Episode 30: 2 Corinthians and Deuteronomy

This episode unpacks the background and heart behind 2 Corinthians, highlighting Paul’s deep love for the Corinthian church, his journey through conflict, correction, and reconciliation, and the biblical theme of true comfort found in Christ—even in suffering. It also connects Old Testament covenant imagery in Deuteronomy with God’s desire for relationship and restoration, ultimately pointing to a God who calls His people to maturity, forgiveness, and a transformed heart. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to the North Bible recap. My name is Christian Valentin. I'm here with Pastor Samson. Pastor Samson, so good to have you. This is the first episode that I that I take Pastor Ron's chair.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Oh, look at you.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Look at me. Upgraded. Thank you so much for being here. We're good, we're continuing our North Bible recap. I want to say to every single one of you, we're grateful that you have uh that you tune in every single week. Favor that we need from you is to like, to comment, and also to share this with someone. If you are not doing our scripture reading plan, this episode are gonna help you when you're part of the scripture reading plan. You can go to nord.church slash bible, you can find it in our app. We are starting the second letter to the Corinthian church, which we're gonna learn today. Yeah, it's not really the second letter, but Pastor Samson, um, let's talk about 2 Corinthians.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Absolutely. Let's jump right in. Okay, so uh 2nd Corinthians, uh, we think of it as the second letter, uh, but there's actually many letters, uh, some that we have, first and second Corinthians, and some that we don't. So there's actually four letters that we can logically know about. Okay, there's one letter, the what we call the first letter, uh, that Paul writes initially to the church in Corinth. Um, and in that letter, he has says something to them about staying away uh from people who practice uh evil deeds. Um now we know Paul references letter when he says, Hey, when I wrote to you before about staying away from people who do bad things, I wasn't talking about people outside the church, I'm talking about people inside the church. So he clarifies that in 1 Corinthians. That's how we know that there was a letter before 1 Corinthians. So that was letter one. Okay. Letter two then is 1 Corinthians what we have in the Bible, right? Uh and so that one we have. Uh then there is a third letter uh that is called the severe letter. We actually have evidence of it in 2 Corinthians because Paul references two times in chapter 2 and in chapter 7 in 2 Corinthians. He references a severe letter that he wrote, something that was really, yeah, really uh uh very direct and blunt that he wrote to the church uh as a form of the church.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

And it's not first Corinthians because in 1 Corinthians he deals with a lot of things, but he's not doing what he's referencing.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Absolutely, and so then that brings us to the fourth letter, which is 2 Corinthians. Uh sometimes maybe some people even consider 2 Corinthians to be maybe a combination of two letters, uh, so chapters 1 through 7 being one letter, and then or chapters 1 through 9 being one letter, and then 10 through 13 being, but realistically, you can just consider all of 2 Corinthians just have one letter, and that is the fourth letter that we have. So there's a lot of writing going on back and forth. Okay. Um, and really to understand the history, um, you really have to understand how Paul planted this church. Now we covered this in 1 Corinthians, uh, and you know um uh you guys did a great job talking about this. Uh, but first Corinthians, you understand, uh, or really the Corinthian church in general, you understand Paul planted this church when he was in Corinth. Uh, Acts chapter 18 is where you find that event. Um, and so Paul has this special love. He stayed there for 18 months. Paul comes to Corinth when he is the most tired, when he is weak, when he's broken down, so much so that Jesus shows up to encourage Paul to tell him, stick it out. You can do this. There's people in the city I still have, right? So so Paul stays there and he plans. 18 months is the second longest state of Paul.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yes, but very important because it's not like there were some places where Paul was just there for two months or three months and he was out. That's right. This is a letter he spent 18 months, Ephesians is the place that he stayed the longest. He was there for three years, multiple different reasons for that. So he's there for 18 months, and now he's going back and forward.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

It's not like he forgot about them. That's right. And so it's so after Paul finishes planting uh in Ephesus, or I'm sorry, in Corinth, uh later on he's in Ephesus, and while in Ephesus, he hears about issues in the church. Uh, and so that's when he writes the first letter. Um, and then he receives a letter back from uh the Corinthian leaders uh that uh he says in 1 Corinthians it's Chloe's people. So that means that this was probably the a female leader where uh someone in the church, um, and so she would send a delegation. So most likely the church was meeting in her house. She's probably a wealthy woman. Uh, and so uh they bring a delegation and then they bring a letter to Paul and they update Paul on what's happening, and then he writes First Corinthians. Uh and Paul in First Corinthians, like you said, is very like systematic. He's addressing every single issue that they have.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So they must have wrote a very like and he goes and he goes and says, in uh one of the chapters, he says, you know, in reference to this that you wrote.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yes. And so he is directly going point by point all the things that they said. Uh and then he sends Timothy. He sends in first Corinthians, he's gonna send Timothy with them. Uh and so he sends Timothy, one of his proteges, uh, and then he he Paul also goes to Corinth later on. Now, uh he moves on, he he he's in Corinth for a little bit, he moves on, he comes back to Ephesus. So his uh, you know, while he's in Ephesus, he hears about even more issues uh in Corinth, and so he makes an emergency trip to Corinth, comes back to Corinth, and this is known as the painful visit. Uh and he writes about it in 2 Corinthians. Um, and so in this visit, most likely what's happening is Paul is there and he's standing up against some really difficult stuff in the church. Uh, and there was somebody there, we don't know who. Maybe it was the individual in 1 Corinthians that you know was sleeping with his mother-in-law, we don't know. Uh or uh yeah, uh, or not him, his his father's his father's wife, stepbomb. Yeah, um, and so maybe it's that person, we don't know, but somebody like vehemently opposed Paul, challenged his authority, leads a rebellion kind of thing. Leads a rebellion, and nobody is standing up for Paul. And so Paul is hurt by this, and Paul causes his painful visit because he has to be very direct with the church. Uh, and so he he stands up, he does what he needs to, no one defends him. He eventually leaves uh and he goes to Ephesus again, where he's uh and that's from Ephesus, he writes the severe letter. Yep. Uh, and that's that we don't have that letter, just like we don't have the very first letter. Uh and so he writes a severe letter. Uh and then, but after he's writing that, Paul is eager to know like what is happening in the church of Corinth. Uh, and so he he's at the time he's in Ephesus, and so he travels all the way up to Troas to meet up with Titus, who he left there. Um, so that maybe Titus gave him some information, but Titus isn't there, so he ends up going to Macedonia, uh, but most likely Philippi, because he figures if he's not if think about how people like communicated without cell phones back then. He just like he's saying it. I'm like, what a headache. Yeah, I'm like, listen, I'm gonna go meet up, uh, most likely Christians in Tulsa. I'm gonna go to Tulsa, I'm sure I'll find him somewhere in Tulsa. Oh, he's not in Tulsa, so I'm gonna go to Kansas, right? Like it's like that. Yeah, and so he goes to Philippi and he finds Titus in Philippi, and Titus updates him. Um, and there's some good news about people repenting, right? So people are now uh they they stood up for Paul, uh they stood against the person who opposed Paul, they dip disciplined him. Uh sometimes, and they actually kind of discipline pretty harshly. We'll talk about that. Um, and so uh Paul has to Paul writes 2 Corinthians as a response to hearing this news from Titus. So that is the context around all of the buildup to 2 Corinthians.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

So good, so so good. One of the things that you're gonna hear hear us talk often here in this in this podcast is context. We have to understand the context of every letter of every uh city that we are writing, uh reading about, because that's gonna help us understand why Paul is writing the way that he's writing. You know, we just finish First Corinthians, and then when we start 2 Corinthians, it's like this is a whole different way of writing for Paul because things have taken care of already. So uh, anyways, so in in chapter one, um, here's where kind of we're gonna start. We're gonna cover chapter one, two, and three. So in chapter one, what are what's important of chapter one, Pastor Samson?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, so uh chapter one gives us um kind of the initial uh let me pull up my notes here, uh, the initial kind of theme that Paul is introducing, right? And so look at verse three, right? He says, uh, all praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and source of all comfort. And you're gonna see that word repeated, verse four. He comforts us in all our troubles that we can comfort others. When we are troubled, we will also be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, uh, it is for your comfort and salvation. For we ourselves are comforted when we certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. So that word comfort is a major theme that Paul is introducing in this letter. Because right now, up to this point, the relationship between Paul and the church in Corinth has not been comfortable. No, uh, it's been tense, uh, and it has a has had a lot of issues. And so Paul is trying to introduce comfort into this church. Uh, and that word that he's using there is the Greek word uh paraclesis. Uh, if you're familiar, Pastor Rodney talks about this. Uh, the the word that we that's given for the Holy Spirit, the ad the comforter, the advocate, uh, is also the same word, paraclet, right? And so uh this is a work of God, this is a work of the Holy Spirit to provide us comfort. And we have to understand Paul's understanding of comfort is that uh it's not just things, bad things going away, right? It's not that now everything's good, and I don't got any suffering, it's not like that. No, it's that in the middle of suffering, right? Uh, I am growing and that's bringing comfort. I am being strengthened, and that's bringing me comfort. The way I look at it is I'm sure you're dealing with this right now, Pastor Christian. You got a newborn at home. Yep. Okay. And so we're our our youngest is 10 months old, uh, 11 months. And so we're we're we're a little past the newborn stage, but I know this, okay. Uh, whenever you got that little baby and you're trying to get her to sleep, okay, and you're you gotta stand a particular way, you gotta hold your elbow. How do they know when you sit down? How is that possible? They have some have this like gyroscope in their head, they know when you sit down, they don't want you to sit down, so you gotta stand up all night, you're holding this baby like this.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

My back muscles, like the nerve my back, I'm like, oh, I didn't know I had those muscles.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah, absolutely. And so, but you are uncomfortable just to keep that baby comfortable, right? And so, but because she is now calm and you're seeing her smile and happy again, I mean that brings you comfort, even though you're kind of like standing like this, right? And Paul is kind of saying that's how he is comforted, not because he Paul is actually enduring some pretty severe persecution while he's in emphasis. Uh, we don't know what all that is, but we know his life is being threatened. Um, and at the very same time, Paul is saying, I'm actually comforted by what I'm hearing. Yeah, uh, the growth that's happening.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Which is it's it's just so different because you know, when we think about comfort, right? We think about what is best for me and think when I'm safe and all of those things. But when we hear Paul talking about comfort, he is looking at the church that he planted, uh, had a mess for multiple years. Now the church is turning in the right direction, and even though he's facing persecution, probably to the point of death, he's saying, I have comfort because I see what what's happening there, something that started as a mess that was rebellion. Now I'm seeing the repentance of things. That's a beautiful thing, and I think that's what spiritual maturity looks like too.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Absolutely, and you know, like if you saw 1 Corinthians as this like deep theological letter that it was hard to relate with or whatever, it shouldn't be. But if you saw it that way, 2 Corinthians is incredibly relatable when you understand it in context. If you've ever been attacked by someone that you love, someone that you deeply care for, you sacrifice, they've sacrificed, and then they turn on you and you felt hurt by that and you were looking for God to comfort you, but you still want them to be blessed, you still want them to grow, even though they don't look at you that way anymore. Man, you can relate with Paul in this letter. Paul just wants this church to find Jesus, and he is deeply uh he's deeply invested in this church. He sees himself as the spiritual father of this church. Uh, and so part of his pain is that that their rejection of him, their attack of him, their lack of defense for him. Um, man, that is all relatable to us.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Um I think something that when I when I when I even hear like you saying that, I was just thinking of how Paul started in First Corinthians, where in the beginning he's like, I didn't take any money from you, you know. But then he ends the letter with like putting that seed of like investing in the kingdom of God and and taking and then he goes on in 2 Corinthians and he talks about, for example, something like money because their their worldview of money was all about for themselves. Paul is telling them, I didn't take an offering from you, I didn't do that. But now we see like because there's maturity in the church. Now, Paul is saying, I want you to think about your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem that need your financial support, which in the beginning of 1 Corinthians, he's not there, they were not ready for that. But we can see the maturity of the church.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

So very, very interesting. And that's a reminder that comfort, when you're trying to comfort someone, that doesn't mean you don't challenge them. Yep, you don't challenge them to be the kind of person you expect them to be, to give in the way that you're expecting them to give as they mature in their faith. Comfort also doesn't mean you don't confront them, yeah, right? Because Paul still confronts the church here and he confronts the church there. Um, but that's still part of comforting them, right? Is to show them it's that thing that Pastor Rodney talks about that we want people at North Church to feel but what uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time. Yep. Uncomfortable because man, there is uh there is something that the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction on in their life, but comfortable because they know that they're welcome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

It's it's what the word of God does to our life, right? The word of God uh give us the comfort that we are loved, we are forgiven, but it also it challenges, it makes us uncomfortable because when we read it, I mean like, well, I don't live this way. The word of God has challenged you to live according to the word of God, and it does both. And I think that's why as we mature spiritually, that's what we should do. It's just we like I don't only want to be comfortable, also need to desire to be uncomfortable for the sake of the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah, well, that brings us talking about that forgiveness stuff, brings us to chapter two, right? So, chapter two, Paul says this, verse four. He says, I wrote that letter, uh, I wrote that letter in great anguish. So, this is that severe letter he's talking about, the letter we don't have, uh, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn't want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you. Yeah, so that severe letter, the hard stuff he was having the confrontation, that was part of his love for them. And then he says, I'm not overstating it when I say the man who caused all the trouble, uh, all that, all the trouble, hurt, uh, I'm sorry, all the trouble hurt all of you more than he can hurt me. All right, most of you opposed him, um, and that uh was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him, otherwise, he may be overcome by discouragement. Uh, so I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. So, this person who stood up against Paul, uh, the church is now opposing him. They stood up against him after Paul left. This is the news that Titus brought back to Paul. Paul's happy to see that, but look at Paul's love as a dad. He's like, Okay, but now we gotta bring it back in.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

And it was a person, I mean, when you think about someone who you want to forgive, you know how often in our lives it's like, Well, I forgive you, but I don't want you back in my life. Paul is actually saying, When you're forgive and welcome him back. And Paul is the one leading this, which I think is just so beautiful. Because what Paul writes the letter to tell them first, he writes the letter because he doesn't want to come to them and just deliver the bad news again. He just sends the letter. Now he says, When I come back, I just want to come in love. And but he's bringing this whole thing full circle. Where's like this guy who led a rebellion against me? I see that some of you guys are back. Now, the guy that led everyone, we have to welcome back. That's spiritual maturity. That's what we you and I should do in our walk with God. It's not always easy. No, and and we you can see that it's not immediate either. You know, it's there's been some time that has passed. But Paul cares about this person be restored back into uh godly community.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Absolutely. And look what he goes on. He says, I wrote, I wrote to you as I did to test you to see if you would fully comply with my instructions. So this is that severe letter again that we don't have. When you forgive this man, I forgive him too. And when I forgive uh whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us, for we are familiar with all his evil schemes. So Paul is saying this, he's he's guarding the covenant community that we are a part of, and he's saying, Listen, uh, when you forgive, I forgive, and Jesus forgives. Uh that's all the forgiveness that we need, right? And so we have a role to play in extending the forgiveness of Christ to other people and welcoming him back, uh, welcoming people back. Because ultimately, we are trying to make sure that the devil doesn't use uh what was maybe started in good uh good practice, like we have to discipline this for we have to take care of this thing that we don't he doesn't we don't he doesn't twist that into hurtful. So like I've been in situations where I've had I've had to confront people who have done wrong things, uh, who have uh either sinned uh whether against me or other people or maybe that's sin maybe sounds like a too harsh of a word, um, but maybe nitty correction, right? Um but then after I gave that correction, I have to make sure that that person doesn't feel or doesn't leave the community and they're kind of out on their own. I have to be willing to take them back. Yeah, that's harder to do because I still I'm still human, yeah, and I still have feelings.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

One thing that I always I often use uh when I'm having a difficult conversation, you know. Well most people, my my wife, for example, she doesn't think she thinks that confrontation comes easy to me because I don't mind confrontation, but it doesn't mean that it's easy because I'm always thinking of like I probably will say things that the other person might not take it. One of the things that I've been practicing is just telling people, hey, if I say the wrong thing and I hurt you, just know that's not my heart. And but I'm I'm using the best words I have. So if I say the wrong thing, please show me grace. I say that it from the beginning, that way the that wall it's down where he knows or she knows. I will probably say the wrong thing, but please I want you to know that's not my heart.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I don't say that I intentionally just hurt people, you know. But I think that that's important because we have to welcome people. Now we're not responsible if people don't want to come back, right? That's right. And I think that's often, you know, where sometimes us as Christians, we just try to keep reaching out to someone who is willingly walking away, and it's hard for us because then we feel like it's because of me that that person walked away. But on reality, it's like maybe there was they were not spiritually mature to receive the correction that they needed, and they use that as a as a reason to walk away. So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

So let's get into chapter three. Uh so chapter three starts off with this concept, and I think this one needs clarification. Uh, this concept of this like letter of recommendation. Like, what does that even mean? So he says, right there, he says, uh, are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others who need to bring you letters of recommendation or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Truly not. The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives uh are a letter written in our hearts. Everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are the letter from Christ showing the results of the ministry among you. This letter is written with uh not with pen and ink, but with the spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. So this concept of a letter of recommendation. So Paul, right before this, talks about this, these hucksters, these uh fraudulent apostles. I put it here, false teachers is how I have them. Yeah, that were kind of sneaking into the church, uh, and probably like this rebellious person uh who were trying to lead a rebellion against Paul and against uh the church. Um, we're we're really trying to do it for the sake of money, right? They wanted resources, they wanted something they can get out of this. Um, and Paul is saying, uh, and really what they would do is they would get letters of recommendation. This was a kind of a normal practice in that time period. You talked about the Sophist, um, where like you had these like orators, these popular speakers uh that you would book. And just like you know, like when you go to like a popular speaker's like you know, Facebook page or or or their website, uh, there's like all these like you know, uh little clips or these little sayings of other people who recommend type of things, yeah, testimonials, right? And so that way you know, oh man, Google brought them in, or like Apple brought them, like that's a pretty big deal, right? So these little testimonials, and and they are there are people who are complaining about Paul that are saying, Well, where's Paul's letter of recommendation?

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Right? He doesn't have anything. And they were, you know, I think it's even second Corinthians, if I'm not mistaken, later on, he goes on to talk about this where they were they were they were saying, Well, he has no statue, he's like, he's not impressive because this sofiz, these false teachers, what they would do that this will be men who have that type of following. Yeah, and now they're looking at well, nobody really follows Paul. Yeah, so and Paul is saying, uh what what is so he says about the letter recommendations?

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah, so no no no. So in that he's he's he's poking at them, right? He is intentionally using the Words against him, and you're right. So it's in chapter 10 where he says, Oh, they they say Paul is like he's big on letters, you know. He says some very tough stuff when he writes letters, but in person he's weak, right? In stature, he's weak. Uh, and so when he shows up, he's not all big talk, you know. That's what that's what they're saying about Paul. Uh, and then Paul kind of pokes at them and he calls them super apostles, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, because they think they're so great. Uh, and Paul's saying they're not super like, yeah, but he's calling them that, right? Uh, in chapter 11, he says that, and what he says is that Corinthian church, you're my letter of recommendation, right? Like, I gave 18 months of my life to start this church to Jesus inspiration, right? And so I don't need like Pastor Rodney doesn't need a letter of recommendation or to preach at Norchurch, right? Like he and Pastor gave their blood, sweat, and tears, started this thing in their living room. Like, they stood up and gave everything, wrist it all, to plant this thing. Like, you don't need a letter.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

It's like people, it's like people say, you know, if you see Pastor Ronnie as an example, like, well, he's not a good pastor. Well, look at all of us. We are his letter of recommendation. This is this is what he has done. Help us, he has trained us. Uh, the leadership of our church staff, the leaders of our church are volunteers, the people that come and serve is like you can say whatever you want, but the the the the receipts are there. It's pretty much what Paul is saying. That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I was uh I was talking to a friend this morning uh and he was talking about um Angie's husband, um Danny, and uh he was talking about how um Angie's family was amazed when we did the service at the church, the funeral service, um, of how many people showed up. And if you remember that funeral at our church, for those guys, Angie was our um was our prayer team leader um and had done a phenomenal job, had a tremendous impact, um, and tragically passed away, just kind of out of the blue. So all of us were burdened by this, all was hurt by this. And Danny's been an incredible man of God uh and just has continued to just uh seek after God even after going through this deep pain of losing his wife. And so this morning I met with Danny and we were talking, and he was talking about how much his family's blown away at the service, one of uh seeing all the people at the show. Like if you remember that service, we had to put out overflow chairs because there were so many people we couldn't fit them in. Like we had to put in overflow chairs. Uh, but then two was when uh there's a part of the service where uh Pastor Shannon asked, Hey, if you received a text message, some a meal or coffee, you know, uh, and you personally spent time, would you stand up? And like 90% of the room stood up. And he said that her family was so amazed, and a lot of us were because you see one person and the impact that they had, sometimes you have you take it for granted, but that is the way that the church works, right? Um, that is the letter of recommendation is the people that you impress and do life with the way that you serve. Like for I know people who've been serving on our kids team longer than I've been at church, right? In our kids ministry, um, and they've been pouring their life, their their best offering for kids. Uh, at the end of the day, I think they're gonna have one of the biggest crowns in heaven because they serve Jesus so faithfully, so consistently. But you may never see them on a stage or on a platform, shoot and applause. But that doesn't matter because their letter of recommendation is all literally generations of kids that have grown up in this church. They have had an impact. Right. Oh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

That is so good. That is so good. That's chapter three. We're gonna go come back to that. Uh, chapter four through ten, I believe, is uh our next episode. Now we're gonna jump backwards into the old testament. If you're doing a screen uh reading two, we're finishing the book of Deuteronomy. Now, Deuteronomy, um uh Pastor Sawyer did a great job with Pastor Rodney. One of the things that are happening in this book from the beginning, really, it's Moses is retelling the law because the first generation that received the law is dead. They're gone. Now is the second generation the one that are about to enter the promised land. Now, something very important is like Moses is not entering the promised land. That's why he needs to retell, because he needs to make sure that when you go in there, you cannot forget the law. So this entire book is it's Moses retelling uh the law to this second generation who's gonna enter the promised land. So if you are have been reading with us and you're reading Deuteronomy, you're like, wait, hold on. I feel like I just read this early earlier this year. And what's happening is Moses is just putting it all together into this book. So we're finishing it up. Uh, we're gonna cover chapter uh 26. We're gonna we're gonna spend some time in 27 and and and finishing this up.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm just gonna go and jump into 26 kind of finishes off the section up to that point, uh, but I'm gonna jump right into 27 because there's something interesting that uh maybe it's helpful to understand the image of what's happening. So Moses is giving instructions to Joshua and the future generation of what they're supposed to do when they cross over the Jordan and go into the promised land. So right now they're just encamped right on the other side of the promised land. They haven't gone to the promised land yet. They can see it. They can see it, but not there yet. And Moses saying, when you cross over Joshua and leaders, here's what you need to do once you get onto the other side. And so he has very specific instructions. Verse chapter 27, verse 11, he says, The same day Moses also gave the charge to the people. When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin stand on Mount Garrison. That's half of all the six tribes, uh, and pronounce and proclaim a blessing over the people. Then verse 13, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebalun, Dan, Nephthali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim the curse. Uh, and then the Levites would stand in the center in the valley of Shechem. So what's happening is you have two mountains on one side of the mountain, uh would be uh, I'm sorry, on one mountain, Mount Gerizim, would stand half the tribes of Israel, and on the other mountain, on the other side would be Mount Ebal, and that would be the other half, and right in the valley in the middle would stand the Levites. The Levites would stand there and they would proclaim the blessings towards one side uh of the nation of Israel, and then that nation, that that group would say amen, right? They that would be the amen, shouting corner to that, and they would affirm the blessing. Then to the other side, they would proclaim the curses, and on that side they would say amen, and they would affirm the curses.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Whoa, I just whoa, how you're explaining that I've read this, you know, and I just keep going. I've got this is one of the things I always teach people when they're reading the Bible. You have to really use your imagination and really see this in an image because just hearing you, and if you're if you're if you're watching, if you're listening, this might not make sense, but Pastor Pastor Samson has both of his hands kind of like showing the mountains. It's like when you were saying that, it just it was an image. So this is something that you I would suggest you guys as you're reading the Bible, try to imagine what's happening.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

So, anyway, so good. Yeah, and so that and that really is such a powerful image of what God is doing. God is setting up a covenant, right? And this is a covenant practice. Uh, if you remember, we see this actually in Genesis, uh, where uh God uh was making a covenant with Abraham, and he takes tells Abraham to take all these animals, cut them in half, they lay them on either side, right? And then God passes through the middle, right? And God is the covenant maker. Now, this is this is what is the shape of it's what it's theological term here, okay? Uh uh it's called a Caesarean vassal uh contract treaty, right? Yep. And so this was a normal treaty in back in the olden times, okay. And in that treaty, you would take an animal just like Abraham did, you cut it in half, you put it on either side, and then the two partners of the treaty would walk through the middle uh of what's happening. Now, typically back then, a Caesarean was a king or a regional leader, and a vassal was a landowner who was a subject of the king. So these are not two equal people, these are one person is much higher than the other. And so this is how you keep a king in, you know, he's gonna keep his word to people that are much lower than him. But then this is also how you treat tell a vassal, a person that's under your charge, hey, I'm gonna enforce what I tell you to do. Right. And so both parties are gonna walk through the middle, and they're essentially as they walk through the middle, say, Hey, whatever you see on the dead animals on either side, cut me in half if I break this covenant. That's the that's how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

When I when I when when I understood what you just explained about uh the Saesarean treaty, um it really changed how I saw scripture because throughout Deuteronomy we see places where God is the Saesarean, yeah. Uh He is the one that is gonna go before them, He's gonna fight the battles for them, He's going to give them the land, and we see in Scripture that He keeps his side of the treaty, yes, but the vassal, which is Israel, does not. And people ask often it's like, wait, why would God save his people and then send them to exile? Really, the exile is they they did not keep their covenant of the treaty. So, as a good Caesarean, he has to remove them from the land. Absolutely, and it just changed how I saw really the Old Testament. Absolutely, so good.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Thank you for explaining that. What's interesting in in the in that account though, in Abraham and here, is who is on the either side? It's it's the Israelites that are on either side, who's in the middle? It's the Levites who are representatives of Yahweh, right? So God is the one in the middle. So who is the one that's saying, hey, if something goes bad, I'm the one that's gonna suffer for this. It's Yahweh, he's the one in the middle, right? Wow, and so even though the blessings and cursings are on either side of the covenant, right? It is God who is ultimately going to face the ultimate consequences. We're seeing clues of that right here. But there's also something really cool here that's kind of a recent thing, a recent discovery. Back in 2019, okay, there was a discovery of what's called uh the Mount Ebal, the curse stone. You can probably Google this, uh, the curse stone or Joshua's curse stone, sometimes what it's called. Um, because this this event happens. So what these are instructions given to Joshua, and this actually happens in Joshua chapter eight. So Joshua completes what's instructed to him. And so uh about 2019, they found they found this yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yeah, that was recently very recently.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

They found this uh little lead tablet, there's a tiny little thing, um, and they found it uh in an archaeological dig. Um for they had it for a while, but in 2019 they had we had developed technology to actually x-ray this thing. Because if you pull this apart, it completely destroys. Uh, and they x-rayed this thing. They discovered the writings of the curses are written on that little tablet. And so they date it all the way back to 13th century BCE, uh, which is the same time frame that Joshua would have crossed over to the promised land. Well, and so this is archaeological, historical evidence uh that what you see and read in the Bible is actually happening, right? And so obviously there's a lot of you know argument on either side. I just thought it was a cool, kind of nerdy thing, but the fact that what you're reading is actually coming alive, and for a long time, people are just like, well, Joshua's just a made-up character, and all this stuff is kind of made up. Uh, when actuality you're seeing things that are actually proving archaeologically that no, this is true, this actually happened. Um, and so the children of Israel truly did stand on either side of the mountains, on either mountains, uh, and they proclaimed the blessing and cursing. In that though, and that takes us to chapter 30, because it kind of goes on for a while. If you read it, uh, you know, all the blessings that this pronounced, all the cursings, it's sometimes a little rough to read, okay? But then you see the heart of God in chapter 30. And he says in verse 19, he says, Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessing and curses. Now I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life so that you and your descendants might live. And ultimately, this is showing God's desire for the children of Israel and for us. God's desire is not to punish us, not to bring the curses on us. God doesn't want that for us. God wants us to have life and life everlasting. Jesus says, I came, I come to give life and life abundantly. So good. And that is at the heart, the root of what God is trying to do here is not to bring curses on these people, God is trying to bring life.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

I think that's so good that you explained that because I think so often when people are trying to make sense of the Bible, make sense of God, and I think is it's people like I I think people sometimes mean so well, but they're just confusing, like they always seem that the the story of God is like, oh, God is trying to get you, and it's not true, you know. When we see this, it's like God's plan has always been to bless us, yeah, to keep us safe to all of the it is it is our disobedience that actually brings those things into our life. But thank you for explaining that because I think I have so many conversations throughout I have had so many conversations throughout the years where people really think that God is just trying to get them to mess up or waiting for them to mess up.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Yeah, so absolutely. How could God do this to me? Uh, which brings us to chapter 31, uh, because there's an important person that's not gonna make it to the end. Yeah, so he has to choose a successor, and you see a succession process. Tell us about chapter 31.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

So again, Moses is not allowed to go into the promised land uh because of what happened in Kadesh. Uh, I believe this is Numbers chapter 20. Um, he struck the rock and it's he cannot go to the promised land because he did not keep God's uh holy name, he misrepresented God to his people, and God tells Moses, listen, they're gonna go, you're not gonna go. And now we're here. So this whole book is retelling the law because they're about to go into the promised land.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

And God can I cut in really quick? So uh for those of you guys know me, Pastor Christian preached a great message on this last year. Yep, yeah, uh, and I actually was reflecting on it this year as I was reading through that passage uh in Numbers. Um, and uh you said something that at when you're preaching that message that stuck with me all this time, and I still think about it. You said if Moses wanted to, he probably could have prayed and asked God to let him go into the think about all the things that Moses somehow convinced God to do. Yep, right? Yep, like Moses convinced God of a lot of things. He wanted to kill the Israel multiple times, yes, and Moses was able to speak to the heart of God. Moses does not pray to God to say, Hey, can I still go? Right, would you forget? Yeah, please, please, please, but in a begging way, not in a repentance, yes, yes, and so you're seeing that Moses is not doing what he normally does to intercede. Uh, that there's there is kind of an aspect where I think Moses realizes he's not meant to be the leader into the promised land. He realizes that it is time to pass the mantle forward, that it's time for someone else to step in. Um, and there's something significant in that succession.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Yeah, yeah. So uh God chooses uh Joshua. Uh Joshua and Caleb are the two from from the first generation, the only two that are willing to they are they are not willing, they are the ones God has chosen because when everyone saw uh uh opposition in the promised land, they were the only two that say, No, God is with us, he's gonna get his land. Yeah, now they are the only two from the entire generation that get to go into the and they're the oldest two people in the entire Israel nation. Uh, but you know, and you read they are they still have that um young spirit, yeah. Because you we read that about that in the in the book of Joshua. But now uh it's time to to really pass the baton. And you know, I I just love um that uh in chapter 31 it says to be strong and courageous, do not fear. Yeah, that's what you know what what Moses what God is really telling Joshua through Moses, yeah. Because I I just want you to think about this. This is imagine you leading a nation into crossing this, and you don't know what you're about to experience. And we know they die wars, all of these things. Uh, and as a leader, you will probably fear fearful, where it's like, whoa, and Joshua spent a lot of time with Moses. He knows how the people of Israel rebelled against him multiple times. But Moses is just telling him, Be strong and courageous, be strong, be strong and courageous, and he says it multiple times, and then God tells Joshua in Joshua chapter one, be strong and courageous because I am with you. Yeah, so we're gonna get into now the succession of Moses, and now Moses dies. That's kind of how the book ends is with his death. Uh, so now we have a new leader, and like you said, this is the leader that was meant to lead the people of Israel into the promised land, which is something very important, right? If even like a leadership principle, like there are things that God is gonna use us to do. The reality is that God is gonna use somebody to be our successors to do something bigger and greater. Uh, and this is what Joshua does with the nation of Israel.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Absolutely. And so that brings us to chapter 34, and chapter 34 records the death of uh of Moses. So it says that Moses goes up to the mountain, um, and it says, Lord verse uh chapter 34, verse 1, at the end of verse 1. It says, and the Lord Yahweh showed him the whole land. Uh, and so Moses gets to see, he gets a sneak peek of the land, and God gives him. I don't know how God does this, I don't know how Yahweh did this. If he gave him like you know, a cinematic tour, if he put on like those little visions, yeah. He's got to like virtually go to I have no idea, but God showed him all of it from all the way it says from Gilgal or uh yeah, from Gilgal, Gilead as far as and to Dan. So literally from the top of the promised land to the bottom of the promised land, he shows them all of it. And so he gets the best tour possible. Um, and also the Bible reminds us that Moses was 120 years old when he died at the end of verse 7 and says yet his eyesight was clear. That speaks to two things. Uh, one is that Moses very vividly got to see everything, uh, but then two, that the Bible doesn't give those kind of details, just so you know that Moses didn't wear glasses, okay? Uh but you were gonna say that he ate carrots. Uh those desert carrots, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

I'm telling you because my child my child doesn't want to eat any vegetables.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

So anyway, sorry for that in there. But no, that detail is speaking to Moses' spiritual vision, right? That Moses, even towards the end of it, had very clear vision spiritually. He saw things clear spiritually. And this is one of those things that we have to keep, even like it doesn't matter how old you are, but I think sometimes when as you mature uh as a believer, um, and as you grow older in your faith, uh sometimes what happens is um you start seeing things uh like they're at the very beginning of your faith, like you see those people who are just like doe-eyed, they're all about Jesus, they're full of love for Jesus, and they're they'll just kind of do everything and they have big vision, like big dreams about what God could do through them. And maybe you know, you start off that way, but towards the end, you get a little cynical. Yep, right? You get a little uh, you know, and suddenly you you gotta put some spiritual glasses on every once in a while to really see through God's eyes. Uh, and you so you're not as clear vision, you're not as big vision person anymore. You're more realistic, you know, about things. You gotta think about money, you gotta think about research, all this kind of stuff. But Moses at the end of his life was clear-sighted. He saw clearly, he is he had a big vision at 120, just like he did at 40. Wow, right? It didn't matter, Moses. He was clear-eyed when it came to following God, so you see that as a significant point. But the second thing I noticed is it says the Lord buried him. Uh, verse 5. Uh, that the Lord buried him, and to this day, no one knows where Moses is buried. And so uh, I don't know who else uh that God decides to bury, um, but Moses is one special person that that Yahweh Himself buries. Um, and it says later on that there's never been a prophet in Israel like Moses. Uh Moses was a significant person, and why was that? Look at verse uh 10. It says the Lord knew uh sorry, who knew the Lord face to face, whom the Lord knew face to face. And so this is somebody who had a personal deep relationship with God unlike anybody else. But you know what's really cool? Um Second Corinthians, the ultimate tie-in. Second Corinthians, it says that what we have is like what Moses says unveiled face, right? How Moses saw God face to face, we have access to that. So here at the end of Deuteronomy, we are told that there was never been somebody like Moses who had a relationship with God, who had such a clut connection, nearness to God, like no other human up to that point until Jesus tore open the veil, and now we get to see God face to face so we can have a relationship with God, yeah, just like Moses. Think about that.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Yeah, so good, Pastor Samson. Thank you so much for all those. I mean, that great context, history, even bringing the Joshua's rock. What it what was it called? I want to make this up. The curse stone, the curse stone on Mount Eball. So good. I wish I had my pen because you were saying some things, and I I want To take notes in my Bible, but I couldn't find it. Uh, thank you so much for this episode. Thank you. We have a psalm, don't we? We do. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Sorry. No, no, no. You can good. It's like before we end the episode, we gotta do the psalm. Um so the psalm section was uh Psalms uh 49 to 53. Yep. Uh and so right in the middle of that is one of my favorite psalms. That's why you didn't forget. I didn't that's why I couldn't forget because I love this psalm. Psalm 51 uh is probably one, if you've been a believer for a while, you probably are familiar with it. Uh it's a psalm of David, and the context of it is that uh David has just messed up. Uh if you're familiar with the story, David uh has uh cheated uh by uh bringing in Bathsheba, another man's wife, into his house, sleeping with her, impregnating her, and then subsequently murdering her husband to cover up his sin. Um and uh God sends the prophet Nathan to confront uh David. Um, and David uh could have responded like a king would have in that time period and killed the prophet Nathan and try to cover further cover his sins, but David doesn't. David shows his heart, uh and his heart is a repentant one, and so he immediately repents and asks God for forgiveness, and out of that he writes Psalm 51, uh, which is asking God for forgiveness. And probably the most beautiful part is in verse 10 where he says, Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a loyal spirit from me. Do not banish me from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. My favorite verse, though, the one that like I always go back to and is like one of the most beautiful reminders, um, is verse uh verse 17. And it sets up in verse 16. It says, You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one, but you do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit, you will not reject a broken and repentant heart, oh God. And David is cluing us in to the type of person that God is actually attracted to, the kind of person that God is loving and welcoming of, and that is a broken person. And so you don't have to be a perfect person, you don't have to have everything figured out. Uh, David is reminding us that God is actually looking for broken people. Um, and you know, we're kind of in that Easter season, and it's a tremendous reminder of who Jesus died for. In fact, Jesus was accused of hanging out with the scum of the earth, and Jesus says very clearly, He says the physician, like it doesn't come uh for the well, but those or those who think they are well, but those who know they are sick. Um, and so God is reminding us that it's broken people that He is He has come for and that He loves and He is drawn to. And so if you feel broken, if you feel like you messed up, if you feel like you sinned, that's actually that tendency is when you sin, that's when you want to least go to church. When you least want to open your Bible, least want to pray, least I want to listen to a podcast. Okay. But it's actually in those moments when you need to go into the presence of God, you need to go approach the throne of mercy, uh, the mercy seat and ask for forgiveness and and experience the love of God because that is what God, that is what He wants. That's the sacrifice, the real thing that He wants. He doesn't want you to go, you know, do a 10,000 Hail Marys and you know, do whatever acts to fix what you no. First, he wants you to come and and come and experience his presence and ask for forgiveness.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

It is it is that presence that really changed and transformed us. Uh and we what a beautiful psalm. Um, what a beautiful um really image of what we need to do when we need God, we need to repent, turn turn towards him and be the real us, not not the type that you think that God wants to see. And I think in the in this Easter season, as we are, you know, inviting so many people to church, you know, we cannot forget that what God wants is our brokenness. Yeah, we don't have to fix ourselves to go to God. He's the one that does that. Because if I try to fix myself, I'm gonna be like, you know, like the I'm gonna use a kit glue that is it's kind of looks right, but it's you can tell that it's not. This is what we really do. So got one to realize. Pastor Samson, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you for for listening. Do us a huge favor, like, subscribe wherever you're watching, comment more than anything, share this uh with someone, and we'll see you in the next episode for the North Bible video.