Sustained Repetition

You shall hold fast…Deuteronomy 10:20

Holding on to God is not easy. God is holy. God’s holiness is like a consuming fire, Deut. 4:24. Being close to extreme holiness is difficult. Every prophet who was allowed to see into heaven where God resided fell to their face proclaiming their unworthiness. When disciples saw Jesus for who He is, bowed down and worshipped Him. Otherwise, they stood as close to Jesus as they could. They wanted to learn. They were His disciples.

Like Moses, Jesus stood between them and God the Father. Moses said to them, I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. Deut. 5:5. The fire they saw was the all consuming fire of the LORD, Deut. 4:24. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. God is jealous for us.  We need Jesus to hold fast to God.

Like Moses, Jesus stands between the fire-like holiness of God and us. We have been invited by Jesus to come close to the Father through Him. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6. 

And we have come to Jesus,  for that day has already come. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20. Christ is in God. You are in Christ. Christ is in you. This is the essence of holding on. Like the Apostles, we give to others what we have so freely received from God. This is what disciples do. Like Paul, we preach the gospel. We deliver to others what we have received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. 

In doing so, we as His disciples, make disciples who fear the LORD your God. Who serve Him. Who hold fast to Him. Deut. 10:20 This is what we do because God’s love for us is a jealous love. We repeat what we have learned.