Blessings & Curses
Deuteronomy 28: 1-57
The Great Covenant
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . Max
A Forsythe
Introduction:
The government of the United
States has a standard procedure for foreign nationals to go through before they
can become citizens. There is of
course a residency requirement, an educational component and their subscription
to a promissory oath of allegiance. I
have often thought that all of our young people should also be required to go
through some mandatory citizenship requirements as well!
At least within the Kingdom of the Spirit – the Churches of Jesus
Christ – young people must still contend with some minimal instruction,
sometimes even an examination and a public declaration of faith, as well as a
ceremonial baptism at some point in becoming a communing member.
The definitive moment of
belonging can be a particularly moving experience, especially for parents and
grand parents. The National
Covenant that is here being renewed for all of the people before coming into the
land of promise is just such a moment. It
is unusual only in the fact that the whole nation was apparently physically
present, even as it was below Mount Horeb when the Lord first spoke to the
people.
The portion here in the Suzerian
treaty style details specific blessings and curses in a descriptive sermon by
the mediator of the Covenant: Moses. This
specific portion was common in all of the similar diplomatic documents common in
the courts of the ancient kingdoms scattered throughout the Middle East.
Of course, we have only to responsibly observe that the Sovereign God of
the entire universe is more capable and likely to do all that He threatens or
promises. “Do
this and live” is an injunction common to of all of scripture for those
called into the Kingdom of God by divine grace and mercy.
Those who would be citizens of
that eternal kingdom thus have an obligation to gladly fulfill in return for the
great gift of salvation. But, this
is an idea that is foreign to the world in every age and place.
A few years ago, there was a seminar on topic of AIDs in the public
sector where I once worked. The
disease was still new and little understood at that early date.
Yet, it was crystal clear that not everyone was at risk for the dreaded
disease. Those of us, whose parents
had instilled a singular sanctification upon us when we were young, truly had
nothing at all to worry about! And
as Andy Rooney once observed on national television – you truthfully had to do
something stupid and go out of your way to contact the disease!
The “public” uproar against
Mr Rooney was similar to the outrage of far too many educators in our crowd that
day! I would hazard a guess that by
a slim majority – the professional crowd did not want to hear the utterly
truthful message of the seminar: “If
you do this - you could possibly die!”
Of course by the early eighties
we were well beyond the pale of being able to encourage people to any Christian
responsibility of a more positive nature: “Do this
and live!” That approach
could have warranted a lawsuit, even as celibacy messages to students draw
lawyers faster than flies to honey in our time.
Old
Covenant Milieu: Never
minding the common Philistine and Canaanite approaches to morality and decency
in the time of Moses, the people of God are carefully admonished to not live as
other neighborly pagans do. The
blessings of God are conditional upon a proper obedience.
The curses are simple in their primary admonition:
“Don’t do this at home!” as we
might phrase it today.
It is a lesson still necessary in
our time. Every once in a while
there passes by on the tube an advertisement for videos of backyard violence –
whereby common people without the proper training of stunt co-coordinators try
to imitate the low life acting abilities of the World Wrestling Federation
cronies. “Don’t
do this at home,” the advertisement advises before it shows idiots
jumping off of garages, breaking light bulbs or metal chairs against their
heads. It reminds me of the first
year we lived in our country house. I
ran outside to scrape the electric skillet, fell on the ice, which covered the
concrete porch and caught the skillet on the corner of my forehead.
The skillet had a small dent in it for many years afterwards.
Thank goodness, my genetic forebears had hard heads or I would have been
permanently damaged! Of course, if
the concrete below me hadn’t supported my head, I might not have dented the
cookery. Kids, “don’t
try this at home!”
Let’s begin with the admonition
of the Mediator of the Covenant to seek the blessings that the Lord our God
would like to bestow upon His people. “Now it shall
come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe
carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God
will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall
come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your
God.”
Some of the blessings and curses
we would view in the Christian context as only a common sense outcome of
specific performance based actions. Personal
righteousness imputed and habitual is truly part and parcel of the natural
economy and order of things. Just
as in any public reaction to the AIDs virus – common sense indicates that
there are certain behaviors not worth the temptation.
But try and tell the worldly that sage advice today!
“Virginity is not a dirty word”
was a popular billboard advertisement a couple of years ago.
It did raise the conscience level somewhat.
When that billboard was posted, I had at least three or four students ask
what the word virginity meant! I do
believe that more people than they benefited from the discussion and advice once
it was comprehended and hopefully even applied.
But, let us go beyond the natural
economy that wild oats may certainly be harvested if the crop is wantonly
fertilized habitually. There is
also the implied promise that the Lord will intervene in the natural order to
either reward or punish those who apply or misapply the covenantal contract.
Did you ever have something good or bad happen, just out of the blue –
so to speak: an event so rare, as to call your whole attention to the fact that
the God of all grace does indeed intervene in the affairs of men and women?
There are precious moments for all who belong to Christ to make us
realize that His grace and His mercy have been applied.
Just this week, I had to stop into the nearest lumber company to pick up
some wood scraps for the boys construction project.
I decided not to park on the apron in front of the store, and drove a
block and a half to turn around and park across the street.
Then, I paused for a minute to make certain I had enough cash on me for
the purchase. Just as I stepped out
of the car, there was an accident at the intersection and one car skidded right
into the area where I might have parked, and had I been younger and quicker –
right where I would have been walking into the store!
“Thank you Lord,” I breathed – as Joe has sometimes prayed at the
top of an unsteady windswept ladder!”
Look over the simple list of
blessings that flow from covenantal obedience:
In verse three we see that it won’t matter where you live, city or
country – if you belong to the Lord and obey Him, he will carry you through
and grant you the necessary welfare. The
material blessings are listed in verses four and five.
These rewards are the natural rewards of an economy based upon scriptural
foundations. So are the hallmarks
of civilization presumed in verse six. The Hebrew word “Shalom,”
for peace - is based upon an older word that actually describes the going out
and coming in the doorway to your house. A
comedy show once did a parody of Mr Roger’s Neighborhood, whereby an inner
city actor spent most of the skit time, locking a long series of locks, which
indicated the lack of “Shalom” in his
neighborhood. Interestingly enough,
the tradition of giving the keys of the city to a politician was actually a
public acknowledgement that the city was so peaceful under his rule – that
locks were unnecessary.
Verse seven informs us that the
Lord will keep country and city that adore and obey Him.
Even as the God of Israel promised the people that He would go before
them and fight their battles for their own benefit. Verse eight promises that a civilized existence under His
authority will yield the proper fruits of personal labor in field and store.
Verses nine through eleven promises that the imputed holiness of living
before His face will call forth the attention of other nations who recognize the
proper providential gifts of the Lord of heaven.
Palestine is and always has been
a borderline desert and only a biblically based economy seems to flourish there.
Today, I heard a quote from Mark Twain who visited the Holy Land in the
late Nineteen Century. Before the
Zionists appeared on the scene – he described the barren wasteland where there
was hardly a mouthful for stray goats and people were far, far between.
Why do the Muslims decry the western civilization?
Isn’t it because of the prosperity created by hard work and a
charitable government, which leaves the working of the economy to individualized
capitalistic endeavor? Look what happened to little Lebanon in the seventies after
the prosperity of the fifties and sixties called down all manner of jealousy and
anger from Arab dictators who did not want any window of prosperity to disturb
their slavish minions.
Verse twelve reminds us as well
as the people of Israel that the weather is under divine control.
Certainly, overgrazing and domestic destruction to the environment can
damage the normal patterns of wind and rain – however, the Lord is still and
always sovereign. Rain is such an essential commodity that the Lord thereby
controls the economy and environment of every clime and place on this planet.
In the case of old king Ahab, the Lord directly challenged the wickedness
of king and queen and used the drought to push forward His ultimate agenda of
good for those who loved Him and destruction for those prophets, priests and
king who resisted His sovereign will.
All of this and more, spiritual
headship shall be incurred to the kingdom, country or people who faithfully
serve the Lord of heaven and earth. “So
you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to
the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
This phrase reminds me of a pointed observation after the writing of our
own National Covenant in 1787. The
fathers of the country gave us “a republic, if
[we] can keep it”!
Verse fifteen is transitory and
even prophetic in its implications. In
the following verses of admonition, we can read the whole sorry history of the
people of Israel. A few years
ago, Dave Brown preached a brilliant Christmas meditation on the Bride of Christ
from the Minor Prophets. To make a
long and impressive sermon brief – the bride of Christ had put her red dress
on and done the town wrong. In
light of the history of Israel in this regard – we must at the very least
reflect upon the amazing grace of our sovereign God who will have a bride for
His Son at any personal cost for the bride’s redemption!
Verse sixteen turns verse three
around one hundred and eighty degrees. Recurring
themes from the blessings are mentioned one after another in verses seventeen
through twenty. Verse twenty-one is
reminiscent of the blight on the Holy Land from the time of Christ down to
recent centuries when even the ethnic children of Israel were scarcely noted in
residence. Disease, sickness,
warfare and all manner of ills are predicted through verse twenty-two to
twenty-five.
Food for the birds is the threat
in verses twenty-five through twenty-six. The
trials of Job and David are mentioned in verses twenty-seven and eight.
Spiritual and physical blindness are presumed in verse twenty-nine and
the absence of civilized behavior promised in verses thirty to thirty-three.
Madness even, in verse thirty-four is proclaimed as the lot of those
being cursed. One thing that we
have well learned on Thursday nights this winter is the absolute and total
craziness of many contemporary cults in our once fair land.
Sometimes, we have to see and realize the sad hardness of heart and sheer
stupidity of the common worldly to truthfully appreciate the foundation of grace
and mercy given to us in and through the truth once given to the saints.
Verse thirty-five and six move
through the siege of Jerusalem and the transportation of the people to the
waters of Babylon. Verse
thirty-seven is prophetic in impact: “And
you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations
where the Lord will drive you.”
That curse is as real as yesterday’s headlines.
The peace of Jerusalem is passing still, and hopefully enough to
challenge one and all to the correct promise of a heavenly city instead of a
material kingdom of Christian, Jewish or even pagan construction.
The verses following chart the
complete reversal of fortunes if the people fail to comprehend the purpose of
the Covenant. Look at verse
forty-six especially, because it is prophetically pregnant with meaning:
“And they shall be upon you for a sign and a
wonder, and on your descendants forever.”
Now, what in the world does that verse mean?
As we consider the state of ethnic Israel, continually on our front pages
and a priority on the tube – can we begin to fathom that the people of Israel
loved the law of God too much? Too
much so, that they were unable to conceive that every “jot
and tittle” presaged the coming unto His own of the Christ, the
greater mediator than Moses?
Verses forty-seven predict not
only the Babylonian destruction, but also the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans,
a nation at the time of Moses almost a thousand years into the future.
A nation that truly no one alive at the time could know except through
the revelation of the Spirit.
New
Covenant Continuum: The whole
history of Israel is of the woman in red, who nevertheless could and would be
clothed in righteous raiment as the
Lord providentially allowed by grace and mercy.
The whole context of the Old Covenant record proves the absolute
necessity of and for the greater Covenant of grace revealed in and through Jesus
Christ. Look carefully again at the
siege and horrors described in verses forty-seven through fifty-seven and
consider well the predictions of the early chapters of Revelation and the
historical evidence affirmed by Josephus and recorded by the Romans after 70 AD.
Why was that terrible calamity
brought down upon the supposed people of God and the sacred precincts of the
Temple complex? Why has the Lord
filled the land of Palestine with adversaries to the Jews in our day?
Why is the Temple Mount hedged in by history to absolutely prevent any
possible or probably restoration of the Old Covenant religion?
Do we really and truly appreciate the worldwide calamity that is waiting
for the right kindling even in our day?
Contemporary
Application: Certainly,
I have no desire to see any more Israelis blown into the next life by
Palestinian terrorists. Neither do
I wish to see American fighting men involved in any more bloodletting in that
area of the world. Years ago, when
I arrived in Germany to serve with the US Army there, I was informed that our
Hawk Missile battalion had been issued desert gear for possible rotation to the
Middle East. I was almost as
nervous as my newfound Jewish friends who had read about Armageddon.
More and more as I reflect upon
the prophecies and implications of the Scriptures I am convinced that the Lord
has always been able to come at any moment because He has allowed through the
errors of Abraham and others for the ongoing conflict between the two familial
lines dating back to him – for a final conflict whenever He chooses to bring
home to heaven the Bride of Christ for all eternity. Therefore, I would beg everyone to consider the continual
near-sightedness of the Jewish faith (which still to their discredit) is focused
upon a misguided worldly paradise dedicated to full obedience to the Mosaic
Covenant in time and space.
The Great Covenant revealed
through Moses was given first at Mount Horeb and renewed by the nation of Israel
before entrance into the Land of Promise. Every
aspect of the ceremonial, moral, criminal and tort law derived from the ten
principles points forward to the necessity and rule of Christ alone.
Only in this context is obedience to the law an allowable and fruitful
enterprise, which we give in joyful gratitude for the saving grace, displayed
and provided through the New Covenant. May
the Lord give us wisdom to count it all grace so that our gratitude in obedience
is properly focused. Amen.
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