Today, let's read Chapter 2 of Deuteronomy. What spiritual truth does Chapter 2 reveal? It reveals that the prosperity of a nation and the allocation of the entire land depend on God. Why did Moses write these things to the Israelites? Moses wanted to tell the Israelites that those who died in the wilderness were the ones God destroyed. What did God want to tell the surviving Israelites by destroying them? To let them know that the whole earth is under God's control. The first point I want to make is that our era is an era of Chinese people believing in the Lord.
This is an Era of Chinese People Believing in the Lord
This is an era of the Chinese nation's revival, and we should joyfully welcome the great revival of the Chinese nation. In human history, we have seen many nations perish and many nations rise again. We see a national hero revive a nation, or someone cause a nation to perish. We become very confused when we see this, especially when we visit historical sites.
When I visited the Middle East, I saw many historical sites. On the ruins of those sites, there was once a glorious kingdom. Like the giant stone statues on Easter Island today, it is hard to imagine how people transported these giant stone statues. There was once a glorious kingdom in that place, and then it perished. Do you know? The Mayans left behind many documents, but the Mayans all perished. So for mankind, if they do not know God, they will be in a state of confusion. No matter how glorious a nation is, it will still disappear in human history.
We are fortunate that a nation that accounts for 1/4 of the human population, a very great nation, the Chinese nation, is a blessed and revived nation in this era. Some once said that the Christian faith in China had been completely eradicated. We know that in China, the Four Olds were destroyed. But today, when we look at faith, it is like, Wildfires can't burn it down, the spring breeze blows and it grows again. So the process of Chinese people, including myself, believing in the Lord is quite miraculous. I myself find it hard to believe how I have become the person I am today. Yesterday I went to visit my teacher, who had great expectations for me. He used to hope that I would participate in aerospace and aviation. But today, I have entered a more interesting field, engaging in the work of blessings and curses.
As Christians living in this era, we must clearly know one thing: all power belongs to God. The prosperity of a nation, the prosperity of a family, and the prosperity of an individual depend on God. These are all God's doing. So today, don't think that your prosperity is something you created. No! It is God who makes you prosper. So brothers and sisters, you must know that these are all God's doing. God can destroy a nation, let alone a family or an individual. In any case, have a heart of reverence for God. Know that the great revival of our nation, as our people say, if we stand on the vent, we cannot stop it when the nation is prosperous.
Today, we must know that Genesis and Deuteronomy talk about blessings and curses. Those who carefully keep and follow God's way and God's word will prosper, and those who violate it will perish. The most important thing in a person's life is not the work you do, nor the small problems you solve. If the project or work in front of you is delayed a little bit today, it will not be delayed in the long run. Has the project been delayed? No, it hasn't. But if you forget God, it will be difficult to succeed. We must look further and grasp the most fundamental laws of things.
Human history tells us that some nations prosper and some nations perish. What is the key to the demise of mankind and the rise and fall of nations? The key is whether they do things according to God's word. You say I don't know God or Christianity. That's okay! In fact, when God created you, there was a conscience inside you. You will naturally know what things should be done and what things should not be done. Even those corrupt officials know the immoral things they do. So brothers and sisters, know that all power belongs to God, and the rise and fall of nations and the distribution of power depend on God. Then, what are you and I worried about when we know this supreme God? Is there a problem with living? Absolutely not a problem! This is a fundamental issue: our God is in control of everything, and all power belongs to God.
Yesterday, I led the brothers and sisters to study Exodus Chapter 19. The Bible says that the whole earth belongs to God (Exodus 19:5). God wants to choose the Israelites to be a holy nation. However, the Israelites did not carefully keep God's word in this matter, and as a result, the entire country was defeated for more than two thousand six hundred years.
The Rise and Fall of Nations and the Allocation of the Entire Land All Depend on God
We must know that this is true for a nation, let alone an individual. This is a fundamental truth: all power belongs to God. If you think about it carefully, you will find that this world is very wonderful. For example, the head of a country is actually determined by God. On the surface, it is chosen by people, but it is actually determined by God. We see the emperors of ancient China who could not be killed no matter how they were treated and eventually became emperors. It is a very legendary thing.
In today's era, we see foreign news reports that many people want to assassinate our national leaders, but in the end, their plans are exposed. So if we observe carefully, human beings, individuals, are all under God's control. Whether it is Exodus, Genesis, or Deuteronomy, the Bible emphasizes one thing: all power belongs to God! God's intention is to build a kingdom of priests. What is building a kingdom of priests for? To bring God's blessings down from heaven. So brothers and sisters, know that all power belongs to God. That power is not ours. We must change our concept. Living is not because of hard work, but because of God. God's intention is to create a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hoping that their descendants, the Israelites, could imitate their ancestors - imitate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and build a kingdom of priests. What is building a kingdom of priests for? To bring God's blessings down from heaven! So brothers and sisters, you must know that if the whole earth belongs to God, and then we are united with God, isn't the whole earth ours? So brothers and sisters, we must begin to change our concept. You live not because you work hard, you live not because you work desperately, you live because of God!
There was a brother who was doing business, and he was in a very difficult situation. He owed a lot of money outside. When he was very confused and disheartened, he made a phone call to me. When we first connected, he was in a very disturbed state. By the time I hung up the phone, his whole state had improved. So what did I say? It's very simple to live! Be a priest of God's kingdom!
If people live according to God's word, they will surely prosper. Believe it or not! People who live according to their own logic will perish! People who live according to God's word will surely prosper, because the whole earth belongs to God. Do you want to be a priest in the kingdom of the eternal God? If you are a priest in the kingdom of the eternal God, I will tell you what the benefits are - priests lack nothing. Do you know what priests do? The priest's hand touches the throne of God, and the priest's foot steps on the kingdom of God, bringing all the benefits of the kingdom of heaven to the earth to bless this generation! If the whole earth belongs to God, do you really need to worry? The only thing you need to worry about is - are you a priest of the eternal God? If you are not a priest of the eternal God, you are at most a working class on earth, working hard, working desperately, and desperately solving the problems in your daily life. Those perished nations were all like this!
So Deuteronomy Chapter 2 is talking about a nation being destroyed by another nation! In the eyes of people, that nation was destroyed by this nation because of war. In fact, it was not. It was God who sent them to destroy them. For example, the Moabites destroyed the Emim, the Ammonites destroyed the Rephaim, and Esau destroyed the Horites. These people were all destroyed. So why were they destroyed? Because their sins were full!
Trust in God and Lack Nothing
Today, let's start looking at the Israelites. When Moses was writing Deuteronomy Chapter 2, Moses was actually taking the Israelites in the wilderness for nearly forty years. How do you say that? It was forty years from the land of Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month (Deuteronomy 1:3). There was one month left to complete forty years. When they completed forty years, they entered the land of Canaan. Moses wrote Deuteronomy at this time. The story of Deuteronomy took place one month before they entered the land of Canaan. Moses received God's revelation and rewrote these stories.
What does Chapter 2 record? These Israelites wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years. These thirty-eight years, plus the previous year or so, spent a year or so building the tabernacle on Mount Sinai, worshiping God, receiving God's law, and receiving God's promises! God prepared them for more than a year before they entered the land of Canaan. When it was almost forty years after they came out of the land of Egypt, what did Moses write? What he wrote was:
The LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done. He has known your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing. (Deuteronomy 2:7)
Brothers and sisters, don't think that people who work hard will not lack. It is those who trust in God who will not lack! If you observe carefully, will those who trust in God lack? They will not lack, they will not lack at all! I think I should not lack in this life. I am a person who trusts in God. Thank God! I think this group of people who trust in God will also prosper! We have very high demands on our brothers and sisters when we build the church. Can we not prosper with high demands? We will not prosper with very low demands! But those who trust in God will not lack.
Christians in the Wilderness Also Have Grace
Do you know why the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years? These thirty-eight years were not God's plan at all. Long-term torment was not God's plan at all. In fact, these thirty-eight years were extra. Thirty-eight years ago, they could have entered the land of Canaan and obtained the promised land. But after they went in, they saw that there were giants inside, so they were scared out of their wits! Then the entire Israelite people complained to Moses, and they wanted to establish another person to lead them back to Egypt.
So the wilderness was not part of God's plan at all, especially these thirty-eight years of wilderness! The initial wilderness was actually a test. The initial wilderness was also grace, because God wanted to lead them to the wilderness to be trained, but they did not lack food or clothing in the wilderness.
But what did the next thirty-eight years of wilderness do? These thirty-eight years were to destroy the soldiers of that generation until they were completely destroyed! Then, after thirty-eight years, God was going to bring the remaining Israelites and the newly born Israelites in the wilderness to the promised land. Even so, God still made them lack nothing!
Brothers and sisters, never think that just because you have grace in the days of the wilderness, you can boast about anything. Ah! Look at what I have obtained. Ah! I have manna to eat every day! Ah! My clothes are not worn out, my shoes are not worn out. Oh! Thank God! I know that many Christians live in the wilderness, especially in the thirty-eight years of the wilderness road. What are they waiting for? They are waiting to be destroyed! Who is going to destroy them? It is God who is going to destroy them! Why is this so?
Because they are unwilling to fight the spiritual battle to enter the promised land. They do not believe in God's promise, nor do they know that God controls the whole earth, nor do they know that the rise and fall of nations and the allocation of the entire earth depend on God! They do not know! They think that our God is probably like He is and like He is not. This way of believing in the Lord is the way of believing in the Lord in the wilderness. Brothers and sisters, do you want to be a Christian in the wilderness? If you want to be a Christian in the wilderness, I will not stop you, and I cannot stop you! Christians in the wilderness are definitely not God's plan. Although there is also grace in that place.
Entering the Promised Land
Today, brothers and sisters, you must begin to take up the spiritual weapons, take up the authority God has given you in your hands, and keep moving towards the Promised Land. Who entered? Joshua and Caleb entered. Actually, Joshua and Caleb suffered quite a loss, because the ten spies reported bad news, and as a result, they also wandered in the wilderness with the Israelites for thirty-eight years. These were an extra thirty-eight years.
I think in Singapore, all these food and drinks, chicken rice, duck rice, noodles, dishes, mala tang, etc., there are probably ten or so items, and eating different items, sometimes you don't know what to eat. What did the Israelites eat during those extra thirty-eight years? They ate the same thing every day, called manna. Thirty-eight years of eating manna, I tell you, you really get sick of it. You know, I got sick of eating cornbread when I was a child. I ate cornbread for more than ten years. Now when I see cornbread, I tell you, I never want to eat that kind of thing again.
Is having manna to eat a grace? It is a grace! But eating it for thirty-eight years, manna in the morning, manna at noon, manna in the evening, my goodness! You'd be surprised if you didn't get tired of it. So although Christians living in the wilderness have grace, it is the grace of manna! It is not the grace of the Promised Land, it is not flowing with milk and honey! So brothers and sisters, begin to look again, our God controls the allocation of the whole earth, marking out the boundaries of which nation gets which land. All this is arranged by God. The rise and fall of nations depend on God! You and I are very small matters!
The Unbelieving are Destroyed
What kind of unbelief? It is not daring to fight, not daring to enter and possess the promise. Today, brothers and sisters, we must all become people who are willing to receive the promise. Those who are willing to receive God's promise are those who are willing to give up their lives to obtain God's promise. From Chapter 2, verse 14:
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, that the Lord spake unto me, saying, Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day. (Deuteronomy 2:14-18)
Everyone must know, what kind of people were destroyed? Are you willing to pay the price? If you are not willing to pay the price of battle, that is probably the result. Never provoke God's anger.
The whole earth belongs to God. As long as you go in and fight, and exterminate those people, you can obtain the Promised Land. But they were afraid, thinking that God was not able to be in control, as if God was lying, as if what God said didn't count, and that the giants in the Promised Land had the final say. But that is not the case, it is our God who has the final say. If you do not believe, you are one of those who will be destroyed. So brothers and sisters must know that the Bible in Numbers says that only those who are twenty years old and older, who can take up weapons and fight, are counted. If you are able to take up weapons and fight, and then you do not believe that you will obtain the Promised Land, dare not fight, are afraid to fight, do not want to pay the price, and only want to live a small life, then you are one of those who will be destroyed. If you examine carefully, those who were destroyed were all like this.
This morning, a sister said to me: Teacher, I had a dream yesterday. She said, 'In my dream, I saw you leading all of us, and suddenly there was a disaster, and then we all lived, but those who left us all died.' Perhaps this is a revelation, perhaps it is just a dream. But in any case, such a dream tells us: if you are unwilling to pay the price, and only want to live a small life, perhaps you don't want to live a very prosperous life, either, and you don't have any great dreams, nor any intention to serve. You need to be especially careful.
If you don't want to live a small life, you must establish a kingdom of priests and obtain the promise, and then live a better life. If you want to live a small life, want to manage your business a little better, do your job a little better, make a little more money, these people will be destroyed. So brothers and sisters, do not ever think that paying the price to serve God is not a path to prosperity. Paying the price to serve God not only allows us to prosper personally, but also allows our church to prosper, and can even bring about a revival of a nation.
We are trained in the church to be good citizens. If we are trained to be good citizens, who will oppose us? No one opposes, and you don't have to worry. So it is said that the unbelieving are destroyed. Brothers and sisters, we enter to obtain the Promised Land. Do you know what that Promised Land is? It is a place that is occupied by a group of people. You thought it was an empty place? It isn't. The good places have already been occupied. The places flowing with milk and honey have been occupied by whom? Occupied by people whose sins have reached their full measure. Only when the sins of the people in that place have reached their full measure will God bring us to drive those people out, and then obtain the Promised Land.
Of course, today when we read the Bible, we see the land of Canaan, which is the land that the State of Israel occupies today. But as Christians, we must know that we are establishing a kingdom of priests, to be a holy nation. Because the whole earth belongs to God, God specifically chose us to be above and not below, to be the head and not the tail. God's plan is not to destroy us, but it is our unbelief that destroys us. Because we do not believe, we are destroyed. If you do not believe, you are violating God's word. So brothers and sisters must understand blessings and curses. Blessing is to carefully obey God's words, and violating God's words and rebelling against God's words brings curses. Whether you believe in the Lord or not, you are in this spiritual law.
Those Whose Sins Have Reached Their Full Measure are Destroyed
In human history, especially as recorded in the Bible, Sodom and the generation of Noah were destroyed because their sins had reached their full measure. God brought Esau to destroy whom? He destroyed the Horites. Actually, you must know today that the nation of Esau has also been destroyed. Then the Ammonites replaced the Rephaim, and the Moabites replaced the Emim. Why were the Horites, the Rephaim, and the Emim all destroyed? Why were the people of Sodom and the time of Noah all destroyed? Because their sins had reached their full measure. The Bible speaks very clearly, whoever's sins reach their full measure will be destroyed. Destroyed by whom? Destroyed by natural and man-made disasters. In our eyes, they appear as natural and man-made disasters, but in reality, it is our God. Everyone must know that our God both sends blessings and sends disasters. When disasters come, on whom do they fall? They fall on those whose sins have reached their full measure.
So if you look closely, you don't need to sympathize with those corrupt officials sitting in prison. Why are they in there? Because their sins have reached their full measure. Later, the Caphtorites replaced the Avvim and destroyed the Avvim and settled in their place. Mankind on earth continues to change in this way. The people in this place are destroyed, and a group of people come to settle in their place. The people in that place are destroyed, and another group of people come to settle in their place. This is a depiction of human history. What does it prove? It proves that the whole earth belongs to God, and which nation gets which land is all under God's control.
Those who act according to God's words, perhaps you don't necessarily do it perfectly, but as long as your sins do not reach their full measure, you should not be destroyed. But a hard heart and a stubborn nature are precursors to sins reaching their full measure. If a nation has a hard heart and a stubborn nature, God makes its heart hard and its nature stubborn. In verse 30, King Sihon of Heshbon did not allow Israel to pass through, which meant he wanted to fight. As a result, as soon as he fought, he was destroyed.
Actually, in this era in which we live today, I prefer to pay attention to some news from Taiwan. I then discover what it means to have a hard heart and a stubborn nature. And then what happens? God used the Israelites to kill King Sihon of Heshbon and all his cities and all his people, and completely destroyed every city with people in it, including women and children, leaving not one. This is the nation that God wants to destroy.
But today, brothers and sisters, I want to use a nation as an analogy for ourselves. If God can destroy a nation, do you need to revere this God? It is not a difficult thing for God to destroy a family, so never oppose God. Learn to believe in God, learn to revere God. If God wants to destroy someone, He sends a group of people to destroy them. God does not do it with His own hand. Moses led a group of people to destroy King Sihon of Heshbon, leaving not one.
When we read this, we feel like my God is a bit harsh. Brothers and sisters, today do not think that it is God who is harsh. It is that the people in this place have become evil to an outrageous degree, that is, their sins have reached their full measure. Can you imagine? In the time of Sodom, everyone who passed by on a tour was raped by the whole city. Even for the angels who were disguised as human beings, they also did this. Then the whole city was messing around with this kind of thing, and the entire city was destroyed. Although the land in the entire plain of Sodom and Gomorrah was fertile, the entire city was completely destroyed, leaving not one.
What am I talking about? I want to tell everyone that your personal revival, the revival of your family, and the revival of our Chinese nation are all related to God. If God wants to help us, who can resist us? If translated into today's words, it would be: If national fortunes are to prosper, who can stop it? Brothers and sisters, begin to know that we shoulder a very important Mingding Destiny: the revival of the Chinese nation depends on God. God wants to revive our Chinese nation, and we happen to be Chinese in this generation. I think this is a great grace.
So brothers and sisters, begin to learn to carefully obey God's words, learn to believe in God, and learn to draw on all the good promises of God in our lives. If we can draw on all the good promises of God among us, that is a great grace. We can then distribute this blessing to others.
Brothers and sisters, never think that mankind can solve mankind's own problems. Only God can. Learn to listen to God's words, and do not imitate those Israelites who did not listen and were destroyed and died in the wilderness. Instead, imitate people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were determined to obtain the Promised Land no matter what. There was a man named Joseph. Even when the Israelites were running around in the wilderness, they still carried Joseph's coffin and bones. What was Joseph saying when he was alive? He said that even if I die, my body must enter the Promised Land. That is a symbol of a person with character.
We, this group of people, are determined to build a glorious church in this era to serve this era. According to God's word, we will establish a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a glorious church, to bless this era.
I am very certain that I made the right choice. My classmates are all in their fifties, and the days ahead are days that are heading into old age, and sicknesses are increasing. I think whether it is my teachers, my classmates, or some strangers online, they will receive healing and blessings because of the God we serve. Even when they are helpless in the face of these diseases, our God is still a God who gives grace, and through our faith in God, they will receive such grace.
The whole earth belongs to God, begin to establish God’s kingdom of priests, be a holy nation, to serve this generation, this is our Mingding Destiny.