Morning Light – Deuteronomy 1

[Deuteronomy 1] Believe the Good Report – and LIVE! In this chapter, we introduce the book of Deuteronomy, containing three final messages from the prophet Moses. The people are warned against listening to adverse reports no matter how authoritative their source. Many use their position to paint a dark picture of events on the earth. The positive message seems out of step with the times in consideration of circumstances on the national stage. Israel made this mistake, and it cost an entire generation their destiny. We must find the courage to believe the good report and move toward the promises of God in our lives.

[Deu 1:1-46 KJV] 1 These [be] the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red [sea], between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 ([There are] eleven days’ [journey] from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first [day] of the month, [that] Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; 4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: 5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, 6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all [the places] nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. 9 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye [are] this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye [are], and bless you, as he hath promised you!) 12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken [is] good [for us] to do. 15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brethren, and judge righteously between [every] man and his brother, and the stranger [that is] with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it. 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. 19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. 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. 22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought [it] down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, [It is] a good land which the LORD our God doth give us. 26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people [is] greater and taller than we; the cities [are] great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. 32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, 33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents [in], in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. 34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36 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. 37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38 [But] Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But [as for] you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 41 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 our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. 42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I [am] not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. 43 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. 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, [even] unto Hormah. 45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode [there].

The book of Deuteronomy is the final book of the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Bible written by Moses. The name of the book means “second law” or “copy of the law” drawn from De. 17:18 and the phrase “a copy of the law.” The book consists of three messages delivered by Moses before his death in the plains of Moab before the people move into Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. The first message rehearses the wilderness wanderings. The second message warns the people to serve God exclusively and not go after other gods. The third message encourages the people that even if they prove unfaithful that restoration is possible.

De. 34:10 and Acts 3:22 identify Moses as a prophet in the Old Testament tradition. Under the Old Covenant, there were four leadership roles found – Prophet, Priest, King, and Judge or Deliverer. In verse 3, we see that as a prophet, Moses ultimately brings full disclosure of all that God had put in his heart. This is a unique characteristic of a visionary, with the exception of John the Revelator in Rev. 10:4 and Daniel in Dan. 9:24. The Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 12:4 heard things that we not lawful to utter or that he was not permitted to share. There are times that prophets say, “God gave me something for you, but you aren’t ready for it, so I’m not going to tell you …” This is inappropriate, and the person doing it should be not be taken seriously in doing so. God’s first and foremost will is to speak to you in your own human heart. Col. 1:26, 27 says that Christ in you is the hope of glory, not Christ in someone else, including the prophet. Jesus said in Luke 17:20,21 that the kingdom of God is within you. Those who entice you to outward dependence through manipulation are not doing so as God’s representatives.

In verse 6, Moses communicates the message from God that it is time for the people to leave Mount Horeb and move into the Promised Land. Many times we linger too long in particular situations and places in life when God wants us to move on. “You have dwelt long enough on the mountain” is an exhortation we all need to hear and different times in our life. My wife Kitty uses the phrase, “don’t stay too long at the dance.” Where was Israel to go? Into the Promised land. God never intended Israel to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. Why, then did this happen? In Hebrews 3:10, we see that they entered not in because of unbelief. The unbelieving generation to die off. Unbelief will create unnecessary detours and delays in the things God has promised you. God’s word is the anti-dote for unbelief. In all the protestations of the need for Christian maturity and growth in the body of Christ, there is so little emphasis on the Word. There is a difference between what the word says and the word itself. Teachings based upon what the word says are just commentary. It is the word itself that produces faith. Just because you listen to a sermon or teaching doesn’t mean you are building up your faith. You must have a personal relationship and experience with the word of God “in the raw.” This is what builds faith and will change your life and fast track you into your destiny.

In v. 9, we find reference to Moses when he came to understand he couldn’t go it alone. At what point did this happen? When he had 100 or 200 followers? Moses had 2.2 million people to take care of in the wilderness before God brought him to the place he realized help was needed. The divisions of oversight were based on 10’s, 50s, 100’s, and 1000’s. The key was not to deploy leaders to do their own thing, but Moses was to “put some of his spirit” upon them so they could follow in his footsteps. I remember complaining to God about not enough help in the church once, and he pointed out to me that the church of Acts was over 13,000 people before deacons were considered. He told me to come back to Him when my church was over that number, and we would talk about help. This was very humbling. The Lord told me, “you do the job and quit complaining.” God wanted to teach me a servant’s heart. Leaders need to have servant’s hearts and be willing to work.

In v. 22, we see revealed the truth that the people initially were the ones who wanted to send spies. God didn’t need spies. It didn’t matter what the opposition was. Do we really need to delve into all the demonic activity around us, or do we simply need to do what we see the Father do? Is God not with us? Notice they wanted men to go before them and “bring us the word.” Isn’t this much like Christians do today? The tendency today is to sit passively in spiritual sheep sheds we call churches and expect ministers to “bring a word…” Too many times, the word is so designed that it leaves the people convinced that while the preacher might sacrifice and serve God, they are not able to do anything other than to come to church, sit in the pew and hear the next word. There is something deeply dysfunctional about this. It destroyed the faith of God’s people then, and it is harming the heritage of God today.

The people heard the words of the 12 spies, and their response was to get discouraged. Imagine this – as they listened to the words of the ten unbelieving spies, their destiny was decided – they would all die in the wilderness. Be careful who you listen to. Some teach for hours about everything the devil is doing and all the darkness in the earth or how great they are and how small the average Christian is. You must take care who you sit in front of. You must take care who you listen to and what you listen to. How do you know who is safe? This is very simple, and it begins with this: The message is the message of the GOSPEL, which means GOOD NEWS. If you don’t hear the gospel – the good news – use discernment in listening to that person or message. We also see in the negative how life can be changed in one word given. The preaching of the gospel can sound vain in the face of all the troubles you may be facing, but your whole life can be turned around even by one gospel message.

In v. 36, we find that only Joshua and Caleb survived the prophetic conference held that day in Kadesh-Barnea. They had a docket of prestigious spies with a negative outlook, and their message cost a generation their destiny. Just because someone says what all the others are saying doesn’t mean you should listen to them. Joshua and Caleb were in the minority. They gave the minority report. I am sure they were counseled before speaking – “you need to be in alignment with the other speakers in this conference … you are missing God…” They were no doubt told they were “pillow-prophets” giving a saccharine message that didn’t face the facts of the direness of the situation before the people of God. They were told if they didn’t change their message, lives would be damaged – but the opposite was true. We need to come back to the positive promises of God. Fear mongering and salacious tidbits of spiritual insight into hidden things of darkness never encouraged anyone. There may be challenges before us, but the message is always “the sky isn’t falling; the Kingdom is coming…” If God is for us (and He is), then who can be against us? Keep moving forward in your destiny and toward God’s promise. You will not be disappointed.