Daily Bread - FEB/21/07
Ephesians 2:11 - "For this reason remember that you were once gentiles in the flesh called uncircumcised by those called circumcised in the flesh made by hands."
Circumcision has been elevated beyond the mere removal of the foreskin of the flesh to a change of heart or nature. Before true circumcision was made available, every person who was not born of the seed of Abraham and circumcised in the foreskin of their flesh was considered unclean and separated from any type of a relationship with God. But now it is no longer the circumcision made with hands but the circumcision of Christ that marks the true covenant child of God (Colossians 2:11; Romans 2:28-29; Galatians 5:6; 6:15; Philippians 3:3).
Those who have been redeemed are no longer called by the unclean name of "gentiles" but are called sons of God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 6:18; 1 John 3:1). God's desire for man was to deliver him from the dominion of sin and the "god of this world" and restore him to a place of union with Himself; circumcision of the flesh could never accomplish that. The only way the instinct and nature of man could be changed was for his heart to be changed and made pure.
An uncircumcised heart speaks of a nature twisted and dominated by sin that causes the uncleanness of spirit and soul. Through the circumcision that is in Christ Jesus that uncleanness was removed and a new heart and a new spirit sprang forth out of the darkness that was shrouded by sin (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10). This spiritual circumcision of the heart is the bringing forth of a new creation in Christ that possesses the divine nature (Galatians 6:15; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus we become dead to the former life and are raised up together with Christ Jesus to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12-13; 3:1-3). The circumcision of Christ is more than the removal of a body of foreskin; it is the removal of the body of the sins of the flesh (Colossians 2:11). It is the liberation of a heart once bound by sin to worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org
About Me
- Carol L
- San Diego area, California, United States
- I started this blog back in 2005, but in 2006 began dedicating it solely for the purpose of posting email messages called, Daily Bread, sent out Monday through Saturday by my pastor, Mark Spitsbergen. These daily emails contain fresh revelation that Mark gets from the Word of God by the Holy Spirit for that day for the church that God has called him to pastor, Abiding Place. 1 Peter 4:11 says, "If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God gives that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (John 14:6), and He says, "The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are Life." (John 6:63). For the Word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
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