King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Chapters: Deuteronomy 32-34, Psalm 91
Message: Deuteronomy: The LORD is Our Rock
Hello My Friend,
As we come to the end of the reading of Deuteronomy we learn that it does not matter how old we get we can still be used of the LORD, and our journey on earth will not end until our work is done, [Psalms 90:9-12 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.]
We also learn that life is like a song, it turns into a beautiful ballad to those choose God but it is a tragic love song to those who turn their back on Him, [Isaiah 42:8-10 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. 10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.]
Yesterday we learned that God had foretold it to Moses that Israel will turn on Him in a wicked way, and wanted him to write a specific song for them to remember once they realized God was not with them, here is the passage again to refresh our memory.
[Deuteronomy 31:16-17,19 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? 19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.]
God, knows then imagination of every single heart that comes into this world, many will appear to follow Him, but the sad truth is that they are not. And there is a very good reason why Jesus said, [Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.] Today we learn of the song and you might even call it a tragic love song, which begins with this introduction.
[Deuteronomy 32:1-6 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?]
God does not expect His people to be perfect but He does expect them to be faithful and that means to walk with Christ. He is the Rock upon which every soul must stand in righteous judgment, [1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.]
This is proof of the countless souls that have gotten caught up in a life of sin but found their way to heaven solely upon their faith in Christ. As the song continues it describes how lost they were before God found them and inherited them as His people but they turned from the Rock.
[Deuteronomy 32:9-10,12,15-16,18 For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. 18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.]
Jeshurun is another name for the children of Israel, meaning “the dear upright people”, they were those born of the lineage of Jacob and not the people of nation of Israel. It is a poetical name for the people of Israel, used as a token of affection that God had for His people. Israel, was great and powerful when they came together as one nation under God, but the complete opposite when they forgot God. We as saved born again Christians are the same way, and do you know why? One word, lust, [James 4:1-3 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.]
Grace may save us through our faith in Christ alone, but God, is the same, yesterday, today, and forever., sin is sin, and He will judge His people for their sin. God is not only disgusted over the way His people behave, He is appalled by their attitude in doing it, they have absolutely no fear and are not following Him in the slightest way. This is exactly why God scatters them from among His presence, which the song describes.
[Deuteronomy 32:26-31 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: 27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. 29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.]
The rock of this world is none other than Satan himself, [2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.]
Think about it, as angry as God can get with His people the wicked world is much more cruel than He is and they will turn on each other. As you can see with the state of the entire world right now, God is not happy. Yes, God is very long suffering, but He will not be mocked, He will judge His people and He will use the world to do it, just as He did with Israel. Moses ends the song with the very words of God and how He just watch those who turn the rock of this world fall in their own pit.
[Deuteronomy 32:36-39,43 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. 37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, 38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. 39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.]
God is forever merciful and forgiving to His people no matter how many times they mess up but for those who are not His, for those who have no faith, and especially the ones who are trusting false gods, He is going to ask them all the same question, “Where are your gods, the rock whom you trusted?”, [1 Corinthians 10:4-5 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.]
The things we are seeing today may seem like nothing that we have seen before, but God has seen it all and what we are seeing is only the surface of what He has seen over millenniums. After Moses spoke the words of the song, he left them with one more word of advice, set their hearts on God.
[Deuteronomy 32:44-47 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: 46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.]
God did not choose the children of Israel as His people because of their righteousness, He chose them because of the promise that He had made to one righteous man, Abraham. Yes, some are obedient, just like all true Christians, they sin, repent, and quite a few times on their earthly journey. Honestly, most Christians are only saved by the thread of their salvation and face a mountain of affliction because the are not repentant. It all comes down to the heart, [Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.]
It was time for Moses’s journey on earth to come to an end, he led the people to the promised land as God called him to do, he gave them God’s law and told them of what was to come as they took possession of the land. Now, his time on earth was done, God, tells him that it was time for him to get up to the mountain where he will die, reminding him of why he could not step foot on the promise land.
[Deuteronomy 32:49-51 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: 50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: 51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.]
How would you like this to be the last thing that God says to you in the flesh that is? There was only one good thing to come of this, Moses, knew that while he would not be able to step foot on the land of promise, he knew he would be somewhere much better. True believers will never turn away from their faith in Christ, even if they have gotten themselves caught up in sin. We must understand that as stubborn and willful as we are sometimes, we still belong to God, and He will never stop defending us. Before Moses takes his last journey on earth, he gave one last speech, in fact, it was his blessing upon every tribe.
[Deuteronomy 33:1-5 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.]
Remember, God’s saints are not a bunch of dead people who were only named saints by the religious world after being dead for decades, they are His saved, born again people, who have His Spirit upon their soul, [Ephesians 2:18-19 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;]
It is only when we love God with all our heart, that we will see Christ for who He truly is, and not just someone to save us from hell. He is someone who also saved us from the life we lived, and the endless suffering that sin brings, He is our refuge from all these things. Moses, finishes up his speech with the reminder that God is their refuge as long as they trust Him.
[Deuteronomy 33:26-29 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. 27 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. 28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. 29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.]
It is only when we love God with all our heart, that we will see Christ for who He truly is, our Deliverer, our Rock that is not only our defense, He is our foundation. We may lose out on some earthly things because, after all, we sinners, but we will never lose our salvation, [Romans 6:8-10 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.]
The land flowing with milk and honey, could been seen for miles, but Moses could not enter, and although he never got to step foot on the promised land, there was no other prophet that knew God as Moses did, and He let everyone know about it. God led Moses to the top of Pisgah, He allowed him to get a view of the promised land as well as Gilead, but his time on earth was up, yet God still had great respect for him.
[Deuteronomy 34:1-6 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.]
Can you imagine what Moses was thinking as he was drifting away in the tomb? I imagine that he was saying this prayer, [Psalms 91:1-5 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;]
This always makes me a little sad every time I read it, to get so far and not be able to enjoy the one thing that you waited so long to get. Moses is a reminder that even though we fail God many times, and often forfeit some things that we waited so long for, the most important thing to remember is that when Jesus called on us to get His attention, [Psalms 91:14-16 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for the gift of eternal life through Your Son, we do not have to work for our salvation, we just need to believe in and accept that He alone paid the price for our sins in order to receive it. While my salvation can never be earned or repaid, my faith in You will lead me to live my life in a way that is pleasing to You. Lord, You are my Rock, my refuge, and my salvation, and it is You I trust to see me through this life until You bring me home. While I know I make some foolish decisions sometimes, You still have Your angels keeping me from evil. Lead me and guide me, give me Your mercy, grace, and love to get through every battle I face. And let me continue to live my life in a way that brings honor and glory to You so that I can be a faithful witness of Your saving grace. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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