God’s faithful Presence.
<Ex 23> 20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
- Continuous presence never left His people.
- God will lead us all the way, from this life into eternity.
- God can be trusted to finish what He began.
Promise:
Obedience >> Blessings;
Disobedience >> Punishment.
- <Lev 26> and <Deut 28>.
21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
- Blessings require obedience.
25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
- Not just spiritual blessings, but also physical ones: Food, health, fertility, long life.
- Obedience is good for you.
- It is not “obey God so that He will love you”; but that you can “enjoy” His blessings.
- Not “transactional”.
- Not “prosperity gospel”.
- There are exceptions to the norm.
- Promises given to Israel as a nation.
- Doesn’t mean that God cannot work beyond these “norms” to bring about a special but good purpose in His people.
- The greatest of God’s blessings are spiritual, rather than physical.
- God’s covenant is more unconditional than conditional.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
- Blessings may not come instantly, but gradually.
- Don’t always yearn for quick “supernatural” results.
- Embrace a more “natural” and “normal” way of life.
- Though God can make things happen on His own, He often chooses to use the participation and obedience of His people to accomplish things.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
Loyalty is to the exclusion of all others.
- Guard against “snares”.
- Greatest danger is not obvious problems, but subtle ones, where sin is made to look normal and righteousness seems strange.
- v32 : Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.
- Should still engage non-believers to share good news with them, but think twice about entering covenantal relationship with them.
Covenant Code:
Aims to cement our relationship with God, and teach us how to live right before God who is present with us and who promises to bless us if we worship Him ALONE and obey Him.
