Necessity of heart circumcision – Part 2

God is not only interested in outward conformity. He is also interested in our salvation, transformation and the work of grace perfected in our hearts and lives. The nominal, uncircumcised heart does not have what it requires to maintain a perfect relationship with the Lord. Circumcision is profitable only “if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.”

Many people are unaware that once their heart is uncircumcised, it automatically negates the circumcision of their flesh. The heart matters most to God. The children of Israel were not circumcised in the heart. Therefore, “the word of the Lord (was) unto them a reproach; (and) they (had) no delight in it.” To them, heart circumcision meant nothing. The Lord has promised to punish the circumcised in the flesh, but not circumcised in the heart. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised.” He, therefore, warns, “circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart… lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it…”

When the heart is unconverted, it neutralises the formal character that many religious people possess. “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” Lack of conversion in the heart produces neutral outward conformity and character as portrayed by the Pharisees and Sadducees who “indeed appear beautiful outward (that is, righteous), but are within full …of all uncleanness …hypocrisy and iniquity.”

It is heart conversion that banishes fleshly corruption. For after heart conversion, fleshly corruption ceases to exist. The new convert is completely free from sin. Therefore, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In the New Covenant, a new nature is evident in a person that has experienced heart circumcision. “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

Those who possess heart circumcision fulfill the prophecy given to partake of the new covenant. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah… I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” When God circumcises our heart, He writes His laws upon it so that we will not be ignorant of them.

In actual fact, the Lord has made ample provision on how we can possess heart circumcision. The Lord has given to us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” including “the divine nature.” After circumcising our hearts, He gives us the divine nature, which is honest, truthful, righteous, holy, fearless, straightforward, not crooked or fraudulent. This is what is called the sanctification experience. Through it He uproots the depraved nature of Adam from our lives and sets us free to serve God without fear, “in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.”

When the heart is circumcised, we will have the power to pursue the things of God, to walk uprightly and stand for God’s word. We will also be able to pursue what He wants us to do in the power of the new life. New nature, spirit, heart, mind, tongue, thought, act, habit, power, strength and name are available for those who would sincerely seek the experience.
• Further reading (King James Version): Genesis 21:4; 17:10,14; Deuteronomy 30:6; Romans 2:28, 29; Romans 2:25; Jeremiah 6:10,13-16; 9:25,26; Acts 7:51; Jeremiah 4:3,4; Matthew 23:25-28,33; John 5:14; 8:11; Romans 6:9-12,18,22; Romans 2:28,29; Jeremiah 31:31,33; Hebrews 8:6,8,10; 2 Peter 1:3,4; Luke 1:72-75; Luke 24:49.