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.”