(REFLECTIONS ON Deuteronomy 9:1-29)

If we as the church, as Christians, receive any blessings from the Lord, let us not think for one moment that it is what we have earned or deserved. This is the warning that Moses also gave to Israel. Moses said,

4 After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you.

It wasn’t the righteousness of Israel that allowed them to take possession of the Promised Land, but the wickedness of the nations. In fact, Israel was also wicked, and a stiff-necked people, meaning that even though they would be reminded over and over again of their unfaithfulness to the faithful God, they would not be willing, or we can also say were not able, to change.

Moses said,

6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

The Promised Land, was God’s promise to Israel, not because of their righteousness, not because they deserved it, but His grace and unmerited favor for His people.

What hope then do we have? We have no hope, and it is only in hopelessness that we will truly understand the grace of God. In the Book of Romans, Paul begins by tearing down any notion that there is hope of salvation because of our own righteousness.

Paul writes in Romans 3,

10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

That is why the hope for our hopelessness in not in our own righteousness, but in God’s righteousness. As Paul destroys any notion of our own works, he then writes in Romans 3 about the righteousness of God,

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

The righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ, or a better translation is the faith of Jesus Christ to all who believe. It is us that believe in the faith of Jesus Christ, that God’s righteousness is then bestowed upon us.

This righteousness is not part of the law, but apart from the law, because the law condemns our unrighteousness, but belief in the faith of Jesus Christ, is a miracle of hope despite our hopelessness.

Not our righteousness, but the righteousness of God,
given through the faith of Jesus Christ to all who believe.

LET US BELIEVE!

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy 9