Deuteronomy 31:16-21 - Chapters 31-33. Summary

Faithful words silent accusers of those who heed them not.

In the several paragraphs of this chapter we find that Moses was borne along by the Holy Ghost to take a glance into the future. He had been instructed by God to give a charge to Joshua, and to surrender into his hands the leadership of the host. He had given to the priests their commission to guard the Law for the people. And now there remained but for him to give his final words to the people themselves. The Omniscient One foresaw that, after the death of their leader, they would become corrupt, forsaking the Lord, and ensuring for themselves and their children a heritage of woe. And hence it was mercifully provided that, even in the worst of times, their lawgiver's words should be for them a perpetual standard of appeal; so that, however the people might have fallen from the heights of virtue, they should still have the same trusty words to guide their path, and to direct and restore their life. While at the same time, these words would be a constant and silent witness against them for departing from the ways of the Lord. It is not at all unlikely that our Lord had this passage in mind when he said to the Jews, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust." That very Book, which if rightly used is "a lamp" to the feet and "a light" to the path, becomes, if neglected, a perpetual and silent accuser. Very earnestly and solemnly may the Christian preacher press this home "to every man's conscience in the sight of God." That selfsame purpose which was answered by securing permanent records of the Mosaic legislation, is also answered by permanent records of the Christian redemption. The apostles and prophets of the New Testament, like the legislator of the old, spake and wrote as they were borne along by the Holy Ghost. It is, therefore, over the larger sphere that we propose now to illustrate and enforce the truth that neglected teaching becomes a silent accuser .

I. WHEN OUR GOD LODGED IN THE WORLD THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN FAITHS , HE LOOKED ONWARD AND FORESAW THE FEATURES OF THE COMING GENERATIONS . (Cf. verses 16-18; see also Acts 20:29 , Acts 20:30 ; 1 Timothy 4:1-3 ; 2 Peter 3:3 ; Matthew 24:24 .) Whatever developments of ungodliness or of unbelief, of immorality or of heresy, may develop themselves, are all known to him who seeth the end from the beginning.

II. WITH FUTURE EVIL FULL IN VIEW , GOD HAS HAD HIS OWN WORD PUT DOWN IN WRITING . The words of Moses, of the prophets, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his apostles are faithfully recorded. They have suffered no material change through all the accidents of transition ( Philippians 3:1 ). Paul felt what a safeguard it would be for after ages to have his words written down, and sent to the Churches, that they might be by them guarded, distributed, and taught (see verse 19).

III. THE WORD OF GOD , SO RECORDED , IS A PERPETUAL STANDARD OF APPEAL FOR EVERY AGE . Whatever corruptions may enter into or fasten on the Churches; however oral tradition may change the original form of Divine communication,—the written Word changeth not. How very soon Churches as Churches may drift far away from the true in faith and the holy in life, the Epistles to the Churches in Galatia, Corinth, Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Laodicea, tell. We see by them how very soon our faith might be seriously obscured or impaired if dependent merely on the oral transmission of any Church.

IV. BY THE PURE WORD OF GOD , ABERRATIONS MAY FROM TIME TO TIME BE CORRECTED . It is by the Church that the Word of God is kept and transmitted. It is by the Word so kept and transmitted that the Church is to be tested. Hence, whatever respect it may he appropriate to pay to the decision of a Church or of Churches, those decisions are valid only as they harmonize with what the Lord hath spoken in his revealed Word. Whatever will not abide the test of an appeal to the Book of God, with it Christian Churches and people should have nothing to do. Of how much importance our Lord regarded this final test is seen by his frequent appeal to what is written. Whether he was in conflict with the evil one, or was himself exposing or denouncing evil, his ultimate reference was to what God had said.

V. CONSEQUENTLY , BY HAVING IN OUR HANDS A PERPETUAL STANDARD OF REFERENCE , WE HAVE A CONSTANT AND UNVARYING GUIDE TO WHAT IS RIGHT BOTH IN FAITH AND PRACTICE . The accounts which we get of the after history of the Hebrew nation show us plainly enough how far adrift the people might soon have gone, if their faith had not been once for all enshrined and guarded in a book. And so it is in the New Testament. For though we get therein hints of the Church's life for but little more than two generations after they were formed, yet the severe lashings and rebukes which the Churches in Corinth, Galatia, and Colosse required, as well as the seven Churches, show with equal distinctness that our most holy faith might soon have been all but unrecoverable from the mass of corruption, if it, too, had not been recorded in the writings of the apostles and evangelists. But thus recorded it was, and through all the ages it has been guarded for us as a perpetual standard of appeal.

VI. IF , HOWEVER , WE ARE GUIDED BY THE VARYING OPINIONS AND SINFUL PRACTICES OF MEN , AND SO NEGLECT TO TAKE HEED TO OUR STANDARDS , THEY WILL BE PERPETUAL WITNESSES AGAINST US . (Verse 21,) So our Lord tells the Jews in reference to the departures from the faith and the corruptions in life which marked his time (cf. John 5:1-47 :54). And thus it must ever be. The very fact of having a standard of appeal serves two purposes. Which of the two it will serve so far as we are concerned depends on the use we make thereof. If we abide by it and conform thereto, it will verify our belief and justify our life. But if we depart from it, it can only act as a witness against us to condemn us. Every privilege is this two-edged . If used aright, it helps us; if disused or abused, it will be for a perpetual reproof. So it is with parental advice, with a teacher's counsels, with a pastor's pleadings, with a Savior's invitations: accepted and heeded, they will be a perpetual joy; but if made light of, they will plunge daggers into the soul.

VII. THIS SILENT ACCUSATION GOING ON NOW FORESHADOWS A MORE SERIOUS CRIMINATION AT THE JUDGMENT DAY . (Cf. Matthew 11:22 , Matthew 11:24 ; Matthew 12:41 , Matthew 12:42 .) The whirl of life, and the surroundings of flesh and sense, conceal from many the spiritual world. But it exists . And when we are summoned hence we shall see it and know it. We shall feel ourselves with God—alone. And this—this will be the beginning of that awful process of judgment which, on the last day, is to be consummated and sealed. And what sore condemnation must await those to whom God has spoken in his Word for years on years, but in vain (see Ezekiel 33:1-33 .)!

HOMILIES BY J. ORR