Introduction: Read Exodus23v20to33

This passage is not without difficulty! It is hard to make out the exact status of the Israelite's guardian angel. "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared." v20. It is clear from the Exodus account that the pillar of cloud went before the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years and brought them at last to the Promised Land. So the angel was, one supposes, in the pillar of cloud. However we do not read that a voice issued out of the cloud telling the Israelites what to do. Rather when the cloud moved on so did the Israelites and when it remained stationary so did they. So it is difficult to know what to make of: "Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you." v21and22. I think we need a certain amount of licence when it comes to interpreting this! The angel of the cloud was vested with God's authority. The Israelites had to do what it did, move when it moved, stop when it stopped and follow closely the path it took.

Notwithstanding the difficulties there are three important lessons the passage teaches: there is a divine way, a divine guide and a divine destination.

(1) There is a divine way.

There are five features of this way:

(a) It was through the wilderness. We are told very little about most of the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the semi-desert of the Sinai Peninsula. There is an itinerary in Numbers 33. They must have stopped many months at some of their camping spots. Life must have been for the most part routine, unexciting, uneventful and uncomfortable. Today, in England, it would not be true for most Christians that life is uncomfortable but life in our churches may be pretty routine and uneventful. As the fellowship I belong to ages, and old Christian friends die, we do less and less as a church. Services close for lack of support and for a bachelor like myself life is increasingly lonely. Christianity can be very much a wilderness experience.

(b) There are enemies along the way. It is interesting and instructive to note that the Children of Israel faced many of their enemies as they neared the end of their journey to the Promised Land. The Edomites, Amorites, Moabites and Midianites all awaited them as they drew close to the end of their journey. God's words should have been a great morale booster as the faced their foes: "I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you." v22.

Christians face plenty of enemies on their earthly pilgrimage to the Promised Land. Many are especially active in old age: loneliness, sickness, mental decline, sloth, sensuality and worldliness. Perhaps one of the greatest foes of the elderly Christian is a sense of entitlement. My mother sometimes used to say, "I've done my whack!" We are never entitled to rest on our laurels. God decides when we've done our whack!

(c) Temptations occur to the very end of the journey. God would bring the Israelites to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizittes, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites. Once there God's people would be tempted to bow down before their gods .. worship them .. follow their practices. v24. By doing this, adopting the beliefs and practices of God's enemies, they would lose their distinctiveness as the people of God.

Many Christians lower their guard in old age. They become less committed to the cause of Christ. Church attendance drops off. More and more time on Sundays is spent with unconverted children. The midweek prayer meeting is given the miss. Perhaps an elderly couple move to be nearer their natural family and away from their church family. In this way they become less involved in church work. If we are not careful the world's priorities end up becoming our own. We become more and more committed to personal happiness and freedom. Some Christians think that when they retire from secular employment they can give up their church duties and spend their time travelling the world.

God told the Israelites to have nothing to do with false gods. "Break down their standing stones to pieces," they were told. There was to be no compromise.

(d) There is a promise of divine help. God says: "I will make your enemies turn their backs and run." v23. "I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you." v31.

The Israelites did not fight alone. However isolated we feel, however long in the humdrum of the wilderness, God's people need to remember they are on the victory side. The words of Paul remain true - If God is for us, who can stand against us? Rom8v31. Christians need to follow the valiant little apostle's advice: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Eph6v10. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Eph6v18.

Sometimes we need to pray for a long time before God answers our prayers. I suppose my friend Marion prayed for the salvation of her brother Keith for all of 45 years. When I saw her a few weeks ago she said, "I have some good news John; Keith has become a Christian. He is a changed man. His wife sees a difference in him. The tenants of his properties see a difference in him. Keith worships at his local Elim church." It was the best news I had in 2014 - finally God answered a sister's fervent, faithful and heartfelt prayer.

(e) The promise of personal blessing. God promised his people: "Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span." v25and26.

R. Alan Cole has some helpful remarks on these verses in his commentary on Exodus: God's law if obeyed, ensured fair distribution of food in Israel. Considered as an hygienic code, God's law ensured a health standard for Israel far higher than that of neighbouring lands, such as Philistia or Egypt, where plagues were endemic. Respect for old age, and in particular for parents, ensured that the old had a secure and honoured place in society. A psychologist would say that, in the stability of Israelite married life, the psychological stresses and strains that sometimes inhibit child-bearing would be absent.

I often use the words of the Lord's Prayer as a basis for my personal prayer life. I can gladly affirm that God has provided thus far for my daily needs. I have a sense of well being that comes from the assurance that God has forgiven my many sins. Throughout my high risk career as a teacher God protected me from temptation and delivered me from evil. He preserved me until the day I retired. God has always helped me in Christian service to do his will as a citizen of Christ's kingdom.

(2) There is a divine guide.

God guided the Israelites in three main ways:

(a) By giving the Law through Moses. This was by far the most useful guide the people of God had. God told Moses how he wanted the Israelites to behave and worship.

Christians are given this sort of guidance in the Old, and especially the New, Testament. The Bible contains the best, most reliable guidance for Christian living. Christians ignore the teaching of Jesus at their peril. It needs to be drummed into us!

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can he say than to you He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

(b) By revealing to Moses how to deal with specific problems. God told Moses how to proceed in order to escape from Pharaoh through the waters of the Red Sea, how to make the bitter waters of Marah drinkable and how the manna should be collected and used.

Sometimes incidents arise in church life which the leadership needs special guidance to deal with. I have had a few of these during my time as an elder of a small church. For example, a couple joined our church who never felt able to stop to communion when our deaconess was one of the servers. There was a lot of potential here for trouble! I prayed a lot about the issue and in the end the matter was resolved without great damage to the church. I was given special wisdom - especially as the policy adopted by the church depended upon the casting vote of the chairman of the church meeting - which was me!

(c) By guiding them to the Promised Land. The method God used was rather strange - to say the least. The angel in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night showed the Israelites the way to go without as far as I can see ever saying a word. God's guidance is summed up in Ex40v36to38: In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out - until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.

Most of the time the direction the Israelites took seemed pretty meaningless. They were many years wandering fairly aimlessly in the wilderness getting nowhere fast. However, I think they were being toughened up for the ordeal ahead - the conquest of the land of Canaan. The day came when the people of God were brought to the Jordan river, the very threshold of the Promised Land and the work of the pillar of cloud was done.

I strongly believe that God directs our paths. He may no longer use a pillar of cloud but he will use circumstances and his Spirit to guide us to and in the sphere of service he wants us to pursue. Perhaps, for most of the time our life may be pretty humdrum but in all our trials and tribulations I believe God is working his purposes out.

(3) There is a divine destination.

In the providence of God the Israelites would enter the Promised Land. God told Moses: "Little by little I will drive them (the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites) out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land." v30.

There are three things to note:

(a) Entry into the Promised Land would not have been possible without God's assistance. God tells Moses: "I will hand over to you the people who live in the land .... ." v31.

This is a reminder that only God can provide eternal life to all those who believe in his Son. We shall live on a new earth in a new universe entirely of God's making. We are wholly dependent upon God's grace for our future in Emmanuel's Land.

There's a beautiful land that no mortal hath seen,
For it lieth afar from our sight;
But we know that the hills are eternally green,
And its rivers are rivers of light

O beautiful, beautiful land!
O land where all sorrows shall cease!
Where the soul satisfied, evermore shall abide
By the fair shining river of peace!

Paul wrote that we are saved by grace and through faith. Faith is not God's gift. It is our response to God's gift and the daily challenges of life. Jesus makes it clear, discipleship is tough. The Christian is told to take up the cross, deny himself and follow Jesus. Luke's gospel is full of challenges of this sort. Many Christians shrink from the challenge of the old Sankey song:

Am I a soldier of the Cross -
A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own his cause,
Or blush to speak his name.

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?

We know that evil influences persisted in the Promised Land for many, many years. The Israelites adopted Canaanite gods as their own and suffered for it. This is the theme of the Book of Judges.

Sadly much evil persists in the world-wide church. One thing is absolutely clear, few Christians take seriously Jesus' desire for Christian unity. Division and distrust are a shocking denial of Christ's authority. Jesus anticipated the imperfections of the church in his parables of the mustard seed and the yeast.

There will be no sin among the resurrected believers on Christ's new earth.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace, -
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on his pierced hand.
The Lamb is all the glory
In Emmanuel's land.

My mother used to weep as she sang this verse of, 'The sands of time are sinking'. She wanted nothing more than to see her dear bridegroom's face.