Deuteronomy 20

Cynicism and despair are not our allies. When we feel their presence, we can turn to our loving Commander, and ask for His help. The Man who cast out demons with a word will defeat them and every other enemy.

If we fear the Lord, if we seriously consider that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Son of God and the only powerful Messiah, we will look on powerful adversaries in the right way. We will not be afraid of them.

Cynicism listens to the lies of the devil who would have us doubt that God is good or that the Lord is powerful to save. Despair would have us focus on our own weakness and run away. When we receive the Lord again as our powerful Friend in every trial and as our merciful God who is full of compassion, our hearts are revived and we can go forth in the triumph of the cross.

“Let not your heart faint.... The Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

This was to be the message of the Lord's priest before the assembled armies of Israel. Before leaders were chosen, distracted and fearful warriors were dismissed. Our captains who lead us forward in prayer and service must not be cynical or fearful men. At the head of the Lord's people, is the one Captain of our salvation at the right hand of the Majesty on high. We look to Him and find courage.

As the Israelites were led in war by God, they were to make a distinction between those enemies that were in the land of conquest and other more distant cities who would stand in their way. Those in the land of Canaan were to be destroyed. If they were left alive, there would be great danger that they would entice Israel in pathways of evil. But those who were not in the land could be given terms of peace, and could surrender to Israel and serve them. If they refused this entreaty, all the males of that city would be killed, but the women and the little ones would live, and would be taken as plunder. These were the uncompromising rules of conquest warfare that Moses gave to Israel.

Imagine what this fighting force had been through. They and their parents had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. God gave them bread from heaven and water from the rock in the wilderness. But their parents did not walk in faith, and that whole generation died as a result of unbelief. Now the next generation was listening to the commands of God through Moses, and was ready to obey the Lord of heaven and earth.

The God of Israel is the one Lord over all. He gave His people instructions about their care even for the fruit trees of the cities they would defeat. He was certainly Lord over every body and soul that the fighting men would encounter both near and far.

The Captain of our salvation who died for our sins is the only Messiah. He is not lacking in power, authority, sovereignty, and glory. His commands are not less binding than the word of God through Moses.

This Jesus calls us to an uncompromising victory in the light of His cross. He does not lead His church to take up the weapons of this world in order to take heaven by storm. We follow Him in the way of suffering love.

There is a strength in our weakness that is more powerful than the sword. We will not compromise with cynicism. We will not follow the lies of those who see our Savior as just one spiritual leader among many. We will honor Jesus as our King, not just with an outward form of religion, but with the power of godliness that is willing to turn away from worldly lusts that would quickly destroy us.

We will follow our all-powerful Commander in faith. He is leading us to the Jerusalem that is above via this war-torn earth. His terms to nations near and far are clear. “Repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Receive this Word and you will be servants of the Lord and even sons of God through Jesus Christ.

Every other choice, no matter how safe, intelligent, sophisticated, or advantageous it may seem, is actually a road that leads to death. Christ and His cross lead to the victory of resurrection life. No more cynicism. No more worldliness. No more despair.

Deuteronomy 19

The Law of God for Israel had a very unusual provision that only made sense for a world of unintended negative consequences. A scheming group of people that murdered an innocent man had to face the death penalty. But a man who had been working with his friend in the forest who was swinging his axe only to have the unintended result that the axehead flew off and his friend was hit in the head and died, that man was not a murderer. He was guilty of manslaughter. No one wanted this to happen, and everyone was asking, “Why?”

In the Law of Israel, that man who swung the axe could run to a city of refuge, and find safety from the grieving relatives. The next of kin to the dead man was a “kinsman-redeemer” who would see to the requirements of justice and who would also care for the land, family, and name of his relative. He was to make things right in this matter in name of the deceased, and in this case was called an avenger.

But how would you make things right, when no one was able to make sense of this death? What about the man who would now die for the unintended manslaughter? Who would avenge his death? Where would it end?

The Lord provided a city of refuge. In that city, the elders, would have to decide the case. They could not harbor a murderer in their gates, but they could protect a manslayer who had no intention of taking the life of his neighbor. As the conquest of the land progressed, the Lord would provide additional cities of refuge, so that the nearest city would be close enough to be an effective safety net in a sad world.

How do you receive this unusual decree from Israel's God? Just for a moment, don't evaluate it as a judge, or catalog it as a researcher of legal customs. Receive it like a child of some years who heard these words for the first time from a father who could tell the story clearly and well. That child would be able to get the point.

One man died in an accident. In God's land, the nearest relative could run after the man who killed him. That nearest relative could demand the life of that man. But the Lord provided a place of safety, since the man did not mean to kill his friend. That man who swung the axe had to run fast, faster than the man who might be chasing after him. He had to get to the city of refuge first. If he did, the leaders in that city would protect him.

That story might come back to the mind of that child in years to come when someone urged him to run for safety again to Jesus. It is a powerful idea, a city of refuge, but it only goes so far. We need a much more comprehensive solution to the sadness of life all around. Our misery is not merely a result of unintended negative consequences.

Even in Israel, there might be those who had stolen. For instance, a neighbor might try to move the stone that marked his property line, and end up taking some land that really was not his. He also might lie about another neighbor as a malicious witness, and bring horrible trouble upon many lives. Evil could not be tolerated, but how would anyone survive? Two or three witnesses could rightly bring a man to his death. What can be done for people like us. We are guilty. How can we meet our Maker? Is there any place of eternal refuge for the guilty? Can the guilty man ever find forgiveness? Can people covered with shame ever find cleansing?

There is a Kinsman-Redeemer for us in the Messiah. He is our closest brother. He died not just for our careless mistakes. He gave His righteous blood for our worst sins. Even Saul of Tarsus, a chief of sinners, a man who had hated the innocent just because they believed that Jesus was the Son of God and Messiah, even that man found forgiveness through the blood of his kinsman-redeemer that He had hated without a cause.

There is a new story that is very powerful. Receive it like a child. You are guilty, and not innocent. Where can you go? The man running after you is the Son of God, and He runs faster than you do. He has every right to punish you forever. He comes in the Name of His Father, and you have stolen and lied in ways that have offended the Most High God.

But what does that closest relation of God do when he catches you? He does not destroy you, He grants you life in His blood. He has taken the penalty for you. The Kinsman-Redeemer of God that could have demanded justice from you forever has become your Brother and Redeemer. He has paid Justice for you. He has become your City of Refuge. Now that's a powerful story! And it's true.

Psalm 85

The history of Israel is full of deliverance. But there is a land that God loves more than Canaan. There is a Jerusalem above where righteousness dwells. The descent of that great bride from heaven will mean the renewal of the whole earth.

Today, the kingdom of heaven upon the earth is especially known through the church of the Jewish Messiah. How is the bride of Christ faring upon the earth? She is in constant need of the Lord's continued deliverance.

We remember the fact of the cross as the greatest display of the grace of God toward us. God forgave the iniquity of His people. He covered our sin. He withdrew His anger because of our Substitute.

But now and every day we need restoration. We feel the discipline of the Lord, and we wonder how much we can take. Will the cross, the resurrection, and the presence of Christ in us by the Holy Spirit be a present salvation for us again today? This is our plea. It is also the Lord's promise that we need embrace again by faith.

Even when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and there was so much suffering in the land, the Lord's prophet was able to remember this in Lamentations 3:21-26:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Yes, it is good for us to wait quietly for the Lord, but it is also good for us to cry out to Him in an honest lamentation with faith. And it is good for the Lord's people to find the way to sincere rejoicing.

We need to hear what He will say to us today. We need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the great Messiah. We need to believe again in heavenly glory and to ask for glory in the church as a present supply from above. May the Lord's salvation be near to us! May the Lord's glory dwell in us now!

Steadfast love and faithfulness have met in the cross of Christ. The righteousness that insists on the fullest obedience to the Law of God and the shalom that comforts the weak have found the only way to live with each other in Him.

Because of the blood of this one Lamb, there is a new land where faithfulness springs up from the ground and righteousness looks down from the sky. The Lord will give us good gifts. The kingdom of God will yield its increase today. A way has been made for us in the footsteps of our Redeemer who endured the cross and who now reigns in the heights of heaven.

Psalm 84

So much of the passion of human beings is spent on those things that quickly perish. One of the best ways to gain a good sense of perspective on what lasts is by listening to the dying words of a person who has schooled his heart in what really matters. Samuel Rutherford died on March 20, 1661, but his final words still strike a very responsive chord in the hearts of those who love the Lord and His kingdom with an undying love. He said, “Glory, glory, dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.”

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!” What wonderful words to sing, and what a wonderful blessing it is to set your affections on things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens. He does all that He pleases.” During the days of Old Covenant life, the replica of what Moses saw on the holy mountain was a moveable structure of worship called the Tabernacle. This became a model for a more glorious Temple that Solomon built on Mount Zion. That temple is no more. But there is a temple of God still on earth today, a temple of persons in the New Testament church, a living tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. That church has its most perfect portion in the heavens, where God reigns. The Head of the body of Christ is there and so is the glorious body of Christ, His forgiven people who have gone to be with Him. When He returns to earth, so will they. Heaven is the perfect land of Emmanuel. I would rather live there than set my affections on impressive structures here below that will not last.

What makes a temple glorious is the glory of the Spirit of the Lord that fully dwells in it. Yet even now, God is with us, and we can have joy unspeakable and full of glory here. But those who are more interested in the lusts that preoccupy the sons of men have no taste for heaven.

Setting your heart on things above is the only safe way to enjoy the good gifts of God that we can receive with thanksgiving now. We find our strength in the Lord of glory. If you love heaven's river and are filled with that Spirit, then you can travel through the most dry places on earth along your journey to the glory of Emmanuel's land, and they become a spring of water for you in the holy contemplation of the One that your soul loves.

The things that we worship have a corresponding reality that cannot be seen. If you have an idolatry of family, you will be filled with the spirit of what your family is all about. If you love a prostitute who sells her pictures for voyeurs to gaze at, you will be joined to that unclean spirit. If you decide to yoke yourself to a book of false religion, what is the demonic spirit that you are welcoming into your soul? But if you love the God of the Psalms, if you love the suffering servant of the Hebrew Scriptures who died for your sins, if you love the apostolic words that unlock the mysteries of all the earlier Scriptures, the spirit that you will love is the Holy Spirit, and you will live as a citizen of heaven.

What should you do if Psalm 84 does not move you? Ask the Lord of the Psalms to reveal Himself to you, and to cast out from you every idol that has captivated your heart. Ask the Lord to hear your prayer. He will give you the Holy Spirit that makes the Bible come alive to the hearts of God's people. Then you will love heaven and heaven's King, and you will say to the Lord Jesus, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

The Lord who died for our sins and the Father who gave His only-begotten son for us, will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, to those who are willing to repent of their devotion to lesser gods. Your idols have spiritual reality. Though an idol itself is nothing, when you have an eager desire for it, you worship a demonic spirit, and your unclean speech and life become a reflection of that unclean mess that you have permitted to have too much sway in you. Let God smash the idol, and find life again. See 1 Corinthians 6:16-17, 8:4-6, 10:14-22.

“The Lord God is a sun and a shield.” The idol you place before Him is no such thing. “The Lord bestows favor and honor.” Your idol of acceptance by others will not bring you anything good. “No good thing does (the Lord) withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Your lusts will only destroy you. They can give you nothing of lasting value. Please give them up now, before they destroy you.

“O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in You!”

Psalm 83

The world is full of controversy, and the people of God have always had detractors and persecutors. We long for God to decisively speak, to settle every matter, and to restrain every enemy. The Lord's congregation sings out to Him, “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!”

God may seem very silent to His people, but our enemies are clearly not quiet. They are making an uproar. In case we are not hearing them, they wave their arms with aggression so that we can notice them by sight.

The evil that we hear and see is the fruit of secret scheming. Their goal is to destroy Israel, or to destroy the people of the Jewish Messiah.

We are people of a covenant. The Lord is faithful to us forever. His faithfulness and compassion will never fail, though He disciplines those He loves.

The enemies of the Lord have made a covenant as well, but it is very different from the covenant of God that we celebrate. They have made a covenant to destroy the Lord's people. Among the nations listed in this covenant are neighbors to Israel and nomadic enemies within Israel. Some are connected with historic individuals, identifying themselves with Esau, Ishmael, or Lot. Some were probably nomadic peoples that were against Israel, such as the Hagrites, Gebal, and Amalek. Ammon is a country identified with its chief city, Rabbah, site of the modern city of Amman, the capital of Jordan. Philistia refers to the cities of the Philistines that are in the area today known as the Gaza Strip, bordering on Egypt to the south. Tyre was in the area of modern Lebanon to the north. Asshur refers to the Assyrian empire to the north and the east. The children of Lot were the ancient nations of Moab and Edom to the east and south. If all of these people groups are placed on a map, we would return to the most obvious observation, that they comprise all the neighboring nations and even people groups within Israel without an established homeland that together consider themselves covenant allies against Israel. Their cry has always been, “Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.”

The people of the Lord cry out to Him for help against all who would destroy them. They remember back to the period of Judges in the early history of Israel when Deborah and Barak led the people by God's strength to defeat Sisera, or when God used fearful Gideon as a mighty man of valor and led His people to victory against Mideon.

They do not sing about there own ability to defeat the nations united against them. They call on God to humble those foes in the dust, and to fill their faces with shame. And for what purpose? Amazingly, “that they may seek Your Name, O Lord,” and “that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.”

As these allied people groups pursue their hatred against the Lord's people, many will perish. But the hope of the righteous is that some will seek the Name of the God of Israel.

The psalm is not a plea for our own military strength so that we can annihilate the foe. The cry of the righteous is for God to come and work His saving purpose. The goal is for the nations to bow before the God of Israel, not merely to be left alone to live and practice our religious customs in peace.

Many have rejected Jesus as the Jewish Messiah because He did not bring the victory they were expecting. That day will come. They ignore the many prophesies that have to do with a suffering Messiah. The first such word is not in Psalm 22 (“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”) or Isaiah 53 (“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, but we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our tansgressions.”). The earliest Word was in the Torah, in the center of Genesis 3, when the Lord pronounced judgment upon the serpent. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The longed-for offspring of the woman, the Son of David through a woman, and the eternal Son of God, has come to defeat our worst adversaries through His death. He is the Passover Lamb.

Now He is on high, directing the fulfillment of every detail of His promises, including the events of Psalm 83. If you want to see Him fulfill the prophesies of a strong and victorious Messiah, you should not have to wait very long.

He is the Word. He speaks. His sheep hear His voice. They know Him, and they follow Him. He will deliver His people from all of their enemies.

Psalm 82

The use of the Hebrew word “Elohim” (pronounced eh-lo-HEEM), translated here “God,” is a very common way to refer to Yahweh, the only true God and the Lord of the universe. But Elohim can be used to refer to false gods (though they are either demonic or nothing at all), to angels, and even to rulers among men. There is a majesty and dominion that is borrowed from the Almighty God even among men made in His image that demands that we use the authority that we have been granted to pursue His great purposes alone. When we use power for selfish gain and glory, we are rightly condemned as oppressors who will one day face the real Elohim in person.

The true God takes His place in the midst of all the heavenly council as the Almighty One. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are there before all the angels and now, before all those human beings who have been granted eternal entrance into the place of highest rule and authority through the blood of Jesus Christ. In the midst of that great assembly, the Lord our God reigns.

He considers the tyrants on the earth, and challenges them. “How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked?” Even if thieves and enslaving men among the earth's corrupt rulers were able to deceive everyone around them, which is not easy, they cannot fool God. He knows what evil rulers do in the secret meditations of their hearts. They are looking for their own gain, and have decided to judge controversies among their subjects based on who can pay them a bribe.

By this system the weak and the destitute suffer. Rulers should judge justly. Has the poor man been wronged by a rich oppressor? A ruler should use the authority that he has been given under God to set things right. He should rescue the weak and the needy, and deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Not only will Christ and the heavenly host judge people one day, but even we will also judge angels. Think of the power and majesty of fallen angels on the earth. Consider the temptations that Satan was allowed to bring before Jesus of Nazareth. Yet our Lord resisted Him with the Word.

We are warned that this fallen angel still roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour. How is it that such a powerful being will flee when the church prays together to resist him? The answer is found in Elohim, and in the Son of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Meanwhile, corruption seems to be everywhere among men. As the restraints of moral absolutes are rejected by those who have decided that they are smarter than any possible god, societies are unraveling. Nothing has improved in the soul sickness of arrogant humanity. There is still much wickedness among the men and women of the earth, As the restraints of godly standards of conduct are removed, righteousness is first denigrated and then redefined. True morality fades more and more among men, while wickedness prospers.

Though people who have neither knowledge or understanding have determined that they are their own little I-AMs, they actually walk about in darkness. Lust is exalted. The poor are oppressed, both by the rich, and by those who are trying to get rich by claiming to be the defenders of the weak. Those who should be noble leaders have decided to manage mobs of fools for their own gain, and the foundations of honorable conduct among mankind are shattered.

Rulers and judges on the earth should be better than this. They are Elohim, sons of the Most High. But like any prince or usurper, they will die the death of mortal men. The best of them will be remembered with monuments. When the worst die, the monuments they forced men to build in their honor will be torn to the ground. Even their graves will be dishonored. Soon other wicked people are waiting to take their places at an opportune time.

But now a Son of Man has come in the Name of the Most High God. He has not come to make Himself wealthy, but to give His life for us as the best of all gifts. He is highest Elohim in His true divine nature, but now He is also Elohim as a Man who will rule perfectly over redeemed mankind for the glory of God and for the good of His glorious subjects. He reigns in the assembly above, and we worship God through Him in the assemblies below.

When He came to die for us, false religious authorities pretended to be offended that He was making Himself equal with God. As John records in John 10:31-36,

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

The true Son of God has come to save us by His death and resurrection. He is reigning on High now as King in the heavenly assembly. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. “Arise, O Elohim Jesus, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!”

Deuteronomy 18

What is it that gives you your identity, your worth, your sense of belonging to something that is true and good? For many people, their possessions define them, particularly their land and housing that they own and can pass on to the next generation.

It could not be that way for the Israelites. The Lord was the ultimate owner of the land that He gave them to live in. But especially the Levites, the tribe of priests and tabernacle servants in Israel, had a different arrangement concerning the land. They did not have a triba1 territory of their own. The priests had a participation in the Lord's offerings and all the Levites had the Lord Himself as their inheritance.

When the Messiah came, He testified to the fact that the Son of Man had no place to lay His head. His Father was His portion. So many who were not descendants of Jacob have now found their identity and portion in Him. He has won a new land for us, and we are citizens of that land, heaven. We would rather be servants of the Lord in that country than have the most opulent mansions in a city that will one day perish. Jesus is our High Priest forever, and the great Servant of the Lord.

In this dying world, we cannot take all our direction for spiritual living from the customs around us. The Lord, our Prophet, Priest, and King, has told us how we should live.

The people of Israel could not safely imitate the Canaanites that they would soon dispossess. The Canaanites offered up their own children as burnt offerings to God. They inquired into spiritual realms through the use of diviners, enchanters, fortune tellers and those who communicated with the spirits of the dead. All of these defiling practices were prohibited by God.

The way to know the will of God and the truth about spiritual realms would come from the Lord's Word. As Moses gave this exposition of the Lord's will to the tribes of Israel, he was the appointed prophet of God, the authoritative spokesman of God's Word. But his days on earth would soon be done. He pointed Israel to another prophet who would one day came.

This coming prophet would come from their own number, “from your brothers,” the Israelites. Moses recognized the obvious possibility that a fellow Israelite might arise claiming to be this great prophet presumptuously. How were they to tell whether this man was the true prophet?

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

The true prophet would speak the truth. If he spoke of what would come, claiming to speak for God, and what he promised did not come to pass, he was not the one to come.

Think of the promises that Jesus made. He told His disciples about His suffering, death, and resurrection on the third day. He told them about the establishment of His church, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He told them about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. He told the disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

These things have all happened.

This Jesus is more than a prophet. He is the fulfillment of thousands of Old Testament expectations concerning a coming One who would be Savior and Lord.

Anyone claiming to be the prophet of Deuteronomy 18, though he may speak well of the Law and the Gospels, if He does not acknowledge the promises of Jesus that have already been amply fulfilled, he loses all credibility of being a true prophet in the line of Moses. If that man is not even a descendant of Jacob, he is obviously not the prophet of Deuteronomy 18.

You need not be afraid of him.

Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is our portion. He is our life.

Deuteronomy 17

The Lord demanded that Israel be holy, and that those who would lead His nation would serve in accord with His oracles. We have a Leader over God's people now who is not only full of wisdom and power; He is also the Lord our Righteousness. He is all that a King could ever be, and we must offer Him pure worship. What a relief that this same Jewish Messiah who is our King in the heavens is also the one Mediator between God and man. This holy Jesus was an offering without spot or blemish, making peace between God and His people. Now He purifies our worship and brings it to His Father as a perfect offering.

The land of Israel was to be a place of moral and spiritual purity. The ethic of the land was a rule of complete consecration, an image of the purity to come when the true King of Israel would establish the glory of the Lord's reign over a renewed and resurrected world. There could be no tolerance of false worship in that land that God gave to His people. The entire community had a responsibility to stone those who would go after other gods.

In the gospel era, we bring the Word of heaven, the Christian hope, to the entire world. We do not stone anyone. We suffer for the Name of the One who died for our sins, and we proclaim Him to all people. We plant, we water, and God gives the increase.

But the community of the redeemed in the midst of a dying world, the church, is to be holy in Christ. Though we must not tolerate false worship in the church, the Lord of the harvest has instructed us not to be too aggressive in pulling up plants that look like weeds, lest we inadvertently throw out wheat in the process. He is coming again with a host of men and angels, and he will judge rightly.

In Israel, God appointed priests and judges to decide difficult cases of justice. These all served for as many days as the Lord granted. They served temporarily and imperfectly, eventually judging so wrongly that they determined that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy because He presented Himself as the Son of God. They determined that He was worthy of death. This Jesus that they condemned is now the Judge of the living and the dead. He is the Priest who offered up His own body as an atoning sacrifice that cancels our guilt. He is still our High Priest and King over the house of the Lord. He is coming to finally purge the evil from the church that bares His Name and to establish forever His perfected kingdom of righteousness and peace. He will reign forever and ever.

Even in the Law, the Lord made a provision for Israel to have a king. The king had to be an Israelite, and not a foreign ruler called in because of what he could offer the nation. He was not to become king for what he could get from the people in an effort to accumulate his own wealth and glory in this dying world. He was not to lead the people back to Egypt to fall into the hands of a greater imperial power, as if the hope of the nation was in the power of men. He was not to collect many wives from the peoples of the world, lest they turn him away from God.

There was one other requirement for the coming King: He needed to write out a copy of the Law approved by the Levitical priests. He was to keep it close to him and to read it and follow it all the days of his life, for the Lord God would be the king's King.

Now the best king has come. This true Son of David is also the Son of God. He is not impressed with the powers of men and empires. He did not come to earth in order to gain wealth from His subjects. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. The Law of God was in His heart, and He fully obeyed, not only the commandments given to Israel, but the call of His Father to die for our salvation. He is the Lord of love, the true King of Israel, and the Head of His body, the church. There is no other Name given among men by which we must be saved.

Deuteronomy 16

The Old Testament calendar included three major clusters of festivals surrounding Passover, Pentecost (the feast of Weeks), and Tabernacles (the feast of Booths). As Moses prepared the people for life in the promised land, he called upon the congregation of Israel to gather together for these central feasts, and to call upon the Name of the Lord together.

Though these festivals are part of the Old Testament Law, they testified to the grace of God. They gave the community an annual rhythm that celebrated the deliverance of God, the fruitfulness of His continued provision, and the faithfulness of the Lord in moving His people toward a day when they would dwell with Him in peace forever. Passover was a new beginning of grace, Pentecost was a middle point of encouragement along that road of grace, and Tabernacles and beyond was an end or fulfillment of the Lord's promises of grace.

Passover was an early spring feast. The Lord's deliverance through sacrifice, through the blood of a lamb, and through His own powerful hand was all grace. A system of substitution where guilt was removed and righteousness was supplied by another had to be based on grace. This grace that saved us and purchased us also demanded a consecrated life for those who were delivered from bondage. We were freed from the bondage of sin through the Passover death of the Lamb of God not to be enslaved again by the leaven of lust and idolatry, but to live the unleavened life of sincerity and truth. See 1 Corinthians 5:8. The beginning of the life of grace for the children of God can only be in the Passover cross of Christ. That cross claimed us for a new life in the resurrection of Jesus, who is Himself the firstfruits of the resurrection.

Seven weeks after Passover, the middle of the annual journey began with the feast of Pentecost. The worship that the Israelites offered as they gathered together was an acknowledgment of the growth that the Lord was providing. Though the fields are white unto harvest, and the Lord uses our hands in the process of bringing in His bounty, and though one man plants and another waters, only God can bring the growth. The fruitfulness of the gospel is all of grace. To gather in worship on Pentecost was a communal recognition of the mercy of God. As the Spirit of God hovered over the waters in anticipation of the powerful Word of God in the first creation, any new creation must come by the Spirit and the Word. Throughout this Pentecost era, the grace of the Lord is gathering in the fruitfulness of the growth that God has supplied.

The Lord's servants were to gather a third time in covenant assembly for the feast of Tabernacles. This was a feast of the joy of the Lord. One day the gospel harvest period will be over. Our union and communion with the One who came to tabernacle with us will become the fulfillment of our holy longings. No longer will we be assaulted by enemies within and without. No longer will unclean lusts molest the sacred purity of the Lord's true congregation. We will dwell with Him forever.

The land that the Lord ultimately provides for His people, the renewed heavens and earth, will be the perfect environment of full peace and provision. Injustice and oppression will not have any foothold there. The worship of false gods will be far from every heart. That will be the life! Therefore we worship the Lord now in the Passover Lamb who is our life. We praise Him and live for Him by the power of the Spirit of Pentecost. Finally, we wait for the revealing of the fullness of God's promises in His coming again. This is the new rhythm of our lives, a pattern of the grace of God that was anticipated for centuries in the ancient Jewish festivals during the time of the Law.

Psalm 81

 “Sing aloud to God!” This is the Lord's call to His people throughout the ages. The suffering servants of God hear that call, and ask for strength to keep on going. Heartfelt praise is the best prescription for us in our weakness, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. But the Lord Himself must help us from heaven, lest we simply drag our weary hearts through the motions of pretended praise.

Not only is the joy of the Lord our strength, but God Himself, who visits us in our distress, is strength for us in person. “Come quickly, Lord!”

God has made a decree. He will deliver His people from every trouble. He brought them out of bondage. He led them through the wilderness. He gave them the Land according to His promise. We may be overwhelmed by the present moment, but if we consider the Lord's saving work beginning with His great promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 and continuing down to the present day with millions of assemblies that call upon His Name all over the earth, we cannot help but be impressed with His faithfulness and power.

Along this amazing journey of many centuries, the Lord has tested His people. Will you be faithful today to the Lord who gave His Son for your salvation? Will you turn to Him and ask for bread from heaven and water from His chosen rock? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Come to God. He will lift you up.

Is there some better alternative for you than to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and to listen to His voice? He has provision for you in His hand. Won't you receive His embrace in the cross and resurrection of His Son? He knows you and calls you by Name again today. You came to the garden of burial early in the morning wanting only to show some respect to a dead body, but you are greeted now by a living Savior and Friend. See John 20:11-18.

Some who were called by His Name have refused to listen to His voice. They have even preferred strange gods that cannot save. Even now, He is here. He bids Israel to come to Him again, as so many have, not only from the Jews, but from all the nations. He bore your griefs on the cross and carried your sorrows. See Isaiah 53:4-6. Why should you refuse to sing to Him who draws you near with love so strong and so true, a love that was willing to die for you?

There is an enemy who is against you. He urges you to stay in the grave of despair and self-pity, telling you that life is not better in the light. But Jesus extends His hand and lifts you out of that deep pit. He has a refreshing meal for you that will bring light to your eyes. He has delightful bread for you made from the finest flour. He has provided you with honey from the rock of His everlasting presence. He has what you need to satisfy the deepest longings of your soul. What are you missing today that is not in His hand?

Come. “Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” Come with your weakness. Come with your sadness. Come with your sickness. Come with your tears. He will help you. He is able to sympathize, and His Holy Spirit will bring you, fill you, and keep you forever.

Psalm 80

The people of God have a Shepherd.

The Old Testament people of God, Israel, called out to their Shepherd, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This Shepherd made promises to them, disciplined them, and led them.

The New Testament people of God, the church, is comprised of Jews and Gentiles throughout the earth who call on this same Shepherd through Jesus, our Redeemer. We who recognize Jesus as the Son of God and the King of the Jews have now taken up the psalms of Israel as they worship the God of the Jews. The God of Moses is our God. He is the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He hears us, and He leads us.

But what about those Jews who rejected Jesus? We look to see many coming to faith in Him even now, just as Saul of Tarsus did so long ago. As he wrote, “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”

We cry out to the God of Israel to save us, just as Jews have for so many centuries. Why should they be left out of the assembly of the Lord when it is their own Scriptures that Jesus has fulfilled?

They need to be restored again to His assembly, worshiping together with new brothers from among the Gentiles. The Lord is able to restore them. See Romans 11.

The Jews have suffered so much over the centuries. Their new brothers and sisters from among the Gentiles who are feeding on the Law and the prophets and singing the psalms of David should be praying for the Lord's salvation for the Jews. We should cry out to God for them, that He might shine His face upon them in accord with His ancient promises.

We have the record in the divinely inspired books of history that show us the care of the Lord for the Jews. We have heard of the exodus and the conquest under Joshua. We know of the Lord's provision of the great king David and his son Solomon. We know about what happened to Jeremiah at the time of the exile. We have heard the stories of Ruth and Esther. God is the God of the Jews. Should their suffering continue forever?

Look at the facts of what has taken place to the Jews over these centuries since the closing of the canonical books. Look at the movement of so many of the descendants of Jacob back to the land of Canaan. But even now ancient enemies are still bent on the destruction of God's people, both in the church and among the Jews.

Sometimes in our relationships within families we need to extend unilateral forgiveness because the other party is not asking to be forgiven. The time has come for us to care about the people from whom the Apostle Paul and even Jesus came, even if they choose to persecute those who love their Messiah. We want them back in the family worshiping beside us. The dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile has come down. The war is over.

We are all together, and we all are in need of the salvation of God.

Let us sing together, Jew and Gentile, as one body in Christ. Let us say with one voice, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!”

Lead your people home, O Shepherd of Israel!

Psalm 79

What can we say to the Lord when the worst has actually happened? How do we cry out to Him in faith and truth? The Lord hears the desperate prayers of those who call upon His Name with sincere hearts.

In the days when He sent the Babylonians into Jerusalem and so many of His people went into exile in a foreign land, it appeared that all was lost. Invading armies had defiled the temple building. So many young people had been killed. Jerusalem was the ridicule of surrounding nations.

God was disciplining His people for a time. It was right for them to call out to Him with cries and tears. Our Savior did that, and He was heard.

In the depths of despair it may seem that the Lord will never have mercy again. We can even sing about that sentiment to Him, and He will hear us. “How long, O Lord?” You can sing that. Just do not stop coming to God in song and prayer, and do not pretend that there is no problem. Keep worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

The Lord will not be angry at His children forever. But the way of those who do not know Him and who do not obey the gospel is a very dangerous path that leads to eternal destruction. See 2 Thessalonians 1.

At just the right time the Lord will come and rescue His people from their tormenters who imagine that it is safe to abuse and persecute the Lord's children. The people of faith and love will be vindicated in the righteousness that comes from their Savior on high. He will openly claim us as His own on that great day.

We remember our own sins when the worst happens to us. We accuse ourselves, and forget that the Lord who disciplines His children, loves us. But now we humbly ask the Lord that He would not remember our transgressions. We have a very strong reason for this good request. Christ died for our sins.

Because of Jesus, our plea to God in the year of our despair has a firm and just foundation. The sinless Man died for sinners who would call upon His Name. The best thing we can do when it seems that all is lost is to call out to Him again. Find strength from above, and remember the Rock, which is Christ.

When we ask for the Lord's compassion for us, we can make our plea not only based on His great mercy, but also on the glory of His Name. We are known as His children. Why should our persecutors claim that our God is not powerful or loving enough to save us? Why should they imagine that God is justly allowing us to suffer because even He is against us forever.

No, in Christ we are more than conquerors. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. God will vindicate the glory of His Name, and the gates of hell will not prevail against His church.

May our groans come before Him, even when we sing that all is lost. But all is not lost. The Lord raises the dead. The Day of the Lord is near. The Lord will save us forever. We are His sheep. We give Him thanks from generation to generation. But what will the wolves do when the great Shepherd of the sheep returns?

Psalm 78

Can you understand the dark and mysterious events of even one life? How about the motions of God's love and justice with an entire people?

But God is still good, powerful, and wise, even when we cannot fathom the pathway of pain. He moves His people to worship Him, though they may not receive what they feel that they earnestly requested of Him. There is something very impressive about His covenant-keeping love and our genuine response of reverence and adoration that He has placed inside us and has nurtured up within His worshiping people as they come to desire Him more than anything He can give them. There is some unfathomable goodness in the way He leads us home to Him.

God is a good Father. The pathway of His providence may seem dark to us, but His deeds are glorious.

Israel's (and our) stubborn sin is an important part of the story of the Lord's discipline that we dare not forget. The Lord rescued His people from Egypt with great signs and wonders. Yet they rebelled against the Most High in the wilderness and spoke against God.

The fatherly discipline of the Lord toward Israel combined both provision (meat from heaven) and frightening consequences (the death of many strong young men). What can anyone say about events such as this in the history of the Lord's special care for His people? We cannot deny His power? Dare we deny His goodness and wisdom?

Why was the sin of His people so deep? He showed His wonders, even in judgment. Why did people forget Him and return to paths that only led to death? What would it take for His beloved children to stay on the pathway of blessing and life? Only the Spirit of the King of heaven Himself living within us could adequately change us and keep us in the way of truth and peace.

Without the increasing power of a true renewal within the Lord's nation, they would repeatedly bring Him the offerings of hypocrisy. But a willing people in His day of power will truly come to Him. See Psalm 110:3.

The Lord was very patient with Israel. He provided a system of ceremonial atonement for them. Through the blood of the sacrifice they could admit their sin and their need for atonement. But God is no hypocrite. He required that His people would be truly holy.

He gave them a clear testimony of His judgments in the plagues that He brought upon Egypt, and in the way that He drove the Canaanites out of the land. How could the Lord forever tolerate evil among His own, the people of Israel? How would the story of their election combine with the story of His holy justice and end well?

Over and over again they provoked Him to anger with their high places of idolatry and their pursuit of depravity. How young were you when what should have been rejected as disgusting became first intriguing, then enticing, then addictive, and finally enslaving? What happens when the people of God become locked in the prison house of spiritual adultery and immorality? Who can save us from certain destruction?

There must be a strong Deliverer who will be our strength and shield. Our strength and shield, the best Son of David has come. His home was in that Mount Zion which is above. He came from heaven to save. He has rescued us with better blood than that of the old sacrifices. His resurrection is the key fact for all men everywhere to seriously consider. Is it true? What does it mean? It has provided for us the beginning of a good end to the story of God's righteousness and His covenant-keeping love. This story is not only for the Jews, but even for the Gentiles.

The King has come. By His death and resurrection we have a true ground for hope. By His life within us we experience that hope, and are filled with compassion even for those who have wronged us.

Israel wronged God. But God gave His Son for the salvation of Israel. And now people throughout the earth have been caught up into this amazing song of love that is so deep and beautiful and good. In the words of the John Newton hymn, “Let us love and sing and wonder! He has hushed the law’s loud thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame. He has washed us with His blood. He has brought us nigh to God.”

Deuteronomy 15

Seven years seems like a long time to me. What if a person had to wait seven years to have an accurate diagnosis of a painful medical condition? What if a woman had to wait seven years for her husband to love her again? What if a young person had to look for a job for seven years after losing one that seemed so promising?

But seven years is not forever. God calls us to know the difference between a little while and eternity. He calls us to wait with hope for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord gave a law for Israel that every seven years there was to be a year of the Lord's release. The God of Israel announced the forgiveness of debts among His people, and the nation was supposed to obey Him by forgiving the debts of their fellow Israelites.

It would be different for a foreigner, because the Lord was making a distinction between Israel and the rest of the world. Among the Israelites there was to be no permanent class of poor people imprisoned by the debts that they owed to their countrymen.

The Lord would bless the land that He was giving to the children, if only they would listen to His voice and keep His commandments.

The Lord who had redeemed His people from the slavery of Egypt and who was giving them this land, insisted that those among His people who were able should lend freely to those in need, despite the fact that the year of release was very near. What an unusual requirement of generosity! Is there any other law like this among all the people of the earth?

The Lord promised that if Israel followed this provision for such extraordinary generosity, that He would grant them a great position when compared to the many other nations around them. They would lend to those nations, but not borrow from them. They would even rule over other nations, but other nations would not rule over them.

But if the people of Israel resented the needs of their brothers, if they were unwilling to lend to the poor because of the proximity of the year of release, God would know, and it would not go well for Israel. Throughout the world people who believe the Jewish Messiah will say these words today that He taught His disciples: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This prayer of Christ brings those who call upon His Name to an even more profound demand of our merciful God. Not only has God freed Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He has freed us from the bondage of sin. His mercy is forever. He calls us to forgive now.

There would always be poor people among the Israelites. Therefore there would always be opportunities to give freely asking for nothing in return. You can give and forgive today.

The year of the Lord's release was not only for the forgiveness of debts, but also for the freedom of slaves. The way of caring for the poor in Israel was for a person of means to freely take in someone who had lost everything, paying their debtors. The poor man would work at the will of the one who had paid for his release, but not forever. In a little while, in the year of release, all Hebrew slaves would be set free with a generous gift from their former masters to help them to be reestablished in life. Again, has any other land had such a law as this?

But if the slave wanted to stay forever in the home of his good master, rather than face the challenges of a dangerous world outside his protection, the Lord made provision for a permanent relationship of a good master and an obedient servant living together in one household. Yet this was never to be done against the will of the poor man.

This entire amazing system of personal care among the rich and the poor in local communities was based on that greatest of all relationships of authority and love. The Lord was the God of Israel and they were to be His obedient people. The Lord owned Israel by redemption. He was their Rescuer. They were to be reminded of that every time a firstborn among their flocks was granted life. If the animal was without blemish it was offered up to the Lord. The firstborn among the Egyptians died. The Israelites lived because of the Lord's strong salvation.

But now the Son of God has come to provide for our eternal redemption. He came as God's only begotten, in order to save all who would be sons of God in Him. We, of all people, should care for the poor among us, especially in the church. We should give freely, demanding nothing in return. Our year of release has come in the death and resurrection of Christ. We are His forever. We come to Him with joy and confidence, for He will never let us go. He treats as more than slaves, for we are His sons, and we rightly call Him “Abba, Father.”

And yet we wait. And seven years seems like a long time. But it is not forever. We wait for the ultimate expression of freedom and blessing that will be more fully present among us in the return of Christ. It will only be a little while more. Take heart. The year of the greatest release is coming soon.

Deuteronomy 14

These words should ring in our ears continually and produce good fruit: “You are the sons of the Lord your God.” Not only do they comfort us; they also call us to hear the voice of our heavenly Father and to follow His Word.

The church is the Lord's holy possession today, bought by the blood of His only-begotten Son. Like Israel of old, we are to be a people distinct from the world around us in our dedication to the Lord's ways. This consecration of life is no longer expressed in the old distinction between clean and unclean foods, for Christ has made all foods clean. See Mark 7:19.

As we review the list of foods that Israel could not eat during the Old Covenant era, we are reminded that these outward regulations were preparatory for the coming of the Messiah. The old laws were powerless in bringing new life to the consciences of the guilty. They testified to the difference between life and death, but they could not raise the dead or make anyone alive spiritually.

The power of death is all around us in this dying world. God's Word is a Word of life for His people. That Word has come in person in the gift of His Son. He is able not only to make all foods clean, and to signal the coming of a new era in the New Covenant. He is also able to bring us new life with a cleansing that comes with the forgiveness of sins. This is why the Apostle John writes to the church that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Not only that, but we have received the sure promise of a new life in Christ where death no longer has dominion. We look for the fullness of life to come in the resurrection of the dead, and we walk in that heavenly life even now.

The promise of God, secured for us in the death of Christ, calls us to a much deeper holiness than can be accomplished by the old distinction between clean and unclean foods. As the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Another Old Testament regulation that God spoke to Israel through Moses regarded the collection and distribution of tithes for those who cared for the Lord's sanctuary and for the destitute among them. The tithe was ten percent of the increase that the Lord gave to His people. Every three years, the actual produce, or the monetary equivalent, was to be brought to the central place of worship to celebrate before the Lord and to care for His people.

The concept of tithing goes all the way back to the patriarchs in the book of Genesis. All tithing is a recognition that the Lord owns us entirely. Jesus did not merely buy the right to ten percent of what we are. He bought us completely with His blood.

The giving of tithes was to be a great celebration for the people of Israel. How much more should we now give our gifts to the Lord with a joyful heart. We still support the work of the ministry, but now that ministry is not the carrying of the tabernacle throughout the land of Canaan, but the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of heaven throughout the world.

It is our joy to give to the Lord, and to see that the orphan and the widow are cared for. But nothing can be compared with the 100 percent gift of the Son of God when He gave Himself for our eternal well-being.

This is what makes the people of God rejoice today. The Apostle Paul, who was brought from a dedication to fading outward religious ceremonies to an new Spirit-empowered love for the life-giving Messiah expresses in 2 Corinthians 9:15 the true heart of all the sons of God when he writes, “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”

Thanks be to God for the gift of Jesus Christ. He has cleansed us from all our sin. In Him, we are a new creation forever, the possession of the Lord who bids us draw near to Him as His sons.