Leviticus 26 - The Covenant

Are we aware of America’s covenant with God? This covenant holds the blessings of prosperity, posterity and divine protection, and the curses of plagues, slavery, and death. As a result of our ancestors' desire to follow God and their collective obedience, America became the most blessed and powerful nation in the world. Today our power and position as head of the nations is declining. Indeed America is ripening for judgement.  

The fact that God makes covenants with leaders and nations is nothing new, and shouldn’t be surprising because God is our father and He desires to bless us. God made his covenant with every generation of man from Adam, to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, to David, to Jesus, to Peter, to the Christian nations and Jews that exist today. In our modern society, many are unaware or have forgotten that the sword of God’s justice protects or destroys based on obedience to this covenant. 

If you doubt God’s covenant presides over America, examine the founding of America with me for a moment. America's covenant history begins with the Puritans, fleeing persecution from the Church of England they first arrived in the blessed lands of America in 1620. They covenanted with God to be more faithful and true to Christ’s teachings than the Anglican Church of the day was and establish a holy city on a hill.

Seeking personal property and freedom from the oppressive hand of the King of England, the colonists covenanted with God for aid and inspiration as they sought to build a government that would serve the interests of its citizens. The Declaration of Independence was signed by all 13 colonies in 1776, with it they declared to the world that their Creator had endowed all men with unalienable rights.

During the war the colonists were miraculously preserved by God because of obedience to their covenant with the Creator. They won the war and were free to pursue life, liberty and happiness. 

When the United States was organized each individual state constitution mentioned God at least once and nearly 200 times overall (Pew Research Center). The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States is not only a pledge to the country but a pledge to God as the founder of our nation and the source of our liberties. Even our currency proclaims we trust in God. Despite all of this history and evidence that we are a nation bound to God by covenant, Satan has used the media to convince Americans to believe the lie that God doesn’t exist and that America was never a Christian nation. Consequently, the hearts of the people have turned away from God to the worship of idols that come in the forms of materialism, pleasure, the praise of men, etc. to name a few. Americans have lost sight of what is most meaningful in life and have become weak because we actively rebel against God.

Only the collective repentance of our society will save our beloved nation America from her impending covenant curses. This collective repentance starts with each individual American, acknowledging that we have sinned against the Lord, that his judgements are just and that we desperately need Jesus.

Each of us must choose to stand up and take responsibility for the awful situation in our country. God demands it for repentance. It is our duty to warn our neighbors. Even if nobody listens to your voice, if we individually return to God’s then God can still bless you and your family with His covenant. You can qualify for divine protection through obedience.

Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we can trust that God will interact with his covenant nations that exist today the same way he interacted with his covenant nations anciently.

Moses, who spoke with God, administered this covenant to the ancient Israelites. In Leviticus they were promised prosperity, posterity, and divine protection if they obeyed; but if they disobeyed the then opposite of these covenant blessings, or the covenant curses, would fall upon them. God’s people went through times of obedience and disobedience and the hand of God blessed or cursed them to the extent of their actions.

In Leviticus chapter 26, Moses reiterates the covenant that the people made with God and its terms. 

What God wants from us (Leviticus 26:1-3):

• Verse 1: no idol worship - The acquisition of the material and honors of men must never become an end in and of themselves, but acquired only to employ them in the service of God. We exist to serve our God and we serve God by serving our fellow brother and sister. 

• Verse 2: Keep the sabbath & reverence my sanctuary. (Because you must take time to remember what I am building you into. What I have designed for you. 

• Verse 3: Walk in my statutes, keep my commandments, and do them. 

Promised blessings based on obedience (Leviticus 26:4-13):

• Verse 4: Prosperity - Sufficient rain every season, the land will produce abundantly, the trees will yield abundant good fruit.

• Verse 5: Prosperity & Divine Protection - You will have an abundance of food in every season of food production, you will dwell in safety.

• Verse 6: Divine Protection - You will be blessed with peace, you will not be afraid when you lie down to sleep, wild beasts will leave the land, the sword will not come through your land. 

• Verses: 7&8 Divine Protection - Your enemies will fall by the sword, 5 will chase 100, and 100 will put 10,000 to flight.

• Verse 9-10: Posterity & Prosperity - God will multiply his people in number, in might, and in success, More food than you can eat.

• Verse 11-12: The Presence and Favor of the Lord

• Verse 13: Freedom from Physical (slavery) and Mental Bondage (Iniquity)

Promised Curses based on disobedience (Leviticus 26:14-45)

• Verses 14-15: If you stop listening, if you stop walking in all my commandments, or if you despise my statues or abhor my judgments which lead to you breaking my commandments then…

• Verses 16: I will send terror, consumption, burning, sorrow, and give your crops to enemies,

• verse 17: God will actively fight against you, you will be slain by enemies, ruled by people that hate you, you will be afraid.

• Verse 18: If you do not return to me after being punished then I will punish you to the furthest extent. 

• Verses 19-39: Every bad and horrible thing you can imagine that could happen to you ill happen to you if you don’t repent.

• Verses 40-45: I will not completely destroy the seed of Abraham because of my covenant with him. The blessings of the Lord are tied to obedience. 

Because God loves us (John 3:16) He uses mortality to help His children learn that wickedness cannot lead to lasting happiness. Learning how to be obedient to God’s law and word, the instruction manual for lasting happiness, refines the children of God. This process transforms all who are willing to change into the sons and daughters of God, Obedient, Redeemed, and Holy without spot. 

Let's Be Christians!