Vs. 10 - God has a covenant (contract) with His people. A contract or covenant is guaranteed by the issuer, but is dependent upon obedience by the receiving party. If the receiving party does not abide by the guidelines and stipulations of the contract then that contract becomes void.

Vs. 11 - The covenant was that of circumcision. Cutting away the flesh at the point where life begins. God reiterated this promise in Jeremiah 31: 32-33 and again in the New Testament in Romans 2: 25-29 and 2 Corinthians 3:3. The flesh had to be cut at the point of physical life just as the flesh must be cut away in the spiritual, which is the heart to produce spiritual life. This is the daily battle that Paul so vividly describes in Romans 7. We will always struggle with the flesh until "that which is perfect is come" and we are translated into our spiritual bodies.

Vs. 12 - Eight is the number for "New Beginning," isn't it interesting that the covenant was to be performed on the eighth day - thus signifying a new beginning. Once the child was circumcised they were no more like the world. In the spiritual sense once we become "born-again" we are not to be like the world either. We are to be different and a light unto the darkness. We are bought with a price just as those that were to also be circumcised of the household.

Vs. 13 - In Abraham's day the covenant was in the flesh but in our day it is in the fleshly tables of our hearts. The Old was with the "Law" and the tangible tablets of stone that contained them and the New is in the "Heart" and the Temple that houses it.

Vs. 14 - Just as they were cut off for not being circumcised, so will those that reject the free gift of Jesus be cut off. God does not desire that any be cut off but that all come to repentance through the gift of Jesus. How are you handling the struggles with the flesh today? Are you truly circumcised from the world or is the world still in you? You cannot be partially circumcised; it is either all or nothing!