God Before His People

God Before His People

“O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness . . . . Selah.” Ps. 68:7.

God liberated Israel with a mighty hand from the yoke of bondage in Egypt, to lead them to the good land, which He had sworn to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord Himself went before His people; therefore this great multitude of people could safely and securely follow the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night without being anxious. This was most certainly the greatest victory procession ever seen on earth, with the greatest Leader going before His people.

Even the Red Sea could not stop their advance with the Lord leading His people through the wilderness. Surrounded by dry desert sand, these hundreds of thousands of people and animals needed food and drink every day. However, the Lord who had accepted responsibility for them did not fail them in any way. He gave them water out of the rock and manna from heaven, and He let birds rain down on them so they could have meat to eat.

Even though the Lord showed His great power and goodness toward His people Israel, most of them were still unbelieving and rebellious and had to be destroyed in the desert. Nevertheless, Joshua and Caleb and the rest of Israel continued their triumphant march into the Promised Land—and at their head, the Leader of the host of the Lord with a drawn sword.

Now Christ is the great Leader of the spiritual Israel. With a mighty hand He will safely and securely lead us forward according to His good and acceptable will until we reach the goal. Our future here on earth, as well as our spiritual future, is secure for all eternity. He who has all power in heaven and on earth will be with us all our days, even until the end of the world. However, it is vital for us to receive this powerful warning from what happened to Israel of old and not harden our hearts on a single point against the voice of the Lord; for if He did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment, He will spare us even less if we are stubborn and disobedient. 2 Pet. 2:4. But if we obey His voice and do all that He says, He will keep us in the way and be an enemy to our enemies and an adversary to our adversaries. Ex. 23:20-23. No power, whether from devils or people, will then be able to hinder our advance. All those who rise up in opposition will only rise up to their own destruction.

Those who want to be part of His holy army must be in perfect submission to all His laws, and they must swear to be faithful to His will with an upright heart and always abide in this covenant. This is a victory procession into the sanctuary. Ps. 68:24. This victory procession is of little consequence in our days when it concerns the world situation. Its time will come during the millennium when the faithful will be princes in all the earth. Ps. 45:16. Now the victory procession is an inward procession that goes against sin in the flesh. Those who do not take part in this victory procession that is now marching victoriously through tribulations, reproach, persecutions, and all kinds of temptations and trials will not be part of the outward victory procession when Christ comes again with His saints to reign for a thousand years, and then for all eternity.

It is foolish to be rebellious and disobedient for a single minute or second in our life. Such times will be dark blotches and a great loss in our life, which we will always regret. The humble person has God’s abundant grace over his life in everything that he does, and God’s blessing follows him now and forever.