Chosen to Witness: Deuteronomy 4:1-9

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him” (Deut. 4:7, NASB)?

America is known as a great nation. People all over the world recognize America as the greatest nation on earth. America has been victorious in two world wars. Its military might is unmatched. America is a wealthy nation. Although there are citizens living in poverty, the peoples of the world have heard that America is a land of opportunity. The laws in America make it possible for one to have a better life. People all over the world admire America, and they want the chance to make a better life for themselves and their families. America is continuously in dialogue and debate about the coming of immigrants to America. At the same time, people want to come to America because they have heard and seen that America offers them a chance for a better life.

In the book of Deuteronomy Moses recalls to the Israelites that they have been set free from bondage in Egypt after over 400 years of slavery. They have wandered for forty years in the wilderness. In chapter 4, they have defeated Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan the two most powerful kings east of the Jordan River. They are preparing to go in and take possession of the Promised Land in the land of Canaan west of the Jordan River. God will not allow Moses to enter the land but he is shown the land as he stands on Mount Pisgah. Joshua has been prepared and he will lead the people into the Promised Land and take possession of it (Deut. 3:24-29). In his final words to the Israelites, Moses tells the children of Israel that God will give them possession of the land because He loved their fathers. They are chosen to obey His commandments so that they will be a witness to the other peoples that the God of Israel is God alone (Deut. 4:35, 39). God chose Israel and blessed them so that they would be a witness that obeying God’s commandments develop a people into a community that prospers materially. More importantly they will be a people that are righteous before God and practices justice. In like manner, Christians are to remember that they serve the Lord not so that they will have the things that they want. God gives them what they need so that they might be a witness for Him to all the peoples of the world.

God desires that every person be saved from their sins (See 1 Tim. 2:4). God desires that people will be reconciled to Him (See 2 Cor. 5:18). God is not partial. God wants people everywhere to know Him. He wants people regardless of tribe, nation, and tongue. We look at each other and we judge what we see. On the other hand God judges the heart. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’” (! Sam. 16: 7, NASB). Thus the Lord did not choose Israel because He thought of them as being a greater people than all the other people in the world. Christians are not better than other people. We are not by nature more moral and more ethical than sinners. Rather, God chose us and called us to receive His grace and mercies so that we can be witnesses of God to other people.

Moses commands the people saying, “‘Now, O Israel, listen to the statues and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you’” (Deut 4:1, NASB). The people are commanded to listen. The word “listen” means that they are to not only hear the sounds of the words. They are to pay attention to what is being said so that they will know what they are supposed to do. The purpose of Christian teaching and preaching is not to entertain the audience with words and performance. Rather the purpose is that the people will know what God expects of them. The people are warned not to change anything that God says in His words to meet their own purpose. Rather they are to keep the commandments of the Lord their God (v. 2). The people have seen what the Lord has done to the other kings and their people. Now, they are to listen to the commandments so that they will know how they are to live in the Promised Land. We are to notice that God wants us to know Him and His laws so that we can do something. We are not to seek our own purposes. Rather we learn the commandments so that we can do something. We can live according to His will so that our lives will be a witness to other people that God is God alone and besides Him there is no other.

The peoples in the world worship many gods. This seems to be the case throughout human history. God is giving the children of Israel the Promised Land. They are to be a witness for the Lord. They are to make known to the world that “the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other” (4:39). How can we distinguish the Lord our God from the many gods that the people around us worship? The Israelites were to do two things. First, they were to eliminate people that worshiped other gods (4:38). Secondly, they were to separate themselves from the other people because their God was different from other gods as evidenced by their lifestyles as God taught them in His commandments.

In America today we stand for freedom of religion. Time and space in this article will not allow me to give details of what the founding fathers had in mind when they stood for freedom of religion. Let me say that I believe that what they had in mind is a far cry from what we are calling for today. In America today the Christian church is often in violation of the Lord’s command which says: “‘You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I commanded you’” (Deut. 4:2, NASB).

The Christian church in America is guilty of changing the words of God. Christians seek not to be holy and separated from other people. Instead, too many of them have compromised with other religions. For example, they are validating other religions along with their gods. They say that there is no absolute truth. There are many ways to God. All religions worship the same God. These ideas are in total disagreement and violation of the words of Jesus that He made in one simple statement. Jesus said, “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (Jn. 14:6, NASB). The use of the definite article “the” indicates that there is only one way, one truth, and one life that lead to eternal life with the Father. In just this one statement Jesus refutes all of the claims that Christians are accepting and adopting into their religious views and practices.

God did not call the children of Israel so that they could be known as a great people. They were not to think of themselves as being a people greater than other people. In verse 6 Moses tells the people that their wisdom and understanding will be the results of their listening to the teaching of the Lord as found in His statues and judgments. Their learning cannot be accomplished unless their lives conform to the commandments. The writer of Proverbs understood this principle. He said, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7, NASB). Also, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10, NASB). Apostle Paul commented saying, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21, NASB). We know God by listening to His teaching and obeying His commandments.

Moses stated the results of God’s people obedience to His commandments. The peoples will come to know God when they see the results that take place in the lives of the people of God. They will see that they have laws, wisdom, and understanding far better than what they have received from worshiping their gods. The people will see, their lives, and they will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’ (4:6, NASB). “for what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him” (v. 7)? “Or what great nation is there that has statues and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today” (v. 8)?

In the remainder of Deuteronomy 4 Moses invites the people to remember the great things that the Lord God has done for them. They are to keep His commandments. If they fail to keep the commandments and turn to other gods they will suffer the consequences. Let us be clear and honest. America is a great nation ordained by God. Our obligation is to God. The Christian church in America is called to be an extension of the nation of Israel. God has chosen those that are Christians to be His witnesses. They keep His words entirely without making any changes and adjustments. Christians are not called to compromise with the peoples of the world seeking their own pleasures. Their calling is so that they can be examples to other people that God is God alone and besides Him there is no other.