Deuteronomy 33:13

Deuteronomy 33:13 says, And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,  Moses began to pronounce blessings on Joseph, which would be fulfilled through Ephraim and Manasseh.  Verse fourteen adds, And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,  Verse fifteen continues, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,  Verse sixteen continues, And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.  There were quite a few blessings pronounced on the descendants of Joseph, because he had been faithful to God.  Moses also said that the descendants of Joseph would be richly blessed because of the mistreatment that he that he had suffered at the hands of his brothers.  Later, Jesus would be mistreated by the Jews, who should have been His family, but after His death, burial and resurrection He is blessed above everyone.  Verse seventeen concludes, His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.  Moses said these promises would be carried out through Ephraim and Manasseh, but more so through the descendants of Ephraim, though he was the younger of the two.  Verse eighteen states, And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.  Verse eighteen adds, They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.  Next, Moses pronounced the blessings on Zebulun and Issachar, Jacob's sons by Leah.  Moses said that Zebulun would be blessed in his going out and Zebulun in his tents, and that they would call the people to the mountain and offer sacrifices of righteousness.  Verse twenty says,  And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.  Verse twenty-one adds, And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.  Moses pronounced the blessings on Gad, who had received their inheritance by his word, and said by war they would enlarge their borders.  Not all of the people of Israel received the same blessings, but all were expected to be obedient to God in using their God given abilities for His glory.  The same is still true for Christians today.  Verse twenty-two states, And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.  Moses said the tribe of Gad would be blessed with the strength of a lion by the power of God.  We today as Christians are given all the strength we need to overcome any enemy we might need to overcome of the forces of evil in the world.  Verse twenty-three states, And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.  Moses then pronounced the blessings on the tribe of Naphtali and said they would be full of the blessings of the LORD and possess the west and the south.  We need to be full of the blessings of the Lord as followers of Christ, no matter what is going on in our life.  This does not mean material wealth, but spiritual wealth.  Verse twenty-four says, And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.  Verse twenty-five adds, Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.  Moses finished stating the blessings on the people of Israel with the tribe of Gad.  Just because they were the last blessed didn't mean that they would be any less blessed.  As followers of Christ, we all receive our blessing according to our faith and willingness to do what God calls us to do.  Verse twenty-six declares, There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.  Moses then declared that there was no God like the only true and living God, and this should be our declaration today.  Verse twenty-seven adds, The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.  Moses said that the eternal God was their refuge and that they were to rest safely in His everlasting arms and that He would give them victory over all their enemies.  We still need to rest easy under the protection of God today, and if we do, He will give us victory over all our enemies.  Verse twenty-eight continues, Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.  Moses said that when the people of Israel remained true to their covenant with God that they would live in safety and abundance.  Verse twenty-nine concludes, Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.  Just as Moses said that there were none like Israel because of their covenant relationship with God, there are none like Christians today because of our covenant relationship God through our faith in Jesus Christ. We just need to remain true to Him.  These were the last words spoken by Moses, and they were to pronounce blessings on Israel because of their covenant relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 33:1

Deuteronomy 33:1 says, And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.  Moses, referred to here as the man of God, pronounced a blessing on the people of Israel before his death.  They had been rebellious against God quite often, and caused Moses many problems, but he still wanted the best for them.  We should want the best for people today, especially our fellow Christians, even if at times they cause us lots of problems.  Verse two adds, And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.  Moses reminded them of the awe inspiring glory of God shining down on them from Mount Sinai as He came to give His law to them, that was so bright it lit up Mount Seir and Mount Paran as well.  The people in those areas did not hear or accept the law and glory of God though.  There is enough evidence of God's glory today for all to be drawn to Him, but most still refuse to come to His light.  Verse three continues, Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.  Moses said the people of Israel all sat at the feet of God, ready to receive and obey His law.  As followers of Christ we must sit at His feet, ready to hear and obey His commandments.  Verse four states, Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.  Moses said the people acknowledged that he shared the words of God's law with them, which came as a fulfillment of the promise to Jacob.  Verse five adds, And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.  Moses said they acknowledged him as the king, or leader of all the people of Israel.  We today have One greater than Moses as our leader as Christians, and that is Jesus Christ.  Verse six continues, Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.  Moses blessed the tribe of Rueben, though Matthew Henry said he had lost his birthright.  No one is ever so lost that they cannot be saved, and Jesus stands ready to restore anyone who puts their faith in Him.  Verse seven says, And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies.  Moses then asked God's blessing on the tribe of Judah, asking that God allow Judah's hands to be sufficient to defeat his enemies.  Though God could defeat all our enemies Himself, He works through us as followers of Christ to do so by His power.  Verse eight adds, And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;  Moses asked that God be with the Levites, the priests of Israel, to guide them in doing God's will.  Christian leaders today need to make sure that they are obeying God's word and following His leadership.  Verse nine states, Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.  Moses said they had stood with God against those worshipping the golden calf, even if they had to condemn their closest relatives.  We must stand with God above everyone and everything else as Christians.  Verse ten adds, They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.  Moses said the Levites, the priests, would be responsible for teaching the people to obey God and leading them in worshipping Him.  We as followers of Christ are the priests in the world today, and it is our responsibility to teach the world about Jesus and lead in the worship of Him.  Verse eleven continues, Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.  Moses asked God to bless the substance of the Levites and accept the works of their hands while protecting them against their enemies.  God will still do this for us spiritually today as Christians as long as we remain faithful to Him.  Verse twelve says, And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.  Moses then asked that God protect the tribe of Benjamin, who is referred to as the beloved of the LORD.  As followers of Christ, we are all the beloved of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:19

Deuteronomy 32:19 says, And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.  Verse twenty adds, And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.  Moses said God abhorred the idolatry or the people of Israel,  and He removed Himself from guiding them.  God also said that He would see what their end would be.  We may grow rich and content as Christians, but if we allow this to turn us away from God, He may remove His protective hand from us.  Verse twenty-one continues, They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.  God said that since they had provoked Him to anger by following after false god's that they would no longer be His people.  I don't believe that once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord that we will ever not be a part of God's kingdom, but if we are we should never give in to the temptation to follow other gods either.  Verse twenty-two states, For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.  God said the fires of hell would burn against those who rejected Him, especially those who were supposed to be His people but did not worship Him alone.  We cannot worship God and idols, or the things of this world, at the same time.  God was and is a jealous God.  Verse twenty-three adds, I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.  God said that when the people of Israel, people called by His name turned away from Him that He would punish them with mischiefs and His arrows.  When we turn away from following God's will, He will remove His protective hand from us.  Not everything that goes wrong in the life of Christians is a punishment from God, but I believe that we will know if it is.  Verse twenty-four continues, They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.  God said instead of being in a land of peace flowing with milk and honey, that because of their disobedience the people of Israel would suffer from hunger and a bitter heat that would destroy their crops.  Verse twenty-five says, The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.  God said everyone, from babies to old people, would be destroyed by the sword or their own fears.  We as followers of Christ should never live in fear of what might happen to us in this world.  Our heavenly home will always be our final destination, so we need not live in fear. Verse twenty-six adds, I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:  Verse twenty-seven continues, Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.  God said He would scatter the people of Israel to the corners of the world, except for the fact that their enemies might say it was them, and not God, who had done this.  It was only for God's glory that He did not just totally blot the people of Israel off the earth and out of remembrance.  As those who are called God's people today, if we turn away from Him, it may be that it is only for His glory that He doesn't just blot us out of memory in this world.  Verse twenty-eight continues, For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.  God pronounced the people of Israel a people devoid of counseling when they would not listen to His voice.  If we are to be a Christian nation today, we must seek the counsel of God and obey it when He gives it.  Verse twenty-nine declares, Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!  God said that He desired that they were wise enough to consider them latter end.  This was before they even entered the Promised Land.  We need to always consider our latter end as Christians, and that is everlasting life with God in heaven, and be wise enough to remain faithful to Him everyday.  Verse thirty adds, How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?  God reminded them of His deliverance of them when one Israelite was able to defeat a thousand enemies.  We as followers of Christ need to always remember that as long as we are faithful to God, we already have the everlasting victory over the world and all its false gods.  Verse thirty-one continues, For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. God said that the rock of the world, what they put all the faith in, was not the Rock of the people of Israel, which is God Himself, unbreakable and unshakable.  Verse thirty-two continues, For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:   God said the vine of the world was the vinexof Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah, which lead to their total destruction because of their idolatry and disobedience to God.  Verse thirty-three concludes, Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. God said the wine of Sodom and Gomorrah was poisonous, because even though it might have satisfied or even tasted good, it led them away from God.  The things of this world may be enjoyable today,  but if they lead us away from God they are spiritually poisonous. 

Deuteronomy 32:7

Deuteronomy 32:7 says, Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.  Moses told them to remember the days of old and remember the years of the many generations that came before them.  We still need to remember the past generations of Christians that the Bible records for us, and the struggles and triumphs of God's people.  Verse eight adds, When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.  Moses said that when God divided the land among the people of the world after the flood, that even though the Canaanites would possess it for a time, this was already established by God to be the Promised Land.  He said that God set the bounds according to the number of the children of Israel. We as followers of Christ already have a heavenly home prepared for us, and it will accommodate all who accept Him. Verse nine continues, For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.  Moses said that God's portion of the people of the world were the people who like Jacob had put their faith in Him.  Not all of Jacob's descendents were a part of God's people, because they refused to put their faith in Him.  Having the most devout Christian parents today does not make us a pert of the family of God.  We must choose individually to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord to become a part of God's family.  Verse ten states,  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.  Moses said God found Jacob in the desert and the waste of the howling wilderness.  God will find us and call us to Him today, even if we are in the greatest wilderness of sin that there can be.  We do not just stumble across God, but He calls us to Him.  Verse eleven adds, As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:  Verse twelve continues, So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.  Moses said just as an eagle protects her young, so had God protected the descendents of Jacob on the way to the Promised Land,  and there was no strange god who did it. We must acknowledge God as the only God and put our faith in Him if we are going to get to Heaven one day.  Verse thirteen declares, He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;  Moses said that God was the One Who gave Jacob and His descendants success because of their covenant relationship with Him.  It was not some greater value that Jacob had because of who he was, but was the value that He had because of his faith in God, just as our value today comes from our faith in Jesus Christ alone as our Savior and Lord and the only way to salvation.  Verse fourteen adds, Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.  Moses said God had abundantly provided for the people of Israel, and He still provides for His people today.  We will never lack spiritually if we remain true to God.  Verse fifteen continues, But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.  Moses said that with God's blessings they had grown fat, and then they turned away from God, the Rock of their salvation.  We need to make sure that as Christians when we grow rich in the things of this world that we do not turn away from following God's guidance.  Verse sixteen states, They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.  The people of Israel began to follow strange gods and provoked Gods anger.  Verse seventeen adds, They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.  Moses said that the people of Israel had started following strange and new gods.  There are also many new and false gods today that people put above God, even if we often do not call them gods.  Verse eighteen continues, Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.  Moses said that the people of Israel had forgotten God.  Even as God had brought them out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, they had forgotten Him.  We as followers of Christ cannot afford to do the same thing.

Deuteronomy 32:1

Deuteronomy 32:1 says, Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. This is Moses call for everyone to hear God when He speaks, and He still calls on us to hear Him today.  The people of Israel were often rebellious, and even the heavens and the earth were more likely to hear God's word than they were.  As followers of Christ, we must always be willing to hear God's call to us to obey His commandments.  Verse two adds, My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:  Moses said God's doctrine would drop down as a gentile rain on the tender herbs and grass.  Matthew Henry says that on the rebellious God's word would be as a harsh and driving rain, but on those who obey God's commandments it would be a gentile, reviving rain.  Of course, the first commandment we would have to obey is putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse three continues, Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.  Moses said that what He had declared to the people of Israel was God’s word, and that they were to ascribe greatness to God, and not to Moses himself.  When we share the gospel with people today, or whenever we preach His word, we must make sure that people are drawn to the greatness of God and not to us.  Verse four states, He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.  Moses said that God was the Rock, that His work is perfect, all His ways were a judgment and God is a God of truth without iniquity.  This is the Rock upon which Jesus told Peter that He would build His church, and not Peter himself.  Faith in God through accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord is still the Rock of our salvation today.  Verse five adds, They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.  Moses said the people of Israel, God's chosen people, had corrupted themselves, and we as Christians, God's chosen people today, cannot afford to do that.  We need to live daily to bring honor and glory to God and by our faith draw others to Him.  Verse six continues, Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?  Moses then asked if they would be foolish enough to not acknowledge God as their Father, Who had bought them and made and established them as His people.  They had not become God's people because of their own goodness, but because God had called and established them as His people.  God has called everyone to Himself today to become a part of His people by putting their faith in Jesus Christ, yet people are too often too foolish to do so.

Deuteronomy 31:19

Deuteronomy 31:19 says, Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.  God instructed Moses to write a divinely inspired song to be sung as a witness for God against the people of Israel when they failed to remain true to Him. We usually have songs that remind us of God's goodness and mercy, but maybe we need more that remind us of what will happen when we as Christians stray away from God.  Verse twenty adds, For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.  The song said that when the people of Israel had grown fat from the abundance food that God blessed them with in the land that He had given them that they would turn to other gods and provoke God.  Often, when Christians are blessed with more than what they need by the graciousness of God, they turn away from Him and His word.  Verse twenty-two continues, And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.  God told Moses that the song would be a testimony against them when evils and troubles befell them.  God didn't say if, but when, because He said that He knew their thoughts often turned away from Him before He brought them into the land.  God was willing to fulfill His part of the covenant even when He knew that the people of Israel would fail in theirs.  God sent Jesus Christ to completely forever fulfill His covenant with any who would accept Him and become a pert of God's people, even though He knows that we will often fail to live up to our promise to follow Him in obedience to His guidance.  Verse twenty-two concludes, Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.  Moses wrote the song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel, even before they had entered the Promised Land.  Though it says Moses wrote the song, it was given to Him by God.  The whole Bible, though written by many different people, is inspired by God.  Verse twenty-three states, And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.  Moses gave Joshua the charge to lead the people of Israel, but it was God's charge and not just that of Moses.  We today need to make sure that what we as followers of Christ teach is God's word and not our own.  Verse twenty-four adds, And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,  Moses then finished writing all the words of the Law that God had given Him in a book.  Verse twenty-five continues, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,  Verse twenty-six, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.  Moses then called the Levites and told them to take the book and put it in the Ark of the Covenant.  This represented God's presence with them when they were traveling, and God's word written in our heart and the presence of the Holy Spirit is God's presence with us today.  Verse twenty-seven declares, For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?  Moses said that he knew their rebellion and tendency to be stiffnecked even while he was with them, and asked how much worse would they be when he wasn't with them.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.  Moses then called for the elders of all the tribes to be gathered to him so he could speak these words in their ears.  We need to hear God's word proclaimed often and accurately today, when we gather in His name especially.  Verse twenty-nine continues, For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.  Moses said he knew that when he was gone that they would utterly corrupt themselves and it would lead to their having evil befall them in the latter days.  Verse thirty concludes, And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.  Moses then spoke not just to the elders but to all the people the words of the song.  Though ministers may lead us in worshipping God today, we are all individually responsible for our relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 31:10

Deuteronomy 31:10 says, And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,  Verse eleven adds, When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  Moses commanded that every seven years, at the feast of tabernacles that all of Israel were to gather together in the place that God designated and read the law so that they all could hear it.  This would have been no easy undertaking.  We as Christians should read God's word daily, and especially when we are gathered together in His name in the place He designates for us to worship Him, and though we don't do it daily, we should read through the entire Bible often.  Verse twelve continues, Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:  Moses said everyone in Israel was to be gathered together, even the stranger, so that they could hear and learn the law of God and fear, or respect, Him.  We still need to do this today as we gather together as the church, and we need to reach the strangers with God's word as well.  Verse thirteen concludes, And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.  Moses said this was to be done so that the children who had not seen the great works of God could hear and learn about Him and enter into a covenant relationship with Him as well.  We as Christian parents must teach our children to know God and pray that they will enter into a covenant relationship with Him by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  This was to be done as long as the people of Israel lived in the Promised Land, and it is to be done by Christians today as long as we are on this earth.  Verse fourteen states, And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.  God told Moses that the time for him to die was near, and that he was to call Joshua and that they were to appear together in the tabernacle of the congregation so that God could give Joshua his charge.  The transfer of leadership was to be done openly and with the people knowing that God was the One Who ordained it.  We need that same orderly transfer of leadership in the church todsy when one pastor leaves and another takes his place.  Verse fifteen adds, And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. When Moses and Joshua appeared together before the people of Israel in the tabernacle, God came down in the pillar of cloud and stood over the door of the tabernacle.  Though we do not have this visible presence of  God today, when we do gather in His name, we should be aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us to guide us in all that we do.  Verse sixteen declares, And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.  God told Moses that after he died that the people would start to follow false gods.  Moses through his faith and by God's power had kept them following God's law, often interceding with God on their behalf, but he could not ensure that they would always follow God, and neither could Joshua when he replaced Moses.  We cannot ensure that coming generations will follow Jesus Christ today, but as long as we live, we must present His gospel to them.  Verse seventeen adds, Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?  God said once they started following false gods that He would turn away from them and they would experience many troubles and be devoured by other nations.  Their strength came from God and not from the fact of their birth.  We as followers of Christ today only have power over the world by our faith in Jesus Christ, and this could be gone in a generation if we fail to reach them with the gospel.  Verse eighteen continues, And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. God said that His hiding His face from the people of Israel was a certainty if they turned away from Him and followed false gods.  We cannot follow the gods of this world and expect God to bless us, individually or as a nation.