The song of Moses (2): The song that must not be forgotten

[Deuteronomy 32:1-43]

Do you have a song you will never forget in your lifetime?  If so, why have you not forgotten that song?  One of the songs I will never forget is Hymn “How Great Thou Art.”  When I sing this hymn, it reminds me couple of people and some moments that I will never forget.  The couple of people are our church former pastor Andrew Kim and grandma Eul Soo Jang.  And I can't forget the moments when they sang this hymn until they died.  Our church grandma Eul Soo Jang enjoyed singing this hymn until she died in a nursing home bed.  Whenever I visited her at the nursing home, we sang that hymn together.  And since this memory remains in my heart, I often remember her whenever I sing that hymn.  I remember the moments when Pastor Andres Kim sang that hymn “How Great Thou Art.”  For example, when I went to Tijuana, Mexico with him, I remember the moment when Pastor Andrew sang that hymn chorus in Spanish in a nursing home.  And when the whole family members gathered at my brother's house on January 1st the New Year before his death, I still remember the moment when Pastor Andrew came out of a room to the living room, even though I am sure it was very hard for him due to last stage of cancer, he sang the hymn “How Great Thou Art.”  And even more unforgettable memory that I cannot forget is seeing God's glory and experiencing God's presence when we praised the hymn “How Great Thou Art” at the viewing service of Pastor Andres Kim.  It was his last will for me to lead his view service so I had privilege to lead his viewing service.  Indeed, it was deeply moving moment rather than sadness and tears.  So I can't forget the hymn “How Great Thou Art.”

We have already meditated on the first song of Moses, the song of victory (salvation), found in Exodus 15:1-18.  The song of victory was that Moses and the Israelites sang who God is (His Being), what He had done for them and what He was about to do in the future after they witnessed God’s salvation (deliverance) of the Israelites by punishing and destroying the king of Egypt Pharaoh and his army in the ​​Red Sea.  When we look at Deuteronomy 32:1-43, we see the second and the last song of Moses.  This song was written by Moses before he could not enter Canaan, the Promised Land, and died in the wilderness.  God commanded Moses to write this song and teach it to the sons of Israel and put it on their lips (31:19).  Why did God command Moses to write this last song and to teach it to the Israelites?  What was the purpose?  We can think of two things:

(1)   The first purpose was for God to make the Moses' last song to be a witness for God against the sons of Israel.

Look at Deuteronomy 31:19b – “…  so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.”  In other words, God gave this last song of Moses to the Israelites before they entered into Canaan, the Promised Land, to be he witness for God against the Israelites because they would sin in the land of Canaan (vv. 19-20).  So God commanded Moses to write this song and to teach this song to the Israelites.  In a way, God commanded Moses to write this last song and to teach the Israelites so that they might not break the covenant of God and sin against Him.  For example, in the hymn “Yield not to Temptation” the verse one goes like this: “Yield not to temptation for yielding is sin, Each victory will help you some other to win; ….”  Aren’t we singing this song so that we may not sin against God and to win over temptations?  Also, the purpose of this last song of Moses was when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan and when they break God's covenant and committing sins, they could recognize their sins, repent and turn back to God.  For example, the hymn “Pass Me not, O Gentle Savior” verse 1 and the chorus go like this: “Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art smiling, Do not pass me by.  Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.”  Aren’t we singing this hymn so that we may repent our sins and turn to God?

(2)   The second purpose is for God to make Moses' last song to be a witness before the sons of Israel.

Look at Deuteronomy 31:21a – “Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); ….”  God already knew that in the land of Canaan where the Israelites would go in, they would play the harlot with the strange gods of the land and would forsake Him and break His covenant with He made with them (v. 16).  Then God’s anger would be kindled against the Israelites in that day and would let many evils and troubles would come upon them (v. 17).  At that time, God caused the Israelites to sing this last song of Moses, which Moses taught them, so that this song would testify before the Israelites as a witness (v. 21).  And God wanted the Israelites not to forget this song so that their descendants would not sin against God like their fathers did.

Since God said that this song of Moses “shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants” (v. 21) I named the Moses’ second song as “The song that must not be forgotten.”  Under this heading and based on Deuteronomy 32:1-43, I want to think about the five contents of the song that the Israelites shouldn’t forget before entering the land of Canaan, their descendants who entered in to the land of Canaan, as well as we who will enter into the true promise land of Canaan that is Heaven.

First, the content of the song we must not forget is that our God is great, but as God's people we are doing evil to God.

When we look at Deuteronomy 32:1–6, Moses teaches (v. 2) the Israelites who God is (v. 4) and who the Israelites are (vv. 5-6).  Look at verse 3: “"For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!”  Moses proclaimed the Israelites to praise the greatness of God (v. 3).  The great God whom the people of Israel should praise is “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He” (v. 4).  In other words, the Israelites must praise the greatness of God because the great God is the Rock, the perfect, the just, the faithful, the just and the righteous and upright.  That is why we praise the chorus of the hymn “How Great Thou Art”: “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art!  Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”  In contrast to this great God, what about God's people, the Israelites?  Look at Deuteronomy 32:5-6: “They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.  Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.”  Although the God of Israel is the great God and the Rock to the Israelites, and He manifested that He is perfect, His ways are just, He is righteous and upright, the Israelites who praised God had acted corruptly toward God.  Moreover, Moses said that when they entered into the land of Canaan, they would continue to act corruptly toward God because they were foolish and unwise people.  Although the great God was the Father of the Israelites and the Creator God who created and established them, the Israelites, the foolish and unwise people, paid back God's grace and love with evil.  To them, Moses told to proclaim the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to God (v. 3).  And Moses told the Israelites, “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father …” (v. 7a).  What does it mean?  It means that the Israelites should look back on their past and remember what did for them in the past so that they may praise God's greatness.  And Moses tells them to ask their father.  Moses told the Israelites to ask their first-generation parents who escape from Egypt with Moses and to praise the greatness of God, knowing not only the ten plagues God had sent in Egypt, but also the wonderful works of God until they reached the land of Canaan.  Do you understand how Moses is telling the Israelites who were acting corruptly toward God to praise God's greatness?

                We must keep in mind that it is entirely God's grace for us to praise the hymn “How Great Thou Art.”  Although we are foolish and unwise people who keep on sinning against God like the Israelites, God is telling us to praise God's greatness.  What is this if not it is God's grace?  We who are capricious are privileged to praise God's greatness because of the unwavering love and grace of God.  By this grace we must praise God's greatness.

Second, the content of the song we must not forget is that the loving God has chosen us, and that the Shepherd Lord is leading, protecting, and training us in this wilderness-like world.

                The reason why we are enjoying the privilege to sing the hymn “How Great Thou Art” and praise His greatness is because God chose us in Christ before the creation (Eph. 1:4).  Look at Deuteronomy 32:8-9: “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.  "For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”  What does it mean?  It means that the Most High God chose Jacob among many people and nations in this world and made the Israelites His people.  Interestingly, according to Pastor John MacArthur, there were 70 nations in Genesis 10 (Gen. 10) and Jacob also had 70 descendants (46:27) (MacArthur).  This means that, as Deuteronomy 32:8 says, when the Most High God gave all the nations an inheritance (when they divided the races), He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel, that is 70.  That is why God gave the land as an inheritance to the 70 nations at that time and set the boundaries, leaving enough land for the Israelites to live.  Since the Most High God had chosen Jacob, or Israel, out of the 70 nations and made the Israelites as His people, the Israelites should have praised God's greatness.

Do you know why God chose us in Christ before creation, that we would be holy and blameless before God?  (Eph. 1:4)  What is the purpose that God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself? (v. 5)  The Bible Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14 say the purpose as follow: “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (v. 6), “to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory” (v. 12), “who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory” (v. 14).  The purpose why God chose us in Christ before creation was to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.   Therefore, the song we must not forget to sing is the praise of God's glory.  Also, the content of the song we must not forget to sing is that the Shepherd Lord is leading, protecting, and strengthening us in this wilderness-like world.  Look at Deuteronomy 32:10-12: “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.  Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.  ‘The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.’”  The reason why Moses told the Israelites to praise God's greatness was because God led them, protected them, cared for them and guarded them in the wilderness for 40 years as the pupil of His eye.  Psalms 121 comes to mind: “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.  …  The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.  The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever” (vv. 3-4, 7-8).  Because God who keeps Israel does not slumber or sleep but keeps the Israelites as the apple of His eyes (17:8), Moses told the Israelites to praise God.  Furthermore, the reason why Moses told the Israelites to praise God was because God trained His beloved Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years just as an eagle trained a young eagle.

Do you know how does the eagle train its young eagle?  Dr. Park Yun-sun said three things: (1) The eagle disturbs the nest where the baby eagles live.  God led the Israelites out of Egypt and led them through 40 years of suffering in the wilderness in order to lead them to Canaan, the Promised Land.  It was because God wanted the Israelites to depend on God alone.  The same is true of the Lord's church.  The reason why God is disturbing its nest is to make us to depend only on the Lord.  (2) The eagle hovering over its young eagle.  In other words, the eagle makes its young eagle to fall from the nest and hovers over it in order to protect it.  God is also close to the afflicted church and is preparing to help the church to escape the danger.  (3) The eagle spreads its wings, receives the falling young eagle, and carries it on its wings.  The Lord saves His church in dramatic time (in God's time) when His church is in crisis and adversity.  So Moses told the Israelites to praise God's greatness.

Third, the content of the song we must not forget is the fact that we forget God's grace and that God's wrath will come upon us because of our apostasy, and yet we never realize it.

Moses sang that God would lead the Israelites to Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, where they would grow fat, think and sleek (Deut. 32:13-15).  But the problem is that when the Israelites became fat, think, and sleek, they forsook God who made them, and scorned the Rock of salvation (v. 15).  Furthermore, the Israelites made God jealous with “strange gods; With abominations” (v. 16), they sacrificed to demons, who weren’t God, god whom they had not known, new gods who came lately (v. 17).  They neglected the Rock who begot them, and forgot the God who gave them birth (v. 18).  As a result, they made God jealousy with what was not God and they provoked God to anger with their idols (vv. 16, 18, 21).  Therefore, God would judge them, saying that their enemies would invade Israel and cause them calamity (vv. 23-25).  Nevertheless, the Israelites were lacking in counsel and there was no understanding in them (v. 28).  They weren’t wise so they didn’t understand this, that they would discern their future (v. 29).  Moses taught this song to the Israelites and made them to sing it.  Would you sing this song to God if you were like the Israelites?

This is the part of the lyrics of the song that doesn't make sense.  It is understandable that we should sing the first and the second part of the Moses’ song that is God's greatness and God's choice, guidance, protection, and training.  But it is hard to understand that we, like the Israelites, should sing the third part of the Moses' song that is our ignorance about forgetting God’s grace, sinning against God, God’s wrath and calamity.  In particular, we cannot imagine we are singing to God about our apostasy of faith that is we are leaving God and idolizing matters in this world as we live in this richest nation in the world, America, and are grown fat, thick, and sleek.  As I thought about this, I recalled the parts of the Korean hymns that are about “Repentance.”  For example, this is how the hymn “One Thing I of the Lord Desire” verse 1 and the chorus go: “One thing I of the Lord desire, For all my path hath miry been, Be it by water or by fire, O make me clean, O make me clean.  So wash me, Thou, without, within, Or purge with fire, if that must be, No matter how, if only sin Die out in me, Die out in me.”  When we praise this hymn to God, aren’t we praising God in humility and confessing that what we have done to God is only sinning against Him?  Of course, we do so by God's grace because we want to repent our sins and return to God for forgiveness.  But how would we respond if we were to sing not only the song that acknowledges our sins, but also the wrath of God and the calamity we will receive, as Deuteronomy 32:15-33 says?  So this second and final song of Moses is not popular to us.  In other words, even though we like the Moses' first song, which was the song of victory (salvation), it’s hard for us to like the Moses’ second song when we think about this part of the second song.  There may even be some of us who may hate this part of the Moses’ song.  When I was meditating on this part of the song, I asked this question: ‘Why did God command Moses to teach this song to the Israelites and to make them to sing this song?'  What do you think the answer is?  I think the purpose was not only to help the Israelites to realize their sins against God in the wilderness, but also to avoid committing the same sins against God in the land of Canaan where the milk and honey flowed.  Nevertheless God knew that when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, they would commit the sins of idol worship and of apostasy.  Nevertheless, God wanted this song to be sung by the Israelites because God wanted them to recognize their sins even after entering the land of Canaan and commit sins against God so that they might repent and return to God and obey the Word of God.  Think about it.  When we sing the “Repentance” hymns to God, will we not realize and acknowledge what our sins are?  And will we not praise God with a heart that desires to return to God with a repentant heart?  We are to sing songs to God that are about confessing our sins and repentance.  We must never forget to sing songs of confessing our sins and repentance.

                Fourth, the content of the song we must not forget is the fact that God removes all our powers and leaves us free from all idols and sins, and after that God judges our enemies. .

God said that in His anger, He would send calamity upon the Israelites who would enter the land of Canaan and would serve idols and commit sins against God.  In other words, God told the sinful Israelites that their enemies would invade them so that they would be helpless through their calamity (v. 35).  After doing so, God would have compassion on the Israelites who were suffering (v. 36) and would let them realize that the foreign idols they served were in vain and useless (vv. 37-38).  Therefore, God would let them know that there is no god beside God of Israel (v. 39) and He would judge the enemies of Israel whom He hated (vv. 40-42).  Moses taught the Israelites to sing this fact.

This is how the hymn “Hover O’er me, Holy Spirit” verse 3 and the hymn “Jesus, My Lord to Thee I Cry” verse 3 go: (v. 3) “I am weakness, full of weakness, At Thy sacred feet I bow; Blest, divine, eternal Spirit, Fill with pow'r, and fill me now,” “No preparation can I make, My best resolves I only break, Yet save me for Thine own name's sake, And take me as I am.”  When we offer these praises to God, aren't we praising God as we acknowledge our weaknesses and depend on God more?  Especially when we encounter difficulties and adversity in our lives, I think it is often the case that we give these praises to God when we try to overcome them through our own strength but get exhausted.  I often feel this helplessness personally.  Especially when I realize my own weakness in my battles with my own sins, I praise the hymn “Jesus, My Lord to Thee I Cry” verse 3 – “No preparation can I make, My best resolves I only break, Yet save me for Thine own name's sake, And take me as I am.”  And when I experience my victory over my sins with the grace and strength that God gives me, I am glad and grateful to praise God.  In Deuteronomy 32, God promised to make the Israelites, who would commit sins when they would enter the land of Canaan, not only to rely on God, but to deliver them from all idols and sins, and to judge their enemies and He actually fulfilled that promise.  Then the Bible says that the Israelites or their enemies will realize this truth.  What truth would they realize?  Look at Deuteronomy 32:39 – “See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”  Moses said that the Israelites and their enemies would all realize that God is the only God and that the only true God could put to death and gave life, had wounded and healed it.  Moses told the Israelites to sing this.  The Bible tells us to praise God who makes us to rely on Him alone, God who sets us free from all sin, and God who judges our enemies.

We must praise God.  We must not forget to praise the faithful God who makes us helpless and makes us to rely on God alone.  We must praise God of salvation who not only make us to depend on Him but also to deliver us from all sin and frees us from all idols and sins.  And we must not forget to praise the holy and just God who will judge our enemies.

Fifth and last, the content of the song we must not forget is the fact that we must rejoice because God has judged our enemies and has atoned us and the church.

Look at Deuteronomy 32:43 – “Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.”  In this verse, Moses taught the Israelites the last song they must not forget to sing when they enter into the land of Canaan before he died.  It is a promise that the God will atone for His land and His people because He will avenge the blood of His servants and would render vengeance on His adversaries.  Here, the point we should address is that God judges the enemies of the Israelites not only to let them know that Israel God is the true God and the only God, but also that God will put to death and will give life (v. 39).  Furthermore, God is the God who let the Israelites know that He is the true Savior, who loves and saves the chosen Israelites by judging the enemies of the Israelites.  The God of salvation made atonement for His land and His people with the blood of His servants, and this fact points to the Messiah, the servant of God, Jesus Christ who shed His blood and died on the cross for us, the Church in the New Testament, the New Covenant.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, didn’t atone for us by the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He have obtained eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12).  Therefore, our sins have been washed away.  We are no longer slaves to sin.  We are forgiven of all our sins and released from the slavery of sin by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and by His precious blood that He shed on the cross.  Therefore, we who have been atoned with the precious blood of the Lamb Jesus must not forget the Lord who redeemed us and must not forget to praise Him

Eagerly praying to praise the Lord for His greatness until I die,

Pastor James Kim