The Cutting Off of the Flesh

"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." (Genesis 17:1-15)

Thirteen years have passed since the birth of Ishmael, a first-born child that Abram surely loves; more than thirteen years have passed since the Lord last provided a revelation to Abram…surely because of the marriage to Hagar which was not pleasing to the Lord. Perhaps, Abram's hastiness in "helping" God with His promise of "seed" has in fact deferred the arrival of that "seed." At the very least, while Abram has still enjoyed communion with the Lord during this interval, revelations have ceased for none are recorded here, and we can easily see the reason why: revelation follows after obedience; but with disobedience there comes no revelation. Surely Abram is aware of what his actions have cost him.

Now, here is the Lord again, appearing to Abram and causing a humbled Abram to fall on his face before him as the Lord reminds Abram of the covenant that God made with him; and the Lord shows Abram, by the simple changing of his name, that things were going to change in his life because of that promise of God about to be fulfilled. Not only was Abram's name changed to Abraham, but Sarai's name was changed to Sarah.

If we study the change in names for a moment, we will see that what was consistent in both names changes was the addition of the letter "h." Actually, in Hebrew the letter that denotes our English "h" looks something like a small squiggle and the sound that it represents is simply a breath, much as our own letter "h" also represents: a breath. Interestingly "breath" is what the Hebrew word for the Spirit means as well. So, the change that is about to take place in Abram's and Sarai's lives which is memorialized by the change in their names as well, is none other than by the breath or Spirit of God which gives new life. This should not be surprising to anyone as He is the same One who changes our lives even today after we acknowledge our need of a Savior through Jesus Christ.

God first seeks us out, just as He did Abram, then, if we desire to know more of God we begin to seek Him as we follow God in obedience, just as Abram did. But all of this "obedience" is enabled by the Holy Spirit of God; all that is required of us is the desire to seek God. Another way of saying this is that what is begun "by the Spirit of God" cannot continue in any other way than "by the Spirit of God." In other words all that happens with God must happen by the Spirit, not by the flesh.

God promises to enable us to be obedient, but only if that is in fact our desire, and He seals that promise with blood; in this case, the blood of circumcision, later it will be by the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. The fact that servants were to be circumcised as well, is prophetic in its pointing to the saving of Gentiles as well as Jews in the New Testament. And should any individual reject the "blood" of the covenant (circumcision), they then show that they despise God Himself. They either submit to the "cutting off" of flesh, or they are themselves "cut off" from God and from God's people. They either trust in the "blood" that reconciles them to God, or they do not.

The same is true for us today as well. We will either trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us of our sin and submit to our flesh being "cut off" (in a spiritual sense, i.e. dying to the flesh, loving God more than self) or we show that we love the flesh (sin and its temporal pleasures) more than God and thus, in fact, that we despise God.

Once more, from its beginning chapters the Word of God points prophetically, as it does throughout the entire Book, to the saving grace of God to us through Jesus Christ, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Those who have been given eyes to see, see it clearly; but there is a multitude who do not see because they prefer to remain in their sin:

"Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house."( Ezekiel 12:2)

Let me try to put all of this regarding Abram, Sarai, Hagar and Ishmael into very simple terms that will show that which is of the Spirit and that which is of the flesh:

God led Abram and family out of Ur of the Chaldees and into a new promised land (Spirit). God promised to give Abram seed (Spirit). Abram and Sarai became impatient in waiting on God's promise to arrive, so they took matters into their own hands (flesh). Hagar gives birth to Ishmael (flesh). THEN, after Ishmael, the "fleshly" son of Abram is born (and remember he has been predicted to be a wild man, a man of the flesh and its passions, but not necessarily a man of God), God changes Abram and Sarai's names by adding a "breath" to it (Spirit), Abraham and Sarah who have been claimed by the Spirit of God as His own, will soon become parents of the future son of the promise, and that son will represent those who are born by the Spirit of God, not by the flesh. God declares the token of HIS Covenant with Abram's seed to be the blood of circumcision by the cutting off of flesh: those who are circumcised (who cast off their flesh) show their love and obedience to God (Spirit); those who reject circumcision show that they despise God (flesh.)

What is begun in the Spirit cannot be finished in the flesh. The New Testament book of Romans speaks much about Abraham and his children, and Sarah and Hagar. And we also will study that along the way here in Genesis once the child of promise is born to Abraham and Sarah.