The Spirit of Faith
ICS Daily Devotions
Exodus 3:16-17 (NKJV) Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
God told Moses to gather the elders and tell them that He had heard their cry, He would deliver them from the land of slavery and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. It is not mentioned that they prayed. Nonetheless, God had seen their plight. Not only did God give them a personal promise through His servant Moses, but He also gave them added confidence by reiterating that He, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had spoken. He is the God of covenant whose promises last through the generations.
A covenant promise is one of the highest unbreakable promises one can ever give to another because any failure to carry out the covenant promise will bring about a curse on that person. In this case, God, the covenant partner to Abraham, would bring to pass what He had promised the Israelites.
At that time, the Israelites were under two concurrent covenants, one of which was the Mosaic covenant—a conditional covenant with blessings and curses. These Israelites didn’t know God, so they had to be schooled by the law to know what sin is and the holiness of God. It would take them some time to know God and His character. However, we can know God because we have the full counsel of the Bible. Trusting the inspiration and the authority of the Bible will help us to have faith in God and His Word because He and His Word are one.
There is a parallel between the Israelites leaving the land of Egypt to possess the Promised Land and us leaving the slavery of sin to take possession of the abundant life. Just like the Israelites had to deal with the land’s inhabitants, we need to make some challenging but necessary adjustments in our lifestyles to walk in the newness of life. It is through walking by faith because this newness of life is through the “new creation” and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Joshua and Caleb believed that God had indeed given them a good land flowing with milk and honey. They had a different spirit from the others—the spirit of faith, which enabled them to inherit the land eventually. Similarly, all of us need to have the spirit of faith to take hold of what rightfully belongs to us—the abundant life in Christ.
Sermon Series: Having a Different Spirit
