THE STORY OF ISRAEL reveals God’s archetypal redemptive plan to restore humanity to his created image and his primary purposes. The story is a continuously evolving meta-narrative that begins its disclosure in the Book of Genesis and will continue on past the last words of Jesus in the Book of Revelation: “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Rev. 22:20)
Israel’s history is at the core of God’s great story of mankind. There is an ancient snap-shot in time, as Israel prepares to enter the Promised Land, when Moses reminds Israel how God’s faithfulness has brought them to the edge of this assured destination. Moses, himself prevented from going in, is giving them final instructions. He reminds them, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” (Deut. 6:21)
The covenant promise is binding in both directions. God will keep his promise, because “He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” (Deut. 7:9) Their part is to “take care to follow the commands, decrees, and laws.” (Deut. 7:10) He tells them, “It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery.” (Deut. 7:7-8) Moses then says, “If we are careful to obey all this law, that will be our righteousness.” (Deut. 6:25)
A promise of the Lord to the Israelites is that he will drive out the seven existing strong nations occupying the land. But Moses warns them not to think highly of themselves, believing that “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” (Deut. 9:4a) He reveals that, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations.” (Deut. 9:4b)
Instead, God will “accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Deut. 9:5) We imagine the leaders of the twelve tribes gathered around Moses, paying only divided attention to him—they know the story well already; they’ve heard it time and again for forty years. They glance at Moses as he makes point after point, but they repeatedly stare longingly across the river; tantalizingly close, their imaginations are captivated by what lies almost in their grasp. Perhaps they only pay cursory attention to his next words. “Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” (Deut. 9:6)
The outcomes for Israel across their millennium in the Promised Land will become a severe object lesson. They had been warned by Moses repeatedly to “Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you.” (Deut. 6:3) The prosperity that awaited them might become a snare for them. “When you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and your silver and gold increases, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deut. 8:12-14) And they were clearly informed of the consequences. “If you ever forget the Lord your God you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Deut. 8:19-20)
The testimony of the bible is clear, and the fulfillment of the prophetic warnings cannot be disputed. The stiff-necked people insisted on worshiping other gods. They were banished to a two-millennium holocaust by their angry and jealous God.
Righteousness is defined as *“to act in accord with divine or moral law (leading to) freedom from guilt or sin.” Israel’s story, like so many of our own, is one of attempting to act morally absent of divine imperative to guide the prescriptions and proscriptions of the boundaries of moral behavior. We, like they, have been seduced by the gods that are not God. Israel’s covenant with God was one based on the Law—the six hundred thirteen laws of the O.T., including the Ten Commandments Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. The law was always impossible to keep. Solomon said “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” (Ecc. 7:20) Peter calls the law “a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear.” (Acts 15:10) Paul quotes the Psalms, saying, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10)
The Christian covenant is embedded in God’s grace found in Christ Jesus. Paul writes that it is because of God’s mercy that we “are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) In Christian context, righteousness is an attribute that belongs to God—he is the lawgiver. No man can be justified by his own works apart from God’s ordinance. Our personal righteousness before God is restored only through faith in Jesus (cf. John 3:5-7, John 14:6) Paul says, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Rom. 3:22) Righteousness is a loving gift from God to us; it is a quality assigned to every person upon believing in the Son of God.
To this our hearts give a resounding “Amen!” Paul assures us that “no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Cor. 1:20) The word ‘Amen’ has become a universal word spoken in all the languages of the earth, and it literally means **“surely” or “truly,” an expression of absolute trust and confidence. Figuratively, it carries the meaning “Let it be so.”
All the nations of the earth are invited by God through Jesus to participate in the grand redemption that is promised by the God who says, “’I am making everything new!” He also says, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:5) Like the challenge given to the ancient Israelites by Moses, we all would do well to pay careful attention. Let it be so.
Q. Is my hope built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness?
*“Righteousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary (2011), Accessed 14 May, 2022.
**Strong’s 281.
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