97. Walk in the Ways
Deuteronomy 5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you,that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
The refrain is getting familiar now: if you keep the Commandments it will be well with you and you will live long in the land. This is the classic promise of the Mosaic Covenant, with blessings or curses following as consequences of obedience or disobedience to the Law of God. The condition becomes unconditional in the NT because Jesus Christ has keep our part of the covenant for us. By faith in Christ we are accounted righteous, that is, we have kept the Commandments; therefore, we will enjoy the blessings.
Life is long and good and rich and full. This kind of life Jesus demonstrated in His public ministry, earned for us by His innocent death, and sealed unto us by His bodily resurrection from the dead. We now by faith will live and live well, live long and happy. We possess this abundant life, full, rich, and eternal, for it is God’s life, which He shares with us. We possess it by simple, yet profound, faith in Jesus. We possess the land, that is, the kingdom of God. God’s life lives in us and His kingdom rules in us. And one day, the promise says, we won’t need faith, for we will see the kingdom and feel the life and the love.
When Moses says, “Ye shall walk in all the ways,” this can be taken as either a command as in, “Thou shalt…” or a promise as in “You will….” Or it can be both a command and a promise. Consider it as a promise (in fact, take all Ten Commandments as promises) and ask, “what does this mean?” As a promise it means that believers, who take the Lord as their God, or who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, will walk in the ways God commanded. They will obey. This promise can be taken in two ways: as justification, we are justified, made right with God, by faith, or as sanctification, we are made more and more holy, like God, in our actual daily behavior by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. One is sudden and is done, the other is gradual and in process. God is making you a better person gradually when you hear the Gospel often. So He promises: you will walk in His ways.
What a promise! The Lord makes you a better person and gives you a better life.