Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #113 - Leviticus 26 - Blessings of Obedience
What if the key to a life of prosperity and inner peace lies in the ancient teachings of Leviticus 26? Join us as we unravel the profound blessings promised to those who follow divine commandments and the harsh realities faced by those who ignore them. We explore the importance of rejecting idolatry and maintaining a sacred reverence for God's sanctuary while highlighting the abundant rewards like fruitful harvests and protection from enemies for those who walk the path of obedience. Yet, the narrative doesn't shy away from the severe consequences of disobedience, such as terror, disease, and exile, serving as a stark reminder of the stakes involved.
Amidst these warnings, a beacon of hope shines through—a promise of redemption for those who genuinely return to God's covenant, with a divine commitment to the ancestors Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. This episode encourages reflection on the dual nature of divine interaction: blessings for faithfulness and discipline for defiance. As we journey through these powerful themes, we also invite you to become part of our community. Support our podcast by rating, commenting, and subscribing, and explore more on our YouTube channel, Berean's Corner, and our Buzzsprout page. We extend our prayers and gratitude to you, our listeners, reminding you that detailed links and descriptions are readily available for your convenience.
All right, thank you for joining me. Wherever you may be, grab yourself a cup of tea, cup of coffee, glass of water. As we get into today's lesson, open your Bible to Leviticus, chapter 26. The title of today's lesson is Blessings of Obedience. We also talk about penalties of disobedience in this lesson, leviticus 26, and let's read Leviticus 26.
Speaker 2:Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord, your God. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 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. I will grant peace in the land and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 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. You will pursue your enemies and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people. 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, and enabled you to walk with heads held high. But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 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. 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.
Speaker 2:If, after all this, you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your affliction seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
Speaker 2:If, in spite of these things, you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over, and I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. If, in spite of this, you still do not listen to me, but continue to be hostile toward me. Then, in my anger, I will be hostile toward you and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the land so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate, and you are in the country of your enemies. Then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths all the time that it lies desolate. The land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.
Speaker 2:As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a wind-blown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword and they will fall even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins, also because of their fathers' sins. They will waste away.
Speaker 2:But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers, their treachery against me and their hostility toward me 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, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land, for the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them.
Speaker 2:They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 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, 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. These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites, through Moses through Moses, alright now.
Speaker 1:The last time we were together, we looked at the sabbatic year, the year of Jubilee, the law of redemption, poor countrymen and the redeeming of poor men. Today we are looking at the blessings of obedience and the penalty of disobedience. In the first 13 verses there are blessings that are promised to Israel. Number one the Lord reminds Israel about idols. Leviticus 26, verse one 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 figure, stone, in your land to bow down to it, for I am the lord, your god. As usual, we see that the lord has to always remind this people about what they, about, what they should or should not be doing, all right. Number two the lord reminds israel about sabbats and sanctuary. Notice verse two you shall keep my sabbats and reverence my sanctuary. I am the lord. The lord is reminding him about all of his sabbats and to have reverence for his sanctuary, which is something in this time that we should do as well. Number three the if clause. We see this in verse three if you walk in my statues and keep my commandments so as to carry them out, so the lord is telling them these things, if they do the if clause, if you walk in my statues and if you keep my commandments. Now we get into the blessings. Number four we start out with verse four the people will bear fruit. 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. Remember, in verse three we get into the if clause and the if leads to verse four. Then I shall give you rain in their due season. The rain is a blessing from the lord. I know we all like to complain a lot of time when it's raining. It makes the day dreary, sometimes a little bit cold, but it's a blessing because our fruits and our crops and our trees, our plants, they, they need that rain and we should thank the Lord every time the rain falls down from the sky. Number five the people will get the full blessings, verse five. Indeed, your threshing will, excuse me, your threshing will last 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 the land. When is this going to happen? Because, if you go back to the previous verse when the rain falls. What happens? When the rain falls? The crops are going to grow. Number six God will provide peace to the land. Notice verse six. I shall also grant peace in the land so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. 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. The Lord is telling them that he will get in peace.
Speaker 1:Number seven the enemy will have victory over their enemy. Excuse me, the people will have victory over their enemies. We notice this in verses seven and eight. But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. 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. The lord is telling them that even their enemies are going to run from them. It's going to be less of you, more of them, but they're still going to run.
Speaker 1:Number eight the people will be fruitful and multiply. Notice verse nine. So I will turn towards you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm my covenant with you when the blessing they get there is that the people will multiply. They are small, but they will be many. Number 10 excuse me, number nine the people's old will become new. We notice this in verse 10 and you will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. The old will become new. It's going to be so much that they're going to finish off the old and they're going to have to do that so the lord can bless them with the new.
Speaker 1:Number 10 God's presence will be known. We notice this in verses 11 through 13. Moreover, I will make my dwelling among you and my soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God and you shall be my people. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. The Lord is reminding them again. I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt back when they were in bondage.
Speaker 1:Now we will move on to disobedience. Now we all love good news, we all love to hear about the blessings of God, but there is penalty for disobeying God, in verses 14 through 39,. We will walk through the consequences of disobedience, 14 through 39, starting at verse 14. But if you do not obey me and do not carry out these commandments, well, I'm going to stop right there. Verse 14,. You notice, in the previous verses he said if you do not obey me and do not carry out these commandments, well, I'm gonna stop right there.
Speaker 1:Verse 14 you notice, in the previous verses he said if you do these things, now he's telling, now he puts the button in front. But if you do not verse 15 instead, you reject my statues and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as not to carry out all my commandments and so break my covenant, I in turn will do this to you. I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that shall waste away the eyes and cause a soul to pine away also. You shall sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies shall eat it up. Okay, enemies are going to come and devour what you do have, and I will set my face against you so that you shall be struck down before your enemies and those who hate you shall rule over you and you shall flee when no one is pursuing you. If, also, after these things, you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. It's going to be a bigger. It's going to be a bigger consequence, a bigger penalty for them not obeying verse 18.
Speaker 1:If so, after these things, you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins, and I will also break down your pride of power. I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze, and your strengths shall be spent uselessly, for your land shall not yield its produce and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. 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, and I will let loose among you the beasts of the field which will divide, which will derive you of your children and destroy your kettle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted. The lord is saying he's even, he even will use wildlife against the people. And if, by these things, you are not turned to me but act with hostility against me, then I will act with hostility against you and I, even I will strike you seven times for your sins.
Speaker 1:The Lord is given stern warnings here, verse 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. When I break your staff of bread, 10 women will bake your bread in one oven and they will bring back your bread in ration amounts so that you will eat and not be satisfied. What is the Lord saying here? You won't have enough to eat. He said 10 women will be baking in one oven. Other words, it's not going to be enough. It's going to be more women baking than there is bread, which means that there's not going to be enough to go around.
Speaker 1:Verse 27. Yet if, in spite of this, you do not obey me but act with hostility against me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you and I even I will punish you seven times for your sins. Notice the lord keeps making a point to say that he will do this thing seven times. Pick it back up at 29. Father, you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. I then will destroy your high places and cut down your instant altars and heap your remains of the remains of your idols. For my soul shall abhor you. I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it. You, however, I will scatter among nations and will draw out a sword after you and your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste, then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation. While you are in your enemy's land. Then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths the desolation while you are in your enemy's land. Then the land will rest and enjoy his sabbath.
Speaker 1:Remember when the lord told them that the land was to have a sabbath six years. They were to sow the land, but the seventh year was a sabbath to the land. The land was supposed to rest. Listen, the lord is telling them if you don't do it, this is what. This is what's going to happen. The land is going to get its rest. As a matter of fact, it's going to get a lot of rest because you're going to be in enemy's hands in enemy's territories verse 35 all the days of his desolation will observe the rest, which it did not observe on your sabbaths while you were living in it. Did you remember hear what I just said? He said that you didn't let the land rest, but the land is going to get his rest.
Speaker 1:As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into your hearts, into their hearts, in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing, they will face as though when the sword as they will fall. They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing them, and you will have no strength to stand up before your enemies. But you will perish among the nations and your enemies. Land will consume you. So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of their enemies and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers. They will rot away with them.
Speaker 1:Now, the thing about evil deeds is that the punishment does not always happen when you might think so. People sometimes continue in their evil deeds. I'll give you an example. Turn it, turn right in your Bible to Ecclesiastes. Go to ecclesiastes, okay, if I can, if I can get there myself. There it is, I'm there when you get to ecclesiastes 8 and verse 11. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly. Therefore, the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. The point that was being made there was that a lot of people feel that because these evil deeds don't happen quickly, I'm sorry because this punishment isn't happening quickly. So let's just say, give me an example you are continuing your evil deeds as up to this day, but the punishment doesn't come. Or you see another person doing it and you notice that the punishment doesn't come on them, because us, in our flesh, we want to see things happen quickly. What happened is is that the people will continue in their evil deeds, but the truth is is that the evil deeds will catch up, and that's what the Lord is pointing out here. Now back to Leviticus. The good thing about our Lord is that he always gives his people grace. We see this in the verses which start with the F clause. Now we go back to Leviticus 26. I'll pick it up at verse 40.
Speaker 1:If they confess their iniquities and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against me and also in their acting hostility against me, I also was acting with hostility against me. I also was acting with hostility against them to bring them into the land of their enemies. Or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humble so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with jacob, and I will remember also my covenant with is and my covenant with Abraham as well. And I will remember the land, for the land shall be abandoned by them and shall make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, shall be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected my ordinances and their soul abhorred my statues. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking my covenant with them, for I am the lord, their god. 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. These are the statutes and the ordinances and laws which the lord established between himself and the sons of israel through moses, at mount sinai.
Speaker 1:The lord made it very clear in those last seven verses that he always gets his people grace and there's always room for repentance. So he's letting them know. This is at the beginning of the chapter. This is what will happen if you do these things. Then we got to the verses where he said verses 14 through 39. These are the things that will happen if you don't do these things.
Speaker 1:Then in the end verses 40 through 46 he shows his grace and says that because he brought them out of the land of egypt, he wants them to remember the promises that he made to abraham, to isaac and to jacob. Because you have to remember when these people were in those lands in that land, excuse me, in that land of egypt and they were slaves in that land. They were servants in that land where they did not want to be. They were held captive in that land, excuse me, in that land of Egypt. And they were slaves in that land. They were servants in that land where they did not want to be. They were held captive in that land, they, for 400 years, I'm sure. Well, they were always remembering the promise that the Lord, god made to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and they were praying, they were crying out to God, asking him Lord, where are the promises that you made? We are in this land with his people. Then, when Moses is 80 years old, the Lord shows up. He sends them a man to lead them out, moses, along with his brother, aaron. And the Lord is reminding him here, almost at the end of Leviticus 26, that he is a God who keeps his promises, and you and I both know that he always keeps his promises. All right, that brings us to the end of Leviticus, chapter 26.
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