Our Old Testament reading today points out the sharp distinction between the people of Israel and the nations that are to surround them in Canaan. While this passage is often criticized as giving license to believers to practice violence, even genocide, I would take issue with that idea. The pagan Canaanites and other surrounding people were engaged in practices such as human sacrifice, ritual prostitution, self-harm to try to appease gods, and the like. They were following the kind of religious practices which not only contradicted everything the Lord shows about his character, but which also would prove deadly to his chosen people. These surrounding people could (and did) flee for self-preservation. Those who saw Israel from a distance and came to them individually, expressing repentance for their sins and a desire to live as people of God's covenant community were able to do so.
What we see in this passage is that God sets his people apart from the practices and lifestyle of the culture at large. He gives them means of approach to his holiness by which they show themselves to be dedicated to him rather than to their own opinions. The true religion of the Bible is not characterized by our own wisdom. It is not a religion dedicated to our own shows of righteousness. It is characterized by God's people approaching him on his terms, not on their own terms. We do not work out our way of righteousness We accept the provision of righteousness that our Lord has made us. This ultimately looks radically different from anything we could devise.
How do we work out our salvation? By trust in Christ's finished work. How do we know our Lord is with us? We know because he has promised to be with us. We can't see it with our eyes. We believe, teach, and confess things which seem like foolishness. Yet they are what our Lord has given us. They are the means by which we approach his holiness. They are the means by which he has promised to come to us and visit us with his presence. They are the means by which he builds us up in the faith. They are our safe haven. Let us then receive the proclamation of God's forgiveness, the provision of new life in baptism, the nurturing or our faith in communion, and the knowledge that he has indeed promised to be with us forever.
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