Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I’m your host. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Beyond the Basics, where we are exploring the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one chapter at a time.

Well thanks again for joining me for this study through the book of Genesis.

If you remember last episode, we finished Genesis chapter 17 with the birth of Ishmael, who is the son of Abram and Hagar.

And now Genesis 17, fast forwards 13 years from that time. Abram is now 99 years old. This is going to be 13 years after Ishmael was born. So Ishmael is a teenager. And now God is going to appear to Abram for the first time since Ishmael was born.

Now imagine if God had spoken to you and promised something to you like, for example, “Hey, the son that you had was not the son that I had in mind for you. So you’re going to have another son. And this son is going to be your heir.”

And then God doesn’t show up for 13 years. What would be going through your mind? If you’re already old, God appears to you, makes you a promise. And then for the next 13 years, nothing happens. God doesn’t speak again. Imagine what was going through Abram’s mind at this time.

But now Abram is 99 years old and God appears to him and it says that Abram fell on his face. And then there are three paragraphs where it says that God said. And so God gives Abram three main points.

The first thing that God said is that he says, “You will now be called Abraham.”

So he changes Abram’s name to Abraham and he says that, “You will be the father of nations and kings.”

And then the second thing that he says is, God says, “You will circumcise every male older than eight days old as a sign of the covenant. And this is going to continue for all generations, meaning that every generation after you that is your offspring is going to circumcise their males at eight days old.”

And the third thing that God says is, “Your wife will now be called Sarah instead of Sarai, and she will bear a son called Isaac.”

So he gives Abraham his son’s name, Isaac. God says, “My covenant will be with Isaac and not with Ishmael.”

And he tells Abraham that Isaac was gonna be born at this time next year.

So then at the end of the chapter, Abraham circumcised himself, all the other males in his household in obedience to God.

So going back to verse one, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “I am God Almighty.”

This word God Almighty in Hebrew is El Shaddai. This is the first time that this name for God is used in scripture. There’s actually various interpretations of this name, God Almighty or El Shaddai. The literal interpretation of this word isn’t quite clear, but the point is that it refers to God’s power, his strength, his provision, his sufficiency. So that’s why they translate it God Almighty. He is the Almighty One. God is the one who has all the might, all the power. So that’s why it’s translated that way.

So God Almighty says to Abram, “Walk before me and be blameless.”

This is the same phrase that’s used of Noah in Genesis chapter six, that Noah was blameless and walked with God. So just like Noah was blameless and walked with God, God is asking Abram to be blameless and walk with him.

And this is an important comparison because, what was Noah? Noah was a voice of God’s rescue to a wicked generation. His entire generation was completely lost and degenerate and murder and sexual perversion. But Noah was blameless in that generation. He became a voice of God’s rescue from judgment. And of course, nobody listened to him.

That’s what God is asking Abram to be. He’s asking Abram to be a voice of God’s rescue to his own generation. That his actions of faith by leaving his family and going to this land that wasn’t his, of waiting faithfully for the promised son, Isaac. These were prophetic acts that communicated God’s plan to rescue humanity to the generation that Abram lived in. And on down throughout the generations, we’re still reading these stories and we’re still learning about God’s plan for rescue even now, even today.

And the psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 1 echoes this language. It says: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!

This is the same exact language and it pronounces a blessing on those who would do this, who would walk in the same way that Noah and Abram did, would walk blamelessly and walk in the law of the Lord, who would be a voice of God’s rescue and deliverance to their own generation. The psalmist says that those people are blessed.

And I think even this language of walking, especially the way that the psalmist put it,

06:20
saying that those whose way is blameless, who walk, it’s not pointing to intense encounters. I think so many of us often expect God to do intense, amazing encounters. We hear the stories about those who were addicted to all kinds of drugs and alcohol and doing all this stuff and they meet Jesus and turn and their life is completely different.

06:48
from that point forward and God does that. And I think we expect that to play out throughout our entire lives. But that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes it can be, but it’s not always. It’s not always those intense encounters with God that change us. I’ve had those intense encounters. One night years ago, back in 2011, suddenly with completely unexpectedly I was

07:17
completely overwhelmed by the love of God. I’ve never felt love and felt loved in such a way before or since then. It was completely unexpected. It was complete joy. was peace. There’s no way to explain it. But I just was overtaken with a desire to worship for hours and hours after that. And it did change me.

07:45
But that type of encounter is not sustainable unless I then walk with God every day. That intense encounter, it was beautiful and I think about it often, but it doesn’t sustain anything. It kickstarts something. And some of you who have had similar experiences can probably attest to that. It might kickstart something, but that change isn’t lasting unless we make the decision

08:15
each and every day to stay faithful for years and years and years. And sometimes we look at our life and say, man, last week I did this, last week I did that, a month ago, I’m still the same person as I was six months ago. But are you the same person as you were 10 years ago? Are you the same person as you were 20 years ago? That’s what everyday faithfulness does.

08:44
It changes us over the course of years and decades. So Abram had an intense encounter. If you remember back in chapter 15, that was a pretty intense encounter that Abram had with God. But I think that the reason why God waited for another 13 years to appear to Abram is because God wanted to see if Abram would stay faithful every day once the intensity of that encounter wore off.

09:40
you

09:50
So then moving on to verse two, while finishing verse one, God says, walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you. So God hadn’t forgotten his covenant with Abram. He’s saying, stay faithful to me because I want to keep my covenant with you. So Abram falls on his face and then God begins the first of his three pronouncements. He says, my covenant is with you. You shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

10:20
He changes Abram’s name. He says, no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. And then God goes on to say in verse seven, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. This is an everlasting covenant without end. God is saying this covenant.

10:48
does not depend on what your offspring does. He says, will be God to you and to your offspring after you. God is never gonna reject Abraham’s offspring, including the land that he gives them. Going on in verse eight, I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Once again, and I know I’ve mentioned this in previous episodes,

11:18
But, I know there are many people out there, and some of those people might be some of you, that believe that God has rejected Israel, that God has rejected the nation of Israel, and that the Church is now the new Israel. We have to read the Bible and let the Bible interpret itself and not put our own desires, our own preconceived notions, we can’t put those things on the Bible. The language here is very

11:47
very clear. God is making this covenant not only with his offspring, but this is all tied to the land. God says all the land of Canaan is an everlasting possession to your offspring. This promise ties Abraham’s offspring to the land. There’s no way to spiritualize this. This is an everlasting covenant with Abraham’s physical offspring for an everlasting possession

12:17
of the land of Canaan. God is making it very, clear right here that what is to become the nation of Israel is God’s chosen people forever and that they will inherit and inhabit the land of Israel forever. There is no other way to read this that I can see because that’s what the text says. Nowhere in the Bible does it refute this. This is God’s promise to Abraham. This is God’s promise to Israel.

12:47
This is how a natural reading of the text would take it, and to take it any other way, I believe, makes God out to be a liar. To spiritualize this and turn this into the church, saying that God has rejected Israel, and now the church is God’s chosen people and has replaced Israel, that makes God to be a liar, because that is not what God is saying here. So I think that’s very important.

13:15
very very important point to notice that this everlasting covenant never ends and that God will never reject Abraham’s offspring. So the next pronouncement that God makes is he gives the sign of the covenant which is circumcision. God says you shall keep my covenant you and your offspring after you throughout the generations and this is the covenant you will keep between me and you and your offspring after you.

13:43
It says, male among you shall be circumcised. You will be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and will be a sign of the covenant between me you. So why such a grotesque and painful sign of a covenant? Just think what Abraham is thinking in this moment. Like, God, really? That? Why? Well, here’s why. The covenant and the promise is regarding Abraham’s seed.

14:13
which comes from his reproductive organs. So that’s why sign of the covenant must also be tied to the reproductive organ. And this act of circumcision represents cutting off inherent impurity in the flesh. This is a recognition of humanity’s fallen state. It is a recognition of what must be done to partake in God’s promises.

14:42
and it foreshadows what Jesus will do and what the Holy Spirit enables us to do in the New Covenant. Now I know that there’s many people that refuse to circumcise their children because they say, well, God wouldn’t create and can’t create anything imperfect. So that must mean that that foreskin is supposed to be there. So we shouldn’t circumcise our sons. Circumcision was for Israel.

15:10
In the Old Covenant, it’s no longer for us. But I think they’re missing the symbolic nature of circumcision. And that’s not to say that if you are a listener and you haven’t circumcised your children because of this reasoning that you should go and circumcise them. That’s not what I’m saying. There’s, I’m sure, legitimate reasons for not circumcising your children. And I am not here to tell you that you should go and do it. What I am saying…

15:40
is that God did create something that needed to be cut off. He put inherent impurity in the flesh of a person that needs to be cut off. That’s what this represents. God created humans with an impurity to point them to their need for a deliverer. To point them to the fact that we are inherently impure. That we are inherently sinful and unable to partake in God’s covenant and His

16:10
promises and that in order to partake in his covenant our flesh needs to be cut off and if our flesh isn’t cut off then our entire being will be cut off from God’s covenant. Now in the new covenant we don’t need to circumcise ourselves and our children to partake in that covenant. It’s a circumcision of the heart and we’ll get more into that later in our segment about how this chapter points to Jesus and I know this is a

16:39
Kind of a sensitive topic, but the point is, the sign that God is giving to Abraham, he’s saying, you don’t cut off this small impurity in your flesh that you’re born with, then you as an entire person will be cut off from my covenant. If your children do not do this, they will be cut off from the covenant. This is in verse 14, it says, any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin

17:09
shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. This is the first time that Abraham has to actually do something for this covenant. And then his descendants, in verse 10, it says, this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. So Abraham’s descendants have to do it from that point forward to enter into the covenant by faith.

17:37
So Abraham is to circumcise him and his household to enter into the covenant and then his offspring does it as an act of faith to then enter into the same covenant. We’ll get more into this as I mentioned later on.

18:26
Going down to verse 15, God said to Abraham, as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. So this name change for Sarah is proof. It’s actually proof that the covenant is not just for Jewish men, but it’s also for Jewish women because Abraham got a name change in this reestablishment of the covenant. So did Sarah.

18:54
Obviously women cannot circumcise themselves. It’s not possible. So how would a woman be included in this covenant? Up until now it seems that this covenant is just for Jewish men and that women cannot partake. But this name change from Sarai to Sarah is changing her name from My Princess to Princess. It’s subtle, but it’s an important shift because Sarai is possessive. My Princess.

19:24
Sarah is all-encompassing princess. She is now taking on the name change for all Jewish women to be able to enter into this covenant. And she is going to be the one who bears the seed. Abraham has to cut off his flesh, the flesh that was impure, that was handed down from Adam. But it’s Sarah who was the one who was to bear the seed.

19:52
So Sarah is participating in this covenant just as much as Abraham is. And all Jewish women were able to then enter into the covenant because of her name change. Verse 16, by the way, this is the third pronouncement by God to Abraham. He tells Abraham, will bless her and moreover, I will give you a son by her. So God is saying there’s no need to find a surrogate mother anymore.

20:18
You don’t need to find another Hagar to use and get her pregnant and have another son and call that son Sarah’s. The son is going to become be through her. Sarah will be the mother. And he says in verse 19, you shall call his name Isaac. The word Isaac means laughter. And we’ll find out Abraham laughed in verse 17. Later on, Sarah is going to laugh. So his name is Isaac means laughter.

20:47
and he’s going to be the covenant bearer. Ishmael is not the covenant bearer, but Isaac is going to be the one who is the covenant bearer. God says, will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring. In verse 20, God says, as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Obviously, as those of you who have multiple children know, just because you have one child doesn’t mean that when the second child comes along, you just forget about the first child.

21:16
Abraham still very much cares for Ishmael. Not only for him as a person, but who he would become, what his inheritance would be, and what his destiny would be. And in verse 21 it says, but I will establish my covenant with Isaac. So God says, don’t worry, Ishmael is going to be taken care of. I’m going to make him fruitful. I’m going to multiply him. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s going to be okay. He’s going to…

21:45
become nations. He’s going to have twelve princes. He’s going to become a great nation. Don’t worry about him. He’s just not going to be the one that bears the covenant. So then it says that God finished talking with Abraham. And in verse 23, Abraham took Ishmael his son, all those born in his house, bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house. And he circumcised their foreskins.

22:14
obedience was complete. He did it to every single male in his household. If you remember, he’s got all sorts of not just relatives and servants, but slaves. He did it to everybody. So his obedience was complete.

22:35
And it says he did it that very day. So his obedience was immediate. He did it immediately and he did it completely.

23:38
So let’s see how this chapter points to Jesus. And I mentioned this a little bit already. Circumcision is gonna be the biggest way that this is gonna point to Jesus. And in fact, circumcision is actually connected to baptism. And I’m gonna show you why here. Both circumcision and baptism cut off sinful flesh. Circumcision cuts off the impure.

24:06
flesh of the reproductive organ, baptism cuts off the impurity in our hearts. Now, many of you listening, most likely, and I say most likely because I’ve heard this taught in very few churches, but in studying baptism, I believe that baptism is far more than just an outward expression of our commitment to Jesus. Baptism

24:35
in the Bible over and over and over again and it started with the flood and it’s connected to circumcision over and over and over again. Baptism is connected to the washing away of sin or the cutting off of sin, cutting off of impurity, the removal of impurity and wickedness and a new creation taking its place. This is the picture that the Old Testament presents of baptism.

25:04
and the New Testament is very, very clearly drawing on that. So I don’t believe that baptism is just simply a sign or an outward commitment or a public display. It’s so much more than that. I believe baptism is the true moment when your sinful flesh, your sinful heart is made clean. I believe baptism is

25:32
I don’t want to say that it’s essential to salvation because I don’t know if that’s the case, but I think that it’s very, very difficult to live a victorious, sinless, blameless life as we talked about earlier without baptism. I believe it’s very, very important for all Christians to be baptized. And this idea that baptism is just a symbolic act or an outward expression

26:01
This idea has led to many Christians believing that it’s not necessary to get baptized. But the apostles very clearly believe that it was essential to get baptized. In Colossians chapter 2 verses 11 through 12 it says, in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ having been buried with him in baptism

26:30
in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.” Okay, so what that’s saying is by taking part in Christ’s death and resurrection, we are taking part in a circumcision by putting off the flesh, this impure flesh, and that burial is expressed through baptism. So the burial of

26:59
Christ is expressed in baptism when we obviously go underwater. We are identifying with Christ’s death and burial, but it’s not just an identification. Paul here is saying that that is when we put off the flesh. That is our circumcision in the new covenant. We are putting to death our sin nature, our sinful flesh, and then we are raised with Christ.

27:30
out of the water, through faith, because of God’s power, who also raised Christ from the dead. I believe baptism is very, very, very important. Much more important than a symbolic act. So, both circumcision and baptism cut off our sinful flesh, both are recognition of the covenant we receive by faith.

27:54
So, concision is an outward act to enter into the Old Covenant by faith. This isn’t even the Old Covenant. I mean, it’s the Abrahamic Covenant. This is before the Old Covenant. This is not even the Covenant of the Law. This is to enter into the Covenant that God made with Abraham to establish Israel as His chosen people in the land of Canaan to bless His offspring and through His offspring bring blessing.

28:23
and light to the entire world. That’s the recognition of the covenant that circumcision would bring a person into through faith. And that’s important. It’s through faith. Baptism is the same thing. Baptism is an outward act that shows that we recognize that we are being brought into a new covenant through Christ’s death and resurrection by faith in Him. And then if circumcision was rejected by a Jew,

28:51
then that person was to be cut off from his people, meaning they were not allowed to participate in the benefits and the blessings of the covenant. And baptism, I believe, is the same way. Baptism should not be refused by any follower of Jesus. To refuse baptism is to refuse the blessings of the new covenant. If we refuse baptism, we are at risk of saying we are going to be cut off from the body of Christ. And…

29:20
It’s a very, very risky thing to do, to not be baptized. I hope you’re hearing me right now. It is very risky. Like I said, baptism doesn’t save us. Baptism is not what saves us. I want to be clear about that. It is the power of Jesus through His death on the cross and His resurrection and our surrender to His leadership that saves us. Baptism is not what saves us, but it is

29:50
As I mentioned, what cuts off are fleshly desires and it opens us up to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to resist sin. It’s that resurrection from water that opens us up, resurrects us to the power of Jesus to resist sin. This is a very, very important thing for every believer to do. So here’s some questions for reflection. First, why did God reveal a new name to Abram?

30:18
before giving him a commandment.

30:22
Second, have you felt God hasn’t spoken to you for an extended period of time? How has that made you feel? And in what ways have you questioned God during those times? How have you responded when God has broken the silence after extended periods of not hearing from him?

30:42
How does faithfulness over years without encountering God change us? Why did God require circumcision to receive the covenant? Does circumcision save us? Are modern Christians required to circumcise their children?

31:01
I kind of gave my thoughts on that question, but write down what you think. What is it now that cuts off our flesh and does this save us? Again, I gave my thoughts on this, but write down what you think. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me?

31:20
And then finally, is our obedience to God’s commands immediate and complete? What keeps us from obeying God fully and without question?

31:32
Thank you once again for following me through this study, through this chapter. I just want to remind you to go ahead and follow, subscribe, give the show a five star rating on whatever app you’re using, whether it’s Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple, Google, whatever it is. The podcast is now on YouTube, so you can subscribe on YouTube. All of that is going to help increase the reach of the show.

32:01
So I’d appreciate your support through that. can also support the show by going to the website http://www.beyondthebasics.blog and subscribe for $6 a month. Get all the study guides for these chapters. There’s gonna be a lot more content on those study guides than I go through in the actual episode. So it’s very beneficial for you. If you like what you hear, if you wanna go deeper, go ahead and get those study guides.

32:31
Thanks again for listening. I’ll talk to you next episode when we go through Genesis 18.