Published: October 23, 2025 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Biblical Theology 2 - Part 24 | Scripture: Exodus 12:42-49; Joshua 5:1-12; Hebrews 6:1-8
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take a minute to ask if there were any questions this thus far uh in the in the course and direction. We're heading with the children of Israel to Mount Si, but we're not going
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to get there this evening. We're actually going to jump ahead uh to the Jordan River and the plains of Moab. Um I was told Sunday that that I I tend
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toward symmetry, looking for symmetry. This was in response to what I was saying about our trip to Washington. It was the first time I actually realized something that will now disturb me until
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I die. And that is the Washington Monument is not lined up correctly. The Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in the Capitol are lined up
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directly east west. The White House and the Jefferson Memorial are lined up directly north south. where those lines cross, you would expect the Washington Monument. It's about 20 yards east.
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And that really bugged me. And it's it still does. still does. So, I got home and I started googling. I haven't found out why. It's just a
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plaza. There's not like there's something there. Um, I asked the old national park attendant at the Washington Monument store and I
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mentioned it to him and he clearly understood what I was saying but failed to grasp the gravity of it. Uh, so but in telling that story Sunday
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to Elizabeth, she said, "Yeah, you do like symmetry." And so we're going to talk about symmetry. Um because when we get to the plains of Moab and the transfer from Moses to Joshua,
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we actually repeat in reverse order what we've seen coming out of Egypt. And that's that's symmetry. That's kayastic symmetry. But again, I think
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when we see something like this in scripture, we realize that that not only is this history, but it's being presented to us in a in a patterned form
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that reiterates what it is that God is doing. And so what we have in this week and next week, we basically in the overall Exodus narrative, now
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keep in mind that the Exodus is not just coming out. The Exodus is going in. So the Exodus itself takes 40 years. You have the coming out of Egypt, but you
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have a going in to Canaan. And so there are three basic complexes involved in the in the Exodus narrative. The first one we've spent a fair amount
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of time with and that is the 10th plague. And associated with the 10th plague we
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have the Passover. So that that's so the 10th plague.
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This one's better. So those two go together. And then we have the um crossing of the Red Sea.
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And then as Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 10, we have the mana and the water from the rock.
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So, that's the first complex of events that gets us across the Red Sea, but we've not really gone anywhere yet. And it's going to take uh a little bit longer about three months before we
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arrive at the second complex which which in time is much closer to the first than the third one is. And this
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one's fairly easy. You can eliterate. Here we have Torah and tabernacle.
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This is pretty much the whole book of Exodus and Leviticus. In fact, we've talked about it this in our Leviticus study. It's the only one of the books that has a specific timed start and end. And it's it's a year. Um,
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but it it basically Exodus ends with a a mention of of when it was the actual date in terms of the months after the um
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or yeah, the months after the Exodus. And then numbers begins with exactly the same thing only a year later. So we know that the camp was there for that length
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of time. And now we have a fairly long gap of 39 years till we get to complex
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three which we're going to discuss briefly or not fully tonight but but uh not briefly actually somewhat thoroughly. And this is a um
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a reversal in a sense from the first complex. And the elements of this one we actually find in Joshua and
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and not in Exodus or Numbers. U this is Joshua 3 and through Joshua 5. Um
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followed by something that I have to confess I've I've kind of I don't want to make a pun here, but I've kind of passed over. Um
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but studying it more deeply, it is actually quite astounding because after they crossed over and they had the Red Sea behind them and the
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kings of the Canaanites in front of them, God did not say attack. He said circumcise, which is exactly what you do. That's
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great military strategy. When you have a river behind you and an enemy in front of you, you circumcise all your men. And that's exactly what happened. Actually, somewhat reminiscent in a reverse way of
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Sheckchham, where Levi and Simeon convinced the Sheckchammites to have be circumcised and then went in and killed them all. Um, and a story I'm sure that the uh Israelites remembered. And so,
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we've got this really strange
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And that may seem odd or you know or not odd because Passover was an annual feast but it wasn't. It was, but it wasn't because this this these uh events and the order of them
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and even the reverse order of them are very significant of what the Bible says was God's attitude to the generation in the wilderness.
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the wilderness. And I think we all think of that generation and realize that God was not well pleased as Paul puts it. And the vast majority of them perished in the wilderness. only Caleb and Joshua and we
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assume their families um were among the remnant from the generation that left Egypt that were actually to enter into Canaan. Even Moses himself did not enter
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into Canaan. So there's almost a cleaning of the slate that's going on here. So in terms of the structure of what we're discussing tonight,
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we have um broadly speaking this this symmetry. We we see here a Passover and a crossing. We see here a crossing and a Passover.
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Okay. So we have the the Passover.
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and then the crossing of the Red Sea. And and of course, the crossing is not just the crossing. Moses by the grace and power of God parts the sea and they go across on dry ground. Well, what does
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Joshua do? By the grace and power of God, he parts the Jordan River and the Israelites go across on dry ground. It's not hard to catch the the parallel
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between the two. Okay. So the plains of
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and then of course into Canaan. We now have the crossing followed by Passover. These I think are the two most significant Passovers that we will find
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except for the one in which Jesus um on the night he was betrayed took bread. But within the whole gamut of scripture, these two Passovers are the most
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significant for biblical theology. And I think their reverse order is also incredibly important. One is in the land of bondage. The other is in the promised land. So what we see here are really
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bookends bringing the Exodus narrative to a That make sense to everybody? Okay. All right. So, we're going to be looking at
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um this this um essentially second exodus in and it's really hard to know what to call it because it's not really a second
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exodus and yet it it is it's not a second exodus because it's the completion of the first one. It is a second exodus because it's a completely
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different generation. different generation. And it is actually, as we see in Exodus 24, it is the um what's the word? Renewal of
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the covenant. the covenant. The covenant will actually be set in obeyance during the wilderness journey. So I want
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to I want to focus on that because from a biblical theological point of view, that is incredibly prophetic and typological and it sheds light on passages in the
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New Testament that people have struggled with and still struggle with like Hebrews 6. So, we're going to we're going to look at what goes on in in the Exodus narrative from a broad
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perspective. Now, next week, Lord willing, we're going to come back to this second complex and spend some time dealing with Torah and with the tabernacle and the whole nature of
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Israel coming to Mount Si and and look at all of the typology and symbolism of that and also how the New Testament especially for example Hebrews 12 where
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the writer says you do not come to a mountain burning with flight with fire but you don't come to Sinai rather you come to Mount Zion. So, a very significant contrast between two
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mountains and that hopefully will be in the next couple of weeks. But this evening, we're going to look at uh at this third complex and really focus on this right here.
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Because the fact that Joshua had to circumcise that second generation after they had crossed the Jordan
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should raise some serious questions in your mind as you read it. Because circumcision is the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. And the scripture is
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very clear. Keep in mind the law has been given. Those who did not or refused to circumcise their sons were themselves
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and it's a play on words cut off from the people. So, I want to spend some time talking about this idea,
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a word that Paul uses in Romans 12. And I wish I had done this study before I preached on Romans 12.
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wake. See the the idea of baptism is is death. And um And um both in the deluge, which Peter likens
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to baptism, and in the crossing of the Red Sea, which Paul alludes to with baptism, both of them involved death.
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involved death. This one doesn't. This one, I would say, is merely a visible transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua. And in fact, if you read the narrative, which I
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have in the notes, the Lord actually says, "I will be with you as I was with Moses before you." So, you see some repetition of things that Moses did,
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Joshua now does. And that's to show somewhat like Elijah and Elisha that Joshua received the same power and authority that had been on Moses.
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So, it's it's it's similar in that respect, but I would not and there's there's no place in scripture that I know of where the crossing of the Jordan is connected to baptism. And I think
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that's because there's no element in that narrative of death. Baptism is linked with death and rising to walk in newness of life. So, Noah can
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be in that. The Red Sea can be in that because the Israelites go down into the water and then come out the other side. but their enemies are subsumed in the water consumed. So, um I
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don't I don't think there's a connection there. Um now, there is some disagreement. I'm going to actually um uh I'm going to
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infallibly infallibly refute reformer infallibility tonight in the person of John Calvin. Um, so we might need to turn the tape off, but uh, no, we don't.
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Passover and circumcision or and Passover. Now, we looked at Passover several weeks
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ago, and in that passage where the Passover is established, it is clearly established that one who is not circumcised
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cannot participate in the Passover. Um, so that's let's see here. Let me see if I can find the scripture in my notes. Be quicker than in my Bible. Um,
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Exodus 12. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat it, but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him,
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then he may eat it. A sojourer and a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house it shall be eaten. You shall not carry any of the flesh outside the
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house, nor shall you break any of its bones. All of the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males
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be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as a native of the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat it. One law shall be
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for the native born and for the stranger who dwells among you. That's very clear. It's like this is the the the criteria for celebrating the Passover is
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circumcision. And you you cannot celebrate the Passover without circumcision. So here we we come to then
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Joshua um chapter 3.
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All right. Chap this this verse is actually in talking about the crossing of the Jordan. And the Lord said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses,
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so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, when you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan." So there,
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that's why I was saying that the crossing of the Jordan was actually indicative of the transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua. If they had taken boats, then the people of Israel would
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have considered Moses to have been a greater authority than Joshua. But the Lord sees to it and he says, "I will be with you as I was with Moses." And that
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crossing of the Jordan then um um solidifies that. So in Joshua 5 is where we have the circumcision. And the at that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make
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flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time." Now that's a very strange phrase, "Again the second time."
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The most rudimentary of medical knowledge would indicate that you don't do it a second time. I was premed my freshman year and I know that. Okay. So,
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I don't quite know what the phrase means, and neither do the commentaries, so I'm in good company. But he didn't circumcise circumcised
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males. This was a revelation in the sense because all through the book of Numbers, we don't hear about the Israelites celebrating the Passover or anything
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about circumcision. That's fairly significant. They did celebrate the Passover one additional time in the wilderness and that was at the beginning
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of the second year. But there's no mention of the celebration of the Passover from that time on except in um uh statutory law
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where the Lord tells them what sorts of gifts they are to bring to the Lord at the Passover. But no, and how often they're supposed to do it. the three feasts of the year, but no actual
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historical chronology or chronicle of them continuing to celebrate the Passover. So, Joshua 5
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uh verses 7 and following, we have the command to circumcise the males of Israel.
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And again, I don't quite know from from the Bible what it means again a second time. We have no indication, for example, in
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Exodus that the children of Israel when they were in Egypt failed to circumcise their children generation after generation. There's no mention of that. Now, the closest we get
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to that is in Exodus 4 where after all of the burning bush and all of that stuff and Moses is on his
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way to take on Pharaoh, we find out that he has not circumcised his sons. If you remember that odd story where his
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wife Zifurah um circumcises the sons and throws the foreskins at Moses's feet and makes some comment about you being a bridegroom of blood to me, which again
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is one of those phrases that we don't necessarily know what it means, but the Lord opposed Moses and was about to kill him because he had not circumcised his
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sons. So circumcision is a big issue even at the beginning of the Exodus. But the the Israelites who came out of Egypt, we have to assume that they had
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been circumcised as on the eighth day. All of the male uh members of of the nation had been circumcised. So circumcising them again a second time is
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just an enigmatic phrase. uh and I don't know that it really matters that we know what that phrase means because what we are faced with here is essentially an
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entire generation of Israel that had not been circumcised. So for 39 years the children who came out of ex out of
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Egypt we can assume were circumcised but the children born in the wilderness were not. Okay. not. Okay. Now, I I've read that many times,
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but we essentially have a whole
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After they have healed from their circumcision on the um west side of the Jordan, then they are told to celebrate and to observe
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Now, John Calvin has a very interesting treatment of this um in my opinion about as wrong as wrong can be. In fact, it's it's weirdly wrong. He maintains that as the scripture seems
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to indicate the children of Israel. So this this I'm going to put this as as a different just this is Calvin and again this is basically to refute the idea of reformer infallibility.
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reformer infallibility. But John Calvin says that it is it is very clear to him that the Israelites did not fail to celebrate the Passover year after year during their time in the
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wilderness. Okay. So here's Calvin's analysis. Okay. One, Israel did not fail
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to celebrate or to observe the Passover every year every year in the wilderness.
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Why? How does he know this? Well, because God commanded that it should be celebrated every year. Therefore, of course, Israel did. Why? Okay, because God commanded.
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This was not one of John's best
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But then Calvin says, "It is also equally evident equally evident that the generation in the wilderness had not been circumcised." Well, that's what scripture says. Joshua 5, they're to be circumcised because
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they had not been. Okay. So, Calvin sees that. Oops. All righty, Calvin.
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Yeah. Right. So, we're going to obey the Lord and celebrate the Passover every year, and we're going to do it uncircumcised, which the Lord specifically said, "You shall not do." No, John,
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they were neither circumcised nor did they observe the Passover. And that is a very important and significant point.
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significant point. But when you read the narrative of Numbers, which is essentially the historical chronicle of the wilderness journey. So Exodus is the
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chronicle the history of the coming out of Egypt. And Exodus basically when you end Exodus, you're still at the foot of Mount Si. Mount Si. You haven't the the rebellion has not
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taken place. and the the sentence against that rebellion of 39 years of wandering in the wilderness had not yet been handed down. You come to the beginning of the second year and you
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observe the Passover and then the camp gets up and moves and everything goes down the toilet from that point because the spies go into the land and they
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bring back an evil report and the Lord says, "Get out of my way. I'm going to destroy them." destroy them." And yet that takes you now you're in Numbers because that's where all of that
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is recorded is in Numbers. Numbers will take you now the rest of the way. Deuteronomy does the same, but Deuteronomy is more of a of Moses's uh summary of of all of the events that had
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taken place up to that point. But not within the book of numbers there is no mention or even imp implication that the Lord is upset with
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the people because they are refusing to be circumcised be circumcised or they are refusing to to observe Passover. Now I know this is an argument from
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silence but it's a pretty loud silence. So we have the situation then in the book of numbers
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Now, this is not because the Lord is reluctant to counter Israel when Israel is rebellious.
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Well, no. No, I don't think that's what the reproach means. I I'm going to get there. Uh he tells Joshua that when you circumcise and observe the Passover that this will have
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rolled away the reproach of Egypt. And I I don't and and there's two different ways of interpreting that. And and Lord willing, we'll get to that. But I don't think it means that that reproach was itself Israel.
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I think the reproach was Egypt's and we'll we'll look at where that comes from when we get to that. So yes, it is mentioned in the plains of Moab and or or across the the Jordan where God kind
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of rehashes once this is done something will have been removed from you and now you will be ready to enter in and conquer the land. You will be consecrated and the covenant will be
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renewed. Okay? But until that time, um, they're they're essentially it's a very weird
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very weird sort of no man's land where they are God's people, but the covenant has been put in obeyance.
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And the sign of the Abrahamic covenant is not being ignored or rebelliously rejected. I would submit it is being withheld.
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That what we're dealing with here is not rebellion, but judgment. It's not disobedience, but it's judgment. Now, keep in mind that the generation that
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came out of Egypt that perishes in the wilderness, they're all circumcised. It's the second generation whom the Lord has promised will go into
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the land while their parents die. Right? You said we can't go in. They're too big. Well, they'll kill us. Well, okay. You won't go in. And the children that you thought would be sold into slavery
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and killed by these, they will take the land. They're not circumcised.
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Because Joshua circumcises them. Yeah. He he c he Joshua 5. Joshua 5. Yeah. It says they had not been
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circumcised. So Joshua 5 tells us that those who were born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. So we have this situation where an entire generation of circumcised Israelites dies and another generation to whom the
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promise has been transferred is not circumcised. which means they are they are not bearing the sign of the Abrahamic
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covenant. It doesn't appear to be. Who is he angry with? And we read this in the Old Testament as well as the New. He's not angry with the kids. He's angry with the parents.
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Right? In fact, it's that generation that he swears, "They shall not enter my rest." And the writer of Hebrews picks up on that in Hebrews 3 and4. His anger was
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not, in fact, the writer of Hebrews actually rhetorically ask, "With whom was he angry for 40 years? Not with the generation that goes in,
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but the generation that came out." So, he's he's angry with the generation of the circumcised, but he's not angry with the generation of the
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uncircumcised. It's a really weird situation. And I think we need to feel its weirdness. I really do because these are still God's people. He's still guiding them
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with the pillar of cloud and the and the pillar of fire, right? He his spirit is still moving with them and and dwelling in the tabernacle, right? He's now inhabited the tabernacle and he travels
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with these tribes through the 39 years as they wander. So he's there but in a sense they're not his people.
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Now just to give you and and I don't know why you know I think this shows I don't think we can ever exhaust the scripture. I don't believe even in eternity that we'll exhaust the wisdom
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of God revealed in his word. But I've looked at this passage so many times and seen and know the significance the
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the prophetic gospel significance of Deuteronomy 29 Deuteronomy 29 uh verse 4. This is Moses.
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He's he's reiterating the covenant and on the plains of Moab. So again, Moses doesn't go into the land. So Deuteronomy is on the east side of the
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Jordan, right? And he says verse four, "Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear."
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And then we read over in chapter 30 verse 6. verse 6. Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your
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God with all your heart and with all your soul in order that you may live. I had never realized that he was talking to uncircumcised people.
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land. And I can imagine that of all of all that generation that was to die in the wilderness, Moses was probably the last one to go. And so when he says this, he's talking
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to an entire generation of un except for the ones that had been children and circumcised in Egypt. But for all intents and purposes, he's he's saying God has not given you a heart to understand, but he will circumcise your
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heart. He's talking to uncircumcised people. If that doesn't show us what is really meant by circumcision, I don't know what does. I've never seen that before. I just
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assumed. I mean, I've read Joshua. But when you when you stop and you travel with them, which is like what Aaron was doing in in Deuteronomy, we're traveling with them. We realize, wow,
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they come across the Jordan Moses, the Lord through Moses promises circumcision of the heart to a people who were not at that time circumcised at
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all. It was not like he was saying, "Okay, you circumcised Israelites, this is what it really means." No, he's saying you're not even circumcised now. You're going to be, but that's not even
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what's important because you're going to be when the Lord circumcises your heart. Sure. Oh, yeah. They were doing the whole the whole sh.
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Yeah. Yeah. We read that in Leviticus. I mean, they they were doing everything. Peace offerings, burnt offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, trespass offerings, right? And they were all
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circumcised. And um that's pretty that's pretty amazing. Yeah. Well,
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they're they're they're non- covenant covenant members.
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It does shed a lot of light on it. Um, and and it also means that they're they're not going to be doing things, and we've seen this in Leviticus, that they're going to stop doing it in in their own backyards. They're going to do
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it in in Shem. They're going to do it or, you know, they're going to do it at the tabernacle. Um, there there was a there was a bit, but nonetheless, they were still sacrificing. They were still bringing their offerings to the
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Levitical prior priesthood in the tabernacle. All of that was happening. The Lord's presence was there. In fact, we read in Joshua that it was after they had crossed and circumcised in baptism
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that the cloud no longer appeared. So all the way through the Lord is with an uncircumcised people. uncircumcised people. That's astounding.
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That's astounding. That's one of those things that says, "What does this what what does this mean? And what is the significance of this?" because it it also goes a long way to debunking the liberal idea
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that this is nothing but post-dated Jewish myth. Jewish myth. There ain't no way that later Jews would have spoken of the generation that
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conquered the land as uncircumcised. This is not something they would have they would have developed and later and and and said they're unc they were uncircumc they were not circum. No, they
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they would have had them celebrating the Passover and circumcising their children and being a good obedient people because they learned the lesson of God's wrath as they watched their parents die in the
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wilderness. So, this is one of those examples that I think shows us that this this stuff is contemporary with the
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I think so. They would have never written it, that's for sure. Uh yeah, that's a very offensive passage. Um, I mean that that would have been as offensive in that day as it was when Paul was inviting Gentiles into the
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covenant without being circumcised. You know, the idea that this whole generation was uncircumcised and and the that generation won battles on the on the east side of the Jordan,
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right? So, the Lord was with them and they defeated um the king of Bashan, right? They k they defeated what? Og and who was the other one?
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Seion. So, you know, they they obliterated them basically. So, the Lord was with an uncircumcised people. What does that mean?
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And that's that's what I think is so astounding in that looking at it in a biblical theology, looking at it at a systematic theology, you just kind of brush over it. You know, it's just a historical thing, but looking at it with
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a biblical theological perspective, it's like this means something. and you see the parallelism between the two and hopefully it begins to um to draw your
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mind um to the typological prophetic significance of this generation in the wilderness. Okay. And so um see what our
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time is. Okay. So, as I said, this this is this is not how do I where do I put this? This is not rebellion.
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But the judgment is not on the children who are uncircumcised. The judgment is on the parents who are who are apparently forbidden to circumcise their
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children. Now, I say apparently, I don't know of any passage in Exodus or Numbers where the Lord says, "Thou shalt not circumcise your children."
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If if anything, everything and all of the promises are predicated on them being a circumcised people. That doesn't change Exodus 12. But we go through the whole book of numbers. In fact, I just
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did a quick little, you know, uh, Bible gateway search of the word circumcision, and I found nothing in numbers. I don't know if that's exhaustive. I maybe look at a different verb form, but
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I s I found nothing. So, it it's it just it it it passes in silence and we come to the the Jordan and cross the Jordan, and lo and behold, we find out the
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people weren't circumcised in the wilderness. So we think well they did they just disobey and there's no indication of that. Now I think what we're dealing with here then as we look
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at this is it's not judgment on the second generation
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And as we read the narrative and we're familiar with these two things, in fact, perhaps two of the most familiar stories of the Exodus narrative are the golden calf and the evil report. The spies that
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went into the land, right? 10 or 12 spies. They came back. 10 of them gave an evil report. Only Caleb and Joshua. I said, "The Lord is with us. Let us go
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up." But the other 10 said, "No, they're giants. We looked as we to our own eyes. We were grasshoppers in their sight and our children will simply be swallowed up and sold into slavery. So the golden
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calf. So we have two events,
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two events that stir the wrath of God so much that he tells Moses, "Get out of the way. I'm going to destroy him and I'll make a people out of you." And both events, of course, Moses intercedes and says, "No, no, don't do that." And this
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is where we get to the reproach of Egypt because the nations will say, "Yahweh brought them out of Egypt just to destroy them in the wilderness. He
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was not able to bring them in." That, I think, is the reproach. The reproach of Egypt was the reproach that the Egyptians would lay upon them as they
41:52
watched them wandering aimlessly for 39 years and then finally they're just wiped out. wiped out. Again, there are difference of opinions there, but I think that there's a lot of
42:02
merit considering what Moses says in interceding. The Egyptians will say, the Egyptians will reproach, you can't do this, Yahweh, because your name will be
42:14
maligned by the Egyptians as not being strong enough to bring your people out, but rather only to bring them out to kill them. So, we have um and they live
42:25
under this. You you you we talked a few weeks ago about when they uh the Passover night and the next day, of course, they they left. But then what did they do?
42:36
instead of going to the way of the sea which goes right up along the Mediterranean and it's the normal caravan route between uh Canaan and Assyria and Syria and all that and
42:48
Egypt. They just kind of wandered around. Okay. And the Egyptians were watching them and the Lord just kind of led them
42:59
around a securitous pass or path between goan where they came out and the Red Sea. And Pharaoh, we read it in scripture,
43:09
Pharaoh sees this and he says, "They don't know where they're going and I'll just trap them and wipe them out and bring them back." you know, he's planning, I think, killing all the men and bringing back the the women and
43:21
children as slaves is what he's probably going to do. And so, Pharaoh was watching. The Egyptians had been watching. I think they continue to watch. We know from the conquest on the
43:31
flip side flip side that the people of Canaan had heard the reports of what Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and his army. Now, that was 40 years ago.
43:44
years ago. We we read it as though it has just happened. But no, that was 40 years in the past, a whole generation, and they're still talking about it. And so they're watching, but and so what Moses
43:54
is saying, you know, the Egyptians are watching you, Lord, and and if you destroy the people, you will bring your name into into reproach. And so what happens is you have these
44:06
two offenses. I don't know where we are. I'll just start over.
44:27
And these are the literary connections between these narratives, the response of the Lord and the intercession of Moses. But we go away from them thinking that
44:37
Moses won and God's wrath was turned away and everything was fine. No, God's wrath was turned away at that moment.
44:50
But it's after the second event that he says, "They shall not enter my rest." And again, it's very significant that the writer of Hebrews picks up on that. Okay? that that narrative that we're
45:02
reading about in in the Old Testament is woven into Hebrews 3 and 4 as we saw on Sunday morning. And so you have the golden calf
45:23
Baseball was different then. You only got two strikes and they were out.
45:35
Now this um this concept that I'm going to talk about brings it's very contemporary because it it brings into play this
46:06
And there are passages in scripture like Hebrews 6. In fact, let me read Hebrews 6 4-6 because um you know this is one if if you don't have to be a pastor for long
46:18
to encounter people who are deeply troubled by these words. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the
46:29
heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew
46:41
them again to repentance since again they again crucify to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame. Now, how anybody here struggle with that
47:01
Now I want to kind of interject that the Armenian handling of this verse is hermeneutically incorrect. In fact, it constitutes hermeneutical malpractice.
47:12
The Armenian believes is the not not the not the fund fundamentalist once-s saved always saved Baptist but the the pure Armenian assemblies of God believe that
47:23
you can lose your salvation that you can you can fall away into unbelief but then you can be renewed it's called rededicating you know you see that at revival if you just want to rededicate
47:34
your life to Christ um and so it's it's um uh I think Mark in a sermon years ago, you know, was commenting on the the reformed tulip and said the the Armenian
47:46
flower is the daisy. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves him. It's more like I love him, I love him not. Um, but they that's and they'll go to this verse
47:56
here to try to show that you can lose your salvation. But what does the verse say about recovering it? It's impossible.
48:07
It's impossible. Okay. So, we need to establish what the verse actually says. That if it's saying you can lose your salvation, that's all she wrote, folks. Is that fair? You got
48:18
it. You lost it. Sorry. Okay. Because it doesn't give you any option of getting back in. All right.
48:28
So, if it does mean that, then we need to understand exactly what that means. But if you have indeed fallen away and lost your salvation, this passage doesn't give you any hope of getting it back.
48:40
It's impossible to renew such a one to repentance. I do want to make sure I'm not going to go into executing this passage, but let me read verse nine where where the
48:52
writer says, "But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
49:03
In other words, the writer in his own context says, "I'm not talking about you. I'm not talking about people who have salvation because we have expectation of
49:14
perseverance which is then he goes on to talk about." And that perseverance is by the power and grace of God. So if you read it in the context, you realize number one, if you can lose your
49:24
salvation, you can't get it back. So don't try and don't tell me you can because it says you can't. But number two, the writer right right away gives a caveat. He says, "We are convinced that
49:36
better things concerning you, though we speak this way. We are convinced of things that accompany salvation, which is not falling away." And that actually is woven through the whole rest of his
49:46
letter as well. So what does this mean? The question that is at the base of of the exugesus of these verses is who is he talking about?
49:57
And it has troubled people for so for so long that some commentators say he's not talking about anybody. This is just a hypothetical situation,
50:10
right? The Holy Spirit is giving us first one though. What? Well, yes matches the hypothetical. If you match the hypothetical, that's a problem, isn't it?
50:21
Yeah, that I've read that in commentaries on Hebrews. This just a hypothetical. What's the point? You know, just gonna scare my pants off to say keep your pants on. That doesn't really make any
50:32
sense. Okay. Um, and so I I I think it's a trouble troubling passage, but I think if we go back and look at this generation in the wilderness, we begin
50:43
to see what these passages in the New Testament are really referring to. And they're they're just like we talked about on Sunday, we're presented with
50:55
this generation in the wilderness as like the the supreme warning of what not to be. to be. And and yet we're we're told and we're
51:06
comforted and we're encouraged that if we are in Christ, we will not be like them. And yet we're warned to watch out for one another lest anybody be like
51:18
them. they they stand almost uh per well almost eternally because there's another generation that will take their place and that's where we're headed.
51:29
So when we're back in the wilderness, what we're dealing with is a people who were circumcised were circumcised but then their children were not circumcised. And looking back on or or looking back
51:42
through the lens of Romans 2, for example, I conclude that their circumcision became uncircumcision.
51:55
became uncircumcision. That is a phrase that Paul uses in Romans 2. And we're going to look at that as we close this evening. So we have these two offenses and we have the
52:06
circumstance. Okay? So um we have
52:21
Now I hope we understand that the Lord is not a capricious God and he's not uh he's actually slow to anger and full of loving kindness and compassion.
52:37
He did not intend to destroy them. He did not intend, for example, to abregate the prophecies that were given by Jacob because by destroying Israel and raising
52:48
up the nation from Moses, he would have destroyed the tribe of Judah through which the seed of woman and the seed of Abraham would come. So that
53:00
wasn't really in play. What we're dealing with here is God, as he often does, drawing out of his servant the response that will most perfectly typify
53:16
the one that his servant typifies. Moses is drawn out into intercession, even to the point of saying, "Kill me."
53:26
because he is a type of Christ who will intercede and die on behalf of his people. So I I I don't want you to to think I think remotely that God for
53:37
example changed his mind. He is speaking to us in terms that we understand. I do not uh on the other hand I do not think that he was anything less than incredibly angry. Okay. I don't I think
53:49
that God's uh emotions are real. They're they're not just metaphorical or figurative. His wrath burned against Aaron and the people because of the
54:01
golden cal. His wrath burned against the people because they did not trust him to defeat the um the giants of the land. So he wants to destroy them. Moses
54:25
That's, you know, the whole discussion we could have on just what that word means in relationship to God. Again, we tend to read this narrative and think, you know, the rest of people are like, "Woo, we dodged one there."
54:36
No, you didn't. Because his relenting of the destroying always had a butt. Yeah, I won't destroy them, but
54:48
this generation will not enter my rest. He swore in his wrath, they will not enter my rest. And so, no,
55:00
I will not destroy them now, but I will destroy them over the next 39 years, and they will not enter my rest.
55:10
Not just they will not enter the land, they will not enter my rest. Again, that's what the writer of Hebrews is driving toward is not entering the land. Because remember in chapter 4, he
55:22
mentions that if Joshua had brought them into the rest, there would be no need to mention another day. And he quotes the psalm Psalm 95. Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they
55:33
did at Mebah. Okay? So he's he's tying in the reality of the history of that generation and he's saying we who believe have entered that rest.
55:46
So it's not land anymore that he's talking about. He's talking about a covenant relationship with God. He says no, they're not going to have it. And so
55:56
he Moses intercede. God relents. But
56:13
they will not enter my rest. So he didn't just simply say, okay, all of these Israelites, you know, they're my people. They are circumcised, but they're not getting in the land. They're going to like the generations
56:24
before them in Egypt, they're going to die in the wilderness. Okay? Like the generation that died in Egypt were buried in Egypt and were not their bones were not taken out of Egypt. This
56:35
generation is just going to die in the wilderness. They're not going to get into the land because they didn't like it. No. What he says about this generation is much more serious.
56:46
and what we see then happening afterward. And again, I think we need
56:57
we need to look deeper than what we read because what I'm saying is not in the Old Testament. God does not explain in the Pentatuk what he did that led to this generation, this next generation
57:08
not being circumcised and not observing the Passover. It passes in silence. And yet it does not indicate in any way God's wrath even when it comes time for
57:20
them to be circumcised. There's no indication that God is angry with that second generation. That's the generation that he is going
57:31
to go before and conquer the nations of Canaan on their behalf. That is actually the generation that now picks back up the covenant.
57:43
the covenant. So we actually have a period of time where the covenant is broken. And the reason I believe that the children of Israel in the wilderness
57:55
could not be circumcised was that the essential judgment of God on the generation of the rebels was your circumcision no longer counts.
58:07
It's it's become uncircumcision. Now, I can't read that out of Exodus or Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy,
58:18
but I can read that out of Romans. So, I'm I'm again, we've talked about this before. One of the essential goals of biblical theology is to read the Old
58:29
Testament the way the New Testament writers read it. Okay? Does that make sense? So, if you're looking at the narrative in the Pentatuk and saying, "What are you talking about?" Fair
58:39
enough. I can't prove any of this from the narrative. The only thing I can say about the narrative in the Pentatuk is it won't deny or it won't contradict
58:49
what I'm saying because it doesn't say anything. It just simply presents us with a problem. And that is an entire generation of Israelites who aren't
59:10
worshiped idols on the other side of the Euphrates. Yeah. Euphrates. Yeah. At which point, right? He was uncircumcised, yeah, that's that's very significant. I did
59:21
not work that into the notes um mainly to try to keep them to a readable. But there there are three places where the uh Torah the the decalogue essentially
59:33
is is rehearsed or referred to. Exodus 20 at Mount Si, Deuteronomy 5 on the plains of Moab and Joshua 24.
59:46
And again in Joshua 24 he likens that that generation. He said you won't be able to obey the Lord. Okay? But you know, you can't go back to be the way
59:57
Abraham, our father Abraham. Now, you didn't say bad about Abraham. It's like that's like saying bad about George Washington. You just don't do it. It's not
1:00:08
patriotic. You be a good patriotic Israelite. But he says what what Abraham was across the Euphrates is he was a pagan. He was an idoltor and he was uncircumcised.
1:00:18
What Paul says in Romans 2 though is where we're headed. And that is that circumcision itself, physical circumcision, is essentially meaningless. And not only is it meaningless,
1:00:29
but if your is that of unbelief and rebellion, he says your circumcision becomes
1:00:44
uncircumcision. Okay, so uh let me see where I can um It might be easier just to read the passage in the notes. Let me see. Um, page 131. Let me read it.
1:00:56
Might be easier quicker. All right. Not that one.
1:01:16
What did I do? I just lost page 132. Pardon me. Pardon me. Well, it is. It's toward the end of chapter 2, so I guess I'll do that because I'm not pulling it up quickly. All right. Um, all right. Let's see. Starting in verse 25 of chapter 2 of
1:01:27
Romans. For indeed, circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
1:01:38
Now, that concept in and of itself should cause you to to to stop because we know that circumcision is not a reversible surgery. reversible surgery. Just like you don't do it twice, it's
1:01:49
not a reversible surgery. So, he's obviously not talking about the physical operation of circumcision. He's talking about the spiritual reality
1:01:59
and he's he's he's talking about it in a reverse way of Deuteronomy 30. When Deuteronomy 30 says, "I will circumcise your heart that you might love the Lord
1:02:10
with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and live." He's saying the reverse that you may have physical circumcision. You may be what would make you a child of the covenant of Israel.
1:02:23
But if you are rebellious, if you disobey the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision, becomes uncircumcision, which means the Lord no longer re um
1:02:34
regards you as a child of the Abrahamic covenant. You are cut off. You are uncircumcised even if you are circumcised. And he goes on and talks
1:02:44
about the the different iterations. If therefore the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as
1:02:55
circumcision? And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the law and circumcision are a
1:03:06
transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew. And this is this is Deuteronomy 30:6. He is a Jew
1:03:19
who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit and not by the letter. And his praise is not from men but from God.
1:03:45
Yeah. That's what he's saying here. So, Deuteronomy 10, Deuteronomy 30. Um, the idea of the circumcising the foreskin of your heart. Again, that's in Deuteronomy. It's also in Jeremiah. So, you have it in the plains of Moab where
1:03:56
the people were not circumcised. You have it in Jeremiah where the people are rebelling against the Lord who is telling them through Jeremiah, submit to
1:04:07
the Babylonians. And they're saying, "Nope, we're going to fight now." Kind of like of a Ai when they they said, "No, no, no. we're going to go up. And yet the Lord says, "No, that that's not going to work either." And then we have
1:04:18
it here in Romans 2. And it what's interesting about Romans 2 is he he kind of introduces this a little bit earlier by saying um but if you verse 17 but if
1:04:31
you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the
1:04:42
law and he goes on he's basically describing what he was if you lay these verses of his rhetorical kind of jabs against Philippians three,
1:04:54
Philippians three, you you realize who he's jabbing is Saul of Tarsus, of Tarsus, who was knowledgeable of the law and according to the law, he was righteous and he, you know, he was well ahead of
1:05:04
his countrymen and and so he was this this Jew this Jew and yet he says, "Okay, you're you're this great Jew, but if you rob temples, if you steal, if
1:05:18
you if you disobey the law, Is not your circumcision
1:05:32
So now we look at this historically and hopefully answer this question. Can can a believer lose his salvation? Now, we could go into another uh tangent
1:05:42
about remnant. about remnant. And when you look at the generation that died in the wilderness, and and I'll I'll be glad to be corrected,
1:05:53
but as far as I can tell, the sentence of death in the wilderness was passed upon all males of military age who came
1:06:03
out of Egypt. Well, that that means that there very well may have been women who went into the land who had come out
1:06:15
of Egypt. It doesn't actually say that the entire generation, men, women, and I guess young people because not children, but it just says male of those who said
1:06:27
we can't win. They were the ones who died. We know at least that there's a remnant of Joshua and Caleb. Okay? So there is a remnant of this generation
1:06:38
that will go into the land. But those who were to take the land to whom the land was to be given by the power of God, their circumcision became
1:06:52
uncircumcision. And therefore they were rendered ineligible to circumcise their children. They had forfeited the covenantal right of passing on the sign of the covenant
1:07:03
to their children and and therefore they had abregated or uh well basically they they had abregated the right to observe the Passover.
1:07:15
the Passover. So the judgment brought its own punishment and and some of the commentaries uh they the commentators they kind of muse and I think it's an interesting um kind of
1:07:26
getting into the mind of of these people. You you're you're a you're a Jew under this you're an Israelite under this sentence of wilderness condemnation
1:07:38
and your wife bears a son and on the eighth day you don't take him to be circumcised.
1:07:48
That that had to be a constant reminder of the condition this generation was in. the the condemnation that this generation was in.
1:08:00
But I would submit to you that it was just that generation until another. until another. And I think that what we see in the wilderness sheds an incredible amount of
1:08:12
light on what we read in the Gospels and the Pauline letters regarding the generation of Israel in the time of
1:08:26
This is not something that applies to believers who are in and out of grace because of their own disobedience. Nor does it apply to even the church as you might read in the letters to the
1:08:36
churches in the book of Revelation whose lampstand can be removed. That's not what this is talking about. I think this is essentially a historical
1:08:48
type of a generation who beheld a supreme example of the manifestation of God's redemption and rejected it.
1:09:01
And there's only two generations in biblical history that qualify. The generation of the of the Exodus and the generation of Jesus.
1:09:12
And I think this sheds so much light on what Jesus himself says about that that second his contemporary generation. Let's look at what he says in in Matthew
1:09:23
for example. for example. Matthew 11. Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works have been
1:09:34
done because they did not repent. Woe to you Chisin. Woe to you Bethada. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Ty and Sidon, they
1:09:45
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Ty and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernium, who are exalted
1:09:58
to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. That's actually a reference or an illusion to Isaiah 14. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done at Sodom, it would
1:10:10
have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. But I think this one in Matthew 23
1:10:24
is really just it kind of um seals the deal. Therefore, you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill
1:10:35
up then the measure of your father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore indeed I send you prophets,
1:10:45
wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city that on you
1:10:56
may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth. from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barakiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly I
1:11:08
say to you the all these things will come upon this generation.
1:11:18
There are a number of of comments in there about generations and and of course uh esquetology um looks at the generation for example of Israelites after Israel becomes a
1:11:29
state in 1948.
1:11:43
Very possibly. Yeah, that's very very possibly that does refer um to allude to the children
1:11:54
like the children. You shall never enter into the kingdom. Yeah. Yeah. Um I think that's that's a very possible. If it is, it's an echo. Um I wouldn't even raise it to the level of an illusion.
1:12:06
Certainly not a citation. But the these are, you know, these events and I think this is where New Testament Christians of our era are at a detriment, these
1:12:16
events were woven into the psyche of second temple Jews. So when when Jesus said these things like um Capernium,
1:12:27
exalted to heaven, but you will be cast down to Haiti. That's Isaiah 14. That's Lucifer, the son of the of the morning. Okay? Or the king of Babylon. That's what that is. you know, that's how they
1:12:38
would hear it. And and as we read these things, I think we begin to hear the echoes when he says, "This generation, all of the righteous blood from Abel to
1:12:50
Zachchariah will come upon this generation. This generation shall not pass away until all these things come to pass." Essentially, what we have here is the condemnation. And then Paul explains it
1:13:03
in Romans 2. This is the uncircumcising of a generation. Now, there was a remnant, a remnant who believed just as there was in the in the wilderness
1:13:13
generation. But we we see now, and again, this is biblical theology. We're reading the Old Testament and and we're we're seeing the things that are happening there. They're actually
1:13:24
happening historically, but they're also prophetically foreshadowing what will happen. and and to to which Old Testament leader
1:13:35
Testament leader is Jesus most frequently referenced, Moses. You know, the the the we've talked about the the the whole Exodus is indicative.
1:13:46
It is um typological of the redemption we have, the salvation, the freedom from bondage to sin that we have in Jesus Christ. So they're already parallel
1:13:57
events. But now we have the added historical feature that the generation that witnessed each
1:14:08
perished one in the wilderness and one in AD.70. You know the two most cataclysmic things that that happened to Israel. And I think it's worse than the exile. But
1:14:20
then entire generation perishes because of unbelief. of unbelief. Which is why this becomes such a paradigm for writers like the writer of Hebrews that we should be careful not to
1:14:33
follow that example. It doesn't mean that we will as a generation perish. But it is one it's like the flood. It doesn't mean the entire world is going
1:14:43
to be flooded again. It's not. But it still stands as a manifestation of a holy God's anger against the rebellion and corruption of of mankind.
1:14:55
That's it's a paradigm now. And so the perishing of that generation in the wilderness becomes a paradigm. It becomes a prophecy. And then it's fulfilled in the generation of Jesus.
1:15:08
Not in Jews ever since. This is not anti-semitic. It's that generation that Jesus himself condemns. Stephen in his um very
1:15:20
offensive defense. He says, "You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. So do so do you."
1:15:33
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute. and they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers who have revived
1:15:46
received the law by the direction of angels and have kept it. So, uh, Stephen condemns that generation.
1:15:56
Couple other passages in in Paul's writings. I seem to have lost page 132. And I don't know how that happened.
1:16:11
130 129. This is weird. I had it a moment ago. There it is. I found it. Okay. Um, I already read Hebrews. Um, then finally, well, actually, actually, I've read that one. So, I
1:16:22
don't need to read that one again. Yeah. Okay. So, I've read the New Testament passages, but let's go back to Hebrews 6 for a moment. In fact, I'm
1:16:32
going to just turn there because I I do I do want to make sure that if you've if you struggle with this passage in thinking that it might refer to you as a
1:16:46
believer, it it has to be admitted that the terminology that the writer uses seems very much like Christian
1:16:57
terminology. So when he says, "You have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and
1:17:07
the powers of the age to come, then have fallen away." And that's where people get hung up is in verse four because it sounds so New Testament, New Covenant
1:17:18
Christian language, Christian language, but that is only because we've lost touch with the Old Testament. That's the only reason that those words and those phrases sound like new new covenant
1:17:30
Christian phrases is because we've lost touch with the old covenant, the Old Testament. This is the generation of the Exodus. They saw the powers of the age
1:17:41
to come. They saw they tasted of the Holy Spirit and they parttook of the good word of God. The writer of Hebrews has already said back in chapter three
1:17:51
and chapter 4 that they received the same word as we have that word was preached to them and he calls it good newson the gospel. Okay. So it as as we deepen
1:18:05
our understanding of the history of the old covenant people we realize that this is just the same terminology used for us as Peter would in his letter
1:18:15
when he says you are a holy nation. You are a royal priesthood. You are a peculiar nation of a possession of God. That's Old Testament language. And so is this. This is also Old
1:18:27
Testament language. And as I said, I don't think it's referring to believers. I think it's referring because he goes on uh I don't know if I'll be able to find it in this particular uh passage
1:18:41
but he talks about I think it's right here for ground that drinks the rain which falls often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation
1:18:54
useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled receive a blessing from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless, close to being cursed, and
1:19:06
ends up being burned. Well, that's the same language of Jesus in John 15. Okay? That they will be gathered up and cast into the fire. See, this is the
1:19:16
language of vi the vineyard of Isaiah 5 where he says, "My beloved planted a vineyard and he and he tilled the land and it was all perfect." And what what
1:19:27
happened? Instead of good grapes, it the vines brought forth bad grapes. So it's it's again it's Old Testament language referring to that generation. Later on
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he talks about the ministry of the temple which I think when the writer of Hebrews wrote this letter, the temple was still under full function because he speaks of it as passing away and soon to
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become obsolete. become obsolete. So, they were still doing the motions, but the prophecies from from the Olivet discourse in Matthew and in uh Mark 13,
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the prophecies were there. That generation like the generation in the wilderness would perish. Well, let's close in prayer.
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Father, again we thank you for your word and for the the depth and breadth of it and for the consistency of it and the manner in which the history of of ancient times foreshadowed the history
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of Jesus's time. We do thank you even for the sobering warning that these two generations present. The generation of
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the Exodus and the generation of Jesus that perished because of unbelief. And Father, we do pray for our own congregations and ask that we might
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indeed pass on our faith to our children that they might be circumcised of heart as we have been and not incur your wrath. We thank you for your blessing
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and your grace and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.