Leviticus chapter 26. Okay. Alright, so we only have two more chapters left. So we have 26. Next week we have 27. A week after that is Thanksgiving. And then a couple weeks after that, and the week after that we have review. So we have about two or three weeks that we're going to be, take about a week to review and then a week or two to do something else.

I'll let you know when we get closer to that. But 26, 27. Before we get into this, last week the first discussion question that I asked was about the Sabbath, the application of the Sabbath. I've already gotten maybe about five or six different questions from different people. And so I wanted to address that before.

How do you apply the Sabbath in the New Covenant? Now there's two extremes that you can misapply the Sabbath. One is where you take the literal teaching of the Sabbath in the Old Testament and you try to apply it in the New Testament, where you say, you know, the Sabbath, you can't put gas in, you can't do any kind of work, you shouldn't do housework, you should pretty much be in worship all day, you know, you have to be in worship during the morning, and if you don't go to evening service at night, you're not keeping the Sabbath, then you have the wrong application of that because the Old Covenant has passed away.

That specific covenant of the Old Testament doesn't apply to us. The mistake on the other end is where we treat the teaching of the Sabbath like all the other laws of the Old Testament, like none of it applies today. Because in the Ten Commandments, we all believe that the Ten Commandments apply in some form today because they're all moral laws, right?

They're all moral laws about, you know, not worshiping any other god, don't make gravy in images, do not take the Lord's name in vain, and then you have all these other moral laws about honoring your father and mother, thou shalt not kill, bear fault in this, all of these things are all repeated in the New Testament except keeping the Sabbath, right?

You shall keep the Sabbath holy. It's one of the Ten Commandments. So why is that ceremonial or civic, civil law mentioned in the Ten Commandments, right? Because God highlights that particular commandment above the other commandments and it's placed in the Ten Commandments, which all of it is repeated in the New Testament except for the specifics of keeping the Sabbath, obviously, on Saturday.

We don't even keep the Sabbath on Saturday anymore. We moved it to Sunday because that's the day that Jesus was resurrected. There's huge significance behind why we worship on Sunday instead of Sabbath. On Saturday. Because the meaning of Sabbath, again, I'm not going to answer it for you and say, "Therefore, this is what you need to do on the Sabbath." But we need to understand the principle behind the Sabbath.

God made creation in six days, and then it says, "On the seventh day, he rested." So in the Genesis creation account, when it says he rested on the seventh day, does that mean that he rested and then Monday he woke up again, he went back to work? And then he worked another six days and then entered into Sabbath again?

The second week? No. He enters into the Sabbath, right? And it doesn't say that he ever comes out of the Sabbath. What happens when sin comes in, mankind gets separated from God, and the Sabbath for the man is broken. So even though he may observe the Sabbath on Saturday, the real Sabbath, the significance of the real Sabbath is to be with his God, right?

So Sabbath is with God, so God--rest is with God. So if you're separated from God, you've broken the Sabbath. So the whole concept of Sabbath in the Old Testament is another way of saying being saved, to be restored back into the presence of God. That's why Jesus says in the New Testament, the invitation to come to him is to do what?

To rest. Those who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. So over and over again, the Scripture talks about entering back into the presence of God as entering back into Sabbath. And that's why this teaching of Sabbath was so significant, because it symbolized reunion with God.

And that's why it says in the book of Hebrews to make every effort to enter the Sabbath. So the wrong idea of Sabbath is to make regulations and say, Sabbath means you shouldn't work, so therefore you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this. Remember the Jews were practicing the Sabbath that way, and then they saw Jesus doing certain things, and then he said, "Oh, you're breaking the Sabbath." Remember what Jesus says to them?

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath." Meaning the Sabbath was given to him, not for you to have another bunch of things that you should or should not do to earn righteousness, but it was to give you rest, to be restored back to God. And he says that God is the Lord of the Sabbath.

The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. So the principle of Sabbath is to find rest and to be restored back to God. So if you make the Sabbath into a bunch of rules that you should or should not do, you're repeating what the Jews were doing in the Old Testament.

It was meant to be restoration of rest, but then you make it into a work. But to completely ignore the principle of Sabbath is to ignore the importance of what this day represents, to be mindful of the fact that God set aside a certain time, a certain day for us to find rest and to be restored.

So coming to church on Sunday, right? Again, not to check off and say, "I came and I gave worship on Sunday, so therefore I observe the Sabbath," but to connect with God corporately, right? Connect with God corporately to be restored, to be refreshed, to connect with God in Scripture, in prayer, in my quiet time.

The principle of Sabbath needs to apply to every Christian. The reason why we don't as a church say, "On Sabbath we do this and on Sabbath we don't do this," because then it becomes something that you have to do or you don't do. But again, the principle of Sabbath is something that every Christian ought to be regularly thinking about, like, "Are you in the Sabbath?" Even in the way that we pursue sanctification, right?

Even in the way we pursue sanctification, if you pursue sanctification as of, like, "I'm going to work hard to be righteous, to be in the presence of God," you flip the concept of Sabbath, because the Sabbath is that God restores the rest, so therefore you work in the rest.

Does that make any sense? You don't work to get your way into the presence of God. And that's why the Scripture says to live up to the gospel that you have received, right? To live up to it. In other words, it's been given to you. Righteousness has been imputed to you.

It's been given to you. Now live what God has already given. So if you look at the Genesis account, Adam and Eve, did they work or not work before the fall? They did work. They were being fruitful, multiplying, subduing the land, and then when sin comes in, he says, "You're going to be working, but what's it going to produce?

Thorns and thistles from the sweat of your brow." Eve was created to be a suitable helper, but she's going to bring contention in the home. Instead of being a helper, you're going to be next to him, but it's going to cause trouble. So what the Sabbath is, is a restoration of what was lost because of our sin.

And so how do we practice that in the New Testament? So the idea of Sabbath in the New Testament ought to be, like God did, so these are principles that are taught in the Old Testament. They set aside a specific day so that they do nothing else but to come before God and find rest and to worship and to reconnect with the Father.

So for the New Covenant people, we move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday because Jesus' resurrection restored the Sabbath for Christians. So we no longer practice the physical Sabbath, but the spiritual Sabbath. So we do practice the Sabbath, but we have to practice the Sabbath with Christ in mind, to connect with Christ.

That's our ultimate purpose, to rest in Christ. You cannot work all day and not practice Sabbath. You can sit around and do nothing all day and not practice Sabbath. You can come to church and have morning and night service and not practice Sabbath but it's the physical Sabbath that we are to practice in the New Covenant.

Okay? All right, I'm out of breath already. So chapter 26. Let me pray first and we'll jump in. Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to study the book of Leviticus. I know there's a lot of things in here that we still don't fully understand, but we thank you, Father God, that you've taken time to prepare the nation of Israel, Lord God, and all these things just bring greater light into what we already believe and what we've already been affected by.

I pray that the few more sessions that we have, that you would continue to open our eyes, help us to connect the dots, that we may have a greater sense of awe in the things that you've already given. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so let's jump right in.

So this chapter 26 is part 2. Remember we talked about how the three chapters, chapter 25, 26, 27, is exhortation on how to live a blessed life in the Promised Land. So God's teaching them that when you get into this land, these are the things that you ought to do.

So in chapter 25, he talks about when you get in there, make sure that you practice the Sabbath. Practice the Sabbath for yourself, practice the Sabbath for the land, practice the Sabbath economically and socially, right? And every 49th and the 50th year you have the year of Jubilee, every 7th year you have the year of the Sabbath, and then every 7th day you practice the Sabbath, right?

And then chapter 27, if you've already gone there, the very last chapter, ends with how to redeem certain things. What can be redeemed, what can't be redeemed, what are the valuations? So if you haven't gone there already, I'm just going to give you a heads up, a warning, that some of you, if you don't understand what God is doing in chapter 27, some of you are going to be very offended.

Because he begins to give monetary value on women, on men, on children, on older people, and younger people, infants, animals. And so if you don't understand what he's doing, it will sound kind of like, "Okay, you're more valued and you're of less value." But obviously it points to something much deeper than just what you see on the surface.

So that's what he talks about in chapter 27, how does God want us to redeem certain things, right? So chapter 26 is about the covenant of blessing and curses. Now this list of what curses you bring if you disobey, what blessings you get if you do obey, this is not the only place that's written, right?

There are other places where there's a list, in particular in the book of Deuteronomy. But that's, again, the overview, that's where we are. We're in the second part of the three-part at the end of the book of Leviticus that if you want to live a life that is blessed by God, these are the things that you ought to do.

So blessing and obedience, verses 1 to 3. He says, "If you obey, God will provide rain in their season so that they will bear much fruit." Now what I want you to pay attention to, what blessings that God's going to give, you're going to notice that everything that God gives them is something that God already gave to mankind.

Like rain in season is, they're supposed to come in season, meaning that God ordained this particular season out of the year to rain. And he says, "But if you obey, I will not withhold the rain, I will let it rain." So if you'll notice, all the things that he promises, "If you obey," is exactly what he intended to begin with.

Basically what he's doing is he's taking the consequence of sin on mankind and on creation, and he's kind of withholding that. He's withholding his wrath against mankind. So obedience doesn't bring something new. Obedience is restoration, it was what he's already given. Does that make sense? So it's not like God is withholding anything good.

This is what God gave to mankind to begin with, but it's sin that blocks us from his blessing. So if you take the sin away, the blessing that he intended in creation is going to be given to you. So you'll notice that everything he mentions here in this part is basically a description of Garden of Eden.

He says he will give security so that they may enjoy fruits of the land. In other words, they're going to walk around, and there are no enemies, there are no wild beasts, so they're going to be able to enjoy life, enjoy food, enjoy family, without having to worry about danger.

God will give peace in the land, verses 6 through 8. And the way he describes peace is that they will sleep in peace without having to fear their enemies. There are no enemies. Enemies are a direct result of the fall. The hatred between Democrats and Republicans is a direct result of the fall.

The animosity between husband and wife is a direct result of the fall. The reason why we have locks on our doors is because it's a direct result of the fall. The reason why we have police officers guarding our streets is a direct result of the fall. He says that when obedience, when we obey, and God comes to protect us, there is no need to worry.

We will be able to sleep in peace. He will eliminate the harmful beasts. For people who are living in the city, at most you might be worried about coyotes. We don't worry about wild beasts. But if you've ever been to a part of the country where they're living out in the open, which is what they probably were used to.

Remember, I think I shared this before, I asked our Indian pastors, what's the greatest danger they faced in sharing the gospel? And they said they ran into a tiger. They didn't run into the tiger, but they were in the open field and they saw a tiger coming from way over there.

And then so they hid behind the rock, and if the tiger smelled them, they would have been done. But the tiger never came by. He said that was probably the scariest. I was expecting the Hindus throwing rocks at them, and they said, "Tiger." And then I was in Kenya, and in the rural side of Kenya, the biggest problem over there were elephants.

And they said the elephants, I think they said it was the number one killer of man in that area were elephants. We would never think of elephants as being dangerous because we usually see them in zoos. So when he says there's no more wild beasts, to us, like where we live, we can't relate.

But imagine when at that period of time, and you're a farmer, and you had wolves and whatever animals coming by, he says that when that day comes, remember if you look at the Garden of Eden, there was no hostility between man and animals. They were coming, and Adam was actually beginning to name them one by one.

So all this is a picture of the Garden of Eden before sin comes in. And obviously to the nation of Israel, when they enter the Promised Land, they are going to be surrounded by enemies. But if the enemies do come, he says he promises victory. God will grant them to be fruitful and multiply.

Again, what was broken because of the fall. God told them to be fruitful and multiply, and that's exactly what they were doing until sin comes in. And they are no longer able to be fruitful or to multiply because of their sins. In fact, the very first fruit that Adam and Eve have, what happens to that?

They are two sons, and one gets murdered. He says when God blesses you, you're going to be fruitful and multiply. The Lord will make his dwelling in their midst. And the reason why all of this is possible is because the Lord is in their midst. So if you remember in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve fall, what is the first thing that happens?

They hide from each other, and then they hide from God. So they were shunned from the presence of God. So therefore the Sabbath was broken because the rest is in God. So he said all of these things come because God is among them. The reason why the enemies can't touch them?

Because God is with them. The reason why they are able to be fruitful is because God is with them. The reason why the animals are not hostile is because God is in their midst. He says he will walk among them. So this is a different picture because in the book of Leviticus, where is God?

Where is God in the book of Leviticus? In Exodus, he's up in the mountain. In Leviticus, where is he? He's at the tabernacle, so he's in their midst. But he's in the tabernacle. But he says in obedience, where does he say he was going to be? He's not just going to be within them, he's going to be walking with them.

So it's a much more intimate scene than even at the tabernacle. There is no barrier. Does that happen in the nation of Israel? I mean, the actual fulfillment of that, it happens in the New Testament with Christ, because the Holy Spirit makes an indwelling with us. And that's why we are commanded to walk with him.

But in Leviticus, he dwelt among them, but he does not walk with them. And then he says the motivation behind that, why you can trust God that he would do that, he says because he's the one who brought them out of Egypt. Anybody memorize Romans 8.32? He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him give him all things?

In other words, God's the one who delivered them out of Egypt. He is more than willing to restore the blessing. In fact, we're going to go through all of these different curses, but God's heart for the nation of Israel is the blessing. The reason why he gives all of these warnings is so that they can stay in the narrow path and live in the blessing of God.

That's his ultimate purpose. He said, "Why would I deliver you out of Egypt and go through all of that drama just to punish you?" So he's reminding them, "I'm the one who delivered you out of Egypt. I'm the one who loves you. I'm the one who cares for you." So you can trust that if you obey my commandments, that these are things that God is more than eager to do.

But the problem is the curses for the disobedience. As in Deuteronomy 28, the curses far outnumber the blessings. So if you look at it, verses 1 through 13 is about the blessing. If you obey that these are the things that God's going to do, and then two-thirds of it, 14 to 39, is about the curses.

Just like in the book of Deuteronomy, 13 verses of blessing, but 53 verses of curses. So if you've ever read through the list, you'll have maybe about half a page of blessing, and then two or three pages of curses. If you do this, this is what's going to happen.

We know in the new covenant why God does that. Because one, he knows what's going to happen, right? And he's preparing them. He's preparing them for the coming of Christ, so that the burden of this curse will be made clear to them. You understand? He says, "What was the purpose of the law?

To make sin, what? Utterly sinful." So in other words, Israel... The reason why God lays in detail these curses is that every year of their life, and every decade of Israel's history, this is curses being piled up. Right? Curses being piled up. So hundreds and hundreds of years of disobedience, by the time Malachi finishes, there is no way to get out of this debt.

Right? We're not just talking about one generation. We're talking about generations and generations of sins that have piled up, one on top of the other. And so by the time Christ comes, there is no way possible. I mean, there's no way possible, even in the beginning of Israel's history, to pay off even one sin.

Right? But God wanted to make it absolutely crystal clear. Every curse that God says that they deserve, at some point in their history, broke it. So every one of these things that he says, "These curses are going to come upon you," every one of these things, at some point in their history, they broke it.

So all of these curses were upon the nation of Israel before Christ comes. And he does that, again, to show them their need for Christ. Again, the curses were not simply meant to punish, but to restore his people back to obedience. Even though it points to Christ, it doesn't mean that God didn't want them to live in obedience.

Of course he did. But the ultimate fulfillment of all of this was going to come upon Christ. Many of the curses were the exact opposite of the blessing that were to be promised. He said, "If you obey, I will give you land. If you disobey, I will take away your land.

If you obey, you will conquer your enemies. If you don't obey, your enemies will conquer you. If you obey, the wild beast will not be among you. You will be able to rest. If you don't obey, the wild beast will divide your families, and you will not be able to rest." And all of this is, "Is God among you walking, or is he not?" And if he is not, sin is going to have its way in your life.

And that's what he's basically outlining. What happens when God is walking among you, and what happens when God is not walking among you? That's the difference between blessing and curses. In the cursing, there's five groupings of curses. Each one increasing in intensity. When you read this, did this remind you of any other book?

No? But when you read these cursings, did it kind of trigger anything that we studied in the past? Last time? Revelation, right? You know, you have the seven seals, and then you have the seven trumpets, and then you have the seven bowls. And then each one increasing in intensity.

And then by the time it gets to the end, it's like a punch in the mouth. And then the question is, "Why does he drag this on? Why does he go seven, and then another seven, and then another seven?" Remember we talked about that? Why this drama of seven years, plus another seven years, and another seven years, or seven one of them?

Remember we talked about that? Yes? He does that, again, increasing in judgment, and each part, what does he do? He's waiting for them to repent. Even if there's one more soul who's going to be scared out of their minds, saying, "Oh my gosh, he's real. This judgment is real," and to bring them to repentance.

Because once the final judgment, the great wine-thrown judgment comes, there is no other judgments coming because it's finished. It's complete. Hell is opened up, and then it's finished. So even in this judgment, you'll see, you know how he says over and over again, "Sevenfold." If you don't listen to this, another sevenfold.

It's going to be increasing. And so each one of these, it starts off by saying, "After I've done this, if you do not repent." In other words, every judgment that's coming is to get them to repent. Get them to see that what God said he's going to do, and then he does it, and then he waits for them to repent.

If they don't repent, he brings the second round. And it's going to be even more severe, and he does this four separate times. And then if you notice, at the end of it, the judgment is absolutely severe. And then they get taken away from their land. Complete. Right? So it kind of reminds you of the judgment in the book of Revelation.

So even in this severity, he's giving opportunity for repentance. He says, "Although all throughout it, the Lord repeats, 'I will do these things to you.'" He repeats it over and over again so that there's no mistake that this happened because of lack of planning, because they lacked money, or they made some bad decisions.

He says, "No, the Lord is doing it." So they understand that this is coming as a direct judgment against them because of their disobedience. So repeatedly over and over again, he says, "I will do this. I will do this." In Amos chapter 4, 6, I'm not going to read all of it.

Amos describes how God brings judgment upon the nation of Israel, and each phase that he's done that, they wouldn't repent. "I gave you also cleanness of teeth in your cities and lack of bread in your places, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. "Furthermore, I withheld rain from you while there were still three months until harvest, then I would send rain on one city and on another city.

I would not send rain. One part would be rained on while the part not rained on would dry up. So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water but would not be satisfied. Yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. So over and over again, he describes his judgment that he's bringing upon the land, and sometimes selectively, to teach them.

This is coming because of your sin. This is related to your sin, and yet you would not repent. And then so what is the final judgment of the book of Amos? There's going to be a famine, but a famine of what? A famine of the Word of God. In other words, God's going to withdraw his spirit.

That's going to be the final judgment, when he releases you to your sin. And that's what it says in Romans chapter 1, 2, right? He gave them over to their lusts. He gave them over to their iniquities. That's his final judgment. So the final judgment after the great white throne judgment is there's no longer common grace.

God separates the ones who will be separated from him for eternity, and then those who will be dwelling with him for eternity. So even in this separated state, we all experience common grace, Christians and non-Christians alike, because we're not in hell. Because of God's grace and his glory, where we are living is not orderly sinful.

Yes, God is still here. The church is still here. The gospel is still here. We're not in the final state, but the final state of judgment is when God withdraws his presence. And so that's where he says he's making sure that they understand that there is no mistake, that they didn't make poor choices, and that's why the harvest is not growing, or the rain, or the enemies are conquering, because they didn't sharpen their sword.

He said it's directly linked to their disobedience because of their sins. And that's why the first part, right? He said there's five phases, but the first part, 6 through 7, he said it's going to be sudden terror. In other words, it's going to come suddenly so that they know that this is divine.

It comes out of nowhere because God brings it. The disease is going to be severe. This is not the regular disease that people have living in a sinful world, that you're not going to have problems that are going to be lingering for years and years. It's going to be a severe disease, again, so that people will know that this is a divine judgment coming from God.

They will sow uselessly because their enemies will pillage and eat them. They're going to work hard, and they're going to sow seeds. They're going to do business, but at the end of the day, the enemies are going to come and take it from them, so it's going to be useless.

All their hard work to become something is all going to be destroyed by their enemies. They will be defeated and conquered by their enemies as a result of the Lord setting His face against them. And Moses says that. You know, when they were out in the desert, God's angry with them.

He says, "I'm not going to go with them," and Moses begs, "If you don't come with us, we're going to die out here in the desert. We're completely vulnerable. These people were slaves. They're not soldiers. They have children with them, and they're out in the desert. So if you don't come with us, we're vulnerable to any attack.

There's no way they're going to enter the Promised Land and conquer these fortified cities. The only reason why people trembled at the nation of Israel was because of the reputation of their God. God says He's going to withdraw His presence among them, and then they're going to— humanly speaking, it's a bunch of nomads wandering in the desert who aren't properly trained, just walking around.

Who would be afraid of them? He said that's exactly what's going to happen. If you don't obey, God's presence is going to be withdrawn, and then they're going to become vulnerable to every attack, every enemy. As a result of that, they're going to flee when no one is pursuing them.

Isn't that what anxiousness is? Anxiety? There are things that you should genuinely be anxious about. War breaks out, enemies come in. You should be anxious. If you're not anxious, something's wrong with you. When you're anxious, when there's no reason to be anxious, that's when you know something is wrong.

He said that's what's going to happen. There's going to be fear that dictates your life because you no longer have—what don't you have when God's not there? Peace. You don't have peace. You don't have Sabbath. You don't have rest. So your spirit is in constant unrest, even when you're not being chased.

Isn't that so true? Even as Christians, when we have sins that are hidden, that are unrepentant, there's a constant fear, even in the judgments that you make, that if it goes wrong, it's because God's going to do it. At some point, God's going to discipline you. There's a fear.

And so it makes everything that you do anxious—your relationships, the business, even the money in the bank, whatever career that you have. You're constantly living in fear because you are living against the will of God. And so that's how he describes somebody who is living in disobedience. He's fleeing even though there's nobody chasing him.

And sin is the direct cause of all of that. Secondly, if they do not turn from their sins again, right? After he's done all of that, and they still harden their hearts, he says he's going to bring judgment upon them sevenfold. They will be humbled, verse 19a. If you really think about it, disobedience is self-exaltation, living self-willed.

I'm going to be somebody, I'm going to do something, I'm going to make a name for myself. And then he says God's going to come bring judgment and humble them. Severe famine is going to come upon the land. And then he uses the word again, "useless." "The strength will be spent uselessly, because the land will not produce trees and thus no fruit." So the first judgment is going to be useless, even though it's going to bear fruit, the enemies are going to take it.

The second judgment, they're going to work hard, but there's not going to be any fruit to begin with. You see the severity of the judgment? The first judgment, you actually have fruit, but the enemies are taking it. Second judgment, the trees don't even come, because the famine is so severe.

So you can see the intensity, so it's going to happen sevenfold harder. Third, if the previous judgment doesn't bring them to repentance to God, God will increase their plague again sevenfold according to their sins. Wild beasts will decimate their families and their cattle. So they're not just living in danger, right?

He said they're going to actually come and decimate, they're going to completely destroy them. So this is not just one animal roaming around, people locking their doors. He said they're going to come completely devastate whatever it is that they have. So you see this increase. Fourth round, if the previous judgment does not bring them to repentance, God will act with hostility against them and will strike them again sevenfold for their sins.

It's going to be increasing. The enemies will bring the sword against them. So the enemies are not just coming taking their food now. They're not just plundering, they're completely wiping them out. Remember Israel's history? The first round when Israel goes into captivity, the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom. The southern kingdom gets taken by the Assyrians and then the northern kingdom.

I get that north and south mixed up. The southern kingdom, the northern kingdom, they go to the Assyrians and then the southern kingdom, they go to the Babylonians. Where the Babylonians come and they take the prime into their land, the Assyrians come and completely decimate them. He says that the judgment that God's going to bring is going to be that they're going to come and completely wipe them out.

God will send pestilence so that they will be defeated by their enemies. And then again, famine will besiege the cities. You see the progression? Enemies are going to take your food. Enemies are going to come and they're going to bring the sword and then they're going to besiege the city.

And then he says, fifth, if after all of that they still will not repent, he said that punishment is going to increase sevenfold. And look at this judgment. They will eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. It for sure reminds you of the seven seals. Out of the seven seals, trumpets and the bowls, which one is more severe?

The bowl judgment. A third of the world is wiped out. Plagues coming upon the land and how can anybody survive? And that's how it's described, the severity of the judgment of God. And all for what purpose? Waiting for them to repent. God will deliver their idols in place of worship for those idols.

He's waiting and waiting and waiting to destroy their idols and come to him. They won't destroy it. So they begin to experience this intense famine. The enemies come, besiege the land. They actually begin to eat their children's flesh. Does this happen in Israel's history? Yes. They actually experience this in Israel's history.

God himself is going to come and destroy the idols. But that doesn't lead to revival because God comes as a judgment to do that. And then the next one he says, their cities and sanctuaries will become desolate and God will reject their offerings to the Lord. In other words, God's going to end this nation.

The whole purpose of the book of Leviticus is to make God's dwelling upon them. He destroys the sanctuary. What does that mean? God's presence is no longer there. He's withdrawn. There's nowhere for them to go. And that's what Amos says at the end of the book of Amos. After I've done all of this, you still wouldn't repent.

And then the famine of the word. You're going to be staggering from place to place to hear God's word, but you're not going to hear it because God withdraws himself. He says that in Revelation 2 to the church of Ephesus. He's doing all these things, but if you do not repent because you've forsaken your first love, he said, "I will take away my lampstand." Lampstand represented the seven churches, one of the seven churches.

When he says he takes away his lampstand, he's basically saying he's withdrawing his spirit. As a result of God withdrawing his spirit, they will be scattered among the nations because what brought them together was God. So if there's no temple, there's no worship, there's no presence of God, then there is no nation.

They are scattered. And as a result of that, the land will enjoy the Sabbath that God commanded them to obey. They wouldn't obey it, so they're forcing them. Now think about why the Sabbath on the land. Because God created, remember, he creates heaven and earth, you know, like five days.

He creates everything that was necessary on earth, and then he creates man. Because man is dependent upon the fruit that comes from the land. So if the man is disobedient to the Sabbath and he destroys the land, there is no food for him to eat. There is no harvest for him to take care of his family.

So judgment, naturally he brings judgment upon mankind when he disobeys. Obedience is what causes the fruit in the land. Disobedience destroys the land, which they are dependent on. That's the foolishness of sin. The very thing that God created to sustain us, in our disobedience we destroy. That's what sin does.

The very thing that God created to bring blessing, when we disobey him, the very things that cause joy in our life, in our sins, we end up destroying that. And that's what he's trying to, the picture that he's trying to show us. The land will enjoy the Sabbath. Those who remain will live in fear of their enemies and will have no strength.

And then eight, those who remain in the land will consume them and they will rot away. In other words, even the people who are not taken away, the few remnant that are there, they're going to be living in fear because the land is not in peace, because God is not there.

All of this is fulfilled in Israel's history. It doesn't happen immediately, but hundreds of years later, after, remember we talked about that last week, right? Seven times seventy, right? They didn't obey what God told them to do. So 490 years they disobeyed God. Seventy years, every year that they ignore the Sabbath, they go into captivity.

And then when they go into captivity, some of them are utterly destroyed by the Assyrians, some of them are scattered, and the ones who remain in Jerusalem are under constant attack by the enemies, exactly as it is painted here. So this actually happens in the nation of Israel. But with the blessings and curses, he ends in 40 to 46.

Despite all of that, if you will repent, God will forgive you, right? God will remember their covenant once again if they confess their sins and the sins of their forefathers. Despite all of that, he still hasn't given up. Even after all of that, if you wake up from it and repent, he said he will forgive.

And then the land will be rested as it should from the beginning. God's going to cause it to rest. So you can kind of see, like if you know Israel's history, if you know the book of Revelation, if you know redemptive history, you know that all of this stuff actually takes place, right?

Exactly as God says. But the point of all of this is not to simply scare people and say, "Hey, don't mess with God." The point of all of this is all fulfilled in the New Testament. So remember we talked about that, all prophecies, there is an immediate application to the nation of Israel.

Does God want Israel to practice all of this? Absolutely. Are there consequences if they don't obey? Absolutely, because it actually happened in the nation of Israel. But the final product of all of this wasn't about Israel. It wasn't about the promised land. In fact, Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that, right?

If what they were really seeking was land here, like peace here, they could have easily went back and had a great life. But their eyes got open and it is because of their faith they pursued a greater land, a greater promise, right? And he says nothing that was promised physically they received.

Because what were they waiting for? Us, right? They were waiting for us, for us to come to faith and that we may all enter the promised land together, right? The new heavens and new earth. So all of this ultimately points to the fulfillment in Christ. In Galatians chapter 3, 10-14, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, 'Curse is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.' Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith.

However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them." He doesn't mean that he who practices the law, he's going to actually find life in it. If you are looking to become righteous by the law, right? And if that's your standard and you're not seeking righteousness by faith, then you're going to have to find it in the law.

In other words, you have to obey this perfectly. You have to obey it to the point where you deserve no curse, only blessing, right? Obviously, that's not possible. And that's what he's saying here. If you seek righteousness by the law, you have to find it by the law. There's no Bs.

There's no A-minus. It has to be A++, 100%. Right? But the Bible makes that clear. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, not most. So he's not saying that you can find it. He's saying that there is no hope if that's where you're going. "However, the law is not by faith.

On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by faith. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." That's where the fulfillment happens. That all the curses that he mentions, Christ absorbs the curse upon himself, that we might become the righteousness of God.

In order that Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham, might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. All of this ultimately points to Christ. Revelation 21, 3-4, it talks about the fulfillment of that promise of blessing. So verses 1-13, right? Think about all the blessings that he mentions there.

And he says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men.'" In other words, God is with us. "And he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.

The first things have passed away." All because he is there. Heaven is heaven because God is there. Heaven is not heaven because God made it beautiful and then he said, "Hey, go and enjoy." All of that is a byproduct of his presence. So when Genesis says that he created the earth on the seventh day, he entered into the Sabbath, all mankind was in heaven with him.

The Garden of Eden was a form of heaven because he was there. So when sin came in, we were broken from that Sabbath, outside of heaven. But now, when we enter into the new heaven and new earth, it's going to be even a greater one than the one that we fell out of.

The distinction is, we're no longer near him. The scripture says because of what Christ has done, we become adopted children of God. And the Holy Spirit now actually makes a dwelling in us. How long does that dwelling happen? It's permanent. Our connection with Christ is permanent. So now we only experience in part, but when we are glorified, we will be with him forever in that state.

Again, in Revelation 21, 22-27, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. The city has no need of the sun or the moon or the shine on it. The glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory in it. In the daytime, for there will be no night, and its gates will never be closed." What does it mean the gates will never be closed? There's no need for protection. There's no enemies to come in.

You don't have to lock your doors. That's what he's saying. In heaven, you will have no enemies. "And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nation into it, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." In other words, sin is going to be wiped away.

No unbeliever will be in this place, right? Only the righteous, cleansed by the blood of Christ. Finally, in Revelation 22, 1 through 5, "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and the Lamb in the middle of its street.

On either side of the river was a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his bondservants will serve him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of the Lamb nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever." So all the blessings that he's talking about in verses 1 through 13 is going to find its final fulfillment in glorification when he comes.

So all of this has immediate application to the nation of Israel. So they experienced all the cursing, but even with all the cursings that came upon them, it was only a shadow. The nation of Israel did not receive God's full wrath. Even when we are disciplined, no human being alive has ever experienced the full wrath of God.

We would not be living. Everything he does is for the purpose of discipline, to bring us to repentance, because the ultimate wrath is going to be at the right throne of judgment and in hell. But until then, we're living in a period of grace, that even as we are being disciplined, he's trying to bring us back to restore us, to bring people to repentance, to bring us to this place that he's describing in the book of Revelation.

All right, so the discussion question for tonight. One, since Christ took away the curse of the law, does that mean that there are no physical consequences for disobedience in the new covenant? So the answer to that is no. Okay, just in case somebody goes off tangent. So read Hebrews chapter 12, 1 through 15.

And so discuss along the lines of what you read there. What is the greatest thing you look forward to in heaven? What is the curse of living in this sinful world that you wish to be delivered from sooner than later? Do you understand that question, the second part? Everybody experiences some, what curse feels like, because we are all living under the larger umbrella of a fallen world.

And I don't have to mention to you, whether it's from your family, or something happened to you, or somebody did something to you, or maybe something you did, that you have a hard time forgiving. You have a hard time letting go. All of that because we live under the umbrella of living under the fallen world.

And all of that will be restored by the blood of Christ when we get to heaven. What is it that you look forward to when you think of heaven? Third, what do you tend to meditate more on, the blessing of God or the curse of God in the fallen world?

How does either affect your day-to-day life? So that question basically is, if you're not careful, even though we say, "Oh, God loved me and he died for me and we sing great songs," but you can live day-to-day thinking about how your boss is bad, people cut you off, you don't get paid enough, you know, how your body hurts, and so how much of your day is spent thinking about the ramification of the curse, rather than the blessing of what God has given.

And how does that affect your day-to-day life when you do one or the other? Okay? So let me pray for us, and I'll let you guys get into your group.