Before we come in the next message to the matter of the enactment of the covenant, I would like in this message to give a brief word concerning the Christ revealed in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy is a book on Christ. The focus of this book, including chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight, is not the law but Christ.
In 27:1-7 Moses gave commandments to the children of Israel regarding erecting large stones, building an altar, and offering burnt offerings and peace offerings on this altar. In the day they crossed over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah was giving to them, at the entry of the good land, they were to erect large stones, coat them with plaster, and write upon them the Ten Commandments. These stones may be considered a monument. Beside this monument, they were to build an altar. Thus, two things were set up—a monument and an altar.
The Ten Commandments, which were written on the monument, were God's requirements. As God's requirements, the Ten Commandments are an expression of God Himself; they are a portrait of what God is. In particular, the Ten Commandments reveal that God is love and light and that He is holy and righteous. Thus, the monument at the entry to the land was actually the very God Himself. God was standing there, revealing Himself to the children of Israel and making His requirements known to them. God, according to what He is, had His requirements, and the people had to satisfy these requirements.
At this point, I would emphasize once again that, since Deuteronomy is a book on Christ, in our reading of this book we should change the words law and commandment to Christ. The stone monument was also Christ. We have seen that this monument was God. Now we need to see that this God is embodied in Christ. This means that the One who stood before the people at the entry to the land was Christ as the embodiment of God. As Christ stood before them, He showed them what He is, and based on what He is, He made requirements of them.