Abiding Values from Israel’s History

Deuteronomy 11:13-25

GOLDEN TEXT: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.”—Proverbs 14:34

THE Israelites were slow of heart to believe God’s promises, and to obey His laws. The Lord, nevertheless, was very merciful toward them and, through Moses, sought to prepare them for the blessings which could be theirs when they entered into the promised land. Today’s lesson is an example of this. They would need to be more faithful to the Lord after they entered the land than they were during the wilderness journey, else they would fail to enjoy the richness of divine blessings for which they hoped.

There are many blessings which the Lord showers upon mankind irrespective of obedience or lack of obedience—“He maketh His sun to rise … on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45) But these are not guaranteed blessings. They are valuable when received, but God cannot be charged with carelessness when they fail. These common blessings make life worth living even with all its trials and sufferings. And unbelievers enjoy as many of them as do believers.

But God announced to Israel His willingness to guarantee certain blessings, “if” they would give earnest heed to the covenant into which they had entered with Him, serving Him with all their heart and with all their soul. Many and g eat are the issues that have been and still are poised upon that little word “if.” No greater or more important issue could confront any individual than that of being on the list of those to whom God guarantees His blessings. To the Israelites the Lord said,

“Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after gods which ye have not known.”—Deuteronomy 11:26-28

The nature of the blessings which the Lord promised to Israel deserves attention. He did not promise them that if they obeyed Him they would go to heaven at death. What would happen to them at death was not mentioned in the covenant between God and the Israelites. Instead of indicating that their reward for faithfulness would be a future home in heaven, God promised that if they obeyed Him their days on earth would be as the days of heaven.—Verse 21

God promised the Israelites material blessings—“I will give you the rain of your land in due season, the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.” (Verses 14,15) Their days on earth were not to be as the days of heaven on account of having plenty to eat for themselves and for their cattle. We are not to suppose that the blessings of heaven are made up of corn and wine and cattle.

The blessings promised to Israel were not to be of a temporary character. If they kept the Law perfectly they were to have life—not temporarily, but forever, that is, everlasting life. That life was to be enjoyed upon the earth—in the land of Canaan. It was not to be a life of hardship and privation, but an abundant life. It was to be a way of life free from suffering and death, and filled with an abundance of everything needed to make it blessed, including—we might say specially—the friendship and fellowship of God.

Surely such a way of life would be like the days of heaven upon the earth. The blessings of heaven are eternal, and the crowning feature of those blessings must certainly be the fact that all the creatures of heaven enjoy the richness of God’s favor. These joys of heaven, are, however, the result of obedience to the divine will. We are reminded of this in our Lord’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth even as it is in heaven.” When this prayer is fully answered, it will be as the days of heaven everywhere upon the earth.

God’s dealings with Israel were of a typical character, intended to illustrate in part the Mediatorial Kingdom of Christ. As the blessings to be made available to mankind during the thousand years of that Kingdom are to be earthly, so the blessings promised in the illustration were material. Israel did not obtain the blessings because they stayed on the wrong side of the “if”—they did not obey God’s law.

The Scriptures assure us, however, that it will be quite different under the Messianic Kingdom arrangements. Conditions then will be much more favorable for Israel and for all nations. Christ will be a better Mediator than Moses, having offered up better sacrifices; that is, His own perfect sacrifice, as well as the sacrifices of His church made acceptable through the merit of His blood.

God has not promised material blessings to the church of this Gospel age, but He has promised to supply all spiritual needs. But here again the actual receiving of these blessings depends upon faithfulness to the divine will. The “if” of our lesson is just as much for us as it was for the Israelites of old.

God will be very patient with us as He was with the Israelites, extending His mercy and love like a river. He covers our imperfections with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need. At the same time, however, we should not take God’s mercy for granted, and continue in sin that grace may abound.

QUESTIONS:

What did God mean by the promise that the Israelites’ blessings would be as the days of heaven upon the earth?

To whom does God guarantee His blessings?

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