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Through Moses God brought the children of Israel to the east of Jordan, to the land of Moab (Deut. 1:5), and before they went on to take the good land of Canaan, He made a covenant with them through Moses, the sixth covenant that God made with man (Deut. 29—30).
The One who made the covenant is Jehovah God, who brought the children of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Through the Passover He rescued them from His judgment; He brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, delivering them out of the Egyptian tyranny and out of Egypt, the land of bondage; and He led them to experience the tree that changed the bitter water into sweet (Exo. 15:23-25), the twelve springs at Elim (Exo. 15:27), the manna sent from heaven (Exo. 16:14-15, 31-32, 35), and the living water flowing out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6). These items signify Christ as man’s life supply in different aspects, by which God brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:1-2). There Jehovah God made the covenant of the law with them, revealing Himself to them that they might know what kind of God He was and with what kind of God they fellowshipped. He also instructed them to build the tabernacle as His dwelling place that His glory might be concretely expressed on a large scale.
Jehovah God also led the children of Israel through the great and terrible wilderness for forty years (Deut. 8:15) to humble them, to test them, and to know what was in their heart (Deut. 8:2). He humbled them and let them be hungry, and fed them with manna which their fathers did not know, that He might make them know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Jehovah (Deut. 8:3). He disciplined them as a man disciplines his son (Deut. 8:5). Moreover, He cared for them so that for forty years in the wilderness their clothes did not wear out upon them, and their sandals did not wear out on their feet, in order that they might know that Jehovah was their God (Deut. 29:5).
After forty years of wandering, the old generation of the children of Israel fell and died in the wilderness. At that time God brought the new generation of the children of Israel to the east of the Jordan in the land of Moab and was about to bring them through the Jordan to take the good land of Canaan, the land that God swore to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants for a possession. Deuteronomy 9:1-3 says, “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven....The Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face.” It was just before they crossed the Jordan that Jehovah God made this covenant with them.
Although the old generation saw the glory of God and the signs which He did in Egypt and in the wilderness, they murmured again and again (Num. 11:1, 4-6), tempted God and did not listen to His voice (Num. 14:22), and even despised Him in that they did not believe in His promise of the land of Canaan to them (Num. 13:25-33; 14:1-10). Hence, God swore by His existence that their carcasses would fall in the wilderness and that all the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, except Caleb and Joshua, would not come into the good land of Canaan which He swore to their fathers (Num. 14:28-30). Eventually, the old generation of the children of Israel suffered God’s punishment and were strewn along in the wilderness.
The new generation of the children of Israel were considered by the old generation to be a prey and to be too weak to enter Canaan (Num. 14:31; Deut. 1:39). When the men sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan came back, they gave an evil report to the children of Israel so that the people lifted up their voice and cried, and they wept all night. All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses, saying, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey?” (Num. 14:2-3). Therefore, Jehovah swore in His wrath that they would not enter the land of Canaan, but their little ones, whom they considered to be a prey and to be too weak to enter Canaan, He would bring in and with them He would make a covenant.
Because the children of Israel had sinned, their children had to wander forty years in the wilderness and bear their whoredoms, such as worshipping idols (Exo. 32:1-6) and having an evil heart of unbelief (Num. 14:1-3), until their carcasses were consumed in the wilderness (Num. 14:33). According to the number of the days in which they spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, the new generation of the children of Israel had to bear their iniquities, even forty years (Num. 14:33-34). Forty years signifies a period of trial and testing (Deut. 8:2). After this period would be over, blessings would come. Therefore, God would grant them again His visitation, blessing them and making the covenant with them.
When God forsook the old generation of the children of Israel, He promised to bring their children into the good land of Canaan. After the new generation were tried and tested for forty years in the wilderness, and before God made the covenant with them, He told them plainly through Moses that He would bring them through the Jordan to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than themselves, cities great and fenced up to heaven (Deut. 9:1, 3). Therefore, the ones with whom God made the covenant were those whom God would bring into the good land of Canaan.
In the covenant which God made with those who were going to inherit the good land, first they were told to keep all the commandments, statutes, and judgments in the covenant that God made with their fathers at Mount Sinai, and to turn to Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul, to love Him, and to cleave to Him (Deut. 30:9-10, 16, 20). In that covenant God gave the law to His people and sought after His lovers. God’s intention in giving the law to His chosen people was that they become those who love Him. Ezekiel 16:8 says, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.” According to the context of the chapter, this verse refers to the exodus and the time thereafter. Out of a deep love for the people, God entered into a covenant with them. This covenant was enacted at Mount Sinai through the giving of the law (Exo. 20:1-2).
Jeremiah 31:32 says, “...the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them.” In this verse God speaks of Himself as a Husband taking them by the hand. This indicates that when God gave the law, He used it as an engagement paper to betroth Israel unto Himself. Therefore, God’s law was given in a courting way. By giving His people the law in such a way, God made known to them what kind of God He is and revealed to them His desire in seeking a people to love Him. Hence, God told them that He would show mercy unto thousands of them who would love Him and keep His commandments (Exo. 20:6). This love is not the love between parents and children nor the love between friends; it is the intimate love between husband and wife. This kind of love is necessary for keeping the law of God. God’s intention was for the children of Israel to keep His law by loving Him and His word and by becoming one with Him. When God entered into a covenant again with the new generation of the children of Israel, He did not forget this betrothal. He charged them that after they would enter into the good land, they were to keep all the commandments, statutes, and judgments in the covenant which He made with their fathers at Mount Sinai, and to turn to Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul, to love Him and to cleave to Him (Deut. 30:9-10, 16, 20).
If they would keep the words of the covenant and do them, they would live and be blessed, prosper in all things, multiply, and prolong their days (Deut. 29:9; 30:16, 20). Jehovah God is the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments, but repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them (Deut. 7:9-10). Therefore, if they would keep the words of the covenant and do them, God would love them and bless them that they might be blessed in the good land which they would enter to possess. They would be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. The fruit of their body would be blessed, and the fruit of their ground, and the fruit of their beasts, the increase of their cattle, and the young of their flock. They would be blessed when they came in and blessed when they went out. They would be blessed everywhere and in everything (Deut. 28:3-6). Moreover, they would be able to prevail against all their enemies and settle down in the good land of Canaan which God promised to give to their fathers (Deut. 28:7-8).
If the children of Israel would turn away in their heart from Jehovah their God to disobey the words of His covenant and if they would be enticed to worship and serve other gods, Jehovah would not forgive them; His anger and His jealousy would smoke against them, and all the curse that was written in the book of the law would lie upon them that they might suffer calamities (Deut. 29:18, 20-21). They would be cursed when they went out and cursed when they came in. They would be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. The fruit of their body would be cursed, and the fruit of their ground, the increase of their cattle, and the young of their flock. They would be cursed everywhere and in everything (Deut. 28:16-19). Jehovah would root them out of their land, cast them into another land, and scatter them among the nations (Deut. 29:28; 30:1, 3). How strict God is toward those who forsake Him and His covenant! He is truly fearsome (2 Cor. 5:11), for He is a jealous God (Exo. 20:5) and a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).
If the children of Israel would take God’s word of blessing to heart in the land of captivity, and if they would return to Jehovah their God and obey His voice with all their heart and with all their soul, Jehovah God would return and have compassion upon them, restoring them and gathering them from all the peoples where He had scattered them. Even if they were in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there God would gather them and bring them back. He would bring them into the good land which their fathers possessed, and He would do them good and multiply them above their fathers (Deut. 30:1-5). This is because Jehovah is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; He keeps lovingkindness for thousands and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin (Exo. 34:6-7a). He says, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (Isa. 54:7-8). For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Psa. 30:5).
After He would gather them and bring them back from the land of captivity, God would circumcise the heart of the returned ones and the heart of their descendants to love Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul and to obey His voice. Moreover, He would make them plenteous in all the work of their hand, in the fruit of their body, and in the fruit of their cattle, and in the fruit of their ground, for good; for God would again rejoice over them for good, as He rejoiced over their fathers (Deut. 30:6-10).
The new generation of the children of Israel, like their fathers, turned away from God through all their generations. They disobeyed all the commandments, statutes, and judgments contained in the two covenants which God made with them at Mount Sinai and in the land of Moab. Although Jehovah God warned them through the prophets to turn from their evil ways, they would not hear, but hardened their neck and would not believe in Jehovah their God. Moreover, they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He warned them; they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations that were around them; and they did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, provoking Him to anger (2 Kings 17:13-17).
Therefore, Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them. They were cursed and suffered calamities, and God delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight (2 Kings 17:20). They have been carried away to the nations and scattered among the peoples, suffering man’s mistreatment and persecution, for nearly two thousand six hundred years, just as God spoke through Jeremiah, “I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them” (Jer. 24:9, ASV).
Since 1948 the nation of Israel has been restored, and many Israelites have gone back to their homeland to rebuild their homes and establish their kingdom. Furthermore, God has blessed that land again, sending the former rain and the latter rain, making the soil fertile again, and keeping them that they may prevail against the enemies who are around them. Nevertheless, until this day they still have not turned to God, who has been eagerly expecting their return. Although all day long God has been stretching out His hands to them (Rom. 10:21), they still would not receive the incarnated Lord Jesus as their Savior, and they still stumble at the Stone of stumbling (Rom. 9:32-33).
Not until the coming again of the Lord Jesus will their whole house repent unto God and be saved (Zech. 12:10-14; Rom. 11:26). At that time the nations will gather at Jerusalem for a battle, and right at the critical moment Christ will come, and His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west into two halves, the north and the south, forming a large valley, into which the persecuted Israelites will flee (Zech. 14:1-5). At that time they will look up and see their Savior, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the One whom they have pierced. Then they will repent unto God, and the whole house of Israel will be saved. God will open a fountain of grace for them for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1, 6; John 19:34b; Matt. 26:28), and He will send forth His angels to gather them together from the four winds and bring them back to the good land which God gave their fathers (Matt. 24:31), thus fully restoring the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6). They will be the priests in the earthly part of the millennial kingdom, teaching the nations, who will be the citizens, to serve God (Zech. 8:20-23).
Through Moses God brought the children of Israel to the east of Jordan, to the land of Moab, and before they went on to take the good land of Canaan, He made a covenant with them through Moses, the sixth covenant that God made with man. In this covenant, Jehovah God charged the new generation of the children of Israel that after they would enter into the good land, they were to keep all the commandments, statutes, and judgments in the covenant which He made with their fathers at Mount Sinai, and to turn to Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul, to love Him and to cleave to Him. If they would keep the words of the covenant and do them, they would live and be blessed and prosper in all things. If they would turn away in their heart from Jehovah God to disobey the words of His covenant, they would be cursed, suffer calamities, and be rooted out of their land and cast into another land and scattered among the nations. If they would take God’s word of blessing to heart in the land of captivity, and if they would return to Jehovah their God and obey His voice with all their heart and with all their soul, Jehovah God would have compassion upon them and would restore them and bring them into the good land which their fathers possessed. God would circumcise the heart of the returned ones and the heart of their descendants to love Jehovah their God with all their heart and with all their soul, and He would again rejoice over them for good, as He rejoiced over their fathers. The result of this covenant was that the new generation of the children of Israel, like their fathers, turned away from God through all their generations and disobeyed God’s covenant. They were cursed and suffered calamities; they have been carried away to the nations, suffering man’s mistreatment and persecution for nearly two thousand six hundred years. Until this day they still have not turned to God, who has been eagerly expecting their return. Not until the coming again of the Lord Jesus will their whole house repent and be saved. At that time the Lord will send forth His angels to gather them together from the four winds and bring them back to the good land which God gave their fathers.
