Deuteronomy 29:21

Talking about a person who turns away from God, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:21, “And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:” Notice the last phrase: “all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law.” There are a lot of curses in the law. They are listed very clearly in the book of Deuteronomy. The New Testament has no curses, except for the curse that fell on Jesus. Do not forget the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is the difference between law and grace. It says in John 1:17, “For the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:22-24, “So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;[23] And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:[24] Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?” When God’s judgment comes, it is going to be very obvious because God is very thorough, and when He does something like that, He wants people to know what He has done and why He has done it. The example that is used here is that of Sodom and Gomorrah. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah 4000 years ago, and yet the fame of that destruction is still well-known. God gives, and then the Lord takes away that which He has given, if and when He so chooses. One of the reasons that He takes away that which He has given is because this life is temporary as well as everything in it. Another reason that God takes away that which He has given is because it is time for judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly destroyed for this reason. The Canaanites lost their land to the Israelites because of God’s judgment. And Israel itself was also eventually conquered and the people taken into captivity to Babylon because God’s holiness required Him to bring judgment upon Israel. It is not like they were not warned. God warned them over and over again just like here in Deuteronomy chapter 29 because God did not want them to be judged. But He will faithfully perform the duties of Judge, if He must. It says in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement.” It appears as though the judgments that God brings upon the earth symbolize the final judgment that each person will endure in the presence of God when eternal destinies are pronounced. For those who have Jesus as Savior, heaven will be their final abode. For those who have rejected Jesus, hell will be their final abode.

Notice the last question that is asked in Deuteronomy 29:24, “what meaneth the heat of this great anger?” Why did God get so angry with the children of Israel? We can also ask, why does God get so angry with anyone? First of all, we must point out that God is slow to anger. When He does get angry, it is well past the point when He should have gotten angry. In the case of nations God waits hundreds of years before acting upon His anger. Why does God get angry? He gets angry because He is holy and we are sinful. He gets angry because He has done so much for us, and then to think that someone did not appreciate Him. God sent His Son to die for us, and then someone does not appreciate such a sacrifice. God makes a personal invitation to someone to trust in Christ and be saved from their sins, and that person rejects God’s invitation. The whole world lies in wickedness. The heart of man is evil, desperately wicked, and deceitful. God has a lot to be angry about. God’s anger is yet to be revealed in its greatest manifestation. It says in Revelation 6:16-17 that the people of the earth will one day cry out, “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:[17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” That will happen during the Great Tribulation, the last seven year period that the earth goes through before the Second Coming of the Lord. And then when Jesus does come back, we are told in Revelation 19:15, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:25-28, “Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:[26] For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:[27] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:[28] And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.” God warned the Israelites that if they turned away from Him, that the “curses” would come upon them. Those were the curses of the law. Anyone under the law was always in danger of the curses. Is it not wonderful that because of Jesus we are not under law but under grace? We know what the curses of the Old Testament were, but what are the curses of the New Testament? Do you know those curses? Here is the wonderful truth: there is no curse possible for a believer in Christ. Instead of a curse, there is a blessing for every believer. The reason for that is because the “curse” fell upon Christ when He died on the cross. It says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

Back in Deuteronomy chapter 29 where we are on the subject of why God eventually punished the Israelites the way that He did, no matter how we try to explain it, there are always certain things that we do not understand. Why did God do what He did? Why does God allow some of the things that He allows? The answer is this: we do not know and we will not know many things on this side of glory. It says in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” The great eternal Being, whose name is Jesus Christ, also is called Jehovah our God in this verse, has infinite knowledge. God also has His own reasons for doing things that we do not know. God knows, but we do not know. That is one of the differences between an infinite God and very limited human beings. “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord.” The Holy Spirit tells us through the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians 13:9-12, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.[10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

In spite of all the things that we do not know, God has revealed to us many things that He wants us to know about Himself, about Jesus our Savior, about how He wants us to live in this world, and many events about the future. The things that God has revealed to us are in His Word. That is one of the reasons that it is important to have a life-long study of the Bible. The things that God has revealed are in the Bible and no place else. They are not in your imagination, nor you dreams, nor other books. The things that God has revealed are in the Bible. Some people waste a lot of time asking questions for which there is no answer. Only God knows the answer to some things. But what people should be asking are the questions that can be known, such as, how do I get to heaven?

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30:1-3, “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,[2] And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;[3] That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.” Of course, God always thinks about the future as well as the present. God knew that the children of Israel would turn away from Him. God knew that He would have to punish them and scatter them throughout the world. But God also knew that He would make things come out just right. He would fix it. Eventually the Jews will want the Lord again, and they will recognize that Jesus is their Savior. The pain will end in joy. Zechariah 12:10-11 is a tremendous verse about the future of Israel and it says, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.[11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” God has worked with Israel for centuries, and He is still working on them. The day will come when they will finally be at the point when the whole nation of Israel will turn to Jesus. That day will be when the Battle of Armageddon takes place. What God is doing with Israel on a national level to get them ready for Jesus, God is also doing in the lives of individuals every day. God is trying to wake people up to their need of Christ the Savior.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30:4-5, “If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:[5] And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.” God decides what happens to people and to nations. He knows the future. God knew that He would scatter the Israelites across the globe because of their sins. But God also knew that one day He would gather them back to the Promised-Land. In my view that regathering has not happened yet because many more Jews still live outside of Israel than live in Israel. Although, we should say that the current nation of Israel does show that God is more than able to gather them back whenever He wants. Just think of this wonder: the Jewish people were initially scattered when Babylon captured them ion 586 BC. Then there was a partial regathering seventy years later when some of the Jews returned to Israel and rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple. And then after the Romans destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D., there was no Jewish state all the way until 1948. How miraculous it was that God preserved and retained the Jewish people, and the Jewish language, and the Jewish religion through all those centuries even though they had no nation to call their own. How was such a preservation possible? It was possible because it was the will of God.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30:6, “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” What kind of problem did the children of Israel have? They had a heart problem: what we also call a spiritual problem. What is the heart problem all about? It is about what you love and what you do not love. God loves us: that is clear. Jesus loves us: we sing about it all the time, starting with the great song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so.” Circumcision was the cutting away of the filth of the flesh. The “flesh” symbolizes human self-will and selfishness which is the essence of sin. When you believe in Jesus you must turn from yourself and from your sin. Of course, this states that people need to love God “with all thine heart and with all thy soul,” Jesus called this the greatest commandment of all the commandments. The result of giving your heart to Jesus is “that thou mayest live.” This is talking about spiritual life. Without spiritual life you have only spiritual death. Jesus called Himself “the way, the truth, and the life.”

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