1Therefore you shall love Yahweh your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments, always. 2Know this day—for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, 3his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day; 5and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel; 7but your eyes have seen all of Yahweh’s great work which he did.
8Therefore you shall keep the entire commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land that you go over to possess; 9and that you may prolong your days in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10For the land, where you go in to possess isn’t like the land of Egypt that you came out of, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; 11but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky, 12a land which Yahweh your God cares for. Yahweh your God’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. 13It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other gods and worship them; 17and Yahweh’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you. 18Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates; 21that your days and your children’s days may be multiplied in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. 22For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you—to do them, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— 23then Yahweh will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your border. 25No man will be able to stand before you. Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you. 26Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today; 28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn away out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. 29It shall happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it. 32You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today.
A Song that Only You can Sing
A Song that Only You Can Sing
I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
A Man Singing From a Book
Revelation describes the mark of the beast as being on the right hand or the forehead (Rev 13:16). This is yet another satanic imitation of what God commanded for His people. God spoke to Moses about the importance of keeping God’s word foremost in the lives of His people, “8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 6:8, NKJV). [See also Deuteronomy 11:18 and Jewish man to the left with tefillin on arm and forehead.] Satan will place his mark of the beast on the hand and forehead of his followers. Satan is the author of nothing original. He is an imitator.
John looks and sees Jesus standing on Mount Zion. We were introduced to these 144,000 Jews in chapter 7, who have come to faith and are working diligently throughout the Tribulation to bring others to Christ. John sees them there in victory with the Lord in Jerusalem. They are sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads. The name of God is Yahweh, and His name is inscribed on their foreheads. A Jew reading this text would immediately see that the “mark of the beast” takes the place of God’s commands, and to accept the mark is to reject God Himself.
2 I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. 3 They sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth. 4 These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless. (Revelation 14:2-5 WEB) John hears the voice of Jesus as thunder, and he hears a loud voice from heaven. It is a strange heavenly sound, sort of like a waterfall mixed with thunder and harpists playing on harps. I imagine a sound like a loud symphony tuning up. And these were singing this new song that only the 144,000 could sing. These men are all sexually pure and are free from the sexual idolatry that is going on in the world. There are special songs that only certain groups can sing throughout the Bible. Deborah had a song. Moses had several songs that were just his. That reminds me that each of us has a unique song we can sing. We sing a song of praise when we live our lives in submission to the Holy Spirit. And these 144 thousand, too, have a song of deliverance through the Tribulation. The text says that these are the “first fruits,” meaning the harvest of believers in the Tribulation. These are the first fruits of the survivors. It says they are “without fault” before the throne of God. That’s exactly how each one of us will stand before God because of the wonderful work of Jesus Christ. God sees each of us as faultless. Are you seeing the song that He has put into you? Reader, you may not be a very good singer, but offer your praise, honor, and glory to God because He is so faithful and true to you. He has been there every step of your life. Ask God to make your life a song for Him. Let us praise God that we, too, stand faultless before the throne of God because we are washed in the blood of Jesus!