Read Deuteronomy 4:11–40
Questions from the Scripture text: Where had they come (Deuteronomy 4:11)? What was the mountain like? Who did what from where (Deuteronomy 4:12)? What did they hear? What did they see? What, specifically, did He declare (Deuteronomy 4:13)? What else did He do with this covenant/commandments? And what did He command Moses to do (Deuteronomy 4:14)? So that the people might do what? Where? To what must they take heed (Deuteronomy 4:15)? Why—what didn’t they see? When? From where did YHWH speak? What would they do, if they do not take heed to themselves (Deuteronomy 4:16)? Of what might they make an image (Deuteronomy 4:16-18)? What else might they serve in worship (Deuteronomy 4:19)? But from Whom are they gifts? In order to serve whom? How are Israel different from the rest of the world—Who brought them out (Deuteronomy 4:20)? From where? To be what? With whom was YHWH angry (Deuteronomy 4:21)? On account of whom? What did He swear? What must Moses do instead (Deuteronomy 4:22)? To what must they take heed (Deuteronomy 4:23)? Lest they do what? By making what? What makes it so urgent that they worship only as He has given (Deuteronomy 4:24, cf. Hebrews 12:29)? Whom will they beget (Deuteronomy 4:25)? Where? By doing what? In Whose sight is this evil? To what does it provoke Him? Whom/what does he call to witness in Deuteronomy 4:26? What will happen to them if they do act corruptly (verse 26)? And what will YHWH do to them (Deuteronomy 4:27)? How many will remain? What will they do there (Deuteronomy 4:28)? Until they do what from there (Deuteronomy 4:29)? What will happen if they seek Him? In what manner? To what point will they be brought (Deuteronomy 4:30)? What will they do in this distress? What is the character of their God (Deuteronomy 4:31)? What will He not do to them? What will He not forget? About what period does Moses now tell them to ask (Deuteronomy 4:32)? Whether what has happened? What is the “great thing” to which he is referring (Deuteronomy 4:33)? And what else (Deuteronomy 4:34)? Why did YHWH do such great things (Deuteronomy 4:35)? What great thing does He repeat in Deuteronomy 4:36? What is another reason that He did these great things (Deuteronomy 4:37)? What new, great thing does this verse mention? What did He do to whom? And what did He do to whom in Deuteronomy 4:38? What two things are they to do with what fact (Deuteronomy 4:39)? How are they to respond to this reality (Deuteronomy 4:40)? With what outcome?
How are we to know God? Deuteronomy 4:11–40 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must know, draw near to, and worship God only in the manner in which He Himself has given us to do so.
We really don’t get how glorious a thing it is to hear the Word of God. This passage puts hearing His Word (Deuteronomy 4:11-14, Deuteronomy 4:33, Deuteronomy 4:36) right up there with the greatest signs and wonders against Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:20, Deuteronomy 4:34, Deuteronomy 4:37) and the Amorites (Deuteronomy 4:38).
Indeed, hearing His Word is the manner in which He has given us to know Him. He did not give them to see any likeness (Deuteronomy 4:12, Deuteronomy 4:15). This is why it is so wicked to worship Him by way of any form that we make (Deuteronomy 4:16-18, Deuteronomy 4:23) or any creature that He has made (Deuteronomy 4:19). To do so is to act corruptly, to do evil to His face, and to provoke Him to anger (Deuteronomy 4:25).
YHWH has given Himself to us! And YHWH, Himself, therefore is the only One Who can establish how we worship Him or draw near to Him. The living God has saved a people to be His own inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:20). And He is determined that they would come to count Him as their inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:29), seeking Him with all their heart and turning to Him (Deuteronomy 4:30), which He will bring about in mercy (Deuteronomy 4:31).
The Lord has done this to make them to know Him as the one, true God (Deuteronomy 4:35), because He had set His love upon their fathers (Deuteronomy 4:37). Here is the great thing that God does in covenanted love: He makes a people to know Him Himself as the only true God (Deuteronomy 4:39)! And this is the basis of our obedience (Deuteronomy 4:40): it is a right response not only to the fact that God is the one, true, and living God, but that He has particularly made us to know Him.
What is at stake in their response to Moses’s sermon is not just good behavior. What is at stake is that they would know, with their whole lives, that YHWH alone is God, and that YHWH had given Himself to be their own covenant God and taken them to be His own covenant people.
Breaking any of God’s commands violently rejects this glorious reality. But what does so, most of all, is to worship God in any way that He has not commanded. This is why, when He came by way of His Word alone, He presented Himself as a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24). He is committed to the true reality about Himself and how He gives Himself to us. And now that He has given Himself to us in His Son, this is not diminished, but rather intensified (cf. Hebrews 12:28–29)!
What does it mean to you that the Lord, the Creator, has given you to know Him in truth? How does this help you detest any kind of worship that the Lord Himself has not commanded? What are some common examples, today, of uncommanded worship in evangelical churches? What are some examples of it, even in professedly “Reformed” churches?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for loving us and determining to bring us to know You in truth. Forgive us for the ways in which we have chosen our imaginings over Your reality, and bring us to repentance in Christ. Through Him, bring us near to Yourself in truth, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP115A “Not Unto Us, Lord” or TPH135 “O Praise the Lord! His Praise Proclaim!”
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