We come now to a passage of Scripture which was well-known to our Lord Jesus—He used it in His victory over the devil in the wilderness. “And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers . . .” (Deuteronomy 6:10-25). It ought to be familiar to us as well — Deuteronomy is one of the most frequently quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament, along with Genesis, Isaiah, and Psalms.
In this passage, we see that God will give the land which He swore to give (v. 10). The land will be filled with unearned blessings (vv. 10-11). Because of these great blessings, the people will be full, and whenever sinners get full, sinners forget. They must therefore hear the warning: beware (v. 12). God brought them from bondage so that they might serve Him (vv. 12-13). They are to take their oaths in God’s name (v. 13). They are to shun all other gods (v. 14) because their God is a jealous God, and He will destroy them for any idolatry (v. 15). They must not test God in the land as they did at Massa (v. 16). They must keep His Word (v. 17) so that it will go well for them as God swore that it would (v. 18). God promised to cast out all their enemies (v. 19). And when your son asks about all this diligent obedience (v. 20), the answer is a story of deliverance (vv. 21-23). This is the God who told us to obey, the God who wishes good for us (v. 24). And this obedience is our grateful righteousness (v. 25).
It is not unrighteous to take an oath. But when we do, it is to be the oath of God. Because God swore to Abraham (v. 10), we as the sons of Abraham are to swear in His name (v. 13). Because He could find no one greater to swear by, we must swear by nothing less (Heb. 6:13).
God then gives to the people a poetic and gracious blessing
God gave cities which you did not build,
And teeming houses which you did not fill,
Wells dug which you did not dig,
Vineyards and trees which you did not plant,
And you will be full, so you must not forget.
The fact that we do not and cannot fill ourselves could not be made more plain. Only a sodden fool can overlook the thundering nature of grace.
Submission is inescapable; you have to serve someone. In the original we have a strong link between vv. 12-13. God delivered them from the house of bondage (v. 12) in order that they might serve Him (v. 13). The words bondage and serve in Hebrew are forms of the same word. God delivered them from service so that they might enter into service. Worship is inescapable. Service is inescapable. We will either serve the god Pharaoh, or the God who throws down Pharaohs. God did not deliver them from the tyranny of Egypt so that they could go out into the wilderness in search of autonomy.
Massa was a test. This test was a challenge to God, demanding that He prove Himself (Ex. 17:1-7). The people demanded water, and God in His grace gave them water from Himself. The people brought a “lawsuit” against God, but they were actually the ones on trial, not God. At the same time, God condescends to stand before the people, like a prisoner in a dock (v. 6). And there He tells Moses to strike the rock (in effect to strike Him), and so it was that water came from Christ to quench the thirst of a disobedient people.
This is why we are to tell stories to our children. When your children notice that you live differently than other people do (as hopefully they will notice), they will ask about it. And when they do, the Lord says that we are to respond with a story of deliverance (v. 21).
As we consider these things, we should realize that our lives under the blessing of God will be tested in three different ways. The first is temptation from affluence—God gives great gifts to His children, and He expects them to grow to maturity in the use of them. But as He gives the gifts, He attaches a warning label. In this fallen world, it is possible to choke on any delicacy (v. 12). The second is temptation from surrounding idolatry—we too frequently think that peer pressure is a problem with young people. The fact that everyone is bowing down to some idol or another, and they are doing so all around us, has enormous influence over us (v. 14). And last there is temptation from hardship—the people were thirsty at Massa, and, because of their thirst, they impatiently demanded that God act (v. 16).