Review - Sunday Morning September 23rd

Review of Lord’s Day Morning: September 23^rd 2012

Pastor Shane Walker

Deuteronomy 32:48 – 34

 

My take on the sermon

One of the key themes in Deuteronomy involves Moses teaching Israel to know God as He really is.  This is an important objective in all epochs, but in Deuteronomy Moses teaches especially against the worship of the false gods of the surrounding nations and against the propensity to “forget God.” In Chapter 33 the concept of Jeshurun, the beloved upright One (Israel), is explored and linked with the Beloved referenced in the New Testament.

-          Worship the King of Jeshurun

-          Recognize the things left undone

-          Worship the Beloved

1)   Jeshurun is a term of endearment meaning “the beloved upright one” (Pastor Shane) or “a poetical reference to Israel” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown).  The idea of the beloved Israel is at the beginning of the poem in Chapter 33 and at the end – bookends.  Israel has a choice to pledge its allegiance to God or to Satan.  So too do we.  We will follow God as our Father if we are in Christ or Satan as our Father if we are not in Christ.  God offers Himself to us. 33:27 – KJV  “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.” The idea of conquering enemies is not limited to the Old Testament as if the God of the Old Testament is somehow more severe than in the New. Romans 16:20 “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” It is certainly understood that here the reference to Satan also includes his followers as well. 

2)   Moses dies with much left undone.  He was the greatest prophet of his time and until Christ there is none greater, except perhaps John the Baptist. Among other things, the Mount of Transfiguration is a beautiful torch-passing ceremony from Moses to The Prophet who was to come after him (Deuteronomy 18:15) and an opportunity for Moses to set foot in the earthly Promised Land.

3)   Jesus was a son of Israel in the biological sense and also in the spiritual sense in that he fulfilled all that Israel should have done through keeping the law and through being the savior of Israel.  Jesus, the beloved upright one, is more fully Jeshurun than Israel and is also King in Jeshurun as He was and is the king of the Jews. Jesus left heaven and died for us that we might also become beloved upright ones, or considered another way, be declared upright due to our new legal and spiritual disposition in Christ.  Considered still another way, Jesus left heaven to provide a sacrifice for sin, and sent us the Spirit of adoption, whereby through turning away from sin and believing in Christ, repentance and faith, we become sons of God.

Note: the same Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate “Jeshurun” is used to translate the word “Beloved” in Ephesians 1:6 and Col 3:12 .

We will sing the Song of Moses in victory over all the enemies of God at the end of time – Revelation 15:2-3 – KJV “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”