DISCOVER BIBLE | THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

1. Introduction

a) The Bible is full of wonderful stories and special truth. What we want to do is to discover the Bible.  

b) Psalm 119:11 says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." 

c) Nurture and grow your understanding of the Bible as you read and discover the Bible.  

2. The importance of the Abrahamic Covenant

a) Note its terms in Genesis 17...

i) This is an unconditional covenant, and it is still in effect . Because it is, and because it has not yet been fulfilled, there are future things we know will happen. This will strongly shape the way we read the rest of the Bible... looking for prophecies in which God's Covenant to Israel will be kept.

3. The Rite of Circumcision

a) Nothing will become a more important reminder of God's Covenant with every Son of Abraham than the rite of circumcision! In every Covenant, there was the cutting of the skin of the wrist, and a permanent scar to remind all of the commitment made by two men.

b) Now, the source from which every new Jewish child will be sired by a Jewish man is to be 'cut and scarred' by the Covenant sign. In the fathering of each new child, God will remind the parents again of His Covenant, made with Abraham. And, soon after birth, this rite of circumcision will remind each new generation of its special Covenant with God. To this day, there are virtually no Jewish men who are not circumcised, thus keeping the everlasting reminder of the Covenant!

c) In Exodus 4:24-26, Moses almost dies from God's judgment because he has yielded to his non-Jewish wife and has not circumcised his sons. Only their circumcision saved his life! His sons had to bear "the scar of the Covenant." 

Exodus 4:24-26 New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)