This is part of a video series covering the entire Bible in 4 years, one chapter at a time. Start at the beginning with Genesis 1 (Youtube link: https://youtu.be/wC2qD4RGOdo) and work through the playlist. Or go to https://www.peace.org.au/bible.html for more information.
In this video listen to Deuteronomy 4 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.
In Deuteronomy 4 in verse 2 it says “You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.”
This is very similar to what is said in Revelation 22:19 “And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”
On top of this Jesus said in Matt 5:18 that “not one smallest part of the law will disappear.”
How do we as NT believers keep the commandments? The truth is that we look for Christ in the law and cling to Christ. We don’t cling to the shadows, but find the reality the shadows speak to.
God spoke amazingly to these people back then, but we think that he has not spoken to us amazingly now. Yet we have the written words of God in our hands. We also have the knowledge that the word became flesh and dwelled among us. God has spoken to us “in these last days by his son.” (Hebrews 1:2) We are in a much more privileged position than these Israelites.
When we walk with the Lord this is the result. We are not to understand the Law as a literal wooden thing that must be followed so strictly that we live as OT Jews. Rather the Law reveals the Lord who we follow and this is the result.
How Did Jesus keep the law when he seemed to violate some parts of it? Simply, he understood it at its true level, not what it was trying to illustrate. We see this type of thing at work in Jesus own life, in his language to his own disciples, for example in John 4 when he talked of having food to eat.
Jun 12, 2021 | Message by David Alley