of Abraham and even until now, that isn’t fully realized as we’ll see from verse 22 –

 ²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

As John Gill says, “The highest enjoyments of God here are not lasting; uninterrupted communion with him is reserved for another world.”

God has finished his discussion with Abraham and this highest enjoyment, filled with laughter and amazement, ends. As a sign that what was said was ironclad, this verse says that “God went up from Abraham.” The Lord who appeared to him wasn’t merely a human being. In this single chapter He has been called Yahweh, God Almighty, and God.

At other times in the Bible Yahweh appears in a body in a human manifestation of Himself. To leave no doubt in the great man’s faith, He ascends visibly, just as He will do at other times, even at the ascension of Jesus recorded in Acts. And now we move on to our final thought today.

III. A Sign in the Flesh

²³ So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.

This verse is specifically given to us to demonstrate Abraham’s obedience to the directive that was given in verse 12 and 13 which said, “…every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised.”

God gave the directive and the next verse after He departed Abraham’s obedience is noted. This confirms what I said earlier about the changing of Sarai’s name to Sarah. The addition of H was an elevation beyond the temporal to the spiritual realm.

This is proven because all of the people in Abraham’s household were circumcised, but only Isaac, who isn’t even born yet, was given the promise. Think this through with me… The promise was made to Abraham before he was circumcised.

And then when the promise was made concerning Isaac, it wasn’t just before Abraham was circumcised, but even before Isaac was conceived. Because this is so, the promise must be a spiritual promise and circumcision cannot play a part in it.

It also is another absolute indication that infant baptism, which we talked about last week, has no connection to circumcision and that it is an unscriptural procedure.

Later in the Bible we will see that through Isaac, the promise will be made again to his son Jacob, who is Israel. Therefore, there is an earthly significance to the circumcision, but there is also a spiritual one which applies only to those who are the elect of God.

Anyone who can trace his lineage back to Abraham is a son of Abraham by birth – and billions of people can do so. But only those who are of faith receive the nearness to God through adoption as sons. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3 –

“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”

He makes the point and then spends several chapters defending it. And it’s something we need to remember every day of our lives. Especially when we do something wrong or something that we know would really upset God.

He has made a promise, a spiritual promise, of eternal life to all who believe in the work of Jesus. If that promise is based on something we do after the promise is accepted, then it isn’t really a spiritual promise.

The idea that a person can lose their salvation based on something they do or fail to do is so foreign to the Bible that it is almost impossible to imagine that people actually teach it. But they do. None of you should ever, ever, ever fail to understand this – you can never lose the salvation Jesus has granted you.

God’s love for you, in Christ Jesus, is unconditional, just as His promise to Isaac before He was even born was also unconditional.

²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Abraham was born in the year 2009 Anno Mundi and therefore this circumcision occurred in the year 2108. If you want to know whether this was a painful process or not, it was. Other places in the Bible tell us of adults being circumcised and still being in pain three days later. For a 99 year old man… yeowch.

There are several traditions on who circumcised Abraham. One is that Noah’s son, Shem, who was still alive and 549 years old did it. Another is that his head servant Eliezer did it. And a third is that he circumcised himself. If that’s true, double yeowch.

²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

For today’s descendants of Ishmael, there is no specific age as to when they circumcise. Some do it at infancy, some at 13 in honor of Ishmael, and some at other ages. However, the covenant between God and his people requires it at the age of 8 days old.

If for no other reason than this, the descendants of Ishmael who have not called on Jesus are not only excluded from the spiritual blessings, but they are excluded from the earthly land blessing as well. The land of Israel belongs to a certain group of people and they follow this practice to this day.

²⁶ That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; ²⁷ and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

On the very same day that Abraham was instructed to perform the rite by God, he did so. There was no delaying, no contemplating, and no discussion. This rite, instituted in Abraham, would be performed again on the Son of God 1895 years later – when He was 8 days old. In his detailed account of the life of Jesus, we read this in chapter 2 of the book of Luke –

And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

God asked nothing of Abraham, nor of any of Abraham’s descendants, that He wasn’t willing to ask of His own Son. Abraham was obedient to the call and performed it without delay. This is our last verse of the day and it almost begs the question of each of us…

Have we been obedient to the call of Jesus? There are several parts to this. The first is whether we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. If so, there are certain things He asks of us. One is that we be baptized as an outward demonstration of our inward change.

The next is to learn the Bible, to read it, and to be able to explain it to others. This isn’t something God would call optional – it is an act of obedience, just as Abraham’s circumcision was. In this word, we find how to live properly and walk in a careful and holy manner as we live out our lives. Is this something we’re endeavoring to do?

For those who haven’t called on Jesus, this is where obedience begins. It is where the circumcision not made with hands comes from. It is a circumcision of the heart which is performed by God. Let me explain how you can be obedient to this call…

Next Genesis 18:1-15 (A Time for Laughter – The Son of Promise)

The Princess, The Son, and The Sign

God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife
You shall not call her name Sarai
Even though you’ve called her it for most of Your life
Sarah shall be her name starting now and as time goes by

I will bless her and also by her give you a son
Yes, I will bless her, she shall be a mother of many nations
Kings of peoples shall come from her and from this one
It will be so forever, through all generations

Then Abraham laughed as he fell on his face
And as he did, he said in his heart
Shall a child be born to me here in this place?
To a man who is one hundred, shall this child’s life start?

And shall Sarah who is ninety years old
Bear a son to me, O God, just as you’ve told

And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you
But God said “No, Sarah your wife shall bear a son… it’s true!

You will call him Isaac, yes Laughter is his name
I will establish My covenant with him instead of Ishmael
It is an everlasting covenant which will bring Me fame
And one which will rescue many from the pits of hell

As for Ishmael, I have heard your request
And I have blessed him in several ways
He will be fruitful and multiply and so be blessed
He will beget twelve princes, yes 12 sons he will raise

But my covenant is with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear next year
It will be at the time I have set, so Abraham have no fear

Then God finished talking with him and so up he went
Then Abraham took Ishmael and all who were born in his home
And all who were bought with money, there was no argument
Every male among them was circumcised under the tent’s dome

Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised and Ishmael 13
Along with everyone else, it must have been an ouchy scene

But obedience is what he was called to
And obedience is also what God expects of you

Jesus was obedient even to death on a cross
And we too should follow Him, no matter the cost

When we do, our rewards will be great
And nothing can keep us from the blessings of God
Wonderful promises His word does state
To those who will someday on heavenly streets trod

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Genesis 17:9-14
The Covenant of Circumcision
(Shadows of the Coming Messiah)

Introduction: I have to admit that there are times I find it hard to put together a whole sermon on a particular passage. But then there are times when I have only a couple of verses and I mourn over how much I have to leave out.

Every sermon I type is the same length so that it will take about the same amount of time to preach. But sometimes I wish I could go on for hours about a subject. Today is one of them.

The topic of circumcision is so vast and so important that we could be here until late tonight going over different avenues that it takes in the Bible. I apologize, in advance, for all we will skip over concerning the subject.

Text Verse: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
And take away the foreskins of your hearts,
You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest My fury come forth like fire,
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.” Jeremiah 4:4

You see, even in the Old Testament, circumcision was more than a physical sign. It was something that was to be accompanied with an internal change of the heart – away from the world and directed toward God and so… May God Speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Covenant of Circumcision

Mention “Jim the anabaptist fireman.”

Last week we went over Genesis 17:1-8. Let me read those verses to you again so you have a context for today’s sermon –

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”’”

So Abraham, with his new name and his new identity has had the promise from 25 years earlier restated once again with new details added. The Lord is moving in His perfect timing and He is preparing a great new beginning for His chosen servant.

⁹ And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

In our sermon verses last week, verse 4 said, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,…” After saying this, the Lord renamed Abram to Abraham and restated and refined His promises to him. In the process, we read the word “my” or “I” seven times. This was the Lord’s promises and His vow.

Now He says to Abraham, “As for you…” The conditions God expects are laid out in verses 9-14. The very first thing we see though is that the conditions apply not only to Abraham, but to his descendants after him through their generations.

¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised…

Circumcision is the sign of the covenant that God mandates. Last week we established that we are heirs of Abraham and we are his spiritual descendants by faith. If this is so, then what God mandates to Abraham could be interpreted as being mandated to us in the church as well.

The question before you is this: “If we are Abraham’s descendants by faith and all of Abraham’s male descendants must be circumcised, then are we in the church required to circumcise our male children in the flesh? It is a confusing issue for many.

In fact, certain denominations and sects, without taking the time to understand our position in Christ, do mandate that their followers be cicumcised. Can you defend why this is wrong? Pay attention today and hopefully you’ll understand where the error in this lies.

Remember our great rule of interpretation – context, context, context. If we keep things in context, we’ll keep from the error of heresy. And mandating circumcision to meet the requirements of the law is, according to Paul, heresy.

Just so you know what a heresy is, I’ll explain it to you. Bad doctrine isn’t always a heresy. The difference is that bad doctrine doesn’t keep someone from being saved, but heresy does. Bad doctrine can lead to a loss of joy or simply looking stupid, but heresy will lead to hell. And teaching a heresy doesn’t keep someone from being saved; it keeps the next guy from being saved.

Now, let’s take a minute and think about the covenant God made with Noah and see the difference between that and the one made with Abraham. Noah’s covenant was one-sided and unconditional. The sign of it was a natural phenomenon, the rainbow. A rainbow comes about without any help or intervention from man.

In the same way, the land covenant to Abraham’s descendants was given on an oath. The physical descendants of Abraham are the recipients of the covenant. Regarding the land, there were no strings attached to it. However, God is now making a condition to the people who would receive the promises made to Abraham.

This doesn’t change the land covenant, but it defines those who will qualify to receive it. So let’s think of it like this to help you understand. A jillionaire comes to me and says, “I am giving to you and to your descendants the island known as Siesta Key.” This is unconditional and one sided. This is what has come about since chapter 12 of Genesis with the land promise.

Later the same jillionaire comes to me and says, “This is the sign of the covenant. Every one of your male descendants will have a beard. Anyone without a beard is excluded from the promise.”

The land promise hasn’t changed. The land is still given to me and my descendants, but those who are actually entitled to it have certain obligations. If only one of my descendants grows a beard, then only one will get the land, but the land still belongs to me and my descendants. If they all grow a beard, they all can live here.

I hope this clears this up. Unlike the promise to Noah which was unconditional, and the earlier promises to Abraham which were also, this clarification of the promise defines the parameters. And they are voluntary.

In this verse, there is a responsibility in the individual toward the word of promise. An assent to the promise allows its fulfillment.

If one of my descendants doesn’t want to be handsome like me, Then he doesn’t get to live on beautiful Siesta Key.

¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Circumcision for the purposes of the covenant is to be in the flesh of the foreskins. This sign then is what brings males into the covenant and it is the longest continuously practiced ceremony pertaining to a covenant on the earth today. It is so inextricably tied to the covenant that in the book of Acts, Stephen calls it the “covenant of circumcision.”

But there is something to note. Not everyone who is circumcised is a member of the covenant. There have been and there are even today other groups of people who circumcise their children, but they don’t qualify. We’ll discuss why in the coming verses.

¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.

Muslims circumcise their children, but they are not inheritors of the promise. Does anyone here know why? There are a couple reasons. First, the promise was later given to Isaac, not Ishmael and then to Jacob, not Esau. Only this line receives the promises.

But even if some of them did descend from these two, they still wouldn’t be entitled because muslims circumcise their children without regard to a specific age. They do it anywhere from birth all the way up to 18 years old. They are excluded from the promise because they don’t participate in it.

For the covenant sons of Abraham, circumcision of the foreskin isn’t just mandated to bring someone into the covenant, but there are specific procedures which accompany the rite. The first is that it is to be accomplished on the child when he is eight days old. The number 8 in the Bible consistently signifies “new beginnings.”

For example, there were 8 people on the Ark of Noah, all of which entered the new life – a picture of the resurrection and a new beginning. The covenant with Abraham is brought up 8 times and the 8^th occurred at the binding of Isaac when he was asked to sacrifice him, a picture of the resurrection – the new beginning.

Joseph had 8 specific times he communicated with his brothers. The 8^th time is when his brothers met with him in Genesis 50 – another veiled picture of a new beginning. We could go on with the number 8 for hours and hours, but it’s clear that the number 8 has a special spiritual significance – new beginnings.

However, the 8^th day also has physical significance – something not discovered until the 20^th century. The Apologetics Press reports the following from 1953: “Holt Pediatrics observed that a newborn infant has ‘peculiar susceptibility to bleeding between the second and fifth days of life… Hemorrhages at this time, though often inconsequential, are sometimes extensive; they may produce serious damage to internal organs, especially to the brain, and cause death from shock and exsanguination.” Obviously, then, if vitamin K is not produced in sufficient quantities until days five through seven, it would be wise to postpone any surgery until some time after that. But why did God specify day eight? On the eighth day, the amount of prothrombin present actually is elevated above one-hundred percent of normal—and is the only day in the male’s life in which this will be the case under normal conditions. If surgery is to be performed, day eight is the perfect day to do it. Vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak.’”

Dr. McMillen observed that “We should commend the many hundreds of workers who labored at great expense over a number of years to discover that the safest day to perform circumcision is the eighth. Yet, as we congratulate medical science for this recent finding, we can almost hear the leaves of the Bible rustling. They would like to remind us that four thousand years ago, when God initiated circumcision… Abraham did not pick the eighth day after many centuries of trial-and-error experiments. Neither he nor any of his company from the ancient city of Ur in the Chaldees ever had been circumcised. It was a day picked by the Creator of vitamin K.”

Even in the seemingly bloody ritual of circumcision we have a display of the wisdom of the Creator and His tending to the health and welfare of His covenant people. If this is how God treats the physical nature of His people, how much more sure and reliable will He treat the spiritual promises that He has made to us!

But there is something important for us to consider in circumcision that can help us with our own Christian families. Starting with Abraham, but following through every generation since, the parent…the parent is the one responsible for circumcising their child. The child is a passive recipient of the rite.

If we look at this example of the Hebrews, we can understand why they’ve held together and prospered for the past 4000 years. It’s because they are acknowledging their responsibility to the covenant and demonstrating a hope in the promises it holds.

If we, as faithful Christians, act in the same responsible manner, we can trust that our families will be equally blessed. This isn’t talking about physical blessing, but the blessing of knowing that our children will be a part of the spiritual heritage which Christ established for us.

We have the responsibility to raise our children in a godly manner, just as the Hebrews were to faithfully circumcise their children. When we do, we have the hope that Christ will take hold of them and carry them through to His eternal dwelling.

There are no ultimate guarantees because every person is an individual with free-will, but by following the guidelines of the Bible, we have a much stronger hope than if we neglect our responsibility as Christian parents.

¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

Him-owl yim-owl y’lid b’tekha or “in circumcising shall you circumcise.” This repetition was given to denote the absolute necessity of doing it and the care to be followed in the practice. There was to be no uncircumcised male among the people.

Every male born in the house and every person who came into the house as a servant or a slave was to be circumcised. Unless you understand what circumcision symbolizes, this passage doesn’t make much sense, but when – in a few minutes you learn – it will be something I hope you never forget.

This rule is the same concept of rule that’s given by Jesus when He said that we were to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

It is for this reason that many churches base membership on having been baptized… and that by full immersion. Unfortunately too many churches put the cart before the horse and baptize infants as a sort of New Testament substitute for circumcision.

But… these children aren’t members of the covenant of faith, nor are they members of Israel – which is a covenant in the flesh. Baptism can in no way be considered a replacement for circumcision in the family life of Christians as you’ll see.

The only way to become an adopted child of God is by the mental assertion and vocal pronouncement that Jesus is Lord. Only after this is baptism a recognizable tenet of the inner conversion. The only thing baptism of infants does is promote false security in a person that may not have accepted Jesus as Lord.

A second problem with comparing infant baptism with circumcision is the obvious overlooking of women in the rite of circumcision. If we were to carry the concept through as much of the church has done, then we would simply skip the baptizing of women. But this would be as unscriptural as baptizing infants.

The entire purpose of circumcision has a greater fulfillment in the Person of Jesus Christ and looks forward to Him. It, therefore, cannot be equated with infant baptism. To understand this ancient rite more fully pay attention in a few minutes and we will discover the symbolism which points back to the Fall of Man and forward to the restoration from that Fall in Jesus Christ.

¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

The law for the people was circumcision, but it was the parent who had the child circumcised on the 8^th day. In this verse, we see the consequences of the parents’ decision affecting the children and the owner’s decision affecting the servant.

In such a case, we’d also see the failure of the society at large because anyone who knew the child was uncircumcised, including the priests who were to perform the rite, would be guilty of negligence. This is actually a way of keeping the entire corporate body accountable to each other.

And this, once again, finds a parallel in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians in particular addresses the handling of people within the church that aren’t meeting the requirements that have been laid out. There is in the church a corporate responsibility of ensuring that we act in the manner that the Lord has laid out for us.

About this verse, Adam Clarke says, “it was impossible for a person who had not received the spiritual purification to enter into eternal glory. The spirit of this law extends to all ages, dispensations, and people; he whose heart is not purified from sin cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

II. Shadows of the Coming Messiah

The questions that we should ask now are, “Why was there no requirement on women?” “Why is circumcision given and it only pertains to men?” “What is God doing this for?” In other words, “Why wasn’t a physical sign given that could have been more obviously seen by others like a tattoo or a certain hairstyle and why cut males only and in such a personal way?

The answer to this goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15, a verse known as the Protoevangelium, or the “First Gospel.” When God cursed the serpent, He said this to him –

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

We learned right in the first pages of the Bible that a human being would come to redeem man, but that He would be from the seed of the woman. What is implicitly stated here and explicitly stated in the book of 1 Corinthians is that sin came from one man. What is implicit in circumcision is that it also comes through man. In other words, sin is transferred to us from Adam through man.

By cutting the male organ in the rite of circumcision, a picture was being made of the cutting away of sin. This is why even those who were purchased as slaves were to be circumcised. It was a picture of cutting away the transfer of sin within the covenant community.

But as like so many things in the Bible, this is only a picture. The sin still transfers from father to child. And all people – males and females alike inherit that sin from the father – thus the need for a Father without sin in order for there to be a Child without sin.

This is the reason for both the virgin birth and the incarnation. If these didn’t come about, then there would be no salvation – ever – for any human. Man would be eternally lost and separated from God. But God in His infinite wisdom solved the problem.

Sin transfers through the man, but Jesus was born sinless because He was born of God the Father and Mary. However, in order to prevail over sin, He would have to live a sinless life as well. If He failed, He wouldn’t have been a qualified substitute for Adam.

It is the resurrection that proves that Jesus was born of God. It also proves that He was not only was born sinless, but He also lived a sinless life, fulfilling the law. You see, the resurrection is 100% conditional upon the virgin birth.

No virgin birth equals no resurrection. We can know this – 100% – because babies that die don’t resurrect. If this weren’t true, then babies, who have never sinned when they died, would come back to life. Sin is inherited from the father.

However, the virgin birth doesn’t guarantee the resurrection. Nor does living a sinless life if one isn’t virgin born. Both the virgin birth and a sinless life are conditions for the resurrection. If Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin, then He would have inherited Adam’s sin. But even though He was born of a virgin, He still needed to live perfectly sinless throughout His entire life.

1) The resurrection is conditional upon a sinless life.
A sinless life is conditional upon the virgin birth.
Therefore, the resurrection proves the virgin birth.

2) The resurrection proves the virgin birth.
The virgin birth proves Jesus was born of God and of Mary.
Therefore, Jesus is God’s Son – the God/Man.

If you can grasp this, then you can see why God gave the people who would usher in the Messiah a picture of what was coming –

One who would be born without sin. And hopefully you can see why baptism did not replace circumcision as a sign for the covenant community and why infant baptism is a pointless gesture.

As one final validation of this, that infant baptism is not a New Testament sign comparable to circumcision, all we need to do is go to 1 Corinthians 10 – “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

Paul says that these Hebrews, whose men were circumcised, were also baptized into Moses. Therefore these are two distinct and separate concepts and baptism cannot be a replacement for circumcision.

Both men and women come from Adam and received his sin through their father, and therefore both men and women receive baptism and that – only after accepting Christ as Lord. Children of believers are already sanctified by their believing parent according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:14.

As Peter states in his 1^st epistle when speaking of the regeneration by the Spirit, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,…” (3:21)

Baptism – the regeneration of the human spirit by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit – is what saves us. Water baptism is a picture of this regeneration and so it comes after accepting Christ, not before. If you’ve never been baptized since your conversion, now might be a good time to think about it.

Paul sums this up in Colossians chapter 2 –

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

III. The Blessedness of Grace through Faith

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
⁵ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
¹³ For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
²³ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. Romans 4

¹⁷ But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. ²⁰ Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 1 Corinthians 7

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29

Stand fast… Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. ² Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. ³ And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. ⁴ You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. ⁵ For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:1-6

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! ³ For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (and isn’t infant baptism such confidence!), ⁴ though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.⁷ But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (skybala – dung), that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:2-11

The Covenant of Circumcision

God said to Abraham, this is what He did say
As for you, you shall keep my covenant, this you shall do
You and your descendants, every generation shall obey
All of those in your house who are coming after you

This is My covenant which you shall perform
Between Me and your descendants in every coming year
Every male child, yes everyone bought or born
Shall be circumcised, make sure you get this clear

And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin
It shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you therein

He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised
Every male child in your generations
This is the rite that shall be exercised
And thus you will be holy among the nations

He who is born in your house or one bought for a price
Even if he is a foreigner and not your descendant
Both alike shall be circumcised the command is precise
And on this rite the covenant for you is dependent

Any uncircumcised male child that you have around
That person shall be cut off, on this you must stand your ground

Such a person shall be cut off from the people
He has broken My covenant and must be put away
Pass on this rule, shout it out from the steeple
The rule must not be broken, you shall do as I say

You see, the rite looks forward to the coming One
The Messiah of the world will be born free from sin
I am sending through your line My only begotten Son
To reconcile the world to me for fellowship once again

This rite is a picture of the Incarnation you see
When God will be clothed in robes of humanity

And He will walk among the people to fulfill the law
And in Him will be perfection, there will be no flaw

Jesus our God it all points to You
Every word and picture in the sacred scroll
All praise, honor, and glory – You alone are due
And so we proclaim Your worth with all our heart and soul

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 17:1-8
A Father of Many Nations

Introduction: In the Bible, certain figures are noted, above all, for one or two particular aspects of their demeanor and disposition. Job is the Bible’s best known example of patience in suffering. Solomon is especially noted for his wisdom.

Moses is known for his humility and David for the depth of his emotion and often strong passions and his great heart for God. King Ahab is known for his mixture of weakness and wickedness, Korah for his rebellion, and Aachen for his covetous heart.

The Bible doesn’t sugar-coat the faults of its heroes and it doesn’t hide the evil that men have committed. If you could be remembered in a specific way or for being like one or two people, who or what would you choose? Personally, I’d like to be remembered as a mixture of Abraham and David.

Today, we’re going to continue through the life of Abraham and in the verses ahead, we’ll see where God changes his name from Abram to Abraham in conjunction with the continued unfolding of His promise to the Bible’s great man of faith.

In both Testaments and in many passages, it is faith for which Abraham is noted. Of all of the things God looks for in His wayward creatures, the Bible speaks of those who live by faith as being the epitome of those who please God.

Text Verse: See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them. Deuteronomy 1:8

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness until all the disobedient generation had perished. Then, at Mount Horeb they received the final words of instruction from Moses and proceeded into the land promised them so long before.

The Lord has always kept His promises and He continues to do so even our time, and so … May God Speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A Blameless Walk Before the Lord

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.

In the past chapters, we’ve seen the promise of God on several occasions that Abram and his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. The promises came in Chapters 12 and 13 and then in Chapter 14 Abram received Melchizedek’s blessing.

After that, in Genesis 15 the promise was again made to him. When it was, God told him “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

John explains fear for God’s people in his first epistle –

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:18

Abram is now 99 years old and it has been 13 years since his maidservant Hagar bore him Ishmael. For all he knows, this is the son of promise that he had waited so long for and he is raising him in this fashion and without fear.

But now God appears to him again. Instead of “do not be afraid,” He states that He is Almighty God or El Shaddai. This revelation of Himself is one of existence and performance.

He is the eternally lasting, absolute, all powerful God. His nature is unchangeable and yet He causes change in His creation. In the books of Isaiah and Joel, He is the Destructive power which is transcendent over all things. In Isaiah, we read this –

Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
⁸ And they will be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames. Isaiah 13:6-8

In the day of the Lord, the workings of God are as “destruction from Shaddai.” There is both judicial and punitive power and performance in the terrifying name. Because of this, holiness is the hallmark of the name.

When man sins, His holy nature is violated. And so because of this act against His nature, He acts accordingly. And yet, at the same time, El Shaddai is also a reconstructive power, building new that which has been laid waste.

He is therefore the God of providence and abundant supply. All of this is tied up in God’s potency. When it is combined with a promise, such as has been given to Abram, it gives man a basis for faith – “If God be for us, who can stand against us.”

Because of His proclamation of being El Shaddai, he says to Abram “walk before Me and be blameless.” Before, He spoke comfort to Abram – “Do not be afraid…” but now He speaks words of admonition and resolute purpose. This is a command, a rule for the guidance of his life, and a direction for conduct.

During that past 13 years, Abram probably considered the promises as being fulfilled in Ishmael. He is now old and has had his child. He believed the promise of God and has rejoiced in it.

He has no reason doubt about any future promises because the past ones have come to pass. It is as if Abram says, “I have Ishmael and I know that God hears and responds. I am content in this.”

Now the Lord tells him to “walk before Me and be blameless” – hit-ha-lech le-pha-nai v’yⁱeh tammin. To walk before the Lord doesn’t mean just taking literal steps; it’s a metaphor for having a completely detailed accounting for every move one makes.

It includes the thoughts, the words which proceed from one’s lips, the very heart and intent of every action. “Before Me” is another metaphor – le-pha-nai – which translated literally would be “before my face.” El Shaddai doesn’t literally have a face.

He is the power and presence of God working through the Holy Spirit. He is omnipresent and so to walk before Him is an axiom. Every move is before Him and so an explanation is given – “and be blameless.”

“Abram, you are to be always perfect before me. For you this is more than just a sincere and yet imperfect walk. You are to be perfect in your heart and in your actions. Be sincere in both through the upright and holy in the conduct of your life.”

Righteousness was credited to Abram for his faith when the covenant was established and now a blameless walk before God is needed for the continuation and confirmation of the covenant.

At my house is a bee-hive. When we take out the forms where the honey is stored and we have a process we go through to separate the honey from the comb, but there is always a bit of wax floating around in the honey and it will affect the purity if it isn’t removed.

The word “sincere” is believed to have come from two Latin words – sine and cera – “without wax.” To perfectly purify the honey, we take a pair of pantyhose, which have the finest mesh possible, and we pour the honey through it.

The wax we couldn’t even see before this process began accumulates into a pile in the middle of the funnel and what is left is completely pure and without wax. It is sincere. This is the state that Abram is being called to.

I can assure you that along with Abram, the Lord asks each of us to be likewise holy and upright. This isn’t just an arbitrary truth because we have a little angel on our shoulder watching us, but because we – as Christians – bear the name of Jesus Christ.

When we fail to walk in a manner which is holy, then others see and perceive this as well. Abram walked among the Canaanites and Amorites and they could see his conduct and make judgments about God based on his actions. We too walk in the land of the Philistines and live among the pagan people of the world.

Their perception of our God and our Lord is derived from watching each of us. Do we serve a God who doesn’t see? Our words and our actions often don’t square up and therefore we’re termed “hypocritical” by those who watch us.

And of course, there is always the person who would say this simply because they do see upright living and know they should live that way too. But normally it is our failings that others see and make their value judgments against. And so the Lord would ask each of us to walk before Him and be blameless.

Jesus said the same to His disciples in Matthew 5 – “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

And Peter, in both of his epistles reminds us of the same – “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; ¹⁵ but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16

Yes, fellow Christian, walk before the Lord and be blameless.

² And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

A command followed by a promise – “I will make My covenant between Me and you.” Despite what most scholars on the subject say, I’m in complete disagreement about the birth of Ishmael from the union with Hagar. Here is John Wesley’s thought on it –

“Full thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael. So long the promise of Isaac was deferred; Perhaps to correct Abram’s over – hasty marrying of Hagar.”

A promise was made and appeared to be fulfilled in Ishmael. Even what the Lord said to Hagar seemed to reflect it – “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” This is very similar to what is said to Abram now.

When Hagar returned from running away, she would have told him this and it certainly would have seemed to him that Ishmael would be the fulfillment of the promise.

But now he’s told that the covenant would be established. Hearing this, Abram must have even been a bit confused. The promise was given and the covenant was made even before the birth of Ishmael. He must have questioned why it needed to be established when the boy was already born and 13 years old.

It would be like saying to your son, “I’m going to make your birthday great. It will be the best day of your life.” And so you take him out and give him a wonderful day full of fun and gifts. As you’re heading home he’s happy and content with what he has.

It’s late in the afternoon, but you say again, “I’m going to fulfill my promise to you. I’m going to make your birthday great. It’ll be the best day of your life.” He may wonder what you’re talking about. He thinks he’s already been given that. But as you walk through the door, there is a surprise party waiting, keys to a Maserati, and you flew in his girlfriend who’s been off at college.

Abram’s surprise party is coming and God won’t disappoint when He gives it. Today we will look at the set up for the party, but only next week will we be given the details. The promise of a seed comes forward again as the prominent benefit of the covenant.

II. A Father of Many Nations

³ Then Abram fell on his face,…

This is the middle-eastern method of prostration used by many people even day. A person goes to their knees. After this, they lower their head to their knees, and then they touch the earth with their forehead. It’s not a very comfortable posture, but is signifies great humiliation and reverence.

Abram fell on his face in reverence of the majesty of God and in acknowledgment of his unworthiness at the visit and the promise. He was probably completely overwhelmed because all along he had figured that Ishmael was the fulfillment of the promise, but now he’s being told there is more than he realized.

^3(con’t) and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.”

There are two parties in the covenant. God is the first party and says, “As for Me…” “As for Me, My covenant is with you.” The Lord is making a guarantee based on His spoken word to Abram. If you remember, back in Genesis 12, God made this promise –

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God is now giving Him both a restatement of the promise and a refinement of it as well. The term “nations” is normally used when speaking not of the chosen people, but of the other branches of humanity. He is told that he will be the “father of many nations” and it will be fulfilled in an amazing and unsuspected way – both physically and spiritually.

His literal, physical descendants will come from both Ishmael and the son Isaac who is yet to come, but he will also be the spiritual father of people from every nation group on earth. And Paul explains that this is finally realized in what Jesus did –

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; Romans 4:16, 17

⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

In verse four, the Lord said, “You shall be the father of many nations.” Now, one verse later, He says, “I have made you the father of many nations.” The change from the future to the present tense came about by a single definitive act – renaming Abram to Abraham.

The giving of this name is a tangible pledge of the fulfillment of the covenant He has spoken. Any name which the Lord gives cannot be merely the sounds of the letters as they’re spoken, but they must be the very expression of something which is actual and tangible or that will be fulfilled in such a way.

The Lord has personally named him, signifying both His authority over him and His completion of the promise in one great act. Any doubts or anxieties about how things would transpire have certainly melted away from Abraham’s thoughts. He has received an inheritance that is as certain as the ground under his feet.

The Lord makes promises and He keeps promises. The Bible is the written testament of those promises and each will be fulfilled exactly as they have been recorded. In a similar mark of surety to each one of us, God has also given every person who has been saved by the blood of Christ a new name as well.

This is recorded in Revelation chapter 2 – “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” Revelation 2:17

Although we haven’t been told what our new name is, it is already recorded and engraved in stone if we have accepted Jesus as Lord. For those who haven’t, other promises have been made as well and they will be fulfilled, just as the Lord has spoken them.

It is better, by far, to receive the promises which come through accepting Jesus than their alternative, so make sure of your own salvation before this day goes by.

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

The promise of being exceedingly fruitful seems to be redundancy, but what I think is being relayed is a promise of actual children. He had Ishmael and now realizes that Ishmael isn’t the only child to come, but with this verse is the promise of many children.

In addition to Ishmael and Isaac, we’ll see in Chapter 25 that Abraham will have many more children in the days to come –

Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. ² And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ⁵ And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. ⁶ But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.

From his wife Keturah, he would have six sons. He also had sons from his concubines as well and he probably had many daughters. These became even more nations, all with their own kings, just as he was promised. In all, Abraham was exceedingly fruitful.

This verse then is a physical fulfillment – an earthly, temporal blessing. The next verse will include the spiritual fulfillment – a heavenly and eternal blessing.

⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

The covenant is established and it is what is termed in Hebrew “berit olam” an everlasting covenant. It will never fade away, it will never lessen or diminish, it will never fail. The Lord dealt with Adam, the Lord dealt with Noah, and the Lord is now dealing with Abraham. He will be his God and also of his descendants to come.

Matthew Henry’s commentary on this verse is so exact in its analysis that I’d like to quote it for you. He says this covenant is “Not to be altered or revoked; not with thee only, then it would die with thee but with thy seed after thee; and it is not only thy seed after the flesh, but thy spiritual seed. It is everlasting in the evangelical meaning of it. The covenant of grace is everlasting; it is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external administration of it is transmitted, with the seal of it, to the seed of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit to Christ’s seed in every age. This is a covenant of exceeding great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all-sufficient, that God would be their God. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys, and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: wisdom to guide and counsel them, power to protect and support them, goodness to supply and comfort them; what faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve, believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all.”

III. The Land Promise

We have one more verse to look at today. It is a promise which is misunderstood, misapplied, mishandled, and generally mistaken. All of the words which the Lord has spoken to Abraham have their own circumstances and their own ultimate fulfillment. Each thought needs to be looked at in the context of the rest of Scripture.

Oftentimes misapplications are made simply because God is still in the process of working things out in human history. They’re also made when people knowingly or unknowingly attempt to insert themselves into promises to which they aren’t entitled.

Sometimes, people knowingly twist things in order to personally benefit from others who aren’t willing to check things out for themselves. Understanding the promises of God and how they find their fulfillment can be confusing and even tedious, but when the true intent of a verse is known, it must be applied as God intends.

This is the case with verse 8 of chapter 17. Regardless of what has been said or believed, a careful and thoughtful acceptance of the truth of this verse must be made, regardless of our personal biases, likes, or dislikes. Stand back and accept God’s decisions as given.

⁸ Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

This is a land promise and it is speaking specifically about the land in which he is standing and which is known today as Israel. There is no spiritual application here.

We can know this, one hundred percent because in this verse it’s called the land of Canaan. This is the name of the physical land, the same land where Jesus walked and taught. It is given to the physical descendants of Abraham, not to the church or anyone else.

The promise is made by God, the Creator of the Land and the Sovereign Lord over the nations. Therefore, there should be no dispute over whose land it is. He has spoken and ended the discussion. Oh, but dispute we do.

In order to understand whose land it is today, we can’t stop with this verse or we will have a rather large mess on our hands. How many people around the world trace their lineage back to Abraham? Billions is the answer.

So why aren’t all of them included in the promise? The answer is because the promise is restated to only one of his sons – Isaac. Therefore only those who are physical descendants of Isaac are included in the promise. Here is what Genesis 26 says –

² Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ⁵ because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

After Isaac, the promise was again passed down to only one son, Jacob, who is Israel. This was in Genesis chapter 28 –

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵ 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 have spoken to you.”

I quoted these verses when Abram was first given his promise in Chapter 12, but now the land promise is restated to Abraham. In order to avoid the confusion and misrepresentation of countless people who have gone before, and who exist today, these verses need to be restated and analyzed many times.

Our heads are thick and sometimes the only way to get something ingrained in them is to hear the same thing many times. The Promised Land, the Land of Canaan which is today the Land of Israel, has the same owner as it did in the past – God. And He has chosen to give it to one group of people – Israel.

When we fight against this, we are only bringing God’s wrath down on ourselves. In fact, the judgment of the nations is coming, probably soon, because of the world’s robbery of this very land from its rightful inheritors –

For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
² I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land. Joel 3:1-2

The captives have been brought back and the nations are working to divide God’s land. And judgment is the only end the world will face because of it. Anyone in the church who doesn’t understand this, or who disagrees with it, needs to spend more time studying their Bible and less time listening to bad theology.

Regardless of whether you like the Jewish people or not, God has planted them in Israel and planted they will stay. We are promised this in the very last words of the book of Amos –

I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God. Amos 9:15

Let us remember to pray for Israel – the land and the people – and to pray for God to deliver them from their enemies, both within the church and in the world at large.

Yes, God has been faithful to His unfaithful people and He will be faithful to you as well. Earlier we read that God told Abraham to walk before Him and be blameless. We’re admonished to do the same. God directs all people to be perfect, even as He is perfect.

But there’s a problem in our lives and it’s called sin. Let’s take a moment and see how that problem has separated us from God and yet how we still have the opportunity to make things right and be perfect in the sight of God.

A Father of Many Nations

When Abram was an old man of ninety-nine
The Lord appeared to him and there He said
“I am Almighty God the Creator divine
“I am the one whom Melchizedek blessed over wine and bread

Walk before Me and be blameless
And I will make My covenant between Me and you
I will multiply you exceedingly
This is the thing that I will do

Then Abram fell down upon his face
And God talked with him as he lay prostrate
As for Me, behold my covenant is with you
These words to you I once again restate

You shall be the father of many nations
And you will be remembered for all generations

No longer shall your name be called Abram
But now Abraham shall be your name
For I have made you a father of many nations
You will be great, a man of everlasting fame

I will make you exceedingly fruitful
And I will make nations of you as well
Kings shall come from you by the bowlful
From you, the nations of the earth will swell

I will establish my covenant between me and you
And your descendant in their generations
For an everlasting covenant, one you know is true
To be your God and theirs… eternal expectations

Also I give to you and your descendants after you
The land in which you are a stranger
All the land of Canaan, a promise I will attend to
It will never fail, of this there is no danger

It is an everlasting possession and I will be their God
It is given to Israel, it is their land on which to trod

Let us thank the Lord for His faithfulness
For He keeps every promise He has made
We have the surety of a heavenly promise
Because of Jesus, for our sins He bestowed His righteousness, a wonderful trade

Hallelujah and Amen…