End/Beginning

This is the last Sabbath reading of this Jewish calendar year. In two days, a new year begins with the arrival of the Feast of the LORD called Yom Teruah, the Feast (Day) of Trumpets. It is also known as Rosh Hashanah. In this Sabbath reading titled Nitzvarim - Va-yelech, meaning "(you) are standing" - "then he went out", we see the ending of one thing and the promise of a new thing. The leadership of Moses, who is 120 years old, is coming to an end, and Joshua has been appointed to become the leader who will take the people into the Promised Land (Deut. 31:1-3). Although the leadership will change, the Word of God will not change: "All of you stand today before the LORD your God...your leaders...your tribes...your elders...your officers...all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives - also the stranger who is in your camp = that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath,, which the LORD God makes with you today, that He may establish you today as a peaople for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (Deut. 29:10-13). The Word of God was so vital to the Israeites' survival as a people that Moses instructed them to read aloud all the book of the law every seventh year, the year of the LORD's Release, on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:10-11). This Word of God would remain alive and active, even, Moses told them, returning them back to the LORD, and His voice, from where they will have been scattered among many nations, and bringing them back to the land from captivity, a captivity that would not take place until well over one thousand years later (Deut. 30:1-6). This Word preserved a people from the annihilation that the world had planned for them. This Word restored a nation to them in our time that had been destroyed in ancient conquest. The scriptures preserved a language, Hebrew, which was "dead", but is now resurrected as the language of a nation. The only way that these miraculous things could have come to pass is by the never-changing, constant, living Word of God spoken to them, and treasured by them. However, those events are not the end of the story! This same Word, Moses said, would circumcise their hearts to love God with all their hearts and souls so that they may live. There are blessings and cursings in the law, depending upon whether one loves God and His Word, or walks away from Him and His Word, but God was calling His people to love and obey Him: "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways...that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess...I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling (dabaq - follow hard, keep fast, joined together, pursue closely, adhere firmly, glued together) to Him, for He is your life, and your length of days..." (Deut. 30:14-16, 19-20). The LORD called His people to "cling" or cleave to Him. In Hebrew, we see that this choice of words calls His people to become so close to Him that they are physically attached to Him. The reason for this is not only their immediate and future safety, but because He is going to walk them right into a new and greater covenant, as we will see. The apostle Paul quoted the words from Deuteronomy as they pointed to the way of salvation: "But what does it (the law) say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart' (that is the word of faith, which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rom. 10:8-10). Paul followed closely after the LORD and took his readers from the law right into the new covenant of salvation, which came through the Messiah, Jesus. Jesus also told His listeners to "cling" to Him, become inseparable from Him, as He instructed them to follow Him, and abide in Him and His Word as the branches abide in the vine (see Jn. 17:21, 24, Mt. 4:18-20, and Jn. 15:4-7, Jn. 14:23). The apostle Paul wrote that we were to cling so closely to Jesus as to make him a physical part of us: "...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith..." (Eph. 3:17). Within the Sabbath readings for this week, we see the Word of the LORD move into the new covenant, and all that the new covenant entails. In fact, the LORD said that He will not rest, and His watchmen should not let Him rest, until He establishes it: "For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness (nogah - shining, brilliancy, as of fire), and her salvation as a lamp that burns." (Isa. 62:1, see also Jn. 8:12, Mt. 5:14-17). Again from this week's Sabbath reading, Isaiah wrote: "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in My God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom bedecks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels...you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name." (Isa. 61:10, Isa. 62:2 - see also Rev. 2:17, Rev. 21:1-2). The prophet Jeremiah wrote of the new covenant: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers...My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them...But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days...: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer. 31:31-34). The fulfilment of the law was not an outward work only, but more importantly, an inward work of salvation. Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled." (Mt. 5:17-18). As we saw in this week's Sabbath reading portion, leadership was passing from Moses to Joshua, who would bring their journey to its completion. We can see the progression of the Word of God in this picture of the change of leadership. Moses, or Moshe, in Hebrew, means "drawn, rescued or saved from the water". The root word, Masa, means "to draw, to clean the face and wash the hands". In Joshua 1:1, Moses is desribed as a servant (ebed/abad - slave, bondservant, servant) to the LORD. The new leader is Joshua, who has the same name as Jesus in Hebrew: Yehosua - Jehovah is Savior/Salvation. In Joshua 1:1, Joshua is described not as a servant, but as a minister to Moses. This is the Hebrew word sarat meaning "to minister, to serve". Jesus said that He came as a minister: "...just as the Son of Man did not come to be ministered unto, but to minister (diakoneo/diakonos - serve another's interest, supply necessities of life, execute the commands of another), and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mt. 20:28). Finally, in this Sabbath's reading in Isa. 63, Isaiah prophesies of the LORD coming from an easterly direction, glorious in apparel, in the greatness of His strength, whose robe is sprinkled with the blood of His enemies.: "For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come." (Isa. 63:1-4, see also Isa. 61:2 and Rev. 19:11-16). The Sabbath readings for this week, like the coming Feast of Trumpets, brings us right up to the point where the ending of the old becomes the beginning of the new. If you would like to know more about the inward working of the Word of God in our lives, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father of us all, You have drawn me out of the waters, and You have made me new in the salvation of Your Son and Minister, Jesus. Your Word and You purpose all along was to bring me into Your new covenant, and the new covenant that You have given to me, gives me an eternal future, and an assurance in You. Your Word is near me, in my heart, and in my mouth to preserve me, and You are with me as I cling to You. Your promise to me is that You will never leave me. Help me by Your Holy Spirit to love and trust You, Lord, with my whole heart, soul, and strength. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."