New Testament Explanation of Deuteronomy 30: Part 6

Jan 4

Deuteronomy 30:16-20 in the Light of the New Testament

DEUTERONOMY 30:16

Deuteronomy 30:16 says, “For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.”

This verse continues the New Testament teaching that the right interpretation of Deuteronomy chapter 30 is that the entire chapter is New Testament truth. That is, it is New Testament truth once Christ comes and fulfills the Law.

The commandment is the same as the foundational commands of the New Testament, to love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself.

Also, the righteousness gained by obedience is the righteousness of the Law.

Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,”

Because of our sinful flesh, the Law of Moses had no power to make us to be righteous people.

But the Son of God obeyed the entire law. And, by obeying it, He fulfilled the entire law.

And He is still fulfilling it in us (Romans 8:4).

Romans 8:4 says, “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” ESV

We thus must still obey God’s Law.

We obey His Law as our Lord Jesus interpreted and fulfilled it. By that, we do not offer animal sacrifices as the Law required.

We believe that our Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

We view the Law as the “fulfilled Law,” so that a righteousness exists which God imputes and imparts to us in our conversion to Christ.

God also imparts that righteousness of the fulfilled Law to us who conduct our lives by His Spirit (Romans 8:4).

Romans 8:4 says, “so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law proves His point that His commandments are not heavy but light.

Not having the condemnation of the law hanging over our heads is a great blessing to God’s people. It makes obedience to Christ an easier thing

Because of the Holy Spirit living in us, He makes us holy people. Many of Paul’s epistles open by addressing the Christians as saints. A saint is a “holy one.”

And holy people love God and walk in His ways. God uses various means to make us holy by the Holy Spirit.

At our conversion, He changes our heart so that we have the nature to love God. He inspires in us an awe of God. He makes us to recognize Christ as the great Shepherd of the sheep.

Ezekiel 36:25 prophesies, “I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.”

God fulfills Ezekiel 36:25 in believers, turning us into saints (Colossians 1:2). He cleans us from the inside out.

Ezekiel 36:26 prophesies, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

In the new birth which every true Christian experiences, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. That is why we love and obey God.

Ezekiel 36:27 prophesies, “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.”

If you wonder why Christians who believe in their eternal salvation love God and walk in His laws, this is why. It is because God puts His Spirit in us and causes us to do it.

But He does not cause such holiness without using means to do it. He uses His word, prayer, obedience, fellowship, and His ordinances to bring that holiness to pass.

God teaches the new birth openly in the New Testament (John 3:3). He said that we are blind to the Kingdom of God unless we are born-again.

John 3:3 says, “Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Evidence that we have been born of God is in 1 John 2:29 as follows:

“If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him (1 John 2:29.

And 1 John 5:1 says, “… Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”

Further, 1 John 5:4 says, “…everyone born of God overcomes the world.”

And John 3:5 says, “…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”

John 3:6 says, “Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.”

John 1:13 further tells us that those who receive Christ are “born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.” So, the giving of the new birth is a miracle of God which He gives through the Gospel.

TABULAR VIEW OF THE POWERS OF THE NEW BIRTH

The power to believe that our Lord Jesus is the Messiah	1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
The power to overcome the world	1 John 5:4 “everyone born of God overcomes the world.”
The power to practice righteousness	1 John 3:29 “everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him”
The power to see the Kingdom of God	John 3:3 “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”
The power to enter the Kingdom of God	John 3:5 “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”
The power to be a spirit being	John 3:6 “Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit”
The power to love our brother in Christ	1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God”
The power to know God	1 John 4:7 “Everyone who …has been born of God …knows God.”
The power to grow by the word of God	1 Peter 2:2 “crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation”

Conclude that the only way to believe the truth, overcome the world, see the Kingdom of God, practice righteousness, enter the kingdom of God, know God, love your brother, be a spirit being, and grow to maturity is to be born-again in Christ.

It is not to be a Jew in a millennium overcoming the world by the power of the flesh. There is no power over sin in being a Jew.

Fulfilling Deuteronomy 30:16 is only possible in Christ through new birth in the Holy Spirit.

Here is a refresher: Deuteronomy 30:16 says, “For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.”

So, loving the LORD your God, walking in His ways, keeping His commandments, loving brothers in Christ, knowing God, and living eternal life is only possible in the powers of the new birth.

Deuteronomy 30:16 shows that God’s blessing comes to the Israelites after they have obeyed Him. Blessing comes to anyone and everyone from one Jew obeying the Law. That one Jew is the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is only one way of salvation (John 14:6).

John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

DEUTERONOMY 30:17

Deuteronomy 30:17 says, “But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,”

The history of Israel shows us that Israel did indeed worship gods other than Yahweh.

Since our Lord Jesus is the Yahweh of both Old and New Testaments, we must believe in the necessary worship of Jesus to avoid idolatry.

To reject Jesus as Messiah, as most Jews do today, is to commit the same sin of idolatry that Old Testament Jews committed. It is only another brand of worshipping false gods.

When we Christians do not obey God’s law and when we do not obey it as a lifestyle, then it proves that the Spirit of God does not reside within us and that we have not been born of God.

The warnings of the Book of 1 John not to fail to live life by the truth of Christ (1 John 1:6; 2:3-4), not to fail to love our brother (1 John 2:9-11) not to love the world above God (1 John 2:15-17), not to leave Jesus Christ to follow any antichrist beliefs instead of our Lord Jesus (1 John 2:18-19) and not to fail to persevere in Christ to the end (1 John 3:9-10), are fulfillments of Deuteronomy 30:17.

1 John 3:9-10 says, “Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”

The children of the devil practice sin. The children of God practice righteousness as a lifestyle.

According to 1 John, those who practice sin are not carnal Christians(1). They are those who do not have the fruits that we expect from a person whom God has begotten unto Himself.

It is not optional for us to obey or disobey God. We must do what He commands.

So, the first Epistle of John teaches the lifestyle that proves that we are Christians. God uses His word, obedience, the fear of God, awe of God, warnings against apostasy, the love of God, prayer, fellowship, commandments, and His two ordinances as tools to keep us in the faith.

Deuteronomy 30:17 warns New Testament believers not to abandon Christ. Proof of being born again is that the regenerate person lives a godly life. Responsibility to persevere in Christ is the duty of every Christian. Obeying the commandments of the Law, as interpreted by our Lord Jesus Christ is not our option, but our duty.

As David had a heart after God’s own heart, so the believer in Christ has that heart. And our heart affects how we live.

Deuteronomy 30:17 warns Christians against idolatry. Such warnings are mainline Christian truth.

God will keep us in the faith. But the Spirit of God will use those warnings to keep us from practicing idolatry and unrighteousness.

Some postulate that Jews in a millennium will fulfill Deuteronomy 30:17 by the power of the flesh.

Romans 8:7 says, “because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

Romans 8:8 says, “Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.”

So, how are Jews of a millennium who do not have new birth in Christ, who do not have the Holy Spirit of God, and who are hostile to God please God?

How can they obey Deuteronomy 30:17 without the Holy Spirit?

But Christians, in the power of the new birth in Christ can and do obey Deuteronomy 30:17. It requires three stages of salvation from sin to do it. But the result is purity in Heaven.

DEUTERONOMY 30:18

Deuteronomy 30:18 says, “I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The Israelites did not have that land for very long, only for a few centuries.

The history of Israel and Judah is one of failure to obey God. It is idolatry and all that goes with it.

But in Christ, Israel achieves her greatness (Hebrews 11:40).

Hebrews 11:40 says, “God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.”

That is, our Lord Jesus Christ makes the saints of Old Testament Israel, the saints of New Testament Israel, and the saints of the Gentile nations perfect by His blood. (2)

DEUTERONOMY 30:19

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,”

God swears, with all Heaven and earth as witnesses that He has warned Israel to obey Him to live.

And He likewise warns them that if they do not obey Him, they will die.

The main warning to the people of Judah is that they must be sure to accept Jesus their Messiah (John 3:36).

John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

DEUTERONOMY 30:20

Deuteronomy 30:20 says, “and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

In Deuteronomy 30:20 God emphasizes that Israel must love Yahweh, obey Him, and persevere in that love and obedience to prolong their earthly life in the land of promise.

If they do, He will prolong their life in the land [New Testament Heaven].

As discussed above, the land is prophetic and pictorial Heaven.

Yahweh swore to give the land which is pictorial Heaven to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by grace through faith (Genesis 15:6).

And by preaching the promises to the Patriarchs, God was preaching the Gospel to them (Galatians 3:8).

Thus, in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 there are two oaths of God.

And with those two oaths there are the same two kinds of promises (Hebrews 8:6). There is cursing for disobedience but blessing for obedience.

Hebrews 8:6 says, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.”

There is a good covenant. It is the legal covenant. The terms of the legal covenant are: “Obey and live.” Only One Person has or will ever live by successfully obeying this covenant.

God has rewarded only our Lord Jesus with life due to obedience.

This covenant is good, but man is sinful and cannot obey it.

The good covenant has good promises, which are, “You will live if you obey.”

The oath of Deuteronomy 30:19 is God’s guarantee of the curse and blessing of the covenant of works. God will prolong life eternally in the land for those who obey Him and never fail. If you fail in one point you are guilty of all (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10).

The oath of Deuteronomy 30:20 is that He swore to give the land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is to those who believe and trust Him.

But the Patriarchs never possessed the worldly land. They always owned its anti-type however, since the worldly land is a type of Heaven.

The warnings that God gives to Israel are to everyone. They are to unbelievers as well as to believers.

Seeing that the warnings are to unbelievers is easy. Seeing that they are to believers is difficult.

That is because believers have assurance of salvation. God guarantees that no one can pluck us out of His hand, not even we ourselves (John 10:29).

John 10:29 says, “My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

So, God guarantees that He will preserve His people forever. And we, His people believe that.

Our Father in Heaven accomplishes that preservation by giving us eternal life. And if it is everlasting life, we can never die spiritually.

True believers can never quit believing, obeying, and loving God.

But if we take that as a license to sin, we are mocking God.

From the viewpoint of God’s decree, He broke the Jewish branches off so that He could graft the Gentile branches in (Romans 11:19-20a).

Romans 11:19-20a says, “You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. 20That is correct:”

So, Paul affirms that, in God’s purposes He broke the Jewish branches off so He could graft the Gentile branches into the olive tree.

But the Apostle does not stop at Romans 11:20a. He continues in Romans 11:20b as follows:

“That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant but be afraid.”

So, if we quit believing in Christ, we have reason to fear.

Fearing God is not just respecting Him. It is also fearing to break His law.

In Romans chapter 11 the sin is that of high-mindedness or arrogance.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines arrogance as: “exaggerating or disposed to one’s own worth or importance. Showing an offensive attitude of superiority.”

So, the fear of God is not the fear of losing our salvation. It is fearing to do anything offensive to Him.

Believing in “once saved always saved” to the exclusion of the “fear of God” can lead to high-mindedness.

When Satan tempts us to sin, we have a choice to make. If we say, “Oh well, if I do it, it will not matter because God has justified me,” we are forgetting our responsibility to avoid anything of which God disapproves.

We must bring every one of our thoughts into obedience to Him (2 Corinthians 10:5).

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

And sanctification is not something that we should think is our option. It is our Christian duty to be holy. The divine side of it is that God predestined us to be holy (Ephesians 1:4-5).

But the human side of it is that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, lest we fail to be holy.

CONCLUSION

Every verse of Deuteronomy 30 finds its fulfillment in the New Testament.

This emphasizes the fact that the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 30:5 is by Christ and His Church. It is not in a millennium as dispensationalists believe.

Deuteronomy 30:5 is the most favored verse that Dispensationalists believe. But may we pray that God may give us a right interpretation of it.

We all must adopt the Acts 17:11 mentality.

Acts 17:11 says, “Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.”

May God help you to imitate the Bereans who eagerly examined the Scriptures every day to see if these posts are true.

If you are not a believer in Christ, perhaps these writings have helped you to convert to Him. We hope so!

NOTES:

(1) Paul’s use of the term “carnal” in 1 Corinthians 3:3 does not contradict 1 John 2:10. I do not believe that 1 Corinthians 3:3 contradicts 1 John 2:10. John says that “Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God.” He does not say that anyone who does not practice righteousness is a carnal Christian. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 Paul is not creating a 3rd order of people, as if it is 1) unsaved people, 2) Saved people, 3) Christians who are completely carnal. Rather, Paul says that they are fleshly and are acting like men [unsaved people]. Paul does not believe that the Corinthians are justified but not sanctified. In 1 Corinthians 6:9c-11 he says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Notice that Paul says that some of the Corinthians were, before their salvation, sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, greedy, drunkards, verbal abusers, swindlers etc. He tells them, not that carnal Christians will go to Heaven, but that such persons will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. It is only the modern Church that teaches that what they call “carnal Christians” will go to Heaven when they die. For this reason, many translate 1 Corinthians 3:3 as follows, “for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?” NASB Further, both John and Paul warn their people not to live carnal lives, because to do so is to prove that their readers would not be real Christians. John and Paul use warnings as tools to keep holy people holy. And holy people will heed the warnings, while carnal people will not heed them.

(2) It is important to clarify some millennium information at this point. 1. There are different kinds of pre-millennialists. Historic pre-mils do not make sharp distinctions between Israel and the Church. They believe that salvation is by grace through faith in the Old and in the New Testaments. They do not believe that Israel will reign supreme under Christ in a millennium. They do not believe that the millennium is necessarily a literal thousand-year period. They do not believe in animal sacrifices during the millennium. They simply hold that Revelation chapter 20 is an extension of the Church. 2. The Pre-Mils of which we speak in this writing are Dispensational Premillennialists. The belief of most of them is that God will preserve Israel through their law-keeping in the millennium. 3. For the sketch of the future that your present author believes is correct, please see https://www.williamrandolphpublishing.com/prophecy/new-testament-timelines

William "Bill" Randolph http://www.williamhrandolphpublishing.com