Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #10 of Genesis, chapter 21.  We are continuing to read Genesis 21:4-11:

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

In our last study, we were looking at circumcision, as Abraham faithfully circumcised his son Isaac when Isaac was eight days old. 

We saw how God’s entire salvation program can be likened to the formation of a child as the body of Christ.  We also know that the last stage of God’s salvation program has a timeline that goes back 7,000 years.  From the flood date of 4,990 B.C. until May 21, 2011 was exactly 7,000 years.  The date of May 21, 2011 had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of the seventeenth day of the second month, which matched the day after the “seven days” when God shut the door of the ark in the days of Noah. 

We know the majority of God’s elect became saved during that 7,000 years.  Yes – it is true the flood came after 6,000 years of earth’s history, but we can almost count all those the Bible tells us who became saved.  It would not take too long to number them; there was Abel and then Enoch, who walked with God and was translated in 7106 B.C., and there were a handful of other people.  Therefore, as far as the body of Christ, it was formed mostly from 4490 B. C. and thereafter over “seven days.”  At the completion of the “seven days” (7,000 years), the body was fashioned or formed.  There was nothing more to add to God’s elect people, the entire body of Christ.  And then came Judgment Day when God shut the door of heaven because He had completed His salvation program.  There was no one left to be saved.  That happened in the 7,000^th year from the flood on the equivalent day.  Then Judgment Day began, and that is the day in which we are currently living. 

From that point until now would be considered the “eighth day.”   As the Bible says, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” so when the 7,000 years are completed (“seven days”) we are in the “eighth day” or the 8,000^th year, which would begin with “7,001,” then “7002,” and so forth.  Of course, God will not allow time to continue much longer and He will bring an end to all things within the “eighth day.”  You could almost look at it as if 1,000 years is 24 hours, so it would be very early within the eighth millennium or “eighth day” when God completes His salvation program for the body of the elect.  And this would involve the “cutting off of our flesh,” because the Bible is clear that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.  We cannot enter the new heaven and new earth in our fleshly bodies.  They must be changed from flesh to spiritual bodies, according to 1Corinthians 15 and, therefore, our flesh must be “cut off” before we enter into the Promised Land of the new heaven and new earth. 

So, circumcision is the cutting off of the flesh.  Remember when Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness after their great deliverance from Egypt.  They did not come out of Egypt and go right into the Promised Land.  First, they had to experience a severe time of testing and trials, just as we have been doing since God brought about the deliverance of the great multitude during the latter part of the Great Tribulation.  We had thought we would go right into the Promised Land, but the precedent is that we must go through a fiery, time of testing.  We are currently going through God’s testing program before we can enter into the Promised Land.

And, yet, when Israel finally reached the river Jordan after the 40 years and they were ready to cross over, we read in Joshua 5:2:

At that time JEHOVAH said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

Why was it the second time?  It was because the first time identifies with our “first resurrection,” the circumcision of our hearts.  The second time will be the circumcision of our fleshly bodies or the human nature we know have.  It must be put away, and God must transform us just as He did with our soul.  Therefore, we must be circumcised the second time.  Joshua is a type of Christ, and it goes on to say in Joshua 5:3-7:

And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of JEHOVAH: unto whom JEHOVAH sware that he would not shew them the land, which JEHOVAH sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey. And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

Again, think of the second circumcision before crossing the river to possess the Promised Land as the cutting off of our bodies on the last day, the day of the rapture.

It goes on to say in Joshua 5:8-9:

And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. And JEHOVAH said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

This happened at the completion of the 40 years.  In 1994 when God first began the great deliverance in a Jubilee Year (setting the captives free), God also began to severely try and test His people by opening the Scriptures to bring doctrinal tests, and from 1994 to 2033 would be 40 years, inclusive.  Therefore, the circumcision or the cutting away of our flesh before we enter the Promised Land is right on schedule in the “eighth day.”  Spiritually, it is the eighth millennium, since God has saved all the elect during the seven thousand years since the flood, and now comes the “eighth day” and the time for the (second) circumcision.

I wanted to make sure we covered this because we had gone a little bit beyond this point as we started to look at Isaac and how his name has to do with “laughing.”  We were about to progress to the fact that Isaac was weaned, as it says in Genesis 21:7-8:

And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah gave suck or fed the mother’s milk to her baby Isaac.  Again, keep Galatians 4 in mind.  Sarah is the mother of us all and Isaac is a figure of those born of the covenant of promise (God’s grace).  All the while Sarah was giving suck to Isaac, where was Ishmael?  Where was Hagar?  They were growing together.  Hagar was in the camp and Ishmael was a growing young man of about 14 years old.  Isaac was born, and Sarah gave her son suck, probably for a couple of years.  Isaac was drinking milk.  And Ishmael was there.  We do not read that Ishmael mocked at that point or that Sarah demanded that the bondwoman and Ishmael be cast out at that time, so there is an interesting connection between the fact that when Isaac was weaned, Ishmael began to mock.  As a result, Sarah demanded that the bondwoman and her son be cast out.  God agreed.  The Lord told Abraham not to be grieved about this, but to do what Sarah had said.  So, this is very interesting and very significant that Ishmael and Isaac dwelled together.  Hagar and Sarah dwelt together with their respective sons, and we know these are picturing the two covenants.  Hagar, an Egyptian bondservant, is a picture of the covenant given at mount Sinai, pointing to the Law and those that try to get right with God by keeping the law and, therefore, are in bondage with their children.  Sarah is the “freewoman,” whose son was by promise, pointing to God’s wonderful salvation program, the salvation by grace (by Christ) in which man can do no works.  These all dwelt together and, yet, the “weaning” had something to do with the separation of the two.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will look at the “drinking of milk” and the “weaning” that comes after that, as we continue to look at God’s Holy Word and the wonderful truths therein.