Exodus 3.16-17
We’re back at the burning bush, still listening in on this conversation
between God and Moses. In this morning’s text we find God giving
instructions to Moses. He tells Moses to go to the elders and to tell them
that He has seen what’s been going on. But then, Moses is to tell the elders
that God makes them a promise. God says, ‘I will bring you up out of the
affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing
with milk and honey.’ What I would like to do today is to consider the
simple yet profound thought that our God makes promises, promises like the
one in our text. There is much here to encourage and challenge us.
Let’s start simply by looking at this idea that God makes promises. Please
understand what that means. The sovereign God who needs nothing outside
Himself has made a commitment to Israel. The eternal God has decided to
place Himself under obligation to mere creatures. How amazing! We are too
used to this fact. So, let me remind you of something that some missionaries
to the Moslems told us back in March. Allah, the god of Islam, doesn’t make
promises. He is under no obligation to any of those who worship him. So,
according to what we were told, following the directives of Islam guarantees
absolutely nothing. You can be a very good Moslem and still not know what
will happen to you. But our God is different. He makes promises. He binds
Himself by oath to His creatures. And so, consider Jacob on his way back
home from his years with Laban. He hears that Esau, his brother, will meet
him on the way. And Jacob is afraid. So, he prays. And what does he pray? ‘O
God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me,
''Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good…''’
[Genesis 32:9] Do you hear what Jacob is saying? ‘God, you promised. You
told me that You would do me good if I returned home.’ Jacob is holding God
to His promise. Our God makes promises.
A good question to ask now is the simple question, ‘Why?’ Why would God
commit Himself to any of His creatures? Why did He commit Himself to Israel?
Our text tells us. Notice how God identifies Himself. ‘…the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob…’ God commits Himself to
the welfare of enslaved Israel because of the covenant that He had
established many years before. God obligated Himself to those Israelites
because each one was a part of a larger group, the covenant people of God.
This is something that we Americans need to think about more. We tend to
think about a relationship with God primarily in terms of the individual.
But there is more than the individual. God commits Himself to His Church and
thus to the individuals who are a part of that Church. God makes a promise
to afflicted Israel because they are part of that covenant group. But that
doesn’t really answer our question, ‘Why?’ Why did God obligate Himself to
the group in the first place? And here we are up against the mystery of God.
There is no good reason for God to promise anything. There is no good reason
for God even to be concerned for us, especially since we are such sinners.
It’s not that He needs us. And yet, He is not just concerned for us, but He
promises Himself to us. That underscores the wonder.
Let’s move on to another question. Is this all automatic? In our text, God
has made a promise. He has committed Himself to rescue the people of Israel
from their afflictions in Egypt and then to lead them to a land that is
glorious beyond their imagining. Is there anything required for Israel to
enjoy that promise? Yes, there is. Israel needs to trust their God. God has
given His Word. ‘I will rescue you and I will bring you into a new land.’
Israel needs to say, ‘I heard what You said. I believe Your promise. I will
trust You to do it.’ The promises of God are worthless without faith. This
explains the sad experience of Israel in the desert. There is one question
that is silently repeated to Israel, over and over, during those forty
years. ‘Will you trust Me now?’ The people of God find themselves in some
difficult strait – there is no food or water, or some other problem – and
the question is posed. ‘You heard My promise. Do you still believe it? Will
you trust Me now?’ Israel is given some command – to submit to Moses’
leadership, to invade Canaan with its supposed ‘giants’ or something else –
and the question is again posed. ‘You heard My promise. Do you still believe
it? Will you trust Me now?’ The promise is worthless unless it is
continually embraced by faith. And all too often we see Israel in the desert
answering that question with a ‘No’. They heard the promise, ‘I will rescue
you. I will get you to the Promised Land.’ But they didn’t trust the God who
made it. They didn’t believe it. In light of their repeated refusal to trust
their God, it is a wonder that He did not abandon them all to perish in the
desert.
Now, remember that the history of Israel is a picture of the Church. The
promise of God to Israel is a picture of Jesus’ promise to us. Jesus has
promised to rescue us and to bring us into a Promised Land that is too
glorious for words. Jesus has obligated Himself to us. It is amazing that He
should. But He has. However, bear in mind that the promise is worthless
without faith. And so, He warns us. ‘Therefore, while the promise of
entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to
have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the
message they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith
in the hearers.’ [Hebrews 4:1-2] God made a promise to Israel. It was good
news. But it did not benefit them because they didn’t believe it. They did
not trust their God. Jesus’ promise of getting us to the Promised Land still
stands, but it will likewise benefit us nothing unless we receive that
promise with faith.
Let me offer here a good contrast to the unbelief that we are being warned
about. My Sunday School class has been looking at the life of Abraham for
the last while. Consider his faith. God called to Abraham to leave his home.
Did tell him the destination? No. All he knew was that God would guide him
to it. Abraham had to decide whether to trust God. He did and it showed. He
left home. God later called Abraham to take Isaac his son, his only son,
whom he loved, and to kill him as a sacrifice. Abraham, again, had to decide
whether to trust God. He did and it showed. He took Isaac and put him on
that altar, lifting the knife, ready to kill him. Christian faith hears what
God has to say, decides to trust Him and then shows that trust by acting
accordingly. Christian faith boils down to a trust in Jesus that shows
itself in the large and small decisions of life.
And so, here you are, the people of God in the desert of this world. Jesus
has promised Himself to you. He has promised to rescue you from the house of
slavery to sin and to bring you into the Promised Land of heaven. How do you
respond? For one thing, I would think that there would be a sense of wonder.
‘Jesus has obligated Himself to us! Why would He do a thing like that?’ I
hope that you will never lose that sense of amazement at the Gospel. This
promise also produces great encouragement. ‘We are on our way to the
Promised Land. Jesus has promised that He will get us through this
wilderness and into that glorious land. He has promised and He will keep His
word.’ There is great comfort in this, especially in those times when the
Promised Land seems so far away and so unlikely. But then, we need to
remember that, for as long as we are in the desert, we will encounter the
question, ‘Will you trust Me now?’ That question will present itself in all
of the different areas of life. It will be raised in terms of the job, how
you raise your kids, lifestyle choices, everything. ‘Will you trust Me now?’
And as we reflect on that question, our hearts will respond in two ways. We
feel this great rush that says, ‘I want to. I really want to.’ But with that
is also a great sadness as we remember how often we don’t. We remember how
often we have, by our actions, answered the question with a ‘No, I’m not
going to trust You now.’ At times, there is a little fear that also rises
up. Our lack of trust disqualifies us. The promise is now worthless, as far
as we are concerned. Jesus would be justified if He abandoned us in the
desert to perish. And yet, He is a patient Savior, full of mercy to sinners
like us. And so, He renews His promise to all who repent of their sins.
Out of all of this comes prayer. For one thing, there is the prayer of
thanksgiving that ours is a God who makes – and keeps! – promises, even to
such as we are. We stand amazed at the grace and mercy of Jesus. What kind
of God is this? And then, there are the prayers for His aid. We want to
trust Him. We really do. But we are so weak and so prone to answer with a
‘No’. And so, we ask that He would help us to trust Him more and more. And
that prayer isn’t just some shot in the dark, based on nothing. No, we make
that request based on His promise. ‘Lord, if it depends on my trusting You
perfectly from here on out, there is no way that I will be able to make it.
But You said that You would get me there. You promised. So, I am looking to
You to keep Your promise by changing my heart so that I would trust You
more.’ And so, because of His promise we can look to the future – in this
life and into the next – with optimism. Jesus has promised.