Exodus 23:20-33 - God’s Name in His Messenger

Exodus 23:20-33

The Angel and the Promises

20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

25 “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

27 “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

The promises of willing obedience were delivered by the Messenger Angel who held the name of God in Him.  This Messenger kept the people in the way they should walk to bring them to their destination kingdom on earth and was to be feared and followed in the name of the LORD, just as we are now led by the Spirit of the Lord who also holds His name because He is one of the persons of the of triune God who leads us (Isaiah 30:21, Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:16-17, 18) through our sojourning here to our heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) as our ultimate destination.  Do we have a reverence of godly fear (not to the eternal punishment of judgment, 1 John 4:18) but to willingly obey His leading?  He protected the people of God on their journey to the earthly promised land pardoned their sins as He does ours still.  We follow their example in so far as their obedience stayed the course to avoid other gods and not provoke Him with such immorality and idolatry tempting them along their journey as in our sanctification.  The promise remains to serve the LORD our God to experience His blessings and live full lives.  He sent fear before Israel on their way to their adversaries to ensure their success in defeating them to reach and inhabit the promised land.  Little by little God drove them out to make room for their destiny, just as the gospel gradually overcomes the darkness and opposition of our Adversary and adversaries on our way to our Celestial City of God to come.  This certainly does not mean that the world will get better until Jesus Christ returns for us to usher us into His kingdom to come, for it is quite clear from His word that we will have increasing tribulation until judgment falls forever on His and our enemies in this life.  The truth of His leading and triumph (Romans 8:37-39, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14, 1 John 5:4-5) in Christ holds true forever, however.  We are similarly to beware the thorns (Luke 8:14) of worldliness that snare us as for them with other pursuits and objects of worship found along their journey way of the journey in the world that cause us to sin against Him.  God’s name is in His Messenger, the Holy Spirit, who leads us and guides us through this journey to the promised heavenly land to come to a new earth under the new heavens.  May we therefore follow diligently with willing obedience in thankful devotion to Him and His leading, for God’s name is in Him.