And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exodus 2:24
Men and women were busily knocking on doors and accosting residents in our province earlier this month, as they campaigned for various positions on municipal councils and boards. The triennial municipal elections had hundreds of candidates offering opinions on just about everything. And they all made promises of how much better off we would be by electing them. Most of them were probably sincere, but we all know that an election platform is like a railway platform: it’s not to stand on, it’s to get in on. Political promises get a bad rap and deservedly so. How different the promises of God; not one of His promises have been broken nor ever will be.
Our text speaks of God remembering His covenant with the patriarchs. It’s not that He had forgotten, it’s that it was now time for Him to deliver on those promises. God’s great purposes for Abraham’s progeny were about to start unfolding. The books of Exodus and Joshua relate the hand of God in miraculous fashion taking the children of Israel from Egypt’s brick kilns through the wilderness and into Canaan’s promised milk and honey possessions. Despite the nation’s backsliding and failures, God has not yet completed delivering on His covenants. Israel has yet a glorious future to come. So do we.
With Israel temporarily set aside in God’s purposes, the believing Gentiles are enjoying the greatness of God’s promises to us. In fact, Hebrews 8:6 tells us that the Lord Jesus is our Mediator of a greater covenant than Israel’s, founded on even better promises than theirs. Peter describes these as exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4). The Israelites suffering in Egypt must have wondered if or when God would deliver on His promises. But He did deliver. Just as He will deliver on His promises to us. – Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/bT3Y3bWHA00