The story of the Bible began with God's promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit God's Promised land. Hundreds of years pass. While Israel is indeed a large group of people, they are not a Nation...instead, they are slaves. They are oppressed in Egypt by an evil tyrant Pharaoh. God uses Moses (and his brother Aaron) to confront Pharaoh, and in a series of miraculous judgements (plagues), God miraculously frees them and they head into the wilderness towards a place called Mount Sinai.
Here at Mount Sinai Israel becomes a nation. Moses receive from God their constitution in the form of the Law. God also makes a way for them to have his Holy presence live among them in giving them instructions for the Tabernacle. (By the way the idea of God as Holy makes his presence much more difficult that most of us can imagine). The book of Leviticus reminds us that God is Holy and the way to worship God is to respect that Holiness, and to make provision for how our Sin is to be dealt with through Substitutionary Atonement. Read Leviticus 16 & 17 and realize that the holiest day of Israel's year was the Day of Atonement. The picture of that day is that their Sins were "Covered" by the blood of the slain Lamb, and their Sins were "Sent Away" by the Scapegoat. The two aspects of Atonement are made clear - Our Sins need to be atoned for...Covered, and sent away.
Can you see the significance of the words of John the Baptist when he looks toward Jesus as he comes to the river to be Baptized by him and says, "Behold the lamb of God (slain) who takes away (scapegoat) the sins of the world."?
The children of Israel spend almost 2 years at Sinai. The book of Numbers records how they are organized, counted, prepared by God to enter into the Promise Land...BUT...when they get the opportunity to do so, they FAIL. God tells Moses to send 12 men (one from each tribe) to spy out the land, and when they return, only 2 - Joshua and Caleb - say "let's go"; but the other 10 convince the rest of the people "it can't be done".
That failure turns out to be life-changing for that entire generation. God tells them that their failure to believe, to trust, to act in faith, is the beginning of wasted years of wandering. That is exactly what they do - they wander for 38 years while that entire generation dies off and God prepares their children to be the ones that inherit the land.
Think about all of this...delivered people...saved by God...don't get a free pass to live their lives any way they choose to. They need to exercise obedience to God in order to see the blessings of God in life.
As the older generation dies off, Moses speaks to the new generation to remind them NOT to be like the older generation. HOW? Among the many things he says in the book of Deuteronomy is that the most important thing they can do is "Listen" in order to "Love" God. This is the great commandment that Jesus re-stated:
Deuteronomy is the second law. Read it and you see the 10 Commandments expanded and further detailed. It is a great book and if you have never read it you should. Here's a video to help you understand how the Torah ends in this great book.
Here at Mount Sinai Israel becomes a nation. Moses receive from God their constitution in the form of the Law. God also makes a way for them to have his Holy presence live among them in giving them instructions for the Tabernacle. (By the way the idea of God as Holy makes his presence much more difficult that most of us can imagine). The book of Leviticus reminds us that God is Holy and the way to worship God is to respect that Holiness, and to make provision for how our Sin is to be dealt with through Substitutionary Atonement. Read Leviticus 16 & 17 and realize that the holiest day of Israel's year was the Day of Atonement. The picture of that day is that their Sins were "Covered" by the blood of the slain Lamb, and their Sins were "Sent Away" by the Scapegoat. The two aspects of Atonement are made clear - Our Sins need to be atoned for...Covered, and sent away.
Can you see the significance of the words of John the Baptist when he looks toward Jesus as he comes to the river to be Baptized by him and says, "Behold the lamb of God (slain) who takes away (scapegoat) the sins of the world."?
The children of Israel spend almost 2 years at Sinai. The book of Numbers records how they are organized, counted, prepared by God to enter into the Promise Land...BUT...when they get the opportunity to do so, they FAIL. God tells Moses to send 12 men (one from each tribe) to spy out the land, and when they return, only 2 - Joshua and Caleb - say "let's go"; but the other 10 convince the rest of the people "it can't be done".
That failure turns out to be life-changing for that entire generation. God tells them that their failure to believe, to trust, to act in faith, is the beginning of wasted years of wandering. That is exactly what they do - they wander for 38 years while that entire generation dies off and God prepares their children to be the ones that inherit the land.
Think about all of this...delivered people...saved by God...don't get a free pass to live their lives any way they choose to. They need to exercise obedience to God in order to see the blessings of God in life.
As the older generation dies off, Moses speaks to the new generation to remind them NOT to be like the older generation. HOW? Among the many things he says in the book of Deuteronomy is that the most important thing they can do is "Listen" in order to "Love" God. This is the great commandment that Jesus re-stated:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 Hear, O
Israel: The LORD our God, the
LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy is the second law. Read it and you see the 10 Commandments expanded and further detailed. It is a great book and if you have never read it you should. Here's a video to help you understand how the Torah ends in this great book.
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