Leviticus 26:14-16 (ESV)
Punishment for Disobedience
“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Throughout the book of Leviticus we have read laws and precepts that the nation is to follow to please God. We read laws about worship and sacrifice. We read laws about how to care for the nation regarding leprosy. We read laws about sexual practices. We read laws about picking up sticks on the Sabbath. In the above passage Moses comes to a close in listing all the laws they are to follow. In these verses and the ones that follow, Moses is addressing what will happen if you don’t obey the laws. The above passage begins a long list of the fallout if they (Israel) decides to not obey God’s Word. And, eventually they don’t obey Him. God will bring all these curses on them from their disobedience. God will discipline them for disobeying Him. Note that at the end of the above passage is one reason God will discipline them. He states, “And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will see it.” The main reason for their discipline is because God is holy and their disobedience toward a holy and righteous God is always condemned. But, another reason is that Israel was supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. They were to be the one who lives in an honorable manner so that they Gentiles would glorify God. When they disobey God this brings shame to God. When the representative is tainted it makes the One they represent tainted.
The same is true today. The Church is to be the light to the Gentile world. Note how Peter stated it in his first letter:
1 Peter 2:9-12 (ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
God wants His people to live in a way that brings glory and honor to God. When we don’t we not only disobey God and violate His holiness, we also fail to be the representative we are required to be for Him. That brings discipline. Again, note Peter’s words:
1 Peter 4:16-18 (ESV)
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
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