In my junior high years, I would try to pretend I was adopted. It did not work. I looked too much like my mom. Not only can physical features be passed down, emotional, relational, and spiritual tendencies can be given to the next generation as well. Abraham gave a combination of physical and spiritual heritage to his descendants through the obedience to God’s call for circumcision.
Genesis 17:10-12a
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised…
When Abraham received this covenant, he was ninety-nine years old. His son Ishmael, through Hagar, was thirteen years old. They experienced the pain, the change, the covenant as an adult and teenager, not from the beginning of life. Not long after Abraham obeyed by circumcising the household, God renewed the promise of a son with Sarah.
Genesis 21:1-4
Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
Isaac would be the first son that was circumcised on the eighth day. The promised son received the full benefit of the obedience of Abraham. Whereas Abraham and others in his household had to endure the pain of circumcision later in life; Isaac had the covenant sign from birth. When we obey the Lord, the next generation benefits from our obedience earlier in life than ourselves. Obedience is not only beneficial to us but also to the following generations.
We are called to cut away anything in our lives that is not of the Lord.
Romans 2:28-29
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Our hearts, by the Spirit, are to be circumcised. The flesh must be cut away. The flesh encompasses our wants, our desires, our opinions, our control, our way. We must surrender ourselves to the Spirit of God to have Him remove what needs to be removed so that we may live unto the Lord and not unto ourselves. When we do this, the next generation is blessed by our obedience.
The physical sign of circumcision was to be a sign of the covenant for all generations. The spiritual sign of circumcision is also a sign for generations. It showcases a life changed, a testimony of the miracle God performed in our hearts, a transformation of attitude and action.
Philippians 3:3
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
Circumcision in our lives is showcased by our service to God and our boasting in Christ. If we are doing these things, then the next generation will have a living testimony of what a Christian should look like. The “circumcision” is evident. Thus, they have opportunities to live in God’s ways alongside of us on the journey.
Colossians 2:13-14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Abraham was circumcised which led to Isaac’s birth and circumcision. The act of circumcision in the physical is to point to circumcision in the spiritual. We were dead and now alive. We were in sin and now we are forgiven. We were condemned and now we are free. Our freedom is evident by our love for the Lord.
Deuteronomy 30:6
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Is this not what we desire for the next generation: to love God with all their heart and soul? Our circumcised life will be a sign to the next generation of how to live for the Lord and to choose ways that honor Him. Today, we must choose to allow God to cut away everything that is not of Him so that we may live for Him. Just like Abraham:
Genesis 17:23
On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
There was no delay. What God told Abraham to do, he carried it out, he literally cut it out of his life that very day. Today is our day to cut out anything that does not honor God, so that we may live a life that honors Him so that we and future generations will be blessed.