The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 17:9-10,
“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”
The covenant people of God must be circumcised. The Lord goes on to say, “My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.” Why would the Lord require this? Paul explains to us in Romans 2:28-29a, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” From this we learn that circumcision foretold an inward change in the hearts of God’s covenant people that would take place one day. The removal of the flesh speaks to the change the Holy Spirit brings within us as we embrace Jesus Christ in faith. The domination of the sinful nature, or flesh as Paul puts it, is removed from our lives as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.
In Romans 8:12-14 we read, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature [the flesh], to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Why does God do this? Because he is one way and we are another. What God is like we call “holy”. Through his gospel the Lord finds us another way - enslaved to sin and he wants us to become like him when we become his children. As Peter puts it, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.”
What a wonderful God we have who has circumcised our hearts by the Holy Spirit!!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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