The Big Read – Deuteronomy

Powerpoint Pictures: Picture of someone waving goodbye

What are some of the different ways of saying goodbye? [Farewell; So Long; Cheerio; TTFN; See You Later Alligator; Don’t Be a Stranger; Take it Easy; Keep it Real]

In the book of Deuteronomy we find someone saying goodbye.

Moses says goodbye to the people of Israel.

The people were about to enter the Promised Land, but there leader Moses would not be joining them.  Shortly he was going to die, and now the time had come for him to say goodbye to the people he had led.

Rather than a simple “Keep it real!” Moses instead says goodbye by preaching 3 sermons.

Now that is a long goodbye.

But it was also an important goodbye, because as Moses uses these sermons to say goodbye, he passed onto them some important things for them to remember as they entered the Promised Land.

After reminding them about how God had looked after them, and how God wanted them to live, he makes this appeal to them:

“For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:16)

As people who had been rescued by God they should show they love Him by obeying His commands, and it is no different for us.

The Lord Jesus has rescued us from our sins by His death on the cross, and we, like the people of Israel, should show that we love Him by obeying His commands as we look forward to living with Him in the Promised Land of heaven.