Month: March 2021

137. Above and Holy People

Deuteronomy 26:19 And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

This promise for the OT nation of Israel did not quite work out in the physical, political and earthly realm. But a promise is still a promise that must come true. The truth is that the promise is for the spiritual people of God, made up all believers in the promise, Jesus Christ, all the OT and NT believers in the God of the Promise.

In truth, the invisible Church is now spiritually high above all earthly nations and peoples of earth. The angels of God and the saints in heaven presently praise God for his grace for making the Church a name and an honor. The Church, all the saints and believers in Christ, the kingdom of God, are the prized inheritance, the pearl of great price for God the Father. Jesus has earned grace for all and brought billions of God’s created human beings into the eternal kingdom. One Day, at the End, the kingdom of the world will become of the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. This kingdom started as a seed and became a great mustard tree. We wait until the End for the spiritual world to be revealed, but for now by faith we are in that Kingdom which is high above everything else. We need faith to see what a great nation we are a part of. Until it is revealed we live by faith in the high above, with praise, name, and honor. What a blessing to be a part of something huge and eternal!

The other part of the promise is that we shall be a holy people. This we are right now by faith in Christ, accounted holy, and growing closer to actual holiness in living. See the holiness in yourself and other brothers and sisters, and it will change your view of life in this time and space. One Day, the Last One, we shall all be changed and become the people of God living holy lives of pure love and perfection in eternity. We, along with Creation, cannot wait for the “revealing of the sons of God.” Try to imagine how beautiful a holy people will look like. Thank God now, and look at the world with a holy pride in our God and Savior. “There but for the grace of God go I.” I praise His Grace for putting me in a better place, a higher and holier heavenly place.

136. Utterly Destroy Enemies

Deuteronomy 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.

The command for the Israelites is to utterly destroy the enemies in the Land. The promise is that the Israelites will utterly destroy the enemies in the Land. The seven heathen nations mentioned as living in the Land are enemies because they are pagan idolaters who have rejected the true God in favor of false gods and have taken demons for their gods. They must be utterly destroyed or they will remain in the Land and become thorns in the side that will tempt the true believers into sin, shame, idolatry, and demon worship.

The truth for us NT believers applies spiritually like this. God has put the Land (Kingdom of God) in our hearts. God lives and rules there, but sin and evil and demons still reside there as well. They must be utterly destroyed with no pity, tolerance or compromise. For it is syncretism (holding two or more beliefs or holding to two or more gods at the same time) that exiled God’s people from the Land. Allowing false religion to abide in the same heart as the true God, sometimes serving one and sometimes the other, draws us away from a pure faith in the One Loving God and Lord Jesus Christ. “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” We may or may not lose the Kingdom, but we will not be able to enjoy the full and free benefits of God’s Life and Reign. 

Therefore, we are commanded to root out every root of bitterness and weed out all the thorny cares of the world in order to enjoy life in the Kingdom of God. And with the command He gives us the promise that we will be able to actually do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, who uses the Gospel to utterly destroy the enemies of the soul. We will not utterly accomplish that in this life, but the promise of the possibility of complete victory must be held before our eyes so that we are willing to let the Spirit do His work in us. The devil, the world, and the flesh is always around us tempting us to misbelief and other great shame and vice, but so also is the Spirit of God with His promises of victory and life with peace and joy. The encouragement for us is not to be afraid to seriously confront sin and evil and be willing to utterly destroy it in the Land that lives in us.

135. The Lord Fights

Deuteronomy 20:4 For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

We all find ourselves in a spiritual war, trying to take, possess, hold on to, live in, and enjoy the Kingdom of God, which lives and rules in our hearts. In each believer there is the Kingdom of God that is being opposed, resisted, attacked by our spiritual enemies. The enemies have strongholds in the soul where the Kingdom reigns. They must be driven out and dislodged by the violent force of the resurrection promise of life, grace and perfect goodness.

In order to live free enough to really enjoy the life of God in us, we must daily drive out these enemies that seek to make a stronghold in the soul. From their strongholds they come out to attack our mind, will, and emotions. They get us all confused, scared, worried, and believing the world’s lies. For this purpose we have the promise of the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, going with us, to fight for us against our enemies and to save us.

The Biblical images of Warfare and Warrior are given to us for a reason. The reason is that God wants us to know that we have the Overcomer on our side fighting for us to overcome and finally obtain the victory.  Abraham, with his household of 318 people, defeated the four kings that had taken Lot. Jacob wrestled with God and the Lord changed his name to “Israel,” which can mean “God fights.” As believers, Israel is our name, “God fights for us.” Moses held up his staff and the waters parted, and then closed again to defeat the Egyptian enemy. Joshua (Hebrew name for Jesus) was strong and courageous with faith in the Lord to conquer the Land of Canaan. David the great warrior slew the lion, the bear, Goliath, and the Philistines. Many other Judges, Kings, soldiers and warriors won victories through faith in the Lord.

Our spiritual war is real, and it is serious, and it is for eternity. For this reason, God gives us this promise that we can rely on in our daily struggles: Jesus goes with you, fights for you, and saves you. He is doing that for us every day. He did not go back the heaven and leave us orphaned; He gave the Holy Spirit to live in us, rule for us, and fight our battles. We go forth into the battle every day with our Champion Warrior by our side and on our side. We may not like the image, but it is needful: He Fights!

134. Fear Not, God is With

Deuteronomy 20:1 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

How many times has God told us not to be afraid? Fear not! How many times has the Lord told us that He will be with us? “If God be for us, who can be against us?” In this context Israel is told not to fear the enemies in the Land because God is with you in the battle.

We are always in the battle against our spiritual enemies, Sin, Death, and the Devil. And God is always with us in the battle. Therefore, we don’t have to be afraid of them. We should be afraid of our spiritual enemies indeed, for they can do some real damage to us; we have reason to be afraid since we are too weak in our own flesh to stop their attack and harm. We are not strong enough to resist the temptations to sin; we are not smart enough to resist the devil and his lies; we are obviously not able to do anything about death as it relentlessly comes to destroy.

On the other hand, we should not be afraid of our spiritual enemies, for the Lord our God is with us:He is strong enough to resist the temptations of sin; He is smart enough to reject the lies of the devil; He is able to defeat death and grant eternal life. Because the Lord is with us and He has already saved us from the evil land and brought us to the good land, we are not afraid. The promise of “withness” is more powerful than we can see. The One who is “with” is on our side to fight for us, and overcome. 

Because of who Christ is and what He has done for us we are not afraid of our real enemies. That One is With Us. Christ is our power and might and strength; He is our wisdom and mind; He is our heart and soul. Therefore, He, in us, is able to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, because it is His heart and soul and mind and strength that is working in our heart and soul and mind and strength. This is the power of faith in the gospel. Jesus does it. Jesus fights. Jesus wins. Jesus overcomes. And that’s a promise. Therefore,we will not be afraid of the enemies of the soul and of the kingdom that lives there.

133. Raise up a Prophet

Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me (Moses), unto him ye shall hearken….I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee (Moses), and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

This is a Messianic Prophecy about Jesus of Nazareth, who will be the Prophet that God will raise up for the people, from among the people. God would become a human, born of the seed of Eve and of Abraham, a Jew, one of your own. He will be a Prophet like Moses, bringing you the words of God, and the love of God. You will listen to Him, for He has the words of eternal life. Hebrews 11:1, 2: “God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

The promise is that God will send such a Prophet to us, who will reveal God and speak His words. That promise is Jesus. He has come, and He is fulfilling the promise in our lifetimes by coming to us and speaking to us words of comfort and salvation and hope and love and life. The command is: “Listen to him.” The promise is: “You will listen to Him for I, the Lord your God, will put my words in His mouth.”

Jesus is the Word of God, the Mediator of the covenant between God and man, and the Prophet who speaks God’s words to us. When we believe in Jesus we have God and we have His Word. We have His promise and His blessing. 

We have the Promise of a Prophet who will speak the last words we will ever need, and who will Himself be the Last Word for us. We will not need to look for further words from God than what we have already received from the mouth and the hands of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Promise and the fulfillment of all the promises of God. He speaks all that the Lord commands Him to, and that is all we need for faith and life and life forever.

132. No Going Back

Deuteronomy 17:16 But he shall not…cause the people to return to Egypt…forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

God, through Moses, was telling the people that the king that God chooses should not lead the people back to Egypt. That king would be David, and the other kings of Judah. That King will also be Jesus, the Christ.

The promise for the people of Moses’ day, the people of David’s day, the people of Jesus’ day and the people of our day is that “you will henceforth return no more that way.” For us, that means you shall not return back to the world, to bondage to sin, and to subjection to death. Christ redeems you, you belong to God, and you will remain in the kingdom of light and in the freedom of eternal life. You will not return again to the darkness of the world.

“You shall not return,” is both a command and a promise. As Christians, we are commanded not to backslide into the ways of the world and sin, the kingdom from which we have been rescued. You are in a much brighter and freer kingdom now; don’t even think about returning. As Christians, we also have this word as a promise: God promises that we shall not return to the old ways and the old life. The promise is that the Lord Jesus Christ will hold us in the palm of His hand, the Holy Spirit will keep us in the one true faith, and the Father Himself will hold us to His bosom.

Of course, we may still disbelieve the promise and reject it, and we are free to return if we want to. But who would want to? However, Israel in the wilderness still wanted to return to Egypt. We may also think that some of the security and comforts that the world offers is better than trusting God for survival and an unseen future. But we keep the command because we have the promise. We don’t see the future, but we have this promise: it is much better than the past. The next land is far better than the last land, and even better than the present land. So we promise and we believe: “I will return no more that way.”

131. Rejoice

Deuteronomy 16:14, 15 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, and thy son, and etc….Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shall surely rejoice.

This is not a conditional promise, but it is the reverse: Because the Lord has blessed you, therefore you will rejoice. God promises joy in the heart, bliss, happiness and wellbeing after He has blessed your harvest and increase. Because God has saved you from bondage in worldly Egypt and given you the Land and blessed your work again this year, you will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in the autumn of the year. 

In fact, the Mosaic Covenant requires each Jewish family to go up to Jerusalem (the place where the Lord has chosen for His name to dwell there) three times a year: 1) early spring for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, 2) late spring for the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, 3) autumn for the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement. In the very celebrating of these Festivals there is a command to rejoice and the promise that you will rejoice.

It is expected that the Joy of the Lord will fill your hearts with overflowing that it infects all those around you. Take that as a promise: You will Rejoice! Since Jesus Christ has replaced the Jewish worship places and rituals with Himself, the NT believer still goes to “the place” (which is any place to worship in spirit and in truth) to celebrate several times a year and once every seven days. God promises that when you go to church you will find joy and rejoicing. You will rejoice because you heard once again that your sins are forgiven, that God is good and gracious, and eternal life is yours today. In this verse is given another reason to go to church: because God has blessed you. So you go to church and receive more joy and blessing. The ultimate result: you shall surely rejoice.

130. Blessed in your works

Deuteronomy 15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

The condition of this promise is giving to the poor. If you give, then you will be blessed. “It is better to give than to receive.” “Give and it will be given to you.” The Bible is full of encouragements to feed the hungry and take care of the poor. And Christians are generally charitable and generous in giving and sharing. 

God promises that He will always take care of what you need when you are busy taking care of the needs of others. When the Lord finds a willing and generous giver He provides that giver with more and more so that the person can be a flowing conduit of God’s goodness to others. God does keep accounts, and He will always give you more than you give away.

God promises to bless you in all your ways, not just with more money so you can give more; the blessings are material, but in a more significant way the blessings are spiritual, mental and emotional. But we take note that the Lord says He will bless you in all your works. This refers to the calling in which God has placed you in life, whether husband, father, etc., etc. The Lord cannot bless you when you step out of “your works” and steal, lie, cheat, defraud, or commit other forbidden sins against God and neighbor. We simply “go about our business” doing the work in which we are called to the best of our ability and happily share our blessing with others. When you try to seek gain by doing things you are not supposed to do there is no blessing in it. We will do “all that we put our hand unto,” within the bounds of God’s Law and within His more specific purposes for our lives.

It is a hard lesson to learn: what we give to others multiplies good, and what we hoard to ourselves diminishes itself and subtracts from the good. Thus we must believe the promise contrary to worldly math. It works like this: 1) God saves and blesses, 2) we are filled with life and love, 3) we gladly give and share, 4) God blesses and gives us even more. And so it goes in an endless happy cycle.

129. Greatly Bless

Deuteronomy 15:4, 5, 6 The Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it; Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

The conditional promise of blessing is repeated: if you listen to the Lord and keep all His Commandments then He will bless you. The Lord promises material and spiritual blessings according to His promise, but only if you listen and do. You will become so blessed that you become a lender, not a borrower, to other nations, and no other nation will reign over you, but you will reign over them.

As we know from history, this did not work out in the political world because the rebellious people would not keep the commandments. But the promise of spiritual blessing and eternal wealth is still in effect for all believers in Christ, who kept the commandments for us. We will, without a doubt, become so wealthy and rich in spiritual blessings that we freely give away love, joy, peace, forgiveness, mercy, kindness, and grace to the nations (the people in the world around us).

And further, we, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, will never be ruled by our enemies (Sin, Death, Devil), but we shall rule over them. We have God the King living in us: how can we not be blessed, wealthy, and powerful? Finally, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of God and He shall reign forever.

We have been graced and blessed by God Almighty to live in the greatest kingdom of all time and of eternity, the Kingdom of God. Jesus earned for us a place in this awesome kingdom, and it rules in our hearts. We are greatly blessed.

128. Holy and Peculiar People

Deuteronomy 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

The people of the Covenant, saved through the Exodus from Egypt, and melded into a nation under Moses were made by God to be Holy and Peculiar. God created them to be a holy and peculiar people unto himself by promise and then by action.

The NT people of God who are believers in Jesus are also holy and peculiar: I Peter 2:9: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The OT believers and the NT believers are one holy and peculiar people of God, all of which believe in the Promise, Jesus Christ.

The Lord separated a people for Himself out of all the peoples of the world. We believers in Jesus have been called out of darkness into light, separated from the world, and made holy and peculiar. This is God’s promise: you are holy and peculiar.

“Peculiar” simply means different and special; it does not necessarily mean odd, strange, crazy or curious. From a worldly perspective, the Christians are meant to be different than the world. Therefore, it ought be noticed that they are different than the way the world thinks, talks, and acts. Our ways are not the world’s ways: we do not live only for the Self but for Others; we do not seek to grab and get but to give and share; we do not look for fame and glory but for service and humility; we walk the extra mile, give the extra shirt, and turn the other cheek; we pray for our enemies and treat kindly those who mistreat us. That, and much more, is peculiar to the way of the world and its people. To the world holiness is odd and peculiar, but to God it is normal and pleasing.

And the promise is: we will be that kind of people, the salt and light kind of people. We can’t always tell the difference between the two kinds of people in the world, for too often believers look like unbelievers. But God sees the heart, and in the heart of the Christian lives Jesus, which is what God sees. Thus the Lord sees us as holy and special and different. We need to see ourselves the same way, and that is why we need a promise like this. See what God sees. Believe what He says about you.