From the beginning of the creation, God has desired a relationship with His creation.  He went so far as to create Adam and Eve in His own image (Gen 1 v. 27).  What does it mean to be in the “image of God”?  God created them as sinless creatures.  How do we know this to be true (besides the fact that they are said to be created in His image)?  Genesis 3:3 says that God told them they would die if they ate from or touched the tree.  The serpent then tricks Eve saying "You surely will not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Gen 3:4-5.  He tells Eve that God lied… they wouldn’t die, they would actually receive great knowledge and be like God!  God was trying to “scare” them by saying they would die.  Did they eat of the tree?  Did they die in “that day”?  Yes!  How do we know it is so?  Because God said it would be so!  The death that Adam died from which he needed to be redeemed was the death he died while he was still alive.  Is there further proof to make this point?  God IMMEDIATELY institutes a plan for the salvation of man when He says to Satan “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." Gen 3:15  This is ultimately a reference to Christ (Rom. 16:20).  This death was the “sin death” that separates man from God.  Christ did not come into the world to save us from our physical death, but to offer redemption from spiritual death.

Still wanting a relationship with His creation, God develops a plan to have a “people for His own name”.  This ultimately comes to be the Old Covenant type of the nation of Israel. 

Exod 19:1-6

1  In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. 3 Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and {how} I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 "Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel."

This arrangement is a “type” because it is a shadow of the eternal realities to come in the new covenant authored by Christ.  A kingdom has four elements that make it up.  It must have a king, a land, a law and a people.  The people of Israel were the people of God’s kingdom.  So, how did one gain entrance into this kingdom?  Very simply put, they were born into it by physical birth.  If you were born an Israelite, you were in the kingdom of God.  Your birth automatically entered you into that covenantal relationship with God as one of his people.  We’ve already mentioned covenant several times.  Let’s see how this covenant was established with God’s people (ultimately the nation of Israel).

Gen 17:1-14

1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 "I will establish My covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly." 3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, 4 "As for me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7 "I will establish My covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 "I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." 9 God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 "And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a {servant} who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. 13 "A {servant} who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 "But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

This passage details the covenant between God and Abraham.  It is also to his decendants which become the nation of Israel; God's people.  The circumcision is said to be a "sign of the covenant".  Any person not having this sign is said to have broken the covenant and will be "cut off".  Also in Exodus 12…

Exod 12:48-49

48 "But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49 "The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you."

This scripture tells us that "no uncircumcised person" may eat of the passover feast.  We'll come back to this passage at the end of the lesson.

The following excerpt is taken from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on the topic of circumcision.

CIRCUMCISION

It was a sacramental operation. "The shedding of blood" was necessary to the validity of any covenant between tribes or individuals. The rite of blood signifies the exchange of blood on the part of the contracting parties, and therefore the establishment of physical affinity between them.

There can be no doubt that circumcision was originally a religions act. Membership in the tribe, entrance upon the rights of citizenship, participation in the religious practices of the tribe-- these privileges are interdependent. Anyone who had experienced the rite of blood stood within the scope of the covenant which existed between the tribe and the tribal god, and enjoyed all the privileges of tribal society.

(from International Standard Bible Encylopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (C) 1996 by Biblesoft)

So, we see in the type of the old covenant system that a person was part of the kingdom by his physical birth into the nation of Israel.  He entered into a covenantal relationship with God by the shedding of blood in the rite of circumcision of the flesh.  This arrangement provided for them a way to enjoy the blessings that God had provided for His people (priests offered sacrifices on their behalf, they could partake of the feasts such as the Passover that has already been mentioned, etc.).

However, there was a problem with this system in that it ultimately could not offer the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 10:4).  As we saw prophesied in Genesis, Christ therefore comes into the world to be the “once for all” sacrifice that covers our sin in Him.

Heb 10:8-17

8 After saying above, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND {sacrifices} FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE {in them} " (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM," {He then says} 17 "AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."

Christ took away that old covenant to establish the new with the new people of God.  His offering perfects those who are sanctified for all time!  This is God’s everlasting covenant with His people.

Paul contrasts the two systems in Phil. 3

Phil 3:2-7

2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the {true} circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Paul tells the Philippians to beware of the “false circumcision”.  He makes reference many times to this group of Judaizing teachers… those who sought to bind the physical circumcision on Christians.  He tells them that the people of the true circumcision worship in the Spirit and glory in Christ.  They did not need to receive a physical circumcision into an old system that was passing away.  They had already received a spiritual circumcision that was everlasting and superior.  He defines this idea further in Colossians 2.

Col 2:9-14

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Verses 11 and 12 are key here.  We are circumcised in Christ with a circumcision not made with hands.  This is a spiritual circumcision that signifies our entrance into the new covenant that God established with His people through Christ (the shedding of His blood which ratified the covenant).  This circumcision is said to occur when we are “buried with Him in baptism”.  Therein also lies the resurrection from the dead and eternal life. 

Rom 6:5-11

5 For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be {in the likeness} of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him}  in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Finally, now that we have seen the significance of the circumcision in the new covenant, let’s remember what is said about the shadow of these new things through the old covenant.  Gen 17:14 "But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."  And also Exod 12:48 tells us that no uncircumcised person may partake of the Passover feast. 

1 Cor 5:7

7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are {in fact} unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

Christ is very clearly said to be our Passover Lamb.  If you are without the circumcision of baptism, then you have not yet entered into the covenant that God has made with His new people and you are cut off.  If you have not been circumcised with the “circumcision not made with hands”, then you are not permitted to partake of the Passover… our Passover which is Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. 

God initiated a plan in the garden of Eden to bring His people back into a spiritual relationship with Him.  Christ was this end.  All of the blessings of the new covenant are “in Him”.  To be in Him, we must be united with Him through baptism into the likeness of His death, burial and resurrection. 

Rom 6:4

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

1 Pet 3:21

21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

His sacrifice provides a covering for our sin.  Are you willing to allow your heart to be circumcised and to enjoy the feast offered by the Passover Lamb?