The Sign Of The Covenant
Part II
Written by Rusty Owens
Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut of her son’s foreskin and threw at Moses feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.”
So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision.
Exo. 4:24-26
Every person with a call of God on his life ought to take heed to this passage of scripture. It’s a story of a man who had a one on one with God. He had a literal mountain top experience, a burning bush experience. A revelatory encounter, where God explained who He is. The LORD called Moses and demonstrated His power and spoke to him with specificity about what He wanted him to do. Who knows how long this encounter lasted. Moses argued with God that He had the wrong man. But God overcame every argument Moses had. Finally Moses concedes and agrees to go.
Moses takes his wife and two sons and mounts them on a donkey. He takes the staff in his hand, the staff by which he is to perform the miracles. (Exo. 4:17, 20). He heads for Egypt. But something happens. The LORD meets him on the way to Egypt with the intent to kill him. Now this doesn’t seem to make sense. God just commissioned the man. The man finally agreed to go, and now the LORD was about to kill the man He just called. What in the world would cause God to kill the man he just called and abort the mission of rescuing His people.
Those who are familiar with Moses’ story know that Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh. If you are familiar with the movie version you are led to believe that Moses didn’t even know he was a Hebrew until he was a grown man, when it was shown to him the Hebrew blanket he was wrapped in as a baby. This was not the case. Moses was at least three months old when his mother placed him in the basket and set him in the river. It is most likely he had been circumcised on the eighth day from his birth, in keeping with the covenant of there fathers. (Not the law, which didn’t come till later.) We are not talking about the keeping of the law, simply the sign of the covenant which came 400 years before the law through faith. Gen. 17. Moses probably knew he was Hebrew very early on in his life and according to Exodus 2 he knew the Hebrews were his brethren before he killed the Egyptian. When he encountered God on the mountain in Exodus 4, I believe he was already circumcised. When he yielded his life to service he went to his father in-law Jethro and explained he needed to go to Egypt.
Now consider how God’s hand was on Moses’ life from the beginning. How He preserved him and protected him as an infant. How He caused him to grow up in the house of Pharaoh. Caused him to be exiled when he was 40 years of age and had him spend the next 40 years in the Midian wilderness as a shepherd. Then God visited him in the mount and spoke to him from the burning bush. God declared Himself to be “The I Am”. Moses stood on holy ground. He witnessed the miracles that God performed and heard the voice of God. After much argument he tells God he will go. Now explaining all of this to his wife, Zipporah, must have been hard. She wasn’t on the mountain. She didn’t see what Moses saw and now he’s telling her she has to pack for they’re leaving. She must not have been to happy with her husband’s new found religion. But she complies and they pack-up and leave.
Now this is a great task that God has commissioned Moses to do. And in the natural you would think that God would have just been happy that Moses was even going. This event has been planned since the beginning of time. God spoke to Abraham about it 400 years before. And 80 years of Moses’ life has been leading up to this event. But we read in Exodus 4:24 That God was willing to abort His plan because of one thing. We can tell by the reading of the text that Ziporrah circumcises one of Moses’ sons and then throws the circumcised flesh at Moses’ feet. It is believed by many that Moses was indeed circumcised and so was Gershom, his oldest son, but Eliezer his youngest was not. There is no reason given for this, we can assume many things. We do see Ziporrah performing this act of intervention. I can only assume that Moses would have performed this task himself, but was probably incapacitated. This must have been a bloody, uncomely task as we can see by Ziporrah’s reaction. If she didn’t like Moses’ new religion before she certainly doesn’t like it now.
A Bridegroom of Blood
Let’s put some things in perspective for those of us who are squeamish. For those of us who are touchy feely and are still trying to get in touch with our feelings. I think in part modern Christianity has been fed a lot of syrup and not much meat. It is reflective in our worship, in our speech, and in our walk. Understand this, that atonement is all about sacrifice, “and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Heb. 9:22. Our new covenant was bought in blood. From the tearing of His flesh in Pilate’s courts to nail pierced hands at Golgotha. “The LORD was pleased to crush him.” Isa.53:10. And upon His return “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood.” Surely He is a bridegroom of blood to us.
But why was this intercessory circumcision necessary. Why wasn’t God satisfied with Moses and Gershom. After all two out of three ain’t bad. And besides Eliezer wasn’t the one who was called, Moses was. Was Eliezer even old enough to know what was going on. One thing is for certain God didn’t hold Eliezer accountable, He held Moses accountable.
My personal observation has been that I have seen men and women trying to answer the call of God on their lives without considering the gravity of that call. They have tried to stand in pulpits and declare to this generation who God is without showing signs of circumcision in their hearts. Rom. 2:29.
We have developed a saying, that the mission field has a way of weeding itself. The ministry has a way of weeding itself. I have seen many young ministers speak with a passion about being called to the ministry only to have the ministry spew them back out. There is a tremendous act of circumcision performed on those He has called. Lack of it is detriment to the one He has called. Consider the cost. Buyer beware. I realize for generations uncircumcised Philistine shepherds have been able to function in pulpits, those are not even worth mentioning. But for those who truly have a holy call upon your life and you have been frustrated with the lack of anointing in your life. Your certain the enemy is fighting against you, but your not sure God is fighting for you. If your doing his work why isn’t He on your side.
Apostolic Authority
There is an amazing apostolic authority that will be released. Hebrews 2:4 says God bare witness of them. Jesus said God bare witness of Him. Jn. 5:37. Is God bearing witness of your life and ministry. If not, maybe you need to climb a mountain and talk to a bush. You need a revelation of who God is. Ask yourself two simple questions.
(1) Are you doing what God wants?
(2) Are you doing it the way he wants?
Is there a lack of circumcision in your spirit? Do you minister as a natural man? Is there any evidence of unction or power in your ministry? Is God fighting for you or against you? Lack of consecration in your life will cause you to fail in a true God anointed task.
Now consider this, that it wasn’t Moses, but Eliezer. In man made righteousness you cry out that isn’t fair. But consider the task he had called him to and had raised him up for. The most powerful biblical act of deliverance, until Jesus.
I Tim. 3:4,5 says that if you desire to be a bishop you need to have your own house order. The ministry is hard enough without carrying around all that baggage. This is why many fail or are rendered ineffective.
Maybe we don’t take this calling as serious as God Does.
I have a friend who is a pastor. He counseled a young man who was questioning weather he was called to the ministry or not. He Said, “If you can live without it than your probably not called.” Consider the gravity of what God has called you to.
Maybe some are to quick to declare the devil has come against them when it is God who has impeded your progress.
We tend to have as much of God in our lives as we want, and we seem content to declare about God rather than know God.
Many years ago when I was a young Christian I was asked to speak at a small church near Velma, Oklahoma. After the service, as I was driving home, I passed two taverns side by side, beside the road. I felt the Holy Spirit quicken my heart to go and speak to the people in the tavern about Christ. I argued with God that this was not a good idea, but the more I argued the more the Holy Spirit convicted me. It felt like when Philip the evangelist was told by the Holy Spirit to go up and join himself to the Ethiopians’ chariot in Acts 8:29. My arguments to God were that I had never lived that kind of life. My life of debauchery and sin was much different. My former life had involved being deeply involved in the drug culture and partying, but going to honkytonks, bars, and taverns had not been part of my past. I wasn’t “qualified” to speak to there condition. But God persisted and showed me that the power of my testimony is not what I was, but what He had done. That mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). So I went to the taverns and went in the first one, bible in hand, and witnessed to each and every person in the tavern, including the owner. Then I went to next tavern and did the same, witnessing to each and everyone individually. And then I left. I kind of expected the peace of God to come and bring affirmation that I had done the will of God. Instead I felt conviction of the Holy Spirit that God was asking more of me. You see, there are two parts to performing the will of God. Doing what He says the way He says. I began to feel a little like King Saul when he said, “I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (1 Sam.15:13). Then Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears.”
The Silence of the Lambs
How do we silence the bleating of the sheep in the kingdom. By total obedience. Remember the words of Mary at the wedding of Cana. “Whatever He says to you, Do it.” (Jn. 2:5). King Saul said, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.” (1 Sam. 15:20). Samuel the prophet said, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Sam. 15:22). In your church, in your ministry, in your walk, obedience is the key to silencing the lambs.
The Lord convicted me to go back into the tavern and declare the word of life as if I meant it, not like I’m apologizing for being there. So I returned to the tavern and stood up in a chair in the middle of the room and declared that God loved them and that 2000 years ago God sent His son Jesus to die for us and to pay the price for our sins. Needless to say I got a reaction. Many began to curse and scream and holler at me. I felt like a little boy who had thrown a rock into a snake pit. I stepped down from my chair and was heading for the door when a great big red headed oilfield worker carrying a pool stick stopped me. He said, “You get back up there and tell’em like your supposed to, I guarantee you no one will touch you.” So with my new found boldness and license to preach I stood up in the chair and finished my message. After I was done I felt a wonderful peace and walked out of the building. Several men followed me out of the tavern. I thought maybe they wanted to hurt me, but as it turned out, they wanted to know why I came. I was able to share with them the dealings of the Holy Spirit and that I was trying to simply be obedient to God. Then the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about one of the men talking with me. When I shared it I could tell the word hit home. And the man began to open up to me on a deep personal level in front of the others. I was able to minister into the lives of these men and encourage them to give there lives to Christ. I have seen the Lord do this on many other occasions, but the lesson here is there is no substitute for obedience. God’s will God’s way.
Moses found that it wasn’t enough to be outwardly obedient. He found that hidden obedience to the covenant was equally important. Take note that circumcision is kept under cover, that it is the hidden man, known only to the believer and God. But the lack of it can become manifest to all in the believer's life. Lack of unction, lack of anointing, lack of power. All these can be tell tail signs for lack of the sign of the covenant in the hidden man. “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest.” (Luke 8:17).
We live in a realm where there is a tremendous fear of man. We have been quick to substitute personal ambition for the will of God in our lives. Ambition and zeal requires no circumcision. Only obedience to his will does. Working for God requires no anointing, obedience to His will does. These attributes are not required for functioning in the religious ranks. But if you hope to walk in full obedience to His calling the sign of the covenant is required.
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