God’s Promises – The Rule of Law: Government of the Mind (2)

God’s Promises

The Rule of Law: Government of the Mind (2)

The promises of God provide the incentive for obeying God’s Law.

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deuteronomy 6:1-3

God’s redemption of His people is grounded in the covenant He declared to Abraham (Exod. 2:24, 25). The promises to Abraham (Abram) were “precious and very great” (2 Pet. 1:4). They included being blessed by God and being a blessing to the peoples of the world, and may be summarized by the phrase, “I will be your God, and You will be My people” (Gen. 12:1-3).

The land of Canaan was intended as the preliminary staging-ground for the unfolding drama of God’s blessing His people. Thus, the Law of God continually points the people of Israel forward to their occupation of that land with hints and glimpses of the fulfillment of all that God has promised them. In the land, Israel was to understand, it would go well with them, they would live long and be protected from enemies, and the blessings of God would abound in everything to which they put their hands.

Thus, in addition to the knowledge of God as Lord, Redeemer, and Sovereign, the Law also keeps the promises of God before the minds of His people as the reward they can expect to enjoy for obedience.

But the promises are merely a token of Israel’s true reward: God Himself is Israel’s great reward, as He had promised to Abram (Gen. 15:1). As they enjoyed the blessings that came from obedience, Israel would know the even greater joy of the presence of God in their midst (Ps. 16:11). By their obedience they could claim the promises and thus “partake of God” Himself in a unique and wonderful way (2 Pet. 1:4).

These promises, like the Law God gave for their attaining, also point to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all the hopes and desires of the people of God, the perfect embodiment of all His precious and very great promises (2 Cor. 1:20).

Thus the Law of God intends to fill the minds of God’s people with a vision of God and reminders of His promises—each of these fully realized in Jesus Christ—so that, with their minds, they might instruct their hearts to fear and love this gracious and generous God supremely.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.