Deuteronomy
Peace be with you, listening
friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who wants everyone
to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established,
and have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today
to present your program The Way of Righteousness.
Over the past forty-two lessons, we have been looking
into the first book of the Holy Scriptures, the book we call the Torah. As you
know, it is God who implanted His words in the mind of the prophet Moses,
inspiring him to write them in a book. Approximately three thousand five
hundred years have gone by since Moses wrote the Torah, yet it is still of
immeasurable value to us today. The Torah is the foundation that God Himself laid,
so that we can test everything that we hear anddiscern
whether it comes from God or not. The teaching contained in the Torah is pure
truth from
God. Any teaching that contradicts it is false. All of God's truth is
in perfect harmony with what is written in the Torah. There is one thing that
Almighty God cannot do. Do you know what it is? That's right, God
cannot contradict Himself! In the Torah, Moses penned these words, "God
is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his
mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?" (Deut. 23:19)
Through our study in the Torah of Moses, God has
revealed to us many profound mysteries. Today we plan to conclude
our journey through the holy Torah. But before we look at the final
chapters, let us review what we have seen from the beginning until today.
In the first chapter of the Torah, we saw how God
created the first man in His own image. God wanted to have a wonderful and
meaningful relationship with man whom He had
created. That is why He placed in the soul of man a mind (spirit) so that he might
know God, gave him a heart so that he could love God and entrusted to him a
will so that he could choose for himself whether to obey God or to disobey Him.
In the third chapter, we saw how the first man, Adam,
chose to obey Satan and eat of the tree which God had prohibited. Thus, the
Scripture says: "Sin entered the
world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way
death came to all men, because all sinned." (Rom. 5:12) The penalty
of sin is death and eternal separation from God.
Thus, we saw how God expelled Adam and Eve from the
Garden of Paradise because of their sin. But before He put them out, God
announced how He planned one day to send a Redeemer into the world, to open
a door of salvation for Adam's offspring; to free them from the dominion of
Satan and the penalty of sin.
Next, we learned how God called Abraham, promising to
make of him a special nation from which the prophets
and the Redeemer would descend. Thus, Abraham begot Isaac; Isaac begot Jacob;
and Jacob begot twelve sons. Later, God changed Jacob's name to Israel. The twelve sons of
Israel formed the new nation which God had promised Abraham. The ten older sons
sold their younger brother, Joseph, as a slave who was taken to Egypt. However, "a
man reaps what he sows." (Gal. 6:7) Consequently, we saw how all
the children of Israel became slaves in Egypt. Nevertheless, God did not forget
His promise to Abraham and his descendants. In the book of Exodus we learned
how God fulfilled His promise to Abraham by calling Moses to free the
Israelites from their bonds of slavery.
In studying the story of Moses, we read the amazing
and wonderful account of how God delivered the multitude of Israel from the
oppression of Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. We also read how God protected
them in the desert and brought them to the border of Canaan, the land which He
had promised their forefather Abraham long before. However, most of the
Israelites were afraid of the giants of Canaan and did not trust God to do for
them what He had promised them. That is why they did not enter the abundant
land of Canaan at that time.
Because of their unbelief, the Israelites wandered in
the wilderness for forty years, until all those who did not believe what God
had promised concerning Canaan passed away. That was the punishment that God
brought upon them because of their unbelief. Surely "the
Lord is…a faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He!" (Deut. 32:4)
Now, let's complete our
journey in the Torah.
Remember, the Israelites were in the desert because God was chastening them for
their unbelief. Every one of those more than twenty years old who had refused
to believe what God had promised concerning the land of Canaan had died. Not
one remained alive. Now their children were at the border of Canaan. After
forty long years in the wilderness, the children of Israel were now very
anxious to get settled in the land their parents had failed to enter!
Our study today is from the fifth section of the
Torah, the book of Deuteronomy {Lit. Second
Law}.
In this final section Moses reviews God's holy law and teaches it to the tribes
of Israel. This profound book contains the final
message that
Moses preached to the people to prepare them to enter the land which God had
promised them. We do not have time to read Moses' entire sermon today, but we
can summarize Moses' words in these few words: "Do
not forget!"
In brief, Moses said something like this to the
Israelites: Be careful not to forget that you were slaves in Egypt! Do not
forget all that God did for you on the way, between Egypt and the new land
which you are about to enter! Do not forget the sins that you committed against
the Lord your God! Do not forget how the Lord judged your parents because of
their unbelief, which is why all their corpses remain in the desert. Do not
forget that God was good to your parents, but they were hardheaded and refused
to believe Him. Do not forget it!
Today, when you hear the voice of God, do not harden
your hearts, as your parents did in the wilderness. Will you be like your
ancestors who refused to believe the Word of God, or will you believe the Lord
your God? If you refuse to believe the Word of God as your ancestors did, God
will punish you as He punished them. Do not forget
it!
The Lord God will bring you into the land, which flows
with milk and honey, which He swore to your ancestors. Do not forget your God
who gave you the land, because man does not live on bread alone, but on every
word that comes from the mouth of the Lord! Do not forget
it!
After Moses had finished his sermon, the Lord said to
Moses:
(Deut. 32) 49Go up
into the Abarim Range…across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am
giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50There on the
mountain that you have climbed you will die… 51This is because
both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites…in the desert
and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. 52Therefore,
you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am
giving to the people of Israel."
(Deut 34) 1Then
Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab…There the Lord showed him the
whole land…all the land of Judah as far as the western sea… 4Then
the Lord said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let
you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it." 5And Moses
the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6He
buried him in Moab…but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7Moses
was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor
his strength gone. 8The Israelites grieved for Moses in the
plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over. 9Now Joshua [who
replaced Moses as the leader of the Israelites]…was filled with the spirit of
wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to
him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.
10Since
then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to
face, 11who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord
sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole
land. 12For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed
the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel." Amen.
So dear friends, this is where the Torah concludes.
Everything written in the Torah is recorded so that we might gain knowledge,
knowledge that will lead us to faith in God's way of salvation. Truly, Moses
was a great prophet. He knew the Lord God
face to face. He performed miraculous signs from God. By the hand of Moses, God
delivered the Israelites from the oppression of Pharaoh. Also by his hand, God
has given us the Torah, the first book in the Holy Scriptures. Everyone should
know what the prophet Moses wrote. Whoever does not know the Torah of Moses
will be mistaken in much and is in great danger of perishing in the way of
unrighteousness. Remember, the Torah is the foundation which God Himself laid,
the foundation upon which God, through all the other prophets, would build the
rest of His holy book.
Truly, the prophet Moses wrote amazing, profound and
wonderful words. Yet of all that Moses did and wrote, nothing is more important
than what he announced in the fifth section of the Torah, in chapter eighteen.
In this chapter Moses told the Israelites how God planned to raise up another,
even greater, prophet who would speak directly for God. Listen to what Moses
told the people of Israel:
(Deut. 18) 15The
Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own
brothers. You must listen to him. 16For this is
what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb (Mount Sinai) on the day of the
assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor
see this great fire anymore, or we will die." 17The Lord
said to me: "What they say is good. 18I will
raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my
words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19If
anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself
will call him to account."
By this declaration from the mouth of Moses, God was
announcing the coming of another prophet who would come forth from the Hebrew
nation (verses 15,18), a Man who would speak forth the Word of God in all
fulness and purity (vs.18,19), a Prophet who would be a Mediator between God
and man (vs.16,17). Do you know who that Prophet was? Do you know which Prophet
spoke with even greater authority than Moses? Do you know which Prophet
displayed works which were greater than the miracles performed by Moses? Yes,
the Prophet of whom Moses spoke is the righteous
Redeemer,
who was born of a Jewish virgin. Concerning Him, Moses issued an early warning
to the nation of Israel: "You must listen to him!…If
anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself
will call him to account."
Friends, this is where our study of the Torah must
end. How can we conclude our journey in this vast and wonderful book? Let us
finish with what Moses himself proclaimed to the Israelites on the day he died.
In chapter thirty-two Moses said:
"Listen, O
heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.…I will
proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the
Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does
no wrong, upright and just is He!" (Deut. 32:1,3,4)
With those words of God from the mouth of Moses we bid
you farewell today. Thank you for listening. Next time, God willing, we will
begin the holy book which comes after (and is connected with) the Torah of
Moses and see how God brought the Israelites into the land flowing with milk
and honey just as He had promised them long before.…
May God, who alone is worthy of glory and majesty
forever, bless you! The prophet Moses said it perfectly:
"The Lord…is…a
faithful God who does no wrong! Upright and just is He!" (Deut. 32:4) Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment