“There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.”
(Deuteronomy 33:26-27 NLT)
The Bible paints many pictures for us. God paints pictures of himself that help us grasp how he relates to us. We find one especially comforting picture in Deuteronomy 33:27, which says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.”
What’s the Picture in Deuteronomy 33:26-27?
The only way to make sense of someone’s arms being under a person is if they are carrying that person. If God’s everlasting arms are under the ones he loves, then he is carrying them; he is holding them.
Did you notice the word this verse uses to describes God’s arms? Everlasting.
Most people at some point “put down” the person they are holding. Moms pick up and put down their babies; dads carry their children to their bed and lay them down to rest; servicemembers carry the wounded to a safe place.
But God’s arms are everlasting—God never puts his beloved down. He is always holding those he loves.
Who Does This Verse Comfort?
This one snapshot of God carrying those he loves is just one portion of a larger picture. The verses we are considering start with a statement that seems to be whispered out in wonder, “There is no God like the God of Israel.” Naturally, we ask, “well, what is he like?”
From the verse, we gather a few things. God is clothed in majestic splendor. In other words, he’s beautiful and awesome. He’s eternal—he has always been. And he’s everlasting—he will always be. No one is like him in these ways—no one so awesome, no one who is everlasting. But it’s not just those facts about God that make the author of Scripture say, there’s no one like him.
The author of this Scripture then tells his original audience of the wonderful character of their God: This majestic and powerful God rides across the heavens to help you. He becomes your refuge, and then he scoops you up into his everlasting arms.
What does this verse assume? That those God comes to rescue are helpless, and in danger. God comes to the rescue of those so in need of help that they need to be carried. To be in the state of needing to be carried, that assumes a person is broken, or faint, or dying! As the helpless lie fallen, what does the majestic eternal God-in-heaven do?
He looks at them with compassion, and in all his glory, he rides across the heavens, comes to them, spreads himself around them to be their safety, and lifts them up in his strong arms, never to let go. And those who have been caught up into God’s loving arms will remain there forever.
What a picture! But it’s not just a picture; it’s reality. The question is, is it your reality?
When Does This Picture Take Place?
These Bible verses were first spoken to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. But the Bible also teaches that God’s redemptive promises spoken to his chosen people in the Old Testament become true for those who trust in God’s Son, Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).
In fact, this picture painted in Deuteronomy is a beautiful foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ would do for all who trust in him. Jesus, the eternal God, came from heaven to earth to help us. He carried our burden of sin that would condemn us before God, he carried the cross of punishment that we would have borne for eternity, and he carried our griefs, all through his sacrificial death on a cross. He helped us ultimately—by dying the death we deserve. But he also rose from the dead, conquering the power of death, that he might help us in life throughout the rest of our days.
Jesus promises to save all who cry out to him (Romans 10:13). Because Jesus dealt with our sin before God, God can remove our just condemnation, and we can be welcomed into God’s love forever. Jesus offers this salvation to anyone who will believe in him. When we do that, he comes and scoops us up into his everlasting arms, and he will never let go.
Jesus says of those who believe in him: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29 ESV). Hear the echo of Deuteronomy? We are in God’s hands, and he will never let us go, nor will anyone be able to tear us away from his arms. What an immense comfort!
How This Picture Comforts Us Today
Are you held in the everlasting arms of God? Have you called to him for rescue from your sin and experienced Jesus as your refuge?
If not, God is ready to hear and respond to your call for help today! Don’t delay. Ask to be rescued and picked up into God’s everlasting arms.
If you already find yourself in the safety of relationship with Jesus, then dear friend, you are held in the everlasting arms of God. You may at times feel shattered. You may feel the chill of what you perceive to be God’s silence. You might undergo great pain. But this is what’s true: God’s loving and strong arms are always under you, holding you, carrying you. Perhaps it is in our hardest times when we need to remember “the everlasting arms” most.
Though we have been saved from sin, we are not spared from sorrow or suffering in this life. You will have times when you are helpless again, broken, and faint. The God you read about here in Deuteronomy is still the same—you can lean back into the arms of the God who has promised to carry you all your days.