His Circumcision, Our Circumcision | Ariel Blumenthal

Hallelujah. Um before I get into the

main message today, I just want to make

a little uh promo for everyone out there

especially uh we are holding our bianual

is that right? Semianual every two years

is which one? Bianual. Thank you.

Bianual uh USA Tun Global USA conference

next week on September 11th 911 and 912

in Anaheim, California. And uh so uh we

won't have our local meeting here next

next week. Most of our leadership is

going to be out there and there's still

some room at the Rock Church in Anaheim

where it's going to be held. So if

you're out there and especially in

Southern California and you can come,

come and join us. You can find

information on our website tun

global.org

and uh look forward to seeing you there

and appreciate you all praying for us.

It's something uh real strategic time in

a lot of ways for for the ministry and

for America and uh we really um we

really enjoy being there with a lot of

our partners and friends and appreciate

you all praying for us.

Uh today I'm going to speak on a message

um that I'm calling his circumcision our

circumcision. Okay. His circumcision our

circumcision. And you can guess what the

message is about. Circumcision, right?

Um, and I was I've just been studying uh

recently the book of Colossians.

And um, these verses in chapter 2:es 11

and 12 kind of really grab my attention.

And they read like this. In him you were

also circumcised with a circumcision

made without hands in the removal of the

body of the flesh by the circumcision

of Christ of Messiah having been buried

with him in baptism in in which you were

also raised up with him through faith in

the working of God who raised him from

the dead. So this this phrase the

circumcision of Messiah this is the only

place in the New Testament of course and

not in not in the circumcision of

Christ. This is the only place you think

wow what's he talking about exactly? You

see the parallel a little parallel with

the baptisms you know death and life and

all that. So I want to kind of just dig

into this. What is he talking about this

circumcision of Christ? Listen, I'm

going to basically say two things. We're

going to end up with two things that

one, it's I mean really in context here,

he's talking about the circumcision of

the heart and what happens uh internally

when we put our faith in Yeshua when

we're baptized. This transformation that

happens, this exposure to God and to the

Holy Spirit, that's the main part. But

also, the circumcision of Christ is his

circumcision. You know, Jesus Yeshua was

circumcised on the eighth day. uh just

like all Jewish children since the time

of Isaac. Okay. And so it's also a story

about his circumcision and what that

mean what that means for us. Okay. Now

we're going to start and spend some time

on the chapter. We're going to kind of

go back to the the Tanakh the the

foundation for the whole and you want to

know anything about circumcision, why

God instituted it, what's it about, we

go to Genesis 17. That's the chapter the

covenant of God with Abraham when he

institutes or what's what's what's the

right word initiates or or makes this

covenant of circumcision. So let's go

there. And this this chapter I mean I've

been sort of meditating and on it for

the last 48 hours. I feel like I could

teach five to 10 lessons 30 minutes each

just on this chapter. It's so rich. It's

so important. It's so foundational to

biblical faith. Okay. So, we're going to

kind of go through that, then look at a

few of the other prophecies, and then

come back to Colossians and the New

Testament. All right. Chapter 17.

Genesis chapter 17.

V. This is I'm we're just going to go by

verse by verse. There's so much

revelation, so much happening here. A

Remember, he's still called Ara here.

Not Araham. He's a bentim

shim. He's 99 years old.

Adonaiim.

So this is one of those places where the

verb in Hebrew, I mean most translations

appeared that Jehovah appeared. It's the

verb to see in the passive basically.

Okay. He was seen by, right? It's not

like in Genesis 15 just two chapters

before another important chapter it says

who he appeared makaz in a vision. Okay,

that's in chapter 15 here and in a few

other places.

He saw, okay, not in a vision, not in a

dream like you and me are seeing each

other. He saw Adonai, Jehovah, okay, and

he's speaking with him. The next

chapter, Genesis 18, we talked about

this a few weeks ago, the basis of

Asher's book, Who ate Lunch with Abra

with Abraham, you also he up, he comes

walking and and Abraham recognizes him.

That's why he gets up and gets all

excited and and says, "Come, my lord,

wash your feet." And Sarah, you got we

got to make lunch for him because he

sees the same

person. In the next chapter, it's really

clear that it's a person, right? But

it's Jehovah. It's it's Yahweh. It's

it's Adonai. All right? So, that's the

first thing. The second thing is this is

the first place that the name of God to

the patriarchs appears. God says it's

like he's introducing us. Hi, my name is

What's his name? El Shadai. He says,

"Ani El Shadai."

It's the first time El Shadai appears.

So God is now sharing his name. Now it's

interesting that in the same verse he's

the text calls him Yhovah.

So what was his name back then? If you

could get in a time machine and go back

and say to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

the God who you believe in, the God who

you're speaking with, the God who you're

in covenant with, what's his name? What

would they have said?

Elshai.

Elai.

Elshai. And they would not have said

Yhovah because they didn't know the

name. this Exodus chapter 63 incredibly

important verse when God Jehovah is now

revealing himself to Moses after the

burning bush and his name and he says by

this name Yu Vave he says to Moses

Exodus 6:3 I did not make myself known

to the patriarchs Abraham Isaac it's

very clear Abraham Isaac and JP Ella

except I instead I made myself known as

Elshadai that was my name

So why is Jehovah here in the text?

Why is Yud actually starts in Genesis 2

if they didn't know the name?

Well, let's remember who wrote the book.

Abraham didn't write it. Moses did.

Moses now knows looking back through the

revelation of Sinai and of Jehovah who

that Elshadai is. It's the same God, but

he's got a new upgraded name because

there's a new upgraded revelation

happening at Mount Si. Why is that

important for us? Because that's exactly

what we do as New Testament believers.

We look back and we go, El Shadai

Yhovah, that guy who was eating and

talking with the patriarchs, that's

Yeshua. That's his name which is

upgraded now. That is the name which is

above every other name. Right? And so

it's part of the way that God works in

covenant history at each major stage.

And there are really three. The the

patriarchs Sinai and then the new

covenant. At each stage the same thing

happens. There's new laws. Laws are

changed. Laws are upgraded. There's a

new name

a more clear distinct name. um and

events things happen covenantally that

God has promised in the previous one but

now they come to pass right so that's a

little bit about the name Elshadai next

verse number two

and I'm going to make and give my

covenant between us and I'm going to

increase you hugely okay and It's

interesting that in chapter 15, you

know, as you read through the Abraham

story, it starts in in in Genesis 12.

In Genesis 12, there's no covenant, just

a word, a promise from God. In Genesis

15, when uh he takes him outside, look

at the stars, and so shall your

descendants be.

And Abraham believed in God, and it was

credit credited to him as righteousness.

And then there's this covenant ceremony

Abraham slaughters the animals and the

the the oven this this furnace goes

through and and in verse in chapter 15

it starts and it says and Adonai made a

covenant with Abraham. That's how that's

this the start of the covenant. But then

you get here and now he's it's it's not

just God I'm making a covenant with you.

It's

it's God. It's like he's coming further

down and further in cooperation.

It's not just God unilaterally making a

covenant. It's now we're doing something

together. Okay? And you see the same

language repeated in uh verse 7. Um

and so he fell on his face and God spoke

with him saying verse four. Now, verse

four is a tricky little verse,

especially if you read Hebrew. If you're

reading in translation, the translators

took care of it of something that they

had to take care of. In Hebrew,

what's the problem, Hebrew speakers, in

the first part of the of the verse?

No. What's the subject of that? There's

two sentences, right? The first one is

The first one is most English saying,

"Behold, my covenant is with you."

That's a sentence semicolon. And you

shall be the father of many nations.

What's the problem in Hebrew?

Uh there's Well, no, there's no semi

there's two subjects,

ani,

which is the subject of the sentence.

Now in Hebrew we have a problem which is

in in biblical Hebrew and all the way

until today in a simple uh sentence of

existence I guess you call it you don't

need the verb to be in Hebrew right z

machev

right in Hebrew that literally is this

computer but it's a full sentence that

we translate this is a computer so in

English or Greek and other like you need

this verb to be right an Ariel Nemo, I

am Ariel. But there's no am, right? So,

you can't tell the the verb and its

placement and its person, all that stuff

would help you. Helps you know a little

bit more about the subject. But here you

have two subjects, ani or watch, I I'll

prove it to you. Take off the ani.

Perfect sentence. Makes perfect sense.

Perfect sense. If you take the eye off,

it just says my covenant. That's the

subject is with you. You shall be a

covenant. Or the opposite. Take off my

covenant.

I behold I'm with you. I'm with you. It

could work both ways. I think

this is a funny sentence with these two

subjects because what's happening here

is this first hint. Remember this is

Yeshua speaking

to Abraham

and he's saying this covenant between us

is me. I am the essence of our covenant.

In other words, yes, it's your son

Isaac, but I am covenanting with you to

become one of your descendants. I'm

enter my DNA, your DNA. We're entering

into not just a covenant.

We're becoming one family.

I my covenant. It's the same thing. I am

my covenant with you. Okay. Now, he

couldn't explain that because it's we we

you couldn't understand it until Yeshua

comes 2,000 years later, right? But

there it is. This hint in verse four.

Amazing. Um verse five.

And this is where he adds the letter he

to Aram's name and he becomes Abraham.

It's a play on words. The word in Hebrew

for you will become the father of many

is Hamon. And so it's the Ha is inserted

into his name. Now later in us reading

it now there's another part of the play

on words which is the hey is the letter

of Jehovah yud hey he vav there two

letters or two of the four letters in

his name are hey he and so he also gets

the hey inserted in his name but he

didn't know that then because he didn't

know the name right but we now know this

promise this amazing promise that Abra

Ara is going to become the father of a

huge huge number of people of every

tribe tongue and nation. Um let's jump

to um

here it is verse 8. And I want you to to

notice this here. I've been doing a

study I'm probably going to share a

message when we're in California maybe

called the Zionist gospel or something

like that. But to see how to that the

promise of the land

of Israel to Abraham

and to him be a father the father of

many nations into blessing the whole

earth. It's there constantly.

Every place where God makes this

covenant with Abraham, he mentions

immediately. It's the same in Genesis

15, right? Everyone we know. And he he

believed in God and it was credited to

credited to him as righteousness.

Everyone knows that from the new

covenant from Romans, right? The next

verse in uh verse 7 in Genesis 15 is and

I'm going to give you the land of

Canaan. It's right there all the time

right next to the gospel is the promise

of the land. Very very important for our

day.

Why? because there's a lot of

controversy about who was this land and

who does it belong to and d

um you know the what's out there in the

wider world these days of uh the

controversy about the land uh among the

the woke sort of left wing and the

Muslims have attached themselves to it.

The Jewish people are colonial settlers

who have conquered the land from the

original people, namely the

Palestinians, right? They're white

European. They came under the British

and it's this terrible colonial thing

which is just as bad as the British in

India or the Americans or the Spanish in

the New World, whatever. Okay, that's

what they're saying, right? They're

saying the the so the Palestinians were

the indigenous people and the Jews and

know Christians. What are you talking

about? Before the it was the Muslims who

came here. When did the Arabs came? They

came with Islam. That was 13,400 years

ago when Islam conquered the Middle

East. They're the they're the colonial

settlers, right? Because before that you

have all this archaeology in the Bible.

The Jews were indigenous. We were here.

We have a thousand years here, right?

Well, right. Sort of. You know why? I

got news for you. Neither we the

Israelis or the Palestinians or the

indigenous people here

right here in the covenant. He says,

"I'm giving you the land of whom?" Of

Canaanuz.

Oh, it's I'm sorry. It's in in Genesis

15. He says, "The land of the of all the

itites." You know, the the Kzites and

the Jebusites and the and all those

itites.

They're Canaanite tribes. Seven

Canaanite tribes. Okay. They're I don't

know if there was anybody here before

them, but as far as we know, the

Canaanites

are the indigenous people. And you're

right. Boy, did we conquer them and take

over. Anybody read the book of Joshua?

Talk about colonial settlers.

So, what it comes down to is not who was

your first entity. It comes down to God

and covenant.

Uh-oh.

So, the secular arguments only go so

far.

Ultimately, you've got we got to say,

God, this is by covenant to Abraham.

It's the same covenant as as salvation

as fa as salvation by faith. Genesis

15:6 is followed by Genesis 15:7. It's

all like this. And you can't separate

them. And if you try to pull them apart,

you're going to end up with some kind of

weird biblical

gospel that may not be a gospel. All

right, so that's uh about that verse and

about the land. Okay, the next one, and

this is what we're talking about today.

Finally, you get to verse 12. What is

this covenant? What's going to be the

sign of it? What do they have to do?

What's the obedience from Abraham's

part? It's verse 12.

and you shall circumcise every male at 8

days. Okay, this is the covenant of

circumcision. Did you know that in the

ancient world there were different

tribes and peoples and still are today

who circumcise male circumcision?

Uh some of the Muslim tribes uh still do

it today. archaeology, wall paintings.

There's all kinds of evidence. There

were tribes in Africa, uh, Asia, the

Pacific Islands who practiced male

circumcision at this time, but they did

it almost exclusively at or around

puberty. Okay? It's interesting, by the

way, that Ishmael is 13 years old here.

Okay? And he gets circumcised along with

Abraham and the whole tribe. All right?

But he's a better. So, so these tribes,

it was like part of a coming of age

thing. Some say it was parallel to, you

know, the beginning of the menstrual

cycle for the girls. And there's all

these explanations, but that's where

when it was done. Only the Jewish

people, the Hebrews from this time

forward

have circumcised

an infants at 8 days old. That's the

circumcision

covenant. And so really the first Jew

according to the covenant is not

Abraham.

It's Isaac. Isaac is the first one who

is circumcised according to the the the

conditions of this covenant at at 8 days

old. Okay. And it's still unique today.

You know, obviously it's a very

different experience and a very

different thing to circumcise an

8-year-old as compared to a 13-year-old

or Abraham who circumcises himself here

who's 99 years old.

Um,

someone was saying to me, "Yeah, it's

99." I said, "Yeah, well, ask." I said,

"Ask me when I get there." You know, I'm

58. Um, anyway, we won't talk about what

happens to men in later age or whatever.

Okay. Um,

so he's this covenant of circumcision

becomes the foundation

for the whole thing. Everything we've

just read about this all, it's all in

the same chapter. It's all in the same

discussion, the name of God, the seeing

Yeshua, Yeshua promising, hinting that

he's going to be coming into Abraham's

family. All right? In order to make

Abraham to be this father of many

nations. This one man, this Iraqi guy

from 4,000 years ago, becomes the father

of the faith and the father of many

nations. And it requires the obedience

of his descendants to circumcise their

children on the eighth day. And we've

been doing it for a long time. For us

here in Israel in Jewish, it's a very

normal part. We just had a birth of a a

baby boy in our congregation. In a few

days, we'll have the the circumcision

ceremony. It's it's a ceremony and you

get food and everybody comes and there's

the the moil is the name of the the

rabbi guy who who who does this. That's

his his business. It is a business. They

get paid pretty good.

Some it's like a required donation, you

know, and all that. Um you know, I was

thinking about our uh our third son

Levie who just celebrated his 10th

birthday uh was born to us in China when

we were in Shian China for two years.

Now you you can't find a mohel in Shian,

China. All right. It turns out there's

only one at that time. He lived in Hong

Kong and he served the Jewish

communities all over East Asia because

there's just not that many Jews, you

know, to support full-time moes. Uh what

was his name? Do you remember? Geon

Geono. That was the gimmel. Anyway, he

came up and we invited and we were uh

going to a church there. our dear uh

dear brother pastor Ga who we continue

to pray for uh because of his situation.

Um and so you know all the Christians so

it was like 30 Christians Chinese

Christians and I also invited my uh

teacher the the director of the Chinese

language department at the university

where I was studying. She's not a

Christian. Okay, but I invited her and

she didn't know anything about

circumcision. Like she didn't read the

Bible. The Christians were all excited

because they had never seen it, right?

And they've been reading about it and

they're like, "Well, you know, and uh

wow." So, uh, Verid's father also came

from Israel was the Sanduck and Held in

it. And boy, she I can't remember her

name. Professor show in the middle of

the thing, she turned white

and she's like I think she was felt like

she was going to throw up and she ran

out of the road. She said, "What do you

do? Why are they doing this?" you know,

and all the Christians were like, you

know, we're kind of laughing now. Um,

but we've been doing it. We've been

doing it everywhere. Everywhere where

Jewish people are, that's been the

custom. Okay. So, let's go back. Well,

no, before we go back to the New

Testament, let's just look quickly at a

few prophecies from Deuteronomy and from

Jeremiah. Okay. In Deuteronomy 10, uh,

verse 12, it says, "You must circumcise

your hearts." This is the first time

that expression, right? God's taking the

circumcision. Yeah, it's good that

you're circumcised. That's part of the

covenant. Abraham, obedience. Amen. But

it's much more than that. There's a

circumcision

of the heart. Deuteronomy 30 verse 6,

God promises. Now, it's not it's not a

command or a warning, but a promise. He

says, "I will circumcise your hearts."

It's interesting in Deuteronomy 30, the

context is when the Jewish people have

been scattered and then brought back to

the land of Israel. He says, "I will

circumcise your hearts." Just as in

Ezekiel chapters 11 and 36, he says,

especially chapter 36, it's in the

context of a return, a major return of

the of the exile, Jewish exiles to the

land of Israel. And Ezekiel through

through Ezekiel, God promises to remove

the heart of stone. It's similar and to

give a heart of flesh, right? Um, so

that helps us to pray like we were

praying this morning and believe that

God didn't just bring the Jewish people

back here for war and to wait for the

Messiah. He brought us back here to pour

out his spirit to take the heart of

stone out of our and to circumcise our

hearts. Hallelujah. And then we come to

the New Test New Testament and it's

fulfilled in

Luke 2:21. It's just one verse. It just

says, "And according to the custom and

according to the commandment, Joseph and

Mary brought Jesus up to Jerusalem. They

were here and he was circumcised." Okay?

And that's when they announced his name.

By the way, for all those out there who

don't know, with Jewish boys, you don't

announce the name until the circumcision

ceremony. And that's what it says also

in Luke that that's when they declared

his name is Yeshua or Yahosua, just like

the angel had said to them. Um so then

we have what this circumcision

is his circumcision. Yeshua had to be in

this line. He was the one we saw in

chapter 7 who's speaking who's appearing

chapter 18 who's eating with with

Abraham and he's beginning this plan

that it's not just a I'm God making a

covenant with man like this. It's Ben

together between us, we're going to

cooperate to the degree that I'm I the

son of man is going to become a Jewish

baby that has to be circumcised on the

eighth day. Okay? And he all of that is

to fulfill and to provide this anchor

for our faith so that we know who the

Messiah is and that we know the truth

and the gospel that go that went out

from here to every tribe, tongue and

nation. And many people are here from

those tribes, tongue and nations to make

Abraham your father as well. Amen. And

uh

there's there's I mean the verses about

what this means that the the

circumcision of the heart. Just going to

read a few of them. Um Romans

uh 6:es 6-7. Knowing this that our old

self was crucified with him. We saw this

in Colossians. It's parallel to baptism.

It's parallel to the crucifixion. In

order that our body of sin might be done

away with so that we would no longer be

slaves to sin. For he who has died is

freed from sin. This picture of the

circumcision of the heart is a removal a

removal of this fleshly old man, right?

To expose our fresh our heart to God and

allow us and empower us to walk in the

light as children of God and not submit

to sin anymore. Amen.

Romans 2:29. He but he is a Jew who is

one inwardly and circumcision is that

which is of the heart by the spirit not

by the letter and his praise is not from

men but from God. Now in the next verse

Paul says so what is am I saying that

physical circumcision is now useless he

says no no no that's not what I mean he

said there's many of it's good thing

it's the covenant with Abraham it's good

to be a Jew

primarily he says because to them were

committed the oracles of God. Yeah. So,

in in closing, just thinking about how

God has set this up and why it's so

important what we read in Colossians,

what we read in Ephesians and Galatians,

how more than anybody else, it was the

Apostle Paul, and I write about a lot

about this in my book, One New Man.

He took this in stand that the Gentiles

not just don't need to be circumcises,

they must not be circumcised. they

should not be circumcised.

And it's easy for us today, oh because

we have those these writings, but back

then it was the the most natural thing

and logical thing was that all of these

new believers, Gentiles who are coming

in and being grafted in, whatever you

want to call it, believing in the God of

Israel, converting to faith in the God

of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and for

them to join the covenant just like

Abraham did. You know, we say, "Oh, but

like Paul says in Galatians, but first

was Genesis 15:6 that first was faith."

Amen. Okay. Right. And he believed in

Jehovah and it was credited to him as

righteousness. So, it's by faith. Okay.

But two chapters later, God says,

"That's right. Faith is we're starting

now and we're going to make a covenant

together." And your response is

circumcision.

So when people when teachers came to the

Galatian church, let's say after Paul

had left and they began to teach that,

it made perfect sense. Are you with me?

It made perfect sense that the Gentiles

should be should be not just circumcised

that they should keep the Sabbath. They

should eat not they should eat kosher

food and basically convert to Judaism

and be Jews. But the revelation that

Paul had said, "No, no, no, no. God has

a plan for every tribe, tongue, and

nation by faith, by the circumcision of

the heart. Circ, it's not circumcision

or uncircumcision that matters. What

matters is a pure heart faith and

walking in the in the true holy

commandments of God. Okay? And how

important this is. So, it's, you know,

some there's a lot of confusion today.

It's not just that you shouldn't or you

don't have to be. It's no, you shouldn't

be because God doesn't want God made

this this people, Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob, the Jewish people. And he's got a

plan. And he brought Yeshua came into

our DNA to could come and be the the

blessing to the whole world that he

promised to Abraham. And that and that's

what he wants for the Jewish people. He

doesn't want that for other people. He

has other he has a plan to bring us all

together. Every tribe, tongue, and

nation. The Chinese as the Chinese, the

Koreans as the Koreans. You know, I look

at the I mean the Korean I was with a

Korean group yesterday talking the

Korean revival in 1907 which really

began the the big outpouring in what we

see today and you have millions of

Korean Christians and missionaries.

Imagine if that wrong gospel, the

circumcision gospel had had carried the

day, okay, that you'd have tens of

millions of Koreans who basically can

become Jews.

What would that look like? Would they

want to all live here? There's a 100

million Chinese Christians for them to

all be c of course the men to be

circumcised, right? And no, no, God

says, "No, we didn't want that. Abraham

is the father of the circumcised and the

uncircumcised by faith and together we

come together and we become the family

of God." And that's his plan. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for

your word. We thank you for these the

oracles of God in that you did in indeed

commit to our people that Moses first

wrote down these stories, these chapters

from Genesis. Lord, with one man 4,000

years ago,

you decided to change the world. You

decided to come into this world, into

the DNA of a real family, a real people

because your son is a person.

But we thank you that he is bringing and

making not just the Jews but people from

every tribe, tongue and nation to be a

people of Abraham. And Lord, we pray

over the struggle that we have over the

true Abrahamic faith

in the Middle East and our and our

conflict and our controversy with Islam

and the lies that have that that have

penetrated so many people. Lord, we were

praying earlier and we just prayed to

break that spiritual stronghold of the

wrong Abrahamic faith over the peoples

of the Middle East.

And Lord, we thank you that he is you

said you honored Abraham so much and his

faith to make him to be the father of us

all.

We thank you, God.

Bashm Yeshua. Amen.