Readings for today: Leviticus 26-27, Numbers 1-2
One of the most common questions I get in my role as pastor is “have I done enough” to get into heaven. To put it another way, have I done enough to earn God’s favor? Have I been good enough? Have I been obedient enough? Such questions are quite natural and they reflect a conditional way of thinking about our relationship with God. Such thinking is also reinforced when we read chapters like Leviticus 26 which outlines the blessings and the curses of the covenant. It’s tempting to assume everything rests on our obedience, including our eternal destiny. But such thinking betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of God, His covenant, and what He’s done for us in Jesus Christ.
The Israelites didn’t initiate this covenant. God did. In fact, if you remember, when God first made this covenant with His people it was while Abraham was asleep. God committed Himself to Abraham and his descendants, walking through the pieces of the animals to seal His promise. After delivering His people from slavery in Egypt, He reinforces His covenant by giving them the Law. The Law is not just a list of what they can and cannot do. It’s frames a covenantal way of life. A way of walking before the Lord in faithfulness and gratitude for all He has done. When God lays out the “blessings and curses”, it’s not a threat but simply describing the reality of what will happen if Israel chooses to abandon or walk in rebellion to the covenant God has made. Think of them as natural consequences for the decisions they make. Obviously, God wants to walk with them and bless them and support them but they must want these same things as well. Thankfully, the covenant doesn’t rely on their perfect obedience or performance because even when the incur the curses, God makes a way for the covenant to be renewed through repentance and restoration.
Fast forward two thousand years. We who live on this side of the death and resurrection of Jesus enjoy an even greater freedom for all the curses of our disobedience - past, present, and future - have fallen on God’s one and only Son. On the cross, Jesus literally became cursed on our behalf so we might live in the blessing of God. At the same time, if we want to experience that blessing, we must walk in the blessing. We cannot live a life apart from God and expect to experience the blessing of His presence. It’s not that He’s gone anywhere, of course, it’s that our ability to perceive Him is clouded by our life of sin. Thankfully, God provides the same path back to Him that He provided Israel. Confession. Repentance. Reconciliation. Make your peace with God today.
Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 3-5