The Sign of the Covenant part 3

The Sign of the Covenant

Part III

Written by Rusty Owens

“So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name off the place is called Gilgal to this day.” Joshua 5:8,9.

Every male of the children of Israel had been circumcised when they left Egypt, but for reasons unknown their children born in the wilderness were not circumcised. After Israel had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, there was a whole generation of men uncircumcised. It is assumed that the rite of circumcision was suspended sometime after the events of Numbers 14, in the first year after coming out of Egypt. (Barnes’ Notes). That be as it may, you have a whole generation of men that are not circumcised, plus you have a whole generation that never were SLAVES! This is an awesome concept. Isn’t it awesome when you see young people get saved and are immediately born into a baptism of fire and power. They never wandered through years of religious unbelief, but are born into a river of God. We used to call them River Babies. Young people born immediately into a realm of God’s glory they do not have a slave’s mentality. They have no relish for slave’s culture. God now has a generation of warriors who have never been slaves. They don’t think like slaves, they don’t act like slaves. Along with Joshua and Caleb there are probably still other men who were not of warring age who remember the rebellion of Numbers 14, but there is now a whole generation of young warriors under the age of forty

who are ready to claim their inheritance. It is interesting that there is a great portion of the church who live between the deliverance (the Red Sea) and the promise (the Land beyond the Jordan). But truly God is raising up a generation that will take their inheritance. It is His Will! A generation that is willing to first lose their identity only to gain it back as they enter their inheritance.

This generation of young warriors lack one thing, before they can partake of Passover they must also partake of circumcision. This is a rite of passage for everyone who wishes to function in the land of inheritance. So many believers are unable to taste or see a land that is flowing with milk and honey for lack of it. When the men of that generation were circumcised the LORD spoke a profound word to them. He said, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” The Hebrew word for reproach is cherpah. Five times in the Old Testament this word is translated disgrace, once it is translated shame. God said that today I have galal (rolled) Egypt’s cherpah from you. By terminating one generation and raising up a new generation, that did not have a slave’s mentality, He was able to lift Egypt’s shame off of the people.

The final piece was circumcision. Only after they were circumcised did God release this powerful prophetic statement, and only then were they allowed to partake of the Passover. (Joshua 5:10, Exo. 12:44).

Now consider the power of this ordinance. That being born as Hebrew did not in itself qualify you to partake of any of God’s holy ordinances, or benefits; But this hidden man operation must needs take place in the life of the Jew. By the same reasoning, because of lack of circumcision from the pulpit to the pew, this has caused many believers to wander in a no man’s land between the Red Sea and the River Jordan. I believe most Christians live between the Atonement and the Promised Inheritance. In a place of redemption but not in land that flows with milk and honey.

The children of Israel were able to keep the first Passover in the land of promise. This was the first Passover on that side of the River. They ate unleavened bread and the fruit of the land the day after the Passover, and the manna ceased. (Joshua 5:11,12). How many believers live there whole life eating nothing but the old manna in the wilderness when God has, “Food to eat of which you do not know.” (Jn. 4:32). Most Christians seem to create a diet of just getting by. But there is angel’s food to had, if you are willing.

Now consider this people that “Wanted” to live between the Blood and the River; (The Red Sea and the Jordan). God swore to them in His wrath that they would not enter into His rest. (Heb. 3:18). Consider the severity of being a Christian that does not have a heart for God, you do not hunger and thirst for His righteousness. Consider the cost of wanting only to live between Egypt and the promise. When we present a gospel of only coming out of Egypt we are not telling the whole story. “He brought us out…, that He might bring us in.” (Duet. 6:23). He did not only deliver us from, He delivered us to.

Now consider the prophetic statement God spoke to the people of Israel. “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” To many believers live under the shame of Egypt. They live under vexation and oppression of the devil and are constantly overcome by doubt and unbelief. I lived under such a cloud at one time. I had for a longtime been in the ministry and was acquainted with many of God’s truths. But in 2005 an automobile accident took the life of our oldest son Cameron. My wife and I had months before decided we were going to sell our property and move to the mission field. We had a lot of sentimental attachment to our home in southwest Missouri. We had built our home with our sons in 1994. My sons had helped me with the construction of our home, and there we raised our family. In late 2004 we had decided to sell our home and move to the border of Mexico to work with a missions organization there. My oldest son Cameron had decided to go with us. He was 22 years old and had recently graduated from a technical college in Springfield, Missouri. My youngest son Nathan was planning on getting married and planned to live there in southwest Missouri. My wife and I were planning a short mission trip to Nicaragua in the spring of 2005. My son Cameron wanted to go and he had asked a friend of his to go along as well. He had sent off for his passport and was helping his friend obtain her passport when he was killed in a car crash near Springfield, Missouri, on March the 3^rd, 2005. My wife and I, as well as our whole family, was devastated. In the days that followed, I remember asking my wife, “What do you want to do?” She said she wanted to go. So we put our house on the market and it sold within a week. We put our stuff in storage and we left to go to work on the mission field. We arrived on the border of Mexico right on the heels of Hurricane Emily, which devastated areas south of Matamoros, Mexico. We were so busy for months after we got there that there wasn’t much time to set around and think about things. We saw many souls come to Christ, it was truly glorious. But every night, no matter where I was, Mexico, US, or Nicaragua, an oppression would come and visit me. No matter what I was doing, no matter how wonderful things were, an oppression would come like clockwork. Every night, night after night, it would come. No matter how wonderful the Spirit of God was that day, come night fall, it would come. Even if we saw hundreds come to Christ, it would come just the same. It was like a constant reminder, that no matter how wonderful things were, my son was gone and he wasn’t coming back. I became a perpetual victim by this spirit that came night after night. I even gave it a name. I called it yow but, because every time it came it basically said, Yow but… My arguments against this oppression were like, “Man, it sure was glorious today.’’ But then all it would say is, “Yow, but your son’s not coming home tonight, not ever.” And I could almost see this dark cloud come over me. Night after night, week after week, this went on. I felt conflicted in my identity. Like some character from a comic book with a secret identity. By day I was Missionary, but by night I was broken. Even after a year had passed, it would still come. At this point this cloud of oppression was like an old friend that would come and pay me visit every evening at the same time like clockwork.

In the spring of 2006 some of my family came down to Mexico for a week of ministry. We were staying in Aldama, Mexico, at the WOTC base camp. On the camp there is a place where there are three crosses that stand about 12 feet in the air and weigh about a couple of hundred pounds each. An old carpenter named Chui had built them and a group of young people from the U.S. had put them up. The last time Cameron was in Mexico was when he helped that group of young people set up those crosses. So early one morning my brother and I went out to the crosses for prayer. While we were praying, a voice spoke to me and said, “This day I have rolled the reproach of Egypt away from you.” The voice was so clear I looked to make sure no one was there. I knew I had read this somewhere. So later I looked it up and found this passage in the book of Joshua. We had an outreach that morning then an afternoon of fun and fellowship. That night I had forgotten all about the morning prayer and what the voice had spoke to me. But that night I slept like a baby. Then sometime the next day I realized that the cloud of oppression had not come, that next night the same thing. No cloud, no oppression. All the next week, no cloud, no oppression. I have had three years completely oppression free. I testify to you that Jesus has rolled the reproach of Egypt off of my life. I can almost picture in my mind a demon, by the name of “Yowbut”, showing up for an eight o’clock appointment at my house; and two large angels standing at the door explaining to him that he can’t come in.

Many Christians carry around with them the reproach of Egypt, either through past failings, or some overwhelming trauma, or consistently making bad choices. God is able to release you from the shame of the world and bring you into a powerful realm of victory. If you will allow Him to remove the fleshly foreskin of your heart as you come into covenant with Him. He can release you from the shame of Egypt and bring you into relationship with Him. If you’re a Christian and are under an addiction. And a spirit of addiction has attached itself to your life, whether it be a drug addiction, or pornography, or some other addiction. Jesus can release you from the reproach of Egypt. First become honest about the power it has over your life. Confess it to God honestly. In my case I did not want to become an eternal victim. I read in Isaiah 53:4, “Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.” My complaint became, if you carried them for me, why am I still carrying them. Give your grief to Him and He will take them from you for He has already borne them. Break your covenant with Egypt and enter into covenant with Him.

Jesus doesn’t just speak the truth, He is truth! Sometimes you have to allow the truth to outweigh the facts. The fact may be that you are in pain, but Jesus did not say I am the fact. He said I am the truth and the truth outweighs the facts.

Allow Jesus to create this powerful circumcision in your heart. (Duet. 30:6; Rom.2:29).