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.
A new family is born! That’s right. Everyone who was circumcised that day entered a new family, a family that was choosing to obey the Lord. Each male had to make a choice. Am I going to let myself be circumcised? No one could make that choice for them. And notice that the family included not only Abraham, but Ishmael who was in part excluded from the blessing of God. He was not the son of promise. He would be blessed by the Lord, but he was not going to be part of the direct will of God in redeeming humankind. He was in essence the son of disobedience. Abraham had listened to advice from someone other than the One who made the promise of a son. God had said Abraham would have a son. Ishmael was the result of trying to work out God’s plan by an earthly method. Although Ishmael is included in the circumcision of the day, he has no more right to claim he is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham than do the other members of Abraham’s household. He is on par with the servants, both those born in the household and those purchased from foreign merchants. They all get the spillover blessing of being included, but they are not the primary recipients of the promise of God. The primary recipient of the blessing of obedience was Christ. He is seated at the right hand of God. We are included in Him. We get the benefit of His obedience and sacrifice. But just like Abraham’s household, we must each submit to a cutting. Our pride must be cut off. Our sin must be cut out. We must surrender to a relationship of love, even when we struggle to understand what the Lord is doing. Abraham must have struggled as a man of 100 years to understand why he needed to be cut down there at his age. “Won’t that hurt,” he must have though. But he obeyed, even though he did not fully understand. He knew the character of the Lord, that the Lord loved him and would not ask him to do something that would hurt him in the long run. So Abraham obeyed because he loved the Lord. Are you willing to obey because you love the Lord?
The Arnold Journey 