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Deuteronomy 31:1-8 - Just A Bit Outside

  • Writer: Chad Werkhoven
    Chad Werkhoven
  • 3 hours ago
  • 4 min read

You'll likely suffer consequences from your sin, but the LORD remains faithful to you!


Foreground shows a sign with directions to various locations. Background features a vast, arid landscape with sparse trees under a clear sky.
This is the view that Moses had of the Promised Land, which the LORD prohibited him from entering due to his sin. But the LORD remained faithful to Moses, and He does to you as well. Photo: inhisfootstepsholyland2014.wordpress.com/


Deuteronomy 31:1–8 (NIV)


CONTEXT: Last week we read about the failures of Biblical saints like Abram, David, Peter, and also Moses, who in a fit of rage struck a rock (twice!) to provide water for his thirsty people rather than speak to it as the LORD commanded. This week, we'll be seeing how it is that the LORD remained faithful to these sinners, and so be reminded that He remains faithful to sinners like us as well.


31 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. 4 And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”


7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Canons of Dordt

Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints


Article 5: The Effects of Serious Sins


  1. By such monstrous sins [that saints often fall into], however, they 

    1. greatly offend God, 

    2. deserve the sentence of death, 

    3. grieve the Holy Spirit, 

    4. suspend the exercise of faith, 

    5. severely wound the conscience, 

    6. and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time—

  2. until, 

    1. after they have returned to the right way by genuine repentance, 

    2. God’s fatherly face again shines upon them.


Summary


Imagine what it was like for Moses, having finally arrived at the edge of the Promised Land, to which he led a stubborn and obstinate people over the course of many decades. Their journey had been so long that the generation who began it had given way to the generation that would complete it. Moses had climbed the mountain, overlooked the Jordan river and into the land flowing with milk and honey that he'd longed for. But he could not enter.


Moses first blamed it on his age for no longer being able to lead, for he was a hundred and twenty years old. We often equate Moses with Charlton Hesston - bold, full of strength and confidence - but the reality is that he probably wasn't, especially at 120 years old.


The Bible doesn't comment here about how Moses' voice sounded as he spoke these next words, giving the real reason that he would not be crossing the Jordan with his people, but I'll bet it was soft and choked with emotion: The LORD has said to me, 'You will not cross the Jordan.'


As he announces this to the people, Moses gives no commentary or back story as to why the LORD had made this prohibition. He doesn’t deflect the blame (as he’d done once before, back in Deut. 3:26), but nor does he completely confess his sin. But he really doesn’t need to, for his stoic acceptance of the LORD’s sentence says enough.



  Dig Deeper  


We’re not here today to critique Moses’ confession. We’re here to notice what Moses noticed: that the LORD will be faithful to His people despite our continual failure to keep His commands.


Moses seeks to instill this confidence in the people - people who would need to go into a new land, now with a new leader for the first time in their lifetime. But it wouldn’t be Joshua who would lead the people in, rather The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of them. The LORD would destroy and deliver so that His people could take possession of the land. Joshua would follow after the LORD.


Moses was buried not far from the mountain upon which he’d gotten his glimpse into the Promised Land. In that sense, he suffered the consequence of his sin. But Moses accepted his lot and died in peace because he knew the LORD would be faithful to him as well. As it says in the famous Hall of Faith chapter, he persevered because he saw him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27). Moses wouldn’t physically cross the Jordan, but he knew he’d do so spiritually.


You, just like Moses and every other saint who’s gone before you, have fallen and continue to fall into sin. But you, like Moses, can have confidence that God’s grace is stronger than you. Remember that you can be strong and courageous, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.



  • ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who Himself has crossed the river ahead of us;

  • ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would be strong and courageous in the confidence won for you in Christ;

  • ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Read the New Testament in a year! Today: John 10

 
 
 

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