Bible Survey - Deuteronomy

Randy, I understand, covered Leviticus and Numbers with you. And by the way, he emailed me and said, you know, I have a better appreciation having gone over that. And I think that's one thing with this Bible survey, that you go over the whole Bible and you get a perspective that you might not get just kind of with the usual study. And it gives you some insight and I think overview understanding that is helpful.

Deuteronomy. Here is the fifth book of the books of Moses, the last one, and so it is a pivotal book, it's the last shot that Moses has with the people of Israel having spent 40 years leading them. Imagine spending 40 years of your life, you're taking these people out of Egypt, and you're telling them about this promised land, but because they refuse to go in early, he says, well, you're going to stick around for a while until just about everybody here dies, right? So here it is. We have at the top end here, Deuteronomy at a Glance. It's kind of a block outline of the book of Deuteronomy.

And what you see is there's a first sermon, which is more brief, just several chapters. There's the second sermon, second sermon, which consists of four parts, and then the third sermon, and actually that third sermon, the end of that, is really more of a transition, handing off leadership to Joshua, and the end of Moses' life. So anyway, Deuteronomy consists of those three sermons, and imagine, here is this fairly lengthy book And so here are the Israelites out in the desert having to endure these three lengthy sermons.

One of the things that comes out here is that the first sermon is historical. This is the genre line there. The first sermon is historical, the second is legal, laying down, here's the law, right? And it doesn't repeat all of it, it does summarize the four sections there, Ten Commandments, Ceremonial Laws, Civil Laws, and Social Laws.

And then, the third one, is prophetical and conditional prophetical in some cases. That is, if you obey, this will happen. If you don't obey, this will happen. So it's not prophetic in the absolute sense. Some of it is prophetic in the sense of, if this, then that, but if you choose this, then that, that consequence. So each of them have a different character.

There are the Plains of Moab near Mount Nebo. where Moses ends up, the Lord takes his life and actually the Lord takes responsibility for burying them because the concern was that Moses would become an idol, people would start getting the bones and worshipping the bones and all that. It says time one month in 1406, the sermon did not continue on for a month, he had this set of three sermons and then When he died, Israel mourned him for 30 days. So when we say about a month, it wasn't a month-long sermon. It was a month of mourning after the sermon when Moses died.

Deuteronomy is named for the Greek Old Testament for the second giving of the law. That's Deutero and then Namas is the law. So the second giving of the law. By the way, our names for many of the Old Testament books are different from the names the Jews have because of the different Christian traditions. They don't call the first book of the Bible Genesis, for example. The Jews have a different name. So here's Deuteronomy.

It's very near the end of his life. You imagine he's 120 years old basically. It says he was still going strong. So he didn't die from frailty and weakness. He died because the Lord took his life. So Moses, for the first four chapters, tells the Israelites the history of the people of Israel and God's dealings with them over the last 40 years. He doesn't go back into the Exodus so much as, here's what's happened during these 40 years out in the wilderness. So, because what had happened, all those 20 years of age and older had died in the 40 years since they refused to trust the Lord and to take the land. This is from Numbers chapter 14.

So one of the reasons for going over this sermon is because a lot of those people present had not been around during the earlier part of their wanderings in the wilderness. So he's telling them their history because a lot of them weren't around to witness it. So here's Moses, 120 years old, telling these young folks, right? Up to 60 years old, telling these young folks, here's what happened. Because they had not, in fact, been around.

Now, here's the next thing. Moses summarized for them the events of the last 40 years by God's doing and by their doing. The Israelites did this, God did that. So presenting that was Moses' first sermon. In Deuteronomy 4, verses 44 through 49, we have the preamble to the second giving of the law. That's the preamble at the beginning of that second sermon to the rest of the giving of the law.

And so he, through Deuteronomy 5.1 to 26.19, presents the law to them in four parts.

You see it in the block diagram. Let's take a look at it on the page two. One, you have the exposition of the Ten Commandments. So it is not just, here are the Ten Commandments, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But let's talk about it, right? Let's talk about it.

The next one is the ceremonial laws, the priesthood and the tabernacle. It's a summary of what Randy went over with you when he went through the book of Leviticus. So he summarizes Leviticus. And then he goes through the civil laws. This is the way you're going to do things, not with regards to all the sacrifices, not with regards to just the Ten Commandments, but everything else about how things are to be done. among the people, and then finally social laws, laws that have to do with interaction between people.

So those four parts are then given. So we need to look at a question here though. How many of the 613 laws of Moses were the Israelites obligated to keep? All. Every single one. This is something, it is amazing how much of Christendom and how many Christians don't get this point.

Or I'll just take the 10, except maybe the Sabbath thing is a little rough, so I won't do that. Or I'll just take the 10, plus I'll add some tithing in there. Even though right before the tithing law is the food law, stuff you're not supposed to eat. And right after the tithing law is the section on let your land lie fallow every seven years. And of course, people do that, right? You'll have a pastor go give a sermon on tithing, and then he'll go out to the Red Lobster and break the food laws, right?

So, what we have here, just as brief introduction, every few chapters, Moses is going through Deuteronomy, every few chapters, and sometimes twice a chapter, he'll talk about the whole law, all the laws, every single one, reiterating again and again and again about this. So what we have here quoted in Deuteronomy 4, 5 through 8, all these statutes. You get into Deuteronomy 5, 31 through 33. But as for you, stand here by me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land to which I give them to possess.

What do you do with the laws when you're not in the land? Truth is, you can't do them all, right? So if you're not in the land, you're going to break the law. Right? If you're not in the land, you're going to break the law. So you shall observe to do just as the Lord our God has commanded you, and you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that you may do well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess. you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers."

Some of the law relates to which tribe you're in, right? Some of the law relates to which tribe you're in, and the example, of course, is the tribe of Levi, right? So it was even not just, you know, here is the land, but you also have the tribes. This is specifically for Israel, by tribe, in the land. In the land of Israel.

And so this pattern goes on again and again in Deuteronomy, every few chapters, and sometimes more than once in a chapter. All, whole, every single one. So Christians are prone to say that only some portion of the Law of Moses applies to us in the church today, but there is nothing in the Old Testament, and especially Deuteronomy, Or the New Testament supports that idea. The law of Moses consistently says that the people of Israel were to follow all the laws, the whole law, in the land of Israel. And we see it in some of the quotes right here. The people of Israel were to follow all the laws, every single one, in the land of Israel. the recitations of the law and the blessings and curses under the law.

So Deuteronomy chapter 27, in chapter 27, if you look at this chart at the top there, he is beginning the third sermon. So when he begins the third sermon, what he's doing is not just, let me tell you something, but he has them repeat different things.

Cursed is the one who does this and this and this. And everybody said, The same thing. Cursed is the one who does this and this and this. Cursed is the one who does not do this and this and this. And he had them say it. So, repeat after me would be the pattern. And everybody, all Israel, was to say, Cursed... and go down the line and repeat everything that he said. So, it wasn't simply listen to this sermon. This is the participative part. Okay, now you say this, and they all said that. So that's chapter 27. Chapter 28 is first 14 verses.

If you obey all these laws in the land, then there will be blessings for you. And the blessings are earthly and conditional. The blessings will be things like you won't have these diseases, you will have great crops and great productivity in your livestock and you will be well in the land and everybody will be afraid of you.

So that's what happens if you obey. Starting with verse 15, if you disobey, If you disobey, and by the way, the section for curses is much longer than the blessings. If you disobey, here's what's going to happen. And not only is this and this and this going to happen in the land, but you're going to get pitched out of the land. So chapter 27, everybody's reciting the law. Chapter 28, here's the blessings if you obey, and the curses if you don't.

So then you have the land covenant. I call it the land covenant. Some people refer to it as the Palestinian covenant. I don't particularly favor that term because the term Palestine is actually a name derived from the Philistines. So I don't tend to favor that term. But the land covenant. So chapters 29 and 30 give the land covenant Deuteronomy 30, 19 and 20 offers a succinct summary of that land covenant. So we have it here, Deuteronomy 30, 19 and 20. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death and the blessing and the curse. Let's ask this question.

Can anyone be saved by the law? Can you be saved by following the law of Moses? Could the Israelites be saved by following the law of Moses? No, because eternal salvation is only by faith, right? And so what does the law dictate? It dictates not salvation and how to get saved, or how to stay saved. The law dictates life and death and blessings and curses. That's what the law does. And so he puts it here, the law dictates life and death and blessings and curses, not here's how you get saved and here's how you stay saved. No one is going to be saved by following any of these commandments. Not 10, not 9, not 11, not 613. Yes?

When it says that the Israelites will be ejected from the land, so if they are, then it's all bets off and they just can't really follow the law. Well, here's the problem that they have. They're ejected from the land. Why were they ejected from the land? Because they weren't obedient, right? And so the problem is, now you've got a bunch of laws that are related to the land. You know, what you're supposed to do with the sacrifices, where's that supposed to happen? In the land, in Jerusalem, right?

And, furthermore, when the Romans pitched them out, they lost track of who's in what tribe. And only the tribe of Levi can rightfully carry out the things in the temple. And only those within the tribe of Levi who are descended from Aaron can act as priests. So you've got some issues there.

How do we carry this out? Furthermore, you have the places where you take the tithes was distributed throughout the land of Israel, right? If you're not on land, where do you take it? So you've got that kind of a problem, right? So you end up with lots of problems if you're not in the land. Especially if blessings are in the land, what if you're outside the land? Can God bless you? No. So it creates a real problem if you're not in the land. And why are you not in the land? Because you've been pitched out.

Even during the time of Christ, here were the Jews, they were in most of the land, not all of it, they were in most of the land, but who did they have over them during the time of Christ? Who was over the Israelites during the time of Christ? The Romans, right? And the Romans should not be there if they're being obedient, right? So that creates a problem. Because they should have everybody afraid of them and not, you know, lording it over them. So, yeah, it's a problem.

What happened is ultimately the Romans went and obliterated the temple, shoved all the pieces off the edge. Those pieces have been found. They drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. Some of them are treated in other parts of Israel, but basically the city that's supposed to be the centerpiece of Israel, the Jews weren't allowed to be there.

They could not follow any of the ceremonial law. So even now, the rabbis will say, well, for things where we just can't fulfill it because it's not physically possible, a prayer is a substitute. Well, where does it say that? So I don't know, does that answer your question? You said the Jews couldn't go to Jerusalem? Yeah, the Romans drove them out. Yeah, the Romans drove them out and made Jerusalem a Gentile city.

But they still had the Temple there? No, the Temple was... 70 A.D., late summer, the Romans took the Temple completely apart, shoved it off the edge of the Temple Mount, and drove the Jews out. They had it before that. But the temple was not one stone left upon another just as Jesus had told them. But prior to that time you were able to go to Jerusalem? Yes.

There were times when they didn't have a temple during the Babylonian exile and there was a threat to it. In a couple of centuries before, this is the time that was ultimately celebrated with Hanukkah, the restoration. So it was a threat to the use of the temple. But the Jews had no temple during the time of the Babylonian exile.

And come late summer 70 AD, when the Romans took the whole place apart, they had no temple, and they have no temple now. What's there on the Temple Mount? Yeah, the Dome of the Rock in the Mosque of Olav, that's what's on the Temple Mount. And you can still get up there and look at it, but you can't take a Bible with you, you can't do anything Christian on that Temple Mount, or Jewish. Yes? I'm sorry, I have a quick question.

So you said in the law it dictates life and death as long as it's in person. Right. The life and death is earthly. Yep. Earthly life and earthly death. So let's ask this question. Is it possible, is it possible that you might be saved by faith and yet lose your life according to the law? Lose your physical life according to the law? Yes. Yes, it could happen.

I might be saved by faith But the sun just went down and I picked up a piece of firewood and I lose my life. I just had a lapse of thought and memory and lose my life. Am I going to be saved eternally? Yeah, because I'm saved by faith and yet the law would say you lose your life. Someone might be saved by faith but fail to follow the law and therefore be cursed. And that, in fact, happened.

So you have, let me read the rest of that. I have set before you life and death and blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God and obeying his voice and by holding fast to him. For this is your life and length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. So these chapters describe the future of the people of Israel with regards to the land from Moses' time forward.

And guess what happens? He tells them choose life, right? What do they do? They don't do it. And so what happens, he tells them in advance, you're going to be spit out from the land, the land is going to spit you out, you're going to be out here, away from the land, and wish you were here, and wish you were there. You're going to wander all over the face of the earth. And he tells them that's what's going to happen.

And then in the end times, you'll be gathered back to your land. In the end times, you'll be gathered back to your land. And so since the middle 1800s, the number of Jews in Israel and around Jerusalem has grown steadily. And as of a few years before I was born, Israel became a nation again.

So, the rest of what is predicted still has to take place, but it's getting there. It's headed that direction. Alright, now, leadership transition. In chapter 31, Moses gives his last counsel He is told that Israel will fall away. Isn't that nice? He is told that Israel will fall away and Joshua is commissioned as the new leader as the Israelites enter the promised land.

Chapter 32 is the song of Moses. So Moses has this song and it's not the only place he had songs. After they crossed the Red Sea, the Reap Sea, they had another song of Moses. So here's the final song of Moses in chapter 32. So here's Deuteronomy 32, 48-52, at the end of the Song of Moses, the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day saying, Go up to this mountain of Avarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for possession. Then die on the mountain where you ascend. Isn't that something? You get to look at the land, but you cannot go in. You get to look at the land, but you can't go in. Isn't that something?

Here he had for 40 years, he'd gotten them out of Egypt, he'd led these people for 40 years, but all he got to do was to talk to these people about the law and about the land, and he got to look. But that's all. and then die on the mountain where you ascend and be gathered to your people as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there into the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel." Let's ask this question. Was God being fair or was God being cruel? God was being God. God was being God. Okay. God is sovereign. All right. That's a good answer.

Well, it seems like most of us may have been very disappointed to see what happens over there. Would the Israelites be led away by other nations? Yeah. Real interesting, yeah. They would be disappointed, yes. I think it's really interesting that obviously Moses made a mistake that he was cursed for because he was sent up on the mountain to die if he didn't go into the land. But yet it also says then that he was gathered together with his people. So, what you were saying earlier, you know, you can die physically, but spiritually, you're still intact.

Yes, yes. Really? It's really important to understand that as representative to God's people, Moses was held to a higher standard. There's a principle in Scripture. Ah, yes, yes. Let's ask this question. As a shepherd here at Holly Hills, am I held to a higher standard? Yes. Yes.

And though I'm saved by faith and I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, if I do not understand that I'm held to a high standard, the Lord may bring consequences. There will at least be judgment. I will have to answer, as we'll see in Hebrews, have to answer for what I do as a leader, yes. Part of the same principle where it says to whom much is given, much shall be required. So when God gives us authority or power or wisdom or some other gift, whatever it is, don't recognize that it comes from God, and you can support him with it. There is a judgment that comes from the use of that.

Absolutely, and I think that's one thing, here's Moses, he obviously had power, he had privilege, but he also had opportunity, and he had a stewardship. And there was a key aspect in which he failed in the stewardship. The Lord could have said, Moses, you failed me, you're done right now. Right? The Lord didn't do that.

So actually, even having lived this far, and even having a look into the land, is, you know, an extra mercy or blessing, if you will. Because the Lord could have said, you're done. You're done right now. but instead allowed them to continue to live on and actually see into the land that was promised.

And he actually did it twice, brought water out of the rock. At the waters of Meribah Kedesh, in the wilderness of Zin, the Lord told him to speak to the rock, right? So what did he do? He said, you know, look what I've got to do. The Lord's going to do it, not you. And speak to the rock. And he goes, whack!

So he put the focus on himself instead of the Lord. He disobeyed the Lord in terms of how this is supposed to happen. And by the way, who is the rock? The rock represents who? Christ. And so this was actually a violation of this picture of Christ here. So that was a pretty bad thing that he did. And he had a responsibility for what he conveyed to the rest of the people of Israel. Yes.

He ascended the mountain. Here's Israel. Imagine here they are in the plain there of Moab and so they're watching him go up to the Mount Nebo and getting smaller and smaller as he goes farther away. So he's ascending the mountain is what it's talking about. Those mountains have like an altitude of 20 feet. We talk about mountains here and these are more like what we call the foothills. Even like Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, these are not Colorado mountains. Not the same.

I think it's key to look at that, because as we look at it, some people might say, well, that was awfully harsh. Well, actually, God was merciful, because God could have said, Moses, you're done. Boom. Because He did do that with other Israelites, right? Yes. Okay, we're talking about the stewardship, and it says that in James, where you're going to be held to a higher standard. And I can understand that from the standpoint of the apostles and the disciples because that was their lifestyle.

What happened to the judges? It didn't seem like there was a higher standard with the judges. Didn't they have a stewardship, too, to the people? Yes, and we'll be going through the book of Judges here shortly. You're talking about the Judges in the Old Testament?

Yeah. We'll be going through that shortly, and in fact, where God raised up Judges to take people through a cycle of some relief from their oppressors, there's often instances where the Judges themselves were judged, Samson being the case, right? Gideon was basically a coward. Yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of amazing to look at some of these judges who were to raise somebody up and give the Israelites relief, and yet they always went back down into this cycle. And even the judges themselves were in some cases, you know, it's apparent that they were judged. So the judges offered temporary relief, but it didn't give them a reprieve from also being accountable. The other thing I think to take a look at here with Moses is this is under the law.

Under grace, is it possible that the Lord can take someone's life early? Yeah, we saw that in studying through Hebrews just recently, a few weeks ago. The Lord, even under grace, can take a believer home early or bring about other judgments and disciplines.

So chapter 33, Moses blesses Israel by tribe. In the same way that at the end of his life, Jacob blessed his sons, right? Now, at the end of his life, Moses blesses the Israelites by tribe. He has a blessing for each tribe. It, in some cases, reflects the blessing that Jacob had given to his sons. So that's kind of an amazing thing to look at. Chapter 34 describes Moses' death on Mount Nebo and ends with Joshua in command of the people of Israel. So then we see the book of Joshua, which we'll take on next here, and then judges will follow. Joshua is given command.

Why isn't Joshua among those who die in the wilderness? He's old enough. Why isn't he one who dies in the wilderness along with the rest? He was one of the spies that went into the land of Canaan and he was not recommended at the inner. Yeah. You remember there were 12 spies sent into the land of Canaan to spy out the land and Joshua and Caleb Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that said, hey, the Lord promised it, let's take it.

The others said, oh no. We're like grasshoppers, and these people are huge that we'll be overwhelmed and overcome. And so the people got cold feet, so to speak, and, ah, we won't go in. And then when the Lord says, oh, well, in that case, you're going to die out here. And they said, oh, we'll go in. He said, too late. But it was Joshua and Caleb who were the ones who said, take the land. And now Joshua was not included among those who had to die in the wilderness. So Joshua is now old, but he's taking them into the land as a man of faith. So we'll take a look at Joshua's leadership in the book of Joshua next Sunday. Here we have, next, the part looking at these books, looking at the Son of God. Where does the Son of God show up here in the book of Deuteronomy?

One of those, the law of Moses is the definition of what is holy and righteous and good. That's what Paul even calls the law, right? Holy and righteous and good among the Israelites, but Christ is innately holy, righteous, and good by infinite character. Christ is fundamentally righteous by character. The law defines what's holy and righteous and good, but also defines what is not. Defines what is not. It's interesting that Jesus, when he was here on earth, said, I didn't come to negate the law. I came to fulfill it. Yeah. Came to fulfill it. including the book of Deuteronomy here.

The next one, the entire sacrificial system points to Christ who is our Passover lamb. Deuteronomy 16.1 tells about the Passover and 1 Corinthians 5.7 says Christ is our Passover.

So you have the entire sacrificial system and you also have the Passover lamb. What would happen to the Passover lamb? Passover was the first feast of the Mosaic calendar and they would begin, once they got into the land of Israel, they'd begin by taking the lamb to the temple in Jerusalem where the priests would slaughter the lamb and then hand it back over to you. By New Testament times, on Passover, you imagine that just in several hours, starting about noon is when they would begin, in several hours they would slaughter about 200,000 lambs for Passover. But Christ is our Passover lamb.

Another one here, Deuteronomy 18, 15-19 speaks of Christ as the prophet like Moses. One of the things that happened when Jesus came is that people didn't put it together. And they came to John the Baptist, they said, are you the prophet? This one referenced here in Deuteronomy. Are you the prophet? And he said, no, no, that's not me. But who is that prophet? Christ, right?

So the Jews saw, okay, we've got this guy called the prophet, be someone like Moses, and then we've got We've got also a suffering Messiah, so the rabbi said that was Messiah ben Joseph, that a suffering like Jacob's son Joseph. And then we've got Messiah ben David.

And so they looked at those and they saw them as three separate people. They saw them as three separate people, when, what we understand from the New Testament, they're one person, Christ. They're one person, Christ. And so, because they saw them as three separate people, they looked at those passages, and they looked at Jesus, and they said, you're not the guy. You're not the guy. Furthermore, the Messiah, Ben Joseph, the suffering Messiah, was also much less talked about. So it wasn't one they were looking for. They didn't understand it.

Someone pull out a Bible and read Deuteronomy 18, 15-19 for us. Deuteronomy 18, 15-19. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, who shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die. The Lord said to me, they have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command you." So that's what Moses talked about. And so they were looking for someone like Moses to come. And what did Moses do? Speak to them and lead the people Israel.

So why did they miss out on Jesus being the fulfillment of that prophet? Because he didn't come as a king. They essentially came close the week before they crucified him. So that would be a king, but how was Jesus different from what they were envisioning with Moses? How was Jesus different so that they wouldn't see him as the prophet that Moses talked about according to the passage Randy just read for us here. Why would they not see Jesus as fulfilling that? Would you say because he spoke in parables instead of commandments of do this or else?

Here's Moses that came in and led the people, and even led them in battle at times. So here's Moses that led the people, led all the people. If you didn't follow Moses, you may end up getting erased. swallow them up. In that same day, you had a number trying to imitate the role of the priests and fire came down and burned them up. So they looked at Jesus and they said, you're not doing that. You're not doing things like part in the sea and leading us as a people and somebody disobeys you and you wipe them out. And so they were missing what Jesus was there to do.

Yeah. Well, Moses was more of an authoritarian leader and secondarily a teacher giving the word of God after God gave it to him. Jesus was not primarily a leader, but he was primarily a teacher. Yes. And really he was awe-inspiring. It says the word awe many times when he was teaching. Yeah.

But he didn't really lead anybody, did he? Yeah, but Jesus led by invitation, right? And Moses, you're going to follow me or you're going to die. And I won't kill you. God will take care of it. So they were expecting someone like that, and that's not the way Jesus came. Jesus came by invitation.

The other thing Christ did was totally stand against the religious leadership of the time, whom they thought were following the line of Moses. The Pharisees had a group gathered around Jerusalem and the temple sacrifices and all that. That was the Sadducees. The Pharisees were looked as the culture heroes. I mean, if anybody is righteous and if anybody is pleasing the Lord, these are the guys.

And to have Jesus come up and say, you know, in all these condemnations, they would come up and say, you're breaking the law, Jesus. And Jesus would deliberately heal on the Sabbath. Jesus would deliberately be in their face about things. multiple times doing miracles on the Sabbath.

And so he was at odds with them. And ultimately, Matthew 23, spending a whole chapter condemning them. Woe unto you! And so they thought, well, these guys really please the Lord in everything they do. And if Jesus is opposed to them, and if Jesus is constantly at odds with them, he of course cannot possibly be the Messiah. He can't be the prophet. He can't be the one. Yeah, Pat? The Son of David? Yes. When he was coming down riding a mule? Right, or donkey, yes. The Son of David? Yes. Now, was the Son of David a reserved term for the society? Yes, it was.

However, let's look at part of what was happening on what's called the triumphal entry is that the Jews, as they were going up the very steep route from Jericho up to Jerusalem, would sing, and it would be one group say one thing and another group another, and they'd go and sing what's called the Hallel, Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. And if you look at what's called the Triumphal Entry and look at the words, the people are singing the song that they always sang as they were going up from Jericho towards Jerusalem, including Hosanna and all those kinds of things.

And so a lot of what was going on was not, you know, gee, here is Jesus and we're going to sing all these things to Him because of who He is. A lot of it was just simply following traditions and then with some accommodation to Him riding this donkey coming in. It wasn't like everything was totally focused on Christ. So it's sort of a, this is what everybody's doing, because we always do it.

Oh yeah, and here's this Jesus and we'll add this in. So a lot gets made about it being a triumphal entry, but in fact it wasn't so triumphal. They didn't accept him as their king. The Pharisees challenged Jesus, you know, you have these people, keep quiet. Jesus, when he came over the Mount of Olives and saw Jerusalem, what did he do? He wept. So triumphal entry is kind of the term that we use for that event and it wasn't all that triumphal. Especially if Jesus is weeping.

He referred to himself as the son of man. He was asked, are you the son of God? And he answered in the affirmative. But son of man was a common term. That, however, is the term used, if you look in the book of Daniel, when the Messiah comes again. So it is not a diminutive term. It in fact refers to the second coming of the Messiah. In other words, it's not looking at... son of man is not a term that looks at him as just being just a man. As being what? As being just a man. The religious leaders understood that because when he claimed that title, they accused him of heresy. Oh yes, oh yeah. And there's another thing, you know, Moses said that there will be a prophet like me, right? And so Moses made this statement, there will be a prophet like me. How did Moses arrive?

He came in a basket. He arrived in a basket, you know, and so the arrival wasn't anything spectacular. When he came in and said, hey, I'm your leader, I'm leading you out of here. There are certainly some miracles that were accomplished there. But they looked at Jesus, claiming to be the Son of Man. The Son of Man, that term is used of coming in the clouds, right? And they'll say, wait a minute, you didn't come that way. So he didn't fit the descriptions that they were looking for. Okay, we've got another one to look at.

Deuteronomy ends with Joshua. The Hebrew is Yeshua. That's one thing about a lot of our names that we have in English. The original name sometimes is quite different. So the Hebrew is Yeshua. So Joshua is an Anglicization of it. It means Savior. He's in charge of the people of Israel and Yeshua has been brought over into the Greek and then to English as Jesus. Jesus is what the Greek would say. So Jesus is the way it comes across in English, who is indeed our Savior.

So this person Joshua, Yeshua, the Savior, is also a picture of Christ. Alright, this book of Deuteronomy completes Moses' involvement. Now, at the end of Deuteronomy, the handoff is to Joshua, and we'll take a look at what happens with Joshua in the next Sunday when we meet.

One of the questions to ponder is, they go into Jericho and everybody gets killed, except who? except for Rahab, everybody gets killed, and it's just after harvest, so all the food in Jericho is all stored in pots and things of that sort. They've got it all stored, and God says burn it all. Burn it all. One of the things we'll be taking a look at is If you go there to the mound that is Old Ancient Jericho, the walls have fallen out, the clay walls have fallen out, and all the pots of grain are burned.

Amazing. So anyway, we'll take a look at that. Any other thoughts, comments, questions? I have one. When going back to the thing that we were saying, like, does Moses, um, was Moses like surprised that he went up to the mountain and just saw the land and the Lord's like, you're not going to be able to step foot into it? He probably expected that. Like, I mean, I don't know, like, it just seems to me that if it was that fair or cruel, that he would have been like, oh my gosh, yeah, I totally deserve not to go into the land. Maybe, I don't know. You know, he didn't sit there and argue with the Lord about it. We don't see that.

You've got enough strength to walk up a mountain, granted it's not a Colorado mountain, but you've got enough strength to walk up the mountain, but there you're going to die. Not because you're at the end of your life and you're out of energy and you're ill and all that. You're going to die. Why? You're going to die because you're not going in and your service has ended. You're done. And now Joshua is going to take over and he is going into the land. See, no more grumbling Israelites. Yeah, no more grumbling Israelites. Maybe there was some relief.

Imagine giving three sermons and going into all this detail and in the end, they're not going to do it. In the end, they won't do that. Choose life, but they won't, right? Yeah. Almost like Paul, you think of Paul saying, I have run the race, I've completed the course, I've done that which God has called me to do, and now I'm ready to be offered up. Yeah. And I think Moses must have had that same attitude. Yeah.

I was called by God out of the burning bush, followed his leading these 40 years, and I've done that part which I was supposed to do, and now my job is to show God's will, his plan, his future, by handing it off to Joshua and saying, be strong and be of good courage, I'll follow after the law, I'll turn to the right or left, do everything like God said. And Joshua had been watching him over the years, and he could see how important it was to be strict with God.

I think you bring up an important pattern in Scripture, and that is, there's a time for the handoff, The Apostle Paul had that, he met in Acts chapter 20, he met with the elders of Ephesus, and he said, I taught you day and night for three years with tears, but I'm done. And you guys, I'm handing it off. I'm handing it off. You guys carry it from here forward. The Holy Spirit has made you overseers. You guys carry it forward, I'm handing it off, I'm done.

And then at the end of his life, he writes to Timothy, right? And to Timothy it's a handoff. He says, I fought the good fight, I'm at the end. Even 2 Peter has some of that same kind of language, where it's near the end of Peter's life. So that's something else I think for believers to think about.

What am I handing off to who? What am I handing off to who? And because all of us, there'll be a time when we're done here, right? So what am I handing off to who? It's something I think for Christians to ponder. Whatever the Lord has given us stewardship over, what am I handing off to who?

Yeah. And also, Moses is a good definition of humility in the fact that His primary goal was to do exactly what God asked him to do. Except for that one occurrence. Even after that he still continued to do exactly what God asked him to do without ever complaining or asking. And Paul did basically the same thing saying he was a bondservant in Rome. And he had that in his flesh to keep him humble. So both men are a good definition of humility. They were very aggressive and they were strong leaders. But when it came to God, they were very receptive and humble. What you do not read as you read the end of Deuteronomy is Moses saying, Oh God, you've made a terrible mistake. I'm not going up that mountain. No, I won't. You don't see that kind of a behavior.

Instead, the Israelites watch as he goes up Mount Nebo, where the Lord takes his life. And that's what the Lord has for me, that's where I'm going. He's done, even though He realizes these people are going to stumble and fall and they're not going to do what I've spent hours and hours and in fact 40 years trying to get across to them, they're not going to do it. But I have done what God has sent me to do. As Paul writes his last letter that we possess, 2 Timothy, he in fact talks about problems. But he says, I've fought the good fight. I have done what God has sent me to do, even though everything is not ideal and perfect and there are big issues out there.

Why was Timothy sent to Ephesus? To deal with the false teachers. to deal with the false teachers. That was his commission. So, are there issues out there? Are there problems? Yeah. But, have I done what God's told me to do? That's the question. And, there's the handoff. What am I handing off to whom? What am I handing off to whom?

Spiritually speaking. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the lessons here in Deuteronomy and even lessons from the life of Moses, a man who gave the law, a man under the law, and yet there's much, much to be learned from this very special book and from the life of Moses, even the end of the life of Moses. And we thank you for it, and we just ask that these truths would be brought to our hearts and to our minds, and that we would grow from it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.