With this as the background, we come now to the matter of circumcision (17:9-14). At the time of Genesis 17, Abraham had been robbed of all the places where he had been and of all the important persons he had acquired. Chaldea and Haran were past, and he had nothing to do with Egypt. Although he was in the land that God had promised to give him, it had not yet been given to him. Thus, Abraham did not have Chaldea, Haran, Egypt, Sodom, or a portion of the promised land. Furthermore, Lot had separated from him, and both Eliezer and Ishmael had been rejected by God. Abraham was left alone with Sarah. They were two old people who had gained nothing and who were able to do nothing. Perhaps Abraham looked at Sarah and said, "What shall we do? We don't have anything and we can't do anything." At that juncture God came in, revealing Himself to Abraham as El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient Mighty One. It was then that God told Abraham that his name had to be changed from Abram to Abraham and that his wife's name had to be changed from Sarai to Sarah. After that, God told Abraham that he had to be circumcised. Abraham had been robbed of every place and every person. The only thing that still remained with him was himself. God came in to deal with Abraham's self, with his flesh, natural strength, and natural ability. This self, the flesh and natural strength, had to be cut off, circumcised. If we had been Abraham, we probably would have said, "God, don't You know that You have robbed me of so much? There is no one like me on the whole earth. Everyone else has a place of his own, but I have nothing. What will You do now—get rid of me?" God might have answered, "Abraham, you are right. I have robbed you of Chaldea, Haran, Egypt, Lot, Eliezer, Hagar, and Ishmael. I will not rob you anymore, but I will cut you. What you have acquired has been taken from you, and what you are must now be cut." This is circumcision.
Why is there the need of circumcision? On the one hand, God needs man for the fulfillment of His purpose. On the other hand, God does not want anything of man. However, none of the called ones would say, "God, I want to be for You, but I don't want anything of me to be for You. I am willing for You to take all that I have and terminate all that I am." On the contrary, everyone says, "Praise the Lord that He has called me. From now on, whatever I have and whatever I am will be for Him." Consider the example of Peter. For three and a half years the Lord told His disciples that they had to love Him and follow Him. But none of the disciples understood that the Lord did not want anything of them. When the Lord told the disciples that they all would be offended because of Him, Peter said, "If all shall be stumbled in You, I will never be stumbled," and "Even if I must die with You, I will by no means deny You" (Matt. 26:33, 35). But the Lord told Peter, "Truly I say to you, that this night, before a cock crows, you will deny Me three times" (Matt. 26:34). The Lord seemed to be saying to Peter, "Peter, don't boast. You have nothing to boast in. Tonight you will deny Me three times." Peter did deny the Lord three times, and those denials were his actual and practical circumcision. The proud, self-confident Peter was cut into pieces by the circumcising knife of his denial of the Lord.
We all must see that although God does need us for His recovery, He does not want anything of us. It is difficult for us to realize this. We either stay away from the Lord or we come to Him with everything that we have. A Japanese brother may say, "We Japanese are the most patient people on earth. I shall serve the Lord with my Japanese patience." But the Lord does not need this kind of patience. Some sisters may say, "The Lord certainly needs us sisters, and we are willing to be for Him. As sisters, we are not rough like the brothers; we are quite fine. In the church life, our fineness will be for the Lord." Sisters, it is absolutely right for you to be for the Lord, but it is absolutely wrong that anything of yourselves be for Him. Since God does not want anything of us, we all need to be circumcised.
The seed of circumcision was not sown in Genesis 12 or 15 but in Genesis 17, after Abraham had been robbed of so much. Then God appeared to Abraham again, unveiled Himself as the all-sufficient Mighty One with an udder, and told Abraham to change his name. Abraham had to have a radical change. God seemed to say, "Abraham, you must now be circumcised. If you are not circumcised, there is no way for Me to fulfill My purpose through you. In order to have a people for My purpose, there must be the seed. Out of that seed will come the people who will possess the land wherein I shall have dominion, build My temple for My expression, and find rest. This is My purpose. But for the fulfillment of My purpose, I don't need anything of you. I will do everything for you and be everything to you. This is why I have taken every place and everyone away from you. Now I am asking you to agree with Me and cooperate with Me to get rid of yourself. I want your flesh to be cut off, but I don't want to do it directly. I want you to do it for Me. I want you to cut off your flesh. Are you willing to cooperate with Me?" We must not take this as a doctrinal teaching or as an exposition of the stories in the Bible. We all must realize that our need today is to have ourselves circumcised.
How grateful I am to the Lord that so many among us have left Chaldea and Haran and do not care for Sodom or Egypt, but remain in the very place where the Lord's recovery is. But how can the Lord have the seed? How can He take possession of the land so that He may have the proper church life for His dwelling place, dominion, satisfaction, and rest? It is not by our doing anything for Him. It is only by the way of His robbing us of so many things. Our intelligence, wisdom, natural ability, natural strength, and all that we are in our natural being must be taken away by the Lord. Do you agree with this? If you do, then you must pick up the circumcising knife and cut your flesh, your natural being. This is not a matter of overcoming sin or the world; it is a matter of terminating yourself so that the all-sufficient One may have a way to come in to be your life, your everything, and even your very self. This is circumcision. May the Spirit speak this word into us all.
The greatest frustration to the Lord's move in His recovery of the church life is our natural ability. What frustrates the Lord's move is not what we cannot do; it is what we can do. Abraham's exercise of his natural strength kept God away from him for thirteen years. What a frustration that was! Although Abraham had been robbed of so much, he still had his flesh, natural ability, and natural strength. It was by and with his flesh that he produced Ishmael with Hagar. By the time of Genesis 17 the time was ripe for God to touch the frustrating element of Abraham's flesh. God seemed to say, "Abraham, I have taken so much away from you. Only one thing is left to frustrate My gracious work in you—your flesh. I want to take this away from you, but since it is such a subjective matter in your being, I will not force you. I want you to cooperate with Me to cut yourself, to circumcise yourself for Me. Abraham, nothing that you can do by yourself will ever please Me. It can only offend and insult Me. As long as your natural strength remains, I have no way to come into you and bring forth Isaac. Abraham, your natural strength, your flesh, must be cut off." This matter of circumcision in Genesis 17 is most crucial.
What is the meaning of circumcision? It is to get rid of yourself. God has a purpose and He has the called ones, but there is a frustration to His coming in to bring forth the seed—our flesh. Many among us have come to the crucial point of dealing with the flesh. Throughout the years, we have been robbed of so many things, but our flesh, our natural strength, our natural ability may still remain. If we keep using our flesh, Isaac cannot be brought forth from us or even be conceived in us. Our need, then, is to be circumcised and to terminate the self, the flesh. This is what the Bible calls circumcision.