L26-1: Obeying or disobeying God’s commands always brings consequences with them

Leviticus 25 represented the end of the law giving and the establishment of holy rituals.

Now in Leviticus 26, which  we begin today, we are given a sort of a summarization of all that came before with the key theme being OBEY ME AND BE BLESSED OR DISOBEY ME AND BE PUNISHED.

The first three verses of this chapter begins with a short list of the core principles YHWH established.

-NO IDOL WORSHIP

-I YHWH AM TO BE YOUR GOD

-OBEY MY SABBATHS

-HANDLE THE TABERNACLE CAREFULLY ACCORDING TO MY INSTRUCTIONS

There are a couple of reasons why YHWH cherry picked these four points to focus on.

First, the Israelites still had a pagan mindset.

Although they may have left Egypt, Egypt still remained inside of them.

The Israelites were still struggling with idol worship and multiple god worship.

And they still weren’t observing the Sabbath that YHWH had established since the beginning of the world.

It was all of these sins that compromised the strict barriers between the COMMON and the HOLY the Lord had established with regards to His Tabernacle.

Second, these four principles neatly summarize and spell out the essence of Israel’s relationship with YHWH. 

From verse 3, YHWH makes it clear that IF you follow my laws (the Torah), you will be blessed.

From verse 14, we’re given the other side of the divine equation.

Namely, if you BREAK my commandments, then expect all hell to break loose.

This is a point the gentile church seems to have completely forgotten.

Obeying or disobeying God’s commands always brings consequences with them.

There isn’t a neutral position we can escape to.

Obedience will always bring positive consequences and disobedience will always bring negative consequences.

The consequence of our obedience or disobedience may not manifest immediately, but trust me they will come.

If God’s Word is true, there will be no escaping the consequences.

The TORAH calls the positive fruit of obedience “blessings” and calls the bitter fruit of disobedience “curses“.

Understand this.

The primary message of the TORAH, actually no, let me rephrase, the primary message of the whole Bible has always been this:

Obedience to the Law brings us life with God.

Disobedience to the Law brings separation of God.

Any message that would preach or teach otherwise is anti-God and anti-Messiah.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

A man approached Yeshua and said,
“Rabbi, what good thing should I do
in order to have eternal life?”
He said to him,
“Why are you asking me about good?
There is One who is good!
But if you want to obtain eternal life,
observe the commands.”
The man asked him, “Which ones?”
and Yeshua said,
“Don’t murder,
don’t commit adultery,
don’t steal,
don’t give false testimony,
honor father and mother 
and love your neighbor as yourself.
-Matthew 19:16-19