The Mark of God

The Mark of God

What identifies you?

Is it the cloths you wear?

Your Social Security Number?

Drivers License?

Your Badge Number for work,

The car you drive?

When Abram entered into covenant with God,

God changed his name and marked him out.

What identifies you as belonging to God?

 

 It has become very popular to wear the logo of a company or sports team.

We wear them on our hats, shirts and pants.

We have become walking advertisers

and we pay them, to become their personal billboard. 

We seem to love being associated with a winning brand.

When Abram was 99 years old,

God said that He, and everyone else

who wanted the promises of God

and have a covenant with Him,

were to bear a mark.

Every male must be marked

in the flesh by being circumcised.

In the New Testament,

God designed a new mark.

The new mark is worn by both men and women.

The mark is not made by the hands of men

but by God Himself.

Colossians 2:9-12 NIV

9”For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

10 and you have been given fullness in Christ,

who is the head over every power and authority.

11 In him you were also circumcised,

in the putting off of the sinful nature,

not with a circumcision done by the hands of men

but with the circumcision done by Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism

and raised with him through your faith in the power of God,

who raised him from the dead.” 

God requires every believer who wants the promises

of God to enter into covenant with Him.

Everyone who receives His promises,

is required to wear the mark.

God makes the mark as we willingly

enter into the waters of baptism.

When we stand in the water,

we are identifying with the death of Jesus Christ

as He died on the cross for our sins.

We go under the water identifying with Christ

being buried for our sin in the tomb.

God spiritually cuts off the sinful nature;

the sins we have committed in our flesh.

When we come out of the water,

we are identifying with the resurrection of Jesus. 

There is a visible sign to every person,

when you are baptized that says

I am trusting in the death,

burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we go under the waters of baptism,

Christ does a spiritual surgery to remove the sinful nature.

The surgical mark left by God

is visible by the Angels

and they recognize that this one

is a son or daughter of God.

 

One final thought,

God bares a mark for you.

You will recognize the mark

when He holds out His hands to embrace  you.

 

Scripture Reading

Genesis 17 NIV

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old,

the LORD appeared to him and said,

 "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.

2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you

and will greatly increase your numbers."

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you:

You will be the father of many nations.

5 No longer will you be called Abram;

your name will be Abraham,

for I have made you a father of many nations.

6 I will make you very fruitful;

I will make nations of you,

and kings will come from you.

7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant

between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come,

to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

8 The whole land of Canaan,

where you are now an alien,

I will give as an everlasting possession to you

and your descendants after you;

and I will be their God."

9 Then God said to Abraham,

"As for you, you must keep my covenant,

you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.

10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you,

the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

11 You are to undergo circumcision,

and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

12 For the generations to come every male among you

who is eight days old must be circumcised,

including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner

— those who are not your offspring.

13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money,

they must be circumcised.

My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.

14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh,

will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.

I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;

kings of peoples will come from her."

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself,

"Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?

Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God,

"If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son,

and you will call him Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant

for his descendants after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him;

I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.

He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac,

whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."

22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael

and all those born in his household or bought with his money,

every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.

24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.

27 And every male in Abraham's household,

including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner,

was circumcised with him.