Deuteronomy 28:16-68
“THE FIRST fourteen verses of this chapter are bright with the blessings that God would bestow upon His people as a consequence of their obedience. But then the sun disappears, as it were, behind dark clouds, ominous and threatening, and in the next 54 verses we have spread out for all to see the fearful curses that would fall upon Israel for their unbelief and disobedience. It is a dark picture, and we who through grace have come to know in some measure the perfect and unwearied love of God should feel so thankful as we think of what a terrible thing law is, and for men as sinners to be in such a relationship before God.
Still in these awful threatenings God was in love seeking to turn His unbelieving people from the path of certain ruin, the consequence of forsaking Him and going their own way. Alas, the thunders of the law were insufficient to turn them from such a path, and Israel’s history is but the long sad fulfillment of the curse that came as surely as God had said.
The Lord told them that if they hearkened diligently to His voice and were obedient they would be blessed “in the city, and... in the field.” v. 3. However, if they were disobedient then “Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and... in the field.” v. 16. Thus their blessings should be turned into curses.
If they went on with the Lord then heaven would send rain on their land, but if not, for lack of rain the land would become powder and dust. He promised to set them on high “above all nations of the earth,” but if they were unfaithful then “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.” “He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.”
“And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” v. 37. Such has been the history of Israel, a solemn reminder that “Our God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:29.
Still how encouraging and instructive to us to see individual faith shine so brightly in the midst of Israel’s darkness. Mordecai would serve the king faithfully but he would not do homage to Haman, the Amalekite. Daniel’s three friends would suffer the burning fiery furnace rather than bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. And Daniel himself would pray to no one but God though it cost him the lions’ den. In each case God stood by His faithful servants and honored them.
The day is coming when Israel’s long dark night shall end. The Lord shall come in the glory of His kingdom and make good in grace His promise to His earthly people that they shall be the head of all nations, and not the tail, to His own everlasting praise.
Memory Verse: “COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD: THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW.” Isa. 1:18.
ML-02/01/1976