Deuteronomy 17-20

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2017-20&version=NIV



Deuteronomy 18:15 “15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

In today’s readings, we have some tremendous truths to meditate on. I will briefly mention them below.

In chapter 17, verse 14 to 20, Moses lays out the moral principles, if you will, of the future kings of Israel. The king is to be one that the Lord chooses. The king must be an Israelite. He must not acquire great numbers of horses, take many wives, and accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

Look at verses 18 to 20 of chapter 17. He was to write down all the law on a scroll and he was to read it all the days of his life so that he would learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left.

How the history of Israel would have been changed for the better if its kings had obeyed verses 18 to 20!! If the Word of God was sufficient enough to enable the kings of Israel to govern the land properly, don’t we as Christians need to hold the Word of God equally as high and authoritative in our lives?

In chapter 18, verses 10 to 11, Moses tells the people that they should avoid sorcery, divination, witchcraft and the like. Why? Because when one is seeking these things he or she is basically placing their faith in them. They are replacing God in their lives. Today, our culture has a fascination with the occult. Vampire movies from the Twilight book series and reality TV shows like Ghost Hunters appear to be the rage. The Bible says we should stay away from this. This week, look at the media you consume, and see if some of it tends to the occult. Have you bought into the culture, with its fascination of the occult?

Lastly, in verse 15 of chapter 18, Moses writes of the great prophet who is to come. Moses writes that we must listen to him. This scripture is placed right where it needs to be. For in verses 20 to 22, Moses writes of what entails a false prophet.

The prophet in verse 15 is our Lord Jesus Christ, who of course is the true prophet.

Listen to what Jesus said about this:

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

(John 5:46)

And why must we believe in Him?

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

(John 5:24 – The Bridge’s class verse by the way.)

Soli Deo Gloria

Today’s post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.