Hello, John and Doves,
God’s Law is still in effect, having been fulfilled in Christ.
This means that the curses are mitigated, reduced, or even eliminated for those who turn to Christ for salvation.
And also, He will fulfill all His covenants, because each new Covenant includes the old ones plus more blessings.
Finally,
HaShem [“The Name” = YHVH] Himself promises the Ruach HaKodesh [The
Holy Spirit] to enable us to fulfill those mitzvot [commandments of the
Law = elements of the Law] that are left to us by the Brit Hadasha [New
Covenant = “New Testament”].
It is written,
Blessings for Obedience
1“If
you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands
that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above
all the nations of the world. 2You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:
3Your towns and your fields
will be blessed.
4Your children and your crops
will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks
will be blessed.
5Your fruit baskets and breadboards
will be blessed.
6Wherever you go and whatever you do,
you will be blessed.
7“The
Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack
you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!
8“The
Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your
storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he
is giving you.
9“If
you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the
Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. 10Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.
11“The
Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to
give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and
abundant crops. 12The
Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the
heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many
nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. 13If
you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you
today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head
and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.
14You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 NLT
However, you cannot have light without darkness in this world.
Therefore, it is written,
Curses for Disobedience
15“But
if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the
commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come
and overwhelm you:
16Your towns and your fields
will be cursed.
17Your fruit baskets and breadboards
will be cursed.
18Your children and your crops
will be cursed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks
will be cursed.
19Wherever you go and whatever you do,
you will be cursed.
20“The
Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in
everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing
evil and abandoning me. 21The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. 22The
Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation,
with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These
disasters will pursue you until you die. 23The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. 24The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.
25“The
Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack
your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in
seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.
27“The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. 29You
will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the
darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and
robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.
30“You
will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You
will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a
vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. 31Your
ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single
bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be
returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one
will be there to help you. 32You
will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your
heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. 33A
foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked
so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh
treatment. 34You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. 35The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.
36“The
Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your
ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! 37You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.
38“You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. 39You
will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine
or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. 40You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. 41You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. 42Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.
43“The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. 44They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!
45“If
you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and
decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you
until you are destroyed. 46These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. 47If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, 48you
will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will
be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will
put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has
destroyed you.
49“The
Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth,
and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose
language you do not understand, 50a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. 51Its
armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed.
They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs,
and you will starve to death. 52They
will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the
walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all
the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.
53“The
siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe
that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the
Lord your God has given you. 54The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. 55He
will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of
one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the
siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your
towns. 56The
most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so
much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the
husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. 57She
will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so
that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to
eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict
on all your towns.
58“If
you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in
this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the
Lord your God, 59then
the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable
plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you
miserable and unbearably sick. 60He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. 61The
Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even
those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are
destroyed. 62Though
you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left
because you would not listen to the Lord your God.
63“Just
as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and
multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be
torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. 64For
the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the
earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you
nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! 65There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. 66Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. 67In
the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening
you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by
the awful horrors you see around you. 68Then
the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I
promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell
yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
While
verse 68 is a necessary consequence for disobedience on a massive
scale. It should be clear to the reader that the God desires life, not
death.
[Deuteronomy 30:11-20, Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel 33:10-20, John 3:16-21, John 10:10]
Since we instinctively know that God does not retract His promises, it is no surprise to find it written,
The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Romans 11:29
Again, it is written,
For
no matter how many promises God has made, they are all in Christ,
“Yes!”, and in Him our “Amen” ascends to Heaven to God’s glory.
2 Corinthians 1:20
So then it is no wonder that it is written,
A Call to Holy Living
13So
think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious
salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the
world. 14So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”c
17And
remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He
will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in
reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” 18For
you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you
inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold
or silver. 19It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.
21Through
Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith
and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him
great glory.
22You
were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must
show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.d Love each other deeply with all your heart.e
23For
you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your
new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living
word of God. 24As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25But the word of the Lord remains forever.”f
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:13-25 NLT
For God’s part, the joy of giving us eternal blessings in His unquenchable light is balanced by the darkness of the Cross.
For it is written,
1My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
2Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.
3Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4Our ancestors trusted in you,
and you rescued them.
5They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
Psalm 22:1-5 NLT
Again, it is written,
God’s Discipline Proves His Love
1Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life
of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially
the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.a Because of the joyb awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;c then you won’t become weary and give up. 4After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
5And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?d He said,
“My child,e don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”f
7As
you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as
his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by
its father? 8If
God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means
that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9Since
we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we
submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and
live forever?g
Hebrews 12:1-9 NLT
So, then, we
have a firm foundation to understand these words of Yeshua HaMashiach
that He spoke to His faithful eleven on the night before He went to the
Cross [Judas having been excused from table—John 13:27]:
Jesus, the True Vine
1“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He
cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes
the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4Remain
in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if
it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you
remain in me.
5“Yes,
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in
them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6Anyone
who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and
withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
9“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I
no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his
slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the
Father told me. 16You
didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce
lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for,
using my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:1-17 NLT
To finally feel secure about this new-found responsibility and authority in Christ, we need to realize two things.
Thing the first:
Spiritual Blessings
3All
praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are
united with Christ. 4Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5God
decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to
himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave
him great pleasure. 6So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.b 7He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10And
this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together
under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,c for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
12God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13And
now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God
saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his ownd by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The
Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he
promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this
so we would praise and glorify him.
Ephesians 1:3-14 NLT
Thing the second:
22Notice
how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who
disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But
if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. 23And
if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted
in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. 24You,
by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was
willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his
cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original
branches back into the tree where they belong.
God’s Mercy Is for Everyone
25I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters,g
so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of
Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number
of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,
“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem,h
and he will turn Israeli away from ungodliness.
27And this is my covenant with them,
that I will take away their sins.”j
28Many
of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this
benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he
chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. 30Once,
you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel
rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. 31Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will sharek in God’s mercy. 32For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.
33Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
34For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give him advice?l
35And who has given him so much
that he needs to pay it back?m
36For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
Romans 11:22-36 NLT
~Blessings,
Mike