TWO TOKENS – 
GOD'S RESPONSIBILITY AND OUR'S


March 17, 2002 pm
MF Blume


 
Gene 9:11-17  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 17:10  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.


Both Noah and Abraham received everlasting covenants.
• And each received a TOKEN of those covenants.
• The token was a SIGN or SEAL of the covenants.
• Noah's token was the rainbow in the cloud.
• Abraham's token was circumcision in the flesh.

Both these tokens of the covenants actually showed the purpose of the covenant by where they were positioned.

Noah's covenant involved a promise of no further destruction of earth and mankind by the waters of a flood.
• So God placed the TOKEN of the rainbow in the cloud.
• A cloud is water vapour.
• And light shines through water vapour and produces the colourful spectrum we call a rainbow.
• The token was IN THE ORIGIN of the waters of a flood.
• Rain begins in the clouds and water vapour in the air.
• So God put the token of this covenant precisely where such rains originate.

Abraham's covenant was different.
• His covenant involved a promise of he being the father of many nations.
• He would have many descendants.
• Kings would come from him.
• He and his descendants would be blessed.
• They would be God's people.
• And they would inherit the land.
• The TOKEN of this covenant was also placed in the ORIGIN of what this covenant involved.
• Since it involved Abraham having many descendants, the TOKEN was positioned in the male reproductive principle of Abraham.
• The origin of humanity is male reproductivity.

So we can see how each token of the covenant illustrated the purpose of the covenant.

Both were called everlasting covenants.

And both spoke of CUTTING OFF OF FLESH.

Genesis 9:11  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 17:14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Avoidance of cutting off was the issue.
• God said no more flesh would be CUT OFF by a flood.
• He said agreement to Abraham's covenant and submission to circumcision ensured not being CUT OFF from God's people.

When the New Testament speaks about Abraham's TOKEN of circumcision it calls it both a SIGN and a SEAL.

Romans 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which [he had yet] being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
And the new Testament also speaks of the NEW COVENANT.
• New Testament means New Covenant.
• And we have a SEAL of the New Covenant, also.
• A TOKEN of the new covenant.
• In fact, BOTH the pictures of Noah's and Abraham's TOKENS are involved in Christianity.
• CIRCUMCISION AND THE RAINBOW.
Colossians 2:11-12  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Romans 2:28-29  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

It is circumcision of the HEART.
• Cuts off the body of the sins of the flesh.
• It mentions it happens in baptism.

In the same chapter in Romans that speaks about baptism, we read ...

Romans 6:6-7  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
We are crucified with Jesus.
• Why?
• Because the body of sin had to be destroyed.
• So we do not serve sin any more.
• Being crucified kills you.
• And he that is dead is freed from sin.

So Paul speaks of being crucified WITH Jesus in order to destroy the body of sins.
• Colossians has him saying IN CHRIST we are CIRCUMCISED without hands, or by God, in other words.
• So that the body of sins might be cut off.
• Bot are saying the same thing.
• SO OUR CRUCIFIXION WITH JESUS CAUSES A CIRCUMCISION TO OCCUR.

We have to get that body of sins cut off and destroyed from our lives.

Romans 6:4 says we are baptized INTO Jesus' death.

Colossians 2:11 says in Christ we are circumcised.

The whole point is that Adam was CUT OFF from God's blessings.
• And when God saved Noah, He cut off Noah from the rest of the world by putting Noah into an ark, and drowning out the world, and cut off the world from existence.
• Then He showed Noah the rainbow indicating He would not cut off flesh by floods again.
• And then when God called Abraham from his people, he cut off Abraham from them and made him the beginning of a people of God – a nation.
• And these people must remain holy to God or be cut off like Adam originally was cut off.

Jesus is called the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by John the Baptist.
• And when Apostle John is shown the vision of the Lamb, who is Jesus, going to God's throne to redeem us in Revelation 5, we first read this in chapter 4.

Revelation 4:2-3  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
A rainbow!

Jesus goes to this throne and obtains the covenant book that is sealed.
• And Rev. 5:9 shows people crying He has redeemed them to God by doing so!

So we have the thoughts of circumcision and a rainbow both in the New Covenant.

In fact, all the covenants God ever gave to anybody in the Old Testament, all point to the greatest of all covenants, and the final covenant the NEW COVENANT.

That is the reason this covenant has so many aspects from other covenants even in the tokens.

And since the TOKENS were supposed to be positioned in the very places where we see the purpose of the covenant illustrated, we learn a powerful message.

The HEART is circumcised.

The THRONE OF GOD has a rainbow around it.

What message can we derive from these two placings of the tokens?

God is trying to tell us that OUR HEARTS have to be in this thing.

And that God is giving us access back to His throne to rule with Him on the earth just as Adam first was granted dominion over all the earth.

There is a difference between the two tokens and covenants of Noah and Abraham.

The rainbow indicated GOD WOULD NO MORE DESTROY MAN BY FLOODS.

That would never change.

However, Abraham's TOKEN was different.
• God would always put the rainbow in the cloud.
• But Abraham and his descendants had to make sure they always put circumcision upon their sons.
• And the responsibility for circumcision was upon the PEOPLE.
• The responsibility of the rainbow was upon God.

God has been faithful, hasn't He?
• There has always been rainbows in the clouds.
• However, man has not always been faithful.
• Moses failed to circumcise his son, and Israel later failed to circumcise their sons in the Exodus.
• Many Israelites backslid away from God and stopped circumcising their sons.
• And people talk about God restoring Israel to their land.
• If they stopped circumcision their sons, God cut them off way back when they first stopped.

Our hearts are our responsibilities.
• We must keep our hearts right with God.
• God's throne and offer of dominion is His responsibility.
• So if we do not do our parts and keep our hearts cut away from the world and the body of sins, God will cut us off from His throne.

Only hearts right with God will be able to reign with Jesus on God's throne.

Revelation 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
You must continue to Believe.

THE HEART BELIEVES.

Jesus said we must overcome in order to be able to sit with Him on His throne.
• How do we overcome?

1 John 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
FAITH.

And faith is a function of our hearts.
• If you want the rainbow, keep your heart circumcised away from unbelief and sins.
• AND BELIEVE.

God wants your hearts circumcised because sin and unbelief hamper you from having faith.
• And you require faith in order to overcome and sit with Jesus on the throne.

When you go through a hard time, YOU ARE GOING TO REQUIRE FAITH.

You heart needs to be strong.

PROTECT YOUR HEART from losing faith.
• Do not fill your heart with trash from this sin-sick world.
• Keep yourselves away from anything that dishes out sin.
• You cut yourself off from God when you allow your heart to be affected by sin.
The ORIGIN of faith is in your heart, so the token of this covenant of FAITH is a circumcised HEART.

The ORIGIN of POWER to no more cut off humanity is the throne of God.
• This new creation will not be cut off by destruction and wrath.
• Wrath comes to those outside of Christ
• But all those who got themselves INTO CHRIST, like into an ark of Noah, and came to the throne across the crystal sea of a flood, will remain in God's Kingdom forever.

I want to be in the Kingdom of God.

The idea of remaining forever is in the thought of the KINGDOM.

Hebr 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Hebr 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Notice verse 28...
• God's Kingdom cannot be moved.
• It will remain forever.
• That is God's faithful part in the rainbow round the throne.
• But our responsibility is with our hearts.
• Let us have a right heart and serve God acceptably.
• Acceptable service to God requires GRACE so we can have REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR (respect).
• These things come from a pure heart that is right with God... circumcised.

Too much disrespect for God, the church and the preacher abounds in our world today, and its in a lot of people's hearts who come to churches across the land.
• We need reverence and godly fear.
• God will take care of the rainbow around the throne and what it stands for.
• We need to take care of our hearts that are circumcised and what it stands for.

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