THOU SHALT KEEP MY COVENANT

This was a momentous day in the life of Abram. Once again, Jehovah had appeared to him. Jehovah was El Shaddai, the strong but tender God who cares for, protects, and provides for His people, and He was now establishing a covenant relation which had been made with Abram, Gen. 15.1-18. The covenant assured the inheritance of Canaan, the Promised Land, to be the everlasting possession of Abram’s seed.

On this memorable day the names of Abram and his wife Sarai would be changed to Abraham and Sarah, meaning ‘father of a multitude’, and ‘princess’. They would never forget this day. Abraham was now ninety-nine years old. It was thirteen years since Ishmael had been born, Gen. 16.16, and now this aged cou­ple were to become the progenitors of many nations. It was the promise of a miracle, ‘his own body now dead’ and considering ‘the deadness of Sarah’s womb’, yet out of such conditions El Shaddai had the power to bring life, Rom. 4.19.

Blessing and privilege, however, always bring responsibility and Abraham had his part to play. ‘Thou shalt keep my cove­nant’, Jehovah commanded, and apart from an upright, blameless walk, there would also be a sign of the covenant which Abraham and his posterity would bear in their flesh throughout their generations. ‘And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep … every man child among you shall be circumcised’, vv. 9-10.

It is important, and touching too, to note that until this very day the descendants of Abraham carry this sign in their bodies. After almost two thousand years, in spite of the many pogroms, their unbelief, and their rejection of the promised Mes­siah, yet still they bear this mark, identifying them as the seed of Abraham.

Is there a lesson for believers in the Lord Jesus today? Indeed there is. Those who love Him should bear in their daily lives the marks that they belong to Him, cut off from the ways and habits of the world and walking blamelessly before Him. He has done so much for us, and asks so little from us in return.