A Kingdom Come
NOT THE FIRST PROMISE
God had been making (and keeping) promises since the beginning of time. It started in Eden, if you’ll recall, when He said:
You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.
Genesis 2:16-17 NLT
Adam and Eve ate from it, were expelled from the Garden, and (albeit a thousand years later) died. They died because they no longer had access to the Tree of Life. In the days of Noah, God promised to make it rain for forty days and nights and destroy all life on the ground. And He did. After the Flood, God promised that He would never again send a flood to destroy the earth. And, well . . . so far, so good.
But when we go back those four hundred and thirty-plus years before the Exodus and read through Abraham’s story (he was originally called Abram), we see him acting in faith towards God in obedience time and time again. Abram remained faithful from the moment he left his native country, his relatives, and his father’s family, to the land that God would show him
And so, one day, in a vision, God told Abram that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And because “Abram believed the LORD,” God declared Abram as “righteous”
“Great!” thinks Abram. So he runs to his wife Sarai out in the garden and tells her the good news.
“Sweetheart! I just spoke with God. He says we’re going to have a son!” Abram exclaims.
Sarai looks at him quizzically and says, “You know that I can’t have children, right?”
“Oh. Yeah, I forgot about that,” replies Abram, and he stares down at his feet.
“I have an idea,” Sarai says. “Why don’t you sleep with my servant girl, and then we’ll have a son through her! If God says we’re gonna have a son, then doggonit, we’re gonna have a son!”
“Great idea!” Abram says. “I knew there was a reason I married you,” and she leads him by the hand as they dash off toward her servant’s tent.
They step into the young girl’s tent to find her sewing what looks like men’s pants.
“Hey, Hagar! Guess what? We’re going to have a baby!”
Obviously, Sarai didn’t really have a garden, but that’s not the point. What’s happening here is that Sarai had not yet experienced God’s faithfulness in her own life; she didn’t know God as Abram did.
Desperately wanting a child to mother, she hatched her own plan to have one. This wasn’t God’s plan, it was hers. And the result of that surrogacy played out as it often does today: the real mother decided to keep the baby. Hagar became very proud and arrogant toward Sarai (I can make babies and you can’t!), and it made things very weird.
How are you supposed to treat the mother of “your” child? Sarai wondered.
While Hagar contended with, How do you treat an old woman who gave her husband permission to sleep with you? And how do you treat an old man who only slept with you so that he could have an heir, and has no love for you at all?
And Abram’s predicament, What do you do with two wives who hate each other? Can’t they just get along?
“Come along, Eliezer. Let’s go hunting!”
Like I said . . . It got weird.
Sarai despised Hagar and her son Ishmael because of what they represented. The boy wasn’t hers, and he was just a continuing reminder of what she didn’t have . . . and couldn’t have. God had promised Abram that he was going to have an heir, but that didn’t necessarily include Sarai at all, did it? Even though Ishmael was legally hers, he wasn’t really hers. And while Hagar was only a slave wife, birthing an heir gave her greater status socially.
Of course, as God does, He works with what He’s got
But then one day, when Abram was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and made a firm promise. Not the casual and vague promise that “your family line will live on for millennia,” but a real deal, sealed with a sign.
“This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!”
Genesis 17:4-6 NLT
God had chosen Abraham to be the funnel through whom the rest of His plan would flow. God’s promise was invisible, though Abraham knew it was real. However, God demanded a quid pro quo. He was going to bless Abraham forever, but Abraham had to “sign” the agreement in blood. And because this was a wee bit bigger than a pinky-promise (we assume, though size wasn’t important), something a bit more substantial would be required.
So God continues in verses 9-14:
“Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”
Genesis 17:9-14 NLT
I’m sorry, I clearly misunderstood you. It sounded like you said “circumcise.”
So there it was, just hanging out there in the heat of the day.
Interestingly enough, God didn’t invent circumcision that afternoon. It was a practice that had been going on for quite a while in a variety of other “civilized” cultures at the time.
In each of those instances, circumcision involved one of four basic themes: fertility, virility, maturity and genealogy—and, in every circumstance, circumcision was a rite of passage. As such, it was typically performed in adolescence, and it gave new identity to the one circumcised, incorporating him into a particular group. But in this moment, the way God was commanding it to be done seems to be unique among all others who practiced it.
But why were women excluded from this “mark” of the covenant? Well, while there is actually a thing called female circumcision (which I really don’t care to talk about), the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible gives us this insight:1
In light of today’s concerns with gender issues, some have wondered why the sign of the covenant should be something that marks only males. Two cultural issues may offer an explanation: patrilineal descent and identity in the community.
(1) The concept of patrilineal descent resulted in males being considered the representatives of the clan and the ones through whom clan identity was preserved (as, e.g., the wife took on the tribal and clan identity of her husband).
(2) Individuals found their identity more in the clan and the community than in a concept of self. Decisions and commitments were made by the family and clan more than by the individual.
The rite of passage represented in circumcision marked each male as entering a clan committed to the covenant, a commitment that he would then have the responsibility to maintain. If this logic holds, circumcision would not focus on individual participation in the covenant as much as on continuing communal participation. The community is structured around patrilineal descent, so the sign on the males marks the corporate commitment of the clan from generation to generation.
Understanding this, it may be reasonable to see the correlation between circumcision and baptism, and perhaps the value of a greater connection to the community through baptism, not just as an act by an individual. Something to consider at least.
Before we continue, it’s extremely important to note that what follows this instruction of circumcision (in verse 15) is God’s affirmation of His covenant with Abram through his offspring. At this point, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah, declaring that they will both be the parents of many nations, and that one day soon Sarah would give birth to her own baby boy whom they would name Isaac. Moreover, the promise God made to them at this time was given before Abraham actually circumcised anybody.
A PART OF THE FAMILY
Understanding the purpose of circumcision in this context provides a better view of what was happening as God makes His promise with Abraham. God makes clear that this is for “you and your descendants” and that they would all equally share the burden of keeping the faith for generations to come.
For God’s covenant with Abraham was not with him alone, but with his entire household, for all of his children, whoever and wherever they may be, for all generations to come. And so, as God makes this promise with Abraham, He is declaring that this promise is extended to all who have the right to be called his children.
Yet to all who did receive [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John 1:12-13 NIV
Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Romans 4:1-3 NLT
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Romans 1:16-17 NLT
Circumcision became a mark of the covenant between God and all of Abraham’s descendants. Women didn’t require circumcision because, culturally, they represented the men in their households and clans. A woman didn’t live a “single” life, and so she was directly connected to her father’s household (or clan) until such a time as she married, at which point she became “one” with her husband’s identity. So, as each male in Abraham’s household was circumcised (remember, Abraham was a hundred years old now and had a lot of servant [employee] families traveling with him), each of those individual families also became heirs to the promise, now marked as part of Abraham’s tribe, and representatives of the promise.
A KINGDOM COME
Effectively, God was marking the boundaries for His kingdom. As we accept God to be the king of the universe and sovereign over all creation, we can easily accept that the entire universe is indeed God’s kingdom. But what God is doing here with Abraham is something different, something unique. He is cutting a circle around a select group of individuals and marking them as sovereign and holy. God’s position as king affords Him the right to set those boundaries as He sees fit. While He is most certainly king of all, nobody else in those days cared to respect His authority. And instead of ruling by force and oppression, He chose (and chooses) to lead with love.
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Exodus 19:5-6 NIV
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
God was establishing a new monarchy, beginning with Abraham. Later, we watch as God increases His kingdom on earth and His perceived sovereignty among men, beginning with the Exodus and continuing through the taking of the Promised Land as recorded in the book of Joshua.
But a kingdom was a very important reality. A kingdom included not only the land and everything in it, but also the people who lived in that land. Every individual who lived in that kingdom was under, not only the authority of the king but, the protection of the king. Kneeling to the throne was not just an act of submission, but a recognition of the sovereignty and power of the king along with his leadership, authority and protection. If the king doesn’t protect the people, then he ultimately becomes just a land owner. A kingdom, therefore, is not the land but rather the citizens who occupy it.
When a king’s subjects maintained a fear of the throne, they displayed honor and respect. The people of a good king did not live in fear of punishment, but rather lived in fear of being put out of the kingdom if they failed to adhere to the doctrine and lordship of its head. Because being cast out of the kingdom meant that you were no longer under the protection of the crown. You would be on your own, disavowed, and no longer a recipient of the privileges granted to those belonging to that kingdom.
If you did not claim fealty to the king, then you did not belong to the king, and you could not look to the king or his men to protect you or your family.
That is why those who rule with terror rule very fragile kingdoms indeed. As we know from history and experience, those who are oppressed have no sincere loyalty to their oppressors. If those who are supposed to protect you cause you harm, then you can only bide your time until an opportunity to leave (or overthrow) them becomes available. But a king who rules with honor and justice and love is to be revered and given praise. A king who cherishes the people more than the land they occupy is a very good king. This is the kingdom of God.
And so God was declaring to Abraham that he and his descendants were going to be the foundation of this new kingdom. They would be His people, and He would be their King. As Christians, we are subjects of that same kingdom. Yet only if we keep the promise.
As the apostolic letters of the New Testament state, and as we’ve noted previously, it is not by physical ancestry that believers in Christ are considered children of Abraham. As Christians, we are not children of Abraham by blood, but are children of the promise itself. Just like those who were considered part of Abraham’s physical household by being marked through circumcision, we too are considered part of Abraham’s spiritual household by means of our faith, marked by the Holy Spirit.
The preceding article is an excerpt from my book, Testing the Waters: What the Bible Says and Doesn’t Say About Baptism.
1 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, with notes from Dr. John H. Walton (Wheaton College) in the Old Testament and Dr. Craig S. Keener (Asbury Theological Seminary) in the New Testament. Copyright © 2016 by Zondervan.
