Category Archives: Deuteronomy

Day 73: The end-result of failure

Deuteronomy 19:1-21:14; Mark 14:26-50

This section of Moses’ speech loosely correlates with the 6th Commandment (do not murder). Moses begins Chapter 19 by discussing cities of refuge – a place for a person to flee if they accidentally kill someone. There were to be three cities of refuge (which are later named in Joshua 20:1-9), but Moses mentions the possibility of three additional cities…

…provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three (Deuteronomy 19:9).

There is no record of additional cities of refuge being named in the Old Testament…which leads me to believe that the people did not meet the qualifications. They were not faithful to keep the commandments.

Looking forward to Mark… Jesus predicts that his disciples would all fall away. Despite Peter’s protest, Jesus knew – and we know – that Peter, along with the rest of the disciples – abandoned Jesus following his arrest.

The people of Israel failed to keep the commandments. The disciples failed to stand by their Lord. We fail… in so many ways.

Jesus came to earth to rescue us from our failures. Today’s passage in Mark describes Jesus’ final prayer before he was arrested. He was anticipating the suffering – both physically and spiritually – that he would endure…

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” …And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:34-36).

He endured the cross for our sake. Consider this; meditate upon it, and wrestle with it… Jesus died for me. Jesus died for you. Do not belittle the sacrifice.

Day 72: A lesson in Covenant

Deuteronomy 16-18; Mark 14:1-25

Moses continues his review of the law by following a loose pattern of the 10 commandments. Today’s reading includes instructions concerning festivals (chapt. 16) – which is loosely patterned after the 4th commandment (keep the Sabbath holy) – as well as laws concerning various leaders (chapt. 17-18) – which is patterned after the 5th commandment (honor your parents).

In today’s reading in Mark, we see Jesus eat his last meal before He is betrayed. Listen to His words…

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14: 22-24).

He alludes to “the blood of the covenant.” This echoes Moses’ words in Exodus after the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai…

Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:7-8).

Notice that the covenant Moses institutes at Mt. Sinai is a covenant of works. The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant. God promises to bless the people but only if they obey the law. The new covenant that Jesus institutes is an unconditional covenant – a covenant of grace. Jesus fulfills all the requirements of the old covenant – perfectly – and then offers to transfer his perfect record to us. This is grace.

Many Christians wonder why God gave the law if He planned to replace it with a new covenant. But the law wasn’t replaced… it was fulfilled. The law was necessary to teach us the holy standard of God. If there were no law, there would not be a need for grace!

Both the Old and New covenants flow from the unconditional promises found in the covenant God made with Abraham – that He would make for himself a great nation and through Abraham’s descendants, all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3) – and that He would be our God, and we would be His people (Leviticus 26:13).

We are covenant breakers, but God is the covenant keeper. We are blessed because of the promise made to Abraham which finds its fulfillment in the work of Christ. Jesus is the ultimate fulfiller. Moses prophesies of Jesus in Deuteronomy 18…

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him (Deuteronomy 18:18).

Because of Jesus, we can call God “our God” and He can call us “His people.” For this, I am grateful :)

Day 71: Another paradox of the Kingdom

Deuteronomy 14-15; Mark 13:14-37

Today’s passage continues yesterday’s theme of rooting out idolatry by giving specific ways to show faithfulness to God. The people honored him in what they ate, how they tithed and how they cared for the poor. One of my favorite examples from today’s reading is the section on tithes…

The tithe that is described in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 is a second tithe given in addition to the regular tithe set aside for the Levites. This second tithe was unique in several ways. First, it was a celebratory tithe to be enjoyed with the Lord and with members of your household and others. Second, after two years of enjoying this tithe with the Lord and your neighbors, in the third year, the people were to layup the tithe in their own towns to care for the poor.

What a picture of freedom and trust. Imagine if everyone so whole-heartedly trusted God that they joyfully offered the best of the best over and above their regular tithe to the church – and the whole community would come together to enjoy the luxurious gifts of God. And every third year, the whole town willingly gave their best to be stored up for the poor. This would require that no one was greedy or selfish, and it would be a visible sign that idolatry had been rooted out of the community of faith.

In Mark, Jesus reminds us that He could come back at anytime. We do not want to be chasing after other gods when He returns! His words remind us to hold on to the things of this world with a loose hand – for they will all be wiped away…

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Mark 13:31).

Paradoxically, as we loosen our grip on one of the most powerful idols of this world – money – and give sacrificially to those in need, we can experience joyful communion with God. And we discover that as we tighten our grip on His word and promises, this leads to fullness and satisfaction. And interestingly, His word (which brings ultimate satisfaction) will never pass away. God’s supply is endless. No idol can come close to fulfilling our deepest desires – only God can satisfy. He is good, and His ways are best!

Day 70: Faithfulness

Deuteronomy 11-13; Mark 13:1-13

The past two days, we have studied the first half of Moses’ 2nd speech to the people. It began in Chapter 5 and has been a general plea for obedience… He winds down this part of his speech at the end of chapter 11 and begins a more specific point-by-point review of the law in Chapter 12…

Moses uses the 10 commandments to structure this review of the law. He introduces Chapter 12 by instructing the people how to worship (1st commandment: you shall have no other gods before me). And by the end of chapter 12, he is pleading passionately for the people not to chase after idols (2nd commandment) and to honor the Lord (3rd commandment). The directions given to purge the nation of idolatry seem extreme, but the harsh consequences for idolatry highlight the severity of the offense.

Moses warns the people of the consequences for both obedience and disobedience…

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).

Idolatry exists today. We might not worship carved images but that doesn’t mean we don’t chase after other gods…. comfort, success, security, love… pick your poison. We all have idols. We need to heed Moses’ warning and consider the seriousness of our wandering eyes.

But don’t think you can root out the idols of your heart by sheer will! Even recognizing your idols is a work of the Spirit, so how much more should we depend on the Spirit to help us overcome the idols of our hearts!!

Jesus exhorts his disciples in Mark 13 that faithfulness is a mark of a true believer (vs. 13). It’s tough to be faithful while we’re chasing after other gods…

Oh Lord, forgive my adulterous heart. Help me look to you alone for joy and satisfaction in this life. Show me where I depend on other ‘gods’ to fulfill me and help put them to death in my heart. I can’t do this alone. Please God, help me to persevere… Please, help me be faithful.

Day 69: Circumcise your heart!

Deuteronomy 8-10; Mark 12:28-44

The Israelites were chosen by God. God’s choice was not based on righteousness – in fact Moses goes into great detail outlining the stubbornness of Israel’s heart.

“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:5).

“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deuteronomy 10:16).

Moses’ emphasis on the heart is extraordinary. The internal motivations of the heart are of utmost importance to God. Here is Moses, the law giver, ordering the Israelites to circumcise their hearts – to cut away the stubbornness and sin. The law could never root out the sin within their hearts. Moses was pointing forward to the day when the Spirit would baptize the heart (transform it through the dying of self and being raised to newness of life).

Yesterday, we read Moses summarize the whole law in two commands… Today, Jesus follows suit. Obedience must originate from a love of God that comes from a changed heart – otherwise it is not counted as righteousness…

“‘…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

Where is your heart? Do you obey from habitual duty – or from a passion for the Savior? Ask the Spirit to make the gospel fresh in your mind and let God’s love be the motivation of your heart!

Day 68: The love of God is set.

Deuteronomy 4:44-7:26; Mark 12:1-27

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you… Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations… (Deuteronomy 7:7; 9). 

How could the Israelite nation fall from such esteem? They were the chosen race. The Lord had set His love on this people. Moses implored them to pass on the covenant promises and the law down to each generation…

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

But the nation would fail to preserve the law, and the subsequent generations would fall away from the Lord. We find Jesus comparing the contemporary religious leaders to murderous tenants. Jesus warns: “He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Mark 12:9).

Despite the failure of the nation, the plan of God was not thwarted. The promised Savior did come from the line of Abraham, through Judah, through David and down to Mary and Joseph. He has now thrown open the door of the Kingdom to the nations! All are welcome, Jew and non-Jew alike. And somehow, his word has been preserved for thousands of years so that we might know that God… has set His love… on us!

Day 67: Moses’ great passion

Deuteronomy 3:12-4:43; Mark 11:20-33

Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him (Deuteronomy 4:33-35).

In Moses’ first speech to the people, he reminds them of the Lord’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. You can almost sense his desperate desire for the people to obey. He reminds them that the land east of the Jordan has already been given. And he implores the men of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh to go with their brothers to secure the rest of the land west of the Jordan (3:12-22).

He encourages them to remain obedient.. reminding them of how their brothers who worshiped Baal of Peor (Num. 25:1-5) were killed by the Lord “but you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today” (4:4). He also warns that if they disobey “that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed” (4:26).

Moses knows that his death is imminent. We’ll continue to see his passion for the people’s obedience and trust in God’s word to build – culminating in his great song of faith in Deut. 32…

Moses was the great mediator between God and Israel. He pointed forward to Jesus – who is the ultimate mediator between God and the nations. I imagine Jesus’ passion for our obedience and trust surpasses that of Moses’! I pray I don’t disappoint him…

Day 66: Israel’s beginning and end

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:11; Mark 11:1-19

Today we begin Deuteronomy.  The ‘experts’ say that it is structured similarly to ancient treaty documents. (I’ve never read an ancient treaty, so I wouldn’t know!)

In any case, Deuteronomy is important because it contains the final words of Moses. We will watch as he recounts their history, reminds the people of the law and implores them passionately to obey all that the Lord has commanded. It’s a powerful book, rich in theology and insight into the character of God.

Deuteronomy begins with the people just east of the Jordan river. They are poised to cross the Jordan and take the land. The promised land. Moses begins his final treatise by recounting the last 40+ years – beginning at Mt. Sinai (Horeb) and following the Israelites through the wilderness, to their failure to obey and take the land – to their 38 years of wanderings – on to their recent victories over King Sihon and King Og.

It has been a long journey – a journey which began hundreds of years earlier with God giving the covenant to Abraham…

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

We are on the brink of all the promises being fulfilled…all except one: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” We know that this promise is fulfilled in Jesus – the Savior that comes from Abraham’s family line.

In today’s reading from Mark, we see Him enter Jerusalem as their King. On the surface, it is a joyous entry, but His entry is a sad shadow of his future glory. He enters Jerusalem to find her spiritually dead. The fig tree, a symbol of Israel, has no fruit and Jesus curses the tree as a symbolic cursing of the fruitlessness of the Jews. He enters his temple to find it corrupt and defiled. He is King – but His people are unworthy. They need a savior – a priest to make peace between them and God. And only after the sacrifice is offered can the final promise be fulfilled – all the people’s of the earth are blessed because of Abraham’s family line – because of Jesus – our priest and King – who gave His life as a ransom for many!