The concept of circumcision is carried from the Law of Moses to the new covenant. However, it is not circumcision of the flesh that is important under the new covenant but circumcision of the heart.

What is a circumcised heart? A circumcised heart is one in which the fleshly adamic nature has been cut back and a covenant made with God that we shall love and serve Him throughout eternity.

We belong to God and are a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. Each day we leave behind the wickedness of the present age and press closer to the Presence of God in Christ. Our heart leans toward God at all times to love and serve Him.

The Sabbath day. As in the case of circumcision, the Sabbath day is brought forward under the new covenant and enlarged in scope. As is also true of circumcision, the Divine intent in the Sabbath day was set forth in the Old Testament.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:13,14)

The fourth commandment announces the Sabbath day, one of the most important of all the observances of Judaism. The scholars of Judaism have described in detail how the Sabbath is to be observed under the Law.

The fulfillment of the Sabbath, as carried forward in the new covenant, is broad in scope.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)

The concept of the Sabbath under the new covenant is based on the fact that during six days God finished His works, from the creation of the heavens and the earth all the way to the new heaven and the new earth. All was finished from the creation of the world. God now is resting while the six creative days are working to make man in God's image, to bring man into union with God, to make man fruitful, and to give to man dominion over all the works of God's hands.

Each person born on the earth has a choice. He can create his own heaven and earth or he can pray and trust and obey God every day. He can set aside his own way, his own words, his own plans and hopes, and enter the rest of God. Instead of finding His joy in the Lord one day of the seven, he can do God's will every moment of every day of the week. Jesus then becomes his life. He sets his love on things above because he is dead and his life is hidden with Christ in God.

This is the true Sabbath rest of God's elect, the royal priesthood. God is in all their thoughts. There is no division between the sacred and the secular. Every pot is holy. Every day is holy. Every aspect of work is holy.

To be continued.