2nd Evangelical Free Church

Blogging throufg Deuteronomy: Grace and Law.

Deuteronomy 5

The covenant to which Moses referred is the one the Lord made with him and the Israelites. Because all of the Israelites who left Egypt were now dead except for Moses, Caleb, and Joshua, the time has come to renew it for the new generation who were on the verge of entering the Promised Land. Moses uses language that indicates that the covenant was made with all those now present, the nation of Israel so that all of what follows applies to them. He begins with a restatement of the 10 Commandments preceded by a preliminary statement of God’s grace: the Lord had delivered them from bondage and slavery before they had done anything for Him, before they had obeyed His law, before they even knew it. He is giving them the Law so that they could properly respond to His grace and so live in fellowship and harmony with Him. 

The people responded in awe and with great respect for the Lord’s holiness for the Law had been given in the midst of remarkable signs and fantastic wonders. Who would not be humbled by such events? And so they promised they would obey but the Lord knew that this attitude would not last. He warned them of the blessings that would come with obedience but the curses that would result for unfaithfulness and idolatry.

We too must realize the grace of God. He has saved from sin and death while we were still in bondage to them, before we even knew who He was, before we could even obey any of His commands. We too must maintain a proper reverence for Him and His law. He desires our well-being, our love, and our fellowship. In order to do this we must submit our wills, our entire lives to His control.

Blogging through Deuteronomy: The Deuteronomic principle.

Deuteronomy 4

The Deuteronomic principle is simply this: obedience to the Lord’s commands brings blessing, while disobedience brings a curse, destruction. This underlies all of life, even today. In the case of Israel, blessing meant land, prosperity and descendants while destruction meant slavery, exile, and the loss of land and blessings. For Christians blessing means joy, peace, freedom from the fear of death, and the hope of eternal life, while destruction brings pain and punishment. In the punishment though there is always hope for God has not abandoned and will show mercy if His children repent and seek Him with all their heart. There is no such hope for the unbeliever. They may be blessed with prosperity in this life, but destruction for them comes in the form of unhappiness, slavery to their passions and self-will, the lack of meaning and purpose and, finally, eternity in hell.

Disobedience is described in terms of worshipping other gods, usually in the form of idols and statues or the forces of nature such as rain, storms, the sun, the moon, stars and planets. Idolatry today comes in the form of the pursuit of materialism, money, philosophy, mysticism, sex, pleasure, food, video games, entertainment, fame or anything else that we value and seek more than we value and seek for God. God is unique. He is one. He alone is God. He alone has acted in history, He alone has proven Himself, He alone is merciful, He alone has spoken, He alone has delivered us from sin and death. The gods worldly people manufacture and seek only put them in harm’s way and allow them to fulfill the desires of the flesh while punishing them with disease, sadness and violence.

Blogging through Deuteronomy: The need for humility in a Christian leader.

Deuteronomy 3

Chapter 3 brings us up to the present, when Israel camped out on the plains of Moab on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. Some of the tribes had already settled on the near side if the river, while the rest were preparing to march over. Moses had led the nation up to this point but now Joshua is to take over. Moses could not cross over because at Meribah he disobeyed God and became angry with the people because of their continued grumbling against the Lord.

Yet Moses pleaded with the Lord to allow him to enter the Promised Land. The Lord quietly heard his petition but did not change His mind. Moses had sinned and had to accept God’s will for His life. Moses had become angry because of the people. This may explain why he sinned but does not excuse it.

Leaders often make such excuses for their sins to justify their right to become angry and abuse their authority and privilege. That behavior may be tolerated in the world, especially in politics, but not in God’s kingdom. Leaders in the world are chosen because of their creativity, talent, charisma, drive, and self-will. This is often true in the church. A typical help wanted ad often contains phrases similar to this one: “Wanted: Dynamic self-starter with vision and creativity to work in a fast-paced environment.” But in God’s kingdom a leader should be humble, obedient, loving and compassionate. The people of God are not slaves nor are they a means to an end. A Christian leader has no right to treat them with contempt as if they were his own private kingdom. Leaders are to lead and serve their sheep not to be their lords.

Blogging through Deuteronomy: Picking your battles in the war against sin.

Deuteronomy 2

This chapter recounts the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. On the way, al those who had rebelled against the Lord at Kadesh died except for Caleb, Joshua and Moses. They had remained faithful and obedient. During the 40 years, the Lord had been with Israel and increased her power so that she became a terror to the surrounding nations. Most of the nations that stood in the path of her match let her proceed through their lands unmolested. Those who opposed her were defeated in battle. No one could stand in her way.

Yet the Lord commanded Israel to refrain from fighting Edom and Moab. Both of these nations were related to them. Edom was descended from Jacob’s twin brother, Esau. Moab was the son of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. The Lord had made promises to both these groups and so their land and possessions were under His protection. It was not yet time for Him to deal with their offenses though both had fallen far from the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now was the time He would punish the peoples who dwelt in Canaan for their wickedness, sexual immorality and idolatry.

These verses show us that we are engaged in a great spiritual battle. We must seek to destroy all that is in our life that tempts us and leads us to sin, that is flee form those things and people that we know will cause us to fall. Yet we struggle because we are weak and powerless. That is of course no excuse for we must trust that the Lord will provide us with the strength and wisdom to obey Him as well as to overcome sin, temptation and the devil. 

Blogging through Deuteronomy: A manual for Christian living.

Deuteronomy 1

The name of this book is formed from 2 Greek words, deutero and nomos which means “2^nd law”. This is not a new law that is given but a restatement of the Law as given by the Lord to Moses on Mt. Sinai, repeated for the new generation. Deuteronomy is composed of 3 speeches given by Moses. These are his parting words which expressed what he wanted Israel to remember. Though it is composed of speeches, the book is structured in the form of an ancient treaty between a lord and his vassals. It is a statement of the covenant agreement made between Yahweh and the people of Israel. It states what each must do to fulfill the provisions of the covenant. As such it was considered by the early church to be a valuable tool for Christian living, how each believer should live in relationship to the Lord. The New Testament quotes more from Deuteronomy than any other Old Testament book. What it proclaims forms the heart of Judeo-Christian ethics as well as modern law and civilization.

The first 3 chapters comprise an historical prologue. They show what the Lord had done for Israel and what Israel did in response. As chapter 1 reveals, most of Israel’s history to date has been rather shameful as it covers the journey from the time the Law was given to the apostasy at Kadesh. It was at Kadesh that the people refused to enter the Promised Land because of their fear. Yet the Lord had never given them any reason to doubt His love and protection.

Though the Lord has not revealed Himself to us in the divine miracles of the Exodus, we too may rest assured that He loves us and will protect us. Yet too often we doubt this and worry that He will desert us because we have done evil. We mat continue to act unfaithfully, but God’s promises are based on His word and actions, not ours. He will enable us to obey as long as we surrender to Him.

Blogging by Numbers: Equal in inheritance.

Numbers 36

As we come to the close of Numbers, we would expect an eloquent summation of what was important for Israel to focus on as she stood on the verge of the Promised Land. But what we find seems anti-climactic as it deals with the land once again. The land is very important to Israel for it represented the promise of God fulfilled. The promise was to be given to each tribe in proportion to its size, but each was to have its share. That which was passed down to the next generations could not then be removed from the inheritance of the tribe. It was given to be an everlasting possession. Thus a woman who inherited land could not marry outside of her tribe lest her tribe lose part of their inheritance.

Such a practice as is delineated here seems out of place in modern America for men and women can inherit property equally. Yet it should serve as a reminder of God’s inheritance given to us. He has guaranteed to every believer eternal life, an everlasting inheritance of great blessing in heaven to be shared by each equally. None of us deserve what we will receive. It is a gift. We cannot boast about it or think we are more worthy than others for we all get the same share no matter how long we have been believers or what we have done. There are no Christian celebrities. The Lord does not value skill, fame, looks or popularity but humble obedience.

Blogging by Numbers: The death penalty.

Numbers 35

When the land was portioned out among the tribes, the priestly tribe of Levi was left out. Here we see the land given to Levi: 48 cities with surrounding land to be used for agricultural purposes. Their inheritance was but a fraction of the total that had been given to the 12 tribes, and, by itself, would be insufficient to support the Levites and their families. Therefore the 12 tribes were obligated to contribute their tithes and offerings to support them.

6 of the cities given to Levi were designated as cities of refuge. The Levites were to be administrators of justice in cases of murder and manslaughter. These cities were places where those accused of murder or manslaughter had to go to avoid being killed by the “avenger of blood”. The avenger of blood was a relative or kinsman of a person who had been slain. The avenger bore the responsibility of taking the life of the slayer in return for the person who had been killed. Though this may seem barbaric to us, it is the basis for administering the death penalty. Those who commit intentional murder forfeit their own lives. The type of weapon or implement used was instrumental in determining intent, but of greater importance was the testimony of 2 or more witnesses.

Those who unintentionally killed someone, which we call manslaughter, could also be killed by the avenger without penalty unless they fled to a city of refuge and stayed there. Such a person could safely remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. The death of that high priest atoned for the manslaughter. A life was given in place of another life that had been taken. We all deserve the death penalty for our sin, but Christ our High Priest has been slain for our atonement.

Blogging by Numbers: Expanding the Kingdom of God.

Numbers 34

This chapter shows how the land of Canaan was to be divided up among the tribes of Israel. We see the entire dimensions of the nation laid out before she even set foot on Canaan’s soil. The amount of land to be divided is far larger than what Israel ever realized in her later history. She never took possession of the entire Promised Land, not even under David and Solomon when the Kingdom of Israel was at its largest extent. God gave Israel a huge promise, a liberal blessing but the nation never fully took possession of it all. This occurred for several reasons, primarily apostasy and compromise. Because Israel fell, she never realized the full extent of God’s blessings.

As Christians, the Lord has granted us great blessings in good measure. Yet like the Israelites, few of us take full possession of those blessings, or even of most. Some Christians do go on to accomplish great things for the Lord. They expand the limits of God’s kingdom by daring acts of faith. Yet most of us just struggle to stay barely in one place. We would rather remain complacent and safe by  accepting the little we have been given. We lack the energy to fight the fight against temptation and persecution and so take possession of all God has promised. We miss our opportunity to wage a successful campaign against the forces of darkness that control the media, our culture and our world.

I think about how often we compromise with our culture, how often we prefer to take the easy and safe way rather than expand the kingdom of God. We are afraid to take the risk lest we lose what. But we have been saved not just so we can go to heaven when we die, but also to fight evil and expand the Kingdom of God in this world. That means getting out of our comfort zone to perform daring exploits. This will mean incurring the wrath of Satan and the world. 

Blogging by Numbers: Holy War demands the extermination of evil.

Numbers 33

This chapter presents a summary of the 40 years of the travels of Israel through the wilderness, from Egypt to the Jordan. The summary portrays Israel in military terms, as an army marching in War. The Holy War began in Egypt, and was continued in the wilderness, although in a modified form. Now the war has been taken up again. Israel is about to confront the Lord’s enemies in Canaan.

The primary rule of this Holy War to utterly vanquish all the ungodly nations and when commanded, exterminate all their peoples and possessions. Though this seems harsh to us, the Lord wanted His people to destroy all that could become a snare that could bring down His people and cause them to fall away from Him.

The Christian life is a Holy War. When we become Christians we must seek to destroy sin in our lives. With the Lord’s help we will abandon all our old ways and root out all the things we once did that were sinful or that caused us to sin. He will help us avoid all those former companions, those favorite places, those books, magazines, TV shows, internet sites and music that were occasions of sin for us, that tempted us to sin. But we cannot compromise. If we ignore the Lord’s commands, if we think we are strong enough to resist on our own, if we deliberately continue to place ourselves under those old temptations, under the attractions that once entertained us and held our attention and time in our old life we will fall, turn our backs on the Lord and worship false gods. And that would grieve the Lord severely and make us utterly useless for the Kingdom except as an example of how not to live.

Blogging by Numbers: Taking up the burden of our Christian brethren.

Numbers 32

Israel had yet to cross over into Canaan land when her survival was threatened from within. A few of the tribes desired to settle down on the other side of the Jordan, outside of the land the Lord had Promised. Moses got upset because this request was not only contrary to the Lord’s will but also because he suspected that this group was asking to desert the Lord’s Holy War and their brethren. The perceived lack of faith was equivalent to the apostasy that occurred 40 years earlier at Kadesh Barnea, a rejection of the Lord’s provision.

 

Here we see, however, that compromise can sometimes be beneficial. Normally the Lord tells us not to compromise with evil. What happens here is different even though it seems that the 3 tribes had no thought about continuing the Holy War. They reconsidered and pledged not to desert the Lord’s cause. They would remain in the fight until it was over. This is agreeable to the Lord but Moses warned them that the Lord would punish them if they failed to keep their vow.

 

Here we learn about the dangers of selfishness and the blessings of caring for our brethren. We ought to encourage, comfort and support all our Christian brethren who are undergoing various trials and sickness. We must do this not just with words of promise but with actions that put life into what we say and demonstrate our willingness to shoulder our brother’s burden.