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We are
in Moses' third discourse. Let's pick up in chapter
29, and verse 10. He is speaking to the entire
nation, including the leaders, the men, women,
children, and the aliens who lived among us.
The Lord
wanted all of us to enter into a covenant with
us. This covenant that was mediated by Moses,
included laws, and also provisions for drawing
near to God by means of the Priesthood and the
Mishkan (the Tabernacle, later replaced by the
Temple) and the Sacrifices that the Holy One ordained.
The laws, Mishkan, Priesthood and the Sacrifices
form a "package deal" between God and Israel.
Our responsibility was to be faithful to God,
obedient to His laws, respectful of the Mishkan
and the Sacrifices.
If we
would, the Lord would be our God - He would show
Himself powerful and mighty and strong- so we
would be protected in this life; the Eternal One,
and the Source of life, so we could live with
Him forever; and we would be His people - He would
claim us as His own special treasure among all
the peoples of the world, and love us and treasure
us. He would bless us with great physical and
spiritual blessings. This is what the Lord swore
to do to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This covenant,
which the Lord reinforced with an oath, so that
Israel would be sure that God would not break
His end of the bargain, was not made just with
the generation that was then present, the generation
about to cross the Jordan, but also with subsequent
generations - with those who were not there that
day.
But, if
any man, woman, family or even a whole tribe were
unfaithful to the faithful God, and violated our
part of the covenant, by worshiping the detestable
images of other nations, and serving their false
gods, who could not help, save or bless; forsaking
the one true and living God, who alone is real
and good and able to help us, they could be compared
to a poisonous root or a bitter plant - something
to be rejected - not enjoyed.
And, if
anyone knowingly rejected the God of Israel, being
aware of the terrible curses that He promised
for disobedience, and dared boast to others that
all was well with him - ignoring that the God
of Israel was being gracious with him, and slow
to anger - that's why God's curses hadn't yet
come upon him, God would single him out for disaster,
and this exceedingly rebellious and evil person
would be exceedingly cursed, and his name blotted
out from under Heaven. He would die in this life,
and not enter into the eternal life in the World
To Come.
Moses
had already told us that both the blessing and
the curse would come upon Israel. In the future,
we would experience a time of faithfulness and
obedience and blessedness, but also a time of
disobedience, unfaithfulness and cursedness.
In the
future, when the Lord had sent His curses upon
us, not only our children, but also Gentiles from
other nations, would see a population decimated
by plagues and diseases, and a land destroyed,
almost like Sodom and Gomorrah, and many of the
Jewish people exiled to other lands, and they
would naturally ask, "why has the Lord done this
to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?"
Looking at the Holy People and the Holy Land in
ruins, they knew that the God of Israel had done
this, and that He was very angry. May I point
out that these pagans who lived many centuries
ago, had a superior world view, and a better understanding
of the way things really are, than many of those
who live in our day, with degrees from our schools
of higher education?
There
would be those who knew the answer to these questions:
Israel became spiritually lazy, and drifted away
from the Rock of our Salvation, abandoned this
extremely important covenant, worshiped other
gods. That's why these terrible things had happened
to us.
Chapter
29 concludes with this interesting phrase: "the
secret things belong to the Lord our God, but
the things revealed belong to us and to our sons
forever, that we may observe all the words of
this Torah - this Teaching, this Law." Charles
Ryrie teaches us that God chooses to keep some
things to Himself, but what He has revealed, is
the responsibility of His children to obey. And,
He has revealed all that we need to know to live
successfully in this life, and He has revealed
enough to find the way back to Him, so that we
can be reconciled to Him and live forever with
Him!
These
same principles apply to us under the New Covenant.
Messiah wants each one of His followers to alert,
filled with His Spirit, zealous, on fire, praying,
witnessing, carrying His cross, suffering, fulfilling
his responsibilities. The faithful servant, who
is doing everything that he has been commanded
and entrusted to do, will be blessed by his master.
But the servant who becomes unfaithful, lazy,
worldly, and nasty to his fellow servants, will
be cut in pieces; and after his death, sent to
a place with the hypocrites, full of weeping and
anger and regret.
The five
wise women who had oil in their lamps, and were
expecting and prepared for the coming of the groom,
were blessed, and celebrated the great wedding
feast with him. The five foolish women, who should
have been prepared to meet the groom, but became
sleepy and drowsy, and weren't prepared for the
groom, were rejected by him and missed out on
the joys of his wedding feast - an illustration
of missing out on the joys of Heaven.
Those
who were entrusted with various sums of money,
and used them wisely, were rewarded by their master.
But the wicked, lazy, worthless servant, who didn't
use the resources entrusted to him, had everything
taken from him, and was cast into outer darkness,
where there was sadness, anger and regret.
So let's
remain faithful the God and Messiah! Let's not
drift away from God, like Israel did, and experience
the Lord's displeasure!
Chapter
30 begins with an amazing prophecy. Both the bracha
- the blessing, and the k'lahlah - the curse will
come upon Israel in the days to come. Over the
next five hundred years the nation and people
were generally blessed. Oh, there were times under
when we abandoned the Lord, and God allowed our
enemies to conquer us, but then in our distress
we turned to Him once again. But in general, Israel
was blessed, and this time of blessing reach its
highpoint under the reigns of David and Solomon.
After
Solomon's death the nation was divided by civil
war. From the beginning, the Northern Kingdom
of Israel was very unfaithful to the Lord, and
experienced the full measure of the curse when
taken into captivity by the Assyrians around 722
BC. In the Southern Kingdom of Judah, there were
still times of blessing, under the good kings,
but also times of terrible unfaithfulness, under
the evil kings. Toward the end of the age of the
kings the Kingdom of Judah became wicked, disobedient,
lawless, and God sent the curse. The Babylonians
invaded, killed many, destroyed the Temple, ending
the sacrifices that enabled us to draw close to
God, and carried away thousands into exile and
captivity.
The Lord
was merciful, and after 70 years He allowed the
captivity to come to end. Many Jewish people returned
to Israel, and we rebuilt the Temple and Jerusalem.
The next five hundred years were generally good
ones, although there were difficult times, like
the terrible persecutions that befell us in the
time of the Maccabees.
Then,
the most significant, the most amazing and exiting
thing happened. In His desire to bless us, God
sent, not just another prophet, but sent His Son
- who is Immanuel - God with us in human form.
The Long anticipated Messiah, the anointed Ruler
and Savior of Israel came from Heaven to Earth,
bringing us good news, offering us entrance into
the Kingdom of Heaven, offering us blessing and
help and deliverance and knowledge and salvation,
light and wisdom and understanding, peace and
happiness.
But the
majority of the people and the leaders were far
from God. Spiritually, we were like a desert.
We had eyes, but couldn't see the amazing things
happening right in front of us, ears, but couldn't
hear and understand the glorious truths being
said to us. And so, we rejected the Messiah, Immanuel,
the Prince of Life, the Savior, and thereby broke
our covenant with God, and turned away from Him.
The Lord,
being gracious, gave us an additional 40 years
of testing, sending us apostles and prophets who
did mighty works of power, demonstrating that
Yeshua whom they served was indeed Israel's true
Messiah. Some believed, but most did not. At the
end of 40 years came the curse - as God had promised.
The Romans
once again destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple,
killed hundreds of thousands, sold many into a
life of slavery. Many were exiled to the nations,
where we have suffered anti-Semitic persecutions,
the confiscation of our property and wealth, banishment
crusades, pogroms, holocaust, for almost 2,000
years.
Almost
5.5 million of us are now back in our ancient
homeland, but we have had to fight war after war
with an implacable enemy, intent on destroying
us, who greatly outnumber us, rich with oil wealth;
we face demonically inspired enemies who infiltrate
our cities, our cafes, our restaurants, our buses,
to commit mass murder. Anti-Semitism is growing
around the world, and the majority of the nations
of the world have no love for us, and show little
support for us.
We have
been without a Temple, and without the sacrifices
that help us draw near to God, not for 70 years,
but for 1933 years, more than 27 times as long
as the Babylonian Captivity. We have rejected
the salvation and atonement Messiah offers. Rather
than approach God His way, the majority have created
a Judaism, not based on the truest principles
of the Torah, but on man-made teachings. The true
believers in Israel, the Messianic Jews, are persecuted
and isolated and treated with contempt by the
majority. I tell you that we are still very much
under God's curse! Truly, as a people, we have
experienced the blessing, and the curse, just
as the Lord told us we would!
Moses
continues this amazing prophecy by telling us
that after we had experienced the blessing, and
were still experiencing the curse, and while we
were banished to the nations, if we turned once
again in genuine faith to the Lord, our gracious
God, and obeyed Him with all our heart and soul,
the Lord would end our captivity, and enable us
to return to the Land of Israel. It doesn't matter
how far from Israel the nation we are in is; the
Lord would be compassionate and bring us back
from there to the Land of our ancestors, since
He intends that this Holy Land be the land of
the physical descendants of the ancient Jewish
people - that it be our land as well.
And, even
though the Lord allowed us to be persecuted among
the nations, He will punish those same nations
that persecuted us! You see, the Lord used their
anti-Semitism and their hatred for us to judge
us. But even though they were serving God's purposes,
their motives were not pure, and what they did
was wrong, and so they will be punished in their
turn.
And, when
we are fully restored to the Land of Israel, and
fully restored to the God of Israel, and doing
His commands, and fulfilling His will, the Lord
will be very happy with us, and we will once again
experience the blessing - great physical and material
prosperity.
Where
are we in this prophetic history of blessing,
cursing, and blessing? We've experienced the blessing
- long ago. We've been experiencing the cursing
for almost 2,000 years. We are experiencing the
initial returnings of the Jewish people to our
ancient Land, and a small minority of us are turning
to the Lord. I believe that the reestablishment
of the State of Israel, and the growth of the
Messianic Jewish movement is the beginning of
the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy, given
by Moses. I believe that we will see more and
more Jewish people turn to Messiah, along with
persecution, and pressure on the State of Israel,
until Yeshua's Return, when all Israel turns to
Him, and acknowledges that He is indeed our Messiah
that God sent. We will enter into the New Covenant,
and then we, and the whole world, will experience
God's blessing. What a great time that will be!
"Understand,"
Moses says, "that the things that the Lord is
requiring you to do - His commands, are not too
difficult for you to do. They're doable! What
God is requiring from you is within your reach.
No one has to ascend to Heaven to get God's commands.
No one has to undertake a dangerous journey across
the ocean to get them. They're right here - conveniently
written down in a book for all to read. And, they
are in your mouth and in your heart - on the heart
and lips of your parents and teachers."
So, you
have a huge decision to make; and there are consequences
for either way you choose: if you choose to love
God, and do the things He has commanded you to
do, you will have life and prosperity. But if
you choose not to obey Him, and you reject Him,
the consequences will be destruction, exile, death
in this world, and final and eternal death after
this world.
And father,
and mother, the choice you make will not just
affect you, but za-re-cha - your seed, your children.
Children are very much affected by the spiritual
choices of their parents - for good and for evil.
So, choose wisely father! Make the right decision
mother!
Moses
calls upon Heaven and Earth, which will endure
as long as Israel exists, and therefore can always
be called upon to testify, to be witnesses to
this great choice set before them: God and life
and blessing, or rejection of God, curse and death.
His advice?
Ba-char-ta ba-cha-yeem - each one of you, individually,
choose God and life and blessing, so that you
will live well, live right, in this world, and
live forever in the World To Come.
And how
do we live? What is life all about? What is the
secret to life? Many have speculated, but Moses
knows!
Loving
the Lord your God - giving your love and affection
and devotion to Him alone.
Obeying
His voice - knowing what He has said, and your
responsibilities, and making absolutely sure to
do them.
Holding
fast to Him - drawing near to Him, by sacrifice
and prayer and study and worship and thanksgiving,
and by remaining faithful to Him throughout life.
Thus ends
the third discourse of Moses to the new generation.
That brings
us to chapter 31, which deals with the last days
of Moses. He starts off by telling our people
that he lived a long life. He was now 120 years
old. The Lord will not allow him to enter the
land of Israel, but faithful Joshua will be their
leader, and the presence of the Living God will
be with them, and will lead them in. The Lord
will see to it that their enemies in the Land
will be defeated, just as Israel's enemies outside
the Land were.
The Lord
is reliable. He is trustworthy. He will not fail
them. He will not abandon them in the middle of
the conquest of the Land. Therefor they should
not be afraid. They should trust God, and be strong
and courageous - as should we, since this same
Living God is with us, and leading us, and helping
us, and protecting us, and defeating our adversaries.
So, cha-zak veh-eh-matz - be strong and courageous!
The Torah
itself testifies that it is complete, that it
contains what we need to know, and that Moses
himself wrote this Torah, and entrusted it to
Israel's spiritual leaders - the priests, and
to the political leaders of the nation - the elders,
who have preserved it and accurately transmitted
it to us to this day. There is no need to invent
some mythical "Oral Law" and give it any authority
whatsoever!
The Torah
was to be read publicly every seven years to the
entire nation, men, women, children, resident
aliens, so that everyone, may hear, learn and
fear the Lord our God. Hearing the truth is important,
but it's not enough to merely hear. We must hear
and also learn - study what we have heard, until
we understand it. But even that is not enough.
We must hear, learn and then fear the Lord, by
doing the things that the Lord has commanded.
Hear,
learn, fear the Lord. When it comes to God's divinely
inspired revelation, are you a hearer? That's
good. Are you a learner? That's even better! But,
are you one who puts it all into practice, and
fears the Lord, taking Him and His Word very seriously,
respecting Him, trying to do what He has entrusted
you to do? Hear, learn, fear by doing!
It was
to be read at Sukkot, and specifically in the
seventh and Sabbatical year when debts were released.
Why that year? "There seems to be a special reason
why that period was chosen for the public reading
of the Law. It was in order to testify that, although
there had been neither sowing nor reaping during
that year, the Israelites were nevertheless sustained
by the mercies of God, to whose word they were
resolved ever to remain loyal, whether in prosperity
or adversity" (Rabbi Hertz, quoting Hoffman).
I like that thought - that we cling to God, and
we follow His Word, for better or for worse, regardless
of our financial situation.
In verse
14, the Lord speaks to Moses for one of the very
last times, telling him that it's almost time
for him to die, and that he should come with Joshua
to the Tent of Meeting where Joshua, the new leader,
to be given his orders. The Lord appeared at the
Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the Lord speaks
to Moses, and tells him the future of the Jewish
people. It's not a good future. After Moses dies,
our people will be unfaithful, like a prostitute,
worshiping other gods, forsaking the true God,
breaking the Covenant.
Naturally,
God will get angry with us, and distance Himself
from us. And, when you alienate the Creator of
the universe, and you are immersed in a world
of evil waters, and the Lord is like a wall surrounding
you, keeping the waters out, don't be surprised
when the waters of evil start inundating you!
And, that's what will happen to Israel.
The Adon
Olam, the Lord of the universe, wants the Jewish
people to know that we are the ones responsible
for the troubles and disasters that will befall
us, and that it is because of our sins, our unfaithfulness
to God, our breaking of this great covenant that
God made with us. If God is far from us, and not
among us, it's because we have driven Him away.
Songs
have an amazing ability to help us remember lyrics.
Many of us can still remember the lyrics to songs
we learns decades ago. And so the Lord instructs
Moses to teach the Jewish people a song, that
will be taught from generation to generation,
a song that will be a witness to the truth, so
that in the future, when these troubles and disasters
take place, we will know this song and it will
help us understand what is really happening -
that we are the ones who have failed - not God.
We will consider this song in chapter 32, where
it has been preserved for us.
In verse
23, the Lord turns his attention to Joshua, telling
him, "cha-zak veh-eh-matz - be strong and courageous,"
since he is given the task of leading Israel into
the Land of Israel. And, since we have been giving
a great task, to proclaim the Good News about
the salvation found in the Messiah to every human
being in world that is hostile to God, a world
is dominated by the spirit of anti-Christ, I say
to you, "cha-zak veh-eh-matz - be strong and courageous!"
Moses
writes down this entire book, this Sefer Torah,
and gives it to the Levites, and it is placed
in a very important place, next to the Ark of
the Covenant. One of the main reasons, Moses tells
us, for the Torah, is to be a witness against
us. The Torah testifies against us by showing
us what God requires us of, and therefore how
we haven't measured up to us. It reveals that
all have fallen short of meeting God's requirements.
It also testifies against us by prophesying that
the Chosen People will in fact will act corruptly,
turn from the right way, doing evil and provoking
the Lord's anger.
The Torah
testifies that we are in need of much help, my
friends, and that the Torah itself may not be
enough. Don't stop with the Torah! In the New
Covenant, we find these encouraging words: "The
Torah was given through Moses; grace and truth
were realized through Messiah Yeshua." The Torah
was given through Moses, and thank God for that!
Let's embrace that! But in addition, let us thank
God that His grace - God's unmerited, unearned,
undeserved favor and blessing, and truth - enough
truth to save every human soul, have come to us
through Yeshua the Messiah! Are you experiencing
that grace? Are you living in that truth?
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