You will get God angry says Moses, and you will die. But Israel will not be destroyed.

Deuteronomy Chapter 4: Part 4: Moses foretells Israel’s difficult future.

Deuteronomy 4:25-31 -- The Passage and Some Thoughts

In verses 25 and 26 Moses tell the sons of Israel that by the time they become grandfathers, they will act corruptly, and make a graven image or idol to worship and God will be so provoked to anger. That would be in the future, but in the present, he wants them, as well as heaven and earth, to witness today that when that happens, they will soon thereafter die; they will be utterly destroyed.

David Guzik says this reference to heaven and earth was like saying, “Creation itself would testify against an idol-worshipping Israel.”

What a message to give a people – a people who know that you talk with God. Or was this so far away that it didn’t faze them at all? When we are warned about what God will do to the wicked, does it faze us, does it bother us, or is it too far away to worry about it right now – after all, we have a life to live.

In verses 27 to 28, he continues his predictions of what will happen to them:
The Lord will scatter them.
They will be few in number in any nation that God drives them to.
There they eventually will serve gods (small g), made by man, out of wood and stone; gods that don’t see them, nor hear them, nor eat, nor smell. Guzik says, “If Israel wanted idols; God would put them in the middle of a land where there were idols galore.” When we disobey God by wanting something we should not have, He often gives it to us – at our own peril.

And all these things have happened to the sons of Israel – both in the rest of the Old Testament (some 550 years later at the time of the Babylonian exile of Judah) but in many ways right up to 1947 when they were finally recognized as a nation by most, but still hated by so many.  Why even today, as I write this, one store owner in Toronto had posted that “Zionists are not welcomed here”. You can read all about it and see the video at Foodbenders, Toronto. In fact, anti-Semitism continues to grow again all over the world.

This is very sad for us Christians who know how much God loves the Jewish People and the plan that He has for them. However, others reading the scriptures, even these here today, could easily say, “Well, they deserve it -- I mean, after all, the Bible says they will ‘serve other gods’ again.  Well, this is what happens when you serve other gods. Here’s my take on this: I don’t think that my foolishness before God allows you to treat me in a way where you take on punishing me on behalf of God.  Enough said on that here.

Chuck Smith has an interesting take on all this. First, he calls Moses’ foretelling “prophesy”. And we could agree with that, as we know that Moses almost always spoke after he consulted with God.

Secondly, Smith says we need to marvel at the fact that when the Israelites were scattered and left without a homeland, they remained an ethnic group, if not a nation. That is amazing because no other group has been able to do that.

Then in verses 29 to 30, he describes and foretells what the Israelites will do at that point when they come to their senses.
They will seek God.  (I think we all eventually will seek God. I know I do when I’ve sinned.)
They will find Him if they search with all their hearts and all their souls. (And we do.)

These things will happen in the latter days after they have once again been in distress.
Then they will return to the Lord their God and listen to His voice. (What he does not tell them, and what we don’t know when it comes to our own lives is when exactly will be our “latter days”.  And maybe that’s the whole point of it. Maybe we’re supposed to seek God, find Him, and stay close to Him right now.)

Robert Jamieson wisely suggests that these latter days may indeed mean:

“. . . either towards the destined close of their captivities, when they evinced a returning spirit of repentance and faith or in the age of Messiah, which is commonly called ‘the latter days,’ and when the scattered tribes of Israel shall be converted to the Gospel of Christ. The occurrence of this auspicious event will be the most illustrious proof of the truth of the promise made in Deu 4:31.”

Then in verse 31, Moses tells us what the Hero of the story (the Hero of every story in the Bible – God Himself) will do and why.
He starts off with the need for them to know that their God is a compassionate God.
He will not fail you.
He will not destroy you.
He will not forget the covenant He had made with their fathers.

Can you imagine being the sons of Israel about to enter the Promised Land and told that in just two generations you will have failed miserably, and you will be back at square one – again. How defeating. How honest.

Yet how wonderful to hear from Moses what the end of the story for the children of Israel will look like.

This is without a doubt, another jam-packed little passage in this Old Testament book.

Wrap-up

Check out this passage in regard to your own life right now. And I’m asking myself these same questions: (my personal answers in brackets)
1. Have you forgotten God recently or at some point in your life?  (Yes.)
2. Have you found something else to worship? (Yes.)
3. Have you realized you made God angry in doing so?  (Yes.)
4.
Did God, in a sense scatter you? (Yes. In my case, He left me with an avenue of service for a long time.)
5. Did you feel very alone because of it all? (Yes.)
6. Did you become a servant to something or someone else?  (Yes; the devil himself and the people he worked through.)
7. Did you seek God again? (Yes.)
8. Did you find Him because you searched with all your heart and all your soul?  (Yes.)

9. Do you realize that your “latter day” could be any day now?  (Yes.)
10. Do you believe your God is a compassionate God?  (Yes.)

11. Has your God ever failed you?  (No.)

12. Do you believe your God has not, nor will He, utterly destroy you?  (Yes, because He loves me; and because He will not forget His Old Covenant with Abraham and His New Covenant through Jesus Christ.)

This morning our pastor preached on Enjoying God (part one of a ten-part series) and his key passage was Ephesians 1:3-6. The particular part of that passage that I enjoyed the most was the last two words of verse 4 and all of verse 5: “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”

God had His eyes on the children of Israel through all their sinning and falling away to this day and forever. Moses tells us that. The Apostle Paul tells us that God has His eyes on His sons and daughters that have been adopted by Him now and forever. Now that’s cause for rejoicing. Even through these days of the Covid.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.