From Eden to Eden Pt 4

From Eden to Eden-A Historic and Prophetic Study.  Part 3

By J. H. Waggoner. 1890

CHAPTER III. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

In Genesis 17 we find the promises which God made to the fathers taking the specific form of a covenant, of which circumcision was given as the seal. It was the token or sign whereby his children were to be distinguished from other people as a holy nation. "And the uncircumcised manchild whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." Gen. 17:14.

Now we have before us the three terms that cover the entire field of the covenant with Abraham; namely, the Land, the Seed, and the Token. We must trace these to their extent or full meaning in order to come to a complete understanding of the covenant. For the benefit of those who have never considered them as having any positive relation to each other in the gospel, we shall take them up in reverse order, examining first those which are to some extent accepted by all Christians.

1. The Token. 

The Lord said to Abraham, "And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." Gen. 17:11. 

It is generally supposed that the great majority of the people of Israel understood the token of the covenant, circumcision, only in its most literal sense. But that may well be doubted. According to Heb. 4:1, 2, (Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.) they who fell in the wilderness of Arabia had the gospel preached to them, though there are many who fail to discover wherein they could have understood the gospel. It is clearly revealed that they were taught the spiritual nature of the covenant with Abraham, and the real intent of circumcision. Thus it was said in Deut. 10:16: "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." And again in chapter 30:6, Moses said to them: "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." And many years after this, the same was spoken by the prophet: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem." Jer. 4:4.

These scriptures show that the true intent of the ordinance was revealed to Israel; and no doubt all the faithful, devoted ones among them, all who searched to know the ways of God, well understood the subject, even as they saw the sacrifice of the Messiah in the daily offerings upon their altars; just as we see the body and blood of the Saviour in the Lord's supper. No one can doubt that Abraham understood the true nature of the covenant then made, and we are informed that he received circumcision as a seal of righteousness. But in process of time, as traditions supplanted the word of God, and the fear of God was taught by the precept of men, Isa. 29:13, it is likely that they largely lost sight of the spirituality of the covenant, and regarded circumcision only in its outward sense.

The covenant that God made with Abraham has never been disannulled. It is the covenant of salvation from the effects of the fall. And, therefore, it is the plan for carrying out the promise made to Adam, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. He who does not see this relation of the Abrahamic covenant to the original promise of Gen. 3:15, reads it amiss. 

The token of that covenant remains, the true circumcision according to what God revealed to the children of Israel. The external has passed entirely away, as Paul said to the Romans: "Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; . . . circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." Rom. 2:28, 29. In Rom. 4:11, circumcision is called both a sign and a seal. Therefore in Eph. 1:13, the apostle says: "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Also in Eph. 4:30, he said: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." And as it was said to Abraham, the uncircumcised shall be cut off from among his people, even so now. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:9. He has not the true token or seal of the covenant; he shall be cut off. An outward seal was given only to the males, but that distinction is put away with the passing away of the external. The true seal is applied to all, for "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:28. That this part of the covenant with Abraham remains, in the sense in which it was spoken of by Moses and Jeremiah, no one denies. And the same may be said of the next point.

To be continued…