Spiritual inertia: How Messiah maintains momentum in our walk with God (Deuteronomy 9–10)

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Topics in this recorded study

• 00:00:33 – Deuteronomy’s structure and the First Commandment
• 00:05:14 – Clarifying the First Commandment and its implications
• 00:07:30 – Focusing on Deuteronomy 9-10
• 00:09:13 – Role of the Shabbat and the Exodus account
• 00:14:04 – Importance of acting as the People of the LORD
• 00:33:13 – Role of promises and righteousness
• 00:37:11 – The Adversary’s tactics and the need for spiritual protection
• 00:39:52 – Role of the Bible and “spiritual inertia”
• 00:44:48 – Messiah: The Hope and Glory of Israel

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל Shema Israel
(“Hear, O Israel”)

Deut. 5:1; 6:4; 9:1; 20:3; 27:9

Those opening words of the Shema (Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13–21; Num. 15:37–41) are as true for believers today in the Hope of Israel, Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) as they were for the the second generation post-Exodus who first heard them. Those words from the Torah reading עקב Ekev/Eykev (“because,” Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25) call Israel to not only listen but also obey as the freed people of Adonai prepare to “cross over” into the Promised Land.

Yet, the Almighty warns reborn Israel not to boast in their own righteousness, for it is His promises, not their merit, that grant them the Land. Deuteronomy 9 and 10 reveal the tension between self-righteousness and fearing — revering — the Creator. Like Abram called to “cross over” from Mesopotamia to the Promised Land, Israel must leave behind past beliefs and trust God’s words alone as they “cross over” back into the Promised Land.

This pattern continues for believers today. We are saved — Heaven declares us a tzadiq (righteous one) — by אָמַן aman (trust, faith) in God’s promises, not our own works. The “Hear, O Israel” refrain echoes through Scripture, reminding us to listen and obey the one true God, rather than our own desires (aka “the flesh”).

5 ways to cultivate a heart of humble reverence

Here are a few ways we can apply the lessons from Deuteronomy 9–10 on fearing God and not boasting in our own righteousness to our daily lives:

1. Maintain a posture of humility and reverence towards God. Recognize that any righteousness or goodness in us comes from Him, not our own merits.
2. Be cautious about taking pride in our spiritual achievements or good deeds. Remember that we are saved by God’s promises, not our own works, in which we could boast.
3. When facing challenges or temptations, resist the urge to rely solely on our own strength or wisdom. Instead, seek God’s guidance and trust in His provision.
4. Guard against the tendency to judge others or feel superior based on our perceived spiritual maturity. We are all equally dependent on God’s grace.
5. Regularly examine our hearts and motives, looking for any traces of self-righteousness or a desire to boast. Repent and refocus on glorifying God rather than ourselves.
6. Cultivate a deep reverence and awe for God, recognizing His power, holiness, and sovereignty over all creation. This fear of Adonai should shape our attitudes and actions.

Trusting God’s Reliability Over Human Promises

When Yeshua spoke to the people in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, He was calling out how the popular interpretation of the Torah had lead the people astray. Yeshua called His students to live out the 10 Commandments, as “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

For example, when he was arguing with the Pharisees about traditional hand washing before meals, He was warning them to be careful to not blur the lines between traditions that may be beneficial in one’s walk but are not to be followed at the expense of the literal words of God.

God is the one who liberated them from Egypt so He is to be the only deity who deserved their love and loyalty. God is not pulling a power trip on His people. He is reminding them that He was the one who humbled a literal superpower on their behalf, which is someone no other deity has ever done for their followers. The hearts of the people of Israel should never be divided or pulled in any direction away from Him.

The Israelite’s habitual inclination towards ecumenicalism and syncretism was an impulse of the flesh, not of the spirit.

Fearing the Lord: The Antidote to Self-Righteousness

The giving of the manna was a teaching tool God used to reinforce the lesson of giving reference and preference to the Shabbat. It was introduced to them on the mountain, and ever day that they received their daily bread was a reminder that the One who brought them out of Egypt wanted to be with them everyday but He wanted to be with them in a special day on the Shabbat.

God told the Israelites that not only the people were to rest on the Shabbat, the slaves and servants under their control were also to be granted a taste of freedom on Shabbat.

““Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,” (Deuteronomy 9:1 NAS95)

The phrase “Hear O’ Israel” which is most famously recited in the Shema is an often repeated refrain in the book of Deuteronomy.

• “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances” (Dt. 5:1)
• “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Dt. 6:4)
• “Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before, them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” (Dt. 20:3-4)
• “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the LORD your God. “You shall therefore obey the LORD your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.” (Dt. 27:9-10)

The time of the nations is up, their wickedness had reached its full so God is evicting them from the Promised Land and establishing His people there instead.

This was the time for the people of Israel not to speak to God but listen to Him. God is making them into a great nation and He expects them to act like a separate nation. But we see in history that they repeatedly fell into the temptation to blend their culture with the culture of the nation around them and rather than being separate from the nations, they eventually became almost completely indistinguishable from them.

God gave us the Torah as a mirror so we can see ourselves for what we are and how we are falling short of becoming a reflection and representation of Messiah. When we look at the law and we should see ourselves. The Torah is supposed to be a mirror, a wake up call of our shortcomings. We can only resolve our shortcomings if we can clearly see them.

Crossing over: Leaving behind our past beliefs

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him;” (Genesis 12:1-4 NAS95)

God called Avraham to “cross over” from the Euphrates river to a Promised Land. The Hebrew word for “crossing over” is ʿōḇēr, and the
root verb of this word is ibri, which is translated in our English bibles as “Hebrew.” How bizarre that is, that it is almost the same, like we have in our English word over sounds identical to the Hebrew word ibri?

Over: “Old English ofer, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch over and German über, from an Indo-European word (originally a comparative of the element represented by -ove in above) which is also the base of Latin super and Greek huper.” (Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford University Press, 2010, 2023.)

When you look at the where we get our English word over from, and its derivations coming from Old English and Germanic, and basically it means to be over and above something. So yes, Avraham went over and above to cross over the river. What God asked of Avraham was not easy, but often times, making the right decision is not the easy decision.

The punch line is that Adonai was the one who lead Abraham to cross over the river Euphrates from his home in Ur of the Chaldeans to take possession of the Promised Land. Adonai would be the ultimate Hebrew of the Jordan to clean out the enemies of the returning Hebrews.

God is the One who is the one crossing over to subjugate the giants. He goes ahead of them to subdue His enemies so the people can enter the land and take it.

The Promised Land was not blessed because the people of Israel were so wonderful and righteous but because God is the wonderful One, the righteous One. The promise of God to Abraham is the merit on which their inheritance is based. God didn’t find Abraham already in the Promised Land to give him the deed to the land, but God plucked him out from a far away land to the new land.

“After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”” (Genesis 15:1 NAS95)

Just as Abraham left his past completely behind to follow God, the Israelites were called to do the same, to leave their past in Egypt behind. Abraham trusted God completely that He would give his heirs the Promised Land. God does not overpromise and never deliver. God does not promise something with the intent of never following through. This is how human beings act, but this is not how God acts. The promises we have from God are iron clad. He will do whatever He says He will do.

This is a point the Apostle Paul makes repeatedly in Galatians and Romans that Heaven grants righteousness to those who stand upon the Glorying the Hope of Israel, which is the Messiah.

Heaven doesn’t take much stock in our so-called great deeds. We can’t create something out of nothing. We are part of the creation and there is no way we can bind God’s power.

Agnosticism: The illusion of neutrality in spiritual matters

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” People who pretend to not know what the truth is and pretending to keep all options open, but they really do which side is right and wrong but they are deceiving themselves and others that they are simply undecided. The act of not making a decision is still a choice in itself.

Purposefully repressing the knowledge of God is part of the spirit of this world. Apathy and entropy are the natural way of things. It takes a concerted effort to push and nudge things in the right direction.

“It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.” (Deuteronomy 9:5-6 NAS95)

Moses told the people of Israel that one day, the Messiah would come and we, who are their spiritual descendants, hope in the Messiah and Him alone to remove our sins, transgression and iniquities, not because we are such perfect people, but because we hope in the Glory of Israel. We can achieve many worldly accolades but those will be forgotten in time. What remains is God’s promise to make a new heavens and a new earth and that He will restore us to life with new bodies. We don’t only hope in the resurrection but we can count on it.

This concludes Moses’ commentary on the first commandment that Adonai is the Lord our God who took us out of the house of bondage and because of that, we should have no other gods before Him. Why? Because none of the demons and false spirits on earth can make promises and also bring them to completion.

Summary: Tammy