A Greater Place In Glory!!
11 And may the LORD, the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised!
The Book of Deuteronomy is one of the most significant in the Old Testament. Jesus often quoted Deuteronomy. When tempted by Satan in His own wilderness (Matt. 4), Jesus quoted this great book three times!
“Deutero-nomy” means “second law.” But the book is far more than a restatement of the Law given at Sinai. This book is also a commentary on the Law’s deeper meanings. As we study Deuteronomy we sense the deep love that underlies God’s gift of Law—and the love for God that is necessary if any person is to be obedient to Him.
The Book of Deuteronomy is both important and fascinating. It’s a book that puts new stress on personal relationship with God. Here the phrase “Yahweh our God” (The LORD our God) is not only introduced, it is repeated. The Law is not some rigid set of impersonal rules. It is a vital expression of the love relationship that flows from God to His people, and is expressed by the people in obedient response.
50 percent of the content of Deuteronomy is new. And what is repeated is often expanded by exhortations or by explanation of the deeper meaning of the duplicated laws.
Many have pointed out that Deuteronomy has great historical significance. It is written in a well-known contemporary form. It has the structure of a national constitution: a treaty between a ruler and his subjects.
This form is important because of the message it contained for Israel. God’s redeemed people had a faith relationship with the Lord. Now God established the fact that in this relationship He is the Ruler, they the subjects.
He is ready to bind Himself by solemn treaty to fulfill His obligations as their Ruler. But they must also bind themselves by the same treaty to fulfill their obligations as His subjects.
In essence, this kind of treaty spelled out the obligations of Ruler and ruled, and set the pattern for a harmonious relationship between the two.
So the very form of Deuteronomy held an important message for Israel. This nation had as its ruler not some human tyrant, but God Himself! There was no need for a human king in Israel, for God Himself was King. There was no need for a human military leader, for God Himself would lead, protect, and bless.
If only Israel would live according to the covenant regulations God gave, the Lord was committed to do His people good.
Moses’ first sermon then was particularly fitting. In it, Moses revealed what God had done for “us,” His special people. And in that review of the relationship between God and His people, there are many lessons for you and me, and for those whom we are called to teach!
God’s promises are sure (Deut. 1:6–8). It’s striking to note the way that the Lord talks about His promises in this passage. He speaks of them not as that which He will do, but as something He has already done.
“Go in and take possession of the land,” the Lord told Israel. “See, I have given [italics mine] you this land.”
What a striking statement. God’s promises are so sure that God can speak of what He intends as already complete.
We can apply this in our own lives. When we find God’s promises in the Bible, we can claim them with confidence. They do not simply express what God will do for us: they are so sure, they express what He has already accomplished.
Moses laid down basic principles which apply in any leadership role. “Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God” (v. 17).
Leaders are not to be influenced by fear of what others will think, or by the position held by any woman or man. Each person is to be valued alike; each is to be heard. God’s will is to be the ultimate consideration in how the leader leads and what he does, for God is the ultimate Judge.
Here Moses explained something of his motives for sending spies into the Promised Land. His original impulse had been to simply point to the land, and command the people to “charge!”
Moses said, “the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged” (v. 21).
But the people wanted to send spies ahead, “to bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
Moses did not stop to inquire of God what he should do. He simply liked the people’s idea, and acted on it.
Was Moses wrong? Not necessarily. It’s never wrong to find out as much as we can ahead of time about decisions we need to make. As long as when we do we are not overcome by the problems we foresee. After all, God is the ultimate reality, so whatever the difficulties that seem to lie ahead as we follow God’s leading we need not be afraid or discouraged.
In fact, these two warnings uttered by Moses (“do not be afraid; do not be discouraged”)
It is not facing realities in our lives that gives us problems. It’s how we react to what we see. Because God truly is with us, and we live by His promises to us, we can remain confident and calm. We can enter our own promised lands, unfrightened by difficulties and undiscouraged by setbacks.
“Moses made a tragic mistake when he listened to the people and sent spies ahead into the Promised Land.”
it wasn’t having information about Canaan that created the problem—it was how the people reacted to what they discovered
How should you and I go about making decisions? Should we try to look ahead and determine difficulties? Should we move on blindly? How large a role should circumstances have in our making of decisions? Should we really take circum- stances as indicators of God’s will?
The people of Israel had been terrified when the spies reported how strong the peoples of Canaan were militarily. Their fear led them to even doubt God:
“The Lord hates us,” they cried (v. 27).
Moses simply called on the people to remember all that God had done for them, and to let thoughts of His faithfulness bring back their confidence. Moses’ words to Israel are wonderful words for us too.
“Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert
There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place”
The problem with Israel was that despite all the evidence of God’s care, they still would not trust in Him (v. 32). Their rebellion was a direct result of a fear that flared up into a terror so great that they could no longer see God as He truly is.
This passage speaks to you and me too. When fears come—and they will—we are to look away from what causes us terror to remember who God is, and what wonderful things He has done for us. The memory of God’s work in our lives is to quiet our fears, and restore our trust.
One of the ways that Christians can encourage each other to trust the Lord is to share personal experiences we have had of His faithfulness.
When the people of Israel had rebelled and refused to enter the Promised Land, God turned them toward the wilderness. There they would wander until the entire generation of rebels died.
But looking back on those wilderness years Moses said, “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything” (v. 7). Later Moses would add, “Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these 40 years” (8:4).
There is no question that the years in the wilderness were harsh and painful. They were years of discipline, marked by daily deaths of those who had rebelled against God.
How stunning to realize that God “watched over [their] journey” and that in all those 40 years “the Lord [their] God [had] been with [them].”
God doesn’t abandon us even when He is angry with us and forced to discipline. Even in the darkest of times there is evidence of His continuing love.
The evidence in Israel was in the smaller things. Their feet did not swell. Their clothing, which could not have been replaced in the desert’s hot, empty lands, did not wear out. It was in such little things, as well as in the manna God supplied daily and in the presence of the cloudy-fiery pillar over the tabernacle, that God showed His presence and His love.
May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you!
“The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.