A Friend's Question Answered

A few days ago a friend asked me about a particular Scripture passage.  This was quite a surprise to me.  Literally it has never happened before in my memory.  Initially, I was a little overwhelmed.  I had no particular reason to believe that my ides about the passage would be any better than those of anyone else.  But, Father would not let me ignore the request.  After I read what the Holy Spirit gave me to say, I concluded that you all might also find it interesting.

The Scripture passage is found in Joshua 5:2-12.  If your Bible is not handy, you can paste that reference in Google and it will find it for you.  My response to my friend (with a little added tidbit) was:

As to the passage from Joshua, one can say a number of things:

1. It is an interesting historical incident in the travel of the people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.

2.  If we accept that this trip by Israel is an OT type descriptive of the journey from sin to salvation to santification and empowerment in the lives of children of God in the Kingdom of Grace, then we can deduce a number of additional ideas.

3. First, one must note that the entire book of Galatians (together with other passages) make clear that fulfillment of the ritual of circumcision is not a requirement in this Kingdom.  Thus, to the extent we are looking at circumcision, we must be clear that we are looking at its significance not at the act itself.

4. In that light, we see that these events occur between the time of the crossing of the Jordan and the time of the Battle of Jericho.  Correlating to the Kingdom journey, between the time of being baptised in the Holy Spirit and the time of being sent into the first tearing down of the works of satan.

5. We also see that this event is immediately before, virtually simultaneous with the transition from survival being dependant on the miraculous feeding by God to the time of being empowered to routinely be able to produce food for the nation themselves.  Thus, given that we are told by Jesus that our spiritual bread is every Word that comes from God, we see that the event precedes very shortly the Church being able to hear God for themselves rather than being dependant on daily miraculous revelation.

6.  So in summary we see that there is a direct connection between a.) our ability to hear God and our empowerment to defeat satan and b.) our entry into the state of being circumcised spiritually.  So, what is this spiritual circumcision which is so crucial to our development?

7.  It is pretty much universally agreed that the act of circumcision both physically and spiritually is an act of putting flesh to death and separating it from the rest of our lives.

8.  But, we need to understand that this is not the death of all the flesh.  It is the death of a specific part of the flesh.  It appears to me that which part of the flesh must die is extremely important.  This part of the flesh is directly associated with three significant functions: a.) reproduction; b.) recreational sex as an expression of marriage; and, c.) elimination of significant daily occurring toxins from the body.

9.  The spiritual corrollaries to these physical functions would appear to be: a.) bringing forth of new believers as members of the family of God; b.) frequent repeated affirmation of our healthful connection in covenant relationships; and, c.) being cleansed from the dangerous little things that crop up in our daily walk in the world.

10. One other thing is interesting to note about this particular circumcision.  It was a circumcision that was for the whole new generation of the nation. 

11. So, what is the Kingdom life corrollary to this circumcision ?  Although I do not think that my answers are necessarily complete, I have reached some conclusions about that.  I would certainly be interested in hearing additional revelation if you have any to share.

12.  Thus, I see the following specific elements in this spiritual circumcision:
a.) The death to self that comes when we stop viewing ourselves as independent individuals and begin viewing ourselves as members of the living Body of Christ who belong to every other member and thus are responsible for how our lives affect theirs. 
b.) The death to self that comes when we accept entry into a covenant relationship in which we choose to disciple ourselves to another son of God.
c.) The death to self that comes when we become willing to die for the sake of another person's salvation.
d.) The death to self that comes when we become willing to admit our faults and failings to another son of God so that he/she might be one who washes our feet, i.e. the process of cleansing away that which is splashed on us as we walk through the world.

So, if you are:
struggling to be clear about hearing the Words God is speaking to you about what is going on around you;
finding that you simply do not have the power to tear down the works of satan in the lives of others;
finding that you have no pleasure in closely connected relationships;
finding that noone wants to know the Jesus who lives in you;
feeling sick in your soul because of the pressures that come from day to day life;

I urge you to consider taking up your cross to die in these four specific areas of your life.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart