Deuteronomy 30:1-20
The Blessing of Returning to God
1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, 2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And 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, that you may live.
7 “Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life or Death
11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Repentance is a life or death decision as we see here. The people of God were called to turn back to God from sin for obedience to His word as laid out in His Law to receive blessings and enter the promised land, or suffer the consequences of continued disobedience which is the curse (Galatians 3:10) of the Law. Such repentance was rewarded with God circumcising their hearts as promised to we who are in Christ (Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6, Galatians 3:13, Romans 2:28, 29) now by His Spirit as we head towards the promised heavenly kingdom to come to earth in all its fullness. Now to keep His commandments and His statutes written in this Book of the gospel means if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul by trusting God’s work on the tree of our sin’s curse you will be delivered from the curse and enter into eternal blessings and at peace with God, reconciled. This is the true choice of life or death, of forever living in God’s presence to worship Him as the blessing or spend eternity in torment as the curse not lifted by the grace of the sacrifice of Christ and the cleansing of sin by His lifeblood for ours. This very passage here is explained in Romans 10:8-9, 10-11 to demonstrate the choice of God’s chosen to hear and respond to the gospel of life that is set plainly in front of us and needs no great explanation, just a great surrender of the will in repentance by faith in His word of the gospel for salvation from the curse. The gospel message remains unchanged, even as it was hidden before in the Old Testament as God’s unchanging grace planned from the (Genesis 3:15) beginning at the fall of man. His word of hope therefore stands before us all in the gospel of Christ to receive (John 1:12) or reject with eternal consequences at stake. Do not let your heart hear and turn away as Israel was warned here by worship of other gods or self-serving desires. Obey His voice and cling to,Him for hope and peace when you hear the call instead! Only then can we inherit the promised heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) promised by faith to the patriarchs and to us by that same (Genesis 15:6, Galatians 3:6, 9, James 2:23) faith in God’s word and work. Repentance by faith is an eternal life or death decision!
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