THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 47
children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant
ivhich he made with them in Horeb." And this
is followed by a further warning that the breach of
this latter covenant would be punished by an overthrow
like that of Sodom and Gomorrah; that is, an
irrecoverable ruin (v. 23).
Deut. 30:1-10. "And it shall come to pass when all
these things come upon thee" so it was all to happen,
and what then? Special heed should be given to this
chapter, because here is where mercy is promised
them ;
and here are stated the conditions on which they
may obtain it, after they should have been destroyed
as a nation, plucked from off their land, and scattered
among all the nations of the earth. First there
is the promise of a return from captivity if, among
the nations whither the Lord should have driven them,
they should "return unto the Lord thy God" (v. 2).
Then follows a passage (w. 11-14), which is quoted
in part by Paul in Romans 10:6-10, and concerning
which he says that "the word," there spoken by Moses,
is "the word of faith which we preach, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Thus we find that the very last hope of mercy that
is held out through Moses to that "disobedient and
gainsaying people," to whom God says "I have
stretched out my hands all the day long," is the "one
hope" of the gospel of Christ.
Verses 15-20 (of Deut. 30) are intensely solemn,
and their meaning is so plain it would be like charging
God with trifling (as scoffers make light of His warnings
concerning hell and eternal torment) to say that
this pledge, which God calls heaven and earth to wit-