Deuteronomy 9

Who can stand before the sons of Anak? They were big, frightening people, and some of them were still in the land of Canaan at the time of the conquest. They stood as living examples of the multitudes of adversaries that stand against the purposes of God even today.

God had given the land of Canaan to Israel. But the Anakim stood in the way of the accomplishment of that purpose.

God had an eternal purpose to bring back a reunited heaven and earth, full of his people who would be perfectly directed by the Holy Spirit, not out of compulsion, but by the perfect renewal of their wills. But sin, death, and hell stood in the way, enemies that were far bigger than the Anakim.

Only the Lord could give Canaan to the Israelites. Only God could secure the new heavens and earth for the people of the Messiah.

The Lord wanted the Israelites to know for certain that their deliverance did not spring from their own perfect righteousness. It was grounded in the Lord's own covenant faithfulness, and had more to do with the unrighteousness of the Canaanites than with any assessment of merit that could be awarded to the descendants of Jacob. That was a humbling message that needed to be repeated many times throughout the pages of the Law and the Prophets.

The Israelites were not a shining example of what the inhabitants of heaven would look like. They were stubborn. They would not hear and obey the voice of the Lord. Their persistent unrighteousness would eventually lead to their exile.

Were the nations of the Gentiles any better? Not at all. Both Jew and Gentile needed a truly righteous Substitute. Through faith in His Name we have life and peace and a righteousness that is not our own.

The record of the church has revealed our own stubborn hearts. If our hope was in our own righteousness apart from Jesus Christ it would be groundless. But our hope is in the righteousness of Christ.

As with the history of the Jews from Egypt to the plains of Moab and beyond, the history of the church is weighed down with example after example of our misguided zeal, our petty squabbles, and our prideful resistance to the ways of the Lord. Yet God has determined to preserve a people in Christ from both the Jews and the Gentiles.

The episode of the golden calf was a reminder to the descendants of Jacob of their own failure to keep God's Law. As soon as the Law was inscribed on tablets of stone by the finger of God, Israel was already worshiping an idol.

At that time the Lord used the intercession of Moses, their mediator, to save them, and to continue in His commitment to them. How many times has our Mediator, Jesus Christ, interceded for us? His blood, the blood of the eternal covenant which was shed on the cross, still speaks a saving word for us before the throne of the Almighty.

The Israelites also rebelled against the Lord at Massah in the wilderness. They would not believe Him or obey Him.

Our record of faith and righteousness is not good in this day of testing. We should yield all of our failures of faithlessness up to the Lord. We should lay our sins again today on Jesus, just as the Old Testament priests laid their hands on goats year by year on the Day of Atonement confessing the sins of Israel. But there is eternal healing for all the people in the blood of the Lamb of God.

Our unrighteousness, our unbelief, and our willful rejection of the ways of God stood against us. These enemies within were formidable foes. But Christ was able to fell these sons of Anak in our hearts. One day we will have no more traces in us of the old man of the flesh, though still today we feel that death within. Yet the life of Christ is in us, and He will win the battle.