CURSES FOR DISOBEDIENCE

Previously in this COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY, we’ve spent a lot of time previewing the blessings that come to those nations that obey God’s commands.

Deuteronomy Chapter 28 is speaking specifically about the nation of Israel; but we do know that we are serving an unchanging God, and the promises that He promised Israel would most likely also apply to believers of today. This is because Christians have been grafted into the Old Olive Tree called Israel by the blood of Christ which has allowed us to become the adopted sons and daughter’s of God.

A SPIRITUAL NATION; NOT A PHYSICAL NATION

Of course, Christianity isn’t a physical nation like ancient Israel was and still is today.

The present nations of our world are now mixed with both Christians and non-Christians; so some of us living as Christians today ARE different from ancient Israel in this way; even if we know for sure that there is a very strong possibility that many of us could possibly be physical descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel.

At the present time; Christianity can not operate and move as a whole nation under God in the same way that ancient Israel did. We must live side-by-side in peace and harmony among many people who do not believe as we do. This holy nation that we desire will only happen when Christ returns and sets up His millennial kingdom on earth at the end of time as we now know it.

Most of us feel that time is growing closer and closer; but only The Father knows for sure. I mention this because as we study the flip-side of the blessings of Israel and we begin to consider the curses for disobedience; we will be noting that the curses of Israel play into a future world prophesy as well as confirm the history of the people that became the nation of Israel in the days of Moses.

THINKING ETERNALLY

To be a descendant of the lost ten tribes of Israel would be a wonderful thing to know; but please don’t consider that to be a free meal ticket to eternal life. There is only one door to the gates of eternity for both Jews and Gentiles alike, and that is the doorway that opens to us through Jesus Christ; The Messiah.

He is the way, the truth and the light.

Follow Him and you will not have to worry about your heritage one way or the other. He will be more concerned about the condition of your soul and the spiritual inheritance that salvation brings to all of his followers, than your physical heritage.

Following Jesus will make you an official member of The Great Family of God. No matter the blood running through your veins; His blood will cover you and it is all that is required to be a part of God’s family tree.

CURSES FOR DISOBEDIENCE

It is true that any nation truly and deliberately following the word of God will be blessed, both in the present and in the times to come in eternity. That is always our favorite part of this very balanced equation which we all love to dwell upon. The blessings are the desires of our hearts.

There is another side of the same equation though.

For every blessing for obedience there is also a curse for disobedience.

God wanted Moses to be very sure that the people understood this.

Today; we will look at this flip-side of obedience for ONE LAST TIME before the death of Moses.

OUR ACTIONS BRING CONSEQUENCES

For Israel, it was just as necessary to understand the curses as the blessings. Again; the same holds true for us; because God’s laws always bring blessings and curses; according to how we live them out. This will also open our eyes to any areas we might need to change as a people who follow God in the present world.

The curses are listed in Deuteronomy Chapter 28. Their applications are clearly God’s way of dealing with the disobedient, or those who choose not to follow God’s commandments and decrees which are plainly spelled out in the Torah.

ALL THINGS FROM GOD SHOW HIS LOVE

Strange as it sounds; the curses are also an act of love from God to his people. He knew they might make some wrong decisions along the way and there needed to be a way to make them think beyond their wrong decisions; so that they would repent and return to God in the end.

The curses could be compared to a parent punishing a child in order to protect them from their lack of knowledge about life until they have matured into an adult. Sometimes punishments are hard and we suffer; but if we turn and return to God; they are what we need for changes that will come about in no other way.

Here is a brief summary of these curses for disobedience:

1. You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
2. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
3. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
4. You will be cursed in your coming in and in your going out.
5. The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.
6. The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are coming to possess. It will be a wasting disease with fever and inflammation.
7. The LORD will send scorching heat and drought.
8. The LORD will send blight and mildew to plague you until you perish.
9. The sky will be bronze and the ground will turn to iron.
10. The rain of your country will turn into dust and powder that will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
11. You will be defeated by your enemies. You will come at them from one direction and flee from them in seven directions.
12. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
13. Your carcasses will become food for the birds and wild animals and no one will frighten them away.
14. The LORD will inflict you with the boils of Egypt and with festering sores and the itch that cannot be cured.
15. You will become mad and blind and confused in your mind.
16. At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark.
17. You will be unsuccessful in everything that you set out to do.
18. You will be oppressed and robbed and no one will rescue you.
19. The women you want to marry will be raped and taken from you.
20. Your homes will be taken from you.
21. Someone else will drink the produce of your vineyards and eat the food of your livestock.
22. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation and you will cry for them to no avail.
23. A people unknown to you will take everything away from you and you will become oppressed for all of your days.
24. You will see sights that will drive you mad.
25. You will be afflicted by boils from the soles of your feet up to your head; and it will not be curable.
26. God will drive you and your leaders to a nation that is unknown to you and there you will worship gods of wood and stone. In that place you will become a thing of horror and a byword and an object of ridicule in the land where you will go.
27. Locust will devour the seeds you plant and worms will eat away your vineyards.
28. The olives will drop off your olive trees and keep you from having oil.
29. Foreigners will rise above you and consider you the lowest of people. They will lend to you but you will not be able to lend to anyone. They will be the head and you will be the tail.
30. Because you did not obey the LORD when he blessed you and you were prosperous in the land; he will send your enemies to destroy you. They will be a sign and wonder to you and your descendants forever.
31. You will have an iron yoke about your neck until you are destroyed. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked and poor.
32. The LORD will bring a far away nation against you, like an eagle swooping down. You will not understand their language. They will take all you have and make you to serve them. There will be no pity for the old or the young.
33. Your high walls will fall and your cities will be taken.
34. Things will become so bad that you will eat your own children for food. Husbands and wives will be cruel to one another and no one will care for their neighbor any more.
35. All of the sickness and plagues of Egypt will continue to fall on you until you are destroyed.
36. You who were once as numerous as the stars in the sky will become very few in number.
37. The LORD will send you back to Egypt on ships in a journey God said He would never let you make again. When you arrive you will offer yourselves as male and female slaves to your enemies; but no one will want you or buy you.

Is it just me; or do the curses seem to be a lot longer than the blessings?

Can you read them without cringing?

All of this could happen to nations that choose not to worship and obey God with their lives.

Could any of these things apply to any of us?

I wonder.

Have you read The Harbinger II yet?

In that book Jonathan Cahn writes about a prophet that predicts the destiny of America. He speaks of many amazing things that could happen; but one of them is described word-for-word like a sentence in this prophetic passage from Deuteronomy. It is the verse that says “a far away nation will come like an eagle swooping down and they will take you to serve them.”

He speaks of the painting on the back of the plane that crashed into the towers on 9/11. It was a painting of an eagle, swooping down. Is this not a very obvious sign from God for our times that we need to repent and turn?

Was 9/11 a result of America’s disobedience to God?

The times have only grown worse since then.

When will we learn?

Last year many, many people gathered on the grounds of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. in order to pray for forgiveness for our nation. That seems like so long ago now. Those were sincere and honest prayers coming from many devoted and devout people; but were they enough?

Have you seen any results of the people of America turning?

The sins that were most clarified, both in the prophetic book by Jonathan Cahn and in the prayers of the people gathered that day in Washington D.C. were those of the murder of innocent children through abortion.

We repented as a nation on that day; but did abortions in the nation stop or even slow down?

They have not, though there is some progress in some laws that are changing. We give thanks for that; but there is so much more that needs to happen.

Is there enough time?

A governing administration that upholds abortion as if it were a type of religion has come to be in power and authority over our nation. This governmental authority has done so much to destroy and tear down everything that the repentance and turning back to God by devout people were trying to prevent. There seems to be no stopping the evil that keeps growing and growing in our nation.

This is only one reason that America’s disobedience will bring curses upon many. There are so many more things that we could bring up and name in detail.

Time is growing very short.

What will happen to us now?

Has the moment now come when this prophesy of the curses for disobedience will once again be fulfilled for a nation?

It is time to fast and pray like we have never prayed before.

Daniel was a great example of one who did this. He realized through study that Israel would be held captive for 70 years and he began to pray to God and beg for mercy and forgiveness for his people. He was aware of the times he was living through in light of God’s scriptures.

Not just Daniel; but also remember Jonah and Nineveh. Think of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider the plights of the returning of Nehemiah and Ezra. There are many lessons in all of the lives of these godly people that could help us move in the right directions in order to help our nation heal from our many sins.

We need to prayerfully study and consider the following scriptures.

Jeremiah 49:22: Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

We must have a clear understanding of what these mean for our future.

Isaiah 11:14: They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

These curses are consequences for our nations sins that will cause us trials and tribulations; but God loves us and will walk us through and help us to overcome if we turn and trust and obey.

Next week we will begin to go deeper into this subject of future prophecy based on these curses of disobedience.

Perhaps just studying and looking at how bad it can be will inspire our people to turn around and consider that God has given us the best ways to live and all we have to do to change the outcome for all of this world is to be obedient and follow the ways of God.