So in the sacrament of circumcision we find its parallel in the matter of our baptism. And when we look at the Passover, we find its parallel in our Communion service which looks back to the death of Christ. The Lord’s Supper has the elements of the broken bread and the wine, which signify Christ’s broken body and poured out blood. We see that we are to consecrate ourselves as well, because the God who operated with His people in the past is operating with us today. It is the same God, and it is the same Gospel, though the circumstances in history are different. We need exactly the kind of consecration that these people had on this occasion.
You know, I suppose the easiest parallel to make here, one that I have been assuming all along, is the parallel of the sacraments. The parallel between circumcision and baptism and the parallel between Passover and Communion. But there is another parallel, and that is the fact that at Gilgal, where these things were done, the people were to pause and rest and take time to be sure they really were the Lord’s, and that they really were determined to serve Him and were consecrated to Him before they began the wars that would lead to victory.
One of the problems in our lives is that we want to rush into things, even in the spiritual realm. We want to fight the battles. We want to achieve the victory, but we do it without first of all yielding up ourselves to God. Sometimes it’s possible to do God’s work in a worldly way, and we sometimes achieve things in the energy of the flesh. But it’s not of God. It’s not the kind of thing that endures. It doesn’t really produce spiritual vitality and change. What God wants before He wants our warfare is our hearts. He wants to have us.
I’m sure there are battles for us to fight. We live in a world every bit as secular as the world of Canaan. There are cities, figuratively speaking, for us to attack, and the walls are every bit as high and impregnable as the walls of Jericho. Maybe there are battles for you to fight this week. But before you fight the battles, make sure that God has yourself and that you are His. It’s only when He has you that he works through you, and it’s only when He’s working through you that anything of any real value, spiritually, is achieved.
