A Call to Covenantal Relationship

Deuteronomy 29:1-28 “1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. 2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites,…”

Ch 29 serves as a reminder of the covenant that was made long ago, and it is also a document of renewing that covenant at Horeb is now seen as effective in the life of the next generation. No generation can ever take the Lord's covenant for granted, but must always renew it by a fresh commitment.

Whilst there are many truth and lesson we can unravel in this chapter there are few thoughts that captured my attention about covenantal relationship.

How does the Bible define covenantal relationship with God? The covenant that God confirms you are His and He is your only God by committing yourself to listen to His Words and love Him.

We become what we worship. (v4)

Moses recalls all the Lord’s care for the people, His extraordinary power in bringing them to the land. The people should have seen and heard enough to be able to understand and embrace the covenant and yet they did not. And it was because they still wanted to follow the stubbornness of their hearts.

Deuteronomy 29:4 “4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”

The language of “not having a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” is a metaphor for idolatry.

“we become what we worship… what people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration”. (By GK Beale)

The Israelites stubbornness lead them in idolatry during their wandering in the wilderness despite God caring, fighting and providing for them. They resembled the lifeless-image they worshipped made out of wood or stone which lead to their ruin.

What is a biblical definition of stubbornness or stubborned heart? “Repeated refusal or unwillingness to listen or choose a course of action according to God’s counsel.”

All throughout the scriptures we see many evidences how stubborn man’s heart can be when it comes to being faithful to God.

Psalms 81:11-12 “11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.”

Romans 11:8 “8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.””

And the vulnerability of a stubborned heart is being wide-open for deception of Satan. In fact, one does not have to intentionally choose to worship Satan to be an idolater, all you gotta do is repeatedly/relentlessly follow your own self-righteousness in the expense of God.

Romans 6:16 “16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

But there is something more persistent than a stubborn heart and that is the grace of God shown through His promise of redemption.

God’s grace and promise of redemption is for all people, for all generations. (v9-15)

Despite the first generation not entering the promised land because of their stubborn hearts, they did experience God’s grace - when he rescued them from the bondage of Egypt. But they failed to stay loyal to Yahweh by turning to other gods.

The stubbornness of the generation that came out of Egypt did not cause God to give up on his covenant to their forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) but instead reaffirms it for the new generation that is about to enter the promised land and the future generations to follow.

Deuteronomy 29:9 “9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.”

Deuteronomy 29:14-15 “14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.”

When we have become stubborn and unfaithful, God remains gracious and faithful to his promise of redemption...

2 Timothy 2:13 “13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”

Romans 3:3-4 “3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.””

God’s grace and His promise of redemption was not just for a specific people but it is for all people of all ethnicities of all generations. God’s promise of redemption is for you but it’s whether you believe it or not.

To believe in God’s promise of redemption meant that you are entering into a covenantal relationship with God. It requires each of us, every individual to express/live out that covenantal relationship by committing ourselves to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 1:9 “9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”

And from v16, Moses reminded the Israelites that they were not naive concerning idolatry. They had seen it in Egypt and had fallen into idolatry on the way to the Promised Land (Ex. 32; Num. 25). They had seen the pagans’ detestable idols. They are reminded and warned how an individual or group could defile many with the bitter poison of idolatry (cf. Heb. 12:15).

How does the Bible define covenantal relationship with God? The covenant that God confirms you are His and He is your only God by committing yourself to listen to Him and love Him.

We become what we worship. (v4)

God’s grace and promise of redemption is for all people, for all generations. (v9-15)

Forsaking our covenantal relationship with God has deadly consequences. (v18-23)

One of the biggest moral dangers is the belief that breaking God's law won't have any consequences. This is unbelief and a foolish reliance on one's own strength. He could say, "I will have peace..." not because he deserved peace or blessings, but because the community would continue to receive God's blessings and he was a part of that community.

Deuteronomy 29:18-19 “18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.”

Moses emphasized the interrelationship between the parts and the whole of God's covenant community. The community as a whole was connected to God in the covenant, and they would receive God's blessing in the promised land. The emphasis on the community didn't mean that the individual was a faceless, nameless person, anonymous. The health and vitality of the entire community depended on the health and vitality of the commitment of each person in their personal covenantal relationship with God.

That’s a warning to the whole church, we don’t play with grace, as though covenant-keeping does not matter. It does matter. The warning clearly indicates that it matters to keep/live out the covenantal relationship with God and rejection of it brings a harsh judgement.

Romans 6:1-4 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

This not “working/meriting God’s promise of redemption” because they did receive the promise of redemption but instead of getting rest and peace, they rejected it and followed other gods.

How many of us often justify the way we live just so we can satisfy the stubbornness of our hearts? We conveniently change the terms of living for God constantly, we repeatedly look for loop holes in excusing ourselves in following His will.

Isaiah 30:1 “1 “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;”

We have all we need to know Him and have relationship with Him. (v29)

Deuteronomy 29:29 “29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

V21-27 is not a prophecy about something that's going to happen inevitably. On the one hand, if the Israelites were obedient and fulfilled their obligations, then their fate would be peace and blessing under God; but if they were disobedient, then this would be the inevitable outcome. The stark portrayal of the possible future wasn't meant to depress people. If it is inevitable, then what is the point of obedience?

The law states that the people are responsible for obeying, and this will result in God's blessings being bestowed on the land they're entering. This is a general principle that was clearly revealed. Obedience will lead to God's continued blessing, but disobedience will bring about the curse of God. To speculate about the future is not meant for us to do.

Psalms 119:18 “18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

The psalmist was not asking for a secret to be revealed but to see and cherish the life and blessing God’s revealed Word brings. ("rhema” and “logos”)

Mark 13:32 “32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

The revelation was adapted to meet human needs so that we might be able to understand and obey all of God’s Word. It does not reduce religion to mere law and ethics, but rather indicates the means by which a living relationship with God can be maintained.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

1 Thessalonians 2:12 “12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”

It's very likely that we'll never know all the secrets of the universe, as man's finite mind is limited by its own abilities. However, God's revealed Word does grant us the ability to know Him. And it is possible to know God in a deep and loving way, through his grace, without ever having grasped or understood the secret things.

2 Peter 1:3-4 “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:22-38 picks up on the very promise of God that one day, He will truly transform the hearts of His people so that they can truly listen and love God from the heart. And this is fulfilled in the person on Jesus Christ. And so...

We become what we worship. (v4) - To worship Jesus Christ is to reflect God.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Colossians 3:10 “10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

God’s grace and promise of redemption is for all people, for all generations. (v9-15) - Jesus Christ is the promised grace and redemption for all humanity.

Galatians 4:4 “4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”

Titus 2:11 “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,”

Titus 3:4-6 “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

1 Timothy 2:5 “5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

Romans 3:22 “22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:”

Forsaking our covenantal relationship with God has deadly consequences. (v18-23) - Forsaking Jesus Christ results in the deadliest consequence.

John 12:48 “48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”

Matthew 10:33 “33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Hebrews 2:1-3 “1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,”

We have all we need to know Him and have relationship with Him. (v29) - Jesus Christ is the Word of God in flesh, the perfect example.

John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Matthew 11:29 “29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Colossians 3:13 “13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

1 John 2:6 “6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

Ephesians 5:1-2 “1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

1 Peter 2:20-21 “20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

Deuteronomy 29 tells us that God reaffirms His covenant with His people despite knowing they are still stubborn and going to rebel and go to exile (ch 30) (metaphor for humanity’s heart is fundamentally stubborn and rebellious) but God’s grace, has come down and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ that He might fulfil His redemption promise in Jeremiah 31:31-34 by becoming more than an example how to have a real relationship with the Father but also (as Hebrews 10:9-18) by becoming the ultimate sacrifice for sins for all time, effectively making those who believe in Him holy, putting the law in their hearts and mind, and never remembering their sins.

2 Corinthians 3:3 “3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Our covenantal relationship with God is perfected in Jesus Christ alone. So for us who are alive right now and to the generations who will follow us, we have everything we need to know of Jesus Christ revealed in the Bible so that we can believe in Jesus, worship Him, imitate Him and share Him to our children and the generations to come.