August 2

Aug 2 - Today from Proverbs 2 we look at verses 21 and 22
"For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it."

I think to get the full impact of this passage, one must be very familiar with the Biblical narrative of the Jewish people.
God made a Covenant of Divine Commitment with Abraham that held three major promises:
1. Land
2. Offspring
3. Blessing to the nations.
There were no stipulations or obligations placed on Abraham, God put him to sleep and walked the covenant ceremony alone (Genesis 15). This meant that God would see it to fulfillment no matter what. Divine Commitment.
Some 400-500 years later God made a second covenant with Abraham's descendants at Sinai. This time it was a different form of covenant; a Covenant of Human Obligation. This covenant held forth promises, but there now were stipulations and obligations that the people of Israel must meet in order to benefit. This covenant contained blessings and curses (Deut. 28). One of the most prominent curses was expulsion from the Promised Land (the first promise of the Abrahamic Covenant). The first two promises of the Abrahamic Covenant meant everything to the Israelites. Their land was their living. Their land was their identity. Without their land, their life meant very little. Their offspring would carry on the family name, and would keep their portion of the land securely in the family. The third promise appeared to be a bit vague at best, and in centuries to come would be either ignored or would be perverted to mean to place the nations in servitude to Israel rather than obliterated altogether. The second covenant did not set aside the first (Galatians 3:17). The second covenant was to be Israel's response to the first. Because God, in His sovereignty, chose Israel to be His peculiar people, their response was to live in a manner that would bear witness to the nations the character of the true God. Righteousness. If the people would not honor God through righteous living, they would forfeit the privileges of His divine provision; "the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it."
What lesson does this proverb hold for the church? We find a key in the New Testament book of Hebrews. In Bible days the Promised Land was often identified with God's rest. We see this analogy clearly used in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4. The wilderness experience was an analogy of a time of testing. The entrance into the Promised Land was entering into God's rest. The author of the book of Hebrews is not speaking about 'earning' or 'losing' of one's salvation. Our salvation came by way of a Covenant of Divine Commitment. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). God would see it to fulfillment, no matter what. What could we possibly have to do with our salvation if we were chosen before the foundation of the world? The author is speaking about our response to God's choosing us. God chose Israel and delivered them from bondage to Egypt by His sovereign hand. He then made a Covenant of Human Obligation with them that they might live in such a manner that the nations would believe on Him. If they chose not to live righteously, they would not experience His rest through living under His care and protection in the Promised Land. He never placed them back into bondage in Egypt for their disobedience - but rather, they died in the wilderness, never experiencing that which He desired to give them. They were delivered, but never reached fulfillment of their purpose. In later times their disobedience caused them to be torn from the land. They never ceased to be His chosen people, but because of their disobedience and rebellion, they ceased to acquire all of the benefits of being His chosen.
So what of the church? Can we be saved and still not live in all of the benefits God desires for us? Yes. If we understand the wonder of His love, the cost of our redemption at His expense, the promise of His care for us (even in our wilderness experiences), and we fail to respond in obedience to His desire for us to live in a serving community under His guidance - we can find ourselves dying in a spiritual wilderness. Even worse, the world will never see the reality of a loving and caring God through our behavior. We were saved and empowered to be His witnesses. Instead of bringing glory to God (fulfilling our purpose), we dishonor our Father and Savior through living a self-serving life.
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their (Israel's) example of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:9-11).