Genesis 17:1-27 | Cut Off From the World

If you have a Bible, you can go and grab it and turn it to the book of Genesis. Continuing our series in the book of Genesis, we'll be looking at chapter 17. If you don't have a Bible, you can use a pew Bible that's in front of you. If you don't own a Bible, feel free to take that Bible home with you. We would love for that to be a little gift for you to have a copy of God's word and be able to read it yourself and see what God's word says. We would love for you to keep that Bible as a gift. Again, we'll be in the very first book of your Bible, Genesis chapter 17. That's a big number, and the little numbers are the verse numbers. So, we'll be looking at the whole chapter, Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. I'll read the whole chapter for us and then we'll pray.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.” God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring. Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant. If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!” But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham. So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him. — Genesis 17:1-27 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, as we think about this covenant that you make with Abraham, as we think about our own lives, I pray Lord that you would help us to live lives distinct and holy and wholly dedicated to you. Pray that you would help us to even understand that this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.

When I was a teenager, we would frequently go on mission trips to the Navajo reservation. And I actually knew Brian when I was 11. We would go on these trips together. And there was one summer before we went where all of the men in our missions trip team decided to shave their heads. Brian had a little monk avatar looking head; you could see pictures of it in the past. And everyone would get around and shave their heads. And it was a way that everyone knew that they were members of Miracle Land Baptist Church—one word, Miracle Land Baptist Church. And we would all go to this mission field together, except for one guy. My mom didn't let me shave my head. I was so upset because everyone else was very clearly distinguished, and I wasn't. I wasn't part of the club. I was completely excluded. I did not receive the covenant sign.

You think about other signs that set us apart. Rings that exemplify the marriage covenant signify that you share something with your partner that you do not share with other people, with your spouse, that you are one flesh with them. That is a unique, God-given, holy thing. There are all sorts of other signs that we have that signify that we are able to do things that others cannot do. Costco executives are able to get into Costco an hour early, right? Certain clothes that you wear, they signify to other people that you're part of different classes.

Abraham in this chapter in Genesis receives a covenant sign from God that's meant to set him apart from other people. And with that covenant sign also comes the foreshadowing of what God will ultimately do in bringing salvation for all people. And so this chapter follows actually pretty similarly with the pattern of the Christian faith as we see God now repeat this covenant promise to Abram a third time. We'll see that he follows the covenant promise and then the covenant sign, then talks about the covenant son, and then Abraham responds with the covenant commitment. So there are four things that we're going to look at this morning: the covenant promise, covenant sign, the covenant son, and the covenant commitment. And then at the very end of the sermon, I'll try to walk through Abraham's story a little bit with some reflections on how this covenant of circumcision that Abraham receives applies to us as Christians.

The Covenant Promise: God's Unwavering Plan

Okay, let's start with point number one, the covenant promise. Read with me again from verse one:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” — Genesis 17:1-2 (CSB)

God appears to Abram again and gives him a promise similar to everything that we've heard for the last couple of weeks: that Abram is to follow God, he will set up his covenant, and then Abram will multiply greatly. And this is so normal at this point in Genesis. We've talked about this over and over again that your eyes can almost gloss over the very next part of the story. This happens a lot in the Old Testament. Sometimes we can treat the Old Testament like a non-stop highlight reel. Genesis moves pretty fast. You cover a lot of history. You go from creation to fall, to Cain and Abel, to the flood, just exciting part after exciting part. So when you read about Ishmael being born and he gets to the covenant of circumcision, it almost seems like these things are happening side by side. But while chapter 17 is just a centimeter or two away from chapter 16, within those two centimeters in your Bible is 13 years. It says that Abram was 99 years old; earlier in the chapter, it said that he was 86 when he had his son Ishmael. And even after that chaotic mess of sin and sadness that we saw last week, God doesn't re-enter the story until 13 years later.

Could you wait 13 years? I think as time goes on, what's most remarkable to me about figures like Abram in the story isn't just his acts or his work, but his ability to wait, to endure. In five chapters, we're spanning 24 years of waiting. Some of us can't even wait 24 hours. But with everything from God asking God to help us through a trial to waiting for Jesus to come back, good things come to those who wait. And when God introduces himself in chapter 17, he introduces himself with a specific name as El Shaddai: God Almighty, the almighty God who can do all things, who can do anything, makes Abram wait 24 years. And every second of waiting for Abram took work. It took strength, expended energy to have to sit there, and every second of waiting had a purpose. God knew exactly what he was doing.

And God was going to demonstrate his power through a 99-year-old man by giving him a child through his 89-year-old wife, Sarai. And God will demonstrate his power in Abram's life through his holy living and displaying God's blessing in his life through holiness and multiplication. And with this work that he gives Abram comes a new name.

In verse three:

Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.” — Genesis 17:3-8 (CSB)

The covenant God makes with Abram reaffirms all the promises that God made with Abram before in Genesis 12. He'll be a father of many nations. They will inherit the land. And to mark this promise, he gives Abram a new name. Abram is no longer the