Signs and wonders aren’t necessarily from God, and so the only test of whether a so-called spiritual leader is from God is whether his or her leadership guides the followers to God or away from God. God might allow a false prophet’s signs and wonders to come true to test His Old Covenant people’s devotion to Him; might He do the same with us New Covenant people? The book of Revelation tells of such a false prophet who will lead people astray with his signs and wonders. Isn’t that sobering? Are you vulnerable to being led away from God with false signs and wonders? Note the protection against such vulnerability: “You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams” who entices people to serve other gods. Of course, they would likely be more subtle than to say outright, “Let’s go after other gods.” If we are not to be taken in by them, we must be able to detect any message that endangers our devotion to God. Our protection is knowledge of God’s word and the Holy Spirit’s faithfulness to us. The only way we can maintain the former is to be in God’s Word in regular, systematic reading and study, and in church. The only way we can count on the latter is by seeking God with all our hearts. Moses puts it this way: “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.” I’ve highlighted all those verbs to reinforce what God’s people are told do to maintain their stability in relationship with God and so avoid being led astray by signs and wonders.
They were not to spare or pity one who doomed himself to death by attempting to lead others astray. God intended them to take such action seriously. Should we do any differently today? We obviously wouldn’t punish with death such a one in our circles; but we shouldn’t tolerate such, either.
We will not encounter today many people encouraging us to follow after other gods. To be on our guards, we need to consider now, while we are in our right minds, what messages we are likely to hear from people who want us not to follow God; who or what will they likely present for us to put before God?
God obviously wanted to show mercy to His people and make them increase, but He placed conditions on His showing them mercy and increasing them. Think about it: their choices, their actions placed restrictions on His showing them mercy and blessing them as His heart desired. Do we restrict Him by our choices and our actions today? Do your choices and actions limit the mercy and blessings that He wants to give you?
What the holy, chosen people of God ate was obviously important. Why do you suppose that was? Should we have diet restrictions today? Do the restrictions imposed on God’s Old Covenant people have any impact on His New Covenant people? What about the simple fact that they had dietary restrictions imposed?
God gave them a break for hardship on their method of bringing their tithe to the place He would choose; however, He did not give them a break on the meeting place nor on the necessity for bringing the tithe. Does that speak to our worship today? They were to go to the trouble of bringing their tithe to the place God would choose, ultimately Jerusalem, to eat it in God’s presence with rejoicing. They could even enjoy strong drink (v. 14:26) in their rejoicing before the Lord! He meant for them to rejoice, don’t you think? Note that they weren’t just to rejoice with their families, but with their households. That would include their slaves. What would that do to the relationships in the household?