The Chess Master
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Our Scripture text this morning is taken from:
Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.” ’ So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber.
“And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’ (The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.) ‘Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered. And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.
“So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, the Lord said to me, ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’ (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim— a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.) ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
In my introductory sermon to this series, I said that Deuteronomy is foundational to the theology of the rest of Scripture. It is so important, that the kings of Israel were instructed to make a handwritten copy of this book and read from it daily. This is why as the greatest King of Israel, Jesus loved and cited this book so frequently.
There are two major theological themes introduced in this chapter. The first is God’s sovereign control over the nations and history. We see this in how God displaces nations ruled by giants, and gives their land to Edom, Moab, Ammon and Israel. The second theme is that of spiritual warfare, or “holy war”. This is seen in the giants, which we will learn next week are associated with evil spirits and the command found in verse 2, “turn north”. We will examine this second theme more fully next week, for now I want to focus on the first.
Our world is currently in a geopolitical crisis. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is dominating the news cycle. Because of this, fear and anxiety grips the hearts of many. As believers, we need not fear, because God has it all under control. Like a master chess player, God replaces one nation with another in the same way a chess player replaces one piece with another. The biblical worldview sees reality differently. The secular worldview sees the geopolitical reality as the only reality. The biblical worldview sees the geopolitical reality, but it also sees an underlying spiritual-political reality. The game of chess God is playing is not two dimensional, but three!
2-D vs. 3-D Chess
2-D vs. 3-D Chess
I firmly believe that one of the greatest barriers facing modern readers of the Bible is that they do not take the supernatural seriously. Too often, we read the Bible with secular, naturalistic presuppositions. The Bible is a supernatural book, about supernatural things.
Without this understanding, the biblical concept of the “holy” make little or no sense. In the book of Deuteronomy, we will find that God’s people are called to be a “holy people”, living in a “holy land”, worshiping God at His “holy temple”. All these things are “holy” not because they are physically different from anything else, but because they are spiritually related to God.
Another way of looking at this is to say that everyone has dual citizenship. We have citizenship in a physical kingdom and we have citizenship in a spiritual kingdom. These nations led by giants that are “devoted to destruction” are not being targeted for their physical citizenship, but spiritual. I will speak more about this later.
Perhaps the most important passage of Scripture that speaks of God’s total control of the nations and history is found in Acts 17:
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
As distressing as the situation is in Ukraine, we need to remember that God is in control and He is moving history in a glorious direction. We also need to remember that His opponent is not Vladimir Putin, but Satan. This brings us to the next point:
Three Moves Ahead vs. All Moves Ahead
Three Moves Ahead vs. All Moves Ahead
Those who are good players at the game of chess are playing at least three move ahead. Satan is one of these elite players. However, God is playing the chess game of history with all moves ahead! Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God exhorts us:
“Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
Consider that backstory of the Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites. The Edomites came from Esau who despised his birthright and the promises of God. The Moabites and Ammonites came from the incestuous union of Lot with his two daughters! I am sure that as Satan moved these three nations around the chessboard of history, he imagined he had placed God in a disadvantage. Little did he know, that God would use these wicked nations to remover several of Satan’s most powerful pieces—the giants!
The cross is the ultimate example of how God is always three moves ahead of Satan!
Some of you may be wondering, if God is so good, why has the game of history gone on so long, is this an indication of how skilled Satan is?
Not at all!
According to Ephesians 1:3-14, God has ordained all things “to the praise of His glory”. In other words, history is designed to maximize the display of God’s glory as seen in His attributes, namely His love, wisdom, justice and righteousness. Someday when we see the finished plan, we will be amazed!
This brings us to the glorious conclusion of the game…
Checkmate!
Checkmate!
Within the context of Deuteronomy 2, God’s master plan is found in Deut 1:8.
See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
This promise was given separately to Abraham (Gen 12), Isaac (Gen 26), and Jacob (Gen 28). For the sake of brevity, l will just cite the original promise given to Abraham.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Did you catch that? God ultimate plan for the nations is to bless all the nations through the offspring of Abraham, and this “offspring” argues Paul, is primarily one person—Christ Jesus!
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
We are given a prophetic picture of Christ’s final victory in the book of Revelation.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
In physical history, nations rise and fall, but in spiritual history all nations are blessed in Abraham. Remember how we learned last week that Caleb was an Edomite? Because of their sin, the Edomites have been wiped off the face of this earth, just like the so many other nations, but in heaven stands Caleb!
When Christ declares “checkmate”, where will you stand? On that day, you physical citizenship will mean nothing, the only thing that will count is your spiritual citizenship.