In Deut. 30 Moses set before the children of Israel life and death, and he charged them to choose life; our God is a fountain of life, and life is nothing else but the Triune God flowing out and being dispensed into us.
This last week in our crystallization-study of Deuteronomy we come to the topic of, Life and Blessing under the Government of God.
This book is on the respeaking of the law and it reveals Christ; Deuteronomy is a book concerning Christ.
We saw Christ as the all-inclusive good land, as the Prophet, as the One hanging on the cross, and especially as the reality of the word of God – He is the living word of God.
Christ is the living word of God who is supplying us and sustaining us on our whole journey toward the good land, and He supplies us for our entrance and possession of the good land.
Throughout the book of Deuteronomy we see Moses’ charge to the people of Israel that they would love God, obey His commandments, and receive the blessing.
If, by the Lord’s mercy, we live a life of loving God, obeying His word, and receiving His blessing, we will surely be ready and prepared to enter into the good land and possess it as our inheritance.
After Moses spoke so much concerning the law, the ordinances, and the statutes, at the end of Deuteronomy he gives a conclusion; he speaks concerning life and blessing under God’s government.
If we read Deut. 30:15-20 we will be impressed with the solemn charge of this aged father who was full of feelings concerning the people of God and who was faithful in all the house of God.
He has been with this people for forty years through thick and thin, and he repeated the law, trained the new generation as it was rising up, and repeated God’s words to them.
He realized that God wants to bless His people and He wants to bring them all the way into the good land to possess the land, thus fulfilling the promise He gave to their fathers.
He himself, Moses, was not allowed to enter into the good land, but the new generation was raised up, trained, equipped, and prepared, and now he puts before them life and death, blessing and cursing, and he charges them to choose life so that they may live in the land!
It is the same with us today: we have a choice before us, life and death, blessing and cursing, and we should choose life so that we and our seed may live! Amen, may we choose life!
Moses set before the Children of Israel Life and Death and Charged them to Choose Life
God was to bring His people into the good land, but for them to extend their days in this land, they were required to live under the government of God, doing all that God had commanded them through Moses (Deut. 30:15-20; 3:23-28; 4:1-24).
Our God is a loving God, a God of purpose, having an intention; He is also a God of government, for He is a righteous Judge.
As much as He desires to bring His people into the good land, these people had to go along with Him, obey His words and commandments, otherwise His righteousness will not be fulfilled.
So Moses spoke all these words to the people of Israel to encourage them that they would take heed, obey God, love Him, and be under His blessing, so that they would extend their days in the good land.
God wanted to bring His people in the good land not just for a short time – a few days or a few years – but for them to possess the land for their inheritance.
They are here to stay; but for them to extend their days, they had to take care of God’s words, His commandments.
So Moses set before the children of Israel life and death, and he charged them to choose life (Deut. 30:15-20).
He didn’t do this lightly; he called on heaven and earth to witness against the children of Israel that they would choose life.
It wasn’t just that Moses had a good heart for them and was burdened for them to help them, but he was solemnly calling heaven and earth to witness against them, that he set before them life and death, and he charged them to choose life.
This reminds us of Paul in the New Testament on a few occasions like that in Acts 20, when he called the elders in Ephesus, and reminded them how he was with them, serving the Lord as a slave, and not withholding any of the things that are profitable by not declaring them to the saints and by not teaching them publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance unto God and faith in our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:18-21).
He then committed them to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and to give them the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified (v. 32).
Moses didn’t just lay the word of God before the children of Israel, reminding them of the things that they passed through and of the commandments, ordinances, statutes, and judgements of God, and he concluded by saying, Please, choose life!
Heaven and earth are witnessing – choose life! It was the same with the apostle Paul, entreating the believers.
What a blessing it is for us to be in the church life today in the Lord’s recovery; we never regret even one day being here.
We are glad that we’re not in the world or in any denomination; we’re not the biggest group of people in Christianity today, neither are we the most successful outwardly, but we know that God’s presence is here, His speaking is here, and we have His word.
We need to heed to God’s word, choose life, choose blessing, and remain in the word of God and in His promises.
We also need to be reminded that to those who much is committed, much is asked from; there’s a big responsibility that God put upon us, for God has given to us so much, He has spoken to us so much, so He expects much from us.
May we choose life today, may we love God, obey His word, and receive the blessing!
Lord Jesus, we want to extend our days in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land by doing all that You have commanded us. Amen, Lord, we choose life and we choose blessing! Thank You for Your word, Your up-to-date speaking, and Your blessing upon us in the church life. Thank You for being with us and speaking to us day by day. Lord, we want to choose life, stay in life, and enjoy life! We want to love God, obey His word, and receive God’s blessing!
We Choose Life – Life is God Himself, the Triune God Dispensed into us and Living in us
When Moses told the people of Israel to choose life, he did not refer to the physical life (the “bios” life) or the psychological life (the “psuche” life) but God Himself as life, the life of God (the “zoe” life).
With God is the fountain of life (Psa. 36:9); God wants us to take Him as the fountain, the source, of our life and our being.
Our God is a fountain of life; He is the eternal, uncreated, divine life. We need to chose life by knowing God as life more than ever before!
We need to grow in life, arrive at maturity of life, and have the fullness of life, so that we may be a full-grown man.
If we don’t know life but just some enjoyment, some Bible knowledge, or some spiritual activities, then there will not be a full-grown man, and God’s eternal purpose concerning the creating man cannot be fulfilled.
The divine life may be considered the first and most basic attribute of God (Eph. 4:18; John 5:26; 1 John 5:11-12; Rom. 8:2).
The Father has life in Himself – the Father is life. He who has the Son has the life, for the Son is life.
The law of the Spirit of life indicates that the Spirit is life; Christ became a life-giving Spirit – the Spirit is life and gives life! So life is the Triune God Himself.
According to the divine and eternal nature of the life of God, God’s life is the unique life, and only the life of God can be counted as life (John 1:4; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6).
We may think that we have life, for we’re alive; our heart is beating, we are energetic, and we live, so we conclude that we have life.
However, if we don’t have the divine life, we are dead in God’s eyes, for the human life we have is here today but is gone tomorrow.
In God’s eyes all the so-called living people who don’t have the life of God are dead people; there are many “walking dead” on the earth today.
But praise the Lord, whoever believes into the Lord receives the divine life and has life! In Christ was life, and this life was the light of men; He came that we may have life and may have it abundantly!
The Lord Jesus Himself is the genuine life. Life is the content of God and the flowing out of God; God’s content is God’s being, and God’s flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life to us (Eph. 4:18; Rev. 22:1).
If we were to “open up God” and see what is inside Him, we will find life; life is the content of God, His very element. One day, however, God came to be a man; He was incarnated in the man Jesus Christ, lived a human life, died on the cross, was buried, and resurrected, and in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit.
Our Triune God is not just life – He is a flowing Triune God, for He flowed out of eternity, out of heaven to the earth and into man! And now as the Spirit He continues to flow out and impart Himself into man.
Life is the Triune God dispensed into us and living in us; we choose life by choosing to enjoy God’s dispensing of Himself as life into us. When we set our mind on our spirit, we enjoy life and peace.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are life, and the Triune God has come into us to flow Himself as life into us!
Lord Jesus, we choose life! We choose blessing! We come to You as the fountain of life so that You may be the source of our life and our being. Give us life and give us life abundantly! Only Your life is real and genuine life. Keep us in the flowing of life, in the impartation of God Himself as life into us! Amen, Lord, we set our mind on the spirit, where life is, so that our whole being may be filled with life! Hallelujah, our Triune God is flowing out as life from eternity into time, from heaven to the earth, and He flows in us as life to fill our whole being with life! Amen, Lord, we choose life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” pp. 517-518, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 12, Life and Blessing under the Government of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Deuteronomy 30:19, / Deuteronomy 30:19: / I call heaven and earth / To witness against you today: / That I have set before you life and death, / Blessing and curse; / Therefore choose life, / Therefore choose life, / That you and your seed, / You and your seed may live, / Choose life that you and your seed may live. (Scripture song)
– Christ has come to be life, the processed divine Trinity. / God the Father’s the source, a fountain emerging to be. / God the Son as a gushing up spring, / And the Spirit’s a river for life imparting / Oh how can this miracle be? The Triune God flowing in me! / Oh, I’ve got rivers of life flowing out of my innermost being! (Song on, Christ has come to be life)
– From my spirit within flows a fountain of life— / The Triune God flowing in me; / God the Father’s the source, Christ the Son is the course, / And the Spirit imparts life to me. / Lord, I treasure the sweet flow of life, / And my soul-life at last I lay down; / O Lord, deepen the pure flow of life; / At Your coming may life be my crown. (Hymns #1191)
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