The Secret of Peace and Power

The Secret of Peace and Power

Isa. 48:18

At Sinai God began to make the chosen family into a nation. He said, "Keep my covenant, then ye shall be a [special] treasure unto me above all people." The people answered, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Exod. 19:5, 8). God spoke the terms of the covenant -- the Ten Commandments.

In the text for today Isaiah gives a reminder of the covenant. Through nearly six centuries Israel had transgressed times without number. These solemn words of the prophet recall the warning of Moses. He said, "If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments... [he] will set thee on high above all nations of the earth... But... if thou wilt not hearken unto... his commandments... curses shall come upon thee" (Deut. 28:1, 15).

Here then is warning of judgment as well as a reminder of the covenant.

When Abraham Lincoln was on his way to Washington for his first inauguration, he paused in Trenton, N.J., to make an address. His subject was "Almost a Chosen Nation." The United States of America and any other nation that will accept the Ten Commandments can be almost a chosen nation. The peril of any country is the enemy within. Obedience to God's commandments promises peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea.

This word of the prophet is a lament. "O that thou hadst." It is like Jesus' lament over Jerusalem: "If thou hadst known ... the things which belong unto thy peace!" (Luke 19:42).