“Back to the Future”
Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason, November 16, 2003
Deuteronomy 33:27 is our text today: “The Eternal God is thy dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” KJV
The NIV renders “dwelling place” as “refuge”.
Doc and Marty became part of our movie history in 1985 when Marty gets propelled back in time to 1955 in Doc’s Delorian Time Machine in the movie “Back to the Future”. The rest of the movie plays out the attempts made to get Marty Back to the Future.
As we consider this verse in Deuteronomy, there are two things that concern us, challenge us:
The first is the future: We wonder what tomorrow will bring. How will our lives play out and how will they end? For all the hope and good things that lie out there ahead of us, what of the perils, the problems and difficulties that lie ahead of us as well?
The second thing is the present: As if worrying about the future was not enough what about the challenges of living out today with all the demands of the present…jobs, family responsibilities and commitments, the weaknesses we see in us and the physical challenges of the life we live day in and day out.
We look at tomorrow and wonder what will happen. We look within ourselves at the mystery of the moment and wonder what will we do?
Regarding our concerns, fear and uncertainty about the future our text tells us: “The Eternal God is our dwelling place – our refuge.”
When we think about the present…our text tells us “underneath are the everlasting arms.”
Our text is comes from the very end of the life of Moses as he blesses God’s people before he leaves them after leading them for over 40 years. It is just about the last thing he says to God’s people.
What are we to make of this statement? The word for God is Elohim which is the name of God which stands for the unfathomable and immeasurable might of the Most High. It is an intensive plural in the Hebrew that speaks of God’s might and therefore his majesty. Some would say that it is the plural of majesty.
The arresting word of this text is not the one used as the name of God. No, it is the word used for “Eternal”. It is a word that does not mean what the word “everlasting” that is part of the second phrase in this verse signifies.
Everlasting means: what is beyond our calendars and almanacs. It is the timelessness of God.
Eternal as it is used here has nothing to do with tomorrow. It has to do with yesterday. It is a word that compels us to look backward.
When we look back most of us only see the problems, difficulties, the hurt and sorrow of the past. How can this be of any help to us/
The word eternal as used here means: “the front, whether of place or time.” It means the first part. It is used of the east, the place where the day begins in scripture.
When it is used to describe God the thought that is communicated is this: He is the God of the beginning. You might translate that phrase, as “the God of old is your dwelling place.”
The idea that is being conveyed is that all that is involved in the beginning is persistent throughout the processes that are leading to the consummation of all things when Jesus returns and the new Heavens and the New Earth are reality.
The obvious question for us is what has this to do with us and how might we apply it to our lives?
When we think about the future, about tomorrow, we think of it as being out in front of us. The future is out there ahead of us.
But that is not what this passage is telling us. Tomorrow is not out in front of us. It is behind us. We are in the later days. The earlier days have already passed by.
Imagine if you will, a parade passing by. The marching bands have all passed by playing their various instruments and marching tunes. The floats are passing by now, one by one. Still to come are the clowns, the politicians and the beauty queen in the convertibles. It is a procession. The beginning of the parade is always out in front and the end of the parade is always behind.
Life is also a procession. All of human history is a procession from a beginning to an end. And God is at the beginning leading the procession. Every person who has ever trusted God and has been saved has already passed by and we have joined the procession after them. They are out there ahead of us and Yesterday is out there in front of us and tomorrow has not yet happened and is therefore behind us.
We tend to think about those believers who have lived and died and view it as if we are moving away from them, as though we had dropped them off somewhere behind us.
The truth is that we are moving in after them. We are following them. And the generation of believers, should Jesus tarry, not yet born will join the procession but they will not be ahead of us.
God leads. God accompanies those in this grand procession. He is the God of the morning, the God of the beginning. And He is our dwelling place, our refuge. What a comforting thought! He is no further removed from us than he is from the first man in the procession. God is no further distant from his creation after these long ages of its development that he was from the first part of that creation.
If the God of old time, the Eternal God, the God of the beginning is our dwelling place, or refuge then the deduction is obvious: The future which lies behind us is not our concern. We have no responsibilities with regard to the future.
We follow God, in company with God as we set our faces toward what has gone on before us and He is our dwelling place. Because He is our dwelling place, there is nothing for us to fear.
The second part of our text here relates to our present. “And underneath are the everlasting arms.” This is essentially the application of the truth of the first phrase in our text. This is the only place where this word “underneath” is used in the English Bible. It is a Hebrew word which means “bottom”. The root idea of the word is that of depressing, of humbling and beating down.” Underneath, is therefore, the uttermost limit of this depressing or humbling or beating down.
How far down can your experiences in life carry you?
How far down has life with its sorrow, suffering, difficulties and problems and weakness pushed you?
How deep have you been into life with little hope or encouragement? How far down have you sunk in depression and fear and hopelessness?
However deep down that is or has been; Whatever the lowest level, even when you feel as if you have never been lower, that you have experienced the truth is that the everlasting arms are underneath that!
The image of arms in Scripture always has something to say about strength. In this case the arms of strength are “everlasting”. The word everlasting speaks to us of a vanishing point, beyond the ultimate reach of our imagination and thought. It is whatever lies beyond the uttermost level of man’s thought and imagination. These everlasting arms then reach all the way to and exist in that realm beyond time itself that baffles us.
Whatever the challenge we face, we will always find beneath it the everlasting arms of God. They are there to catch us, to hold us, to bless us. The God of the beginning is our dwelling place, a place of ultimate security.
We could illustrate how this works with an illustration from the Book of Daniel. In chapter 3 we find the story of the great idol set up by Nebuchadnezzar and the requirement that everyone bow down and worship the idol when the music was played. Here is the story:
Daniel 3
1King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2Then he sent messages to the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. 3When all these officials had arrived and were standing before the image King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, 4a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command! 5When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. 6Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace…But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews. 9They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! 10You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the musical instruments. 11That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12But there are some Jews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They have defied Your Majesty by refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you have set up.”
13Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought before him. When they were brought in, 14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? 15I will give you one more chance. If you bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. What god will be able to rescue you from my power then?”
16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
The Blazing Furnace
19Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. 20Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully clothed. 22And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in! 23So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell down into the roaring flames.
24But suddenly, as he was watching, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”
“Yes,” they said, “we did indeed, Your Majesty.”
25“Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire. They aren’t even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a divine being!”
26Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27Then the princes, prefects, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!
28Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be crushed into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!” 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.”
The threat of the fiery furnace was of no concern to Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego. They knew that God could save them. He had the power. But even if he did not save them and allowed them to go into the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, they were not going to bow down to an idol.
They knew that their lives were securely held…their tomorrow was secure because under them were the everlasting arms of God. As with these men, there is nothing in my life that is unknown to God. There is nothing in my life that is outside the reach of the eternal strength and tenderness of those Everlasting arms of God.
We may fall and sink and sink until no finger can be raised to help ourselves and we suddenly find that we have been cradled by these arms of God.
He is the beginning, always the beginning of everything. He will begin every tomorrow that shall come until the cycle of the running days has completed the story of humanity and we find ourselves having arrived at the goal.
He is the eternal God, the God of the beginning and the end. And his everlasting arms are always there beneath you.
What struggles are we facing that would try our souls, that would depress and beat us down? Whatever they are and however bad or difficult they may be…remember beneath them are the everlasting arms of God…your hope and strength.
Recognize it.
Rely on them.
And as perfect love casts out fear…worry no more about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself.
Don’t worry about the tomorrows that lie behind you!
-- Dennis Gleason
