Week 12, March 16–22: Mark 10–16; Deuteronomy 1–13; Psalms 30–36

• Sun      Mar 16 Mark 10–12     Ps. 30
• Mon     Mar 17 Mark 13–16     Ps. 31
• Tue      Mar 18 Deut. 1–3        Ps. 32
• Wed     Mar 19 Deut. 4–5        Ps. 33
• Thu      Mar 20 Deut. 6–8        Ps. 34
• Fri        Mar 21 Deut. 9–11      Ps. 35
• Sat       Mar 22 Deut. 12–13    Ps. 36

Mark’s Gospel ends in basically the same way all four Gospels end. Jesus is risen from the dead, out of the tomb, and he appears to his disciples. It may seem a bit strange and unnecessary for us to have four separate versions of this same story. But remember, each of the Gospels tells the story a bit differently with different emphases. Notice the details and differences as you read, meditate on the wonder of this familiar but amazing story, and let it stir your heart to worship our risen Savior.

After finishing Mark, we move back to the OT and the Pentateuch, picking up where we left off after Numbers and reading through the first part of Deuteronomy this week. Just remember, there is an important context here. We are in the middle of the story. Deuteronomy is the fifth part of the Pentateuch, which is a continuous narrative that started with creation and continues through the end of Deuteronomy with the people of Israel getting ready to go into the Promised Land.

It can help to get our bearings a little as we jump into Deuteronomy. The text gives us some key pointers to locate us in the narrative and to help us see what this book tells us about God and his desires for his people. Back at the beginning of Numbers we were told the Israelites had been out of Egypt for a little over a year (Num. 1:1). At the beginning of Deuteronomy it says this is the fortieth year since they left Egypt (Deut. 1:3). A lot has happened in those forty years between the beginning of Numbers and the beginning of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy opens by telling us these are Moses’ words to the people of Israel, spoken to them in the wilderness across the Jordan river from the Promise Land (1:1). Then we are given this additional piece of information: “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb [which is another name for Sinai] by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea…” (1:2) This seems like a simple geographical comment, but for the Israelites, and for anyone who’s read the first four books of the Pentateuch, it’s a poignant reminder. Kadesh-barnea was the earlier border location where the previous generation of Israelites should have gone into the Promise Land, but failed because of their lack of faith (see Numbers 13–14). So when verse 3 goes on to say, “In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them” (1:3), it is a painful reminder of Israel’s faithless, rebellious history and the 40 years of wilderness wandering and death they experienced as a result.

But here they are now, the next generation, about to cross the Jordan and enter the Land. This is a momentous and long-awaited occasion, and Deuteronomy is a book of Moses’ words, and God’s words, to the people. They are being prepared for life in the Land.

As you read through Deuteronomy, it may be helpful to go back and listen to some of the sermons from our Deuteronomy series last year.

As you read, be encouraged, Gresham Bible Church. Your investment of a few minutes each day in God’s word is time very well spent. The Lord calls his people to love him with their whole being. To love him we must know him, and to know him his words must be on our hearts. And what is the way his word is written on our hearts? It can only happen if we read it. You are loving God by reading Scripture.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:4–9)

Throughout Deuteronomy, the message to the Israelites is that the way to gain the Lord’s favor is to obey him and follow his instructions. The opposite is true too. Failure to keep his commandments would result in serious consequences. One of many statements to this effect occurs in chapter 11.

“And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.” (Deut. 11:13–17)

As Christian readers, this could sound like it’s almost exactly the opposite of the glorious gospel of grace we read in the NT. We are not able to earn God’s favor by our obedience or good works. It is his unmerited grace that saves us, that gains us God’s favor. We receive forgiveness and Christ’s righteousness granted to our account as a gift, earned not by us and our efforts but through Jesus’ death on the cross.

So then, is the message of Deuteronomy a message that contradicts the gospel? Short answer: No!

We have to wait until the final chapters of Deuteronomy, which we will read next week, to get the fuller picture of the message of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch. We’ll see there that the Pentateuch anticipates the New Covenant and the NT, and it is in fact not contrary to the gospel at all.