Hearts

This Sabbath reading portion, which includes Deuteronomy Chapters 29 through 31, titled Nitzavim-Vayelech, comes just before the new Hebrew calendar year begins, which will be year 5782, and right before the Feast of Trumpets, one of the appointed fall feasts commanded by the LORD. Therefore, I believe that this Sabbath portion has a great significance in this new beginning, and this season of the LORD's appointed feasts. In this Sabbath reading, Moses was preparing to depart life at the age of 120 (Deut. 31:1-2), and he was imparting to Israel, some important things to remember in their relationship with God. Moses knew that these things would make the difference between Israel's success or failure, even their life or death. One part of the two-part title of this reading is Vayelech meaning "Then he went out". Moses was speaking to these people whom he had led for over forty years as a leader and a prophet whose time was nearly up. Moses called all of Israel to assemble in order to enter into covenant with God for the keeping of His commandments, and God's covenant with them establishing them as a people for Himself (Deut. 29:9-13). The other part of the two-part title for this Sabbath portion is Nitzavim which means "Are standing". Not only was all of Israel to stand before the LORD in this assembly of covenant, but also anyone else who was in the camp as a stranger or a laborer. However, this assembly was not limited to those physically present. Moses said: "I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today..." (v. 12-15). This perpetual covenant of obedience is not only with Israel and her generations to come, but with the future stranger and laborer in the camp also. In the same manner, as we stand before the LORD, we represent not only ourselves before Him, but those who are yet to come. It is easy to forget that those people who have not yet appeared are "in us" (see also Isa. 66:8-11, Heb. 7:9-10). As Moses prepared the people before his death, he stressed the importance of their covenant of love for God (Deut. 30:16), which is expressed in obedience to God and His Word. Although there was a curse associated with the breaking of this covenant of obedience to the commandments of God, Moses promised that the LORD would reverse the curse (example: the scattering of the people of Israel to foreign nations) if "...you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul...And the LORD God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." (Deut. 30:1-2, 6). Then the people will again obey the voice of the LORD, causing them to prosper, abound, and increase (v.9). The Word of God, Moses said, was not in some unattainable place, "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." (v. 14). Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Lk. 6:45). This is about the contents and work of the heart, not about a set of religious obligations. The treasures of our hearts must contain the love of God, and therefore the love of His Word, Jesus (Jn. 1:1-3, 14). From this treasure, our words and obedient actions will flow. It seems that trying to be religiously obedient to God's Word without the necessary foundation of love for Him, not only results in eventual spiritual error, but is without value to God (Isa. 29:13-14, Mt. 15:7-9, Ezek. 33:31). How do we view the commandments of God, and how do we relay this view to others? The type of relationship that Moses was urging to all of Israel, also leads us to a prophecy in Jeremiah. In the haftarah portion for this Sabbath, Jeremiah wrote of a "new covenant" that would reflect this type of heart relationship with God (Jer. 31:31-33). The Words of God, Jeremiah wrote, would be written internally in God's people...not just to do but to be. Moses took this relationship even further as he described the blessing or the curse that flows from whichever treasure we keep in our hearts regarding the love of God, and obedience to His Word: life and good, or death and evil (Deut. 30:15). "...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 to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days..." (v. 19-20). In his last days, Moses is imploring Israel to love God, not only to love Him, but to cling or cleave (dabaq - "to cling, to stick to, to be joined together, follow closely, pursue hard) to Him as spouses cleave to each other (Gen. 2:23-24). With these words, Moses was calling Israel to a marriage relationship with God. This is the only thing that will preserve them. The LORD prophesied through Isaiah in another haftarah portion of this sabbath's reading regarding the marriage relationship He has with His people. He prophetically called them "The Holy People" and "The Redeemed" (Isa. 62:12). Righteousness and salvation shine from these people like a burning lamp (v. 1). He will call these people and their land by a new name: Hephzibah, meaning "My delight is in her", and Beulah, meaning "to marry, to be lord (husband) over, married wife, take a wife, dominion" (v. 4). We can see that the purpose of the LORD for His people is that they should be in a loving marriage with Him. Jesus also, as the worthy Lamb of God, is the Bridegroom in marriage to His prepared Bride (Rev. 19:6-9). Here is an interesting point in reading Isaiah's prophecy regarding the use of the word Beulah, or "married. The word which has been translated as the word, Beulah in the verse from Isaiah, is the Hebrew word, ba'al. We also know Ba'al to be a false god whom Israel worshipped as an idol. Jezebel, the evil queen's name, means "Ba'al is husband to". The worship of Ba'al, in its demonic twisting of the true purpose, involved sexual impurity, perversion, and the use of both male and female prostitutes in worship. This is the corruption of God's concept of His marriage to His people. While the Beulah marriage with God brings forth offspring who are worshippers, the relationship with the demonic idol, Ba'al, calls for the sacrifice of children. The concept of marriage to God is so vital and powerful, that the counterfeit opposition to the holy concept still presents itself today. We cannot assume that we are immune to its influence. As John heard and saw the glory of the marriage of the Lamb to His Bride, he immediately fell down in worship of the one who revealed it to him. He was severely scolded for this by the one who identified himself as "of the brethren" (Rev. 19:10). The spirit of idolatry is quick to seek to corrupt this powerful revelation of God in order to destroy it, before we even realize that we have been susceptible to it. May we come to this time of new beginnings of the year, and the appointed fall feasts of the LORD, by allowing some of Moses' last instructions to bring us to a new understanding and determination to love the LORD with all our hearts and all our souls. If you would like to enter into this kind of relationship with the Lord, you can pray: "Dear Father in heaven, I come to You and to Your Son, Jesus, with the desire to establish myself in the love of God. I want a personal and intimate relationship with You, loving You with all of my heart and soul, and I want Your Word to be the treasure of my heart from which my obedience flows. I know that You loved me so much that You gave Your only Son for my sins. You raised Him from the dead so I would not have to know death. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit to teach and quicken me in my loving relationship with You. I ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."

3Nations

In this week's Sabbath reading from Deuteronomy Chapters 8-11, Moses delivers the Word of the LORD to the children of Israel as they are about to cross the Jordan River into the land that God promised to them. They are about to become a nation. As a nation, the LORD has certain insights and warnings for Israel. Moses speaks from the LORD about the land saying: "...you shall keep every commandment which I command you today...that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year." (Deut. 11:8-12). The land into which the Israelites were about to go was not like other lands. This new land was supernaturall provided for from heaven. This land had a very special meaning to God, and that continues to this day, and will continue through the return of Christ, and beyond. It was a land specifically promised to the fathers, but it is also the land to which the Son of God, the Messiah, would be sent to save the children of Israel (Mt. 15:24, Mt. 10:5-8, Rom. 1:16), and from this land, the world and its nations will be changed and ruled by Him (Zech. 14:4-9). Because of all of these things, it is the land of promise in more ways than one. Moses continued to say that if the Israelites as a nation continued to obey God's commandments given to them that day, "to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled." (v. 13-15). Not only was the nation of Israel to follow this command, which is part of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5), but they were to wear the command on their bodies, and place it upon their homes. They were to be faithful and diligent to teach this commandment to their children in every circumstance as well (v. 18-20). Another benefit that would be upon them as a nation, as they kept this commandment of God, was that all of the occupying nations currently in the land would be driven out from before them by the LORD, even larger and greater nations than themselves, and these nations would have fear and dread of the nation of Israel placed upon them (v. 23-25). If the nation of Israel failed to serve the LORD in love, and turn to other gods, the blessings of the new land would dry up, and the people would perish quickly from the land (v. 16-17). There is great blessing when the countenance of the LORD is lifted upon a person or nation, and great hardship when His glorious face is turned away (Num. 6:23-27, Prov. 16:15). Understanding these same truths, our nation, which is the second nation referred to in the title of this entry, also called upon God from its beginning, and wrote of its commitment to God's precepts in its founding documents. Our first document, the Declaration of Independence states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." We began our independent nationhood with the premise that all men have been equally created by the Creator. Man did not come into being as an accident of circumstances, our documents declare, and man did not create himself. Also, the idea that men were equal was an earthshaking concept for its time. The other nations of the era did not hold that belief. Could an common man be equal to a king? This was a ridiculous thought to most at that time, but we declared men to be equal because they were all a divine creation of God. These same founders wrote that they would rely upon God, as the Supreme Judge of the world, to determine if their intentions in forming a new nation were right in His eyes: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown." Finally, they vowed in this document that they would rely upon God for protection: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence , we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." We believed the precepts of God in forming this nation. We called upon God to judge our intentions, and we relied upon God for protection in this hazardous step of independence. In the writing of our second founding document, The Constitution, we published our belief that liberty did not originate with men, but was a blessing from God to be valued and defended: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." As we became a nation, we did so swearing our belief and reliance upon God. We have also written this same affirmation upon our public buildings, and even on our currency, down to the smallest denomination, the penny. However, as our nation, has turned our back on these declarations and affirmations on many occasions, we have seen, as the LORD warned Israel, that our blessings from God have begun to dissolve. Our extreme weather has caused problems with crops, causing shortages. Cattle have been slaughtered early because there is a shortage of hay and feed. In becoming like the other nations who do not depend upon the LORD for their protection, nor heed His commandments, we have seen a pestilence cover our land. Also, for a nation who never saw a defeat in war, we have had few victories in the last 70 years or so. Enemies no longer have a dread of us, as God promised the nation of Israel if they would love Him and heed His Word. Inspite of the fact that we have the greatest military force money can buy, our enemies have become confident from experience that they can out-wait us, out-last us, and out-fight us. A third nation that carries an obligation before God is a spiritual nation. In a Torah portion before this Sabbath's reading, God said of His people: "For you are a holy people (Hebrew am - "people, tribe, nation") to the LORD your God: the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the land of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." (Deut. 7:6-9). Peter wrote a similar description of those who belong to Christ: "They (those who do not accept Jesus) stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people (Greek laos - "people, group, tribe, nation") that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10). Believers in Christ are not only The Church, His Body, and His Bride, but we are also a nation of God in Christ. It is still necessary, and will always be necessary for the believers in Christ to love God, and obey His commandments. As God instructed the nation of Israel, Jesus taught the same part of the Shema as being the greatest commandment (Mt. 22:36-40). Jesus also said, as God taught Israel: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (Jn. 14:15). To Israel, to America, and to the nation of believers in Christ who have turned away from their love of God, the LORD asks these questions from our haftarah portion of this Sabbath's reading: "Thus says the LORD: 'Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?..." (Isa. 50:1-2). The LORD waits for us to turn back to Him. He waits for our nation's answer to His call. He is looking for an opportunity to redeem and deliver both individuals, and His nations. The title of this week's Sabbath reading is Eikev, which means "If/Because (you follow)". Who or what are we following? The LORD commands us to follow Him. If you would like to follow the LORD your God in love, heeding His commandments, you can pray: "Heavenly Father, You have asked us to love and follow You. Your Son has asked us to love Him, obey His commandments, and follow Him. You have called me as an individual, and You have called me to be part of a holy nation. You sent Your Son to die for my sins, and to rise from death for my everlasting life: to bring me out of darkness and bondage, and into Your marvelous light. Forgive me of my sins. I turn back to You, and place my life in Your hands. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Sanctify me and cleanse me, and teach me Your commandments. I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen."