Alright,
thanks for being with us.
And as we come out of the soup conversation,
if you are listening to this on Thursday,
there is the KJIA soup supper tonight at the church,
4.30 to 7,
I believe.
I think that’s right.
So, come down if you need some soup,
if that made you hungry for soup,
or stew, or whatever you want to call it,
come down and eat some with them.
Chapter 17 today,
Book of Genesis,
a transition story of some way we’ve been talking about Abram,
Hagar.
We now shift back to kind of a full-on treatment of Abram and Sarai.
This entire chapter is really still plumbing the depths of this
covenant promise and the struggle in it.
So, let’s go away here and then we will try to
talk some of it through.
When Abram was 99 years old,
the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
“I’m God Almighty,
walk before me,
be blameless,
and I will make my covenant between me and you,
and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him,
“As for me, this is my covenant.
You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be Abram,
but your name shall be Abraham,
for I’ve made you the father of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful and make the nations of you.
I will establish my covenant.” Verse 8,
“I will give to you your offspring the land where you now are.”
And then let’s kind of stop there so we essentially get through verse 8 there,
which is a restatement of the promise.
So, a couple of things as we get into this, we’re 13 years.
In the short gap in your Bible between the end of chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17,
13 years have passed and Abram is now on the cusp of 100 years old.
And everything about the uncertainty of the covenant has only increased.
It has only gotten
more noticeable and more poignant for Abram and Sarai
that they’ve not had a child,
that they have not yet conceived.
And God gives this kind of,
there is in this covenant language a lot of
“if then.” “If you do this,
then I will bless you.” Sometimes it sounds conditional,
but I would argue
in the context of the story,
it’s simply almost when and then,
but you have to be a little careful
with the “if then” statements in the Bible.
But there is a lot of that language here.
Most significantly in this first part,
we see a name change.
This is pretty common.
We’ll see this again throughout the stories of Genesis.
“No longer shall your name be Abram,
but your name shall be
Abraham.” Abram and Abraham are both
takes on the same thing.
They mean exalted father or father of many,
great father, something along those lines.
They both get to that idea.
Abraham is maybe a
more full expression of it,
or it’s of a different dialect.
Scholars go back and forth.
But the point is, there is a certain newness conveyed when a name is changed.
When somebody in Scripture gets a new name,
it is generally an indicator that they’re about to enter into a new part of their story.
Yeah, well, because the Scriptures have actually always,
regardless of whether you’re in the New
Testament or the Old Testament,
there’s a real theme of transformation that happens in the
Scriptures.
Those who encounter God leave that encounter changed every time,
and that is very practically done
with name changes.
Once again, that’s shared in both the Old and New Testaments.
Another thing I want to point out here,
Clint, as we take a look at this a little bit closer, is
notice how we return to this covenant language.
Once again,
this is verse 4 here,
“When Abram falls on his face,
God says to him,
‘You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.’” This
return to this language of the father of many nations built into that name,
Abraham,
this is in many ways a restatement of a larger promise,
if you remember, that was made both to Adam and Eve.
When God created, you said that you will be blessed and multiply,
right?
You heard that in Noah’s story once again.
There’s a consistent through line through all of these characters that
God has promised this blessing that’s going to exist in the generations that follow,
and that is a promise that God is remaining faithful to hold above and in front of Abram,
now Abraham, Sarah, and in the midst of this moment,
they stand at this real precipice at a place where
we’re now at almost a laughable stage,
where the idea that Sarah’s going to become pregnant
at this point forward is supposed to be ridiculous to the reader,
and yet we know that God is
supernaturally going to do work that they couldn’t have possibly imagined to keep this promise that
has been a thoroughgoing thread throughout all of these characters thus far.
It’s important when you put these characters in conjunction with the larger story,
how quickly you begin to see that
they’re all interconnected.
When you’re in Sunday school and you read about Abraham,
you know, you may be talking about Lot,
you may be talking about the Covenant,
you may be talking about Sarah,
Isaac,
but when you put it in conjunction with these previous promises,
you see that they’re
becoming even more specific,
even as they are general,
right?
The idea of multiple generations
is now being given directly to Abraham,
and it’s that person who we’re going to see becomes the
forebearer of these family trees,
these branches that will go out from it.
It’s an interesting way
to portray both the generality of God’s promises we’ve seen earlier,
but also make it clear that
it’s become more specific in this moment.
So Abraham gets a new name with the existing promise,
and then we do get to something new.
Verse 9, this next section from verses 9 to about 15 or so,
is the introduction of a new thing in the Scripture that will be a foundational thing
throughout the Old Testament.
It continues of some importance in the New Testament, particularly
discussions related to it,
though not so much the practice itself,
but here we have the
implementation of the Jewish custom of circumcision.
So let me read these through,
and then we’ll cover that as well.
God said to Abraham,
“As for you, keep my covenant, you your offspring after you throughout the generations.
This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.
Every male shall be circumcised.
You shall circumcise the flesh of the four skins,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
Throughout the generations,
every male,
including the slave born in your house,
the one bought with money,
any foreigner who is not your
offspring, on the eighth day they shall be circumcised.
Both the slave born in your house,
the one bought with money,
must also be circumcised.
So shall my covenant be in your flesh,
an everlasting covenant.
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of the four
skins shall be cut off from the people,
for he has broken my covenant.”
So lots of question
historically about where this comes from, what it means,
but the point is really two-fold,
that when covenants are made,
we talked about this when Abram ran the birds off of the altar,
when covenants are made,
there is generally an understanding of
an offering, of a cutting, of blood in some sense.
And specifically in this case,
the theme hanging over most of Genesis,
particularly these earlier chapters,
is reproduction.
It is be fruitful and multiply.
It is multiplication versus barrenness.
And the mark of God is a sign that God has ultimate control
over both that calling and that fulfillment,
that it is God who gives life,
that it is God who brings.
The humans may create offspring,
but that’s done under God’s direction and under God’s
discretion.
And God is very involved in the reproductive lives of the characters of the
mark on reproduction and on the proliferation of his people.
I don’t want to detour to a place that won’t be helpful,
but it may be worth noting.
Remember that this is the very text where God creates in the beginning by speaking and then by breathing.
God breathes life.
And I think that image continues to help us here,
Clint, as today we talk about the mark of God’s presence,
both metaphorically and physically,
in reproduction.
And that is maybe a thing that’s easy to lose on us who live in a modern, western,
very scientific kind of worldview,
where we think of reproduction as the
constitution of its different biological parts.
In fact, we have entire doctors and scientists
whose lives are spent studying how that can be worked with at different stages, right?
Well, realistically, there is a kind of mystery to the generations moving from one to another.
The very God who made by speaking and breathing is in a very real way the very same God who is
able to make the next generation to provide life for the next stage of the promise.
Only God is able to do that.
And so when you look and see the constant theme that we have of reproduction,
that’s not just talking about people who are sharing a very common human struggle.
It actually has spiritual significance because it points us to the one who gave life in the beginning.
And if the one who made all life is now able to continue that life to sustain it,
then we see how much Abraham and Sarah are going to rely upon that God to carry them through
and to fulfill the promise that God made.
So there’s a lot happening here that maybe
maybe we don’t appreciate because we conceive of it as a much more biological sort of process.
But here,
this isn’t very much a theological,
spiritual reflection of God’s commitment to
this life that God began in the beginning of this book.
And now we’re beginning to see that
it’s going somewhere.
There’s motion to this.
That it wasn’t just life for life’s sake,
but God has attached names and given promises to specific people.
God’s taking this all in a direction,
and now we’re beginning to wonder what direction are you taking it, God?
And this book and truly the Scriptures are going to lead us down that journey as we go farther.
We often think,
and to some extent,
there are parts of the Bible you can clearly read this way,
particularly the Old Testament,
but we often think of the covenant lineage as pretty restrictive,
as just and essentially alone one group of people,
one nation,
the nation of Israel and Judah later.
But notice that from the outset here,
God has made provision for the ways in which the covenant is open.
Your slave,
the foreigner among you,
the person bought with money,
the one who is in your house,
that there is a kind of openness.
God invites them, though God expects that they
will share this mark,
they will share this physical sign of the covenant,
meaning not only will they be circumcised,
but they will live their life under the reality of the covenant.
They will,
much like a tattoo,
that can’t be undone.
They live under the constant reality
of the relationship with God,
but it is not only for Abram and his line,
his lineage,
it is for all that would want to be involved,
all that are included.
And there’s a word play here at the end,
verse 14, “Any uncircumcised
male who is not circumcised shall be cut off.” So
that would say something like,
“The one who isn’t cut shall be cut off.” The one
who isn’t marked as the covenant,
they are an outsider.
So this is something we in the Western world kind of take for
granted.
But here it is an inescapable part of the religious life of the people,
and it is a
constant reminder on that eighth day,
every time a child is born,
that they live under a covenant
promise and under covenant expectations in a way that is inescapable and is constantly in front of them.
That God has already given a sign of the covenant,
not particularly or specifically this
covenant, but remember the rainbow,
when God says that the rainbow will be a symbol, a reminder
of my promise to not flood the earth.
That’s not the covenant we’re talking about here specifically,
but it is a way in which God symbolizes and reminds the people of God’s commitment.
Here we see that symbol,
that reminder, that practice being done
by the people.
This is a very clear
expectation that God has for those who are following in the way that God is leaning.
That’s substantial.
It’s significant.
In fact, this is the first time in the story that we really
have a qualification or a clear demarcation of those who are positively following God’s plan.
We have people like Cain
who is marked,
but that’s in a negative way.
We have, you know, other sort of nods to this,
but here we’re beginning to see this selection that is intended
to lead God’s people forward.
This is one of the first markers that were given as to who’s in that
family,
who’s in that tribe, and who’s not.
What’s really interesting,
if you really want to pull
back and look at it,
is this is only going to become more specific.
Here’s a sign of the covenantal
promise, but it’s not going to be long until we get the commandments,
and then with that we get
actual worshiping practice, and then, you know, we go farther than that.
We have the legitimate
proportions and the layout of the temple,
right?
All of these things are going to come,
but this is the beginning of God’s symbolic promise to humanity and His expectation
of human’s response to it.
I think also,
and this is kind of in the background, Michael,
I don’t think this is a main point,
but I would add that it is of interest,
I think, that the
sign of the covenant here does carry some cost.
There’s some pain involved.
There’s some discomfort involved.
The partnership with God,
relationship with God, is not something to take lightly,
nor is it something that comes easily.
It is not comfortable.
There is
a sacrifice involved.
There is some struggle involved,
and this very minor expression of that in this sign
of the covenant, the circumcision of the males,
is, I think,
a small signpost that points to that,
that says to the people,
as they will practice this discipline,
as they will practice this mark
of the covenant in all their generations to come to current day,
each and every time it is to say,
we are in relationship with a God that is not us,
that is above us,
that is demanding at times,
that asks of us,
and our struggle, our task,
is to be obedient.
And sometimes,
I mean, to use the imagery,
sometimes that hurts.
It’s not easy.
Nor is it accidental.
You don’t just stumble into that.
There’s a revealedness to this that is substantial.
And in fact, I just had a person make a note.
It was a comment on the
thing that we had done.
They were talking about how hard it is.
In this case, they were talking about the Trinity.
And what’s really interesting is,
as people of faith,
there just comes time
where it demands faith.
And there are other times where that faith demands obedience.
In other words,
there are some times when we need to do a thing because the living God has commanded
it, and we must confess we don’t have it all figured out.
We don’t have the rational logic
that got us from A to B,
the C to D,
and we can trace it out,
and then it can be mathematically
proven.
That is, in fact, in some ways counter to what it means to experience the revealed truth of God.
That is relational.
And in other words,
once God says all there is to do is but to respond.
And some will respond in faith and say,
this is painful.
This is a struggle.
This is a symbol.
I might not even want to bear,
but it’s a thing because of relationship I’m willing to do.
And then in that practice,
one discovers that there’s far more meaning to it than what you would find
outside of that obedience.
And that is hard.
I think it’s especially hard to modern cynicism,
but to those who are willing to open their eyes and to see spiritually,
I think there’s far more
here than what you might first think.
Yeah. We will push on Monday.
And interesting,
we’ll start the week off,
I think, with a fun text, an interesting text,
as we see in the next
several days, as we see Abraham and Sarah struggle with reality and possibility in regard to this covenant promise.
So, some really good stuff coming up.
Hope you can be with us.
If you are listening to this before Sunday,
don’t miss Sunday worship,
one service here at First Presbyterian Church, 850,
first service with pie auction to follow.
There will be online
ways for you to connect during the pie auction that will be shared in service and through email.
So, we hope to see you for all of that.
But until then,
definitely have a great weekend.
Thanks, everybody.