Deuteronomy 4:20 But the LORD has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance… Israel was the only people on earth chosen by God of old. This came to pass because of the faith of Abraham. God was the God of Abraham's posterity. The choice was absolute and universal. All might go forth from Egypt. Young and old, man and wife, sick and sound, etc., etc. In brief, all that pertained to the people might go forth over the Red Sea and sing God's praise. How great, then, was the Divine mercy! And what hope does this give us in view of the thought that there will be many received into the kingdom of heaven — a number greater and more comprehensive, it may be, than men sometimes think. I. ISRAEL WAS GOD'S HERITAGE. 1. He calls them His heritage. He desired at least to have one spot on earth whilst as yet all earth was subject to the prince of this world. Such could only come through a faithful man, who had become free from this servitude. Such was Abraham, who was commanded to sojourn in Canaan. This land God chose as His own; and the people to whom He gave it were to be inheritors of the land, and therefore a people of inheritance unto Him. 2. Thus Moses warned them that in this land, which was a consecrated land, no idolatry must find place. It was to be separated from all lands in which the prince of this world had sway. The land remained consecrated to God, His peculiar possession even when defiled by the people, i.e. when it took on the character of a heathen land, and because of this was, for a time, forsaken, as during the Exile. II. THE WHOLE EARTH IS NOW GOD'S. 1. Since Christ died Canaan ceased to be the especially holy land consecrated to God. Now the whole earth belongs to Him, for now the prince of the world has been ousted. Every spot is now God's holy land, where God's children gather together — where the true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent are worshipped. Humanity is now God's heritage, purchased by the blood of Christ. 2. The idea, therefore, that Israel will again have to occupy Canaan as God's inheritance has no support, for the whole earth is the Lord's, all is equally His, as once Canaan was. God will have Himself to be acknowledged everywhere as once He was in Canaan. Wherefore, then, now a holy land in opposition to other lands? Now we sing with the angels, "Holy," etc., "the whole earth is full of His glory," i.e. the glory of God is to be extolled now everywhere as once in Canaan. Therefore the Lord said to His disciples: "Blessed are the meek," etc. — not only citizens of the erstwhile holy land only, but of the whole world. 3. May we, through our faith and our reliance on God and Him whom He has sent, make every place holy ground, as the possession of God's inheritance. For He fills all with the fulness of His Divine glory, or will yet fill all. (J. C. Blumhardt.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. |
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