If God’s Covenants Are Everlasting, Why Isn’t Circumcision Still Required?

If God's covenants are everlasting, then why isn't circumcision still required? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We pray you had a wonderful weekend. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

You can watch Adriel right now live in the studio on YouTube and send us a message through our YouTube channel. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, here's a question from one of our listeners named Maggie. My understanding from the Bible is that when you die, your body is buried and your soul is sleeping. And then when Christ comes again, that's when those who are living in Christ will come up again. They're going to be raised when Jesus arrives again. But I'd like to know what your opinion of that is, what your outlook on that is.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you for that question. We're talking here about the intermediate state, what happens to an individual once they die. And what I would say is that the soul of a believer when they die is immediately made perfect in holiness. They're in the presence of the Lord with joy, with worship. And there are several passages of scripture in particular in the New Testament that I would point to that I think indicate this very clearly. For example, what the apostle Paul said in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter five, verse eight, we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. That is when I'm no longer here, that is when I've died, I'm going to be at home with the Lord, away from my body for a period of time until the resurrection of the dead on the last day. This is also something that the apostle Paul indicates in the book of Philippians in Philippians chapter one. He's writing to the Philippians talking about his death which he feels is right around the corner. But he's talking about how he wants to continue to live to encourage the churches in particular to be able to encourage the Philippians. He says in verse 21 of Philippians chapter one, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which he says for that is far better. Now right there again he makes it very clear when I die I'm going to depart and be with Christ and that's going to be better than anything I've experienced here on this earth. And so those are just two passages of scripture that I think make it absolutely clear that for the believer during that intermediate state when we when we die here on earth we're in the presence of the Lord which is far better as Paul says than anything we've ever experienced here on earth. Now that is not our final destination as Christians. Too often you hear Christians talk about you know accept Jesus into your heart so that you can go to heaven when you die and that's viewed as you know the ultimate destination, the final resting place if you will. Our bodies are in the grave and we're just in in heaven floating around with the Lord as these disembodied spirits. Well no, Jesus rose again from the dead bodily to give us the hope that we too will one day rise again in him by the power of the Holy Spirit and so that's why we refer to this as the intermediate state. It's not our final destination when we're in heaven in the spirit with the Lord. We're waiting for the resurrection of the dead and and the the finality of the new creation and so thank you for that question. I hope those passages of scripture encourage you and help you and help you in your understanding of this. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life we'd love to hear from you.

Here's our phone number it's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Joseph in Elk Grove, California. Joseph what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I heard a pastor teaching the the other day. Basically he was saying that God exists outside of space and time basically in another dimension but I don't see that taught anywhere in the Bible. Am I overlooking something or is that kind of a false doctrine? Yeah, well I don't know that I would say that that's a false doctrine. We know that God created all things and that he is not confined to anything to space or time. Now the God who is not confined to anything confined himself if you will the second person of the Holy Trinity entered into humanity you know assumed humanity for us and for our salvation. The God who cannot be boxed in if you will boxed himself in in human flesh but what your question reminds me of is a passage in the book of Isaiah where God is is speaking and he says thus says the one who is high and lifted up this is Isaiah 57 verse 15 who inhabits eternity whose name is holy God is the one who is high and lifted up his ways are not our ways he he's holy that is he's separate distinct from us from sinners in his own category if you will and he inhabits eternity that is to say he's not confined to time in the same way that we are I mean Peter talks about this in second Peter when he's talking about the coming of the Lord in chapter three he says you know what God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day and so our relationship to space and time is very different than the relationship of of the Lord's because he's God and he created all things and I think one of the big problems that we see today in the world and even in many Christian churches is we have too much of a human understanding of God if you will that is we confine him in the ways that we're confined as well we limit him when he's infinite eternal unchangeable this is the God that we worship and so I don't know that I would I would say that what you heard was was incorrect on the contrary God is is the one who created all things who isn't limited by time or space uh who inhabits eternity as the prophet Isaiah said God bless you you're listening to core Christianity with pastor Adriel Sanchez taking a look at the calendar it's the first of November that means Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we have a special resource just in time for that holiday that's right as the holiday season begins to ramp up we have a brand new free resource that our listeners can download over at core Christianity.com called five biblical reminders for Thanksgiving I think it's really important because we often see posts on social media or you know those calligraphied wall arts in in our homes or in our friends houses that instruct us to be grateful and to give thanks but how do we do that how do we really give thanks to the Lord as the Bible calls us to that's what this resource is going to help you with it'll show you how to root your thankfulness in the soil of God's word and his good character what he's done for us and so get a hold of this free resource over at core Christianity.com here's how you find it go to core Christianity.com forward slash offers it's core Christianity.com forward slash offers look for five biblical reminders for Thanksgiving or you can call us for that offer or any one of our offers at 833-843-2673 now one of the ways that you can submit a question to us is through our email we got this email from Angie and she says what is the Abrahamic covenant mentioned in Genesis 17 and what aspects of the Abrahamic covenant are everlasting why don't Christians practice circumcision if the Abrahamic covenant is everlasting is it because the Hebrew word for everlasting can mean long time rather than forever or is there another reason yeah a lot of talk of of the Abrahamic covenant throughout the Bible here in Genesis obviously in Genesis 17 but also in places like the book of Galatians in the New Testament let me just read some of Genesis 17 the beginning of Genesis 17 says when Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him I am God almighty walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly then Abram fell on his face and God said to him behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of a multitude of nations now this is getting us to that the answer of your question of what is the Abrahamic covenant this promise that we're hearing here that's reiterated actually throughout the book of Genesis we hear about it earlier in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15 and then here again in Genesis 17 no longer shall your name be called Abram the Lord says but your name shall be Abraham for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you and I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be there God and it's here in this context that the Lord gives him the the covenant of circumcision if you will this command to circumcise his his infant children now what's interesting is circumcision was something that was practiced in the in ancient Near East I think by basically everyone except for the Philistines and it was this sort of social symbol entering into manhood what's unique about what's taking place here in Genesis 17 is God is commanding Abraham to circumcise his infant children even the the little babies right on the eighth day and so that's that's something that's unique about it here now why this sign in particular well in one sense I think it has to do with the the setting apart the sanctification if you will of the male organ you think about the promise that's given here the promise of offspring of nations coming uh coming forth from you this this is you know it would sort of make sense why the sign is applied circumcision is applied to this part of the body it's also a picture of death cutting earlier in Genesis chapter 15 there was this cutting ceremony this covenant that God entered into with Abraham he put Abraham to sleep there were these animals that were cut in half and God passed through the corpses of these dead animals it was this picture of death and and here too circumcision serves as this picture of death of what takes place when we break God's covenant we're cut off from the people of God that's one of the things that Genesis 17 makes absolutely clear but it's also a picture of new life that is regeneration it's interesting that it was instituted for the eighth day um and and eight often in the bible is this picture of new creation you think of Sabbath being the seventh day the eighth day the first day of the week Jesus rising again on the first day of the week new creations you have a lot of stuff going on here with this covenant of circumcision now it's clear from the new testament that it's not a religious ordinance for the people of God today under the new covenant and that's because all the things that it pointed forward to were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ he was the one that was cut off if you will from the people of God for our sins the prophet Daniel speaks about this in Daniel chapter 9 and so you have the fulfillment of many of the things that you see here and actually in one sense baptism is the replacement for circumcision is this new and greater sign of entrance into the family of God the covenant community of God's people and so while we're not practicing uh circumcision as this religious ordinance today in the church of Jesus Christ one thing that is clear is that everything that it pointed to has been fulfilled and that promise God is going to be a God to to his people and to their children still stands today and in that sense it is an everlasting promise and it's one that we receive enter in through by faith in Jesus Christ that's why the apostle Paul says in the book of Galatians in places like Galatians chapters three and four that all of us by faith are the true children of Abraham and so these promises uh really are are for us to to meditate upon and understand and they bless us in our walk with the Lord as well so thank you for that question great explanation thanks for that Adriel this is core Christianity and we'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life you can call us right now at 833 the core let's go to john in san pablo california john what's your question for adriel yes um i'm concerned about continuing if i'm breaking um the fifth commandment and honoring that mother um i recently had been asked to move back home um to be about three years ago and pretty much left been living away from here but um raised my family she's been very good to me up until then um i have four siblings that have complained about this behavior and now i'm witnessing just a very meaningful behavior um i've been therapy about it and they're basically the same my mother's mean and i don't understand it and i and i've actually i i my siblings say they hate her and i found my safe self now saying that not regularly but i've also pushed her i go to get reconciliation and then i take it back and it's just very difficult just a couple follow-up questions for you john so uh if i if i'm understanding you you're currently are you caring for your mother are you her her caregiver and a second question that i would have um is she a believer does she profess faith in jesus christ first of all no i'm not a caregiver i was asked to move here um i was having major surgery she's 86 but since i was moved here um i had her see she's been through like five doctors and they all say that she's actually very sharp and knowing a diagnosis she has is um hypertension um under the house alone she acts like sometimes she even acts like a child i mean speaks like a child um as far as her faith um we've been very close most of my life and we faithful catholics practicing catholics um i don't know even my brother and some of my siblings we don't all talk because she's triangulated uh conversations um even my family my brothers sisters you know we say we want our mom back well john i i i want to pray for you i mean one of the reasons i asked um if she was a believer but i think part of you know loving one another even family members when we're going through something difficult um like this is is just being honest and so when somebody's actions are hurting us um when they're being cruel or mean um we we respectfully and in this situation i think the way that you honor your mother is you know not by not by being harsh or disrespectful but respectfully as as her son um bringing some of these things up and talking about the the pain that it's caused you but also talking about it in light of the gospel and if we belong to jesus christ if we believe in him our identity you know through baptism and faith has been changed and we're called to live in light of that reality whether we're eight years old or 87 years old and so when we're not we encourage each other to to say look we want to honor the lord in our relationships and and so having those conversations i think is potentially a way to to get the get the ball moving in the right direction and i don't know if you've been able to have those kinds of conversations and bring the lord into the discussion and just talking about your guys's relationship and really her relationship with god in this time as well um and so i think for your part you know it sounds like your question is i i don't want to break god's law um i don't want to disobey his commandments in particular the fifth commandment but i'm having a really hard time because of the way that my mother treats me i would say being honest with her about the pain that her words cause you and also continuing to pursue her with love with the truth of god's word and sometimes that looks like challenging the kind of behavior that is harmful but not responding to her in kind not being disrespectful or acting in an ungodly manner towards her i think that's that's key and that's that's what we're tempted to do when someone when someone hurts us when their words hurt us when their actions hurt us we want to hurt them back we want to be rude we want to be demeaning or we want to be disrespectful or we just want to cut them out of our lives and there are instances i think where you have very abusive relationships where you know maybe we've brought the situation up and we've tried to have conversations but an individual continues acting a certain way and there's just no hope of reconciliation where we do have to i think just for our own health and sanity take a step back and i don't know if it's gotten there yet with with you and your relationship with her but i would i would just pray that the lord would soften her heart and that you guys would be able to to talk about this in a way that's honoring to god and ultimately leads her closer to the lord in her relationship with god as as you bring the truth of christ to bear in this so let me let me let me pray for you because i i imagine this is just i know this is a very difficult situation father i pray for john and his relationship with his mother his siblings lord god i ask that you would fill him with your holy spirit that you would give him wisdom god that in the same way god when we believe in you you forgive our sins through your son jesus that you would give him a heart full of forgiveness for others including his his mother when when she says things that are hurtful but i pray that you would also give him wisdom about broaching that subject and having a conversation with her about these things ultimately lord that is gracious and leads her to see maybe where where she has sinned so that she might draw near to you in faith and in repentance would you be with john would you grant him wisdom and would you bring peace in this family relationship we ask in jesus name amen amen tough situation thanks for that response adriel this is core christianity and let's go to a question that came in from tom in missouri he says can you expound on the differences between the body soul and spirit hey thank you for that question yeah well we're talking about um the the constitutive elements of of man if you will what makes up the the the human person and there are some people who say well we have three parts to us body soul and spirit that would be known as the trichotomous view and then there are others and this is my view they say really no we're body and soul or body and spirit that soul and spirit are are basically interchangeable that would be the dichotomous view and the reason that i take that view is because there are places throughout the scriptures where um soul and spirit are used interchangeably oftentimes in the new testament uh the whole person is referred to as body and soul i think jesus speaks in this way or body and spirit paul speaks in this way in first corinthians chapter seven um and then also you know when when um we're uh have these images if you will in the book of revelation of of believers in heaven now in the intermediate state which i defined earlier uh on on today's broadcast they're referred to as spirits oftentimes or in other places as as souls so i don't i don't see a big distinction between soul and spirit if you will but we're we're as as persons body and soul um that that's what makes us up there's more to us than than meets the eye if you will there are a lot of people today who deny the reality of the soul who just think that we're we're just a a body but we are made in the image of god we're we're worthy of dignity of respect um we we care for ourselves and and for the creation around us in particular other people because we're made in the image of god it's a part of how god calls us to live and so according to the bible we're more than just bodies you know a bag of flesh if you will we also have this this spiritual element this spiritual component and god uh through the gospel has redeemed the whole person both body and soul that's another thing that's really important we sometimes talk about jesus you know saving our spirits and the body's not that big of a deal it's not that important it's just sort of wasting away no the body is is an integral part of who we are and god came to redeem our bodies as well bodies the the world that god made is a good thing and we really need to recover that in in the the church today and so um the the the soul is the immaterial part of of our our being of our person if you will and i think that's the best way to to describe it thanks for that that question tom you're listening to core christianity just a reminder we have this great free resource just in time for thanksgiving it really will give you a biblical understanding of how to be thankful and why we should be thankful it's called five biblical reminders for thanksgiving and you can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers well one of the ways you can submit a question is through our youtube channel alan asks this is the lord's supper simply a remembrance of what christ has accomplished or if it is it efficacious in some way in that it aids in our sanctification yeah thanks for this question uh as we come to the end of the broadcast it's such an important question um and i wish i had more time to to tackle it but i would say it's more than just a mere remembrance um and and you know sometimes people say well that's what it's all about it's about remembering what jesus has done for you um but but no scripture makes it clear that there's there's more than just our sort of cognitive remembering what jesus has done there's something uh objective that's taking place as god extending his gifts to his people through these signs uh that he instituted that jesus instituted these signs and seals of the gospel of his work for his people and through them when we receive them by faith we have a very special communion with christ uh by the power of the holy spirit paul says in first corinthians chapter 10 verse 16 the cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the blood of christ the bread that we break is it not a participation in the body of christ that is we have this special participation it's the greek word koinonia with the body and blood of jesus christ in and through the bread and the wine now how well it's a great mystery but it's by the power of the holy spirit the holy spirit is key uniting us to jesus christ who is in heaven so that through these these signs and seals we might have a special communion with him really is so beautiful how god promises promises us these things thanks for listening to core christianity to request your copy of today's special offer visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673 that's 833 the core when you contact us please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of god's word together