#DailyDevotion Do People See How Great God Is When They See You?
Deut. 4:6-9 6Keep and do these things; then people will see how wise and understanding you are when they hear about all these laws, and they will say, ‘Surely that’s a great nation of wise and understanding people! 7To which great nation does God come so near as the LORD our God does whenever we call on Him? 8Or what great nation has laws and regulations as righteous as all this teaching I give you today? 9 “Only be on your guard and watch yourselves carefully, so that as long as you live you don’t forget or fail to keep in mind, but tell your children and grandchildren,…
So there is a whole body of Law in the Torah/Instructions (First five books of the bible).There is moral law, related to that civil/criminal law, and ritual law. The Israelites were to be a distinct people set apart from all the other people in the world (holy). The LORD was placing them smack dab in the middle of the fertile crescent where all trade would go through. They would be witnesses to his name and glory. If the Israelites kept and did all these things, then the nations would see how wise and understanding they were. People would be attracted to them in comparison to the laws of their lands. Mercy and Justice were balanced in the Torah. Punishments were handed out only to the guilty parties as opposed to whole families and villages. When they were wiped out it was because they were found to complicit in the guilt.
Unlike the gods of the other nations which were generally distant and uninterested in their worshipers, the LORD had come near to the Israelites and was concerned with them. He came whenever they called upon him. He had entered a covenant with their fathers and he had entered a covenant with them. He had bound himself to them with blood. The laws and regulations of the Israelites were and are indeed a model for modern jurisprudence. Martin Luther commended them to his rulers as examples to follow, though we are not bound by them.
Now the Israelites were guard and watch themselves carefully to teach them to their children and to do them with all their heart, mind and strength. They failed miserably. Instead, they trashed the Instruction of the LORD and adopted the gods and the ways of their neighbors. They became a harsh, wicked and immoral people. So the LORD punished them with the people whose gods they turned to.
Yet, he did not forget his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He sent his only begotten son, the Word of God, and joined him with their flesh through the seed of David and the seed of Mary. He made redemption and atonement for their sins and for the sin of the world. He paid the punishment for sin which is death and rose again that we might be justified before the Father when we place our faith in him. He established a new covenant with his body and his blood. He became our way, truth and light. While Jesus, who is this Word of God, the seed of David and Mary, left us many instructions on how to live as his people, they come down to trust in him for your salvation and love your neighbor as yourself. Most people today forget the first and shoot for the second. But there is no fulfilling the second without the first. First put your trust in your God, the LORD Jesus Christ. Love will follow.
Heavenly Father, grant us faith in Christ Jesus so we may love our neighbor and be seen as witnesses to your Way, Truth and Light for the salvation of all people. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.