2013년 11월 24일 주일 영어예배 설교
신명기 29:5-9

(Deuteronomy 29:1-9)

     There are a couple of pastors whom I respect and love. Some of them are in heaven now, and some of them are still alive. The other day, one of them posted something like this on Facebook, “I have a son, but I never prayed asking God to make him a great worker for God’s church or the kingdom of God because I have firmly believed ‘the covenant of God’.” The wording of the pastor never meant that he had not prayed for his son, nor that he doesn’t want his son to be a man who is used by God. But the wording means that he has believed that prior to any act or prayer of men, his son is already in God’s blissful covenant and he trusts in the very blissful promise of the covenant. So I applauded him in my heart. One of the most remarkable facts found in the Bible is that God is always eager to keep His own covenant with His people while men so often doubt and forget the glorious covenant. God with infinite perseverance and perfect ability has always led finite and unable people. Today, through the text, we are going to be appreciating how God reminds the people, especially the second generation, that God has been leading His own people, and the people are enjoying God’s sincerity and grace.

     In verses 1-4, “These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” Here, ‘the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with them at Horeb’ is the covenant that God made with Abraham a long time ago and also with his children, Isaac and Jacob. More precisely, the covenant is that which God launched in the Garden of Eden right after Adam committed sin against God, and so brought about the curses, death, and sinfulness, in this human world. So the covenant was made by God himself for saving his own people from the curse of death and sinfulness, and it is based on God’s sovereignty and forestalling love. Exactly according to the covenant, the Israel people were in the process of the accomplishment of the covenant. The verses very succinctly explain the protections and wonders of God for the people during the wilderness journey. The phrase, “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear”, means that although the first generation of Exodus experienced all the miracles and protections of God from the beginning of the Exodus, most of the people who were born during the journey didn’t have the experiences. So we can understand this text as renewing the covenant, of course the same covenant as the one given to Abraham that is not modified.

     In verses 5-9, “I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do.” Here, God directly declares that He alone has led and protected the people for the last forty years in the wilderness journey, ‘I have led you forty years in the wilderness.’ And God emphasizes the important fact, ‘Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.’ They were sojourners, so they never settled down in one place but just used to stay for a while in one spot and move again toward their final destination, Canaan. So they could not farm or engage in stock farming. But God had sincerely provided all food, manna and quail, and the miraculous free worn out clothes and sandals during their marching through the wilderness. The thing that they had to do and could do was to just march toward their final destination with obedience and trust in their God. The reason why all these things were possible was because of the covenant. The covenant fully filled with God’s ardent love, sincerity, and divine ability was holding up the people’s everyday lives in the wilderness. Not only the stuff of their daily lives, but also their battles were perfectly conducted by God. The text simply shows this fact. Why does God fight for His people? Because God chose them in person and decided to love and save them, and finally restore and deliver them into the perfect situation by himself. This is God’s act, God’s initiative. Nothing is able to intervene it. On the stage called time and space, God loves to show his love and ability gradually leading his people to the perfectly restored status which God originally designed for his men at the beginning. Despite men’s rebellions against God as a result of sin, God has been acting for his chosen people’s restoration, and the operation has been being accomplished according to the covenant. That’s why God fights in His people’s daily lives. The fact itself that God has the covenant with us and fights for us is our blessings and guarantee in our lives, and it is our ultimate and final comfort and peace. So God again affirms this practical and important fact in verse 9, “Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do.”

Now we need to question ourselves, “Are we in the covenant of God?” We can say, “Yes” How can we be involved in the covenant? God clearly says that the offspring of Abraham who is involved in the covenant does not mean physical blood offspring, but spiritual offspring. You and I are not Israelites, Jews but just Korean, that is to say, we are Gentiles. “Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Gal 3:6-9). So now for us, faith in what? Again “Yes!”, faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. “So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3:14). ‘In Christ Jesus!’ In Christ Jesus, we can be qualified to be the offspring of Abraham and receive the promised blessings in the covenant. Galatians continues to say this, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” (Gal 3:16).

Therefore, in order for us to have the amazing graceful declaration of God, “I have led you for forty years in the wilderness,” as ours, we must be in Christ Jesus. And in order for us to enjoy the blissful promise, “Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do”, we must in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is because, Jesus Christ is the very consummation of the covenant of God, God decided to accomplish the gracious covenant for his people in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the officially guaranteed unique way of God for us to enjoy the blissful promise of the covenant of God.

Clearly see your past life, and clearly confess and acknowledge your unworthiness and sinfulness before God as God’s people. And honestly and simply confess, “I’m unworthy and a sinner, but God, you have saved, protected, comforted and blessed me according to your covenant in Christ Jesus our Lord, and I firmly believe that you will continue to do so in the future according to your covenant in Christ Jesus your begotten son.”

Everyone, the final triumphant victorious song is ours because we are already involved in the covenant of God. We win because we are the very beneficiaries of the covenant in Christ. Deeply meditate this wonderful fact in your lives, ‘I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.’ And in Christ, hold this brilliant promise, ‘Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.’