The Bible says in Deuteronomy
31:10-13, And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven
years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,[11]
When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he
shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.[12]
Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that
is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the
LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:[13] And that
their children, which have not known any thing, may
hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land
whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. God gave His Word
through Moses: the first five books of the Bible. And then God made it clear
that He wanted every single person to hear the Word of God. Anyone that they
could get, God wanted them to gather to hear the Word of God. That is the same
teaching that Jesus gave. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That is one of the reasons to go to a church service: to
hear the preaching of the Word of God.
Notice carefully, that not only were
the Israelites told to get everyone together to hear the Word of God, but they
were also told to get the stranger to come hear the Word. The strangers were
the people who were not Jews, but were from other countries and were visiting
the land of Israel. Gods truth is for all people of the world, and it always
has been. One of the purposes of God for the nation of Israel was that the
gospel would be spread from Israel to other peoples and nations in the world.
The same thing is true about Christians today. If you know Jesus as Savior, God
does not want you to enjoy your salvation and then keep it to yourself. He
wants you to do your part in spreading the gospel. That is why Jesus said in
Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And Jesus said
in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
God said that the children should hear
the Word of God also. Jesus wants the children to hear the gospel. Jesus said
in Mark 10:14, But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto
them, Suffer the little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Christian parents have one supreme responsibility: teach their children the
truth about Jesus and the Bible. This is stated in Ephesians 6:4, And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the modern world the public school system has fallen
apart ethically and spiritually. Often the private schools are not much better,
and they are expensive. Home schooling is the best option for some, but it
requires an adult to spend large amounts of time that some do not have. And so one of the greatest challenges of our times is how can
Christian parents provide the best education for their children that includes
learning about Jesus and learning the Word of God?
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 31:14, And the LORD
said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call
Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I
may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in
the tabernacle of the congregation. Moses was about to
die. His time on earth was coming to an end. That will happen to all of us,
unless Jesus returns first and we are part of the rapture(uplifting) of the
church. It says in Hebrews 9:27, And as it
is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment: And once a
person is aware of his or her own mortality, the question becomes: where will
you go after you die? There are only two places: heaven and hell. There are
many ways to hell, but only one way to heaven: through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. A wise person will turn to the Lord Jesus Christ so that their eternal
destiny will be safe.
Moses was about to die, but the work
of God was not finished. But there is no such thing as an indispensable person.
Anyone can be replaced. It is an honor and a great privilege to have something
to do for Christ. That privilege can be taken away, so make sure you stay close
to the Lord, so that your honor and opportunity will not be taken away until
death, as in the case of Moses. One of the terrible things that can happen to
Christians is that they become of no use to the Lord in this life due to their
unfaithfulness. God might decide to take you early if that is the case. That is
exactly the chastisement that is being talked about in First John 5:16-17, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall
ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a
sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.[17] All
unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
Moses served God all the way until the
day he died, but Moses had practical wisdom and wisdom from God. When Moses saw
the end coming, he knew there needed to be a replacement. Someone else would
take over and become the leader of the children of Israel. Moses simply said, call Joshua. Moses knew
who was qualified and who would make a good leader after Moses was gone.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
31:15-18, And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud:
and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.[16]
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and
this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of
the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my
covenant which I have made with them.[17] Then my anger shall be kindled
against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from
them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall
them; so that they will say in that day. Are not these evils come upon us,
because our God is not among us?[18] And I will surely hide my face in
that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are
turned unto other gods. In verse 16 when God told Moses that Moses was going to
die, God said, thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers. For believers death is the same as
going to sleep. It is a gentle word that emphasizes the fact that one of the
blessings of heaven will be the eternal rest. Learn to rest in Jesus and you
will have a little taste of heaven, because there you will fully rest in Him.
Death is also called sleep in the New Testament. It says in First Corinthians
11:30, For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep. And it says
in First Corinthians 15:51, Behold, I shew
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Death for a Christian is the same as going to sleep. Each
time that you go to sleep, when you wake up a new morning has dawned. If you
are a believer in Jesus, some day you will go to sleep for the last time, and
you will wake up to the most beautiful day you have ever seen: the eternal day
in heaven. There is no night there because Jesus is the Light of it.
God knew what would happen to the
nation of Israel. It was a sad result, and made even sadder because it could
have been different. God told Moses, this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the
gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will
forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. What
covenant did they break: the covenant of the law. Everyone who ever tried to
keep the law has broken it, except for Jesus. If you break the covenant of the
law, then a curse is upon you. It sure is a blessing to live under the new
covenant in the age in which we live. Trust in Jesus and receive all the blessings
as if you have kept the law. You have the righteousness of Christ accredited to
your account.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
31:19-21, Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the
children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for
me against the children of Israel.[20] For when I shall have brought
them into the land which I sware unto their fathers,
that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have
eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other
gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.[21] And it
shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this
song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out
of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about,
even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
Once again God tells the future of Israel. It was a terrible future because
they turned away from the Lord. Anyone who turns away from the Lord will have a
terrible future. It will not end well. God is the judge of the whole earth. God
judges every person and every nation. And we reap what we sow. There is another
spiritual principle at play here: the measure of your responsibility is the
measure of your opportunity. The greater the opportunity that God gives to you,
the more that He expects out of you. We see that in the book of Deuteronomy
right here where God sees the future of Israel, the nation that God Himself
created and so greatly blessed. It is a sad story of the failure of the human
race, replayed over and over in the lives of almost everyone born on this
earth. God gives opportunity and man fails. Then another generation comes
along, and God gives another opportunity and man fails again. God gives
opportunity to nations and the nations fail. Finally, at the end of this age,
all the world will fail God and will be turned from the truth. All of this
turning away from God always ends the same way: in destruction and judgment.
God wants to save people from the destruction and judgment. That is why Jesus
came to die for the sins of the world: so that by having a personal Savior,
judgment could be avoided. What a wonderful God we have to provide such a
gracious and merciful plan of salvation so that everyone in the world could be
saved if only everyone would choose to turn to Jesus and trust in Him.
Notice what God did for the Israelites
in verse 20, and then notice what the Israelites did in response. God said, For when I
shall have brought them into the land which I sware
unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey
God brought
them into the promised-land. God performed many miracles and blessings over the
period of many years. He delivered them from Egypt. He preserved them in the
wilderness. He gave them the law. He gave them a mighty prophet to be their
leader: Moses. And God always kept His promises. Since Almighty God keeps His
promises, all that any believer needs to do is to find out what are the
promises of God, rely upon them, and sit back and watch the promises be
fulfilled.
One would think that with such a
wonderful beginning to their nation: with the miracles, and the promises, and
the victories, and the provision that God gave to them, that the Israelites
would be forever grateful to God and be forever faithful to Him. But no, that
is not what happened. They enjoyed the blessings, but they stopped being
grateful to the One that gave them the blessings. God said in verse 20, and they
shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto
other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. And then
they went to their destiny. If you want to know what happened to the Jews and
why, here is the answer. Learn from history. Learn from what really happens to
people and why. And then turn to the Lord Jesus instead of away from Him. Today
turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and in the confession of your
sins.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2016 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved