Deuteronomy: Chapters 8-14
Chapter 8: Keep the Lord’s commands attentively. Avoid pride and idol worshipping.
V. 1-9: Here we learn that in all kinds of situations, in dry desert or in rich good land, God has a purpose for that. He wants to test us in order to know what is in our heart. God uses the environment to teach us that man does not live on bread alone but on EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD.
V. 10-20: It is so easy for us to become proud when we have eaten well and lived in the good land. Then we forget what a suffering life we had when we were in Egypt as slaves. We forget how dreadful and how hard the journey we had in the desert. How easily we forget the gracious grace and mercy of Jesus Christ who was crucified to redeem us from sin and eternal death. We also have forgotten how God has nourished us with great love and patience. As a result of it, we become very proud and follow other gods. We are sure to lose all the blessing if we do that. Keep in mind what happened to King Solomon when his heart was led astray by foreign wives. How King Asa lost his glory when he turned to trust in power and man rather than in God. Follow the example of Apostle Paul. He has never regarded himself as having taken hold of perfection before the Lord. Paul does one thing: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. When Daniel is put in high position, he sets his mind to understand the things to be happened wholeheartedly. He cares about the future of God’s people. Therefore? Daniel is highly favored by God.
Chapter 9: Do not forget your own wickedness. Intercede for others.
V. 1-5: Keep in mind that God is the one who subdues the enemies. God alone is the one who turns people’s heart to Jesus Christ. It is to fulfill His promise that God gives us the land. Never think to ourselves that it is because our righteousness.
V. 6-21: Remember this and never forget our own wickedness. It is God’s mercy and grace that we can get this good land. And there are so many God’s children intercede earnestly for us. We shall also follow the example of Moses to pray for God’s children and our co-workers. Then, we can give warnings and timely correction to those who have gone astray. And bring them back to God’s way.
V. 22-24: Remember well how and why we provoked God to anger before. Take it as a lesson, so that we may never fall into the same mistake.
V. 25-29: Moses prays for forgiveness of God’s people. He asks God to show great mercy for the sake of His own name. The Lord says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”(Ezekiel 22/30) How God values our intercession for all nations. What an impact it will bring to the whole world. If there is one, just one person intercedes for a nation; God will spare that nation from destruction. When Queen Esther pleads earnestly for her people, her intercession changes the dark into the light. A tribulation turns out to be a great revival. Today, who is willing to be an intercessor?
Chapter 10: Lead others to obey God’s commandments. Cleanse your heart.
V. 1-5: God commands Moses to prepare stone tablets as the first ones again. He will write on them the Ten Commandments. God’s words will stand still and never change. Jesus also has told us that His words will condemn us at the last day. (John 12/48) We must trust and obey God’s words. In this way, we will not be punished but be blessed.
V. 6-11: Here we see God sets apart the tribe of Levi to serve Him. We learn that God’s servants shall be faithful to their ministries so that they will lead people to God’s grace and to God Himself. God’s servants should be: (1) Holy. God says that the Levites are to be set apart from His children and this world to serve Him. (2) Carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant in one heart. It means God’s servants in one heart exalt only God’s words as the highest. It is their duty to preach the sound doctrine of truth. (3) Stand before the Lord to minister. Be watchful for themselves and the flock. They are to please God not man. (4) Intercede faithfully. (5) Have no share or inheritance in this world. But the Lord is their inheritance. God wants them to serve Him wholeheartedly without any distraction. The best offering from God’s children to the Lord will be their enjoyment. Follow the faithful example of Moses and Jesus Christ. Earnestly intercede for God’s children. Those who serve Him faithfully never lack of anything. Paul is even willing to make every effort and spends all he has for the flock.
V. 12-17: Now what does the Lord ask of us but to fear Him and to walk in all His ways. It is for our own good and fortune. Therefore, cleanse our hearts. Be obedient children of the Lord. God sees our hearts not our appearances.
V. 18-22: If we realize the heart of heavenly Father, we will love and care for the poor. For example, Cornelius the centurion who gives generously to those in need and prays to God regularly. It has become a memorial offering before God.
Chapter 11: Listen to God attentively. Proclaim the Word ceaselessly.
V. 1-7: Love our God and always keep all of His words. Remember it is our own eyes have seen all these great things the Lord has done. God has performed signs to deliver us from great disasters. We are the one who have experienced the discipline of His majesty. If we do not love the Lord—a curse be on us. (1 Corinthians 16/22)
V. 8-12: Obey God’s words, so that we may take possession of the promised good land.
V. 13-17: Be very carefully when we are blessed, or we will be enticed to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against us.
V. 18-25: Fix these words of God in our hearts and minds. Whatever we do by our hands or we think (our foreheads), we must tune it in to God’s words. Teach them to our children at all occasions. Talk to people about God’s words. If we follow His words in this way, we will sure to have great blessings. God promises that no man will be able to stand against us. We will bear good fruit in Jesus Christ.
V. 26-27: If we follow God’s words, we receive the blessing. If we turn from God to serve other gods, we receive the disaster. Today, let us make a wise choice before the presence of God. What is your choice, the blessing or the disaster?
Chapter 12: Hate evil and wickedness. Keep the Lord’s commandments and save people.
V. 1-4: Hate what is evil and wickedness and destroy them totally. Never worship our God by following the way of Gentile. For example, (1) so called prophets and prophecies among the group of spirit-filled; (2) Catholic and their worshipping of Mary, saints and angels; (3) elections in church according to man’s rules and traditions; (4) In Japan, almost every house has images of idols. Bible teachers from South Korea tell Christians in China that they only need to recite the Lord’s Prayers all day long. Then, they will get power. A group called “I HOP” proclaiming their ministry is before the Throne when they sing and dance. And there are other cults such as Eastern Lightening, Jehovah Witness and so on.
V. 5-14: Seek the place the Lord our God chooses to put His Name there for His dwelling. His Name is His Word. (Rev. 19/13) W e should go to the house of the living God where the foundation of the truth is. To there we must go and pray. And there we bring our offerings, and give thanks and share our blessings with others.
V. 15-19: Never eat the blood. For the life of a creature is in the blood. Also the blood makes atonement for our lives. Woe to us if we do not preach gospel to save the gentile. Woe to us if we do not help people to turn from doing wrong things. If we read carefully Ezekiel 33/1-9 & 12-13, we will understand the love of God in forbidding us to eat any blood. The heart of our Lord desires no one to be perished. Therefore, when you and I are blessed and rejoice in Jesus, we must always put soul-winning as the first priority in our lives.
V. 20-28: When God has enlarged our territory, we can enjoy His blessing. But be sure we do not eat the blood. For example, when God blesses us with money and time, we can travel around and enjoy our holidays. But keep in mind to take that chance to preach gospel to the gentile. When we meet Christians, we should edify one another to keep God’s words and to love God more. Then, it may go well with us and our children forever.
V. 29-31: Be careful not to be ensnared by following the wicked ways of idol worshiping. For example, once I went to a friend to preach gospel to her. She happily treated me with the best food. And she turned on the TV for me. My mouth was stuffed with her food; my eyes were on the TV. I lost power and I could not share gospel with her. I knew it very well that good food and TV shows were her gods, but I was ensnared by it too. I should have followed the faithful example of old servant of Abraham and told my friend, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.”
V. 32: Do all God commands us. Do not add to it or take away from it.
Please pay attention that three times God asks us to “Be careful” and once He reminds us “But be sure”.
(1) V. 13: “Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.” Never attend worship of impure gospel. Go to the church which proclaims pure truth and has the presence of the living God.
(2) V. 19: “Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.” The Levites mean full-time servants of God.
(3) V. 30: “Be careful not be ensnared by inquiring about their gods”, after they have accepted the gospel.
(4) V. 23: “But be sure you do not eat the blood” when you rejoice in God’s grace. God has been training us to preach gospel at all times and all occasions. Whenever we take taxi or the plane, we are urged by the Holy Spirit to preach gospel and to save the lost souls as much as possible. Every one of us should do that from today. This pleases our God.
Chapter 13: Destroy all kinds of enticement. Touch not the evil.
V. 1-5: The enticement of false prophets. Do not be deceived by the false prophets even if their signs or wonders come true. It is God testing us to find out whether we love Him or not. A false prophet tries to entice us to go astray from God’s words by his signs or wonders. We must put that false prophet to death.
V. 6-11: The enticement of families and friends. When Satan uses them to entice us to serve other gods secretly, we must refuse it absolutely by 5 No. Our hand must be the first in putting them to death. When Mrs. Ho was clearly called by God to go to Fuzhou to open a new Home of Grace, she had a hard test. Her husband was a general in the army. He cried before her the whole night asking her not to follow God. She refused this enticement by 5 No. How God has used her to bless servants and churches in Fuzhou.
V. 12-16: The enticement of the wicked men. If we hear that there are wicked men trying to entice people to worship other gods, we must be concerned about it, find out information about it, and investigate it. How can we do that? It is by the words of God and watchful praying. If it is true, we must put to the sword all the wicked men. Burn whatever belongs to them totally.
V. 17-18: None of those condemned things shall be found in our hands. Be sure to destroy every enticement. Our God is a jealous God. Follow God’s words and keep all His commands. God will show us mercy and grace, and increase our numbers.
Chapter 14: Eat not anything detestable. Present offerings with thanksgiving.
V. 1-2: Do not follow the practice or custom of other religions.
V. 3-8: Do not eat any detestable thing. Do not touch their dead bodies. Here eating means accepting their teachings. Be careful about what kind of teachings we accept. What does it mean by chewing the cud and having a split hoof? In the spirit, chewing the cud means meditating on God’s words day and night. It is said in Psalm 119/97, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” Meditation enables us to absorb His words into our life. Then we can follow God’s words and walk in His way without shaking. Psalm 119/101 says, “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.”
(1) Those who chew the cud but do not have a split hoof are like the Pharisees. They talk about God’s words by their mouth. They do not put it into practice. (2) The one has a split hoof but does not chew the cud is a type of person who does good in the presence of men. He has no God’s words in his heart. (3) How about one has a split hoof not completely divided? It represents a type of person who is double-minded. He is not willing to follow God’s words completely to the end. Pilate was this type of people. Though he did not want to put Jesus to death, he did it at the end for his own interests. Jonathan, son of King Saul, was another example. He loved David deeply. He knew he would be second to David in David’s kingdom. But Jonathan also loved his father Saul and the enjoyment in his father’s palace. He could not leave all these things behind to follow David in his suffering. At the end Jonathan died together with Saul on a mountain. How pity it is! How about you, are you like that? You know how much you have been blessed by God. It has been many years that you really want to love Jesus Christ and want to offer yourself to the Lord. But you also enjoy this world so much that you are reluctant to give it up for the cross. Repent tonight. Turn to Jesus Christ. Set up your mind to follow the Lord to the end to repay His great kindness.
V. 9-10: Do not eat any living creatures in water that do not have fins and scales. Fins are for directions. Those creatures in water without fins mean Christians follow the way of this world. They are like the reeds swayed by the wind. They cannot follow God’s narrow way but drift away. Scales protect creatures from pollution in the water. Those with no spiritual scales are defiled by the world. Therefore, they are counted as unclean and detestable.
V. 11-20: Do not eat unclean birds. These kinds of birds have two wings—they know the Bible and they can pray. But their evil and wicked nature has never been changed. For example, the ravens fly but they love to eat the meat of dead bodies. This is a type of nominal Christian. They have the knowledge of Bible and can pray by lips very well. But they love this world in their heart. So they are unclean before God’s eye.
All flying insects that swarm or walk on all fours (Leviticus 11/20) are unclean to us. (E.g. Balaam)
If we meet Christians or even pastors who do not love God, we should be careful not to be influenced by them. If a Christian indulges himself in this world, e.g. money, power, luxury, and sinful desires, he will not love to read the Bible or pray to God. He will not be approved by God. Therefore, he is counted as spiritual unclean. We shall never accept (eat) his way of life or his teaching of truth.
V. 21: Do not eat anything you find already dead. (One sister went to Japan with her husband. Later her husband died. From outside she has overcome many temptations. She is active at church. But inside her heart, she always regrets that she should have accepted temptations. Then she could have been someone’s mistress and does not have to work hard by herself.)
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk”. Milk means the pure words of God. It is to nourish our spiritual life. We shall never use God’s words to condemn people or make them despair. Nor shall we use God’s words to hurt people for our emotional problems. Jesus came to this world not to condemn us but to save us. As long as we repent when we hear His words, we are saved. How great the love of our God is! He desires no one to be perished. God says, “As surely as I live…I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”(Ezekiel 33/11)
V. 22-27: When Nehemiah learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields, he corrected it at once. He rebuked the officials, “Why is the house of God neglected?”(Nehemiah 13/11) Nehemiah then called back the Levites and made sure the tithes and other offerings were provided for them.
V. 28-29: Give willingly and share our blessings with the needy. In addition to the tithes, we should be willing to give more to the Levites who serve the Lord wholeheartedly. We should also care about the poor, the fatherless and the widows in our towns. In this manner, God will bless us in all the work of our hands.
Altar calling: Who is willing from now on to pay attention to every word that comes from the mouth of our Lord?
Who wants Jesus to cleanse his/her heart totally? Is there pride in your heart? Hatred? Lies? Greediness? Any idols?
(1) Who is willing to understand Father’s heart and to be an intercessor for all nations?
(2) Who wants to take every chance to preach gospel—exalting Jesus before men?
(3) Is there anyone who wants to leave everything behind to follow the Lord? Do you want to take the way of cross? Are you willing to deny yourself and to save people’s souls?