Transcript of Radio Show #378:
Book of Deuteronomy, Part 1
A new series in the Old Testament, beginning with the book of Deuteronomy, the last book of the Pentateuch.

Radio Show...

This program continues on various series of different topics of Bible studies and theology such as end times, prophecies, Old Testament, New Testament, daily living, etc. as the subject matter comes up.

The e-book on End times, Prophecies and Revelation, answering the questions “where are we in the events of the end times?” and “Are we now in the tribulation?” is available on this web site, which you can find throughout the pages.

Opening Narrative

Hello and welcome to another exciting radio program today on end times and prophecies and scriptures to live by... which is all about old-time gospel and worship music, praying for needs and preaching the Word of God....

And remember this radio programs Virtual Church for the Spiritual Unchurched is broadcast every Sunday at 7 am and 7 pm pacific time... and if you unfortunately miss it for whatever reason at any time, you can hear the program any time after that for 4 weeks...at my web site TimingRevelation.com

So, we continue today in the new series started a few weeks ago, based on my book “The Horizontal Chronology of the Four Gospels”...

And I did mention to you before that with this series begins the start of the 8th year of these radio programs Virtual Church for the Spiritual Unchurched.

As you already know In this series we look at the four gospels in a new light as they are presented by chronological events taking place within the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which are presented separately in the Bible ...

It is all the same gospel.... but in chronological order of events taking place, which lets us hear or see side by side who reported and what each said on these events taking place in the gospels.

So, we continue today, beginning a new series from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, which is a review by Moses of the previous three books of the Old Testament.

We will begin here right after this opening music, prayer and worship...

Prayer
Praise God Doxology
Worship music

Narrative 1

Alright so as I was saying, at this point, I will be turning to a completely new study of one particular book of the Old Testament which does not really have anything to do with the book of Acts – in the sense that it is not a continuation or a transition from here to there -- but it is something the Lord has placed, strongly, on my heart to get into the Old Testament at this time.

And this all took place a few weeks ago when in a meeting of the minds of several believers, as I already mentioned above... one woman in attendance mentioned that she does not read the Old Testament because she finds it hard to understand or to “get into” because it seems so irrelevant, etc...

Now I took serious mental notes to this woman's comment because I heard it before from many other believers... and we all know that not too many Christians get into the Old Testament learning... it's bad enough that some people even say that the Old Testament is no longer “relevant” and is not for today...

When I last heard a Christian say the same thing some years ago, I told this brother in the Lord that in order to make the Old Testament easier and enlivening, he should start with the book of Deuteronomy... because the book of Deuteronomy is a summary of the previous 3 books of the Pentateuch. So it is extremely interesting to read that first, in order to extract a focused and compact understanding of what took place throughout the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers – which are the books that most Christians find “tedious” to read.

Even if one did not go back to read those 3 preceding books, they will acquire a very thorough understanding of the essential and needful “Jewish roots” of Christianity just by going through Deuteronomy... as I said because Moses is giving a summary of everything that took place and then exhorts them to continuing on.

Did you know that the book of Deuteronomy is one of the Old Testament books that Jesus and the New Testament Apostles most often quoted from? -- with some eighty references?

Wow, that tells us something right there.

We find the children of Israel at this time right between the original giving of the covenants at mount Sinai, and the “at last!” first sight of the entrance to the promised land, after 40 years in the wilderness.

Then of course after Deuteronomy, we get into the very adventurous stories of Joshua who takes over from Moses in the possession of the Land as God leads them. Then we read the stories of the dark apostasies of the book of Judges. Then we have the book of Ruth, then Samuel, then Kings, the prophets, etc...which we will touch on in future programs -- right up to the New Testament...

But for now we will begin right here in the book of Deuteronomy, following the basic outline of 3 exhortations that I have found to be very constructively helpful to me in one of the text books from a Bible schools I studied with many years ago...

The simple outline was this:

1_Remember (chapters 1 to 4)

2_Obey (chapters 5 to 27)

3_Take Heed (chapters 28 to 34)

Remember, Obey, Take Heed -- three divisions easy to remember for us, and we will spend the next few weeks looking at that, starting in just a moment right after this uplifting music...

Station ID...

Music Interlude...

Narrative # 2

Alright let's continue...

As I mentioned before, the book of Deuteronomy is a summary of the 40 years of the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Moses recounts God's promises to Israel:

First let's look at outline #1 – Remember ...

which we find in the first 4 chapters of Deuteronomy.
It refers to events already recorded in the book of Numbers.

Chapters 1 to 3 give a review of Israel's wanderings, and
chapter 4 warns Israel against idolatry.

Let's read:

And I will read from the New King James Version, unless otherwise stated...

Chapter 1 – verses 1 to 8

the command to enter Canaan

verse 1_”These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph (or the Red Sea as the Old King James version puts it), between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

2_It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

Now, most people don't find all these names of places very interesting... however this scripture tells us that it was a journey of 11 days from Horeb to Kadesh Barnia... now Horeb is the same as Sinai – just a different name.

that's interesting... 11 days of walking by a group of, what – a million people, may be more, the Bible talks about 600,000 men leaving Egypt plus the women and children. And that was just the beginning. But they wandered along that route for 38 years!

And we'll pick up on some of this along the way...

verse 3_Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,

verse 4_after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.

So along the way they had to fight their way with some of the kings who were there -- enemies of God ..

5_On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying,

6 The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. (remember Horeb is the same as Mt Sinai.

Verse 7_Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

So that was what they had been given to go to...

verse 8_See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.

And of course this is interesting in light of what we are seeing taking place today around the world concerning the land that was given to Israel.

And then in the next verses we read about the

Appointment of Judges – v. 9 to 18

9 “And I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I alone am not able to bear you.

10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.

11 May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!

12 How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints?

13 Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’

v. 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’

So Moses is reviewing everything that took place in these other 3 books that lead up to the book of Deuteronomy that we are reading in right now.

verse 15_ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

So there was a real organizational system that took place at that point to answer the needs of the people who were by the way multiplying along the way, and they were as we saw earlier already thousands, may be a million, may be more than a million...

Now as another bit of information and interesting detail, the year when what we're reading took place, is 1410 BC... 40 years after the historical detailed accounts of the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers took place...

verse 16_ “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him.

v.17_You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

verse 18_And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

So as we can see again, Moses is repeating the things that took place and what's important, remembering them.

Music interlude...

Narrative #3

Alright, so let's get back to our reading of

the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 1, verses 19 to 33...

Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land

So Moses is speaking...

19 “So we departed from Horeb (Sinai), and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea.

20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

21 Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’

22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

23 “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.

24 And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.

25 They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

26 “Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;

27 and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”

Now these were giants.... they were afraid... so Moses is telling them, reminding them of what they went through.

29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them.

30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

32 Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God,

33 who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.

And next we read about the:

Punishment for Israel’s Rebellion, verses 34 to 46

34 “And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying,

35 “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,

36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the Lord.’

37 The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes,( Moses is saying ) saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there.

Wow I feel bad for Moses... he was leading them and everything and....

38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39 ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

Now that's God speaking these words to them at that time....

and verse 40_“But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’

and then the last verses...

Israel is defeated at Hormah, verses 41 to 46

41 “Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us. And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.

42 “And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’

43 So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the Lord, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.

44 And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah.

And verse 45_”Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

So in other words, when God told them to go ahead and move, they wouldn't do it, they were afraid, they rebelled etc... and then, the Lord told them not to go because He was angry at their lack of obedience, but now they want to go... so again they rebelled against the word of the Lord... every time God tells them what do to they do the opposite...

... so then that's when Moses said to them, ”Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.”

See, when we disobey God, He does not listen to us when we cry out to Him. Why? Because we should listen to Him in the first place and do what He says and trust Him ...

and the last verse, 46 “So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.

Music Interlude

Closing Narrative…

Oh how wonderful to appreciate what Jesus has done in our lives to save us from sin by Grace... and how He continues to keep us by His on-going and unlimited Grace...

...that wonderful Grace that comes into our life the moment that we receive Him as for who He is -- the Saviour of mankind and of every individual like you and me personally...

... and this Jesus the Son of God who came to give His life for you and me is the same Jesus who's life we've been reading about in these series of programs right now, and who's death on the cross we will see as we go through the gospel story to where He gave Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God that took the sin of the world...

...but right now, the question is:

...do you know this Jesus that we're talking about? If you don't know the Lord...

...Just say this prayer, “Lord come into my heart, come into my life, I turn to you right now and ask for forgiveness, I repent of my sins and receive your work on the cross... I receive your gospel as it was delivered through your blood shed on the cross in my place, and I thank you, Amen...

The Blessing

Before I dismiss the service today, I want to read to you the Blessing that was read to the people of God in Numbers 6:24-26 which is the benediction from God to you today:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

I hope and pray that you will come back next Sunday at SpiritFM.ca, 7 am and 7 pm pacific time. And if you want to hear the service again at any time, you can go to my website at TimingRevelation.com, and click on the Radio Shows navigational tab along the left side. The replays are available there for five weeks, then they are transcribed into articles as new radio shows are put up.

I encourage you to go to your Bible and read further on the scriptures that were given throughout the program today. And if you like these programs and you've been blessed, call or write the station and let them know... if you said the prayer and have accepted the Lord or you've been healed or touched in some way by the Holy Spirit, write to me on the contact form of this web site...

...and this web site is also where you will find the Free Offer of the “Christian Growth and Maturity Chart” that I talked to you about in the last weeks... you will see the graphic on any page called “Get your free CGM Chart”, click on it and it will take you to a page that will tell you about it and how you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy of the Chart sent to you.

Until next week, Maranatha, the Lord is coming, very soon. Goodbye and Blessing.

/DMH

Click here to hear the song "I need no mansion here below".

/DMH

click on the graphic just above to share your thoughts...

click on this graphic to go to Christianbook affiliate store products:

P.S.: For your information I am a participant of the Christianbook affiliate program and as such will receive a small commission on purchases made by my readers. I want to thank you for buying your Christian products through here... all of this helps me with the expenses of providing this important ministry and operating this web site.
Blessings,