Listen to Genesis 17 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

Genesis 17 is the Bible account of the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, that of circumcision. Every covenant has a sign and in the preceding chapters of Genesis we saw a covenant God made with Noah, and all his descendents, that is everyone, and the sign of that covenant was the rainbow. Later in the NT, Jesus would sit down at the table with the disciples for the last supper and make a new covenant with his disciples and their descendents. The signs of that covenant were the body and blood of Christ, and as Christians we regularly remind ourselves of the covenant through the practice of communion. And here in this chapter the sign of the covenant is circumcision. Abraham is told that if anyone didn’t participate in this sign, they would be cut off from the people. In other words, the decision to not participate in cutting off, would result in themselves being cut off. This is clearly a spiritual cutting off, separating oneself from the life and blessing that flows from God.

In this chapter God also changes Abram’s name, as he did later with Jacob, Simon and Saul who became Israel, Peter and Paul. And if we are in Christ we are also given a new name too, that is the name of Christ. Along with that comes a brand new identity, we are now in Him and that is really something worth celebrating.

Even though these were Old Testament things, they have relevance to us today, because we have the same God who has made covenant with us through the blood of Christ. We are to walk with Him too, following the example of Abraham.

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