As we come to the close of this book, how good to focus our eyes on the One who gives life freely!
Remember that this long name, Deuteronomy, means “repetition of the law.” The people poised to enter the Promised Land were not the same generation that left Egypt as adults. Sadly, they had all passed away in the wilderness. So this new generation now receives the law again, with its seemingly endless details, but its one overall message. What is it? God takes His people seriously; He wants you to do the same with Him. It’s interesting that the middle verse of the book of Deuteronomy is chapter 17, verse 10: “And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you.” If there is one verse that encapsulates the book, it certainly could be that one. “Be careful to DO.” What a mighty contrast between “the law” that “was given through Moses,” and the “grace and truth” that “came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17). The law said, “do this and you will live” (Lk 10:28). But the gospel says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (Jn 3:36). With the law it was do, do, do. But with the work of Christ, it’s all done! William MacDonald comments: “The law that was given through Moses was not a display of grace. It commanded men to obey and condemned them to death if they failed to do so. It told men what was right but did not give them the power to do it.…But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. He did not come to judge the world but to save those who were unworthy, who could not save themselves, and who were His enemies. That is grace—heaven’s Best for earth’s worst.” As Horatius Bonar wrote: “Done is the work that saves! Once and forever done. Finished the righteousness That clothes the unrighteous one. The love that blesses us below Is flowing freely to us now.”