Deuteronomy 26:16-19 -

The golden chain.

The end of the career of Moses was drawing nigh. Nothing could be more natural than that he should gather up all his powers to remind the people of their solemn vows, and to repeat in their hearing the sum and substance of that code which was to regulate their personal life, their religious service, and their judicial procedure. Having done this, he closes with a brief but very earnest appeal to the people's heart and conscience. In it there is much that has, primarily, an historical and local hearing, but the principles included therein have a far-reaching, a worldwide, a permanent significance. The phrases used here are reproduced by the Apostle Peter ( 1 Peter 2:1-25 .), and are applied by him to Christians. What Israel then was, locally and theoretically, believers are now spiritually. The words here uttered by Moses form a golden chain, which we will examine link by link. We may thus come to see that, notwithstanding the lapse of ages and the advance of the world, this golden chain is as real and as complete as ever. With God the first link begins; with God is the last. The chain is on this wise: God sends a Law; this Law is accepted by the people; so accepting the Law they are received in covenant; people loyal to God are elevated among men; they are thus for a praise and honor and glory;—and all this is according to the word of the Lord, " as he hath spoken." Thus that which goeth forth from his lips as a declaration cometh back to him as a fulfillment.

First link: HERE ARE COMMANDMENTS , STATUTES , AND JUDGMENTS APPOINTED BY GOD . From beginning to end this is the distinct declaration of Moses and the postulate of the Hebrew faith. That the Law was received from Sinai is, historically, as indisputable as that the battle of Waterloo was fought. That this Law was of God was the proclamation from the first; while our homiletic studies in this book have, we trust, deepened our conviction that from none but God could aught so holy with such a claim have proceeded, and that this commandment, which is holy and just and good, does disclose the exceeding sinfulness of sin in a way which could only have been done through one taught of him who is the Lord of consciences and souls. This effort to educate the people in righteousness was the most startling stride in morals which the world had ever known. It was then, and remains still, the only attempt ever made to start into being a new nation with God alone for its acknowledged King, righteousness alone for the corner-stone of its polity, and a free and holy brotherhood alone for its citizenship. In reference to worship, there was the revealed law of sacrifice as the ground of acceptance. In regard to life, the rule was, "Love to God and love to man." It is precisely so now. Just as beneath the Law there lay unrepealed the Divine Abrahamic promise, so along with the gospel there is the rule unrepealed, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." There was a gospel with the Law; there is a law with the gospel.

Second link: THE PEOPLE HAD VOWED UNTO GOD THAT THEY WOULD OBEY HIS VOICE . ( Deuteronomy 26:17 .) It is not noted, perhaps, with sufficient frequency and force how often, even amid the terror, thunder, and smoke of Sinai, the Lord threw the decision of this question upon the people's free consent. Not even their response in the moment of glad freedom and terrible awe was sufficient. God would not take the people by surprise nor fasten them unawares to an engagement they did not understand. They gave their assent, first to an oral inquiry, then to the Law when written in a book and read in their hearing, then to the covenant sealed with blood. So now. While, in one sense, God is Sovereign over us by a right none may dispute, yet there is another sovereignty to which he asks our willing, loving consent ( Romans 12:1 ). He stoops to ask of us therefore of our hearts.

Third link: THE COVENANT THUS ENTERED INTO BY LOVING CONSENT TO DIVINE SWAY IS DIVINELY RECIPROCATED . ( Deuteronomy 26:18 .) "And the Lord hath avouched thee," etc. We must be careful, however, how we set this, or we shall obscure the gospel in the act of endeavoring to set forth its most priceless relations. We must not put the matter thus: "God loves us because we love him;"—that would be an entire reversal of the revealed order of things. But rather thus: "God loves first." When we respond to his love and are saved by it, he rejoices over us. The love of compassion becomes a love of complacency, and the Lord avouches us to he his "peculiar people." The Apostle Peter applies precisely this phrase to all believers ( 1 Peter 2:1-25 .). But, to an ordinary reader, the English phrase would not yield an approximation to its true meaning, which may be shown thus: the word pecus , cattle; peculium , property in cattle, private property, that which has been bought for one's self; and thus the phrase, "peculiar people," means a people whom God has secured as his own by purchase. Hence the New Testament phrases, "Ye are bought with a price," etc, God's satisfaction in man is complete only when man finds his home in God.

Fourth link: WHEN A MAN IS FOUND OF GOD , HE IS DESTINED FOR HONOR AMONG MAN . ( Deuteronomy 26:18 , Deuteronomy 26:19 .) "Then," says David, "shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments." And whenever the citizens of a state are loyal and obedient to God, the state which is leavened by them will certainly rise to honor and renown.

Fifth link: SUCH A LIFE WILL BE FOR A PRAISE AND A NAME AND AN HONOR . For whose? Certainly God's (cf. Isaiah 43:1 , Isaiah 43:21 ). A holy man is the noblest work of God on earth. The life he lives among men is, in its way, a revelation of God, and reflects honor on him.

Sixth link: This glory, being thus brought to God through the power of holy lives, will be best confirmation of the origin, meaning, and power of the written Word. "As he hath spoken" ( Deuteronomy 26:19 ). The Word regulates the life; the life confirms the Word.

Note—Christian people have the vindication of the faith in their own hands. Argument may do much, but holiness will do very far more.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR