Category: Abraham

A Heart Transplant for Israel #1

Saturday, March 22, 2014

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26 KJV).

The Great Physician must perform this surgery if His beloved patient is to live!

Physical circumcision first appears in Scripture in Genesis 17:10-14: “[10] 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. [11] And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. [12] 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. [13] 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. [14] 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.”

This is a further development of the Abrahamic Covenant first given in Genesis 12:1-3, God’s promise to Abraham, the father of the nation Israel. Until this point in human history, God had not instructed mankind to physically circumcise male babies.

Note that Genesis 17:11 teaches that physical circumcision was “a token of the covenant betwixt [God] and [Israel],” the outward sign of God’s promise to Abraham—“the Jews require a sign” (1 Corinthians 1:22a). Thus, the Abrahamic Covenant is also called “the covenant of circumcision” (Acts 7:8). When a Jew saw his physical circumcision, it reminded him of God’s covenant with his father Abraham and himself. God rejected any uncircumcised men living in the midst of Israel: physical circumcision was a serious matter, but why? What was so special about Abraham and his seed (that is, his descendants), and how does physical circumcision explain today’s Scripture?

Let us search the Scriptures….

Bible Study 102 #6

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

The only verse that tells you to study the Bible also tells you how to understand the Bible!

While Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, et cetera were justified (had a right standing before God), nothing in Scripture indicates they knew of Calvary’s crosswork (thousands of years yet future, and God had not revealed that information yet). God’s good news to Adam and Eve was that He shed animal blood to cover their sins (Genesis 3:21), His good news to Noah was to build an ark to escape His wrath (Genesis chapter 6; Hebrews 11:7), and His good news to Abraham was that He would make of him a great nation in the earth (Genesis 12:1-3; Hebrews 11:8-10). Romans 4:1-8 explains these Old Testament saints simply believed what limited information God revealed to them, and He imputed (credited) Christ’s righteousness and (future) crosswork to them (Romans 3:25).

How can we Gentiles get Christ’s righteousness at Calvary credited to us? We find the answer in the good news God has revealed to us through Paul (Romans 11:13; 1 Timothy 1:8-16; 1 Timothy 2:4-7; Titus 1:1-3)! The Gospel of the Grace of God (two verses worth memorizing): “For I [Paul] delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This is the Gospel by which we must be saved in this the Dispensation of Grace (dispensational Bible study shows us Matthew 19:17, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9, et cetera, are Israel’s salvation verses, and have nothing to do with us).

As taught in the mystery program revealed through Paul, we Gentiles can now enjoy God’s salvation, everything that God can do for us through Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, without us having to do anything but trust it alone, because we can do nothing for Him anyway….