Circumcise the Foreskin of Your Heart

Yep, I just used the word "circumcise" and "foreskin" in my title... anyone else feel uncomfortable?  LOL!!  Are you crinkling your nose?  Well, me too!  My husband joked with me and said "hey, you should submit this song to the local Christian Music Station."  He found that way more funny than I care to admit.  Sigh.  But he's right.  This is tough putting some of God's words to song, because let's face it, it does not tickle the ears.  Maybe we've got foreskin on our ears, too then!  Let's just squirm in our chairs a little more at the notion, shall we?  Ok, ok... I'll quit pushing the envelope here.  I'm already asking a lot from you so God bless you for reading this far and sticking this out.

So why this verse put to song?

Too often I hear people say that the Old Testament (OT) is about the flesh and the New Testament NT) is about the Spiritual.  OT was about circumcising the flesh and the NT is about circumcising our hearts.  But a circumcised heart is what God has been asking of us from the beginning!  By no means is it a NT concept, it is only confirmed in the NT.

It is a call to repentance... shedding our old self and turning back to His ways.

Deuteronomy 30 is where YHWH lays out His standard of repentance and forgiveness.  This is where He explains a circumcised heart for the first time and that He alone is the one to perform the "surgery" when we return to Him...

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live... And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today.  (Deuteronomy 30:6 and 8)

But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.  (Leviticus 26:40-43)

We are warned over and over again to return to the LORD and to stop being rebellious and stubborn towards His righteous Law.  Remember how Yeshua warned that as the world was judged by water the first time, so are the heavens and earth stored up with fire for the 2nd and final judgment?  Well, our heart's yucky foreskin is still an issue today!

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it.  (Jeremiah 4:4)

Did you notice in Deuteronomy 30 how a truly repentant heart returns to obedience?  Paul confirms that joyful obedience from the heart is what determines a true state of circumcision.  It's like a medical doctor is "cloaked" in his physician skill sets whether he's wearing a white lab coat or not.  Anyone can look the part outwardly by wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope walking around a hospital, but which guy would you call upon for help if you started having a heart attack?  The one who looks the part or the one who IS the part?

So, if a man who is uncircumcised [not wearing his white lab coat] keeps the precepts of the law [practices his PhD], will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised [not wearing a lab coat] but keeps the law [practicing physician skill sets] will condemn you who have the written code [Physician manual] and circumcision [labcoat] but break the law [no PhD]. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly [wearing a lab coat doesn't make you a Dr], nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly [what you know, study, believe & do], and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter [God gives the PhD, not man].  (Romans 2:26-29) - please note all words between [ and ] are my additions

And now watch how Stephen rebukes the Pharisees who were merely wearing white lab coats to boast in the "appearance" of righteousness while having none of it within their hearts:

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”  (Acts 7:51-53)

And that, my dear ones, is why you get to read the words "circumcised" and "foreskin" way too many times today in a single post!  You still with me?  Well, then you just rock!  So just to make you hear it a few more times before the end of the day, here's a song to get stuck in your head...

Do Not Think I've Come to Abolish the Law or Prophets

Matthew 5:17 is a powerful statement by our Redeemer that whoever does the Law and Prophets and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom, whereas those who take away from it even in the slightest and teach others to do the same will be called least.  No partitioning His law into parts (moral, civic, ceremonial) nor justifying being rid of some/most of it!  If we want to be walking in faith, that means walking in faithfulness to every word what has proceeded from His mouth!  YHWH called heaven and earth as His two witnesses to His Law in Deuteronomy 30:19 hence Yeshua standing firm on its validity here and in Luke 16:17.  Given that 2 Peter 3:13 confirms we are still waiting for this new heaven and earth, let us rejoice in the Truth of His Word and let us stay awake to test those who call themselves Apostles and yet are false because they altered YHWH's law, His appointed times and New Moon calendar!  (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, Revelation 2:2, Daniel 7:25 and Daniel 11:30).  We are still waiting for the fullness of restoration to come hence Yeshua's words: "Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  (Luke 24:44)  Let us hold dear the Law and Prophets and the Psalms like a love letter from our Beloved... every promise of His yet to be fulfilled are like a tender comfort as we persevere in patient endurance for His return.

What is Written in the Law? HOW Do you Read it?

Luke 10:25-28 is a great example of Yeshua (Jesus) confirming the words of the Father. He points us back to words of Life (which He embodies/manifests) and makes sure that if we are reading the Father's instructions (Torah/Law) with a heart that earnestly seeks to love Him and our neighbours, we will find ourselves graciously inheriting eternal life. "For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3). So let us draw near to the mount of our Redeemer and learn His Ways! God bless you out there!

New Covenant Promise - Law in our Hearts

The gospel message of our Hope can be summarized in the New Covenant passages such as Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:19-20 and 36:26-29. Paul echoes the voice of the prophets in Romans 8:7 when he confirms that our fleshly/earthly nature is at enmity with YHWH because it refuses to submit to His law. Praise be to God who sent His Beloved Salvation, Yeshua (Jesus) to show us joyful and perfect submission through a love so powerful that not even death could contain it... and then He put that into the hearts of those who believe His promises! We have been saved from our rebellion against His righteous, spiritual law! God bless you all out there!

Do & Observe Whatever is Read from the Seat of Moses

Matthew 23:1-3 are words in red. Our Redeemer, Yeshua (Jesus) taught that whatever is read from the seat of Moses (where Torah/Law) was supposedly read from, is to be done and observed. He then commanded in Matthew 28:20 to teach the nations to observe everything He taught. This sure explains why in Matthew 5:19 Yeshua proclaims that those who DO and TEACH the Law & Prophets will be called great in His kingdom someday!  Hooray!  But we are not to be hypocrites like those who are hearers of the Word only! So I do my best to do and observe the Torah because my Redeemer commanded me to. I believe Him! May it glorify our righteous Law-giver by pointing right to Him!  Hee hee!!  And don't mind the freeze frame for this video... super unflattering!  But so are my humbling mistakes on this walk... there's a true-to-form, less-than-flattering summary of who I am!  LOL!!



I found this interesting article/summary on the topic of Moses' Seat:

Eleazar L. Sukenik, in his important study published in 1934, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, provided several examples of “Chairs of Moses” found by archaeologists. The one at Hammath-by-Tiberias is most interesting, because the back of the chair faces towards Jerusalem, picturing the law going forth from that direction as the synagogue audience is facing Zion. Stone seats positioned so that their occupant sat facing the congregation have been found in synagogues at Chorazin (cf. Matt. 11:21, Luke 10:13) in 1962, in En Gedi, and two Diaspora synagogues, (1) in Delos, the marble seat found in its ruins is probably the oldest example of a seat of Moses known (ca. 100 BC), and (2) Dura-Europos. Noel Rabbinowitz says this evidence taken together bolsters our conviction that the “Seat of Moses” was a physical seat upon which the Pharisees sat.[1] He goes on to explain that most of the synagogue furniture was made of wood, which is why so few of these objects have survived. 

If You Don't Believe Moses' Writings, How Will You Believe My Words?

John 5:46 are powerful words spoken by our Redeemer Yeshua (Jesus). In John 14:24, He confirmed that the Word He was teaching was not His own but "His who sent me." This is in fulfillment of YHWH's promise to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18 that someday He would raise up a prophet like him from among his people to speak these words (His Law). Therefore, the people were to store up the Word in their heart and teach it diligently to their children in order to recognize this promised Prophet. Peter confirmed in Acts 3:22 that this was referencing Yeshua and Stephen also confirmed it in Acts 7:37. Moses, an earthly man, warned us to delight in the Torah of YHWH and now we have been warned from Heaven (Hebrews 12:25)... will we finally believe Moses' writings and consequently finally believe the teachings of Yeshua? May it be so! May He "open your mind to understand the scriptures" so that "beginning with Moses and the Prophets", He can fully reveal Himself to you! (Luke 24:27, 32 and 44-45). God bless you!