Circumcise Your Flesh: You're a Son not a Slave!

Exodus 4:20-23

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

The first Passover was the night that God delivered his people from Egypt. A new pharaoh that didn’t know Joseph came into power and enslaved the children of Israel. God told Moses He had seen the affliction of His people. His plan was deliverance, and the deliverance was twofold:

1. Rescue/ Separate the people with the lamb

2. Judge the world without the lamb

Exodus is the story of God’s people leaving the bondage of Egypt. The Passover focuses on the deliverance event where God saves His First born and judges the firstborn of Egypt.

As I’ve been studying these passages again, I have received deeper clarity. I began to see the firstborn of Egypt as a type of the first birth in Adam, which is our natural birth. The firstborn of Israel, which is God’s son, describes the new birth in Christ where we become the  sons of God. God delivers His firstborn and judges Egypt’s.

God will deliver those who are born again through Jesus. He delivers them from the bondage of Satan of whom Pharaoh is a type, at the very least, Pharaoh is (a type of antichrist) in that he is a man on earth that demands the worship of a god and enslaves God’s people.

So God separates His own and judges the world!

We see this truth all throughout God’s word: separation and judgment.

2 Corinthians 6:17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

God‘s plan of separation for the Passover was that they were to take a lamb that did not have any blemish (this is a type of the sinlessness of Jesus). The lamb was to be slaughtered, and then roasted by fire. The blood that was collected, was then painted on each side of the door frame, and at the top of the door. Whoever believed God‘s word was instructed to paint their doors, roast their lambs, and then go inside and eat the roasted lamb.

Exodus 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

Nothing of the lamb was to remain. You can’t just eat the parts of Jesus that you want and leave the rest on the table.

We must understand that Jesus gave His all for our salvation and acceptance of Jesus requires that we give our all. The father is not looking for either part-time lovers or part-time employees. We are either all in, or we are not.

This is what I mean by that:

1. We are either saved, or we are not. We have either painted the door and gone inside or we have not.

2. And if we have, we will either eat the whole lamb, or we will not. You can’t just read the seated in Christ scripture and ignore the go into all the world scripture. You can’t just read the love scriptures and ignore the repent scriptures.

So the doors are painted, the lambs are roasted, the people have entered inside and closed the door, and the process of eating the lamb has begun.

While the Hebrews are inside, obeying God‘s word, the world outside that surrounds them is being judged!

2 thoughts in God’s mind He wants you to know:

I. God demands separation

Ex 4:21 The Lord said unto Moses…

Right now I just want you to see who he’s talking to – – he is talking to Moses

23… Tell Pharaoh…Let my son go, that he may serve me. 24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

Kill who?– – Moses… Why? We have to keep reading.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

The scripture explains that there is a circumcision of the heart:

Romans 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit…

In another place:

Galatians 5:24

…they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Could it be possible that people sitting in churches are like Zipporah? Imagine this—God is doing the work of circumcising the heart, and instead of willingly submitting to the process, in anger, they throw it at God and say: (you’re a bloody husband to me. You made me die to self – you demanded that my flesh be crucified, that my heart be circumcised!

In the story of Zipporah Moses’ wife being forced to cut off the foreskin of their son, it should be understood that God is about to judge the firstborn of Egypt, a type of the world. At the same time, he is going to save his own people, the firstborn that he calls his son, which is Israel. He’s about to bring judgment upon the world, and his own people are not living their lives right before Him.

Do Christians imagine that God will wink and ignore their sin, if they’re living a life of blatant and repetitive sin— whether it be sins of lust or the sin of not loving their brothers?

1 Peter 4:17

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The Lord is merciful and long-suffering in dealing with His people, but many times, people that profess Christ, refuse to get right! He is going to judge the world and to His people He says:

1 Peter 1:14-16

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

God went through great lengths in the Old Testament to remind His people about their relationship, so that they would reverence Him and not sin against Him.

1. Circumcision was a lifetime reminder

2. The Passover and other feasts were yearly reminders

3. Every time a firstborn male animal was born they had to kill it that was a reminder

4. Every time a firstborn male human was born they had to redeem it with silver and circ him on the 8th d

5. Every week there was a Sabbath

6. There were daily sacrifices at the temple and every time an individual sinned, he was required to offer a sacrifice

Who does all that? The people of God, who are aware of his word the people of God, who believe his word. The people of God, who want to be His people.

Just like the OT, there are things that NT believers do, they have faith, they read His word and when they realize that their lives aren’t lining up with the word, they repent and pray. They go to church and fellowship with the saints. They worship the Lord together. They treat each other the way that they would want to be treated, because they live their life according to the Bible.

God proved the importance of separation from the world even more when he sent his son in the New Testament to fulfill his word. He demands separation.

II. you are a son, not a slave!

God did not create Adam to be a slave. He created the Earth for Adam and in Adam was the image of God to reproduce that image and carry the glory of God all over the earth.

He gave Adam dominion and authority to rule as co-regent with Him.

It is the fall of man and persistence in that state that prevents mankind from moving back towards his rightful place in God.

God came to Moses and said:

Exodus 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

Taskmaster— To cause one to live under tyranny, to harass or oppress.

Affliction— to be under depression, and misery.

This is not the same word that we discussed Wednesday, in relation to the day of atonement, where God told his people to afflict their own souls for the 10 days of awe to let Him try their hearts and reins.

That word means to humble self.

God wants people to humble themselves under his hand. He said it in James and Peter

James 4

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

God did not create humanity to be slaves to pharaoh, Egypt, the world, and definitely not Satan.

He created us to carry His image and glory in the land, to walk in kingdom authority, to see souls saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, the sick healed, people delivered, but we can’t do that while we are still living like slaves in Egypt.

Pharaoh: “let My people go“

You are a son, and not a slave!

In Exodus 4, He said, 22…Israel is my firstborn. Israel is my son. 23 …Let my son go so that he can serve me.

Talking about sonship

In the gospel of John he said:

John 3:16 for God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

God sowed a Son seed to reap a harvest of sons…

And the son said:

John 3:3 verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

We have to be born twice:

1. There is a natural birth

2. There is also a spiritual birth.

We are born into sonship in our second birth

John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Galatians 4:1-7

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant [slave NKJV], though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant [slave], but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

You’ve been made worthy

Pharaoh (you’re enemy) doesn’t want us to know that or believe that. He wants us to stay in bondage. He wants us to stay in bondage to addiction, emotional turmoil, psychological instability, false doctrine, sickness in our body that hinders us from really serving God. None of that is God’s will for our lives.

Colossians 1:12-13

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,