Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places." Sermons
I. THE SUBLIMITY OF THIS PROMISE. IS there one who can open his mind sufficiently to take in anything like the grandeur of this thought? To think realizingly of God at all is to many a difficulty. It shows how little we do think of him; how habitually our minds are occupied with other objects; that when we wish to bring even his existence clearly before our minds, we find it difficult to do so. It is not a difficulty which would be felt if our relations with God were close and intimate, if our communion with him was habitual, if we were trying to live continually as in his presence and under his eye. "I believe in God the Father Almighty!" Is not that just what most of US do not do? Is there one who would not tremble far more in the presence of many of his fellow-mortals than he ever does at the thought of standing in the presence of his God? What sort of a belief is it which leaves us so destitute of all real apprehension of what God is, and even of a habitual realization of the feeling that he is? We think of him, but often how coldly, how distantly, how notionally, how unbelievingly! We speak of "revivals," but, sooth to say, we need a revival of living belief in the first article of the Creed. We need to have our eyes opened, thought set to work, faith made more real. If that were given, then should we know, as we had never known before, how wonderful, how sublime, how infinitely grand a thing it was to have this God as our Refuge, and to know that underneath us were these everlasting arms. If it is difficult to attain to a steady persuasion even of God's existence, vastly more difficult is it to frame a just conception of his eternity. Before worlds were, God existed; when they shall have waxed old and disappeared, he shall exist still. Time flows, but, like the rock in the midst of the stream, which, from its stable base, laughs at the flood whose impetuous course it overlooks; so, amidst the flow of ages, God endures, "the same yesterday, today, and forever." Does it not, then, seem as something incredible that this eternal God should constitute himself a Home and Refuge for weak, sinning, mortals; should even stoop to press himself on such mortals as a Friend, Savior, Protector, Support, Helper? If we see nothing strange in this, it is impossible that anything should seem strange to us; if we can believe this, we need not stumble at much else in revelation. For this is just the central truth the Bible has to tell. It tells of a God, infinite, everlasting, almighty, inflexibly righteous, unutterably pure, incomprehensibly great and wise and good; from whom men have indeed wandered in numberless paths of error; but who has revealed himself for the very purpose of bringing them back to himself, that they may be saved from death and may enjoy eternal life; who will by no means clear the guilty, but who waits to be gracious to every penitent sinner returning to his care; and who has provided all means for that return in the atonement of his Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and in the grace of his Holy Spirit. That is the message the Bible has to bring, and it is nothing else than the almighty and eternal God offering himself, in his grace, as a Refuge for our otherwise defenseless souls; stretching out, those everlasting arms of which the text speaks, to draw us to himself and save us from otherwise inevitable ruin. Say not, you do not need this refuge! The son of man is not yet born who does not need it, and who will not one day, whether he does so now or not, acknowledge that he needs it. And say not, you will delay in seeking it! for even could a day or a year be guaranteed in which to rethink the question now proposed, it is plainly folly in itself, and grievous dishonor done to God, that so vast and glorious an opportunity should stand for a single day unimproved; that God should sue to you, and you refuse his gracious invitations. Rather, "seek the Lord while he may be found," etc. (Isaiah 55:6). II. THE COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THIS PROMISE. View it in three relations. In relation: 1. To our temporal existence. Having God as our Refuge does not indeed imply that we are to have a great abundance of this world's possessions, or be absolutely free from cares and sorrows. It does not secure that we are to be either the richest or the least tried of all around us. God knows how often it is otherwise. Some of the best of God's saints have been, like Paul, the worst off of humankind. "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder," etc. (Hebrews 11:37). Was God therefore not the "Refuge" of those saints because they were so ill off in this life, or did the "everlasting arms" not sustain them? Or was it not in the midst of these "great fights of afflictions" that they first realized how true a Refuge God was to them? When Paul was at his work, "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of his countrymen, in perils of the heathen, in perils of the city, in perils of the wilderness, in perils of the sea, in perils of false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in lastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11:24-28), had God in these circumstances falsified his promise, and failed to be a Refuge to him? The question needs only to be put to be its own answer. Yet it is certain that, even in outward things, God is a Refuge for his people, and that under his care they ordinarily enjoy both unusual blessing and a quite especial protection. Jesus teaches us to trust our Father in heaven, while of course using the means he gives us, for all our temporal necessities (Matthew 6:25-34). He pledges himself that, so long as it is the Father's will that we should live in the world, we shall be protected from harm, and suitably provided for. This was David's confidence, expressed in many of the psalms, and it has been the confidence of all God's people. Experience verifies that the good man's dwelling is the "munitions of rocks;" his bread is given him, his water is sure (Isaiah 33:16). 2. To our spiritual existence. God is the soul's (1) spiritual Savior. Though our Lord and Judge, it is only in his bosom, in his forgiving grace, we can find refuge from our sins, from the unhappiness they cause us, and from the ruin they have brought upon us. The child that has offended his parent may seek the whole world through in vain for the rest he can find at once by coming back, confessing his sin, and being forgiven. God has devised means "that his banished be not expelled from him" (2 Samuel 14:14). The way is open. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help" (Hosea 13:9). (2) Unfailing Retreat in trouble. No matter what storms beat without, what blessings of an outward kind are given or withheld, what threatening forms the enmity of man may assume, the soul has in God a Retreat, a place of resort and Refuge, which never fails it. There it dwells in a region of love, breathes an atmosphere of peace, holds a communion with the Father of spirits, which only grows the sweeter the longer life lasts, and the more the outward cup is bitter to the taste. In this inward home of the spirit it renews its strength and drinks of living waters, has meat to eat which the world knows not of, finds satisfaction for its deepest needs (Habakkuk 3:17, 18). (3) Unfailing Support. He upholds the soul. Has the believer trials to come through? He is upheld to bear them. Has he temptations to face? He is upheld to conquer in them. Has he work to do? He is upheld and strengthened to perform it. Has he enemies to fight? His courage is sustained, and he is made "more than conqueror." But for the upholding of the "everlasting arms," how many of God's saints would never have come through what they have experienced! 3. To our eternal existence. "The eternal God," etc. Heavenly and eternal existence are wrapped up in this promise. God does not make his eternity a refuge for beings of a day. There would be an utter disproportion between an everlasting dwelling-place and a creature of some three score years and ten. All eternal good is here implied, and this crowns the promise and carries it beyond all comprehension of its greatness. "Eye hath not seen," etc. - J.O.
Happy art thou, O Israel. The word "Israel" never grows old. It is a name that, though it figures on the page of history as a name of long, long ago, still lives, and lives to represent a living people at this day. When Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he said (Daniel 2:44). That kingdom is the kingdom of Immanuel It is composed of those who love and trust and serve the once despised Jesus. These are the true "Israel." The true Israel, like the Israel of old, have been saved out of Egypt. Egypt represents darkness, bondage, misery, idolatry, the whip of the taskmaster, the toilsome mockery of vain labour — bricks without straw. Again Israel today, like the Israel of old, is a separate and distinctive people. Those ancient people were altogether different from the various nations who dwelt around them, and through whose territories they passed. They were subjected to singular laws, such as none other people would acknowledge or obey. They had a religion, had customs unlike those of any other race or tribe. Their fashion of dress, their mode of speech, their manner of worship, their acknowledgment of a King unseen, a sceptre superhuman — all these proclaimed them to be peculiar, separate, distinct, alone. All the world besides were Gentiles; they alone were Jews. That is the unchanging characteristic of the real, spiritual Israel of God today. This distinction does not now refer to any special external sign. It is not a matter of dress, of language, or of manners. It is a difference in moral allegiance, a difference in heart, a difference in motives, a difference in aims and ends; a difference made evident by a godly and a consecrated life. "Come ye out from among them!" says the Book, prompt and peremptory. Where it is so, then, "happiest is Israel, saved of the Lord." Our Israel, like Israel of old, is a pilgrim people. From the Egypt of bondage the former marched, without long-abiding resting place, to the land of promise that lay beyond. So the Saviour's Israel goes forward, forward towards holiness, forward towards heaven. "This is not their rest," and they know it; and so they will not set their affections on things of the earth; will not clog and trammel themselves with aught that will hinder their march, or risk their ultimate inheritance. Each one grips his staff, and girds his loins and goes on his pilgrim way, "Westward ho," and often sees the distant hills of Canaan tinged with the glow of the setting sun. Happy thus, I tell you, is Israel, for he is the saved of the Lord, and the crowning glory of that salvation shines brightly on before. Again, Israel, like the Israel of old, is a tried and tempted people. They had hardships and sufferings, they had perils and pains. The more they were loyal to God and their leader, the more they were plagued by the hostilities of men. It is so with Israel still. They can buy a little transient ease, by cringing to custom, toying with expediency, shirking duty and coquetting with the world; but it is dearly bought; and as with the former Israel, such alliances bring a harvest of thorns. "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in Me shall ye have peace," and with that compensation, the very trials of the way become triumphs, and the crosses are transformed to crowns. "Behold, we count them happy that endure." "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." O yes, Moses speaks the simple truth, Israel, Immanuel's Israel is happy I He is chosen of God. "I have loved thee," He says, "with an everlasting love." "With loving kindness have I chosen thee, my jewel, my portion, my delight!" He is redeemed! Out of what bondage, what darkness, what slavish toil his God hath brought him! Out of what deadly peril He hath snatched him! Out of what dread and doubt and fear and sad distress He hath uplifted, him! "His own right hand and holy arm hath gotten Him the victory!" Besides, Israel is led by His hand, guarded by His arm, cheered by His presence. He appoints Israel's every place and circumstance. He marks out all their way. He keeps their foot from perilous byways, and like Greatheart with the pilgrims, goeth with drawn sword before them all the way.(J. J. Wray.) II. THE MEMORY OF A GREAT DELIVERANCE. The Christian, awakened to the ruin of his state through sin, has stood as on the brink of a Red Sea of guilt, formed by the swelling of his own trespasses, with the avenger behind, and no possible escape before. But behold, the Cross of Christ, stretched out with a mightier power than the rod of Moses, has opened a way through the depths, and he has passed safely over into the land where the ransomed and pardoned dwell, and shall never come into condemnation. He sees his grand enemy and all his host defeated and destroyed, while the prey is taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered. It is a rescue not for time only, but for eternity; and, with unutterable joy mingled with trembling, he sings, not the song of Moses, but of the Lamb: "O Lord, I will praise Thee with all my heart, and I will glorify Thy name forever, for great is Thy mercy towards me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell!" The rescue is once for all; but as Israel by disobedience entailed repeated enslavement, so do Christians, alas! by renewed sin, incur once and again the painful sense of loss and danger; and as deliverance again comes, with the assurance of pardon:" "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee!" the voice of penitent Israel renews the grateful strain: "Sing, O ye heavens," etc. (Isaiah 44:23). III. THE PROSPECT OF CERTAIN VICTORY. Our warfare is on God's side with rebellion against God, with the temples of idolatry, superstition, and false religion, with the dark embattled hosts of pride and lust, of avarice and cruelty from one end of the world to the other. "Wherever the Canaanite is still in the land; wherever there is that within us or without us, that exalts itself against God, there must our deadly strife" be to bring it down; and every high thought must be brought "into captivity to the obedience of Christ." The range of our spiritual geography is very limited. There remains much land to be possessed. But this is our great, our arduous, our worldwide mission, impossible to ourselves, but possible with God, and made by Him at once our duty and our happiness. IV. A GLORIOUS INHERITANCE. The conquests of Israel became their own possessions. The warrior was turned into the colonist. The army of invasion was turned into a peaceful army of occupation, dispersed amidst the scenes of their exploits over hill and valley, sitting each under his vine and fig tree with none to make him afraid. In the centre was the tabernacle of Jehovah; and the pillar which had led them to battle, and sent out its guiding light on their path, now diffused its mild and gracious beams over the abodes of rest and worship to the extremities of the land. Here was an emblem of the Christian Church translated to heaven. But how feeble and defective a figure after all are these "sweet fields beyond the swelling flood," of the heavenly Canaan! With the outward victory of Israel, redemption was still incomplete and waited for a higher stage; God was still distant, dwelling in one selected spot, and leaving the rest in comparative shadow; Canaan itself, the joy of all lands, might be deteriorated, as it has been, to sterility and barrenness; and the people, them divinely settled, might for their sins be rooted up and scattered among the nations! What a contrast have we here to that inheritance, yet future, on which the hope of the Christian rests, and by which all the toils and conflicts of earth are to be crowned! Redemption has now reached its limit. The great Captain has come, temple. In conclusion, let me urge, that the blessedness of Israel, though guarded and defined, is not exclusive. The question "Who is like unto thee?" does not indicate anything restricted and unattainable. Even in ancient days, the sons of the stranger might come bending to take hold on Israel's God, and claim the blessings of His covenant; and how much more in Gospel times, when every wall of partition is broken down, and all, who see Christ with Abraham's faith, "are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Yes l however far off you may have been, you may now be made nigh by the blood of Christ! (John Cairns, D. D.) I. THE HAPPY CONDITION OF GOD'S PEOPLE. If you have been born again and saved, you are the pick and choice of all God's creatures, and He has indulged you with a measure of love and kindness such as He has shown to none else. Would you barter grace for gain? Gold cannot lighten the heavy heart or cool the burning brow; far oftener it cankers the soul, and lies like a weight upon the spirit. Turn you, if you will, to those famous for knowledge, men of skill, and wit, and research; yet among these there are none to be found comparable in happiness to Christians. Wealth, rank, learning fame pleasure, and all else that man holds dear, we would gladly renounce for the joy of our Lord. Israel knew what it was to be saved in many ways, and so do we. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, fed with the bread of heaven, and made to drink of water from the Rock of Ages; and as for our adversaries, they have not been able to harm us, for the Lord has saved us unto this day. II. THE RESULT OF REALISING OUR BLESSED ESTATE. Upon this subject there ought to be no need to dilate, for each heir of heaven should live in the hourly enjoyment of his divine inheritance; but, alas, few are doing so. Surely spiritual blessings are the only ones men decline to enjoy. You should enjoy your privileges and be happy, because — 1. It tends to keep our allegiance to God unshaken. It is because you lose the sweet flavour of the waters of the flowing fountain that you dabble in those muddy, stagnant gatherings which linger in the broken cisterns. 2. It will create enthusiasm and a grateful love within your bosom. 3. It will give you confidence to expect other blessings. Gratitude for the past inspires with courage for the future. 4. It will give you strength for bearing all your burdens and courage for facing all your enemies. 5. For Christians to be happy is one of the surest ways to set them seeking the salvation of others. ( C. H. Spurgeon.). People Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Gad, Israelites, Issachar, Jacob, Joseph, Levi, Manasseh, Moses, Naphtali, Reuben, Seir, ZebulunPlaces Bashan, Massah, Meribah, Moab, Mount Paran, Seir, SinaiTopics Blessed, Cover, Cower, Cringe, Cringing, Dwindle, Enemies, Excellence, Excellency, Fawning, Glorious, Happiness, Happy, Helper, Liars, Majesty, O, Places, Planted, Rule, Saved, Saviour, Shield, Strength, Subdued, Submit, Sword, Themselves, Trample, Tread, TriumphOutline 1. The majesty of God6. The blessings of the twelve tribes 26. The excellence of Israel Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 33:29 1205 God, titles of Library Israel the Beloved'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 12. Benjamin was his father's favourite child, and the imagery of this promise is throughout drawn from the relations between such a child and its father. So far as the future history of the tribes is shadowed in these 'blessings' of this great ode, the reference of the text may be to the tribe of Benjamin, as specially distinguished by Saul … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Shod for the Road God and his Saints Shoes of Iron, and Strength Sufficient: a New Year's Promise "As Thy Days, So Shall Thy Strength Be" 2D Day. Needful Grace. Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy. Within what Tribe the Lake of Gennesaret Was. 1872 the Need of a Home Further West --Burning of the Marchmont Home --Home Restored by Canadian Gifts --Miss Macpherson and Miss Reavell Arrive in Canada Second Part With Israel's God who Can Compare? On Deut. xxxiii. Ii The Best Things Work for Good to the Godly Subterraneous Places. Mines. Caves. Wesley's Hymns Reconsidered The Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh Manner of Covenanting. Jesus Works his First Miracle at Cana in Galilee. Adam's Sin Mount Zion. Notes on the Third Century Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Links Deuteronomy 33:29 NIVDeuteronomy 33:29 NLT Deuteronomy 33:29 ESV Deuteronomy 33:29 NASB Deuteronomy 33:29 KJV Deuteronomy 33:29 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 33:29 Parallel Deuteronomy 33:29 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 33:29 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 33:29 French Bible Deuteronomy 33:29 German Bible Deuteronomy 33:29 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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