OVERVIEW:
Moses’ history lesson from the Ten Commandments to the Spies; the wilderness; the nations avoided; the nations conquered; Joshua charged to be the next leader; the people compelled to heed God’s word.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
We have now made our way to the fifth book of the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy. “Deuteronomy” simply means “second law”. But understand, that it’s not actually “another law” that is being given in this book, it’s simply a “second giving of the law” that is being given for a generation that had not heard the “first giving of the law” at Sinai. Notice, however, that there is a marked difference between this second giving of the law and the first.
When God gave the law the first time, in the book of Exodus, it was pretty much: “OBEY ME because I’m God and because I SAID!” It was a RESPONSIBILITY and that responsibility was connected to DUTY. But in the book of Deuteronomy, when God gave the law the second time, it is beautifully associated with a different word. This time it’s connected to LOVE! For the first time, God talks about His LOVE for His PEOPLE and the desire in His heart for His people to LOVE HIM! God lets His people know in this book, that yes, He wants us to OBEY Him, but He wants us to do it, NOT because we feel that it is our RESPONSIBILITY, NOT out of a sense of OBLIGATION or DUTY, NOT out of FEAR, or because of the CONSEQUENCES if we don’t, but because of LOVE! Sure, it is a RESPONSIBILITY, but it is to fulfill the LAW of LOVE!
It should be noted that the Jews referred to the first five books of the Bible as the Torah, meaning “teaching, doctrine, or instruction”. Christians commonly refer to these same books as “the Pentateuch”, which comes from a compound Greek word that means “five books”. Jesus referred to these first five books of the Old Testament in at least three ways:
It is also interesting to note that the New Testament writers quote the book of Deuteronomy more than any Old Testament book – at least 80 times! In our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness, with each one, He quoted a verse relevant to the temptation, and, interestingly enough, each of the three verses He quoted were from the book of Deuteronomy! (Matthew 4:4/Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:7/Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:10/Deuteronomy 6:13)
By comparing the LAST verse of the book of Numbers with the FIRST verse of the book of Deuteronomy, it helps us to contextualize and summarize God’s intention through both books. In short, the book of Numbers is God’s “commands and judgments” given through Moses while the children of Israel were in the plains of Moab; and the book of Deuteronomy is a series of addresses Moses gave to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter the land of promise, Canaan.
The urgency and passion behind Moses’ words in these addresses is more than apparent. He “preaches” as a man fully aware that his death is imminent. Oh, may we likewise preach as a dying man to dying men!
It is believed that the date of the writing of this book was sometime shortly AFTER delivering the addresses, and sometime shortly BEFORE his death (34:5) in approximately 1405 B.C. Obviously, the record of Moses’ death and of what took place after it in Deuteronomy 34 is a divinely inspired appendix to the book that was written by another author, most likely, his successor and longtime partner in ministry, Joshua.
Keep in mind that the children of Israel in the Old Testament are a picture of the individual believer in the New Testament. Just as has been pictured through the children of Israel in the books of Exodus to Deuteronomy, AFTER being delivered out of the bondage of “Egypt” (our deliverance from our bondage to sin, Satan, and self: i.e. the world), BEFORE we can actually enter into the promised land of “Canaan” (the victorious Christian life: the life of fullness, fruit-bearing, and abundance in Christ!), there is a WILDERNESS to go through! It is the part of our journey where we, like the children of Israel, must learn to submit our stubborn wills to the will of our Lord as it is revealed through His word. None of us will enter into the life of abundance God intended our salvation to bring (John 10:10) without experiencing this absolute surrender of ourselves and our wills. It has been said that it took God approximately 40 HOURS to bring the children of Israel out of EGYPT, but it took approximately 40 YEARS to bring EGYPT out of the children of Israel! (Remember, it was only an 11-day journey through the wilderness — Deuteronomy 1:2!)
Note, in chapter 3 and verse 24, that Moses refers to God’s wondrous works in Israel’s exodus as only what He had “begun” to do to show Moses and the children of Israel His “greatness” and His “mighty hand”. So, it is with our exodus! Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath BEGUN a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Yes, God did a mighty work in delivering us out of Egypt (the world/sin), but He has great and mighty works He still intends to perform in our lives in bringing us into the “Promised Land” (the life of abundance and fullness in Christ).
Take special note that Moses’ words to the children of Israel, in Deuteronomy 4:29, are the words chosen as the theme verse to inspire us and direct us through the 365 Days of Pursuit. Obviously, this is a promise given specifically to the children of Israel, and yet, the general principle revealed in this verse is one that has application for people in every generation and in every dispensation. God has always desired that His people see Him through the revelation of His holy word, and when our pursuit of Him is so passionate that it involves all of our heart and all of our soul, the reality is, we will find Him! May that continue to be our passionate pursuit in the remaining 43 weeks of our 365 Days of Pursuit!
Deuteronomy 4:30 is a very significant verse for our times. Many (most?) Christians from an “evangelical” persuasion (meaning, fundamentally sound regarding the need for and means of salvation) are now teaching that God is finished with the Jew, and that the church has replaced Israel. The ramifications and dangers of this teaching are huge. One of the strongest indictments in the entire New Testament is related to this very teaching! In dictating to John, the letter to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2, our Lord Jesus Christ said that those who say they are Jews when they are not (and as Gentile, church age believers, we most definitely are not!), make themselves of “the synagogue of Satan!” In other words, this is a satanically-inspired teaching! The most popular violator is, no doubt, the Roman Catholic Church who believes that their first, so-called “Pope”, Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, was the one given the keys to the kingdom of heaven which is the literal, physical, governmental kingdom promised to the Jews (the nation of Israel — Acts 1:7). But the teaching that the church has replaced Israel in God’s program has now also made its way into most, quote-unquote, “evangelical” churches and institutions of higher learning. What usually accompanies this teaching is that there will be no Rapture, and, subsequently, no Tribulation Period and Millennium. Way back in Deuteronomy 4:30–31, however, the Bible very clearly spells out something completely different! Verses 30 and 31 say, “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” In other words, once the church has been removed at the Rapture, which then ushers in the Tribulation Period, God will fulfill His promises to the nation of Israel! Please note that maintaining this distinction is vital to properly understand the Bible and to remain steadfast in sound doctrine.
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
As THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE – Deuteronomy 1:17 (2nd Timothy 4:8)
As DELIVERER – Deuteronomy 1:30; 2:33; 3:3 (Romans 8:21; Galatians 1:4)
As THE FAITHFUL ONE – Deuteronomy 2:9, 12, 19 (1st Corinthians 10:13; 2nd Thessalonians 3:3; 1st John 1:9)
As TEACHER – Deuteronomy 4:14 (John 8:28)
As THE ONE TRUE GOD – Deuteronomy 4:35, 39 (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Colossians 2:9)
As THE LOVER OF MEN – Deuteronomy 4:37 (John 15:13; Titus 3:4-5)