"The Sign of Circumcision" Genesis 17:9-11

Introduction:

A biblical worldview is critical to have as we live in the world. This has always been the case but in the modern day there are plans for a new world order where globalism uses AI to implement a man made sovereignty through a digital structure in the financial world and the political world.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has many good uses that we could affirm as Christians but to use it as a man made tool to subvert and replace the sovereignty of God is evil.

This brings ethical discussions to bear in the western nations but nations like China are not interested in ethical discussions.

They don’t even hide it anymore. They use to but every now and then some politician would let it slip out.

If you are not grounded and rooted in the truth of Scripture you will follow along with it. There will be social and political pressure put on us to comply. But the Christian must hold firm to the covenant God of Scripture and understand how He works on our behalf conventionally.

This is one of the reasons that we are looking at Genesis 17 at the Abrahamic covenant and specifically on how God is faithful to initiate His covenant work in His people, but how He has been faithful to carry His work out in Christ, and therefore He is trust worthy for the fulfillment of the promises to come.

As a matter of fact God even instituted a sign in connection to this as a reminder to His people of His covenant faithfulness. Look at verses 9-10 of your text this morning.

I. The Institution of Circumcision (9-10).

A. It was instituted by God in connection to His Covenant.

God spoke to Abraham and commanded him to keep His covenant. Now remember God’s covenant is the covenant of “I will.” God will be the one who will initiate and carry out His covenant to completion. There are multiple Messianic implications that have their ultimate fulfillment in Christ and the physical manifestation of a new heaven and a new earth in the eternal state.

And God instituted circumcision in connection to this covenant that He made with Abraham. And it required all the males of Abraham’s household to be circumcised (10). Down in verse 12 we learn that all the males 8 days old and older were included and even the servants and slaves living under Abraham’s household were included in this institution of circumcision.

And there were even consequences for neglecting circumcision. Down in verse 14 we are told that those who neglect circumcision are to be cut off from among God’s covenant people. The Lord even went so far as to seek to kill Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 for neglecting to circumcise his son. Zipporah, the wife of Moses quickly circumcised the child and the Lord didn’t put Moses to death.

God took obedience to the command to circumcise very seriously. And He included the command in the Mosaic Law code.

And God’s covenant institution of circumcision was to be a perpetual command that those of the covenant people of God were to continue to carry out in the generations to come. But the question comes to mind, what in the world does removing the foreskin of a male’s anatomy have to do with the covenant of “I will” that has political, relational and territorial implications?

Well we see in verse 11 what the purpose of circumcision really is. Look back at your text to verse 11:

II. The Indication of Circumcision (11).

This helps clarify that circumcision is not the covenant itself but it is a sign of the covenant. The term “sign” here in the Hebrew can refer to a pledge or a token (BDB).

So circumcision is a sign or a pledge or a token that indicates something of significance. It was flesh from the body being cut off as a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. It signified that God would be faithful to His covenant promises.

Circumcision was not the essence of the covenant. Circumcision pointed as a sign to the essence of the covenant which was something that God would work to bring to pass as He promised. We know that the Abrahamic covenant is being fulfilled through the finished work of Christ that has implications into eternity.

This is why circumcision was so crucial as a sign and why God demanded obedience to it for the Jewish people. Because it was pointing them always to the spiritual fulfillment of Christ and His work in the hearts of His people. It may have originated in Genesis 17 but the spiritual truth regarding circumcision was even highlighted in Deuteronomy 10:12-16 “12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”

So in Deuteronomy Moses is taking the people down memory lane and reminding them of their past actions. He reminds them of the golden calf incident and how he had to intercede before the Lord on their behalf in order to keep the Lord from destroying them in His wrath. So Moses then Moses gives them the Lord’s requirements.

But the Lord knows they need their hearts circumcised. But here in Deuteronomy 10:16 the Lord commands them to circumcise their own hearts. This statement is all about the people being obedient and doing the things required. They were a stubborn people and they believed themselves capable to perform and to meet the righteous standards of God’s holiness.

Self righteous pride manifesting as a confidence in their own abilities was always the problem with OT Israel. As a matter of fact that is the problem with all of humanity. This is why fallen man always seeks out to create religious systems that require human performance. So that man can take pride in his own works as a means of justifying himself before God.

The Lord knew this would take place and that they would violate the terms of the covenant in their disobedience.

That is why Moses spoke of their restoration and the future spiritual fulfillment in Deuteronomy 30:6-10--“6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

You may have noticed that in Deuteronomy 30:6 Moses says that the Lord your God will circumcise your heart. As a matter of fact Deuteronomy 30:6-10 is all emphasizing what the Lord will do to insure the fulfillment of His covenant blessing upon His people. The Mosaic covenant is ratified and the people cry out their intention of obedience to it.

In Deuteronomy, Moses is at the end of His life and ministry and God says to him in Deuteronomy 31:16--“16 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.”

That was always Israel’s problem. What a way to end your ministry. You preach your final sermon on the covenant and the Lord tells you the people will go into the land of promise and violate every aspect of my covenant with them. And the Lord tells you this right before you are getting ready to die.

You see it is not external circumcision that accounts for anything. You can go through the motions and all the external rituals of religion and not really be internally transformed by the initiating power of God.

This is why Paul declares in Romans 2:25-29--“25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

Circumcision is not the issue but the heart transformation that it symbolizes is that which is critical.

Obedience is reflective of a transformed heart.

Inward transformation of the heart is the hallmark of the true child of Abraham.

The Holy Spirit is the agent of a circumcised heart.

And Paul reminds us that as believers it is in Christ that we are circumcised too in Colossians 2:11-12--“11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

There is a parallel between circumcision in the OT and baptism in the NT. And like circumcision in the OT was a sign and not the means of a transformed heart, so is baptism by water the sign and not the means of a transformed heart. Baptism by water is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s power in identifying us with Christ who baptizes His covenant people with the Holy Spirit. Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit’s effectual and cleansing power in connecting us to Christ.

Conclusion:

You can have the external form of Christianity or embrace it as a subculture of our current society but if you are not transformed by the Holy Spirit you are deceived in your understanding.

Faith is rooted in Christ as the fulfillment of God’s covenant decrees and He is the only means that the Holy Spirit quickens us to embrace by grace through faith alone.

Unbeliever Believe the Gospel!

Believer confess your sin and rest in Him as the basis of your salvation for His promises are yes and Amen in Christ! Let’s Pray!