Deuteronomy 27-30 Recap | OT Ep 25

In this episode, Austin is flying solo and he explores why theology matters, in the context of Deuteronomy Ch 27-30. Whether they realize it or not, everyone has their own theology...or "knowledge about God".  The discussion culminates in a reflection on the gospel and the redemptive work of Christ in relation to the curses outlined in the Old Testament.

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tSmSv3JOd-gCJS6VSFMtu-iv14NZ45_M/view?usp=sharing

Chapters

• 0:00 Theology Matters
• 12:07 The Gospel (Not Just a Glimpse)

Transcript

Ashley (00:05)

Hey everyone,

Ashley (00:06)

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Austin And Ashley (00:15)

Hey friends, thank you so much for joining us for episode 25.

Today's going to be a little bit different and then I will be flying solo. Listen, I am fully aware that anyone who listens to this podcast often listens mostly for Ashley. So I hope we can make do with just me today.

Today we're going to be covering chapters 27 through 30, and we're going to go over it a little differently than we normally do.

We're going to talk a little more theology than normal, but I want to set this up by first one over chapter 27.

In chapter 27, Moses tells the people that on the day they cross over the Jordan, they will need to take up large stones and cover them in plaster. And they're to write all the words of the law on those stones. After they've done that, the people are to go to Mount Ebal set these stones up.

They're building an altar using no cut stones tools on the stones.

and then they are to burn sacrifice and peace offerings to the Lord, and also eat and rejoice there. Moses tells the people that they are to write the law very plainly on the stones we mentioned before.

Moses then tells the Israelites that half the tribes need to go over to Mount Gerizim

to call out blessings. That'll make more sense in just a moment. And the other half needed to go over to Mount Ebal to call out the curses. Again, that'll make more sense soon. These two mountains, by the way, they faced one another.

Before the big list of things starts getting called out by all the people, the Levites call out a list of curses that are a little different than the big list that comes later.

The pattern is they say a certain action will make someone cursed and the people will say Amen. For example, in chapter 27 verse the Bible says, cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law and the people shall say Amen. So if you're unaware, Amen literally means so be it. So each time the people said Amen, they were agreeing with what God is calling cursed.

So, now that we've set that up, we are about to step into one of the most influential, yet least understood chapters in all of the Old Testament. Here's the first theology bit before we jump in.

You know guys, I want to say this here, theology matters.

I know there are a lot of folks who say things and they certainly mean well. They say things like, well, I don't need theology. I just need Jesus.

But even saying that is doing theology. The word theology is a two-part word we really get from Greek. The first part of the word is theo, meaning God, and the second part is ology, meaning knowledge or words about something.

So when you put that together, we're saying knowledge or words about God.

When we say, just need Jesus, it is because we know He is the main thing in the whole Bible, to which I say, Amen.

I say all that to say we all have theology. We all have things we know and believe about God. While good theology points to Christ and strengthens the church, bad theology hurts people. And I want to make a concession right here that no one, especially me, has perfect theology. We are all flawed and thankfully there's grace for that. But the point still stands.

Now it makes sense right about now for someone to ask, Austin, why are you talking so much about this here, like today? really terrible theology surrounding chapter 28 of Teuteronomy. And even though I think most of it is well-meaning, it can bring with it some really disastrous consequences.

I've heard it said that if we live a righteous life, we can avail ourselves of the blessings that are listed out in the first 14 verses of chapter 28.

Verses like verse 3, which says, blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. Or verse 7, the Lord will cause your enemies to rise up against you and to be defeated before you. They shall come out to you one way and flee in seven. Now to be sure, living according to the word of God and the gospel brings blessings. But we have to ask the question, is chapter 28 about us in 2025?

If it is, then what about the curses that make up two-thirds of the chapter? Do those apply to us when we fail and when sin?

What do we make about the fact that Jesus promised us and suffering if we followed Him in Matthew 10 verses 24 and as well as John 16 20 and John 16 33? Jesus even called those who suffered for His sake blessed in Matthew 5, 11, and 12.

Right here is the line, Right here you can see the old covenant separate from the new. The Israelites, the people who chapter 28 is really about, were in the old covenant. We who are in Christ are thankfully in the new covenant. We don't work for our blessings from God. Rather, we receive them as sons and daughters. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 says,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, him.

Guys, in Christ we have every spiritual blessing. Lean into that, friend. It's not wrong to work for things, to provide for your family. In fact, those are good and godly things. I'm making the case that you and I are blessed before we roll out of bed in the morning if we call on for salvation.

There is one more theological point I want to make before we end on our gospel glimpse, but I want to jump into the text now that we have our lens, you

So Deuteronomy chapter 28 starts out by saying, and if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

There, by the way, is our first major IF. God then tells Israel in verse 2, all of these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Moses then goes on to list out at least 11 more magnificent blessings, depending on how you count them.

But all of them are contingent on obedience. Also, did you notice how in verse two, he says that these blessings shall overtake you. That language is like a runner who is chasing down another God is telling them here that you won't get away from my blessings even if you try.

Now listen, that all sounds really great, doesn't it? And I want you to put a pin on that feeling you have here. going to call these covenant benefits.

meaning that if the Israelites obey the covenant, there's things that overtake them, good things, right?

Verse 15 starts almost identical to how verse 1 does, but it says, but if you will not obey, and then it goes on to say, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

So notice, there is that same overtaking language here.

The next few verses serve to reverse the blessings from first few verses.

Verse 16 is, cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field. Verse 17 is, shall be your basket and your needing bowl.

Then there is a turn in the verbiage in verse 20.

Verse 20 says, The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration, and all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.

I'd like you to ask yourself if you've ever read or heard this. If you haven't, you're like me a few years ago when I actually heard this preached. I had to ponder on this for days. I'd never thought about God being the one to curse people.

By the way, this isn't a one-off in the text. There are least 11 more times before the end of chapter, Scripture tells us that the LORD would be the one bringing the punishment on Israel.

In our day, we are so quick to think of the devil as the one who brings bad on people and God as the one who brings good.

Friend, I want you to think about this reading plan we're in. The Israelites knew about the devil, but how often do they mention him? Not much at all, right? It's not because they don't know he's their enemy. It's because they know who's really in control. Please hear me, because I know if this is the first time you're hearing this. It's hard. God is good. But friend, the Israelites entered into a covenant sealed in blood with the Creator of the universe and the conditions were

that they would be careful to obey all his commandments.

And like we've said in past episodes, disobeying the of God disobeying Him directly.

When that happens, what we're really doing is breaking the first commandment. We're putting ourself on the throne.

and that always incurs the just wrath of God.

When the book of Hebrews says, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of living God, this is what it means.

Israel, if you've ever read your Old Testament, would go on to break God's commands regular and often. And though he was patient and slow to act, he brought these curses that we are going to call covenant sanctions against the Israelites.

All of these curses would eventually overtake the nation of Israel much later in their history.

things getting so desperate during a siege that people ate their own children.

You can see where God talks about that in verses 52 through 59. If you haven't read this section yet in our reading plan, I would urge you to do so.

Because again, you need to see.

that God warned the people if they broke His laws and His commandments that these things would come for them.

As I'll land the plan on this part and get ready to go into our much needed gospel glimpse, please notice where I said earlier theology matters.

how we view this section matters. If we view this section about us, maybe you're in America like I am, in 2025, we have to grapple with both sides of this section. We cannot just look at the first side, which is the blessings, and not look at the second side, which is the cursings.

But if you read this as you read any other book, trust me, the Bible is more than any other book, but just simple context, Moses is talking to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 28. He simply isn't talking about us. And again, that's a good thing for us.

Alright, so we've gone through some really heavy stuff, right? Maybe we're challenging some long-held views of passages.

Maybe you're having to think about some of the stuff for the first time, like I did.

But, I do have some light, some rays of glorious hope for us to talk about. But first, let me give a really, really brief overview of chapter 29 and 30. In chapter 29, the covenant is renewed again, this is a new generation. And in chapter 30, God basically foretells of Israel's coming exile and return. That happens way, way in the future. We'll get to that, okay?

so for our main gospel glimpse today, this is I want look at. So the last couple of episodes, we've mentioned something about in different ways, Galatians 3.13, which says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

now that we've gone through chapter 28 and Deuteronomy together. That cursing language is sounding a little more familiar now, isn't it?

Way into Israel's future, there's a prophet named Isaiah who writes the book of Isaiah. And in chapter 53, Isaiah writes

passages about Christ 700 years before Christ comes. of that passage.

but you really do need to go read that passage for yourself.

Verse 4 says, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we have esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Verse 6 says, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Verse 10 says, yet it was the will of Lord to crush him. he has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

Do you guys some of the similarities yet?

Let's go back to Deuteronomy and look at 29 and verse 20 and 21.

So, just before I read this, this is in regard to a man who refuses to follow the Lord.

Verse 20 says,

Now can you see it?

This is some of the weight that Jesus went through willingly

on the cross for us, Jesus made Himself a curse and took on the full weight of Deuteronomy and all its curses brought on by the Father Himself. Why? To save you and me. Why? Because He loves you. This is the Gospel.

Please let me close this podcast by reading to you something written by a Puritan named John Flavel. Surely this is not scripture, but he puts gospel in such concise, tangible terms for us here. It's said as a conversation between God the Father and God the Son in eternity past.

My son, here is a company of poor miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lay open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. The son responds, my father, such as my love and pity for them, they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their guarantee.

Bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee. Bring them all in, that there be no after reckonings with them. At my hands thou shalt require it. I would rather choose to suffer the wrath that is theirs, than they should suffer it.

Upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

father responds, but my son, if thou shall undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last might. Expect no abatement. Son, if I spare them, I will not spare you. The son responds, content father, let it be so. Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it.

And though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches and empty all my treasures, I am content to take it.

That's going to do it, guys. I can't top-flavor. May His grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.