Cleansing the land Deuteronomy 12

 Christ in all the scriptures

Cleansing the land   Deuteronomy 12v1-4 and 29-32

The land which Israel were about to occupy was steeped in idolatry, with its carved images, its depraved practices, and its brutal sacrifices.  The extent of their wickedness is stated in v31, "for every abomination to the Lord which He hateth. have they done unto their gods, for even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods"  (refer Deuteronomy 18v9-12).  Israel were to eradicate every vestige of idolatrous practice within the boundaries of the promised land.  The instructions are clear and extensive:

"And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of their place (see also Numbers 33v52-53).

The call was to destroy the memory of a false religion which God hated, in order to cleanse the land for the true worship of His people.  God's attitude to idolatry is severe, and it is the same in the New Testament:

1st Corinthians 5v11  A church member who is an idolator is to be excommunicated.

1st Corinthians 6v10-11 No idolator shall inherit the kingdom of God.

1st Corinthians 10v14  True believers are to flee from idolatry.

1st Corinthians 10v19-20  The idol is nothing, but reveals the state of the heart, it is the worship of devils.

Ephesians 5v6  The wrath of God is upon the idolater for their willing disobedience.

Colossians 3v5  Covetousness is idolatry.  It is one of the members of our past life to be mortified.  Craving more than what the Lord has given us is to demean Him.  Give thanks for what you have.

1st John 5v21 The apostle John warns the people of God to keep themselves from idols.

Revelation 22v15  All idolaters will be banished to eternal loss of wellbeing.

Idolatry is the state of the heart alienated from God, leading to unrestrained abominations.  All idolaters will be banished from the presence of God, and all good withdrawn forever.

Idolatry is a serious sin for which God reserves singular judgment.  Whenever we read of "abomination" in scripture it usually has idolatry at its heart.  This is how God views this particular evil.

We normally think of it as devotion to, or worship of, graven images set up in public.  However, God spoke of "idols in the heart" in Ezekiel 14v3.  This can take many subtle forms and the warnings in scripture to flee from any vestige of it should be heeded.  This is because we are surrounded by it in many guises.  We live in a world steeped in idolatry, just as confronted Israel as they entered the land.   

Paul was stirred in spirit as he saw the city of Athens "wholly given to idolatry"-Acts 17v16. How many cities today are just like Athens?  For them it was the worship of philosophy, novel imaginations, devotions to different religions, anything, really, apart from the true God.  

Idolatry is the worship of anyone or anything lesser than God.

God is greater than all, He is supreme in all heaven and earth, and He will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 42v8).  Paul says as much to the Corinthian church: in chapter 8v4-6 he writes, "...we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.  For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there are gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by Him...".  The supreme majesty of heaven is greater, higher, and more powerful than all, and He seeks our devotion.  We are "complete in Him, who is the head of every principality and power" (Colossians 2v10).  In Him, we have everything, He knows our needs and He supplies them (Matthew 6v32/33).  From the throne He sends His angels to minister to us, the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1v14).  There is no need to seek anything or anyone else; if we are in Him we have everything!

So hear the word from the man who died for us, and is taking us to glory: don't give your devotion to lesser things than Himself.  Understand that we live in a world occupied with less noble heart devotions than God.  He says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.....covetousness which is idolatry"-Colossians 3v5.  "Henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind"-Ephesians 4v17.

Materialism, wealth, possessions, status, can all be forms of idolatry.  Why worship another human being, when you can worship the God who made all human beings?  The great artists of the world, the singers the sports people, the craftsmen, the artisans, all owe their talents to the God who gives them all. 

When John the apostle was filled with the visions of heaven, so awesome was the sight of the angel he wanted to pay homage to him.  What did the angel say?  "See thou do it not...worship God!"-Revelation 22v9.  The angel who lived in the presence of God knew there is none higher, in whose majestic presence he was as nothing.  Even Satan knows there is no one higher than God, when he uttered his ultimate impossible ambition..."I will be like the Most High"-Isaiah 14v14.  Instead he was brought down to hell as will all idolaters.

Paul the apostle, who suffered the loss of all things for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ his Lord, wrote, "I have coveted no man's silver or gold, or apparel"-Acts 20v33

  

Obedience

 Christ in all the scriptures

 Simple obedience   Deuteronomy 10-11

It was simple disobedience that brought down the human race in alienation to God.  It is simple obedience that brings restoration.  We are dependent on the obedience of Christ on our behalf for fellowship with God. as it says in Romans 5v19, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made (constituted) sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made (constituted) righteous".  For our well being we are required to follow Him in simple obedience, and this is the message of these two chapters.  Romans 8v1-4 emphasises that our deliverance in Christ was to change both our standing and our state before God.  We are saved that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit".   

Note the continuous repetition: 

"Serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good"-Deut 10v12-13

"Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and His judgments, and His commandments, always"-Deut. 11v1

"Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go on and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it"-Deut. 11v8

"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day...that I will give you..."-Deut. 11v13

"For if ye will diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them..."-Deut. 11v22

"Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known"-Deut.  11v26-28

"And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day"-Deut. 11v32

Israel are commanded to obey the Lord in all things.  The Church of Christ is to obey the Lord in all things-this is the burden of these chapters.  The clarion call is to obey Him!

The great commission: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you"-Matthew 28v20

Our personal lives  "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance"-1st Peter 1v14

In our thinking  "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"-2nd Corinthians 10v5

In our church practices  "If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord"-1st Corinthians 14v37

As proof of our devotion  "If ye love me keep my commandments"-John 14v15.

Our faith itself is obedience (Romans 1v5 and 16v26).  That is how we begin the Christian pathway, and that is how we should continue,  The prevalent notion, in some places, that we are no longer obligated to Divine law is totally false and God requires and expects our obedience. 

The supreme example, as always is Christ, of Him it is written: "Though He were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered"-Hebrews 5v8.  The extent of this suffering is revealed in Philippians 2v8 "...became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross".

To obey Him, according to Deuteronomy 10v12 is to fear Him, to walk in all His ways, to love and serve Him with all our heart and soul, and to keep His statutes and judgments.

The chapters develop along this theme: 

Obey Him because of who He is   Deuteronomy 10v12-22

He is Creator of heavens and earth and all within them (10v14).  He is Supreme, God of gods, Lord of lords (10v17).  He is worthy of praise, who has done great things for us (10v21).

Obey Him because of what He has done   Deuteronomy 11v1-7

Five times over the verses record "what He did"-11v3 (brought the plagues upon Egypt, and negated the power of the Pharoah), v4 (caused the might of Egypt's army to perish), v5 (fed and clothed the nation in a wilderness for 40 years), v6 (crushed the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, co-conspirators with Korah by opening the ground to swallow them and their households and possessions), v7 (All the people were witness to all these great acts).  

Obey Him for the bounty of His rewards  Deuteronomy 11v8-21

The section is all about the land God has provided for them.  He refers to "the land" multiple times-v8, v9, v10, v11, v12, v14, v17, v21, v25.  It is a good land; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land of hills and valleys and watered from heaven; a fruitful land; a land where you will be safe from enemies.  God's bountiful supply is greater than all the world can give.

As the prophet Samuel said, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams"-1st Samuel 15v22.  This is what God wants, this is what we must learn.

What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?

 Christ in all the scriptures

And now O Israel...   Deuteronomy 10v12-13

"And now O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?"

The narrative turns: until now the dominant theme has been what the Lord has done for them.  Now the challenge is for what Israel will do for the Lord.  "What does the Lord thy God require of thee....? is the question that may apply to all those of faith in every generation.

Consider what He has done for them:  

He prospered a family of seventy souls, and formed them into formidable nation, as the last verse of the chapter says, "The Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude"-Deut. 10v22.  This despite the fact they were subjected to slavery in Egypt for over 400 years!

He redeemed them through the Paschal lamb (symbolic of Christ), and delivered them from the thraldom of Egypt, the most powerful dynasty in existence at that time.

He fed them and tended them in a wilderness for 40 years, even in the face of their rebellious ways.

He empowered them to overcome enemies who stood in their way.

He brought them to the border of the promised land the most fruitful and blessed land of all.

This is what God has done for them, and now they are asked to give a little in return.  We might ask ourselves today to "count our blessings, name them one by one" as the little chorus says: were we to do that no doubt it would take up more space than is available here.  There is an old English word (cad) to describe an individual who takes all the benefits people give them, but never give anything back!  We don't want to become spiritual cads, do we??

He answers the question with five short, sharp, commands, in sequential order:

Fear Him...Walk in all His ways...Love Him...Serve Him with all your heart and soul...Keep His commandments.  We can look at each one, but first to see the sequence.  To fear Him is to walk in all His ways.  We walk in His ways to show we love Him (He is our life model).  We serve (worship) Him because we love Him.  We keep His commandments for we are His servants and He is our master.

It's all about Him; about how we revere Him, copy His ways, do it gladly because we love Him, subject ourselves as His servants, stay loyal by keeping His commandments.  This would be a fitting response to the Lord who has given us His all.  Before we look at these individually, we focus on the phrase at the end of verse 13..."FOR THY GOOD".  Apart from the obvious obligation to return devotion to such an one, observing these five commands will be for our good.  We all love and cherish ourselves, don't we? then if we really do love ourselves we will keep His commandments for which He will grant us special blessing.  The word "good" in the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament is an interesting word in scripture usage.  It is variously interpreted as "noble", "excellent", "prosperous|", "well", "pleasant", "agreeable", "merry", "fair", "beautiful", "becoming".  Who would not want their life described as such? This is what simple obedience and reverence to God brings.  Let scripture speak for itself....

Deuteronomy 6v18, "And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee...".

Deuteronomy 6v24, "And the Lord our God commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always...".

Deuteronomy 12v2, "Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and thy children after thee for ever...".  If you love your children, walk before the Lord in their sight

Deuteronomy 19v13 "Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood in Israel, that it may go well with thee."  Even in the matter of severe discipline to honour Him by putting away sin from our midst.

The Lord is intent on the good of us all, and He has set out the terms of the way to this.  He will compensate for any earthly loss as a result.  The way forward is made plain...

"Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith....them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed"-1st Samuel 2v30.

He is thy praise and He is thy God

 Christ in all the scriptures

        "God of gods and Lord of lords"      Deuteronomy 10v17

A title similar to this is accorded to Christ in Revelation 19v16, "...a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."  Our God is to be revered above everyone that is called god or king or lord.  He is the first and the last, the alpha and omega of all, and He is to be that in our lives.  Our great God is returning to earth to set up His everlasting kingdom, and He will be universally honoured from that day.  He is all in all-1st Corinthians 15v28; ("...above all, and through all, and in you all"-Eph.4v6; "...of Him, and through Him, and to Him. are all things: to whom be glory for ever.  Amen"-Romans 11v36.  The expression means that God is utterly supreme in all things, everywhere, and at all times.  It is as such we are to honour Him.

The verse in Deuteronomy 10v17 ends like this: "A GREAT GOD, A MIGHTY, AND A TERRIBLE (awesome) which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward".  The extent of His majesty is stated in v14, "Behold the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is!" I recall the mockery of the late M. P. Anthony Wedgewood Benn, who, when told that God had given the land to Israel, said, "I was not aware that God is an estate agent".   Now he knows that He is creator and sustainer of all lands.

The chapter continues the grand theme of remembrance in the book (refer the ninefold command to remember: Deuteronomy 5v15; 7v18; 8v2; 9v7; 15v15; 16v3; 24v9; 25v17; 32v7.  The apostle Peter mirrors the book in his 2nd epistle, calling the saints to remember chapter 1v12, 13, 14 and 3v1-2.

Remember the wonder of the unbroken law preserved in the ark   Deut. 10v1-5

Two tablets of stone, written by the finger of God, the first of them broken because of the rebellion of the people.  God calls Moses to prepare an ark, return to the mount, where a second pair of tablets were written, and preserved unbroken within the ark.  These tablets of stone, were engraved by God to declare His terms for human reconciliation to Himself.  The ten commandments (by consultation with the whole law were headings, listing an enormous number of commands for life with God in their midst).  This represented God's minimum requirement for fellowship to be restored to human kind.  In the event the law was broken, and successive years yielded the same failure.  This resulted in the universal condemnation of all mankind, as detailed in Romans 3v10-12, "None righteous, no not one..." etc.  Only God has the answer...

"Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.  And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark"-Deut. 10v1-2.

The ark of God symbolises Christ and only in Him is the law fulfilled and the divine demands met, giving all of us the offer of salvation and restoration to God.  The unbroken law, set in stone by divine miracle, was preserved in Christ.  On that ark was the mercy seat, upon which God sat with the cherubim (minus their flaming swords) looking down in satisfaction at a perfect work.  This is no less than awesome, and compels us to wonder and give thanks with everything we have.  How could we ever forget??

This requires more attention:  one man, one man only, kept the law of God in all its detail.  Whether we think of the moral law, or the ceremonial law, or the civil law, He fulfilled it to the letter.  He said, "Think not (for this was what they were thinking) that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfil"-Matthew 5v17.  He continues, "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled"-Matthew 5v18.

Consider the meaning of this.  The jot is the Hebrew yod, or the Greek iota, the smallest letter in the alphabet.  The tittle is the inflection mark added for emphasis, such as the dot above i or j; or the circumflex or other marks above letters in foreign languages.  In both, we have the tiniest part of any writing.  What He is saying, is that the divine law of God is fulfilled in Him in the tiniest detail!  Not just the words but the fine detail.  This law which is the divine standard for all mankind was fully met in Him for all mankind.  Thus we can be reconciled to God, but only through Christ.  Not only so, but this wonderful reality transcends the existence of heaven and earth, and precludes the possibility of any change, indicated in the term "in no wise".  Nothing will alter it for time or eternity.

The hymn by Charitie Lees Bancroft of the late 1800's catches the theme; one stanza says

"Because the sinless Saviour died. my sinful soul is counted free                                              For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me!"

Thus God can be, and is, in the language of Romans 3v26-28, "...just and the justifier  of him which believeth in Jesus...Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without (apart from) the works of the law".

He foresaw the failure of every man to keep His law, and supplied the remedy in Christ.  Well may we take upon us the words of v21, "He is thy praise, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible (awesome) things, which thine eyes have seen".

Go in and possess the land

 Christ in all the scriptures

Go in and possess the land   Deuteronomy 9

As we continue our studies in Deuteronomy, I am reminded of the comments of Dr Henrietta Mears in her book "What the bible is all about".  She wrote:

"You will come to appreciate the full force and magnetic beauty of Deuteronomy only as you read its pages....Nothing in literature matches the majesty of its eloquence.  Nothing in the O/T has any more powerful appeal for the spiritual life.  No book in all the word of God pictures better the life that is lived according to God's will, and the blessings showered upon the soul who comes into the richness and fulness of spiritual living along the rugged pathway of simple obedience...If you want a taste of heaven on earth, become familiar with Deuteronomy".

It was from Deuteronomy Jesus cited three times to ward off the temptation of the devil.  In the extremity of His weakness, He triumphed, and dismissed the tempter, who had brought down the entire race,   He went by the Spirit into the wilderness, and He returned unscathed in the power of the Spirit to destroy the works of the devil.  His victory can be our victory as we resist the devil in our day.  It is from Deuteronomy there are more quotations in the N/T than from any other book (60 references and 44 direct quotations).  The importance of this book cannot be over emphasised.

"Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven"-Deut. 9v1

The day had come; Israel must occupy the good land the Lord had given them.  Faith in God is not for the fainthearted.  They faced an enemy much stronger and more powerful than themselves.

"...a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims (giants)  whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!"

All this finds its counterpart in Paul's letter to Ephesians.  We could consider chapters1-3 as "the land is before you"; chapters 4-6, "go in and possess it".  In chapter 6v12 the enemy, far greater than us, is declared, "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (heavenly) places".  We cannot of ourselves overcome, only in the strength of the Lord.  In chapter 1v21 of the same epistle we find that Christ is ascended to the highest place in the heavens, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and every name that is named, not only in this world but in that which is to come!"  It is in His strength alone we overcome, and so Paul writes, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might"-Ephesians 6v10.  Believers are facing many enemies in their journey of faith in this world.  Israel's enemies were human and visible, our enemies are spiritual and invisible.

Consider the language of the chapter:

"The Lord thy God...He shall bring them down before thy face...Deut. 9v3

"Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart...the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee..." Deut. 9v5

"Remember and forget not...ye have been rebellious against the Lord..." Deut. 9v7

"I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand"-Deut. 9v26

The message is clear:  Only in the Lord shall we progress and prevail: we will overcome not for any good in us, but for the grace of our God: we must ever remember our frailty and tendency to succumb to our fallen nature, and develop humility before our God (triumphalism, which is a perversion of true faith, and is ever present today, is not of God): we are dependent on One interceding for us on high just as Moses did for Israel.

Crossing Jordan does not symbolise death, as hymnology would often suggest; it is death to self, self-interest, and self reliance.  The land is not heaven, for in it there are conflicts, (there are none in heaven).  Rather the land speaks of heaven upon earth, the believer entering into the many blessings God has provided for spiritual life in the here and now.

Sooner, rather than later in our Christian life, we shall encounter conflicts which we never knew in natural life.  There is the enemy within, the old nature conflicting with the things of God (Galatians 5); there is the delusive world system, all around us, calling us to succumb to ungodly ways (1st John 2); there is the vast demonic spirit world above us, attempting to rob us of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 6 and 1st Peter 5v8).  These are very real and powerful forces against us.  Of ourselves we are incapable of resisting them.  They are the formidable enemies of the faithful.  In Christ alone we overcome, in spiritual terms we "possess the land".  We do this by humbly submitting to God, and allowing Him to strengthen us.   As the apostle James put it, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you"-James 4v6/7. 

Israel wandered 40 years outside of the blessings of the land.  How long have we been wandering rather than possessing and overcoming?  It is a very pertinent question for spiritual life today.

It is written

 Christ in all the scriptures

"Not by bread alone"  Deuteronomy 8v3

This chapter searches our innermost souls regarding our attitude to God and His word.  Jesus cited 8v3 in His own extremity of soul, during the temptation in the wilderness-Matthew 4v4; Luke 4v4.  

"It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"-Matthew 4v4.

Confronting the arch enemy of humanity, it was after 40 days of fasting, when His body was crying out for food, that He cited this principle, that He would not even satisfy His hunger if there was no word from God to do so.  Even Satan admitted He could have turned the stones of the desert into life-preserving bread, but He refused for it was the temptation of the devil.  His devotion to the word of the Lord was more important than His necessary food.  Like Job of old, who, when faced with life extremities, declared this to his critics, "I have esteemed His word more than my necessary food"-Job23v12.  In John 4v31-34, the disciples were worried Jesus hadn't eaten because He was so involved in the preaching.  His reply was, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of...my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work".  God's work was more important than His bodily food.  

This is not to minimise our need for food, and a healthy body requires regular feeding.  Think about it, we eat on average three meals a day; we work to earn money to buy it; we spend time and effort to prepare it; we sit down to eat it; we wash up afterwards, all this more than once every day!  So this is a major part of life, and we are here comparing that to our daily devotion to God and His word.  I think that brings it into focus.

The chapter begins with, "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do...".  At the very least we should say that God's word is to become a major part of our lives, not only to know it, but to put it into practice.  When we do, we find that it is most satisfying to the soul, and develops character within us.  Remember what is written?  "Man shall live...by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God".  He says "all the commandments"..."every word of the Lord"; not just the ones that suit us, but also the ones that make character building demands.  

The word and the words of the Lord are revelations of Himself.  Our attitude to His word is our attitude to Him.  By the word of the Lord the entire creation exists ("...by the word of the Lord the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water"-2nd Peter 3v5).  By the word of the Lord the universe subsists, (holds together)"...upholding all things by the word of His power"-Hebrews 1v3).   By His word the universe will pass away ("...heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away"-Matthew 24v35).  His word is powerful, His word is eternal, His word is dependable: why would we not give heed to all of it for our good.  This text goes to the very foundation of our beings, our true devotion to God, and Christ is the supreme example.  What He means to us can be measured by our loyalty to His word.  

Devotion is one thing, but the bible also declares the desirability of the word of God.  Devotion is a duty, but desire kindled enriches lives.

"Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a lamp unto my path"-Psalm 119v105.

"More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb"-Psalm 19v10.  What is more valuable than silver or gold; what is sweeter than honey??

"The word of God is quick (living), and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"-Hebrews 4v12.  His word has the ability, like nothing else, the power to transform lives from within, the power to change even me!

"Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces"-Jeremiah 23v29.  His word can reach the hardest heart.

"To this man will I look, saith the Lord, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word"-Isaiah 66v2.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple"-Psalm 19v7.

There is a balance to be found between our nourishment for the body, and feeding of the soul.  Material considerations are for the few years of life; soul transformation is for eternity Jesus put it beautifully in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6v33) "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things (material things) shall be added unto you".  Our priority must be for the things of God, rather than the things of self.  If we put Him and His word at the forefront of our lives, He will make sure that all material needs are supplied.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme example, He said in John 10v17-18, He described His life as a sacrifice of obedience to the Father, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power (authority) to lay it down, and I have power (authority) to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father".   Jesus was commanded by the Father to lay down His life, to yield to men who could have no power against Him.  He made the ultimate sacrifice in obedience to the Father; will we obey His word even if it means temporary loss?

Visiting iniquity and shewing mercy

 Christ in all the scriptures

Unmitigated wrath and unconditional love  Deuteronomy 7

There can be no greater contrast in the revelation of God, in one chapter, than the subject matter of Deuteronomy 7.  We have His condemnation of human sin, with its terminal judgment, and we have His boundless love toward the people of His possession.  This is the God of the bible, not the one created by human imagination, but the true God who exists, who will judge sin, but who will also forgive repentant sinners.  He created us, not the other way round, as many would seem to wish.  He stated His way in Exodus 20 to the nation He raised up to reveal Himself to the world..."visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments" (20v5-6).  Idolatry is an abomination to God, and the seven nations occupying the land given to Israel were steeped in idolatrous practices.  Centuries before, the God who knows the end from the beginning, decreed the judgment of the trespassing nations in His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15v18-21.  Following many years of sinful practice, during which God had suffered their ways, the time of retribution has arrived, and God will purge the promised land from rank evil.

We must pause here, a moment to reflect.  We live in a modern world which rejects or ignores the concept of Divine retribution, yet it is a reality.  The history of the world has proved it.  God will judge the world in righteousness; He brought the global flood on the world of the ungodly; He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, leaving no one untouched in its borders; He brought down a world power in Egypt by a mighty arm.  Divine retribution on evil is a reality, and the present world will know it in this generation or the next.  God is slow to wrath, but His judgment is certain, and rather than mock portions of the bible like this we should heed the warning.

The judgment was severe; they were to destroy the seven nations without mercy, 7v2 "thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them".  This is repeated in 7v16 and 7v24.  There was to be no communication with them, nor communion.  They were not to join in marriage to them, which would ultimately result in idolatry.  They were to deface all their idols, and remove all traces of idolatry ("destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire"(7v5).  These altars, on which they sacrificed their children to their imaginary gods, were an abomination to the Lord and all trace of them must be removed.   As far back as the grandson of Noah in Genesis 9, God had declared a curse on Canaan, and their immoral and idolatrous practices had not altered with the passage of time.  

In contrast, God set His love on Israel (7v6-11), just as He promised the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

"For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God;  the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people that are on the face of the earth".

He does this, because, as He says in v5, "for all the earth is mine".  In God's earth, God does as He pleases (refer Psalm 115v3 and Psalm 135v5-6).  It is utterly futile to oppose Him! 

Israel are an holy people, set apart for God, to walk in His ways.  A chosen people to be His special possession.  An exalted people above all other nations upon the face of the earth.  This promise that was repeated to the founding fathers, was applied to the nation in Exodus 19v4/5, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, than ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people".  It is because of their disobedience, they are not seen as such now, but all that will change when Christ returns and Israel will be the head of nations.  Nothing, and no one will prevent it, and all who oppose this, in any way, whether it be in protest, or in hostile action, are out of touch with what will be the eternal reality.

The chapter goes on to explain divine favour to this one nation, and this reveals to us the nature of God.  As much as He is belligerent against rebellion, He is benign towards the repentant, and enshrouds them in His love.  His love for any of us is inexplicable, and the reason for it is only found in Himself.

"The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers..."-7v7-8.

There was nothing about them that caused Him to chose them; the answer is found only in His beneficent self.  He loved them because He loved them, and this is always the truth.  This amazing fact is discussed by John the apostle in 1st John chapter 4.

God's love is an integral part of His essential being, twice over he declares that "God is love"-4v8, v16.

God is the source of all love-4v7, "...love is of God".  Any reciprocal love we have for Him is "because He first loved us"-4v19.

God's love was manifested in sending His only begotten into the world that we might live through Him"-4v9.  He demonstrated His love at infinite cost to Himself.

"I have loved you because I have loved you" resonates through the ages of time and reaches beyond Israel to the repentant people of all nations.  There is nothing loveable about us, He loves us because of who He is, a gracious, loving and merciful God.  The reality of this is awesome.  He is at all times the sin hating God who will banish rebels forever without mercy: at all times He is the loving, and merciful God, as the chapter before us records,

 "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him, and keep His commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face"-Deut.7v9-10.

Before this awesome God, terrible in His judgment, but beautiful in His love, we must bow for our well being, and that of our children.  This is the God of Israel, this is the true God, the only God, to whom be glory forever!