Posted on 05/23/2014 9:06:19 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.(Deuteronomy 32:1-4)
Moses prays that his doctrine would fall as the rain, and distill as the morning dew upon the herbs and the grass (All men are as grass) . His prayer has been answered for all over the earth, the revelation given to Moses is prevalent, either to be accepted or rejected by man.
All of the tribes and tongues of men have been exposed to the teachings of Moses;the account of Creation, the fall, the flood, the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the exodus and the ten commandments, the law of God, sacrifice, and these all as a preparation for the reception of the “Seed of the Woman”, the promised Messiah of Israel.
The faith revealed by the teaching of Moses is not merely a Hebrew faith, it is universal.
Moses has published the name of the only true God. In another of Moses’ songs,he taught the people to ask,
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?(Exodus 15:11)
Everything good comes out of the knowledge of of the only true God. All true love, morality, virtue, truth satisfaction and joy comes from knowing God. The determining factor of every man’s life is what he knows or thinks of God. All of his problems are at root theological problems for a man’s life is controlled by his view of God whether accurate or inaccurate.
To publish the name of God is to bring forth the revelation of God’s perfections and attributes.There is no higher use of the faculties than the contemplation and worshipful beholding of God. Man has been endowed with intelligence, will, emotion and moral responsibility that he might know and enjoy God.
In his mercy and goodness, God is self revealing. The pinnacle of Moses’ career came upon the mountain after Moses had prayed to see God’s glory. The Lord’s answer was that He would proclaim His own name to Him…
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee...And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.(Exodus 33:19)
Truth, beauty , Infinite mercy,absolute Justice, righteousness,everlasting faithfulness, generosity,forgiveness,compassion, kindness and holiness are all summed up in the name God revealed to Moses, JAHWEH. These attributes were only revealed in a more complete form in the person of the Messiah Jesus.
The fourth verse of the song could literally be rendered,
“It is the name JAHWEH that I Proclaim,
ascribe greatness to our God .
The Rock!- perfect is his work;
For all of his ways are justice:
A God of Faithfulness and without iniquity;
The LORD is called The Rock 5 times in this song, underscoring his unchanging, immovable, firm and reliable character.The Psalmist echoes this theme in many places, such as when he proclaims, “The Lord lives, blessed be my Rock, exalted is the God of my salvation!”.(Psalm 18:46)
The prophet also exhorts us to
“Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock”.(Isaiah 26:4 NASV)
Through the wilderness wanderings of Israel, a Rock followed the children, out of which when stricken with a Rod, water flowed in the desert! Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10, that “The Rock that followed them was Christ”.
Psalm 92 , the Psalm for the temple Sabbath service, ends with the line-
To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in HimThe Psalms are full of supplications for refuge in “The Rock”-
Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.Psalms 71:3
The LORD is not a rock, He is the only Rock of salvation, steadfast, reliable, unchangeable, a refuge for all who seek Him!
His Work is perfect- Everything He has done has the stamp of absolute perfection upon it. Creation, even in its fallen state, under the temporary curse of vanity, is perfect in all of its aspects. As we look over the course of the History of Salvation, the dealings of God with the nations, the miracle of the creation of Israel, and the way God has worked in Israel’s history to bring forth the Word and the Messiah, we must marvel at the perfection of God’s work.
The ultimate work of God is how he made a way for sinful men to be reconciled unto Him, redeemed, reborn, set free from sin and brought into fellowship with Him who made them, and then purchased them with His own blood! No man could ever have concocted the plan of redemption. How could the demands of God and the desperate needs of men be satisfied in one and the same work, the work of the cross?
In that one act of obedience, the Holiness of God and the mercy of God were satisfied, once and for all. The Righteous God found a righteous way to save sinners! The work of God is complete also, in all of its parts. Every attribute of God was expressed on the cross, His wrath, His mercy, His Holy Justice, is tender compassion, all were expressed without contradicting each other.
All of His ways are Judgment- He is the perfect Moral governor of the universe. Every one of his decisions and decrees will be revealed to be in accordance with what is righteous and true, everything he has done in all of his dealings with man will be seen and acknowledged by all, as having been in the right.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity- The LORD is absolutely reliable, and trustworthy. He has kept his Word and promises, both of blessing and of judgment, and it would be impossible to have trusted in Him and to be disappointed. He is the God of Truth, and “in Him is no darkness at all”. There is no iniquity, or evil in Him, He cannot be charged with evil, He doesn’t lie or deceive, and everything he does, speaks, intends and purposes is Just and true.
Good and upright is He- God is good, he is generous, Kind, merciful and slow to anger, He is apt to forgive, to forbear, his patience is our very salvation.
This is our God, this is the revelation of His name, He is good, true, upright, merciful, a ROCK for all of those who come unto Him.
Are you familiar with the song “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin? It’s been running through my head all morning.
I love that one-
So do I. I heard it in the car the other day and I got the shivers....my eyes filled up just listening to it.
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