Remember God's Mercy

The new tablets showed that God’s mercy was greater than Israel’s rebellion.

Deuteronomy 10:1-5 "At that time the LORD said to me, 'Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. Also make a wooden Ark-a sacred chest to store them in. Come up to me on the mountain, 2 and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the Ark.' 

3 "So I made an Ark of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first two. Then I went up the mountain with the tablets in my hand. 4 Once again the LORD wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets and gave them to me. They were the same words the LORD had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the day you were assembled at the foot of the mountain. 

5 Then I turned and came down the mountain and placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, which I had made, just as the LORD commanded me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark."

In my recent post we have seen that Moses is preparing God's people for life without his leadership after they cross the river to the Promised Land. The message that Moses has for them in Deuteronomy chapters 6-11 is a call to remember your history with God so that they can possibly learn from it. 

In my previous post, Moses forces them to look at their shameful and rebellious past, perhaps remembering how quickly they turned away from God will make them realize how easy it is to do and make them far less likely to rebel in the future. It is a difficult message to receive because their short history as God’s people is already filled with failure.

Their miraculous encounters with God should have produced greater faith, but spiritual growth is slow. Even the greatest evidence of God’s love does not easily overcome our tendency toward unbelief, pride, and rebellion.

When Israel left Egypt, all they knew was God had promised them an amazing land filled with abundant resources. But they did not know the full route or understand all that God intended to accomplish before they entered the land. God had revealed himself in Egypt but that was just the beginning, in the wilderness he would continue to teach them.

Their journey is similar to Abraham’s journey. Abraham also left a pagan world when God called him toward Canaan. He had to learn that the Lord alone is God, had to learn to trust, worship, and obey. Abraham experienced failure and mercy, just as Israel would.

Abraham had many lessons to learn before he received the promised son, and Israel had much to learn before it received the Promised Land. Both Abraham and the nation that came from him remind us that no matter how hard we try, none of us trusts and obeys God perfectly.

Deuteronomy 10 opens by reminding Israel of one of the clearest examples of their rebellion and their need for mercy. 

God had already revealed himself in amazing ways through the ten plagues while they were in Egypt, he revealed himself in their amazing exit, and in their safe Red Sea crossing.

God continued to reveal himself by supplying daily food and water, a miraculous military win and then he brought them to Sinai where they would experience God in a most unique way.

After all of that revelation from God and their commitment to "do everything the LORD has commanded." (Exodus 19:8)

Israel Broke the Covenant, Moses Broke The Tablets

Yet while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments directly from God on the first set of stone tablets, the very same people demanded that Aaron make an idol for them.

Israel had broken the covenant almost as soon as they had agreed to it. Moses shattered the first tablets as a visible picture of what Israel had done. The golden calf made Israel’s rebellion visible, and the broken tablets showed what that rebellion had done to Israel’s covenant relationship with God.

By every human measure, Israel, like Abraham, had forfeited its right to receive God’s promise.

God Gave New Tablets, Same Commandments

Moses reminds God’s people that their sin had not canceled God’s commitment to them. Because of His compassionate love and mercy, He would write the same words again.

The first tablets came from God with His commands already inscribed on them. But after Israel’s rebellion, Moses had to chisel out the second tablets, which God would use to write the same commands all over again.

Think about the fact that Moses had to make the second tablets and then climb the mountain carrying those heavy stones. He was not a young man when he had to do this.

New Tablets, New Reminder

God was merciful to write the same commands again instead of immediately judging His people. The people would look at the commandments on the tablets and be reminded of God’s commands, but the fact that these are replacement tablets should remind them of their need for mercy.

When Moses returned to the mountain of God with the new tablets, God made it clear why there would be a second set:

Exodus 34:6 “The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, ‘Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.’”

The new tablets proved that God had not abandoned His people. They reminded Israel that God is holy and that His commands do not change, but they also reminded them that His mercy had allowed rebellious people to remain His people.

God’s people then and now struggle with sin every day. Our ability to trust and obey will never be enough to remove our need for mercy. Thankfully, our God is the God of compassion and mercy, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 

God's people then and now would have a struggle with sin daily, our ability to trust and obey will never be enough to avoid the need for mercy. Thankfully our God is the God of compassion and mercy that cannot be found in any other "god."

New Reminder, Better Proof

We hold the greatest proof that God's mercy is far greater than our sin. Even greater than the second set of stone tablets, we have the old rugged cross as our ultimate proof of His grace.

The cross shows us the true weight of our sin and the unwavering holiness of God. Yet at the exact same time, it puts His infinite love and mercy on full display. Jesus bore the judgment we rightly deserved so that rebellious hearts could be forgiven, restored, and welcomed home to God.

Thank You, Lord, for this new covenant that displays your amazing mercy to your rebellious people.

The Blessing Is The Lord's

Will God keep his promise after 40 years of grumbling and disobedience?

Numbers 22:3-5 And when the people of Moab saw how many Israelites there were, they were terrified. 4 The king of Moab said to the elders of Midian, "This mob will devour everything in sight, like an ox devours grass in the field!"

So Balak, king of Moab, 5 sent messengers to call Balaam son of Beor, who was living in his native land of Pethor near the Euphrates River. His message said: "Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and are threatening me.

After wondering around in the wilderness for decades, God's people are approaching the Promised Land again, but this time it is the grown children of the previous generation that God said would not enter. The first generation refused to trust God but the second generation seems to be doing better as God has given them success in battle against their enemies because they put their faith in his ability.

But their success brought about a new problem, the nations fear God's people and will do anything to protect themselves even when Israel didn't threaten any violence against them. As they approach the Promised Land the attacks begin with King Sihon, this win for Israel gave the Moabites their independence from King Sihon but instead of being thankful King Balak and his people were fearful that Israel would be their new captors.

Balak didn't know that God already told Israel not to attack Moab, his unfounded fear reminds me of Pharaoh's fear of God's people while they were living under his reign in Egypt. (Exodus 1:7-10) Satan used that unjustified fear to try to get rid of God's people once and he is about to use fear again to get rid of the threat that God's people would have a Messiah that would be the end of him.

The Ways Of God

The only way to defeat God's people is to reverse the blessing that God gave to Abraham and his descendants. But God has already confirmed the blessing with Abraham, Isaac and again with Jacob seven times and then he reconfirmed it again with his people at Mount Sinai so how could there be any doubt?

But there will always be doubt because the blessing is so amazing and God's people are so undeserving. This is the way we think today, shouldn't we have to do something? How could it be a gift that can never be taken away? How could such a blessing come to such a faithless and disobedient people without some strings attached? 

Is God Really For Them?

Exodus 19:5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.

Didn't God say that if they obeyed him then they will be blessed? Perhaps Satan is hoping that God will take the promise back after the way God's people have behaved for the past 40 years in the wilderness. 

The covenant God made with Moses had an obedience clause (Exodus 19:1-6)

Just before the law was given at Mount Sinai, including the Ten Commandments, God promised that he would treat his people in accordance with the way that they treat him. In the covenant God made with the people through Moses it was clear that they would be blessed for following the rules and disobedience would bring punishment which could mean that he would hold back his blessings.

So this covenant was conditional, maybe Satan was hoping that this covenant was a good sign for him but the promise made to Abraham didn't have any of these terms.

The covenant God made with Abraham was unconditional Genesis 12:1-3)

God's people have disobeyed and complained about God so much that maybe Satan is counting on God's holy justice and wrath to overrule his mercy and grace. But when God made this covenant he knew how the people would be, he knew his people would fail to live up to his standards. 

God gave the covenant anyway even though the laws that he was going to give them in the future at Mount Sinai wouldn't be followed. God would hold back some blessings but their disobedience would not cancel out the blessing of the Promised Land.

Is The Blessing Still True

Moses reminds Israel multiple times that the Promised Land is due to God’s oath to the patriarchs, not because Israel did anything to deserve it. None of their bad behavior could cancel the promises to Abraham but they could delay the fulfillment of the promise.(Deuteronomy 6:10, 9:5, 29:13, 30:20)

It will seem like God has good reason to cancel it and Satan will make sure to accuse them but thankfully what Satan says about them and what they think about themselves is not what matters. 

The most important question for any of us is what does God think about us?

Excerpts from "John Darby Synopsis of the Bible" explains it so well:

It is of the highest interest to see the special character of this prophecy. It is God who, of His own will, interferes to take the part of His people against the enemy, and that even without their knowing it, or asking for it.

The people know nothing about it; they are perhaps still murmuring in their tents against the ways of God with them. It is God declaring His own thoughts and confounding the malice of Satan.

He can see no iniquity in the redeemed people. How could He see any in those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb?

It is amazing that God's people were so unfaithful, Satan comes along to point out this fact by accusing them like he accused Job, but once again God wins the debate with Satan in the life of his children in the wilderness wonderings just as he did before in the life of Job.

New Testament Fulfillment & Final Confirmation

The New Testament shows us that God's unconditional promise is partially fulfilled with the arrival of Jesus. (Luke 1:68–73, Hebrews 6:13–18) And they knew that it was fulfilled in spite of their imperfections. Just look at what Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 3:17-18 This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. 18 For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God's promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.

The promise was made to bless us even though God knew the law that was given later would not be fulfilled. Man hasn't changed, we are all guilty still today for not fulfilling the law but thankfully God is also the same today and he will complete the fulfillment of his blessing despite what we do.

Galatians 2:16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.

I must strive to obey God's rules even though I will never come anywhere close to the command to be holy as he is holy but thankfully my performance doesn't terminate the promise. (Matthew 5:48 // 1 Peter 1:16)

God could not and would not revoke his blessing to his people no matter how bad they have been on the short trip across the wilderness that turned into 40 years. The wilderness experience shows me that God is willing to give grace and mercy that cannot be lost.

Balaam could not prophecy or give a curse against God's people way back in the Old Testament and despite his efforts God is still for his people and he will see them through to the Promised Land.

The great promise of eternity with him is still good!