Deuteronomy 1:8 “…go in and possess the land…”
Having led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness and up to the Jordan River, Moses is about to die and leave Joshua to take them into the Land of Canaan. This book of Deuteronomy is his farewell address. Many who listened to his sermon there by the Jordan had not even been born when they left Egypt!
They needed to be prepared and this was Moses’ last opportunity to impart the things he considered most important into their hearts and minds.
The first issue with which he would deal was….
1. Remember the Lessons of History
The first four chapters are an encouragement to remember their past experiences of success and failure. They had heard the voice of God, seen the fire of God and witnessed signs and wonders (4:33-40) and been brought to their present position because the Lord is faithful! (3:3) Moses is telling them as they look toward the future they should remember the past! Remember the things that led to defeat in the past and avoid them, likewise remember the victories and know that the same God that helped them succeed is still alive, still on His throne and His hand is not shortened, He is still able to “save… to the utter most!” (Hebrews 7:25)
The first generation coming out of Egypt is the epitome of hope. Having been raised in slavery it must have seemed unbelievable their oppressors were drowned right in front of their eyes. Hope sprang up! They must have thought, “God is going to deliver us!” Hope is one of the most powerful forces on earth. It keeps us going, it rouses us to march forth, to achieve, to grow, to develop and progress! Moses great challenge was to keep hope alive in this second generation! They need to be fully convinced that God is going to help the same way He had helped their parents! They need to believe they can experience triumph the same way their parents have and Moses is telling them, they can!
2. Keep the Laws of God
From chapter 5 to chapter 26 Moses emphasizes the Law of the Lord. He gave them a complete system that would insure the hungry being fed, the care of widows and orphans and justice for all people regardless of what level of society they occupied! There are those who would like to be rid of the Bible, they see it as an archaic collection of folk tales irrelevant to present day life. However, if it is the Word of God, if it is true, that presents a considerable problem! A wonderful thing happened in the decade of the eighties regarding this scripture before us.
Many in the academic world had denied the Exodus or at least minimized it to the point of insignificance. A disabled Israeli war veteran, one of the most respected archeologist in Israel Adam Zertal, started a virtual firestorm when he announced he had found the first Altar erected by Joshua (dating to 1250bc) on a hill overlooking the modern city of Nablus (Biblical Shechem) (Joshua 8:30) That was evidence the Land had been delivered to the Hebrews just as the Bible said! As believers, we believe it was delivered through a series of Supernatural events!
We also believe that its commands are the Word of God and that there are consequences for not obeying those commands and reward for keeping those commands! The book of Deuteronomy gives instructions for everything from how to have a party (Feast) to how to administer capital! These are not arbitrary commands! Keeping His word will help prevent sickness, poverty, broken relationships, God’s word tells us how to live successfully and abundantly!
3. Renew the Covenant
Chapter 27-30 constitute a charge to rededicate their lives to the Lord. “…on Mount Ebal you shall set up stones…build an altar…” (27:4-5) This was the first place God appeared to Abram after he entered Canaan. It is as if, God is taking them right back where to their beginning, right to square one to say, “Let’s be sure we have this right! Let’s go over the terms of the agreement one more time!
Let’s be sure we understand one another!” “…I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil… love the LORD thy God… walk in his ways… keep his commandments… that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD … shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.” (Dt. 30: 16)
Obey God
We have three highly condensed points before us. The one thing I notice is under the three divisions there are key verses.
Point number one offers us a key in Chapter 4: 40, “…Keep His statues and His commandments…”
Point number two gives us Chapter 26:17, “…Keep His statutes, His commandments and His judgments…”
Point number three gives us Chapter 30:16, “…keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments…”
What is the main point? Obey God, Obey God, Obey God!
We all have a desire to live successfully in the Place Of Promise!
There is a something we can do to make that desire a reality!
Obey God!