A Holy Nation (4): Deuteronomy 24-26 (7)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 132.13-18
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
“This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provision;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation,
And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
There I will make the horn of David grow;
I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame,
But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

Psalm 132.13-18
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
God dwells among us, and He will forever, to meet our needs and clothe us with His grace.
He has to us sent Jesus Christ, our Savior, and made us His eternal resting-place.
His foes are banished from His Presence ever, but we shall reign with Him before His face.

Review Deuteronomy 24-26; meditate on Deuteronomy 26.16-19

Preparation
1. Which of the various forms of justice do we find in these chapters?

2. What makes God’s people a special people among the nations of the earth?

Meditation.
A holy people is a people set aside to the Lord for His purposes. We can’t make ourselves holy; we are unable by ourselves to do what is required to constitute us as a “set aside” people unto the Lord. He has to do that, just as He had, first, to call Israel His people, then to deliver them from Egypt. By giving them His Law, He revealed His mind concerning what their “set-asideness” should look like.

And that “set-asideness” – that holiness – includes forms of justice that ensure neighbors know how to love God and one another as a shining light of wisdom before the world. God intends His people to be special, set apart, holy and “high above all nations” to show the way into the grace of God and lead the rest of the world to salvation.

Living as a holy people was no small challenge for Israel, because God required that they do so from the heart (v. 16). Yet, as Moses has pointed out several times thus far in the book of Deuteronomy, these people did not have a heart ready to believe, fear, love, and obey God in all things. That heart would only be given when the Spirit of God was sent to dwell in the people God was calling to Himself, to give them a heart of flesh which would warm to the Law of God in all things (Ezek. 36.26, 27).

Nonetheless, this is what God required of His special people of old, just as it’s what He requires of us. We need to learn the ways of justice by learning and obeying the Law of God. And we need to keep up our offerings to God, and our confession of faith in Him and love for one another. Becoming a holy people isn’t something that “just happens.” We have to work at it, and in working at it, we find God Himself at work within us, willing and doing according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2.13).

The people of ancient Israel didn’t have that blessing. But God exercised His grace toward them, teaching them the ways of justice and holiness, and bearing with them through many acts of disobedience and rebellion to demonstrate the power of grace to save, renew, and restore His people unto Himself. God’s relationship with Israel in the Old Testament demonstrated the need for a greater work of grace than even the giving of His Law. It pointed to the coming Servant of the Lord, Who would fulfill all the righteous requirements of God’s Law and bear all the judgment that Law requires against sinners such as we. Jesus is the great “Set-Aside One” Whose holiness and obedience make it possible for us to be the holy and special and set-aside people of God today.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Deuteronomy 26.16-19 is like an antiphonal song, sung between God and us:
God: I command you to observe these statutes and judgments. You must be careful to observe them with all your heart and soul.
We: Today we proclaim the LORD to be our God.
God: Here is what loving Me with all your heart and soul will look like. You will walk in My ways and keep My statutes, commandments, and judgments. You will obey My voice in all ways.
We: Today we proclaim that we will do it.
God: Today I declare you to be My special people, just as I promised. And because of that, you will keep all My commandments.
We: Today we proclaim ourselves to be Your special people.
God: Today I have spoken that I will set you high above all nations in praise, in name, and in honor, so that you will be a holy people unto Me.
We: We thank You and praise You and proclaim that we will do all You have spoken. For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest we should boast. For we are Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which You prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2.8-10).
God: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine (Is. 43.1).
We: LORD, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (Jn. 6.68).

Reflection
1. How does keeping God’s Law make us a special people unto Him?

2. We do not keep the Law to be saved; we keep it because He has saved us. Explain.

3. Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, both unto righteousness and unto wrath. Explain.

God makes his own the person who is eager to serve truth and reality and comes as a suppliant. Even if he is only one in number, he is honored on equal terms with the whole people. He is a part of the people. He becomes the complement of the people once he is reestablished out of his previous position, and the whole in fact takes its name from the part. Clement of Alexandria (150-215), Stromateis 2.19.98.1-2

You have made me one of Your special people Lord. Help me to live in holiness as I…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 132.1-12
Thank God that He has made His dwelling in your soul. Praise Him for His Word, His promises, His Spirit, and for Jesus. Then ask Him to show you what being one of His holy and special people requires of you today.

Psalm 132.1-12
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
Remember, Lord, we pray, in David’s favor, the hardships he endured, the oath he swore,
the vow he made to Jacob’s mighty Savior: “I shall not enter through my palace door;
I shall not sleep, nor slumber my eyes favor, until I make a dwelling for the Lord!”

The word throughout the chosen nation spread, to Ephrata, and in the fields of Jaar:
“Now let us go,” the faithful people said, “and worship where our Savior’s dwellings are!
Around His footstool let our worship spread; come, gather to Him, all from near and far!”

Arise, O Lord, come to Your resting place; Your holy Presence meet with us in might.
Clothe us with righteousness in Jesus’ grace, and we will shout to Your divine delight!
For David’s sake, turn not away Your face, but look upon us in Your holy light.

Remember, Lord, the oath You swore to David; do not turn back, do not deny Your Word:
“One of your sons, with your throne I will favor, and He shall keep My cov’nant evermore, and walk within My testimonies ever, thus He shall ever rule as Israel’s Lord.”

T. M. and Susie Moore

Listen to our summary of last week’s study in Deuteronomy by going to today’s column at the website. You can download all the studies in the series by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).