Deuteronomy 33-34: A Tough Act to Follow

We all want our work to last. How do we shape a culture that lasts beyond our own time? We ask someone who will be around long after we’re gone to establish the work we began. Psalm 90.

We finish the book of Deuteronomy today. We have been learning God’s plan for shaping a culture through His people who walk in His ways, according to His words. Culture shapers are first shaped by God’s words within. We learn to love God with our whole being, love our neighbor as ourselves. We seek to establish justice and righteousness. This will mean inevitable conflict with the cultures around us. But we have something they don’t have. God is the Ever-living One, and He is alive and well in our midst, and all around us. He goes with us. In fact, as we’ll see today, He is not just with us, we live in Him. We can pass on to the coming generations an eternal dwelling place in the God who does not change and isn’t going anywhere.

In our passage today, Moses blesses the nation of Israel, tribe by tribe, just as Jacob had done at the end of his life, with one key difference. Jacob’s eyes had dimmed in his old age. Moses has a clear vision…begins and ends with worship.

To shape a culture for eternity, we make God our king, make disciples, and make Jesus our vision.

Make God our King

Deuteronomy 33:1-5 frame the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai as a cosmic coronation event attended by the heavenly council of angels(Hebrews 2). All the mountain tops of the whole region were alight with His presence and glory. Yahweh descended to give the Torah to Moses who passed it on to Israel (Hebrews 3:1-6). When Israel accepted the Torah upon themselves as a covenant with Yahweh, they made Him their king.

Moses, on behalf of their king, pronounces prophetic blessings over each tribe.

33:26-29 concludes the hymn begun in verses 2-5, describing God. As well as being their king, Yahweh was Israel’s dwelling place. Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

God is unique, and this makes His people special. 26, “There is none like God,” 29, “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!” This a nation dwelling in God, but not inactive. This two-fold imagery for God as King and Dwelling place is a dynamic picture of the relationship between Yahweh and His people.

“The affirmation of God’s eternal, enveloping care for those who find refuge in the everlasting arms (v. 27a) is a reality claimed and proved by untold numbers of believers. It is not, however, a picture of repose in the arms of God. There are battles ahead, literal and spiritual, and we are reminded that Deuteronomy is a book “on the boundary’ as the people prepare to cross over into the land. There they will face enemies, as the people of God always have and always will when they move forward with God. The reassurance, therefore, is not one of a peaceful paradise, but of divine protection and deliverance in the midst of conflict. Israel, then and now, can move forward in the confidence, “We rest on thee, our Shield and our Defender; We go not forth alone against the foe.’” (Wright, p. 312)

What does this mean for us? The gospel we preach is not that believers get to go to heaven when they die. The gospel is that the kingdom of God, His dynamic rule and reign, the life of God is available to you now in Jesus, and it will transform you. How are you actively engaging the life of God in Christ? “What are you seeing God doing in your life? What is your next step of obedience to Him?” Can you answer these? If not, maybe it’s time to seek someone to guide you.

How about us together as a church? If, in the gospel, we have accepted God as our king, where is He commanding us to move forward? What are the battles ahead for us?

Be Present to God

Pray with your Bibles open

Obey

Be Present to Others

Breakout group discussions Sunday morning

Triads, “What is God doing in your life?”

Community Groups, care for one another, welcome outsiders

Present Jesus Christ in word and in acts of loving service

Service opportunities

Hospitality

Make Disciples

34:1-8 – Moses climbs a mountain 2,200 feet high (about same as Gunstock in NH) to meet God.

1-4 God shows him the land

5-6 Moses dies, no one knows where he is buried

7-8 Moses mourned for thirty days

34:9 – Joshua had the spirit of wisdom, Moses had laid his hands on him

Commissioning the next generation. What was the process Moses used to make sure his work continued into the next generation?

Disciple-making process: Moses

called Joshua to follow

invited him to watch him

minister with him

sent Joshua out while he prayed for him

laying his hands on Joshua, Joshua received the Spirit, Joshua is sent out alone, and Moses ascended to God.

Moses taught Joshua to know God, to make Him known, and to teach the nation how to follow God by obeying His words.

When you ascend to God one day, who will you have taught to know God, to make Him known, and to obey God’s words? If you are actively engaging God, who is in your life now that you could invite to join you in your prayer time, ministry, or community group?

Make Jesus our Vision

In Jesus, we have the greatest prophet and teacher

34:10-12 – “No prophet like Moses” since

a. The LORD knew face to face

b. Signs and wonders in Egypt, to Pharaoh, servants and all land – overthrowing false gods

c. Mighty power and great deeds of terror Moses did (miracles) in sight of Israel

Along came Jesus…casting out demons, healing the sick, the lame, cleansing lepers, turning back evil and corruption. Peter testified about Him, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him (Acts 10:38).”

More than that, Moses himself testified with his presence on a mountain top to Jesus’ identity: Luke 9:35-36 “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.”

Hebrews 2:2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Hebrews 3:1-6 - Moses was part of God’s house, but Jesus is the builder and the Son over the house

Our next sermon series will go through the book of Hebrews and explore the supremacy of Jesus in all things. How do we shape a culture around Jesus? This will be an opportunity for you to invite others to explore knowing Jesus with you. Breakout groups on Sunday, or some other way.

No other prophet that “the LORD knew face to face…(Dt 34:10)” Not only did Jesus know God face to face, but in Jesus, we do too.

(John 14:8-11) 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

If we have met God in Jesus, we may be called to a difficult mission. Our sacrifice is for the sake of others, that grace will extend to more and more people, increasing thanksgiving, to the glory of God. We start with our kids and our disciples. We teach them to know God and make God known in the ways we do it, then we send them out. This is the way we do things as God’s people. Always have, always will.

And we are the happy people who, though we face dangers, are secure in the everlasting arms of our eternal God. Even if we die for the gospel, we are saved.

Pastor Kayamba, “I want a reason to die for Jesus again.”

If we are shaped by God’s words, and engage the culture around us, what exactly should we expect to see happen?

1. Our allegiances are reshaped. If God is our king, our allegiances to other causes will take a lower position: family, community, country, vocation; but they will all be shaped by our first allegiance. We seek God’s will be done in them all.

2. We invest the kingdom in others. If we are teaching others how to make God their king, we will spend time with them with our Bibles open, seeking to understand and put into action God’s words together. Our conversations will go deeper than sports, weather, and hobbies, even if they may begin there.

3. We redefine success. If Jesus is our vision, we will not be distracted by the things the world pursues: comfort, convenience, an uneventful life, popularity. We will redefine success from achievement or followers to becoming more like Jesus in every area of our lives: thoughts, emotions, actions, words.

4. We seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness without fear (justice and righteousness). We will not fear engaging culture in ways that seek justice and righteousness, especially for widows, orphans, and immigrants. We will seek God’s kingdom to come into places that are still under the domain of darkness.

5. We pray expecting the power of God to show up.