Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy Volume I Part 21

This will be a summary act of direct warrior judgment, without any judicial process whatever, inasmuch as both the beast and false prophet shall be found in open rebellion and blasphemous opposition to G.o.d and the Lamb. Then comes the sessional judgment of the living nations, as recorded in Matthew xxv. 31-46.

Thus, all evil having been put down, Christ shall reign, in righteousness and peace, for a thousand years. A bright and blessed time! the true Sabbath for Israel and the whole earth--a period marked by the grand facts, Satan bound and Christ reigning. Glorious facts!

The very reference to them causes the heart to overflow in praise and thanksgiving. What will the reality be?

But Satan shall be loosed from his thousand years' captivity, and allowed to make one more effort against G.o.d and His Christ.--"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.[24] And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compa.s.sed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from G.o.d out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."

(Rev. xx. 7-10.)

[24] The reader must distinguish between the Gog and Magog of Revelation xx. and those of Ezekiel x.x.xviii. and x.x.xix. The former are post-millennial; the latter, pre-millennial.

This will be Satan's last effort, issuing in his eternal perdition.

Then we have the judgment of the dead, "small and great"--the sessional judgment of all those who shall have died in their sins, from the days of Cain down to the last apostate from millennial glory.

Tremendous scene! No heart can conceive, no tongue--no pen set forth, its awful solemnity.

Finally, we have unfolded to the vision of our souls the everlasting state--the new heaven and the new earth wherein righteousness shall dwell, throughout the golden ages of eternity.

Such is the order of events as set forth, with all possible clearness, on the page of inspiration. We have given a brief summary of them in connection with the line of truth on which we have been dwelling--a line, as we are fully aware, by no means popular; but we dare not withhold it on that account. Our business is to declare the whole counsel of G.o.d, not to seek popularity. We do not expect the truth of G.o.d to be popular in christendom; so far from this, we have been seeking to prove that just as Israel abandoned the truth which they were responsible to maintain, so the professing church has let slip all those great truths which characterize the Christianity of the New Testament. And we may a.s.sure the reader that our one object in pursuing this line of argument is to arouse the hearts of all true Christians to a sense of the value of those truths, and of their responsibility, not only to receive them, but to seek a fuller realization and a bolder confession of them. We long to see a band of men raised up, in these closing hours of the Church's earthly history, who shall go forth, in true spiritual power, and proclaim, with unction and energy, the long-forgotten truths of the gospel of G.o.d.

May G.o.d, in His great mercy to His people, raise up such and send them forth. May the Lord Jesus knock louder and louder at the door, so that many may hear and open to Him, according to the desire of His loving heart, and taste the blessedness of deep personal communion with Himself, while waiting for His coming.

Blessed be G.o.d, there is no limit whatever to the blessing of the individual soul who hears Christ's voice and opens the door; and what is true of one is true of hundreds or thousands. Only let us be real and simple and true, feeling and owning our utter feebleness and nothingness, laying aside all a.s.sumption and empty pretension, not seeking to be any thing or to set up any thing, but holding fast Christ's word and not denying His name, finding our happy place at His feet, our satisfying portion in Himself, and our real delight in serving Him in any little way. Thus we shall get on harmoniously, lovingly, and happily together, finding our common centre in Christ, and our common object in seeking to further His cause and promote His glory. O that it were thus with all the Lord's beloved people in this our day! we should then have a very different tale to tell, and present a very different aspect to the world around. May the Lord revive His work.

It may perhaps seem to the reader that we have wandered a long way from the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy; but we must remind him, once for all, that it is not merely what each chapter _contains_ that demands our attention, but also what it _suggests_. And further, we may add that, in sitting down to write, from time to time, it is our one desire to be led by G.o.d's Spirit into the very line of truth which may be suited to the need of all our readers. If only the beloved flock of Christ be fed, instructed, and comforted, we care not whether it be by well-connected notes or broken fragments.

We shall now proceed with our chapter.

Moses having laid down the grand foundation-truth contained in the fourth verse--"Hear, O Israel; the Lord our G.o.d is one Lord," proceeds to press upon the congregation their sacred duty in respect to this blessed One. It was not merely that there was _a_ G.o.d, but He was _their_ G.o.d. He had deigned to link Himself with them, in covenant-relations.h.i.+p. He had redeemed them, borne them on eagles'

wings, and brought them unto Himself, in order that they might be to Him a people, and that He might be their G.o.d.

Blessed fact! Blessed relations.h.i.+p! But Israel had to be reminded of the conduct suited to such a relations.h.i.+p-conduct which could only flow from a loving heart. "Thou shalt love the Lord _thy_ G.o.d with _all_ thy _heart_, and with _all_ thy soul, and with _all_ thy might."

Here lies the secret of all true practical religion. Without this, all is valueless to G.o.d. "My son, give me thine heart." Where the heart is given, all will be right. The heart may be compared to the regulator of a watch, which acts on the hair-spring, and the hair-spring acts on the main-spring, and the main-spring acts on the hands, as they move around the dial. If your watch goes wrong, it will not do merely to alter the hands, you must touch the regulator. G.o.d looks for real heart-work, blessed be His name! His word to us is, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

How we ought to bless Him for such touching words! they do so reveal His own loving heart to us. a.s.suredly, He loved us in deed and in truth, and He cannot be satisfied with any thing else, whether in our ways with Him or our ways one with another: all must flow straight from the heart.

"And these words which I command thee this day, shall be _in thine heart_"--at the very source of all the issues of life. This is peculiarly precious. Whatever is in the heart comes out through the lips and in the life. How important, then, to have the heart full of the Word of G.o.d--so full, that we shall have no room for the vanities and follies of this present evil world. Thus shall our conversation be always with grace, seasoned with salt. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Hence we can judge of what is in the heart by what cometh out of the mouth. The tongue is the organ of the heart--the organ of the man. "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." When the heart is really governed by the Word of G.o.d, the whole character reveals the blessed result. It must be so, inasmuch as the heart is the main-spring of our entire moral condition; it lies at the centre of all those moral influences which govern our personal history and shape our practical career.

In every part of the divine volume, we see how much importance G.o.d attaches to the att.i.tude and state of the heart, with respect to Him or to His Word, which is one and the same thing. When the heart is true to Him, all is sure to come right; but on the other hand, we shall find that where the heart grows cold and careless as to G.o.d and His truth, there will, sooner or later, be open departure from the path of truth and righteousness. There is, therefore, much force and value in the exhortation addressed by Barnabas to the converts at Antioch--"He exhorted them all, that with _purpose of heart_ they would cleave unto the Lord."

How needful then, now, always! This "purpose of heart" is most precious to G.o.d. It is what we may venture to call the grand moral regulator. It imparts a lovely earnestness to the Christian character which is greatly to be coveted by all of us. It is a divine antidote against coldness, deadness, and formality, all of which are so hateful to G.o.d. The outward life may be very correct, and the creed may be very orthodox; but if the earnest purpose of heart be lacking--the affectionate cleaving of the whole moral being to G.o.d and His Christ, all is utterly worthless.

It is through the heart that the Holy Ghost instructs us. Hence, the apostle prayed for the saints at Ephesus, that "the eyes of their _heart_ [?a?d?a?, not d?a???a?] might be enlightened;" and again, "That Christ may dwell in your _heart_ by faith."

Thus we see how all Scripture is in perfect harmony with the exhortation recorded in our chapter, "And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart." How near this would have kept them to their covenant-G.o.d! How safe, too, from all evil, and specially from the abominable evil of idolatry--their national sin, their terrible besetment! If Jehovah's precious words had only found their right place in the heart, there would have been little fear of Baal, Chemosh, or Ashtaroth. In a word, all the idols of the heathen would have found their right place, and been estimated at their true value, if only the word of Jehovah had been allowed to dwell in Israel's heart.

And be it specially noted here how beautifully characteristic all this is of the book of Deuteronomy. It is not so much a question of keeping up a certain order of religious observances, the offering of sacrifices, or attention to rites and ceremonies. All these things, no doubt, had their place, but they are by no means the prominent or paramount thing in Deuteronomy. No; THE WORD is the all-important matter here. It is _Jehovah's word_ in _Israel's heart_.

The reader must seize this fact if he really desires to possess the key to the lovely book of Deuteronomy. It is not a book of ceremonial; it is a book of moral and affectionate obedience. It teaches, in almost every section, that invaluable lesson, that the heart that loves, prizes, and honors the Word of G.o.d is ready for every act of obedience, whether it be the offering of a sacrifice or the observance of a day. It might so happen that an Israelite would find himself in a place and under circ.u.mstances in which a rigid adherence to rites and ceremonies would be impossible; but he never could be in a place or in circ.u.mstances in which he could not love, reverence, and obey the Word of G.o.d. Let him go where he would--let him be carried, as a captive exile, to the ends of the earth, nothing could rob him of the high privilege of uttering and acting on those blessed words, "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee."

Precious words! They contain, in their brief compa.s.s, the great principle of the book of Deuteronomy, and, we may add, the great principle of the divine life, at all times and in all places. It can never lose its moral force and value: it always holds good. It was true in the days of the patriarchs, true for Israel in the land, true for Israel scattered to the ends of the earth, true for the Church as a whole, true for each individual believer amid the Church's hopeless ruins. In a word, obedience is always the creature's holy duty and exalted privilege--simple, unhesitating, unqualified obedience to the Word of the Lord. This is an unspeakable mercy for which we may well praise our G.o.d, day and night. He has given us His Word, blessed be His name, and He exhorts us to let that Word dwell in us richly--dwell in our hearts, and a.s.sert its holy sway over our entire course and character.

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

All this is perfectly beautiful. The Word of G.o.d hidden in the heart; flowing out in loving instruction to the children, and in holy conversation in the bosom of the family; s.h.i.+ning out in all the activities of daily life, so that all who came inside the gates or entered the house might see that the Word of G.o.d was the standard for each, for all, and in every thing.

Thus it was to be with Israel of old, and surely thus it ought to be with Christians now. But is it so? Are our children thus taught? Is it our constant aim to present the Word of G.o.d, in all its heavenly attractiveness, to their young hearts? Do they see it s.h.i.+ning out in our daily life? do they see its influence upon our habits, our temper, our family intercourse, our business transactions? This is what we understand by binding the Word as a sign upon the hands, having it as a frontlet between the eyes, writing it upon the door-posts and upon the gates.

Reader, is it thus with us? It is of little use attempting to teach our children the Word of G.o.d if our lives are not governed by that Word. We do not believe in making the blessed Word of G.o.d a mere school-book for our children; to do so is to turn a delightful privilege into a wearisome drudgery. Our children should see that we live in the very atmosphere of Scripture; that it forms the material of our conversation when we sit in the bosom of the family, in our moments of relaxation.

Alas! how little is this the case! Have we not to be deeply humbled in the presence of G.o.d when we reflect upon the general character and tone of our conversation at table, and in the family circle? How little there is of Deuteronomy vi. 7! How much of "foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient"! How much evil-speaking of our brethren, our neighbors, our fellow-laborers! How much idle gossip!

How much worthless small talk!

And from what does all this proceed? Simply from the state of the heart. The Word of G.o.d, the commandments and sayings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are not dwelling in our hearts; and hence they are not welling up and flowing out in living streams of grace and edification.

Will any one say that Christians do not need to consider these things?

If so, let him ponder the following wholesome words: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." And again, "Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto G.o.d and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. iv. 29; v. 18-20.)

These words were addressed to the saints at Ephesus; and, most a.s.suredly, we should apply our hearts diligently to them. We are little aware, perhaps, of how deeply and constantly we fail in maintaining the habit of spiritual conversation. It is specially in the bosom of the family, and in our ordinary intercourse, that this failure is most manifest. Hence our need of those words of exhortation which we have just penned. It is evident the Holy Spirit foresaw the need, and graciously antic.i.p.ated it. Hear what He says "to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colosse,"--"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonis.h.i.+ng one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Col.

iii.)

Lovely picture of ordinary Christian life! It is but a fuller and higher development of what we have in our chapter, where the Israelite is seen in the midst of his family, with the Word of G.o.d flowing forth from his heart in loving instruction to his children--seen in his daily life, in all his intercourse at home and abroad, under the hallowed influence of Jehovah's words.

Beloved Christian reader, do we not long to see more of all this in our midst? Is it not, at times, very sorrowful and very humbling to mark the style of conversation that obtains in the midst of our family circles? Should we not sometimes blush if we could see our conversation reproduced in print? What is the remedy? Here it is--a heart filled with the peace of Christ, the word of Christ, Christ Himself: nothing else will do. We must begin with the heart, and where that is thoroughly preoccupied with heavenly things, we shall make very short work with all attempts at evil-speaking, foolish talking, and jesting.

"And it shall be, when the Lord thy G.o.d shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, and vineyards and olive-trees which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." (Ver. 10-12.)

Amid all the blessings, the mercies, and the privileges of the land of Canaan, they were to remember that gracious and faithful One who had redeemed them out of the land of bondage. They were to remember, too, that all these things were His free gift. The land, with all that it contained, was bestowed upon them in virtue of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Cities built and houses furnished, flowing wells, fruitful vineyards and olive-yards, all ready to their hand, the free gift of sovereign grace and covenant mercy. All they had to do was to take possession, in simple faith, and to keep ever in the remembrance of the thoughts of their hearts the bounteous Giver of it all. They were to think of Him, and find in His redeeming love the true motive-spring of a life of loving obedience. Wherever they turned their eyes, they beheld the tokens of His great goodness--the rich fruit of His marvelous love. Every city, every house, every well, every vine, olive and fig-tree, spoke to their hearts of Jehovah's abounding grace, and furnished a substantial proof of His infallible faithfulness to His promise.

"Thou shalt fear the Lord thy G.o.d, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name. Ye shall not go after other G.o.ds, of the G.o.ds of the people which are round about you; (for the Lord thy G.o.d is a jealous G.o.d among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy G.o.d be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth."

There are two great motives set before the congregation, in our chapter, namely, "love," in verse 5, and "fear," in verse 13. These are found all through Scripture; and their importance in guiding the life and forming the character cannot possibly be too highly estimated. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." We are exhorted to be "in the fear of the Lord all the day." It is a grand moral safeguard against all evil. "Unto man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'"

The blessed Book abounds in pa.s.sages setting forth, in every possible form, the immense importance of the fear of G.o.d. "How," says Joseph, "can I do this great wickedness, and sin against G.o.d?" The man who walks habitually in the fear of G.o.d is preserved from every form of moral pravity. The abiding realization of the divine presence must prove an effectual shelter from every temptation. How often do we find the presence of some very holy and spiritual person a wholesome check upon levity and folly; and if such be the moral influence of a fellow-mortal, how much more powerful would be the realized presence of G.o.d!

Christian reader, let us give our serious attention to this weighty matter. Let us seek to live in the consciousness that we are in the immediate presence of G.o.d. Thus shall we be preserved from a thousand forms of evil, to which we are exposed from day to day, and to which, alas! we are predisposed. The remembrance that the eye of G.o.d rests upon us would exert a far more powerful influence upon our life and conversation than the presence of all the saints upon earth and all the angels in heaven. We could not speak falsely, we could not utter with our lips what we do not feel in the heart, we could not talk folly, we could not speak evil of our brother or our neighbor, we could not speak unkindly of any one, if only we felt ourselves in the presence of G.o.d. In a word, the holy fear of the Lord, of which Scripture speaks so much, would act as a most blessed restraint upon evil thoughts, evil words, evil ways, evil in every shape and form.

Moreover, it would tend to make us very real and genuine in all our sayings and doings. There is a sad amount of sham and nonsense about us. We frequently say a great deal more than we feel. We are not honest; we do not speak, every man, truth with our neighbor; we give expressions to sentiments which are not the genuine utterance of the heart; we act the hypocrite one with another.

All these things afford melancholy proof of how little we live, move, and have our being in the presence of G.o.d. If we could only bear in mind that G.o.d hears us and sees us--hears our every word and sees our every thought, our every way, how differently we should carry ourselves! What holy watchfulness we should maintain over our thoughts, our tempers, and our tongues! What purity of heart and mind!

What truth and uprightness in all our intercourse with our fellows!

What reality and simplicity in our deportment! What happy freedom from all affectation, a.s.sumption, and pretension! What deliverance from every form of self-occupation! O, to live ever in the deep sense of the divine presence! to walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long!

And then to prove the "vast constraining influence" of His love! To be led out in all the holy activities which that love would ever suggest! To find our delight in doing good! To taste the spiritual luxury of making hearts glad! To be continually meditating plans of usefulness! To live close by the fountain of divine love, so that we must be streams of refres.h.i.+ng in the midst of this thirsty scene--rays of light amid the moral gloom around us! "The love of Christ," says the blessed apostle, "constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."

How morally lovely is all this! "Would that it were more fully realized and faithfully exhibited amongst us! May the fear and love of G.o.d be continually in our hearts, in all their blessed power and formative influence, that thus our daily life may s.h.i.+ne to His praise and the real profit, comfort, and blessing of all who come in contact with us, whether in private or in public. G.o.d, in His infinite mercy, grant it, for Christ's sake!

The sixteenth verse of our chapter demands our special attention.--"Ye shall not tempt the Lord your G.o.d, as ye tempted Him in Ma.s.sah." These words were quoted by our blessed Lord when tempted by Satan to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple.--"Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of G.o.d, cast Thyself down; for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee; and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.'"