As Leviticus wraps up – God begins to sum up the reasons for all of these detailed instructions and regulations for His people to follow. Not only do they point to a much bigger representation which will be fully recognized several thousand years later in Jesus – but they also provide the platform for God to bless His people.
THAT is what He really wants to do in the end!
Check out the initial statement in Levitcus 26 below:
“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 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 lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild 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, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. I will look on you 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.” – Lev 26:3-13 NIV
Do you notice the beautiful promises of the Lord that are listed in this passage? That is what God longs to do for His people – but in order to do that they must follow His instructions. Living their own way will not bring about these desired results. (Also – did you notice the BLESSING language of Genesis: ‘Be Fruitful and Multiply’?)
God doesn’t change – and neither do His promises.
But… as we read on we see a whole mess which can come about by choosing our own way. Beyond the calamity and destruction – we see a destroyed relationship with God Himself. Statements such as: “I will set my face against you” and “I will walk contrary to you” (AMP).
Disobedience to God’s ways invites all sorts of misery!
Yet, even after setting before His people the joyful opportunities that come with living their lives the way He instructs them – coupled with the warnings of the misery of life on their own direction – God’s wonderful gracious heart is revealed once again at the end of the chapter.
“But if they will confess…” (vs 40)
“Yet in spite of this… I will not reject them…” (vs 44)
“But for their sake…” (vs 45)
God promises – even in His anger at His people’s rebellious ways – that He will remember the Promises He made to their ancestors and will bring them out of their deplorable situation – and restore them once again to the position of honor which He is currently offering them.
Do you see Grace here?
God knew they would rebel – He knew they would disobey Him and go after the very same things their neighbors were doing (which got them kicked out of the Land of Canaan in the first place!). Yet – He still plans on remembering His promises and bringing them back.
As we continue to work our way through the Word of God we will see these very statements come true. First in that God’s people WILL rebel and forget Him once things are going well for them. Second, the Israelites WILL experience all of the calamity that God warned them about due to their poor choices. (This will result in them being forcibly removed from this land and led into captivity by their enemies. And third, God WILL hear their cry for help and restore them once again to the Land of Canaan.
Be Fruitful & Multiply,
PK