Heavenly Will and the Law
An all-creatures Bible Message

Heavenly Will and the Law
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
4 September 2016
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 30:1-20

Heavenly will and the Law may sound like the same thing, but it is not.
 
The Law was written for the people of this corrupt and evil world in the hope of bringing the people back to the heavenly will of God.
 
We need to remember that the heavens and the earth and, specifically, the Garden of Eden were created in the heavenly will of God where there is no pain or mourning or death, and where love abounded and all humans and animals lived in peace together and ate only plant foods.
 
And, it is this kind of heavenly will and love that fulfills the whole Law and the Prophets, and God’s heavenly will is for all of us to help free creation from its present corruption and return to living in His heavenly will and love.
 
With these things in mind, let’s take a look at Deuteronomy 30:1-20…

1. "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you,

The things that Moses is talking about are the evil ways of this corrupt world.
 
Furthermore, Moses and God knew that most of the people would choose the curse rather than the blessing, and be banished to foreign lands.

2. and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,
 
3. then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

God’s mercy always exceeds the corrupt nature of the people of this world, and in particular the people that are called by His name, even if they don’t live like it.
 
However, the problem still remains, for relatively few people throughout the ages have fully returned to the Lord their God, and loved and obeyed Him with all their heart, soul, and might; for if they all had, we would no longer live in this corrupt and violent world, for it would no longer exist.
 
Most people seem to go after the curse instead of the blessing.
 
This is why the Lord is still calling upon us to become peacemaking children of God, and to live in His heavenly will; for when we do, we will also help free creation and ourselves from its corruption and violence.

4. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
 
5. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

God’s mercy and grace brought the people back from Babylon, but He has let the people of the world, including Jews and Christians, stew in the evil of their own making ever since, which should be very obvious to all the people in the world today.
 
Yes, He may intervene at times, but overall the world remains corrupted, and God is weeping on the sidelines as a parent over his or her wayward children.
 
God promised all these things, but the evil ways of the majority of the people prevented Him from acting, because in addition to being filled with love, mercy, and grace, He is also righteous and demands our obedience.

6. Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

The expression, “circumcise your heart”, means that God will remove the hardness that has come from following the ways of the devil and this corrupt earth, and give us a soft heart that can hear the Lord our God and mold us to His heavenly will but, most importantly, we must be willing to allow Him to do this, otherwise it won’t happen, as has been evident in the world for thousands of years.
 
Humans are a very stubborn people, for instead of wanting and enjoying the peace of God that comes from living in His heavenly will, most of us want the corrupt and evil ways of this world.

7. And the LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

This also is not happening, because as a society, we have held on to our hardness of heart and failed to return to the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might.

8. And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today.

We keep praying that the people of this world, especially Jews and Christians, would wake up to their evil ways and repent and become the peacemaking children of God that He calls us to be.
 
We cannot have it both ways; either we are children of God, or we are children of the devil and suffer the consequences.
 
However, if we return to the Lord our God…

9. Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;
 
10. if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

Notice again, that these blessing are conditional; if we don’t return to the Lord our God wholeheartedly, then the blessings are withheld.
 
There is also an interesting inclusion in verse 9, the mention of cattle, for if we lived in the heavenly will of God, we would not have cattle to raise, or eat the flesh and byproducts of animals, for we believe that the mention of the cattle is an indication that Moses and God knew that the people would not wholeheartedly return to Him.

11. "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.

The real commandment is that we follow God’s heavenly will, which in turn will fulfill the whole Law; this is what God really wants.

12. It [God’s heavenly will] is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?'
 
13. "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?'
 
14. "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

This is what the Holy Spirit is constantly reminding us about.
 
This is where God’s heavenly will is supposed to abide, that is, if we don’t reject it in favor of the curse.

15. "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;
 
16. in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

If we really and truly want this blessing, then we need to follow the heavenly will of God here on earth as it is in heaven, and then we will receive it, but we all need to do it.

17. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

And these other gods or idols can be anything we put before God, such as our lust for animal flesh and other animal products, for such things involve suffering and death which have no place in God’s heavenly will, for only the devil enjoys bloodshed.

18. I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

This is what happens to the people who desire to live in the ways of this corrupt and evil world with all its pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death, which at the present time includes most of the people.
 
This is also why the Lord tells us that broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to life everlasting.

19. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
 
20. by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
NASB

This is just as true for us today as it was in the days of Moses more than three thousand years ago.
 
Instead of wanting the life everlasting in peace and joy, most people have rejected God’s heavenly will and chosen death and the curse that comes from desiring to live in the corrupt and evil ways of this world.
 
We don’t have to be one of them.
 
We can choose to live in the heavenly will of God that fulfills the whole Law, and be His peacemaking children and help free creation from its present corruption.
 
We can choose life everlasting and the blessings that come with it.
 
We can, if we want to.
 
Amen.

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