(Recommended reading – preferably from the NIV translation – Leviticus 26)
Have you read the book of Leviticus lately? Well, let’s be honest – it’s a very hard book of the Bible to get through – at least for me it is. It’s so full of a multitude of complex laws that God gave to the Israelites that it can make your head spin. In reality, it is hard for me to imagine how the Israelites ever got anything done since they so frequently had to go to the priests and make sacrifices for their sins (which were many!) It seems to me that there is no way any human could ever follow each and every one of those laws – the impossibility of that surely points to the need for someone to rescue humanity.
The 26th chapter really caught my attention. The first 13 verses describe the rewards for obedience – verse 3 starts off with the important word – “IF”. Eight times between verses 3 and 13 you will see “I will” – God declaring what He will do for them, and fifteen more times the word “will” appears in a positive connotation. That is a lot of positive proclamations – but, they have a lot of conditions “IF”.
Then another important word – “BUT” appears in verse 14. Starting there through verse 39 you will read about the punishment for disobedience. That is 11 verses for rewards but 26 verses to describe the potential punishment. Nineteen times “I will” is proclaiming what God will do as a result of the disobedience, with 34 more statements of what “will” happen – this time in a negative connotation. AND, those results are not pretty!
The word “BUT” appears twice more in verses 40 and 45, proclaiming the results “IF” they confess their sins – but not before they have suffered the consequences of their sins. Then we see again where God proclaims four times in verses 40-45 what He will do for them, how He will restore them and fulfill the promises He made to their forefathers.
Although I believe it is a good thing for us to familiarize ourselves with the Law of Moses, we are fortunate that because of Jesus, we no longer have to live under those numerous and rigid laws – He was that rescuer that humanity so desperately needed – and still needs, for that matter. BUT that does not mean we are off the hook. As believers in Christ, we still have high expectations to live under. We are not free to live just any old way that we please. 1 Corinthians 10:23 (CEV) says this: “Some of you say, ‘We can do whatever we want to!’ But I tell you not everything may be good or helpful.” We cannot be casual about what is right and wrong.
“The Bible is never casual about such things, not in the Old Testament or in the New. If we think grace means that sin no longer matters, we are as mistaken as the Corinthians were. It matters. A lot.” *
Jesus came as our example to show us the perfect way to live our lives. There are many lessons in the New Testament to point us in the right direction. BUT there is no way any of us can do it successfully on our own, nor can we be perfect as He was.
In God’s infinite wisdom, knowing we are basically weak characters, He allowed His only Son to be our sacrificial lamb, our rescuer. His blood was shed so that we can be forgiven if we only ask. We still have to consider the consequences we will have to pay for our sinfulness, but it is not held against us if we ask for forgiveness and do our best to live a life of goodness. Jesus reversed things for us. We have so many blessings to experience IF we only give our hearts to Him. We are so fortunate to live in the shadow of the Most High God!
Written by Karran Martin – First on March 10, 2019, updated June 10, 2023
[All bold emphasis is mine]
*Quote by Chris Tiegreen
Karran's Korner 