“If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14)
This wonderful passage of scripture is a beautiful but stark reminder of the wonderful covenant we have with Almighty God. A covenant so special and so precious that it is priceless beyond measure and treasured above all things. Of course we know that a covenant is a formal, solemn, and binding agreement, much like a marriage contract, which spells out the conditions, privileges and responsibilities that are voluntarily entered in to between two parties. In the above scripture you see very plainly those conditions, privileges and responsibilities between a sovereign God and us, His people.
It is such a glorious honor and a special blessing of grace and love to be offered participation in this agreement with the Creator of the Universe. But we must always remember that this covenant is sacred and must not be entered into lightly, but soberly and reverently because, above all, it is not to be broken. We must consider the cost before engaging in such a holy relationship which was intended to be permanent. God is undoubtedly a worthy participant. The question is, are we? “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9: 62) And as the Lord spoke to the children of Israel thousands of years ago, He speaks to us the same words today: “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Exodus 19: 5-6)
God says over and over again what is required for us to be full participants and beneficiaries of His precious covenant: “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command Thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.” (Deuteronomy 10: 12-14)
Looking back, God made several covenants for various purposes in the Bible. Probably the most well-known was the one with Noah and the earth after the flood: “And I will establish My covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9: 11-17)
So the next time you see a rainbow in the sky, remember and be in awe of the fact that it was put there personally by God as an exclusive token or sign of the promise He made not to destroy the earth by water anymore. And this is the only meaning of the rainbow. No other designation or explanation is legitimate or valid. Period. It is a divine declaration that the earth will never again be destroyed by water. Next time, it will be fire. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts… The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3: 3, 9-13)
Truly a frightening prospect for anyone who is not in covenant relationship with God, but glorious to those who commit themselves to being faithful to that covenant. But how do you know you are really in a covenant relationship with God? Is it something you can purchase, or go to school for, or inherit from your parents or earn just by being a good person? No, no, no and no. This relationship is so special, so holy and so marvelous that it is impossible for us to establish it by ourselves or dictate its terms. We need help, guidance, inspiration and grace from God to reach this level of intimacy with Him. And He is so very willing to provide it. In Jeremiah 24, verse 7, God reveals to us what He will do if we are willing to ask for and receive His help: “And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.”
And He does this in a very special way so that there will not be a shadow of a doubt about the authenticity of this mutual pledge of fidelity. And just as He provided the rainbow as a sign of the covenant He made with the earth, there was also a token or sign of the covenant He made with Abram (Abraham at the time) and His progeny concerning the land of Canaan: “And I will make my covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant. (Genesis 17: 2-7, 10-11 & 14) As you can see, this covenant changed their status, their inheritance, their future, their physical appearance, even Abram's name. It was a covenant of change.
Of course God was speaking then to the patriarchs in a natural sense, but He was also, and now is, speaking to us, both males and females, in a spiritual sense. This covenant of circumcision was an analogy, an example of the covenant He would make with anyone who was willing to properly enter into it with Him. So instead of an Old Testament physical circumcision of the body, He speaks to us of a New Testament spiritual circumcision of the heart. In clear text and plain talk He is speaking of repentance and conversion. A change of mind and a change of heart that recovers, reinstates and restores us into a right relationship with God. A broken, humble, sincere and submitted heart that has been changed and purified, made holy by a superb spiritual surgical procedure performed by the Master Surgeon and Great Physician, and is now worthy of this divine privilege. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36: 26-28)
This is the new covenant mediated by Jesus as part of the plan of salvation instituted by God from the beginning. “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling…” (Hebrews 12: 24) However, this spiritual circumcision of the heart that was coming in the new covenant was also mentioned and in play before Jesus’ birth. During the Israelites journey out of bondage in Egypt to the promised land, God told them, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” (Deuteronomy 10: 16) He also said, “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30: 6) And though they had many struggles with keeping the true intent of the covenant (as we sometimes do), the Lord promised something better than the physical compliance with the ordinance of the written law. And this “something better” would be powerful and enduring: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34) Absolutely wonderful! Don’t you agree?
Now, in general, when referring to circumcised and uncircumcised persons, the biblical Israelites were pointing out a distinction between those who were the people of God and those who were not the people of God. For instance, during the battle of David and Goliath, we recall David's confident and defiant statement as he specifically identified God’s enemy, “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Samuel 17: 26 & 36)
Ironically, centuries later many Israelites missed the advent of the new covenant and were still stuck on the law of physical circumcision. So much so that they were teaching its misapplication to the 1st century church in the New Testament: “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” (Acts 15: 1) They failed to understand that physical circumcision had nothing to do with salvation and does not make you part of the people of God. “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” (Act 7: 51) They were blind to the fact that no matter how hard they tried, how good they thought they were or how compliant with the rules they strove to be, it was not, and never would be good enough to guarantee admittance to the Kingdom. Even when they appeared to be doing the right thing, God saw straight through their charade because He doesn’t look at us like we look at ourselves. “…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16: 7) You see, the Lord is pretty smart and He was well aware of their real condition, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.” (Matthew 15: 8)
Nonetheless, spiritual circumcision has everything to do with salvation and it unquestionably inducts you into the family of God and gets your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Romans 2: 28-29) So no matter what, never forget who you are and who you belong to. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2: 9-10)
Always remember that because of the unfailing and great faithfulness of God, we should always joyfully endeavor with all that is within us to be faithful to Him and strive to fulfill the tenants of our covenant with Him. And we can do it because we’re not the same people who we used to be. We have been changed and have become new creatures in Christ through whose strength we can do all things. It’s all about this, dear ones: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3: 19) “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2: 38) These things will keep us from being the kind of people who fool themselves into thinking that their own efforts will gain them access to eternity, oblivious to the fact that it will never be good enough. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2: 16) But let us be of the enlightened ones who believe what God has revealed concerning salvation: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2: 8)
And so, people of God, ye circumcised of heart, rejoice and be exceedingly glad that you have been counted worthy to be in agreement with the Almighty that He will be your God and you will be His people. “And they shall be My people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.” (Jeremiah 32: 38-40)
While we live in a world that is a constantly changing carousel of chaos, we serve a God that doesn't change. But I am so glad our Heavenly Father made it possible for us to be able to change. Praise God Almighty and give Him the glory through His Son, Jesus Christ, for the consecrated and cherished covenant of commitment, devotion, allegiance and faithfulness we share with Him. Thank God for the covenant of circumcision, which is a covenant of change.
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