In this week’s class, we walk through Deuteronomy 26–28 and watch Israel stand at a kind of covenant “I do” moment with God. We look at the offering of firstfruits, where God tells His people how to give thanks for a harvest they have not even seen yet, and talk about how that kind of forward-looking gratitude can calm our own fears about the future. We also notice how Israel retells its rescue-from-Egypt story and ask what it would look like for our families to have a simple, honest way of saying, “This is my story, and this is where God showed up.”
From there, the lesson moves to the dramatic scene on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, with blessings and curses echoing back and forth across the valley, painting a vivid picture of what life with God looks like when His people listen—and what it becomes when they walk away. We touch on hot-button questions about Israel, the church, and “replacement theology,” while holding on to the mystery that God is not done writing Israel’s story or ours.
We finish by tying all of this into Christmas: the way Jesus steps into the story as the true rescuer, the One who bears the curse, breaks the cycle of slavery, and invites us into a better Exodus—out of sin, into freedom, and into a new identity as God’s treasured people. It is a hopeful, honest look at judgment, mercy, and what it means to let God be the author of your story.
