Let's Get This Settled

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high. [Leviticus 26.3-13]

Is the Bible for us, or not? Let's get this settled, shall we?

It might be argued that the passage above is only for Israel. After all, they are God's chosen people. Where then does that leave me, an Anglo male of presumably Irish descent? Where does that leave anyone else who is not of traceable Jewish descent?

Let's start from some of Jesus' words and work back from there. I think we can all agree Jesus is a reliable source.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [John 3.16-18]

We should pause on the words "the world," "everyone," and "anyone." Then, before we start working backwards from Jesus, let's be sure we understand another important statement He made about Himself:

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. [John 5.39]

Follow closely here, this is important... IF Jesus (the very Son of God Himself) declared God's unprejudiced love for the world, everyone, and anyone, evidenced in His very existence and also declared Himself the subject of the Scriptures, THEN we may know, as people of "the world" (and not necessarily Jews), that the Scriptures are about us AS WE ARE IN CHRIST (see John 15).

You know why I think we have so many confusing theologies and doctrines that try to separate people from Israel as it pertains to Scripture? I believe it is a pride-driven self defense mechanism to piously justify those who are not blessed according to Leviticus 26.3-13 and Deuteronomy 28.1-14, but instead, experiencing the curses of Leviticus 26.14-39 and Deuteronomy 28.15-68. These people who declare, "that was all for Israel" are simply sidestepping the obvious implications of curses in their own lives by feigning that Scriptural curses do not apply to them, but instead explain, "they're just the science, math and emotion of the world in which we live."

Meanwhile, the Apostle Paul wrote:

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]

So, IF Jesus indeed redeemed us from the curse pronounced by the law (that would be Leviticus 26.14-39 and Deuteronomy 28.15-68), THEN why would people still experience those curses? The answer depends! It depends on whether or not we want TRUTH or religion. The TRUTH of God's Word says:

Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim. [Proverbs 26.2]

Curses are not random. Although science, math and emotion may explain curses, they do not give account for them. God warned of curses upon those who disobey. Faith is the only thing that pleases God therefore, to not believe is to disobey. Faith in Christ is obedience. So, even if we are faultless in our own eyes when curses come, we can only assume responsibility for faithlessness because the Bible says curses are not random (Proverbs 26.2).

To say, "I believe in Christ" and to actually believe in Christ are two different things. James explains it:

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? [James 2.14]

Oh yeah, and Jesus said:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. [John 14.12]

If our lives and actions do not look like Christ's, as the Gospels describe Him, then our claims of faith in Him are lies. Regardless of our moral or ethical character, without genuine faith in/obedience to Jesus, we are cursed and in need of repentance. What is our reminder that we need to repent of faithlessness/disobedience? Curses (physical, material, and emotional loss) and the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we wonder or ask, "why?"

I realize there are manifold libraries of religious books and commentaries that will dispute what is said here. But what is said here is straight from the Bible and deserves our undistracted attention. Eternity is at stake. Our "house is on fire" and we are comfortably tucked in bed sleeping to tune of the lullaby, "Curses don't mean anything - you are fine!"

Father, forgive those of us who claim we know You but look nothing like Your Son - Who is the only way we can please You. May Your truth rise above all the deception to bring us to repentance and genuine faith evidenced by our lives and actions being indistinguishable from the life and actions of Jesus.