Driving them out Slowly, Part 1
Text:
Behold, I send an Angel before thee,
to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have
prepared. 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not;
for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 22 But
if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an
enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 23 For
mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the
Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites: and I will cut them off. 24 Thou shalt not bow down to
their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly
overthrow them, and quite break down their images. 25 And
ye shall serve the Lord your God,
and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from
the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren,
in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 27 I
will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou
shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. 28 And
I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the
Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29 I will not drive them out from
before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the
field multiply against thee. 30 By little and little I will
drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto
the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will
deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them
out before thee. 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their
gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee
sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto
thee.
Ex
23:20-33 (KJV)
There is an important principle that I
want to share with you from this passage. There will be several subpoints, but
the overall message is that God drives out our enemies slowly. I want you think
about this in regard to your own life. The transformation of the Lord is
usually a gradual, over-time process. Theologians call this sanctification.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the passage!
Behold,
I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into
the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not;
for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey
his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies,
and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in
unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites,
the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
The Lord sent an Angel before Israel and He
has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. While Angels still protect us and serve
as God’s messengers, it is the Holy Spirit that we primarily have fellowship
with, not Angels, as Christians. So when you think about the Angel here, think
about the Holy Spirit. He knows the way you need to go. He will keep you on
track if you will only listen to Him and obey His voice. He will bring you and
present you ready in the place that the Lord wills for you to be if you will
only surrender your will and humbly follow Him.
And if you obey the Lord, and walk in close
communion with His Spirit, guess what? God will be an enemy to your enemies,
and an adversary to your adversaries! He will defend you! Vengeance is the
Lord’s, let Him repay! The Lord will fight our battles. We are in a war, but
our job is to trust in His Word as our Sword and wear His gifts as our armor
(Eph. 6).
