An Outward Sign

Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you."
(Genesis 17: 9-11)

Circumcision was a sign -- an outward, physical sign of a covenant between God and Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham, to make him the father of many nations, to be his God and the God of His decendants, and to give Abraham's decendants everlasting possession of Canaan. Abraham's part? Abraham was to trust God as his God--to follow and obey Him in trust to care for His every need. And, Abraham was to circumcise himself and every male in his family or possession, and every child born to his family when he turns 8 days old.

There was rules to partaking in the Passover. When God gave Moses and Aaron the regulations for the Passover, every male in the household must have been circumcized (Exodus 12). Now, Joshua is leading the Isrealites and it's time for the Passover, but none of the Isrealites had been circumcised since they left Egypt and all those who left Egypt had died in the wilderness. So Joshua circumcised this generation. That day, when the Isrealites performed the outward sign that they were children of God, God removed the shame of slavery from them. Then, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the plains of Jericho, the Isrealites celebrated Passover. As they entered into the Promised Land, they were reminded that this inheritance was because of their simple faith in the blood of the Lamb.

That day, the Isrealites ate food from the land and the manna stopped. In the Promised Land, God provided food from crops. The Isrealites no longer needed manna, but they would have to assume some responsibility to working the land to get their food.

"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:11-12)

We no longer have to be circumcised, but we do have to realize that we are free from the shame of sin. We need to realize that we are free and will receive the promises of God simply because of the blood of the Lamb.