OT Promise 47: God meets and communes

  1. God Meets and Communes

Exodus 25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

In God’s Creation of Man, He created us with a human spirit deep inside that gave life to the soul, which in turn affected the body. The purpose of the spirit in man was to commune with the invisible God. Adam and Eve were in a perfect relationship with God, in open communion with God, and enjoyed an intimate fellowship with God. God’s purpose was lost, the relationship was severed, the communion was broken, the connection was cut off, and the spirit died when Adam sinned in the Garden. This is the death (separation) he suffered when he disobeyed God, and ever since we are born dead. Sin and Death inheres in every human being.

But the Lord has a plan and a way of fulfilling His purpose. He will make contact with, establish communion with, and give life to humans once again. So He promises to meet with us, and commune with us. He will reconcile us to Himself in Christ, establish communion and fellowship and relationship with us, and give life to the human spirit once again. The promise is fulfilled in Christ.

When God showed Moses how to build the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat on top, He told him that that was where He would meet and commune with him, with Israel, and with all people. The Presence of God would be there and people can meet Him there. 

Eventually, the meeting place, or the communion spot on earth, would be the Messiah, Jesus. “Since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand [Romans 5:1, 2].” The Gospel freely grants us access to God. We are born again. Our dead spirit is made alive. We may go to that place and meet God again and again. The promise is Jesus. The promise is for us.

OT Promise 46: God will Dwell among us

  1. God will Dwell among us

Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us [John 1:14].” Jesus dwells among us; the Holy Spirit dwells in us. God promises to dwell among us and He does. Here the Lord promises to dwell among the people of God. God will dwell in the sanctuary, which the people will put together and build from materials contributed by the believers. This sanctuary is the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of the Lord God Almighty in the midst of His people. 

There was a specific place on the earth where the Lord from heaven will live on earth with His glorious presence. That place was on the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the inner Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle and its courtyard. Everyone knew where God was located on earth, where to find Him, where to worship Him, and how to approach Him in prayer and praise. Then the Presence moved into the permanently situated Temple in Jerusalem built under Solomon. Then the Presence moved into the human body of Jesus of Nazareth when He was conceived, born, lived, died, and rose again. Then the Presence passed into the believers in Christ, those into whom the Holy Spirit comes to dwell by faith in the Gospel, which He creates in the human spirit.

Now everyone can know where God lives on the earth, in the body of Christ, the hearts of believes everywhere. When those faithful gather together in Jesus’ name to hear the Gospel they build a “sanctuary” (a church building) where those who house the Lord come together in the house of the Lord. The Lord is not “there” in the same way when they leave the building, but He goes with the people whose hearts have received Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the promise is true: the Lord dwells with us, among us, and in us wherever we are. And we can find Him all the time. If we could only remember what kind of glory, kingdom and power dwells in us where we are. We make a sanctuary in the heart by believing in Christ. Faith makes a place for the Lord to live on earth. Heaven has truly come down to us, where we are on the earth. Believe Him, see Him, praise Him, pray to Him, and listen to Him.

OT Promise 45: Make Enemies Turn Back

  1. Make Enemies Turn Back

Exodua 23:27, 28 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

God promises His Fear. Fear will go before Moses. Fear of God is usually a description of belief in God. A God-fearing person is one who believes in God. The fear of God will precede Moses and the people in the Land will flee before the invading people of God. This kind of fear of God makes people turn away from God instead of toward Him. They choose avoidance instead of approach. God is coming with His people to judge them, but He could come to bless them if they would turn toward God instead of away from Him. But since they reject true fear and knowledge and trust in God He will destroy them.

The people who live in the Land don’t belong there. They have usurped the land that the Lord promised to His people who fear (believe) God. Under the power and influence of Satan they resist, reject, and rebel against God. Their pagan worship and idolatry oppose the true God, and they must be judged. God will use His people to judge them and their demon gods.

The enemies of God have taken control of the world and the hearts and souls of the people living on earth. But the Lord promises to drive out the enemies of our hearts who are trying to ruin our souls. The Lord marches into the souls of men and drives out the enemies living there. This happened to us spiritually when Jesus invades the Land (our souls), drives out the demons, heals diseases, raises the dead, stills the storms, etc. This happens to us spiritually when we are baptized, receive absolution, take Communion, and hear the Gospel. When Jesus comes in the enemies turn their backs and flee. This happens every time we repent and believe the Gospel. We don’t see it, so God shows us in the Scriptures and reveals to us what is really going on in the invisible world. He wants us to believe the “hornets” He sends to chase away the enemies (Sin, Death, Devil) and drive them out. These demon enemies don’t belong in the kingdom God gave to us. The Kingdom rules the heart, not the enemy. Believe the promise of God to drive them out. “Resist the devil, and He will flee from you.”

OT Promise 44: Take Sickness Away

  1. Take Sickness Away

Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

God promises Moses in the wilderness that the people will serve the Lord and that the Lord will bless their bread and water. This is what the Lord did for the people when they left Sinai and sojourned in the wilderness for forty years: He provided manna every day and miraculous water when they needed it.

The further promise is that He will take sickness away from among them. Not a big deal was made of this promise, but apparently the people did not get sick for at least the forty years of wandering. Leprosy was a problem, but provision for the healing of this disease and for the certification by the priest of a healed person. Moses himself retained his strength and health from the age of 80 to 120. 

But it seems most likely that this promise was for a season of time; at least until they reached the Promised Land. Unfortunately, God did not promise to take sickness away from all people for all times. God does take sickness away from some of the people some of the time. This kind of miraculous healing occurs throughout the Bible and especially during the ministry of Jesus. God does heal diseases and take away sicknesses throughout history and throughout our lifetimes. And even when it is medicines and surgery that removes sicknesses, we always attribute the healing to God. He is the God who heals us, whatever means He chooses to use. We do have the promise that when we are healed it is the Lord who does it.

On the contrary, we can all expect to get sick and grow old; this is the direct result of our Sin. We shall surely die, and every sickness is a temporary form of a little death. It comes and goes. We get sick and we get healed. One day the promise will definitely come true: there will be no more sickness, pain, physical problem, or death at all. And this goes on forever. The miraculous healings of Moses’ time, Elijah’s time, Jesus’ time, and other times are signs or tokens of the permanent healing of the soul bought by Jesus, and they are signs that point to Jesus as the giver of eternal life, a life during which all sickness is taken away from the resurrected body completely, absolutely, and forever. Jesus has defeated death and disease once and forever. While we wait for that day we enjoy the health of a redeemed soul and anticipate the day when the body will never be sick again.

OT Promise 43: My Angel will Bring

  1. My Angel will Bring

Exodus 23:23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

God promises Moses an Angel to lead him and bring to the land where these pagan Canaanites are dwelling. The Lord will cut these people off. This promise came mostly to pass in the Conquest under Joshua. But Joshua did not complete the job, and the subsequent years under judges were plagued with “thorns in the side.”

The spiritual aspects of this promise for us believers in Christ is that God sends His Angel to us to lead us against our enemies who are claiming authority to rule the “land” of our hearts. But, since Christ, we have the Lord to cut them off. We daily need to trust the Lord and His promise to cut off our spiritual enemies from trying to control the heart. Because we are born in sin these enemy spirits rule the human soul under the authority of Sin, Death and the Devil. These enemies use the world and our own flesh to attempt to lead us into bondage, fear and despair. But we have the Lord Jesus Christ who will cut them off. The cross has canceled their claim to rule our lives and destroy our souls.

We have the promise of an “Angel” to lead and bring us into the kingdom of God and drive out the enemy usurpers of the soul. This war rages on as long as we live with two worlds within us: sin and forgiveness, life and death, Spirit and flesh, angels and demons. The object of the warfare is for the authoritative control of the soul. Thankfully, we know the outcome of the war in the end: We Win! Meanwhile, while we fight we have the promise of an Angel. This could refer either to the Messiah or to a real angel commissioned by the Lord to lead us and fight for us. And it is true: just like the devil is always close by to put thoughts into our minds, so also is the angel of the Lord close by to quench these lies and evil thoughts and replace these with thoughts of God and of good. We may receive this promise with faith. We are not in the struggle alone.

OT Promise 42: An Angel to Keep

  1. An Angel to keep you

Exodus 23:20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

God promises Moses that He will send an angel in front of him to lead, guide and keep him in the way and all along the way of the journey to the Promised Land. The angel will bring him, and all the people, into the place God prepared. This promise is time and event specific: it is for Moses and the people he is leading, but the Bible shows us that believers also have an angel to keep them on the journey to the place prepared for them. If you make the Lord your God then “he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways [Psalm 90:11].”

By repentance and faith in the gospel we have made the Lord our God, and the promise kicks in for the children of God. We can take the promise to mean that all believers have a guardian angel, or even angels, to keep us in the way. We are still on a journey in a strange and dangerous land, going to a land of peace and safety, the kingdom of God. This prepared place is prepared in our hearts now, and it also awaits the final resurrection to be realized in full.

Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus prepared this place when He went to the cross to die and to the tomb to rise again. He prepared a place in the heart for God to dwell today and permanently. He is preparing a place in heaven, to which He has ascended and reigns from. We will go to the place He has prepared, for He has already prepared a place in our hearts for God to dwell within.

Along with His gracious presence the Lord commissions angels to guard and keep us while we are “in the way.” Of course, we don’t see the angels, but we have the promise that they are there. We don’t know how many times they have kept and guarded us from spiritual danger and harm. And, angels also protect us from physical harm. Trust God’s angels. Trust His promise.

OT Promise 41: Long Days in the Land

  1. Long Days in the Land

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

The NT says this is the first commandment with a promise. It is conditional promise: if you honor your parents your days will be long in the land. The first fulfillment of the promise is literally about a long life in the Land of Promise, the land flowing with milk and honey. Ephesians 6:3 adds, “that it may go well with you.” “Living long” means living well. You will have a good life; a good life fills the days and years and makes life “long,”

The land is the kingdom of God, which is in the hearts of believers. Not only will we live long but also we will live forever, No matter whether one’s life is long or short in earth years the life will be good, happy, and lived well. If the kingdom of God, heaven itself, is in the heart by faith in Christ life will surely be much better than a short, temporal, physical life without God and without God’s heaven inside. In the Bible life on earth is described as being short and full of trouble. That’s life for every born sinner. But the Bible also gives us another life, a good life that never ends. The spiritual life of God goes on forever and is always great.

The principle of this conditional promise is true for all people. The child that learns to honor and obey his/her parents will grow up to have a good life. The only significant command meant for children is simple: honor parents. The people that honor and respect their fathers develop character, believe God more easily, and generally have a good life on earth. Those who honor their mothers will learn love and trust in people, and life goes better. Stable, secure, well-adjusted, productive and happy adults have most likely had a happy and disciplined childhood. We can’t measure this cause and effect, but we can believe God’s promise.

This is a burden for children, but it is actually more of a burden for parents, for it is up the parents to make sure that their children are obedient and respectful. All fathers and mothers are sinners raising sinners, but the Lord has come to love, forgive and train sinners. Parents need to pray for help to be wise and loving, and pray for their children to be polite and respectful. The more work and prayer that parents put into parenting and loving and disciplining the better lives families will live. We have God’s promise that good results will come. For a “long” life learn to obey and to teach to obey.

OT Promise 40: Show Mercy

  1. Show Mercy

Exodus 20: 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

God loves every person and even every creature. He is quintessentially merciful. God is love; God is mercy. God loves all people, without a doubt, unconditionally. But the promise of mercy here is conditional: God shows mercy to those who love God and keep the commandments. If you love God, then He will show mercy. But the promise is not as conditional as it sounds.

We can all admit to the convicting truth that no one loves God perfectly and no one can keep His commandments perfectly. Therefore, we cannot receive mercy. But mercy, by definition, is not earned; it is given for free. It is freely given because Jesus earned it for us. Jesus loved God the Father, accomplished God’s will, lived an innocent life, and perfectly kept God’s commandments; He is holy and righteous. And He lived, died, and rose for us and for our forgiveness and salvation. Jesus kept the “if” condition for us. By faith in Christ we are accounted as having earned salvation. 

God is merciful to all since He is Mercy. He shows mercy in this way: “He gave His only-begotten Son…” This is how God shows mercy. The truth is that God has mercy and He is always ready to give mercy, but He will not “show” it until the Son pays the price that satisfies the holiness of God. In Christ God is satisfied with us and the Lord can now show us mercy to those who love God and keep His Law. “Love and keep” means “believe.” “Whoever believes in Him has eternal life.” 

God gives mercy to all: He gave His Son to all. And to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. If one does not believe in Jesus he does not receive the mercy. Mercy is not forced; it is received. If we believe we see and receive what God is showing. So faith is necessary to receive the promise, but it is not a condition. God does not “reward” faith; He gives faith to receive. Thus God shows mercy.

OT Promise 39: Priests and Holy

  1. Priests and Holy

Exodus 15:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.

God promises that we children of God through faith in Christ will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The Lord made us so by His achievement of Redemption and His act of Salvation. Jesus made us a kingdom of priests. Peter calls us a “Royal Priesthood and a Holy Nation” [1 Peter 2:9). John sees Jesus and declares that He “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” Revelation 1:6].

First, the promise is that we will be a kingdom and a nation. This is the invisible Church of all believers. We are bound together by blood as citizens and subjects under the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus brought the kingdom to us and placed the kingdom inside us, in our spirits. He makes us a nation under one flag, the cross, and guides by one constitution, the Bible. We live and die for this kingdom, for in it we live forever and will never die. As subjects of the King we rule as kings. Luther gives us this paradox: “We are lords of all, subject to none, and we are servants of all.” We are free of any master except the One who loves us and gave His life for us. We are free to love others by serving them, sacrificing our own selves for their good. We rule and exercise authority and dominion over all evil, ruling with Christ under His absolute rule.

Second, the promise is that we will be priests, a whole kingdom of priests. The function of a priest is to bring people to God. The priest prepares the sacrifice for the worshiper and he prays for him to the Lord. This is what we do in the midst of a lost world: bring people to God with our life, witness and service, and we pray for people. We preach the Gospel and intercede. God promises that this is what we will do: we serve others and pray for them; we bring them to God. What would happen if the prayers of God’s people were suddenly vanished from the earth? Who would bring people to God? When the Lord made us priests He gave us a purpose. 

Third, the promise is that we shall be a holy nation. The Lord makes us holy in truth suddenly when we believe in Jesus. The Spirit is making us holy in fact gradually as we live by faith in Christ. We need to believe this promise, because we do not see it. We don’t see the invisible kingdom; we don’t see the hearts of this holy nation. We trust God’s Word and promise to make us holy. He says it; we believe it.

OT Promise 38: A Peculiar Treasure

  1. A Peculiar Treasure

Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.

Another conditional promise: the condition is obedience and keeping God’s words and His covenant. Our part of the covenant is perfect obedience to the Law of God. If you obey, then you are a peculiar treasure to me. All the earth is mine, says the Lord, and I own it all and I can do what I want with it. But I chose you out of all the people to be to me a special treasure beyond price. You are peculiar. You are not like the rest of the world of sinners in rebellion. If you live according to my Commands you will be seen as different.

This conditional promise applies to us NT believers, as Peter tells us we are a “peculiar people.” Jesus says we are a pearl of great price, a treasure in a field. We can take this promise personally because by faith in Jesus Christ we are accounted righteous. We have kept the covenant because Jesus did it for us. We have an “alien righteousness.” The covenant is kept; the promise is ours. We are special; we are unique; we are different than the world; we are a treasure to God

And I can believe this promise personally and individually for me, not just corporately as the Church as a whole. I am special; I am a treasure; I am peculiar. I didn’t deserve it, but I have it by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, Jesus died for all, but I believe He died for me. Even if I were the only one in the world He would have died for just me. I am that special to Him. He set His love and kindness upon me. That is the faith that receives. That faith is granted by grace through the Word and the Spirit, who convinces me of the Gospel.

God can do what He wants with what is His. Thank God, he has chosen to set His love upon me and save me through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He makes me special. I am nothing and by nature I am worthless, but He has made me something, and He makes me worthy. I have worth and value to God. That’s a promise.