A Perspective on Deuteronomy 1-3, taking a long view of History
The Synergy of the Ages
Isaiah 41:4; 43:10,11; 44:6-8; Rev 1:17,18
“Who hath wrought and done it, CALLING THE GENERATIONS FROM THE BEGINNING? I the LORD, the First, and with the Last; I am He”
Psalm 145:4
4 “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts”
Ecclesiastes 1:4
4 “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever”
As seed of Abraham by adoption (Rom 11; Gal 3:29), we’re ALL members of the “everlasting covenant” (‘chaverim B’rit’) through faith in the Hebrew Glad Tidings (Gospel) of the ﹰﹰLORD Y’shua-Jesus as Saviour, and soon returning King of Jacob (Is 41:21,27; 52:5-10,13-15; 53; Lk 1:32,33; Jn 4:22; Rom 9:4,5; Heb 13:20,21), as ingrafted members of the everlasting household of the dynasty of Abraham and David which is the household of YHWH, the God of the Hebrews (Lk 1:33; Eph 2:11,12,19).
To honour God and our ancestry through whom He chose to give us life, and to avoid desecrating the brick and mortar of our homes which He’s given us to minister peace to us (as a safe refuge and sanctuary of rest and nurture of fine values and aims), we are to learn how to “behave ourselves wisely, in a perfect way,” to “walk within our homes with perfect hearts” by being instructed out of His good laws (Job 22:21-27; Ps 94:12,13), to ‘square’ every aspect of our lives with His everlasting covenant which is “ordered (with certainty to be absolutely reliable) in all things (in every part)” for our ultimate good as well as for the good of others (2 Sam 23:5; Ps 50:5,23; 101; Rom 3:31; Col 1:28,29).
This is critically important because the righteous legacy of faithful households is the foundation of righteous nation-building (nations which “keepeth the truth”), without which there is no hope for personal or national well-being (2 Chr 7:14; Prov 14:34; Is 26:2,3).
There is a far tighter relationship between the three sub-divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Torah; the Writings; and the Prophets) and the Books of the New Testament (“the New Covenant of the House of Judah and the House of Israel” – Jer 31:31-34), than most Christians have been led to believe.
In Deut 1:3-5, we discover how, by recitation to the “church of the House of Jacob in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38; Is 14:1; Rom 11 – to which WE’RE joined through the Hebrew New Covenant by adoption through baptism into Y’shua-Jesus), just before having to ascend Mt Abarim/Pisgah to die and not enter Israel’s set apart Landed inheritance (Nu 29:7-13; 27:12-14; Deut 3:24-29 – as the penalty for just one episode of impatience, irritation and disobedience), Moses REITERATES (recapitulates) the righteous laws of the coming Kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6,7; Mk 11:10) which the nation and their co-heirs would have to keep as PROOF of love for God (Lk 1:33; 1 Jn 5:2&3), to ensure continuous possession and blessing (Deut 4:10,13,14; 26:16-19; 27:1-26) – HOLY LAWS ratified by the New Covenant along with “the promises to the fathers” (Rom 3:31; 15:8); precepts which will one day distinguish Israel as “chief of nations” (Is 2:2-4; 28:9-12; Jer 31:7,10,17; Micah 4:1-8; 7:8-20; Haggai 2:7-9; Lk 1:33; 2:32) by the RIGHTEOUSNESS of those Godly laws (e.g. Deut 27:15-26); and Israel, by their WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING of those immutable laws based on the Ten Words (Ex 34:27,28,32; Deut 4:5-8,10-14) which, as anticipated by Moses in Deut 18:18,19, Y’shua-Jesus would “magnify” by ‘filling them to the full’ (fully expounding them by enlarging upon them) from first principles in the Torah, as illustrated in the sample Sermon on the Mnt (Is 42:21; Matt 5:17-20; Acts 3:22,23; Rom 3:31).
In a parallel act, as His final Word in Matt 28:18-20, just before His Ascension, the Resurrected Messiah confirms the importance of His Torah-grounded teachings, for His disciplers to “fully know doctrine” (“all things whatsoever I have commanded you”) (e.g. 2 Tim 3:10,14-17), to be WORTHY of the vocation of disciplers of nations, in order not to inadvertently lead them into error and apostasy (1 Tim 4:16).
Matt 28:20 therefore contains an implicit warning that His Presence is not to be presumed upon.
He’s with those who are with Him by being ‘all in’ as covenant devotees, through the Spirit, in the holy Fear of God (Deut 7:9-15; 29:12-15; 2 Chr 15:2; Ps 50:5,23; 119:29,38,45,94-105; Rom 8:4-14; 1 Peter 1:13-17,22).
He’s with us for as long as we demonstrate good faith by “following on to know Him” (Hosea 6:1-3) by continuing in His Word (Is 64:5; 1 Jn 2:3-6), to eradicate all error and unbelief that would distort and bring discredit upon the Gospel and His Holy Name (Rom 2:6-13,26; James 1:25).
We see evidence of redeemed, righteous ABRAHAM’s zeal for Torah (Instruction in righteousness) before our very eyes in the New Covenant, in the love for God by his household (the House of Jacob, his seed, the proclaimers-in-chief of the ‘Shema/Hear’ – Mk 12:28-32; Eph 2:11,12,19) PROVEN by delight in His laws as the apple of their eye (Prov 7:1-3), taken to heart to renew the spirit of the minds of the thousands of redeemed Jews in whose faithfulness to the covenant, Peter James and John boasted in the LORD, including Paul (Acts 20:21-24; Rom 7:12-16,22,25).
All those mentioned in Acts 20:21 were “weaned from spiritual milk” by imitating the delight in obedience to “precept-upon-precept, line-upon-line” (Is 28:9-12), of their LORD and Saviour (Ps 40:7,8), as we too are urged to do “through the Spirit” (Rom 3:31; 8:4-14; 1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2; 2 Thess 2:13-15).
Their zeal for Torah (“Instruction in righteousness”) and conversely, for the means to accurately define sin to be convicted of both, by the Spirit, when walking wide of the mark in worldliness (Jn 16:8), WAS IN DEADLY EARNEST.
It had to be, to be sure to IDENTIFY unrighteousness (sin, which is lawlessness) to know what ‘falling short of the mark’ comprises (Rom 3:20,31; 2 Cor 13:1,5; Phil 3:8-17; 2 Tim 3:14-17), to accurately discern the boundary between the narrow and broad paths, in order to “win the Messiah” by winning “the crown of righteousness” in a well run and finished race (1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 4:3-8).
Their zeal for the knowledge of Father and Son by acquiring deeper and deeper revelation- knowledge of their WAYS (1 Cor 15:34; Jn 12:44-50; 1 Jn 2:3-6) sprang from deep gratitude for the remission of their “sins that were PAST” (Rom 3:25); and in anticipation of mercy and grace for the cleansing of the unrighteousness of any UNINTENTIONAL RELAPSES into sin (1 Jn 1&2) by the sprinkled Blood of “the Messiah our Passover” through Whose forgiveness their transgressions were “blotted out” and forgotten (Ps 103:12; Is 43:25; 44:22) by justification by faith in His Blood and Resurrection, “from all things from which they could not be justified (and your conscience purged and cleansed) by the law given through Moses” (Acts 13:39).
THAT’s why righteous Abraham, as “father of us all,” set the example of what it means to “walk before Me and be thou perfect,” by learning “the Way of the LORD” (Gen 17:1; 18:18,19; 26:5; Matt 5:19,48), which Jesus AS “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” demonstrates to us to perfection for us to “see the Son” as our Rôle Model of righteousness (1 Jn 3:7) through close attention to the Word (Lk 20:21; Jn 6:40; Acts 24:14; 1 Jn 2:3-6).
Those thousands of Pentecostal Jewish believers were under no illusion how “great a salvation” the setting aside of the “first” system, to admit the “second” (Heb 10:9), meant in practical and spiritual terms, to produce unprecedented peace of mind (“My peace I give you…”) through “hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and bodies cleansed with pure water” (Jer 31:33,34; Heb 9:14; 10:9-11,14,22).
That erasure of guilt was never possible under the former annual system of repetitive atonement for sin that couldn’t provide the ABSOLUTE REMISSION and therefore the COMPLETE REDEMPTION AND EVERLASTING RELEASE enabled by the sprinkling of Heaven’s Mercy Seat by the infinitely better Atonement by the spotless Blood of the Jerusalem Passover Sacrifice of the Messiah as the Lamb of God (Heb 9:12; 10:1-4).
The redeemed firstfruits of Israel weren’t about to “neglect so great a salvation” (Heb 2:1-3), as so many Christians from the nations have done, as prey of disinformation, through suppression of truth and proliferation of gross misconceptions of the delicate balance between law and grace in the genuine full counsel, both of which are needed to bring us to the goal of perfection of faith in obedience to the faith (Rom 1:5,16:26: James 2), for the purification of our souls by covenant-keeping, for the “transfiguring of our (fallen human nature), from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18), to bear the “express image” of YHWH in Christ (Rom 8:4,29; Heb 1:1-3), to restore our identity (“in Our Image and after Our Likeness”) which was forfeited by the corruption of Adam’s character (Gen 1:26).
Adam was created innocent, but erred in spirit and lost his innocence through disrespect for the righteousness of God’s law.
We were made CLEAN by the Word of faith (Jn 15:3), and had Adam’s original innocence attributed to us as the Righteousness of God, when we were reborn.
When we were baptized by full immersion, even the Divine Nature (mature Godly character) was imputed to us, for us to safeguard and develop through ongoing covenant obedience which is the womb of stable, virtuous character (Gal 3:27; 4:19).
We can just as easily lose it all, by treating His commandments as irrelevant or inconsequential, and thereby compromising Christ’s character in us and not remaining in His love (Jn 15:4-14).
No wonder we have to contend with and for Phil 2:12,13, in fear and trembling.
Adam was banished from Eden (Gen 3:22-24). We can just as easily be banished from the final Eden, the New Jerusalem, for diminishing and neglecting the laws of life through which liberty is assured to covenant keepers (1 Tim 1:8-11; James 2:8-12; Rev 22:14,15)
The multitude of reborn Jews in Acts 20 were well aware that being SEALED FOR IMMORTALITY by the “firstfruits of the Spirit” was a rescindable, revocable covenant provision in the event of GRIEVING the Spirit by resistance to truth and therefore, persistent lack of co-operation in the essential preparatory work to enter “the Everlasting Kingdom,” which requires mastering the righteousness of God’s ways (“striving for masteries”), to attain “true holiness” (the prize of the high calling that crowns us with full assurance of hope) in order to reign virtuously with Christ in glory (2 Cor 5:9-11; Eph 1:13-15; 4:23-30; 2 Tim 2:5; 2 Peter 1:1-11; 3:9-18).
At the very least, they all knew that the sublime absolutism of the Supreme Moral Code of the Ten Words (the ‘Ketubah,’ or Marriage Covenant for a virgin bride) “given in commandmenT” (Ex 20; 34:32; Deut 30:10,11; 2 Jn vs 5&6), is given as an INDIVISIBLE ORDINANCE (Is 24:5), and that all who dissent and disturb and DIVIDE that unity, “have no light in them,” for lack of the Fear of God, for halfhearted study of the terms of separation for true sonship (Is 8:13,14,16,20; 29:13; Heb 12; Rev 14:6,7,12).
Torah ratified by the New Covenant cannot be broken (Jn 10:35). Those who break the chain of obedience from antiquity, break faith. Breaking the marriage covenant by arrogantly disputing Ex 20:8-11’s claim to the seventh day as the one-and-only Holy Sabbath of the one faith (Eph 4), is beyond reckless
Woe therefore, to anyone who through WILFUL ignorance or complacency boasts against the natural olive tree and its branches, by continuing to defy the true Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment (Matt 12:8; Heb 1-4,6,9-11), thereby both misusing and polluting Shabbat (Is 56:6; 58:13) by calling “the first day of the week” the ‘Christian Sabbath,’ to try to justify keeping the doctrine and tradition of men.
James confirms this principle of integrity of faith & faithfulness as a joint-obligation, in his reference to “the Royal Law” (which comprises the Fifth to Tenth commandment), in James 1:22-25; 2:8-26.
Every day is therefore potentially “a day of salvation,” in that we are to “work out our own salvation in fear and trembling” in reverence and Godly Awe, rightly fearful of “NEGLECTING so great a salvation” and thereby FORFEITING its offer of “escape” from the second death, by “FAILING the grace” (by which we were purchased back/ Ransomed from darkness by the redemption which is in the Blood of Y’shua-Jesus) available to “work righteousness” as proof of faithfulness “worthy of repentance” (Ps 15; 24; 106;4; Acts 10:35; 26:18,20; Heb 5:9; 10:26-31,36-39), to attain HIS PURITY, by sanctification by the commandments, to overcome sin which is lawlessness, to win “the crown of righteousness,” to lay hold on eternal life (Lk 20:35; 21:36; Acts 10:35; Rom 2:13,26; 3:31; 15:16-18; Phil 2:12,13; 2 Tim 4:3-8; Heb 2:1-3; 3 12:14,15,28; 1 Peter 1:2,14-17,22; 1 Jn 2:28,29; 3:3-10)
All of which is summarized by John Wesley, as follows:
“The righteousness of Christ is necessary to ENTITLE us to Heaven (by surnaming and adoption);
personal holiness (sanctification by being doers of righteousness, to be pure as the LORD is pure – 1 Jn 3:3,4,7), to QUALIFY us for it”
Every one of us represents a family and a history and heritage that dates back to the creation of Adam.
Therefore, every one of us has cause to ‘raise our Ebenezers’ to the LORD in thanksgiving for bringing US, and therefore our particular family LINE in our family TREE, “thus far,” helping us and keeping us alive under grace, to receive correction of worldly ways, to LEARN “the everlasting covenant” and God’s ways, to abide in the Vine, to walk in the light in order to acquire Godly virtue to “behave ourselves wisely in a perfect way” like David (Ps 101; Acts 13:22), to attain the holiness without which “no-one will see the LORD” (Ps 119:17,18,77,78; Jn 15:3-15; Phil 3:10-17; Col 1:21-24,28,29; Heb 12:14; 1 Jn 1-3; 2:3-6)
“Then Samuel took a STONE and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He NAMED it EBENEZER, saying, “THUS FAR the LORD has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12)
Ebenezer is only mentioned three times in the Bible. By definition, Ebenezer means “STONE of HELP”
Y’shua-Jesus is “the Shepherd and STONE of Israel” (Gen 49:24; 1 Peter 2:6) Who is our “God and Saviour” (Is 45:21; Titus 2:13), the God of HELP to Jacob (Ps 146:5), Incarnate as the Word-made-flesh, as the Messiah through Whom our trust and hope is in God (1 Peter 1:20,21).
He has become our Ebenezer.
The background of the meaning and significance of Ebenezer begins in 1 Samuel 4 with Israel and the Philistines.
In one of the most poignant passages in the Bible (2 Sam 7:18-29, a ‘must read’), David offers ‘an Ebenezer’ to God for protecting, nurturing and endowing his family lineage with holy vision and the great grace to see it fulfilled by his royal dynasty in time to come, as “the coming (Messianic) Kingdom of our father David” (2 Sam 7:18-21,23-29; Is 9:6,7; Mk 11:10), just as He has vision from heaven, and corresponding purpose and plans for US, to prosper and not to harm US (Jer 31-33; Eph 1:11; 3:20; 3 Jn 2).
Our lives were and are still lived ‘on credit’ under grace (“But by the grace of God I am what I am…” – 1 Cor 15:10), under covering of the Holy Spirit and the Blood and baptism that remitted our sins, in the solemn expectation that we would return to the One God and Saviour by adoption as children, to be holy and blameless PRACTITIONERS of His righteousness, because the Almighty God and King of Jacob no longer allows ignorance of the knowledge of God to pass unnoticed (Is 41:21,27; Acts 17:26-31; 1 Cor 15:34; Titus 2:11-15).
As Job correctly discerned in Job 10:14 :
“If I sin, then Thou markest me, and Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity (unless I return and repent to be guiltless)”
“But if ye will not do so…be sure your sin will find you out” (Nu 32:23).
Sin is a serious matter in the life of a household, a lineage and a nation (Prov 14:34; 1 Jn 1-3).
If we refuse to obtain “the knowledge of sin” AND of righteousness by study of God’s “holy, just, good, spiritual laws” (Rom 3:20b; 7:7,12-16; 1 Cor 15:34; 1 Tim 1:8-11; 2 Tim 3:14-17), we’ll inevitably sin and not necessarily recognize the need to repent, thereby entrenching defilement of our temples of God’s Spirit, which in the end could spell destruction on the broad path (1 Cor 3:17).
Not keeping our repentance up-to-date, is potentially spiritual suicide.
There’s a reason why our God is pre-occupied with the spiritual PURITY of the “pedigree” of the lineage of His dynastic patriarchal household (Num 1:18,52; 2:2; 1 Jn 3:3-10; Lk 1:33; Gal 3:29).
Moses ‘saw’ Israel domiciled in their Land, as Balaam had done by vision, from Pisgah (Nu 23:14; Deut 3:27).
But whereas, after showing signs of being faithful to the One God of Jacob, Balaam was destroyed by rebellion (through treasonous counsel to Israel’s enemies by which he forfeited “the death of the righteous” – Nu 23:9,10; 31:8; Heb 6:4-8; Rev 2:14), Moses’ virtually impeccable track record of righteousness would, on balance, pose no threat to his salvation and inheritance of the Land, in future.
He’s even visited the Land in the interim, on the highest Kingdom business (Lk 9:28-36).
YHWH’s pre-occupation with RIGHTSTANDING in “the paths of righteousness” (Ps 23:3; Lk 20:21; Acts 10:35; 1 Jn 2:28,29; 3:7,10) is reflected in Moses’ being unctioned by the Holy Spirit “on THIS side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab,” to proclaim “ALL that YHWH had given him ‘in commandmenT’ (i.e. as an indivisible whole), for the generation who were about to cross over into their inheritance to UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF SEPARATION, as we too are required to do (Deut 1:3-5; 12:28-32; 30:10,11; 34:27,28,32; Matt 28:20; Rom 3:20b,31; 2 Cor 6:14-18; James 4:4,5; 2 Jn vs 5&6).
In short, the earth, not just Israel, was created to support a RIGHTEOUS population.
Perversion of righteousness by rebellion (i.e. ‘changing the ordinance’ – Is 24:3-6), turns the earth AGAINST humanity.
Israel’s ENLARGEMENT many times over in future (Gen 22:16-18; Deut 1:10,11; Jer 33:22-26), would depend on ratification of their New Covenant through which “the mystery of the Messiah” would be the incorporation of a remnant (a latter-day “mixed multitude” – Ex 12:38) from the nations, responding to “the call to glory and virtue” (the vocation of holiness/mission of sanctity – Eph 4), to be one with the House of Jacob, the natural olive tree, as “one new man” (Is 14:1; 54:3; 55:5; Rom 11; Eph 2:11,12,15,19; 3:1-10; 2 Peter 1:3-11).
Our intimate connectivity with history through the synergy of spiritual faithfulness and integrity, is in the receiving of the BATON of righteousness and its corresponding blessings, PASSED DOWN as a heritage and testimony by Godfearing forebears who comprise the great cloud of witnesses (Deut 7:9; 2 Chr 15:2; Heb 12).
Every generation since the birth of Seth and Enos (when, following the disgrace of Adam, “men began to call upon the Name of the LORD” – Gen 4:25,26), has had an equal opportunity through the mercy of God which made inheritance of His righteousness by faith, an open offer (e.g. Enoch, Noah and Abram), to be RESCUED from the curse of the Adamic nature, because the curse and the blessing operate in CYCLES (curses filling any vacuum caused by unGodliness) – curses “to the third and fourth generation” of those who disregard the Almighty, needing to be stopped in their tracks for mercy and blessings to continue for “a thousand generations of those who love and obey His commandments” (Ex 20:5,6; Deut 7:11-15).
How?
By our corrupted, impaired, compromised human nature being voluntarily TRANSFIGURED (“if you’re willing and obedient” – Is 1:19) into the Divine Nature/Holy Character (2 Cor 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4), to contribute (by sharing His holy traits) to the advancement of the righteousness of the Kingdom of YHWH (Matt 6:33) which one day soon, due to the “consumption” of the wicked by Judgment of their iniquity, transgression and sin, will triumph over all unrighteousness and be vested, as an “everlasting” reality (Dan 9:24).
Everyone of us was born in the image of fallen Adam (Gen 5:1; Ps 51:5).
The New Covenant makes a way where there seemed to be no way, to undo six thousand years of degeneration of the human spirit, through our regeneration by water and Spirit through baptism (burial) into Y’shua’s Death, to be raised to moral resurrection through exercise of righteousness by the Spirit (Heb 5:11-14), to be perfect to be “as He is,” even now (Lk 6:40; Rom 6; Eph 4:11-30; 2 Tim 3:14-17; Titus 3:4-8; 1 Jn 4:17).
We all look forward to that Day of everlasting righteousness which will begin with the inauguration of the millennial Kingdom age after vindication of Israel’s inheritance of all of Canaan in the battle of Armageddon, when the Monarchy of the second Kingdom of the dynasty of David, is restored to Jerusalem as an everlasting Theocracy, for our LORD Y’shua-Jesus to Reign over the earth forever as Ruler of the House of Jacob (Ps 59:13; Is 9:6,7; Micah 5:2; Lk 1:32,33; Mk 11:10).
The spiritual drama of Israel’s Passover redemption followed by their re-education in “the Way (of YHWH)” under grace in the wilderness (foreshadowing our walk to freedom through obedience to the faith – Jn 8:31-36,51; Rom 1:5; 6:12-22; James 1:22-25; 2:8-12) for a remnant to be qualified to enter into and possess the promised Land, is the PATTERN for “everlasting salvation” (Is 45:17-23; Phil 2:6-9) and access to the ETERNAL inheritance, restricted to those who “choose life” (Deut 30) by being faithful to adhere to the narrow path to be “chaste virgins” (1 Cor 11:1,2; Col 1:28,29; Heb 5:9; Rev 17:14).
We ‘spy the land’ and YHWH’s promise of “hope and a future,” by meditating the spiritual meat in Torah Instruction as even Abraham “the father of us all,” did (Gen 26:5; Rom 4; Heb 5:11-14), which confirms again and again that OUR pre-occupation, for the love of God (1 Jn 5:2&3), is to learn His ways at all costs (Lk 14), to find the liberty (rest and refreshing) promised to those who obey His precepts in the holy Fear of God (Ps 119:1,45; Is 28:9-12; Heb 12:14,28; Rev 14:6,7,12).
Every family TREE is a mixture of Godliness and unGodliness (Lk 12:49-53).
The generational threads of lineage are a portrait of righteous opportunities gained or lost.
The goal of course, is household salvation followed by CONSTANCY in sanctification by the commandments, to finish the race by keeping the faith (Rom 1:5; 1 Thess 4:1-3a; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13-15; 2 Tim 4:3-8).
History is the process of winnowing the wheat (Matt 3:12; Mk 9:49).
History is therefore best explained by the ebb and flow of righteousness.
History will culminate in iniquity reaching its vilest depths in these latter days of Noah (Matt 24:37), for “everlasting righteousness” to VINDICATE obedience to the revealed will of God, and faith in Y’shua (Rev 12:17; 14:12).
The baton of righteousness is therefore a precious legacy (the greatest parents can leave us) upon which each generation is expected to build with diligence as an act of honouring parents while they’re still alive, but especially, posthumously (Eph 6:2,3), to fulfil its obligation to be a link in the chain of redemption of mankind and the Universe (Rom 8:4-23).
Perhaps the greatest proof of this conclusion, is the destruction of an entire generation in the wilderness (Nu 14), for treating the righteousness of YHWH with contempt, by provoking Him ten times, as if once wasn’t one too many!
An entire link was removed FROM the chain, to PRESERVE the chain.
Attainment of the eternal inheritance is therefore a GENERATIONAL PROJECT of “perfection of holiness” (Matt 5:19,48; Lk 6:40; 2 Cor 7:1).
One way or another, each ancestral pathway in the vast gene pool of civilization, feeds into its downstream, like the headwaters of a river, for the redeemed in every generation to be accounted for as co-heirs with Israel in the House of Jacob (Lk 1:33; Rom 11), to whose Twelve Tribes we’ll ultimately assimilate, for access to the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:12), just as the “mixed multitude” did in the Exodus (Ex 12:38), to be accepted with Israel, to cross the Jordan to partake of their promise, to jointly possess their inheritance (Rom 15:8,27).
This is why we’re learning to distinguish between covenant precepts on the one hand, and doctrines, traditions and commandments of MEN, on the other (Is 29:13; Mk 7:6,7,9,13; Col 2:8,22).
Each of the generations which the Creator-Father of all the family which is in heaven and earth has “brought forth,” has had its own challenge to be restored to favour with Him, AND TO RETAIN THAT FAVOUR.
Israel’s trials in the wilderness illustrate the necessity to know and to keep covenant, to RETAIN one’s sanctification without which no-one will see the LORD (Deut 7:9-15; Rom 15:16-18; Heb 12:14,28; 13:20,21; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29).
Deut 1-3 also alerts us to the resistance and discouragement from darkness which inevitably awaits those who “wait for God’s mercy” to bring us into the eternal inheritance (Deut 2&3; 1 Peter 1:13,14; Jude vs 21).
Obedience is required, to the end, or we shall not be overcomers of resistance to our acquiring holiness, to endure in faithfulness, to the end (Matt 24:13; 1 Peter 1:14-17)
That is the main message of Revelation
HalleluYaH for the beauty of Holiness (“be ye holy because I am holy”), which must be OUR greatest quest or we are not of His Spirit.
Just as He was, so we too, as “the sons of God,” are to be declared to be so, “with power according to the Spirit of HOLINESS, by our resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:3,4; 8:4-23; 1 Jn 3)
