“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (Deuteronomy 33:29)
This is the end of the blessing Moses spoke to the children of Israel before He died. There is none so blessed as those who have God on their side. The Israelites had God on their side. He had delivered them from slavery and had led them through the desert to the Promised Land. They were on the verge of entering in when Moses spoke his blessing over them and then left to die on the mountain of Nebo, the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. (Deuteronomy 34:1)
Fast forward to the early church, Paul wrote to the Romans. “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:4-8) Paul took God’s Word to Abraham to a spiritual level few understood. He was not saying that the Jews were not the children of God, but he was saying that the true children of God are the children of faith. God had already demonstrated that the Gentiles were included in His plan of salvation. But the church in Rome was conflicted because the Christian Jews were insisting that Gentile Christians keep the Law. It’s hard to give up tradition. The Jewish Christians were having difficulty with this. They believed in Jesus, but still wanted to keep the traditions that pointed to Jesus, that foreshadowed Him and His New Covenant, not fully understanding that it’s faith in the complete work of Jesus that makes one a true Israelite, a child of God, not works of the Law. (Hebrews 8:5)
There is none so blessed as the children of God. All the blessings and promises belong to them who by faith believe God as Abraham believed and have received salvation. Paul later writes to the Galatians, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7-9)
The New Covenant of Jesus has blessed the children of God with better promises. “But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6) And this is possible because our high priest is not man who offers sacrifices here on earth as the priests did in the Law, but He lives in heaven interceding for us. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” (Hebrews 8:1-2)
The children of God are born of God. The children of disobedience have been crucified with Christ at the Cross, along with Jesus. (Galatians 2:20) That old man has died. (Romans 6:6) And God has raised up a new creation, born of Him with the Spirit of God indwelling. (2 Corinthians 5:17, John 14:23, 1 Corinthians 3:16) These are the children of God who call God Almighty, “Abba Father.” “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:15-17) We are the children of God and share the ministry of Jesus with its severance from this world and persecution. But as children of God, we have all the rights and privileges of sonship with Jesus.
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