Deuteronomy - Lesson 6

Recovering the Grace of Covenant. In verses 1 to 8, we talked about the Grace of Torah, revelation of the will of God. Now it's the Grace of Covenant, and this speech will end with the Grace of Salvation. Our text is another exciting passage, as they all are. With the privilege of salvation and covenant relationship comes a call for a righteous response, demonstrated in joyful obedience to the Savior and Lord. This, I hope, is a tone that you begin to grasp from the Book of Deuteronomy.  

This diagram, again of the outline of the book of Deuteronomy, shows us where we are at. We're in the middle of that chapter 4 section, and it is the longest of these sections, takes us from verse 9 all the way through to verse 31, the Grace of Covenant.  

I mentioned before that a covenant is a formally confirmed agreement between two or more parties that creates, formalizes, governs a relationship that doesn't exist naturally, or a natural relationship that has disintegrated. Well, what we've got in our text is the creation of a very unnatural relationship, a most unlikely one between the Creator of the universe and a little group of inhabitants of planet Earth. It is an amazing story in this history of grace.  

Now our text is broken into three parts and you will recognize my outline. There is the Grace of Covenant Past (verses 9 to 15). Then there's the Grace of Covenant Present (verses 15 to 24). And there's the Grace of Covenant Future (verses 25 to 30). And of course, you know where that's from? Charles Dickens, the Cratchit’s Christmas dinner. We used to do that when we were kids, the Spirit of Christmas Past, the Spirit of Christmas Present, and the Spirit of Christmas Future. 

 Well, here we are. Let's go to the Grace of Covenant Past. He begins with the occasion of the covenant, verses 9 to 11 of chapter 4, “Only give,” but notice the preacher, “only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently.” This sounds like Paul to Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine.” Paul is thinking in Moses’ terms. “So that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen. And they don't leave your heart all the days of your life, but make them known to your sons and your daughters.” So, this is the introduction. Keep the memory of God's grace alive in your head. That's the appeal here.  

“Above all, guard yourselves scrupulously.” This is an emphatic instruction here, because if you leave it alone, if we become passive, everything is an atrophy, is that the word we use here? Or the second law of thermodynamics? Left to itself, everything disintegrates or whatever; it goes bad. Well, here, he says, never forget the moment lest it escape from your mind - it’s instructive. But he hasn't told us yet what that moment is. Don't forget the moment and pass the memory on to your descendants.  

Well, what is it that they are to pass on? And then in my NAS translation, it has remember in italics, it's not there, but he's bringing up the thing again. So, keep heed to yourself. And don't forget, watch out. Your forgetter gets better or more effective as you age and your rememberer gets worse. Remember? Remember what? The day you stood before Yahweh. It's an awesome moment, Yahweh, your God. Now we're talking covenant. “When Yahweh said to me, Assemble the people before Me and have them hear My words, which they must learn. So, they may fear as long as they live in the land and teach their children.” You notice the repetition of all these concepts again: hear, that they may learn, that they may fear, that they may live.  

Now, what happened at Sinai is often referred to as a theophany. It's a vision of God's glory. But they never saw God. What they did was they heard His voice. It was an auditory moment rather than a visual. God's person was not on display. His glory is reflected in the fire, but strictly speaking, the people didn't see Him. The Lord had called the people to an audience with Himself at the mountain. I brought you to Myself that I may speak with you. He is the great king.  

Moses is emphatic that the Israelites saw no form. They only heard sounds. They heard the voice of God declaring words in human language. God speaks Hebrew. They could understand it. And this is the amazing thing. But then the other thing we've seen before, listen, that you may learn, that you may fear, that you may live, that you may teach, that you may enjoy the blessing of God. The point of the revelation here was to instill fear for Yahweh in the hearts of the people. But of course, this fear can't stop with one generation. It must be passed on to the children.  

As is often the case elsewhere in Deuteronomy, here the Hebrew word functions for trusting awe, the word fear in Deuteronomy. Within the book of Deuteronomy, this word means the whole range. Yãrē’, Hebrew, can mean terror, fright. And of course, by terror I mean we're going to die. Fright is, it's dangerous. Anxious. Awe, and awe can be negative and it can be positive. So, it's simply awe. Reverence is positive awe. Submission. Allegiance. And trust. This word has that whole range of meaning in Deuteronomy.  

And when we come across texts like this, we always have to ask ourselves, what does fear mean? “They were frightened at the” we'll see this as the end of chapter 5 when they heard the voice of God. “They were frightened.” It's the same word. And in the Exodus version, the Lord says, “Fear not,” (this word) “for the Lord has come that you might fear Him forever.” In one sentence, the word is used in two different senses, same word. But of course, it is the transformation of the disposition of one who is estranged from an awesome higher power, who is now in relationship to an awesome higher power. And it moves from terror to trust, trusting awe. So, in contexts like this the point is trusting awe in Yahweh.  

It comes very close to the word for faith in Genesis chapter 22. Remember? “Now the Lord tested Abraham.” The word is test and you have to ask, what’s He testing? “After these things, the Lord tested Abraham saying, ‘Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go offer him as a whole burnt offering on the mountain that I show you.’” Really? And what does Abraham do? It says, the text says, “Now the next morning he rose early, got up, loaded up his donkey, took a servant and took Isaac, and they set off.” And for three days they walked to the destination. Now, it's one thing to respond immediately, impulsively, to the command of God, but this must have been torture for him. He had three days to change his mind and go back home. 

I've got all kinds of questions about things left unsaid. Did he tell Sarah where he was going? I have no idea. Did he tell Isaac what this was about? Well, they get to the mountain, and then he tells his servants, You stay down here and I'm going up there and we're going to worship. That's the first occurrence of the Hebrew word, worship. And it does not mean praise God from whom all blessings flow. It means demonstrate submission and homage before a superior. That's what they're doing. That's what they're doing. That's worship.  

And so, he goes up, he builds the altar and he lays the wood, and then he puts Isaac, and he’s about to stab him. And the Angel of the Lord says, Stop, stop, don't lay a hand on him for now I know that you fear me. Fear? Terrified? Is Abraham doing this because he's worried about the consequences if he doesn't. I better or else? I don't think so.  

“After these things, the Lord tested Abraham.” What is He testing in him? Well, just in the previous chapter 21, He had said, not in Ishmael, but in Isaac the promise is going on. The first thing after that He says, Take Isaac and go offer him as a sacrifice. See if you can leave that one with me. And it's a box that God puts Abraham in. There's no windows, there are no doors. There's no way out. It's an absolute dilemma. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. But what does he do? He said, that’s God's problem. Now I know that you fear Me. And this is a virtual synonym for what we had in chapter 15: Abraham believed God, and He counted it to him for righteousness. It's a virtual synonym. And in Deuteronomy, that's how it works often.  

Well, the danger of the occasion. “So, you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while ablaze with fire to the very heavens wrapped in darkness, clouds and deep gloom. Then Yahweh spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form, only a voice.” Well, in the Exodus account, they were told to build a fence around the mountain to prevent people from exposure to the lethal dose of divine glory. Don't get so close or you’re doomed. Because the moment God stepped down on that mountain, it became a virtual palace of the King of heaven and earth. And that's a holy place.  

Here Moses speaks only of darkness, cloud, which hung over the mountain to protect the people from the vision of God above that; it would have killed them. Now Moses goes up into the cloud. I wonder how much he saw. And he kept saying, Lord, show me Your glory. He never gets enough. Show me Your glory. But here they are protected.  

Well, what's the heart of the covenant? Verse 13, “He declared to you His covenant, that is, He commanded you to put into practice the Ten Words, and then He wrote them unto stone tablets.” So, this is the heart, the essence, the foundation of the covenant. We'll talk about this in our next session or two sessions down the road when we get into the Decalogue.  

What is this Decalogue, Ten words? The words that He declared are the heart of it. There will be more to come but the ten words are a sampling of what life within the covenant looks like. It's enough to create a picture of covenant righteousness and provide a foundation for later revelation. And this is how I envision the relationships among the various constitutional documents we have in the Pentateuch. You have the Decalogue.  

(And when I first did this, it was all to scale so that the size of each box represents the number of words or verses that make up that.)  

So, it starts with a little document, the Decalogue, Ten Words. Then you've got the book – that's got to be changed because that's an anachronism. They didn't have any books then, not for another thousand years or 800. But it is the covenant document here, 21:1 to 23:19.  

Then you've got what scholars call the holiness code. But again, that's far too technical and you forget that this is pedagogically structured and pedagogically framed. It's teaching, instruction on holiness more than laws on holiness. That changes what you do with it, what you call something, and then of course the Torah of Moses. This is the biggest part.  

But all of these represent repeated iterations of the same covenant worldview. That's what's happening here. The seed has been planted. It would have made sense if He’d already given the Decalogue to Abraham when He first made the covenant and then expanded it in these iterations. But this is the way we have it here. That's how I understand it.  

The use of the word covenant běrît here is extremely important. The ten words of the covenant. This is the first occurrence of a word that will appear 27 more times in the book and is fundamental to the message.  

So, let's look secondly at the Grace of Covenant Present. He's remembering the day when you saw. But actually, these guys can't remember it. They weren't there. You'll talk about that in chapter 5. They weren't there. I know you weren't there, but yeah, I'm taking you back there. But you were in that great assembly. So, in verses 15 to 24, you've got the Grace of Covenant Present. “So, because you saw no form on that day when Yahweh spoke” past tense “at Horeb from the midst of the fire, guard yourselves very closely, lest you act corruptly and make a sculptured image for yourself, a statue of any shape that is any male or female icon, an icon of a high carriage land animal, an icon of a winged bird that flies in the sky, an icon of a creature that crawls on the ground, an icon of any marine animal that lives in the water.”  

Of course, you recognize this taxonomy of animal creatures; it comes right out of Genesis 1. These are the categories; this is the Hebrew way of defining species of animals or groups. We do it very scientifically by DNA and everything else. But, you know, theirs were phenomenological categories, where animals live. So, you’ve got sea creatures. You’ve got crawly dirt creatures, you’ve got high carriage land animals, deer would be there, the bodies are not touching the ground. And then you've got the birds.  

In this taxonomy bats are birds. Now, I know there are some people who say that the Bible has lots of mistakes. It calls bats birds, but that's not a mistake. The Hebrew word for bird is flying thing. It has nothing to do with feathers. It has to do with the sphere of existence, where they live. And so that's what we’ve got here. No creatures of any kind are you to create. You're not to reduce God to the form.  

But then he goes to another category, watch yourselves that you don't make this stuff, or second, that you raise your eyes to the sky and make gods out of things up there that are already created. You didn't make them, but they're there. And so, you transfer your allegiance from Yahweh your God to the heavens, sun, moon, and the stars, the entire heavenly host, and you are seduced.  

I love Moses’ use of this word. Idolatry is seductive. Part of it is because it invites you to the world of fertility. And that's what it's all about, religious expression, that we may be prosperous, have big flocks, big herds, big crops, big families. That's the point of it all. It's a very materialistic world. You're seduced and you kneel down to them and act as their servant.  

Now, the Hebrew has a simple word here, and you serve them. But when you translate it only as serve, you obscure what's happened to Israel in the process. I have acted as their servant. When you kneel down to anybody, it means you're the boss, I am your vassal, I am your servant, and I will live for you. It's not just doing cultic liturgical stuff. It's life. Act as their servants when God has called Israel to be His servants. So don't serve them. Don't be their vassals, slaves like you were in Egypt. Be My commissioned agents. Objects that the Lord, your God has allotted to all the peoples of the heaven. The sun, the moon, the stars God put up there for everybody's benefit but they're not there to be worshiped. So, they're God's common grace to all.  

Well, while other deities tolerated their devotees worshiping several deities at the same time, this was absolutely not the case in Israel. They were polytheists or henotheists. You know, the word henotheist? A henotheist is somebody who says, we as a people have one main god, but there are lots of others. You have yours. So that in Moab is Chemosh, the god of the Moabites. Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, and Qos, the god of the Edomites. The Israelites have Yahweh. All the nations have their gods. But we recognize that if you move to another territory, you worship the gods of that land.  

So, the gods are basically either functional terms like the storm god, the sun god, or whatever, or they are real estate gods. This is why when Ruth says, I'm going with you, Naomi, your people shall be my people and your God, my God, she's moving into the land of Israel, where Yahweh is the God. And that's what that means.  

Well, Israelite religion is totally different from all others. The other gods didn't mind if you worshiped other gods. In Babylon, the map of ancient Babylon, the main temple is obviously the temple of Marduk, he is king in this pantheon. But there in the gates of the city, I think there are eight gates named after other gods, which you would use those gates at the festivals devoted to the gods when you went in procession to celebrate that god’s place in your life. But this is absolute taboo in Israel.  

So, what is, then wrong with idolatry? Idolatry is folly because it substitutes the worship of the true God who has no form with substitute physical gods who have form, but who have no essence. It's totally upside down. They are nothing. These gods come in a variety of forms. They are gendered, male and female. They're manmade, or they are divine creations that have been elevated to the status of deities.  

We talked about these creatures already. But let me give you some illustrations of what we're talking about. This is my favorite guy, the Canaanite god, El. What a god, that's a wonderful grandpa God. But in the Canaanite mythology, which they discovered at Ugarit, El is a senile old man. He is the father of all the gods, 70 gods, including Baal and whatever, and in this family, everybody’s squabbling and Baal and Mot, the god of death and the god of life, are in constant conflict. But El, he’s the gentlemanly figure.  

Here is Baal who is a figure, the storm god. When he's raised up his hand like that he's got a lightning bolt in his hand, actually. And he's the god of the storm, and that brings rain, and that brings fertility. That's him. Baal is the male principal in the fertility religion.  

Asherah image could be the female, though, in some mythology, some myths, this is El’s wife, the mother of all the other gods. But it's very confusing. But the female deities tend to be created, carved with exaggerated sexual features. And you understand this is all a part of the fertility religion.  

Here's the Iron Age bronze bull. El himself is called Bull El.  

Here is Egyptian. Now we've got a human figure with a jackal’s head or with the ibis’ head.  

Or here is an Assyrian fish god.  

Watch it. Don't make yourself gods of any of these other creatures.  

Here is the Egyptian sun god, Ra. And they're all worshiping the sun god. 

The Babylonian sun god, Shamash.  

And here is the Sumerian moon god, the Stela of Ur-Nammu.  

Here is the Mesopotamian Trinity. You see this? You've got the sun, the moon, and the morning star, Venus. They've got you covered. The sun covers you by day, the moon covers you by night. And in the in-between time it's the morning star or the evening star or whatever.  

Here's another version of that. These images are all over the place, the sun, the moon, and the star par excellence.  

Here is the Babylonian trinity consisting of Ishtar, the star, Sin, the moon, and Shamash, the sun.  

And of course, some of you are familiar. Isn't this on Turkey's flag? It's the Muslim flag. And of course, Islam claims to be a monotheistic religion. But the symbol of their god in old South Arabia, the moon god was the dominant deity, and he survives in the memory and the iconography of Islam, which is ironical because they claim to be monotheistic.  

Well, in any case, Moses makes the point that idolatry completely inverts the order of creation. Things that God created to serve Him are now elevated to the status of gods. Instead of human beings serving God by caring for creatures, they elevate the creatures to the status of deity and become subservient to that which they are to subdue and rule. It's all turned upside down. It's chaos.  

Reminds me of Romans 1, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” He's given revelation. “Ever since the creation of the world His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that He has made. So, they're without excuse; for although they knew God, they didn't honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless mind was darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal for images resembling mortal human beings or birds and four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore, God gave them up.” This is the epitome of, shall we say, depravity, degrading themselves, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.  

Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 44 where he talks about making an idol and the ritual through which that idol becomes an idol, and then they hold it in their hand and they don't realize that in their hand they're holding a lie. That's what he calls it. You think it's a god, but your calling it a god doesn't make it a god. It's still just a piece of wood. And you are totally deluded. And of course, that's why he ends with the doxology, you know, “the Creator who is blessed forever, Amen.” He becomes Pentecostal at this moment.  

Well, second, idolatry is folly because it denies Israel special standing with the Lord and neutralizes His deliverance from slavery. It's interesting in this context of cosmic deities, he says. “But you, but you, Yahweh handpicked you and brought you out of the iron smelter, out of Egypt, that you might become His special possession as you are today.” That's what idolatry does. It forgets the salvation that you have experienced. It eclipses it. The Lord handpicked you, the God of Heaven on earth, the Creator of all, handpicked you to be His special treasure. He is their redeemer. They are His ‘am sᵊḡullâ. Whereas the objects set up as gods have done nothing for Israel, the Lord has done everything for them. Where would Israel be if it weren't for Yahweh? And the answer is, in Egypt, making bricks without straw. And by now, they'd probably have been wiped out. Who knows?  

And that's why in chapter 33, he says, So guard yourselves, lest you forget the covenant. And of course, the covenant says, I am your God, you are My people. No other gods, “lest you forget the covenant that Yahweh your God made with you and you make for yourself any sculptured image that which Yahweh your God has charged you. For Yahweh your God is ‘Esh Okelah, ʾ He is El Qanna’.”. . That's usually translated, He is a consuming fire, He is a jealous God. But that disregards completely the syntax of the text. The order of the words in this text are that these are actually presented as personal titles, if not names. And that's why - names you don't translate, you transliterate.  

My name is Daniel. What does it mean? It's a Hebrew name. I don't know what my parents were thinking. This guy's going to need a name like Daniel. God is my judge. We don't translate. Nobody calls me, God is my judge. Hey, God is my judge, come over here. No. We transliterate names. And so that's why I've done this here.  

The Hebrew structure word order is such that these are virtual epithets. He is El Qanna’, which means impassioned God. We can't say jealous because to us jealousy is in effect envy, isn't it? It's a synonym of envy. It doesn’t have to do with it. It means He gets fired up because He treasures His relationship with His covenant people. And if His covenant people go after another god, He gets fired up. No, you can't do that. Idolatry is faulty because it is the violation of a jealous God, the covenant and the supreme command — you shall have no other gods.  

Well, most people understand this references jealousy because they confuse the English word with envy when it speaks of the passion with which one guards a legitimate relationship. In everyday life, I mean secular life, when used theologically in the Bible, the First Testament certainly, I haven't checked the New, it’s always in the context of idolatry. Idols versus Yahweh. Always. 

In everyday life, though, here’s a great one: Proverbs 6:32-34, “He who commits adultery” is an idiot “lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. For passion”–qin'å, it's the same word, “makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.” Who is the man whose passion is ignited here? It's the husband of the woman with whom the guy, the outsider, is messing. That's what's happening here. This is a legitimate word. 

Now, my roots are Mennonite and we are theoretically pacifists. I have a son-in-law who is a chaplain in the US Army. We've had to learn a whole new vocabulary. The smallest book in the world is the Book of Mennonite War Heroes. It won't happen, but in any case, you know, theoretically, and this used to frustrate us no end when my dad would let people trample all over him. And he'd never fight back. Never fight back. He’d turn the other cheek. We take that quite literally. Turn the other cheek. You want to do that? And so, we say, theoretically, you hit me, I won't hit you back. Theoretically.  

But there comes a time you touch my wife, you touch my kids— I mean, then it's no longer self-interest. It's no longer self-interest. I am responsible for the well-being of the people in my family, and I've got to intervene. My passion will be ignited. It will be because I treasure the relationship with my wife. And if anybody else comes along and starts making overtures to her, I'm getting angry. I'm burning in the inside out.  

And so, this word speaks of the igniting of God's passion when somebody claims His bride. You can’t go there. This is a part of the marriage metaphor of covenant. When used theologically, it usually speaks of His passion for Israel, but in every instance, it involves idolatry. And here's a whole list of them where you've got this happening.  

God is an impassioned God. Foreign gods. When foreign gods like Baal seduce Israel and they commit spiritual harlotry, Yahweh’s passion is ignited – both against the foreign god and against the woman who lets herself be seduced, and that is Israel. In this instance, the passion is not generally against an outside threat, but against Israel for her infidelity. That’s the grace of God. It ends then on this climactic note, the Grace of Covenant. Don’t take for granted the marriage of God.  

And of course, this carries over into the New Testament, where the Lord's Supper is a marriage feast. It's a covenant feast. This is the blood of the covenant. We are celebrating the relationship that God has created for us in Jesus Christ. And to go after any other god is a violation of this very special relationship.  

The Grace of Covenant Future 4:25 to 31. We cannot understand 25 to 31 without appreciating the triangular nature of covenant relationship. At Horeb, God established Israel as His people. But since Abraham's day, the land had been perceived as a vital element in this triangle. Yes, you will be many descendants but I have got a land for you within which you may live. And so here is the microcosmic triangle involving Yahweh, the Israelites, and the land. And that is on full display now in verses 25 to 28, “When you have fathered children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, and you've acted corruptly and made sculptured images of any form, and you have committed the supreme evil,” I mean, our translations regularly say when you've done evil in the sight of the Lord. It's interesting when you have that idiom, it always has the article - the evil. It's not evil generally; it's the big evil. It's a definite one. And of course, it is a violation of the first supreme command, “You shall have no other gods beside Me.” And you see how that's developed here.  

“And you have committed the supreme evil in the eyes. So, you provoke Him to anger today. I appeal to the heavens and the earth to act as witnesses. You will quickly be totally annihilated from the land that you're crossing the Jordan to possess. You'll not live there long, but you'll be totally destroyed.”  

Remember our discussion of the conditionality and unconditionality? The covenant carries on. But this generation's access to the covenant is terminated. You're cut off. You’ve violated, you've gone after other gods. And the Lord, look at who is the subject of this - Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, leaving only a few to survive among the nations. And if you want to serve the gods, other gods go ahead. But not in My land. They're in exile among the nations. Go ahead. Have your fill of idolatry, worship gods made by human hands that cannot see or eat or smell. Go ahead, have your fill. But, of course, it's all futile.  

Well, the time, notice, in the distant future. The reason: violation of the Supreme Command. The certainty: heaven and earth, the cosmos is called to testify to the certainty of judgment. The divine role: the Lord will destroy Israel and scatter their population, and the effect: futile idolatry to their heart's content.  

This reminds me of Psalm 115, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but don't speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but don't walk; and they do not even make a grunt in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” We become like the idols we worship - lifeless. “O Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is. their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in Yahweh! You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh.” Did you see this? Fear and trust right together. It's not, “You who are afraid of the Lord.” No. Trusting awe, He is their help and shield.  

But of course, the story won't end there. Verse 29. “But from there.” From where? In the place of your exile. “From there, you will seek Yahweh your God, and you'll find him.” Really? That is an amazing statement. God will let himself be found.  

You know, it's like the games we played with our little kids when they're two and three years old. We played hide and seek in the house. And of course, you'd never hide too impossibly for the little one. You'd let yourself be found because you want to see the joy on their faces when they – I found you, Daddy!  

Here the amazing thing is God will let Himself be found, if you seek Him with your whole heart, and whole being. Of course, you know what He’s alluding to. The divided heart has certain portions of one's being devoted to other gods. That's the problem. And that ignites the jealousy, the passion, the fury.  

This then leads in 29 to 31 to the Restoration of Covenant Relationship, the promise in 29 and the context in 30. “When you are in distress and all these warnings have happened to you,” That's the curses. You've experienced the fury of God. In the distant future, you will return to Yahweh, your God, and you will listen to His voice. And again, most translations you have, obey his voice. No, no, no. Keep it otherwise, don't blot out the gospel. God speaks more than command. God keeps reminding you I am here, I am with you, I am for you, you are My people, I am your God. He keeps reminding us of that. Don't forget that. You will listen to His voice, both the commands and the promise.  

And so here you have the Promise of Restoration and the Context, verse 30, and then the grounds of hope. This is the climactic verse here. Why? Kî, it’s a kî clause in Hebrew, the word because for is the word kî “For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God. He will not give up on you or destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors that He confirmed to them with an oath.” That's the basis of Israel's hope after judgment. And of course,  

He does not say, God will let Himself be found by you because you deserve it. You're good; you know, deep down you're good people. Well, it's nothing to do with them that has to do entirely with a compassionate heart of God and His eternal commitment in covenant. He will not forget the covenant with the ancestors.  

Now we can debate here whether these ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the ancestors at Mount Sinai. I think it's actually both. In the book of Deuteronomy, there are two types, in the distant future, both are the ancestors of the people. And I think here they're blurring. And, you know, it's one covenant in my mind, and Deuteronomy has helped me see that it's one covenant, but God's promise to the ancestors is eternal.  

But hope is based on His compassionate character, His promise He will not fail you. I love this metaphor. It means His hand will not relax. He won't drop you. You know. So, I'm holding this firmly in my hand. And even if I go like this, I won't drop you. No, He's made a promise.  

And then finally, He will not forget the covenant. It is eternal. It is (inaudible) ‘ôlām. It is irrevocable. It must happen. What a gospel this is. An amazing; the Grace of Covenant. The Grace of Covenant Past that He should ever start with us. The Grace of Covenant Present that He should relate to us. He is so impassioned about this relationship. Don't mess it up. And then, of course, the Grace of Covenant Future. You'll go off the rails. But one day the triangle will be completely together again. And that is all grace here as well. Well, that is the Grace of Covenant.