Deuteronomy 11:26 ¶ Behold,
I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of
the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I
command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy
God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that
thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
30 Are they not on the other side
Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites,
which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go
in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess
it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall
observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
In the conclusion to this chapter the Israelites are given a
choice. They can obey God, the LORD Jehovah, or they can betray Him. If they
obey Him they will have success as previous statements have said and if they
choose to worship other gods they will suffer a curse.
This gives an opportunity to discuss the difference between the
Law in the Old Testament for the Israelites, the Hebrews, the Jews and for Jew
and Gentile Christian in the New. If the Israelites obeyed God they could
expect a blessing, the blessing of success in the land. The blessings of the
Law are temporal, earthly, and God’s blessing on the Israelites would guarantee
them prosperity.
The Christian’s blessing is eternal life with Jesus Christ our
Lord, the visible image of the God who created all things. The Christian has
the blessing of a God who will neither leave them nor forsake them on this
earth but gives them comfort and guidance.
The curse for the Israelites would be failure, famine, drought,
conquest, and removal from the Promised Land. The curse for the Christian who
deliberately disobeys the guidance God gives them in life is misery and
suffering. As a result one way to know if a person who says they are saved but
is living a life of sin and iniquity is that they will be miserable and unhappy
and unsatisfied with their lifestyle choices if they are indeed a Christian.
They will face disappointment, depression, and even suicide if they continue on
their wicked path.
The similarity between the two is that God does not abandon the
Israelites but promises to return them to their land at some point in the
future after He has written His Law on their hearts. He also promises never to
abandon the Christian and the person who is truly saved but falls short will
still be saved and spend eternity with His or Her Maker.
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