אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים (acharit-hayamim) – Deuteronomy 4:25-31

 

Deuteronomy 4:25-31

25 “When you have had children and grandchildren, lived a long time in the land, become corrupt and made a carved image, a representation of something, and thus done what is evil in the sight of יהוה YHVH your God and provoked him; 26 I call on the sky and the earth to witness against you today that you will quickly disappear from the land that you are crossing the Yarden to possess. You will not prolong your days there but will be completely destroyed. 27 יהוה YHVH will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which יהוה YHVH will lead you away, you will be left few in number. 28 There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can’t see, hear, eat or smell. 29 However, from there you will seek יהוה YHVH your God; and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and being. 30 In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the acharit-hayamim, you will return to יהוה YHVH your God and listen to what he says; 31 for יהוה YHVH your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

 

Moses warned the nation of Israel of their own future and it would have been an awkward moment for those hearing him.

This warning from Moses was not a personal negative projection about Israel’s future but he spoke as a prophet through יהוה YHVH God. Means God revealed to Moses the future of Israel and he warned them about it and put it on record so that future generations should know what they did wrong against יהוה YHVH God.

What God know about future events with regard to Israel and human civilization is beyond our comprehension.  All human independent attempts to interpret prophetic messages found in scripture have created presumptions, speculations, and even misguided applications, until what was warned of God actually happen and we can only get better understanding with benefits of hindsight.

We wish we knew better but God’s prophetic messages calls for wisdom, trust and obedience, and perseverance of faith in God’s words.

True prophets of God who had their messages recorded in scripture spoke in fear of God as they knew the severity of speaking God’s message and the uncertainty of future events. They knew the deadly consequences, penalty, and punishment of abusing the name of God to say what ought not to be spoken.

Prophetic messages do messes with our mind and make us think and rethink decisions we’ve made. Sometimes we think we can still change our future even after being warned of God but there is no escaping the judgement of God except unless God provide a way of redemption.

So did God actually intended to mess with our mind with prophetic messages?

Let’s look at what was being explained through the prophet Isaiah

 

Isaiah 41:21-24

21 “Present your case,” says יהוה YHVH, “Produce your arguments,” says Ya‘akov’s king.

22 Bring out those idols! Have them foretell the future for us, tell us about past events, so that we can reflect on them and understand their consequences. Or tell us about events yet to come, 23 state what will happen in the future, so that we can know you are gods. At least, do something, either good or bad — anything, to make us awestruck and fearful!

24 You can’t! — because you are less than nothing. Whoever chooses you is an abomination!

 

Isaiah was speaking to people who knew the accuracy of God’s prophetic messages especially those warning and judgement set to befall Israel but choose to ignore. How and under what circumstances did these people who knew God and His power dare to marginalized God’s prophetic warnings and judgement?

 

Idols and Idolatries

 

There is something about idols and idolatries which God detested and Man refused to confess as truth, and that is idols are man-made! There is no record and no evident of animals making idols and bowing down to it, only human make idols and bow to it!

Idolatries are Man’s methods of willfully redefining God to our own fancies and to create self-rule.

Idols and idolatries are man-made to play God and justify our human wicked deeds.

Can we do such a thing? We should not but humanity will continue to create idols till God put a complete end to it through His chosen Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ)

Man-made idols and idolatries have been the longest lasting anti-God campaign and movement since the Fall of Adam. And from the rise of modern day atheism we’ve made idols of our own fellow humans to facilitate self-rule, self-determination, all in the name of freedom and democracy!

Consider the mess we created for ourselves in self-deception thinking we human today are more progressive and more advance then previous generations but in truth and reality the entire human race is in accelerated rate of deterioration.

Human civilization is heading towards deeper spiritual darkness and corruptions of the flesh and there is no escaping the judgement pf God except God’s way of redemption through His chosen Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ)

So apparently God will show it to us only He have the ability to tell us of future events with such accuracy that we should be in shock and horror what God actually know about us that we think we can hide it from God!

What ought to be shocking and horrifying is what God will expose of our secret sins deep within our hearts and minds which we may not be even be aware of ourselves! We don’t even know how bad we are till God show it to us!

 

Back to the warning in Deuteronomy 4:25-31, Moses was speaking to that generation of Israel getting ready to cross the Jordan and take possession of the Promised Land.

Moses was speaking to the same generation who had gone through 40 years in the wilderness and they were expected to have learned what it means to keep covenant with God.

Moses was speaking to the same people who had the golden-calf incident and they should have known the dire consequence of making idols of themselves against God’s will. They were eye-witness of the power of God to heal and provide and they also saw how those who sinned against God died by the judgement of God!

It would be an understatement to say they were horrified when Aaron’s two sons were burnt to death by the fire of God when they trespassed against the holiness of God. I think many could not get over what happened for their whole life especially the Levites who serves within the tabernacle.

There is something about human character which we should take note of and learn to fear God is that of our frailty and fallibility to sins and disobedience against God’s words. We human have the tendency to fall into sin not knowing we are heading for it till after we’ve fallen and waking up to our senses in a badly hurt and wounded situation if we even survive.

How often we have to cry out to God for help after God exposed our secret sins and we see our wretched conditions and that we are in need of redemption from God.

 

Psalm 40:1-3

For the leader. A psalm of David:

1 I waited patiently for יהוה YHVH, till he turned toward me and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up from the roaring pit, up from the thick mire, and set my feet on a rock, making my footing firm.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will look on in awe and put their trust in יהוה YHVH

 

So that generation Moses spoke to were ready for action to take possession of the Promised Land and they did crossed the Jorden with Joshua.

Towards the end of Joshua’s generation scripture revealed a strange turn of event which was shocking to the Hebrews themselves

 

Joshua 24:19-23

19 Y’hoshua said to the people, “You can’t serve יהוה YHVH; because he is a holy God, a jealous God, and he will not forgive your crimes and sins. 20 If you abandon יהוה YHVH and serve foreign gods, he will turn, doing you harm and destroying you after he has done you good.”

21 But the people said to Y’hoshua, “No, but we will serve יהוה YHVH.”

22 Y’hoshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen יהוה YHVH, to serve him.” They answered, “We are witnesses.”

23 “Now,” Y’hoshua urged, “put away the foreign gods you have among you, and turn your hearts to יהוה YHVH, the God of Isra’el.”

 

Joshua was speaking to God’s chosen people who fought together with him under יהוה YHVH leadership to take possession of the Promised Land. And how could Joshua say such thing to them “You can’t serve יהוה YHVH; because he is a holy God, a jealous God“?

Did they not worship and served יהוה YHVH their God? They did!

What was the problem?

Joshua’s message was a repetition of Moses’ warning from Deuteronomy 4:25-31

Joshua’s warning exposed the practice of double-mindedness and confused definition of God which resulted in idolatries.

Apparently that generation who fought together with Joshua did not stop to worship יהוה YHVH but they picked up practices of the land which יהוה YHVH warned them to discard and not to follow.

In other words while they worship יהוה YHVH they added “foreign gods” and “strange gods” to their beliefs and practices! But how could they have done that?

The act of redefining יהוה YHVH God as according to their own expectation and desire had created their own idol of the real יהוה YHVH. Remember what Aaron did

 

Exodus 32:1-4

When the people saw that Moshe was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aharon and said to him, “Get busy; and make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moshe, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.” 2 Aharon said to them, “Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold earrings; and bring them to me.” 3 The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon. 4 He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, “Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

 

Pay attention to what Aaron actually declared “Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” Aaron was redefining the real יהוה YHVH God for the people! They knew it was יהוה YHVH God who brought them out of Egypt but who and what is יהוה YHVH God to them?

That was not the first and last time they committed such acts of sin against יהוה YHVH God. How often do people distort the true identity and attributes of יהוה YHVH God?

Until today we human continue to have difficulties in expressing a clear complete understanding of the full nature and identity of יהוה YHVH God and we must continue to stay on track within what is revealed in Scripture until the time the Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ) is revealed and enthroned in Zion. Meanwhile יהוה YHVH God did revealed to us what He is not!

Man-made idols and idolatries have been long standing problems that damage human relationship with יהוה YHVH God. How we define God result in how we worship God.

So how difficult can it be to get rid of idols and idolatries? The key reason idols and idolatries have remains a complicated problem because it is basically man-made and people will continue creating and mass producing idols. Means to say for every idol destroyed people will create more new ones and mass producing them faster than ever!

Idols and idolatries first exist within our human minds and hearts and we give it any physical shape or forms we feel good about it. Modern day idolatries involve fan clubs, people chasing after human leaderships, and popular characters.

God’s commands to destroy idols get neglected again and again until and unless we sacrifice all of our heat and mind to worship the one and only true יהוה YHVH God.

 

Moses’s prophetic warning of future judgement due to idolatries also included a message of restoration but with condition and we need to understand and be prepared how God’s path of restoration will play out.

 

Deuteronomy 4:29-31

29 However, from there you will seek יהוה YHVH your God; and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and being. 30 In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the acharit-hayamim, you will return to יהוה YHVH your God and listen to what he says; 31 for יהוה YHVH your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

 

The people hearing Moses should had understood Moses was peaking of dispersion and being outcast for their disobedience against God’s word and they knew the condition for returning to God is simply obedience.

What is unknown to us is the time frame of restoration.

What is impossible for people of this world to accept is the literal restoration of Israel as a nation and the return of all the tribes of Israel represented by the sons of Jacob.

Israel as a nation will suffer to consequences of their sin against יהוה YHVH God but they will be restored according to God’s appointed time “moed” (מוֹעֵד).

This plan for restoration is due to God’s will to show mercy and not forgetting His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a public display of God’s mercy that all Man may learn to fear the name of God and to worship יהוה YHVH God.

The writings of Jeremiah found in Lamentations recorded Israel’s darkest moment in history and how far they had fallen in sin against God and thus will face the judgement and consequences warned by Moses

 

Lamentations 1:1-3

How lonely lies the city that once thronged with people!

Once great among the nations, now she is like a widow!

Once princess among provinces, she has become a vassal.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears running down her cheeks.

Not one of all her lovers is there to comfort her.

Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

3 Y’hudah has fled into exile from oppression and endless slavery.

She lives among the nations, but there she finds no rest.

Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

 

The same prophet Jeremiah did revealed the reason for Israel fallen state

 

Jeremiah 22:8-9

8 “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, ‘Why has יהוה YHVH done such a thing to this great city?’ 9 The answer will be, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of יהוה YHVH their God and worshipped other gods, serving them.’”

 

The temple built by Solomon was destroyed and those who survived were exiled to Babylon and they continued life in shock and horror that without the temple how could they seek forgiveness and restoration with God?

The same prophet Jeremiah also received this message of restoration from God for Israel

 

Jeremiah 31:30-33

30 “Here, the days are coming,” says יהוה YHVH, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Y’hudah. 31 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them,” says יהוה YHVH. 32 “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,” says יהוה YHVH: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 33 No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, ‘Know יהוה YHVH; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; says יהוה YHVH, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.

 

God spoke of a new covenant but this does not mean new laws.

God’s words never change but what changes are people’s hearts and minds towards the Torah.

יהוה YHVH God will restore Israel by raising a generation of people who will serve and worship Him with all of their hearts and minds and this will happen in the acharit-hayamim (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים) according to God’s appointed time “moed” (מוֹעֵד).

 

DAVID Z