Friday, 4 May 2018

A chapter in Leviticus

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Question of the day: There are 46 verses in Leviticus chapter 26. It is a chapter filled with compare and contrast. What is this all about?

Answer: The first 13 verses describe the blessing of obedience to God, ending with this:

Leviticus 26:12-13 "I will walk among you and will be your God, and you will be My people. I am Adonai your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright."

The next 30 verses provide great detail concerning the pain and suffering of disobedience. The Word of God is very specific.

Leviticus 26:30 "I will destroy your high places and cut down your altars of incense, cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols, and My soul will abhor you."

There are many who want that to be the end of God's promises to His people, Israel. But the chapter end with:

Leviticus 26:44-45 "Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I hate them into utter destruction, and break My covenant with them, for I am Adonai their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant of 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 Adonai."

God relates to the world through Israel. This does not change. For God so loved the world, He sent His Son TO ISRAEL. There are those who believe when Israel did not receive Yeshua and His message, that was the end of God's relationship with the Jewish people.

God's relationship with Israel is based on His covenant with Abraham. That was a covenant of grace and cannot be broken by works. So we read what Paul wrote to the Romans ...

Romans 11:15,26-27 "For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ... and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The Deliverer shall come out of Zion. He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'"

With blessing. R. Michael.