Revering the Word
Deuteronomy 32 The song of Moses. The waywardness of man.
Good morning everyone. This morning we find ourselves in Deuteronomy 32, very close to the end of Moses' life, some of his last words, and before Israel is about to take the promised land. What we have here is kind of a sad song of Moses that he's sharing with Israel where he is going to let them know ahead of time about their complacency and how in the future they are going to turn away from God. And as a result they're going to be punished. What is really incredible about this song is that God knows, God knows what's going to happen in the future. He's revealed it to Moses and it's amazing the level of accuracy of what Moses knew and what God shared with him ahead of time. It shows the sovereignty of God that he has a plan for Israel even amidst their waywardness and that he knows their waywardness. It's also interesting to me is how at times in God's sovereignty his all-knowing, all-power, his controlling what's going to happen, sometimes he just closes his eyes. He just says, "All right, if you want to turn away I'm going to let you go ahead do your thing and see what that gets you." And that's kind of interesting because that's really the consequence then of our free will. So you've probably heard me talk about this in other aspects of the Bible that we've gone through. But I think sometimes the sovereignty of God is that he has decided, "Go ahead, if you are going to live a life of disobedience to me, see what you get for that." And in a sense, God is still sovereign because that's his choice that he decided to let us experience the consequence or the blessing of obeying him or the consequence of disobeying him. But he's just letting it go. He said, "Go ahead, see what you're going to get." And we see some of that here in this chapter too. So where do you draw that line, right? Isn't that kind of interesting when you're discussing what God is controlling as he knows the number of hairs in our head? When is it that God is orchestrating every event or when is it that God has said, even though I could, orchestrate every event? And I already know it's going to happen, but I'm letting you receive either the blessing or the curse for your own behavior. And that's where we get into the mystery of God and the mystery of man's free will and God's sovereignty. And I think sometimes if we try to figure that out too much, we're just going to get ourselves in trouble because in our humanness and our finiteness, we can't know what God does in that regard. I think we have to really have allowed for there to be some mystery there. And I think that allows us to move forward, I think, better when we embrace that versus when we try to justify everything as though we know. So we'll see that here as we go through this chapter. But in a sense, there's beauty in this because you see that God knows and there's sadness in this because we see the waywardness of God's people. And then finally, there's beauty once again, because even though there's the waywardness of God's people, he one day brings Jesus to forgive us of our iniquity. And he also has future plans to bless us in the heavenly places and ages to come with an eschatological view, an end times view of not only the tribulation, but ultimately the millennial reign and then the new Jerusalem. Those are all still plans that God has and they're all vaguely referenced here in Deuteronomy chapter 32. Moses can see that far forward yet from the Moab here from the desert. And let's go ahead and take it in. Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. And it's almost as though, you know, Moses is saying, I really wish you would hear this and you would know where you're headed and maybe that you turn from your ways and trust God and trust the words that I'm giving you. But he already knows they're not going to stick with that. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech to still as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as the showers on the herb. For I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just, a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. You know, what's interesting is that Moses speaks like this about God being the rock, his ways are perfect and his ways are just. And yet as we'll see in, I believe at the end of this chapter and then, you know, in the next two, that Moses is going to get to go up on a mountain and overlook the promised land, but he's not going to get to go because of his unfaithfulness and in the past in the desert. And yet he's saying, you know what, God's just, even in that God's just, even in the punishment that I've received. And, you know, there's something to be said for that, that, you know, sometimes maybe, you know, we are punished for what we've done wrong, but we should have the wisdom to know that, you know what, even in that God is just. Verse five, they have acted corruptly toward him. They are not his children because of their defect, but a perverse and crooked generation. This is kind of the sadness that I was referring to, because he's really referring to Israel here as a crooked perverse generation that can't seem to follow him. Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people, is not he your father who has brought you? He has made you and established you. Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations, ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you, when the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to their number of the sons of Israel, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the allotment of his heritage. And he's saying, you know what, God is, he's chosen Israel. And he set boundaries. And he is God. But yet, Moses is letting them know that he knows that they've been unfaithful. He found him in a desert land. And in the howling waste of the wilderness, he encircled them. He cared for him. He's really talking about Abraham's family here, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and how he then brought Israel out of Egypt. He guarded him as the pupil of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young. He spreads his wings and caught them. He carried them on his pinions. The Lord alone guided them. And there was no foreign God with them. Well, you know, in this season, he's saying, Hey, you know what, for a while, they didn't worship foreign gods. And I was with them and I looked after them. He made him ride on the high places of the earth. And he ate the produce of the field. And he made him suck honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock. Curds of cows and milk of the flock with fat of lambs and rams, the breed of bachan and goats with the finest of the wheat and of the blood of the grapes you drink wine. And I think partly he's referring to, you know, Abraham became pretty wealthy. He, you know, he had much. And then he has this interesting, what's referred to here in verse 15, he says, but Jusharun grew fat and kicked. And that's kind of a somewhat of a negative name for Israel, Jusharun. It's one he's kind of saying an unfaithful Israel. He uses this name, Bacharun. But Jusharun, Jusharun grew fat and kicked. You are grown fat thick and sleek. Then he forsook God who made him and scorned the rock of his salvation. They made him jealous with strange gods. With abominations, they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. You neglected the rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth. And to me, I'm almost seeing now like Moses is looking ahead. And you know, even perhaps before it wasn't just the blessing of Abraham, but the blessing that was on Israel through David and Solomon and how they, you know, became very wealthy and prosperous, but then turned away from God and began worshiping false gods and setting up false places of worship and Israel is going to do all those things in the future. And this is what it says then, "The Lord saw this and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters. Then he said, 'I will hide my faith from them.'" It's interesting how he's kind of saying this in like first person, like it already happened, but I really believe here he's very focused on the future. And this is what he knows is going to happen. Then he said, "I will hide my faith from them. I will see what their ends shall be. For they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. They have made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols." So listen to this, you know, like God is, that really, I guess you could use the word hurts God, it frustrates God, it makes God disappointed with all that he's done for Israel, you know, how he's miraculously cared for them. They're not going to pass the faith on to the next generation, the way they should. And generations to come are going to worship false gods. And, you know, it makes me think about America. Well, you know, our Constitution calls for, you know, a freedom of worship. You can worship whatever you want. You know, that's not what God set up when he was bringing, you know, Israel out of Egypt. He didn't want them just to worship whatever they wanted. He wanted them to worship him. And now, you know, we have a Constitution that says you're free to worship whatever you want, and we have a lot of people worshiping whatever they want and forsaking God. They don't even know, I mean, we went out witnessing the other day and praised God. Some people wanted to hear and wanted to learn and even prayed to receive Christ. God knows when it's real, Hallelujah. But, you know, I was talking to one man and, you know, we talked about Jesus dying on Good Friday. And then I said, you know what happened on Easter Sunday? And the man didn't even know. He didn't even know that Jesus rose from the dead. So we have a generation of people growing up today that know nothing of the Bible and of Christianity. How sad that is. And, you know, in a sense, you could say that's on our watch as a people that we have that many people growing up in our world that don't know about Jesus. And I'm sure that God makes God sad. But may we be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Sumerian to the end of the earth. So as a result, let me pick it up again in verse 21. They have made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people. Now that's interesting. And that's carried forth into the New Testament. And it's beginning to let Israel know about the blessing that's going to be upon the Gentiles, other nations, that one day God's going to welcome in other people into the fold that won't just be Israel. And as a result of other people coming into the family of God through Jesus and even grafted into Abraham's family through faith in Jesus, whether they are of Israel or of any nation, any people who come to faith in him, he's saying he's going to make Israel jealous because all these people are going to become part of the family of God. And they're going to be like, Oh, we were always special. We were God's chosen ones. But now anyone who comes to faith in Jesus is part of his family. And that's going to make Israel jealous. That's talked about a lot in the middle chapters or middle to end chapters, like chapter 11 of Romans, for a fire is kindled in my anger and burns to the lowest part of shiole and consumes the earth with its yield and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap misfortunes on them. I will use my arrows on them. They will be wasted by famine and consumed by plague in bitter destruction and the teeth of beasts I will send upon them with the venom of crawling things of the dust. And I believe what he's referring to here is that in Israel's history, because they've worshiped false gods and because they have turned away, you know, the empires of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians are going to come in and take over Israel. And he's forewarning them that these things are going to happen. Outside the sword will bereave an inside terror, both young man and virgin, the nurseling with the man of gray hair. I would have said I will cut them to pieces. I will remove the memory of them from men. Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy that their adversaries would misjudge that they would say our hand is in triumph and the Lord has not done all this. For they are a nation lacking in counsel and there is no understanding in them, would they that they were wise that they understood this, that they would discern their future? You know, he's wishing, you know, why I wish you would take this all in and write the ship so that this would not happen to you, but indeed it does happen to them. How would one chase a thousand and two put 10,000 to flight unless their rock had sold them? And he's saying, you know what, you're going to get chased down and overtook because God's going to let it happen and the Lord has given them up. Indeed, their rock, this is the foreign army now, is not like the rock. Even our enemies themselves judge this for their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah, their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters bitter, their wine is the venom of serpents and the deadly poison of cobras. But imagine this song had to be hard for Moses to write, knowing all the bad that's going to happen. But you know what, he was frustrated with Israel. You know, he knew what it was like to lead them and due to their waywardness, I wonder if even Moses felt like the consequences he was getting for his unfaithfulness, bringing water from that rock. He was frustrated when he did that, when he instead of praying to the Lord, when he said, you want to see me bring water from this rock and he pounded his staff as though he brought water from the rock when he was supposed to give glory to God. And it may have just been his frustration with the people that he, you know, acted unfaithfully and in some ways, maybe, you know, he's kind of upset that, you know, he's accepting the fact that he's not going to the promised land, but he may be like, you know what, if you guys wouldn't have been so hard to lead, you know, this probably wouldn't have happened. But anyways, verse 34, is it not laid up in store with me sealed up in my treasury, vengeance is mine and retribution? And that's, that's a, that's been carried forth in the New Testament to vengeance his mind declares the Lord. In due time, their foot will slip for the day of their calamity is near and the impending things are hastening upon them, for the Lord will vindicate his people and see even though all this bad is going to happen, God's got future plans. And you know, he allowed Israel to come back into their land, not to have ownership over it, but to build a temple and to worship again in Israel. And he's brought Israel back into their land today, not in totality, like he will one day, but this is beginning to say that even though all this bad is going to happen, that listen to what it says, verse 36, and we'll have compassion on his servants when he sees that their strength is gone. And there is none remaining bond or free. And he will say, where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering, let them rise up and help you, let them be your hiding place. See now that I am he and there is no God beside me. And he's beginning here to talk about some of the favor that's returning to Israel. It is I who put to death and give life, I have wounded and it is I who heal. There is no one who can deliver from my hand. Indeed, I will lift up my hand to heaven and say, as I live forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on my adversaries. And I will repay those who hate me. And eventually, you know, some of the armies that got allowed to take over, he's gonna, he's gonna, you know, take care of them one day, I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword will devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives for the long-haired leaders of the enemy, rejoice on nations with his people, for he will for his land and his people. And this may be a reference to Jesus, this atonement that one day is going to come and listen to what it says there. We read rejoice on nations with his people. And that's a reference there to the Gentiles again. Sometimes they'll say, oh, like rejoice Gentiles, and that can be a term for nations. And that's us. See, it says rejoice on nations with his people, literally like, rejoice all you Gentiles with Israel would be another way of saying that, because we have, you know, we've come into his family and then it said in that verse at the end, and he will atone for his people and for the land. Isn't that interesting? So in here, even we have some prophetic words about Jesus. I want to go back quickly, because I forgot to cover something briefly. I want to go back to verse 19 and 20. It says, "The Lord saw this and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters. Then he said, I will hide my face from them, and I will see what their ends shall be." And that's kind of what I was referring to earlier, because throughout this song, we see the sovereignty of God. He knows what's going to happen, and he's letting them know what's going to happen. And he's even got future plans for Gentiles and future plans for Israel. And it's all talked about. So God knows what happens. However, in this passage here in verse 20, he says, "Then I will hide my face from them, and I will see what their ends shall be." And I think at times, that's what God does too, where he says, "You know what? You want to do your own thing? You want to live and sin? You want to turn away from me? Okay, well, I already know what's going to happen, but let's see what happens. I'm going to hide my face from you, and I'm going to see what your waywardness gets you." And that's God's sovereignty too, allowing us to face the consequences of our sinful behavior. So that's what I was referring to. You know, sometimes I think God orchestrates things, and ultimately it turns out the way, you know, that he knows. However, sometimes he just says, "I know what's going to happen, but it's on you." You know, if you're going to do your own thing, and you want to go your own way, I'll hide your face, and I will see what happens. So it's interesting to discern all of that regarding, you know, even the blessings and curses. Think about that. You know, the Old Testament covenant, it says, "Hey, if you obey, you'll be blessed, and if you disobey, you'll be cursed." So in some ways God says, "Go ahead, live your life. Are you going to choose to honor me?" And if you do, you'll see blessing. Are you going to choose to disobey me? And see if you do, you'll receive the consequences for your disobedience. So there again, we see, you know, man's behavior either receiving blessing or receiving cursing, and somehow God's sovereignty figures into all that with man's free will. And again, there's a mystery there. But let's move forward then to verse 44. "Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. He with Joshua, the son of none. When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all the words which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law, for it is not an idle word for you, indeed it is your life, and by this word you will prolong your days in the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess." Isn't that interesting? Even though he knows ultimately they're going to be wayward. He's saying, "Listen, this is not an idle word. Why don't you heed this warning? And if you do, maybe first season you'll honor me, maybe first season you'll obey me, and it will prolong then your days in this land. But if you don't listen to these words and you quickly turn aside and you quickly do your own thing, then you're going to receive what this is coming, the penalty for your behavior." Verse 48, "The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 'Go up to this mountain of the Aberim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab. See, he's not in the Promised Land, opposite of Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan. He's going to go up this mountain and view it, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession, then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people as ear and your brother died on Mount Hore, and was gathered to his people. And he's telling him why, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Maribah Qadash, and the wilderness is in, because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel." And that comes in Numbers chapter 20 when God told Moses to bring water from the rock or to honor God by bringing water from the rock. And he was supposed to just speak to the rock and say, "You know, water come out, and I believe, you know, give glory to God that God did this miracle." And Moses said, "Do you want me to see, do you want me to bring water from this rock?" And he pounded his staff and he didn't even like pray or give acknowledgement to God. It was like as though he had the power to bring water from the rock, and God was disappointed in the way Moses handled that. And that's why he is not getting into the Promised Land. "For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel." Isn't that incredible? Moses, you know, a man who got to go up on Mount Sinai and speak to God, there's never been a man like Moses. We'll see that at the end of this book in just two chapters. And truly, he was a remarkable figure of the Old Testament, Moses was. But yet, even he receives punishment for his misdeeds. And yet, no matter what, he still honored God. He loved God. He saw God as high and lifted up, despite the fact that, you know, even he too received punishment. And that's a, he is a worthy man, and we are blessed to have followed his journey and leadership throughout the desert. Well, that is there, the end of 32, and kind of a hard word, and I'm sure a hard word for Moses too, here he's leading all these people knowing that even after his death, they're going to, they're going to turn away. But despite that, in Deuteronomy 33, we are going to see the blessing that Moses places upon the tribes of Israel. And that was always a big deal when the patriarch would give a blessing. And we saw that with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who's going to get the blessing. And, and here we're going to have Moses share his blessing upon the tribes of Israel in chapter 33. And we'll see that momentarily. God bless you all.