Deuteronomy 28:2 (NKJV)
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
I believe the Lord spoke to me that God desires to release favor for the body of Christ. The idea of favor is goodwill shown towards someone where there is no obligation to show such goodwill. The scripture the Lord led me to initially is Exodus 3:20-22. In this scripture the Lord tells Moses that the Israelite women should ask the Egyptian women for gold, silver and clothing. The Lord tells Moses that he will give the Israelites favor and by this favor they will plunder Egypt.
We have seen favor extended in the New Testament at the birth of the church. God gave favor to the believers in Jesus and as a result people were added to the church daily through the process of salvation. I believe that favor has always been the heritage of those who believe but I think God is saying that we can walk in this favor at a new level. It is important to remember that everything in the Kingdom of God works by faith. If we are going to see this favor manifest we need to believe for it.
This week I want to look at favor from another perspective. The covenant that God made with Abraham becomes more defined and written down under Moses. Much of what Moses wrote had to do with the covenant and the requirements for keeping it. The book of Leviticus consists of all of the requirements of keeping the covenant, the consequences for breaking it in various ways and the sacrifices that must be offered in order to be made right with the covenant once it was broken. This written set of requirements is called the Law of Moses.
The book of Deuteronomy differs from Leviticus. Deuteronomy speaks often of the commandments given to Israel by God. We know them as the Ten Commandments. Where the Law of Moses is full of details for every area of life, the Ten Commandments contain only ten statements of what Israel must and must not do. I believe they are a revelation of the nature of God as much as a list defining right behavior.
The book of Deuteronomy is the last address of Moses to the people he has led out of bondage. He will not be taking them into the Promised Land. He wants them to know from his heart the things that are important if they are going to fulfill their destiny in God. Where Leviticus is a book of Law, Deuteronomy is a book of relationship. Moses knew something about relationship with the Lord.
Many Old Testament Characters had wonderful relationships with the Lord. David was called a man after God’s own heart. Samuel heard God call his name as a child. Abraham received God’s covenant and was known as the friend of God. However in Exodus 22:11, the bible says that God spoke to Moses “face to face.” There was something extraordinary about Moses’ relationship with God.
In this wonderful book, Moses is speaking to Israel out of that relationship. To me, this is a very poignant book because Moses seems to know that Israel is not going to keep his words. Repeatedly he exhorts them “not to forget” what God has done for them. He tells them they must keep the commandments the Lord has given them. This tells me that Moses, given his experience with Israel, does not believe they will do what he is asking of them.
Although this is an Old Testament book written to Old Testament people, I believe it applies even more to the Church than it did to Israel. Israel’s relationship was built upon the Law. Moses had relationship with God outside of the need of Law. The church’s relationship with God is built on Grace. Grace is the law fulfilled. For Israel, keeping the law was their relationship. We keep the law because we already have relationship. This is a very different thing.
For this reason, I believe Deuteronomy may apply more to us than even to Israel. We are a people of relationship and this book comes from one who spoke from a heart of relationship. In chapter 28, we read a list of the blessings of the Covenant. However, it is also the basis for the New Covenant.
In today’s verse, it says these covenant blessings will “come upon us and overtake us.” To me this is a picture of favor. We do nothing but live as real Christians. The blessings find us and overtake us. We do not pursue them. This is exactly how favor works. Although the Lord may direct us to ask for certain things, favor comes upon us and overtakes us.
As we read this list of blessings, we can make the connection that favor is a product of the Covenant. If we keep the covenant, we are blessed. When Israel walked in the Old Covenant, they had favor. If we walk in the New Covenant, we have favor.
Tomorrow we will begin to look at this list of ways we can expect favor. Today let me point out a couple of things. I like Young’s Literal Translation of the bible because it is a direct translation from the original languages to English. Although at times this can be cumbersome, I believe it can also give a slightly clearer picture of what the bible is saying since there is no attempt to fit the language into proper English usage.
In most translations, this list is in the future tense. In other words, it tells us we will be blessed. I believe it is good to know that these blessings do not end. However, Young’s give us another perspective. Young’s puts this list in the present. In other words is says we are blessed. These blessings are mine right now as well as in the future.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (YLT) 1 `And it hath been, if thou dost hearken diligently to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all His commands which I am commanding thee to-day, that Jehovah thy God hath made thee uppermost above all the nations of the earth, 2 and all these blessings have come upon thee, and overtaken thee, because thou dost hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God:
I want to encourage you, as we read this list of blessings, to expect them to be a part of your experience today, not only in the future. We are currently blessed of God. We have favor today because we are in covenant relationship with the Lord through Jesus Christ.
This is going to be an exciting week!
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