Gadfly's Muse

Joshua 2-3: It Takes Courage

Image: Waiting for the Right Moment, 2018, North Beach, Oahu, Hi

Joshua 2:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

What a difference 40 years has made.  Previously when the spies went into Canaan to search out the land they returned quaking in their boots.  Now it is the current inhabitants whose knees are knocking together.  They had heard the "wondrous story" of the salvation/redemption wrought by God of these Israelites.  The news of their battle hardened victories over the Amorites and the total destruction of their cities presented a potent image of what lay in store for them.  In other words.... they had heard the Gospel.

You might say that they had not heard the "good news" that God forgives sin but that would not explain Rahab.  Rahab, the harlot, standing out in this account as a later harlot would stand out in her ministry to Jesus, believed that forgiveness was possible.  She depended on it for her life and the lives of those she loved.  She could not help but believe that the "Lord, your God, He is God in heaven and on earth."  Rahab stands as a shining illustration of Romans 1:18-20, that God's "eternal power and Godhead" can be understood by the things that are made... namely His mighty works in creation.

Absolutely, I readily admit, that the Holy Spirit was the One who brought Rahab to this confession.  It was He that worked courage in her to stand up against her own country-men, to lie to them knowing that if discovered it would mean death.  It was the Sovereign Power of God that was the foundation for her recognizing that she could trust these men and that the God Whom they served, when victorious over her city, would move them to spare her in the midst of the carnage.

Like the man in the image, sitting on that puny board as thundering waves of considerable force built up under him before crashing to the beach, she had to choose ... and she had to choose wisely... but God was faithful and showed her the way and the timing.

So, back to the original point, had the people of Jericho heard "the Gospel?"  I think so because the example of Rahab leaves them without excuse.  The God of Joshua does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11).  It is His great delight to save those who "turn from their evil ways" and live.  It proves to us just how deep and deadly wickedness is in those who are slated for destruction.  They had heard the same stories as Rahab or else they wouldn't have been shaking in their boots.  Why did they not plead for mercy?   Why did they not give themselves over to the Israelites as slaves and give them their city in exchange for their lives?  Why?  Because the unregenerate sinner is stiff-necked and proud and refuses to submit to the True God of the Universe and beg His forgiveness.

Their guilt is certain and their punishment is just.

But look at Rahab and rejoice in her example.  This harlot, a woman of uncertain heritage and acquainted with ruinous sin, found courage and wisdom.  She confessed the truth about the God of the Israelites.  She showed true repentance by doing good for the spies even at great risk.  This was a woman to be admired and God honored her beyond her wildest imagination - she became the wife of Salmon, the mother of Boaz who married another great woman, Ruth, the grand-mother of Jesse and the great grandmother of David.  But her greatest honor was that through her line there came a Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord.

I think both aspects of Rahab's story are instructive to us.

First:  Faith requires courage and action.  Faith is sometimes called "passive" but this is only in relation to how it is received.  Faith is a gift of God and it is indeed passively received as such but that's where the "passivity" ends.  Faith is a moving force in us that causes us to recognize the truth of Jesus Christ in terms of our world and our lives in it.  It opens our eyes to the danger of spiritual warfare and the deadly serious evil that is present all about us.  We become aware that God, in His judgment, may be visiting our world at any moment even as He was about to visit Jericho.  And so, like Rahab, our faith moves us to proclaim our belief and act on it.  We also have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters to protect them.  We also have to do and say things which may very well not be happily received by others.  

Faith requires courage and action.

Secondly:  Obedient Faith brings great reward.  The New Testament overflows with testimony to this statement.  When the child of God shows His faith and acts in accordance with it there is a crown laid up for him, the joy of which is beyond his imagination.  We, the obedient children of God, will be preserved in the coming judgment and elevated before the eyes of all those who are destined for perdition.  The joy that we will share in that day will be untainted with envy and purely reflective of our delight in our Savior... but it will truly be our great reward.

Rahab's example gives us great hope and soberly calls us to the promises of our Savior:  "He who perseveres to the end will be saved." (cf. Matthew 10:21ff, especially vs. 22)

Sooner or later we have to get up on our board and ride the wave that rolls powerfully under and around us.  Sooner or later we must speak... and do... so we must seek the courage that we will need to act.

Joshua 1: The Great Commission, The Great Assurance

Into The Valley, 2018, Kauai Island, HI

Joshua 1:9 (NKJV) ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Matthew 28:18–20 (NKJV) ¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Joshua is the heir.  Joshua 1 starts with the terse declaration that after the death of Moses, "the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun.  Would that get your attention?  Joshua had the privilege of being Moses' right hand for years.  He was the one Moses trusted to lead the army in battle.  He had proven true in his trust in God.  He was the logical choice.  

Still, he had always served in Moses' shadow.  It's not easy to replace a man who had been as strong, important and as capable as Moses.  Joshua may very well have thought: "The best I can do will never be as good as Moses.  I am set up for failure."  It's a very human weakness and, to some extent, it might have been accurate.  Joshua proved to be a good and decisive leader, but was he as good as Moses?  History does not hold him as equal and the scriptures don't either.

So, Joshua is there, looking out over that beautiful land into which he has been chosen to lead the army of Israel in conquest.  He probably had his doubts and it is into those doubts that the LORD spoke to Him.

Verses 1-9 are an extended pep talk that Joshua sorely needed.  The key words are "be strong and of good courage" (vs. 6, 7 & 9).  Three times God exhorts him to these qualities and, just for good measure, the chapter ends (vs. 18) with the leaders telling him the same thing.

"Be strong and of good courage" because, let's face it, it's a scary thing that God has called him to do.  He faced a ruggedly beautiful country that had many numerous tribes of people and strong cities.  These people were no push-overs.  They were accustomed to war and brutal in their pursuit of it.   Joshua had to be decisive and most of all he had to be confident.  Armies can smell fear.  Armies can sense hesitation, indecisiveness.  He had to project absolute confidence in both his troops and their ultimate victory.  He knew that this confidence would not originate with him... it had to come from God and God's words seal it for him.  'I will be with you.... I will not leave you nor forsake you... the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.' (vs. 5 & 9)  This is all he needed and if we will just embrace those words, it is all we need also.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is the fulfillment of the Old Testament "type" found in Joshua.  They have the same name, in essence.  Jesus/Joshua both mean "savior."  And Jesus as the true victorious King is portrayed for us in the Revelation of John as riding before us, His army, in conquest of the whole earth.  It is He who commands all the heavenly angelic hordes to go with us and fight the spiritual powers of darkness no matter how strong they are nor how imposing is their fortresses.  It is Jesus who turns to us and gives us the same command as was given Joshua.

"Go into the land that is set before you.  Fight the forces of darkness that you encounter there by wielding the sword of truth.  Make disciples of the people.  Free them from their chains.  Baptize them into the ranks of my Army and teach them to obey all my commands.  Give them the weapons they need to fight and then stand by them and encourage them, even when they have weak knees.  The battle will be fierce and there will be casualties.  But never fear, be of good courage, for I am with you, even to the end of the age."

The imagery of this chapter and the teachings of Christ are so similar as to appear an exact parallel.  It even applies to us.  We are the people of God to whom Joshua gave the command: "prepare yourselves... for we are going in to possess the land which the LORD you God is giving you to possess."

The teaching, in my opinion, is so clear that it demands a response, yet do we feel that same urgency?  We have heard these verses, especially the Great Commission in Mat. 28, for most of our lives.  They are so familiar that the dreaded complacency is all to often displayed upon hearing them again.  

Furthermore there is the "scary" nature of the command.  If we really undertake this task might it mean that we will be subject to ridicule?  Will we discover that in the real world many enemies to the gospel get very upset at those who undertake to bring it to them?  What price might we have to pay?

Joshua is not the only one that might have doubts.  Joshua is not the only one that must hear the words "be strong and of good courage."  Joshua is certainly not the only one that needs to be assured: "And I am with you, always, even to the end of the age."

Let us rise up and use whatever time we have left to continue the good fight, to run the race set before us and to take the land that has been set before us.  This land is our land... we need to fight for it.

Deuteronomy 34: A Sight To Behold!

Image: Scenic Overlook, 2018, Horseshoe Curve, Pa

Deuteronomy 34:10–12 (NKJV) ¹⁰ But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, ¹² and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

I'm a pretty sentimental guy at heart.  I am easily moved to tears by pathos or sorrow.  It's nothing new... been that way all my life... and it used to embarrass me.  Not so much anymore.  There are times in this fallen world when the heart just requires it.  

When I "enter in" to the events of this chapter I can easily feel the bittersweet tenderness of it.  I can imagine the flooding emotions Moses must have felt as he gazed out over that beautiful land.  Verse 7 says that his eyes "were not dim" and so the stretching vistas did not hide themselves.  There appears to be a bit of supernatural power given to his eyesight.  verse 2 says that he could see all the land of Judah as far as "the western sea" - the Mediterranean.  That's a pretty good chunk of real estate.  I think God gave him a real treat.

But oh the heart tugs that came with it.  Here he was looking at the land that God had swore to give his forefathers.  He was seeing it from a perspective that they never attained, at least not in this life.  Looking at that land he could not help but see it in terms of the Mighty God who was bringing this all to pass.  The glory days of Israel were about to commence.  Under Joshua they would win mighty battles and become a strong power in the land.  Their history would be checkered at best, as he well knew based on his prophetic declarations previously given, but they would be constantly held together by the Power of the Holy Spirit and at last, in the future, a glorious king would arise - David - and he would build a mighty city and his son would build a beautiful temple.

Moses knew that he would not see any of these things in his life.  His earthly existence ended today... even now.. and he had no one to blame for it but himself.  I imagine his heart yearned to cross that river... to get some taste of the victories.  He was still somewhat vigorous according to verse 7 but that did not change the fact:  he would die today... he would die now.

And so the life of Moses draws to its end.  He was a tremendous figure in Israel's history and his influence extended far beyond that one nation / sect.  No other prophet in Israel's history, as verse 10 says, was as close to God as was he.  Though mighty signs and wonders did indeed happen on occasion in the progress of time, none were of the same magnitude as was those God did through him.  

Of all the fallen sinners who have crossed the world's stage, Moses ranks at or near the top in the impact of his life and the privileged access he had to the Lord God Almighty.  As verse 10 states in divine simplicity:  "The LORD knew (him) face to face."

Yes, I can tear up easily imagining this scenario.  But I don't sorrow for long.  The fact that there was never a prophet like Moses raised up among fallen mankind in the history of Israel only serves to highlight and emphasize the Person of the One who was born into Israel through the virgin Mary.  This Man was not fallen though He bore our sins.  He was never out of step with God, His Father, and thus never did anything to merit His Father's wrath.  He knew God far more than just "face to face."  He was One with God in His Deity and as such He manifested God among men.  To see Him was to see His Father in heaven.

And talk about signs and wonders.  Moses and Aaron pale in comparison to the mighty works done by Him.  He did not divide the Red Sea but He did calm the waves and astonished His disciples by the realization that the winds obeyed His voice.  All Moses ever did was call down the power of God.  He had no power to do any mighty signs in and of himself.  But not so this Jesus.  He was a prophet greater than Moses in that whatever He spoke came to pass because He spoke it.  It was He who could pronounce, on His own authority, that a person's sins were forgiven.  Moses, on his best day, never came close to this authority.

What a wondrous Person this Jesus was and is.  He sees all of the promises of God laid out before Him as fulfilled because He, being the First and the Last, can see them from both perspectives.  The promises that He made to you and me, that we will see Him with our own eyes and that we will rejoice in His Presence forever, He sees as being complete... not just certain... but already, in an eternal sense, accomplished.

This is our Lawgiver, Moses.  This is our Great King, David.  This is our Prophet, Elijah.  They were tokens and down-payments... He is the Real Deal.

I can tear up for Moses... but as soon as I look out over the vistas of time... as in the image above... my tears vanish and my heart sings - Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,.....

Deuteronomy 32: O Happy Ones and Holy

Light In The Darkness, 2019, Severna Park, MD

Deuteronomy 33:29 (NKJV) ²⁹ Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, The shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, And you shall tread down their high places.”

"The Church's One Foundation" (A nice rendition here) is a beloved hymn which I never tire of singing.  The closing verse celebrates our, the visible church's, mystic union with "those whose rest is won."  These saints who dwell with the Lord are designated the "happy ones and holy" and the closing phrases are a plea that we who yet remain in this vale of tears be given grace "that we, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee."

The entire hymn elicits a particular tender smile whenever I hear or sing it.  The Bride of Christ is indeed beautiful... and happy!  Though she is scarred from the wounds inflicted by enemies both within and without, yet she still stands, down through the centuries, the living witness that the God she serves cannot and will not be defeated.  He will have His witness in every nation on earth and that testimony, in no small way, will be the continued life and fellowship in the true Church of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 33 is the account of Moses' blessings on the children of Israel.  It has something in content as well as literary style with Jacob's blessings of his sons in Genesis 49.  Moses' blessings may very well have been delivered in a peripatetic fashion as he stood in front of the individual tribes, perhaps before their head man's tent.  It's interesting that verse 4 speaks of Moses in the 3rd person.  I am not sure what to make of that other than perhaps verse 4 & 5 are given as an historical summary of how Moses delivered his blessings.

I won't go through each individual blessing.  It is enough to notice that Moses' blessing was directed toward the empowerment of the tribes to do the work that God was setting before them.  Each tribe's blessing is tailored to that tribe's personal character which in large part could be traced to their forebear.  The longest blessing is on the tribe of Levi because the continuing priesthood, tasked with teaching "Jacob Your judgments" was critical to the long term blessedness of the people.  If and when God's people are no longer taught the whole counsel of God then it is clear that, in a sense, they are already under judgment. The people of God live in the knowledge of God when they are immersed in His Word and are edified through the diligent and passionate instruction of qualified men who have been set aside for that purpose.

The summary teaching of this chapter then follows Ephesians  4:11ff.  God has given His people all that they need for the "equipping of the saints for the work of ministry."  They have been given God's Holy Word and God's holy teachers and pastors to explain, exhort, admonish and encourage them in their work.  In this Holy Communion of the Saints, every individual saint will discover the fullness of humanity itself.  We are all created to be in loving fellowship with others.  We are all, even as born again Christians, in need of others to fill out our deficiencies and to whom we, in turn, supply what God has give us to them.  We find our true selves when we are fitted together with others of like mind, serving and being served, and discovering just how sweet it is for brothers to dwell in unity.

This then fills out for us the meaning of Moses' closing words in verse 29.  "Happy are you, O Israel!" He exclaims and with good reason.  "Who indeed is like you, the Church of Jesus Christ, a people saved by the LORD."  Is this not our cry also?  Do we not rejoice in His "New Creation", His new society, a separate people among the nations?  Do we not see our own churches as having the LORD Himself as the "shield" of their help and the "sword" of their majesty?

Was it not the Church of Jesus Christ that He, in His earthly ministry, said that He would build and that the gates of Hell itself will not stand against it?  Is this not the same judgment that Moses calls out here when he tells Israel that their "enemies will submit" to them and that they will "tread down their high places?"

The Church of Jesus Christ is at war still with the powers and principalities of the world.  We still have, as our most fundamental unity, the central claim that God is our God and we are His People.  We look about us at all those beloved (hopefully) faces sitting in the pews and our heart should fill with joy.  These are our people... these are our family... we are linked together through Faith and the Word and the Sacraments into the Body of Christ.  We have a share in each other exactly in proportion to the share we have in our common Lord.  

Here is happiness, O Israel, to know who you are in terms of your Covenant status.  We are the adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God and therefore brothers and sisters with each other and with our Jesus.

Happy are you, O Church of Christ!  Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD!

Deuteronomy 32: A Song Worth Singing

Image: Tiny Bubbles, 2017, Millington, TN

Deuteronomy 32:3–4 (NKJV)  ³ For I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe greatness to our God. ⁴ He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (NKJV) ⁸ When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. ⁹ For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

Deuteronomy 32:39 (NKJV) ³⁹ ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.

What words will be on your lips if God gives you lucid moments just prior to your death?  What song would you sing in the face of approaching eternity?

Moses knows he is going to die... right away.  He is old, 120 years in fact, and he has lived a full life.  He knows His God and he knows God's people.  The majority of His life has been consumed with both and it is both of these subjects that occupy his mind right to the end.

The Song of Moses is important.  It is referenced in Revelation 15 as the song sung by the victorious elect on the last day (though modified to be both the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb).  This song is not just one more praise song that swells up beautifully for a few moments, like soap bubbles in the air, but a song of substance encapsulating the Gospel of our Sovereign God and His manifest purposes for all of history.

How different would our lives become if our waking moments were punctuated with praise like verses 3,4 above?  How could our lives be mostly flat, the moments following close upon each other, such that one day morphs into another and we have little awareness of them, if we consciously undertook, as part of our daily routine, to "proclaim the name of the LORD?"  This works wonders if we have an audience, like our family or a fellow believer with whom we meet, but another person is not required.  If we can sing in the shower or lift our voices along with a familiar song on the radio, then we can move into moments where we just dwell on the Person of God and "ascribe greatness" to Him. 

Every Christian is well aware of God as our "Rock", our fortress, our strong defense.  We each have an awareness of the perfection of His work.  Can we not proclaim, with sincerity, that "all His ways are justice" and that He is righteous and upright?  

The point is simple, Moses' song reminds us that every day is important... even the day of our death... because it is an opportunity to proclaim the beauty and perfection of our God.

Not only that but how differently would we view our lives if we saw our individual history in the light of God's great creation plan and redemptive purposes?  Can we not look back on the flow of history, going back clear to Adam as does Moses, and see how God has providentially ordered all things -  How it is God's will for the peoples of the earth to come into being within their assigned "boundaries?"  

And as our mind stretches to comprehend the vastness of God reflected in His power to do this very thing, to order the cosmos in accordance with His design, can we help but be brought to our knees in humility when we realize that His providential ordering is unto the end of establishing His people as His "portion" in the world.  All of Israel in the age of Moses and all of the New Israel of God established by the Lord Jesus Christ are assigned their place in God's providential plan for the world.  We each have our land to work and enjoy and from which to be blessed.  But the greatest wonder of this is how God aligns Himself with us.. we are God's 'portion' among the nations of the world even as the Israelites had their 'portion' of land in the midst of the other peoples of their day.

Would it not brighten our day, renew our vigor and increase our confidence if we sang our own song about this grace as part of our daily routine?

And lastly, as the common experience of mankind makes itself known to us in our daily walks, as joy rises and life is good and on other occasions as fear and pain become our lot, is it not good to remind ourselves that all things happen, in their time, according to His will?  There is no other God working in this world but Him.  It is He who kills and makes alive.  Ultimately all wounding and healing come from His working.  His all encompassing Reality is such that no power in heaven or on earth can deliver anyone, including us, from His hand.

How much simpler life would be if we sang this song in the face of whatever struggle or summit of joy we encounter.  All things are of God, from God and by God unto the end that we can proclaim, with confidence, that He causes all things to work together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  This is what Moses sang on the day that he knew he was going to die.  What a testament to the power and beauty of faith.  What an encouragement to us to sing this song now so that it will be only natural for us to lift them up to God even as His angels descend to lift us into His Presence.

Oh for the faith and the joy that would come from making this song our own.

Deuteronomy 30 & 31: Refreshing Promises

Image: River of Refreshing, 2017, Dry Falls, NC

Deuteronomy 30:5–6 (NKJV) ⁵ Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

The image is a view of the river standing with the "Dry Falls" at your back.  The falls are pretty impressive, the water thundering over the sharp cliff and falling 50 or more feet to splash on the rocks at the base.  But looking down the river you don't see any sign of such violence.  The stream flows gently around the rocks, adding its soft gurgle to the gathering blue twilight... it is a picture of peace, a comfort to the soul and a refreshing reminder that the future is "out there" where the river winds its way.

The words of Deut. 30:5,6 above furnish a similar image to our mind.  Taken from their perspective, though in actual time everything then was still future, the crashing judgment God would bring on His people when they forgot Him and His ways, is presented as past.  There in the future is the flowing river of God's elect grace, His sure mercy and His certain Spirit's work.  God is promising to refresh His people after He judges them.  He promises to renew their heart for Him and His Covenant as well as providentially providing for their well being.

Notice the certainty in this passage:  "God WILL bring you... He WILL prosper and multiply you... God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants..."  There is no trace of wishful thinking here.  Just as the depravity of man will sooner or later bring the Israelites to the judgment of captivity in Babylon, so the covenant love of their God will bring the remnant and their descendants back to the land, to restore them and to bless them as His people.

There is even the promise that such blessing will be "more than your fathers."  Through the inerrant and infallible lens of the New Testament we see in hindsight that this will be the work of the Messiah.  It is He that lay at the end of the flowing stream of Israel's history as God's separate Covenant People.  It is He who will bring blessing to all the nations of the earth and constitute the New Israel of God as the true heirs of the promise to Abraham.  It is the overflowing, Pentecostal flooding of the Holy Spirit which will do the work of circumcising the hearts of god's people such that they may "love the LORD your God with all (their ) heart and with all (their) soul, so that they will indeed live" in faith.

This is the love of God that is constantly fulfilling the promises we see here.  It is He that is refreshing our spirits even as we contemplate His amazing compassion.  All we like sheep have gone astray, all we have heard the crashing thunder of His wrath at sin, all we have the cross of Christ behind us with its cacophonous thunder still filling our ears... but there, ahead of us, stretching out to the deep ocean of eternity, is the flowing river of God's certain promises... and His absolute power to do what He says. 

Deuteronomy 28-29: Face To Face With The Sovereignty of God

Image: The Old Ways Revisited, 2017, Vicinity of Asheville, TN

Deuteronomy 28:9–10 (NKJV) ⁹ “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

Deuteronomy 29:25–26 (NKJV) ²⁵ Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NKJV) ²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

In Deut. 28-29 God again places the question clearly before the eyes of His people.  In so many words He says: "Look, I am the LORD your God! (28:2)  Here's the deal.  Here is what I am offering you (28:3-8).  You will be 'blessed' in every aspect of your earthly existence.  No matter what struggle you may have to endure, yet you will see that you will be blessed in your cities, the produce of your land and your relations to the nations around you."

"All this will come to you in the progress of your history before me if you will diligently keep My commandments and walk in My ways"

Now notice that this is NOT the same thing as walking perfectly before God in sinless obedience and without fault.  That is NOT what God is here setting forth.  God has gone to great lengths to tell His people what they are to do when they discover sin in their midst and in their individual persons.  God knew His people then and He knows that His people now, are fallen creatures and that sinlessness in this life among any of His renewed Covenant people will not occur.  Only One man, born of a woman, has ever achieved that status and He did so just because His people could not do it.

No, God is not requiring sinlessness of His people such that the contingency of earthly blessings might accrue.  He is requiring a heart-felt faith which seeks to acknowledge their Lord and God in all their doings and submit to His ways in all things - whether in conquering their enemies or dealing with their own sin.  God required obedient faith in His people then even as He does now.

But notice where this heart-felt faith leads!  God says that this attitude among His people will make an impact on the world around us.  "all the people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD!" (28:10)  The witness of God's people in the world is not first and foremost what they speak with their lips, either on the local street corner or in their pulpits or even in their apologetics.  The witness of God's people in the world, that which makes a lasting impact on the secular culture, is their obedience. They stand as being a foreign people... a distinct people... a people who think differently, act differently, talk differently and prosper even in persecution because of that obedience.  They stand as those who are "called by the name of the LORD", ... the name of Christ... they are, in fact, Christians.

It is these and they only who will see the providential blessings of God in this life and the eternal blessings of God in the life to come.

But just as God's Covenant People, His Church, cannot be ignored by the wider culture in its obedience, neither shall that same Covenant People, His visible Church, be ignored when the ignominiously disobey and are brought down by the same sovereign God who raised them up in the first place.

The curses on disobedience in chapter 28 virtually overlay ever blessing mentioned in the first portion.  God is intent on us learning that it is He who gives and He who takes away.  When the people on whom He has set His name turn to other gods, when they abandon His Word in its fundamental integrity, when they listen more to the ravings of secular prophets than the clear teachings of God's appointed speakers, then God shall "rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing." (28:63)  These solemn words should resonate deeply within us.  We should understand the sordid aspects of the Church's history with them in mind.  Many places where the Word of God once sunk deep roots and brought much fruit is today a spiritual wasteland.  This is not a coincidence.  It is God doing His thing... that which He said He would do and that which He will do again.

This will be noticed by the smirking pseudo-intellectuals in the fallen world and they will use the Church's own history as a cattle prod to herd the masses into their corral.

But God will always leave Himself a remnant wherever His Word has spread.  God will not forget that remnant and He will move heaven and earth one day to vindicate their faith and continued obedience.  When?  Well, again, that's up to this same Sovereign God.  His eternal counsel is such that a day is set for this vindication to occur but none but He knows it.  The entire Revelation of John reminds us of both the certainty of this event and its secret timing.  

God has not revealed everything but He has revealed all that we need.  The Israelites had all the revelation they needed in their day and we, far more blessed than they, are even more richly equipped with what we need to know.  There is no excuse.  We must embrace the promises of God in hope and trust and we must undertake to live in accordance with His righteousness.  This is the pathway of life and wisdom.  This is the way of Christ.

Deuteronomy 25-27: From There To Here, History - It's Who We Are

Image: From There To Here, 2009, Vicinity of Harper's Ferry, Va.

Deuteronomy 26:5–10 (NKJV) ⁵ And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. ⁷ Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. ⁸ So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹ He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; ¹⁰ and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’  “Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God.

The famous passage reprinted above should stop us in our tracks and require us to reassess a lot of things that previously we may have just taken for granted.

What God requires of His people in these verses is that the individual Israelite and the people as a whole should ground themselves in a definite history.  God wanted them, in each of their subsequent generations, to say with a sincere heart that the "Egyptians mistreated US, afflicted US, etc."  Certainly after decades and even centuries it would have been hard for young Israelites to self-identify with their forefathers in this: difficult yes - but not impossible.  Not only was it not impossible, it was highly to be desired.  God wanted His people to center their own self-awareness firmly in a historical context, to see themselves as individuals and a people, who have traveled or been brought, "from there to here."

The farther removed a person is from their historical context the more hazy it becomes.  The past can seem shrouded with fog, blurry, indistinct.  It is the duty of a family, a church, a culture to combat this.  History must be kept alive and nowhere is this more important than in our Christian faith. As with the ancient Israelites, modern Christians should view the events of the Old Testament and the New as "their" history.  The Acts of the Apostles does not have a conclusion.  The written text just ends with the cliff hanger image of Paul in a Roman prison.  This is intentional.  The history of the New Testament Church, which is the subject of the book of Acts, is still being written.

If we really take hold of this then we will understand more fully what Paul meant when he said: "know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham." (Gal. 1:7).  Through the wisdom of God which has opened up membership in God's covenant community by the instrument of "faith", all people today who have the "faith of Abraham" (Gal. 3:6) are thereby united into one world encompassing family.  We are the descendants of Abraham and the fulfillment of God's promise to him that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

God's Visible Church is like a powerful locomotive thundering across the tracks of time.  It is going "somewhere", a particular destination that is our certain hope, the "hope of Israel" (Acts 28:20), but it has also come from "somewhere", a particular history that encompasses the tracks that stretch out behind the train.

Now this becomes highly important to us because it is this historical perspective which must essentially define us as individual Christians and corporately in our Churches.  Certainly there will be, along our individual tracks, a certain history that is tied to our geographic and cultural heritage.  We all come from specific parents, grand-parents and historical context.  We cannot ignore how those things have influenced us.  But what we must recognize is that in the light of Christ and God's work in history, we must see all other influences on us as potential threats.  Paul, upon his conversion, had to go and rethink every thing he ever took for granted.  He had to sift through his previous thoughts and heritage and seek to preserve that which was 'true' but had to excise huge chunks of that heritage as having been false.

Paul became a new man with a new heritage in that experience.  Much of the doctrine of being "born again" consists in this same thing.  When Paul speaks of a "new creation" he is speaking of a "new" social grouping, the NT people of God, who now are to be viewed as a separate people, distinct from all other races, with their own cultural distinctives and most importantly, their own historical awareness.

The ancient Israelite was to affirm that "My father was a Syrian" along with all the rest and then he was to live in such a manner as to honor that heritage.  Certainly Christians are to affirm that "My Father is the Lord God Almighty, who has arranged all things in space and time, to bring me to this place where I can claim Him and all of the events of space and time, as my family heritage."  In doing so, like the ancient Israelite, this should move us to worship... to express gratitude for what our God has done... in all things but most especially in the salvation wrought by Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.

How different it would be if the modern Christian church, in the United States of America, would embrace this self-consciousness.  We are the people of God who have not only a future with God but a history with Him.  Everything that has happened to us, is happening to us and will happen to us, must be understood through that lens.

Deuteronomy 19-21: Justice For All

Image: Flowing From Its Source, 2016, Near Gatlinburg, TN

Deuteronomy 20:5–7 (NKJV) ⁵ “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶ Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. ⁷ And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

Isaiah 30:18 (NKJV) ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Deuteronomy 19-21 is concerned with justice in its multi-faceted expression in human existence.  In chapter 19 we find the principle of justice requiring the founding of sanctuary cities so that a man may get a fair trial for man-slaughter.  Even a man who has killed another must be given due process:  he must be kept safe until the circumstances of the death are established.  It is interesting that the principle of motive lies at the heart of the investigation.  If a man claimed to have killed another unintentionally but it was found that he had "hated the victim in time past" then serious doubt would have been raised about his actions.  But God's primary purpose in the sanctuary cities was that "innocent blood not be shed" (19:10).  Unrighteous vengeance, especially when sought by a close relative of the slain man, must be abhorred.  There is no place in God's Kingdom for lynching parties.  But when a man is proven to have killed out of hatred for his brother (19:11ff) then that man must die without pity.  If this was not done the whole land would be guilty for not having pursued justice.

In these chapters we find that the right of property (landmarks) is to be protected; that there must be two or three witnesses to establish wrong-doing and if false witness is proffered then that witness would receive the punishment that he sought for the other; the general principle of justice is defined as "equity": life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." (19:21)

God even reveals to us that war, with all of its potential to bring out the very worst in men, must be tempered by justice.  God tells Israel that the priest was to go to the army before battle and exhort them to remember that the Lord is with them.  But then we read something terribly strange to any person with military experience.  The priest is to excuse from the coming battle: any man who has just built a house and not dedicated it... any man who has planted a vineyard and not eaten of it... any man who has engaged a woman for marriage but has not consummated it... even those who are "fearful and fainthearted" are excused - apparently without condemnation.

Now this last paragraph demonstrates just how faith in the Presence of God frees up a people to do things that the world could not understand.  What general would advocate reducing the size of his army before a battle when, especially in those days, numerical superiority was most often the deciding factor?  This is faith but it is also justice.  Notice how God is concerned that even national threats should not over-ride the intent to treat people justly based on their individual circumstance!

God then goes on to speak of warfare against other cities / countries that are not under his curse.  He certainly recognizes that the Israelites will wage war outside the boundaries of the countries that are under His order to annihilate.  When doing so the Israelites are to first offer peace and on good terms.  Only when this offer is rejected will it be just for them to take the city, kill those who are able to wage war and then embrace the women/children into their families.  Justice is to be sought.

Lastly, in chapter 21, we see how 'justice' is to govern even those instances where an unsolved murder has been committed.  I am writing this on the very day that TE Jesse Crutchley preached a fine sermon on chapter 21:1-9.  I would highly encourage anyone to listen to his sermon.  You can find it on the Severn Run E. P. Church face book page.

God even tells the Israelites that they must do justly by the women they take as captives from their enemies and by their own, less beloved wives.

What does all this tell us.  As the Westminster Confession of Faith lays it out, we see that God is unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.  Justice is not something God does... Justice, like holiness, is an aspect of God's very Person.  Why is God so intent that His people "do justly?"  Because apart from loving justice and pursuing it no person, congregation of society can truly manifest the image of God.

Justice is not reducible to impulse... justice must be studied, thought about, considered, apprehended and then embraced as a guiding principle of our lives.  Justice is to be sought in every human interaction.  Justice is not at odds with mercy, justice is the presupposition before mercy can be extended.  It is not "mercy" to not punish an unrepentant sinner.  The person would not receive it as "mercy."  No, justice must first establish guilt and then, where appropriate, mercy can be extended.  

Never let it be said that the mercy of God is such that the sins of His people go unpunished.  No, it was the justice of God that sent Jesus to the cross so that mercy could be granted to us.  

There is no space for a fuller discussion of justice here but it is a topic that every Christian should intensely strive to understand better.

Deuteronomy 16-18: Hear HIM!

Image: Salisbury Crag, 2016, Vicinity of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Deuteronomy 18:17–19 (NKJV) ¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ¹⁹ And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

Matthew 17:5–6 (NKJV) ⁵ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” ⁶ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

Deuteronomy 16 & 17 reinforce what God had already said to them as recounted in Leviticus and Numbers.  The main meditation for today is taken from chapter 18 but Chapter 17:18-20 deserves a note in passing.

In 17:18-20 God reveals to the Israelites what will not happen until the period of the Judges is past and Samuel comes on the scene to herald Saul and David.  God's providential ordering of history hinges on when "the time is ripe."  The Israelites were brought to the Jordan because the iniquity of the Amorites was now complete (cf. Genesis 15:16). In other words, the time was ripe.  The same providential ordering would delay that ascent of a king over Israel.  Israel would have to be shown that they could not govern themselves in the consciousness that God was their king.  In a sense, the iniquity of Israel was not yet complete that a king would be established among them.

But what God does teach through Moses is that when God does give them a king that he was to live and rule in the sure knowledge of God's Word.  In 17:19 God instructs this future king to read the law as given through Moses "all the days of his life."  This command had the dual purpose that the king would learn to fear the Lord His God but also that this king's heart would not be "lifted above his brethren."

What a wonderful vision!  Oh to have a government that did indeed declare that we are "One Nation Under God", that we seek just laws that have their roots in the Word of God as given in the Old and New Testament.  It is a vision that held a lot of influence at one point in our history though any sober reading of our history shows that it was more a matter of theory than practice.  But that doesn't detract from the beauty of the vision itself nor the call to God's people to seek influence in the culture sufficient to move it toward that vision wherever it can.

But this teaching, no matter how compelling it is, does not compare to the teaching we find in chapter 18 quoted above.  This verse is another one of those major prophecies about the Messiah in the OT.  It seals the teaching that the entire Mosaic history, the entire Pentateuch, is to be understood from a "typological" point of view. What I mean by this is that the history of Israel embodies and proclaims a picture of God's entire purpose in history.  Starting from the ordering of creation itself down to the birth of a people who are enslaved by the powers of evil but who are rescued through the ministry of a mediator, God's eternal plan to create a people unto Himself and establish them in the Land of His Choosing (typically - Palestine, Fulfilled - the whole earth) is laid out for us in metaphors and symbols.

At the heart of this whole story, this vision, is the work of the mediator.  Moses is presented in terms of his genealogy and his divine calling to be the savior/priest/law-giver.  This three fold calling finds its ultimate fulfillment, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Prophet, Priest and King.  In the quoted passage above God directly reveals that Moses is in fact a "type" of the coming Christ in this regard.  The Israelites are told that there would one day come a "Prophet like me" from the midst of the Israelite people.  This Prophet will be different than Moses in that God will put His words in the Prophet's mouth.  It will not be a case where the Prophet will have to go up on a mountain and receive the Word of God and then carry that Word to the people, rather this Prophet will speak God's Word directly.  Moses tells the Israelites "Him you shall hear."

Fast forward to the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat 17 quote above) and see how God reveals in no uncertain terms that Jesus Himself, the human son of Mary, the Divine Son of God, is in fact this prophet.  Jesus is there with both Moses and Elijah, the most famous of the OT prophets, and in the face of the disciples mistaken idea to honor all three equally, God thunders out His warning:  "This is MY SON!  Hear HIM!"  Notice how this precisely follows the prophesy given by Moses.  It is Christ who embodies all the Word of God and Who, alone of all the prophets both Old Testament and New, speaks directly with the authority of God because He is God in the flesh.  

Could this be any more clear?  Can there be any doubt when the letter to the Hebrews (ch. 1-2) so thoroughly explains it.  In Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, we see the whole OT fulfilled and the promises of the NT made certain.  He alone is the fountain from which all truth is to be sought.  If anyone thirsts let that person come to Jesus and drink.  He is the way, the truth and the life in fulfillment of all the OT teachings, especially that of Moses, about what is the way, the truth and the life.  There is nothing in the OT teachings that are contradicted by Christ (other than the requirement for certain distinctions that were part of the OT administration but which are no longer needed) because, as Jesus Himself stated, the OT spoke of Him.

This is our glorious Lord Jesus, the Christ of God... let us hear Him with all our hearts, our minds and our service.  He is the center of all things... let us honor Him in all things.