Good morning. It's good to see you guys. Good to worship with you. Please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 23.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church, and it is my joy and honor to preach God's word to you.
This morning, we've been going through a series in the book of Exodus.
If you don't have a Bible, if you raise your hand, we'll be happy to bring one over to you that you can use while you're here.
Exodus chapter 23. We'll be looking at verses 20 to 33.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.
Father, we love your word.
Because in your word, we hear your voice.
Because in your word, we meet Jesus, our Savior.
Because in your word, we are sharpened and equipped, complete for every good work.
And so we pay attention to your word again this morning.
Address us as you always do.
Glorify your name.
Exalt your son, Jesus.
Bring sinners who are dead in their trespasses to life through the proclamation of your word.
And fill us with an awareness, an intense awareness of your care and your love toward us,
as revealed in this passage.
In Jesus' name we ask.
Amen.
If you are able, please stand for the reading of God's word from Exodus 23, 20 to 33.
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice.
Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say,
then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites,
the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do,
but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water,
and I will take sickness away from among you.
None shall miscarry or be barren in your land.
I will fulfill the number of your days.
I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come,
and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you,
and I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.
I will not drive them out from before you in one year,
lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.
Little by little I will drive them out from before you,
until you have increased and possessed the land.
And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines,
and from the wilderness to the Euphrates.
For I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand,
and you shall drive them out before you.
You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me.
For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Please be seated.
Many of you are familiar with the announcement that the flight attendant makes
after everyone has boarded a plane.
Say, please direct your attention to the flight attendant in the cabin
when we review important safety information.
If you're like me, I rarely see anyone paying attention to the flight attendant.
Some people are looking out the window.
Some people are sleeping already.
Some people are, many, most of them, looking at their phones.
That may or may not be in airplane mode.
And some people are listening to music.
They're reading books.
Very few people are actually looking at the flight attendant.
Sometimes I've wondered what it would feel like to be the flight attendant.
Telling passengers important safety information and nobody's paying attention.
You know, why am I even doing this?
And there are several reasons why people don't pay attention.
One reason is that it's familiar.
You've heard it before.
Second reason is that people don't expect any mishap to happen on the flight.
So they dismiss the safety instructions as a mere formality.
Something that they have to do for legal reasons.
I just spoke with a friend this past week who told me that when he was younger,
he was on a plane, and as the plane was flying, one of the engines blew out.
And they could see out the window one of the engines on fire.
And the pilot had to make an emergency landing.
And panic obviously gripped the entire plane.
And I can assure you that not a few people on that plane in that very moment regretted
not paying any attention to the flight attendant's safety instructions.
The word of God is familiar to many of us.
And frankly, there are some people out there who don't think that obedience to God's word
makes much of a difference.
So they gloss over it when they read the Bible, or don't read it at all,
or hardly pay any attention.
But what if we really believe that the obedience to the word,
to God's word, is a matter of life and death?
Something that determines our eternal destiny.
Would we pay attention then?
We should pay attention to the voice of the Lord
as he leads us attentively into the promised land.
That's the main point of this passage.
We're going to first look at the precept, what God commands,
and then the promise, what God assures us will happen,
and then the pardon.
I mentioned to you last week that verse 13 is the crux,
the center point of the preceding passage.
It said,
The main function of all the laws that we have seen in the book of Exodus
is to keep the covenant relationship between God and his people intact,
to help the Israelites be faithful,
and to keep their allegiance to Yahweh.
And the main exhortation to pay attention from that preceding passage
is repeated again and again in this passage.
God promises to send an angel,
which in Hebrew simply means messenger,
to before the Israelites, to go before them into the promised land.
And then he says in verse 21,
Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice.
Do not rebel against him,
for he will not pardon your transgression,
for my name is in him.
I will circle back to the idea of pardoning transgression later on.
But verse 22 repeats that main command to pay attention.
But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say,
then I will be an enemy to your enemies
and an adversary to your adversaries.
The word obey is a translation of the Hebrew word
that means to listen.
Just as in English, the word listen can have the nuance
of hearing something as well as obeying something,
listen to me, for example, when parents say to their kids.
These two verses are emphasizing listening,
paying attention to the voice of the Lord,
the word of the Lord.
And there's a reciprocal relationship
between God's guarding of Israel,
which we saw in verse 21,
and Israel's paying attention to him.
So it says, in verse 20,
it says that the Lord guards them into the promised land.
That's the same word that's translated in verse 21
as pay attention.
As God sends his angel to guard them on the way,
we are to guard the word of God in our hearts
because, as Psalm 119 says,
we keep our way pure by guarding it
according to his word.
If we want to be guarded on the way to the promised land,
then we must guard the way of the Lord
and not stray from it.
That's because God's word keeps us and guards us.
If you keep to the path, in other words,
the path will keep you.
But if you stray from the path,
you stray into harm's way.
This is more than a quid pro quo.
God is not saying,
you do me a favor and I will do you a favor.
God doesn't need any favors from his people.
God is saying,
listen to my voice and obey my word
because my word alone leads you to salvation.
This word is what keeps you and saves you.
Do you guard the word of God
like a precious treasure in your life?
Do you pay attention to the word of God
like your life depends on it?
God drives this point home still further
in verses 23 to 25.
When my angel goes before you
and brings you to the Amorites
and the Hittites and the Perizzites
and the Canaanites,
the Hivites and the Jebusites
and I blot them out,
you shall not bow down to their gods
nor serve them,
nor do as they do,
but you shall utterly overthrow them
and break their pillars in pieces.
You shall serve the Lord your God.
There are three specific prohibitions here.
After God drives out the nations
and brings Israel into the possession
of the promised land,
they shall not,
one, bow down to the foreign gods
and two,
they shall not serve them
and three,
they shall not do as they do,
meaning they are not to follow the customs
of the people who worship these idols.
Instead,
they must serve Yahweh,
the Lord their God.
And a severe warning is attached to this
at the end of this passage
in verses 32 to 33.
You shall make no covenant with them
and their gods.
They shall not dwell in your land
lest they make you sin against me.
For if you serve their gods,
it will surely be a snare to you.
Compromise leads to apostasy.
If the idol worshipers
are allowed to remain in the land,
they will lead God's people into sin
and into idolatry.
If they make a covenant
with the false gods of the Canaanites,
they are breaking their covenant with Yahweh.
We know from the later books
in the Old Testament
that the Israelites, in fact,
do not keep this warning,
heed this warning.
They do let the Canaanites dwell among them.
You know, there might be several reasons
why they let that happen.
They might have said to themselves,
oh, what harm can they do?
They're a conquered people.
We've already defeated them.
We can assimilate them
into our culture and religion.
We know one reason for sure
is that they thought the Canaanites
could be useful to them
because they reduced them to forced labor.
They used them as a resource,
even though God told them
not to keep them in the land.
They thought that they were strong enough
to resist the pull of idolatry,
but they ended up falling into it.
The same fate befalls those of us
who make light of sin and temptation.
Don't overestimate your strength
and self-control.
Jesus teaches us to pray,
lead us not into temptation for a reason.
Don't flirt with temptations.
Flee from them.
Cast them away.
Don't go near the idols.
Christian author Johnny Erickson Tata
has said this in one of her writings.
She said that sin spreads this way.
Though gradually,
though no one remembers exactly how it happened,
the unthinkable becomes tolerable
and then acceptable
and then legal
and then applaudable.
Sin makes an imperceptible progress
into your heart.
So flee from it.
Cast it away.
Worship is a zero-sum game.
Jesus says in Matthew 6, 24,
no one can serve two masters.
For either he will hate the one
and love the other
or he will be devoted to the one
and despise the other.
If a wife cheats on her husband,
a sensible man is not going to let his wife
keep doing that.
He's going to confront her
and issue an ultimatum
and say you must make a choice.
It's either going to be me
or it's going to be him.
There is a cosmic spiritual battle being waged
and to deprive God of the glory
and worship that he alone deserves
is idolatry.
There's no such thing as neutral ground.
That's why God says in the second commandment
that he is a jealous God.
He says in Isaiah 42, 8,
I am the Lord.
That is my name
and I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
There is no neutral ground
when it comes to worship.
To be an agnostic
is to not serve the Lord.
You've made your choice.
And it means that you have thrown your lot
with the false gods of this world.
But the Lord says,
if you carefully obey his voice
and do all that I say,
then I will be an enemy to your enemies
and an adversary to your adversaries.
If you choose the Lord's side,
then he will fight for you.
If you choose the idols of the pagan nations,
then you will find yourself
fighting against the Lord.
Because there are only two sides
in this spiritual war.
Jesus says in Luke 11, 23,
whoever is not with me
is against me.
Andrew Murray in his book,
Absolute Surrender,
makes the connection
that in the book of Matthew,
there are two occasions
when Jesus uses the word deny.
He says in Matthew 16, 24,
he tells Peter and the other disciples,
deny yourself and take up your cross
and follow me.
And then later in Matthew 26, 34,
he tells Peter,
you will deny me three times.
Those are the two options
presented to all of humanity.
Either we deny ourselves
to follow Christ
or we deny Christ
to serve ourselves.
Which will it be?
Are you trying to have it both ways?
Are you trying to live for God
and live for yourself?
Are you trying to please God
and enjoy the pleasures
of this sinful world?
Are you trying to serve the Lord
while also serving
the idols of other religions?
God's word teaches us
that that is impossible.
We must make a choice.
That's the precept.
Now let's get the promise.
If you look at the promises
of verses 25 to 33,
the choice is a no-brainer.
Look at the wonderful promises
of God in verses 25 to 26.
You shall serve the Lord your God
and he will bless your bread
and your water
and I will take sickness away
from among you.
None shall miscarry
or be barren in your land.
I will fulfill the number
of your days.
These are beautiful verses
because they reveal God's heart
toward us.
Some of you have been homeless
and have known hunger
in your life.
Some of you know
what it's like to be sick
and hurting,
whether that's with cancer
or a stroke
or COVID
or depression
or arthritis
or a pinched nerve.
some of you know
the grief
of miscarriage
to experience
the joy
of expecting a child
only to meet
crushing
disappointment.
Some of you know
the pain of barrenness.
to so wish
to have a child
to hold
in your own arms
and to love
and yet
year
after year
goes by
without even
a sign of pregnancy.
some of you
have lost loved ones
to untimely deaths.
Those who did not
fulfill the number
of their days.
All of these pains
are marks
of a sinful
and fallen world.
They reflect
our alienation
from God
our creator
but they
do not
reflect
God's heart
for you.
God promised
the Israelites
that should they
faithfully keep
the covenant
that they have
made with him
they should have
his unfailing
provision
and protection
over them
and that
was his heart.
He wanted
to lavish
his people
with these blessings.
He wanted
to protect
his people.
He wanted
to provide
for his people.
That's why
he says
again and again
pay attention
to my word.
listen to my word
obey my word
so that I can
lavish these blessings
on you.
That's the heart
of the Lord.
So if you are
in the midst
of suffering
and affliction
you may go to God
with your honest
questions
and you can groan
before him
and you can lay
your complaints
before him
but as you do
that remember
his heart
toward you.
Lamentations
32-33
teaches us
that though God
does cause
grief
at times
he will again
have compassion
according to
the abundance
of his steadfast
love.
The same
verses say
also that
when God
afflicts us
and grieves
us
he does not
do so
quote
from his
heart.
Though we
may not
always understand
the sovereign
purposes of God
behind our
suffering
we can always
be assured
of his heart
toward his
people.
And if God
is protecting
his people
it necessarily
means that
he fights
against their
enemies.
So he says
in verses
27-28
I will send
my terror
before you
and will
throw into
confusion
all the people
against whom
you shall
come
and I will
make all
your enemies
turn their
backs to you
and I will
send hornets
before you
which shall
drive out
the Hivites
the Canaanites
and the Hittites
from before you.
The word
drive out
is a key word
here that
occurs four
times in
verses 28-31
and the goal
is complete
expulsion of
the idol
worshippers
from the
land of
Canaan
lest they
be a snare
to the
Israelites
and lead
them astray
to sin.
God's
cleansing
the land
of its
sin
and idolatry.
That's why
he says
earlier in
verse 23
he will
blot them
out
efface them
from
Canaan
land.
But God
is not going
to drive out
the nations
in one
fell swoop.
It says
in verses
29-30
I will
not drive
them out
from before
you in
one year
lest the
land become
desolate
and the
wild beasts
multiply
against you.
Little by
little I
will drive
them out
from before
you until
you have
increased
and possessed
the land.
It's a very
interesting
statement.
Even the
pace at
which God
drives out
the nations
is very
deliberate.
he demonstrates
his wisdom
and care
for his
people.
According to
verse 31
the promised
land that
God is
giving them
will have
as its
border
from the
Red Sea
to the
north
and the
Sea of
the Philistines
which is the
Mediterranean Sea
to the
north.
And then
it's going
to stretch
all the way
to the
Euphrates
River
in the
east
and from
the Sinai
Peninsula
the Sinai
wilderness
in the
west.
That's a
sprawling
territory
that
encompasses
part or
all of
modern day
Egypt,
Israel,
Lebanon,
Syria,
Saudi Arabia,
and Iraq.
So if
all the
idolatry
nations
occupying
these lands
are driven
out all
at once,
vast swaths
of the
land will
remain
unoccupied
for generations
because Israel
is not
numerous enough
to fill
the land.
During
that time
the land
will become
desolate
and the
wild beasts
will multiply
making it
perhaps
uninhabitable.
So even
our perceived
slowness
on God's
part to
fulfill his
promise
is an
expression
of God's
patience
and God's
care.
Does God
seem slow
in answering
your prayers?
Does God
seem slow
in fulfilling
the promises
he's made
to you?
Is your
business
not growing
as quickly
as you'd
like it
to?
Is your
career not
taking off
as quickly
as you
had
envisioned?
Are you
not getting
married or
having children
as quickly
as you
had hoped?
Did you
think that
you'd be in
full-time
vocational
ministry by
this stage
of your
life?
God knows
our
God's
reasons for
these seeming
delays in
our lives
but these
verses are
a helpful
reminder to
trust in
God's
wisdom.
The Lord
is not
slow to
fulfill his
promise as
some count
slowness but
is patient
toward you.
God knows
exactly what
we can handle.
God knows
our weaknesses
and limitations.
It's important
to notice
here who
the primary
agent of
the driving
out of
the nations
is.
Look at
verses 29
to 30
again.
Twice it
says,
I will
drive them
out.
Of the
four instances
of the
verb drive
out,
only one
of them,
verse 31,
has as its
subject the
word you,
the Israelites.
So that does
tell us that
Israelites have a
role to play.
They do have a
responsibility.
They do have to
go to war and
be a part of
the driving out
of the nations.
But three out
of the four
times, the
subject of the
verb is the
Lord himself or
the thing that
the Lord is
sending.
And that's
where the
theological
weight of
this passage
is.
It's the
Lord who
will ultimately
drive out
these pagan
nations out
of the
promised land.
In particular,
there are two
things that the
Lord will
send in order
to drive out
these nations.
First, verse
27 says, I
will send my
terror before
you.
And verse 28
says, I will
send hornets
before you.
The terror that
the Lord sends
likely refers to
the dread and
panic that
overtake the
enemies of God
as they hear
Israel approaching
and learn of
how the Lord
has previously
delivered them
and fought on
their behalf in
the past.
the result of
this terror that
God sends ahead
of the Israelites
is that it
throws them into
confusion, it
says, and all
the people against
whom they shall
come.
And the Lord,
it says, will
make all their
enemies turn
their backs to
them.
So that expression
to turn their
backs to them is
more literally, I
will give all
your enemies to
you by the
neck.
That's the
literal expression.
Since the word
neck is often
associated in
Hebrew with the
back of the
head, to turn
the neck is to
turn your head
away from
someone.
So the
translators assume
that it means
them turning
their backs and
running away is
what they assumed.
But I think it's
more likely that
the expression is
closer to the
English idiom,
having someone by
the throat.
Because the verb
used here is not
turn, it doesn't
say turn your
neck, it says I
will give them
to you by the
neck.
So it's not a
picture of flight,
but it's a picture
of subjugation.
And surrender.
Similar to how
Jacob blesses his
son Judah in
Genesis 49, 8,
saying your hands
shall be on the
neck of your
enemies.
God is going to
hand over their
enemies to the
Israelites.
It's the second
expression in verse
28 that paints a
picture of flight,
of the enemies
fleeing.
It says, and I
will send hornets
before you which
shall drive out the
Hivites, the
Canaanites and the
Hittites from before
you.
That's when they
flee.
If you look at the
footnote in your
ESV Bibles after
the word hornets,
it tells you that
it can also be
translated the
hornet in the
singular.
In Hebrew, the
word is singular.
But because the
translators couldn't
make sense of a
single hornet driving
out the nations, they
assumed it must be
hornets, must be
collective.
So that's how they
translated it.
However, I don't
think it's referring to
literal hornets for a
couple reasons.
One, because the
word hornet is
singular here and
not plural.
And the two other
times this promise is
repeated in Deuteronomy
7.20 and Joshua 24.12,
in both of those
places the word
hornet is also
singular.
Two, later, when the
Israelites actually
drive out the
Hivites and the
Canaanites and the
Hittites, there is no
mention of God ever
sending hornets.
And then three,
verses 27 and 28
structurally parallel
each other.
I will send my
terror before you, and
then I will send the
hornet before you.
Since the expression
sending my terror
employs figurative
language, you can't
literally send terror
like a messenger.
I think it's likely
that the parallel
phrase, send the
hornet, is also
figurative.
Just as when a
person is chased by a
hornet, the person
flees, the hornet of
the Lord will drive
out the idolatrous
nation from Canaan.
But that still begs
the question, what
exactly is the
hornet who terrorizes
the enemies of God?
There's only one other
word in this passage
that is also the object
of the verb send, and
that's in verse 20.
behold, I send an
angel before you.
Which parallels, I will
send my terror before
you.
Which parallels, I will
send the hornet before
you.
It's the angel of the
Lord, the messenger of the
Lord, who goes before the
Israelites to strike fear
into the hearts of all of
God's enemies.
enemies.
It's the angel of the
Lord himself who goes
before them to make them
flee and to drive them
out before the Israelites.
Later on, in Joshua 24,
12, as the Israelites
reflect on how God has
fulfilled this promise,
the Lord says this, and I
sent the hornet before
you, which drove them out
before you, the two kings
of the Amorites.
It was not by your sword
or by your bow.
Again, the emphasis here
is that as long as Israel
remains loyally aligned
to the Lord, this is the
Lord's battle, and he will
fight on their behalf and
win.
Yes, the Israelites will use
their swords and bows, but
God makes it unmistakably
clear the battle was not won
by your bow and your sword.
It was my hornet.
It was my terror.
It was my messenger.
The decisive agent here is
the angel of the Lord, not
the Israelites.
That brings us to my final
point, the pardon and the
mysterious identity of this
angel of the Lord.
As I've said before, when we
come across the word angel in
the Bible, we should not
immediately think of images
of Cupid.
Valentine's Day is coming
up.
You know that picture of
Cupid, the little baby
angel with the wings and an
arrow.
You should not think of
that or think of this
winged cherub.
That's not what an angel is
like.
The word angel simply means
messenger.
It could refer to all kinds
of messengers.
It could refer to human
messenger.
It could refer to angelic
messengers.
But often it is a spiritual
being sent by God.
But in this passage, we see
evidence that this angel of
the Lord is no mere angel.
For example, in verse 22, the
voice of the angel of the
Lord and what the Lord
himself says are conflated.
He says, if you carefully
obey his voice and do all
that I say.
What the angel of the Lord
says is what the Lord says.
And in verse 21, warns
Israelites about rebelling
against the angel of the
Lord this way.
for he will not pardon your
transgression for my name is
in him.
It does not say that the
messenger speaks in the name
of God.
It says that Yahweh's name is
in him.
For that reason, this angel of
the Lord has the authority and
the power to pardon transgression.
And we know from the gospels,
Mark 2, 7 and Luke 5, 21, that
no one can forgive sins.
But God alone.
So we've seen this blurring of
the lines between Yahweh and
the angel of Yahweh before.
If you remember from Exodus
chapter 3, verse 2, it said
that the angel of the Lord
appeared to Moses in a flame of
fire and out of a mist of a
bush.
That's the angel of the Lord.
But in that very same passage,
just a couple lines down, it
says that the Lord saw and God
called to Moses out of the
bush.
And he says, do not come near.
Take your sandals off your feet
for the place on which you are
standing is holy ground.
I am, says the angel of
Yahweh.
I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob.
The angel of the Lord is here
very closely identified with
Yahweh himself.
Similarly, later in Joshua 5, 13
to 15, as Israelites are
readying themselves for the
conquest of the land of Canaan,
we actually see this angel of
the Lord that God has sent.
And this is what it says.
When Joshua was by Jericho, he
lifted up his eyes and looked
and behold, a man was standing
before him with his drawn sword
in his hand.
And Joshua went to him and said
to him, are you for us or for
our adversaries?
And he said, no, but I am the
commander of the army of the
Lord.
Now I have come.
And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and worshiped and said
to him, what does my Lord say to
his servant?
And get this.
And the commander of the Lord's
army said to Joshua, take off
your sandals from your feet for
the place where you are standing
is holy.
And Joshua did so.
There's a fascinating parallel
between the burning bush and this
commander of the Lord's army.
In both places, the angel of the
Lord tells the man to take off the
sandals because it's holy ground
and they do it.
In Joshua passage, the Joshua
actually worships the angel.
In other places in the Bible,
whenever men try to worship an
angel, the angel stops them.
Like in Revelation 22, 8, 9, he
says to John, you must not worship
me because I'm a fellow servant with
you and your brother, the prophets.
Worship God.
But why does this angel of the
Lord not say that?
Because he's not just an angel.
This angel is a manifestation of
Yahweh himself.
Both the Old and New Testaments are
clear that man cannot see Yahweh and
live.
And yet, Yahweh reveals himself and
appears as the angel of the Lord so
people can see him.
The angel of the Lord is in this
sense a visible manifestation of the
invisible God.
Distinct from Yahweh himself and yet
one and the same.
This is why many pastors and
theologians make the connection that
the angel of the Lord in the Old
Testament is in fact the pre-
incarnate form of Jesus.
Jesus appeared before he took on human
flesh.
Jesus appearing with the sword in his
hand to go before his people to drive
out the enemies.
It's an appearance of God.
Appearance of the Son of God.
It's Jesus, the eternal word of God, who
goes before the Israelites to fight their
battles ahead of them and drive out the
nations before them.
Imagine being in their shoes.
We know from Deuteronomy 7, 7 that when
God first chose the Israelites, they were
quote, the fewest of all peoples.
They were not a mighty throng.
And they were nomads and wanderers in the
wilderness for 40 years.
What kind of weapons do they have?
Their enemies have chariots of iron, it
says in Judges 119.
When Sinatra, king of Assyria, invades
Judah, he mocks God's people this way.
In Isaiah 36, 8, I will give you 2,000
horses if you are able on your part to
set riders on them.
You can't even put trained riders on the
horses I give you for free.
What power do you have to oppose me?
In their own strength, the Israelites are a
feeble army.
Who are they to stand against all the
nations of Canaan?
The key to their victory is not their own
might, but the Lord Jesus who fights for
them.
And the same is true for us believers in the
new covenant.
Despite all the promises and warnings of this
passage, the Israelites failed to pay attention
to the voice of the Lord.
In Judges 1, we are told over and over again
that the Israelites did not drive out the
Canaanites.
Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites.
Again and again and again.
And this is the verdict of the angel of the
Lord in Judges 2, 1 to 3.
I brought you up from Egypt and brought you
into the land that I swore to give to your
fathers.
I said I will never break my covenant with you
and you shall make no covenant with the
inhabitants of this land and you shall break
down their altars.
But you have not obeyed my voice.
What is this you have done?
So now I say I will not drive them out before
you, but they shall become thorns in your
sides and their gods shall be a snare to you.
This is in fact what happens.
God does fulfill his promise.
He does bring them into the promised land.
However, because they let the Canaanites dwell
with them instead of driving them out, they
become a thorn in their side.
They ensnare them with their idolatry and
eventually their apostasy leads to their exile
and dispossession of the land from the land.
Sin was the root.
Sin had separated Israel from God.
Sin had kept them from the protections and
provisions of the covenant.
And it's for that reason that God sends Jesus
once more to go before his people, this time in
human flesh to defeat sin and death once and for
all and bring us forever into a covenant
relationship with God.
Sin and Satan are too powerful of an enemy for
us to fight in our own strength.
Can you imagine being faced with the fortress of
the enemy, the gates of Hades?
He has all the dirt on you.
He knows everything you have done, all the ways in
which you have sinned, all the ways in which you have
broken the covenant with God who has given you only
good things.
And he bars your way and says, no, you may not enter into
God's promised land.
But we have a champion.
We have the Lord, the angel of Yahweh.
Jesus Christ with the sword in his hand goes before us and
fights that battle for us.
And he defeats sin and death once and for all on the
cross.
He crushes the serpent's head underneath his feet so that he
can give us the right to be children of God so that he can
lead us in to the promised land.
That's why in Mark 2, 5, Jesus pronounces to the
paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven.
It said here, the angel of the Lord will not pardon your
transgression because my name is in him.
What's the difference?
The Lord who is just and holy cannot pardon transgression
without payment.
But Jesus pardons our transgressions because he has
made satisfaction.
Because he has made atonement.
Because he has paid for it on the cross.
And he has won that battle decisively.
And that's the promised land that we have to look forward to.
The author of Hebrews in chapter 11 makes the connection that the
promised land that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob look forward to is
not the literal promised land, the physical land of Israel in the
Middle East.
But rather it's a city that has foundations whose designer and
builder is God.
The promised land of the Old Testament was merely a type, a
foreshadowing of the ultimate promised land, our heavenly inheritance,
the kingdom that we inherit as God's people.
And we are right now pilgrims journeying toward that promised land.
Right now we feel like aliens.
Right now we feel away from home.
But one day we will be home.
And it says when that day comes,
Revelation 21, for he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death
shall be no more.
Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the
former things have passed away.
All these wonderful promises of God in his past fulfilled eternally.
That's what we are headed to.
So brothers and sisters, let's lay aside every weight and sin,
which so clings so closely and let's run with endurance the race that is set
before us.
Our heavenly father waits us in our home.
So let's pay attention to his voice and follow his guidance all the way.
Let's pray together.
Father, we desire nothing more than to be home with you, Lord.
Lord.
To know your eternal love perfectly.
To rest in your arms.
To hear you say,
well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your master.
But Lord, we know that the race is not over.
We need to press on.
And to that end,
we must pay attention to your voice.
And follow your voice.
So Lord,
incline our ears and our hearts toward your word.
Lord,
make us a people,
a church that cherishes and guards your word in our hearts.
Thank you,
Father,
for sending Jesus,
our champion,
our representative,
our warrior,
our king,
who fights for us.
We love you.
We worship you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.