So It Shall Be: The Cardiac Eschatology of Moses

Introduction

We are in the midst of the conclusion of the book of Deuteronomy. The nation of Israel has found themselves at the completion of their forty years of wilderness wanderings. They have been prepared, experientially and theologically, to enter the land of promise. They have been given this covenant, with all the associated ratification rituals. Moses now turns to a word of pastoral prophecy, the first part of which we considered last week, the negative part, where Moses establishes, as he has before, that ultimately this law, this covenant, depends upon a pure and obedient heart. The tragic part is that Israel doesn’t have, nor can they access, a pure and obedient heart.

Chapters 29-30 continue the argument of chapter 4, and you cannot understand 29-30 without a clear understanding of 4, particularly vss 25-40. So let’s return briefly to an overview of chapter 4 as we look at these chapters tonight.

In 4:25-40 we can make the following observations:

Moses foretells the disobedience of the people.

Moses foretells the scattering or dispersion of the people.

Moses foretells the return of the people.

Moses foretells the covenant compassion of Yahweh.

Moses calls upon the people to know, see, and hear the words and works of God.

Moses now returns to these themes. 29:4 establishes that a wise heart, seeing eyes, and hearing ears are given by the Lord, and at this point He has not given it, at least not en masse, to the nation. Therefore, Chapter 4 cannot be fulfilled apart from the outpouring of God’s compassion. The knowing heart, seeing eyes, and hearing ears must be given by God, and that gift of grace then becomes central to Mosaic eschatology, an eschatology that is fundamentally cardiac in nature - it is not an eschatology of nations, or rulers, or land, or politics, but it is an eschatology of the heart.

Let’s work our way through the text now:

Eschatological Confidence

Moses begins in verse 1 with this phrase “so it shall be.” This phrase is unique to Mosaic judicial literature, used only 9 times in the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy combined. It speaks of a firm judgment or declaration, in other words, it’s a certainty. Moses begins this section then by establishing the future certainty of that which he is about to discuss.

So what does Moses view as certain? The short version: everything in this chapter. But specifically, he declares seven certainties:

A rebellion.

They were obedient during the first part of Joshua’s tenure as the leader of Israel, and they prospered and were blessed. This also happened to some extent under both David and Solomon. But we also see from the history of the nation that they brought the curse upon themselves as well, by disobeying the law in almost the possible ways it could be disobeyed. Ultimately, Israel will rebel.

And in this Israel becomes a type of the world. Everyone, man, woman, rich, poor, slave, free, Jew, Gentile, all have rebelled. Israel’s rebellion simply demonstrates microcosmically the overarching truth that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that there is none righteous and none who understand. The blindness and the wickedness of Israel, as they abandoned Yahweh and turned to all manner of other gods, is representative of the blindness and wickedness of all of us. We knew the command of God, and yet went our own way. We knew the covenant stipulations, and broke them intentionally.

Moses’ cardiac eschatology has a bleak starting point then. A starting point of disobedience, of exile, of rebellion.

But after the rebellion, things start to happen. God starts moving. Let’s see what happens. 6 concurrent realities that constitute the eschatological outpouring of God’s compassion on Israel and on the world.

A double return.

There is a compelling Hebrew wordplay here in verses 1-2. The word translated “you call” is the same word in verse 2 “return.” So really the best translation would be something like this: when the blessing and the curse and the words of this law return to your heart, then you will return to the Lord your God. The Law returns to the people, the people return to God. And the result of that returning is that the nation will obey, literally that they will again incline their ear to the Lord. The implication then is that in the future, God will finally give His people ears to hear, and not only that, but a heart to know, because the listening, the inclining of the ear, will not just be an outward reality, but an inward one, coming forth from the heart and from the soul.

We see this double return fulfilled in the book of Nehemiah, as God causes His people to remember the law of Moses and abide by it, and their hearts return to Him as they return to the land and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

Again, as Moses’ foretells the future of Israel, he weaves the future of the world in with it. All have rebelled, and all will die in their rebellion, save God causing His Word to return to the minds of the people, and upon the return of the word, the people return to the giver of the Word.

I would like to point out additionally that there is an already-not yet reality to this eschatological fulfillment. We know already that the Incarnate Word has come. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and in these days God has spoken to us by His Son, the one to whom Moses and Elijah command us to listen. We beheld the glory of that Living Word, glory that emanated through Him from Yahweh on high, glory that was characterized principally by grace and by truth. For 2000 years then, God’s people, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bythinia, Santa Clarita, Woodland Hills, Pine Mountain Club, West Hills, Canoga Park, Northridge, have returned to God’s Living Word by repentance and faith. That is what the word repent fundamentally means: to turn around or return. We walk now as those who have repented, who have turned back to the Living Word of God, and who listen to Him from a new heart and a resurrected spirit. So in one sense, the future Moses spoke of has already occurred. We are living in it now.

But in another sense, it still remains unfulfilled. We still look forward to that day when, fully and finally, God’s people return from being dispersed and scattered over the face of the earth, and we return to the Lord our God in His heavenly kingdom.

This is the first part of the hope that Moses looked forward to with confidence. Let’s consider a second part.

A restoration.

After the double return, in chronological progression, Yahweh will restore the people from captivity, and he will restore them with compassion, and he will restore them in community.

Again we see Israel serving as a type of the world. As Yahweh restored Israel and Judah from captivity to the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Medes, so also He releases the world from their captivity to the world, the flesh, and the devil, and he does so out of His compassion, his great love with which he loved us, demonstrated most clearly according to John and Paul by the sending of His Son. And this restoration does not happen in isolation, but as part of a community. The redemptive purposes of God are always fulfilled in a corporate setting, together, as a people of God.

We see this come to pass in the life of the nation of Israel in the book of Nehemiah as well. He brings them back from captivity under Nehemiah’s leadership and commitment to the law of God, Nehemiah acknowledges that it is because of God’s compassion, and we see that Nehemiah is not alone, but that he is accompanied by thousands of his brothers and sisters.

And again, this has already been fulfilled in a redemptive sense for us as well. God has restored us from captivity. Thanks be to God, that though we were slaves of sin, we became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which we were committed, and having been freed from sin, we became slaves to righteousness. Paul understood that in Christ, Moses’ vision of the future had been fulfilled. God has poured out His compassion on us. For God demonstrated His compassion to the world in this way: that He sent His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life, because Christ died at the right time for the ungodly. John understood that, in Christ, Moses’ vision of the future had been fulfilled. And God restores us in community. We are being fitted and held together, built up together, standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working for the gospel together. Again, Paul understood that Moses’ vision of the future had been fulfilled.

But there is another sense in which we look forward to the full and final restoration of God’s people from captivity, through His compassion, and in community. There is still a present reality of captivity. We are free from the power and the penally of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but we are still bound to it’s presence. The creation groans and longs for the day when even the presence of evil will be gone. With Moses, we still look forward to that day. God’s compassion is not complete. It was initiated at the coming of Christ, and the firstfruits of His compassion were poured out in our hearts when we received Him, God’s full and final compassion is still future. Likewise, we await the full and final final restoration of the full covenant community. We are not all together yet. We are scattered over the face of the planet, there are millions of our number who have already passed on into glory. But one day, we will all be gathered together at that beautiful marriage supper we long for.

The reality of restoration is both already and not yet, both fulfilled and future.

A reception.

In verse 4, not only will the people be gathered as a community, they will be received back into the land, and in it they will take posession of the land, have prosperity in the land, and propagate themselves throughout the land.

Nehemiah fulfilled this as well. The Jews returned to their land, they took possession of it, they had success and prosperity as they returned, and the families of Israel once again populated the land flowing with milk and honey.

But again, Israel serves as a picture of the world. As Israel was received back to the land flowing with milk and honey, and took possession of it as their inheritance, Christ Himself speaks of the blessing of the gentle: that they will not just inherit the land of Israel but that they will inherit the earth and take possession of it, and in that possession there will be prosperity. The picture of the new heavens and the new earth is a picture of a second Eden, a beautiful, prosperous garden, not limited to one geographical area but a garden that stretches to the horizon, a paradise of God’s design that will bring forth a superabundance of produce, and then in that day, all people will fulfill the Edenic mandate that was given to Adam: be fruitful and multiply and cover the earth. While Nehemiah fulfilled this in part, the contrast between Nehemiah’s census and the census of the book of Numbers is stark: the Jews in Nehemiah’s day were not nearly as numerous as the Jews of Moses’ day. Moses looked forward to a day when God’s people, of every tribe, tongue, and nation, would spread over the whole earth, being multiplied even more than their fathers.

A renewal - vs 6

This is a theme that Scott brought out last week, in verse 6, that the Lord will, at the end, renew the hearts of His people and cause them to love Him from within.

We see this clearly in Nehemiah’s account as well, that the people gathered together for the first time in centuries and worshiped God together, offering acceptable sacrifices in purity of heart, and opening His Word with eagerness at the feet of the prophet Ezra, as they opened the Law, translated it, and gave the sense of the meaning, and sought, under Nehemiah’s leadership, to walk worthy of their heritage and blessing.

But again, Israel typifies the whole world and God’s redemptive plan for all nations. This concept of the circumcised heart permeates all of God’s Word, and indeed is the blazing center of these six eschatological realities for Moses. The return, the restoration, the reception, are all contingent upon the renewal of the inner man, the circumcision of the heart. Moses then establishes this theme of cardiac eschatology, laying the foundation for Jeremiah to say

Jeremiah 32:37–44 NASB95

“Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. “I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. “For thus says the Lord, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. ‘Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ‘Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”

Do you hear the clear echo of Moses in the words of Jeremiah? They both saw the same future in which the hearts of God’s people would be renewed from the inside, by the word and work of God Himself.

And Moses and Jeremiah were not the only ones to see this vision of the future: Ezekiel saw the had the same vision:

Ezekiel 11:17–21 NASB95

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ “When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. “But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

Notice the echo of Moses again, but Ezekiel includes an important development not seen in the vision of Moses or Jeremiah: This cardiac eschatology comes not only with a new heart, but a new spirit. Ezekiel gives us a fuller picture: the future of Israel and the future of the world is predicated upon the renewal of the inner man, heart and soul and spirit. But Ezekiel is not done with this theme. He takes it up again in Ezekiel 36:24-38

Ezekiel 36:24–38 NASB95

“For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. “Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. “I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!” ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. “The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. “They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ “Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.” ‘Thus says the Lord God, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. “Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

Again we hear the echoes of Moses and of Jeremiah, and the theme is expanded again: not only will God’s people have their hearts renewed by circumcision, and not only will their spirits be made new, they will be made new because they are now imbued with the Spirit of God that dwells within them.

And this is fulfilled for us by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Christ promised and gave to His apostles and also to us, which dwells within us, secures us, regenerates us, resurrects us, adopts us, and testifies to our spirits that we are the recipients of a divine inheritance.

But Moses’ vision of the future renewal looks beyond our own day and our own lives to the future, when God will renew not only our hearts and our spirits, but will renew the entire creation. Moses was confident in this future reality, and so also we can be confident in it.

A reversal - vs 7

In verse 7 the curse is reversed, and placed upon the enemies of the people and their God.

Nehemiah saw this reversal to some extent. Sanballat and Tobiah opposed Nehemiah’s restorative work, but Nehemiah prevailed. While God didn’t explicitly curse them, they were foiled in their attempts to stop God and His work through Nehemiah.

And we know even from last Sunday in Isaiah 14 that God will eventually reverses the curse, and the wrath that He poured out on Israel for their disobedience will, in the last day, be poured out for eternity on all who oppose God. Babylon will fall, and her king with it, and the desolation and destruction that God promised for those who would not keep covenant with him will be poured out on them for eternity. All those who would afflict and hate and persecute the people of God will themselves be afflicted and persecuted for all time.

Moses envisioned the reversal of this curse and the outpouring of God’s wrath on the enemies of His people. Moses had confidence in this reality, and so also we can anchor our confidence in the reality that one day God will judge the wicked fully and finally.

Rejoicing.

All of this can be summed up in this phrase, the Lord will again rejoice over you for good. At the end of time, God will rejoice over His people by giving them prosperity in their work, in their offspring, in their possessions, and they will be obedient to His Word from their hearts.

This reality is one of great comfort for us, and one that is once again not only for Israel, but for the world. In the end, the world and indeed the universe will return to the reality of Eden: God will look upon all that He has created, all that He has done, and will again say “It is very good.”

So we have seen Moses’ future certainty in six ways, and how Nehemiah’s ministry fulfilled parts of the vision of Moses’, but ultimately this vision found it’s inauguration in the work of Christ, and will find it’s fulfillment in the last day when He causes the Word to return to the people, so that they finally return to Him, and are restored, and receive their inheritance, and are renewed, the curse is reversed, and He rejoices over His people for eternity.

Earthly Clarity - 11-14

In verses 11-14 Moses provides a poetic encouragement for the nation. He says it’s not difficult, nor is it out of reach. That word difficult might also be translated miraculous and wondrous. In other words, the word that Moses has given over the last 29 chapters does not require a miracle to understand. There’s no soothsaying, no dark arts, no supernatural weirdness necessary to understand who God is and what He requires and what His plan is for His people.

The poetic language continues: God’s Word is not in heaven, requiring an astronaut to travel there, retrieve the word, and declare it to the people. It is not across the sea, requiring a sea captain or sailor to sail the seven seas to retrieve it.

Rather it is near, powerfully near, both in your mouth and in your heart, in other words, God has provided His Word in such a way that it can be spoken and known and understood, and so that it might be followed.

Moses is reminding the people then that all that he has said, all the laws he has given, all the words he has spoken, and the God on whose behalf he has proclaimed, are abundantly clear. There is no ambiguity with God. There is no need to dance around an altar, cutting yourself, wondering if your God is asleep or relieving himself. Yahweh is a God who is immanent, who is near to His people. He is not the watchmaker God of deism who winds up the world and lets it go. He is the personal God of theism, who guides and nurtures and cares for the world all along the way.

This is the foundation John Calvin’s doctrine of accommodation, which means that God descends, He comes down to our level, as it were, and makes Himself known to us. He doesn’t require us to seek Him like a blindfolded child swinging a bat and trying to hit a pinata. He doesn’t provide us with a series of clues as to how to discern his will and his character. No, He descends from heaven on high and willingly speaks to us, without our even asking or even knowing that we should ask.

And this is nowhere made more clear than in the person and work of Jesus, who was God made flesh, God ultimately accommodated to humanity, found in appearance as a man. If God had come to us any other way, we would have marveled and been confused. But God comes to us as a man, with the same musculoskeletal system, and respiratory tract, and pulmonary system, the same stomach and intestines to digest food, and a mind like ours, and skin and teeth and eyes, that the Apostle John says he himself that he heard, that he saw, that he touched. Jesus was a man. Just like you. Just like me. Yet without sin. And so God comes to us in this tabernacle of flesh and blood, in fulfillment of Moses’ declaration here: to be near us, to be seen and heard, and according to John subsequently proclaimed, in order that we might have fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit, even as Jesus prayed in the garden.

Jesus is not difficult to comprehend. Jesus is not out of reach. He is near to us.

Moses understood this, and took comfort in it. So also must we.

Epic Conclusion - 15-20

Moses’ conclusion here speaks for itself. God returns. God restores. God renews. God reverses. God rejoices. Live by loving him, listening to him, leaning on him. He is our all in all.