What is the church? Children of the promise.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 21?

"And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said. And Yahweh did to Sarah as he had promised. And she conceived, and Sarah bore to Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him."  

"And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne Abraham, mocking. Then she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac.” And the matter displeased Abraham very much on account of his son. Then God said to Abraham, “Do not be displeased on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. Listen to everything that Sarah said to you, for through Isaac your offspring will be named...."

"Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They replied to him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus replied to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free."  John 8

"Tell me, you who are wanting to be under the law, do you not understand the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the female slave and one by the free woman. But the one by the female slave was born according to human descent, and the one by the free woman through the promise, which things are spoken allegorically, for these women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, who is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to children;
    burst out and shout, you who do not have birth pains,
because many are the children of the desolate woman,
    even more than those of the one who has a husband.”

But you, brothers, are children of the promise, just as Isaac. But just as at that time the child born according to human descent persecuted the child born according to the Spirit, so also now. But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the female slave and her son, for the son of the female slave will never inherit with the son” of the free woman. Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the female slave but of the free woman."  Gal 4

What is the church? Circumcised.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 17?

"And God said to Abraham, “Now as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you, and also with your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you."

A sign of the covenant.  A sign no one except your wife may see.  Not much of a sign.  A cutting.  Bloody.  Male.  A removal of something unnecessary between a man and his wife.  Personal.  Intimate.  Yet it was there to distinguish God's chosen people from the rest of the world. 

And as most signs back then, had nothing to do with the flesh which was actually cut.  It points ahead, it points inward, a change of heart which can only be recognized by our actions; it points outward, forward, toward the Bridegroom who shed his blood for obedience, for his Bride: the Church...

"And now, Israel, what is Yahweh your God asking from you, except to revere Yahweh your God, to go in all his ways and to love him and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of Yahweh and his statutes that I am commanding you today for your own good. Look! For to Yahweh your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet to your ancestors Yahweh was very attached, so as to love them, and so he chose their offspring after them, namely you, from all the peoples, as it is today. So you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn."  Deut 10

"For the Jew is not one outwardly, nor is circumcision outwardly, in the flesh. But the Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, whose praise is not from people but from God." Romans 2 

What is the church? In Covenant.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 15?

"And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other, but the birds he did not cut. And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. And it happened, as the sun went down, then a deep sleep fell upon Abram and, behold, a great terrifying darkness fell upon him." 
"And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces. On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram..."

God promises.  God swears by himself for there is no higher authority to swear by.  God, who's yes is yes and no is no and has no reason to swear by anything, makes vows to us, his people.  Why?

"For people swear by what is greater than themselves, and the oath for confirmation is the end of all dispute for them. In the same way God, because he wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast..." (Heb 6)

Okay, so what does God promise?  What has God vowed to His church?  Never mind that, just yet.  Bask, meditate, reel from the staggering fact that He does!