Deuteronomy 4:1–20
I. Yahweh is the God of Creation (19).
Given the idolatry of their former dwelling in Egypt, and the perverse religion of the people whose cities they would conquer and occupy, the healthy reminder that their Redeemer was the Creator formed a necessary first principle of their faithful service and personal safety.
A. Moses had received and recorded the revelation of a six-day creation by God’s fiat, the molding and life-giving breath of God in the construction of Man, and the body and bone companionship God initiated when He made the woman from man and for man.
All the creatures were below them (animate and inanimate), given to them for beauty, exertion of godly rule, and to prompt their increasing amazement at the power and wisdom of God. They were not given to be worshipped by man or to be seen as ruling over man.
B. The nation, given the law by God and the story of creation in the books that Moses bequeathed them, was to return to the original order of creation and worship the Lord only and eschew any provocation to elevate the dominated creatures (Genesis 1:27, 28) to a place of dominion (Romans 1:22, 23, 25).
C. The danger of such a reversal of honor in worshipping creature rather than Creator is delineated carefully and in detail in 4:16–19: man or woman, earth animal, air animal, dust animal, water animal, or heavenly luminaries all are listed as possible temptations for stupid idolatry.
D. The God who rescued them, placed His name on them (Israel), and now would govern and discipline them, was not one of many gods that inhabited mountains, plains, forests, seas, or wilderness but was the One True God who made and sustained all things as an overflow of His power and glory.
II. Yahweh is a God of Revelation (1, 2, 5, 8, 15).
“The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare that there is a God; but His word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners”(Baptist Catechism, question 3).
A. Sin has made the revelation of God in conscience and in nature ineffectual in producing just, true, and pure worship.
Even from the beginning, God gave propositions of truth that Adam would know by verbal rational communication what was expected of him. “Be fruitful; subdue, have dominion; … You may freely eat; … You shall not eat” (Genesis 1:28; 2:16, 17).
B. In pursuit of redemption, God gave these descendants of Jacob specific instructions of moral absolutes, ceremonial worship, and civil law.
All of these were to define them as a picture of the redemptive purpose and grace of God. Because all these laws were reflections of God’s character and prerogative and the person and work of a future Redeemer, they were to obey precisely and alter nothing, either by subtraction or addition (2, 5).
C. The revelation came with impressive evidence and in articulated language comprehensible to the human mind: “I may let them hear my words; …The Lord spoke to you; …you heard the sound of words; .. He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform” (11, 12, 13).
D. Not only was the revelation to be comprehensible to the intellect, but it was to transform and capture the heart.
“Keep your soul diligently … So that … they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life”(9). These words were to be so precious to them that they would transfer the content, respect, and love for them to their children (9. 10).
E. The quality of the revelation, the privilege it communicated, and the infinite advantage of knowledge of the One True God it provided should have been sufficient in itself to produce permanent adhesion of mind, heart, and conscience to the God of these words.
The depth of corruption that the fall of Adam produced in the human heart is seen graphically in the extensive depths of departure from these revealed truths that characterized the entire history of Israel (Nehemiah 9:16–31). This shows clearly that a revelation of truth without a Spirit-produced change of heart will not produce true worship (Jeremiah 31:31–35).
F. Peter condenses this reality in his highly intense exposition of redemption through Christ (1 Peter 1:17–21).
How does one believe these historically verified, clearly revealed truths? Peter explains, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22, 23). The Spirit gives new birth, a resurrected spiritual life, so that we believe and treasure Christ as revealed in the word.
III. Yahweh is a God of Holy Expectation (2, 5, 8).
In Leviticus 11:44, 45, the Lord says twice “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Peter urges this truth on the churches when he warns against returning to their former way of life, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it s written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15, 16).
A. This holiness includes conformity to the commands of God: “Keep the commandments of the Lord your God”(2).
We do not invent principles of holiness, but find such character defined by biblical instruction.
B. From the beginning, holiness consisted of obedience to a revealed command.
The moral part of any command is that God has given it. Some commands are moral in themselves such as “Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet.” Disobedience in these cases involves corrupting the law of the heart and violating the immutable authority of God. Some commands are positive, that is, given to effect a result in a person when the command does not intrinsically reenforce a moral duty of that person; the command itself establishes the duty. “Do not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden,” was such a positive command. Eating the fruit of a tree was not a moral duty written on the heart; the evil in eating was the violation of God’s specific command. Jesus died “the just for the unjust” not as something intrinsically obligatory but in obedience to a positive arrangement of the covenant of redemption. Jesus was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
C. Should they obey these commands, they would shine in the world as a wise and righteous people.
The nations would recognize that life built on the divine commands produces, emotional, relational, and material security and prosperity (8).
IV. Yahweh is a God of Just Retribution (3, 24, 25).
This has been demonstrated on several occasions, the one mentioned is recorded in Numbers 25 at Baal-Peor where plague destroyed 24,000. Fire broke out among them at their complaint in numbers 11.1–3 and 33–34. Also Numbers 16:41–50 and 21:4–6.
A. The command and consequence of punishment for disobedience was established in the Garden of Eden.
God made it clear that death would ensue on disobedience (Genesis 2:15–17). Disobedience immediately produced the flight of conscience from the presence of God (Genesis 3:6, 7). It produced murder in the next generation (Genesis 4:8–13). Pervasive and progressive wickedness followed as the earth walked in its spiritual darkness and rebellion until God’s grace rescued one family and destroyed the rest in a flood (Genesis 6:8; 7:21–23).
B. The sin of Adam brought death and moral corruption on all, for in him as covenant head, all sinned (Romans 5:12, 13).
As Christ is Covenant-Head for all the elect, so Adam was covenant-head for the entire race (1 Corinthians 15:20–23). Adam’s disobedience to the positive command brought just retribution in punishment and natural alienation of heart (1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 3:10, 19; Ephesians 2:1–3).
C. The consequence of disobedience and moral pollution accumulate throughout history and in each person’s life until that final day of the just judgment of God.
That will be a “day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). Only the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ can deliver us from the “wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). “The mystery of lawlessness” brings “unrighteous deception” so that fallen men do “not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” but rather under divine judgment in this life, “they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7–12).
D. Moses warns the people that issues of obedience and disobedience are no light matter.
If they have not already drawn the proper conclusion from their own journeys in complaint, iniquity, and consequent retribution, Moses reminded the “The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” and warns them not to “act corruptly” and thus “provoke Him to anger” (Deuteronomy 4:24, 25).
V. Yahweh is the God of Sovereign Election and Saving Grace (19, 20).
Their God, this God of holy wrath and verbal revelation, is not known by the nations who make the creatures their gods (19).
A. They see the beauty, mystery, and power of all that is around them and make gods of these finite things that are present across the sky and present within the whole world.
Instead of provoking them to seek for the powerful and beautiful Creator of these things, they pinpoint the things themselves as a variety of gods, invoke their own lusts in worship of them and shut themselves off from the holy God of absolute independence, holy character, and infinite excellence.
B. The God who has spoken to them and has given laws and promised them prosperity as a nation, rescued them “out of the iron furnace, from Egypt.”
They were treated with such redemptive power in light of God’s purpose that they be “a people for His own possession” (20).
C. As an elect nation and peculiar people through who Messiah, the Savior, would come, a remnant of true believers occupied places within the larger mass of people (Romans 11:1–6).
So now, within the world and among all nations, “God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14).
Poem on Deuteronomy 4:1–20
Moses was a man of grace, meek and humble;
Yet for God’s truth was zealous.
A mortal sinner viewing God’s glory, hearing God’s voice
Receiving God’s discipline,
And for God’s honor, jealous.
He knew the nation was elect,
Through whom God’s covenant would be
Revealed and fulfilled.
The law God gave must be obeyed;
Life and wisdom, understanding, joy, and stability thrive
When minds with truth are instilled.
What other nation heard God speak,
Or has commandments written by His hand,
Or has seen His fire, consuming fire?
He punished when they disobeyed
But gave them joy when His command
Had captured their desire.
Ten words inscribed by the divine hand covered everything
About love and worship of God
And selfless care for man.
To obey is life, to reject is death;
True worship and obedience, treasured, will give success,
Long life, spiritual pleasure, abundance in your promised land.
“You have seen with eyes and heard with ears,
And now observe my earnest and holy instruction
To teach your children to obey,
Nor add to this, nor take away,
Lest they seek their own destruction.
All the nations see the lights of heaven
And the life of land and sea.
They irrationally and perversely exchange Creator for creature.
But you were rescued and selected by power and plan
To know the Creator as Redeemer
euterondAnd embody salvation’s Effector and Teacher.
