Title: Receive Immanuel's Blessing with Perfect Obedience
Contents
Let's enjoy the blessing of Immanuel through perfect obedience.
Deuteronomy 1:34-46
1. God's discipline is due to the unbelief of the believer.
(1) There are times when the saints are punished by God. However, this does not mean that we will be forever abandoned, but rather the discipline and refinement that God gives us.
(2) The blessings and punishments of the promises revealed in today's Bible clearly reveal God's disposition of justice in Deuteronomy. God has not changed and his promises have not changed. So we must obey God's unchanging will.
2. Those who do not remember God's promises and disbelieve (vv. 34-38).
(1) Why was God angry with Israel? (Verse 34) God heard the reports of the ten unbelieving spies and heard all the cry of the people all night (Numbers 14:1-4). "I'd rather die," he shouted, "Let's go back to Egypt." But God heard these words and judged them (verse 35). As of that time, among those who were twenty years old or older, not one except Joshua and Caleb died in the wilderness according to their words (verses 36-38).
(2) Words have power not because they have power, but because there is a God who hears them and fulfills them (Numbers 14:28). God hears the prayers of our believers (Philippians 4:6-7). God hears what others say (Malachi 3:16).
3. Those who remember and obey God's promises (verses 36, 39)
(1) The generations occupying the land of Canaan are Caleb and Joshua who remember and obey God's promises, and the younger generation under the age of 20. Caleb reassured the people and declared that he was able to conquer the land of Canaan, which God had given him (verse 36). Moses, the great leader of the Exodus, who did not fully reveal the holiness of God, was not allowed to enter the land of Canaan (verse 37). Because of this, Moses appointed Joshua as his successor (verse 38). Those who will enter the land of Canaan are Caleb, Joshua, and the children who were told they would be taken into captivity, and the children who could not distinguish between good and evil that day (verse 39).
(2) The new generation born in the wilderness are those who have learned their way of life and habits only under God's law and grace.
4. The greatest blessing that believers receive is that of Immanuel (verses 40-46).
(1) God instructed the disobedient Israel to reverse their march and return to the wilderness by way of the Red Sea (v. 40). The people of Israel now say that they have sinned and will go up to fight again (verse 41). Even if God is not with them, the people of Israel will ascend to their will and be defeated (verse 42).
(2) The saints stumble and lose because they do not obey God's Word (verses 43-44). Then they returned, wept and appealed to God, but God did not even hear their prayers (v. 45).
God is faithful to His promises, and He fulfills His promises at His appointed time. We must be obedient to God, remembering the fulfillment of that promise. Then God will bless you with Immanuel. If you are resentful or disobedient, you will stumble. Let's repent of negative words and ask for the blessing of Immanuel.