Deuteronomy 29:9-29 “Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. All of you—tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of Israel—are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God. Your little ones and your wives are with you, as well as the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God. The Lord is making this covenant, including the curses. By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses. I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.
“You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.
“Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin! The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.”
“Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it. They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’
“And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’
“And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord. That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book. In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’
“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”
The Israelites are camped on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses knows that God will not allow him to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. When you read the Book of Deuteronomy, you realize that God uses Moses to repeatedly issue stern warnings in hopes that the Israelites will actually listen this time, although even as Moses is speaking, he doubts that his words will accomplish anything. Moses has been leading these people for forty years and he has no illusions about them.
Much of the Old Testament documents the disastrous moral and spiritual slide of the Israelites into oblivion. After repeated revivals under several judges and under King David, King Solomon promotes whole-scale idolatry even as he is erecting the most magnificent temple ever built. When King Solomon’s hapless son Rehoboam tries to bully the Israelites, ten tribes leave forever, leaving only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to form the Southern Kingdom. Jeroboam, the leader of the Northern Kingdom, forms his own idolatrous religion and allows gross paganism. Despite the best efforts of prophets to warn members of both kingdoms, eventually, God brings the punishment that He has already promised. The Assyrians conquer the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE, slaughtering or carrying off most of the population of the Northern Kingdom and importing people from other areas to settle Samaria. Then in 597 BCE and 586 BCE, the Babylonians carry off citizens of Judah, destroying Jerusalem in the process. At that point, the nation of Israel appears to be completely dead; however, God is not through with Israel, not at all.
Isaiah 44:26-28 But I carry out the predictions of my prophets! By them I say to Jerusalem, people will live here again,’ and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt; I will restore all your ruins!’
When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry. When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”
Isaiah 45:1-4 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one, whose right hand he will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again. This is what the Lord says: “I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. “And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one.
Even as things are falling apart in both Israel and Judah, God is already beginning to speak about a Persian king named Cyrus who will spearhead the rebuilding of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Is Cyrus a secret believer? Only in heaven will we know the answer to that question; however, Cyrus evidently knows the Voice of God when he hears it.
2 Chronicles 36:21-23 So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said. In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”
Cyrus is also quoted in Ezra 1, and there’s an itemized list of the items from Solomon’s temple that Cyrus is returning to grace the new temple in Jerusalem. Why must citizens of Judah live in Babylon 70 years before returning to Jerusalem? God wants them to experience what it’s like to live in a fully pagan society so that they will appreciate a society built on the worship of the One True Living God. Groups of Jews do return from Babylon under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the temple and the walls and gates of Jerusalem are rebuilt.
No matter what people do, God remains faithful and true, just in all His ways. God fulfills His promises, even when people disappoint Him. But God has no patience with a sense of entitlement. The people of both kingdoms wound up in exile because they were sure God would give them a free pass because they were His people. But when people fail to behave as God’s people, God allows them to suffer the consequences of their own actions so that they will repent.
Today, God is calling each one of us to come to Him so that He can transform our lives and our hearts. We are free to choose; however, we are not free from the consequences. When we delay or postpone following God, we are playing with fire, for who knows how long we will live? Today, let us run to God, confess our sins, and accept God’s Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, let all who read these words turn to You completely. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
c
Deuteronomy 29:9-29 “Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. All of you—tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of Israel—are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God. Your little ones and your wives are with you, as well as the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God. The Lord is making this covenant, including the curses. By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses. I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.
“You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.
“Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin! The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.”
“Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it. They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’
“And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’
“And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord. That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book. In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’
“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”
The Israelites are camped on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses knows that God will not allow him to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. When you read the Book of Deuteronomy, you realize that God uses Moses to repeatedly issue stern warnings in hopes that the Israelites will actually listen this time, although even as Moses is speaking, he doubts that his words will accomplish anything. Moses has been leading these people for forty years and he has no illusions about them.
Much of the Old Testament documents the disastrous moral and spiritual slide of the Israelites into oblivion. After repeated revivals under several judges and under King David, King Solomon promotes whole-scale idolatry even as he is erecting the most magnificent temple ever built. When King Solomon’s hapless son Rehoboam tries to bully the Israelites, ten tribes leave forever, leaving only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to form the Southern Kingdom. Jeroboam, the leader of the Northern Kingdom, forms his own idolatrous religion and allows gross paganism. Despite the best efforts of prophets to warn members of both kingdoms, eventually, God brings the punishment that He has already promised. The Assyrians conquer the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE, slaughtering or carrying off most of the population of the Northern Kingdom and importing people from other areas to settle Samaria. Then in 597 BCE and 586 BCE, the Babylonians carry off citizens of Judah, destroying Jerusalem in the process. At that point, the nation of Israel appears to be completely dead; however, God is not through with Israel, not at all.
Isaiah 44:26-28 But I carry out the predictions of my prophets! By them I say to Jerusalem, people will live here again,’ and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt; I will restore all your ruins!’
When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry. When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”
Isaiah 45:1-4 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one, whose right hand he will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again. This is what the Lord says: “I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. “And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one.
Even as things are falling apart in both Israel and Judah, God is already beginning to speak about a Persian king named Cyrus who will spearhead the rebuilding of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Is Cyrus a secret believer? Only in heaven will we know the answer to that question; however, Cyrus evidently knows the Voice of God when he hears it.
2 Chronicles 36:21-23 So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said. In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”
Cyrus is also quoted in Ezra 1, and there’s an itemized list of the items from Solomon’s temple that Cyrus is returning to grace the new temple in Jerusalem. Why must citizens of Judah live in Babylon 70 years before returning to Jerusalem? God wants them to experience what it’s like to live in a fully pagan society so that they will appreciate a society built on the worship of the One True Living God. Groups of Jews do return from Babylon under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the temple and the walls and gates of Jerusalem are rebuilt.
No matter what people do, God remains faithful and true, just in all His ways. God fulfills His promises, even when people disappoint Him. But God has no patience with a sense of entitlement. The people of both kingdoms wound up in exile because they were sure God would give them a free pass because they were His people. But when people fail to behave as God’s people, God allows them to suffer the consequences of their own actions so that they will repent.
Today, God is calling each one of us to come to Him so that He can transform our lives and our hearts. We are free to choose; however, we are not free from the consequences. When we delay or postpone following God, we are playing with fire, for who knows how long we will live? Today, let us run to God, confess our sins, and accept God’s Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, let all who read these words turn to You completely. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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