Good morning,
This week is the second of a three-week series titled “Lest we forget”. Deuteronomy chapters 6, 7, and 8, will be our text.
The key verse is Deuteronomy 6:12, which states, “Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
The children of Israel are getting ready to go into the promised land. Moses wants them to remember what has taken place in the last 40 years. He does not want them to forget.
This week we will look at Deuteronomy 7. Possessing the land.
Who is Israel? (6-8)
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Israel is a holy people. They were chosen by God to be special unto Himself. God did this for two reasons. First, He loved them. Second, because the oath that He made with their fathers. God keeps His promises.
We, as believers in Christ, are part of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 13:14-16.
“And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.”
We are the “seed”. The promised land is what today is the Middle East, which includes Israel. Israel does not possess all the land that God promised her. She will at a time soon to come.
As God loves His covenant people Israel, He also loves anyone who will trust Christ as Savior and Lord. He states his love for us in John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Who is God? (9-10)
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.”
The Lord thy God is God. He is faithful, keeps covenant, is merciful, and repays evil doers.
This is our God. He is always there when we need Him. He never changes. Malachi 3:6 states, “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
If we believe this, it should change the way we look at our lives. We have the God of creation on our side.
Go serve God, in His power, today.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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