Deuteronomy 33:29
“Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places.”
The God of Israel is infinitely exalted above all the gods of the heathen; and though there cannot be any such disparity between one creature and another, as between the Creator and the creature—yet is there a wonderful difference between the people of God and all other people upon the face of the whole earth. This indeed is a necessary consequence of the former; for, if there is no God like the God of Israel, then there can be no people like the Israel of God, since they, and they only, have Jehovah for their God.
These truths are united in the passage before us; the former had been mentioned in a preceding verse, verse 26; and, in the text, the latter is declared, together with its dependence on the former.
From these words, we shall consider,
I. The happiness of God’s people.
The manner in which Moses speaks on this subject is worthy of notice; we may observe in his address to Israel a strong persuasion of the truth he was uttering, a sincere delight in declaring it, and an affectionate solicitude, that they might both be persuaded of it themselves, and live in the comfortable enjoyment of it. He affirms that they were,
1. Truly happy.
It is God’s own declaration, “Happy are you, O Israel!” and, if appearances were ever so unfavorable, we might be sure that his judgment was according to truth. But this testimony agrees with the experience of God’s people in every age. They are represented as possessing a “peace that passes understanding,” and a “joy that is unspeakable and full of glory!”
Is it objected that they are also represented:
as mourning, Matthew 5:3-4,
as tempted, James 1:2; James 1:12,
as persecuted, Luke 6:22-23; 1 Peter 4:14.
True, yet none of these things interfere with their real happiness; yes, instead of destroying, they advance it. See the passages just referred to. If then they can be happy in such situations as these, Acts 16:23-25, and even derive happiness from these situations, Acts 5:41; 2 Corinthians 12:10, they must be truly happy.
2. Incomparably happy.
It is God himself who challenges all mankind to vie with his people; and this too, not in respect of privileges merely, or of prospects, but in respect of present enjoyments. Who are those who will presume to rival the Lord’s people? You great, you rich, you mirthful, what is your happiness, when compared with that which God’s Israel possess? Is not all your happiness mixed with gall? Is it not altogether dependent on the creature? Is it not cloying, even in the very possession? Do you not find it transient, and, on the whole, delusive, promising far more in the anticipation than it ever affords in the enjoyment? In all these things it is the very reverse of the Christian’s happiness. His blessedness, as far as it is derived from spiritual things, is unmixed; none can rob him of it, because none can intercept the visits of his God; no man was ever surfeited with spiritual delights; if we lived to the age of Methuselah, we might, by a retrospect, revive a sense of them in our souls; and, if our expectations be raised to ever so high a pitch, the reality will far exceed them. We will therefore confidently repeat the challenge, and say, as in the text, “Who is like unto you, O people, saved by the Lord?”
To show that this is no enthusiastic conceit, we proceed to notice,
II. The grounds of their happiness.
It will soon appear that their blessedness is not a baseless fabric, if we consider:
1. What God has done for them.
They are “a people saved by the Lord.” Salvation is not a blessing which they merely hope for, but which they already possess. They are saved from the guilt and punishment of sin; all “their iniquities are blotted out;” there remains “no condemnation to them;” they are “complete in Christ;” they stand “before God without spot or blemish.”
But as great as this mercy is, they would not be truly happy, if they were not also saved from the power and dominion of sin. It is true, they yet carry about with them a “body of sin and death;” but they never commit iniquity as they were accustomed to do in their unregenerate state; they “cannot continue to sin thus, because they are born of God, and his seed remains in them.” God has promised that “sin shall not have dominion over them;” and they experience the accomplishment of this promise to their souls, being “redeemed from all iniquity, and purified unto God a peculiar people zealous of good works Titus 2:14.”
And is not this salvation a ground of happiness, more especially if we consider by whom it was procured, and by whom conferred? It was “the Lord,” even Jesus, who purchased our freedom from guilt; and it is “the Lord,” even the Holy Spirit, who gives us a deliverance from sin. Surely such a salvation, bought at such a price, and imparted by such an agent—cannot but be a source of unspeakable felicity to the soul.
2. What God will be unto them.
In vain would all past mercies be, if they were not secured to them by the continued agency of Jehovah. A vessel fitted out and freighted, would not more certainly be overwhelmed by storms, if destitute of a pilot, than man, however gifted, would become a prey to Satan, if he were not constantly aided and protected by his God.
But Israel is happy in this respect also, since, notwithstanding he is yet upon the field of battle, he is placed, if we may so speak, beyond the reach of harm. He is not only furnished with defensive and offensive armor, but has God himself for his “shield,” and God himself for his “sword;” so that his enemies must elude Omniscience, before they can destroy him; and must withstand Omnipotence if they do not fall before him. Hence it is that he attains such “excellency,” and proves victorious in all his conflicts.
View the believer thus environed, and thus armed, and you may well say to him, “Happy are you, O Israel! who is like unto you?” for the salvation he already possesses, is a pledge of his everlasting triumphs.
APPLICATION.
To whom, besides the true Israel, can we venture to say, “Happy are you?” Are you happy, who, instead of having experienced salvation, are yet under the guilt and power of all your sins; and, instead of having Jehovah for your shield and your sword, have the almighty God for your enemy? Deceive not yourself; you may dream of happiness; but you are in a pitiable condition. So far are you from rivaling the happiness of Israel, you are even inferior to the beasts that perish; and, if you were sensible of your state—you would envy them their prospect of annihilation. Oh, if ever you would be happy, seek to be “saved by the Lord,” even by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and by the sanctifying influences of his Spirit. What Moses said to his father-in-law, that would God’s people say to you, “Come with us, and we will do you good; for God has spoken good concerning Israel Numbers 10:29.”
As for you who are of the true Israel, seek to be as distinguished for your holiness, as you are for your happiness. When we speak of your felicity, the world cannot understand us, because they are strangers to your feelings. But they can judge of holiness with some considerable degree of accuracy; and your superiority in this respect will be more effectual for their conviction, than all that can be said respecting the happiness of your state. Endeavor then so to live, that we may challenge the world to produce any people comparable to you in holiness. Enable us to say with confidence, Who is like unto you, O Israel? Who is dead to the world, as you are? Who abounds in all holy duties, in all devout affections, in all amiable dispositions, like you? This will silence those who call your happiness enthusiasm, and will convince them, that you are superior to others, “not only in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth!”
Charles Simeon (1759-1836)