The Final Word

Have you read the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy? I have a couple of times. So, why look at it again? To study deeper, not just to read, after a visiting preacher mentioned this verse:

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 KJV)

The final verse in a chapter that leads in with a new covenant.  As the Pulpit Commentary reminds us that Deuteronomy 29:1 is a lead into a chapter wherein . . .

. . . is contained an address to the people by Moses, in which he appeals to them to enter anew into the covenant with the Lord, which had been before concluded at Horeb; denounces apostasy as what would lead certainly to their being rejected of God; assures them at the same time of God's readiness to restore them should they sincerely repent and return to him; and once more sets before them the blessing and the curse, and adjures them to choose the blessing.

It is an explanation that should have meaning for us today. A covenant is an agreement between two entities. Here it is between God and the nation-to-be of Israel. After giving some historical background, Moses states what God offers:

That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 29:12-13 KJV)

Moses also explains what will break the covenant – and mankind breaks it first, thus turning away from what God has promised. Then this might happen:

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: (Deuteronomy 29:18-19 KJV)

This absolutely applies to us today. We have turned away from the Lord our God. We have told ourselves that we’re at peace with where we are, doing what God has told us not to do and not doing what He has told us to do.

Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: (Deuteronomy 29:25 KJV)

No, we were not brought out of Egypt – we were bought out of sin through God’s plan defined in John 3:16. Why? That’s laid out in the final verse that begins this page. God has secrets. Secrets that unfold according to His plan. As Paul wrote:

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7-8 KJV)

Call it secrets or call it mysteries – there is a plan God set in motion and keeps to Himself. We see a glimpse in John’s Revelation, but God does have the final word. Prepared to hear it from Him?