Sacrifice

I have made no sacrifices, compared to the sacrifice God made for me.

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—" Romans 3:25

A covenant is a divine promise, which is not based upon any merit of any man, but purely because of the grace of God. So that should be "a covenant by God".

Also Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac had nothing to do with Ishmael. It was the supreme test of Abraham's faith, and he passed the test. The Bible says that Abraham even anticipated Isaac's resurrection, had he gone through with that sacrifice.

However, when Abraham allowed Sarah to persuade him to have a child with Hagar, that was a lack of faith, since God had promised a son through Sarah. As a result we have the ongoing conflict between Arab and Jews.

God's eternal covenant and salvation through Christ was through Isaac. But I understood that his covenant to be Israel's God, and for them to be His people, was open to all Abraham's household. Else circumcision would only make sense for Abraham's direct descendants, but not the rest of his household.

Genesis 7-8 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

Genesis 12-14 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Aren't all physical circumcisions 'token' circumcisions, but the true circumcision is what is done in our hearts?

I agree. I think just as God created over 7 days, the 8th day is like a new beginning. I've also read from a biological perspective, the 8th day is the best day to circumcise due to the levels of blood clotting vitamin K being at its peak.

Agreed again. But God commanded that uncircumcision was breaking His covenant, so it would imply that by undergoing circumcision, Abraham's entire household were partakers in the covenant (because you can't break a covenant if you don't have one to begin with).

It is to all with the faith of Abraham, all who believe Jesus are counted here.

We present ourselves as living sacrifice giving praises to His name.

I think if we are willing to lay down our lives, just as Isaac did and Jesus actually did, God sees that and will raise us up.

The obedience part seems to take a way the sacrifice of ourselves because God will provide us a lamb- Jesus.


Thoughts on Ishmael, when God told abraham that he wanted abrahams only son, was he forgetting about Ishmael did he just not count him as a son....? Mind you this was after Ishmael was sent away at Sarahs behest. Because if Ishmael was still around wouldnt abraham have said well I actually have TWO sons God.