Jesus spoke like God did. Deuteronomy 1.1-8
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Deuteronomy (1)
Pray Psalm 84.1-4.
How lovely is Your tabernacle,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the LORD;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You.
Selah
Sing Psalm 84.1-4.
(Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship)
LORD of hosts, how sweet Your dwelling; how my soul longs for Your courts!
Let my soul with joy keep telling of Your grace forevermore.
Like a bird upon the altar, let my life to You belong.
Blessed are they who never falter as they praise Your grace with song!
Read Deuteronomy 1.1-8; meditate on verses 7 and 8.
Preparation
1. What promise did God hold out to His people?
2. What did He command them to do?
Meditation
It is characteristic of God that He led His people by promises and commands. The promises provided a desirable vision of what was to be gained, and the commandments showed how to obtain the promises. The problem with the first generation of those God led out of Israel was that they did not believe God. They doubted they could obtain what He promised, and so they refused to obey His commands. All who did so died in the wilderness.
In these verses Moses succinctly reminded the people what God had promised—the land of Canaan and the promises made to Abram (Gen. 12.1-3)—and what they must do to obtain those promises: “Turn and take your journey…go in and possess the land…”
Jesus embraced this same formula: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4.19). “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11.28, 29). “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (Jn. 14.4). “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (Jn. 14.15-17). “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28.19, 20).
This is not how the religious leaders of Jesus’ day worked. They demanded that people respect their place and stay in line, but they promised nothing. People who heard Jesus making great promises and issuing clear commands would have heard the voice and witnessed the way of the Lord. They would have seen in Him that familiar pattern of promise and command that Israel heard throughout the Old Testament.
It is the same pattern which our Lord Jesus applies to all who follow Him.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn. 14.15). The command.
Jesus also said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (Jn. 16.7). The Promise.
And “when the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…” (Jn. 16.13).
Jesus also promised, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1.8).
“It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea” (Deut. 1.2). So, let’s say, for example, if Lewis and Clark should have plotted out this journey, they would have expected to make it in eleven days—maybe even faster since they probably would not have had over a million people in their caravan. Therefore, God in all His wisdom, had figured that the Israelites had enough supplies and gumption to get them to the Promised Land in eleven days. That was His plan.
But the next verse explodes with their disobedience on display: “Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them…” (Deut. 1.3).
A quick trip turned into a death sentence for an entire generation of people due to their unbelief and disobedience: “because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it” (Num. 14.22, 23). God did make allowances for Caleb and Joshua because they had trusted Him. As He said of Caleb, “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” (Num. 14.24; 14.30-Joshua).
And as we recall, neither Moses, Aaron, nor Miriam entered the Promised Land. Only Caleb and Joshua, of the original exodus, entered the land that the LORD had sworn and promised He would give them (Deut. 1.8). All the rest perished in the wilderness just as God said they would. But, God, in the fortieth year, said to the potential possessors of the new land: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go…” (Deut. 1.6, 7).
When the disciples approached Jesus to ask Him why they could not heal an epileptic, He said to them: “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17.20).
Are there any mountains of unbelief we continue to dwell on?
Is there disobedience in our life that keeps us stranded in the wilderness?
If so, we are without excuse, because—like courageous, trusting Caleb being full of a different spirit—we are filled with the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us to get us off that mountain, out of that wilderness, and into His Kingdom to do the work we have been called to do (Eph. 2.10).
Jesus was faithful in all that He was called to do. He kept all the Commandments, and He is The Promise. And we are His “if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” But “beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God…” Or we are “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’” (Heb. 3.6, 12, 13, 14, 15).
Turn, go in, and possess all the Promises and commandments of God.
“The promises provide the vision, and the commandments show how to obtain the promises.”
Jesus did. And we are to “Follow Him” into the Kingdom of Promise. Daily and for eternity.
Reflection
1. Which of the promises of Jesus are most precious to you? Why?
2. Which of His commands do you struggle most to obey?
3. Whom will you encourage today with the promises and commands of Jesus?
When God commands us to go forward in our Christian course, he sets the heavenly Canaan before us for our encouragement. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Deuteronomy 1.1-8
Pray Psalm 84.5-12.
What promises has God made to you? Review the promises of Genesis 12.1-3 in prayer, giving thanks to the Lord for each one. Then thank Him for the promise of being with you always, and call on Him to make His Presence known to you throughout the day.
Sing Psalm 84.5-12.
(Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship)
Blessed are they whose strength is founded in Your strength, O LORD above.
All whose hearts in You are grounded journey in Your strength and love.
Though they weep with tears of sadness, grace shall all their way sustain.
In Your Presence, filled with gladness, they shall conquer all their pain.
LORD of hosts, my prayer receiving, hear me, help me by Your grace!
In Your courts I stand believing; turn to me Your glorious face!
LORD, our sun, our shield, our glory, no good thing will You deny
to those who proclaim Your story, and who on Your grace rely.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
