In Genesis 15 God made a covenant with Abraham; on His side, God was faithful to the covenant, but on Abraham’s side, he was not because he used his natural strength to produce Ishmael. Therefore, God came in in Genesis 17, thirteen years after He appeared last to Abraham, and He confirmed the covenant with circumcision.
Because Abraham used his natural strength to “help God” accomplish His promise, God asked Abraham to be circumcised, cutting off his natural strength and his flesh, so that God would come in and fulfill His covenant.
God revealed Himself as the all-sufficient God; He is the source of grace to supply all the ones whom He called with the riches of His divine being so that Christ may be brought forth in them as the seed and they would enjoy the good land for His purpose.
In order for God to bring forth Christ in and through us we need to be circumcised, that is, our natural strength and our flesh needs to be terminated. Our old man has already been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6), and today we need to apply the death of Christ to the many manifestations of the old man, the flesh.
The only way God can come in and bring forth Christ in us is if we are spiritually circumcised, that is, if we live a crucified life. We need to see that our man has been crucified with Christ: we stand on this fact! We need to see that in Christ’s resurrection He became the Spirit, and the effectiveness of His death is now included in this wonderful compound Spirit (Heb. 9:14).
Knowing that our old man has been crucified with Christ and that the death of Christ is in the Spirit with our spirit, whenever our flesh rises up to do something for God by the natural strength, we can simply call on the name of the Lord, Oh, Lord Jesus! and the death of Christ is applied to the flesh.
As believers in Christ we still have the flesh, the totality of the manifestation of the old man, and we need to put it to death in all its manifestations and expressions. We are NOT one with the flesh; we don’t stand with the flesh; rather, we condemn it and we apply the death of Christ to the flesh by exercising our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
We Need a Vision of the Flesh, both the Evil Flesh and the Good / Spiritual Flesh
We need to see what the flesh is. In Rom. 6:6 we see the old man, the totality of our fallen human being; the name of the old man is “I” (see Gal. 2:20), and our old man has been terminated on the cross. The living out of the old man is the flesh; the flesh is not the old man directly, but the totality of all the activities of the old man as a whole.
On the one hand, the flesh is sinful, lustful, defiling, and evil, but on the other hand, the flesh can also be good, doing things to “please God” by its strength, striving to be kind, gentle, humble, etc. In Abraham’s case, he didn’t exercise his evil, defiling, and lustful flesh but the so-called good flesh: he wanted to “help God fulfill His promise”.
We see the same principle in 1 Sam. 7, where king Saul was instructed by Samuel the prophet to annihilate and exterminate the Amalekites, but Saul spared the best sheep, oxen, and animals, killing the rest. His intention was good: he wanted to bring these good sheep as offerings to God! Samuel told him then, Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft, and God took the kingdom away from you!
Our good intentions toward God to help Him with accomplishing His promise are a manifestation of the rebellion of the flesh. No one can reign in the coming kingdom and no one can reign in life in the present age today unless he learns to deal with the flesh as the living out of the old man.
Sometimes the flesh is manifested in its negative aspect and at other times the good and religious flesh is manifested. Grace is a theory to us unless our flesh has been exposed and touched by God.
In order for God to bring forth Christ in us and through us, our flesh needs to be dealt with. God wants to do everything in us and for us to produce Christ and the church, but our flesh is a frustration to God’s working.
God is all-sufficient and He wants to abundantly give us grace so that Christ may be lived out and expressed through us, but our flesh and our natural strength frustrate God and even block His operation in our being. May we see a vision of the flesh, the old man living out today! Our living in the flesh cuts us off from the promise of the seed and the good land.
All of the uncircumcised people were cut off from this covenant. In 17:14 God said to Abraham, “As for the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” This is true today. If we do not live a crucified life, we are cut off from Christ, from the church life, and from the supply of the divine udder. Whenever we are unwilling to be circumcised, we are finished with the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose. Today our enjoying God, our living by Christ, and our practicing the church life all depend upon one thing—upon circumcision, upon living a crucified life. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 638)
Applying the Death of Christ to our Flesh through Calling on the Name of the Lord
Col. 2:11 “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.”
How can we deal with the flesh? God’s answer to our flesh and our natural man is clear: the cross, death! Today we don’t need to be physically circumcised in order to inherit the promised blessing – we need to be spiritually circumcised and live a life of spiritual circumcision in order for God to work Himself into us as grace and bring forth Christ for His purpose (Col. 2:11).
Spiritual circumcision is the constant application of Christ’s death to our flesh (see Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:13). How can we apply the death of Christ to our flesh, and how can we do it constantly? I am so happy that there is a way!
First of all we need to KNOW that our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6). This is a fact: we were terminated on the cross in the death of Christ. Then, we need to REALISE that the effectiveness of the death of Christ is in the Spirit, whom Christ became in His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45; Heb. 9:14).
When the flesh rises in us either in a negative way (hatred, jealousy, pride, lust, gossip, etc) or in a positive way (being understanding of others, pretending to listen, trying to be humble and kind, working for God in its natural effort, etc), we will realize that in our being there’s no flow of the divine life.
When we see the flesh and recognize it, we need to simply apply the death of Christ to it by turning to our spirit and calling on the name of the Lord, Oh, Lord Jesus! We cannot deal with flesh in and by ourselves: we need a Savior, we need to be saved!
We need to call on the name of the Lord, and He as the Spirit will apply the death of Christ to the manifestation of the flesh. We don’t need to compose long prayers and explain to the Lord what the situation is: simply call on His name (Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13)!
Don’t stand with your flesh – the manifestation of your flesh is NOT the real you. Stand with the Lord, stand with your mingled spirit – the real person. Don’t justify the flesh: be honest with the Lord and with yourself, call on the name of the Lord, and He will apply the effectiveness of His death to our flesh. When the Lord exposes how your flesh tries to do God’s will and fulfill His word, call on the name of the Lord!
The Lord will allow failures in our life, sometimes even major failures, so that our flesh would be dealt with and our confidence in the flesh would be cut off (see Phil. 3:3). Sometimes it is only a failure that will break our confidence in the flesh. Only those who have been broken in their self-confidence and then restored by the Lord’s mercy can shepherd others.
When we experience spiritual circumcision and constantly apply Christ’s death to our flesh, God’s purpose of being expressed and represented will be fulfilled in us as we live a crucified life.
When we live a crucified life, our whole being is opened to the Lord to receive and enjoy His grace, and through our union with the crucified Christ we become open doors for others to enter into God and enjoy Him.
Lord Jesus, supply us with the portion of grace we need for today. We cannot be proper Christians and even proper human beings without the constant enjoyment of Your grace. Dispense Yourself as grace into us day by day until we can say with the Apostle Paul, By the grace of God I am what I am! Lord, we need You! Shine on us, expose of our flesh, and strengthen us to call on Your name so that You may apply the effectiveness of Your death to our flesh. Keep us enjoying You and living a crucified life so that You may be able to be everything and do everything to us and in us for the bringing forth of the seed, Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 47), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 6 / msg 6, The Allegory of Two Women.
- Further reading: recommending ch. 5 in, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (by Watchman Nee, see, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 35).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thru my death with Christ, from Adam I am free, / Thru my life with Christ, new life is given me! / Minding not the flesh, old Adam cannot move, / Minding just the spirit, life divine I prove. (Hymns #593 by W. Lee)
# By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. / By the cross discern the spirit, / ’Tis the holiest place divine; / There commune with God in spirit / And His presence will be thine. (Hymns #748)
# Living out His resurrection, / Dying to the flesh and soul-life. / Living by the mingled spirit, / Natural man we will deny. / Now we’re living in the Body, / Every day we’re overcoming, / Striving for the peak of Zion, / Watching for our Lord’s appearing. (New song on Living in Resurrection)
# Lord, teach us to discern the spirit, / The soul-life ever to deny, / And ever follow Thee in spirit, / Thyself, the Spirit, to apply. / Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That we may never set our mind / Upon the flesh but on the spirit, / That sin and self no more may bind. (Hymns #746)
About aGodMan
