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Becoming
God's People
INTRODUCTION
We look today at the
book of Deuteronomy, Jesus’ favorite Old Testament book.
Actually it is a favorite Old Testament book of the Apostles, and
the Book is the foundation stone for practically all of the teachings of
the prophets. It is cited more than
fifty times in the New Testament and when we add indirect references to
this book, we see that it is used nearly two hundred times. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy
in resisting and refuting the temptations of Satan, (Matthew 4:1-10 and
Luke 4:1-13). Jesus also
quoted from the section called the Shema (6:4-9), summarizing the legal or
priestly and prophetic teachings, which were considered most fundamental.
(Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10: 27). This section was foundational for Israel as we will see from the following quotation: “Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they might. And these words, which
I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shall teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when the walkest by the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign
upon thine hand, and they shalt be as frontlets between thine eyes. And
thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. It's influence on Israel
was so overwhelming, that it clearly provided the criteria by which the
nation examined and judged itself. The
historical Books of the Bible always compare and evaluate the history of
Israel against the instructions of Deuteronomy. It’s extremely strict
warnings not to add or remove anything from it, helps form the basis for
the formation of written Scripture. Deuteronomy is clearly
not a book of Laws, though the English title of the book ‘Deuteronomy’
translated from the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek means “second law”.
It actually means “a copy of the law”. It’s Jewish name, Debarim,
means “ words”, and this comes from the opening phrase: “These
are the words…”, indicating that these are the “words” of
Moses and God, and that these are the central feature of the book. Actually this is a book from the heart of Moses. One writer comments: “Deuteronomy is not
a book of laws; it is a book of the heart, instruction (Hebrew Torah)
in how to live intentionally as God's people in response to His love and
mercy (e.g., 4:29, 6:4, 32-40, 11:1).
One of the most important features of the book is its homiletical
style. The Commandments are
not presented in legal format, but are cast in the style of a sermon,
interwoven with pleas and exhortations to obedience, all grounded in the
prevenient (initiating) grace of God. Also, the concept of
covenant around which the book revolves is not primarily a legal concept,
but a cultural way of expressing relationship between Yahweh and His
people. The call to obedience
throughout the book is an appeal to order all of life in relation to the
One who had revealed Himself in their history as the true and living God.
It is not just the imposition of law; it is a call to choose God
(30:15-20, cf. Joshua 24:14-15), which worked out in practical
instructions. The emphasis on
intentional and joyful obedience of the heart as the proper response to
God's grace moves toward more responsibility for the individual (e.g.,
30:11-14), and a subsequent emphasis on motive and intention also
advocated by the prophets (e.g., Jeremiah 7:21-23).. Total loyalty to God
was crucial, which meant rejecting the worship of any other gods (6:13-15,
8:19, 9:7-12, 30:15-20). There is concerned with Justice, especially toward the weaker members of the community (10:18-19, 14:28-29, 15:1-18, 24:14-15). God’s love for His
people and a desire for a mutual loving relationship are also prominent
(6:57:13-14, 23:5, 30:6, 19-20).” This book was
necessary, because the first generation of Israelites had died in the
wilderness, as recorded in the Book of Numbers. The second generation of
Israelites would now come in to possess the land of Canaan, thus changing
from persons who lived in tents, wandering all over the desert and eating
manna, to people who would possess lands and houses and now eating milk
and honey. This second generation of
Israelites would have to formally embrace the covenant that God had made
with their fathers. They would have to renew the covenant, with every
member of the community and their leaders entering into a personal
covenant relationship with God. The book of Numbers had
shown the damaging nature of an incomplete life, and it teaches us the
hard lesson that believers must trust God instead of their own reasoning. The first ten chapters of
Numbers show that God had amply provided for the guidance of Israel, and
for the warfare in which they would have to engage.
The tribes had been divided and numbered, the camp set up in
special order, each tribe in its own appointed place, with Levites
gathered around the Tabernacle, each family of Levi assigned a special
role in the work of caring for the Tabernacle. Instructions were given to
maintain the purity of the camp and the required offerings from each
individual leader and people were outlined, so that the worship of God
would be properly maintained. Instructions were given that only those with pure family lines were allowed to go to war. The people were told clearly, that the movement of the Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Cloud that rested over the Tabernacle would determine whether they waited where they were or whether they moved on. They were instructed to
learn the signals of the trumpet so that they would know how to act when
the trumpets sounded. Chapters eleven to twenty
five however tell us that the people were hostile to God’s care and
provision and were always discontented, constantly complaining about
everything. In punishment the fire of God burned them and Moses had to intercede to save them, (Numbers 11:1-3). They complained that the diet of manna was monotonous, declaring that they preferred the food of Egypt, forgetting the bondage and misery there. They complained about the lack of water and God provided. Even Aaron and Miriam, Moses own family, were discontented, upset and jealous of his wife, even though God had warned them that Moses’ ministry was a specialized one, and would not be challenged. Clearly, there was no one
like Moses, and no one should be foolish enough to compare themselves to
him. As a result of their
folly, Moses had to again intercede. When Israel reached the
edge of the Promised Land, the people pushed Moses to send out spies to
check out the land, (Deuteronomy 1:19-22).
When Moses went along with them, and they heard the disheartening
majority report, the people rebelled and mutinied and took action to
return to Egypt. They
rejected the pleas that they act in faith rather than fear, and the people
picked up stones to stone their faithful, godly leaders. They exhausted the
patience of Yahweh and he threatened to destroy them and raise up a new
people. Still, at the
intercession of Moses, God pardoned them but sentenced them to forty years
of wandering in the wilderness, with no one over twenty years of age
allowed to enter the Promised
Land. Of course, in the
wilderness all kinds of disobedience and rebellion occurred, and even the
faithful, godly but frustrated Moses lost his cool and stepped out of
line. Because of their
behavior neither Moses, Aaron, or Miriam was allowed to go into the
Promised Land. After the forty years of
wandering, the new generation about to enter Canaan was given this final
series of admonitions by Moses. This
is recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.
The book is organized as three sermons, probably given over the
period of a week. The first is in chapter
1:6-4:40. This second is in chapters 5 to 28 and the third is in
chapters 29-30, with a completing section in chapters 31 to 34, which
includes his final words, encouraging the people to faithfulness and
courage. He gave instructions
to his successor Joshua, recorded in his Song and Blessing. It is to be carefully
noted that Moses gave a full description of the sins of Israel and the
consequences of sins. He outlined the consequences that they would
experience for disobeying God and his Commandments. He also told them the
cure for the curses that would come because of their disobedience. He reminded the people
that God was not asking anything from them except that they love him and
serve Him with all their heart and soul, keeping His Commandments that he
had given them for their own benefit. Moses recounted that
God's actions toward them had been one of infinite tenderness and love.
He had humbled them but he had been with them, protected them and
looked after them despite their iniquities. Moses warned them of three perils, namely, that of: -prosperity -adversity, and -neglect to teach their
children. Moses promised them that
God would raise up a prophet from among them like him, and that when he
came, they should listen to him. Peter
referred to this in Acts 3:22. Very importantly, Moses
revealed the future of Israel in great detail.
He spoke of the blessings that would come to them in the Promised
Land when they obeyed God. Note, Blessings and cursing were also important elements in contemporary Hittite treaties. Scholars have pointed out that: “the
book takes the structure of an ancient Near Eastern vassal treaties…
that Deuteronomy follows the form of the mid- second millennium treaties
as compared with those of other time periods, therefore demonstrating that
the book can be dated with confidence to the time of Moses.” Moses spoke of curses that would come to their disobedience, and one writer notes: “These curses form
an amazing prophecy of Israel’s tragic career of unbelief and
disobedience. Moses was a
prophet (18:15), and nowhere does the Spirit of prophecy rest upon him so
signally as in his foreseeing the sufferings, tribulation, and worldwide
dispersion of God's ancient elect nation. Reflected in the
prewritten history are the sieges by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and the
Romans (28:49-62) and Israel's present worldwide Diaspora (vv. 63-68).
The
20th century has witnessed the initial stages of the predicted
restoration. The curses of
this chapter also play a prominent rule in the prophetic books.” It is clear that this
book develops the idea that obedience brings blessings and a good life,
and that disobedience brings curses and death. In chapter 11:26-28 and
30:15-20, Israel is told that this would be the case, since they were now
to go into the Promised Land. Many of course distort
this view. They seem to teach that men have the ability to force God to
bless them even though they are at variance with the Commandments of God.
This approach has led people to misinterpret the success they have
in life, despite their disobedience in their way of life, as a blessing
from God. People distort the
Scriptures by lifting the words of God out of its context. Deuteronomy affirms that a life properly ordered under God would bring positive results. Note there are two emphases. First, people must be diligent to follow God and not forfeit the benefits that God has given them. (28:47-68). Second, God will be merciful in the midst of their failures and restore them into the Land. (30:1-10). But one writer warns: “ Love for good is
to be balanced by hatred for evil. What
is abhorrent to God must be abhorrent to His people. He who does not say a
hearty Amen to the curse is not morally qualified to say a sincere Amen
to His blessings. Blessings
and curses are everywhere in Scripture (cf. Romans 8:13; 1 Cor. 16:22;
Galatians 6: 8; Hebrews 6: 8). God’s
people who are processing their spiritual possessions in Christ need to
realize that everything that displeases God must be repudiated (28:15-26)
if communion with God and with one another (vv.6-7) is to be enjoyed (cf.
1 John 1:1- 2:2).” Moses went through
reminding the people of the events at Sinai, their encounters with several
hostile people and the favourable results, and appealed to them to forsake
idolatry. He then recounted
in detail, the terms of the covenant that God had made with the people at
Mount Sinai Moses explained what the
Ten Commandments really meant, and over and over appealed for obedience,
the forsaking of idolatry and faithfulness to God, despite the persistent
and powerful attractions and temptations that existed in the new land. Many specific
instructions were given as to how the people should live, their
responsibilities to God and to each other, and the covenant ceremonies
that they must observe. Now as we approach the
end of Moses’ final discourse and his lonely ascent to Mount Nebo, where
he would view the land of Canaan and then die alone and be buried by God,
we come to the third sermon. This summarized the first two, gave a brief
historical review, led the people through a renewal of the covenant,
admonished the people to faithfulness, and warned them off the
consequences of disobedience. We can imagine how Moses
felt as he stood before the people, warning them, encouraging them, but
knowing that they would experience the tragic results of disobedience time
and time again. He longed to be with them in the land of Canaan, but he
knew that God would not allow that. His
task was almost finished and all he could do was to beg them to be loyal
and faithful to God, to remember that God loved them and would always be
gracious, kind, merciful, long-suffering, patient, and longing for their
repentance. It is with this in mind then that we now turn to our text. THE
TEXT
Verse 1.
This is the introduction to the covenant that God had made with
Israel in the land of Moab. Now
that the people were on the eve of entering the Promised Land, the focus
was on the specific covenant terms that would govern Israel’s time of
possessing the Promised Land. In terms of substance,
there was really one covenant, but at this time Moses called on the people
to enter into a covenant with God, so that He would fulfill the promise of
the Land. The words which follow
therefore, would appeal to the people to enter into the covenant that God
had made with the nation at that camp in land of Moab, at Horeb, and which
at that time had been sealed by sacrifices and a sprinkling of the people
with the sacrificial blood, Now there was apparently
no need to offer those sacrifices again and to sprinkle the people with
blood, for that original covenant had remained in full force, and had not
been repealed by God. The
obligation still remained therefore for the people to honour the covenant. Moses would now make this
new generation, that had remained after the death of the original
disobedient generation, realize that they were under obligation to fulfill
the covenant. They should obviously avoid repeating the mistakes of their ancestors. Verse 2. Moses formally confronted the people of Israel, reminding them that the nation had undoubtedly been redeemed by the mighty power of God. The covenant rested on the faithfulness of God, as well as the graciousness of God. The nation had seen the mighty works of God in Egypt and how he had disciplined Pharaoh and his servants and everything in the land. Verse 3. They saw God take them out of Egypt, delivered them after testing the Egyptians, giving them many opportunities to heed his call to free His people from slavery and oppression. They saw God send plagues one after the other, shaming the sundry God of Egypt, bringing terror on them, destroying their armies in the sea, and then bringing them to His Holy Mountain to hear his voice from heaven, to see the Mount burn with fire, and hear his words out of the midst of the fire. They had seen powerful nations, greater and a mightier than they were defeated by the mighty power of God. Those signs and wonders had never been seen before on the earth. (Deuteronomy 4:32-37 and 7:19.) Verse 4.
They had witnessed these mighty signs and wonders but their minds
and hearts did not understand what was truly happening.
They had not learned to understand rightly and properly the word of
God and the works of God, to understand that God's words and works were
performed for their benefit. They did not fully understand that they
should therefore obey God and be faithful to him and do exactly as he
required, so that they would be in perfect communion and received the
maximum benefits from God. Moses was not trying to
excuse their wickedness and their previous lack of understanding and
proper interpretation of the manifestations of the grace of God. He was really trying to
point them to the many acts of grace on the part of God, to urge the
people to take them to heart, so that they, when they heard and saw the
workings of God would understand the nature of the covenant and their
position as God's people and his elect nation and thus behaving
appropriately to please Him. Note that this act of
proving their past dullness, would stimulate them to understand God
better. They had not desired this
understanding heart and God had not given it to them.
They were like the people in Isaiah’s day, who shut their eyes
and ears, so that they would not see, hear nor understand God in his
righteous judgment and therefore closed their eyes and ears. They did not
accept the good things he gracious and refused to come close to him. Note ,when we begin to create our own gods and our own commandments, and choose what we want to take from God, inevitably this leads to him closing our eyes, our ears, and our understanding. Verse 5. Moses again pointed the people to how graciously God had guided them through the wilderness, even when they were under his discipline. Proclaiming the word of God, not his own; Moses repeated the words of God that their clothes never got old and tattered and their shoes did not wear out during those forty years of marching through the wilderness. This was obviously something totally miraculous and they had to know that God was with them. There was no avoiding that conclusion. Verse 6. They had bread to eat, which they did not buy or make but had really been supernaturally given the bread of Angels. They did not have to drink wine to quench their third but had been given water out of a rock. All of this God had done in order to show them that he cared for them, was in a covenant relationship with them and that he was in fact their God, who would provide for them under all circumstances. Verse 7. They triumphed over the powerful King Sihon and King Og, and routed all their enemies. This was the first time the men of Israel went out to battle but these experienced and powerful enemies could not stand before them. Verse 8. God had many years before promised that they would conquer many people and in fulfillment of that promise, based on the Covenant, they had gloriously triumphed, taken the land from Sihon and Og, and given it to the tribe of Reuben, the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. Verse 9.
Note that they were about to enter and posses the Promised Land and
it was most important for them to understand that they were now about to
experience all the reality of the promise. These benefits from God
clearly demanded their obedience and faithfulness to the terms of the
covenant. They would have to do what God required of them, to act with wisdom, for this would bring them prosperity. Romans six is an explanation of what this means for us today. Verse 10. On that day they stood before God. The laws of the covenant, as well as the rights and obligations were laid out before them. The entire nation stood before God, the men of Israel, the heads of the tribes, the elders and officers were all present. Verse 11.
The little children, the wives, the strangers that had become part
of the community of Israel, (referred to in Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:4;
Numbers 10:29) were all embraced by the covenant.
The lowest servant, who did the dirty work, were all included in
the covenant. Nobody present
in the community was excluded, no matter who they were or what work they
did. Everyone came under the
tender and fatherly care of God, would experience the benefits and
blessings but would have to be faithful and obedient to God. This of course is a very important point for believers today. Verse 12.
The words used here indicate that all should enter completely into
what was there, into the covenant and into the oath.
The covenant was therefore confirmed by a solemn oath. The extent and nature of
the Covenant which deals with the position and possession of God's people,
as far as believers are concerned, is dealt with in the discussion in
Romans chapters 1-12. Here in Deuteronomy and
in that passage of Scripture, a dedication is called for that is most
powerful. Note that no child of God is exempt from this absolute
dedication to God and his commandments. God is the one that makes the covenant and he owns his people. They belong to him. Believers should really realize that they live in a theocracy. Their citizenship is really in heaven. They are set aside and separate from the world and have been the beneficiaries of a solemn oath and have themselves sworn a solemn oath. Verse 13. It is this covenant that is the basis of the establishment of God's people as a special people, and God as their God. This was not a new covenant, but a restatement of it, based on the new position of Israel as redeemed out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. This covenant had been originally made with the Fathers and recorded in the book of Genesis. All the precepts and the
promises of the covenant are here. When
they are observed they would be a people who would love, obey, fear, and
be devoted to God, and He would make them holy and happy. This was salvation by Grace. The people had entered into the promised rest. Verses 14-15. Moses made it clear that this covenant was not only being made with those people that were present at that ceremony but it included all those that are there as well as their descendants, and those who joined the covenant by the gracious actions of the Messiah. (See John 17:20 and Acts
2:39). The covenant had been
made first with Abram and his seed and God had sworn to continue the
blessing of Abraham upon his descendants, and so the same duties required
of Abraham was required of his descendants. God has not changed, and
the Covenant of Grace established with Abraham had not changed.
The Mediator of that covenant is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Since we have accepted that we are part of this Covenant of Grace, we must understand that we have certain duties and obligations. There is no way we can continue in sin that grace may abound. We are representatives of God and must live lives of holiness, faithfulness, and obedience. CONCLUSION
Note the lessons from
Deuteronomy and consequences for disregarding God and his commandments. First God gave man a
choice to serve God and live or to disobey him and die. Second the Book makes it
clear that when left to himself, man will never merit God's blessing.
As God told Noah, all the imagination of man’s heart was evil
from his youth, and therefore it is never to be expected that he would
save himself by keeping the law. Fallen
man simply does not have the heart to serve God. Next, the nation of
Israel was told that left to themselves they would only bring divine
judgment on themselves. Next, Israel was told
that blessing would only come on the basis of God's Grace and his
faithfulness to his covenant promises. It will make us sad when
we understand that the warnings that Moses gave in Deuteronomy, which were
so clear and emphatic, were not taken seriously. One writer notes that
this was like a wedding ceremony where everyone is happy and the couple is
very much in love but the Minister knows that many of these weddings will
end up in failed marriages. He can only instruct,
warn, and encourage those being married to carry out all of God's
instructions, knowing fully that many of these will not survive because of
sin and disobedience. This book emphasizes
obedience prompted by love, for this is the only kind of obedience that
God desires. We pray that we will have this love, and the kind of obedience that it prompts. |