Jesus Christ wants the best for all of mankind. However, His blessings are not free; they have strings attached. There is a cost to every promise He has made to mankind. We must qualify to receive His promised blessings, including salvation, by obeying His Word which He received from the Father–the same Word by which we will all be judged (Jn. 12:47-50). In order to understand why the Lord commands Truth seekers to follow His instructions to the letter, just as Haggai told the Jews, let us examine two statements He made to the children of Israel many generations earlier that prove that He wants all to come to His Truth and to receive all He has for us. In Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 He tells us how to appropriate His blessings in no uncertain terms. These two chapters need neither interpretation nor explanation. In these passages the Lord tells those who have eyes to see and ears to hear exactly how to receive all that He has reserved for man. In those same passages He also tells us how to be denied those promises. Notice that in both blessings and cursings every aspect of life is involved–physical, mental, material, economic, etc. Truth seekers will notice that in Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Haggai the Lord did not say He would continually remind us not to rebel against Him. He would not send prophets and apostles to continually tell us that we are not obeying Him. He simply gives us His Word which we are to study on our own, decide whether or not to obey that Word, then to receive either blessings or cursings accordingly.

As Haggai pointed out to the Jews, in His mercy and longsuffering the Lord had sent them warning after warning using such “natural” disasters as drought, crop failure, famine, disease, etc. They had worked hard and sowed much, only to come away with very little. What they earned they lost or had it blown away. Both church and secular history reveal that the people failed to heed these very clear warnings  from the Lord. As a result of their rebellion against Him the Jews were militarily defeated and enslaved by the Babylonian nation. The Lord tells us in Malachi 3:6: “… I am the Lord; I change not.” His treatment of the Jews, His identical treatment of their Israelite brethren some 130 years earlier and His treatment of professing Christianity in these end times are the same. What was said of the Lord anciently holds true today: “In Him there is no shadow of turning.” The formula for receiving His blessings or cursings is as it has always been: obey Him and be blessed; disobey Him and be cursed. Continue to obey Him and continue to be blessed; continue to disobey Him and continue to be cursed. World and Biblical history prove that He has never wavered from that perfect formula which the church refuses to believe.  The Truth that the Lord does not change is a Truth the world, especially the so-called Christian world, is about to learn the hard way. God is calling out to religious man in these last days to repent and turn to Him in total repentance, faith and obedience. Is anyone listening? L.J.