In the book of Genesis, nearly all the divine truths are sown as seeds. In this message we come to a great and basic truth in the holy Word that is sown as a seed in Genesis 17—circumcision.
In order to understand circumcision, we need to see two main points of the divine revelation unfolded in the Bible. The first is that God's eternal purpose is to have Himself expressed and represented by man on earth. This matter is revealed throughout the whole Bible, from the first chapter of Genesis through the last chapter of Revelation. The second point concerns God's way of accomplishing His purpose. God's way to fulfill His purpose is to work Himself into man as man's life and everything so that man may become His expression and representation. The accomplishment of God's purpose does not depend upon what we can do but upon God's working Himself into us. If we see these two points, then we can understand the basic truths in the Bible.
For the fulfillment of His divine purpose, God called Abraham out of Chaldea, a land of demons and idolatry. As we have seen, Abraham did not give a clear-cut answer to God's call but dragged his feet through mud and water. His father brought him to Haran, the half-way place. By God's mercy, Abraham answered God's call nearly in a full way at Haran, crossed the great river, and came to the very place where God wanted him to be. That place was close to the sinful city of Sodom. It was not easy for Abraham to remain in the place where God wanted him to be and not long afterward he drifted down to Egypt. But by God's sovereignty, Abraham, who had left demonic Chaldea, had forsaken halfway Haran, and had overcome sinful Sodom, was delivered out of worldly Egypt and was brought back to the place of God's choosing.
We need to recall the names of three very important persons related to Abraham—Lot, Eliezer, and Hagar. Abraham took Lot with him when he left Haran, and he probably acquired Eliezer at Damascus and Hagar in Egypt. None of these three was a help to Abraham; each one was a problem. God rejected all three of these persons. Abraham used his natural strength to coordinate with Hagar to produce his masterpiece—Ishmael. But Ishmael was absolutely rejected by God.