This morning I was copying from the 7th chapter of Deuteronomy.  In this chapter, Moses gives instructions to the children of Israel about what to expect when they enter into their promised land.  He warns them about the nations who live there and how the Israelites will defeat them.  Then Moses reminds them of how God freed them from slavery.  Not because they deserved to be freed.  Not because they were a mighty nation.  God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery because He had promised their fathers that He would give them a land.

There is a condition though.  Moses says this in verse 11: “Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.”

The Israelites are freed from slavery but if they want to reap the benefits of the promise given to their fathers, they must do what God commands them to do.  What exactly are these promises?  They’ve been told all along that they will receive a land flowing with milk and honey.  Sounds wonderful. And it is but there is more.  Starting in verse 13, Moses lists what God will do for the Israelites if they follow His instructions.

Verse 13: “He will love you and bless you and multiply you” .  That sounds wonderful but what does it mean?  Keep reading and we see the following list of blessings just waiting for them when they cross over the Jordan and take possession of the land they have been promised.

• He will bless the fruit of your womb
• He will bless the fruit of your ground
• He will bless your grain
• He will bless your new wine
• He will bless your oil
• He will bless the increase of your herd
• He will bless the young of your flock
• There will be no male or female barren among you
• There will be no cattle barren among you
• He will remove sickness from you

What a bountiful life awaits them!  Their gardens will be lush.  They will have an abundance of children.  Their flocks will be many.  They will not get sick.

In the previous chapter we learn more about what the Israelites will receive in this new land.

• Cities they did not build
• Houses they did not build filled with things they did not put there
• Wells they did not dig
• Vineyard and olive trees they did not plant

The children of Israel will be given health and wealth if they will only be wise enough to do the things God requires of them.

All of this sounds perfect.  The Israelites are truly blessed.  And remember, it has nothing to do with whether they deserve any of these blessings or not.  It is all because God has chosen them, the lowliest of nations who weren’t even a nation but were slaves to another nation.  They have done nothing to deserve the gifts of God and will only receive them if they obey His instructions.

The book of Hebrews talks about this land they are about to enter.  Chapter 11 tells us that Abraham didn’t receive the promise, the land,  personally but that he desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”  As wonderful as the blessings of this promised land sound to us, we have something better to look forward to.  Like Abraham, we look forward to a heavenly country.  Like the promised land the Israelites were about to enter, this heavenly country will be without suffering through sickness, death or sorrow but it will be even better.  We will be in the presence of God Himself — forever.

But that’s not all.  Hebrews 8 tells us that Jesus has a better ministry with a better law and a better promise.  All of the wonderful blessings that the Israelites were given are not as good as the blessings we will be given.  Like the Israelites who had to meet requirements to not earn their gifts but to receive their gifts — their new health and their new wealth — we have requirements to meet in order to not earn eternal life but to receive the gift of eternal life with our Creator.

If that beautiful life that the Israelites had been promised in Deuteronomy 7 and 8 sounds appealing to you, just imagine what the better country, the better law, the better promise is.  As we continue to read through the Old Testament, it is so sad to see the Israelites throughout their generations turning their backs on these wonderful blessings from God by disobeying His law.  How much sadder is it that we have the opportunity to receive even greater blessings but we find it so easy to turn away from what God asks us to do.

What are we to do? We don’t have tablets of stone with the 10 commandments written so that we can see what God requires.  God has given us His better law, His better promise through His revelation in the form of the gospels, the history of the early church and letters written by men. Men who were chosen by God Himself and who wrote what He has told them. God desires that we be like the Bereans, studying the scriptures (the Old Testament) daily to see that what the apostles were teaching was true.  The Bereans listened to what the Apostles had to say and then searched for themselves.  They didn’t settle for what they thought or what they felt or how they grew up or what someone else told them.  They studied daily to discover the truth themselves.

Yes, learn from others but the responsibility is yours, the responsibility is mine to search and find out what God wants us to do.  Let’s not miss our opportunity to receive this better country, this better promise.

Diana Dow