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That's connectwithskip.com. Before today's teaching, stay with us for a special invitation from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: Hey, quick question. What if the Bible came to life right before your very eyes?

Guest (Female): Join us in Israel April 5th through the 16th in 2027 for an unforgettable experience that will change the way you read your Bible.

Skip Heitzig: Together, we'll explore places like Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, the Garden Tomb where some believe Jesus rose from the dead, and many of the places where Jesus taught and ministered.

Guest (Female): Plus, you'll have the opportunity to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem and hear from Christian leaders like Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotz, and Skip.

Skip Heitzig: We'd love to experience Israel with you. You can learn more and reserve your place today at connectwithskip.com/israel.

Guest (Male): Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: There's the scriptures inside that little box. They're placed on the head. They're placed on the arm. They take this very literally. If you wonder how do they translate their own Bible, do they see it as figurative? Not really. They take it literally. They actually put a box of scriptures on their head. Why? So they would remember the scripture on their arm, so they'll remember the scripture. So they are fulfilling this literally. Good question to ask yourself. What are you putting before your eyes? What are you setting before your eyes? What are you looking at a lot?

I can answer that for a lot of you. It's in your pocket or your purse right now. It's that little phone. It's that little screen. Wasn't true 10 20 years ago, but it is now. Oh, put put that aside. I don't want I don't want to pick on that. What TV shows, what entertainment, what things do you read and look at? What are you setting before your eyes to remember? Make sure that you do the scripture as well or more. Chapter 8 verse 1, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers.

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you, to test you, and to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Memory is the diary we all carry with us. And so God tells them, remember what I've done. Remember what I said. Chapter 10 verse 12, and now Israel, what is the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord? Again, notice all those verbs.

Love or serve the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and to keep his commandments, the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command you today for good. This brings up a little phrase, the fear of the Lord. And I would just say that's a very misunderstood phrase. What does it mean the fear of the Lord? Let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that you cringe before God. Doesn't mean you wake up and go, God, I'm so afraid of you. Are you going to zap me? You know, you you're not the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

That's not the relationship God wants with you. Fear of the Lord means a reverence or a respect for him. The Hebrew word is yirat Yahweh. Yirat Yahweh is the idea of reverence. In fact, the message translation translates verse 12, live in his presence in holy reverence. I like that translation because it rhymes. Live in his presence in holy reverence. So here is the fear of the Lord. It's a reverential awe that produces humble submission to a loving God. That's the working definition of the fear of the Lord. A reverential awe that produces a humble submission to a loving God.

The only fright, the only being scared part is that you love him so much, you respect him so much that you don't want to do anything to displease him. You're afraid that you would do something that would displease the one that you love. That really sums up the fear of the Lord. Now, before we get into the last section, let me dip the airplane down a little bit and get close to what is called the scarlet thread of redemption. You've heard that phrase before. I had just finished a book that we're going to release at the beginning of next year called Bloodline, which is tracing the scarlet thread of redemption from Eden to eternity all the way through the scripture.

And I want you to look at chapter 18 verse 15. The Lord your God will raise up for you a what? Prophet. And notice it's a capital P. It is in my Bible. Raise up for you a prophet capital P like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. In other words, sometime in the future, a Moses-like spokesman is going to come. A prophet like me. Verse 18, I will raise up for them a prophet capital P like me from among their brethren. And he will put my words or and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

God will send many prophets in the future. But this is a singular prophet. This is a singular pronoun, and it emphasizes the ultimate prophet interpreted obviously by the translators as the Messiah, hence the capital P. Now, this is why when John the Baptist comes on the scene and John is baptizing people by the Jordan River and making crazy pronouncements and eating bugs and wearing weird hippie robes and and they think he's Elijah. So they say, are are you Elijah? And he says, no. And then they ask him this question, are you the prophet? Remember that?

What are they refer to? They're referring to this, the prophet. I will send a prophet. They interpreted this to be the Messiah. Are you the prophet? He said, no, I am not. Philip in the book of John said to his brother, we have found the one whom Moses in the law said would come. Where did Moses say he would come? Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 and verse 18. Jesus and Moses share some similarities. Let me explain. When Moses was a baby, they tried to kill him. Right? When Jesus was a baby, they tried to kill him.

Moses left the royal court of Egypt to identify with his people. Jesus left the royal courts of heaven to identify with his people. Moses interceded for the people of Israel while they were still in in their sin and rejection. Jesus made intercession, it says, for sinners. Isaiah 53 as seen on the cross. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant. Jesus was the mediator of the New Covenant. And interestingly, Moses was not received by the Jews, the nation, until he approached them the second time. First time they rejected him. Who made you a ruler over us?

And he fled to Midian. When he came back the second time under God's anointing at that time, then they received him. Very much like Jesus. The first time he was rejected, he came into his own. His own received him not, but he will be received when he comes the second time. So Moses and Jesus share many similarities. However, Moses was great, Jesus was greater. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let's look at chapters 27 through 34, final section. Past, present, now the future. This is all about readiness for the future, what God will do.

It's looking ahead. Moses in these chapters predicts the history of Israel coming up, what's going to happen to the Jews in the near future and in the far future, including the Babylonian captivity. Chapter 27, Moses says, look, once you guys cross this river, the Jordan River, and you're in the new land, I want you to go to the very heart of the land, the very middle of the land, which is Samaria. And there are two mountains there. Uh you're to get some tribes on one mountain, some tribes on the other mountain. One mountain was called Gerizim, the other is called Ebal.

And the tribes on Mount Gerizim will shout out the blessings that God writes here. The other tribes will shout out the cursings that God speaks here. And the Levites will be in the middle saying amen as those blessings and cursings are read, which they did in the book of Joshua. Chapter 28 verse 1, now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of his commands which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Now, there's a huge word that I don't want you to miss. It's actually a very small word to us, but it is the big word of the sentence. It's the word if. If. I'll do this if and only if you do certain things. I'm setting you up to understand something. The big word here is if. Verse 15, but it will come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

Verse 20, the Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, rebuke in all that you set your hand to do until you are destroyed, until you perish quickly because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken me. Now, notice those phrases, the phrase until you are destroyed. Shamad is the Hebrew word. And until you perish avad is the Hebrew word. What does that mean? It mean the nation will end forever and ever and ever? No, he's not predicting the end of the nation. He's predicting the end, listen carefully, to that generation's relationship to the land.

This is so important.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. The Bible is a big book, 66 books filled with history, poetry, prophecy, letters, laws, and more. It's easy to lose sight of how it all fits together. That's why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote his new one-year devotional, Soaring Above It All. It gives you a panoramic view of scripture, helping you understand the key people, events, and themes from Genesis to Revelation while deepening your walk with God. Request Soaring Above It All as our thanks when you give $50 or more today to help Connect with Skip share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere.

Give now at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-26 1888. Now, here's more from Pastor Skip.

Skip Heitzig: You will not understand the covenants, and I'm going to just touch on this before we close tonight. The covenants are so important to understand in the Bible. There's two basic kind of covenants. An unconditional covenant, a conditional covenant. Easy, right? An unconditional covenant means there are no conditions. We call this a unilateral covenant. A person declares what that person is going to do irrespective of what you do. It's the covenant I make with you. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. That's a cool covenant. It's an unconditional covenant.

There's another kind of a covenant, bilateral. It's a conditional covenant. And the word if is used a lot in this covenant. That where both parties have to fulfill roles in order for that covenant to stay in place. If you do this, then I will do that. So there's a covenant we saw in the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden. We call it the Edenic Covenant. The Edenic Covenant is a conditional covenant. God says, I will bless you, Adam and Eve, if you don't touch that tree. If you do this, then I 'll do that.

If you don't do that, you're out. What happened? They were out. They disobeyed on the condition that they failed to keep. So that's a conditional covenant, the Edenic Covenant. Let's look at another covenant, Genesis chapter 15. Don't turn to it. It's the Abrahamic Covenant. It is an unconditional covenant. God even cuts up an animal in that one. The unconditional covenant, God says, I'm going to give you the land. I'm going to give you and future generations of the nation of Israel a land, and it is not conditioned on your obedience. I'm just going to do it.

That's the Abrahamic Covenant. We get to this covenant of the law at Mount Sinai. We call this the Mosaic Covenant. Not because children of Israel made little mosaics and it's named after Moses, hence Mosaic Covenant. Okay? So the Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant. If then, if then. If you obey, then this will happen. If you disobey, then that will happen. If we move a couple of chapters ahead, chapter 29 through 30 is what theologians call the Palestinian Covenant. The Palestinian Covenant is tied to the Abrahamic Covenant which says, even when you guys disobey and blow the Mosaic Covenant, I'm going to kick you out of the land.

I'm still going to be bringing you back. I'm going to bring you back because I made a covenant to Abraham that I would give him and his descendants this land, period, irrespective of their obedience or not. If you don't see the covenants, you'll get all goofy in your eschatology. You'll become amillennial. You won't see Israel's place. This is Israel's place. God made an unconditional covenant in Genesis 15, reiterated several times throughout the Old Testament. So their tenure in the land is conditioned on their obedience, but their possession of the land ultimately is conditioned purely on the inheritance that God promises they'll have.

That's how it works. Yeah, I 'll kick you out, but then I 'll spank you really hard and bring you back. Chapter 31 is the end of Moses' life. The entire Bible up till now has been written by Moses. We believe. I believe. Now, he is on Mount Nebo. He's about ready to kick the bucket. You'll see why in a moment. He gives a farewell speech that is the longest farewell speech in the Bible. Chapter 31 verse 1, then Moses went and spoke these words to all of Israel. And he said to them, I'm 120 years old today.

Wow. Can we at least say happy birthday, Mo? I'm 120 years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Means I'm slowing down. Also, the Lord has said to me, you shall not cross over this Jordan. So Moses has two statements. I'm old and I can't do what I used to do. I'm impaired because of my age. He is facing a transition. Those of us who are aging are experiencing that, maybe not quite as much as Moses because I doubt we're going to live to 120. But here's what I love about Mo.

He's 120 years old. He's still leading the children of Israel. He started his ministry at age 80. I want to encourage people of any age. It's never too late to start serving the Lord. You can just say, Lord, use me. I'll take that baton. I'll be faithful right now, tomorrow, today, whatever days I have left. Did you know Michelangelo, if you went to the Sistine Chapel, some of us were there on our tour to Rome a few months ago. The Sistine Chapel on one end has what is considered Michelangelo's greatest work. It's called The Last Judgment.

Very detailed, huge painting. He painted that at 89 years of age. John Wesley, 88 years old, still writing on horseback, preaching sermon after sermon very articulately. Thomas Edison still researching and inventing at age 90. There's an old English proverb that says, the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. I think Moses at 120 was vastly different than he was at age 60, 70, 80, 90. Yes, he was even growing till then. Verse 7 of chapter 31, Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all of Israel, be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.

Why Joshua? He was the other one of those two spies. Caleb was one. Joshua was the other. Joshua was a faithful man, and Joshua was a man of faith. He was a faithful man. He didn't try to make a name for himself. He didn't try to say, Moses, you're getting really old now. We need to kick you out. Kind of get out now. He didn't try to push for that or build his own kingdom. He was a faithful man, and he was a man of faith. He was one of the guys who said, we can take this land even though the 10 said you can't.

Moses will die. Joshua will take the reins. God's plans never depend on a singular leader. In a movement or a church, when a leader dies, God never goes, oh no. God says, I've been waiting for this. I've got it all planned out. Chapter 32 is called The Song of Moses. It's a really long song, a lot of verses. There's like 34 verses, like a Bob Dylan song. Just just keeps going, right? But but it it kind of sounds like a country song because it talks about a bunch of bunch of bad stuff that happened and much more bad stuff that's going to happen.

So it's kind of like country music and Bob Dylan mixed together. Um Israel's failures, God's judgment um are are interwoven in this. What's interesting about this is the dude writes a song at 120 years old. Come on, you got to hand it to him. And it's a long song. I know I don't know many 80-year-olds that could write a song like this, but he puts his song together and and Israel is told to latch on to this and it sort of becomes their national anthem. This bad country Bob Dylan song becomes their national anthem. They're to learn this song of Moses.

Chapter 33, let's get rid of the song for a moment. Chapter 33, blessings are pronounced on the 12 tribes. It's Moses' last public act before his death. Now, chapter 34 verse 1, then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah. It's a mountain you can go to today and overlook the land. Still to this day, it's in the country of Jordan, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan. Must have been a clear winter day. You can see snow-capped Mount Hermon all the way to the north, the undulating hills of Gilead.

You could look left and you could see the Jerusalem mountains spread out. Verse 4, and the Lord said to him, this is the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there. Isn't that a bummer? After all that Moses has done, put up with you can see it, but you can't get in it. Hold that thought. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord.

It ends on a sad note. Flavius Josephus, who's a Jewish historian, New Testament era, writes this account. Amidst the tears of the people, the women beating their breasts, the children giving way to uncontrolled wailing, Moses withdrew. At a certain point in his ascent, he made a sign to the weeping multitude to advance no further, taking with him only the elders, the high priest Eleazar, and the general Joshua. At the top of the mountain, he dismissed the elders. And then as he was embracing Eleazar and embracing Joshua and still speaking to them, a cloud suddenly stood over him and he vanished in a deep valley.

Close quote. Is that true? I have no idea. It's just what Josephus wrote. It's not in the Bible. Just thought you wanted to hear it. Here's the great news. It's not the end of the story. The New Testament gives you the rest of the story. Moses died. Jude said that the archangel Michael contended with the devil over the body of Moses. Remember that scripture? It's a weird scripture. Why does the devil care about Moses' body and why would God dispatch Michael, the big dude, to wrestle him down over it? Must be important. I believe it was.

I believe it was because when Jesus was transfigured on Mount Hermon in the Gospels, who appears with him? Moses and Elijah. Moses appeared with Jesus on that mountain in the land. He made it. He didn't get to see it before, but he was in it in the New Testament. Where am I going with all this? What the law couldn't do, grace did. Under grace, Moses came in the land. Under the law, you could only see it, but not go in. The law couldn't bring Mo into the land. But the Lord Jesus brought him in. He was talking with Moses and Elijah about the future.

And I believe, personal belief only, one of the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 is none other than those two, Moses and Elijah. God was keeping the body of Moses for a future use. Still our future during the tribulation period, I think Moses is coming on the scene and God protected that body for that purpose. That's the life of Moses. Now, it's over. Next time, we'll have the book of Joshua.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere, helping them know God more deeply and live out his truth. And this month, when you give $50 or more, we'll send you Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All as our thanks. This one-year journey through the Bible will help you see how scripture fits together, understand its key people, events, and themes, and grow deeper in God's word each day. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-26 1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

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