DEUTERONOMY 29:1-30:20 Well, we re almost through with our study of the Book of Deuteronomy. We have had twelve weeks to cover 34 chapters. Some weeks we ve felt like that was not nearly enough time. At other times, we ve felt like we ve covered the same territory before and if we were completely honest, we would say we have at times gotten weary of the repetition we ve found in this book. 1) Moses has repeatedly reviewed their past 2) Moses has repeatedly called the people to obedience 3) Moses has repeatedly warned them of the consequences of disobedience! A famous philosopher once said, Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it. And that s precisely the reason the Holy Spirit used so much repetition in the Book of Deuteronomy. God knows we have very short memories. And we need to remember that these folks didn t have Bibles like you and I have. The priests and Levites had a copy of the Law of Moses and could refer to it, but the people didn t. They had to rely on their memories and therefore, repetition was essential. Too often God s people forget what they ought to remember and remember what they ought to forget! Deuteronomy 29:1-9 Here we see yet another summary of how God has cared for His people. He begins in verse 1 by speaking of God s covenant. Let me just say right here that theologians differ on this One view is that the covenants mentioned in verse are two separate covenants one being the Law of Moses and the other being a separate covenant known as the Palestinian Covenant. These folks say the Law of Moses told them how to live and the Palestinian Covenant told them how to live in the land. The other view is that what we see here is not two covenants but one. They believe the covenant given in Deuteronomy spoken of in the first part of verse 1 is simply an explanation and an application of that covenant to the new generation and for the new situation in the Promised Land. These folks say if this had been a different covenant, Moses would have had to offer blood sacrifices to seal the covenant as he did at Mt. Sinai with the first covenant. I don t know which is correct. It seems to me from verse 1 that two covenants are spoken of, but does it really matter? Page 1 of 8
I mean, the bottom line is this one or two, it or they were to be obeyed! And Moses says a very interesting thing in verses 2-4. In spite of seeing all the signs, they still did not perceive! And verse 4 says the Lord has not given them A heart to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear Paul quotes this verse in Romans 11 as he presents his case proving that God is not through with Israel! But what does this verse mean? Well, I can tell you what it doesn t mean! It doesn t mean these folks had asked God for a heart to know Him and eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him and He refused. If these folks had asked God for a knowing heart and seeing eyes and hearing ears, He would have granted this. God tells us in His Word that if we seek for Him He will let us find Him! My husband was talking with one of his sisters last week and she said, But what about the folks in Africa who have never heard? They won t be held responsible, will they? And hel said, Oh yes all that person has to do is look around at the Creation God has given him and if there s longing in his heart, God will reveal more of Himself to that person. Romans 1 tells us we are all without excuse! But, these folks aren t even like the folks in Africa. God had made certain that they have repeatedly heard what He expected of them and still they didn t have knowing hearts, and seeing eyes and hearing ears. Why? Because time and time again these folks went after other gods. Look at verse 5 Imagine walking for 40 years in the same pair of shoes and not having to go down to Dillards or Goldsmith s to get new ones! A great many people today say that if God would perform a miracle before their eyes, they would believe! Well, the children of Israel saw miracles for 40 years and they didn t believe! It s not for lack of evidence that men are unbelievers. Men are unbelievers because they are born enemies of God.! Here are folks on whom God has showered His affection and direction and protection. Yet, they chose to have hearts that did not know Him and eyes that could not see Him and ears to could not hear Him. What a picture God presents of the human heart. He says it is desperately wicked and that none of us can actually conceive how terrible it really is! Page 2 of 8
Verses 10-13 Moses goes on in chapter 29 to express to them the seriousness of this covenant. Verses 14-15 Who are those who are not with us here today? This covenant was not only for their folks but for all their descendants as well. The Constitution of the United States not only applied to those men who wrote it and signed it, but it applies to you and me today. When Jesus prayed His high priestly prayer in John 17, He prayed not only for His disciples who were with Him, but also for those who would follow. Verses 17-19 Here we see again the seriousness of idolatry the seriousness of knowing God s Word yet deliberately going after other gods and not only go themselves, but to destroy the watered land with the dry This is a picture of one who would lead others astray. to destroy the good with the bad to destroy the productive with the unproductive to destroy the useful with the useless Verses 20-21 This is severe! However, as we ve said many times before when we see passages like this that sound so very severe to us we must remember that God does all things well! We trust God s character and we know that if God is not willing to forgive this man, then this man could never have been saved. This is simply the foreknowledge of God God says there comes a time when His Spirit will not strive with man. Proverbs 29:1: A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be destroyed without remedy. 2 Peter 2:21 tells us that it would be better for a man not to have ever known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to him. Ye call Me Master, and obey Me not. Ye call Me Light, and see Me not. Ye call Me Way and walk Me not. Ye call Me Life and choose Me not. Ye call Me Wise and follow Me not. Ye call Me Fair and love Me not. Ye call Me Rich and ask Me not. Ye call Me Eternal and seek Me not. Ye call Me Noble and serve Me not. Ye call Me Gracious and trust Me not. Ye call Me Mighty and honor Me not. Page 3 of 8
Ye call Me Just and fear Me not. If I condemn you, blame Me not! In the rest of this chapter we see the results their disobedience will bring. The cause and the effect. First we see the effect Verses 22-28 God says that folks will look upon the devastation Of the land and will ask this question Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger? Then we see the cause Look again at verses 25 and 26 Notice the sin of the Israelites He doesn t mention murder or adultery or lying He mentions 1) they had broken God s covenant 2) they had gone after other gods In short, they had taken themselves out of God s will there are certain laws that God has established for mankind Donald Grey Barnhouse said it this way For instance if a man will leave God s pathway and willfully march into a swamp, the law of the sucking quicksand will come into effect. If a man will leave God s flowing spring and willfully march into the desert, the law of thirst will come into effect. And if a man will leave God s will and way and walk after other gods then the law of God s retribution must come into effect. Verse 29 God s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and God s ways are higher than our ways! We don t understand the secret things of the Lord our God. And the older I get, the more I appreciate that! One of the attributes of God is the fact that He is incomprehensible. We can never fully comprehend Him! But, that does not mean He is aloof or unapproachable. There are things He has revealed to us and there are yet more things that He longs to reveal to us. That s what makes God s Word fresh and exciting! Every time we pick it up He longs to reveal more of Himself to you and me! So, we re not to be frustrated by what we don t know, we re simply to be obedient to that which we do know! Chapter 30 is a very important word of prophecy! In fact, this chapter has been called the prewritten history of Israel in the land before they enter the land. I believe that one of the most thrilling things that God allows us to do as we study His Word is to see future events spelled out for us! Page 4 of 8
God s Word is so exciting! We see the underside of a giant tapestry we see the pattern forming, but it s not really clear until we dig, and study, and research, and pray, and compare Scripture with Scripture. When we do this, the pattern becomes sharper of course, we re still viewing the underside, our view of the tapestry will never be what God s is until we can truly see it from His vantage point. But I want to know all I can about God s plans for the future. So, as we look at this passage, hopefully, the tapestry will become clearer for us. 30:1-4 In these verses we see a restoration In order for there to be a restoration a return to the land what had to have happened? There must have been a scattering a dispersion from the land and we touched on this last week. Remember now what God has been setting forth - conditions by which they would be allowed to dwell in the land We know that because the people did not meet these conditions, God sent them into captivity the Northern Kingdom of Israel to Assyria the Southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon. And remember we said last week that in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah we see the return to the land by some of them. But, this is not the return spoken of here in Deuteronomy. It is still to come! Many of the exiled people would choose to stay in their captive countries many had and would migrate to other parts of the world. Those who did return lived in relative piece for around 300 or so years then the Romans took over Israel! Israel was under Roman rule form 37 B.C. during the birth, life, ministry and death of our Lord Jesus. This domination by Rome continued and in 70 A.D. Titus destroyed Jerusalem. The Jews rebelled one last time in 135 A.D. and were banished from Israel. Did you know, by the way that upon almost every place every geographical site of significance for the Christian, that there stands a Roman Catholic church? The one exception I can think of is the Garden Tomb and the only reason they haven t put a church there is because they don t believe the Lord Jesus was buried at the Garden Tomb, and they have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where they believe the Lord Jesus tomb was. But, we know that from the time of that dispersion in 135 A.D., down through the centuries the Jew has been literally driven from place to place. When WWII came, they faced the most intense effort ever to completely annihilate them. After the war, the nation of Israel was established in 1948. Page 5 of 8
By the way, can you see that from this tragic holocaust, how God allowed something good to come? Had the Jew not been so desperate for a homeland, do you think they would have made that giant effort to reestablish their beloved nation? When else would world opinion so be in their favor? God works through all sorts of events to accomplish His purposes, doesn t He? So, I said all that to simply say this The return mentioned in Deuteronomy did not apply to the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon and Assyria, nor does it apply to the establishing of Israel as a state in 1948. HOW DO WE KNOW THIS? Well, we know it for several reasons and we ll only mention these - we know that they have not all returned. Israel has been a nation for 54 years and has grown from half million people to over 6 million people, but they have still not all returned! - we also know that the final restoration will be characterized by a return to the Lord an obedience to the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul. Let me ask you are the Jews living in the land in belief? Or unbelief? What did Churchill say during the war? This is not the end, this is not the beginning of the end it is the end of the beginning! Well, we can t even be as dogmatic as Churchill, but all signs point to the fact that the end is certainly not far away There will be a return one day a glorious return a return in belief and obedience. How will this happen? When will this happen? Remember the Jews are scattered all over the face of the globe I remember when our boys were little and would go out into the neighborhood to play after school. When it was time for them to come in, their father would go out and whistle for them. Now, we didn t know then that this was a Biblical thing to do. We just knew it worked! For the sake of time, we won t turn there, but let me read to you what is found in Zechariah 10:8-9 I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before. When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back. Page 6 of 8
We also know this return spoken of in Deuteronomy is yet to be fulfilled from other sections of Scripture Jeremiah 23:3-8 Then I Myself shall gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and shall bring them back to their pasture; and they will be fruitful and multiply. And I shall also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord our righteousness. And God goes on to say in the next verse, Then they will live on their own soil. Who is this righteous Branch of David? The Lord Jesus Christ! Remember when David was grieved in his heart because God didn t have a house and he deeply desired to build one for his Lord, and remember what God said, No, David, you cannot build Me a house, but I will build a house for you this house will include a throne, a family and a kingdom that will stand forever! The King of that forever kingdom is Jesus! Now, let me ask you has Jesus come to the earth as King? No He came the first time as the Suffering Servant that s why the Jews rejected Him. They wanted a king! (They ve always wanted a king!) The last reason we ll consider is - Israel does not dwell securely not when the Arabs have sworn to push them into the Mediterranean Sea. Deuteronomy 30:6 This verse looks forward to yet another covenant THE NEW COVENANT! I wish we had the time to go to the passages in Jeremiah and Ezekiel that tell us about this new covenant But, let me just say this There will come a day when all the Jews will recognize the Jesus as their Messiah! But, this is yet future it won t happen until the end of the Great Tribulation. So, in these first verses of Deteronomy 30, we see the final restoration of Israel restored physically to their land. Restored spiritually to their Lord! Verses 11-14 KJV verse 11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. Page 7 of 8
This means that God has made His commandments just as plain as He could make them. They like us have no excuse for disobedience when we disobey it is because we have made the choice to do so. Verses 15-20 Here se see one last, solemn warning by God How God longed for His children then and how God longs for His children now to obey His voice to choose life to live in the land which He gave! One last thing Jeremiah 29:11-13 an encouragement for them and an encouragement for us For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. It is an incredibly amazing thing to me that the great God of this universe wants to be found by someone like me Page 8 of 8