Blessing or Curse? The Choice That Shapes Eternity | Timothy Keller

"The provided sources summarize a sermon focused on Deuteronomy 30, which the speaker places early in the Bible as a key indicator that there are two destinies for humanity: blessing/bliss and curse/destruction. Although the passage does not literally discuss heaven and hell, it makes clear that something like these destinations must exist.
Covenant Context and Narrative Tension
The book of Deuteronomy is presented as a covenant renewal document given by Moses, who is near the end of his life. It lays out the stipulations of the covenant, including a detailed exposition of the Ten Commandments and instructions on living a life of integrity and justice that pleases God. Chapters 27 and 28 outline the blessings if the covenant is obeyed and the ""ferocious"" curses if it is disobeyed.
This juxtaposition of gracious blessings and ferocious, conditional curses creates an unresolved narrative tension in the Old Testament. The tension lies in how God can be both a holy God of justice who must punish every sin (he ""cannot clear the guilty"") and a God of endless love, forgiveness, and faithfulness. Dr. Lloyd-Jones is cited to explain that God must punish every sin because he is so good, and he wants to forgive because he is so good, creating a seeming contradiction.
Three Future Realities in Deuteronomy 30
Deuteronomy 30 foreshadows how this tension will eventually be resolved by looking forward to three future things:
1. Universal Failure and Exile: Moses first predicts that the Israelites will fail to live as they ought, bringing all the terrible curses of the covenant upon themselves, culminating in exile and dispersion among the nations. The speaker notes that this conclusion—telling people they will miserably fail—is not good motivational speaking, but it is good gospel preaching. It highlights the ""biggest mystery of the human race"": people know how they should live, but they lack the strength or power to do it.
2. God's Plan to Fix Hearts: Secondly, God has a plan to repair the human heart. Verse 6 states that the Lord will ""circumcise your hearts"" and the hearts of your descendants so that they may love him and live. This ""circumcised heart"" is the center of the passage and points toward the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The heart is the control center of the whole being, determining what one trusts, cherishes, and ultimately hopes in. To have a circumcised heart means that ""what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing"" (where pleasure and duty are joined).
3. Resolution through the Circumcision of Christ: The source suggests the resolution lies in the cross. Physical circumcision, which was ""gross and bloody,"" was historically an act demonstrating the curse of the covenant (being cut off). The ""circumcision of Christ"" is the cross, where Jesus experienced that curse—the ""cosmic cutting off"" we deserved—by going ""under the sword"". When a person sees that Jesus took the curse for them, they subjectively experience the circumcision of the heart.
The Word Is Near and The Afterlife
The final part of Deuteronomy 30 (verses 11-14) emphasizes that the law is ""not too difficult"" and the ""word is very near you"". While Moses meant that the Israelites had no excuse for disobedience since the law was clearly laid out, Paul later interprets this passage in Romans 10 as referring to the word of faith (the Gospel). Paul argues that the Gospel is the only word that is not too difficult because Christ is the end of the law as a means of righteousness; attempting to earn salvation is like telling Jesus that what he did doesn't matter.
In conclusion, the blessings and curses point toward heaven and hell, but they are not parallel. Hell is deserved (""your fault"") because of disobedience, but heaven is not deserved; it is given through Christ, who took the curse."