World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #53, the plagues on Egypt

 

Bible study with Fred, #53, Genesis 8:6-12: the raven and the dove

 

American History notes, #44, religious liberty moves forward

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #52, the pharaoh of Exodus

 

Bible study with Fred, #52, Genesis 8:4-5: on the mountains of Ararat

 

American History notes, #43, even more on religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #51, Moses

 

Bible study with Fred, #51, Genesis 8:1-3: the earth begins drying out

 

American History notes, #42, more on religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #50, Joseph & Moses

 

Bible study with Fred, #50, Genesis 7:17-24: the Great Flood

 

American History notes, #41, an example of persecution in early Massachusetts

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #49, Back to China

 

Bible study with Fred, #49, Genesis 7:13-16: and the LORD shut him in

 

American History notes, #40, John Clarke and Anne Hutchinson

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #48, Joseph's influence on Egypt

 

Bible study with Fred, #48, Genesis 7:1-12, God's orders to Noah

 

American History notes, #39, even more on Roger Williams and religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #47, the Hyksos invasion of Egypt and Joseph

 

Bible study with Fred, #47, Genesis 6:13-22, Noah's ark

 

American History notes, #38, more on Roger Williams and religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #46, Greek myth context cont.

 

Bible study with Fred, #46, Genesis 6:8-12, the earth was filled with violence

 

American History notes, #37, Roger Williams and religious liberty, cont.

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #45, Philistines

 

Bible study with Fred, #45, Genesis 6:6-7, God reveals what He will do

 

American History notes, #36, Roger Williams and religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #44, Edom and the Hittite Empire

 

Bible study with Fred, #44, Genesis 6:4-5, archetypes of the gods

 

American History notes, #35, North Carolina then religious liberty

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #43, Ancient China

 

Bible study with Fred, #43, Genesis 6:3, Spirit and spirit

 

American History notes, #34, The Carolinas

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #42, Ancient India

 

Bible study with Fred, #42, Genesis 6:1-2, the sons of God

 

American History notes, #33, Maryland yet again

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #41, beginning of persecution

 

Bible study with Fred, #41, Genesis 5:25-32, Methuselah to Noah

 

American History notes, #32, Maryland, cont. (Tobacco)

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #40, Canaan and Ishmael

 

Bible study with Fred, #40, Genesis 5:21-24, the first prophecy of the translation (rapture) of the church

 

American History notes, #31, Maryland, cont.

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #39, promise and peril

 

Bible study with Fred, #39, Genesis 5:6-20, the length of their lives in the pre-Flood world

 

American History notes, #30, Maryland

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #38, Assyria

 

Bible study with Fred, #38, Genesis 5:1-5, the death of Adam

 

American History notes, #29, New York, cont.

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #37, Babylonia

 

Bible study with Fred, #37, Genesis 4:25-26, Seth

 

American History notes, #28, New England colonies and New York

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #36, yet even more about Egypt

 

Bible study with Fred, #36, Genesis 4:19-24, the first civilization

 

American History notes, #27, New England colonies

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #35, even more about Egypt

 

Bible study with Fred, #35, Genesis 4:16-18, the first city

 

Deuteronomy, chapter 30, comments

 

Deuteronomy 30:1 ¶  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. 7  And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. 8  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. 9  And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: 10  If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

 

Like most of us when we have ignored God’s calling to righteousness and we do wrong and suffer for it the Israelites would remember what they had been promised in the nations in which they would be driven out. Here is a promise of restoration based on repentance, a change of heart and action. God promises to return the repentant Jews to the Promised Land.

 

In verse 3 to turn they captivity means to return them from their captivity. Read Psalm 126 and pay note to the following in Jeremiah.

 

Jeremiah 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

 

Obviously, verse 4 carries a figure of speech in If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven and we must use common sense to see that this does not in any way refer to the Israelites being dispersed throughout outer space. And yet, Christians often take hyperbole like this and make an end-times doctrine out of it. Be careful about this type of thing. It is like taking numbers in the Bible and almost making how many times Nebuchadnezzar is spelled differently as having some kind of prophetic importance. Maybe it does but you do not have enough evidence of what it might mean to put forth anything but unsubstantiated opinion.

 

See Jeremiah 21 for Nebuchadrezzar instead of Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Verse 6 speaks of circumcision of the heart which is mirrored later in Paul’s writings referring to the operation that God makes on the believer in Christ showing that it is not baptism that is the parallel of circumcision thereby justifying infant baptism but the circumcision of the heart performed by God on the Christian.

 

Colossians 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised

him from the dead.

 

Verse 6 also shows the importance of loving God, a sentiment found both in the Law and straight from Jesus. Most of us Christians fail in this while acknowledging many other things that we should do. Wesley had a great sermon about this lacking in himself.

 

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

 

Mark 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

 

Verse 9 underscores the temporal nature of the promises given to Israel. There success and prosperity on this earth was guaranteed by their collective obedience.

 

Joshua 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 

But these temporal blessings were conditional on obedience. The Christian is not promised an easy time if they obey but persecution and tribulation are the possible and likely outcomes of living Godly for Christ Jesus.

 

2Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Verse 10 is God’s good and perfect and acceptable will for the Israelites. See a command for Christians written by Paul.

 

Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

Deuteronomy 30:11 ¶  For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12  It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13  Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14  But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

 

Not only is this text very clear in its immediate and direct meaning in that the Israelites had been given God’s standard, His Law, and it was available to them but there is also another thought that this brings up. God is everywhere, working in our cells and in the furthest reaches of outer space. He is not far away in some distant land. He is in every place and at all times.

 

Proverbs 15:3 ¶  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Jeremiah 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

As Paul said and Luke wrote;

 

Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

 

 

Deuteronomy 30:15 ¶  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16  In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18  I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

 

Verse 15 underscores the doctrine in the Bible of Free Will, something that both Calvinists and Atheists who believe in Evolution deny. We are no more unable to believe on Christ than we are unable to rise above any animal urges. We have a choice to make and we make choices minute by minute. Men and women are called repeatedly in the New Testament to believe. And as Joshua said;

 

Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

American History notes, #26, back to Virginia

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #34, more about ancient Egypt

 

Bible study with Fred, #34, Genesis 4:8-15, the beginning of religious murder

 

American History notes, #25, fun information about Puritans

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #33, more than one king at a time

 

Bible study with Fred, #33, Genesis 4:6-7, am I Cain or Abel?

 

American History notes, #24, New England cont.

 

World History notes, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #32, the proto-world language theory

 

Bible study with Fred, #32, Genesis 4:3-5, Cain's offering rejected

 

American History notes, #23, the Massachusetts colony

 

1-minute History, A Bible Believer Looks at World History, #31, Sumeria

 

5-minute Bible study, #31, Genesis 4:1-2, did Adam and Eve have children before the exile from Eden