How God sees His people

"God is not a man, to lie, nor a son of man, to repent : shall he say, and will he not ? will he have spoken, and will he not do it ? Behold, I have received a mission to bless ; he blessed and I will not revoke it. He did not see iniquity in Jacob, nor did he see injustice in Israel ; the LORD his God is with him, and a song of royal triumph is in his midst." Numbers 23: 19-21

The people of Israel finish their long 40-year wandering in the desert and reach the gates of Moab territory. He has already destroyed the kingdom of the Amorites who opposed his passage, then that of Bashan. Balak, the king of Moab, is frightened when he learns this ; he seeks to make the people of Israel curse to be able to defeat him. With promises of great reward, he convinces Balaam, prophet and diviner, to lend himself to this machination ; Balaam nevertheless warns Balak that he can only utter the words spoken by the Lord.

What is the moral and spiritual state of Israel at that time ? Absolutely disastrous : idolatry, fornication, incredulity, complaints : this is what is found in the people of God (1 Cor 10: 1-13).

Yet by the mouth of Balaam the LORD will declare how he sees this rebellious and ungrateful people : perfect, without iniquity or injustice ! How can a holy God declare this without denying himself ? Simply because he sees the sins of the people covered by the blood of the various sacrifices that prefigure the supreme sacrifice, that of the "Lamb of God."

Thus the Lord can keep the promises made to Abraham by keeping his blessing on the people. True, the latter will be so failing that the Lord will long be required to declare that he is no longer his people (Hosea 1: 9). But then again, it will only be for a while. After the rapture of the Church, Israel, after having suffered great persecution, will again be restored to the land promised to Abraham.

Today, the Church, made up of the only true believers, arrives on the eve of her abduction by the Lord. In our eyes, it may seem very unobtrusive. Yet he invites us to see it, by faith, as it will be when he presents it : "glorious, having neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor anything like ... holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5: 27). ). So let's not be discouraged anymore !

Source (To pleasing the Lord)