HAVE YOU BEEN TO YOUR OWN FUNERAL?

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein" (Jeremiah 6:16).

We do not discover the truth as in searching out a new trail; we discover the truth when we find an old path. It is not new scars in Heaven that assure us of our spiritual and physical healing; it is old scars, that of a Lamb as it had been slain. It is an old path that leads to the cross which in essence became the operating room where our sins were surgically removed, not with a razor sharp scalpel, but with the scourging of a Roman whip and the piercing of three nails. These scars assure us that a New Covenant has been cut which provides everything we need in abundance: The operation was a success.

The life of Abraham provides an excellent commentary on this New Covenant:

“And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son” (Genesis 17:24-26).

God had just reiterated an old, but yet new promise: “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” (Genesis 17:19). Abraham’s side of the covenant required the obedience of circumcision which was really a confession of utter dependence upon God. This cutting away of strength was a declaration of true faith: “Lord, here is my impotence. I bring to you that which is dead and can only be raised to life by resurrection power.”

Circumcision is God’s blueprint for a miracle: “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:11). Notice that these instructions came to Abraham at ninety-nine and not when he was eighty-five. This is because at a younger age death had not “set in” to that which was to be circumcised; at ninety-nine Abraham was as good as dead as to his reproduction abilities. The covenant of circumcision was to be an everlasting illustrated sermon entitled, “Impotence Never Meets The Requirements Of Omnipotence!” Circumcision is a sign of death to all hope in the natural and a faith in the supernatural: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).

We enter into worship when we can no longer be tempted to depend on our own abilities to get the job done, and yet believe and move toward a miracle. Abraham at this time could not be tempted to have any more “relations” with Hagar: “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old…” (Romans 4:19). When he could no longer be “moved” to take things into his own hands, God moved and took things into His hands! This is the essence of walking in the New Covenant.

Circumcision is the cutting away of foreskin that which is there by nature: here it represents the pride of natural strength. It is there to protect man’s greatest pride: His ability to “duplicate!” The only trouble is man can never replicate that which is spiritual. He may come close, as Abraham did with Ishmael who looked a lot like Isaac—both were to become a great nation— but God ultimately rejected that which was of natural origin. It is only when we are cut off from natural hope in ordinary resources will God move. Abraham marked this step clearly, “Who against hope believed in hope…” (Romans 4:18).

You must see that before Abraham ever took Sarah to the delivery room, he first had to attend his own funeral!

What happens to a branch that is cut off from the tree? It dies. What happens when you cut off a foreskin? It dies and it will soon start to stink!

When Abraham circumcised his foreskin (and that of his household including Ishmael) it died the death that always comes with separation. Since you always bury the dead I am sure there was a graveside service as Abraham buried his “pride” and brought his own eulogy:

“I remember Abraham well. He was full of promise and full of assurance that he could get the job done no matter the mountains that stood in his way. Here was a man of action! Here was a man of faith! Here is a man that did everything within his power to get God to move in his time and even helped God along the way.

And he thought it had worked.

But here I bury Ishmael and all the hope that had come with him. May God have mercy.”

All that are in Christ are clearly evidenced in the scriptures as being crucified with Christ. Have you been to your own funeral?