In our
first paper on the subject of the covenant that God made with Abraham, we read
from Genesis, chapter 17, and heard God give the details of that covenant.
We read where God told Abraham that He was establishing His covenant
between Himself and Abraham and his descendants, “for an everlasting
covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give
to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the
It was an everlasting covenant between God and
Abraham and his descendants after him and it included giving them the
We looked at the covenant promises but we did not look at what God told Abraham about His covenant requirement. After giving Abraham the covenant promises, God told him, “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you”.
God also told him, “thus shall My covenant be in your flesh
for an everlasting covenant. But an uncircumcised male who is not
circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his
people; he has broken My covenant” (Verses 10-14).
If the covenant requirement of circumcision
was to be in his flesh for an “everlasting covenant” then it would fit in
with God’s everlasting covenant promise. The covenant promise was an
everlasting one and the covenant requirement of circumcision was also
everlasting.
In our first study we said that if God was
making an everlasting covenant with Abraham and if it included giving that
earthly land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants as an everlasting
possession, then God did not keep His promise to him and to thousands of his
descendants after him. Even though they complied with their covenant
requirement of circumcision, Abraham’s earthly descendants did not receive that
earthly land for more than six hundred years after the promise was made.
By the time that Joshua led
Only a few of the ancient fathers received
that earthly land and none of them received it as an everlasting
possession. If they met the covenant requirement of circumcision, why did
they not receive the covenant promise? God does not break His promises,
so we may have misunderstood what God was including in His everlasting covenant
with Abraham. We may have also misunderstood what the everlasting covenant
requirement truly is.
In our first lesson we saw how God’s true
promise was always the promise for that heavenly land because that is the only
everlasting land. We heard the Hebrew writer say that Abraham lived in
that earthly land but he was looking for a heavenly city. He spoke of
Abraham and that land and said, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of
promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow
heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has
foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews
11:9-10).
It is evident that the promise was for an
everlasting heavenly land, not an earthly land. That being true, what was
the reason for that old covenant promise for an earthly land? Did God
cause that earthly story to happen for our instruction? Was it brought
about as an earthly copy of our spiritual story?
In the old covenant story of Abraham’s earthly
descendants, God sent Moses to lead His people out of slavery in
Moses brought God’s people out of slavery but
God was causing things to happen as they did. When God sent Moses to
bring that nation out of slavery, He told Moses beforehand that He would harden
Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let them go. The LORD told Moses, “I will harden
Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the
God brought about those signs and wonders in
We saw it in our first paper. In that
old story God’s people had been allowed to depart but God did not lead them
directly toward their land of promise. God led them around for a day or
two and down to the edge of the
God caused that event to happen when He
hardened Pharaoh’s heart one last time. Pharaoh had already let God’s
people go after the sign of the death of the firstborn but God hardened his
heart again and caused him to change his mind and gather his army and go after
the Israelites.
We asked a question in our first paper.
Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart and cause the event of the parting of the
sea to come about that destroyed thousands of Egyptians in the sea if His
people had already been allowed to go free? God made it happen for a
reason.
If God had not hardened Pharaoh’s heart and
caused him to chase after
God’s plan included His causing Pharaoh to
chase after
From the Hebrew wording, it appears that God
was telling Pharah that He allowed him to remain in order to show His power
"in him", not "to him". Paul confirms that when he
referred to what Moses had written about Pharaoh and said, "For the scripture
says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY
POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE
EARTH." (Romans 9:17)
We saw it in our first paper. All of
God's creation works are being done through Christ. He was the Word of
God and He was the creator from the beginning (John, chapter 1). We also
heard Paul tell us that His creation works included all things in the heavens
and on the earth, "whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things
have been created through Him and for Him” (Colossians
Christ's creation works include the selection
and installation of all rulers from Adam until the end of time. When
scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO
DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT
THE WHOLE EARTH", Christ was speaking to Pharaoh.
Christ raised Pharaoh up and then He allowed
Pharaoh to remain alive until the parting of the sea to show His power in him
and to proclaim His name through all the earth when He destroyed the Egyptians
in the sea. He was bringing about an earthly copy of our story.
Christ was causing an earthly story to come
about to foretell how He would fulfill His covenant promise to display His
power in the new covenant gospel message of man’s salvation from slavery to
sin. He showed His power in the old story when Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea and their slave masters, the Egyptian army, were all washed
away in that sea. Was that not a copy of what takes place in our story?
That old story of Israel being saved from slavery and brought through the sea to freedom copies our spiritual story of how Jesus has saved us out of a world of slavery to sin to be brought through the waters of baptism so that our slave masters can be washed away. We are saved from slavery to sin if we will believe the gospel message and follow Jesus through our sea and have our sins washed away.
Remember, it happened with Paul. When Paul
was converted, he was told, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized,
and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts
Paul once said, “For I am not ashamed
of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans
The good news of the gospel is how Jesus
redeemed us from sin with His blood. He did it so that we can be led to
of the everlasting land of the kingdom of heaven. The name of Jesus
Christ is now being proclaimed throughout the earth to tell all nations the
good news of what He has done for us. If we will believe the message and
follow Him, He will lead us home. In the gospel message He provides a way
for us to pass through the sea and be saved from slavery to sin when He washes
those sins away in the sea.
What about God’s covenant requirement of
circumcision of the flesh? God told Abraham that it was an everlasting
covenant requirement. If it was an everlasting requirement then should we
not be circumcised to meet our covenant requirements?
If the true covenant promise was for that
spiritual
In Acts, chapter 7, Stephen spoke of the covenant promise and he also spoke of the true covenant requirement. He had been arrested for preaching Jesus. He had been preaching the gospel and that includes the promise of salvation and everlasting life in a heavenly land. Those Jews could only hear him speaking against what Moses had passed down to them about their Law and their land.
They were concerned
about the promise for their earthly land. They knew that they were the
descendants of Abraham and the covenant promise was to give them that
They were looking for a Messiah who would come
and free them from Roman rule and restore their land. Stephen told them
that they were looking and striving for the wrong land. He told them
about the covenant that God made with Abraham and the covenant promise of that
land and said, “But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground,
and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS
A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS
DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM” (Acts 7:5).
He was telling those Jews that the promise for
an earthly
By resisting God’s message, those Jews were telling us something about true circumcision. Just before they stoned him to death, Stephen referred back to their Hebrew fathers and told the Jews before him, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did” (Verse 51).
Their fathers had resisted the Spirit and they lost their land because they had
not been circumcised in heart and ears. They refused to hear God’s
message and accept what the Holy Spirit was saying.
Fifteen hundred years earlier, Moses told
those Hebrew fathers the same thing as he was giving them his farewell
speech. They had already been given circumcision of the flesh as a
requirement of the Law but he will add their true circumcision requirement just
before they were to enter their
If they were to live, they had to have a
circumcised heart, one that would love the LORD with all of their heart and
soul. Remember, loving the LORD with all of our heart and soul and mind
is the greatest commandment. A circumcised heart keeps the greatest
commandment.
Remember what Jesus said about how we are to
show love for God? In our first lesson we heard Jesus say, “If you love Me, you
will keep My commandments” (John
Only those who choose to obey Jesus really
love Him. The Father will love those who choose to love Jesus with
obedience. The covenant promise is only to those who choose to show their
love for God with obedience to His word. A person with a circumcised
heart obeys the greatest commandment and loves the LORD GOD with all of their
heart and soul. It must be a love that causes one to obey His command to
take up their cross and follow Him.
We can see that clearly shown if we look back
at that
old Hebrew story and who was actually allowed to
enter into and take possession of that earthly land. All of those men who
came out of
Of those Hebrews who were saved out of
Egyptian slavery, Joshua and Caleb were the only soldiers in God’s army who
were allowed to enter. If they were the only ones who received the
covenant promise then they were the only ones who met God’s covenant
conditions.
Scripture tells us that Joshua and Caleb were
allowed
to enter because, “they have followed the LORD fully”
(Numbers 32:12). They believed the message of salvation and the
promise to give them that land and they faithfully followed the LORD through
the sea and continued to follow Him through the wilderness all the way
home.
Because they followed the LORD fully, they would receive their
land. They loved the LORD with all of their heart and soul and they
proved their love with obedience to His commandments. Their hearts had
been spiritually circumcised to keep the command to love God with all of their
heart and soul.
Remember, there were others who would also
receive that land. Their little ones who did not know good from evil
would also enter that land and possess it (Deuteronomy
What happened in that old Hebrew story
happened for our instruction. It happened as an earthly copy of our true
covenant story so that we can know what is required of us.
Joshua and Caleb are our example in that old
earthly story. Only those who have obeyed the covenant requirement of
circumcision of the heart to love the LORD with all of their heart and soul
will obtain that everlasting land. The covenant promise of an everlasting
Those who have obeyed the gospel call and who
have followed Jesus out of slavery to sin and through the sea have been brought
into the spiritual wilderness of this world. Just as those ancient
Hebrews had to overcome the obstacles of their wilderness, we must overcome
this world. Just as Joshua and Caleb had to keep following the LORD all
of the way, so must we.
We must overcome this world and be faithful
until death because Jesus told the church at
The crown of life is the covenant promise of
having everlasting life in that everlasting spiritual
Paul spoke of the true Jew and their true
circumcision, saying, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is
circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is
one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit,
not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God” (Romans
2:28-29).
That old circumcision was not true
circumcision. It was only an earthly copy. That old story is
telling us what is required for us to receive the true everlasting land.
It will be given to those who meet their covenant requirement of having a
circumcised heart that loves the LORD and that follows Him fully until death.
We will all stumble and fall on occasion but we must get up and go back
to following Jesus.
We saw how we were living under slavery to sin
before we followed Jesus through the sea and had those sins washed away in that
sea. It appears that our sins are our slave masters but the scriptures
are really saying something else. Paul tells us what happens when we come
through the waters of baptism in Romans, chapter 6.
Paul wrote, “do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His
death” (Romans 6:3)? After telling us how baptism is the way that
we are brought into Christ, Paul will tell us that we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death so that we can be raised up as He was raised up from
the dead. We have been raised up to walk in newness of life.
He then tells us, “For if we have become
united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the
likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified
with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we
would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
We are set free from slavery to sin when our
old earthly body of sin has been done away with in the sea of baptism.
That body has been our slave master because of fleshly desires. Lust
exists in fleshly bodies and it causes us to desire to live selfish and sinful
lives. If we are to be set free from slavery to sin, we must put that old
body of sin to death in the waters of our sea so that we can be raised up to
walk in newness of life.
Our old body of sin will have been washed away
when we follow Jesus through those waters, just as Israel’s slave masters were
left behind in that old sea. If we follow Jesus through the sea with that
intent, our sins will be washed away when that body of sin has been washed
away.
Paul shows us how that event relates to our
spiritual circumcision when he writes, “and in Him you were also circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which
you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who
raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).
Paul then tells us, “Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not
on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you
also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
Paul is telling us how we can overcome this
world and receive the covenant promise by having a circumcised heart, one that
removes the old body of sin that lived for the things of this world. If
we believe God’s promise, we will stop living for the things of this world and
be looking ahead to that heavenly city. We can only overcome this world
if we have Abraham’s faith and believe God’s promise is for that
heavenly land.
Abraham had a circumcised heart and we can see
it in what we heard the Hebrew writer say previously. Remember, we heard him
say, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a
foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same
promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect
and builder is God.”
The old circumcision made with hands was only
a “token”, or “sign”, looking forward to our true circumcision. It required the
removal of a “token” piece of flesh. True circumcision removes our
complete earthly body of flesh. It takes place when we are buried with
Him in baptism. Our body of flesh will be removed in those waters by the
circumcision of Christ. It begins when the Spirit circumcises one’s heart
to love the LORD with obedience to His command to repent and be baptized for
the forgiveness of sins.
When Peter preached his first gospel sermon
(On the Day of Pentecost), many believed and scripture says, “they were pierced to
the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what
shall we do” (Acts
Peter told them, “Repent, and each of you
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Verse 41 tells
us how, “those who had received his word were baptized”.
Jesus is the Word, so when they received the
Word, they received Jesus. We must receive the Word and obey the gospel and
pass through the sea if we are to become spiritually circumcised and saved from
our sins but it does not happen unless we have truly repented first.
If we come through our waters and don’t see
(by faith) our old dead body left behind in the water, we might question
whether or not we have truly repented and washed away our slave-master in those
waters. If we don’t see our old dead body having been put to death, we
likely did not understand what God has told us about our covenant requirement
or we did not believe the message to start with. We will not have truly
repented and turned to follow Jesus. If we have not made the commitment
to die to self and to live for Jesus, all of the water on earth can never wash
away our sins. It can only cleanse the old body of flesh.
If we obey the gospel and become spiritually
circumcised with the removal of our body of sin, we will have been saved from
slavery but we will not yet have received our land. Remember, those
Israelites who stood on that far wilderness shore were a nation of saved
believers after they saw what God had done. Moses says that, “When Isreal saw
the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people
feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses” (Exodus
When that Hebrew nation came through the sea
and saw what had happened to the Egyptians, they believed in Him and they
rejoiced and called on the name of the LORD. They sang a song to the LORD
and praised Him for destroying the Egyptians in the sea and sang, “The LORD is a warrior;
The LORD is His name” (Exodus 15:2-3). We must call on His name and praise
Him for what He did to wash our slave masters away. Only by the name of
Jesus Christ can one be saved. The LORD is His name.
They were a nation of saved believers but not with the kind of faith that would follow the LORD fully through their wilderness journey. In the same way, we will not receive our land unless we have the kind of circumcised heart that Joshua and Caleb had, one that believes in the LORD and follows Him fully.
As Jesus once said, “If anyone wishes to
come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). We
must deny self and follow Jesus as we pass through the waters but we must
continue to deny self and follow Him daily as we journey to that land
above.
We read what Paul wrote about that old story
having come about for our instruction in our first lesson. Remember, he
began 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, by repeating that old story and then telling
us how the things that happened in that story happened for our
instruction.
He tells us, “For I do not want you
to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all
passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual
drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and
the rock was Christ”. He then tells us how God was not pleased with them
and He laid them low in the wilderness. Paul tells us, “Now these things
happened as examples for us”.
Paul connects the events of that story to
events in our story. They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea just as we are baptized into Christ by water and by Spirit.
Remember, the Spirit of the LORD was in their cloud. They ate bread from
heaven and drank water from the rock that symbolized the Christ to come.
Jesus is the rock that was struck to give us living water and He is the bread
of heaven. They ate and drank in their wilderness just as we partake of
spiritual food and drink in our spiritual wilderness.
Because of their rebellion, they were not
pleasing to Him and He laid them low in the wilderness. Those things
happened to them as examples for us. Paul repeats the message and says, “Now these things
happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon
whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he
stands take heed that he does not fall” (Verses 11-12). We need to
believe Jesus as He instructs us through the old Hebrew story and confirms it
in the New Testament scriptures. We may have been saved from slavery to
sin but we can still fall.
Paul began chapter 10, with the words, “For I do not want you
to be unaware, brethren” and then he gave us the message of that old Hebrew story
that we just read. Paul was connecting his message in chapter 10, to what
he had said in the chapter 9. He ended that chapter by saying, “Therefore I run in such
a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I
discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to
others, I myself will not be disqualified”. He then gave
us the message of how that old Hebrew story came about for our instruction and
how we must take heed lest we fall.
Paul wants us to be aware that we can be
disqualified and fall and not receive that Promised Land. He was fighting
to make sure that it would not happen to him. He knew that he could fall just
as they fell. He is also telling us that it can happen to us just as it
happened to that old Hebrew nation. We must be like Paul and fight if we
are to win the prize.
Remember, that Hebrew nation refused to fight
and they lost the prize. We must be like Paul and discipline our body to
make it our slave. It takes great effort to deny self and overcome that
earthly body of sin to make it a slave because that old body is making every
effort to reclaim its position as our slave-master to bring us back into
slavery to sin. We must follow Jesus through the sea to be saved from
slavery to sin, but our journey will only have just begun; our land lies far
beyond the sea.
We need to hear Paul tell us to be careful and
not to be drawn back into a life of slavery to sin. He tells us that “we are under
obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you
are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are
putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans
8:12-13). He is speaking to Christians and He is telling us that we will
fall and die in our wilderness just as they fell and died if we are living
according to the flesh.
Jesus caused that old story to come about as
an earthly copy of our spiritual story and He made it happen for our
instruction. He created an earthly copy just as He taught with Parables
while on earth. When He taught with parables, He used fictional earthly
stories. Our definition of a parable says that the created earthly story
is fiction. In the case of that Hebrew nation, however, Jesus created a
true story. Remember, the Father does all of His creation work through Christ,
the Word that became flesh (John, chapter 1).
That old Hebrew salvation story may not be a
parable by our definition of a parable but God is not required to use our
definitions. Regardless, we need to get the message because Jesus caused
millions of lives to come about as they did to give us the earthly copy for our
instruction. For those who would choose to love Him, they had a good part
in that story.
Remember, He is the Potter and we are the clay
(Romans, chapter 9). He makes vessels of honor of those that He foresees
having a circumcised heart to love Him. Those who choose not to love Him
will become vessels of dishonor. He will harden their hearts just as He
hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Paul was actually speaking of how the Lord is
doing His work as the potter in the chapter before he spoke of how the Lord is
the potter and we are the clay. Remember, we read it in our first lesson on the
covenant that God made with Abraham. In Romans, chapter 8, Paul is
telling us about the potter's work when he writes, "And we know that
God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be
the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans
Paul
said that God foreknew those that are predestined to become created in
the image of Christ. God foreknew which ones would
choose to love Him and He predestined the kind of vessel that they
would become
before they were.
For those ancient ones who would choose not to
love and obey Him, they became a bad part of the earthly story that happened
for our instruction. We need to take heed lest we fall because we will
fall hard. Our story is the real story, not the copy.
If we don’t obey Him, we don’t love Him and it
is only those who have circumcised hearts to love Him that have been given the
promises. We will receive the promises if we obey God’s covenant
requirement for circumcision of our flesh. We must remove that old body
of sin and wash it away in the sea of baptism.
Remember what the LORD told Abraham would
happen to those who fail to keep the everlasting covenant requirement.
Any male who has not been circumcised in the flesh shall be cut off from his
people. Under our everlasting new covenant, that includes every soldier
in God’s spiritual army, whether male or female. No one else will enter
except those little ones who do not know good from evil.
Johnny Rogers
Revised
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