Central to the covenant relationship between the Lord and Israel was worship. What made the Israelites different from all the world around them was that they alone as a nation were worshiping the true God, as opposed to the false gods and goddesses of the pagan world, which were really no gods at all. “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me” (Deuteronomy 32:39).

Read Deuteronomy 4:19, Deuteronomy 8:19, Deuteronomy 11:16, and Deuteronomy 30:17. What is the common warning in all of these verses? Why is this warning so essential to the nation of Israel?

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Thousands of years ago, just as today, God’s people existed in a culture and environment that, in most cases, exuded standards and traditions and concepts that conflicted with their faith. Hence, God’s people must always be on guard, lest the ways of the world, its idols, and its “gods” become the objects of their worship, as well.

Our God is a “jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 6:15), and He alone, as our Creator and Redeemer, is worthy of our worship. Here, too, there is no middle ground: we either worship the Lord, who brings life, goodness, and blessings, or we worship any other god, which brings evil, curses, and death.

Read Revelation 13:1-15 and focus on the question of how worship is being presented there. Then contrast those verses with Revelation 14:6-12. What is happening here in Revelation that reflects the warning given in Deuteronomy (and all through Scripture actually) about false worship?

However different the context, the issue is the same: Will people worship the true God and have life, or will they succumb to the pressures, either overt or subtle or both, to turn their allegiance away from Him and face death? Ultimately the answer lies within each individual heart. God did not force ancient Israel to follow Him, and He won’t force us. As we see in Revelation 13, force is what the beast and his image will employ. God, in contrast, works by love.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Amen!(3)

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Deuteronomy 30 opens with the Lord telling what would happen if the people repented and turned away from their evil ways. What wonderful promises were offered them too!

Read Deuteronomy 30:1-10. What are the promises given them by God, even despite the fact that this is talking about what would happen to them if they disobeyed? What does this teach us about God’s grace?

That would certainly have been comforting to hear. However, the point was not that it doesn’t matter if they turn away from what God had commanded. The Lord doesn’t offer anyone cheap grace. If anything, it should have shown them God’s love, and thus, as a response, they would love Him back, revealing their love by being obedient to what He told them to do.

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Read Deuteronomy 30:11-14. What is the Lord saying to them there? What is the basic promise in these verses, and what New Testament texts can you think of that reflect the same promise?

With this beautiful language, and airtight logic, look at the appeal here. The Lord is not asking of them anything too hard to do. God’s command is not too “difficult” or “mysterious” for them to understand. Nor is it too far out of their reach to attain. It’s not way up in heaven, so far away that someone else has to get it for them; nor is it across the seas, so someone else must bring it to them. Instead, the Lord says: “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14). That is, you know it well enough to be able to speak it, and it’s in your heart so you know that you must do it. Hence, there is no excuse for not obeying. “All His biddings are enablings.” — Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333.

In fact, the apostle Paul quotes some of these verses in the context of salvation in Christ; that is, Paul refers to them as an example of righteousness by faith. (See Romans 10:6-10)

And then, after these verses in Deuteronomy, the children of Israel are told, yes, to choose life or death, blessing or cursing. And if, by grace and by faith, they choose life, they will have it.

It’s no different today, is it?

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

Amen!(1)

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Key Thought: We didn’t choose to be born, but God does offer us the choice to remain in existence –to choose to have life in Him throughout eternity.
November 20, 2021

1. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 30:15-20..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What is the difference between life and death, blessings and cursing here?
3. Personal Application: What must we do in order to be faithful to the Lord? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Is it God who directly brings punishment for disobedience, or it is a consequence of disobedience? Could it be both, or in some cases one causes the other?” How would you respond to your friend?

2. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 30:1-10..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What are the promises given by God to Israel shown here?
3. Personal Application: Is it better to rebuke a child for his bad behavior, or to encourage him with promises for better behavior? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Does God get frustrated and discouraged by the actions and words of His professed followers? What reasons would He have to do so?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 4:19, 8:19, 11:16.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What is the common warning in all these verses? Why are these warnings so essential to the actions of Israel?
3. Personal Application: How can we make sure that we are not leaving our allegiance to Jesus for some other god? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “?“ How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Genesis 3:22,23.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What two options did God present to Adam in regard to his existence?
3. Personal Application: By our daily choices, how are we opting either for life or death? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

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Flipping through the new quarterly, there are a number of titles that have the word ‘love’ in them – Love, to Be Loved; To Love God; He First Loved Us; To Love the Lord Your God; to name just a few. Hence, I believe a wonderful hymn to devote to as a theme will be
Hymn 349 – God Is Love. Our first Memory Text says “for God is Love”, 1 John 4:8. As the book of Deuteronomy is the book of the covenant, it would also be good to add
Hymn 347 – Built On the Rock as verse four tells us of God ‘Making with us His covenant”.

Oh the joy of being able to have the Everlasting Covenant which we find in
Hymn 469 – Leaning On The Everlasting Arms of our Lord Jesus.

The tree of life is something to look forward to in Heaven. We sing of this in verse 3 of
Hymn 453 – We Have Heard. It is because of the life Jesus gave for us all that in return we are able to sing
Hymn 185 – Jesus Is All the World to Me with verse 4 finalising with “Eternal life, Eternal joy”.

Tuesday extols the wonder of repentance and that God would restore the Israelites to the land. We are able to repent today as in
Hymn 280 – Come, Ye Sinners. It is then that we will serve the Lord. We may ask
Savior, Teach Me – Hymn 193 in verse 2. Because Jesus lives, I serve a risen Savior –
Hymn 251 – He Lives. The story continues with the blessings and protection of our God as in
Hymn 529 – Under His Wings.

There were wonderful promises given in Deuteronomy 30 just as we have today in
Hymn 518 – Standing on the Promises. We are reminded in the middle of Wednesday’s study that there is no cheap grace offered. We have
Marvelous Grace – Hymn 109.

Worship is our covenant relationship with God:
Hymn 6 – O Worship the Lord and
Hymn 83 – O Worship the King.

We are bound for The Promised Land! Hallelujah!! Come, Lord Jesus come – very soon.

Blessings for a wonderful week ahead.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing, but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Amen!(0)

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Toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy, after a long discourse on what will happen to the people if they disobey the Lord and violate the covenant promises, Deuteronomy 30 begins with a promise that even if they fell into disobedience and were punished with exile, God would nevertheless restore them to the land.

That is, if they repented and turned from their evil ways.

Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20. What are the options presented to ancient Israel here, and how do these options reflect what we have seen all through the Bible?

Image © Dave OConnell at Goodsalt.com

The Lord is very clear: He, Yahweh, has set before them one of two options, basically what He did with Adam and Eve in Eden. In fact, the Hebrew words for “good” (tov) and “evil” (ra‘) in Deuteronomy 30:15 are the same Hebrew words used in Genesis for the tree of the knowledge of “good” (tov) and “evil” (ra‘). Here, as in all through the Bible, there is no middle ground, no neutral place to be. They will either serve the Lord and have life, or they will choose death. It’s the same for us, as well.

Life, goodness, blessing, in contrast to what? Death, evil, and curses. In the end, though, one justly could argue that God really offers them only the good, only life, and only blessings. But if they turn away from Him, these bad things will be the natural result, because they no longer have His special protection.

However we understand it, the people are presented with these options. It’s very clear, too, the reality of their free will, their free choices. These verses, along with so much of the Bible, Old and New Testament, make no sense apart from the sacred gift of free will, free choice.

In a real sense, the Lord said to them: Therefore, with the free will that I have given you — choose life, choose blessing, choose goodness, not death, evil, and curses.

It seems so obvious what the correct choice would be, doesn’t it not? And yet, we know what happened. The great controversy was as real then as it is now, and we should learn from Israel’s example what can happen if we don’t give ourselves wholly to the Lord and choose life and all that this choice entails.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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