Deuteronomy 23 - 26 = Today's Thought

Deuteronomy 23 - 26 = Today's Thought

 

Chapter 26 wraps up Mosses’ commands from God to the Israelites before they prepare to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land.  One of the things that stood out in these chapters is how very different God’s relationship is from the old covenant to the new, and how much difference Christ makes.  I am referencing where at the beginning of Chapter 23 God is forbidding the Israelites to have interaction with multiple people groups and for others restricting their access to the assembly of the Lord for as long as 10 generations of time.  While I’m not sure what length of time a generation was in Moses day, today it is around 25 years.  So here we find people that because of the actions of their ancestors they are restricted in their access and relationship with God for potentially 250 years.  In contrast to the new covenant that was established through Christ’s sacrifice that allows someone access to God at any point through belief in Christ.  Where the Israelites were commanded to avoid certain cultures today we are commanded to enter those cultures.  God didn’t change, Christ entered the equation, with out Him no new Covenant could exist and with out a new covenant, nothing in our world would look the way it does, Christ not only established a new covenant he transformed society. Pre Christ many of the punishments for actions of the people were God given as a way to restore that relationship.  Post Christ punishment is a reaction of society’s rules rather than a mandate by God.  Christ has changed that relationship, he has paid the price.  Everything about the relationship changes, it is so hard to fathom the community of life among the Israelites at the time of Moses simply because it is so far from our own experience. (Old law, nomadic, recent post slavery, visibly and physically connected to God)  And yet we find ourselves inextricably connected to them, because of a God that is universally constant, loving and just.  God more than permeates our society he set it in motion, it is built on the covenant he established with us.  For thousands of years people and society have shaped their communities based on this new covenant. Try as some may to keep God out of a society that is full of his believers; I think you will find that to be an effort in futility.  Where God’s people are He will be recognized.

 

Represent Him well today.

Rob