SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 08-07-2006
My Worship Time Focus: The Sign
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Genesis 17:9-14
Message of the verse: “9 God
said further to Abraham, ‘Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and
your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 ‘This
is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants
after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 ‘And
you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the
sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 ‘And every male among you who
is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant
who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is
not of your descendants. 13 ‘A servant who is born in your house or who
is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant
be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 ‘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.’”
God not
only gave Abram a new name, Abraham, but He also promised him the land where
his future descendents would live. In
verses 9-14 God gives Abraham a sign of the covenant that He has made with
Abraham, and that covenant is circumcision, and explains to Abraham that all
males should be circumcised when they were eight days old, and the first one
who would have this done when they were eight days old was the promised son of
Abraham, Isaac, and this would be in about a year for these events that are
spoken of in these verses.
Circumcision
is the cutting away of the foreskin of the penis of the male, and this is where
the seed of the male would come from, and this sign was for the seed of
Abraham. Circumcision is not a
sacrament, like baptism or the Lord’s Table, but was a sign to all the Jewish
people that they belonged to God and therefore they were to separate themselves
from the evil that surrounded them.
However this is not what the Jewish people made of this sign, but they
thought that because they received this sign that this was their ticket into
heaven, but they were wrong.
To the
believer in Jesus Christ circumcision speaks of cutting ones self from the old
nature that all are born with, and is not necessary for salvation. Paul dealt with this and it can be seen in
Acts 15, along with the letter to the Galatians. Paul also wrote about this in Romans
4:9-12. “Is this blessing then on the
circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, ‘FAITH WAS CREDITED TO
ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ 10 How then was it credited? While he was
circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11
and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the
faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all
who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to
them, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the
circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father
Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: This is a welcomed lesson to me, for I am
certainly having much trouble with the old nature that I was born with, for
even though it is dead I still am having a lot of troubles with it especially
over the summer. Dr. Wiersbe writes that
when I was born into the family of God the Holy Spirit did a spiritual
circumcision on me that enables me to have victory over the desires of the old
nature and the old life. Spiritual
circumcision puts off the body of the sins of the flesh and deals radically
with the sin nature. (Col.
The Word of God
has been very convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.
My Steps of Faith
Today: Put this truth into practice,
realizing that I have power over the old nature through the Word of God and the
Spirit of God.
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