Deuteronomy 9:1-29
ISRAEL were about to pass over the Jordan, to go in and possess nations far greater and mightier than they were, cities great and fenced up to heaven. They were to destroy the children of the Anakim, people great and tall, of whom it was said, "Who can stand before the children of Anak!"
But they could not do this in their own strength. "The Lord thy God is He which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face."
God is a consuming fire for His people. If Israel walked with Him, they would find how He destroyed their enemies; but if they were disobedient to Him, He was a consuming fire to destroy themselves.
Perhaps Moses here was reminded of the burning bush which he had seen in the wilderness, before God sent him back to lead His people out of Egypt. The Lord showed Himself first to Moses in a flame of fire, and He taught him what it was to stand on holy ground with Him. Moses never forgot that.
It was not because Israel were righteous that God was going to give them the land. But it was because of their wickedness that God would destroy those nations in Canaan. Moses says to Israel, Do not think it is because you have been righteous or faithful to God that He gives you this good land, for you have been a very wicked and disobedient people. It is because God chose to perform His Word which He spoke to Abraham, and to Isaac and to Jacob. Remember and don't forget, how you provoked the Lord to wrath in the wilderness and what a rebellious people you have been.
He reminds them of how at Horeb he had gone up into the mountain to receive the tables of the law, of how in that short space in which he had remained there they had turned from the Lord to idolatry, and were worshiping the golden calf. Thus they had forfeited everything and provoked the Lord so that His wrath threatened to destroy them all. Instead of bringing the tables of the law into the camp, Moses had broken them at the foot of the mount. Had he not done so, the judgment of the Lord would have broken forth upon the guilty people.
Then Moses reminds them of how he had interceded for them and for Aaron too. God had hearkened to him and spared them in His mercy. But from there on to Kadesh-barnea they had constantly rebelled.
The very existence of the people was a monument to God's grace, for they had deserved only judgment. And as we look back on our own past, must we not say that it has been grace all the way too? Must we not exclaim with the Apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am." 1 Cor. 15:10. His grace excludes all boasting on our part. Israel's only boast was the Lord who had spared them. He had brought them to the banks of the Jordan and now was about to bring them into the land of their possession. His grace will be Israel's theme on earth to the ages of ages, and that same precious grace and mercy of God will be our theme in heaven eternally.
Messages of the Love of God 2/2/1975