“Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!”
“And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites. I AM has sent me to you! God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites, The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.” (Ex. 3:14-15)
My Bible commentary notes, “To know the name of God is to witness the manifestation of those attributes and apprehend that character which the name denotes (Exod. 6:3; 1 Kings 8:33ff.; Ps. 91:14; Isa. 52:6; 64:2; Jer. 16:21) ...God's name is His self-revelation... The name signifies the active presence of the person in the fullness of the revealed character.” [1]
“Lord I lift Your name on high” sings in the background.
Exodus 6:3 says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but My name the Lord [Yahweh -the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles].
In Exodus, God brought deliverance to His people out of bondage in great power. In Exodus 20:2, the Lord told the Israelites, “I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Jeremiah 16:21 says, “Therefore [says the Lord] behold, I will make them know -[yes], this once I will make them know My power and My might; and they will know and recognize that my name is the Lord.”
“Jesus, name above all names.” sings
Psalm 91:14 says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him on high, because he knows and understand My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness -trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no never].
“Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus” sings
Moses asked that he would know the Lord personally and by name in Exodus 33:17. He proclaimed, “I beseech You, show me Your glory.” The Lord responded, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.”
In Exodus 34:5-7 the Lord descended and a cloud of glory and proclaimed His name: “The Lord! The Lord! A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the childrens' children, to the third and fourth generation.”
Isaiah 52:6, “Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!”
Commentary notes, “But He will show Himself strong on behalf of His own, and they will know that He is all that He promised to be.” [2]
I AM is the Hebrew word hayah, Strongs #1961. Vine's Expository Dictionary notes that it is emphasizing “the God who made the covenant was the God who kept the covenant.” It notes, “So Exod. 3:14 is more than a simple statement of identity: 'I am that I am'; it is a of divine control of all things (cf. Hos. 1:9).” [3]
Another commentary notes about Exod. 3:14, “God does not merely declare His absolute existence, He also declares His relationship to His people. It is not simply that He exists, or even that He will ever exist, but that He declares that He is for His people. This is His name of grace, of relatedness, of covenant, and of condescending wonder. He is not a “new” deity but the same who made an eternal covenant with the fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and was worshiped by them (v. 6)” [4]
Genesis 17:7 -8 says, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you. And I will give to you and to your posterity after you the land in which you are a stranger [going from place to place], all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
God promised that He would bring His name (all that He is) into relationship with the Israelites, being their God, and that He would have a relationship with them, establishing them in the Promised Land - as an everlasting inheritance.
“Isn't He beautiful... Counselor, Almighty God, Yes You are!... Prince of Peace, Son of God, Yes You are!”
Moses and the people sang in Exodus 15:11-18,
Moses told the people in Exodus 14:13-14, “Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
God set them free out of bondage because He remembered His covenant with them. Exodus 2:24; 37-8 says, “And God heard their sighing and groaning and [earnestly] remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob...
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty] -to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”
The land that God brought His people into was not a place of seclusion far from potential influence from their enemies. Rather, God put them in the very midst of their enemies (the place of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite) and called them to be set apart and holy.
We are placed in the midst of our enemies (Ps. 23:5). And we are to learn to reign, conquering the enemy and driving them out just as the Israelites did when they took the Promised Land. Our enemy, is not people, our battle is “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “'The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blashphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?' (Luther).” [5]
Psalm 23:5a says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
And it was God's strength and not the Israelites own strength that dispossessed their enemy right before their very eyes, causing them to inherit the land. Psalm 44:3 says, “For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because you favored them.”
It was because of the covenant that God gave the Israelites the land as He had promised to their forefathers. Exodus 6:4 says, “I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their temporary residence in which they were strangers.
“I will celebrate, sing onto the Lord, I will sing onto Him a new song. I will praise Him, for He has triumphed victoriously!”
Francis Frangipane notes that the power of Israel was in its covenant with God. He writes, “it caused the waters to part so that the entire nations could possess their inheritance. “ [6]
He goes on to write the the covenant required a response, “The entire covenant process is something initiated, established, confirmed, and fulfilled by an act of divine will. The response of God's covenant partner is simply to believe in the integrity of God's promise and obey the covenant conditions.” [7]
In Exodus 19:4-6 the Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.”
Many times in the Old Testament, the Israelites forgot about God and forsook their covenant with Him. When they did, they failed to experience the benefits of Him dispossessing the enemy before them. Allen Hood writes, “Anything that is opposed to the loving covenant between God and His people, whether inside or outside the camp, kindles God's zeal/jealously and brings forth His fiery wrath.” [8] (see Leviticus 26) [a]
However, when His people turned back to Him, God quickly forgave their sin and remembered again His promises to bless them. God never forgot His covenant promise even when the people turned from Him. Paul notes in Galatians 3:18 that God gave the promise to Abraham as free gift.
The Lord says in Isaiah 54:10, "For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you."
In 1 Kings 8:23,33 Solomon prays, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing mercy and living-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart...
When Your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and they turn again to You, confess Your name (Your revelation of Yourself), and pray, beseeching You in this house, Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and return them to the land You gave to their fathers.”
“We are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands” sings
The Lord responded to Solomon's prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, “If I shut up heaven so no rain falls, or if I command locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear form heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
“We will embrace Your move, We will embrace Your love” sings
Francis Frangipane notes that even today, as Christians we are a covenant people. He notes “The power of redemption in what we describe as the 'Christian life' is power springing from an eternal covenant. Our relationship with God is a covenant relationship through Christ.” [9]
The Covenant God made with Abraham was not abolished by Jesus, rather it was fulfilled through Him. Galatians 3:15-17 says, “To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, [if] even a man makes a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified, confirmed).
Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah).
This is my argument: The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void.
A new and better covenant was established through Jesus (Hebrews 8:6). Hebrews 8:7-13 says, “For if the first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an attempt to institute another one. However, He finds fault with them [showing its inadequacy] when He says, Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant or agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to help and relieve them and to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide in My agreement with them, and so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...
When God speaks of a new [covenant or agreement], He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use and annulled because of age) is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.”
The Promised Land in the Old Testament is a shadow of the New Testament. Through Jesus Christ, we are given access to not just know about God, but encounter Him. The veil has been torn and we are free to have a relationship with Him. And through the covenant we inherit His eternal promises.
The Angel of the Lord going ahead of the Israelites in Exodus to keep them in the way and bring them in the place God prepared for them, the promised land, is a type and shadow that points us to Jesus. God sent His only Son to go ahead of us to provide a way that we could keep His commands and enter into the broad place He had prepared for us – fullness of life in Christ. And it is not by our own strength, but by the power of God that we enter into this fullness of life.
God made the way for us to draw near through His Son ( Hebrews 12:18-24) so we may truly know Him, experiencing Him for ourselves and not just hear about Him. By this New Covenant based upon the blood of Jesus, we can “draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning on the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness)... (Hebrews 10:22).
And through Jesus, this covenant rests upon even greater and better promises (Hebrews 8:6).
David proclaims in Psalm 103:2-7, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits– Who forgives [everyone of] all your iniquities, who heals [each one of] all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring! The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.”
“Mighty is our King!”
Lord, sometimes it is hard to receive a love that keeps on pursuing, keeps on loving and keeps on giving. As the song sings in the background, “What a wonder You are.” Your love amazes me. I often feel like I need to be deserving of such love and I never will be. Would you give us eyes to behold You, heart's to encounter You, and feet that walk into all the promises that You so freely give.
“We shall behold Him... face to face in all of His glory” sings.
a. Leviticus 26: 3-46 (AMP)
If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit. And your threshing [time] shall reach to the vintage and the vintage [time] shall reach to the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
I will give peace in the land; you shall lie down and none shall fill you with dread or make you afraid; and I will clear ferocious (wild) beasts out of the land, and no sword shall go through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you.
And you shall eat the [abundant] old store of produce long kept, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new. I will set My dwelling in and among you, and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you. And I will walk in and with and among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people.
I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should no more be slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [as free men].
But if you will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments, and if you spurn and despise My statutes, and if your soul despises and rejects My ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant, I will do this:
I will appoint over you [sudden] terror (trembling, trouble), even consumption and fever that consume and waste the eyes and make the [physical] life pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
I [the Lord] will set My face against you and you shall be defeated and slain before your enemies; they who hate you shall rule over you; you shall flee when no one pursues you. And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins.
And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
If you walk contrary to Me and will not heed Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins. I will loose the wild beasts of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few so that your roads shall be deserted and desolate.
If by these means you are not turned to Me but determine to walk contrary to Me, I also will walk contrary to you, and I will smite you seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall execute the vengeance [for the breaking] of My covenant; and you shall be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy.
When I break your staff of bread and cut off your supply of food, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread and deliver it again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.
And if in spite of all this you will not listen and give heed to Me but walk contrary to Me, Then I will walk contrary to you in wrath, and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters.
And I will destroy your high places [devoted to idolatrous worship], and cut down your sun-images, and throw your dead bodies upon the [wrecked] bodies of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you [with deep and unutterable loathing]. I will lay your cities waste, bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet and soothing odors [of offerings made by fire].
And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out [your enemies'] sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities a waste.
Then shall the land [of Israel have the opportunity to] enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest, to enjoy and receive payments for its sabbaths [divinely ordained for it]. As long as it lies desolate and waste, it shall have rest, the rest it did not have in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it.
As for those who are left of you, I will send dejection (lack of courage, a faintness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to hasty and tumultuous flight, and they shall flee as if from the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
They shall stumble over one another as if to escape a sword when no one pursues them; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations; the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away like them.
But if they confess their own and their fathers' iniquity in their treachery which they committed against Me--and also that because they walked contrary to Me I also walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies--if then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they then accept the punishment for their iniquity, Then will I [earnestly] remember My covenant with Jacob, My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham, and [earnestly] remember the land.
But the land shall be left behind them and shall enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they shall accept the punishment for their sins and make amends because they despised and rejected My ordinances and their soul scorned and rejected My statutes.
And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn and cast them away, neither will I despise and abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.
But I will for their sake [earnestly] remember the covenant with their forefathers whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws which the Lord made between Him and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.
1. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
2. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Is 52:3
3. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:13-14
4. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ex 3:15
5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, NY. 1954.
6-7, 9. Frangipane, Francis. Shelter Of The Most High. Charisma House, Lake Mary, FL. 2008
8. Hood, Allen. Excellencies of Christ. Forerunner Books, Kansas City, MO. 2006.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
My Bible commentary notes, “To know the name of God is to witness the manifestation of those attributes and apprehend that character which the name denotes (Exod. 6:3; 1 Kings 8:33ff.; Ps. 91:14; Isa. 52:6; 64:2; Jer. 16:21) ...God's name is His self-revelation... The name signifies the active presence of the person in the fullness of the revealed character.” [1]
“Lord I lift Your name on high” sings in the background.
Exodus 6:3 says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but My name the Lord [Yahweh -the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles].
In Exodus, God brought deliverance to His people out of bondage in great power. In Exodus 20:2, the Lord told the Israelites, “I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Jeremiah 16:21 says, “Therefore [says the Lord] behold, I will make them know -[yes], this once I will make them know My power and My might; and they will know and recognize that my name is the Lord.”
“Jesus, name above all names.” sings
Psalm 91:14 says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him on high, because he knows and understand My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness -trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no never].
“Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus” sings
Moses asked that he would know the Lord personally and by name in Exodus 33:17. He proclaimed, “I beseech You, show me Your glory.” The Lord responded, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.”
In Exodus 34:5-7 the Lord descended and a cloud of glory and proclaimed His name: “The Lord! The Lord! A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the childrens' children, to the third and fourth generation.”
Isaiah 52:6, “Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!”
Commentary notes, “But He will show Himself strong on behalf of His own, and they will know that He is all that He promised to be.” [2]
I AM is the Hebrew word hayah, Strongs #1961. Vine's Expository Dictionary notes that it is emphasizing “the God who made the covenant was the God who kept the covenant.” It notes, “So Exod. 3:14 is more than a simple statement of identity: 'I am that I am'; it is a of divine control of all things (cf. Hos. 1:9).” [3]
Another commentary notes about Exod. 3:14, “God does not merely declare His absolute existence, He also declares His relationship to His people. It is not simply that He exists, or even that He will ever exist, but that He declares that He is for His people. This is His name of grace, of relatedness, of covenant, and of condescending wonder. He is not a “new” deity but the same who made an eternal covenant with the fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and was worshiped by them (v. 6)” [4]
Genesis 17:7 -8 says, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you. And I will give to you and to your posterity after you the land in which you are a stranger [going from place to place], all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
God promised that He would bring His name (all that He is) into relationship with the Israelites, being their God, and that He would have a relationship with them, establishing them in the Promised Land - as an everlasting inheritance.
“Isn't He beautiful... Counselor, Almighty God, Yes You are!... Prince of Peace, Son of God, Yes You are!”
Moses and the people sang in Exodus 15:11-18,
“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand, the earth's [sea] swallowed them.The people being delivered from bondage and gaining possession of the land was not by their own might, but by the power of God. He delivered them from the hands of the enemy. Moses proclaimed in Exodus 15:6, “Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
You in Your mercy and loving kindness have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.
The peoples have heard of it; they tremble; pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Now the chiefs of Edom are dismayed; the mighty me of mob [renowned for strength], trembling takes hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away -little by little.
Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of Your arm they are as still as a stone -till Your people pass by and over [into Canaan], O Lord, till the people pass by whom You have purchased.
You will bring them in [to the land] and plant them on Your own mountain, the place, O Lord, You have made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.
The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Moses told the people in Exodus 14:13-14, “Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
God set them free out of bondage because He remembered His covenant with them. Exodus 2:24; 37-8 says, “And God heard their sighing and groaning and [earnestly] remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob...
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty] -to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”
The land that God brought His people into was not a place of seclusion far from potential influence from their enemies. Rather, God put them in the very midst of their enemies (the place of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite) and called them to be set apart and holy.
We are placed in the midst of our enemies (Ps. 23:5). And we are to learn to reign, conquering the enemy and driving them out just as the Israelites did when they took the Promised Land. Our enemy, is not people, our battle is “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “'The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blashphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?' (Luther).” [5]
Psalm 23:5a says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
And it was God's strength and not the Israelites own strength that dispossessed their enemy right before their very eyes, causing them to inherit the land. Psalm 44:3 says, “For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because you favored them.”
It was because of the covenant that God gave the Israelites the land as He had promised to their forefathers. Exodus 6:4 says, “I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their temporary residence in which they were strangers.
“I will celebrate, sing onto the Lord, I will sing onto Him a new song. I will praise Him, for He has triumphed victoriously!”
Francis Frangipane notes that the power of Israel was in its covenant with God. He writes, “it caused the waters to part so that the entire nations could possess their inheritance. “ [6]
He goes on to write the the covenant required a response, “The entire covenant process is something initiated, established, confirmed, and fulfilled by an act of divine will. The response of God's covenant partner is simply to believe in the integrity of God's promise and obey the covenant conditions.” [7]
In Exodus 19:4-6 the Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.”
Many times in the Old Testament, the Israelites forgot about God and forsook their covenant with Him. When they did, they failed to experience the benefits of Him dispossessing the enemy before them. Allen Hood writes, “Anything that is opposed to the loving covenant between God and His people, whether inside or outside the camp, kindles God's zeal/jealously and brings forth His fiery wrath.” [8] (see Leviticus 26) [a]
However, when His people turned back to Him, God quickly forgave their sin and remembered again His promises to bless them. God never forgot His covenant promise even when the people turned from Him. Paul notes in Galatians 3:18 that God gave the promise to Abraham as free gift.
The Lord says in Isaiah 54:10, "For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you."
In 1 Kings 8:23,33 Solomon prays, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing mercy and living-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart...
When Your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and they turn again to You, confess Your name (Your revelation of Yourself), and pray, beseeching You in this house, Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and return them to the land You gave to their fathers.”
“We are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands” sings
The Lord responded to Solomon's prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, “If I shut up heaven so no rain falls, or if I command locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear form heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
“We will embrace Your move, We will embrace Your love” sings
Francis Frangipane notes that even today, as Christians we are a covenant people. He notes “The power of redemption in what we describe as the 'Christian life' is power springing from an eternal covenant. Our relationship with God is a covenant relationship through Christ.” [9]
The Covenant God made with Abraham was not abolished by Jesus, rather it was fulfilled through Him. Galatians 3:15-17 says, “To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, [if] even a man makes a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified, confirmed).
Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah).
This is my argument: The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void.
A new and better covenant was established through Jesus (Hebrews 8:6). Hebrews 8:7-13 says, “For if the first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an attempt to institute another one. However, He finds fault with them [showing its inadequacy] when He says, Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant or agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to help and relieve them and to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide in My agreement with them, and so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...
When God speaks of a new [covenant or agreement], He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use and annulled because of age) is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.”
The Promised Land in the Old Testament is a shadow of the New Testament. Through Jesus Christ, we are given access to not just know about God, but encounter Him. The veil has been torn and we are free to have a relationship with Him. And through the covenant we inherit His eternal promises.
The Angel of the Lord going ahead of the Israelites in Exodus to keep them in the way and bring them in the place God prepared for them, the promised land, is a type and shadow that points us to Jesus. God sent His only Son to go ahead of us to provide a way that we could keep His commands and enter into the broad place He had prepared for us – fullness of life in Christ. And it is not by our own strength, but by the power of God that we enter into this fullness of life.
God made the way for us to draw near through His Son ( Hebrews 12:18-24) so we may truly know Him, experiencing Him for ourselves and not just hear about Him. By this New Covenant based upon the blood of Jesus, we can “draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning on the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness)... (Hebrews 10:22).
And through Jesus, this covenant rests upon even greater and better promises (Hebrews 8:6).
David proclaims in Psalm 103:2-7, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits– Who forgives [everyone of] all your iniquities, who heals [each one of] all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring! The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.”
“Mighty is our King!”
Lord, sometimes it is hard to receive a love that keeps on pursuing, keeps on loving and keeps on giving. As the song sings in the background, “What a wonder You are.” Your love amazes me. I often feel like I need to be deserving of such love and I never will be. Would you give us eyes to behold You, heart's to encounter You, and feet that walk into all the promises that You so freely give.
“We shall behold Him... face to face in all of His glory” sings.
a. Leviticus 26: 3-46 (AMP)
If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit. And your threshing [time] shall reach to the vintage and the vintage [time] shall reach to the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
I will give peace in the land; you shall lie down and none shall fill you with dread or make you afraid; and I will clear ferocious (wild) beasts out of the land, and no sword shall go through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you.
And you shall eat the [abundant] old store of produce long kept, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new. I will set My dwelling in and among you, and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you. And I will walk in and with and among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people.
I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should no more be slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [as free men].
But if you will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments, and if you spurn and despise My statutes, and if your soul despises and rejects My ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant, I will do this:
I will appoint over you [sudden] terror (trembling, trouble), even consumption and fever that consume and waste the eyes and make the [physical] life pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
I [the Lord] will set My face against you and you shall be defeated and slain before your enemies; they who hate you shall rule over you; you shall flee when no one pursues you. And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins.
And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
If you walk contrary to Me and will not heed Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins. I will loose the wild beasts of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few so that your roads shall be deserted and desolate.
If by these means you are not turned to Me but determine to walk contrary to Me, I also will walk contrary to you, and I will smite you seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall execute the vengeance [for the breaking] of My covenant; and you shall be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy.
When I break your staff of bread and cut off your supply of food, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread and deliver it again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.
And if in spite of all this you will not listen and give heed to Me but walk contrary to Me, Then I will walk contrary to you in wrath, and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters.
And I will destroy your high places [devoted to idolatrous worship], and cut down your sun-images, and throw your dead bodies upon the [wrecked] bodies of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you [with deep and unutterable loathing]. I will lay your cities waste, bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet and soothing odors [of offerings made by fire].
And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out [your enemies'] sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities a waste.
Then shall the land [of Israel have the opportunity to] enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest, to enjoy and receive payments for its sabbaths [divinely ordained for it]. As long as it lies desolate and waste, it shall have rest, the rest it did not have in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it.
As for those who are left of you, I will send dejection (lack of courage, a faintness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to hasty and tumultuous flight, and they shall flee as if from the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
They shall stumble over one another as if to escape a sword when no one pursues them; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations; the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away like them.
But if they confess their own and their fathers' iniquity in their treachery which they committed against Me--and also that because they walked contrary to Me I also walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies--if then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they then accept the punishment for their iniquity, Then will I [earnestly] remember My covenant with Jacob, My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham, and [earnestly] remember the land.
But the land shall be left behind them and shall enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they shall accept the punishment for their sins and make amends because they despised and rejected My ordinances and their soul scorned and rejected My statutes.
And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn and cast them away, neither will I despise and abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.
But I will for their sake [earnestly] remember the covenant with their forefathers whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws which the Lord made between Him and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.
1. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
2. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Is 52:3
3. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:13-14
4. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ex 3:15
5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, NY. 1954.
6-7, 9. Frangipane, Francis. Shelter Of The Most High. Charisma House, Lake Mary, FL. 2008
8. Hood, Allen. Excellencies of Christ. Forerunner Books, Kansas City, MO. 2006.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
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