A Mountain-Top Experience

O.T. #36  "A Mountain-Top Experience" 
April 29, 2013
Genesis 17-Part 1
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said
unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Genesis 17:1

LET IT GLOW

Last night, my husband and I were coming back from Little Rock, going over the Ozark
Mountains. It had been raining earlier, so the air was trying to cool off. Clouds form in the form
appearance of fog around the mountain peaks. What a sight to behold! Seeing this, brought to my to mind when God came to speak to Moses in a thick cloud (Exodus 19:9). The only things
missing were the voice of a trumpet, thunder, and lightning. I saw how powerful our Almighty
God is! It was a humbling experience, a mountain-top experience.

Thirteen years passed with God's silence between Ishmael's birth and the events of chapter 17.
God had to wait for Abram and Sarai to die to self so that His resurrection power might be
displayed in their lives.
Twenty-four years Abram was living under the shaping Hand of God. He was not the same man
in character that he was when God first called him.

Here is the first mention of God revealing Himself as God Almighty-El Shaddai, which
means all-powerful, all-sufficient keeper of My promises, from David Wilkerson's book, Knowing God By Name.

Liberty Bible Commentary says "Abram's corresponding conduct must be to walk before
El Shaddai  in uprightness. The name for God presented in this context means, 'powerful,
mighty,' and may be derived from a word for mountain, thus picturing God as the overpowering, almighty One who will provide descendants for Abram when all else fails."

God reminded Abram of His covenant, by saying that God will:

• multiply Abram exceedingly;
• make him exceeding fruitful;
• make nations of Abram;
• bring kings come out of his lineage;
• establish His covenant between God and Abram's seed in generations to come for an everlasting covenant;
• be a God to Abram and his seed after him;
• give the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession;
• keep His part of the covenant, and all of Abrams' men descendants would be circumcised.

God laid it all out. Christians, children of Abram, have the same promises-we will be spiritually fruitful, have spiritual children, we are princes and princesses (Jesus is our King), and our land to inherit is called heaven. What more could we ask for?

Is Jesus my mountain? Do I come to meet the mountain of God daily?


LET IT GROW

What did God tell Abram to do, or what did Abram do before God?
Almighty God told Abram to:

• walk before Him;
• be perfect; Perfect means without blemish; without spot; undefiled.
• Abram fell on his face and God talked to him;
• be circumcised, every man child among them.

This is the first mention of circumcision.
Circumcision  was a token of the covenant, a tribal mark. Old covenant blessings came by
physical descent, of which circumcision was the sign; new covenant blessings are spiritually
conveyed and are expressed by a new sign, that which is written in our hearts and lives. (Falwell)

Nowhere does the Old Testament teach that circumcision saves a man. It is but the outward
symbol of the covenant between God and men. It was to remind them of the inward circumcision
of the heart that accompanies true salvation (Deut. 10:16, Jer. 4:4). Believers today are in the
New Covenant and are the true circumcision (Phil. 3:1-3), which is experienced spiritually
through the death of Christ (Col. 2:9-15). The entire body of sin (old nature) has been put off,
and we may live in the Spirit, not in the flesh. (Wiersbe)

Is our heart changed? Are we living in the flesh or the Spirit? Romans 8 contrasts the flesh and
the spiritual life.

LET IT GO

Meet with God on His terms, not mine.

Trust God's promises to Abram to apply to us Christians today.

Go to the Rock that is higher than I.

Share with others my change of heart so they can have a heart change.