Here’s a key point in Moshe’s talk with the second generation of Israel freed from Mitzraim (Egypt), as recorded in עקב Ekev/Eikev (“consequence,” Deut. 7:12-11:25): Teach the next generation how to be righteous, or they will slip into sin and corruption.
Discover how this is fundamental to Heaven’s mission through Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), that the righteousness of One can save the many who have suffered since the sin of one, Adam.
This week’s Torah reading, ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deut. 3:23-7:11), includes the beginning of Moshe’s elucidation. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell to the people of Israel.
This section in particular focuses on how to love God, what is idolatry and how to avoid idolatry. We don’t make statues and bow to them but we still struggle with idolatry in our own day. How? We worship our stuff, the works of men. We create a lot of things, most of them don’t honor to God.
Moses has seen the people backslide over and over again for the past 40 years and he knows human nature enough that this pattern is not going to end. He knows they will do things they should not do, because they are humans and they do what humans do. This book offers both hope and warning.
The primary lesson of the book of Jonah is this: God is willing to hear to remove sin, even for people you don’t like. God doesn’t want to kill anyone: Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever. God wants all these groups to be saved. When Yeshua (Jesus) said that the sign of His being the Messiah was the “sign of Jonah” (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Luke 11:29), it was not only about the three days in the fish representing his three days in the grave. The entire book of Jonah is the “sign of Jonah” Yeshua references.
Once in a while it’s good to get back to basics. The “gospel” of the Kingdom of God is more than the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah. Shimini Atzeret, or the Eighth Day (Isaiah 52), is a celebration of salvation, peace, restoration and the reign of God.
Question: What is the relationship between law and grace? Some say verse such as the following suggest grace abolishes the Law, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).