Word of Encouragement (12/06/2022)
When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ (Deut. 26:12-15)
This prayer ends with a petition for God’s blessing (v. 15). It comes after the Israelites’ testimony of faithfully carrying out God’s commands (vv. 13-14). It is hard to miss the causal connection between the two: it was on the basis of their obedience to God’s law that they were asking for His blessings on them. This was according to God’s covenant promises:
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.... But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” (Deut. 28:1-2, 15).
This aspect of God’s covenant with Israel reflected God’s character of justice. As a just God, He rewards those who are righteous (that is, those who observe God’s law) and punishes those who violate God’s law.
Do these verses show that God’s covenant with Israel was a covenant of works? Not necessarily. In a covenant of works, there can be no arrangement for forgiveness. Think of God’s covenant with Adam: one sin and he was out. God pronounced His curses on Adam and Eve (and Satan) and the First Pair were kicked out of the garden of Eden. If their lives were spared, it was because God established a covenant of grace with them through His curse on the Serpent (Gen. 3:15) and provided them with a substitute—the animals that were slaughtered in their place to receive the punishment of their sin and provide a covering for them (Gen. 3:21). So then, the presence of the Levitical sacrificial system showed that God’s covenant with Israel was a covenant of grace.
But we must keep in mind that even a covenant of grace must not ignore the principle of justice and righteousness. God cannot deny any of His attributes, including justice and righteousness, and still be God. We cannot know what grace is without the law. What is grace? It is a favor God extends to sinners, who are guilty and deserve divine punishment. If so, how can one know that he is guilty without a standard of justice and righteousness (i.e., the law of God)? Paul said, “through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). He also says, “the Scripture [by which Paul means the law here; cf. Gal. 3:21] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Gal. 3:22). The law shows that we are sinners and need God’s grace for salvation.
So then, the grace God extends to us sinners must be a “righteous grace”—a grace that does not dismiss but upholds God’s righteousness. This was why we needed a Savior, who would fulfill the law and pay the penalty of our sin in our behalf. Has there been anyone in history, who can rightly claim God’s blessings on the basis of his merit and righteousness? No. Only Jesus Christ our Savior has the right to do so. But we can claim God’s blessings in the name of Jesus Christ, with whom we are united through faith! What a blessing! Let us boldly (on account of Christ’s perfect righteousness) yet humbly (since it is not by our merit) ask for God’s blessings!