Deuteronomy 11:2-9 -

The voice of God in passing events to be heeded, interpreted, and obeyed.

As in former paragraphs, we have here much repetition of the same teachings which had been already given. We therefore select for homiletic treatment the one distinctive feature which marks it. The people of God are now on the verge of Canaan, Multitudes of them had been born since the march through the wilderness had begun forty years before. They could not have seen the wonders in Egypt, nor could they know, except by report, of the manifestations of the Divine displeasure at the rebellious spirit manifested by the people during the first years of their course. But there are still some seniors left who had seen all. To these Moses makes his appeal, ere the discourse in which he exhorts to obedience is brought to a close. And he urges them anew, from a consideration of the deep meaning of the events which their own eyes have seen, to learn to be faithful and obedient. We by no means understand Moses as intending to say that the children are not before him to hear his words, but rather that the argument he is now using is specially for the sires rather than the sons. It is in effect this: " You , the seniors among the people now, have seen all these things. God has spoken in them directly to yon: therefore, it is incumbent upon you to assign to these events their true meaning, and to give them their rightful power over yon." Whence we get the topic named above for our Homily: " The voice of God in passing events to be heeded , understood , and obeyed ."

I. HERE ARE STIRRING EVENTS WHICH HAD OCCURRED UNDER ISRAEL 'S OWN EYES . Three of them are specially named.

1. The plagues brought on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt.

2. The overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.

3. The overthrow of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

(For remarks on these, see Exposition, and Homilies in loc . For much light on the second, see Brugsch's 'Egypt.')

II. HERE IS A SPECIFIC MEANING GIVEN TO THESE EVENTS . They are all called "chastisement" ( Deuteronomy 11:2 ). They are not only referred to as works of greatness, deeds of power and of terror, but their moral meaning is given in the word "chastisement." It is of very much more consequence to understand the meaning of an event, than to merely have the event stored up in memory as a piece of history. In fact, it may fairly be questioned whether the latter is of any value at all. Of what value is it to a student to know that King John signed Magus Charts, unless he knows the meaning thereof, as related to the rise anti growth of the British Constitution? Even so it is not of the slightest service to know of Red Sea wonders, nor of the plagues in Egypt, unless their place and meaning in history are known. This is the case likewise with events of much greater moment. Not even the wonders of Gethsemane and Calvary are exempted. If regarded only as incidents in history, apart from their spiritual, redemptive meaning, they will serve us nothing. "As the body without the spirit is dead," so facts without their significance are dead also. Hence it is that the attention of Israel is recalled to these olden wonders as " chastisements " from the Lord their God.

III. THESE EVENTS MAT BE DIVIDED INTO TWO CLASSES ; in each class a like principle is illustrated, though in a different form.

1. The first two were the chastisement of Egypt on behalf of God's oppressed people, showing them the strength of his arm and the value of his covenant love.

2. The third was the chastisement of the chosen people themselves, when they rebelled against the divinely appointed order with reference to the priesthood. In the former cases, God's jealous love on behalf of his people was proven; in the latter case, God's jealousy for his own honor, in maintaining his appointed order and ordinances unimpaired. In the former, that jealousy chastised Egypt for Israel's sake; in the latter, Israel for Jehovah's sake. Thus Israel would have before them the lesson that, as God in his love would snap the fetters that bound them, so in his purity he would remove the stains that disfigured them; that as they rejoiced in the love of God which was round them as a mighty guard, so they might also cherish a holy fear of that purity which would mark its displeasure at their waywardness and sins.

IV. SUCH EVENTS , SO FULL OF MEANING , SHOULD HAVE A CONSTANT EFFECT IN IMPELLING TO OBEDIENCE , AND IN QUICKENING AND SUSTAINING A REVERENT FEAR AND LOVE . God meant much in bringing them to pass, and they should mean much in the use they made of them (verses 8, 9). If they laid them to heart, and acted out the lessons they were designed to teach, they would continue in the land which God had assigned to them. The reference in the phrase, "that ye may prolong your days in the land," is rather to Israel's continuance as a nation, than to the long life of the individual. National continuance dependent on national obedience , is the one truth most frequently named in the exhortations of Israel's lawgiverse

V. ALL THIS HAS A PRESENT - DAY APPLICATION TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD NOW . Forms change; but principles neverse There are few passages, even in the grand old Book, that open up a wider scope or a sublimer field for the preacher's efforts than the one before us. The following enumeration of the successive links of thought may be helpful. Our pages give no space for more.

1. At the background of the Christian dispensation there are solid and substantial historical facts on which we can ever fall back.

2. Though the facts, comprised in the birth, cross-bearing, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not occur in our times, yet the evidence thereof has come down to us in unbroken line, and with unimpaired force.

3. The meaning of these facts is even better known now than it was at the moment of their occurrence; for their significance has been recorded for us in books which have survived fire and flood, and have reached us in all their integrity.

4. There are other sets of facts connected therewith of which we are witnesses, viz. that the gospel of Christ has been the power of God unto salvation to those who believe it, and that believers therein are the guardians of it, holding it in trust for others.

5. Those thus guarding the faith of Christ are the present "commonwealth of Israel;" taking the place in this economy of the Israel of old. They are not indeed visibly one now as in ancient days. But they form a host a hundredfold more numerous, ranged under differing names, yet guarding the ancient faith.

6. Those Churches which are faithful to their acknowledged mission, prolong their days in the land; while those which, either in faith or life, are less loyal and true to their God, die out, and "the candlestick is removed out of its place."

7. This law of Church life is a perpetual declaration of God's jealousy for his honor. "In proportion to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness," says a modern writer, "particular Churches overcome the world, or are overcome by the world." Thus God shows his care for these supreme facts of our faith, by saying to Churches, "If you guard them, you live; if you guard them not, you die." In the great redemption which is in Christ Jesus, God has broken the fetters which bound man. In his watchful jealousy, he will bring honor to the Church which holds forth and acts out his redemption, and will bring shame to one which represses it, weakens it, or turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. Just as our God cared not for Israel to remain a nation unless they preserved his honor unimpaired, so he cares not for the continued existence of any Church, unless it is "earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints."

8. While, however, the claim and demand of God upon the fidelity of his Israel now is as strong as ever, yea stronger, the mode in which that claim is presented is vastly more tender than in ancient days. In the Epistles to the seven Churches we have a kind of appeal to the Christian Israel, analogous to this of Moses to the Hebrew Israel. But, in lieu of the thunder, trembling, and flame of Sinai, we have the pathos and love of Gethsemane and Calvary. Can we resist such appeals as those which Christ presents? Can we consent to keep back from man the cross, with all its fullness of meaning; or fail to respond to it by intensest love and closest obedience? May our once suffering and now glorified Lord make us faithful, and keep us so till death!