Deuteronomy 11:10-28 For the land that you are entering to take
possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where
you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. (11)
But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and
valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, (12) a
land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always
upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year… (18) "You shall therefore lay up these words
of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on
your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (19)
You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are
sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie
down, and when you rise. (20) You shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates, (21) that your days and the days of your children
may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them,
as long as the heavens are above the earth.
(22) For if you will be careful
to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God,
walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, (23)
then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will
dispossess nations greater and mightier than you… (26)
"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: (27)
the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I
command you today, (28) and the curse, if you do not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am
commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.
It is hard to choose just a few verses to focus on
from Deuteronomy 11, as it is a wonderfully rich chapter of the Bible. This
chapter contains a mixture of encouragement and warning, of grace and
judgement, of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility, of Gospel and Law, of
blessing and curse.
Deuteronomy 11 begins with the reminder of God’s
great salvation work, freeing Israel from their cruel Egyptian captors. It was
a redemption that came through mighty hand and acts of God, and a redemption which
was absolute and secure. They people of Israel were set completely free, and
remained so, their freedom was not temporary, nor did the Egyptians capture and
enslave them again.
From a retelling of God’s redemption of Israel
from slavery in Egypt, we are then told what God is redeeming them to, where
God was taking them. The Promised Land was the destination of their salvation
from Egypt, it would be the end of the long journey and mean that they could
finally settle in a land of their own. They are told this land is one flowing
with milk and honey, it is filled with fruit, vegetation and is a well-watered
land. But greater than its natural resources, beauty and bounty is that “The
eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to
the end of the year.” It is the Promised Land as it is a land of
plenty, but of greater significance is that it is God’s land, the land which
God constantly watches over and provides for.
We see in this chapter God’s grace, blessing,
salvation, sovereign power and purposes in bringing the people of Israel safely
to the Promised Land. This serves as a picture of the Gospel, of how through
Christ we shall know God’s salvation, experience God’s grace, live under God’s
daily blessing and have the assurance that God will work in His sovereign power
and purposes to bring us into the true and eternal Promised Land of Heaven.
But, God also issues a challenge to His people, He
calls them to obedience and warns them of what the consequences for sin and
disobedience will be. They are urged to be people who love God’s Word, to the
point that they know it and know it well, that God’s Word informs every thought
and word, it informs everything they do both outside of and inside their
houses. They are to be people of God’s Word and thus they are to teach it
constantly to each other, and most of all to the next generation. By doing this
they will honour God and cause the next generation to also honour God. God
encourages them by telling them that obedience will lead to blessing, however
He then warns them that failure to obey His Law will lead to judgement and
punishment.
God promises to bless and prosper them, and calls
upon them to obey and honour Him. He sets before them a clear choice, obedience
and blessing, or disobedience and curse.
For us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
this chapter should be a source of great encouragement. What this chapter
exposes in all of us, is that whilst we may strive to honour and obey God, and
do all that which He requires of us, the reality is that we cannot. We will
fall and fail, we will disobey God, it is inevitable because we are sinners.
Though God sets the choice before us, we know that we will all make the same
choice and meet the same end, we will go the way of disobedience and curse.
Yet, we should be encouraged and rejoice in Christ’s perfect obedience, for it
is through His obedience that we who believe are declared to be obedient!
Because Christ chose to walk the path of obedience and thus merited the
Father’s blessing, now by virtue of Christ’s obedience having been applied to
us, we receive the Father’s blessing. For those in Christ, there is only
blessing, no curse, for Christ has broken the curse and set us free from it
completely. For those in Christ, there is no judgement and condemnation, just
blessing and eternal salvation. Christ is our obedience, and He gives to us all
the blessings of heaven!
We also need to understand that the same
challenges and commands of Deuteronomy 11 come to us. As God’s children, we are
to obey and honour God, we are to love, read, obey, do and teach His Word. We
are to trust Him in all things and at all times, we are to delight and walk in
His ways. We are to rejoice in His faithful provision for all our needs, and
take comfort from the fact that His eyes are always upon us. But we are not to do
any of the above in the hope that it will bring us into or keep us in God’s
favour, for we already have God’s favour through Christ. The challenge for us
is to live out all of the above in response to God’s great favour, God’s
salvation work in our lives. We obey God because we love Him. We love, read,
obey, do and teach God’s Word because it is the most precious truth we have,
because we want others to see God in us and we long for others to see the truth
of God for themselves.
Our Almighty Generous God, we give thanks and praise
to You today for the truth of the Gospel, for the fact that Christ has become
our obedience, and taken upon himself our disobedience and the penalty against
it. Thank You that His perfect obedience has been made ours and we now receive
Your gracious and eternal blessing each day. May we rejoice in our security and
freedom in Christ. Help us to be faithful and loving children, who love You,
and Your Word, who delight in obedience and daily seek to tell others of You,
faithfully teaching Your Word. Amen.
