INTRO:

Every five years the world church of Seventh-day Adventists meet together from around the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, Central & South America, the Islands and more will gather together as one large church family for a week to discuss church business, hear reports of how God has been working in this church around the world, and Worship together as a united world church. But as we face this momentous gathering, I wonder — What does it mean to be a Seventh-day Adventist? After all we are so diverse.

We don’t all speak the same language.

We don’t look alike.

Our worship styles, and worship attire look so very different from country to country.

What does it mean to be a Seventh-day Adventist? What is our identity?

Maybe a more general question might be: What does it mean to be God’s children or God’s people? What is it the identifies God’s people or gives them their identity?

More than 2,000 years ago — if you were to ask this question, you would find that the answer would be: God’s people are Jews, and their identifying mark is that they are circumcised!

God’s People = Circumcised Jews.

You could not be part of God’s people — the Jews, unless you were circumcised. It was the initiation into the family of God — Kind of like how baptism is how someone joins the church today, it was circumcision back then — No matter how old you were… To join God’s family was a big commitment, a life altering commitment — You were physically changed forever.

God actually was the one who initiated this practice and sign when He gave Abraham the Father of the Jews the sign of circumcision as part of the covenant:

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I [am] Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. … 10 “This [is] My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 “and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 “He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 “He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”” – Genesis 17:10-14

Have you ever wondered why circumcision was only for men? Why didn’t God give some sort of sign for women that designated them also, or set them apart as well? — The reason has to do with roles, and how God designed the family unit. From the time of Adam, the man was to be the spiritual leader of the home. He was the one who made the spiritual decisions not only for himself, but for his family as well. — If the family was going to identify itself with a particular religion — The man was the key figure who would lead the family in that direction. For the man to be circumcised, identifying himself as a child of God — It not only identified him, but all those connected with him — his wife, children, and servants.

Boys were circumcised the eighth day. Why the eighth day?

In 1935 Professor H. Dam discovered that Vitamin K helped prevent hemorrhaging of blood in baby chicks. Later it was discovered that Vitamin K is necessary ingredient which the liver uses to produce prothrombin which is actually what prevents hemorrhaging of the blood. When a baby is born, those newborn infants are particularly susceptible to bleeding during the 2nd and 5th day of life, the reason is that vitamin K is not produced in sufficient quantities until days 5-7 of an infants life. On the eighth day, the amount of prothrombin present actually is elevated above one-hundred percent of normal—and is the only day in the male’s life in which this will be the case under normal conditions. If surgery is to be performed, day eight is the perfect day to do it. Vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak.^[1]

[Dr. McMillen observed:

We should commend the many hundreds of workers who labored at great expense over a number of years to discover that the safest day to perform circumcision is the eighth. Yet, as we congratulate medical science for this recent finding, we can almost hear the leaves of the Bible rustling. They would like to remind us that four thousand years ago, when God initiated circumcision with Abraham…. See Link at Bottom of article

Abraham did not pick the eighth day after many centuries of trial-and-error experiments. Neither he nor any of his company from the ancient city of Ur in the Chaldees ever had been circumcised. It was a day picked by the Creator of vitamin K (1984, p. 93).]

God chose the eighth day, because that was the safest day!

Why did God give circumcision as an identifying mark of His people? — Why not baptism, or simply taking a vow, or going on a pilgrimage, or even just saying a heartfelt prayer? Isn’t circumcision kind of a drastic way of declaring your allegiance to God?

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I [am] Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” – Genesis 17:1 —

God begins his covenant with Abraham not by telling him to be circumcised, but by giving him the command to “walk before Me and be blameless.”

Notice the similarity to what we find in Genesis 6:9-10  

“This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

(Noah is called to be blameless and Noah walked with God) — In the most wicked period of earth’s history God had a man and his family who walked with Him, who followed His laws, cherished His values, trusted and obeyed His Laws.

“Amid the prevailing corruption, Methuselah, Noah, and many others labored to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and to stay the tide of moral evil… [Noah] gave the world an example of believing just what God says.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, 94-95.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” — Hebrews 11:7

• Noah died 2 years before Abraham was born
• Abraham lived 175 years, and the first 150 years Shem — Noah’s son was still alive.

Abraham would’ve known first hand the story of the flood. He would have talked with Shem, one of the ones who rode the ark when the world was destroyed by water. He would’ve heard of His righteous great great great grandfather, and how by faith he obeyed God.

Now the God of Noah, comes to speak with Abraham and invites Abraham to be in his generation what Noah was in his wicked generation — A man who walked with God — blameless.

After this, Genesis 17 continues unfolding the covenant by revealing God promises to make Abraham the father of many nations and His promise to be the God of Abraham and his descendants, and then finally God promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan — The promised Land.

I wonder what Abraham was thinking when God gave him all these promises?

“By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as [in] a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and

Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.” – Hebrews 11:9-10 

(Abraham discerned in God’s promises much more than material blessings, Abraham understood that God was promising heaven to his family — if his family would walk with God and be blameless)

Once God makes Abraham these promises, He gives him the sign of the covenant — circumcision.

“This [is] My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 “and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” –Genesis 17:10-11

Notice that circumcision is called a sign of the covenant. This word “sign” is used of other things in the bible. It was used of the Sabbath — a sign between God and His people to distinguish them from the gentiles. It was used of the blood put on the doorposts at Passover again to distinguish God’s people, those who were saved from those who were not. It was used to designate the flags that each tribe had — again distinguishing between the tribes in Israel. Again we find in Revelation that there are two signs, the seal of God and the mark of the beast distinguishing between the followers of God and the followers of Satan.

However Circumcision is different than all the other signs mentioned, because it is the only sign that no one sees except the one who carries it. Have you ever wondered why God chose something so private, so hidden, so unseen as circumcision for a sign of the covenant? God could’ve made the sign of the covenant a tattoo on the forehead, or arm, right? Why not make the sign of the covenant how you cut your beard, or cut your hair?

There’s a reason why God made the sign of the Covenant hidden!

Physical circumcision was meant to be a personal illustration of what God does to the heart of each person who chooses be called a child of God.

“6 “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” – Deuteronomy 30:6

“28 For he is not a Jew who [is one] outwardly, nor [is] circumcision that which [is] outward in the flesh; 29 but [he is] a Jew who [is one] inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise [is] not from men but from God.” – Rom 2:28-29 NKJV

This is why the sign of circumcision was made in such a private area of a persons body, because it symbolized the circumcision of the heart — Something only you and God can see. No one else knows what’s really going on in your heart, but you do!

There are some who appear to be saved that will be lost, and there are some who appear to be lost that will be saved! — We can not judge a persons motives or heart, we can only judge actions.

“… For [the LORD does] not [see] as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” – 1Sa 16:7 NKJV

I want you to also see that there is a strong connection between circumcision and the law.

Genesis 17:1 — God tells Abraham to be “blameless”

This is the same word used to describe the sacrificial animals who were offered to God, without any blemishes. Perfect!

“Blessed [are] the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the LORD!” – Psa 119:1 NKJV

God’s covenant is based on His law — He calls His children to perfect obedience… When God made a covenant with Abraham He first called him to obedience then as a sign of this covenant God gave him circumcision. Circumcision & keeping the Law  have always been so connected that the one implied the other and visa versa. If you kept the law it implied you were circumcised, and if you were circumcised it implied you kept God’s law.

“For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” – Rom 2:25 NKJV

“… every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.” — Galatians 5:3

Circumcision of the heart means that you keep God’s Law!

“16 “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” – Deu 10:16

NKJV

Listen to what God says a few verses before, when he describes what it means to be circumcised in the heart.

“12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 “[and] to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? … 16 “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” – Deu 10:12-13, 16 NKJV

Because circumcision is really a sign of keeping loving God and keeping His commandments in your heart — Paul brings out that to be physically circumcised is not what really counts.

“Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, [even] with [your] written [code] and circumcision, [are] a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who [is one] outwardly, nor [is] circumcision that which [is] outward in the flesh; 29 but [he is] a Jew who [is one] inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise [is] not from men but from God.” –

Rom 2:26-29 NKJV

So the distinguishing mark or feature of God’s people. The identity of God’s people is not whether or not they are literally circumcised Jews, but whether or not they Love God and Keep His commandments in their heart?

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.” – Ecc 12:13 NKJV

This is also the distinguishing mark of God’s people at the end of time:

“Here is the patience of the saints; here [are] those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” – Rev 14:12 NKJV

“This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”” – Heb 10:16 NKJV

God will have a people at the end of time who like Noah, will walk with God blameless.

Does that mean that in order to be counted as one of God’s children I have to be perfect?

Well the answer is YES and also it’s NO. —

First, the answer is YES because perfection has always been God’s standard, and He will accept nothing less than perfect.

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” – Mat 5:48 NKJV

“The conditions of eternal life, under grace, are just what they were in Eden — perfect righteousness, harmony with God, perfect conformity to the principles of His law. The standard of character presented in the Old Testament is the same that is presented int he New Testament. This standard is not on to which we cannot attain. In every command or injunction that God gives there is a promise, the most positive, underlying the command. God has made provision that we may become like unto Him, and He will accomplish this for all who do not interpose a perverse will and thus frustrate His grace.” — Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 76.

But the answer is also NO, because the Bible declares:

“9 What then? Are we better [than they]? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.” – Rom 3:9-11 NKJV Paul also brings out in scripture:

“20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.” – Rom 3:20 NKJV

“The Jews had been wearily toiling to reach perfection by their own efforts, and they had failed. Christ had already told them that their righteousness could never enter the kingdom of heaven…” — Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 77.

“You have become estranged from Christ, you who [attempt to] be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” – Gal 5:4-6 NKJV

So YES God requires perfection and NO we can not become perfect by our own works. Righteousness/ Perfection is a gift and work of God through Faith!

“21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” – Rom 3:21-23 NKJV

At the end of time God will have a people who do not walk after the pattern of this world, but are transformed by the renewing of their minds. The righteousness of God is revealed in their lives — and like beacons of light their words and deeds declare in this dark age that God is able to save His people from their sins. — GLORY IS BROUGHT TO GOD’S NAME BECAUSE THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT THE WORK OF MAN, BUT THE MIRACLE OF GOD IN MAN.

So what does it mean to be a Seventh-day Adventist? What is our identity? What is the mark of God’s people?

God’s people have circumcised hearts — Their lives declare that God is able to deliver sinful human beings from the power of sin and implant His own righteous character in their lives.

“If you are the children of God you are partakers of His nature, and you cannot but be like Him. Every child lives by the life of his father. If you are God’s children, begotten by His Spirit, you live by the life of God. In Christ dwells “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9); and the life of Jesus is made manifest “in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11). That life in you will produce the same character and manifest the same works as it did in Him. Thus you will be in harmony with every precept of His law; for “the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.” Psalm 19:7, margin. Through love “the righteousness of the law” will be “fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4. — Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 77-78

CLOSING PRAYER

Teaser: Next week we will continue our series in Romans look at the topic of Justification by Faith in Romans chapter 4