Deuteronomy 33

The Lord is committed to His people. Beginning in the Garden of Eden, He made promises to us that stretched all the way forward to the resurrection age. Like a father, He disciplines His children, but He has promised to bring great blessing upon us through His Son.

Long before Jesus came to secure for us eternal blessings through His death and resurrection, God used special servants like Jacob and Moses to pronounce blessings upon the tribes of Israel. Here Moses was called by the prophetic title, “the man of God.” He spoke these words just before His departure. He spoke not from His own opinions, but as the servant of the Lord to His people.

The Lord God Almighty talked to Israel from His place of highest authority in heaven, surrounded by a great host of angelic beings. His gift of the Law from Mount Sinai was an expression of His love. “Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you.”

The Law was God's Law. The people were God's people. He was the King of Israel. His people assembled to hear Him, worship Him, and follow Him.

The Lord was not only the Law-Giver. He was also the sovereign Ruler and God of Israel. Each tribe had a future according to His decree.

Reuben the first-born would live, and not die. Yet he would not have preeminence, just as Jacob had pronounced centuries before. Who would be first?

The word to Judah was brief, but significant in placement and content: “Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. With your hands contend for him, and be a help against his adversaries.” David and the line of kings would come from this tribe until the Messiah King was given. This King, the Word of God made flesh, would be the Voice of the Lord. God would hear this anointed Voice, and would bring about the fulfillment of the longed-for communion between the Messiah and His people. The Lord would preserve the line of the King, contending for Him as His great Help against all His adversaries.

Levi, the tribe of priests and tabernacle servants, would teach the Law of God and offer up sacrifices on the Lord's altar, until that day when the final Sacrifice would come. Not long after that day of the Messiah Priest, Israel would be without Levitical priests or sacrifices. See Hosea 3:4-5.

Benjamin would be the beloved of the Lord. He would dwell under the Lord's protection.

Joseph would be blessed by the Lord in his land, especially Ephraim, the part of Joseph that would eventually be the leading tribe of northern Israel. Though conquered and scattered by the Assyrians, the strong influence of this prince among Israel would be felt all over the earth.

Zebulun and Issacar would rejoice in the gifts of the Lord in the land that God would give to them. Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher would have their particular words of victory and bounty from God. Only Simeon would not be mentioned here.

These words to the tribes of the conquest generation were surprisingly bountiful in view of the earlier warnings that God spoke through Moses. Nothing here denied the curse of the covenant that would come upon Israel. But even after those earlier devastating words had been given, these last prophetic words of the man of God would still come to pass. God would bless His people Israel.

Why would He do this? This oracle of Moses ended with the answer. Because of the Most High. “There is none like God.” He would make a way for covenant-breaking Israel to be called by the name “Jeshurun,” which means “the upright one.”

The God of Israel, the Voice that saves, He alone is the upright One. Yet in Him, in His death for Israel and for His people everywhere, the blessings of God upon His elect would be secure. Israel would have His Name, the upright One, in their connection to His Son, Jesus.

This Voice has come from heaven to be our Help. The eternal God is our dwelling place. His are the everlasting arms that support Israel and the church. He is our happiness, our salvation, our protection, and our victory forever.

Deuteronomy 32

 “He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Twice in the prior chapter, Moses spoke these important words. Israel would fail. They would be disciplined. God would even hide from them. Yet He would not leave them or forsake them.

The song that God gave to Israel through Moses begins with the Lord's greatness. The One who is the Most High God speaks.

The problem that would come between Israel and God would not be a result of some flaw in the Lord's being or character. He is the Rock.

The fault is ours. The glory is His.

Our glory is only found in Him. In Him we even find a holy boldness. In His Son we have a ministry of reconciliation to others. See 2 Corinthians 5.

We remember that the Lord is Israel's Father, and the Father of all who have faith in His Son. He made us. Why would we ever turn away from Him?

The Lord has determined that Jacob is His inheritance. But now, through one descendant of Jacob, the tent of Israel has been expanded to include many from among the nations. We have become the inheritance of the Lord, and He will sanctify us.

The Lord made Israel to be His people. He rescued them, provided for them, and blessed them. But when they prospered, they rebelled. They forgot the Rock of their salvation, and provoked Him to anger.

Even this sad story was a part of the mystery of the glorious work of God, known to Him before the ages began. The nations, who were not God's people, would be brought in by the Lord's sovereign will, and one day, they would make the Jews jealous again for the Lord.

In the meantime, the Lord would bring the curse of the Law upon His own beloved people. They would face the horrors of siege and exile. Many would die.

Though God would use foreign armies as agents of discipline against Israel, He would vindicate them and have compassion on His servants. He would do this in the faithfulness of His covenant love, but especially for the glory of His own Name.

Through the story of Israel, God would display His justice and His love. Later, through the gift of the Messiah, He would show how He could both punish their rebellion, and be their companion who would never leave them or forsake them.

This song that God gave Israel was a warning to them, and it became the story of their life together as a people. But it was also a powerful Word about the character of their Lord and God.

Who can stand in the glory of the holiness of God's character? Even Moses was not able to enter the land. Even Moses' faith had failed.

But now a descendant of Jacob has been found who has kept covenant perfectly with the Father. He has won for us the security of eternal blessing. Through Him we walk not only in the fear of the Lord, but also in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. In Him, perfect love casts out all fear of torment. In Him we have peace with God forever.

Deuteronomy 31

The time had now come for the conquest generation to go into the land. The Lord would go before them, but a new man, Joshua, would lead them forward. Trained under Moses, Joshua listened to these final sober words of instruction: “Be strong and courageous.”

God and His covenant Word would be the constant in the life of Israel. Any one human servant would reach the end of His days, but the Word of God and His presence as the true Leader of His people would continue beyond the life of the greatest of His servants. The leaders and the whole congregation were to be people governed by the Word.

The transition of leadership authority from Moses to Joshua was marked by a very solemn revelation of the disobedience of the Lord's people. The Lord plainly told Moses and Joshua that Israel would not obey Him, bringing upon themselves the horrible curse of the covenant. This sad prophecy would be recorded for them in a song that would be passed down from generation to generation.

The worst would surely happen. Israel would be passionate, not for the true God who created the heavens and the earth, but for false gods that came from the religious experience of the Canaanites.

Not only that, but the day would come when the Lord Himself would hide His face from Israel. The song would be a witness against them even before they had spent one day in the promised land.

If Israel would surely be a failure, what was all of this about? Why would the Lord have even bothered to make a promise to Abraham so long ago? Why had God brought them through the wilderness and given them the Law when He knew they would fail?

The Law would not be Israel's salvation. The promise, given long before the wilderness generation was born, would be secured not through Israel's obedience, but through another Servant who would come.

That Servant of the Lord would fulfill the words God spoke so long ago to Abraham. Through his offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed. A coming Servant would take the curse of the covenant that we deserved and then rise again.

As the Apostle wrote in Romans 5:20-21, “The law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Jesus Christ is the final Covenant Head of the people of God. He is the living Word who saves us. His death was not the occasion for the selection of a replacement. He lives forever as the one Mediator between God and man.

The Law was never to be Israel's hope. Jesus is our hope and our salvation.

Psalm 101

 “Keep me going, Lord!”

Some might say this prayer as they face another day of physical pain or some other deprivation. But these words might also be the true prayer of the servant of the Lord who lives in outward comfort, but can find no inner rest.

We do not know the trials that people all around us may be secretly facing. Think of the ultimate Suffering Servant as He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration and walked into the faith deficit of humanity below. “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” This was a rare glimpse into the soul of the One who came from His home in heaven to die for His people on earth. At that specific moment, He was not dying on the cross. He had some of the comforts of life. He had just walked through a blessed spiritual experience. Yet He was in some measure of distress. Why? He longed for heaven. Who would have known that if He had not told us?

The psalms give us insight into the hidden soul of the righteous worshiper of God. Even as he sings of the Lord's covenant faithfulness, and commits to the way of integrity, he says these words in prayer: “Oh when will you come to me?”

The public ministry of Jesus Christ was only about three years. The pressures of those years... But then the final betrayal, and the death of the cross... He faced this all for you.

You have been given a Person, Jesus, who is so worthy, that you should eagerly give away everything else up just to keep Him. The message of that one love from that one Person should be infinitely precious to you, because the one Person is perfect beyond all measure. Only when you find that one Person, and are filled with that one message, can you experience the joy of the merchant who was willing to sell everything He had to be able to buy the field that contained that greatest of all pearls.

If you saw the true integrity of Jesus today, everything else would be worthless and evil compared to Him. But now you have this integrity truly credited to you! You are righteous in Him with His faultless righteousness!

Look around at the kingdoms of this world and what will you find? Slanderous tongues, arrogant hearts, deceit, oppression... But the King of righteousness had none of these. He came preaching and teaching the kingdom of heaven. Is it any wonder He was homesick when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration?

I have never been to heaven, but I believe in the Word of the King. I know that I will dwell one day in Jesus' land. I am so eager for Him that even a period of three years, like that of our Lord's public life, seems too long time to wait.

But the just shall live by faith. May God grant that we would walk in the integrity of faith in this life for as long as we watch and wait for heaven's King. And may He grant us even more of His Spirit during these few years we have on earth.

“How long, O Lord? Oh when will you come to me?”

“Keep me going, O Lord!”

Psalm 100

The Christian church confesses a belief in an almighty God. We do this every time we recite the ancient creeds that begin, “We believe in God, the Father Almighty.”

We believe in a God who is Lord over all, who has a sovereign plan, and who is working out His eternal purpose. This is very confusing for us to confess, because it brings up many uncomfortable questions that are difficult to answer. But those who have embraced the truth that the Lord performs what He decrees, have found this one truth to be very comforting. We rest in Him.

Did the ancient Jews also confess this belief in an Almighty God who would work out His sovereign ultimate purpose? Absolutely. This fact could be demonstrated from many passages in the Hebrew Bible. Here is a striking one that comes through the prophet Ezekiel. The prophet was commanded to prophesy to the dry, dead bones of Israel, which would rise again to life by the power of the Lord.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” (Ezekiel 37:11-14)

“I will do it.”

Not only is Israel called by God to a Spirit-filled life, but in the words of Psalm 100, “all the earth” is told to make “a joyful noise to the Lord,” to “serve the Lord with gladness,” and to “come into His presence with singing.”

People will not serve and sing out of fear of death or out of guilt. Death and guilt will be gone. They will worship with full hearts of inner joy and not from a forced external coercion.

How could it be that the Lord will bring about this great plan of His? What is necessary to accomplish sincere worldwide devotion to the God of Jacob?

First, there must be peace between God and man in a way that is acceptable to God. This required the sovereign sending of a Messianic Servant who would live the perfect life of love for the Lord and for His people and then would pay their debt to the Almighty with His own blood. The Lord has done this. The peace that Jesus Christ has made for us with God through the cross has been declared acceptable to the Father through His resurrection from the dead.

But our side of the breach also had to be solved. Since sin entered into the world we have had a mad rejection of God and His purposes. If we are to call upon the Lord's Name with joy, and not out of a mere external compulsion, we need a complete inner renewal. The Lord has done this as well. The ascended Messiah has sent forth the Holy Spirit according to His sovereign decree, making His people alive in Christ. This Holy Spirit has also been at work through the messengers of the church who were sent out to proclaim life to Jews and Gentiles through the Name of Jesus Christ. By the Spirit at work within the Lord's people, that Word has been received. People are giving up their foolish war against the Lord. The Lord has done this too.

But not everyone has received this renewal as of yet. How will it be that all the earth will serve the Lord and sing to Him with true joy? The Lord will do it. He will come again in judgment, and there will be a final separation between those who are His people and those who are not His people. Then the words of Psalm 100 will have their greatest fulfillment.

You do not have to wait until the Lord Jesus returns with the host of heaven to worship the Lord God Almighty. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you can call upon His Name now.

There are two very good reasons for your heart to be settled upon the most sincere and joyful worship of the Lord. First, the Lord is God. Second, the Lord is good.

1. The Lord is God. We did not make ourselves. He made us. We did not come up with a perfect eternal purpose. He did. We did not choose one nation from whom a Messiah would be born. The Lord did that. We did not work our own redemption. That was the Lord. We did not empower suffering servants to preach the joyful news of Jesus to every tribe and tongue and nation. That was God. The Lord did it. He made us, He bought us back by the blood of Jesus, and He brought us home by the Holy Spirit. We are His people. We are the sheep of His pasture.

2. The Lord is good. Let your heart be filled with the knowledge of the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord. Who else would ever do what God has done in sending His own Son to suffer and die for us? Who would be so true to His own character and purpose, and so willing to save us in a way that displayed His perfect justice and mercy toward us? Who would stay on the cross and face the wrath of God that we deserved? Who would be faithful enough to continue His spiritual work in us over so many years? Who else would be eternally true to such costly sacrificial promises? Only the Lord.

The Lord is God. The Lord is good.

Sing about it, people of the Lord! Thank Him now and forever! Sing with true enjoyment and passion for the One who is above all and who loves you.

One day there will be a resurrection of the dead, and heaven will come to earth. One day the whole earth will worship and serve the Lord with sincere gladness in a world of perfect holiness. The Lord will do it. We believe in God the Father almighty.

Psalm 99

In an upside-down world, God is on trial and we get to be the judges. In the real world, the Lord reigns and people tremble.

The Lord reigns from heaven. He is far above us, but He is also very near us.

There was a Zion below on earth, but it is no longer the place of the true temple of the Holy Spirit. Another Zion, a Zion above, is the place from which the Lord reigns.

When we worship God, we join in a glorious endeavor that is only partly on earth. The temple of the Holy Spirit, the church, is contained in assemblies all over the globe, but it is also in that Zion above, in the assembly of myriads of men and angels in heaven. These two assemblies, the earthly and heavenly, are united now in Jesus. They will one day be together in a way that our eyes will be able to see when heaven comes to earth.

Even now, before that day of consummation, the Lord reigns. He reigns over all the peoples. As we set our hearts on things above, His love and holiness from heaven work through us for powerful good upon the earth below.

Our greatest problems on earth come from our twisted orientation, where we imagine that we exist to bring judgment against God or to do what we want without any concern for the will of the Almighty. This confusion is lifted in true worship. A heavenly orientation produces real worship. Worship changes the world. There we remember that the Lord is God and that we must serve Him according to the love of the cross. Just think of how one family can be changed by one man determining that it is time for him to get serious about worshiping and serving the Lord! Think about how one family can change a church, and one church can change a city!

There is a King in the heavenly Zion, the Son of David and Son of God, God with God, the Jewish Messiah, the resurrected Jesus Christ. He is mighty, and He loves justice. Jesus is reigning, though we do not at present see all things in submission to Him. What can we do today to see more holiness and righteousness in us and in others? Exalt the Lord with a passion for Him and for His eternal purpose to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and on earth. Connect with the One who died for us and who now reigns above. He is holy!

In the time of preparation for the Messiah, God gave Israel servants like Moses and Aaron. Later men like Samuel and the prophets called upon the Name of the Lord and He answered them. These men were good for Israel when they heard the voice of the Lord and followed His Word.

Now the Spirit of the Lord has been poured out upon the whole church. Men and women all over the earth are doing what only a relatively small number of people once did. They are calling upon the Name of the Lord.

The best worshipers of old, like Moses, had faults. The Lord was a forgiving God to them, but He disciplined them as well. This God is our God.

The sinless Worshiper, Jesus, has fully obeyed the Lord's covenant, and by His death, the weight of the curse that was upon us has been lifted. The Holy One of Israel has come in person, and He has lifted us heavenward. We worship the most High God through Him. In Him we are holy. In Him we are secure. Through Him we change the world.

Psalm 98

The trials of this life, even those that we know to be small compared to what others are facing, can still feel overwhelming. We desperately need the heavenly perspective of the Apostle Paul, but we may not know how to get it. He writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18,

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Where can you find this kind of hope in a time of affliction? It comes as the gift of God through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. It is a gift from the One who suffered for you and is able to sympathize with you in your weakness. He sends this gift from His throne in heaven. This gift may not seem to be yours at this very moment, but wait for it with the mustard-seed of faith that the Lord has granted to you.

As you wait, it may seem strange to you that some in the Lord's Israel are able to sing songs of praise to God. You too will sing a new song to the Lord, either here below, or in the kingdom above where you will find fullness of joy at the Lord's right hand.

Your cloud of pain or grief may obscure your vision today, but the Lord has done marvelous things. His eternal plan is very good, and so is every step toward its sure completion. Only by His wisdom can the horrifying cross of Christ become stupendous to us. In the light of the great salvation that God is working for us now, even your current troubles will work toward a shining end.

Only His hand could do what He has done. Who else has the power and the love to bring about a kingdom of glorious light and to entirely overturn all the wretchedness of the curse?

The Lord is working out a great salvation. Though it is true that some have not heard about it yet, and that even you may not feel it right now, it is not entirely hidden. He has made known His righteousness in the sight of the nations. The glory of the Suffering Messiah of Israel is being preached everywhere. His steadfast love and faithfulness is ours to tell, and we are not hiding it under a basket. We are singing about it.

“All the ends of the earth” are joining in the song. When one of the suffering servants who trusts in the cross of Christ is able to sing a new song to the Lord, the power of heaven begins to shine on earth, and those who still live in darkness see a light that may make them wonder.

That is what happened in a jail to Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25. These men were in an inner prison with their feet in stocks. They did not have any musical instruments, but they used what they had where they were, and the prisoners were listening.

Make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord of Israel, the Lord of all the earth. Is it possible that you can whisper a song in your weakness. “Be still, my soul, the Lord is on your side.” That is a start. “Be Thou my vision.” Turn to Him. “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty...” More and more your focus is drawn to God who rules in heaven. He can bring an earthquake that sets the prisoner free.

The seas know how to sing to the Lord. The rivers can clap their hands. The hills will sing for joy together. He comes. The King who died on a cross comes. He will judge the earth. He will save you. His love is very near to you even now.

Deuteronomy 30

How do you come home again when you have traveled so far away from God? Is there any way to have a spiritual recovery?

Moses spoke to Israel about the curse that would come upon the nation if they disobeyed the voice of the Lord. That curse would involve a siege by foreign powers and the enslavement of exile beyond the borders of the land that God would give to them. But he also told them that they and their children would return.

The fulness of their restoration would not come just from being back in Israel. They would obey the Lord's voice with all their heart and soul and find great blessing. The turning point would come from an awakening in their hearts and minds while they were still far away. Moses said that they would remember the blessing and the curse that he wrote about in prior chapters. They would call that blessing and curse to mind among all the nations where the Lord their God had driven them. Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, they would consider the consequences of being so far away from their Father. They would remember their Father's land, the provision there, and the real possibility of going back, and they would determine to go home again.

God would not hate them for their past disobedience. He would shower them with the blessings that flow from His love. He had scattered them, and He would be the One who would gather them back again, providing for them and making them more numerous than previous generations.

That return would have to be accompanied by a true change of heart. They would have to turn to the Lord God with all their heart and soul. Is something like that possible? Not without the grace of the Lord bringing awakening, conviction, repentance, and new life.

While many Jews have already embraced Jesus as the Suffering Servant of the Old Testament and the true Son of David, many descendants of Abraham have not yet embraced the Jewish Messiah. That rejection does not have to be forever. They can come home, and so can many Gentiles who have wandered far away from Jesus. There is no better time than the present to walk in the grace that He has supplied to us through the cross.

The way back home is not far away. The way to God is through an inner hearing of a true Word.

The Word that has power to save is as near to a prodigal nation and a prodigal son as his own mouth and heart. If you call to mind the blessing and curse, and if you remember the love and bounty of the Father, if you remind yourself that all of this goodness is for you because of the One Lamb that God has supplied, then you are already looking homeward. Now confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Call upon His Name and find in that Name all of the salvation that anyone could ever hope for.

Life is found in the God of Israel and in the Voice of the Lord that has come from heaven. He calls us forth to life. We need to hear that call when we discover our current miseries. This is not just a call to us as individuals. It is still a call to whole people groups, even to the Jews, to hear the voice of Jesus. The Lord will grant them blessing, even godliness with contentment, which is great gain.

Deuteronomy 29

Does the Lord hear me when I call out to Him? Can I actually hear Him speaking to me?

Moses spoke to God, and God spoke to Moses. He had amazing access to God. He was the covenant mediator between God and Israel.

Christ is our covenant Mediator. He is the One who tells us that we can pray to God and call Him our Father. He also says that we are His chosen flock, and that His sheep hear His voice.

We cannot give up on communion with God.

When we meet in worship on the first day of the week, we gather together to renew covenant with our Father through Jesus Christ, His Son. We celebrate our communion with the Lord by partaking in the covenant meal of bread and wine.

But we need more fellowship with God than that one hour per week. We need to hear the voice of the Lord as His children. We need to know that He hears us. We need to believe that we can actually walk in the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it all feels unreal. How does a person open his mouth and just speak to the Almighty? But this is what our Mediator has told us to do. We need to believe Him and follow Him.

Moses said to the Israelites, “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” But we have more than they did. The Word of God has come to this earth in person. He has given Himself as the Passover Lamb. He has risen from the dead as the firstfruits of a new era. From heaven itself, our Lord gives us the Holy Spirit of God, and He dwells within us.

Jesus has defeated more fierce enemies for us than the formidable armies that Israel faced while they were preparing to take the land. He has conquered death for us. He is at work in our lives, though our ears may not hear an audible voice, and though our weak hearts may doubt whether anyone is listening when we pray. We need to trust our covenant Mediator. The One who died and rose again for us would not lead us astray. He is not messing with us. We belong to Him, and He is going to help us to follow in the ways of the covenant.

The covenant that we have with the Lord God is not the one that was made at Horeb, where Moses received the commandments. It is not the covenant that was renewed on the plains of Moab in the episode recorded for us in this chapter. We have the new covenant that God promised many years later in Jeremiah 31:31-34. He has put His law on our hearts. We know Him and He knows us. He has forgiven all our iniquities.

This new covenant was made through the death of Christ. We were not there on that day, but there can be no doubt that this new covenant was for us just as surely as the cross was for us.

Do not give up on the Lord today. Do not let a root of bitterness take hold in your life. Ask the Lord to take away your stubbornness of heart, and receive His generous forgiveness.

We are heirs of the promise given to Abraham, a promise that came before Moses was born. Our inclusion in that promise is based on the perfect obedience of the Son of God for us. His death has more than covered our debt. God is our Father. Jesus is our Lord. He took the curse of the covenant for us. We can walk in the free gift of eternal life today.

You can talk to God. He will hear you. You can hear His Word calling you out of despair. He is your God, and you are His chosen friend.

There are many questions that we do not have the answers to. The Lord knows. But there are some very important truths that have been revealed to us. Cling to them. You are a child of God. Trust Him again today.

Deuteronomy 28

What would Israel have been like if the people had listened to the voice of God through Moses? There would have been blessings everywhere in the land.

Imagine living there... Yet even the most scrupulous following of the Law by God's people could not have overturned the curse of death from Adam's sin.

Despite the looming fact of mortality, the nation of Israel would have experienced the Lord's blessings in ways that would have set them above all the other nations of the world. The Lord would have given them a marvelous life militarily, economically, demographically, agriculturally, environmentally, and spiritually.

Moses set these blessings before the people. They needed to obey the Lord's commandments and reject entirely the worship of other gods in order to experience these wonderful gifts.

But what did the Lord warn concerning their disobedience and idolatry? The land would be full of the Lord's curses. “The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.”

Sickness, drought, defeat, madness, blindness, and misery would be their portion rather than health and peace. All the horrors of life under an oppressive enemy and all the pains and scars of living in exile and slavery would be their portion.

These curses would not be the random result of chance, but the direct sanction of the Lord their God. Why? Because they had not served the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart.

Moses described to the conquest generation the horrors of living under an enemy siege with alarming detail even before they had set foot in the land. He told them that if they did not obey the voice of the Lord, they would be scattered among all the peoples of the world, and that they would serve gods of their own making and live in fear.

These words offered a stark contrast for the people of God. The way of obedience and true worship would have brought them the greatest blessings, but the rejection of the Lord and His Word would bring horror and degradation.

“When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of glory died,

my richest gain I count but loss,

and pour contempt on all my pride.”

What happened to the Lord on the cross? He took the curse that we deserved; not just the curse that was upon Israel for their disobedience and idolatry, but the curse that was upon creation and humanity because pf the sin of Adam and because of our own rebellion. He did this for us.

What happened to us as a result of that cross? All our sin was atoned for.

The curse of God against us was a many-headed beast from which we could never have escaped. Christ has destroyed that enemy. The curse can no longer have a hold on us.

We have not obeyed the Law of God, but Jesus has, and He did that for us. What has His righteousness won for us? In Him we have the fullness of every blessing of God in the perfect land of resurrection glory.

“Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were a present far too small;

love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Psalm 97

When the Apostle Paul began preaching about Christ and the resurrection to some of the philosophers in Athens, the reaction was not entirely positive. We are told in Acts 17:18 that some said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities.”

Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, but He was a Jewish Messiah who came not only to save Jews, but also Gentiles. Our God is the God of the whole world.

The Lord reigns over all the earth. That should not make the nations angry or envious. They should rejoice. They have not been excluded from the saving work of Almighty God. Wonderful!

The Lord is God of all the earth. In Psalm 97, we sing about His coming. He can make the mountains melt like wax before His presence.

When He returns, people will not have the strength to say, “He seems to be some sort of foreign deity.” The world will tremble before the presence of the Lord. But our trembling will give way to glorious joy.

Many people from many coastlands, from the shores of Israel, to the shores of New England, to the shores of Papua, will be exceedingly glad.

We do not have to wait until that great day to recognize that the Lord is God over all the earth. Since the moment that the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the heavens have declared His righteousness, and all the peoples of the earth have seen His glory. Already today, those who make their boast in idols should consider carefully that God is displayed in His own handiwork. All powers among men and angels should worship Him now.

But enough about far off nations and idols. What is troubling us so much today?

Whatever it is, it needs to melt away before the presence of the Lord. It is time for us to end our conversations with our own souls, one moment accusing ourselves again for old offenses, in the next moment excusing ourselves for the same sins based on old extenuating circumstances. We can talk to God now. We can hear His voice and be renewed by His majesty and love. We can thank Him for the cross.

The daughters of Judah can be glad today for the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can thank Him right now for what He has done. We can hear His promise to come again. We can rejoice that Christ has already taken away our judgment.

When our own souls worry that others are secretly judging us with old news, (our shame, our portion of the curse, our griefs, and our failures), we can remember again that Christ has carried all of this far away for us on the cross. Then we can laugh with heaven's laughter. Our God reigns.

By the power of the cross, we can hate evil in ourselves and others, and look for the fullness of divine deliverance. By the power of the cross, we can thank Him that He has preserved our lives to this day and that He has delivered us from so many troubles already. By the power of the cross, we can rejoice again that Light has been planted in our hearts, and we can rejoice in the Lord.

And we can laugh. We can laugh when we remember that the God of the Jews is not some foreign divinity. He is our Savior and our God.

Psalm 96

Not every day is bleak.

We are helped by the presence of the faithful around us. We hear their voices, see their faces, feel their presence, and we remember the love of the Almighty.

Perhaps we hear a new song of praise to God that we had not heard before. And we learn to sing that new song to the Lord. Perhaps we remember the Lord.

The Lord God is not only the God of Israel. He is the God of the whole earth. When He sent His Son to be a Suffering Servant for us, it was not enough for Him only to save the lost among the descendants of Jacob. His Father made Him a Light to the nations. Now people all over the world are worshiping God through Jesus, the Messiah.

All over the earth people sing to the God of the Jews. They bless His Name. They tell other people about His salvation. Not only can they speak about the way that the Lord rescued His people out of bondage in Egypt; they can tell the world about how they were rescued from sin and death through the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

When we are by ourselves, lost in our problems, stuck in the present moment, we forget. Even the mere anticipation of a brighter day and a more communal experience of worship with those who we love can change our disposition, and help us to remember the greatness and glory of God.

Maybe that is why we are told to set our mind on things that are above, where Christ is. There is a day coming when we will be together in the presence of the Lord. That day is happening already for all those who are with Him in the heavens. Even the contemplation of that fact can help us to participate in their joy now.

Idols are not being worshiped in heaven today. Demons are not receiving praise there. In heaven, the Lord is shining forth in the gory of His being. He is majestic and beautiful in the sanctuary of His chosen people.

Worship is not solitary confinement. It is an experience of community and openness; an openness that brings us beyond the limits of this vast present creation we call the universe.

Heaven calls out to the earth today. Heaven's inhabitants urge the nations on in the praise of the God of Israel.

Heaven knows all about Jesus Christ. After His resurrection He ascended on high. He reigns there as the true King over all. From that majestic height, He gives gifts to people.

Heaven will not stay in heaven forever. The Messiah is bringing heaven to earth. He will judge the peoples of the earth. He will establish His righteousness and justice in a renewed world.

Then we will know the fullness of worship. Then all the peoples will praise Him. Then the centuries of worshipers will be together in perfect community. Even the seas, the fields, and all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.

Don't be alone today, even if you are on a sickbed. Reach out through Jesus to heaven and then back again to the new heavens and earth. Glorify the Lord together with all His people.

Psalm 95

God did not sleep last night. He was not cynical or depressed this morning. He does not have anything unanticipated that He really needs to learn today. His love for His people and His control over everything He has created are perfect again this morning. We should turn to Him. It would be right for us to forget ourselves for a moment, and find ourselves again in the wonder of Him. We should all worship the Lord.

He is worthy of our heartfelt praise. It is only sane, if we believe in the God who is, the God who alone deserves the title I-AM, the God who is the Creator, the God who redeemed us through His eternal Son taking on our flesh and dying for our sins... it is only sane, if we believe in the true and living God, that we should worship Him.

This great God has saved us. He is coming again with the fullness of salvation. Even right now, He is saving and keeping us. God knows us. He loves us. We should thank Him for His many blessings.

There is a heavenly host of powerful angelic beings, but the Lord is far above them all. There are many powerful rulers throughout the nations of the earth, but they cannot compare with the Almighty One. He is the King over every power among men and angels. Nothing can be a god over Him.

If we go up to the highest mountain and are able to make it to the top, He is God there. If we were able to travel to the bottom of the deepest ocean, at that lowest point, the Lord is God.

To think that He counts us as His treasured possession... Why would He bother with us? But He does love us. He is the Good Shepherd. He laid down His life for His sheep. We are still His chosen flock today. He has promised to stay with us, to keep us, and to feed us.

What is outrageously shocking is that we would harden our hearts toward Him.

Today if you hear His voice, you should receive His Word with a full heart of devotion, and you should love and obey Him.

His voice goes out all over the earth. It is present in all that He has created. He created you. His voice is in you. He made your body and your mind. He gave you a soul, a heart, a will, and a conscience.

He also spoke by His Holy Spirit through the prophets. He caused His Word to be written down, copied, and preserved through many centuries. Even this psalm is a part of His Word, so He is speaking a word to you as you read this ancient song.

In His written Word, He tells us about His people Israel as they were led through the wilderness. He warns us that they would not hear His voice, but hardened their hearts. An entire generation would not listen to Him, though they had seen His signs and wonders.

These were our forefathers in the faith, the people of the Lord, but in their time of distress and testing, they would not follow the Lord. This psalm says that the Lord loathed them for forty years. How is that possible? We know that they died in the wilderness. They were not permitted to enter the Promised Land. Where are they now?

Even Moses himself was one of them. Even he was not allowed to enter Canaan. He went to heaven instead.

How is it that someone who was denied entrance into the land of rest on earth would be received into the land of rest in heaven? It could only be because of Jesus.

Moses came back to earth at the transfiguration of Jesus. He and Elijah spoke to the Lord about His coming departure. That departure would take place in an awful death. A perfect atoning sacrifice would be offered for the Lord's sheep. That was how Moses was saved. That was also how you and I were saved. The just wrath of God was taken for us by His beloved Son, Jesus.

We should worship the Lord today.

We should hear His voice and follow Him. That is the only way that we can grow in the knowledge of the One who made us and saved us.

Psalm 94

 “Vengeance is Mine,” says the Lord.

Understanding the Creator/creature distinction is a key to clear thinking about God, humanity, and life. Proud oppressors that pursue and kill the weak have to answer to God. Civil governments are supposed to be God's agents on earth for good. But what can be done when those powers become agents of evil and abuse?

We can cry out to the God of vengeance to step in and help us. This does not prohibit a Stephen from praying at his death, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Others might have said words that were more like the start of Psalm 94, “O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!” The Lord of justice and mercy is able to sort this out. We cry out to Him rather than assuming that the only justice and mercy in this world will come from us. Sometimes we may not even know what to say. God knows.

The Lord will judge the wicked. This psalm urges godless oppressors to give up on their foolish belief that God does not see or understand what they are doing when they murder the innocent. They have taken to themselves God-like powers. If they choose to kill, they kill. They imagine that they give life and take it away. They imagine that they are wiser and stronger than God. But they are “a breath.”

The righteous are different than the wicked.

We know that there is no one righteous before God, and that we cannot approach God without the mercy that has come to us through the merit of our Redeemer. But the Lord who saves us is able to change us. He has turned our arrogant rejection of Him into a humble receiving of Him. That new humility toward God produces fruit. Those who are righteous in Jesus Christ are actually different then the wicked.

Who are the wicked? Some who reject God oppress the weak without any shame. They do not believe that God will judge. Others who cannot imagine that they would ever abuse anyone refuse to concede that there is a distinction between good and evil. A third group believes that they are on God's side and that they are serving Him best when they stand against His loved ones who cry out to Him day and night. A forth group is complacent in the face of all evil, refusing to take action among men or to cry out to God for help for those who are being persecuted. All of them will have to stand before the King of the Ages.

Our only plea on that day will be Jesus.

Until the final judgment comes, the Lord will guide His people in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. He will discipline them in love and teach them the way to go. He will hear our requests for forgiveness and He will have mercy. He will save those who call upon His Name, but He will also judge the wicked.

Even if everyone abandons the righteous person, God will be with him. Even when Jesus was atoning for our sin as our sin offering, God heard His cries and answered His prayers.

It is hard for us to understand the mystery of the cross – the perfectly righteous One dying in the place of the many who would be counted righteous in Him. Did the Lord bring vengeance upon Jesus that we deserved? Did He ever hate His Son? How can we speak that way? But whatever else can be said, we know that the Father heard the cries of His Son and answered. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the fullness of divine vindication for the Man who knew no sin.

Now we who are in Christ find that in the day of distress, consolations come to us from the Almighty. God is our stronghold. He is our Rock of Refuge.

He will judge the wicked who oppress us. What can we say about that? A day of judgment is actually coming. After all, He is God. The only safe place for anyone is to be found in Jesus.

Deuteronomy 27

By the time that the Lord inspired Moses to preach these messages to Israel, the nation had been traveling through the wilderness for forty years. One period of their life was about to end. Another was beginning. Would they seek the Lord and follow Him in the land that He was giving to them?

These words that Moses proclaimed were to be carved in stone, “all the words of this Law.” On the very place where the Law was written, on a plastered altar of uncut stone, animals would be killed. In this celebration of a blood-bought peace offering, the just demands of God's Law would touch the mercy of God flowing from the blood of the sacrifice.

What followed was a solemn ceremony marking the sanctions of the Law, with six tribes standing on one mountain for the blessing and six tribes standing on another for the curse. The Levites would pronounce from their place on one mountain twelve specific curses of God for disobedience, and the tribes would reply together, “Amen!”

The sanctions for disobedience were not the civil punishments that allowed for penalties that were lesser or greater to fit the offense. They were all the ultimate curse by God for disobedience to His commandments. “Cursed be the man...” or “Cursed be anyone...” twelve times.

The man who made an idol like Aaron had in the wilderness was cursed by God. By this point Aaron had died. Was he cursed? What about those who kept their idolatry private, confined to their secret thoughts? Would they be safe?

The person who dishonored his mother or father was cursed by God. How much dishonoring was God talking about? What about the thoughts and actions that were unknown to the community but known by God? What about the justifications that people use to explain away what they did when they were young and foolish. Would those count for anything?

The one who took some of his neighbor's land by moving a landmark, or who took advantage of a blind person, or denied justice to the weak in the community, that person was cursed by God. What if you recognized your error years later and said that you were sorry? Would the curse be lifted?

Four kinds of sexual sins were specifically mentioned. The ones who did these things were cursed by God. No exception was given.

Two types of murderous action were next. Cursed.

Then these final words, the twelfth curse, that should have answered every question that Israel could have asked in any attempt to evade the justice of God by excuses. “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.”

Every curse was to be heard by the congregation and affirmed by a resounding “Amen!” There could be no claim that Israel did not know the seriousness of the Law. This conquest generation had seen what had happened to those who died in the wilderness. Now they had heard the words that could only confirm their own desperate condition.

How could there be blessing for anyone who had not perfectly obeyed the Law? The specific answer to this question was covered in some measure of mystery for Israel at that hour. But the seriousness of the Law was fully revealed.

It would only be through the blood-bought mercy of God that there could be any hope for any of them or for any of us. The only honest way to rejoice on a day like this would be by faith in a law-keeping Substitute who would give His blood for His people.

We live after the death of the Jewish Messiah. For us, the answer to our need for grace need not be unknown.

The Law-Keeper has come, and He has made peace with God for us through His death, His resurrection life and His Holy Spirit have brought us a new and living hope, He is the only credible answer to the tremendous danger of the justice of God. We have been rescued from the curse of the Almighty.