Lesson 33 Washing at the Cross: Circumcised in Christ
Questions 3 and 4
God was quite serious about His command to circumcise all Hebrew boys, so much so that He described anyone who was not circumcised as having broken His covenant and that person must be cut off; he could not be part of God’s covenant family nor share in God’s covenant blessings with the nation of Israel. Either his flesh was cut off, or he was.
But like every story, instruction, and prophecy in the Old Testament, this ritual was not designed by God to be an end in itself; it was also a foreshadowing of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:17). It teaches us what would happen at the cross, the benefits of it, and the warnings that come from it. This lesson is decidedly NOT about physical circumcision, as we will see.
Let’s notice this in our main passage for today:
Colossians 2:11 ESV In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.
We were circumcised in Christ. This circumcision was made “without hands,” meaning it is a spiritual circumcision of the heart, done by the Spirit of God, not a physical circumcision of the body done by man. “…circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:29 ESV).
Our circumcision is the “circumcision of Christ.” What does this mean? The answer to this question opens up a beautiful vista of understanding that can melt your heart with love for Jesus Christ, seeing what He went through for you. You see, when Jesus went to the cross, He was “circumcised,” that is, He was “cut off.” And our old self was cut off with Him.
“By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished” (Isaiah 53:8).
Question 4. Please write down, from Isaiah 53:8, everything Jesus endured for you:
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.