Exodus 23:20 Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.… I. THERE IS A DIVINE WAY. 1. Through the wilderness. 2. Beset with enemies. 3. Many privations. 4. Contrary to mere human liking.God's way is not our way! Ours may be pleasant at first but bitter at last, but God's way is the reverse; and yet not exactly, for sweets are graciously mingled with the bitters. There is hunger, but there is manna. There is thirst, but there is clear water from the smitten rock. There is perplexity, but there is an angel to guide and protect. II. THIS WAY LEADS TO DIVINELY-PREPARED PLACES. Heaven is a specially prepared place. "I go to prepare a place for you." A place in the best of all places. A home in the best of homes. A dwelling-place where all the abodes are mansions. A seat where all the seats are thrones. A city where all the citizens are kings. What matters it though the way be long and sometimes dreary, so long as the place is so attractive; and we cannot fail to reach it if we obey Divine directions. III. THE TRAVELLERS ON THIS WAY ARE FAVOURED WITH A DIVINE GUIDE. Jesus Christ, the Angel of the new covenant, is fully competent to direct and protect. He has trodden every inch of the way. IV. DIVINE PROMISES ARE CONTINGENT ON THE FAITHFUL PURSUIT OF DIVINE METHODS (ver. 21). The Divine methods are — Caution, obedience, self-restraint, and the entire destruction of all that has the remotest tendency to damage the moral nature. (W. Burrows, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. |
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