God, Our Merciful Covenant Partner

Introduction

In 1519, Hernán Cortés led a large expedition consisting of 600 Spaniards, 16 or so horses, and 11 boats to Mexico. The goal: capture a magnificent treasure said to be held there. But once they landed he gave rather odd orders which were to burn their boats. He wanted to make it clear, There is no turning back. We are commited.

Today live in a culture where consistency, faithfulness, and commitment are no big deal. Breaking your word isn’t that big of an issue.

But last weak we saw building our prayers on the back of God to be something quite special.

The Covenant Faithfulness of God

(22) This is a reflection of Numbers 21:21-35 and Deuteronomy 2:24-3:11 which provides two examples of God’s conquering of His people’s enemies.

(23) They know draw their attention two the Abrahamic covenant as aforementioned. Here they focus on God’s multiplying of Abraham’s descendants as promised in Genesis 15:5 (POWERPOINT) “He took Him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the starts if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”, reiterated in Genesis 22:17(PP), and seen already in action in Deuteronomy 1:10(PP). But we know that God doesn’t merely end there. The descendants of Abraham have inhabited every age from Genesis 12 to today and, as we know from Galatians 3:16 (PP) “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.” and 3:29 “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.”, we are a part of this seed.

(24) As Ezra continues on we find that he begins to draw parallel’s all throughout Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 31:20-23 we find that God is well aware, as He is of all things, of their impending rebellion yet He still promises victory. But why? Was there anything within these people to provoke God’s care for them? Deuteronomy 9:1-6 (PP) clarifies this clearly as it reads, “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and drive out nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens. The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?’ But understand that today the LORD your God will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; he will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the LORD has told you. When the LORD your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The LORD brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, the LORD will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness. You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the LORD your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. “Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the LORD from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.” And so we ask ourselves, if there wasn’t any righteousness in them to cause them to be more favorable than anyone else, then why in the world did God choose this people? Deuteronomy 7:7-9 (PP) tells us as it says, “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.”

(25) So as we come to verse 25 we find a genuine depiction of shalom. This is a people who’s God has chosen them for no reason other than His love and He has multiplied them,and fought for them for no reason than more than that He is simply faithful. But He is not merely faithful as a strict, disconnected covenant partner just trying to barely meet the constraints of the arrangement, but He has gone above and beyond for His people. He has lavished them in blessings, showered them with His love and they are satisfied in Him. John Piper says it well when he said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Christological draw: There is so much to say here as we consider the conquering of Jehovah over Israel’s enemies so has Christ conquered our enemies and led captivity captive at the cross. 1 Corinthians 15:56 “56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” There is no disease, no addiction, no demon, no bad habit, no fault, no vice, no weakness, no temper, no moodiness, no pride, no self-pity, no strife, no jealousy, no perversion, no greed, no laziness that Christ will not overcome as the enemy of his honor.

He conquered their enemies and he led captivity captive at the cross. He multiplied Abraham’s seed and we are that very seed today. He gave them Canaan but He gives us the Earth.

Every good thing that they have, all of their blessings have come from their good God who goes above and beyond for His people. As we take note of His faithfulness to God, I wonder if the abundant commitment of God to His covenant has seeped into how we treat the people we have commited ourselves to in our lives? (PP)

This seems to be a place of intimate enjoyment doesn’t it? Armen Thommaisan calls times like this your “spiritual personal best” and those are great seasons aren’t they? But we often don’t realize we’ve been there until we are reflecting over the past and perhaps this is what Ezra is doing here as he begins to transfer into a darker note for Israel.

Comfort can often lead to complacency in the Christian life as we feel we no longer need to rely on God. As we look and behold God’s abundant blessings on people throughout the Word we take note that humans often take the good gifts that God gives and then we turn those gifts into gods themselves. This is an issue stemming all the way to Eden.

In Deuteronomy 6:10-12, 8:11-20, and 11:15-16,God graciously warns Israel saying, (PP) “Be careful that you don’t forget the LORD your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in, and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases, be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” Yet as we read the text here in v26 today we find this coldness has snuck in an consumed Israel.

Man’s Unfaithfulness to Our Covenant God

As we look at this next passage we find a clear reflection upon a circular series of actions found in Judges 2:10-20 which goes like so, (PP) (1) Israel Rebels. Judges 2:10-13 and Nehemiah 9:26 (2) God delivers them to the hands of the enemy. Judges 2:14-15 and Nehemiah 9:27. (3) In their suffering and affliction they cry out to God. We see their suffering in Judges 2:15 but learn about their crying out more in Nehemiah 9:27b and (4) God raises up delivers. Judges 2:16 and Nehemiah 9:27c

This action of rebellion isn’t just mentioned as a one time event in this prayer, but is found as an event in v26-27, again in v28, and lastly in v29-31. Now, our probably is that we might read this text and think, “Welp, that got forgetful a few times. Man, they shouldn’t do that, but it happens.” But we must stop and consider how heinous this is! They have enjoyed the covenantal faithfulness of God and all that comes with it. They have seen His miracles as He’s subdued their enemies, multiplied their descendants, and provided them with amenities they didn’t even labor for and He warned them about this forgetfulness! This is insane, this is God that they’ve sinned against. Thomas Watson, when recalling the horror of sin writes, (PP) “‘Peccatum est Deicidium’ meaning, Sin is God’s would be murderer. Sin would not only unthrone God, but un-God Him. If the sinner could, God would no longer be God.” Because God is constant in holiness He is unwavering to the vileness of man. But in the rebellious heart of sinners their hatred is so strong that if they possessed the ability they would strip God of His very divinity for not cowering to the sinful demands of His rebellious creatures.

Here we find 1) “they were disobedient and rebelled,” (2) “they put your law behind their backs,” (3) “they killed your prophets,” (4) “they committed awful blasphemies,” (5) “they again did what was evil in your sight,” (6) “they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands,” (7) “they sinned against your ordinances,” (8) “stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen,” (9) “they paid no attention.”

Israel is not ignorant of their error. They have the Torah, but God is gracious and sends them prophets to warn them to turn back. Yet they are not only sinning, but proud of their actions and when God graciously sends messengers they take it as anything but grace and kill them. Since they couldn’t do to the Law what they did to the Prophets they flung it behind them that they might ignore the piercing call to repentance in the Word. The reference of the murder of these prophets may be referring to passages like First Kings 19:10, 14; 2 Chr 24:19–21; Jer 2:30; 26:20–23.

As we come to verses 29-31 we notice that there is rebellion, and we see God giving Israel to affliction but there is no element of prayer or deliverance seen here and this is because deliverance from this affliction has not yet come. And now we find this reflection of the past coming to their present age and in the midst of the judgment of rebellion we find them reflecting on God’s mercy. It is this reflection on the past faithfulness of God that gives them such bold assurance to make the request that will be seen next week. This prayer request is held together with the bond of mercy found both in the confident assurance of the past and the compassion God has shown them by sparing them from destruction and being present with them in their affliction. And this is our last note for this passage which is:

God is Our Merciful Covenant Partner

(PP) “God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of his light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.” Charles Spurgeon

I want you to take note, quickly, of what we’ve seen here. God has unconditional elected a people with nothing to offer, He has fought for them, provided for them and been faithful to His covenant with them and in response they forget His goodness and rebel against Him! And what does He do in response? They have the Torah! That’s enough for God to simply say, “They have the Law, that’s all they get!” But we find that not only do they have the Law, which is a gracious provision, but the Spirit sends prophets who they kill! I want to quickly notice the singularity of Spirit and the plurality of prophets, these rebellious and unfaithful covenant partners may have killed God’s prophets, but they could not escape the loving call of the Lord. I love how the NASB translates v31 as it reads, “However, You bore with them for many years.” James Swanson says the word word translated “bore” here means “to have an attitude of tolerance for an extended period of time.”

And after all of this rebellion, does He forsake them and allow them to all be slaughtered? NO! He allows them to be taken captive and I know this doesn’t seem like grace but look how good He is that He would hold our hands to go where we don’t want to go that we might see that He is all we need! Thomas Watson said, “There is more evil in one drop of sin than in a sea of affliction.”

Now, This repetitious rebellion against God is caused by this peoples inability to be obedient to the law of God. We must take note of how they have taken the Law, the very revelation of God’s pristine character, glory, and will for His creatures and they have violated all of that He has revealed to them, not once which is overwhelmingly more than enough, but repetitively.

(PP) The rebel casts the Law behind his back so he doesn’t have to face the conviction of the Word, but the repentant sinner begs God to ingrain His Law upon his own heart for it is precious! And this comes to be a result of the greatest of mercies, the mercy shown in God’s giving of His Son, the Christ. Who comes fulfilling the demands of the whole law that and while standing in total perfection He offers Himself in our stead taking our inability, our depravity and rebellion upon Himself absorbing all of the reserved wrath for us upon the cross in mercy towards us that we may receive what He has accomplished. It is through this New Covenant that we find coming to fruition what Jeremiah said in (PP) Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

It is by God’s grace alone that He has done with our sin in love what we have done to His law in hatred in that He has cast it behind His back as seen in Isaiah 38:17 “17 Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such intense bitterness; but your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction, for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.”

Conclusion

As we look at this text our hearts are hopefully charged to think of all of the times that God has been faithful to us, to our ancestors, and to His Word; How we have so easily forgotten His goodness and rebelled against Him but time and time again He has poured out His mercy and grace and brought us back to the loving arms of His restoration and the warmth of His embrace. And so, as we consider the mercy of God I want us to leave with three things to note as we consider His mercy. (Inform, Warm, and Transform)

(PP) We must not abuse the mercy and grace of God. As we take note of their rebellious treatment of the Law we must understand that we do not have the right to embrace antinomianism. Thomas Watson wrote, “Suck not poison out of the sweet flower of God’s mercy. Think not that because God is merciful, you may go on in sin; this is to make mercy your enemy. To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic.” As we consider the mercy of God as He spared us and crushed Christ in our place, let that drive us deeper into the bliss of His love and deeper into hatred for the things that displease Him. In Romans, Paul writes, “Should we sin that grace may abound? God forbid!”

(PP) We should let mercy drive us to His presence. In this text, it is the reflection of the merciful acts of God that grants Ezra confidence in praying to Him. You and I have the privilege today of coming before the Father looking upon Him with that rainbow of mercy mentioned in revelation displaying His graciousness. As Christ ascended to Heaven He says, “I go to my Father” and today you and I have the privilege of lovingly going to the Father who sits upon His throne of grace.

We often feel as though we must work to prepare ourselves to be in a beautiful and impressive place in our life before we can come to God and ask for mercy so that we can impress Him to mercy and dilute His wrath. But this is contrary to God’s character. He is provoked to wrath, but His mercy is what is bursting from His seams.(PP) Micah 7:18-20 says, “Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love. He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our ancestors from days long ago.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

(PP) We should emulate the mercy that we have received. As God has shown us mercy we who are His children and ambassadors of grace should show this same mercy to others. Ambrose said, “The sum and definition is to be rich in works of mercy, be helpful to the bodies and souls of others. And let the lamp of your profession be filled with the oil of charity.” Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.