Commentary: Deut 3:23 – 7:11; Is 40:1-26
The Fear of God – the Sure Path to Humility and Understanding
Commentary: Deut 3:23 – 7:11; Is 40:1-26
We dealt last week with Moses’ punishment by YHWH’s refusal to allow him to cross the Jordan as Israel’s leader, due to his temper having flared previously, causing him to reinterpret and disobey an explicit instruction on how to produce water from a rock to hydrate the nation. The indictment was that by fumbling and fudging the instruction, Moses had “believed Him not;” had “rebelled against the commandment;” and had thereby failed “to sanctify the Memorial Name in the eyes of the congregation” (Nu 20:7-13; 27:12-23).
That is known as “Chilul HaShem” (profaning the Memorial Name of the Most High), as opposed to “Kiddush HaShem” (Sanctify/Hallow the Name).
Any of us can fall into this trap at any moment, which would be especially wicked if we’ve allowed ourselves to be “made merchandise of” by deceitful teaching, to have a negative attitude to YHWH’s Instruction (His commandments and His Voice directions).
There are two issues here:
- Moses had just turned 120, the age limit established at the time of the Flood (Gen 6:3), and that is a plausible reason for him not being kept alive (Deut 34:7), and
- If we discount that factor, which we should, because there’s no indication in the narrative that that was the decisive consideration, we are left with the conclusion that we’re being taught how great a premium God places on obedience not just by leaders, but by anyone, to every one of His precepts, a principle clearly proven in Eden in Adam’s rebellion against just one instruction
This Portion of Instruction (Torah), which in Deut 4:2,6-8 sends a red alert to Protestantism to stop its dangerous hypocrisy, claiming the Bible as final authority, yet “adding to and diminishing the Scriptures” with human doctrine and tradition, draws our attention to the NECESSITY for the twin characteristics of LOVE and AWE to be matured together, to produce the ideal “Israel of YHWH” (Lk 1:33; Gal 6:16) which requires mastering the call to glory through holiness, principally through the righteousness of the virtues of mercy and justice as the rule of faith (Ps 101:1; Matt 23:23; 2 Peter 1-11), to FULLY INHERIT all the patriarchal promises, as noble “Yeshurun” (Deut 33:26-29).
One of the CHIEF revelations of Scripture is that the Holy Fear of YHWH (summarized inadequately as just ‘ Awe,’ and which is not accidentally, “the BEGINNING of wisdom”), is LEARNED FROM THE COMMANDMENTS (Deut 4:10,13,15; 5:29) and is the general antidote to PRIDE, SELF-WILL, ERROR and COMPLACENCY, which are bedfellows.
Understanding, in turn, is acquired by DOING the commandments (Ps 111:10).
Which means that although the commandments are always the test of a faithful, legitimate son (Heb 5:9; 10:26-39; 12:1-29), the underlying purpose of the holy laws of God needing to be engraved on our hearts by the Finger of YHWH (Heb 8:8-13; 10:16) is to teach us wisdom to experience life which is truly life, which He offers in proportion to our degree of submission to the sanctifying work of the Spirit, Who was sent to lead us into, and to instruct us in, ALL truth (Ps 119:98-100; Jn 17:17,19).
We are seriously misinformed and potentially fatally deceived, if we’re discouraged from spotting the correlation between passages such as Ps 119:4-6,29,127,128 and 1 Jn 2:3-6,17,28,29, as follows:
“Thou hast commanded us to keep Thy commandments DILIGENTLY (so that our ways will be directed in keeping with Your covenant). THEN shall I not be ASHAMED when I respect all Thy commandments (to learn to abide in You)…THEREFORE I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. THEREFORE I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things (as right and proper); and (as a consequence) I hate every FALSE (lying) way “
“He who says I KNOW Him but doesn’t keep His commandments, is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him (so that the love of God CANNOT BE PERFECTED, resulting in NO ASSURANCE of being “in Him”)…And now, little children, abide (remain) in Him (through obedience to righteousness) so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ASHAMED (as covenant breakers) at His coming. If ye know He is righteous, ye should know that everyone who DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS (will be acknowledged as being) born of Him”
So those of us who ignorantly resist timeous correction, which is nothing less than loving overtures by the Spirit to draw our attention for Him to teach us the finer brushstrokes of the covenant to rid us of inevitable defilement by ignorance of what constitutes sin (Ps 119:1,38,45; Rom 3:20b), shoot ourselves in the foot.
The Almighty has so designed, constructed and “ordered the everlasting covenant in every part” to bring salvation to completion by meeting the terms of separation for eligibility for the first resurrection (2 Sam 23:5; Rom 8:4-23; Heb 13:20,21), that from “these least” to the chiefest commandments (which include Shabbat, the compass setting for “true holiness”), loving His laws AS DAVID DID, cannot fail to bring us into the full experience and reward, of His perfect will (Matt 5:19; Rom 12:1,2; Eph 5:10,15-17; Col 4:12).
There is nothing more harmful that prejudice against and disdain for “the paths of righteousness” (Ps 23:3) which comprise the “law of Truth” (Mal 2:6) which most pulpits barely touch on.
It is only through obedience to the yoke of the commandments (Matt 6:10; 11:27-29; Mk 12:28-34; 1 Jn 5:2&3), that we proclaim YHWH’s Supreme Kingship and Oneness and fulfil the mission of sanctity to which we’re called as co-heirs of the House of Jacob as a witness of the love and majesty of the God of Jacob (Lk 1:33; 1 Peter 1:13-17).
Anti-Torah Christians serve the anti-Christ’s agenda which is to trick believers into defiling themselves through disobedience through wilful ignorance, to incur the righteous God’s penalties (1 Cor 3:17).
MEEKNESS (humility) and LOWLINESS (modesty), which are prized character traits of the Divine Nature, are never taught independently of the checks and balances which the Fear of God (Reverential Awe producing awareness of the imperative need for obedience, and the certainty of reproof and punishment) impresses on one’s soul (Lk 1:48-52).
The redeemed from the nations are bound by the “everlasting covenant” to submit to sanctification by the Spirit to prove the sincerity of their repentance (Acts 26:18,20; 2 Thess 2:13-15; Heb 13:20,21) by allowing the Holy Spirit to purge and cleanse them by the “washing of the water of the Word” (Eph 5:26,27), to purify them by teaching them the supreme moral law by showing them how to apply the TEN Words of the marriage covenant given to us all on Sinai (Deut 4:10,13,14), and the FOUR Levitical table fellowship regulations in Acts 15:20, making FOURTEEN fundamental proofs of loyalty to the God of the one faith (Eph 4).
We have outstanding rôle models, first in David whose intense love for God’s precepts (Ps 1; 19; 23; 119) should shake us out of our poisoned view of law, and the resulting complacency-riddled state into which we’ve been seduced; then we have the Son of David, Whose perfect Personal obedience is the ultimate challenge to our faith, to embrace perfection of covenant behaviour as reasonable, possible and necessary (Lk 6:40; Rom 11:1,2; Eph 4:11-14; Col 1:28,29; 4:12; 2 Tim 3:14-17; 1 Jn 3:3).
David treated God’s laws as creative opportunities for his mind to be furnished with wisdom and understanding and for his heart to be purified for his soul to be fashioned into the likeness of the heart of God (Ps 111:10; 119:96-105; Jn 10:35).
As a type of Messiah, we can confidently emulate the passion for a lawful walk, that made honourable David so deserving of the tribute : “I have FOUND David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, who shall fulfil ALL My will” (Acts 13:22).
We’ll come no-where close to matching David’s (or Abraham’s) legacy of faithfulness (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5), unless we put passages like Ps 101 in our mouths and live what we say.
Those who say the “everlasting covenant” is NOT both spiritually AND intellectually challenging (Deut 4:23,24; Heb 13:20,21), are following a different gospel and a different spirit.
As an illustration, no-one is authorized to teach a convert, that eternal life is UNCONDITIONAL.
Rev 3:2-6,16 is sufficient proof.
The rule (obedience to the faith) was set for the body of the Messiah in Ex 19:5-8 when Israel was incorporated as a nation, and has been continually reinforced ever since.
It is “willingness and obedience” (the test of faith & faithfulness) that settles who will finally be acknowledged as YHWH’s “people of inheritance” (Deut 4:20) – we have to “enter into the covenant and into His oath (to make us His special treasure)” by covenant-keeping (Deut 7:9-15; 28:1,2, 9,10; 29:12-15; Heb 2:1-3; 5:9; 12:25-29)
Even Paul, the mighty exponent and proclaimer of doctrinal purity (Eph 4:11-14; 2 Tim 3:10,14-17), did not claim “full assurance of hope” ’till its CONFIRMATION in his life close to the end of his walk, when his examination of his walk agsinst the Scriptural benchmarks, by the witness of the Holy Spirit with his spirit (2 Cor 13:5), VINDICATED his hope by AFFIRMING that he had finally attained the goal of his “labour” in the Word by “striving for masteries” of “the Way” to be “dead with the Messiah” to all sin which is lawlessness (1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Cor 5:9-11; 2 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 3:3-10).
Only then could he ASSUREDLY CLAIM to have “fought the good fight” against deception and temptation, to have “finished the race” by having “kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:3-8).
ONLY THEN could he confidently anticipate being crowned with the “crown of righteousness,” to appropriate the promise of entry into the Everlasting Kingdom, to escape from the second death by being “accounted worthy” of the first resurrection with “the blessed,” who are “holy and blameless” (Matt 19:16-26; 25:10-12; Lk 10:25-29; 20:35; 21:36; Eph 1:4,5; 2 Peter 1:1-11; 3:9-18; Rev 20:6).
Read Phil 2:13-15 & 3:10-17; 1 Peter 1:2,4-9,13-17,22 for confirmation that the salvation of the soul is the GOAL of “obedience to the faith” under trial by salting with fire (Mk 9:39; 1 Peter 1:4-9) by which we are transfigured from glory to glory, precept-by-precept, into the express image of God, to REMAIN in Christ by walking lawfully after the Spirit (Jn 15:3-14; Rom 1:5; 8:4-15,29; 16:26; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17)
Oversimplification and distortion of the facts by naysayers who rashly dispute the DECISIVE rôle which God’s commandments and ordinances play, under grace (Rom 2:13; 3:31; 1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2), in shaping true sons who serve Him acceptably (Heb 12), will not pass unnoticed.
The “excellent laws” of the Kingdom of heaven (Matt 6:10) given for our sanctification, to mold our behaviour to match our imputed righteousness, as proof of repentance (Ps 15; 24; 106:3; Acts 26:18,20; 1 Jn 2:28,29; 3:7,10) with the perfection of holiness in mind (Rom 2:6-15, 26; 6:12-22), are given in order to replicate “pillar” households with the vision and knowledge of “the Way,” for the Spirit to navigate a REMNANT of the redeemed in these perilous latter days of Noah (Matt 7:13,14,21-27; 24:35-37), towards realization of “the promise of life” and immortality, on the narrow path (Rom 2:14-15,17,18,26; 3:31; 7:12-16; Phil 1:9-11; 1 Tim 1:1,10; 1 Peter 4:17,18; Rev 3:10-12; 12:17; 14:6,7,12)
ALL God’s commandments are truth and righteousness (Ps 119:172), so that once we’re reconciled by faith, as law becomes love as love becomes law (Jn 14:21-24; 1 Jn 5:3), those commandments BECOME our righteousness (as our righteousness is “revealed” through them in word and deed by walking as Jesus walked – Rom 1:17; 15:16-18; 1 Jn 2:3-6), to “BECOME our life in Him, and the length of our days” (Deut 6:24,25; 30:19,20; 32:47; Prov 4:13).
In the end, as it is written: “He will justify the righteous (i.e. justify His faith in our bona fides in calling Him Master) to reward us according to our righteousness” (1 Kings 8:23,32; Jn 5:24-29; Rom 2:6-13; James 2:8-26).
“Walking before Him with all our hearts” is synonomous with keeping covenant with Him by keeping His commandments, to abide (remain) in the Vine (1 Kings 8:23; Jn 15:3-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6,17).
Doctrinal consistency and continuity are unbroken from Genesis to Revelation.
Over and over He reminds us that He “keeps covenant and mercy with those who keep His covenant” (Deut 5:2-22,29; 7:9-15).
The church has all but forgotten, or has dismissed the phrase “covenant keeping” with thinly veiled contempt, in favour of a PHILOSOPHY of grace that has little or nothing to do with maturing souls “unto a PERFECT man, unto the measure of the Stature of the FULLNESS of Christ,” in perfect agreement with Him, in doctrine, which is what “the unity of ‘THE FAITH’ ” means (Eph 4:11-14)
If anyone is really sincere about knowing what RESPONSE our Father expects to His commandments through which we are to learn the Fear of God which is essential to keep us on the narrow path, to do all His will (Eccl 12:13; Matt 12:50; Rev 14:6,7,12), we should probably look LONG AND HARD at Mal 1:6
“A son honours his father and a servant his master. If then I be (not just a father, but) FATHER (of the family of heaven and earth – Eph 3:14,15), WHERE is MY Honour; and if I be (not just any master, but) MASTER (of all, as you confessed I am – Rom 10:9), WHERE is MY Fear? saith the LORD of hosts…since ye have not sought the law from My Mouth (as Job – Job 22:21-25; 29:1-6 and Abraham – Gen 26:5 did) nor kept My ways but have shown partiality (bias against law by misinterpreting what it means to be “under grace” and “under law”) (your carnal mind at enmity against Me because it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be; and yet you CLAIM to be “in” Me and led by My Spirit (Mal 1:6; 2:5-9; Rom 3:20b; 7:7,12-16,22,25 – 8:4,6,7,14).
HONOUR and submission, in the Fear of God, has a SOUND, best heard on high, by the phrases “YHWH Echad” (from “Hear O Israel, YHWH your/our ELOHIM is YHWH, the One-and-only” God) (Deut 6:4,5), and for emphasis “Ein od,” “there is none other/none else beside Him” (in Deut 4:35,39 Is 40:25).
The great Proclamations of the Supreme Sovereignty and Unity of Israel’s God and His indivisible two-part composite love command (Matt 22:35-40; Mk 12:28-34); and of our awesome respect for Him and His ways unashamedly summed up as “FEAR of God” (Reverence and Godly Awe – Is 8:13,14,16,20), has a corresponding “CONVERSATION” (holy covenant lifestyle), to be learned in detail and maintained at all costs, to avoid mixing Zion and Babylon (Ps 50:5,23; 2 Peter 2&3; Rev 18:4,5 KJV).
This week’s Portion is setting us up to finally be convinced that anyone who preaches a guaranteed, UNCONDITIONAL offer of eternal life, is an emissary of satan, because anyone who denounces the laws of the Spirit of life that bring rest, refreshing and liberty (Ps 119:45; Is 28:9-12; Jn 8:31-36; James 1:22-25; 2:8-12), as irrelevant to sanctification for final redemption, for the liberation of Creation from its bondage to corruption by man’s defilement by lawlessness, “has NO LIGHT in them” (Ps 104:30; Is 8:13,14,20; Rom 8:4-23; Rev 12:17; 14:6,7,12).
