Why the End Times (The Blessings and Curses of the Law. part 3)

We have seen the choosing of Abraham as the one through whom the ultimate seed (Jesus) would come. God made a covenant with him, and through him, to his son Isaac, and then Jacob to multiply their descendants after them, and give them what is known as the "promised land."

 

The next covenant that needs to be looked at is the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai, the Mosaic covenant. 

'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel."

Exodus 19:5-6 NASB 

This covenant unlike the Abrahamic covenant required obedience from Israel if they were to be blessed by God. What I would like to focus on in this post is how Israel's faithfulness to the LORD would affect their ability to remain in the land. All of this is spelled out in a couple sections that pertain to the blessings for obedience, and the curses for disobedience. 

According to these passages Israel's ability to remain in the land promised to them in the covenant made with Abraham was contingent upon their faithfulness to the covenant God made with them at Sinai. Here is what many perceive to be a dilemma. If the land promise was an irrevocable promise, how can Israel's obedience or disobedience effect this promise?

Is God unfaithful?

There are several passages of scripture that show how this works out. Leviticus 26:1-13, and Deuteronomy 28:1-14 contain blessings that Israel can expect if they as a nation walk in obedience to the LORD.  And the consequences for disobedience can be found in Leviticus 26:24-39, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68. 

To briefly sum it up, if Israel turns from the LORD and falls into idolatry they will face various disasters and ultimately be driven from their land and dispersed among the nations.  Their ability to remain in the land hinges upon their obedience. Yet as we read on we find that if they repent of their sin God will forgive them, and bring them back.

"If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me-I also was acting in hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies-or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land."

Leviticus 26:40-42 NASB 

"So shall it be when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you, if your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers."

Deuteronomy 30:1-5 NASB

God's covenant with Abraham remains in spite of the fact that Israel turns away from Him. The giving of the Law ( the Old Covenant) does not negate the covenant with Abraham (Galatians 3:16-18). They might not be able to remain in the land, but because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land is still theirs. His judgement is not only punitive, it is the  means to bring them to the end of themselves, to the point of repentance. Then, the LORD will restore them to their land again.

We have seen this play out through history. The Assyrian empire took away the northern ten tribes of Israel followed by the Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah years later. Yet we read Daniel's prayer of confession in Daniel 9:1-19, and then read of their release from Babylon. Israel was dispersed by the Roman government in 70 AD and for almost two thousand years scattered among the nations where they suffered times of immense persecution. Yet in more recent times they have returned to the land where they remain today. The Bible foretells of one more time of desolation that is to come. This is time of tribulation will be the event that brings Israel as a nation to the point of repentance. Read what is prophecied in Deuteronomy 4:25-31

"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and acted corruptly, and make an idol  in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you. There you will serve gods the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you not destroy you not forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them."