Genesis 15-17

Today we are reading through some very key passages to not only the story of Abraham, but also Genesis and the entire Biblical story of Jesus and redemption. Genesis 15-17 deal with the covenant relationship that God makes with Abram. Chapter 15 is the first instance of the full covenant so I will deal with this chapter in the teaching time this coming Sunday. But chapter 17 also gives us a bigger picture of the covenant blessings that God will be giving to Abraham and his descendants. Chapter 17 also gives us the covenant stipulations that Abraham must keep, one of them being the physical ramification of circumcision. Verse 13 is a huge key to the point of this circumcision. This act took place so that a physical marker is seen of Abraham and his descendants’ relationship with Yahweh.

Sorry to tell you but circumcision does not mean the same thing today. We as the church have a different type of circumcision. As Ezekiel will show us later on, as well as many other writers, we as the church today who have a faith in Jesus have a circumcision of the heart. Our hearts have the marker of our relationships with Jesus. But we also need to realize something also with this truth. We also, because our hearts are not physical, have a physical act or marker that shows our relationship with Yahweh. We have obedience. Abraham obeyed God and put the physical marker on himself and all his family. When our hearts are circumcised by Jesus a change will take place and we also should and will desire to obey Him. So just like Abraham had a physical marker now to show the covenant between him and Yahweh, we to have obedience as our physical marker of our covenant relationship with the same Yahweh God. So I guess then, we need to ask ourselves, if we do not want to obey Yahweh and His commands, are we in a covenant relationship with Him?