There is a spiritual and physical application to God’s Word. Here, I am only addressing the spiritual application of the physical act of circumcision: the token of the covenant between God and Abraham that God commanded Abraham to keep.
God requires strict obedience to His Word. The words that have gone forth out of His mouth He cannot reverse. He will not reverse. God does not change. He is the same today as He was before, and remains the same forever more. God commands, and if we love Him (having His love in us—His laws written in our heart), we obey. Period. When we choose to obey God, we reveal the faith of Christ to all unseen and seen around us the love of God—Christ in us: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5 KJV
We glorify God.
The physical act of circumcision God commanded them is actually unto us the token of what it is spiritually—to expose, and cut sin off—self, the carnal mind has to be surrendered up to God. Self-will has to be given-up to the will of God. The freewill choice of enmity to sin that we are to make daily is the condition of our heart God requires—we must daily be in this mindset. His everlasting covenant is to they who choose to walk before Him, the Almighty God.
The circumcision of the heart (mind) is dying to self, the flesh must die—the old man must be dead once and for all, that we be married to Christ. All sin must be exposed—acknowledged and confessed, and repented of. In order for us to meet the condition, we must have chosen enmity to sin because God does not force salvation: deliverance from sin. We must choose. Then, God imparts the power unto us to live out the daily choice of turning away from, forsaking sin, to cut off sin—dying daily, that Christ live in us.
We must take hold of the promise given us through God’s covenant of circumcision to Abraham, the same promise we have through Christ. Christ took on all sin, yet, He never sinned. He knew no sin—sin was not in Him. He is light, there is no darkness in Him at all. Christ paid the penalty for sin:death—He died the second death that we would not have to. Yet, the key that unlocks this victory over death is that we of our own freewill—choose enmity to sin. God put the enmity there, we must choose it. We must die daily.
“in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
Colossians 2:11 KJV
Repetition depends the impression: we must circumcise the flesh of the foreskin—the flesh of our heart (mind), be no more stiff-necked; be no more disobedient to God’s commandments. We must repent and be converted that our sins be blotted out, that we be born again.
The institution of the covenant: Circumcision
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 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. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 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 he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
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.
And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.”
Genesis 17:1-27 KJV
The physical act of circumcision required of Abraham and all his house, even the stranger among them: faith revealed by their choice to obey. This outward circumcision has always been from the very beginning the revelation of the true spiritual state of the heart.
When Christ came and died, He took on all sin, became sin; and died the second death for us (total, complete separation from God the Father). The old covenant of the outward circumcision was done away, nailed to the cross. The new covenant being the inward circumcision, the cutting away of the flesh—dying to self, giving up one’s self-will to the will of God, by faith choosing to be governed and ruled by God—living by faith being justified. Simply thank God. Sin is gone. Simply believe God, thank Him.
“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. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:”
Deuteronomy 10:12-17 KJV
“If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
Jeremiah 4:1-4 KJV
“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 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 2:21-29 KJV, Read also Romans 8:1-15 KJV.
“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
Galatians 3:17-18 KJV
Powerful!!! The Word is love. The Word is Power. This is only the tip of the Treasure.
Turn away from sin, cut it off from you, from among you. Choose today who you will serve. Repent and be converted.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Hebrews 13:20-21 KJV