Chapter. 11, Genesis 17. The Covenant.
AFTER Ishmael was born, the Lord appeared again to Abraham and again promised to bless him and make him the father of a great nation, and to give him the land of Canaan for a possession. And God changed his name and called him Abraham, which means: “The father of a great multitude,” because many people should descend from him. Sarai’s name was also changed to Sarah which means “A princess.” Then the Lord appointed a sign in Abraham’s family, to mark them as a distinct people. This sign was the circumcision of every son who should be born in the family of Abraham.
Were the children of Ishmael to possess the land of Canaan? No. Ishmael was not the promised seed who should inherit Canaan. He was only the son of a bondwoman, that is almost a slave. But God told Abraham that Sarah should have a son, who should be called Isaac, and that He would make with him and with his children an everlasting covenant. What is a covenant? An agreement and promise between two parties. The promise God made to Noah never to drown the world again was a covenant, and the pledge or the sign of it was the rainbow. And now this promise of God to Abraham was a covenant, and the sign of its circumcision. It was the mark of separation between them and the other nations who did not know God, but worshipped idols.
So now God would have a mark of separation between His people and the people of the world. The death of Christ ‘s what makes the separation from this world which is away from God, for, “In that He died, He died unto sin once,” and all who are identified with Christ in Hi, death can be appealed to not to continue in sin. They are separated from it and stand in a new position in this world.
ML 03/21/1909