Deuteronomy 5:3

TWO GENERATIONS

‘The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.’

Deuteronomy 5:3

I. God’s Word is living, and always keeps pace with his people.—Many seem to have a notion that the Bible is out of date, old-fashioned, behind the times, and that the present generation needs something more advanced. The Bible, instead of being behind the times, is always in advance of them, and so far in advance on some lines that some of its statements are not always comprehended until the event of which it speaks is fulfilled. Although the book of Deuteronomy was written nearly fifteen hundred years before Christ, some of the prophecies it contains are being fulfilled to-day before our very eyes, and the fulfilment of others is yet in the future.

It will be observed that Moses, in this review of the Law, first rehearses, in brief, the general principles of the Law as contained in the Ten Commandments; and throughout the rest of the section he is not only reviewing more at length, but he is also making comments on the Law.

II. Originally the covenant was made with the fathers, even as the New Covenant was with Jesus, our Covenant Head. But it was also entered into personally by these very men at Sinai. Theirs, therefore, was the personal and individual responsibility. And how intensely personal the act of entrance into the New Covenant! If ever two were alone together it is the Prodigal and his Father in the supreme moment of their reconciliation. Then each is all to the other. They are face to face, heart to heart. It is all “I” and “Thou.” And as it begins, so it continues. This personal element, this aloneness with God Himself, abides and intensifies as our religion grows truer and stronger. There is very much that is called “religion” short of this; but the true salvation-point is not reached.

Illustration

‘All Israel were summoned to hear the words of Moses, because no one was excepted from their range. And the end of hearing should always be learning, keeping, and doing (James 1:22).

‘ “Not with our fathers” may mean not with the patriarchs, who had simply the covenant of circumcision; or it may mean that the covenant of Sinai was ratified not only with the generation which received it, but with all others represented in them.’