Familial Ties – Part 2
For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation [Galatians 6:15].
We paused our last study with three questions:
1. What is a “new creation”?
2. What happened circa 27 A.D. to give birth to a “new creation”?
3. Does a “new creation” belong to God’s family or Satan’s?
Let’s tackle those questions now, shall we? In doing so we will begin with the third question, “Does a new creation belong to God’s family or Satan’s?”
In answer to the question, the new creation belongs to God’s family. There. I said it. The suspense is over! Now you can relax. The new creation belongs to God’s family, not Satan’s by any stretch of the imagination.
“Whoa, Nellie!” I just heard a flustered fellow fret. “I thought the ‘seed of the woman’ and then the ‘circumcision’ was God’s family. How then is the ‘new creation’ God’s family? I don’t get it.”
Chill, brother. You’ll have a stroke if you keep up the agitation. Take it down a notch and I’ll explain it to you. The answer to your question is to be found in the answers to the first and second questions about the “new creation”. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work answering those two questions. Bet you’ll have the answer to your question then.
The devil’s family was known as the ‘seed of the serpent’, and then as the ‘uncircumcision’ after the Abrahamic Covenant came into play. God’s family, in distinction, was known as the ‘seed of the woman’, and then as the ‘circumcision’.
Trouble was, the circumcision (i.e., the Israelites) didn’t do their job—or more correctly, they didn’t do the Lord’s job. The job (aka ministry) which the Lord called the Israelites (aka the circumcision) to do was to be His witness to the rest of the world (aka the Gentiles). To do the job effectively, the Israelites needed to learn and obey the Law of Moses. In that way they would reflect the truth of the one true God to the Gentiles, who were seduced by idolatry.
Alas, but the Israelites lost interest in the Lord and His Word, and they went to shacking up with the false gods of the Gentiles. This was anything but being the Lord’s witness to the Gentiles. Rather, they were being the Gentiles’ witness to the Lord!
What to do? The Lord wanted to call mankind back into relationship with Himself, but they were steeped in idolatry and living for the devil. And even His own people, the Israelites, His supposed witnesses to the Gentiles, were reflecting lies about God instead of the truth.
Circa 27 A.D. God decided it was time to temporarily set aside His chosen people, the Israelites, as His witnesses to the world. Instead of one solitary nation, one ethnic people with their own laws and their own country, to serve as His witnesses—instead of this approach, the Lord decided to create a new people comprised of individuals from every tribe and nation and people and tongue throughout the world.
We will finish our analysis of the “new creation” on the morrow. For today let’s relish the opportunity to spend time alone with the Lord Jesus, and allow Him to minister to our hearts and minds.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We paused our last study with three questions:
1. What is a “new creation”?
2. What happened circa 27 A.D. to give birth to a “new creation”?
3. Does a “new creation” belong to God’s family or Satan’s?
Let’s tackle those questions now, shall we? In doing so we will begin with the third question, “Does a new creation belong to God’s family or Satan’s?”
In answer to the question, the new creation belongs to God’s family. There. I said it. The suspense is over! Now you can relax. The new creation belongs to God’s family, not Satan’s by any stretch of the imagination.
“Whoa, Nellie!” I just heard a flustered fellow fret. “I thought the ‘seed of the woman’ and then the ‘circumcision’ was God’s family. How then is the ‘new creation’ God’s family? I don’t get it.”
Chill, brother. You’ll have a stroke if you keep up the agitation. Take it down a notch and I’ll explain it to you. The answer to your question is to be found in the answers to the first and second questions about the “new creation”. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work answering those two questions. Bet you’ll have the answer to your question then.
The devil’s family was known as the ‘seed of the serpent’, and then as the ‘uncircumcision’ after the Abrahamic Covenant came into play. God’s family, in distinction, was known as the ‘seed of the woman’, and then as the ‘circumcision’.
Trouble was, the circumcision (i.e., the Israelites) didn’t do their job—or more correctly, they didn’t do the Lord’s job. The job (aka ministry) which the Lord called the Israelites (aka the circumcision) to do was to be His witness to the rest of the world (aka the Gentiles). To do the job effectively, the Israelites needed to learn and obey the Law of Moses. In that way they would reflect the truth of the one true God to the Gentiles, who were seduced by idolatry.
Alas, but the Israelites lost interest in the Lord and His Word, and they went to shacking up with the false gods of the Gentiles. This was anything but being the Lord’s witness to the Gentiles. Rather, they were being the Gentiles’ witness to the Lord!
What to do? The Lord wanted to call mankind back into relationship with Himself, but they were steeped in idolatry and living for the devil. And even His own people, the Israelites, His supposed witnesses to the Gentiles, were reflecting lies about God instead of the truth.
Circa 27 A.D. God decided it was time to temporarily set aside His chosen people, the Israelites, as His witnesses to the world. Instead of one solitary nation, one ethnic people with their own laws and their own country, to serve as His witnesses—instead of this approach, the Lord decided to create a new people comprised of individuals from every tribe and nation and people and tongue throughout the world.
We will finish our analysis of the “new creation” on the morrow. For today let’s relish the opportunity to spend time alone with the Lord Jesus, and allow Him to minister to our hearts and minds.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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