Happy Are The People Of God
"Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, and you shall tread down their high places” (Dt. 33:29). Where would Israel be without the Lord? They were no match for the armies of Egypt. Their escape from Egypt was hopeless. But for the Lord, they would have remained slaves in Egypt. As they stood on the banks of the Red Sea, they had no defense against Pharaoh and his army. The only thing that stood between Israel and Pharaoh was the Lord in a cloudy pillar. In the Red Sea Pharaoh and his armies died. Israel was free! “Happy are you, O Israel… a people saved by the Lord.”
Where would we be without the Lord? We would still be dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1-2). We were powerless to escape the dominion of Satan, but we have been delivered from darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of Christ. “Happy are you, O people of God… a people saved by the Lord!”
Without God’s deliverance Israel would have been making bricks in Egypt. Every Jew knew it. They bore the scars in their hands of a year of making bricks. We, too, know what we would be doing without Jesus. We must never forget who we were and what we were doing before God called us. Paul will say, “I was the chiefest of sinners.” The Corinthians needed to remember their former life before they were washed…justified in the name of the Lord. Today each saint has an ugly past. All saints are people delivered from a life of sin. But for Jesus, we would remain. “Happy are you, O people of God… a people saved by the Lord!”
Before God intervened, Israel had a dismal future at best. God changed that destiny (Ex. 3:8). Paul has no doubt where his road leads (2 Tim. 4:8). The future holds the same for all of God’s people. We will surely be with Him. “Happy are you, O people of God… a people saved by the Lord!”
Consider, like Israel we have been recipients of God’s mercy. His abundant mercy! “The mercy of the Lord endures forever.” All of God’s people have been forgiven of sins! All wiped away! Jesus’ blood cleanses so we stand before Him without a single charge against us. We shout with joy! “The mercy of the Lord endures forever.” We stand in an invitation of praise. “Happy are you, O people of God… a people saved by the Lord!”
|
