Don't Forget the Title Covenant
Content Thu: Let's not forget the covenant
Text: 2 Kings 17:34-41
This text points out that the faith of humanity has become a mixed religion and has lost the faith to serve God purely. This week, because of the Lunar New Year holiday, your attitude to serve God should not be disturbed. Just like the king of Hezekiah in Chapter 18, we must serve God first with thorough reformed faith.
1. The wind speed must be abandoned 34-
“We have followed the old customs until this day... and given the name Israel...” The “customs” of those who worshiped both God and idols were a mixed religion, and they continued to do this until the end of the Exile. The saints should not think of worldly things (Colossians 3:2), and “Ephesians 4:22 Put off the old self that follows the decaying old customs”, so we must throw away everything that God warns against. “The name of Israel” is a curse that God has given (Genesis 32:28), and “a statute, a decree, a law, and a commandment” emphasizes this by repeating synonyms of the law.
2. You must believe according to the Bible 35, 37-
Verse 35, “Once upon a time the LORD made a covenant with the children of Jacob... and you shall not fear any other gods...” The covenant in this text is the Sinai covenant with Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. This covenant is a conditional covenant in the Old Testament, but it was a strict commandment that received blessings if kept and disasters if abandoned. It was a covenant in contrast to the New Testament, which saves by grace. The age of grace does not mean that ignoring the words of the Bible will bring us grace and blessings. “Do not fear any other gods” is repeated four times to say that you must not worship many idols, which is very emphasized, which is also a characteristic of the Old Testament. Verse 37 repeats verses 34-35 in a different order. Because living according to the Bible is for the saints, at the beginning it says, “And the Lord is for you,” and in the second half, “You must not fear other gods” and you must live according to the Bible.
3. Be grateful for grace 36-
“Only with great power and with an outstretched arm...” God emphasized the fact of the Exodus as a whole when he required certain important things from his people (Exodus 6:6-7; Deuteronomy 4:34; 9:29, 11:2, Psalm 136:12), it should be kept in mind that, unlike the negative emphasis on not worshiping idols in the verse, this verse is a positive emphasis on serving only the Lord. And Jehovah requires that only “he” be worshiped, not worshiped like any other god. We are saved by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8). We do not forget God's covenant only when we give thanks for the precious grace we have received. Because of the joy of the Lunar New Year holidays, we must keep the covenant knowing that if we forget the covenant of God, both ourselves and adults will be unhappy so as not to offend the unbelievers in our family.
4. Trust in God only 38-41
“Do not forget the covenant I made with you in verse 38, and do not fear other gods.” It is to remember that we can keep the covenant of blessing at any time, and we must not serve idols that will make us jealous of God (Deuteronomy 32:16).
“Verse 39, Fear the LORD your God..” This is a repetition of verse 36, only the command (fear the LORD only) and the reward (I will deliver it out of the hand of all enemies), changed.
“Verse 40, …they did not listen, but rather followed the old custom…” This is the conclusion of the religious state of the Samaritans. It means that they did not listen to God's counsel to keep their pure faith and continued to worship idols as they had before.
“Verse 41, …fear the Lord…serve idols…and do it to this day.” It means that the state of mixed religions continued during the latter days of the captivity. Therefore, we were mixed race and faith, which was why the returning Jews despised them.
(Conclusion) According to the saying that churchgoers also drink and Catholics hold sacrificial rites, God does not want them to become mixed religions like the Samaritans. We are blessed to become God's people who only serve God by abandoning the customs of the Lunar New Year holidays, believing in God according to the Bible, and giving thanks for God's grace.