A signpost reminds me of a good fantasy novel dustjacket. Good cover art regularly depicts the hero with courage and valiance ready to finish the work even while the villain is in the final throes of defeat. Throughout the story you turn back to the cover to remind yourself of the main character, the good that must triumph, or the true evil of the villain. The cover serves well as we perhaps get lost in the details of the story or tie our sympathies to tangential characters. We see the signpost and remember the purpose.
God gives His covenant people a signpost; He gives us His Word (Deut. 27:1). Not only does He reveal His own Word to His people, but He does so “plainly” that all may come to understand Him (Deut. 27:2–8). This Word He gives to us so that His promises will be remembered for posterity, even to us millennia later (1 Peter 2:10–12). He tasks Moses and the priests with building a memorial out of unhewn stones—demonstrating the work of His promise is His work not our own, His grace not our righteousness. He is the one who saves, who has spoken, who condescends to speak and share His promise with who He will.
What is right response to God’s promise? Moses calls the gathered saints to respond with praise that is demonstrated in obedience (Deut. 27:9–10). Not only do we hear the Word but we live it out and exercise God’s grace through every facet of our lives. “Where is God faithful here,” we might ask. A life lived in constant reminder that we are not the hero, and that we often get too distracted in the pages and forget the ultimate purpose of the book. We turn to obedience to what He has promised, and from there our lives exude His praise.
The chapter concludes with warning. The Word of promise includes not only the positive reflection of God’s grace that we observe in a sanctified lifestyle, but also God’s wrath for those living outside the promise. Obstinance has no excuse. Affirming God’s will and the sanctifying work of obedience, God’s people respond to each negative teaching with a strong statement as if to say, “I heard what God says. I am accountable. I will seek His promises with my whole life”—this is the “amen” (Deut. 27:11–26).
We respond “amen” as we look again to the signpost and remember His purpose for us. The “amen” testifies we know His assurance even if we are still working to make sense of how the story proceeds through some uncertain chapter. “Amen” brings us back to the hero of promise, who is already victorious on our behalf, as He said so plainly on the cross. Where will you say the “amen” this week—where do you need to be reminded by the signpost of God’s Word?
Pastor Chris
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