Blessings of obedience-penalties of disobedience-fulfilled not abolished.

Leviticus 26:1-47 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Blessings of Obedience

26 ‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God. ² You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the Lord. ³ If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, ⁴ then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. ⁵ Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. ⁶ I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. ⁷ But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; ⁸ five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. ⁹ So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. ¹¹ Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. ¹² I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Penalties of Disobedience

¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, ¹⁵ if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, ¹⁶ I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. ¹⁷ I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. ¹⁸ If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. ²⁰ Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins…²³ ‘And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, ²⁴ then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. ²⁵ I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands…²⁷ ‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, ²⁸ then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins…     ⁴⁰ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land…⁴⁵ But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶ These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord established between Himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai.

The law, not only established the regulations concerning how the Israelites were to live in obedience to God, but it also established a covenant between God and the Israelites. This covenant provided for blessings upon the nation and the people as long as they lived in obedience but it also spelled out the consequences, the curses that would come with disobedience. There was a way out for the Israelites though if they strayed from God and found themselves suffering the consequences of disobedience. The text says:     ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant…    God’s desire was not to punish the people of Israel. He gave them, like He gives each one of us, a free will, an ability to choose their own path. He laid out in advance the blessings or curses which would come according to their choices. If they failed, they still had the opportunity to repent and return to God and the blessings of His covenant promise.  

We of course no longer live under the law. When He was sharing the last supper with His disciples Jesus said: "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24) This new covenant which Jesus established is with all people.  God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)   Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)  So the covenant we live under is the covenant of Christ. He paid the price for our sins and disobedience. The promises of God, for us, are no longer based on our performance in keeping the law. It is not a matter of what we do, it is a matter of what He did.      by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The new covenant in Christ provides eternal life for all who believe in Him, all who believe He is the Christ, the Lord and Savior.

Jesus also says:  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) So not only is there the promise of eternal life with Christ, under the new covenant Jesus also promises an abundant life now. In and through Christ we are promised an abundant life filled with God’s blessing, provision and protection. While this covenant is no longer dependant on our actions but instead is dependant on Christ, we still, like the Israelites, have a choice. We can choose the blessing of life in Christ or we can choose the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus says:  "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.  "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished  (Matthew 5:17-18) Jesus did not abolish, do away with the consequences of sin and disobedience. He, through the cross fulfilled the requirement of the law, He paid the price for sin.

Jesus says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”   Everything that Jesus came to fulfill is dependant on loving God with all our heart, soul and mind and loving others as we love ourselves.  Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15) If we love Christ, we will love God with all our heart, soul and mind and we will love others as ourselves. Everything else we do is dependant on these two.

Yet, before Jesus said that, before He revealed that vital truth, that life governing principle, at the beginning of Jesus ministry here on earth, He gave another commandment.  Jesus says: "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) The kingdom of heaven, both the eternal kingdom of heaven and the now kingdom of heaven are near and available. Jesus commands us, like the Israelites, to repent and turn to God. We no longer need to fulfill the requirements of the law. Jesus did that. Still the blessing and the curse of the law has not changed. Jesus did not put an end to the consequences of sin and disobedience. He fulfilled it for those who repent and believe.

Thank You heavenly Father for loving the world, for loving me so much that You sent Your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for my sin. Thank You Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I believe and I humble myself and turn to You and the Father. Thank You for the abundant life You provide through the cross. Holy Spirit fill me, be my guide, I yield to You, empower and enable me to walk in and keep the commandments of Christ, to love God with all my heart, soul and mind and to love others.     Amen.