Deut No.2 The Mosaic Covenant

For the first time ever while I've been in Worthing, through the post two days back, and doubtless some of you shared the honour, I had a form from the local water authority to inform me that specifically for my personal convenience, they were now going to levy their particular part of the rate separate from the rate that the town hall authorities, doubtless, will be requesting in a little while. They did go on to assure me that the second request that would follow from the town hall would be reduced as a result of their getting in before. Well, we shall see.

But of course, when a rate is levied, it means that they are expecting that the receiver of the note will actually pay the required amount. And to make matters easy for those who perhaps weren't quite expecting such an exorbitant sum of money to have to pass for the use of water and sewage facilities, one can enter into a contract and pay eight separate installments during the months May through to November, or whenever the eighth is up. Well, surprise, surprise, I've opted to do that, simply because I don't see why they should have the interest if I pay the whole thing in one go.

So I've written to my bank manager and suggested that he can take the monthly amount from my account until such time as the full payment has been delivered. In other words, I've entered once again into a contract, a covenant. Now that word covenant sometimes crops up here in the tabernacle, doesn't it? Our brother John Burling was probably sending you letters during the last few days.

Those of you who are in the covenant scheme of giving, excellent method of contributing to the Lord's work here in the tabernacle, and you had to fill in certain forms so that the brethren in charge of this system can contact Her Majesty's Inspector of Taxes and say, how about refunding all the tax that you stopped from folks who attend the tabernacle, who've worked very hard for their money, and who've contributed specific sums that bore tax, which can, according to British law, be refunded. Another area in which covenant is a very vital aspect of modern life. And then, only a few days ago, Saturday to be precise, two of our young friends stood at the front of our lovely sanctuary, and there they exchanged promises.

Will you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? Will you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? And of course, they came in heartily with an I do, and ere long, the whole thing was tied up spiritually and legally. They'd entered into a contrite one with the other. Now, I suppose you could say that all relationships and a great deal of commerce, not only in the 20th century, but down the years, can be reduced to this one word, covenant, at its base, at its nucleus.

And in the history of the theological revelation of God and His understanding or His desire to enter into relationships with men and women, this word is very much to the fore. It's not only a commercial word, not only a legal word, it's very much a theological word, a biblical word. Sometimes, in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, you come across it.

I suppose the first occasion, or one of the first occasions in the Bible, is a covenant which God enacts with Abraham. There were previous ones, an Adamic covenant, a Noahic covenant, but particularly, singularly, the one with Abraham stands out. And you may recall that on one occasion, as God is underscoring that He's entering into a contract with Abraham, the patriarch does something that's very strange, at least to moderns like ourselves.

He cuts up an animal and puts its parts out at the side of one another, corresponding to one another. And He walks up and down the pathway, ensuring that the birds, the ravens, the vultures, keep off the bits of the carcass. And then, at night, God appears in the manifestation of a light that passes to and fro, a most mysterious thing that happened in the experience of Abraham.

What was all this about? Well, Abraham was cutting a covenant with God. That's the Hebrew terminology for entering into a contract. You cut a contract.

It's something that's very deep, something that's very, very important indeed. And basically, the Hebrews were saying in the slang of an animal and laying it out in juxtaposition, God do so to me and more also if I default on the covenant. You see, in the Old Testament world, a contract was a very, very important thing indeed.

Covenants were cut, and the word that you had entered into was a very serious word, as it was taken by the covenanting party. Now, through into the New Testament, the same Hebrew background is carried through. Here is the Lord Jesus, and the disciples are with him.

Judas has left, and the Lord institutes the Last Supper. And do you recall how he takes a piece of bread, and he breaks the bread? And he says, this is my body, which is broken for you. And then he selects one of the Passover cups, and in it, of course, is some wine.

And he says that this wine represents my blood. This is a cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And you see in that, not only just the spelling out of the new covenant and the way this is going to be fulfilled as we understand it at Calvary, but it's something that literally cut.

It broke the Lord Jesus. It broke his body, and his blood was shed. And all the benefits and the consequences of the new covenant begin to stand out in relief.

Well, coming back to our subject this evening, and where it's located in the book of Deuteronomy, references here made to the second of the three most important covenants which God entered into in the Old Testament dispensation. I say three, the first being the one I mentioned, the Abrahamic, the second being this Mosaic covenant, and the third one being the Davidic covenant. And all these, and there were lesser covenants too, but all these really are pointing to that wonderful day in the future when God will enact a covenant which will be superlative.

The best covenant, the one that will never pass away, an enduring covenant which will have benefits not only for the Jew, but for the believing Gentile. And some of the teachings of the new covenant are latent, are inherent in the book of Deuteronomy. And that's one of the reasons why we're studying this book, because when the Lord Jesus was on earth, he says in John's Gospel, what is it, chapter 5, Moses spoke of me.

Moses had prophetic insight. Moses was given the ability by the Spirit to predict some of the things that I would be doing, some of the enactments which I would be making. And wise is that Christian who comes to grips with the teaching of the Old Testament revelation, and has an understanding of some of these great books at the beginning of the first half of our Bible.

Well, in this study tonight, we, for simplicity's sake, are going to maintain the four headings which I have jotted down on the notes, the handout, which I give as a little memento of the evening's occasion, so that in time to come, you can reflect back on it if you want. And I suggest that we look at this subject under the four easily remembered titles of the making of the covenant, and then the blessings of the covenant, and then the breaking of the covenant, and then a word which I will use and feel I've got biblical justification in so doing, though I haven't come across it in this particular context before, instead of the repairing of the covenant, which you might feel would follow the first three headings, I want to address you on the gracing of the covenant. And why I select that particular word will become obvious if you stay with me for the whole course of our study.

That is, you don't lose out on your concentration. But first of all, let's deal with the making of the covenant. And we go back to a reference which I haven't given you in the notes, to the fourth chapter, where the whole thing is set in historical perspective.

For there in the fourth chapter and the seventh verse, Moses addressing the Hebrews, who you remember from our study last week, are sort of on the brink of entering into the Jordan, Moses preparing the people for an experience that alas, he is not going to benefit from himself because his time is up. The sands have gone through the glass of his life and he's about to depart. But he is trying to instruct the people so that they will be ready to go through to the promised land and to be blessed immeasurably as they fulfill God's purposes for them as the redeemed community.

And he sets them over against any other group, be it a tribe or a nation in the world at that time. For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law? He makes reference in the ninth verse to communicating what God has done to the children of the Hebrews as they are born. And he says in the tenth verse, specially educate your children, specially tell them about this day, the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, gather me the people together and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

And verse 13, and he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten commandments and wrote them upon two tables of stone. Let's move on to the reference I did give you in the fifth chapter where there's a repetition of what has gone before, the second verse, the Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. And this is singularly important because Moses says the Lord made not this covenant with our fathers but with us, even us, who are all of us alive here this day.

And of course he's referring to that incident on Mount Horeb and Sinai really refer to the same spots. When he went into the holy mount, do you remember how the cloud came and there was also the noise of the thunder and then almost a volcanic reaction and the people stood back from the mountain, barriers had been erected, fences, so that no Hebrew in excitement would rush up the mountain at all, only Moses could be there. And God with his own finger wrote his law, the Decalogue, the ten commandments, the summary of his revelation at that time to the Hebrew nation.

And Moses brings these commandments down. And on the second occasion, because you recall how the Hebrews, alas, were in Moses' absence, had gone back to their old ways and had imported some paganism from Egypt into religious practices. The law was the tablets of stone were dashed, but then Moses engages in intercessory prayer and the Lord God writes them again.

And Moses brings these tablets of stone and the law to the people. This is how the covenant was made. And in the book of Exodus, there is record of the people saying, yes, we will enter into this covenant.

We will keep this law. And Moses is depicted as scattering blood upon the people, droplets of blood, sprinkling the blood, showing again the significance of the act and the fact that they have entered into an agreement with a holy God. Now, you notice here, still in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, how Moses says that his own position in the fifth verse was that of an intermediary.

I stood between the Lord and you at that time to show you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid by reason of the fire and went not up into the mount. And those of you who are familiar with New Testament scripture will recall that in this instance, Moses is prefiguring our Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, he brings a covenant, a better covenant from God, the gospel covenant.

And he becomes the intermediary, the mediator. There is one man who can stand between man and God, the man Christ Jesus, one mediator. And in this sense, Moses is prefiguring, you see, he's standing for, he's projecting all that the Lord Jesus Christ is to do when he comes on this earth.

But entering into an agreement, if it's really worth anything at all, it must have some bearing on the credibility of the two parties that are involved. I am expecting the water authority not to cut off supply from 8 Shakespeare Road. They in turn are expecting that they will get this monthly premium.

They know my credibility, at least I hope they do, and I believe in theirs. If either of us defaulted, then the whole covenant itself would be of little value, of little consequence. Similarly, in the spiritual, it's necessary for the two parties to have integrity.

And Moses is very quick to point out that the Hebrews have no need to worry at all about God's part of the bargain, so to speak. He has pledged that he will be their God in a special way, more than any other of the nations of the world. He will enter into a contractual obligation with the Hebrews, and he will keep what he has promised.

So, in the seventh chapter and the ninth verse, We sometimes talk, do we not, about the omnipotence of God. That is a word that means the ability of God to do everything. And yet you know that there is one sense in which that needs to be qualified.

There are certain things which God cannot do because it would be against his own person and character to indulge in. He can't break his word. He is the Lord who does not change.

He is not fickle. The Lord Yahweh, who never changes, counterpart in the New Testament, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He can't go back upon his word.

If he did this, he would be less than the God who has revealed himself in Scripture. It is just impossible for the Lord to default on a covenant. And this is what Moses brings out so clearly.

And there are other references that I could have brought to your attention this evening. As he convinces the Hebrews that this contract that they're entering into with God is a good one. They can bank everything on it.

Their own faith, their own national destiny is really all wrapped around the fact of the covenant-keeping God. And so important is this idea of covenant in the Hebrew economy that the Israelites are to teach their children about this God. You know, it's nonsense in the 20th century to believe that any aspect of education, particularly at the personal level, should be left to the schools.

Although still, in one sense, a school teacher myself, I have never felt that parents who discharge their obligations to schools for religious education of their children, or education in morality or ethics, are doing something that is honorable. God's appointed means of basic education are parents as they instill certain things into their children. And so very often, we might even take one study, one whole evening, on this from the book of Deuteronomy.

As I told you before, I'm doing this by topics. But there are many occasions, as I could demonstrate to you in the book of Deuteronomy, when the parent is singled out as the educator. He is to take his child, and he is to tell him all that God has done in the months and the years gone by, and how great is this covenant.

He is to instill this into the mind of his child, so that they in turn shall grow up to know that they have put their trust in a God whose Word is absolutely reliable. So, this concept of covenant in the making shows us what? That this great God of the Hebrew nation is entering into a personal, contractual obligation with the Hebrews. And this will bring to them certain blessings.

The second heading that I've given you for this evening study. And these blessings are scattered just like the confetti in the wedding which I referred to on Saturday. They're scattered around the whole of the book.

I've really gloried in reading the book of Deuteronomy. I've read it through and through and through again. The only thing that made British Rail bearable this evening coming back was reading the book of Deuteronomy.

Though the rest of the people in the compartment looked at me as though I was a bit of a nut taking out my Bible and reading that at half past four or five o'clock. Maybe commuters don't often read their Bibles, I don't know. But I was getting real joy out of just going through the various blessings, tabulating them that are in Deuteronomy.

I wanted to pick out certain specific passages which I could direct your attention to. But no way could it be exhaustive because, as I say, they're so diverse. They're just like the confetti that's scattered on the streets that remains over commemorating a very happy occasion.

Now these blessings we can at least take one or two examples of. We are told that it's God's purpose for the people when they go into the land of promise for those days to be so blessed. Chapter 11 verse 21, they will be as the days of heaven upon earth.

As the days of heaven upon the earth. Because this land, and I want to study next time just on the land itself, this land verse 10 and to 12 of the 11th chapter, is as an unusual land. The land whither thou goest into possess it is not as the land of Egypt from when she came out where thou sowest thy seed and water stick with thy foot as a garden of herbs.

But the land where you go to possess is a land of hills and valleys. And how beautiful is the AV here in its descriptive terminology. It's a land which drinketh water of the rain of heaven.

A land which the Lord thy God careth for. The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. A glorious land which will have many blessings in store for the Hebrews as they take up possession.

But you've not got to think, because this has been overplayed I think in preaching and in some of the commentaries that I study, you've not got to think of the blessings that God is going to give to his old people in terms of earned blessings as a result of their obedience. You know there are those who look upon the law as being something that was rigid and harsh and absolutely authoritarian and disciplinarian in its intent. Yet that is only one side of the coin.

Why did God give the law to the Hebrews? To hem them in? Is God some killjoy who is wanting to restrict people from having blessing? Not at all. The law that God gives to the Hebrews on Sinai, not only the Ten Commandments but the amplification of that law as is contained within Deuteronomy was for the benefit of the Hebrews. And some of the restrictions that were imposed upon them were so that they would enjoy their life to the full.

Absolute freedom just brings chaos, doesn't it? You imagine a situation, and goodness knows with some of the modern education theory which is absolutely ridiculous, you imagine that you sometimes get this in schools. Imagine the situation where everybody in an infant class does just what they want. I was reading one of the daftest books on education philosophy some years ago in which Johnny came to school and he decided what he was going to do.

If he wanted to paint, then he'd paint. If he wanted to kick a football, then he'd kick a football. It all sounds very good but you may have 40 odd different Johnnies who want to do 40 odd different things.

And the outworking of all this would be absolute chaos and disaster. And I think that we're seeing this in some of our schools, not all of our schools. My wife's is an exception.

Had to say that to keep our marriage intact. Absolute freedom is not a beneficial thing. There needs to be law.

There needs to be some restraint. And I never had a crowd of youngsters in the schools in which I taught who didn't appreciate the fact that there must be some benevolent authority or else there would be chaos and their education would be in the balance. Well, similarly, this law that God has given, it's not a law that rests on the authoritarian nature of God.

That comes into it. But it's a law that stems from the heart of a gracious God who loves his people. And he says, if you keep this law, if you live up to these particular commandments and the subsidiary rules and regulations, you'll find that when you go into that land, you'll know blessing untold.

Blessing which will result logically from your obedience. It shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city.

Blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kind, the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. And so on and so forth. The blessings which God has in store, blessings abound.

And that, my friend, also has some corollary, some fulfillment in the New Testament covenant, does it not? As we stay close to our Savior, as we live our life in accordance with the precepts of the gospel, it brings to us joy untold and a peace the like of which this world has never known nor ever outside of God can know. So the Hebrews are enjoined. Chapter 5 verse 33.

Observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded that you may live and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

Now here's Moses and doubtless he's thrilled as he anticipates with the Hebrews their entry into the promised land. But that man Moses is not only a meek man, the meekest that ever lived, he's also a discerning man, he's a shrewd man. He's not some starry-eyed parent that sometimes one comes across who feels that there's nothing but good in their children.

Remember interviewing some while ago back in my Enfield days a couple of parents and they came to me and Rowena on one occasion and they had two girls respectively. Their girls were going through great problems and it was anybody's fault but theirs. Their daughters well you know that if only the youth work was properly run and there were more opportunities and more activities in this area and in the other area, well our girls would be veritable Florence Nightingales or what have you.

But there's no starry-eyed approach with Moses, he knows. These people they're a stiff-necked and against saying people, a disobedient people. The Lord their God he says in the sixth verse of the ninth chapter, not a comment to exactly lift him in the popularity charts.

Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people. And so he goes on in the next verse, remember and forget not how thou provokest the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until you came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord. And Moses knew he'd had a pack of trouble with this people.

They had been like delinquent immature juniors squabbling. They'd hardly got through the Red Sea before there was a murmuring and suggestions that they should never have followed Moses in the first instance. When they wanted food God gave them food and there along the food wasn't good enough for them.

Always quarreling, always having some problem. And Moses although they're right at the end of their wilderness wanderings he's not so forgetful as to blot this from his memory. And he's a worried man.

Worried as he contemplates the entry of his own people into the promised land. Worried because he won't be there in any case to to temper them, to direct them, to lead them. A new leader has got to take his own measure and to flex his own muscles so to speak.

Moses won't be around. And so he warns them that they're not to go back into the idolatrous practices that sometimes he's found them indulging in during their wilderness wanderings. When they go into that land they're to keep the covenant.

Ah, but what happens Moses if they break the covenant? Well, Moses even contemplates that this could be the case. Let's just check one or two references. Even in the first address that he preaches in the fourth chapter and the 23rd verse he says, take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you.

And make you a grave an image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire even a jealous God. Go through to the eighth chapter in the 11th verse.

Moses is still echoing his his worries. Look he says when everything's going well for you and you're installed in that land and material possessions have come your way and they're a bumper harvest beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten an artful and has built goodly houses and dwelt therein.

Verse 14. Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint. Moses has got more than a sneaking notion that these Hebrews will suffer from amnesia.

Do you know my friend there's something there which however harsh it may seem needs to be lifted out of the Old Testament and apply to our own situation. Why do we sing that hymn tell me the old old story or tell me the stories of Jesus. You get to that line was in the first I quoted or the second hymn for I forget so soon.

Isn't it the case that sometimes after God has lifted us up out of the miry clay after he has infused into us the power of his spirit after our circumstances have improved that then we forget and we rationalize upon our situation and we say well all this has really come about because of my my own ability and because of the way that I've ordered my life and the decisions that I contracted forgetting that the covenantal blessings are traced back not to ourselves but to God alone. Moses knows that the dread possibility I the certainty is that the Hebrews will break the covenant that they will default on their contract. And isn't that one of the theological problems that plagues the Old Testament books and writers come to Hosea.

Hosea you remember is a book which really starts off from the domestic situation of the prophet Gomer commits infidelity and goes off with another man with other men and Homer Hosea comes to the realization that this is a reflection literally in his situation of what has happened with God and the Hebrews spiritually. Now as far as Hosea is concerned he could divorce Gomer that was a logical thing to do there she was a prostitute there she had become just a commoner garden slave he could have invoked the use of the law and divorced her and so could God with the Hebrews. But then you get is it in the eighth or the eleventh chapter of that prophecy those words from God how shall I give you up Ephraim how shall I give you up Israel for I am God and not man you've broken the contract but I find it hard to bring the curses of the breach of the contract against you in an absolute fashion and wipe you out of existence as far as my memory is concerned.

So we have to go on before we've concluded the study this evening to that word which I specially selected gracing the covenant will God be able if the Hebrews do default to bring in some other legislation to enact some other means whereby reparation reconciliation can be effected. Well there's more than just a touch of the gospel in Deuteronomy my friend look at the fourth chapter in the 29th verse Moses is toying with this problem as he's been inspired from the Lord he's postulating infidelity we'll take the reading from the 27th chapter 4 the Lord shall scatter you among the nations you shall be left few in number among the heathen whither the Lord shall lead you and there you shall serve God's the work of men's hands wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell but if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul one of the most wonderful verses in the whole of the Bible is that one particularly as it's found in the early volumes flip over the pages and come to the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy and there you get a similar sentiment expressed that the Lord God will do for Israel that the Lord God will enter into another contract with Israel if they return to him I've said the 31st verse and 31st chapter and the 29th verse yes here we are I've got the right one I thought I got the wrong one for a moment here is Moses saying that he knows that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands now if they do this will there be any possibility at all of reparation yes they will turn back to the 30th chapter was the one that I was looking at before and in the opening verses there you get a reflection of what we saw in the fourth chapter it shall come to pass when all these things these curses are come upon you as a result of your disobedience that I and that you are scattered amongst all the nations whether the Lord thy God hath driven thee that thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy children with all thine heart and with all thy soul that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and gather thee from all the nations whether the Lord thy God hath scattered thee and so it goes on what are we saying well we're saying the time's nearly gone for a start but we're observing this that located in the heart of Deuteronomy which speaks of the marvels of the mosaic covenant is the thought that breach of that covenant though it could bring the absolute curse of God upon the Hebrews will nonetheless in the graciousness of the Lord give way to an even better covenant the new covenant and this is why I said right at the beginning of our study this evening that to fully grasp the teaching of scripture in the whole area of covenant you have quickly got to get to the Lord Jesus with the disciples in the upper room enacting that new covenant which will be a covenant that is entered into its benefits are entered into by the exercise of pure faith now God forecasts that absolute covenant as he sets up the older covenants the Abrahamic and the Mosaic and the Davidic and here we are in the 20th century basking in the covenantal blessings of God which he has made perfect in the Lord Jesus and those blessings blessed be the Lord are available not only to Gentiles but also to the Hebrews and I believe yet that the day will come then what that what Moses expected in regard to the ancient Hebrews and their return to the Lord we shall see fulfilled as their eyes are opened and in accordance with the teaching of the Apostle Paul in Romans they return to the gospel of Jesus Christ and as a nation they recognize him and therefore gain all the blessings that can be theirs through the new covenant so you see what an amazing word that one is and what an amazing book is Deuteronomy which not only speaks of the Mosaic covenant but anticipates in some degree the blessings of the superior covenant enacted by our Lord Jesus on the cross amen