D-INTRO-5: Deuteronomy Is Moses’ Version Of Yeshua’s Sermon On The Mount

Today I’m going to share one way to look at Deuteronomy that may prove to be a fresh perspective for you.

I submit to you that…

….Deuteronomy is Moses’ version of Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount.

Now what do I mean by that?

Let me explain.

At the start of Deuteronomy, Moses begins his address by tracing back how Israel has arrived at this present moment in time.

And during this process, he touches on a good 50% of the rulings and instructions God gave Moses at Sinai.

When I say “touches on“, I mean he literally point by point, expounds on pretty much all of the Law with the purpose of explaining what God REALLY intended by giving these instructions.

Moses will reveal how the underlying higher spiritual reality in the heavens is connected to what on the surface appears to be only physical or earthly instructions.

For instance, when we were studying the Kosher food laws back in Leviticus, in answer to the question of why God forbade eating certain animals, I explained that it was connected to a holiness pattern already established in the heavens.

The food laws have nothing to do with sanitary conditions in those days or for health reasons.

That’s just a Greek/gentile way of thinking.

In fact, to one who possesses a Torah mindset, it is dumb to even ask the question “Why“.

The important thing to do is ask “which pattern that God has already established in the heavens should I look for?“.

Moses starts off by saying that 40 years ago when the Law was first given at Mount Sinai, this is how your forefathers, the first generation who left Egypt put these commands of God into practice.

However, I’m telling you that since we are soon going to be entering the Promised Land, this is how you should do these commands.

Are you noticing a speech pattern here you may have possibly encountered before?

Moses is saying, IN THOSE DAYS we did it that way but NOW I am telling you to do it this way.

This is exactly how Yeshua spoke when he delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount.

Again, Moses is elevating God’s Law from the physical or earthly plane to a higher more spiritual plane.

And in the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua does the same thing by building on what Moses established here in Deuteronomy.

I think it’s important to stress that point.

Yeshua did NOT do away with the Law, he built on it.

It was the rock and unshakeable foundation of his ministry.

During Yeshua’s time, much of the spiritual element that Moses had given to the Law in Deuteronomy had been lost and weakened by the traditions of men.

Yeshua sought to rectify that by pointing out the true spiritual meaning behind God’s commands.

He came to fill up (PLEROOS in Greek) the Torah instructions with their true meaning, which is what to fulfill the law in context really means…

…not the laughably ridiculous Christian interpretation that says “since Christ fulfilled the Law for me, I don’t have to keep it anymore” nonsense.

To conclude, in Deuteronomy, Moses, as the first mediator between God and man, expounded on the spiritual ideal of the Law and how it was be applied once the Israelites entered into the Promised Land.

In the New Testament, Yeshua, as the second mediator between God and man, expounded on the spiritual ideal of the Law and how it was to be applied once the new kingdom (a spiritual kingdom) was ushered in.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“You have heard that our fathers were told,
‘Do not murder,’
and that anyone who commits murder
will be subject to judgment.
But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger
against his brother will be subject to judgment;
that whoever calls his brother,
‘You good-for-nothing!’
will be brought before the Sanhedrin;
that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty
of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom!
So if you are offering your gift at the Temple altar
and you remember there that your brother
has something against you,
leave your gift where it is by the altar,
and go, make peace with your brother.
Then come back and offer your gift.
-Matthew 5:21-24