26:3 “ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
6 “ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. 9“ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you.12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
14 “ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. 18 “ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. ................
40 “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me,41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”
Observations - The entire chapter of Leviticus is a perfect picture of works righteousness. There were so many rules for the Israelites to follow, God knew they couldn't possibly do it. He even said that if they don't, He would turn His blessings from them. He wouldn't go so far as to reject them or destroy them completely, because that would break the covenant. He would still be their God. Only the blessings would be gone. And that would only be so that they would realize their sin & turn back to Him. How often do we realize our sin? How much easier would it be to recognize it if God withheld His blessings from everyone who sinned?
Application - After finally getting through this book, I am even more grateful for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, so that I am forgiven. I know that I am entirely too sinful to deserve God's grace. But that is grace. Forgiveness even for us lowly humans who in no way deserve it. Works righteousness is way too difficult to even imagine. The Israelites truly had to try to be perfect, sacrificing when they weren't, obeying myriad of commands, including very specific details for everything imaginable. When to reap, sow, sacrifice, worship, praise, pray, interact with each other. How daunting that must have been!! How glad are we to have a Savior to be our perfect sacrifice, that we might never be apart from God again!
Prayer - Thank you Jesus for Your sacrifice! Thank you God for sending Your son to take our sins upon Himself. Thank you for sending Your Holy Spirit that we might never be apart from You again. I treasure Your instruction & pray that I might seek You earnestly! Amen.
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