17: The Promises to Israel - Giving the Commission

The Present Truth : August 27, 1896

Forty years passed by after that first ill-advised attempt, when the Egyptian was killed, before the Lord was ready to deliver His people by the hand of Moses. It took that length of time to fit Moses for the important work. We read of Moses, at a later period of his life, that he was meek above all other men; but that was not his natural disposition. An education at court is not calculated to develop the quality of meekness. From the way in which Moses at the first proceeded to settle the labor troubles of his people, we see that he was impulsive and arbitrary. The blow closely followed the word. But the man who should lead the children of Abraham into the promised inheritance must have very different characteristics.

The inheritance promised to Abraham was the earth. It was to be gained through the righteousness of faith. But the righteousness of faith is inseparable from meekness of spirit. “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2.4. Therefore the Saviour said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5.5. “Hearken my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” James ii. 5. The promised inheritance, to which the Israelites were to be led, could be possessed only by the meek, and therefore he who should conduct them on the way must necessarily possess that virtue. Forty years’ retirement in the wilderness as a shepherd, wrought the desired change in Moses.

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” Exodus 2.23, 24

This covenant, as we have seen, was confirmed in Christ. It was the covenant, which God made with the fathers, saying unto Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” Acts 3.25. And this blessing consisted in turning them away from their iniquities. It was the covenant which God remembered in sending John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, who should deliver His people from the hand of their enemies, so that they might “serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him” all the days of their lives. It was the covenant, which assured to Abraham and his seed the possession of land, through personal faith in Christ.