Confession - A Many-Sided Thing

 

When we look into the scriptures we find different kinds of confession. During this Bible study we’ll be looking at a few selected passages of Scripture that will describe the different kinds of confession found in the Bible.

 

Confession can be a difficult thing. But when we realize the function and power of confession, then we will be more willing to engage in it as an ongoing spiritual discipline and as a point of growth and grace. Typically, we think of confession as related to sin. Prior to an individual being saved by faith, the soul languishes in guilt and ignorance. The consequences of not living in the right relationship with God, are spelled out throughout the Holy Bible.

 

Confession of Sin to Salvation

 

Essentially sin is living in separation from God. When an individual is ignorant of God, of His love, and His requirements, they are living in sin. This does not seem to be so for “good people” and some struggle with this reality. But living in right relationship with God is far more than being just a good person. It is an awareness of the great love of God and the power of his judgment. When we understand these things and understand the character of God then our sin becomes apparent. Having been born in sin because of the fall in the Garden of Eden, each individual is responsible for either accepting or rejecting God. The Apostle Paul articulated the reality that everyone is aware of God and the need to respond to His grace and love.

 

Romans 1:18-20

 

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

 

Proverbs 28:13

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

 

Here we see that everyone is responsible for confessing their sin. Once God hears this confession of individuals they are put into a right relationship with God. It is important to understand that we do not earn a relationship with God, we simply accept it as a gift called salvation. Until this step of faith is made, or after someone has turned their back on this relationship, a godless life is truly empty. A multitude of people who have become believers in God through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit can give joyful testimony to how different and enriched their lives are once they have made this confession of faith.

 

The Book of Lamentations in the Old Testament is one that is rife with bitterness and sorrow and descriptions of what it was like after the Hebrews refused to follow God’s commands and live in covenant love with God. It is really the hearts cry of needing reconciliation with God. Once an individual or a group of people recognize the reality and gravity of their sin, there is a time of great bitterness and suffering. Those who are ignorant of sin, live gleefully or bitterly forward without any understanding of the consequences of not being in right relationship with God and following His commands.

 

Lamentations 3:39-42

 

39 Why should the living complain

    when punished for their sins?

40 Let us examine our ways and test them,

    and let us return to the Lord.

41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands

    to God in heaven, and say:

42 “We have sinned and rebelled

    and you have not forgiven.

 

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin. Jesus described this work of the Holy Spirit as he described the process by which this needed to take place. Jesus came to us to deliver the Good News personally from God, to sacrifice himself for all of our sins – once for all – and then leave us to return to heaven. After that, the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. This is the wonderful mystery of faith in God – that he is one God with three dimensions – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Read how Jesus described the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-31 and 15:26-16:15. In short, we see what the Holy Spirit does for unbelievers and those growing in grace.

 

John 16:7-9

 

⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me…

 

Because of what Jesus Christ has done and the love of God the Father, we are not left floundering in our sin. Read this great description of God and his great promise from Scripture.

 

1 John 1:1-10

 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete.

 

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

 

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

 

If you have never taken this step of faith, I invite you to do so right now. Pray this simple but deeply impactful prayer:

 

Heavenly Father, I accept the conviction of my sins from the Holy Spirit and long to live with you. Please forgive me of my sin and enable me to live like Jesus Christ. I receive your forgiving love today.             Amen

 

Confession to Return to God

 

Another kind of confession is that of those whose hearts have turned cold toward God after they have begun to live with and for him. Here we turn again to the Apostle Paul for the description of such a group. As we read this closely we see that there are several things that have separated them from God. While they were zealous, they were ignorant of the true knowledge of God. They were bound to pride and self-righteousness. And even though they knew the laws of God that we’re established through Moses, they began to defy God.

 

Romans 10:1-13

 

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

 

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” ⁶ But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

The Apostle Paul knew of that which he wrote. Prior to his confession of sin and need of Jesus Christ he too lived in pride and self-righteousness. But he moved forward into a lively and living relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

 

Many years later, the apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor to encourage him to not give up. In this passage we see the Apostle Paul providing paths of courage and also continuing his confession of faith by beautiful and powerful descriptions of the Savior.

 

1 Timothy 6:11-16

 

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

 

Lest we decide that it is our job to support our faith endeavor, The Apostle John wrote late in his life to groups of Christians. He acknowledges the Christians can fall into sin. But that is not the end of the matter. We always have a way out! And not only do we have a way back out of sin, But we can be made complete in Jesus Christ!

 

1 John 2:1-14

 

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

 

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

 

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

 

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

12 I am writing to you, dear children,

    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

13 I am writing to you, fathers,

    because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,

    because you have overcome the evil one.

14 I write to you, dear children,

    because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

    because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,

    because you are strong,

    and the word of God lives in you,

    and you have overcome the evil one.

 

Confession of Sins of Ancestors

 

There is another form of confession that can be confusing. That is the confession of the sins of people who have gone before us. While we are not responsible for the individual sins of our parents, grandparents or other family members, we live in the consequences of their sins.

 

In the book of Leviticus we can see an example of how confession of sin for ancestors is not only important but a requirement. When we confess the sins of our ancestors we are acknowledging our continual need of God through the generations.

 

Leviticus 26:32-45

 

⁴⁰ “‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹ which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, ⁴² I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

 

We remember their sins in order to avoid those same sins. We do not need to rehearse the trauma of those sins, nor do we accept the guilt of their individual sins, but we remember to help us to avoid immortalizing them as perfect people of faith, and to recognize that we all need to stay in continual humility before God.

 

Confession of Corporate Sin

 

In the book of Nehemiah we can read about an incredible scene of corporate confession of sin. After Judah and Israel had fallen into sin and were taken into exile by several Pagan nations, they had looked separately from the spoken word of God. In God’s covenant then He had promised for them to never be fully destroyed and to always have a faithful remnant. Many decades after the initial exile a pagan king allowed them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild. They discovered the nearly complete decimation of the temple of God and the walls of Jerusalem. While some of the faithful had continued to live in Jerusalem, a large number of people were drawn back to this city to help rebuild it as a center of worship for God. Nehemiah was a godly leader who had returned to Jerusalem to help in the rebuilding. We can read about how he rode silently around the city of Jerusalem and the sorrow that he felt over its destruction. He acknowledged the great sins of his people in silent corporate confession. Then he began to manage the great work of rebuilding. He guided the work and the defense of the people from outsiders despite opposition. While they were rebuilding, some workers found God’s written laws buried in a room. Not long after that Ezra read the law aloud to all people present, their hearts were released from ignorance once again and they responded in corporate confession.

 

Nehemiah 9:1-3

 

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. ² Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. ³ They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.

 

Here we can see the reality and the power of corporate confession. There are more deeply moving passages in the book of Nehemiah about corporate confession. After the corporate confession they were also led in further worship and celebration as they understood their return to their glorious God.

 

There have been times in Christian history where this kind of confession has been required. Even now perhaps in your community or your nation there needs to be a time of returning and corporate confession. May God guide each of us in these efforts.

 

As we meditate on and contemplate the impact and the need for confession in all of its forms, we also need remember that Jesus taught us how to pray. In what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer we see a particularly important line. Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts (sins) as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who have sinned against us).” Even in this simple, daily prayer we accept the responsibility of confession of our individual and corporate sins, while recognizing that we have been taught to pray in this way so that we can be delivered from evil and live in right relationship with our wonderful God.

 

Finally, here is another prayer that can guide us in confession and the wonderful outcomes of confession.

 

Psalm 32

Of David. A maskil.

 

1 Blessed is the one

    whose transgressions are forgiven,

    whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the one

    whose sin the Lord does not count against them

    and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent,

    my bones wasted away

    through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night

    your hand was heavy on me;

my strength was sapped

    as in the heat of summer.

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you

    and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

    my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave

    the guilt of my sin.

6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you

    while you may be found;

surely the rising of the mighty waters

    will not reach them.

7 You are my hiding place;

    you will protect me from trouble

    and surround me with songs of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,

    which have no understanding

but must be controlled by bit and bridle

    or they will not come to you.

10 Many are the woes of the wicked,

    but the Lord’s unfailing love

    surrounds the one who trusts in him.

11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;

    sing, all you who are upright in heart!

 

Amen

 

© M.R.Hyde 2025

God's Promise of a Place - Deuteronomy 11

 

 

In the book of Deuteronomy there is a particular passage of scripture that speaks to the promise of land. Now this promise was given to the nation of Israel which was newly being formed as they rested on the side of the Jordan River. Deuteronomy is an account of Moses repeating much of what the Israelites had gone through upon their deliverance by God from the nation of Egypt. It is a remarkable book and its retelling of the scope of things that happened in the latter part of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.

 

Deuteronomy 1 - 10 and the first portion of 11 recall many of these events in detail. All along the way the writer is determined to help the people of Israel remember the absolute and triumphant delivery by God of a group of slaves from the clutches of cruel slave drivers.

 

Another thing that we see in the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy is the recounting of the promise of God that was originally given to Abraham. In Genesis 12:1, 7, 13:14-16 and 15:1-7 we can read about the Three specific promises that God gave to this select people.

 

12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

 

12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

 

13:14-16 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.  I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.

 

In chapter 15 we also see that God promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and that those descendants would be a blessing to the world. This threefold promise of land, descendants and blessing was couched in an agreement that was offered to Abram by God. This kind of a gift was in the concept of a covenant. In Abraham’s day there were many covenants that were made between rulers and people. These covenants required obedience with promise of protection and provision. Not unlike the pagan covenants of the surrounding area, God’s offer of a covenant relationship with this group of people was similar. But there were striking differences. The first difference was that this was a relationship offered by the loving God. In his mercy and generosity and grace he held out his hand to a group of former slaves offering them not only future generations, but also safety and land. This covenant gift came with stipulations. God asked for their worship, their love and their obedience in return.

 

In the Bible, a covenant is a

•      solemn, binding agreement,

•      a sacred relationship, and

•      a vital framework that structures God's plan to redeem humanity.

Covenants involve

•      mutual promises,

•      terms with potential blessings for obedience and

•      consequences for disobedience, and

•      often a sign or ceremony to ratify the agreement.

 

By the time we read Deuteronomy this covenant had come down several generations, proving itself to be as valuable and generative as the original promise to Abram. Deuteronomy harkens back to that original promise, retells of God’s continuing faithfulness, repeats the guidance given for living with God, and launches the newest generation of Hebrew children into the land that was promised so long ago.

 

In Deuteronomy Chapter 11 there are some statements of summary of requirements of this covenant and a charge to remember them in the future. This was not simply a list of commands but in Covenant language, a promise of something exceptional.

 

Deuteronomy 11:8-9

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ⁹ and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

 

As we read this text closely we see so many incredible things. The first is that commands from the Lord are paired with strength given to them. God does not ask those who follow him to go on their own strength. He provides strength to those who love him and obey him. The river Jordan river (in some translations) is a significant landmark in this area of the world. It was a symbolic boundary to lands that they did not own or live in. They would have to cross over in order to receive the covenant gift of land from God.

 

Another incredible thing that we see is that by taking hold of this promise, moving into a committed covenant relationship with God, acting on the promise by crossing over, and being obedient to the Lord rendered a long life. This was no promise just for a particular season of plenty or deliverance from a present enemy, this promise was to last them their whole life long.

 

The third thing that we can see from this passage is that the land that would be their own is not just any land but one that flows with milk and honey. In an agrarian society a steady supply of milk indicated the ability to grow livestock who produced milk because the animals had enough food and water to produce milk. We need to pause and realize this kind of covenant was not only to the people but also to the animals. Rather than starving in the desert or dying of thirst, the animals that were used to plow the fields, haul water, and provide food also had this promise. Honey indicates also the presence of flowers and plants sufficient enough to produce the sweet and wholesome goodness that could be gained from various forms of insect and plant activity.

 

What kinds of images, hopes and dreams would this stir up in a large group of slaves who had been wandering in the desert for forty years eating quail and manna? It might be just such incredible images that they would be compelled to live in covenant relationship with their God.

 

But wait, there’s more! Let’s see how God holds up this incredible promise in contrast to how they lived in Egypt.

 

Deuteronomy 11:9-12

¹⁰ The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. ¹² It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

 

It did not take much more than one sentence, verse 10, to bring back the horrors of slavery in Egypt. There the land was hard to deal with until the Nile overflowed or back breaking manual labor siphoned some water off to roll into the fields and produce crops. For four hundred years these Hebrew slaves had toiled and suffered. Many of them had probably have the painful lick of slave drivers whips on their back as they bent down to release water into the dry land.

 

But this land that God was giving to them by his gracious covenant and his requirements for them to love Him and be faithful, was completely different. “From the rain from heaven” was almost incomprehensible. The abundance of provision not only from the land but from God’s sky and from his heart would always be with them. I live in the Rocky Mountains and we experience some of the most phenomenal thunderstorms and deluges of rain in the spring and in the autumn that it is a wonder to behold. Streams and rivers bound down the gullies and canyons bringing the desperately needed rain off of the slopes and into the fields of the prairies. But God’s promises to the ancient Israelites were that these demonstrations of nature’s power would be the evidence of God’s constant care for them and his land.

 

Keeping in mind that this is a covenant relationship, it is important for us now to look closely at what was required of the people who moved into this covenant relationship with God.

 

Deuteronomy 11:13-21

¹³ So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

 

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

 

There is some weight on the human participants of a covenant. God is the Creator and all the gifts of the earth are His to give or take, but in covenants such as this there are requirements to maintain the receiving of the gifts. It is so important for us to realize that a covenant from our loving God is His initiative and not anything that we have earned or wheedled out of him. When God offers his creation as gifts, we simply need to receive them first then we move forward by the power of God to live long lives with them. If we get this backwards, meaning if we try to earn our grace and salvation then we will be lost from the start. God’s gifts are given freely to us because He loves us first.

 

What we see from this particular passage is an incredible whole lifestyle that God desires for his people. The people needed to fix their minds on him, to have symbols around them at all times to remind them of him, and to teach them to the next generation. God desires that His gifts would keep on giving. As the adults in the community would live their lives for God, their children would learn by their examples, and by their attention to God’s presence and promises, that they also can live long and good lives. When we live for and with God, we can see Him all around us. Our first thoughts of the day, the thoughts throughout the day, our thoughts as we go to sleep can be about Him as our wonderful gracious, holy, loving God. What a marvelous way to live rather than being caught up and the troubles of this world. That takes some discipline.

 

Now God knows that we are human. That should give us some consolation because he knows we are weak, he knows we need help, he knows we need grace. And he knows we need very clear directions. The godless people, who are given over to every freedom imaginable, will fall into destruction and despair. Because our Good Shepherd knows that we need guidance and protection, he gives fair warning for going another way.

 

Deuteronomy 11:22-25

²² If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— ²³ then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.

 

Here we see the expansiveness of God’s promise of land. Joseph Coleson wrote: “Potentially, Israel’s borders would be from the desert in the south to Lebanon in the north, from the Euphrates River on the northeast to the Mediterranean Sea on the West. In terms of their own settlement, Israel never occupied Syria as far as the Euphrates, but David and Solomon did briefly extend Israel’s hegemony up to its southern banks.” [i] For many, many generations after Moses, we see God’s promise played out.

 

Look again at this last passage. Do you see the kind of victories that would be won? Victories would not be by the hand of any Israelite, but by the power of God. His promise and power were to continually go before them. Just as he delivered them from Egypt, so also would he deliver them to his land…as long as they kept in covenant relationship with Him.

 

Then God speaks very sternly—and appropriately so—to his people.

 

Deuteronomy 11:26-29

 

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.

 

In a covenant relationship if one party breaks the commitment the relationship is broken. This is what God was trying to very clearly describe. It was a stark warning that His kind and powerful gift of blessing, descendants and land could be lost if they did not love him with their whole hearts. This is couched the same kinds of terminology that are found in pagan human covenants of that day. The blessings are clear, and the curses are real if the covenant is broken. It is wonderful to think about all the promises in a covenant such as what God has offered to Israel, and it is important to also think the potential curses that could be there. Now God is not a capricious God, just seeking to lash out at his children. Remember that a covenant with our God is a gift offered to us before we even ask for it and always when we do not deserve it. Therefore, a response of a curse for disobedience is part of the whole. Curses in this context are not final words if the Israelites returned to God. But the consequences of disobedience, sin, and rebellion are indeed real. We can read about such things in the rest of the Old Testament.

 

We have tried to do application of this Old Testament situation to our lives as we have read through this text. There are some fundamental principles of covenant love that can be adapted to every generation, every country, every people group, and every individual. However, there are some very important things that we must consider when reading back into the Old Testament. We have to be careful not to read our present situation into it and reassign things like nation names to contemporary times and peoples.

 

Pausing for a moment here to read the good words of Tremper Longman III is important when extrapolating any further application from this particular Scripture study.

 

As we move from the Old to the New Testament, we note a fundamental difference in the nature of the people of God. In a phrase, the people of God in the Old Testament are a nation, a political body, but in the New Testament the people of God are a spiritual entity made up of individuals from many different nations. Israel as a nation was chosen by God. God had told them, “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on the earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure” (Deuteronomy 7: 6). No other nation of the ancient or modern world matches Israel’s place in redemptive history. Even if a majority of American citizens were sincere Christians—or even if everyone were—America would not be like Israel in terms of God’s redemptive history.

 

God has not chosen America [or insert the name your country here] as a nation. He does not dwell in the banks of the Potomac as He did on Mount Zion. It would be wrong to seek legislation authorizing the execution of witches, idolaters, apostates, heretics, and blasphemers in the United States or even to hope for a time when such legislation will be enacted.

 

As has been traditionally recognized, the proper analog to the nation of Israel is the Christian Church. God chooses to make his special presence known in the assembly of the Saints. He will tolerate no blasphemy, heresy, or idolatry in the midst of his priestly people.[ii]

 

Walter Bruggeman also wrote:

 

The theological accent point of this text [Deuteronomy], then, is what is called in Christian theology “Ecclesiology.” That is a sense of the community that must always be redefined in terms of its origin, purpose, and destiny. The land may then be understood as hope for the promised well-being that comes to be called Kingdom of God. In Deuteronomy Israel is not yet in the land. It is on the way there how it arrives there is the overriding issue. Moses knows that the future is a gift but it is a gift that can be readily forfeited. Israel must always again re choose that future in the form of present tense obedience.[iii]

 

So also we must see the general application of Deuteronomy to us right now. I may never be in a literal land of milk and honey, but the Kingdom of God—already and not yet—is alive within me and in the body of believers wherever I may go and worship. I am able to live in the spiritual land with all of the blessings of a place to be in His presence through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. We live today under the New Covenant established through Jesus Christ – a portable place that is accessible and undefeatable as long as we keep the faith, love God with all of our heart, souls, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. If we do these things we will reap great rewards presently and in an eternal future with our loving God.

 

What if we hold firmly to Him, follow as closely as possible, accepting his grace again when we fall (1 John 1:9), and continually long to see him everywhere He is? What kind of milk and honey will flow into our lives and out into the world today if we stay in the good spiritual land?

 

Matthew Henry wrote: “[B]ut the favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil will.”[iv]

 

An old American Hymn was brought to my mind. It’s words of encouragement may also encourage you today.

 

In the Sweet By and By

 

1 There's a land that is fairer than day,

And by faith we can see it afar,

For the Father waits over the way

To prepare us a dwelling place there.

 

Refrain:

In the sweet by and by,

We shall meet on that beautiful shore;

In the sweet by and by,

We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

 

2 We shall sing on that beautiful shore

The melodious songs of the blest;

And our spirits shall sorrow no more-

Not a sigh for the blessing of rest. [Refrain]

 

3 To our bountiful Father above

We will offer our tribute of praise

For the glorious gift of His love

And the blessings that hallow our days. [Refrain]

 

Sanford Fillmore Bennett (1868)

 

Amen

 

© M.R.Hyde 2025

 

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[i] Illustrated Bible Life: Fall 2025, The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, MO.

[ii] Making Sense of the Old Testament: Three Crucial Questions by Tremper Longman III, Baker Books, Grand Rapids MI, 1998, p. 121-22

[iii] Walter Brueggeman, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Deuteronomy, 2001.

 

[iv] Unabridged Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, OSNOVA digital edition, location 84581.