The Covenant with Israel
Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 28 and 30
What is a covenant?
A covenant is a mutual contract or mutual agreement between two parties, each of which "is bound" to fulfill certain arrangements with each other.
In the Bible covenants denote our relationship with God.
What should we understand about the covenants of God?
These covenants were literal, they are unconditional, and they are eternal!
The one thing we must clearly understand is, that these covenants are based upon obedience and here we learn some things about God that many of us did not know and we may not understand and that may come to a surprise to many, especially those who are liberal minded.
We must try to understand the God we say we trust!
Psa 71:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Psa 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Psa 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Psa 71:4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
To be delivered then our "faith" must be on our Lord and Savior, and it must be enduring faith!
It would pay us to get to know as much as we can about Jehovah (The Lord Jesus Christ)!
Psa 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
It is in the knowing of our Creator that allows God to help us! We must know Him as our Creator with creation power to help us!
Our nation and our person are dependent upon the blessings of God!
He gives and He can withhold any blessing at any time, but He will never break His promises!
It is false science, including "so-called climate change" that sees only laws in the truth of nature and ignores the hand and the blessing of the Living God who holds all His creation in His hands.
We must know God has the power to help us in any matter, but we must also realize that we must fear His displeasure when we fail Him by disobedience.
God keeps His "covenants of blessing", but He will also keep His "covenants of cursing" and most people just ignore those covenants of cursing, yet they are still part of the Word of God.
God must approve of everything we do and be satisfied that we have done our best, or we will see the opposite side of God!
God is perfect in "blessing" and God is just as perfect in "judgment"!
The forty years that Israel wandered in the wilderness to the death of all those over twenty years old should be a wakeup call for each of us!
Sin will bring the chastisement of God to those who say they love Him and vengeance to those who oppose Him, and God will be just as perfect in these things as He is in all things.
*****Deu 28:63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
When we say we believe all the Word of God, then we had better believe these words also.
I believe we can relate these words to what we see going on in America today.
It is really hard to ask God to bless our nation as it is today for, we are the Sodom and Gomorrah of the modern world and much of the world is the same and our nation is sinking deeper into sin.
These things play out in our streets today, in our malls, in our schools, and even in our churches.
God rejoices in His perfectness!
It is hard to imagine our God, who has more "grace" than there is sin in this world, but the fact that the Holy Spirit caused these things to be written of Him means we had better take note of what is said here.
2Ti_3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
When we read that the Lord rejoices in destruction just as He rejoices in blessing, well it is just not the way we picture the Almighty God.
He is Divine in blessing!
He says He is also Divine in destruction and the world will witness this truth when the Lord returns to this earth, but we may also see it more today and in the coming days than we realize.
We already know God has no pleasure in the death of anyone!
Eze 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
This eternal death is already promised to all those who reject the Lord Jesus!
The sinner has already been judged and sentenced to eternal death less they repent and call on the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Most of our world has far too much pride to do such a thing as recognize the truth of the Living God!
We also know that the Lord Jesus Christ wept because He knew Jerusalem would be destroyed, but he still allowed it to happen, and our Scripture says He rejoiced in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
God will rejoice at the destruction of sin, but not in the destruction of sinner!
Note: The Word of God says there will be a New Jerusalem and no sin will ever enter into that city.
He teaches us to be this way also! We are Christians because we are to be like the Lord Jesus Christ!
This destruction of sin is certain!
This destruction will be rapid once it begins!
God will not spare a single one that does not repent and come to the Lord Jesus Christ, man, woman, or child, or whatever they call themselves!
This is where the liberal cringes at the truth of God!
They say "surely a loving God could not do such a thing" but the Word of God is specific that He will!
People can attempt to rewrite the Word of God, but those old Scriptures cannot be changed and there are no mistakes in them!
The waves of destruction will flow freely at the return of Jesus Christ!
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
We would think these things would have some influence upon those who do not know the Lord Jesus, but how can they know Him if they reject all the Word of God.
The Bible is written to the believer so it is the believer that had better understand these things so we will be encouraged to reach out to our family, our friends, and yes to the lost of this world.
What happened to the Israelites after the destruction of Jerusalem?
*****Deu 28:64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
When God inflicts His vengeance upon this world, we can see that some things did happen prior to this scattering.
Deu 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
Deu 28:59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
Deu 28:60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Deu 28:61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Of course the Church will not see the wrath of God and will be removed prior to the return of Christ to this world.
This does not mean that the Church will not be a witness to this wickedness increasing before the Lord returns because we see it going on today.
God has to show the Church that He means what He says, and He says what He means!
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It is after the Rapture of the Church that the Lord Jesus Christ will come in vengeance upon the unrighteous who have rejected Him and rejected the Word of God even rejecting any part of the Word of God.
History has proven what God has done with the Jews and He will not refrain from doing just as He says!
What do we see in our world today?
We see the curse of fearful plagues.
We see harsh and prolong disasters.
We see severe and lingering sicknesses.
None of these things are caused by climate change, they are the result of sin and disobedience!
All these things plus so-called climate change are a result of increased and unrepented sin in this world and in our nation!
The Jews ignored these things, and they are mostly ignored by the world today.
We know that the world believes if they can just keep the temperature down by one-half a degree over the next 30 years, then we can avert such disasters and these things are not in the power of man to do such a thing.
The only power of man comes by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
The world would be far better off to realize that these things are in the hand of God and no power on earth can stop what God has planned.
You see our world has a sin problem!
One thing for sure, we do see these things because they are happening right before our eyes!
It was May 14, 1948, before the Jews began their journey home and more of them return to the Promised Land every year, but the world still hates them for some reason they cannot explain, except for the fact that they are still the people of God.
They were forced to serve other gods and most of those were truly figments of man's imagination made of wood, gold, stone, or money.
Remember an idol is anything we place in our heart where God should be!
What is the truth? if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you may be be at ease living in this world of sin and wickedness, but you will also be restless and afraid!
The Israelites found this out when God allowed these things to take place.
*****Deu 28:65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
The sinner will never be at true peace for any length of time!
The Bible says you can have a little pleasure in sin, but that it will yield to your misery.
Heb_11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Sinners are destitute of peace!
Isa 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Sin will take you where you do not want to go.
Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay
Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
There is no lasting comfort from sin!
There is no lasting satisfaction that comes from sin.
There is everything that can be taken away by sin!
There is always the sense of God's displeasure!
There will always be that battle of right and wrong going on within each sinner.
Sinners are not settled, and we see these things taking place in our nation that is divided in every way because of sin and immorality and corruption.
We see that the sinner cannot be happy nor content in any place nor any occupation.
They are in a place where their own government will take advantage of them with unfulfilled promises that in reality just make things worse.
Governments believe they know what people need but in reality, they do not have a clue because they have risen above normal man in their hearts and actually know nothing about the average person.
They will blame their condition on anyone but themselves and continue to reject the truth of God!
Pro 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
I do believe that this Covid 19 plague has scared so many of those who are lost with a real fright, and they will never get over this fear.
More suicides especially in our young.
More crime in our streets. Serious crime involving murder and attempted murder.
Mass murder.
Extreme hatred.
People who so hate the young people that will murder a child at nine months by cutting it to pieces inside the womb. How barbaric!
There is no love in our nation today, in fact there is no love in our world as we see one nation just believes it needs to rule some other nation by destroying them as the world sits by and allows the innocent to be murdered by a tyrant.
Good is called bad and Bad is called good.
These are graphic pictures painted by Moses to the Israelites, but we see they exist today in all unbelievers and in every nation.
These are things that God will cause to happen, and it is stated clearly the He will rejoice in this destruction of the sinner because they will not repent of their sin.
Some nations will not make it because they will be destroyed!
Remember God does not destroy because He has no love for those who fail Him, God destroys because it is the right thing to do to those who reject Him.
Jehovah is a righteous God!
Jehovah never does wrong things!
*****Deu 28:66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
Most all those that reject God have no peace in their lives.
They are restless and do not know what to do to change that.
They have no source for inward comfort.
Nothing they do brings satisfaction.
Isa 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Those that hate God are never at rest!
They have an evil conscience.
They are never content or happy in any place or any occupation.
They just cannot live a settled life, so they resort to all sort of wickedness and immorality.
These people feel like they have to have their way and therefore every one that believes in God is their sworn enemy.
In fact, they are so full of hatred they do not really trust anyone.
When they cannot express their beliefs, they will hold a sign telling the world what they think.
Pro 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
They will flee unless they are gathered in a large quantity.
A guilty conscience is full of all sorts of terror.
Moses had read all the passages that concerned a blessing to the Israelites and now he had read all the Scriptures that told of the curse of God for disobedience to them and yet as time went by they chose disobedience as does most all the world today.
They had lost their fear of God just as it is today. Foolish people!
There is still the curse of the Law for disobedience today and the world still chooses to reject God and the Word of God.
There are consequences to those who reject the Word of God and what the Word of God says will take place will certainly take place.
The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ bore the curse of the Law for all people.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Those who reject the Word of God will still suffer the penalties for disobedience and that penalty is death.
This death is a separation from God, and it does not mean annihilation or ceasing to exist!
What does death mean in the Bible?
1) Spiritual death means we are alienated from God while we are still alive. This is the unbeliever.
2) Physical death means the separation of the spirit from the body of flesh. Most people believe in this death.
3) There is eternal death, or the Bible says the second death. This is to be eternally separated from God unless we have trusted in the God's Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is only by the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be saved from the curse of the Law that comes from disobedience to the Word of God!
Some will say "well God said all these things to the Israelites, and they do not concern anyone else" but this is not true.
There is a cursing for anyone who rejects any part of the Word of God, and there is a blessing to all those who accept what God has to say and are obedient to the Word of God!
What did God say about these things?
*****Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
This is a Covenant God has made with every individual upon this earth past, now, and future, and God always keeps His side of every Covenant.
We should think of it as an "oath"!
God also keeps records!
What must we do?
Choose to love God.
Choose to obey His voice which is the Word of God.
Choose to get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as we can get!
We all need to rededicate our lives to the Almighty Living God because the Lord is "Life"!
He is the giver of life which is why abortion is so wrong because it smacks the face of the Giver of Life.
He preserves life!
He restores life!
He prolongs life!
He does these things because he has the power to do so!
What does that leave us?
It leaves us with a choice to make.
It is in our own ability to choose life or to choose death and we will stand before the Lord one day and explain our choice.
God gives us His best advice which is "to choose life".
God will rejoice in the fact that He has done the righteous thing no matter what we choose!
2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
We may not have this choice for very much longer!
Amen
