Deuteronomy 26:17
Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
This verse records Israel's side of the covenant, in which the people affirmed the Lord to be their God and committed themselves to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes and His commandments and His judgments and to hearken to His voice. That affirmation was made publicly and openly as Israel's acknowledgment of the Lord. To acknowledge Him in this way was to accept Him as Sovereign by gladly accepting His rule. The commitment called for wholehearted obedience, with the whole heart and soul.
It called for loyalty and obedience to every precept of God's law, whose principles are life. In return God avouched Israel to be His special and peculiar and treasured people to keep all His commandments, purposing to make them high above all nations in praise and in name and in honor, and a holy people to Himself. The voice giving these directions was Christ's own voice speaking from the cloud, from the pillar of cloud. These directions express the principles of God's kingdom and kingdom law and make His claims clear, stated specifically so His people will not be ignorant or uncertain about their obligation.
The requirement was given for the people's present and future good, with obedience bringing prosperity and disobedience bringing a curse. It sets forth the conditions of all true prosperity still to be met by all of God's institutions. Obedience to God's laws produces marvels of prosperity before the nations, preserves from the diseases of other nations, blesses with vigor of intellect, reveals God's glory and majesty and power in prosperity, and makes a kingdom of priests and princes furnished with every facility for becoming the greatest nation on earth.
The obligation continues for all whom God has blessed with life and health and temporal or spiritual advantages. God's claims remain binding and important, as fresh as His continuing gifts, and their force does not fade with age. The obedience called for includes faithful stewardship and giving.