The Second Great Commandment (No. 257)

Part I

[To be read before the exposition of the Fifth and subsequent Commandments].

God gave the structure of the Law to Moses. The Ten Commandments were divided into two Great Commandments as we saw in the examination of the First Great Commandment (cf. the paper The First Great Commandment (No. 252)).

Exodus 20:1-3And God spake all these words, saying, ²I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

[I] ³ Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (KJV)

[II] ⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: ⁵Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; ⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

[III] ⁷Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

[IV] ⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

[V] ¹²Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

[VI] ¹³Thou shalt not kill.

[VII] ¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery.

[VIII] ¹⁵Thou shalt not steal.

[IX] ¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

[X] ¹⁷Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (KJV)

The division of the Law into the two Great Commandments is given later in Deuteronomy. The structure is clearly identifiable, in that the first four Commandments deal with the love of God, and the last six Commandments deal with the love of fellow man.

The Law was then instilled into the populace.

Our duty is to God, and then to our fellow man. Our duty is to become a fit and proper receptacle for the Living God. He is the God of the living and not the dead.

Matthew 22:29-40 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. ³¹But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ³²I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. ³³And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. ³⁴But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. ³⁵Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, ³⁶Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The first section of the Law deals with the love of God. It is to be with all the heart and mind and soul.

The second section is to love your neighbour, as yourself. For if we do not love our neighbour whom we have seen, how can we love God whom you have not seen?

1John 4:20-21 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? ²¹And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (KJV)

The structure of the First Great Commandment forms the basis for the Second Great Commandment, and on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the prophets. Thus the Ten Commandments are a subset of the two, and the rest of the Law is as subsets of the ten.

The Second Great Commandment is comprised of the last six of the Ten Commandments. It is in our spiritual execution of the Second Great Commandment, that we demonstrate our capacity to enter into judgment, on the higher aspects of the Law.

The structure of the Second follows from the same sequence of thinking or logic, as the First Great Commandment. As God is central to the First, so are the physical father and mother to the Second. The family of God as elohim is the objective of the First and the family of man as elohim is the objective of the Second Great Commandment. They both proclaim the extension of God (as Eloah) to become elohim to, and within both the heavenly and physical host.

[V] ¹²Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The First Commandment with a promise relates to the plan of eternal life as elohim. It was to have been so from the beginning.

[VI] ¹³Thou shalt not kill.

The capacity to kill comes from sin and a desire to see the destruction of another being. Such a view is of the adversary. It is not God’s will that any flesh should perish, and so they will all be brought to salvation in due time, even the Host. For such is the perfect love of God (cf. the paper Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (No. 199)).

[VII] ¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery.

The protection of the integrity of the family, and the fidelity of the unit is a reflection on the integrity and fidelity to God. Marriage is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the Church. You can not breach one without doing damage to the other. Any relationship which interferes with the integrity of the family, and reduces the role of the husband in relation to the wife, is quasi-adulterous. Thus churches that place ministry in a position, which interferes with the relationship of husband and wife, are adulterous and have the effect of developing a quasi-adulterous mindset on the part of the wife. The husband is the priest of his own house, while he is obeying God’s Laws. Much of modern so-called Christianity develops this mindset, and places the priesthood or ministry, between husband and wife. Some sects even condone adultery with the ministry on demand. Size of the sect, or celibacy of the clergy, appears to be no limitation to the practice.

[VIII] ¹⁵Thou shalt not steal.

The welfare of the individual is reflected in the structure of the Law, as it relates to the capacity to protect the individual in their personal effort, and the life that they are obliged to construct. The society, and its organised structure steal from the individual in a more systematic way than common criminals in modern society. In these last days oppression and feudalism are more gilt edged, but are none the less effective. We are about to experience the full horror of the false system in the last days.

[IX] ¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

The entire system of justice rests on truth. The entire plan of salvation can only be secure if it is based on, and protected by, truth. We are obliged to witness to the system of God’s Law and His truth.

The spiritual aspects of the Law are covered in this aspect of the Tenth Commandment, where all breaches are products of the mind and are breaches of the Law entire.

Only by resisting the temptations of the mind, can we truly learn to love one another in spirit and in truth.

Love is the end of the Law.

1Corinthians 13:1-13Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. ²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. ³And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. ⁴Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, ⁵Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; ⁷Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ⁸Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ¹³And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (KJV)

The end of the Law is love or charity. The Law itself is designed to protect on a physical plane, what the Holy Spirit is designed to instil on a spiritual plane. One cannot exist perfectly without the other. The Holy Spirit is necessary to be able to properly follow the Perfect Law of Liberty.

God’s Perfect Law of Liberty is designed to establish us in a perfect relationship with Him and with each other

Thus the Fifth and subsequent Commandments go to this end, that we should love our neighbour as ourselves.

Part II

[To be read after the exposition of the second group of Commandments ending with the Tenth Commandment]

God set Israel in its inheritance and it was commanded to keep the Laws.

Deuteronomy 26:1-19 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; ²That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there. ³And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. ⁴And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God. ⁵And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: ⁶And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: ⁷And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: ⁸And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: ⁹And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. ¹⁰And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: ¹¹And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. ¹²When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled; ¹³Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: ¹⁴I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. ¹⁵Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. ¹⁶This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. ¹⁷Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: ¹⁸And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; ¹⁹And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken. (KJV)

Israel was set as an example nation. It was to be the portion of Yahovah and the focal point of the plan of God.

There were with the blessings given by God some symbolic activities.

Deuteronomy 27:1-26 And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. ²And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: ³And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee. ⁴Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. ⁵And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. ⁶Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God: ⁷And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God. ⁸And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. ⁹And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. ¹⁰Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. ¹¹And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, ¹²These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: ¹³And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. ¹⁶Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁷Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁸Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁹Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁰Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²¹Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²²Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²³Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁴Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁵Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁶Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. (KJV)

Gerizim was the place of the blessings of the people, and the people were commanded to say Amen to each blessing and curse. The Samaritans, to this day, hold the Passover vigil of the afternoon of the 14th slaughter and the 15th Night to be Much Observed, as determined anciently, according to the conjunction, on Mount Gerizim and there spend the night in vigil watching, and return in the morning to the Holy Day Passover festivities. They then continue into the remainder of the feast, as the section termed the feast of Unleavened Bread, until the Last Holy Day, being that of Unleavened Bread.

The blessings and the curses done here were according to the nature of deeds that might be done privately, and so the nation entered its inheritance with an avowal of public and private morality. The priests and Levites stood on the valley floor and made proclamation which was shouted from mountains on either side, by the balance of the tribes, six on either side.

The public avowal of the Law of God in its entirety was to be set in stone with the erection of a public altar. Two great tablets of the Law were to be set in stone in a public place, with the entire structure of the Law written on it, as a check list for the entire nation. Thus all the Law of God was to be publicly declared and publicly maintained in open declaration of obedience. The notion of a private oral tradition, which runs counter to this public and written structure of Law and justice is absurd, and an accusation against our forefathers, who were established under the One True God.

God gave the promise of the Law to Israel, and the details of the blessings and the curses of Deuteronomy 28:1-68 (cf. the paper The Blessings and the Curses (No. 75)).

God set Israel in the wilderness as an example to us, and to point towards the coming of the Messiah and the forty jubilees in the wilderness, under the Holy Spirit (cf. also Acts 7:1-60). The Holy Spirit was required in order to keep the Law properly. The Law of God proceeds from God and is aligned with His nature. Thus the image of God through the Holy Spirit is necessary to the keeping of the Law. God writes it in our hearts and minds.

Jeremiah 31:31-40 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: ³²Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: ³³But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. ³⁵Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: ³⁶If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. ³⁷Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. ³⁸Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. ³⁹And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. ⁴⁰And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever. (KJV)

This Spirit was given in 30 CE, at Pentecost. From 27 CE, God had begun to call the remnant of His elect, as it was spoken by the prophets and apostles.

Acts 2:16-36 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; ¹⁷And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: ¹⁸And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: ¹⁹And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: ²⁰The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: ²¹And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ²²Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: ²³Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: ²⁴Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. ²⁵For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: ²⁶Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: ²⁷Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. ²⁹Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. ³⁰Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; ³¹He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. ³²This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. ³³Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. ³⁴For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, ³⁵Until I make thy foes thy footstool. ³⁶Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (KJV)

(cf. Joel 2:28-31)

The last of the text in Joel points to the remnant the Lord shall call, and the deliverance from Jerusalem.

Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. (KJV)

These are they who are called in the Covenant of God.

The Covenants of God were established from Sinai and they continued to Messiah and beyond.

Deuteronomy 29:1-29 These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. ²And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; ³The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: ⁴Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. ⁵And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. ⁶Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. ⁷And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: ⁸And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. ⁹Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. ¹⁰Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, ¹¹Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: ¹²That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: ¹³That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; ¹⁵But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: ¹⁶(For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; ¹⁷And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) ¹⁸Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; ¹⁹And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: ²⁰The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: ²²So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; ²³And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: ²⁴Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? ²⁵Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: ²⁶For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: ²⁷And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: ²⁸And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. ²⁹The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (KJV)

The scattering of Israel was prophesied from the beginning, and God said that from this Law would their understanding return. The Law would be written on the hearts and minds of His people, with the Holy Spirit and they would then be restored.

Deuteronomy 30:1-20 "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, ²and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; ³then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. ⁴If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; ⁵and the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷And the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD, and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. ⁹The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹¹"For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ¹²It is not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹⁴But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. ¹⁵"See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (RSV)

Note here, that from the adoption of the Law Israel is saved and restored. The curses are then placed upon the nations that persecuted them in their dispersion and punishment.

The punishment from the Law, as noted in this text, is the punishment referred to by Christ in the text below, which is the parable of the sheep and the goats. The punishment is aionion kolasis, which has regard to he who suffers it and the sense of aionion being of the age. Kolasis is only used here and Aristotle says that kolasis has regard to he who suffers it rather than the person inflicting the punishment.

Luke 3:17 indicates that it is to be burnt up.

The parable covers those of the nations that helped or persecuted the Church.

When Christ returns he will establish the millennial system and a great many nations will be consumed and die because of their disobedience.

Those who were of assistance, and obedient, will go into the millennial system and to the Resurrection of Life.

However, all will be able to attain to the Second Resurrection and all texts must be read in regard to one another.

The parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 comes from this text.

Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: ³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. ³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? ³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? ⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: ⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. ⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? ⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (KJV)

We see in this text, a transition from Israel as the nation of God being persecuted, and the nations that persecute them, to Israel as the elect of God being persecuted, and then the nations being judged as to their treatment. Here we have two witnesses. One is the physical aspect of the witnesses of Israel as the tribes and nations. The second is that of the Israel as the Church. These two aspects carry on to the end days (cf. the paper The Witnesses (No. 135)).

We see that Moses then spoke to Israel of the future, and spoke of the Song that he sang, and the Song of the Glory of the Lord that was given to him. These two songs mark the elect of the last days, and the time of the restoration. With the Lamb a new song is given to the twenty-four elders (Rev. 5:9) and that song is also given to the 144,000 (Rev. 14:3). Until that time these two songs form the basis of the elect in the baptism of Messiah.

Deuteronomy 31:1-30 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, `You shall not go over this Jordan.' ³The LORD your God himself will go over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them; and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. ⁴And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you." ⁷Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed." ⁹And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release, at the feast of booths, ¹¹when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, ¹³and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess." ¹⁴And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him." And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood by the door of the tent. ¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; then this people will rise and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured; and many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, `Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?' ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day on account of all the evil which they have done, because they have turned to other gods. ¹⁹Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. ²¹And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their descendants); for I know the purposes which they are already forming, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give." ²²So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the people of Israel. ²³And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to give them: I will be with you." ²⁴When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, to the very end, ²⁵Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, ²⁶"Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. ²⁷For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are; behold, while I am yet alive with you, today you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more after my death! ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands." ³⁰Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel: (RSV)

God foresaw all that was to befall the nation. The Law was commanded to be read at the end of every seventh year of the cycle in the Feast of Booths, so that the people would not forget and lose sight of the Law, and of the fear of their God.

The problem with the Law of God is that people seem to try to implement part of it, discarding the things they think they would like to discard. For example, the Sabbath system was eliminated from the early days under the guise that Christ had changed the Sabbath to the Sunday, when not one shred of evidence supports such a contention. The entire system of the calendar was done away, to implement and placate pagans using their own holy day systems. The Laws governing finance were subverted by the wealthy, in order to make slaves of the people and exploit them contrary to the Law. The adulterous and ascetic priests watered down the Laws to allow their own adultery. Israel was completely taken over by false systems and is now in captivity to sin contrary to the Laws of God and does not even understand the fact. The entire planet is being destroyed by false religion and the Law of God is nowhere implemented or taught. The last relatives of the Messiah were all killed systematically at the instigation of the Roman church, when they called for the Law to be reintroduced to Christianity (cf. The Virgin Mariam and the Family of Christ (No. 232)). These profound events formed one of the earliest prophecies given through Moses.

This then is the Song of Moses.

Deuteronomy 32:1-43 "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ²May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. ³For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God! ⁴"The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he. ⁵They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation. ⁶Do you thus requite the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? ⁷Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. ⁸When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. ⁹For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. ¹⁰"He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. ¹¹Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, ¹²the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him. ¹³He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; and he made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. ¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats, with the finest of the wheat -- and of the blood of the grape you drank wine. ¹⁵"But Jesh'urun waxed fat, and kicked; you waxed fat, you grew thick, you became sleek; then he forsook God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominable practices they provoked him to anger. ¹⁷They sacrificed to demons which were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come in of late, whom your fathers had never dreaded. ¹⁸You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. ¹⁹"The LORD saw it, and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. ²⁰And he said, `I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. ²¹They have stirred me to jealousy with what is no god; they have provoked me with their idols. So I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people; I will provoke them with a foolish nation. ²²For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. ²³"`And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them; ²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence; and I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with venom of crawling things of the dust. ²⁵In the open the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs. ²⁶I would have said, "I will scatter them afar, I will make the remembrance of them cease from among men," ²⁷had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge amiss, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, the LORD has not wrought all this."' ²⁸"For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. ²⁹If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end! ³⁰How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? ³¹For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. ³²For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomor'rah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter; ³³their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps. ³⁴"Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? ³⁵Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. ³⁶For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free. ³⁷Then he will say, `Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, ³⁸who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection! ³⁹"`See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear, As I live for ever, ⁴¹if I whet my glittering sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will requite those who hate me. ⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh -- with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.' ⁴³"Praise his people, O you nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people." (RSV)

Where possible, this Song of Moses can be cantillated in the original Hebrew, in the seventh year at the Reading of the Law, and then explained.

Deuteronomy 32:44-52 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them, "Lay to heart all the words which I enjoin upon you this day, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is no trifle for you, but it is your life, and thereby you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess." ⁴⁸And the LORD said to Moses that very day, ⁴⁹"Ascend this mountain of the Ab'arim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho; and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel for a possession; ⁵⁰and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people; ⁵¹because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Mer'i-bath-ka'desh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not revere me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. ⁵²For you shall see the land before you; but you shall not go there, into the land which I give to the people of Israel." (RSV)

The Wilderness of Sin is the desolation of the system of the worship of Sin, and the Sunday structure with the ancient systems of the Ishtar, or Easter worship of the Triune God. We have been continually within that wilderness over the last two thousand years.

Soon Messiah will return to deal with Israel and the nations. We will be placed in our inheritance, both inside and outside of Israel.

There will be a new Exodus and the first one will be brought to mind no longer.

Isaiah 66:1-24 Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? ²All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. ³"He who slaughters an ox is like him who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; ⁴I also will choose affliction for them, and bring their fears upon them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight." ⁵Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brethren who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, `Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame. ⁶"Hark, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, rendering recompense to his enemies! ⁷"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she was delivered of a son. ⁸Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons. ⁹Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD; shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb? says your God. ¹⁰"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; ¹¹that you may suck and be satisfied with her consoling breasts; that you may drink deeply with delight from the abundance of her glory." ¹²For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip, and dandled upon her knees. ¹³As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ¹⁴You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies. ¹⁵"For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the stormwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ¹⁶For by fire will the LORD execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. ¹⁷"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD. ¹⁸"For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, ¹⁹and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. ²¹And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. ²²"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain. ²³From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. ²⁴"And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." (RSV)

The Lord will establish His system, and His Sabbaths and New Moons, and they will keep His feasts. All nations will send their representatives to these feasts to Jerusalem, or they will receive no rain in due season.

Zechariah 14:16-21 Then every one that survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of booths. ¹⁷And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain upon them. ¹⁸And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, then upon them shall come the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of booths. ¹⁹This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of booths. ²⁰And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar; ²¹and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the flesh of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day. (RSV)

The sacrifice will be re-established at Jerusalem, but it will be only the morning sacrifice. We have already been given eternal life and the first resurrection will be past. Obedience will be given to the Laws of God in Messiah, or the nations will die by starvation. We will explain the Law and the Testimony, and all nations will know the way of God for a thousand years. Then the rest of the dead will be resurrected, and corrected in the judgment of correction or crisis.

Revelation 20:4-15 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. ⁶Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years. ⁷And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison ⁸and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. ⁹And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, ¹⁰and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. ¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. ¹⁴Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; ¹⁵and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (RSV)

This is the end of the Law and the prophets; that all men should reach salvation and see God.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ²all Naph'tali, the land of E'phraim and Manas'seh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, ³the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zo'ar. ⁴And the LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, `I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." ⁵So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, ⁶and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-pe'or; but no man knows the place of his burial to this day. ⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. ⁸And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. ⁹And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. ¹⁰And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, ¹¹none like him for all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹²and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel. (RSV)

Moses and the prophets were until Messiah, and the Law was then written in the hearts of the elect. Each was tried under persecution, and drawn out over forty jubilees, which were represented by the forty years in the wilderness, which was the last forty years of Moses’ life.

Messiah was with Israel in the wilderness, then and now.

1Corinthians 10:1-24 I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same supernatural food ⁴and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. ⁶Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance." ⁸We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; ¹⁰nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. ¹¹Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. ¹²Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. ¹⁵I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? ¹⁹What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²²Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? ²³"All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. ²⁴Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. (RSV)

And this is the end of the whole Law.

Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your might and with all your spirit and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these precepts hang all the Law and the prophets.

Christian Churches of God