In Leviticus 26:12 and Deuteronomy 28:13 respectively we find God telling His Chosen People, His light to the world–the ancient Israelites–the following: “And I will walk among you and I will be your God and you will be My people” and “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath.”  The Creator of the universe would place His Tabernacle among them and walk (live) among them.  In the previous verses (1-11 and 1-12 respectively) He had promised to bless the Israilites, along with the biological Gentiles who had become spiritual Israelites, in every way possible.  Every aspect of their lives would be receive His blessings–IF …. 

Not even the angels could avoid the “IF” CAVEAT (CONDITION).  As the old saying goes, “Their is no free lunch.”  Everything has a price; someone has to pay it.  Contrary to universal religious opinion: JESUS DID NOT SUFFER AND DIE SO THAT MAN SIN AND GET AWAY WITH IT.  HE DIED SO AS TO GIVE MAN THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE POWER TO OVERCOME SATAN’S TEMPTATIONS TO SIN.  This is what He was referring to in Matthew 7:13,14 where He noted that there are two “gates” and two “ways” from which man must choose.  The strait (difficult) gate and the narrow (restrictive) way is His way and leads to eternal life.  The wide (easy) way and the broad (sinning) way is Satan’s way and leads to eternal death.  Both the God of the strait gate and the god of the wide gate promise eternal life.  One gate and way are true while the other is counterfeit–a “knock-off” of the real.   “Few” enter God’s gate and walk His way; “many” enter Satan’s gate and walk his way.  To calculate Satan’s success, look in any phone book under “CHURCHES,” and count.

The all-encompassing “IF” caveat is what separates true church sheep from false church goats. Like sheep and goats in a field and good and bad fish in a lake, they are together relative to location.  Whether one is a sheep or a bad fish determines whether or not the Biblical God is one’s God and whether or not one is God’s child.  Correspondingly, that same “IF” determines whether or not the promises of Leviticus 26:1-11 and Deuteronomy 28:1-12 refer to the salvation seeker.  Let us view the first dozen or so verses of each reference generally to see what that monumental two-letter word is all about.  We will find that “IF” is the most important word in the entire Bible.

Generally speaking, the all-important word separates those who are Christ’s brethren and friends.  He defines His spiritual brethren as “… they who obey the will of My Father in heaven” (Mat. 12:46-50), and His “friends” as they who “… do whatsoever I command you” (Jn. 15:13,14).  In these two references carefully notice the words “do,” “command,” “obey” and “will,” along with the unspoken but all-important word “IF.”   The message is clear: “IF” His followers obeyed Him and His Father He would do those things“FOR” them.

Now let us study what Jesus said He would do “TO” salvation seekers who would not obey and therefore would not be His spiritual brethren and friends.  Remember that God’s dealing with ancient Israel serves as the example of how He would deal with their spiritual descendants (1 Cor. 10:11).  Look at the world today.  Does the mess we have been living in for generations tell you anything?  Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, Matthew 24 and the entire Book of Revelation explain everything.  Let us examine those chapters, those verses and the book in order to learn why the entire world is going belly up.  However, God offers a way to avoid the curses promised in them.  He characterizes those who avoid them through obedience this way: “Your enemies will come at you one way and flee seven ways” (Deut. 28:7) and “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night (sickness) nor the arrow that flies by day (war), nor the pestilence (epidemic) that walks in the darkness, not (nature’s) destruction that wastes by day.  A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it (enemies listed above) will not come near you (Ps. 91:5-7).  One will notice that all of the above attack, defeat, kill, maim and destroy the churched and the unchuched alike.  Read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, Matthew 24:1-4; 21,22 and the book of Revelation in order to fully understand the importance of the word “IF.” 

Let us give credit where credit is due.  Let us understand that man is the ultimate decider of his own fate.  God has judged actions, thoughts and words.  He has assigned them titles: holy or evil.  He has also assigned to them their end results: life or death.  He has designated them as blessings or cursings during the time leading up to the end.  It is man who makes the ultimate decision whether to be holy or evil, to earn life or death, to be blessed or cursed.  Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 offer the entire enterprise in condensed form, complete with play-by-play written narratives relative to the decisions man makes.  To man goes the credit for how his life is lived and what the final outcome will be.  God simply reacts to man’s decisions.  The beauty of it all is that He tells man ahead of time what his reactions will be.  If only man would listen.  L.J.