Here in Chapter 26 of Leviticus we have what is known as the Covenant Codes. For the Israelites, God had laid out in the previous chapters how they were to worship Him, various holiness applications and practices and the fact that they were to not bow down and worship other Gods.
In ancient history there was covenant agreements between the overlord such as a king and his people. The people would agree to obey the king and the king would agree to provide the people with protection.
God has brought His people from Egypt to the Promised Land and given them wonderful blessings and in return, they were to obey Him.
As we look to this lengthy chapter, we will see together the rich blessings God has for His people who worship Him and also punishment for those who worship other pagan deities.
How did the blessings and punishments work? How many or what percent of the nation needed to be faithful before God poured out His blessings. On the other hand, how many had to be disobedient before punishment came.
Most scholars see these as being general in nature realizing that in the Nation of Israel, there would never be perfection, everyone being obedient. Yet these blessings and cautions were carried out by God when appropriate.
Throughout biblical history, the cursings /punishments only came when the nation as a whole apostatized and turned its back on God to worship other deities.
1. The Blessings of God (26:1-13)
26 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up 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 observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will 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, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
We see in this first part of Leviticus 26 God reminding His people of their covenant responsibilities. They were to worship and serve the Lord and not worship nor serve false gods. They had Sabbath responsibilities and they were to reverence God and His sanctuary.
I am the Lord.
For the Israelite, God has highlighted two main covenant obligations…observe the Sabbath and don’t worship false gods of the nations around you.
These blessings God promised were things like rain for their crops, peace and security, fruitfulness and God will be with them.
One of the blessings here, God sending rain, was expected after the people of Israel repented. Immediately after Elijah showed the power of God to those who worshipped Baal then God sent rain after 3.5 years of draught…
1 Kings 18:41–46 (ESV)
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43 And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. 44 And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’ ” 45 And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
For us in the NT, these blessings remain ours by faith. Jesus has fulfilled these covenant commands for us. God gives these wonderful blessings to all who have trusted Christ.
Romans 9:24–26 (ESV)
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
We still are called to obey God and to follow His commands. However, it is not our good works that secure His blessings but it is faith in our Savior that does. His righteousness is given to us as we believe and trust in Him.
Romans 8:32 (ESV)
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
2. The Discipline of God (26:14-20)
The rest of Leviticus 26 shows us example after example of God’s discipline. Here if the Israelites refuse to love Him and follow after other gods then God would bring these disciplines upon His people.
There is a nuance that’s important to see here and that is those who are being punished by God have first turned away from Him. With their attitude, they show no love or loyalty to God. He is giving them really what they have chosen. They want nothing to do with Him nor with His covenant.
14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, 19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
Here we see the first level of punishment. God gives His people over to disease and sickness. Others included draught poor harvest and then lastly, exile. Even in captivity God was doing a work of purging those who did not love Him and the covenant and He was getting ready those who were His people to carry on once they returned.
Now, in the New Covenant, we see Christ stands in our place. He has taken God’s punishment for our disobedience and sin. We are called to obey God and keep His commandments but when we fail, Christ stands ready to forgive us.
1 John 2:1–2 (ESV)
2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
3. God’s Response to Repentance (26:40-46)
40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, 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 rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.
But if…What a Saving and forgiving God we serve today!! When His people come to Him in repentance and humility He will forgive. You see that is a universal truth spanning all of redemptive history from the OT to the NT.
When we come to Him in repentance, God will forgive. True repentance comes from a broken heart. True repentance comes from a heart that God has disciplined.
Here in our text today, God tells us that when the Israelites remembered their sin then He remembered His covenant.
For us who love and serve Christ, there is really no parallel in the NT to these curses because Jesus Christ has taken our curses from us who believe. The Bible tells us He became a curse for us.
Galatians 3:13–14 (ESV)
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Here is the verse of substitution. Christ became a curse for us. He bore our sin on the cross.
What does it mean that Jesus became a curse for us to redeem us? It means that He made things right between us and God. We sinned repeatedly without ceasing against God all our lives. Every day we have sinned. We were cursed. We were going to receive our just punishment. Jesus lived a sinless life; no curse on Him. Then He went to the cross and became a curse for us. He paid our debt to God. Now for all who believe we have been released from the curse. Beloved breath the fresh air of God’s grace. Breath the fresh air of free justification given to us by faith. Beloved, breathe the fresh air of no condemnation for all who believe.
Christ became sin for us and He was forsaken by the Father because of our complete and wretched sin. He is our Substitute. God’s curse and punishment were not repealed or turned away but Jesus bore it. Complete wrath was poured out on Jesus. In that moment Jesus became the worst sinner who ever lived…
Martin Luther wrote, Jesus Christ in that moment became the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer, that there ever was or ever could be in the world. So great was our sin He bore for us.
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