Deuteronomy 1

The book of Deuteronomy was a final sermon series by Moses to Israel as the people of God prepared to enter the promised land according to God's command. He began by reminding Israel about the failure of their parents to believe God and to take the land. That unbelief lead to the death of the Passover generation. Their children now listened to the words of Moses.

That failure of unbelief that led to forty years in the wilderness was first a failure of leadership. God had provided leaders to help Moses in bearing the burden of the congregation. But the men who had a duty to speak for God before the congregation had followed in the direction of fear rather than faith.

The unbelief was also a failure to speak the truth by the spies who were sent into the land. They combined the facts of the good land with unbelief rather than faith, and passed on a bad report to the people.

But in speaking to the conquest generation at the opening of Deuteronomy, Moses not only mentioned the leaders and the spies. He charged the present congregation, the children of the Passover generation, with the unbelief of their parents. “You would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.”

The congregation of the people of Israel was an entity chosen by God with continuity and community in His eyes that went beyond any one generation. There was guilt upon Israel because of the unbelief of the fathers at Horeb, and there were lessons for the people to learn as they prepared now to go where their fathers were unwilling to go.

The unbelief of the Passover generation had devastating consequences for Israel. None of them were able to enter except for Caleb and Joshua. Even Moses would not be allowed to go. This was the power of the discipline of God and the lesson of congregational unbelief and guilt. Unbelief brought mission failure, wandering, and death. Even when Israel heard the word of the Lord against them back in that day, and determined to change their mind and go into the land, it was too late. They only added to their rebellion and to the death of the people by trying to do what God had now prohibited. And the Passover generation wept.

The unbelief of Israel was a fact to be considered. Would the history of the covenant people be an endless repetition of this failure? Though there would be higher points and lower points in the life of the congregation over the centuries, the Lord would accomplish His own purposes.

We now see more clearly what was hidden in shadows when Moses spoke to the conquest generation. We see beyond the tears of Israel. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. See Romans 11:29. God's full plan for Israel would be accomplished through the gift of a Messiah.

The Messiah would trust and obey, and the true congregation would hear His voice and follow Him. Jesus would carry the sins and sorrows of His people as their divinely appointed Substitute. They would have more than Canaan. The meek would inherit the earth. They would gain the Kingdom as a gift won by the King who died for them on the cross.