Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 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 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And 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. And God said to Abraham, 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. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. But he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh. an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant." May God bless not only the reading, but now the preaching of his perfect and inspired word. By the way I'll just say one more thing about this sermon. It actually comes in a series of sermons dealing with a number of things and as you might guess I'll be relating this somewhat to the matter of baptism since circumcision is no longer the sign of the covenant of God's people under the new covenant. If you want A little more of that, if your interest has peaked, you can check us online and listen to some of the ones following this. Now, today's sermon, the main point is going to focus on the main point of the text. I hope that's a good thing to do. And the main point of the text is to speak about the sign of the covenant. The sign of the covenant. This is not the beginning where God makes the covenant. You can think of the Abrahamic covenant unfolding in roughly three stages in Genesis. Chapter 12, he initially makes the covenant with Abraham. Chapter 15, God ratifies that covenant, walking through the pieces of the animals, which are cut in half. And now in Chapter 17, God gives the sign of that same covenant made in Chapter 12, ratified in Chapter 15, and now provided with a sign. And so as we consider that main point, the sign of the covenant circumcision, we're going to ask three questions about this sign. First of all, what is the meaning of the sign? What is the meaning of the sign of the covenant circumcision? Second of all, what is the purpose of the sign? And thirdly, to whom is the sign to be applied? So those will be our three points as we think about the main point of the text, circumcision. What is the meaning of the sign? What is the purpose of the sign? And to whom is the sign to be applied? And I very, in fact, very deliberately chose those points because in the sermon following these, I take the same three points and simply say, what is the meaning of of baptism, what's the purpose of it, and to whom is it to be applied? And that generates, that has some concern for us as God's people here under the new covenant to think about. So then, first of all, what is the meaning of circumcision? Now, understanding the meaning is of absolute and critical importance because, let's face it, some of us, because we know this relates to the issue of baptism, we may wanna just jump ahead to, well, let's just see, who's this gonna be applied to and who's baptism going to be applied to? But meaning and application, the meaning of the sign and the application are inextricably tied together. You cannot understand the one without understanding the other. And so let's try and understand the meaning of this sign. And to understand the meaning of it, especially the symbolism of the sign, we must understand how the covenant sign of chapter 17 recalls the covenant ceremony of chapter 15. Let me say that again. And to understand the meaning of this sign, you have to understand how the covenant sign of chapter 17 recalls the covenant ceremony of chapter 15. And if we read chapter 15 and 17 carefully, we see that there are all kinds of links between these two chapters that are linking them together. For example, in chapter 15, God appears to Abraham in the form of the glory cloud, the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch. And you may not have noticed it, but in fact, God appears to Abraham in chapter 17 in the same form. We are told in verse 1 that he appeared to Abraham. He appeared to him. That is the language of theophany. He took a visible appearance. And then if you skip down to verse 22, which we did not read, we are told that after God finished speaking with Abraham, he went up That is to say, he ascended, and that language is regularly used later in the Pentateuch to describe the actions of the glory cloud, as the glory cloud variously ascends and descends. There are just a number of ways in which these two chapters are connected, but the glory cloud appearance is just one way. And when Abraham saw God appearing in the same way, even though it was some 13 years after chapter 15, where would his mind race to? His mind would race back to that covenant ceremony in chapter 15. where God took the form of the glory cloud and walked between the cut pieces of the animal. Indeed, not only does God's appearance tie these two chapters together, but the imagery used here and the language also connects them together. The imagery of chapter 15, going back to the covenant ceremony, is the imagery of the knife or the sword. It is the sword that cuts. It is the sword that cleaves those animals in two. It's going on in Chapter 17. It's the sign of the sword again. The sword, the knife, those two words are really the same. But this time, the sword is not applied to the flesh of animals, is it? It is applied to the flesh of God's people. Moreover, the language used between the two chapters reinforces that same sword imagery. In chapter 15, verse 18, Moses said that on the day that God walked through the pieces, he cut. Now in the ESV, it's not translated that way. It says he made a covenant, but literally in Hebrew, God cut a covenant on that day that he walked through the pieces. And that's the same word used here in our passage in verse 14. Whoever will not receive the sign of circumcision will be cut. He will be cut off from his people. Now again, the reason why I'm calling you to see the connections between these two chapters is to help you understand the meaning of circumcision. To see that the covenant sign given in chapter 17 recalls the covenant ceremony of chapter 15. The covenant sign recalls the covenant ceremony. And by calling Abraham to place the sign of the sword, that same sign which appeared in chapter 15, cutting those animals in two, God is calling Abraham to remember that promise which he made to him back in chapter 15. Therefore, when we ask, what is the meaning of the sign of circumcision? Once we connect these two chapters, the answer is quite simple. The meaning of circumcision is first and foremost the sword of judgment. It concerns the sword of judgment. In essence, God is saying to Abraham, Abraham, face this sword in me. Face it as I intend for you to face it in me through my facing it for you, for my being cut in two to bring you the blessing, but if you will not, there remains a sword of judgment that must be faced and you will face that sword. If you will not face that sword, it doesn't go away. You must face it. You will be cut off. Only as we understand how the meaning of circumcision is a sword of judgment, Can we understand how it is a double edged sword? It is first intended to be wielded against God himself as he, not Abraham, walked through those pieces to secure the blessing of the covenant. But if Abraham and his children will not receive the sign in faith, then that sign still carries meaning for them. It remains the sword of judgment. Now the meaning of circumcision is that as a sign, it's that as a sign, it calls the recipient to consider the fact that in order to receive the blessing from God, that blessing of possessing God himself as our very great reward. The sign calls to the recipient to remember that in order to gain God in that way, you must receive the sign in faith. Judgment must be faced. And we know that this sword is in fact the sword of judgment because, let's face it, the sword and the sword of judgment is predominant in the book of Genesis. It's a dominant sign. If you're not latching onto that as an important symbol, you're really missing something quite significant. It goes back as early as Genesis 3, Chapter 3, right? When the gateway to God's presence is closed, it is guarded with a flaming sword. Then again, the sword is unsheathed in chapter 15, as we have said, and here again in chapter 17. It reappears in chapter 22, where the blessing of securing, the means of securing blessing will come as Abraham's seed, Isaac, or even one greater than Isaac, faces the sword as that sword is about to be plunged down into the promised sun. The imagery of the sword keeps appearing, by the way, in the Old Testament and into the New Testament. God is saying, face the sword of judgment symbolized in the sign of the sword placed upon you. Face it as my son is cut off from the land of the living on behalf of his people. Isaiah 53, verse eight. Face it as you are told in Daniel 9, 26, that the Messiah, the prince, is cut off for his people. inaugurating the 70th week of Jubilee. Face it as you are told, in the circumcision of Christ. Colossians 2, where Paul says this, in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by the putting off of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ. That's not referring to what happened to him on the eighth day of his birth, right? The circumcision of Christ with which you are circumcised is that sword that he faced on the cross. That's the ultimate circumcision that Christ faced. And if you are a Christian, you have received everything that circumcision symbolized under the Old Testament by your union with Christ as he was ultimately circumcised, cut off, on the cross for you. Therefore, the sword of judgment, that is the meaning, first and foremost, of circumcision. Circumcision called Abraham and his posterity to face that sword of God's judgment. One would either face it in God, trusting in God to endure that judgment for them, or if not, the recipient would ultimately face that sword themselves. Now, having seen the meaning of the sign, let's consider the purpose of the sign. What is the purpose of the sign? Now, in speaking of the purpose of the sign, I wanna distinguish between the intended purpose, the primary purpose, if you will, and a secondary purpose. First of all, the primary or intended purpose. And there are many ways that we can get at this. But the way that I would like to get at it today is through that New Testament passage that we read, particularly verse 11 of Romans chapter 4. Romans 4.11 uses the language of sign and seal when discussing the Old Testament sign of circumcision. Listen to what it says, Romans 4.11. He, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. You see, the intended purpose of the sign of circumcision was to testify to the righteousness which God was to provide for them, a righteousness which he provided as he faced the sword of judgment for them. And now here at this point, it's vital for you to understand the nature of a seal. In the ancient world, a king would validate an official document and lend it credulity, authenticity and authority by putting a wax seal on it, for example, and then taking his signet ring and putting his insignia there, stamping it into the wax. Now we don't merely have to know about Old Testament rituals to understand that that is sort of the meaning that sealing it authenticates, validates, strengthens, confirms, because that same language is used in the New Testament itself. Jesus himself uses this imagery about himself in John 6.27, where he says, the Father has set his seal on him. In other words, when one considered the sign of the sword placed on their flesh, thinking about now the purpose, what is this to accomplish, understanding the meaning, now what does it accomplish? As one considered that sign placed on their flesh, the sign of the sword of the judgment which needed to be faced, that sign was intended to confirm, to strengthen, to authenticate that faith of theirs, that God would indeed face the sword of judgment for them. And considering the sign in that way would indeed do just that. It would strengthen their faith and their reliance in the promise of God providing righteousness for them. Now in the case of Abraham, who had already believed He had already believed God so that we are told in this in Romans chapter 4 quoting back Genesis 15 6 Abraham believed and it was counted righteousness to him and then later He was circumcised the purpose of the sign being placed on him was to confirm to strengthen to seal the righteousness Which he had already received as a gift from God But what about infants who had not yet exercised faith. You see here, the sign is not confirming, it is not strengthening them in a faith which they have already professed. Here the sign calls them to profess faith. In the case of infants who received circumcision, the sign does not strengthen a faith they have already professed, but calls them to profess faith. It does not automatically grant them a blessing, Nor is that sign placed on them because the old covenant believer knew that they would one day possess faith. It is placed on them to call them to faith. And here is where such a vital and crucial point must be made. And if you don't understand this point, you'll fail to understand not only the heart of circumcision, but it's New Testament corollary, baptism. The sign is meant either to confirm or strengthen a professed faith or call one to profess faith. But notice this, it is not in either case or in any case the sign of circumcision or baptism. It is not a sign of one's faith. Let me repeat that. The sign as a sign did not signify, was not ever intended to signify, to be an insignia badge, a sign of one's faith. That's such a crucial point to understand as we think about Romans 4.11, and it makes it abundantly clear, doesn't it? Look at Romans 4.11 again. Often Romans 4.11 is read this way in people's minds. Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a sign of his faith. That's not what it says, does it? Paul tells us there not that the sign of circumcision was given to Abraham to commemorate, to testify to his faith, but rather Paul's words verbatim are this, he, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness. Which righteousness? Whose righteousness? Abraham's righteousness? Certainly not. By no means, that would be a complete overthrow of the covenant of grace and of the gospel first promised in Genesis 3.15. That would make one's standing a matter of one's own righteousness and human merit. The righteousness signified and sealed to him through circumcision is a righteousness which God provides. It is the righteousness which God provides as he faces and indeed overcomes that sword of judgment on behalf of his people. Consider the words of Romans 4.11 again. He, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. You see that? It's not that it's a sign of his faith. It's a sign of God's righteousness which he receives by faith. I might add, by faith alone. So what Paul is not saying is that circumcision was a sign of Abraham's faith. It was a sign of the thing God provides to the helpless sinner. Righteousness. That is what the sign signified to Abraham. And he was intended to receive it as a sign and seal by faith. What a huge difference there is between circumcision being a sign of his faith and a sign of God's righteousness, which he received by faith. What a huge difference there is. Throughout today's sermon, I would like to continue to make that point and also to underscore that likewise, Now, really, this can't be a sermon on baptism. I've done some other ones on that. But, likewise, baptism is not a sign of your faith. It is not commemorating something that you have done. Rather like circumcision, it is a sign of God's righteousness, which you receive by faith. B.B. Warfield puts it this way. He says, baptism as circumcision is a gift of God to his people, not a gift of his people to God. That's very profound. Let me read that again. Baptism as circumcision is a gift of God to his people, not a gift of his people to God. And Warfield goes on to say, God gave it to him, to Abraham, as a sign and seal, not to others, but to Abraham himself. In other words, it's not so much that our circumcision or baptism is a sign that others to see, that it professes to something that we have done, but rather as we consider it ourselves, it signs and seals to us the very righteousness of God himself. Put another way, let me ask this in the form of a question. Is circumcision, or baptism by extension, man-focused or God-focused? First and foremost, does it recall the work of God or does it recall the work of man? Paul's answer in Romans 4.11 is that it is God-focused. It recalls the work of God, the righteousness of God, which God provides and men receive by faith alone. And so the purpose is to testify to the righteousness of God that he provides so that one's faith, as one considers the meaning of that sign, so that one's faith, as Calvin says, a weak and tottering faith, may be strengthened, may grow, may be confirmed in considering what it is about. It is serving that purpose for the one who has professed faith, and for the one who has not professed faith, as I have said, it is calling them to profess faith. And it can have both of those intentions, precisely because it is not, first and foremost, a sign of their faith, but a sign of the sword of judgment which God faces and a righteousness he provides by doing so. It is primarily intended to testify to the recipient that God in the person of the Messiah faces that sword of judgment for his people so they can receive the sign and faith in that Messiah. That's the primary or intended purpose, but remember the sword? It's a double-edged sword. If the recipient will not face that sword in faith, faith in the Messiah facing it for them, doesn't lose its meaning, then its purpose will be to testify against the covenant breaker who would not receive God's righteousness by faith and now must face the sword of judgment, or we could say the waters of judgment by themselves. Now, lastly, we need to answer the question, to whom does the sign apply? And unlike the previous questions, which, let's face it, I know, required a little bit of theologizing, we've done some theologizing this morning, okay? This question is really very easy to answer. It's plain in the text. In verses 11 and 12 we read this, you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. In other words, the covenant sign applies to those who profess faith and to their children. Now as I've already indicated, it's applied not only to believers, but also to their children because it was not a sign of the child's faith. Rather, it was placed on them as a witness to the sovereign monergistic salvation granted by God and to be received by faith alone. But it's important to point out this morning that Paul's interpretation of Romans 4.11 as a sign and seal of God's righteousness, Paul's interpretation that he gives there in that passage It really stands against the way many interpret it today, the way many interpret the sign of circumcision. You say many will look at circumcision and say, well, the sign of circumcision, it could be applied to the infants of believers because it was only about external, physical, national stuff. And the sign of baptism is about spiritual things, so we cannot apply the sign of baptism to infants. Some would say that. The problem is that Paul's view of circumcision is not that it was fundamentally about external, physical, national things. Look at Romans 4.11 yet once more. What an important verse to know. He, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. You see, far from being about earthly, physical blessings, national blessings, Paul says that this sign was about the righteousness of God. Please tell me what is of more spiritual benefit than that. Now, as we have seen, again, Paul can say that because he understood that circumcision was not first and foremost a sign of someone's faith, but rather it is a meaning, its meaning is bound up in this sort of judgment which must be faced. If they face it in the Lord, That sign will strengthen them, will confirm that blessing that the Lord gives, righteousness. They will not face it in him again. They will one day stand before him to face the sword of judgment themselves. And at this point, I must make something explicit, which has been implied in my sermon throughout the whole sermon. And it's this. And this is, again, something very important to think about as you think about not only circumcision, but the New Testament corollary baptism. until Jesus Christ returns. Those who are in God's covenant, the circle of covenant, if you will, is always going to be bigger than the circle of the elect. Think of two circles, you know, concentric circles. One big one, and there are those there who are in the covenant, and there's a little one. How little, you know, God knows. But there's a smaller one in which there are the elect. That's true under the Old Testament, We know that's true of Abraham and those who received this sign. How do we know that? Because only a few verses later, in verse 23, Abraham applies the covenant sign to the very one whom God told him would not be the son of promise, Ishmael. And later, of course, the reprobate Esau receives the sign of the covenant. There are those who are in the covenant who are not elect under the old covenant. But of course, we know that that is in fact the same in the New Covenant as well. Hebrews 10, 29 gives a stern warning. It's a stern warning that there are certain ones who are only to expect, who only have a fearful expectation of judgment. Why? Because they have profaned the blood of the covenant by which they have been sanctified. Isn't that powerful? There are those who are in the covenant. They have the blood of the covenant and they've profaned it. The blood by which they have been sanctified. And by the way, if you look at that chapter clearly, that blood by which they are sanctified is the blood sprinkled on them earlier in the chapter in the waters of baptism. In placing, and one more thing as I close out here, in placing the covenant sign on babies of eight days of age, It was, again, not a witness of their faith, but a call unto faith. the significance of the eighth day is something very important here. The eighth day witnesses to the fact that the blessings of the sign were only to be obtained supernaturally. The more the Old Testament unfolds from this point forward, the eighth day is gonna take on some important significance. Now, by the way, let me just say this, it doesn't take a genius to figure out something about the eighth day, does it? What's one important thing that everyone knows about the eighth day? Well, it comes after the seventh day, right? As eight, it comes after the one, the day that the Old Testament normally ends with, that is normally viewed as the ultimate sign of blessing. And yet, even in the Old Testament, there is a looking forward to something which will supersede the seventh day, an eighth day of blessing. More and more as the Old Testament is developed, that eighth day is assigned with some significance, particularly in some of the feasts. For example, the Feast of Buz, which had eight day Sabbaths. By the way, what I am saying here is not something novel. In thinking about the eighth day as something very significant, both Calvin and Augustine understood the eighth day in this passage in this way. Indeed, they understood it as looking forward to the day which comes after the seventh. in the new covenant. That eighth day is the day when the Messiah, who fell under the power of the sword of judgment, it is the day when he triumphs over that verdict of death presiding over him on the cross. That eighth day inaugurates a new day, a consummate day of life, resurrection life. That is the sign placed upon infants under the old covenant. It is what they, by faith, are looking forward to. Infants as well as adults in the Old Testament could only reach the eighth day of resurrection life if they looked in faith toward the God of the covenant who faced the sword of death for them. And that finally leads me to you. Where do you stand with respect to this old covenant sign? Now, of course, we know very clearly through the writings of the Apostle Paul that it is not a sign which is mandated that you receive any longer, right? Not the sign of circumcision. But do you have what the sign signified in the words of Colossians 11? Have you been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by the circumcision of Christ? Do you have that which the old covenant sign looked forward to? That circumcision of Christ which took place on the cross where the promised Messiah faced the judgment of God to secure the blessings of God for his people. Do you have that? Today, you see, is the day of salvation, to look unto Christ, to find life in this one who faces not only the sword of judgment, but then we could say, by extension, and I would say, those floodwaters of judgment which submerge him on the cross, the waters of baptism. Do you have what that signified under the old covenant and the new? Do you possess Christ by faith? He is not merely enough to be circumcised or even to be baptized. You must possess the one who brings the blessing by faith. Are you looking to him by faith and walking in him? where you've seen the meaning of circumcision, facing the sword of judgment, the purpose of circumcision, to signify and seal the righteousness which God provides by faith alone. And finally, you've seen the application of this sign. It is for those who profess faith and to their children. Let's pray. Almighty God, we thank you for a wonderful sign, a sign which in one sense is no longer for us, And yet, as Paul tells us in Colossians 2, we have everything, everything that it symbolized as Christ was cut off for his people. He was circumcised on that cross. He faced the sword of judgment so that we in him might never face that sword, that we might belong to you. We thank you, O Lord, that As well, you usher us into the eighth day, a day of eternal rest, a day of eternal blessing found in you and in your son who overcame death. Give us greater communion with him. Cause us not only to know about these things, but now to walk in your ways and to adorn our life, which we have professed, And if we have received the sign of the covenant, let us adorn that sign as well with good deeds and love towards the brothers. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.