Covenant Confirmed
Notes
Transcript
Covenant Confirmed
Genesis 17:1-27
The bleakness of Abram and Sarai’s shortcut to obtain an heir through Hagar is meant to provide the spiritual background for the story of covenant renewal. The interconnectedness of the two accounts is clear because the final verse of chapter 16 tells us that Abram was 86 years old when Hagar was born and the opening verse of chapter 17 emphasizes that he was 99 years old when the Lord appeared to him.
Moses wants us to understand that for some thirteen years now a cloud of domestic gloom and growing darkness about the promise had hung over the tents of Abram.
Family frictions continued.
Ishmael, the shortcut heir, was rushing toward manhood. Though he was certainly loved by Abram and Hagar, his untamed nature was evident to all. Sarai (a decade younger than Abram) was eighty-nine. She had always been barren and was well past childbearing years. And the thirteen years of Ishmael’s childhood had only increased the tension between her and Hagar. Ishmael’s native insolence hadn’t helped matters.
And, in fact, it would be his undoing.
Abram, a year shy of the century mark, believed that God would fulfill his promise. He also inwardly hoped that dashing Ishmael, despite his insolent ways, would somehow live under God’s blessing.
If Ishmael was not the answer, how then would Abram become the father of a vast people and his heirs inherit the land?
It had been some twenty-three years since the initial promise. And now, with the bleakness of the last thirteen years, the promise seemed more distant than ever. God had given Abram a lot of time to think about his sin and his lapse of trust—and the living consequences. God was growing Abram’s faith.
Great days lay ahead. But Abram didn’t know it.
Chapter 17 is about how God came to Abram and elevated his faith by confirming the promise with the covenant of circumcision, which was then sealed by Abram’s obedience. Abram’s covenant faith and obedience were encouraged by God’s revelation of four new names: “God Almighty,” “Abraham,” “Sarah” and “Isaac.”
Let’s pray and then we’ll work through our text together.
Pray!
First:
God and Abram
God and Abram
The first name the Lord issued was his own name—El-Shaddai, “God Almighty.”
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
This is the very first use of this divine designation in the Pentateuch. El-Shaddai signifies God’s power and sovereignty. It is the name by which the patriarchs came to know God. As God later explained to Moses:
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty…
It is the name that is used thirty-one times in Job to encourage him in his trials. God was saying, by this initial use of his name El-Shaddai.
“I am able to fulfill the awesome hopes that I have set before you of a people and a land. There is no need to let go of the promise because of your old age. There’s no need to give in to desperation. There’s no need to scale down the promise to match your tiny thoughts, no need to resort to shortcuts, of trying to fulfill the promise in any second-rate way. Everything, all your life, all your future, lies in this: I am God Almighty!”
It’s the same for us. The way we live is determined by what we think of God. If our God is El-Shaddai, the awesome, mighty God of this account, then our lives will live out the fullness of God’s promises to us. What you truly believe about God is the most important thing in your life. Any thoughts of a God less powerful than the God of Abram will shrink your soul and neutralize your faith.
Next God Almighty explains the covenant to Abram. And in this first section, we see that he renamed Abram “Abraham.”
Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,
“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
It was a momentous act. Nahum Sarna explains, “In the psychology of the ancient Near Eastern world, a name was not merely a convenient means of identification but was intimately bound up with the very essence of being and inextricably intertwined with personality.”
And more, the Bible itself views name-giving as symbolizing the transformation of character and destiny. The Bible also presents name-giving as an exercise of sovereignty or lordship. Name-giving is a lordly, authoritative act in any context.
God’s renaming of Abram and Sarai was nothing less than a reassertion of divine sovereignty over their lives.
Abram’s name meant “exalted father” and didn’t refer to the patriarch but to God as exalted Father. But when Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, it referred to the man himself as “father of a multitude.” The effect was that every time people called him “Abraham,” they repeated God’s promise that he would be a father of a multitude! How many times did that happen a day? Fifty? A hundred? “Good morning, father of a multitude.” “Here’s lunch, father of a multitude.” “Good night, father of a multitude.”
Do you think he got the point?
In addition, Abraham’s astonishing name (“father of a multitude”) was matched by another astounding revelation “and kings shall come from you.” It was beyond tent-dwelling Abraham’s dreams that such a thing could be! But one thousand years later the founding of a line of kings in the Davidic dynasty began the fulfillment of this promise, which was ultimately fulfilled another thousand years later in the coming of Jesus, King of the Jews.
This is what Matthew celebrates in the opening verse of his Gospel:
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Here in Genesis is the first prediction of the ultimate King of kings and Lord of lords.
God Commands Circumcision
God Commands Circumcision
The next section of God’s speech details and gives the covenant of circumcision.
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
As the rainbow is the sign of the Noahic covenant (Gen. 9:13), and as the Sabbath is the sign of the Sinaitic covenant (Exod. 31:16–17), circumcision became the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:11). The rainbow and the Sabbath already existed prior to the institution of the covenants they came to signify.
Circumcision didn’t originate with Abraham. It was practiced in Egypt and elsewhere centuries before his time, but it received new meaning in Genesis 17. Thousands of people were crucified before Jesus, but the cross took on a vastly new and different meaning when He was crucified.
Early on, circumcision came to symbolize the spiritual commitment of one’s life to God.
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.
As a sign, circumcision functioned much as a wedding ring symbolizes commitment. The external sign signified a whole life commitment. But unlike a wedding ring, circumcision could not be cast aside. It was a permanent sign.
The rite of circumcision itself is a reminder that covenants are solemnized through blood. Circumcision inflicts blood and pain. Every Hebrew male from Abraham to Isaac to Moses to Jesus underwent the operation. Every instance symbolized the enduring, irrevocable nature of the covenant.
The Almighty’s word of instruction on circumcision concluded as he stated that it was the essential sign:
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
There was only one way—God’s way.
Circumcision was not an institution that could be dismissed as Cain had attempted to disregard God’s will regarding sacrifice. Cain thought that God had no business in picking or choosing what was acceptable to him, “It’s God’s business to accept whatever sacrifice is offered.”
Here in circumcision we have an early warning that there is no way but God’s way. And this flies in the face of conventional religious culture, which imagines that it’s God’s duty to accept us apart from his directives as long as we’re doing our best.
Many people approach God as if they were interviewing him for a job position for “personal deity in my life.” If the man in the sky fits the job description, being nonjudgmental and accepting, and allows us to determine what is right and wrong—he’s got the job. Lucky God!
Just as there was only one way under the old covenant, so there is only one way under the new. Jesus, who made the new covenant with his blood, said that he is the only way.
Covenant Specifics
Covenant Specifics
In the next section the covenant promise gets specific as Sarai is renamed and designated the matriarch of the covenant, Abraham responds, and Isaac is named.
Sarah
Sarah
God’s revelation regarding Sarai was incredible.
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Sarai meant “princess,” and the modernization of her name to Sarah also meant “princess.” It was God’s plan all along that she would be a princess—because princesses have kings! Not only would Sarah bear a child as an old woman, but the royal dynasty would have her blood in its veins—and ultimately the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
So now Abraham, “the father of many,” has his “princess” confirmed as Sarah.
God Almighty had revealed himself with his awesome name, Abraham had a new name, the sign of the covenant had been commanded, and Sarah had her new name.
And what was the patriarch’s response?
Laughter
Laughter
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
Abraham began well enough by falling to the ground on his face in the posture of deepest respect, just as he initially had done when the Lord said, “I am God Almighty.” But as he lay there, the old man started laughing out loud! And as he laughed, he thought to himself, “She’ll be ninety and I’ll be a hundred.” Maybe he burst out laughing again. And then he addressed God, suggesting Ishmael’s name.
Was Abraham disbelieving God?
Evidently not, because God gave no disapproval of his laughter. In contrast, in the next episode when Sarah laughed at the same promise, the Lord rebuked her. Her laughter reflected her ongoing lack of belief in the promise that she would bear a son despite what God had said to Abraham. The absence of any correction for Abraham implied not that he lacked faith, but rather that his faith was limited. He was believing, but his faith was pushed to the limits.
Yet, Abraham’s faith held.
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
The aging patriarch did believe. Abraham’s faith was a great thing. It’s so easy to say we believe in something that is far-off, like Heaven. But when we are asked to believe that God will do a certain thing within a specific time, we find believing much more difficult. Abraham believed God.
Isaac
Isaac
And God’s response? He named their coming son “Isaac,” which means “laughter.”
God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
Laughter would ironically engulf Isaac’s existence, beginning with his birth. The laughter was an expression of God’s blessing and their joy, and also a reminder of the aged couple’s doubts.
Obedience
Obedience
In establishing the covenant of circumcision, the Lord had announced his name as El-Shaddai, the almighty, omnipotent, sovereign God who can do anything. Abram became Abraham, “father of a multitude.” Sarai became Sarah, “the princess.” Together they would birth a royal dynasty of kings. Their yet-to-be-conceived son was named Isaac, “laughter,” a symbol of faith’s struggle.
And so, it was that all of this converged on Abraham’s soul, and Father Abraham lived out the obedience of faith on that very day.
99-year-old Abraham and 13-year-old Ishmael and every male in his household were circumcised. It was the birthday of God’s covenant people. Not all were saved that day. Ishmael received the sacred rite but showed no evidence of grace. Although he bore the irreversible sign of the covenant, Ishmael did not ultimately remain a part of God’s covenant people. But on that day, there was blood and pain, and there was laughter among the people of God!
The Circumcision Done by Christ
The Circumcision Done by Christ
First:
King
King
Kings did come out of Abraham and Sarah. At the end of Genesis, Jacob prophesied that the King would come from the tribe of Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (49:10).
Balaam would later cry:
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.
When King David came, God promised him:
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
After David’s death, God’s people began to look for the ultimate messianic David. Four hundred years later:
And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
Isaiah prophesied of a coming “Prince of Peace” who would establish an endless government and rule on David’s throne. Then Zechariah prophesied:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Israel continued to look. And on Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem:
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Faith
Faith
That week brought to its culmination Jesus’ life of perfect faith. What Abraham had begun was completed by his ultimate seed, Christ the King.
Jesus would say of his life:
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
Obedience
Obedience
Jesus in perfect obedience said on the eve of his crucifixion:
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
… “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
There was pain and blood that Good Friday as Jesus was nailed to the cross, and the new covenant was launched. Jesus underwent the ultimate circumcision, that we might receive the ultimate circumcision of the heart.
Listen to Paul on what this means to us:
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,
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.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Jesus’ body was cut away for our sin. He was cut off from God for our sin and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And all of this was so that we might be “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”
The question is, have you been made a new creation?
For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
The question is, have you believed, do you have faith in him?
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.