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

[BobRyan]

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?

 

Israel was under the "blessed nation church" world-wide-evangelist model. God blessed the nation so that all people of earth would see it - and turn to the God of Israel for salvation.

 

Today we are under the "persecuted church model" - which is a very different one.

[Spock]

On 3/21/2017 at 8:04 PM, daughterofGrace said:

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. 

 

Wow! This is also  a very great response to this question. I haven't read this entire thread yet, but if I don't go past this one, no big deal.  The first few posts are awesome. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Spock

[Danger Noodle]

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?

 

In the new covenant we are still bound to obey God's moral laws. Remember, Jesus repeated much of the ten commandments when he was asked what of the law applies. 

There are over 600 laws of God in the Jewish tradition. Not all of those pertain to Christians because we are not Jews. But the moral law, how we see God, how we conduct ourselves, do not steal, murder, etc...., does.  Be aware that there will be a branch of people in the world that will tell you the moral precepts, the 10 commandments of God given to Moses on the mountain do not apply. I've found I can't reason with that therefore I avoid that. Because they're telling me they're happily immoral . As is their right to be. 

The text in Leviticus tells us also that God is not a warm fuzzy anything goes liberal God. If we're to follow his example I think we owe it to that idea to be scrupulously discerning in how we comport ourselves in the world. Researching how the written word came to be as the new testament for Christians is vital. As is using our God given common sense and intellect. 

God bless. 

Hope that helps. 

[BobRyan]

7 hours ago, Danger Noodle said:

In the new covenant we are still bound to obey God's moral laws. Remember, Jesus repeated much of the ten commandments when he was asked what of the law applies. 

There are over 600 laws of God in the Jewish tradition. Not all of those pertain to Christians because we are not Jews. But the moral law, how we see God, how we conduct ourselves, do not steal, murder, etc...., does.  Be aware that there will be a branch of people in the world that will tell you the moral precepts, the 10 commandments of God given to Moses on the mountain do not apply. I've found I can't reason with that therefore I avoid that. Because they're telling me they're happily immoral . As is their right to be. 

The text in Leviticus tells us also that God is not a warm fuzzy anything goes liberal God. If we're to follow his example I think we owe it to that idea to be scrupulously discerning in how we comport ourselves in the world. Researching how the written word came to be as the new testament for Christians is vital. As is using our God given common sense and intellect. 

God bless. 

Hope that helps. 

This is a good post. Also as for the one commandment not found in the NT - that Jesus never quoted "do not take God's name in vain". Of course it does not mean it is not a sin to take God's name in vain - just curious "detail" that this is the one commandment never quoted not even in part - in the NT nor in the book of Genesis.

[JoshuasonFlower]

18 minutes ago, BobRyan said:

This is a good post. Also as for the one commandment not found in the NT - that Jesus never quoted "do not take God's name in vain". Of course it does not mean it is not a sin to take God's name in vain - just curious "detail" that this is the one commandment never quoted not even in part - in the NT nor in the book of Genesis.

I agree with you that it is a good post.

I believe the passage you refer to in Exodus,the third command that says thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain,  is found in different places in scripture. And in the new testament also. Though I agree I have not found its like in Genesis.

The reason I see this is because the passages are there giving the command just in a different wording. Such as, Matthew 5:33-37.^|33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:3⁴ But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:³⁵ Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.³⁶ Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.³⁷ But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Then there is,back in the old testament Leviticus 19:12. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

Just a few passages I can recall. There are more.

[daughterofGrace]

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 3:22 PM, Spock said:

Wow! This is also  a very great response to this question. I haven't read this entire thread yet, but if I don't go past this one, no big deal.  The first few posts are awesome. 

I'm glad it helped, Spock.  Thanks for taking the time to say so.  I appreciate it.  God bless you!

[Zemke]

I must apologize, My reply was based on reading the word "hand" in vs. 6 instead of "land". Wonder how much I do that. My eyes really do need checked, but I saw land when it was mentioned elsewhere in the text. I'm so sorry.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Zemke

[BobRyan]

On 4/20/2017 at 7:27 PM, JoshuasonFlower said:

I agree with you that it is a good post.

I believe the passage you refer to in Exodus,the third command that says thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain,  is found in different places in scripture. And in the new testament also. Though I agree I have not found its like in Genesis.

The reason I see this is because the passages are there giving the command just in a different wording. Such as, Matthew 5:33-37.^|33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:3⁴ But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:³⁵ Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.³⁶ Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.³⁷ But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Then there is,back in the old testament Leviticus 19:12. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

Just a few passages I can recall. There are more.

Swearing falsely by God's name is not a reference to Exodus 20:7 but rather to -- taking vows and fulfilling them.

Lev 19: ¹² You  shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

Num 30:2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Deut 23:21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you.

So then MAtthew 5:33

³³ “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’...But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Edited April 23, 2017 by BobRyan

[Zemke]

Hi Sight,

You have a good understanding or outline of being in Christ and not in Christ being drawn from the text and I agree with you.

But we do have times in between the provisions of water that difficulties and troubles can mount up but as James wrote we will go through times of trials that will build our faith.  The good Shepherd will lead us to water and in the mean time His provision will be sufficient. We walk by faith. The connection to Psalm 23 isn't coincidence.

However being in Christ does not take away consequence for unrepentant and habitual sin that grieves the Holy Spirit and eventually affects our ability to be effectual in our christian walk. Many ministries start out right, we all start out right but we live in a world of evil. We build our lives in Christ to be able to stand firm. We do have an enemy that seeks to destroy. If you read the armor narrative in Ephesians 6 you can see the statement, "stand firm."

That's why discipleship is so important, Jesus said, "Go and make disciples " One of the reasons the church in the west has turned to purpose driven, emergent church, mammon worship, ecumenical standing with other religions is because our eyes are on the things of this world. He didn't tell us to make converts. Poor discipleship, washed down teaching that I believe comes from unrepentant and habitual sin that leads to more of the same. Jesus said something about making a disciple of hell to the pharisees even though they search the world over.

In the Old Testament they had physical wars, we have spiritual wars. They had a physical temple, we have a spiritual house, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the foundation being the apostles doctrine and Jesus the chief corner stone and we are all a part of that building of God. They had a separate priesthood, a clergy class, we are a nation of priests. We serve one another. We all have gifts we bring to the table.

It's the principles that haven't changed. We have a King, what are we doing?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Zemke