September 3, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let\u2019s seek this ancient way together as a church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this chapter Moses gives the Israelites instructions on keeping themselves holy as a people, keeping their camp holy, and keeping their conduct towards one another holy. Verse 14 tells us why this kind of holiness is necessary for the people of God: God Himself dwells and walks in the midst of His people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presence of God with His people is a major theme in the Scriptures as a whole: God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, dwelt among His people Israel, took on human form and dwelt among us in Christ, and now dwells both in and with His people in the Holy Spirit. The significance of God\u2019s holy presence being with His people cannot be overstated! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the New Testament, Paul picks up on this same call to holiness on the basis of the Lord\u2019s presence with His people, saying that believers, both as individuals and as a corporate body, are a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dwelling place for God\u2019s holy presence (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:19-22) Because God dwells with us and in us in all His holy splendor, we too must be holy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n