Subject 11 : The Tabernacle
[11-6] The Promise of God Established in His Covenant of Circumcision Is Still Effective for Us (Genesis 17:1-14)
(Genesis 17:1-14)
“When
Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to
him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will
make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’
Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ‘As for
Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many
nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall
be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make
you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings
shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you
and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting
covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give
to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a
stranger, all the land of Canaan, as 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 descendants after you throughout their
generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and
you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be
circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He
who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child
in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money
from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your
house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My
covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My
covenant.’”
In
chapter 17 of the Book of Genesis, the covenant of circumcision that
God established with Abraham shows us the spiritual circumcision by
which all the sins are cut off from the Israelites by putting their
hands on the head of their sacrificial offering in the Tabernacle and
thus passing their sins on to it. In other words, the covenant that God
established with Abraham was the prefiguration of the sin offering and
the burnt offering. The promise that God made to Abraham with
circumcision, that He would be his God and the God of his descendants,
prophesied, with respect to the Tabernacle, that Abraham’s descendants
were to pass their sins onto their sacrificial offering by putting their
hands on its head. We must also realize and believe that this shows us,
in addition, that in the New Testament’s time Jesus would take upon all
the sins of the world with His baptism received from John.
God
promised Abraham, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you
are able to number them…. So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5).
Appearing again before Abraham, God promised once more, “I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall
come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and
your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting
covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Genesis
17:6-7).
The
promise that God made to Abraham and his descendants came through
circumcision. This circumcision coincided with the laying on of hands
that would be performed when the Israelites were to give their
sacrificial offering to God. It also foretold, for the New Testament’s
time, the remission of sin fulfilled by Jesus taking upon the sins of
the world with His baptism received from John. We must realize and
believe that the Old Testament’s circumcision promised by God to Abraham
is manifested in the New Testament by the spiritual circumcision of the
washing of sin fulfilled by the baptism of Jesus. And it tells us, in
addition, that the faith of Abraham was also needed by the Israelites
when giving the sacrificial offering in the Tabernacle.
God
told Abraham, “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is
eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your
generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any
foreigner who is not your descendant” (Genesis 17:11-12). God, in other
words, made His promise to Abraham and his descendants through
circumcision. He promised that He would be Abraham’s God and the God of
his descendants, but in return, Abraham and his descendants were to be
circumcised: “He who is born in your house and he who is bought with
your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh
for an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:13).
This
is why of all the people of the world, only the Israeli men had cut out
their foreskins from the days of Abraham. Nowadays, circumcision has
become much more widespread because of its health benefits, but at the
time, only the Israeli males were circumcised. This was the mark of
God’s promise to Abraham, and God made him and the people of Israel, his
descendants, to carry in their flesh this sign of the covenant that He
established with them.
Genesis
17:11 says, “you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” So the
circumcision was the mark of the covenant. To recapitulate, this is how
God made His promise: “How do you know that you are My people? You know
it by looking at the scars of your circumcision. From now on, every male
born among you should be circumcised on his foreskin. In this way, My
covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. I promise
you to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I promise you to
bless you, to multiply you, to make you enter into the land of Canaan
and live in it forever, and to make nations of you and raise kings from
you” (Genesis 17:4-14).
God
said that the covenant that He established with Abraham and his
descendants would be found in their flesh. God’s promise was imprinted,
in other words, in the scars of the circumscribed Israeli men. God made
His promise to the people of Israel through their circumcision, and,
accordingly, whether men were circumcised or not determined whether they
were the descendants of Abraham or not. Those who were circumcised,
therefore, were recognized and blessed by God as Abraham’s descendants,
while the uncircumcised were not recognized as such.
Abraham Is Actually a Very Important Man for the People of Israel
For
the people of Israel, the man more important than even Moses, the
father of the Law, is none other than Abraham, the father of faith.
Though there are many Israelites who do not remember Noah, few, if any,
fail to remember Abraham. Only a handful of them may remember Shem,
Seth, or Methuselah, but Abraham remains as the unforgettable father of
faith for all the people of Israel. They all recognize, believe, and
follow him as the father of their nation. As such, the promise that God
made to the Israelites through Abraham still remains effective.
The
people of Israel are wholly convinced of themselves, believing, “We are
the descendants of Abraham. Our people carry the sign of circumcision
in our flesh. God is therefore our God, and we are His own people.” The
reason why the Israelites consider themselves as the chosen people is
because they still believe in the covenant that God established with
Abraham through circumcision.
Abraham
had two wives: his lawful wife Sarai who was named Sarah by God later,
and his second wife Hagar, who had been Sarai’s maidservant. Because it
looked as though Sarai would bear him no child, Abraham, in his own
thoughts, sought to have a child through Hagar (Genesis 16:1-4). But God
said clearly that because Sarai was the lawful wife of Abraham, it
would be through her own child that He would give Abraham as many
descendants as the stars in the sky. Since God promised that He would
recognize only those born of Sarai’s body as His people, Ishmael, who
was born from the second wife Hagar, was not recognized as such before
God.
Were
the people of Israel not to be circumcised, the promise that God made
to them would become ineffective. God told them to be circumcised as the
sign of His covenant so that this covenant would be in their flesh. As
such, the Israelites made sure to be circumcised, since being
uncircumcised would render God’s promise ineffective. There is probably
no one among the people of Israel who was not circumcised, for they know
too well that the uncircumcised is like the Gentiles, to whom God’s
promise is irrelevant.
The Spiritual Circumcision
The
covenant that God established with Abraham and his descendants was
wholly accomplished through the remission of all sins fulfilled by Jesus
Christ when He came to this earth and took upon the sins of mankind by
being baptized by John the Baptist.
God
told the Israelites to make the gate of the court of the Tabernacle and
its covering veil by weaving them with blue, purple, and scarlet thread
and fine woven linen (Exodus 26:31, 27:16). Through this detailed form
of the Tabernacle, God has taught us the salvation coming through Jesus
Christ. Those who believe in the truth that the Lord came to this earth,
took upon the sins of the mankind with His baptism received from John
at the age of 30, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and
thereby has forgiven us of all our sins—they are all Abraham’s
descendants. God has become the God of those who believe in the
Tabernacle’s blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen.
By
believing in the baptism of Jesus, we must all be spiritually
circumcised. This spiritual circumcision is none other than cutting off
the sins of our hearts by believing that all our sins were passed on to
Jesus Christ through His baptism (Romans 2:29).
As
such, those who have received the remission of sin today by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen are all kings of
God’s Kingdom and His own children. Just as God promised, “kings shall
come from you" (Genesis 17:6), His people are indeed rising up
throughout the entire world.
If
we want to become Abraham’s descendants, we have to believe in the
baptism that Jesus received on this earth and His blood on the Cross. As
such, I cannot emphasize enough just how important it is to know and
believe in the baptism of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the King of kings. He
is the King of kings who came wearing a purple rob (John 19:5). Jesus
Christ is the King of the universe and its Creator. As He is God’s only
begotten Son, He came to this earth in obedience to the Father’s will,
and to deliver us from our sins, He took upon all our sins with His
baptism all at once. To blot out our sins, He cut out all our sins from
our hearts and put them onto His own body with His baptism, and was
judged for all our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross. As such, all
who believe in this truth can become Abraham’s descendants.
Abraham,
his family, and his descendants were all physically circumcised. Even
the slaves bought with money from the Gentiles were circumcised. When
they believed in the covenant and were circumcised, even these Gentile
slaves were blessed, and God also became their God. As such, it is by
faith that we become the children of God, by faith that we are blessed
by God, by faith that we enter Heaven, and by faith that we live as
kings on this earth. In the New Testament’s time, this faith is the
faith of those who believe that Jesus took upon all the sins of the
world with His baptism.
However,
some people claim that this baptism of Jesus is not that important, for
they believe that they have been forgiven for their sins by believing
only in His blood on the Cross. Although they believe in the laying on
of hands on the head of the sacrificial offering performed in the age of
the Tabernacle, they place little important on Jesus’ own baptism. They
therefore insist that because Abraham’s faith was approved before the
first advent of Jesus on this earth and even far before the Tabernacle
of Moses, they are still saved only by believing in the Word of the
blood of the Cross, even without believing in the clear Word of Jesus’
baptism.
But
we must remember that when God told Abraham to bring Him a
three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old
ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon—all to make Abraham realize that
He would give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants as their
inheritance—God had in His mind the burnt offering of sacrifice by
fire. Genesis 15:17 says, “And it came to pass, when the sun went down
and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a
burning torch that passed between those pieces.” God had also approved
the sacrificial burnt offering of Abel and his faith, but He did not
approve the faith of Cain, who did not believe in this burnt offering of
sacrifice.
Among
today’s Christians, there are too many people who mistakenly understand
that they are saved just by believing in Jesus blindly, without ever
being spiritually circumcised in faith. They believe only in the
crucifixion of Jesus, without believing in the truth that all their sins
were passed onto Jesus through His baptism. These people can never
become God’s own people, for believing in such a way can never blot out
their sins from their hearts. As God said that the sign of His covenant
is in the flesh of the circumcised, the uncircumcised therefore has
nothing to do with this promise of God.
Can
people be saved from sin without believing in the baptism that Jesus
received from John the Baptist? Can such people become God’s children?
Can they enter Heaven? Can they become kings of His Kingdom? The answer
to these questions is a resounding no! The main passage that we have
read today provides the clear evidence for this answer. Today, the
promise that God had made to Abraham is the same promise that He has
made to you and me, those of us who have received the remission of sin
by believing Jesus Christ as our Savior, in His baptism and His blood on
the Cross. To those who thus believe, the same Word of blessings that
God spoke to Abraham is applicable.
The True Believers of Jesus Do Not Follow the Doctrines of Their Own Making
The
Word of God in the Bible is the definite and clear truth of salvation;
the more we read and ponder over it, the more definite and the clearer
it becomes. Among today’s Christians, there are many whose faith is
mistaken, believing in and following God based on their own thoughts,
and yet unaware that what they believe in is actually false. The very
foundation of such people’s faith is wrong. Believing blindly that Jesus
has saved them anyway may be enough to satisfy their
self-consciousness, but they must realize that God does not approve
their blind faith.
Our
Lord said that whoever wants to follow Him must first deny him/herself
and carry his/her cross. Whoever believes in the Word of God must put
down his/her own thoughts and believe according to what the Word of God
actually says. Today, you and I must believe in the remission of sin
that Jesus Christ has given us by coming to this earth, taking upon and
carrying the sins of the world with His baptism, shedding His blood on
the Cross, and rising again from the dead.
In
these days, there are way too many people who do not believe so, but
who blindly hold onto the name of Jesus, saying that they have their own
way of believing. The faith of such people has nothing to do with the
gospel of the water and the Spirit given by Jesus. For example, there
are some people who claim that Jesus showed up while they were praying
in some deep mountains, insisting that this is how they were saved. In
another example, there are those who claim that their sins all
disappeared while they went to a church, fasted, and stayed up all night
praying, because they were agonized by their sins, which they could not
get rid of with their prayers of repentance.
These
kinds of faith have nothing to do with the true salvation that comes
only through the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by our Lord.
Where does it say in the Word of God that He would forgive our sins if
we have such kinds of faith? Nowhere! These people, vaguely aware that
God is the absolute One and that Jesus is the Almighty, are borrowing
the name of Christ, adding their shallow and uncertain knowledge of God
onto their unreliable faith—they are thereby calling God’s name in vain,
forgetting their own sins, and garnering even more wrath of God. Such
people have constructed their own fictitious Jesus and their own version
of salvation, and believe in these figments of their own imagination.
Genesis
17:14 says, “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised
in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his
people; he has broken My covenant.” God has clearly promised us that He
would save us from our sins through the spiritual circumcision. And God
has also promised us unambiguously that only those who are born again of
the water and the Spirit would become His children. As such, those who
believe only in Jesus’ blood on the Cross without believing in His
baptism cannot ever become God’s children. Such people have betrayed
God, for they have not believed in the gospel promised by God, and they
are therefore to be cut off from God’s people and accursed by Him.
The
foundation of faith that can save us from our sins is none other than
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only when the gospel of the
water and the Spirit is laid out as our foundation can we firmly and
wholly believe in the Word of God. How can the spiritual Gentiles whose
hearts remain spiritually uncircumcised can ever take the Word of God to
their hearts? They can never do this! Because the gospel of the water
and the Spirit allows us to be spiritually circumcised, enabling us to
become God’s children, without having this very definite foundation, the
Word of God can come to us only as intellectual knowledge.
This
is why the spiritual teachings of the born-again servants can be
understandable and available only to those who basically believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. In other words, only those who are
born again of the water and the Spirit can hear and understand the Word
of God. When we meet people who, being ignorant of the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, claim to have been born again only through the
blood of the Cross, although they say that we all believe in the same
God, we nevertheless feel as if we are speaking of an entirely different
God. Who is the real God here? The real God is the God who gave His
Word of promise to Abraham.
God
promised Abraham and his descendants, “My covenant shall be in your
flesh for an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:13). Where is the sign
telling us that we have received the remission of our sins? It is found
in our hearts. By believing in the baptism of Jesus Christ with our
hearts, we have become the children of God, whose hearts have received
the spiritual circumcision by believing in the true gospel. We became
His children by believing with our hearts that the Lord was baptized
because of our sins to take upon all these sins of ours and that we have
become spiritually circumcised.
It
is by our faith in this truth that we passed all our sins onto Jesus
Christ, and Jesus, in turn, carried these sins to the Cross, was
crucified in our place, rose from the dead again, and thereby has saved
us from all our sins. It is by faith, in other words, that we have
become God’s children. It is by faith that we have become sinless. Do we
then have any more sin left in us? Of course not! We have no sin
whatsoever! All this was fulfilled by the truly marvelous truth of the
gospel.
How Can You and I Become Abraham’s Descendants?
We
have become Abraham’s descendants because we were spiritually
circumcised by believing in the works of Jesus manifested in the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread of the Tabernacle. It is because we believed
in the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross that we have been
spiritually circumcised and become God’s children. It is because we
believed that Jesus took upon all our sins with His baptism and was
judged for all our sins on the Cross that we have received the remission
of sin. This is how you and I have become Abraham’s descendants
spiritually.
Those
who are born again of the water and the Spirit must now recognize who
they really are. You and I, we who believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, are all God’s children and His own people, who have been
spiritually circumcised by faith.
We
are the kings of the coming Millennial Kingdom, who would reign over
all the creations of God and enjoy His entire splendor. This is how our
status has now changed. Do the people of this world know who we really
are? They do not. But we are the ones whose spiritual status has changed
by believing in the Word of God. As such, we can now know ourselves
clearly and unambiguously.
Those
who have been born again by the Word of God know who they really are.
We are fundamentally different from those who are prone to advertise
themselves in their worldly religious communities, who preach false
doctrines even as they are completely ignorant, and who look coldly upon
the born-again, the true people of God. As the people of Israel believe
themselves to be the chosen people and regard the descendants of
Ishmael differently, we who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham
also have the right to consider ourselves as the chosen people of God.
Those
of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have
fortunately become, through our faith, Abraham’s descendants. We can
enter the Kingdom of Heaven by our faith in the gospel of the blue,
purple, and scarlet thread manifested in the Tabernacle.
And
just as God promised Abraham that He would make his descendants as many
as the stars in the sky, we can witness with our eyes the actual
fulfillment of this covenant to us. This is the blessing that God has
bestowed on us.
Through
the circumcision of our hearts, God has saved us from the sins of the
world. And this circumcision of faith is made of the blue, purple, and
scarlet thread, and the fine woven linen used to make the gate of the
Tabernacle.
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