Deuteronomy

The Road Ahead

“Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey” Numbers 9:22

It would be a rare person who had no interest in what lay ahead in their lives. It would be so rare that we might consider that person not sound of mind. Historically people have tried and tested many methods of discovering their future for both short term and long term. Our daily papers and other media pamper to this desire in people. Even though they all fail the test of 100% accuracy many people still turn to them in a vain attempt to quieten their anxiety. The opposite seems to be the case. They become more anxious.

God says to us through the Apostle Paul, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The fact is that we can either remain anxious or pray and trust the Lord.

The Lord told Abraham what He was about to do in Sodom (Genesis 18:17, 18) because he was His friend (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). The Lord tells believers future events for their comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:18) and not be anxious. This is one of the reasons God has told us things before they happen. He also tells us things ahead so that we can discern that it is truly Him speaking (Deuteronomy 18:15-22). The test of a true prophet of God given in this passage is 100% accuracy. All other future tellers are false.

A new generation of Israel that did not know slavery in Egypt was growing and, like all of us, had a tendency to be anxious about the future. This generation had not seen the signs and miracles in Egypt or the Red Sea crossing but they would have to learn to trust and obey the Lord. People will only voluntarily obey one whom they trust. To build this trust and obedience the Lord led Israel through the wilderness areas for forty years. They did not know from day to day whether they would remain camped or be on the move. What they learned through this was trust and obedience. They were warned to stay away from others who claimed to tell the future because that would have destroyed their trust in the Lord and their obedience to Him. This did happen in later generations in varying degrees.

We can either trust Him or be anxious. We can either come to Him in prayer or go to the soothsayers of our day. Which we do will decide our enjoyment in life. The one who trusts the Lord will find great joy, peace and pleasure in obeying Him and they will love life. If that is true of us then we should expect that our faces will reflect that.

Each evening when we go to bed thank the Lord for His gracious leading and presence for that day and in the morning wake up expectantly for His gift of a new day. We may think we know what is going to happen today but in reality we only have plans that can be changed or destroyed in a moment. The Lord knows every detail ahead and if we believe Him to be trustworthy then we will trust Him and enjoy the journey no matter what surprises enter our day.

Israel was essentially forced to obey. Where the pillar of cloud or fire was, that was where the manna would be next morning. Each individual’s enjoyment of the night and day was dependent upon their level of trust in the Lord. It is the same for us.

A Remnant of Israel

“Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?” (Ezekiel 11:13)

Ezekiel was not the first person and will not be the last to ask this question. It is still being asked today. In this respect nothing has changed through the centuries. As in the days of Ezekiel there are people who claim to speak for God who have not heard from Him.

As the Lord says, “They hope that the word may be confirmed” (13:6). That is, they prophecy according to their own wisdom and then wait to see if it comes to pass. A true prophet does not act in such a way. He speaks that which the Lord puts in His mouth to speak. The test of a true prophet that people have had for a long time is given in Deuteronomy 18:22. However we also have the Bible, God’s own word to us, as a measure.

Israel had a choice to listen to the prophets who spoke from their own wisdom or to a prophets who told them what God said. The choice is no different for us today. We can either use our own wisdom to answer life’s questions or we can rely on what God has said.

How many times does God have to say something for it to be so? The revelation of the Bible is that once is absolutely sufficient. There are many occasions and circumstances in which God affirms His patient and longsuffering purpose for Israel and affirms that He will accomplish it. This is the reason God gives for Israel’s repeated and continuing refining through tribulation. The very fact that Israel, while in unbelief, is suffering tribulation gives assurance that a glorious day lies ahead for the nation.

Among the many occasions that the Lord affirms that He will never bring an end to Israel is the one in answer to the above question:

“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’” (11:16, 17).

The context of this passage (and all similar passages in the Bible) dictates that it is meant to be taken literally. Verses 19 and 20 affirm that this is tied to the fulfilment of the New Covenant as recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

We watch in anticipation as the “bones” of Israel returns and the “flesh” is added (ch. 37). This was the expectation of Jesus (Matthew 24, 25) and Paul (Romans 11:26, 27).

Anyone who believes that God cannot or will not literally fulfil His Covenant with Abraham and David must of necessity live without assurance of salvation because that one sees God as either impotent or unfaithful. He is neither!

By Mite Not By Might

“He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites” Luke 21:2

Among other things, the five principles given in the law (Deuteronomy 17:15-20) for Israel’s future kings include: not building military might so as to depend on it rather than God (v 16), and not to build wealth beyond immediate needs, also so that dependence on God seemed unnecessary. Solomon didn’t keep any of the five principles and the wealthiest and strongest kingdom divided before disintegrating and falling.

When Jesus “saw the rich putting their gifts into the [temple] treasury” (v 1) He saw not the gift but the heart of the giver. They “gave out of their abundance” such that it would have minimal impact on their way of life.  They gave openly for show and for the praise of men not out of a heart for God and not for His praise.

On the other hand Jesus also “saw a poor widow putting in two mites” which is as small an amount as it could be. A widow had no husband to provide for her and there was certainly no government pension forthcoming from Rome for a Jew. We aren’t told whether she had sons to help provide for her although the context would suggest that she did not. Jesus is looking on the heart of the giver not on the amount given.

Jesus says that the widow’s two mites is much more than the rich man’s tithes and offerings. The reason He gives lies in the phrase, “but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood she had” (v 4). It isn’t even a matter of percentage that Jesus is concerned with; in fact He is not concerned with the mathematics at all.

The rich man retained most of what he received for his own pleasure and so that he would not need to depend on the Lord for his daily needs. But the widow gave all she had demonstrating that she was totally dependent upon the Lord for her next day’s provision and beyond. The reason Jesus said that she gave more than the other is because she demonstrated her total faith in Him to provide for her – by giving herself without reservation. Israel’s experience in the wilderness with the manna is an illustration of daily dependence upon the Lord.

This revelation given by Jesus is not so that we will necessarily give all the money that we have, because that was not the issue. The issue is where our heart is. Does He have our heart? To evaluate ourselves we must look at why we retain possessions and what we do with them. This will help us to evaluate whether we keep and store to avoid dependence upon the Lord (i.e. we don’t trust Him).

The kingdom of God is built on the widow’s mite – not on the rich man’s tithes and offerings. This will seem weird and wrong to the pragmatist in us, but perfectly in harmony with the Holy Spirit in us.

We will be free with our finances in measure with our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beyond the Law

“Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal” Leviticus 24:18

Our world society has many conflicting views and opinions on almost every matter. One of these is the appropriateness of sentences being handed down by our courts. On the one hand people are claiming the sentences do not match the crime and on the other there are those that claim that sentences are for the purpose of revenge and are therefore wrong. The latter frequently misuse the phrase from Moses’ writings, “an eye for an eye.”

This phrase appears three times in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament spoken by Jesus to correct the misunderstanding that people had in His time. Many people still have a wrong understanding. On the three occasions the phrase is used in the Old Testament it is used:

  • in regard to justice and punishment – i.e. the sentence matching the crime (Exodus 21:24);
  • in regard to restitution when a person causes loss to another – i.e. if a man kills his neighbour’s dog, he will give him another dog (Leviticus 24:20); and
  • in regard to those who give false testimony in court – i.e. if a person gives false testimony of a theft, then he should receive the same penalty  as the accused would have received had he been guilty of theft (Deuteronomy 19:21).

It would appear that Jesus picked up on the false understanding which was that this phrase meant revenge. The original meaning of the phrase in the Old Testament still stands but the Jews’ application of it was wrong in Jesus’ day – just as it is in the general population’s understanding these days – that it means revenge. It never meant that and still doesn’t.

In Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus said that revenge is always, and was always, wrong. He says that we should not be concerned with receiving justice but in ensuring that those we have wronged receive, as a minimum even compensation. If someone wants to justifiably sue us then we should give beyond what justice and the law demands (v 40).

“An eye for an eye” is one of many Bible phrases that have been abused by people to try and give credibility to the concept of revenge or to discredit the Bible by revealing what they believe is an inconsistency.

The world is not afraid to interpret the Bible but we would do well not to accept that interpretation. Only one who is spiritual is able to understand that which is spiritual. So being born of God is a prerequisite.  It is a sad thing when a Christian accepts an interpretation of God’s Word that comes from the world who, “professing to be wise, became fools” (Romans 1:22).

When your children ask …

“When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’” (Joshua 4:21)

There is much that can be learned on the subject of parenting by observing how the Lord led Israel, particularly during the 40 years they spent in the wilderness while a new generation was being groomed to enter the Promised Land.

The phrase “when your children ask” is also recorded in verse 6 with regard to this event and similar phrases are recorded in Exodus 12:26; 13:14 and Deuteronomy 6:20 concerning other significant events. It seems we have a parenting principle that we would do well to emulate.

The next generation of Israelites would be provoked to question their fathers concerning the piles of stones. One pile was of smooth river stones on the bank and the other pile was of rough stones in the river. Both would look out of place even apart from being made into a pile.

These provocations were intended to be teaching tools to assist parents explain who their God is and what He has done to the next generation. Are there any events in the Christian life that might provoke our children to ask questions?

Actually there are many in the home. Your daily quiet time should raise interest as will the reading materials and conversations parents have in the home. The two most obvious ones in the church environment are baptism and the Lord’s Table. We should take advantage of these even if a question is not forthcoming.

In explaining the Lord’s Table and baptism to our children (and grandchildren) we explain the Gospel of grace through Jesus Christ to the next generation. We may not have a couple of piles of stones but we have something far better as a means of explaining the Gospel to our children and the unsaved.

Parents have the wonderful privilege of explaining the Gospel of Christ to the next generation and should take every opportunity to provoke their children to ask questions and respond clearly to them. God has given us an example to follow.

Lying Wonders

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9)

Paul wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica that in the last days before Jesus Christ returns that great deceiver, Satan, will be as busy as ever trying to deceive people. Part of his repertoire will be “signs and wonders” or miracles. There is sufficient warning in the Bible to make us aware that not all miracles have their origin in God. In Deuteronomy 13 Israel is warned against assuming that all miracles are of heavenly origin; they may have another source. By what measure were they were told to test the author of the miracle? The measure given is the Word of God, the Bible.

On a number of occasions this writer has either heard of or observed events that were miraculous. Many of these carry the mark of God and are not contrary to the Word of God. However, there have been some in which the context reveals that they were not of heavenly origin.

Can Satan originate miracles? The Bible attests that he can. He was able to copy the first three miracles that Moses performed in Egypt (Exodus 7:12 – rods became serpents; v 22 – water to blood; 8:7 – increased the number of frogs). We should not assume that these were the only miracles he originated. Satan performed miraculous feats in the temptations of Christ (Matthew 4) and he will do so in the tribulation period in order to deceive people (Revelation 13:13).

There is every reason in Scripture for us to test miracles against God’s Word just as Israel was commanded to do and not just accept all miracles as being of heavenly origin.

Satan’s purpose in performing miracles is always to deceive gullible unlearned people, including saints, who are not well grounded in the Word of God. We ought not to be surprised when those in religions (even those nominally Christian) with a high degree of superstition in their make up are easily seduced but it is sad when true believers are seduced by a miracle that does not have its origin in God.

How can we discern the origin of a miracle? We may by careful study and comparison with God’s word. The alternative is to be deceived.