You can turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29. Remember that we've approached the book as the structure being covenantal in nature. In chapter 1, verses 1 to 4, you have a preamble.
Chapters 1, 5 to 4, 43 is a historical prologue. The largest section is the stipulations. In a covenant, there are stipulations or duties, and that's chapter 4, verses 44. all the way to 2619. And then we find ourselves in the section called sanctions, 27.1 to 3020.
And then the last section will be succession, meaning covenantal continuity. But as well, What the Book of Deuteronomy essentially is are three addresses by Moses on the plains of Moab. The first one is chapter 1, verse 5, to chapter 4, verse 43. The second is the largest, chapter 4, verse 44, all the way to 28, 68.
So what we find here in chapters 29 and 30 is the third address given by Moses. We're just going to take up chapter 29 tonight. Specifically, this is a covenant renewal ceremony on the plains of Moab for these particular people. If you remember, there was, in chapter 27, the necessity to keep or the necessity to ratify the covenant once they get into the promised land.
So that's sort of future or forward looking. Here in chapter 29, just prior to entering the land as the people of God, they renew their fidelity to the covenant that God the Lord has given to them. And that's basically what we find here in chapter 29. It breaks down into three sections.
There is first a historical review in verses 1 to 9. And then secondly, the covenantal bond, what is necessary in verses 10 to 15. And then the final section is the warning against apostasy, and that's in verses 16 to 29. So that's where we're going this evening, those three considerations.
I'll just pick up reading in chapter 29 at verse 1. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Now Moses called all Israel and said to them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very day.
And I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. And when you come to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them.
We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. All of you stand today before the Lord your God, your leaders and your tribes, and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives, also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water. that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, that he may establish you today as a people for himself, and that he may be God to you, just as he has spoken to you, and just as he has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant in this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today.
For you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by. and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them, wood and stone and silver and gold, so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood. And so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart. as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. The Lord would not spare him, for then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven, and the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law, so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you And the foreigner who comes from a far land would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it, the whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning. It is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.
All nations would say, why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean? Then people would say, because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods and worshipped them. gods that they did not know and that he had not given to them.
Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land as it is this day. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Amen.
Introduction to Deuteronomy 29
So as I said, three broad sections or three main sections. First, the historical review. We saw that a lot in the first portion of the book. In fact, the book starts off with historical review.
That is common in a covenant-making ceremony to review where they had been, to review the history. the Lord or the King, recounting or rehearsing with the people, the subjects, how he delivered them, how he blessed them, how he gave them certain benefits. And then, of course, their response is found in verses 10 to 15. The covenantal bond, what is necessary on their part with reference to this situation they find themselves in with reference to the Lord God of Israel. And then 16 to 29, as I said, is a warning against apostasy.
Just like the book ends, or just like the large section ends in chapter 28, as we saw last time, with this sort of promise of curse if they disobey the Lord, we find that same sort of a motif at the end of this chapter. There's a promise of cursing if they commit apostasy or they defect from their covenantal obligations to the Lord. And so this affects the people specifically dwelling on the plains of Moab, poised to go into the land of promise. They are renewing, they are ratifying this covenant.
We see this many times later on as we move through the rest of the Bible. You'll see it in Joshua chapter 8 as they get into the land. We see it in Joshua 24, that's how the book of Joshua ends with a covenant renewal ceremony at Shechem. So it's a very common thing for them to rehearse and recount what God the Lord has done and what they in turn must do in terms of their response to the Lord's grace.
So the first section, the historical review, notice there is continuity in verse 1. He says, these are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab. So that's the current situation. That is the people to whom Moses is addressing, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
Remember that in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses uses the word Horeb as a synonym for Sinai. Basically, Horeb is Sinai. So what he's referring to is the Sinai covenant. Remember in Exodus chapters 19 to 24, the Lord God gave them the law The Lord God explained to them the law and then in chapter 24 they ratify the covenant.
They swear fidelity to the covenant. And so what we find here is continuity between what was done at Sinai and what is continuing on here in Moab. Meredith Klein says, there is essential continuity in God's covenant of redemption from Genesis through Revelation. Nevertheless, the successive administrations of that covenant, as it is repeatedly renewed by divine grace, are to be distinguished.
The covenant in Moab renewed the covenant at Sinai, which renewed the covenant with Abraham, which renewed the covenant with Adam. So there is continuity, there is consistency between these things as it administers God's plan to save His people from their sins. And then essentially the historical reveal is stuff we've seen many, many times already in the book of Deuteronomy. This chapter really should come as no surprise to those who have been with us from the beginning.
It's quite a common convention that Moses is doing here to rehearse before the people their obligations before the Lord.
Historical Review
The first thing, by way of historical review, is the Exodus, verse 2. Now Moses called all Israel and said to them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land." So the Exodus is that grand redemptive act that the Lord God engaged in on behalf of the children of Israel. The fact that they had been redeemed, they had been delivered, they had been brought out of that place of darkness into the marvelous light of Yahweh, meant and indicated that they ought to be faithful to the Lord in response.
Signs, Wonders, and Stubbornness
The second thing that he reviews for them is the signs and the wonders that they witnessed. Those signs and wonders were seen in the ten plagues. Those signs and wonders were seen when God opened the Red Sea and the children of Israel marched through on dry land. And then Pharaoh and his armies gave chase and they get in between those walls of water and they immediately begin to be trouble.
Their chariot wheels fall off, and then the walls of water cave in upon them. So I've said before, I bet those guys were really not happy campers when they were in the midst of that situation. When the chariot wheels fell off, they probably rethought their whole place in life. Why did we follow these people?
We should have stayed on the other side. But Israel had witnessed the great trials, or these things your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders. And then what is highlighted in verse 4 is the stubbornness of Israel. Verse 4, Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear to this very day.
I think there's a couple things going on in this particular passage. The first is simply this. The idea that God has not given you may reflect poorly on God, unless or until we remember God is dealing with sinful people. He owes nothing to no man.
I think as well what is being highlighted here is there is that propensity within the heart of the Israelites to disbelieve or to not believe in the very providence of God himself. And I think thirdly there's a bit of a contrast here in verse 4 to what we'll later find in chapter 30 in verses 1 to 10. Interestingly enough, 30 verses 1 to 10 points to the new covenant. And remember that one of the essential features of the New Covenant is found in Deuteronomy 30 in verse 6.
It says, And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. So in the Old Testament, or in the Old Covenant, there were those whom the Lord had opened their hearts. He had regenerated them. They did, in fact, believe the gospel.
But just by virtue of being in the Old Covenant did not ensure that. But when we get to the New Covenant, it is an essential feature that within New Covenant religion, the Lord your God circumcises your heart. This is the essence of Jeremiah 31 to 34. So what we find here in Deuteronomy 30, 1 to 10, is an announcement that will be reaffirmed when we get to the prophet Jeremiah, when we get to the various other prophets like Ezekiel, and like Isaiah, and like Micah, and the various prophets that announced the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So there's probably a bit of contrast in 29.4 in terms of Old Covenant and 36 in terms of New Covenant. And then he highlights, well this, back to verse 4 here for just a moment. The Apostle Paul alludes to this in the book of Romans, when he's dealing with the unbelief of ethnic Israel. He cites Isaiah 29, verses 10 and 13, which Isaiah 29, 10 and 13 seem to be an allusion to this very situation. that ethnic Israel had hardened its heart.
Ethnic Israel did not appreciate what the Lord God had done in their midst. So basically what we find here is some contrast between Old and New Covenant.
The Wilderness: Presence, Not Abandonment
And then notice in verse 5 he indicates the wilderness, their time in the wilderness. While they may have perceived that to be a time of judgment and chastisement, certainly would have been a time of chastisement, but it wasn't a time of abandonment. You go back for just a moment to Deuteronomy chapter 1. Deuteronomy chapter 1.
I think the tendency is or the temptation might be to see or view the children of Israel in the wilderness as having been forsaken by God, but nothing could be further from the truth. Remember the language that the Lord uses in Deuteronomy 1 at verse 29. Then I said to you, do not be terrified or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you, He will fight for you according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place." If you go back for just a moment, if you look at verse 26, nevertheless you would not go up but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and you complained in your tents and said, because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us." So basically the people were grumbling and complaining and saying that the Lord's abandoned us, He hates us, the wilderness is proof and testimony of that.
God uses this beautiful language of a father carrying his son in the wilderness. So the time in the wilderness was a time of God's presence and a time of God's blessing to the nation of Israel. And that's what's intimated here in 29.5. God led them, God clothed them, and God fed them.
And that was so that they may know that He is indeed the Lord their God. Notice in verse 6, you have not eaten, I'm sorry, verse 6, you have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God." I don't think it means they never ate or never drank. I think the idea is that God supplied their particular needs for the expressed purpose that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Dependence upon the Lord produces, and ought to produce, a robust knowledge of the Lord.
And I think that's what's going on there.
Defeat of Sihon and Og
And then the next section, he deals with the defeat of Sihon and Og, verses 7 and 8. these kings of the Amorites. And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them." This is in 226 and in 311 as well. Now remember the significance of conquering Sihon and Og. Harmon says, conquering their territory was a preliminary fulfillment of the promise to Abraham concerning the land.
Sihon and Ahad were those on the Amorites that were on the east side of the Jordan. And those three, or the two and a half tribes, Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh occupied that land. When they did so, that was proof positive that God the Lord was visiting them with the benefit promised to Abraham way back in Genesis chapters 12. and 15 and 17 and 18. He says, and the possession of the territory of these two and a half of the tribes was part of the inheritance into which the rest were yet to enter.
So you see what's going on as he paints this historical review. How does it serve to affect the people? This is what your God has done. This is how the Lord has blessed you.
This is how he has kept faith. This is how he has kept his oath and his promise. Therefore, you must respond Similarly, you cannot go into the land and turn your back upon this Lord. You cannot go into the land and defect or commit apostasy.
Rather, in light of the redemptive benefit that the Lord God Most High has poured out upon you, it is only fitting that you respond with love, with obedience, and with faithfulness. The same pattern is found in the book of Romans. A little bit of a difference in terms of covenantal administration, but the same pattern or the same idea. After expounding the gospel of free and sovereign grace, Paul in chapter 12 then says, therefore present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God.
This is your reasonable. This is your rational. This is the service that you owe to God by virtue of the fact that He has saved you. You see, history provides the data upon which the saint of Christ perseveres in the tract of obedience.
It is because of what God the Lord has done on our behalf that we take seriously the implication found in verse 9. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. In light of the redemptive truths of God's dealings with Israel, they ought to have entered into the land and engaged in faithfulness and in obedience and in service to the Lord God Almighty. Christopher Wright makes this observation, I think he's right on.
A little pun there. Right is right. Rights aren't always right. This right happens to be right.
These are the historical givens of Israel's faith. There is no denying that. This is important. This is why we preach repetitively.
You need to remember certain pieces of data. There's certain truths that have to stick in your head. If you're going to live the Christian life in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, there must be a basis. There must be a foundation.
There must be theological understanding. Wright says, these are the historical givens of Israel's faith. There is no denying that. Whatever wandering paths Israel's religion might take, there is an unchangeable objective core to it in the historical fact of these events.
This historical grounding is as important for Old Testament faith as the events of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are for the Christian gospel. The biblical faith is not something speculatively invented in religious fervency, but is in response to events in which God has acted. He says in both Testaments, the gospel is not a good idea. The gospel is good news, and based on the reality of that good news, we live in a manner that is consistent with it.
So we don't find strength, we don't find help, we don't find benefit, for pursuing godliness in the Christian life through some experience, we don't find it in mysticism. We find it in the revealed truth of God's holy word in what he's done in terms of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are in the New Covenant situation, that is the ground upon which we live the Christian life. Based on the reality of the cross, Therefore, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
When we look at the cross, wives, submit to your own husbands as unto the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath. You look to the cross, you look to the great redemptive truths of what Christ has done in the salvation of our souls, and it's on that basis and foundation that we pursue godliness and consistency in the Christian life. Same sort of a pattern that we find here on the plains of Moab.
Here's what the Lord has done, here's how you are to respond.
The Covenantal Bond
And that brings us to the covenantal bond in verses 10 to 15. Four observations here. Note first, it's subjects. the subjects of this covenant. It's the entirety of Israel.
Notice in verses 10 and 11. All of you stand today before the Lord your God. This is a technical term. In fact, technical terms undergird this whole situation.
This standing before the Lord your God means an assembly. It means almost like, you know, if you were to take the similar idea in a military situation. They stand there in formation. There's a purpose, there's goal.
That's the idea here. All of you stand today before the Lord your God. And then notice it covers the entirety of the covenant community. From the greatest of them to the least of them. your leaders, your tribes, and your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, and your wives, also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water.
So its subject includes each and everyone in the covenant community.
The Demand: Passing Into Covenant
Notice, secondly, its demand, verse 12, that you may enter into covenant Literally, it's that you may pass over into covenant or pass through into covenant. Some of the commentators speculate or some of the commentators indicate that what might be in view is that pass through ceremony of Genesis chapter 15, when the animals are cut and the pieces are placed on either side and the parties to the covenant pass through those pieces. technical terminology, technical language for this idea of cutting a covenant. The language is that of covenant renewal and a solemn declaration of binding oneself to the oath of the Lord. Verse 12. that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God and into his oath which the Lord your God makes with you today." So the idea here is that they are swearing, affirming, taking this oath upon themselves that they will carry out their obligations consistent with what the Lord God says.
It is the covenant that the Lord makes. Israel swears faithfulness to it.
The Central Promise: God and His People
And then notice its central feature found in verse 13, that he may establish you today as a people for himself and that he may be God to you. Isn't that beautiful? You see, in many of the ancient near, not many, I don't know about many, but the ancient Near Eastern treaties or the ancient Near Eastern covenants, you had the lord, you had the vassal, you had the suzerain, you had the king making this treaty with subjects. Now ultimately, in that arrangement, what you had was a humiliating subjugation on the part of the person.
Not so in this convention. What we have is submission in terms of redemptive benefit. If you go back through the scripture, if you trace out covenant throughout the scripture, what is the central feature? I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
It's beautiful, isn't it? We don't find here on the plains of Moab some mechanistic figure saying, do this, do this, humiliate yourself before me. No, rather, what Klein says, and I think he's right on, it is not founded in humiliating subjugation, but in redemptive favor. When you get to the New Jerusalem, when you get to Revelation chapter 21, and 22.
When you see the consummation of God's blessing of His people, do you know what the central feature is? I will be their God and they shall be my people. This is the point of all of God's dealings with His people. So this is the central feature that they are swearing fidelity to.
Or this is the central benefit, rather, of what is going on in this convention. That He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see, what the Lord promises, He is faithful to provide. what the Lord swears to, He will most certainly bring to pass. You stand on the shoulders of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So much so that when we get into the new covenant and we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can trace it all the way back to these patriarchs. This promise that God has made has continued on broken unfettered and unhindered, He has promised to bless His people, to be their God, and to make us His people. It's a beautiful thing.
Continuity and Posterity
And then with reference to the covenantal bond, notice its continuity in verses 14 and 15. Remember, we saw how the Book of Deuteronomy is a big covenantal document. What's the last portion? Succession or continuity.
When you find these smaller sections that deal with covenant, you see the same thing. You see history, you see stipulation, you see blessing and curse, you see continuity or succession, verses 14 and 15. I make this covenant in this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today. Now I don't believe this refers to the sick. or to the night watchman, or to the pharmacist, or the military officer who couldn't leave his post.
It's talking about the unborn. It's talking about their posterity. It's talking about the generations to come. I make this covenant and this oath not with you alone, but with your children, the promises for you and for your children, and all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." So there is continuity built into this covenantal arrangement, but as well, notice that it highlights the responsibility.
It highlights the responsibility of the person standing there. If they botch this up, if they renege on their obligations, if they go into the land and they are unfaithful, instead of their children being blessed, instead of their children participating, instead of their children being able to say, what a blessed God, what a glorious Lord, what a wonderful situation, it'll be just the opposite. As we trace through, as we will later see in this particular chapter, the children will rise up and say, look at what has happened to them for their unfaithfulness to the living God. So if they affirm, they confirm, they do, they obey, then there will be blessings upon their children.
If they disobey, if they commit idolatry, if they apostatize from the faith, then their children will rise up and call them cursed. The children will rise up along with foreigners, along with the nations of the earth, and say, this people, they went to inherit the promised land, it has become this place of curse and destruction. So this idea of succession or continuity, yes, it's a blessing, but as well it entails responsibility. So that when you're standing on the plains of Moab and you're swearing faithfulness to this covenant, you need to be thinking about the posterity, you need to be thinking about the little children that are going to come from your loins.
Warning Against Apostasy
And then that leads us thirdly to the warning against apostasy. Verses 16 to the end of the chapter essentially. Notice the reminder, verses 16 and 17. For you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by.
And you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them wood and stone and silver and gold. Now where we have been, you've seen this idolatry. Where we are going, you will see this idolatry. The idea is very clear.
You need to resist. You need to guard your heart. You need to stay away from these things. Again, Christopher Wright said, just as eyes that had seen the works of the living God ought to be eyes of faith, so eyes that had seen the hideousness of idolatry ought to recognize it as something to be avoided at all costs.
You see, Moses understands, God, using Moses, understands they've come from a place of idolatry. Did they always effectively keep themselves from it? No, they did not. So when they go into the promised land, they're going to face idols.
Do you think they're going to keep themselves from it? Well, we know the answer. They do not. See, what is built into this is a warning to call them, to caution them, to highlight the necessity for them to resist that temptation.
So we see what the history, or we see this historical review, we see the emphasis on the covenantal bond, and then what is highlighted for us in this warning against apostasy is probably the biggest threat to the integrity of the community. It is idolatry. You see, idolatry is a lot more pervasive than I think we give it credit or give credit to. You know, we look at people and we see them sinning in a particular way and we say, you know, if they could just fix that sin or stop that sin or change that sin.
What is the problem with every unconverted person is idolatry at root. They either worship themselves, or they worship sex, or they worship drugs, or they worship money, or they worship their families, whatever it is, they exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for the wickedness of corruptible things, and they bow down to it. You see, that is the temptation that is going to face Israel as they go into the Promised Land, and Moses wants them to resist.
The Root: Idolatry in the Heart
The specific caution is given in verses 18 and following. Notice the root of the problem. The root of the problem. We've got the root and the fruit.
The root is verses 18 and 19. The fruit comes in verses 22 to 28. Notice the root, verse 18, so that there may not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe. Notice there's an emphasis here on individual responsibility.
Yes, they're being addressed as a covenant community, but that covenant community is only as strong as the parts, right? The community is not strong and whole and solid if the parts are idolatrous. And interestingly enough, the danger of turning one's heart away, the wickedness of idolatry, is what is in view in this language in the root bearing bitterness or wormwood. Have you ever heard that language about let there not be a root of bitterness?
Is that in the New Testament anywhere? In Hebrews 12, we take that passage and we teach that we ought not to be bitter with one another. And we shouldn't. I'm not suggesting that we should.
But in Hebrews 12, that's not what the apostle means. He's not talking about bitterness toward one another. I think in Hebrews 12, the apostle has Deuteronomy 29 in his head. And the idea in Hebrews 12 is guard against idolatry.
Not the bitterness that, you know, brother so-and-so gave me an odd look at church, so I'm going to harbor bitterness in my heart. There's other passages in the New Testament that condemn that. But that idea of a root of bitterness in Hebrews 12 is not, I'm upset with my wife. The idea of that root of bitterness in Hebrews 12 goes back to the plains of Moab.
The idea is idolatry. It is defection. It is turning one's heart away from God the Lord. Notice it results in, or notice the root continuing in verse 19.
And so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart. You see, that's an externalism. That's a nominalism. You've heard of that before.
He's a nominal Christian. What does that mean, a nominal Christian? That means in name only. That means somebody calls themselves a Christian, but their hearts are far from God.
Well, the same was the case in Old Covenant Israel. Somebody could nod, Somebody could have raised their hand in this ratification ceremony and said, yes, I swear fidelity to the Lord, but his heart could be far from God. And that's what this root of bitterness, this idolatry in the heart, this turning away from the Lord will result in. It may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart, as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
You can't tell me a drunk man is a sober man. Neither can you tell me an externalist only is a saved man. You can't say somebody who simply nods with the head is necessarily a partaker with the heart. That's the root that would affect them.
The Fruit: Judgment and Exile
The fruits follow in verses 22 and following. Notice the Lord will not spare the idolater. Verse 20. The Lord would not spare him, for then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven." What commandment deals or what commandment involves the jealousy of God?
Anybody remember? The anger of God. It's the second commandment, right? This whole idea of idolatry.
It's no accident that commandments 1 and 2 are 1 and 2. That's not accidental. There is progression. There is a systematic presentation.
If we have other gods before God, if we are idolaters in our heart, then everything falls to pieces. Paul in Romans 1.18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all on godliness and unrighteousness of men. Ungodliness precedes unrighteousness. What we think about God affects the way that we live in this world.
The same thing here. When we turn our backs, when we turn our hearts away from God, then we reap the anger of God. The Lord will separate the idolater for adversity according to the curses. Verse 21.
The Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. Do you think of any historical illustrations of that? You don't have to go too far to the right. You don't have to go too far into the book of Joshua to find tribes being singled out, one particular tribe being singled out, and then one particular man being singled out of a tribe, and then that man and his family being stoned to death for their rebellion against the Lord.
Does anybody remember that man's name? Akin, absolutely. You see, what God promises on the plains of Moab comes to pass. Notice in verse 22, the Lord will make the offending parties a spectacle.
Verses 22 to 28, the coming generation. We've already mentioned that. Verse 22, so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a far land would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it. They will see the plagues and the sicknesses, and then notice, the whole land, verse 23, is brimstone, salt and burning, it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath." Interesting, isn't it?
There's an interesting section in the book of Judges. In Judges chapter 19, there's an incident that occurs at Gibeah. It sounds exactly like what happens in Sodom in Genesis chapter 19. So you see, not only does Sodom serve as an example or as a parallel, but Israel actually becomes Sodom-like in their breaking of God's holy covenant.
So when you get to Judges chapter 19, you see gross sexual sin. Gibeonites are acting like Sodomites, or the new Sodom is found in Israel. Interesting, too, when you get to the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 10, he says that Israel is acting like Sodom.
When you get to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 11, guess what Jerusalem is referred to? It's referred to as Sodom. So you see, what we find here in Deuteronomy 29, the book of Deuteronomy, is foundational for the rest of Scripture. So the coming generation and the foreigner will see the devastation of God upon the covenant breakers.
And then notice in verse 24, it's not just going to be the coming generation, it's not just going to be the foreigner who comes from a far land, but verse 24 indicates that all nations would say, why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean? You're probably not thinking of this passage because you didn't spend the day looking at this, or at least the latter part of the day. But Deuteronomy 4, let's just turn there.
Deuteronomy chapter 4, what was one of the reasons why or a byproduct or a corollary for this great redemptive act of God to bring them out of Egypt and to plant them in the land of Canaan. Notice in Deuteronomy 4.5, surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Now notice, the nations are asking questions.
For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. So the idea being the covenant community is to shine as a light to mediate the blessings of the covenant God of Israel to the nation surrounding.
Now when the people break covenant and they reap the wrath and fury of God, then the nations ask this question, what's happened? Why has this come upon these people? Verse 24, all nations would say, why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?
And then they answer, they have forsaken the Lord. It's not hard, is it? You reject God, God is going to judge you. They broke the covenant which He made with them.
They served other gods. They received the curse of the Lord and they were uprooted from their land. This is a reference to exile. All of that is indicated in verses 25 and following.
Then the people would say, because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day." So you see, this is a program.
This program. This is sort of foreshadowing what's going to happen in the future. But 31 to 10 is going to tell us that after that, there's going to be new covenant blessings. But for now, just realize that what they are being told, apostasy or a warning against apostasy, includes this threat of God's visiting them with judgment with reference to their unfaithfulness.
Again, Meredith Klein says it this way. Abruptly changing his standpoint to the future, to a time even beyond the threatened desolation of the theocracy and the exile, Moses depicts the fearful consequences that would at last befall the whole nation for having forsaken the covenant by transferring their allegiance to idol god kings. He does so through the device of a dramatic dialogue between Israelites and foreigners standing amid the charged charred ruins of the theocratic land. That's kind of the image that you're given here, right?
It's an interesting scene after God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. Often thought it's Abraham's morning meditation. In fact, look at Genesis 19 for just a moment. If Abraham was using a McShane calendar, it would have been on the judgment of God on that morning.
Notice in Genesis 19 at verse 27, and Abraham, this is after the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and he saw and behold the smoke of the land, which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt." Now, it's very simple to just read through that. It's very simple.
I mean, that was not very hard to read through that. But think about what Abraham's looking at. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and he saw and behold the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. These were cities filled with people.
These were cities of image bearers that had defected and rejected and turned away from the living and true God. So God pours hell down upon them from heaven to destroy them. The same image is given to us here in Deuteronomy 29. If Israel adopts Sodom's conduct, they will reap the same wrath and fury from the living God.
Instead of Abraham musing upon that land, it will be the children, it will be the foreigners, and it will be the nations. They will look at these charred ruins and they will see that God the Lord is not to be trifled with. So Klein says, he does so through the device of a dramatic dialogue between Israelites and foreigners standing amid the charred ruins of the theocratic land, a former paradise turned, like the cities of the plain, into a barren waste by the fury of God's judgment. Pretty powerful statement concerning a pretty powerful judgment.
The Secret Things and Revealed Will
Now, verse 29 is an exhortation. Verse 29 is a theological truth. I'm sure you've heard me refer to verse 29 before. I've preached a sermon on verse 29 before.
But it has a specific function in the context. The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. The theological truth is simple. We live based on what God has revealed to us.
We do not know the secret things. We do not know, you know, if I'm going to get hit by a car tomorrow. We don't know that. We need to live based on what God has revealed to us.
There is a theological truth contained here in verse 29. Now contextually, here's what I think the flow is. Here's what has been announced will be the situation if they break the covenant. They are to do what God's told them.
They are not to say, well, you know, it's inevitable. This is going to happen, so why try? Let's just forget about it, and let's just let the bad times roll. No.
You are to live based on the revealed word of God Most High. We must do all the words of this law. As we read through chapter 29, it almost sounds prophetic. The detail with which Moses is describing, and especially when we get on into chapter 30, the detail with which Moses is writing, sounds like this is an inevitability.
This is going to happen. Now we on this side know it is inevitable. We're able to look and say, yeah, you guys aren't going to do well. They didn't know this.
And they're not to be taken up with the secret things. They're not to be musing upon those contingencies in their perspective. They are to do what the will of the Lord their God has set. Do all the words of this law.
The secret things, judgment, damnation, fury, covenant curses, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed, do the words of this law. Obey the covenant, keep these things, keep the statutes. Those things belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law.
In other words, obey. Go into the land and obey. Do what you're supposed to and obey. Don't add to, don't take away from, don't try to peer into the secret things.
Just live in light of the revealed will of God and do what you're supposed to do. That's what I think verse 29, and it functions that way for us as well, the theological truth. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. Do what you're supposed to do.
Be faithful, be holy, be righteous, obey the Lord, serve Him, glorify Him, right? That's the bottom line. But on the plains of Moab, it functions in such a way, Moses has just told them some very specific things, things that are very real sounding in terms of these things are going to happen. I mean, he's talking about judgment.
He's talking about what the nations are going to report. I mean, if you were standing on the plains of Moab, you'd almost say, Moses, it sounds like this is going to happen. This is going to be an inevitability. Look, you don't need to worry about that.
You need to do what you're supposed to do. Obey the Lord. go according to the revealed will of God Almighty. So the secret things, or the things that may possibly occur in the future, the people were not to conclude at this point that destruction was inevitable. The people were simply to obey God the Lord.
So that's chapter 29, Covenant Renewal, on the plains of Moab. And then as I said, verses 1 to 10 in chapter 30 points to The New Covenant points to what our Lord Jesus Christ will do in terms of saving his people from their sins. And I think on that just brief observation, it's always good when we leave the plains of Moab to be thankful for the cross at Calvary. Because all those curses stipulated in the Old Testament scriptures ultimately The Lord Jesus obeyed.
The Lord Jesus became a curse for us. He was that penal substitutionary atonement on behalf of all those whom the Father had given Him. So those curses, those threats of judgment, they were real. They were visited upon Israel.
Ultimately, God visited judgment and curse upon His own dear Son. so that we could have salvation. It's a wonderful and glorious truth.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for Deuteronomy and for all of the good things it teaches us concerning you and concerning your grace and your mercy. We thank you that that blessed central feature of all of redemptive religion is that we would be your people and that you will be our God. And we thank you for this great blessing.
Thank you for hymn 599 that we're able to sing and the fact that one day our eyes will feast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the hymn writer says, we won't look at the crown that he gives but on his pierced hand. May these things encourage our hearts and may they strengthen us and may we indeed live in a manner that is consistent with your holy word. And we pray through Christ our Lord.
Amen.