Devarim - "Words" Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22

I have heard it said, "Monday morning quarterbacks never lose a game".  For the first generation of Hebrew children, they had completely lost their game.  As we would likely say it today, "it's time to check the film and see where we went wrong".  Paul put this "film check" in the context of Words (Torah) so we might not lose the next game.

"Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."  1 Corinthians 10: 11

Game film review would be of no use to those that came out of Egypt.  For, all had perished in the wilderness.  Even Moses and Aaron didn't make it.  Only Joshua and Kaleb survived to enter the promised land.  In the case of this Torah portion, Moses is addressing the second generation of those that left Egypt.  It is this second generation that has the opportunity to review the game film of their father's demise.

The obvious outcome of their film review was better than their fathers.  For, it caused them to prosper many generations beyond that point.  Yet, they refused to completely take the land, and still do today.  They allowed themselves to be polluted with the pagan ideals of the peoples they were to dispossess from the land.  Although they possessed the land as YHVH had told them, they still had a problem fully trusting in Father's way of taking it, eventually getting kicked out of the land.

Today, we are faced with the same set of game circumstances as faced by our ancestors.  The remnant of our generation is  bound for the Promised Land just as those that went before us.  Yet, the faithful of our generation will take up residence there forever, where death will never again torment us.  Therefore, it behooves us to study the game film (Torah) very carefully, and get it right this time.

The main question of the tests before us challenges our belief and faith in YHVH regarding the ten wilderness tests I referred to with my comments on the last portion of Numbers.  Further, it requires us to divest our lives of ALL rudiments of Egypt (the pagan world we live in).  This includes coming out of the false religion of Christianity and, if necessary, leaving behind family members that insist on clinging to its teachings.

We have been commanded to thoroughly and completely take the land.  That day will come for the faithful remnant of YHVH.  Yet, just as for those Moses led, there will be battles before we actually enter the land.  Those battles are concerned with both physical and spiritual consideration on a personal level.  There is no choice.  To achieve victory, we MUST engage in these battles.

Contrary to popular Christian teaching, we WILL NOT be suddenly spirited out of this world with a "rapture".  Rather, we WILL go through the tribulation described in Scripture.  We WILL face hunger, thirst, and fear.  We WILL be shunned, hated without a cause, and chased from "pillar to post".  We WILL even face the prospect of extermination, by the hand of modern day Hitlers.  Even so, we must persevere in these battles.  If we truly believe in YHVH, we WILL prevail.

If we are to be among those that walk alive into the Promised Land with Yeshua, we will be successful in the spiritual part of our end-time game.  We WILL believe completely in His leading.  Our trust in Messiah WILL be without compromise.  We WILL learn well from the many mistakes of our ancestors.  When we enter our Promised Land of eternal rest, the victory WILL be complete.  The final score will be: Remnant 10 (as in tests), the enemy 0 (as in skunked).