The Verses I Believe Summarizes the Importance of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 31:25-27
25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 26 Take this Book of the Law, and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
This has me thinking about the whole time when Moses himself knew his time was near. Remember, Moses knew that he wasn't going to enter the Promised Land due to his act of unbelief in Meribah in Numbers 20. Moses knew that his time was running out and he had to give an important farewell discourse. Moses' repetition of many of the verses from Leviticus obviously tells you he's reminding the people. All the people who murmured from 20 years old and up were going to die in the heat of the desert. Now, a new generation was to come and apostasy was really very common. Moses was sending his final message to teach the new generation to follow God's teachings.
In fact, Moses gave this serious command unto the children of Israel to teach the Law of the LORD to their children:
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deuteronomy 11:18-22
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
I could imagine that they were required to take down notes. Consider the fact that Moses told them to write them down and teach them to their children. After so many chapters later, Moses brings the Book of the Law (which was written in the stone tablets) to be placed at the side of Ark of the Covenant. Moses calls it a witness against the children fo Israel knowing that they would eventually still rebel after his death. Moses saw the rebellions time and time again from Exodus to Deuteronomy. The rebellions went from murmurings to actual serious mutinies such as Korah's rebellion. Did the encounter of Korah and his men falling into Hell alive squash any future rebellion? Unfortunately not and that's why Moses knew the importance of the Book of the Law.
Whether we like to admit it or not but the Book of the Law is really a witness against us. Romans 3:10-19 reveals that all have sinned. Romans 3:19 summarizes the sorry state of man in Romans 3 as all are guilty before God by the Law. There is none righteous. Who hasn't been witnessed against by the Book of the Law? None! That's why Jesus the Son of God as man fulfilled the Law so He could completely pay for the penalty of our sins. The Law teaches us right and wrong and to set society in order. More importantly, the Law points us to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom grace to fulfill the Law (Romans 3:31) came from. That's why I don't believe it's possible to be saved and hate God's Law at the same time.
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