Deuteronomy 9:1-3 KJV
Hear, O
Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater
and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
A people
great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom
thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
Understand
therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee;
as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before
thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD
hath said unto thee.
I observe immediately that the
book of Deuteronomy offers no possibility of Jewish defeat by the Canaanites.
It is as if, before the first battle, the war has already been won. Judging
from Rahab's response to Joshua's spies the conclusion of the war was already
decided on both sides. The Canaanite understood they had no hope of winning
this war.
In the light of this
assurance, Israel was to understand that this was God's battle and God's doing.
They were also to understand that the victory they would achieve was not
because they deserved it but because the Canaanite's did not. Their victory
would be an act of grace.
This is the foundational
truth for outreach and evangelism today. Paul said that he (and by implication
we) was a debtor. He did not deserve the grace he had received and therefore
owed it to others to share that grace with them. Our place is to reach out to
anyone and everyone that God enables us. Whether they respond positively and
become saved or respond negatively and remain condemned is a matter entirely
between them and God. The battle is the Lord's. We merely follow Him.
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