In Romans 10:7 Paul continues, "Or, Who will descend into the abyss? That is, to bring Christ up from among the dead." Whereas Deuteronomy 30:13 speaks of the sea, Paul in this verse speaks of the abyss. The sea is actually the mouth of the abyss. Revelation 9 indicates that Antichrist will come out of the abyss, and Revelation 13 tells us that Antichrist will come out of the sea. Surely Antichrist will not come from two different places. His coming out of the sea will be his coming out of the abyss. The sea, therefore, is the mouth of the abyss. Paul's point in Romans 10:7 is that in His resurrection Christ came up from the abyss, came up from among the dead. The words "from among the dead" indicate that to go to the abyss is to die. After Christ died on the cross, He went to the abyss, to the region of death and of the satanic power of darkness. This means that He went to Hades, from which He came forth in His resurrection.

Romans 10:6 and 7 reveal that Paul's study of the holy Word was deep and that in his study he touched the deeper denotation of Deuteronomy 30:11-14. In his interpretation, these verses refer to the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Christ.

In Romans 10:8 Paul says, "But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart: that is, the word of the faith which we preach." The word that is in our heart and mouth is Christ as the breath, as the life-giving Spirit, for in resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).

When we put together Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and Romans 10:6-8, we have a full picture concerning Christ. In this picture we see that Christ was incarnated, that He was crucified and buried, that He went to the abyss, that He arose from among the dead, and that in His resurrection He became the breath, the life-giving Spirit. Since Christ is now the breath, He, like the air, is everywhere. When we speak to unbelievers about Christ, we can tell them that Christ is in their mouth and in their heart.

We thank the Lord that, in His mercy, He has opened our eyes to understand Deuteronomy 30:11-14 in the way Paul did. Now we see that these verses show us the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Christ who has become the life- giving Spirit. Today He is the very breath breathed out by the speaking God. I am happy to tell people that Christ is God incarnated to be a man named Jesus, that He died on the cross for our redemption, that He was buried and that He descended into the abyss, that He was resurrected from Hades, and that in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit as the divine breath. This is the Christ who is now the word of God for us to receive as our life. Furthermore, as the Lord's quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3 in Matthew 4:4 indicates, Christ is also our food. He is not only our life but also our life supply.

When we put together these verses from Deuteronomy with Matthew 4:4 and Romans 10:6-8 and follow the Lord Jesus and Paul in their way of understanding Deuteronomy, we will see that every word in the book of Deuteronomy is Christ. Christ is the repeated speaking of God; He is God's respeaking. The whole Bible is a deuteronomy, and the entire Bible is in the book of Deuteronomy.

Let us now go on to consider the nine crucial points in this book.