Leviticus 26: 3-13 / 14-45: How do I understand as a born-again Christian?

[Sight]

I will post both sets of verses here:

Leviticus 26: 3-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

Promise of Blessing and Retribution

³ ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹ ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.

 

 

And the next set:

Leviticus 26:14-45 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶ I also will do this to you:

I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.

And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies.

Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power;

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain;

for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;

and your highways shall be desolate.

²³ ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶ When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸ then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;

and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹ I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.

³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;

your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;

then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—

for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶ ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;

the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;

they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;

and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸ You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹ And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;

also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰ ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will remember the land.

⁴³ The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

I am the Lord.’”

 

As a born-again Christian, I understand this to be "In Jesus" and "Not in Jesus". Basically, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and by not being in Christ, calamity falls upon me.

The word seems to be telling me...I dont think I have truly accepted Jesus Christ. Either that, or I did accept him, but for some reason, my heart never changed. How should I understand these verses?

 

[FresnoJoe]

Praying~!

[Guest]

Levitical law - As a New Covenant believer, we are not bound by those statutes.

[BK1110]

As JGLM just said, I would caution against taking parts of Leviticus and the Mosaic Law as literal commands you have to follow today...but we can certainly learn lessons from them.

Quote

Basically, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and by not being in Christ, calamity falls upon me. The word seems to be telling me...I dont think I have truly accepted Jesus Christ. Either that, or I did accept him, but for some reason, my heart never changed. How should I understand these verses?

Here's a great example. You couldn't say "I'm not following this Mosaic Law, so that's definitely why this is happening me; God is punishing me for not following that law as given in Leviticus" because we aren't living under that law. However, like you rightly said, the old law hasn't really been thrown away; rather, Jesus completed and perfected the law. And so, yes, it's wise to question your salvation...or more to the point, ask what really constitutes real salvation and then ask if you measure up. This is what really turned me finally months ago; after a whole childhood of listening to rote "alter calls" as they were, I finally heard it really laid out and explained clearly in this message. I think it could be eye-opening for you, too: search Youtube for "A Shocking Surprise" on the "Sugar Creek Baptist Church" channel.

Edited March 19, 2017 by BK1110

[Reinitin]

On 3/17/2017 at 0:07 AM, Sight said:

I will post both sets of verses here:

Leviticus 26: 3-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

Promise of Blessing and Retribution

³ ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹ ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.

 

 

And the next set:

Leviticus 26:14-45 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶ I also will do this to you:

I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.

And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies.

Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power;

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain;

for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;

and your highways shall be desolate.

²³ ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶ When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸ then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;

and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹ I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.

³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;

your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;

then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—

for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶ ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;

the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;

they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;

and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸ You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹ And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;

also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰ ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will remember the land.

⁴³ The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

I am the Lord.’”

 

As a born-again Christian, I understand this to be "In Jesus" and "Not in Jesus". Basically, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and by not being in Christ, calamity falls upon me.

The word seems to be telling me...I dont think I have truly accepted Jesus Christ. Either that, or I did accept him, but for some reason, my heart never changed. How should I understand these verses?

 

You really have some great questions.

I remember reading through the law as a young christian and wondering how the Christ that drew me in with such love and grace could be in agreement with some of the curses, punishments, actions of God i read in the old testiment. One day i read 3 things i had done that by Gods law i should of been killed for. It kinda put me upside down for a little while cause im a very literal person. So i left the old testiment and studied the New testiment only.

My christian son in college decided to become jewish. If i wanted him to eat at my house i had to follow food laws. I started studing the laws and the feast to be able to have conversation with my son and wow jesus's life, mission, promise, benfits, prophecy's, conversations, comments were all given so much more meaning as i studied from the perspective of following it.

It was weird cause my sons jewish practices and keeping of the law and the feasts shined so much light on Jesus, the gospels, paul and peter and johns letters. 

My son after 4 years was so heavy in heart and came to me just broken because as hard as he tried and diciplined as he was with tears in his eyes he said "Mom, ive sinned against God. I tried but i cant keep his laws. It made me think of paul. Calling himself a chief of sinners. "Wretched man that i am, who will save me from this body of death." I looked it up. Gave the bible to my son and he was reconciled to Christ.

I know this isnt a answer but i promise you John 17 is true. We do not know our Father but Christ in us is revealing him to us. Jesus is with you, he will walk with you and reconcile it all as he makes our Father known to you.

Keep studying he will use the words being planted in you to teach you and change you.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Reinitin
Spelling

[daughterofGrace]

The levitical laws were given to point out what sin was and how the people were to live as followers of God.  But there was nothing in the laws themselves to empower someone to avoid sin and live a holy life.  Hence, the need for offerings as everyone failed to lived entirely as they should as the people of God.

But Jesus fulfilled ALL of the requirements of the Law on our behalf with his death and resurrection.  When we accept that sacrifice in faith, we are given right-standing with God.  So there is no need for any more sacrifices.

Once we are born again, we should enter into a life-long process of sanctification in which the Holy Spirit points out what sin is and then empowers us to resist it.  Note that I said it's a life-long process which will not be completed until the next life.  I always say that, while there are no perfect Christians on this earth, there should be all kinds of Christians being perfected here.

I have found that, over the years, the Holy  Spirit has worked with me, pointing out one area of my life that required change and helping me to effect it.  Then he has pointed out another and another and another and I am gradually "cleaning up my act" -- but only with his insight and empowerment. 

I am interested, Sight, in your conclusion that you haven't truly accepted Christ because of what these verses say.  Yet you call yourself born-again.  If you are born again, then you have accepted Christ because there is no other way to be born again. 

I wonder if what you're saying is this -- you feel condemned by what these verses say because you haven't been able to live up to them fully.   To me, the very fact that you recognize that you have not been able to live totally as God would will shows that you are indeed born-again.  If you weren't, then you really wouldn't care whether you please God or not.  Bear in mind what Paul said about there being no condemnation in Christ (Rom. 8:1).  The Holy Spirit will prick your conscience when you fail, but not with condemnation (although you will probably feel godly sorrow).  Then the Holy Spirit will encourage you to try again and succeed according to God's plan for you -- at least, that has been my experience and I don't think I am alone in it.

And when you do fail, always bear in mind what John wrote in 1 John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us.

I hope that helps. 

 

Edited March 22, 2017 by daughterofGrace
clarification

[Unfailing Presence]

All scripture is for us , but not all scripture is to us .

No reason to take the Levitical Law personally unless you have transported yourself back in time to become part of a roving Jewish nation wandering the desert .

Jesus is here now , and we can do all things through Him that strengthens us

[delade3]

On 3/16/2017 at 7:07 PM, Sight said:

I will post both sets of verses here:

Leviticus 26: 3-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

Promise of Blessing and Retribution

³ ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹ ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.

 

 

And the next set:

Leviticus 26:14-45 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶ I also will do this to you:

I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.

And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies.

Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power;

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain;

for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;

and your highways shall be desolate.

²³ ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶ When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸ then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;

and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹ I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.

³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;

your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;

then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—

for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶ ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;

the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;

they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;

and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸ You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹ And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;

also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰ ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will remember the land.

⁴³ The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

I am the Lord.’”

 

As a born-again Christian, I understand this to be "In Jesus" and "Not in Jesus". Basically, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and by not being in Christ, calamity falls upon me.

The word seems to be telling me...I dont think I have truly accepted Jesus Christ. Either that, or I did accept him, but for some reason, my heart never changed. How should I understand these verses?

 

Basically all The Old Testament is doing is asking you to Love The LORD your God... 

Edited March 27, 2017 by delade3

[Openly Curious]

On 3/17/2017 at 1:07 AM, Sight said:

I will post both sets of verses here:

Leviticus 26: 3-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

Promise of Blessing and Retribution

³ ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

⁹ ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.

¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;

I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.

 

 

And the next set:

Leviticus 26:14-45 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,

¹⁶ I also will do this to you:

I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.

And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies.

Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power;

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain;

for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.

²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;

and your highways shall be desolate.

²³ ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;

when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;

and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶ When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,

²⁸ then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;

and My soul shall abhor you.

³¹ I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.

³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;

your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;

then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—

for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

³⁶ ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;

the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;

they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.

³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;

and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸ You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

³⁹ And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;

also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

⁴⁰ ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will remember the land.

⁴³ The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

I am the Lord.’”

 

As a born-again Christian, I understand this to be "In Jesus" and "Not in Jesus". Basically, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and by not being in Christ, calamity falls upon me.

The word seems to be telling me...I dont think I have truly accepted Jesus Christ. Either that, or I did accept him, but for some reason, my heart never changed. How should I understand these verses?

 

I would suggest you read the entire book of Ecclesiastes.  It is a short book of just twelve chapters which gives a conclusion at the end of it that I believe will give you some clarity in the vein in which you are seeking.  blessings

[Spock]

On 3/19/2017 at 5:55 PM, Reinitin said:

You really have some great questions.

I remember reading through the law as a young christian and wondering how the Christ that drew me in with such love and grace could be in agreement with some of the curses, punishments, actions of God i read in the old testiment. One day i read 3 things i had done that by Gods law i should of been killed for. It kinda put me upside down for a little while cause im a very literal person. So i left the old testiment and studied the New testiment only.

My christian son in college decided to become jewish. If i wanted him to eat at my house i had to follow food laws. I started studing the laws and the feast to be able to have conversation with my son and wow jesus's life, mission, promise, benfits, prophecy's, conversations, comments were all given so much more meaning as i studied from the perspective of following it.

It was weird cause my sons jewish practices and keeping of the law and the feasts shined so much light on Jesus, the gospels, paul and peter and johns letters. 

My son after 4 years was so heavy in heart and came to me just broken because as hard as he tried and diciplined as he was with tears in his eyes he said "Mom, ive sinned against God. I tried but i cant keep his laws. It made me think of paul. Calling himself a chief of sinners. "Wretched man that i am, who will save me from this body of death." I looked it up. Gave the bible to my son and he was reconciled to Christ.

I know this isnt a answer but i promise you John 17 is true. We do not know our Father but Christ in us is revealing him to us. Jesus is with you, he will walk with you and reconcile it all as he makes our Father known to you.

Keep studying he will use the words being planted in you to teach you and change you.

Wow!  This is powerful awesome word Reignitin.  What a blessing they were to my eyes to read them. I hope the OP was equally as blessed. Thank you.

spock