“Know
that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and
mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His
commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9
Moses
was reminding the people of Israel that they have a special place in the Lord’s
heart for the sake of His covenant to Abraham; the covenant carried on through
Isaac and Jacob in which the Lord promised to deliver His people to a special
place – the Promised Land. And even through the New Covenant in Messiah,
the same essential component of this covenant is still in place: we keep His
commandments as “the Way” of Messiah, and He will see us all the way home.
We
must not allow loosely (and carelessly) translated New Testament ideals
convince us that keeping and obeying our Lord’s Law is being
“legalistic”. Rather we must understand that from the beginning when the
Lord spoke to humanity in the Garden of Eden, His word is eternal and
absolute. Jesus reminds us that we prove our love for Him when we “obey”
His commandments. And if Jesus is God incarnate, the same “commandments”
are still in place from the Almighty who “does not change”. The Law of
the Lord is how we distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world, and the
Law is how we come to understand what it means and what it takes to live in
community with one another – AND our unbelieving neighbors. Living as
though we truly believe the Word of the Lord is the only way others will be
able to see the joy and experience the hope we know is present in our Lord and
His covenant.
It
is why Israel was called forth from Egypt, and it is why the Holy Spirit of the
Living God calls us forth in Messiah; to tell the Story and invite others into
our Lord’s community.
Blessings,
Michael
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