Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Leviticus 26:27-46
A nation must be careful when seeking change unless that change is God honoring. It is one thing for people to change their careers or goals or beliefs, but when a whole nation of people is driven to change we must be careful. What kind of change are we asking for? Only a strong and godly foundation can support godly changes. But when it is that godly foundation that the people want removed then we are living in dangerous times. When God’s word is suppressed and or removed from the nation’s conscience, everyone becomes a law unto themselves and in short this becomes a greenhouse where evil grows.
The foundation of Israel was undermined by those within that nation who did not want to follow God’s word any longer and this included the apostate prophets. As a matter of fact it was the prophets who led the people away from God. When the values of the people changed their leadership simply reflected that change, just as it does here in America. Rather than their leaders saying we will not support places of idol worship, they gave in. Rather than the prophets decrying idolatry, they assisted with idolatry.
Micah was a contemporary prophet of Isaiah. He prophesied to the Northern Kingdom, Israel, in the eighth century between 740 and 721 B.C. This was prior to Israel’s overthrow in 721 B.C. by Assyria.
Micah called on Israel to repent and to fear the Lord and to put away her idolatry; that is, the things Israel put before God. But as you can see in Mic.2:6 he and the rest of the righteous prophets were told to prophesy not. God’s people were reduced to a small remnant, 2:12 as the others of their nation clamored for something new and exciting.
The Hebrew word used here for prophesy, nifil, means to cause to drip or drop and lends itself to an unfavorable connotation such as to prate or harp on something or to deem some speech as utter drivel. This is what the people thought of Micah’s preaching.
Conversely from Mic.3:5-12, we see the false prophets were listened to, even though they caused the people to err.
Getting along with their neighboring countries, which involved adopting their gods and evil ways, was more important than staying faithful unto God. They forgot God’s blessings and turned their backs on him, and because of this he turned his back on Israel, Mic.3:4. The preachers of that day thought getting along with everyone mattered more than the truth.
When they sacrificed the truth they turned the people’s hearts away from God. Hearts not filled with truth are filled with error and deception.
Cycle Five Review... then the final blow.
Lev.26:27-46; Deut.28:49-68
With Israel’s spiritual breakdown followed establishment law breakdown.
Cycle One - Lev.26:14-17 unfounded fears, economic downturns, untold illnesses
Cycle Two - Lev.26:18-20 all of the above increased 7 times, along with a non-productive economy. There will be a false sense of spirituality, great zeal with no knowledge in the land.
Cycle Three - Lev.26:21-22 all of the above increased 7 times, along with higher crime rates including an exploding violent youth population.
Cycle Four - Lev.26:23-26 all of the above increased 7 times, along with many stagnant wars, starvation, and a huge trade deficit, economic recession and high inflation.
Cycle Five - Lev.26:27-46 all of the above increased until the invasion and occupation by the enemy came. To this day Israel is still in her third and last dispersion.
Each successive cycle of national divine discipline brings with it a greater defeated attitude, along with a weaker military, and social unrest and gross immorality. The remnant of positive believers becomes smaller and the spin off of apostate believers snowballs.
Desperate People Do Desperate Things
When a nation is occupied and overtaken by an aggressive evil nation such as Assyria did to the Northern kingdom of Israel there is no limit to the carnage and inhumane conditions placed upon the occupied and enslaved people.
As noted in Lev.26:29; II Kings 6:26-30, the people resorted to cannibalism during extreme hunger. The moral code once written upon the souls of the people, and adhered to that had kept them alert to danger and upright in conduct was now defunct. It was so scarred over with sin that anything was possible. In a panic situation people revert to their base instinct.
When people become desperate they will do desperate things, things unimaginable even to themselves.
The way to prevent getting into so many desperate situations is to maintain ones vigilance and self-discipline. Preparedness is the cure for preventing most crises. Doctrinal preparedness is the key to the believer’s success in the angelic-conflict, I Pet.5:7-9.
God’s word prepares his people’s hearts for the things that lie ahead. His word will either be preventive in heading off a future problem or it will be corrective in straightening out a current problem before it gets worse. God can save us from much heartache if we are biblically indoctrinated and are on positive volition to his will.
Spiritual preventive practices, i.e. the completed edification complex, Phil.4:7,9, is God’s sure fire way of protecting his people and reducing unnecessary suffering.
Lazy believers think it is God’s responsibility to take up the slack for their poor decisions.
Israel was spiritually lazy, and when her calamity came she panicked and then fell.
v. 30 Calamity came first to the divided kingdom Israel, in 721 B.C. and Judah, the southern kingdom in 586 B.C. And eventually in 70 A.D. Jerusalem fell under Roman occupation. This was the final dispersion of the Jewish people. It is said that 1.9 million people died during the ninety day siege in 70 A.D.
v. 31 Jerusalem was eventually crushed and laid desolate and her Judaistic worship was ignored by God and still is to this day. From 30 A.D. when Jesus Christ began his public ministry up to 70 A.D. when Jerusalem fell there was a forty year generation of opportunity. An opportunity for spiritual blessings was offered by Christ, but rejected. After Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection an opportunity to repent was given as Paul, Peter and others called for Israel’s repentance and restoration to God. But, Israel refused, and she tried to hide her shame under her robes of religious ritual, and her Semitic bloodline. It did not work. God was not impressed. Just as today God is not impressed with all of the religious ritual and ceremony, “ I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.”
He is not impressed with all of man’s good works. He is only impressed with himself.
Occupation and suffering will go on until God’s remedy is accepted.
Lev.26:40-42
If the people would admit their wrong doing, and stop blaming God for their misery and confess that God was just in punishing them for what they had become, then God said he would restore them.
When they take it upon themselves to let the word of God change them, then God will remember them, and when he is ready he will restore them.
Until they are restored and have the capacity to appreciate and promote God’s ways then his grace would be all sufficient for them. The captured suffering believer would grow stronger through persecution.
With the climate of our present day national pastime of entertainment and loose living and greediness and religious tolerance and sin tolerance I know we are being disciplined.
We as a people are foolish to not learn from history. We must learn from Israel’s mistakes and not make the same ones ourselves.
What Can We Do?
1] If we want to avoid going into the final cycles of national discipline we believers have got to slow down and give God more of our minds and our hearts. We need to be in good Bible teaching churches where more emphasis is placed on being conformed to Jesus Christ instead of being tempted to look like the world.
2] We have got to speak up when slander is made at God’s word and God’s people. We must remember, we are the sheep of His pasture. We are God’s ambassadors. Our Lord never placed his people in the witness protection plan, we are supposed to be in the witness promotion plan.
3] We must develop a biblical viewpoint corresponding with divine viewpoint. Too often men say they speak on God’s behalf, but they misrepresent God’s word or they spin it to fit their agendas. We need to see our contemporary circumstances both locally and nationally in the light of God’s word.
4] We should pray for God’s wisdom to apply what we have learned. The application of biblical principles in our own homes and lives will encourage others to do the same.
5] We should pray for our local and national leaders.
6] Witness to others as a habit of life. Tell them the wonderful story of Jesus Christ and his saving power. Tell them that hope lies beyond this life and because it does we have reason to rejoice. We have reason to be encouraged for God will bless those who honor him with their lives. This honorable life will be the life God will use to chart new freedoms in America and abroad.
7] Watch what we bring into the Church. After all, the believer is the church and Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. Let us not be guilty of undermining the word of God to promote ourselves. Let us not take for granted just how precious God, word is. Amos prophesied that the day would come for Israel when she would have a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, and the people would run from sea to sea and look to and fro for the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it, Amos 8:11-12 paraphrase. That day came for both Israel and Judah. That day is ahead for America if we do not admit our need for God’s word.
II Chronicles 7:14