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Leviticus Chapter 26
- Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make
you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing
image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land,
to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
The biggest insult we can do to our God is
to set up an image to worship either instead of Him or supposedly to
represent Him or represent Jesus. I don't care if it's supposed
to be Mary, an apostle, a saint, Christ or God Himself, we are not
to make images to bow down to. There is probably nothing wrong with
images like knickknacks for decoration although I do not like them
myself, but to make one to represent the God or a false god and use
it for worship is an insult to God.
First of all, we do not know what God looks
like neither do we know what Jesus, Mary or anyone else looks like.
They didn't have cameras when they walked the earth. There is no way
we could possibly make an image good enough to represent God.
Remember Jesus is God the Son and is at His Father's right hand in
heaven. He is holy and no image could hold a candle to the real
Jesus.
Behind every image that is worshipped either
in place of God or as a representative of God is an evil presence or
evil spirit. It is there to deceive, give us religious feelings so
that we feel satisfied and think we are okay with God. It is a
substitute false religion that brings no salvation from sin and no
eternal life. Those things cannot make us born again by God's
spirit. Those things cannot give us the living water Jesus spoke
about to the woman at the well.
Only the real Jesus Christ and trusting in
Him for forgiveness of our sins and cleanse us from all
righteousness, can bring us into eternal life and a new living way
that comes through faith in Him as Lord and savior.
The deceiver is present in graven images.
They should be avoided by all. 1 Corinthians chapter 10
explains a little of what I'm saying here.
- 1Corintians 10:14
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
- 15 I speak as
to wise men; judge ye what I say.
- 16 The cup of
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the
body of Christ?
- 17 For we
being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers
of that one bread.
- 18 Behold
Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices
partakers of the altar?
- 19 What say I
then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in
sacrifice to idols is any thing?
- 20 But I say,
that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have
fellowship with devils.
So to worship and idol or sacrifice to idols
is to be worshiping the devil.
- Leviticus 26:2 Ye shall keep my
sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Some believe the Sabbath laws were abolished
and fulfilled in Christ and that He is our rest and our Sabbath.
Others believe Christ fulfilled the ceremonial parts of the law and
Sabbath laws but we still should observe the Sabbath as a day of
worship and rest.
In all this we must remember the Sabbath was
made for man. It is a gift to us, to servants and to those that
would have to labor continually without rest if God had not have
made a day of rest for us to observe. We all need a rest day
physically and spiritually. There are necessary things we need like
police, doctors and such so not everyone can take the same day but
we all need spiritual rest as well as physical.
I don't believe the scripture teaches us
that the Sabbath day or 7th day of the week was changed to Sunday.
This is open to different interpretations which I will not get into
since it is not the subject of Leviticus but man changed the day,
not God. Actually the words Saturday and Sunday were not in the
bible. The bible says to rest on the seventh day. It really doesn't
matter which day we worship on though. We can worship God every day
of the week.
Reverence for the place we choose to worship
publically with other believers should be respected. It is a house
of prayer. We should not be having bingo games, buying and selling
in the sanctuary that we set aside to worship God in. Whether
we gather in a house or a community building to gather for worship,
it should be with reverence and respect for God who blesses us with
the opportunity and freedom to worship.
Where two or three are gathered together,
there He is in the midst of us. We need His presence always with
us.
- Leviticus 26:3 If ye walk in my
statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
There is a false teaching out today called
the prosperity gospel that says that more we give the more we will
receive. Although there is an element of truth in that, we see here
that keeping His commandments have more to do with our prosperity
than just giving money. God never promises us riches in this life
but promises to take care of us until the time when Jesus returns to
set up His kingdom. Then and then only are we promised riches. Our
riches now are spiritual riches not material. Yet He promises to
give us our needs as we need them.
Here is His promise to Israel if they keep
His commandments:
- Leviticus 26:4 Then I will give
you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase,
and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
- 5 And your threshing
shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto
the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and
dwell in your land safely.
- 6 And I will give peace
in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you
afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither
shall the sword go through your land.
- 7 And ye shall chase
your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
- 8 And five of you shall
chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to
flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
- 9 For I will have
respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and
establish my covenant with you.
- 10 And ye shall eat old
store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
- 11 And I will set my
tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
- 12 And I will walk among
you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
The conditions for God's blessings both
spiritually and materially is that we turn away from sin and keep
His commandments. He then can walk among us and be our God. We will
be His people.
Through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ,
this is made possible for both Jew and Gentile.
Without Christ there would be no hope for the
Gentiles. The gospel was first given to the Jews. When they rejected
Christ, the gospel went to the Gentiles.
- Leviticus 26:13 I am the LORD
your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that
ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of
your yoke, and made you go upright.
Bondmen are those now that are compassed
about with sin and in bondage to sin. We have no hope for salvation
apart from Jesus Christ because He was that one Moses spoke of that
was to come. All those that will not hear that prophet will die in
their sins. We see however, that God was the one to deliver Israel
from the bondage in Egypt and His promise was that if they obeyed
Him they would not become under any bondage in the future.
- Leviticus 26:14 But if ye will
not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
- 15 And if ye shall
despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that
ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my
covenant:
- 16 I also will do this
unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and
the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow
of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies
shall eat it.
This has literally come to pass for
centuries now. This does not mean that the enemies of Israel will
not be judged for what they do to Israel. The judgment of the
nations that persecute Israel will be worse then the judgment upon
Israel but God allows them to get by with it for a while because of
Israel's sin.
This may apply to the church also if we do
as Israel did and return to the sin Jesus saves us from. We are not
immune from judgment if we ignore what we are given freely. A price
was paid for our salvation. That price was the sacrificial death on
Calvary of Jesus Christ for our sins. His resurrection shows us His
victory over death and the power of God which is promised to all who
trust in Him for salvation. They too will be raised from the dead.
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set
my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies:
they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when
none pursueth you.
- 18 And if ye will not
yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven
times more for your sins.
- 19 And I will break the
pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and
your earth as brass:
- 20 And your strength
shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her
increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their
fruits.
- 21 And if ye walk
contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring
seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
- 22 I will also send wild
beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and
destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high
ways shall be desolate.
- 23 And if ye will not be
reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
- 24 Then will I also walk
contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your
sins.
This is a hint of the seven year latter day
tribulation. Seven times could mean seven years.
- Leviticus 26:25 And I will
bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my
covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities,
I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered
into the hand of the enemy.
- 26 And when I have
broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread
in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by
weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
- 27 And if ye will not
for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
- 28 Then I will walk
contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you
seven times for your sins.
- 29 And ye shall eat the
flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye
eat.
This indicates severe famine that causes
mass starvation. They are so desperate for food that they literally
eat their own children. I believe this happened more than once in
history and will probably happen again during the tribulation.
Prophecy many times have more than one fulfillment.
- Leviticus 26:30 And I will
destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast
your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul
shall abhor you.
Images and idolatry seems to cause the wrath
of God to fall worse than anything else. It is a direct insult to
God. When He delivers from a place like Egypt where they served in
slavery for over 400 years, He feeds them in the wilderness, He
gives the power over enemies, sets them in a land flowing with milk
and honey, and brings them a way of salvation through Jesus Christ
(God in the flesh), and they reject all those good things, evil
comes automatically because God's hand of protection is not with
them like it was before.
All these good things were given but
rejected. This is why so much evil comes upon the Jewish people.
Gentiles though must not boast for they will be judged for going far
beyond their bounds and harming the apple of God's eye.
- Leviticus 26:31 And I will make
your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation,
and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.
- 32 And I will bring the
land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall
be astonished at it.
- 33 And I will scatter
you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and
your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
- 34 Then shall the land
enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in
your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her
sabbaths.
- 35 As long as it lieth
desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths,
when ye dwelt upon it.
- 36 And upon them that
are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts
in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf
shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword;
and they shall fall when none pursueth.
- 37 And they shall fall
one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth:
and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
- 38 And ye shall perish
among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you
up.
- 39 And they that are
left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies'
lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they
pine away with them.
- 40 If they shall confess
their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their
trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they
have walked contrary unto me;
- 41 And that I also have
walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land
of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled,
and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
- 42 Then will I remember
my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and
also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will
remember the land.
The cure for any separation from God is
simply to repent. Repent means to be willing to not only be sorry
for sin but to turn away from it and live for God.
- Leviticus 26:43 The land also
shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she
lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the
punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they
despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my
statutes.
- 44 And yet for all that,
when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them
away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to
break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
- 45 But I will for their
sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought
forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that
I might be their God: I am the LORD.
- 46 These are the
statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him
and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
In spite of God's judgment upon Israel, a
remnant shall be saved and receive the blessings of God originally
promised to Abraham. Here is what Paul writes in the book of
Romans concerning Israel:
- Romans 11:1 I say then,
Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
- 2 God hath not cast
away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the Scripture
saith of Elijah? how he maketh intercession to God against
Israel, saying,
- 3 Lord, they have
killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left
alone, and they seek my life.
- 4 But what saith the
answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand
men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
- 5 Even so then at
this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace.
- 6 And if by grace,
then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work
is no more work.
- 7 What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
- 8 (According as it
is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that
they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto
this day.
- 9 And David saith,
Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a
stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
- 10 Let their eyes be
darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back
always.
- 11 I say then, Have
they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather
through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to
provoke them to jealousy.
- 12 Now if the fall
of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them
the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
- 13 For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I
magnify mine office:
- 14 If by any means I
may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save
some of them.
- 15 For if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall
the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
- 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be
holy, so are the branches.
- 17 And if some of
the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree,
wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root
and fatness of the olive tree;
- 18 Boast not against
the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but
the root thee.
- 19 Thou wilt say
then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
- 20 Well; because of
unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be
not highminded, but fear:
- 21 For if God spared
not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not
thee.
- 22 Behold therefore
the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity;
but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
- 23 And they also, if
they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God
is able to graft them in again.
- 24 For if thou wert
cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert
grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more
shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into
their own olive tree?
- 25 For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye
should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in.
- 26 And so all Israel
shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
- 27 For this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
When Israel turns from their sins and looks
to the one God sent to save them, the one called Jesus, they will be
saved, the curse will be lifted and no enemy can stand before
them. DC
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