Opening illustration: What would have happened had Moses tried to figure out what was needed to accomplish God’s command? One of the biggest arithmetical miracles in the world was required in the desert. Moses led the people of Israel into the desert....Now what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 3 ½ million people required a lot of food. According to the U. S. Army’s Quartermaster General, Moses needed 1,500 tons of food a day, filling two freight trains, each a mile long. Besides, you must remember, they were cooking the food (not to mention for keeping warm, and if anyone tells you it doesn’t get cold in the desert don’t believe them!). Just for cooking this took 4,000 tons of firewood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long and this is only for one day!!! They were for forty YEARS in transit!!! Let’s not forget about water, shall we? If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes (no bathing?!), it took 11 million gallons EACH DAY - enough to fill a train of tanker cars 1,800 miles long. And another thing! They had to get across the red sea in one night. Now if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and require 35 days and nights to complete the crossing. So to get it over in one night there had to be a space in the Red Sea 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5,000 abreast. Think about this; every time they camped at the end of the day, a camp ground the size of Rhode Island was required or 750 square miles. Do you think that Moses sat down and figured out the logistics of what God told him to do before he set out from Egypt? I doubt it. He had faith that God would take care of everything. Let us have courage; we share the very same God!
Introduction & Background: Moses passes from a contemplation of what the Lord had done for Israel, to an exhortation to keep the law of the Lord. The divine manifestations of grace laid Israel under the obligation to a conscientious observance of the law that they might continue to enjoy the blessings of the covenant. The exhortation commences with the appeal, to hear and keep the commandments and rights of the Lord, without adding to them or taking from them; for not only were life and death suspended upon their observance, but it was in this that the wisdom and greatness of Israel before all the nations consisted (Deu_4:1-8). It then proceeds to a warning, not to forget the events at Horeb (Deu_4:9-14) and so fall into idolatry, the worship of images or idol deities (Deu_4:15-24); and it closes with a threat of dispersion among the heathen as the punishment of apostasy, and with a promise of restoration as the consequence of repentance and sincere conversion (Deu_4:25-31), and also with a reason for this threat and promise drawn from the history of the immediate past (Deu_4:32-34), for the purpose of fortifying the nation in its fidelity to its God, the sole author of its salvation (Deu_4:35-40).
Who is this God we worship?
1. God of ASTOUNDING WONDERS (vs. 32 – 36):
(a) His greatness - Moses reminds the Israelites again of the glorious miracles of divine grace performed in connection with the election and deliverance of Israel, such as had never been heard of from the beginning of the world. The history of all times since the creation of man, and of all places under the whole heaven, can relate no such events as those which have happened to Israel. The rise of this nation was quite different from the origin of all other nations. Even considering the plagues of Egypt and how God delivered the Israelites from their hands. None ever heard the voice of God as they did, much less speaking such words as they heard, and still less out of the midst of fire, which was their case, which was stranger still, when they might have expected they should, and doubtless feared they would be, as it was wonderful they were not, consumed by it.
Application: Have you seen the Niagara Falls, life in the oceans, people who speak hundreds of languages living in one country (India) or even a baby created in a mother’s womb?
(b) His sprite (fairness) – The plagues were trials both to the Egyptians and Israelites, whether they would be induced to believe and obey God or no. By terrors - raised in the minds of the Egyptians, or, by terrible things done among them.
Application: He gives rain and snow, both to the wicked and the righteous.
© His uniqueness - Israel was made to see all this, that it might know that Jehovah was God (האלהים, the God, to whom the name of elohim rightfully belonged), and there was none else beside Him. He shows the reason why God did these miracles that he is the one only living and true God, and there is no other: this phrase is often used by the Prophet Isaiah, to express the same great article of faith.
Illustration: After some months of our marriage in India, my wife was recruited by the Federal government of a middle-eastern Islamic nation to work, mentor and train Arab nurses. We were torn apart but yet emotionally together. She joined a secret fellowship & prayer group in that country and prayed constantly that God would do the impossible – bring me to the Middle-East to teach. The first Gulf War broke out and we were left in emotional anguish and fear of the unknown. Telephonic contact was next to impossible. Forty day in and the war was over and I surprised my wife by arriving in the Middle-East after 9 months of living apart. I was on an assignment to teach high school kids at the Embassy schools. We saw the God of Wonders protect us during the war, give us His grace to go through that phase of living apart for 9 months and then open closed doors so that I could work there. Surely He is a God of astounding wonder.
* Have you experienced the God of Wonders?
2. God of UNFAILING PROMISES (vs. 37 – 38):
(a) Loved your forefathers - The singular suffixes in זרעו (his seed) and אחריו after him) refer to Abraham, whom Moses had especially in his mind when speaking of “thy fathers,” because he was pre-eminently the lover of God (Isa_41:8; 2Ch_20:7), and also the beloved or friend of God (Jam_2:23; cf. Gen_18:17.).
(b) Brought them out of Egypt – into the Promised Land - “By His face” points back to Exo_33:14 by the might of His personal presence. Compare Exo_33:14; where God promises “My presence (literally ‘My face’) shall go with thee.” The face of Jehovah was Jehovah in His personal presence, in His won person, who brought Israel out of Egypt, to root out great and mighty nations before it, and give it their land for an inheritance.
© Protection from your enemies – ‘and lead us not into trial….’ God had equipped us to withstand the enemy. Our protection and covering is the blood of Christ and the Word of God is to be articulated to defend against the wiles and darts of the enemy.
Illustration: When I was 14 months old he had a medical ailment, which could have been fatal in the 1960s. The surgeons thought I had no hope and my parents gave him up for dead. They promised God that if I lived, I would minister unto the Lord all the days of his life. The churches all over Delhi prayed for my life and I survived. In the years to follow, I sensed God’s hand was upon him but tried to run away from His Call. Though my folks had made a promise before God, He did not forget. He made sure that promise was fulfilled. It took time, patience and long suffering on God’s side for me to come around and serve Him. But the promises made to God in vain don’t end up void but fulfilled in a powerful way. I stand here before you today because of God’s unfailing promise keeping.
* Have you seen God fulfilling His promises faithfully?
3. God of UNFORSEEN WARNINGS (vs. 39 - 40):
(a) No other God - By this the Israelites were to know and lay it to heart, that Jehovah alone was God in heaven and on earth, and were to keep His commandments, in order that (אשׁר) it might be well with them and their descendants, and they might have long life in Canaan. כּל־היּמים, “all time,” for all the future (cf. Exo_20:12).
(b) Obeying His commandments - All his laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, partly being under obligation to him for all the great and good things done by him for them before enumerated, and partly and chiefly because he is the Lord God in heaven and in earth, and has a right to command and ought to be obeyed.
Application: We are more apt to obeying the law of the land (nation) apparently made by man but condone abiding by God’s laws and standards.
© Repercussions - that they and theirs might enjoy temporal mercies, and continue in the land of Canaan, and partake of all the blessings in it, as follows, and of the sanctuary of the Lord, and the privileges of it: God promises reward not for our merits, but to encourage us, and to assure us that our labor will not be lost.
Application: For every action there is a reaction or an end result. There are sins that we commit and God forgives but we have to face the consequences. That cannot be ruled out.
Illustration: When a dangerous blizzard hit Colorado Springs in late October 2006, residents had plenty of warning. Weather forecasters began predicting the storm 36 hours before it arrived. On a warm, sunny afternoon people swarmed into grocery stores to buy supplies, while tire shops worked overtime to meet the demand for winter treads. Everyone was talking about the coming storm. Even before the snow began, schools and businesses announced they would be closed for the day. When the storm hit with blowing snow and freezing temperatures, most people were safe at home, not trying to get to work or school. When we believe a warning, it affects our behavior. It’s true in every area of life, including our walk of faith. A call to action urged them to avoid spiritual lethargy but remain alert and self-controlled.
* God always warns us of approaching danger; do we heed and adhere to His laws and warning to stay clear of them?
Conclusion: Getting down to the basics, which is greater? God or the law! Obviously God is greater than the law but He is the law giver and only when we are obedient in adhering to His laws, the promise is that everything will be well with us, with our children and our days will be prolonged. If things are not going well with us or with our children, we need to reflect on our own lives and return to heeding and adhering to the ‘Word of God.’ He is surely the God of astounding wonders, the God of unfailing promises and a God of unforeseen warnings. Amen!
