The Promise – More than Physical

We have seen the promise of God carried forward to the children of Israel as they are brought out of Egypt, and God established His covenant relationship with this great people. When Moses read the words of the Lord (as we have them in Exodus 20-23, which includes the Law of God and an overview of the laws and ordinances comprising the Law of Moses) to the people, their response was, “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7). The Ten Commandments formed the foundation for Jehovah’s relationship with the children of Israel, and how they related to one another. At the end of his life Moses rehearsed what the people had committed to: “And he [Jehovah] declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:13). 
These tables of stone, on which God had etched the Ten Commandments, were kept in the Ark of the Covenant, which was located in the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:6-9). The Ten Commandments were the core of God’s covenant with Israel, and the Law of Moses served as a guide on how the Ten Commandments were to be lived out; together they made up the covenant between God and Israel. The justification of the Israelites before God carried a heavy emphasis upon doing the right things, in compliance with the numerous laws and ordinances to which they had committed themselves. However, outward compliance was not sufficient.
Isaiah wrote the words of the Lord to Israel: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah [a condemning reference to Israel]. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of [filled to being sickened with] the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain [worthless] oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with [I cannot endure]; it is iniquity [wickedness], even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble [burden] unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:10-15).8 This is a description of Israel living in compliance with the requirements of the Law of Moses – they were faithfully sacrificing the animals and celebrating the festival days according to the requirements as specified by the Lord; however, Jehovah calls it all worthless and wickedness. Despite all of their activities, the Lord declares that, before Him, there was no cleansing in Israel – their hands were still full of blood. Israel had lost sight of what the Lord desired; “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. … In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory” (Isaiah 45:22,25). Israel had focused on the physical observances, and had lost sight of the Lord Who had put all of these sacrificial requirements into place in order to foreshadow the One Who would come to provide a permanent cleansing from sin; their compliance was devoid of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had failed to keep in mind the summation of the first four Commandments: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Their faith was in their works, the sacrifices, and not in the Lord Who justifies; to Israel, Jehovah says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.”
In the midst of Moses rehearsing the numerous laws and ordinances with the children of Israel, we find this: “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken …” (Deuteronomy 18:15). In the middle of the Law of Moses comes a glimpse of the promised Messiah Who would come to strike Satan with the promised death-blow. The words of Jehovah to Moses were these: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18); when Jesus, the Promised One, came He said, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (John 12:49-50). A reminder of the promise of blessing to all of the families of the earth is couched in the midst of the Law of Moses – here is the reason for Israel to keep the numerous ordinances faithfully!

The Physical Promises are Conditional

As we look at the promises made by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we can recognize that these included a promise of the land in which they were living, and the blessing that would come through them to the whole world. We have seen that both of these were well in place during the time of Moses: 1) the Lord declared that He would bring the children of Israel out of Egypt to a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8), and 2) the Lord affirmed that He would raise up “a Prophet from among” the Israelites Who would speak forth His truth (Deuteronomy 18:18). The latter tells us that from among the families of Israel will come One Who will speak the words of God; we have seen this uniquely fulfilled in Jesus, and, clearly, through Him all of the families of the earth have been blessed – whether they acknowledge it or not. We have tied the spiritual promise of blessing through to its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. What about the promise of the land? We have already noted that, even as it was given to Abraham, this was conditional on being faithful to the Lord. Has anything changed since the initial promise?

As Moses rehearsed the Lord’s requirements before all of Israel, he warned them about testing the Lord through their disobedience: “Ye shall not tempt [test] the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah [where the people grumbled against Moses because there was no water – Exodus 17:3-7]. Ye shall diligently keep [hear and harken to (LXX)] the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that [in order that] it may be well with thee, and that [in order that] thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken” (Deuteronomy 6:16-19)
.9 Even now, Israel’s possession of the land that was first promised to Abraham is conditional upon their obedience to the Lord – nothing has changed! “For if ye shall diligently keep [hear and harken to (LXX)] all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves” (Deuteronomy 11:22-23). There can be no mistaking the openly conditional expression of the promise concerning the land. If the children of Israel lived in obedience to the Lord, then He would ensure their victory as they claimed the Promised Land. As Moses summed up his discourse, he said, “I call heaven and earth to record [to bear witness] this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest [the end or purpose of choosing life; that thou mayest should be read as to] love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest [to] obey his voice, and that thou mayest [to] cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest [to] dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).10 Once again, the option of choosing life, first of all, means to love, obey, and cleave to the Lord, and, then, to dwell in the Promised Land. We must not miss that, conditional to dwelling in the land that God had promised to Abraham, was Israel’s obedience to the Lord their God! 
Results of Failure to Meet the Conditions

Moses clarified for Israel the consequences of not meeting the conditions that the Lord placed upon their occupation of the Promised Land: “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you … and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish [be exterminated] from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed [annihilated, exterminated]” (Deuteronomy 4:23-26).11 Likewise, Joshua, when he neared the end of his life, warned Israel that if they failed to keep the Lord’s commands, then they would perish from off the land. What cannot be missed is that if Israel failed to remain faithful to the Lord their God (the promise to Abraham was that Jehovah would be their God – Genesis 17:8), then, as a nation, they would cease to exist. With the passage of time, we see both Israel (the northern kingdom that followed Jeroboam away from the house of David) and Judah (the southern kingdom that retained kings in the lineage of David) were taken into captivity, and the Promised Land was kept by strangers and by a remnant of the people who were left behind (2 Kings 17:23-24; 2 Kings 25:21-22) – that nation of Israel was gone.
However, the Lord, after seventy years, brought Israel back to the land of promise, with the help of their captors, and in fulfillment of prophecy (Jeremiah 29:10). They were re-established as a people, but never gained the power and prestige that they enjoyed under King David; although they identified themselves as being a nation, they never regained their autonomy. Even at the time of Jesus, Israel was a nation, but they were under the governorship of Rome.. [The emphasis in […] was inserted by the author. . continue now to Part Three]