Monday, May 17, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Apostles Andronikos and Junia of the Seventy
Kellia: Deuteronomy 7:1-2,16-26 Apostle: Acts 17:1-15 Gospel: St. John 11:47-57
Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 16-26, especially vss. 1-2: "...when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the
land, into which thou goest to possess it....and shall remove seven nations more numerous and stronger than you,
and...deliver them into thy hands, then thou shalt smite them: thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt not make a
covenant with them, neither shall ye pity them." In light of this passage, we ought to be moved to enlarge the petition of
Vespers to read: "O Holy One; enlighten me with thy precepts and promises." For even as the Lord our God obligates us
with precepts, expecting us, as His covenant People, to act upon that which He commands, even so He promises to give us
"all the spoils of the nations" (Deut 7:16).
In this modern age, stained with the blood and horror of genocide all across the globe, the present portion of Moses' last
will and testament may conjure up images that make us hesitate to read these Divine words and seek from them any
foreshadowing of the glorious Gospel of Christ our God. Still, the pattern of Divine precept and promise which dominates
these verses indeed will rally the careful reader to obedient action as a true partner with God in the salvation of the world.
After all, the land, into which we are going to possess it, is the vast battlefield of our hearts, where God has promised to
"remove great nations from before thee" (vs. 1).
For all who have ever seriously approached this danger zone of battle and promise, know that the inner space of "great
temptations which thine eyes have seen," is likewise filled with "those signs and great wonders, the strong hand, and the
high arm" of "the Lord thy God" (vs. 19). Yes, there are terrible foes within us, but more important is the living, present
God Who promises His Faithful ones that He "shall consume these nations before [His People] by little and little" (vs. 22).
Be not dismayed, O People of God, for steadfast and able is He Who has laid these precepts upon us and made us
unchangeable promises that He will fulfill.
What does He promise? He assures us His People that He will bring His Church "into the land" and remove great nations
of enemies "from before thee" (vs. 1), and "deliver them into thy hands" (vss. 2,23). Where is this promised land? As He
has said. "the kingdom of God is within you" (Lk. 17:21). Truly, we recoil before the enemies that we find within us,
fiends who tear us every way possible from the Lord; but let us heed His promises: "the Lord thy God shall send against
them the hornets, until they that are left and they that are hidden from thee be utterly destroyed" (Deut 7:20).
Of course we hesitate to do battle because we fear the wounds of combat, because we know our frailty, because we have
been stricken in previous skirmishes, and because we have seen comrades fall. God understands this, but He assures us:
"thou shalt not be wounded before them, because the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is a great and powerful God" (vs.
21). God is with us! Yes, we would prefer a quick victory, but, in promising us that we shall prevail, the Lord also tells us
honestly that He will consume these enemies before us only "by little and little; thou shalt not be able to consume them
speedily" (vs. 22).
For us, God's precepts are the key to victory. As we turn inward in prayer, let us smite our foes (vs. 2). Let us "not make a
covenant with them" nor "pity them" (vs. 2). Rather let us "destroy them utterly" (vs. 24), burn up every image of them
that intrudes upon our hearts and minds (vs. 25). Let us resist every temptation to give the abominations of the enemy a
home in our inner life, but dethrone their kings and refuse their sovereignty over our souls (vs. 26).
Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and Thy glory above all the earth. That Thy beloved ones may be delivered,
save Thou with Thy right hand and hearken unto us.
