Marching to Zion
Exodus 23:20-
-God has now given them the commandments and all the needed instruction in observing those commandments from chapters 20-23
-last week we looked at the three feast they were commanded to keep the feast of unleavened bread, firstfuits, and ingatherings
-we showed how the message of those three feast is Christ-, Christ was crucified during the time of passover, the holy spirit came during the feast of first fruits and one day during the rapture the harvest will be over and we will rest from our labor like they did during the feast of ingatherings or tabernacles
In this passage today God was giving them some promises about their conquering of the promise land that he had prepared for them
In verse 20 we find that it wasn't just a land that they were going to but it was a land and a place that God had prepared for them.
He was going to send an angel to lead them and they were to pay careful attention to his instructions and obey his voice
God promised them that he would conquer their enemies and take all sickness away from them and bless their bread and water.
And in return they were to worship him and not make a covenant with any other gods
This passage is really broken down into
what God will do 20-23
What the people will do vs 24-26
what God will do 27-31
what the people will do 32-33
Gods Plan
When God called the children of Israel out of Egypt he had a plan
When Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery God had a plan
God always has a plan
Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord , plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
God's plan was to bring them out of slavery march right through the wilderness and arrive a the Phl 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.promise land. It was their unbelief that left them in the wilderness for 40 years. God has a plan for us today to be saved and not so that we can just wonder around but so that we can tell everyone else about Christ and take as many people with us when we go to heaven
the ultimate plan is that we run this race that is set before us here with endurance and at the end step over the finish line completing the course as the Apostle Paul did keeping the faith.
It wasn't Gods will that they wonder in the wilderness. It was their lack of trust and obedience that kept them at that place for 40 years
Notice that God told them in verse 21, Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice
The pslamist says this is where the failed
Psa 106:25 They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord .
2Ki 18:12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
We sing that song in church today trust and obey for theres no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey
Phl 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
God wants us to hear his voice today calling all men to salvation but in order to be saved we must harken to his voice, we must trust and obey
Act 4:4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
God give us the word its up to us to respond in obedience to His word. James said that if all we do is hear the word we deceive ourselves we must be doers of the word. The children of Israel heard the word of the Lord that he was going to conqueror their enemies and that he would go before them as the marched into the promise land actually according to verse 27, I will send my terror before you and thrown them into confusion
Then the spies went to look into the promise land and they came back and said it wasn't possible
Phl 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Num 13:30 ¶ And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
Num 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they [are] stronger than we.
Num 13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, [is] a land that eateth up the inhabitPhl 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.ants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it [are] men of a great stature.
Num 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, [which come] of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Instead of trusting God and obeying his command they tried to size themselves up to their enemies and they became insecure and full of fear which lead them to disobedience
years later under the leadership of Joshua when they returned again to spy out the land listen to what Rahab said
Jos 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
Jos 2:11 And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
So God has a plan for us to bring us to the promise land, the heaven, a land that is flowing with milk and honey and we need to trust his voice and obey and not be afraid of our enemies
Gods Preparation
notice in verse 20, that God said this land was prepared for them, by him. God did all the work in getting the land ready for them to come in and live in.
Jhn 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jhn 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.
If God prepared it he wanted them to live there and he was going to see to it that they go there
Jesus told his disciples that he was going away in order to prepare them a place, and us a place so that we might be with the father forever.
The Lord is making all the preparation necessary, even providing the way in order for us to come, all we have to do is follow him, just like the children of Israel just had to follow the angel in the wilderness
God gave the angel authority to show the way to the promise land he said, “My name is in him.” Today all authority has been given to the Son and the Word of God directs us into eternity. We must not rebel against it and we must be careful to do what it says to do I am concerned today that as a society we have forgotten or neglected the message of repentance found in the Word of God
Some people think it sounds too old fashioned, or its too personal
yet if we skip over repentance we are not obeying the voice of the Lord
preparation is on Gods part and on our part. He prepared the place for us, and prepared the way, we have to trust and obey pick up the cross and follow him
Phl 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Take eternity seriously
Gods Protection
God promised the nation of Israel protection from their enemies, in verse 30, “little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possess the man
Thats the biggest problem we have with Gods plan that it happens in Gods time, the right time. Little by little God gets us to where he wants us to be
but it was for their protection
If he destroyed them all at once the wild beast would have mutlitped and even been more trouble for them.
Now today we are not fighting, as I mentioned this morning, a carnal or physical battle but we are fighting a spiritual battle
and the Lord has promised inch by inch little by little that we will win the war, one battle at at time
The Apostle Paul who was right in the heat of the battle said
Rom 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
In the book of Revelation John wrote
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The best weapon that Satan has to use against the church is deception, and one day he will be destroyed!! But battle by battle inch by inch people are being set free as the truth of Gods word comes shining through
Its amazing how clever Satan is with his deception
Gods Promise
The promise to the nation of Israel was one of land. He said in verse 31, “I will set your border from the Red Sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your land and you shall drive them out before you
God promised them a land that was flowing with milk and Honey.
So they were marching to Zion, the promised land
Today Heaven is our Zion, the New Jerusalem that John saw descending from heaven
The city whose builder and maker is God
Hbr 11:8 ¶ By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Hbr 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as [in] a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Hbr 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.
So let us lift our voice in praise as the church sings the old song, were marching to Zion beautiful Beautiful Zion
