I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today. (Deuteronomy 29:14-15)
This is a very powerful statement. Moses declared that the covenant presented to the fathers before them, and that which was being presented to those assembled before him, was also being made “with him that is not here with us this day.” Obviously, he intended to impress upon them the eternal nature of the covenant between Israel and the Almighty – that it was for all generations including those who were yet unborn. I would add to that, this would also mean that the words Moses had spoken to the people of the covenant were for those future generations as well.
In that line of thinking, let’s consider this concept: parents are like trees and their children are the branches. In other words, the potential for all branches, and by extension the fruit that grows on the branches, is within the tree, or in this case the parents. This concept is implied when the writer of Hebrews noted that, “Levi paid tithes while still in loins of Abraham” (Hebrew 7:10). Though not yet born, Levi would be influenced and impacted by the deeds and beliefs of his grandfather. In short then, if the Seed of the Word resides in the heart of one generation, the ensuing generations will branch off from the “parent tree” and bear the fruit of the Seed.
We see this concept demonstrated most dramatically in the words of Messiah who said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We are incapable of bearing fruit unless He is in us and we are in Him. Just as the life force within a tree propagates that life through the branches and the fruit it produces, Messiah produces life in us that we might bear fruit that advances His Kingdom. That is to say, when we are impregnated by His Word — the Good Seed — that Word is to be passed on through our children and grandchildren. The covenant that we have been permitted to enter into and partake of, when embraced by one generation, is to be propagated through the next one and the one after that.
In short, the words that Moses spoke 3,500 years ago — and more importantly, the principle those words convey — still resonate today. What God started then continues now, and will continue until the end of this age and into eternity. So then, let us consider that you and I are among those Moses referred to when he said, “those not here with us this day.” More importantly, consider that we are the fruit of those who came before us and, in turn, the tree that will see even more fruit borne for the sake of the Kingdom.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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