This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 32:1-52; 2 Samuel 22:1-51; Romans 10:14-11:12

This week's Torah portion coincides with the days leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) when Jews in our own day remember the days of the wilderness journey to the Promised Land.

The Books of Torah begin with the account of Creation and the Fall and include the history of Noah and Abraham - the beginning of God establishing and outworking his Covenant plan. This week's Torah portion brings us to the point when Moses was soon to die, handing over leadership responsibility to Joshua. Before doing so, Moses brought a prophetic Song to ancient Israel. In this Song he recalled what God had done and looked into the future.

Blessings and Warnings

We Christians have extracted some wonderful verses from this song to sing in our church services:

Ascribe greatness to our God the Rock, His work is perfect and all His ways are just. A God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He. (Deut 32:3-4)

Do we sometimes, however, over-emphasise the blessings and ignore the difficulties? For Israel, Moses' song was also full of warnings. He prophesied accurately concerning the way the Children of Israel would constantly rebel against God and suffer the consequences. These are the hard truths to be remembered at Sukkot in the context of repentance and praising God for his greatness.

Accurate Prophecy

These are the Days of Awe for Israel. By the time we read the Torah portion this week, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) will also have been celebrated in Israel (on Tishrei 10, Wednesday 12 October). This is considered to be the holiest day of the year when religious Jews put matters right with their family and friends and seek to put matters right with God.

Much has happened in Israel's history since the days of Moses. There have been good times, but also unbearable difficulties and pain. In the context of ascribing greatness to God, we must understand that Moses' prophecy (Song) was an accurate description of what it would take for God to shepherd his chosen people through the course of history, up to and including today and on into the future, when all Covenant purposes will be fulfilled.

The Song of Moses should be, for all of us, a cause for deep meditation, with the high notes of God's faithfulness harmonising with the bass notes of human experience.

Final Fulfilment

"For the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross" (Heb 12:2) comes to mind as a fitting truth to put alongside our Torah portion meditations this week, for here too are expressions of both the high notes and the bass notes of Covenant history. "It is finished" (John 19:30) resounded from the Cross, across all time and history. All the pain and suffering that were an inevitable consequence of the Fall, which the entire world has suffered and into which Israel was called to be the prominent example, were brought to a climax through the sacrifice of Jesus.

This is in fulfilment of the last words of Moses' Song (Deut 32:43), as he looked forward to the great day when the promise of redemption would be fulfilled:

Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.

If we choose this week in our congregations to sing the chorus "Ascribe greatness to our God the Rock", perhaps we should remember the full context.

Yet, we are not wrong to major on God's blessings if we live in faith in Jesus, taking all things in balance. One day the emphasis will not only be on the Song of Moses. When all is finally accomplished for our eternal life with our Great God, it will be in the full balance of the Song of Moses "and the Lamb" (Rev 15:3-4), when complete and final justice has been brought - not only to Israel but also to the entire world.

Author: Dr Clifford Denton

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 31:1-30; Isaiah 55:6-56:8; Romans 10:14-18.

This is a very special week. Last Sunday (2 October) at sundown was the start of the new year 5777 in the Jewish civil calendar - Rosh Hashanah (the Head of the Year), the first day of the month of Tishri. It begins ten Days of Repentance (known as the Days of Awe, Yomim noraim) in which God invites His people to seek His face - not just for knowledge or revelation, but for a cleansed relationship with their holy God.

Come to an Awesome God, to Enter His Service

It is accompanied by the sounding of a ram's horn, the shofar, for this day is called Yom Teru'ah – the Day of Blowing. In modern Hebrew, the word ha-tra'ah means 'the warning or alert', and is based on the same root as teru'ah. For observers of Rosh Hashanah, it is an urgent call to repent, to get right relationships with God and with our fellow man. Moses and Isaiah exhorted ancient Israel to forsake their evil ways and thoughts, and turn to God in repentance, as these days lead to atonement on Yom Kippur. He would then have mercy on them and freely pardon their sins (Isa 55:6-7).

It is an opportunity we also should not miss, to repent and turn from going our own way. Free pardon of sin, however, was and is only available through the suffering Servant, whom Isaiah revealed as the promised Messiah (Isa 53:2-12).

God is Awesome in His Actions

Often the Lord would bring His people to a place or time when He would have them move into a new area for Him, but would complete this work only if they heard His call and acted in faith. Our extended Torah portion this week describes how Moses brought God's people Israel to the River Jordan (in full flood at the time) and summoned all Israel to hear again the instructions (Torah) that God had given them. He told them, and Joshua who was to be their new leader, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of the nations, for the Lord your God goes with you (Deut 31:6).

Moses then gave the Torah to the priests and the elders, and commanded them to read it at the end of every seventh (Sh'mittah) year, so they would learn to fear the Lord and obey His words. The priests carrying the Ark of the covenant were to walk in faith into the river. When they did this, the Lord stopped the flow of the Jordan and the people crossed over on dry ground (a reminder of the Red Sea crossing on dry ground during the Exodus from Egypt). What an awesome God we serve!

Do we also act in faith, and expect amazing things, when He calls us to move out into a new area of witness for our awesome Lord? This present time after the Brexit vote is one such call especially to repentance before Him. But God says to us: Be strong and courageous. He tells us (as He told Joshua), Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you (Josh 1:9). 365 times in Scripture, God says, "Do not fear" (one for each day!). God always keeps His promises - Psalm 107 is worth reading to see God's mercy and faithfulness.

Yet God also warned Moses of Israel's future idolatry and their breaking of His covenant. There would be disasters and difficulties because they would reject the Lord (Deut 31:16). This is as true for Britain today as for Israel.

God is Awesome in His Love for Mankind

Isaiah also looked forward to the future glory of Zion and the salvation offered to all people through their Messiah. Again, he encouraged the people concerning God's tender mercy and pardon for those who seek Him while He may be found and call on Him while He is near (Isa 55:7). Even in their wicked ways and broken covenant, His love and faithfulness is shown by His promise that His word will achieve His purpose (Isa 55:11), and again God presents a challenge to choose what pleases the Lord, expressed as keeping Shabbat (a sign of the covenant).

Indeed His love for all people is proclaimed by His word to include the Gentiles: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" (Isa 56:7), including the Gentiles; and to His covenant people Israel, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth" (Isa 49:6). In spite of their breaking His covenant, His love will bring them into a renewed covenant in the Blood of Messiah: "I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols...and I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees" (Ezek 36:25-27).

In the face of rejection and idolatry from those He calls 'My people', whom He had rescued and redeemed from slavery in Egypt, God would simply pardon their sin, and make a new covenant with them. But at such immeasurable cost - for He would give His only Son to bear their sin and die for them, and also for Gentiles, who were at that time His enemies (Rom 5:10, Col. 1:21), that they also might receive salvation through the Jew's Messiah. This is our awesome God. Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders (Ex 15:11)?

God is Awesome in His Call to Active Service

To us also in these days of turmoil, He says, Be strong and courageous, for your God goes with you.

Can we grasp the assurance that this gives us? And be hungry for His word, and get to know His Son, Messiah Jesus, for He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). Vayelech is derived from the word Lech - Go! It's a call to be proactive. If we respond to His call in faith – put our feet into the flooding river – He will complete His work through us, for we can do nothing of ourselves (John 15:5). He has brought us to this place and time.

We need to hear, and act. Let us step out to proclaim the message of salvation to both Jew and Gentile. Paul shares four active steps: be the messenger (Isa 6:8), preach the message (2 Tim 4:2), so they hear and so believe (Rom 10:14-18). He recognises that not all will receive the good news, but faith comes by hearing the gospel (Rom 10:17). So this is our call – Lech! Go! and make disciples of all nations. For "I am with you always" (Matt 28:19).

Approaching Our Awesome God

The reading of Torah every seven years was to engender a reverent awe and fear of Almighty God. If God is for us who can be against us (Rom 8:31)? In these days of shaking (and it is God who is doing the shaking) we too need to know that we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

So let us be thankful, and worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29). Jesus Himself said, Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near (Matt 4:17). His return is near. Approaching this awesome holy God must be by repentance of any sin that separates us from His Presence. Each of us needs to recognise the many ways we have hurt others, and been hurt ourselves. Many live in unforgiveness, so let us at this time forgive, so we might be forgiven (Matt 6:14-15).

This week of Yomim noraim is God's chosen way of bringing us into His Presence to receive His call. We must work while it is day, for night is coming when no-one can work (John 9:4). Repentance is the key. Let us listen, take time to re-evaluate our relationship with the Lord, and then consecrate ourselves, seek His face, and be prepared to see His amazing work, as we respond in faith. His grace is sufficient for us. For He is an amazing and awesome God.

Shanah tovah – A good year to you!

Author: Greg Stevenson

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 29:10-30:20; Isaiah 61:10-63:9; Romans 10:1-12

God is unfailing in His love and covenant relationship with mankind, whom He created in His own image; and He has given us a heart to love (both Him, and people). We have been given 'eyes to see' and 'ears to hear' His word of truth and His instructions for life (Torah). But the nature of love is not to force or coerce, but to give the option of choice, even to reject His love.

The Choice That Love Offers

Before God allowed His people Israel to enter the land that He promised them, He brought them to a place of choice as He renewed the covenant He made with them at Horeb. To underline the solemnity of this choice, He had all Israel stand in His Presence to hear His words. He adjured them not to turn away from Him to worship the gods of the pagan nations, and specified the poison of idolatry and rejection of the Lord (Deut 29:18).

He gave the example of a man who invokes the covenant blessing on himself, but thinks, I will be safe even though I persist in going my own way (Heb. 'walking in the stubbornness of my own heart'). Such rejection would bring disaster, and God's wrath would burn against him (Deut 29:20). This serious warning to those who would abandon the covenant (Deut 29:25) of the Lord who brought them out of slavery in Egypt, was echoed by the Apostle Peter to those who deny Jesus, who paid the ransom to bring them out of slavery to sin (2 Peter 2:1).

Repentance is the Benchmark of Our Walk with the Lord

Moses summarises Torah by calling heaven and earth as a witness to their choice: life or death, blessing or curse, and he exhorts them to choose life in obedience to the covenant (Deut 30:19). Seven times in Deuteronomy 30 Moses uses the word shuv (repent, or return), and encourages the people to turn back to the Lord when they go astray.

May we also in these days of change and shaking love the Lord our God, listen to His voice, confess our faults to Him, and through His forgiveness hold fast to Him (Deut 30:20). The word dav'kah (translated 'hold fast'), means to adhere, cling to, catch hold of by pursuit – a lovely picture of how we might express our love for the One who is our life. For He desires to dwell with us each day by living close to Him. How do we respond?

Repentance begins with a change of heart (Deut 30:1) and this must lead to a change in conduct – to cease going our own way (Isa 53:6) and return to the way of hearing and obeying (Sh'ma). To such repentance God will respond and turn to the penitent, thus restoring relationship. The final days of Elul before the Days of Awe (Yamim noraim) are a time to examine our heart and deeds and to confess our sin. God's word to all at this time is, "Return to Me and I will return to you" (Mal 3:7).

Just as human hands circumcise the physical foreskin, eight days after birth, as a sign of God's covenant with Israel, so circumcision of the heart made without hands (Col 2:11) is the removal of a spiritual impediment that is designed to transform all people, Jew and Gentile, by His Spirit. It is a sign of the new birth into the renewed covenant in Messiah (Rom 2:29). Nicodemus, a teacher of Torah, didn't fully understand this (Jn 3:9-10) but Torah points to a God who will change us from within. In this new life in Messiah, it is keeping God's commandments that is the sign of this new covenant transformation (1 Cor 7:19) and of our love for Jesus. It is the fruit of repentance.

God's Desire for Salvation and Restoration

In Isaiah's day, even following destruction by Babylon, he looked forward to the time when the Lord would make righteousness and praise spring up in Israel before all nations (Isa 61:11). Zion will be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her) and the land Beulah ('married' - to His people), because He is true to His covenant promise. They will be a Holy People, saved by and separated to the Lord (Isa 62:12).

So He calls both to His people returned from the exile, and now to Gentile believers grafted into His Israel to 'Build up the highway! Remove the stones!' and to 'Raise a banner for the nations', that He will bring His people home. Such is His covenant-keeping nature. But He warns that nations who hate Israel will meet the wrath of God in judgment (Isa 63:2, 6). Paul, also proclaims his desire for Israel's salvation and describes the righteousness that is by faith, and the word of faith that proclaims: Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. For by belief in Him we are justified and through confession we are saved (Rom 10:6-10).

The Nature of God's Love - and Our Response

The nature of love, seen so well in Jesus, is to teach by example but to give the option of choice. We can respond by choosing to open our hearts in love and thanks, or to close our hearts (to God and to each other) and refuse His love.

God gives three steps on this path of covenant love:

1. Da'ah lifnei omdim – Know before Whom you stand; the Lord your God (Deut 29:10)
2. Shuvu v'hashivu – Repent, Turn; from your idols (Ezek 14:6)
3. Shuvu elai – Return to Me; and I will return to you (Zech 1:3)

His promise to those who follow this pattern of love, is: I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord...for they will return to Me with all their heart (Jer 24:7). This is the choice we have in these coming Days of Awe: to know before Whom we stand, to repent (or not); and to return (or continue to go our own way). One choice brings life, blessing and joy; the other brings death, fear and despair. How often our loving God exhorts us: CHOOSE LIFE!

On Monday it is Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year. Le'Shanah Tovah – have a 'good year' - filled with His love, goodness and abundant life.

Author: Greg Stevenson

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 26:1-29:9; Isaiah 60:1-22; Ephesians 1:3-6; Revelation 21:10-27

As we approach the end of Deuteronomy and the entire Torah, it is good to step back for a little perspective. Deuteronomy comprises a series of farewell sermons given by Moses at the end of Israel's 40-year wanderings in the desert.

He was stepping down as their leader, handing this role on to Joshua, and also stepping down as mediator between the people and God, handing this responsibility on to the Levites. Moses was coming to the end of his life on earth – and one gets the sense reading his final speeches that he knew this, and was going out all guns blazing.

Moses' Swansong

Meanwhile, Israel were poised on the cusp of something entirely new – entry into the Promised Land of milk and honey, which they had been anticipating for generations. And yet, Moses warned them persistently to not detach this new season from their past. They were to never, ever forget where they had come from, nor how God had faithfully and lovingly brought them through to this point.

As Moses led the people through a reminder of their history and their covenant agreement to be the people of God, striking about this week's portion of Scripture is its resemblance to a marriage ceremony. Israel declared their fidelity to God, He declared His fidelity to them (see Deut 26:16-19; 27:9-10), and their mutual devotion was ratified. Then followed the famous blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, which were to be proclaimed from two separate, opposing mountains once Israel had entered the Land (Deut 27:12-13).

As far as Moses went, these messages about obedience were his swansong. What message would you leave with your loved ones if it were your last days on earth? For Moses, it was the injunction to love the Lord, to forget not His benefits and to follow always in His ways.

Why Must We Obey?

Despite the lengths to which some theologians and church leaders have gone to dismiss 'the Law' as irrelevant to Christians today (out with the Old, in with the New), the fact remains that obedience to the Lord's ways always brings blessing – and disobedience always brings consequences that are bad for us and for others, whether these work out in obvious practical ways, or as inner brokenness, or as an open door to the influence of the enemy.

It is simply the way God has ordered creation – that His ways are good and abound in goodness, and that choosing to seek 'the good life' some other way is ultimately futile, since goodness and life reside in God alone. Obedience brings life, allowing God's people to enter into the full inheritance He has for them, and (crucially) to retain permanent hold of it once they enter in. Rebellion can only ever bring pain and death, for there is no other go(o)d besides our awesome and amazing Father.

Deep down, all of us have a gut reaction against obedience, as if it signifies some sort of vindictive slavery. The realisation many of us fail to reach is that every human is a slave to something – if not God and righteousness, then to the power of sin. The goal of our salvation is not to be liberated from slavery – but to see our bondage fully transferred from subservience to the power of sin and death to service in the blessed and glorious Kingdom of God (just read Romans 5:15-23!).

In this, we discover the glorious paradox that God, in His incredible grace, grants us true freedom even as we submit ourselves to His loving rule and reign – He no longer calls us servants, but friends!

Sin Anticipated

Sadly, the bulk of Deuteronomy 28 is given over to curses for disobedience, in ominous and heart-breaking anticipation that Israel would ultimately fail to keep their side of the covenant.

Indeed, we all know that Israel failed time and again to keep their agreement with the Lord (and deep down, we also know that had it been us, we would have likely done the same). But we also know the efforts to which God has gone to restore them (and every single one of us) to His heart, His ways, blessing and abundant life, not through our own attempts at righteousness, but through His "abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness" (Rom 5:17) conferred upon us, through faith, to the praise of His glory.

Though often we must suffer them, God does not abandon us to the consequences of our actions – but uses them to draw us back to Him, with the ultimate goal of total restoration and even more glory brought to His name.

Entering into Salvation

On the cusp of 'life abundant', promised through Jesus Messiah, can we hope to fare any better than Israel did? Only through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit can we ever hope to walk as God sets out for us. Jesus Messiah fulfils the Law entirely so that we might be enabled to do the same, not in our own strength but in His! And that enabling brings us back round full circle, for in following in God's ways, we come to know Jesus Himself more and more (Rom 10:4).

Just as Israel 'entered in' to the Promised Land, so we today can enter in to that promised rest from our own attempts to save (and nourish, and provide for, and protect) ourselves. In so doing, we can be assured of every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3) as we work out the eternal salvation of our souls.

Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

Ultimately, the 'now but not yet' dynamic of salvation will be fulfilled in far more than an earth populated with weak, fallible Christians who constantly fall short of God's standards and see only 'through a glass darkly'. We are moving towards the consummation of history: the marriage of the Messiah to His Bride, a holy people called by His name and prepared in advance for glory (Rev 21). We are still in the preparation stage!

Deuteronomy 28 – indeed the entire Torah – builds up to this eternal choice: life abundant, forever, in intimate love and fellowship with our Creator, or eternal darkness and curse. Today that choice, which Moses presented to the Israelites thousands of years ago, is still as relevant as ever. 

Author: Frances Rabbitts

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19; Isaiah 54:1-10; Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

This week's Torah portion contains a large number of different "miscellaneous laws". Christians might be tempted to scan them quickly and, respectfully noting with interest what Moses taught to the ancient tribes of Israel, move on to what might seem more relevant.

Yet, would Paul the Apostle have done this? Or would he have meditated carefully on each law so that he could understand it in the context of the New Covenant?

Paul's Awakening

We don't have many examples to go on. I wonder what Paul discussed with the congregations of believers that are not recorded in his letters, expounding the Torah in the light of the New Covenant. Wouldn't you have liked to listen in to some of those unrecorded sermons?

He had the advantage of being schooled in the Torah by Rabbi Gamaliel before the blinding light on the Road to Damascus enabled him to understand that Jesus was the perfect and final focus of the Torah. Then, later, he would understand how the Holy Spirit would write the Torah on the hearts of Jesus' disciples.

Feeding Oxen and Paying Ministers

One example of his teaching that we do have illustrates how Paul understood the heart principles of Torah in a practical way. In our Torah portion this week, Moses taught, "you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain" (Deut 25:4). Paul took the heart principle of this 'law' to show Timothy that ministers of the Gospel are deserving of double honour and worthy of being paid (1 Tim 5:17-18). Most of us would not have drawn this link between feeding oxen and providing for ministers of the Gospel.

It is a pity we do not have some more examples, but this means we are left to do the work ourselves. Paul did not turn the New Testament into a New Covenant rulebook. If he did, we might find ourselves returning to the written law overmuch rather than the life of the Spirit. Instead, there is balance to achieve between the foundation of the Old Covenant and the fulfilment of the New. We have our own studies to do in order to be able to understand Torah from a heart perspective.

My view is that the Holy Spirit, who writes Torah on our hearts, uses the written Torah as a prompt in our meditations. By careful study of even what seems remote and irrelevant in Scripture, we will find ourselves gradually becoming like Paul, handling the entire Bible like a skilled workman.

Parapets and Protection

Let's take another seemingly 'miscellaneous' law and draw out a deeper meaning.

When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. (Deut 22:8)

Taken literally this seems hardly applicable to our houses in the West with their pointed roofs, especially with our weather, when no-one would go up on our roof for recreation! Yet, the heart principle comes straight from the second of the greatest commandments – "you shall love your neighbour as yourself". This aspect of love is concerned with their safety when they visit you, perhaps sharing a meal with you in the evening sun, on your roof. Yet, when we realise this is about health and safety, we realise it is but one example of the many ways we must build protection around our neighbours.

Nations that have been impacted deeply by the truths of the Bible have also been safety-conscious, conforming to this principle of parapets perhaps without even realising it – guards on machinery, insulation on electric components, nailing carpets down, safety equipment, search and rescue organisations, medical care, etc. These are all 'safety parapets' of protection.¹

Going Deeper

There are deep spiritual parallels too. Consider the call of the watchman in Ezekiel 33:

When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezek 33:8)

Here the 'parapet' is the word of warning that the watchman has been told to deliver by the mouth of the watchman - a metaphorical parapet. The word of God is a spiritual protection, in the same way as a physical parapet on a roof is a physical protection. Both are matters of life and death and related to responsibility for the blood of another.

How much blood is on the hands of our nation's leaders (both physical and spiritual) for the way protection has been taken away from many areas of the nation's life in the present day? It even begins in the protective environment of the womb, where 'parapets' have been taken down in our generation. Lifeblood of unborn children has been shed by the liberalisation of our abortion laws. That is how serious it is to maintain the heart principles of Torah.

And Yet Deeper

Nearing the end of his ministry Paul was able to say,

Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:26-27)

When he sat under Gamaliel and studied Torah he would surely have know the importance of the parapet on a flat roof. With that principle of protection growing by the Spirit in his heart he also knew the depth of responsibility to fulfil his ministry. The word of God became a protection to those who received it – in this life and for the future life to come. This is responsibility for the blood (life) of others as much as a parapet on a roof.

Our Ministry Too

All of us who are given a portion of ministry in the world and church have this same responsibility, to bring protection to others afforded by the proclamation of the word of God, as God himself directs.

Oxen and parapets are just two example from the 'miscellaneous laws' of our Torah portion this week. Let's take time over the entire portion this week and see what other spiritual truths the Lord plants and waters in our hearts.

Author: Dr Clifford Denton

¹It is important to distinguish between Spirit-led care for others and the wrongly motivated hyper-consciousness of health and safety so rife today. The latter may be motivated by exactly the opposite of love for one's neighbour (e.g. concern to protect oneself from legal battles caused by an accusation of some form of negligence, itself often motivated by greed by someone pursuing an exaggerated claim for compensation).

The choice that God gave through Moses (given twice in the Book of Deuteronomy - 11:26 and 30:19) echoes down the centuries to all mankind: to hear and obey the Lord our God (Sh'ma), or to close our ears (lo-sh'ma - not to hear) and rebel against His word. What is our response today? Will we choose blessing or curse, life or death? This choice, for each of us, has eternal consequences.

A brief look around the world at the rising tide of evil, even in this last month, brings this choice for us into sharp focus, for none of us can know the day when our life here on this earth will end. Who can forget the recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, Nice, Munich, Ansbach, Rouen or Orlando (and of course Israel)? Nearly 6,000 precious lives world-wide have been ended suddenly in these attacks in the past two years alone.

God's desire for His ancient Hebrew people as they were about to enter the land He was giving them (and for us in these days) was: Be sure to hear and obey my decrees and laws; choose blessing and life. His love for them was expressed by encouraging them to consecrate to Him important things such as blood, life, offerings, sacrifices and tithes, and not just to do as they saw fit (Judg 21:6, 25) or as the pagan nations did in worshipping other gods and idols.

Do we today have a clear distinction between the sacred and the profane - between the holy and the common - between God's laws and liberal worldly values? Will we respond by seeking to walk in obedience to His laws and so receive His blessing - even His gift of eternal life?

God Blesses Obedience - So That We Might Be Grateful

If we fully obey God's laws with a willing heart, He promises rich blessings (Deut 15:4-5). For Israel the sh'mittah years were such a test. Every seven years, the land was to lie fallow (enjoy its sabbaths) and all debts were to be cancelled. They could lend to the nations but not borrow; they were to be open-handed (generous) to the poor and they were to release servants. Their gratitude was to be expressed as they attended the major Feasts (mo'edim, appointed times), Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles) in Jerusalem, God's appointed place.

They were to bring freewill offerings, in proportion to the Lord's blessing upon them (and thus in proportion to their obedience), given first to the Lord, but also to the poor and needy, and to rejoice in God's provision. None were to come empty-handed.

When we get a pay-rise at work, or an unexpected windfall, do we put aside a portion of this as an expression of thanks? Do we give generously and willingly to charities or to those in need, in gratitude for God's blessing to us? We have so much to be thankful for, even when times are hard. Jesus commended the widow, who out of her poverty, put in two mites (but "more than all the others" because it was all she had (Luke 21:2)).

One example of this gratitude for Israel was the decree to bring tithes. A mere tenth of our wealth doesn't seem much but are we also obedient to this command? In ancient Israel there were three tithes. The first tenth (ma'aser ha'rishon) was given to the Levites, the priests - those who, without pay, dedicated their whole lives to the Lord's service (there is a parallel here for us today also). But the priests were also to give a tenth of this to the Lord (then passed on to Aaron), and it was to be the best part of this tenth, because it was a tithe to the Lord. It was to be "the Lord's portion" (Num 18:29). We fulfil this decree by giving our best tenth to the Lord and His work in obedience to His command.

The second tenth (ma'aser ha'sheni) was set aside to ensure that the family had sufficient for a meal together in Jerusalem when they attended the Feasts, so they could rejoice in the Lord's provision for them in saving money for the family holiday. They would thus have something to share so that those less fortunate could also rejoice before the Lord. This is a mitva (righteous deed) that many are still fulfilling (would you like to have lunch with us today?) as they choose to obey God's laws.

The third tithe (ma'aser ha'ani) was a gift for the poor, a charitable gift given willingly which prevents hearts from becoming hard and rebellious, and ears from 'closing' to the needs of others. God provides for us that we might both rejoice in His gifts, and care for poorer folk, so that they also may rejoice in His provision through our generosity. In this, we find blessing too.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good: His Chesed Endures Forever (Ps 136)

This tzedakah (love-gift) expresses our gratitude to the One whose chesed (mercy, loving-kindness, favour) is inexhaustible. Giving thanks in all circumstances is a command (1 Thess 5:17), where obedience brings blessing. But not giving thanks to God is described as godlessness and wickedness (Rom 1:18, 21). God gives us everything, our life, our wealth, our salvation, every breath we take. All we have comes from Him.

Giving Him our thanks is an appropriate response, and we have a simple choice whether to hear and obey His voice, and share his blessing of chesed with others, or to rebel against His goodness. This is a reflection of His nature, the One who shares Himself with us. Amazing thought! He says to us, "Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters and drink. Listen, listen to Me, give ear, hear Me, see My faithful love, that you may live" (Isa 55:2-3). This offer of abundant life was echoed by Jesus when He stood up during the Feast of Sukkot and cried out: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink" (itself a fulfilment of Isaiah's call). And some replied, "He is the Christ" (the Messiah, John 7:37, 41).

Nearly 90% of what the scriptures have foretold has already come to pass. This gives us confidence that the scriptures are a true guide for the coming times. God has shown us many signs in recent months and years which speak of events before Jesus' return (Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Indeed, six times Jesus Himself said, "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe, and have peace" (e.g. John 13:19; 14:29; 16:33).

Many times He told us of the signs of the end of this age, so that we should know what is coming, and not be troubled (John 14:1). He says to us: watch and pray (Matt. 24:42; Mark 13:35; Luke 21:36). John also tells us clearly that the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of falsehood is already in the world (1 John 4:6). Beloved, the hour is late. Let us listen to His voice and consider the choice that God gives us:

Choose to hear Him and obey - choose blessing - choose life.

Author: Greg Stevenson

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 11:26-16:7; Isaiah 54:11–55:5; John 7:37-52; 1 John 4:1-6.

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25; Isaiah 49:14-51:3; Hebrews 11:8-13; Romans 8:31-39.

Some of the biggest battles we will fight in this life, the most difficult trials we experience, and the most important victories we win, take place in the depths and the secrecy of our own hearts – often without anyone else knowing. No external suffering, no persecution, no difficult circumstance, possesses quite the same power to challenge our serving the Lord as the subtle rebellions of the heart.

Indeed, it is the state of our hearts that will determine our responses to these external pressures and ultimately the impacts they will have on our lives – more than the other way around.

Stumbling Blocks

As Israel were poised to enter the Promised Land (finally!) after 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses was keen to stress the great plans God had in store for them. Abundant blessings, victory over enemies, long life - the Father's desire to bless His children is more than apparent in these chapters. But with these promises of blessing came strong warnings of what would happen if they turned away from Him.

The stumbling blocks that God outlines in these chapters are all – I believe – ultimately about the human heart, and so they are applicable to all mankind, including us today. What were they? After 40 years of learning to lean upon the Lord and being disciplined by Him to walk in His ways, what were the Children of Israel expressly warned would nevertheless tempt them away from God if they weren't careful – despite all their training and discipleship?

1. Other gods (Deut 7:16; 8:19; 11:16-17): Moses repeatedly warned the people against being enticed to worship and adore anything above or instead of the Lord. The words used here – entice, snare – carry a warning of how subtly persuasive and dangerously attractive these idols can be. Whatever physical form they take – wood, stone, metal, electronic, flesh – they all too easily become a hiding-place for the heart, through which we feel better or more secure.

2. Fear (Deut 7:17-21; 9:1-3): Israel were warned against allowing themselves to be cowed by external threats or intimidating circumstances – but the lesson here was not about minimising the threat, but about maximising their view of God's power and learning to trust in His ability to fight for them. Fear is given ground when we lose sight of who God is and forget to trust Him.

3. Pride (Deut 8:12-14, 17-18; 9:4-6): Moses knew that blessings can easily begin to take up heart space that rightfully belongs to God, putting people at ease so that they forget their need of Him or begin to trust in themselves instead. God becomes a last resort instead of a first resort – and our own desires start to come first.

Each one of these snares leads back in some way to the idol of self - the putting of our own needs, desires and securities above our love for God and faith in His ability to be all to us. Moses was warning Israel in various ways to avoid at all costs the trap of loving themselves more than God.

He used a different turn of phrase, talking instead about the human tendency to be "stiff-necked" (Deut 9:6, 9:13) – that is, hard-hearted, rebellious, stubborn, arrogant, difficult and unwilling to listen. At the root of this, as at the root of all sin, is selfishness.

The Narrow Path

Being stiff-necked is the human condition – for the Children of Israel, for you and for me. Recognising the truth of this is the first step towards allowing God to overcome it for us. We will get nowhere in the battle against sin unless we first recognise that it exists (Rom 7:21-25) and that consequently our own hearts cannot be trusted.

Choosing to deny our sinful desires - laying down idols, removing the comfort blanket of fear, uprooting the foundation of pride and trusting God instead – is difficult. It is a narrow path that requires us to become both vulnerable before God, abandoning our desires and needs into His hands, and humble before Him, acknowledging that He alone is our provider, our protector, our victory.

What sustains us along this difficult road? What protects us against temptation and keeps our priorities right? What lights the path ahead when all seems utterly dark? What comforts us when we are forced to face up to the darkness in our own hearts? Only faith in the truth of who the Lord is and what He has done.

Constant Reminders

That is why, through these chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses emphasises again and again that the people were never to forget the Lord or what He had done for them – or that it was He who was the source of all their blessings and prosperity, past, present and future (e.g. Deut 8:11-18; 9:5). Their lives were to be marked, even defined, by constant praise and worship (Deut 8:10), remembrance of His character and mighty deeds, remembrance of where they had come from and who had brought them thus far, and a contrite understanding of their own sinfulness and need of Him.

They were to find any and every way possible to fix the truth of all this in their hearts and minds (Deut 11:18) and build it into their everyday lives and relationships (Deut 11:18-21).

How much more should we do likewise with our hectic and abundant lives, busy and full to the brim with 'stuff'? How many Christians fall away from the Lord not by wilfully choosing to rebel, but by simply allowing the stuff of life to creep in subtly and crowd Him out, so that they soon forget their need of Him? If we allow Him to be pushed out of our lives, there are always plenty of other things waiting to step in and fill the vacuum. But if we build every area of our lives around God, how much more will our everyday existences become redolent with His Presence, Love and Glory?

More Than Conquerors

Our hearts are deceitful and will betray us at a moment's notice. There is no escaping this in this life - nobody said that walking in God's way would be easy. But though often steep, we can proceed boldly thanks to the Lord Jesus, who Himself is The Way and stands ready to help us in every step if we will but submit ourselves to His Lordship.

Let us be courageous and faithful this week in the face of our own inadequacies, for "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:37-39).

Author: Frances Rabbitts

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11; Isaiah 40:1-26; Matthew 23:31-39; Mark 12:28-34.

The Book of Deuteronomy always seems like a pastoral letter to me. Contrasted with the other books of Torah there is a heart-to-heart feel threading through it.

The title of this week's Torah portion ('I pleaded' in English) illustrates this. Moses was able to talk to God as a child to a father, pleading to be allowed to go into the Promised Land. God's reply was as a father to a son – "Enough of that! Speak no more to me of this matter..." (Deut 3:26-27).

The way the Book of Deuteronomy is written helps us to understand that Torah is teaching more than it is impersonal law and justice (Dos and Don'ts). The Ten Commandments are in our portion this week, but set into the Book as a whole, we sense the father heart of God as much as what he requires of his people.

An Issue of the Heart

In this vein chapter 4 begins, "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land that the Lord God of your fathers is giving you."

Central to our portion is the Shema, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deut 6:4-5). Jesus identified this as the greatest Commandment (Matt 22:37-38), central to all else that God requires of his people. Love is an issue of the heart, cultivated through experience with God the Father and with his people. It is not attainable through human effort alone, but through spiritual growth.

Education God's Way

Notice the emphasis on teaching – "Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you..." (Deut 6:1). The principle of teaching is applied to what God has commanded.

It is the clear responsibility of parents to teach their children all the things God requires – "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk in the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Deut 6:7). Those walks and talks along the way of life are so important!

Education backed by punishments and rewards, lectures and written examinations, is (in some ways) easier to administer than one which cultivates a heart with a love of God, but is not certain to produce the result God is looking for. With the world around us setting the benchmarks of education it is easy to be beguiled by the world system rather than learning to educate in God's way. We must be careful! Worldly strategies for education can even creep into our Sunday School or Bible college curricula.

Only with Help

From the history of Israel, we know that it was not easy to achieve God's purposes through the written commands alone.

As we consider what Moses and Joshua sought to understand and teach Israel let us rejoice that God the Father and Jesus his Son have sent us their Holy Spirit to help us to study and teach. We only achieve true love of God through the transforming power of his Spirit in us, and that is the only way our children will achieve it too.

Author: Dr Clifford Denton

This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22; Isaiah 1:1-27; Acts 9:1-21; 1 Timothy 3:1-7

The Book of Deuteronomy (Hebrew devarim = 'words') records Moses' summary of the instructions and teaching that God had given to His covenant people Israel to be a witness to the nations. These commandments contained both blessing and curse, life and death, and the promise both of God's presence if His people would trust and obey Him and of His discipline if they rebelled.

It is interesting that the word devarim is related to another word, devorim, that has the same 3-letter root (dalet-bet-resh), and means 'bees'. The link is that both God's words and the life of the bee are carefully ordered by the Creator. But the bee has a sting of discipline and rebuke that God uses in His Torah (His teaching for life) to deal with disobedience and rebellion.

Our thought this week is to consider how God's discipline of His covenant people Israel speaks to us in His dealings with us in these days. The Midrash tells us that Torah is as sweet as honey but also has a sting of rebuke; an elixir of life to the obedient, but a sting of death to the rebel.¹

Israel's Presumption at the Gate of the Promised Land

After their experience of the awesome power and Presence of God at Mount Horeb, Israel moved to Kadesh Barnea (south of Beersheva) and sent 12 leaders to explore the hill-country of the Land that God had promised them. Moses reminded them that God had said: Do not be afraid of the people there. I will go before you and fight for you, as I did in Egypt, and in the desert. Indeed, He had carried them 'as a father carries his son', all the way (Deut 1:29-31).

But only Caleb and Joshua saw the goodness of God's promise, and the ten other leaders brought back an evil report, which made the people lose heart, and accuse God of bringing them into the desert to kill them. Even acknowledging their sin, in their presumption they thought that taking the land would be easy without God to protect them, but the Amorites in the land chased them back like a swarm of bees (Deut 1:44). This rebellion resulted in a further 40 years wandering in the wilderness until all that generation had died. It was a sting of discipline indeed.

Moses shows us the importance of warnings and admonition against the tendency to sin. Awareness of this is essential to the oversight of any endeavour. Overseers of any Godly project must model themselves on God's standards. Like Moses, they must be watchmen, encouragers and disciplinarians, and show by their actions that they are worthy of honour and respect, a requirement of all leaders both in Church and state.

The Nature of Discipline – Love and Correction

Discipline and unconditional love are two sides of the same coin, especially for children and those undergoing maturing tests and correction, even with a sting. They are necessary and vital elements of righteous leadership, whether by parents over their children, by prime ministers over the citizens in their nation, or by overseers (bishops) and pastors over their flocks. We see in the Haftarah (the weekly prophetic portion) that God regards Israel as His 'children' (Isa 1:2), and He is the Father of all to whom He has given life. Leaders that He raises up also have responsibility for Godly care over their 'children', and should reflect God's love and discipline to bring them to maturity.

Leaders need to rebuke and reform where there is sin or rebellion - but with love. Moses and Isaiah did this for Israel. Both called on heaven and earth to witness what the Lord had done for them (see Deut 32:1; Isa 1:2. Biblically, two witness are required to establish a matter - Deut 29:15). But man's inclination to sin requires correction as a way back to his relationship with a holy God, and the Midrash again comments the "You must learn from the animals how to serve Me – even the ox knows his maker".² God sustains both but only man goes astray and turns to his own way (Isa 53:6). We all know that 2-years old toddlers do not need to be taught to rebel!

Sometimes, like Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus, we too need a dramatic experience of the Lord Jesus to turn us back onto the correct path (Acts 9:4-8). Many of us remember about-turns in our life, whether through loving parents, through law-enforcement officers or through God Himself. The appropriate response to such correction is called repentance.

God's Way of Discipline – For Our Leaders Also

God has put His Spirit in mankind. His way is to discipline his 'children' with love, correction, encouragement, and more love. Every manager knows that that model works! And it comes straight from God's word (Heb 12:5-11). Through Moses, He says to us also, "Do not grumble, but trust Me, a Father who carries you as a father carries his son, all the way: do not be afraid; the Lord God Himself will fight for you" (Deut 1:31, 22). And through Isaiah He says, "Stop doing wrong; learn to do right. Seek justice; encourage the oppressed: I called Jerusalem as 'Sodom', yet, You will be called City of Righteousness" (Isa 1:10, 26).

It is righteousness that exalts a nation³ (has made even Britain 'great'), but sin is a disgrace to any people (Prov 14:34). If we in Britain turn back to God in repentance at this time, with thanksgiving for His mercy in the decision to leave the European Union, He may raise up, in both Church and government, the Godly leaders that we need, those who know God's pattern of love and discipline, according to the biblical pattern of overseers – above reproach, a model husband and father, of temperate behaviour, disciplined, a sober, gentle and abstemious teacher, humble, mature, and of good reputation (1 Tim 3:4-5).

In continuing to forsake God we will reject peace, and Brexit will only bring rebuke and confusion (Deut 28:20). We have spoken to the EU, but we now need urgently to speak to God, and to appoint Godly leaders.

Author: Greg Stevenson

References

1 Tz'enah Ur'enah, 2007. The Weekly Midrash, Vol 1:879, Mesorah Publications, NY.

2 Ibid, p990.

3 New Living Translation.