This is part 20 of a series exploring how the Bible teaches that Jesus was greater than all who came before him.  This series is not intended to be exhaustive.  The topic of Jesus as “greater than” or “better” than those who came before him is inexhaustible.  Libraries could and should be written on this subject.  But we have attempted in these pages to explore what such a rich subject would look like. (Each entry is excerpted from There Is No Greater Love)

Christ Greater than Abraham

This is my covenant that you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised (Gen 17:10).

Abraham was given the sign of circumcision—the cutting away of the flesh.  The sign was a physical mark in the flesh, and so it was weak, yet pointed to something greater.  So Moses, who dealt with the stiff-necked generation that came up out of Egypt, longed for a better circumcision (Deut 10:16).  He foresaw the day when the LORD God Himself would circumcise the hearts of His people. “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you might live” (Deut 30:6).

Jesus came with a better circumcision, the sign of a better covenant.  Paul tells us of the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy in the work of Christ.  “In him you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body in the circumcision of Christ” (Col 2:11).

Jesus’ own physical circumcision (Luke 2:21) is imputed to His bride—to His people.  This satisfies the eternal requirement of Abraham’s covenant and makes physical circumcision no longer necessary. Physical circumcision has been superseded by something better (Rom 2:25-29). Jesus works a better circumcision because He circumcises the heart of His people and teaches them to love the Lord their God.  Abraham’s sign pointed toward something great.  But what Abraham’s sign and what Moses were pointing toward—namely, the circumcision of the heart—is only fully accomplished by Jesus in a far superior manner!