Did you notice that thirteen years elapse between the end of
chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17?
Ishmael is now a thirteen year old boy.
The Lord says to Abram, "I will make you exceedingly
fruitful." We want to measure fruit
in our ministry today, right now, but clearly the Lord has a longer term in
mind when He says this to Abram. He can
be Abraham, "exalted father", now that he has a son, but exceedingly
fruitful requires an understanding of fruitfulness that transcends time. Now, God is ready to make a covenant which
requires something of Abraham. You can
hear the tension building as God announces this to him, "As for you, you
shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their
generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and
your offspring after you…" (drum roll please), " Every male among you
shall be circumcised." That's it,
we circumcise the males. You don't
expect anything else from us, just that? That mark means that reproduction
belongs to God, the covenant is with offspring so the means of reproduction
belong to Him. There will be more
instructions later, but for now, that is all the Lord expected because the
covenant was fruitfulness.
The accusation against Jesus sounds something like, "So
you say." He responds by pointing
that He is not the sole witness to Himself.
He enumerates all the evidence and the witnesses they have to make an
informed decision and it all points in one direction. Those witnesses include John the Baptist,
Jesus' works, the Father, the Scriptures, and Moses. To these experts in the Law Jesus says,
"You don't know what you think you know." They don't know the Father, they search the
Scriptures and don't find the truth, and while they set their hope on Moses
they don't even believe what Moses believed.
What does it mean they have set their hopes on Moses? It is the Law they are attached to, the Law
given through Moses. The covenant,
however, isn't built in the Law and keeping it, it is based on the Lawgiver,
the one who was already in covenant with them when the Law was given. The God of Abraham.
The blood of the sacrifices cannot take away sins. Only that Jesus came to do the perfect will
of the Father can take away sins.
Animals suffered and died for the sins of mankind prior to the sacrifice
of Jesus on the cross. Jesus came in the
form of a man and lived a sinless life and offered Himself as a sacrifice once
and for all for the sins of the world.
In these three lessons we see three covenants: the covenant with
Abraham, the covenant with Moses, and the covenant in Jesus. Abraham believed God for what would be and
the covenant required the people to practice circumcision to enter into the
covenant of fruitfulness. The covenant
mediated through Moses was for the land and it required them to accept the Law. The covenant mediated through Jesus is for
eternal life and requires belief in His Name and His completed work at the
cross. Sin has been dealt with forever,
we are free.
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