Month: February 2023

Deuteronomy 3:2 And the Lord said unto me; Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

Moses and Israel had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, and now an even greater foe was preparing to attack them. This was the giant Og king of Bashan. His bedstead of iron was over 13 feet in length. He came out to battle Israel, but before the battle the Lord encouraged Moses, and He promised a great victory. He said, Fear him not. I will deliver him into your hand.

Jesus has delivered us from all evil, and regardless of the size of the enemy and his army arrayed against us He continues to deliver us day by day. We respond with courage, not fear, for courage is fear that has been baptized. Therefore we confidently pray, Deliver us from evil. “If God is for us, who can be against us? [Romans 8:31].” By the Spirit, through the gospel, fear, doubt, and worry are obliterated. Therefore, we will not fear. “We are more than conquerors through him [Romans 8:37].”

As it turned out, God fought for them and gave them the victory. He promises us the same, no matter how insurmountable the obstacles may seem. What’s to fear?

Deuteronomy 2:25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

The Lord God is beginning to use His people to wage a holy war against the demon gods and devil worshippers of the pagan nations of the world. The kingdom of God cannot grow and advance to take over the hearts and minds of earth-dwellers for their good until the spiritual enemies that have blinded the hearts of people are driven out. Positive spiritual growth and goodness does not happen until the rulers of this world are unseated from their places of authority.

Therefore, the Lord will cause the unbelieving people that He wants to save to respond with dread and fear, trembling and anguish. The world’s people may not even know they are afraid of the goodness and righteousness of the Church, and they don’t even know why they hate Christians. They can’t even give a cogent reason why they crucified the Christ. One hidden reason is that the Romans, the Jews, the crowd, and sinners like us were afraid of Jesus. Today, this fear shows up in the unbelievers who ignore, avoid, despise, and even mock the Church’s preaching of the Gospel.

Israel brought the Son of God into the world to violently overthrow the ruling authority of Sin, Death, and Satan through the violent victory of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Unbelievers should be afraid, for the mighty power of the Gospel is being preached to the final destruction of the world’s kingdoms.

The believer responds with victorious shouts of joy. We win! Life is good!

Deuteronomy 2:5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

Israel had come to the edge of the Promised Land again, now on the west side of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The Lord commanded them specifically not to meddle with or take the land of Edom (descendants of Esau). Furthermore, He also told them not to mess with Moab or Ammon (descendants of Lot). If God did not give it to you, and you have no command, do not try to take it. It will not end well for you. In this instance, Israel obeyed the Lord, and did not meddle with Edom, Moab, or Ammon. He doesn’t tell us why. Just don’t do it.

However, God did tell them to attack Sihon of the Amorites and take their land. Israel did obey, and the result was complete victory, for the Lord was with them and gave them victory over the Amorites and the land west of the Jordan. About the Amorites, God said, “Possess their land for I have given it to you.” These examples are a kind of summary of God’s Word to us as well: Receive what I have given; do not take what I haven’t given.

This is a wonderful lesson for us NT Christians. Receive with thanks the wonderful gifts and blessings of God and live joyfully with them; do not covet or try to grab what God has not given you. This is God’s “how-to manual” for true prosperity and real success. But this is easier said than done, for it takes the Spirit’s wisdom and self-control. Also, we complain that we don’t know what God is giving us and what He is not. No excuse. It’s all given in His Word. Learn it. One clue: seek His kingdom and His will and the things above. God will add the rest.

Deuteronomy 1:41, 43 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill…So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

In fear and unbelief and in direct rebellion against God’s command Israel had earlier rebelled and refused to go up against the giants in the land. Then that generation was not allowed to enter at all. Afterward, they changed their minds, confessed their sin, and decided to go up on their own. This decision was against God’s will, for He told them, “Do not go up and fight, for I am not with you.”

But the people would not hear, rebelled, and went presumptuously. Of course, they were driven back and defeated, because the Lord was not with them. The lesson of the Conquest is clear: with the Lord, we can do all things; without the Lord, we can do nothing. Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” I am too weak (being blind, dead, and an enemy of God) to do anything against the overwhelming spiritual forces of evil. I cannot by my own reason or strength even believe in Jesus, but the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel.

We are so full of pride and unbelief that we presume that we can do good things on our own. So we are tempted to believe in our own good life, good character, and good works to overcome sin and evil and find God. But God is not with us until we come to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Then, under Joshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) we conquer the Enemy and live in the Kingdom.

Deuteronomy 1:32, 36 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God…Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.

Unbelief may be the worst, most harmful, yet most common response to God, as this story exemplifies. Unbelief is considered by some to be the first and the worst sin, which causes all the death and misery of our life. This unbelieving generation of Israel was not allowed to enter the promised land.

Now, it is not easy to believe God. In fact, it is impossible for a sinful man alone to believe. The Holy Spirit by the power of the Gospel must bring us to faith. And He does. God promises to give Israel the land; God promises they can and will possess the land. The Lord had led them out of Egypt and bore them in the wilderness and brought them to this place. Yet they did not believe. They did not believe God would keep His promise; they did not believe God would be strong to overcome the giant problems they were facing; they not believe God would be good, again. The problems they could see looked bigger to their eyes than the God they could not see. Who could blame them? Well, Moses, and God.

We also must also deal with giants who try to prevent us from living in the Kingdom, or at least from enjoying it to the full. We have been given eternal life and we possess it, but sometimes it seems that earthly life drowns it out, overwhelms it, and defeats it to the point where we don’t even know it is real. Unbelief is a very real and present danger: maybe Jesus isn’t as strong or as good as I hoped. But unbelief keeps us from possessing what God gives, the full enjoyment of life in the Kingdom.

On the other hand, Caleb will get the land because he wholly followed the Lord, that is, he believed God. God said it; I believe it; it’s settled. Jesus is with us; the Kingdom is within us; no one can tell us otherwise, though they try. No matter what it looks like to the naked eye, the kingdom ours remaineth.

Deuteronomy 1:28-29 Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we are; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

Moses recounts the experience of the evil report of the ten spies from 40 years earlier. Their negative reporting discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they became afraid. The consequence of this fear response was the 40 years of wandering.

Negative talking can discourage us so much that we become fearful and immobilized. We often do not even realize what damage is done to the heart by negativity, gossip, criticism, and complaining. It harms our own hearts, as well as the hearts of those who hear it. It takes our eyes off of the great and good God, who delivered us once, continues to be present, and will save us again. When we lose sight of the cross, we begin to see only the giant problems that are before us. That view brings us down and makes us afraid in various ways.

Therefore, Moses says, “Dread not.” The angel says, “Fear not.” Jesus says, “Worry not.” Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing.” These are the encouraging words we need to pay attention to. When we look to Jesus instead of the Problem, we become encouraged, emboldened, lifted up, confident, and full of faith. That is God’s promise and our believing response.

Deuteronomy 1:26-27 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God: And ye murmured in your tents, and said, because the Lord hated us, He has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

The ten spies had brought back two contradictory reports about the Land: one was positive, saying how good the land was; the other was negative, saying how bad it was, with giants and walled cities. They heard the negative report louder and responded with unbelief and rebellion and murmuring. They were discouraged by the pessimistic report, because they trusted in themselves and knew only what they could see. Joshua and Caleb, however, were encouraged by the optimistic report, because they trusted in God and His Promise.

This is like the old “half full or half empty” adage regarding optimism vs. pessimism. An optimistic outlook can arise from faith in the God we can’t see with physical eyes. Pessimism results from taking our eyes off of the Lord and leaning on our own understanding. It looks at the things that are seen, whereas faith sees the unseen.

This kind of pessimistic unbelief leads to the sins of rebellion and complaining against God. Complaining comes from a spirit of negativity, and it produces negative feelings in self and others. It also involves accusing and blaming God. It basically says God isn’t good. This is a serious matter, as Moses explains the 40-year delay as a consequence of the people’s response.

Deuteronomy 1:21 Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged.

After 40 years, Israel is finally poised at the Jordan ready to possess the land that God gave. Moses speaks on the plains of Moab the book of Deuteronomy (meaning “second law”). He recounts the incident of the ten spies who brought back a discouraging report, so that the people feared, lost heart, and rebelled.

Now they have a second chance. Go in and possess the land God gave. They have the opportunity to respond with faith and courage. Many times in Scripture God, an angel, a prophet, or Jesus appears and says: Fear not. Believe that the Lord is with you to love you and keep you. Believe His Word. Believe God. Do not be discouraged. Because I am with you and give you victory, take heart. You do not have to lose heart, or be faint-hearted. You may keep the heart He gives you, for He is fighting for you to overcome.

It is easy in life to become discouraged, afraid, worried, and anxious because of the giant problems and obstacles in way of enjoying Life in the Kingdom. But because of Christ we may take heart and be courageous. Faith truly responds to God’ promise: Fear not!

Before embarking on the Conquest the Lord spake to Joshua [Joshua 1:6 & 7]: “Be strong and very courageous.” Then you will have good success [v. 8]. Joshua took heart from God’s Word and went on to Conquest. The obstacles in our way may sometimes be overwhelming, but fear not and be courageous.