Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message One
The Intrinsic Significance of Deuteronomy—a Book concerning Christ
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Deut. 30:11-14 For this commandment…is not too difficult…not in heaven that you should say, Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us to make us hear it and do it? Nor is it across the sea that you should say, Who will go across the sea for us and bring it to us to make us hear it and do it? But the word is very near to you, even in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Deut. 8:3 …and fed you the manna…so that He might make you know that man lives not by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of Jehovah.
Word of Appetizer
Why is it said that Deuteronomy is a book concerning Christ?
When we put together Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and Romans 10:6-9, we have a full picture concerning Christ; in this picture we see that Christ was incarnated, that He was crucified and buried, that He went to the abyss, that He arose from among the dead, and that in His resurrection He became the breath, the life-giving Spirit; this is our basis for saying that Christ is unveiled throughout the book of Deuteronomy.
Spiritual Burden
God was leading His people into the good land, a type of Christ, by Christ, and He was sustaining them on their way to the good land also by Christ, who is everything that proceeds out through the mouth of God; every word in Deuteronomy is the very Christ, who is now the word of God for us to receive as our life and life supply.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Deuteronomy is a concluding word of the law and gives an all-inclusive conclusion to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which were written by Moses.
The two generations should be interpreted not only in a literal sense but also in a typological sense; the first generation typifies our old man, and the second generation typifies our new man.
In Romans 10:6-9, Paul applies the word spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 to Christ, indicating that the commandment, which is the word of God, is Christ as the Word, who, as the breath that proceeds out of God’s mouth, is in our heart and in our mouth.
The scene at the entry of the good lnd portrayed in Deuteronomy 27:1-8 includes the stone monuments, the altar, and the offerings all these items typify Christ.
The Experience of Life
Christ has become the living Word, the Spirit, to be in our mouth and in our heart, just like the air, the breath, that can be taken into our being; He is near, and He is available for us to receive as our life supply, our strength, and our everything by calling on Him; by inhaling the divine breath in Deuteronomy, we will enjoy Christ, the embodiment of the divine breath; the more we receive the breath of the speaking God, the more we will enjoy Christ.
Practice and Application
If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must beware of having an evil heart of unbelief.
We need to be those who grow in life into the full possession and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, the God’s promised land; to grow in life is to eliminate the old generation and to be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will for our transformation.
The Scriptures are the breathing out of God, the exhaling of God, we should inhale the Scriptures by receiving the word of God by means of all prayer; as we are teaching the Bible, we should be exhaling God into people.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Heb. 3:12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God.
2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
I. Deuteronomy is a concluding word of the law and gives an all-inclusive conclusion to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which were written by Moses.
II. The two generations should be interpreted not only in a literal sense but also in a typological sense; the first generation typifies our old man, and the second generation typifies our new man.
- Deuteronomy means “second law” and thus signifies a respeaking, a repeated speaking, of the divine law.
- Most of the second generation had not been present to hear the giving of the Ten Commandments, the statues, and the ordinances at Mount Sinai; therefore, God burdened Moses to respeak, to rehearse, the law; this respeaking was a renewed training given to the new generation of the children of Israel after their long wandering, to prepare them to enter into the good land promised by god and inherit it as their possession.
- If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must beware of having an evil heart of unbelief, must beware of murmurings, of languishing in that land.
- Paul’s intention in writing 1 Corinthians was to help the saints experience the dying out of the old man and the growing up of the new man.
- To grow in life is to eliminate the old generation and to be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will for our transformation.
- God’s economy is to have our old man (the outer man) consumed and our new man (the inner man) renewed day by day.
Key Verses (2)
Deut. 30:11-14 For this commandment…is not too difficult…not in heaven that you should say, Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us to make us hear it and do it? Nor is it across the sea that you should say, Who will go across the sea for us and bring it to us to make us hear it and do it? But the word is very near to you, even in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Deut. 8:3 … man lives not by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of Jehovah.
Matt. 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.”
III. In Romans 10:6-9, Paul applies the word spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 to Christ, indicating that the commandment, which is the word of God, is Christ as the Word, who, as the breath that proceeds out of God’s mouth, is in our heart and in our mouth.
- In Deuteronomy 30, the it in verse 12 refers to the commandment in verse 11; the commandment of God is the word, and Christ is the unique word of God.
- Whereas verse 13 speaks of the sea, in Romans 10:7 Paul speaks of the abyss, which points to the places Christ visited after His death and before His resurrection, which place is Hades, the region of death as the lower parts of the earth.
- To bring Christ down refers to Christ’s incarnation; to bring Christ up from the dead refers to Christ’s resurrection: Christ was incarnated and crucified by coming down from heaven and was resurrected by coming up from Hades (the abyss).
- Deuteronomy 8:3 says that “man lives not by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of Jehovah’; in Matthew 4:4 everything is replaced by every word, referring to the law, the commandments, the statues, and the ordinances as the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.
Key Verses (3)
John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality…
John 6:63 It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Deut. 27:6-8 With unhewn stones you shall build the altar of Jehovah your God. Then you shall offer up burnt offerings upon it to Jehovah your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God. Then you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very clearly.
IV. If we take every part of the law as the word breathed out by the God whom we love, we will have the law as God’s living word
V. The scene at the entry of the good land portrayed in Deuteronomy 27:1-8 includes the stone monuments, the altar, and the offerings; all these items typify Christ
- The Spirit is the reality of whatever God is; hence, as the Spirit, Christ is the reality of the law.
- As God’s living word, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers.
- The law written on the monuments was a portrait of God Himself; hence, the monuments signify that christ as the living portrait of God and the embodiment of God was standing before the people to make requirements of them according to what He is.
- Right beside the stones containing the inscriptions of the commandments of God was the altar, signifying the cross of Christ, where God’s people could take Christ, in type, as their burnt offering to God for His satisfaction and as their peace offering to God for their enjoyment with God in the divine fellowship.
- This wonderful scene shows that it is through the requiring God, the cross of Christ, and Christ Himself as the offerings, not by our endeavoring in ourselves, that we enter into Christ, our good land, and receive all the blessings that God would give us in Christ.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Deuteronomy is a concluding word of the law. (Deut. 1:3-4)
(Please illustrate how Deuteronomy means “second law”, and thus signifies a respeaking, a repeated speaking of the divine law.)
T2 This respeaking was a renewed training given to the new generation of the children of Israel, to prepare them to enter and inherit the good land. (Deut. 1:25-27)
(Please illustrate the three major things to beware of if we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land.)
D2
T1 The first generation typifies our old man, and the second generation typifies our new man. (2 Cor. 4:16)
(Please illustrate that the two generations should not be interpreted not only in a literal sense by also in a typological sense.)
T2 Transformation is the dying out of the old man and the growing up of the new man. (Rom. 12:2)
(Please illustrate that to grow in life is to eliminate the old generation and to be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will for our transformation.)
D3
T1 A full picture concerning Christ （Deut. 30:11-14; Rom. 10:6-9）
(Please illustrate what picture we see when we put together Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and Romans 10:6-9.)
T2 The commandment, which is the word of God, is Christ as the Word （Rev. 19:13; Eph. 6:17）
(Please illustrate that Christ has become the living Word, the Spirit, is in our heart and in our mouth.)
D4
T1 In Deuteronomy the laws, the commandments, the statues, and the ordinances are all God’s word. （Rev. 19:13; John 1:1, 14）
(Please illustrate that the totality, the aggregate, of God’s word is Christ.)
T2 Christ sustains us, so that we can enter into Himself (Deut. 8:3; Psa. 119:9)
(Please illustrate that Christ is the good land, He is also the food that sustains us on our way to the good land.)
D5
T1 As God’s living word, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers. (Psa. 119:88)
(Please illustrate how we can have the law as God’s living word.)
T2 As the Spirit, Christ is the reality of the law (John 6:63; 1 Cor. 15:45b)
(Please illustrate how the law functions as God’s living word.)
D6
T1 The scene at the entry of the good land, includes the stone monuments, the altar, and the offerings (Deut. 27:6-8）
(Please illustrate how the stone monuments, the altar, and the offerings typify Christ.)
T2 The offerings burned on the altar as sacrifices for God’s satisfaction signify Christ (Deut. 27:6-8)
(Please illustrate that Christ is the requiring one, and the fulfilling One.)
