Genesis 3/11/17

GENESIS

March 11, 2017
By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION

Genesis 17: 9-14

“And God said to Avraham, ‘Therefore you shall keep My covenant, you, and your seed after you in their generations. ¹⁰This is My covenant, which you will keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every man child among you will be circumcised. ¹¹And you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it will be a token of the covenant between Me and you. ¹²And he that is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male in your generations, he that is born in the house or bought from any stranger who is not of your seed. ¹³He that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money must definitely be circumcised. And My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And the uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.’”

The covenant of circumcision was an outer sign of an inner condition:

As far as being a physical sign goes, it served to tell who was Hebrew and who was not to both the heathen and fellow Hebrew, should proof ever be needed. But more than that, it showed who was a follower or believer in Yah Weh, whether they were of the Hebrew tribes or not.

As far as being symbolic goes, we see this meaning in:

Jeremiah 4:4 “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and take away the foreskins of your heart…” which is a sign of a follower/believer in Yah Weh.

Deuteronomy 10:16-18 “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and no longer be stiff necked,” as in living stubbornly against God. And why should we not be like that? “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great, a mighty, and an awesome God, Who does not show favoritism or take a bribe, ¹⁸executing judgment for the fatherless and widow, and loving the stranger, in giving him food and clothing.”

Romans 2:28-29 “For the Jewish person is not the one to be plainly recognized by what he wears, his prayer shawl or kippah, and neither is circumcision  just openly in the flesh,²⁹but the one is Jewish inwardly, and circumcised in his heart in spirit not letter, whose praise is not from people but from God.” In ‘spirit not letter’ refers to being born-again as opposed to just following the Teaching [Law] or Torah, which many do but do not believe in Messiah, both then and today.

It is also mentioned by Stephen during his speech encapsulating Hebrew history (Acts 7:8) just before he was stoned for his faith in Y’shua.

Why was it ordained to be done in the eighth day (verse 12)? Because this is the day, scientists discovered just a few short years ago, when the blood flow to that area is the least that it will ever be. (Why they don’t wait and do it then just on that discovery alone, I will never know, but unfortunately they don’t.)

Speaking as delicately as possible, I believe the Holy Spirit has given me a couple of points of insight as to why this particular covenant was given (making it unconditional). The physical and spiritual signs of circumcision are incredible!

The foreskin taken away during a physical circumcision covers and therefore protects or shields what we commonly refer to as the head of that particular organ. And while this can be a good thing, it also needs to be kept immaculately clean and dry as it is in an excellent atmosphere in which to become infected or even moldy, not allowing proper air circulation.

When our hearts (and minds) are covered by their foreskin, the same thing happens. We become infected by the worldly influences and actually are protected or shielded against the fresh air or calling of the Holy Spirit on our hearts.

The aforementioned physical foreskin is also the covering for that which produces future generations. The foreskin of our hearts will also taint future generations in perpetuating generational curses as well as misconceptions of the One True God and Savior, until it is stripped away, because Truth is what we are really shielded from and the enemy of our soul is the one who really wants us to stay protected from knowing the Truth. “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life: no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

THE CHANGING OF SARAI’S NAME

Genesis 17:15-16

“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶And I will bless her and give you a son also from her. Yes, I will bless her and she will be a mother of nations; king of peoples will be of her.’”

We can also trail the truth of Sarah’s Promise with the genealogy listed in Matthew as we did Abraham’s last week, as it all sprang from Isaac, which we will see in verse 19 will be Sarah’s son from Abraham.

The Lord changed her name from Sarai, meaning My Princess, to Sarah, meaning Princess. This elevated Sarah from Abraham’s possession to his equal, as her name was no longer possessive. She was now his equal by virtue of her new name. This is, of course, the way the Lord originally created us and marriage to be.

Eve did not come from Adam’s head so as to lord over him. Neither did she come from his foot so as to be trampled over by him. She was created from his rib, to be a completing equal and helper for and to him. A partner to go through life side-by-side, as every marriage should be.

ABRAHAM’S SURPRISING RESPONSE

Genesis 17:17-21

“Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Will a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh! That Ishmael might live before You!’ ¹⁹And God said, ‘Sarah your wife will indeed bear a son for you; and you will call his name Isaac. And I shall establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He will beget twelve princes and I shall make him a great nation.²¹But I shall ratify My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time in the next year.’”

See? Verse 17 tells me that we ALL have times when we just can’t grasp what God is trying to tell us! (Be it in His Word or by personal revelation.) What we have to remember is that we are loved and adopted by a supernatural God, Who does NOT have to act within the realm of the natural if it doesn’t fit His plan! He is MORE THAN able to go above and beyond the natural to bring whatever He has ordained come to pass.

Look at Y’shua! 100% man and 100% God. How can anything be 200% of anything?! The only way I can even begin to wrap my head around that is to think that He is 100% God on the inside wrapped up in a human suit complete with skin, blood, etc. It ain’t exactly theologically correct, but it works for me. Sometimes.

And I do believe that verse 19, “And God said, ‘Sarah your wife will indeed bear a son for you; and you will call his name Isaac. And I shall establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him’’’ is where the Koran and the Bible split ways.

Although there are those who will insist that Jehovah and Allah are one in the same, and use Abraham and Creation as their proofing ground, please refer to Genesis 17:19-21. There IS a difference.

It is true that Ishmael was loved, blessed and honored by the One True God. His everlasting covenant however, which includes the land that is even now being fought over, was clearly given to Isaac’s descendants. And although we see no real animosity between the two people in Abraham’s day, they, like Jacob and Esau (Isaac’s two grandsons, which we will learn about a bit later), did not remain family such as we know it.

Ishmael became the patriarch of the Arabic people. And although Allah is the word for God in Arabic, when a Muslim uses it, it is not the same God we love.  However, up until the Islamic religion came along, all was relatively peaceful between the peoples of Abraham’s (first two) sons. But then the tide turned, and will never revert back until Y’shua returns.

When a Muslim shouts Allah Akhbar they will tell you that they are saying God is Great. Who can argue with that? However, they are not referring to the King of the Universe. And they are not saying God is Great, but Allah is the Greatest. The greatest means that there are others in the list. You cannot be the greatest if you are in a category of one.

Allah is actually the god of war and chosen out of the 360 or so Canaanite gods. So when you worship a god of war, nothing would be too cruel or too inhuman to do would it? Like recruiting children and training them to be suicide bombers. This does NOT come from the God of Love. The God Who died for the forgiveness of our sin.

So please, pray for the Islamic people. Pray for Ishmael’s people. Pray for those who have adopted this religion. The God of Love still love them! “This is good and acceptable before God our Savior, ⁴Who wants all mankind to be saved and to come to true and precise and correct knowledge. ⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Messiah Y’shua, ⁶the One Who gave Himself, a ransom on behalf of all, His testimony at a suitable time.” 1^st Timothy 2:3-6

“You are the light of the world. A city laid out on a mountain is not able to be hidden: ¹⁵and they do not light a lamp and place it under a peck measure but upon the lamp stand, and it gives light for all those in the house. ¹⁶Your light must now shine like this before all mankind, so that they would see your good deeds and they would glorify your Father, the One in the heavens.”Matthew 5:14-16