The Secrets of God

Antioch Christian Fellowship

Deuteronomy 30:9-14

July 15, 2007

If you do a Google search on “eternal life,” highlighted at the top of the resulting list is “SHOPZILLA.COM for ‘eternal life.’ Bargain prices.  Smart Deals.”  I didn’t go to SHOPZILLA.COM to purchase eternal life, I’ve been there before when looking for something and been disappointed, not unlike so many others who are searching for something important.

Searching for the secrets of life has been a preoccupation of human beings for some time.  It is the question posed by the lawyer to Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus responds, “What is written in the Law?” (Luke 10:25-26) In other words, “What did God reveal thousands of years ago to your ancestors?”

The lawyer is not the first to wonder, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  In antiquity, the people of the Ancient Near East drew stylized sacred trees in their temples.  Their literature describes these plants that would give eternal life.  One of the oldest known literary works, the Gilgamesh Epic describes the depression of Gilgamesh when his friend, Enkidu dies.  At the death of his friend, Gilgamesh realizes that he too, will die and so travels in pursuit of immortality.  It is a dangerous journey, requiring travel over the sea of death.  Whether it was ascent to the gods above for special dispensation or descent into the netherworld, it was believed impossible journeys were required to find this most precious gift.

Man has sought the secrets of eternal life for ages.  Some have given up and become Epicurean, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you will die.”  But, Yahweh, the God of Israel sought to clear the smoke and provide clarity for man’s search.  He does that by simply telling the Israelites.  God reveals all we need to know about the quest for eternal life in His word.

Beginning in chapter 29 of Deuteronomy, God tells the people of Israel what will happen to them.  They will be in captivity, scattered to distant lands (Deut. 30:3), the land itself will be decimated, unproductive (Deut 29:23).  They are told that they will reflect on their predicament and remember their God, repent, return to Him and be drawn closer by His forgiveness.  Then we are told in Deuteronomy 30:6. “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”  God is eternal and so when He speaks of life,  that is what He means:  eternal life.  The secret of God is revealed:  what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do.

He says through Moses "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'  But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

God does not require impossible feats or exotic trips for His people to have life. They do not have to climb to heaven or cross the sea to find it.  He gives it.  We do not even need to travel to heaven to ask God “What is the secret of eternal life?”  God has come to earth to speak His word personally.  The lawyer asks Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He asks, even though he knows the answer.  He just wants to know if Jesus knows.  It is ironic, that a human being, a lawyer, asks the creator of life, a question to test Him.  (John 1:3)  What is remarkable is that Jesus continues the conversation, even when He knows the lawyer’s motives are flawed.  Jesus affirms the lawyer’s answer “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with you’re your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

This is not new news.  Moses told the lawyer’s ancestors that same thing, ages ago.  The love that Jesus describes has one source.  We are told that surgery is required for this kind of love.  We are told in Deuteronomy 30:6  “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”  We don’t perform surgery on ourselves and we will not perform this surgery, neither will we schedule the day or hour when it will occur. God is our surgeon.  There is nothing to do but wait on Him.

Even though we wait on Him for that day when we will love Him perfectly, obey Him without a thought, our eternal life begins here, in this world.  It begins with the confidence that God will meet all our needs because we can’t.  It begins now with the assurance that God is faithful to His promises even when we are not.  The promises of God are big, too big for one package, they come incrementally and so we wait in faith.

But waiting in faith does not mean that God has secrets. This is not to say that we understand everything about God and His ways.  There are many things about God that are beyond our rational comprehension.  But we do know what He desires, and if we do not, we can easily find out.  Knowing our Father’s desires does not mean that we are able to do it, but it does mean that we are able to recognize when we fail so that we can repent and return to Him and be drawn closer by receiving His forgiveness. 

To love God is to accept His solution to our problem.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  We have the answer.  We wait in faith with our mouth confessing that we belong to Jesus Christ, with our hearts believing that God sees us as righteous because the one we belong to is righteous.  We have no need to travel to heaven or to hell.  God has already done that. (Romans 10:6-10).

Is it possible that I don’t need to do anything to receive eternal life?  That God’s own commandment to love Him will be accomplished by Him?  What kind of God would set up a standard that only He could achieve?  I suppose it would be a God who wants His people to have more than they can manufacture themselves, a God who wants us to have what only He can give.

God has no secrets from us.  Certainly, there are things we don’t understand, but we understand what we need to. There are no impossible journeys required for us to receive what we most desire.  We know the way to eternal life.  If it had been a snake, it would have bit us.  Eternal life, we won’t find it on SHOPZILLA.COM.  But for us, it is a “bargain price,” nothing but our choice to take it and it really is a “smart deal.”  Our God has told us all we need to know.  He has given us all we need to live eternally, now.