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I'll begin reading in chapter 
26 at verse 1. You shall not make idols for 
yourselves, neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall 
you rear up for yourselves, nor shall you set up an engraved 
stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the Lord your 
God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and 
reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you walk in 
my statutes and keep my commandments and perform them, then I will 
give you rain in its season. The land shall yield its produce, 
and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing 
shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till 
the time of sowing. You shall eat your bread to the 
full and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, 
and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid. I will 
rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through 
your land. You will chase your enemies and they shall fall by 
the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred 
and a hundred of you shall put 10,000 to flight. Your enemies 
shall fall by the sword before you. For I will look on you favorably 
and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm my covenant with 
you. You shall eat the old harvest and clear out the old because 
of the new. I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not 
abhor you. "'I will walk among you and be 
your God, "'and you shall be my people. "'I am the Lord your 
God, "'who brought you out of the land of Egypt, "'that you 
should not be their slaves. "'I have broken the bands of 
your yoke, "'and made you walk upright. "'But if you do not 
obey me, "'and do not observe all these commandments, "'and 
if you despise my statutes, "'or if your soul abhors my judgments, 
"'so that you do not perform all my commandments, "'but break 
my covenant, I also will do this to you. I will even appoint terror 
over you, wasting disease and fever, which shall consume the 
eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in 
vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against 
you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate 
you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues 
you. And after all this, if you do not obey me, then I will punish 
you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride 
of your power. I will make your heavens like 
iron and your strength like, or your earth like bronze. And 
your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall 
not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their 
fruit. Then, if you walk contrary to 
me and are not willing to obey me, I will bring on you seven 
times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send 
wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, 
destroy your livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways 
shall be desolate. And if by these things you are 
not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will 
walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for 
your sins, and I will bring a sword against you that will execute 
the vengeance of the covenant. When you are gathered together 
within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you 
shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. when I have cut 
off your supply of bread. Ten women shall bake your bread 
in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and 
you shall eat and not be satisfied. And after all this, if you do 
not obey me, but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk 
contrary to you in fury. And I, even I, will chastise 
you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your 
sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy 
your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your 
carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols, and my soul shall 
abhor you. I will lay your cities waste 
and bring your sanctuaries to desolation. And I will not smell 
the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation 
and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. 
I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword 
after you. Your land shall be desolate and 
your cities waste. Then the land shall enjoy its 
Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemy's land. 
Then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as 
it lies desolate, it shall rest. For the time it did not rest 
on your Sabbath when you dwelt in it. And as for those of you 
who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands 
of their enemies. The sound of a shaken leaf shall 
cause them to flee. They shall flee as though fleeing 
from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. They 
shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when 
no one pursues. And you shall have no power to 
stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, 
and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of 
you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your 
enemies' lands. Also in their fathers' iniquities, 
which are with them, they shall waste away. But if they confess 
their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their unfaithfulness 
in which they were unfaithful to me, and that they also have 
walked contrary to me, and that I also have walked contrary to 
them and have brought them into the land of their enemies, if 
their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their 
guilt, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant 
with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, I will remember. I will 
remember the land. The land also shall be left empty 
by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without 
them. They will accept their guilt because they despised my 
judgments and because their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for 
all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will 
not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them to utterly destroy 
them and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their 
God. But for their sake, I will remember 
the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out of the land 
of Egypt in the sight of the nations that I might be their 
God. I am the Lord. These are the statutes and judgments 
and laws which the Lord made between himself and the children 
of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. Amen. As I said, 
last week we looked at the first 13 verses, but considered some 
other things pertaining to covenant theology. Just by way of reminder 
with reference to this section on the promises of God for covenant 
faithfulness in terms of good things in the land, blessing. 
and then God's curse upon them if they go into the land and 
they break covenant. This is not unique to the Bible. This 
was something symptomatic of ancient Near Eastern treaties 
and covenants and that sort of thing. Typically after a covenant 
was given there would be that sort of statement, a summary 
statement, sort of reviewing the parameters and the details 
involved. and outlining the blessings and 
curses for either A, obedience or B, disobedience. We have this 
here in Leviticus 26. There's a parallel in Deuteronomy 
chapter 28 as well. So last time I wanted to look 
at the nature of the covenant with Israel before we looked 
at the blessings of the covenant with Israel. So the nature of 
the covenant with Israel, remember just by way of a working definition, 
Sam Renahan says a covenant is a divinely sanctioned commitment 
defining the relationship between God and another party. And there 
are elements involved in a covenant. You've got parties to the covenant, 
stipulations or laws or commandments or sort of parameters that must 
be kept or obeyed. And then there's the promise 
of blessing, and then the threat of curse. Again, very symptomatic, 
or very typical, rather, of covenants in the ancient Near Eastern world. 
Now, in terms of the covenants that we often think about or 
deal with in terms of covenant theology, you have the theological 
covenants, covenant of redemption, covenant of works, covenant of 
grace. And then you have the historical 
covenants that you find with Noah, and then Abraham, And then 
the nation of Israel, also called the Mosaic Covenant, or the Sinai 
Covenant. And then you have the Davidic 
Covenant and the New Covenant. So those are the farther steps 
of Second London Confession, Chapter 7, Paragraph 3, when 
it talks about the promise. given first in the Garden of 
Eden in Genesis chapter 315 and then that promise is moved along 
by farther steps or the historical covenants until that final realization 
of it comes in the new covenant of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ. Now, I argued last week that the Old Covenant is a covenant 
of works. In fact, you can turn to the 
book of Exodus, chapter 24, where that's quite obvious. At least 
the children of Israel saw it in that particular way. In Exodus, 
chapter 24, we have the ratification of the covenant, and specifically 
at verse 3, we read, So Moses came and told the people all 
the words of the Lord and all the judgment. And all the people 
answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord 
has said, we will do. And then dropping down to verse 
seven, then he took the book of the covenant and read in the 
hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord 
has said, we will do and be obedient. But then we go back to the book 
of Leviticus, we see the same emphasis in Leviticus chapter 
18 in verse 5. The Apostle Paul quotes this 
in Galatians 3 as he sets forth contrasts between the Old Covenant 
and the New Covenant, or that principle of works and that principle 
of faith. And in Leviticus 18 at verse 
5, you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which 
if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. And then 
in Deuteronomy chapter 26, again, a passage quoted by the Apostle 
Paul to show that it is futile to try to approach God based 
on a covenant of works. In Deuteronomy, I'm sorry, 27, 
26, it says, Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the 
words of this law by observing them. And again, Galatians chapter 
3, verse 10, also in the book of Romans. So going back to Leviticus 
chapter 26, we see that motif clearly outlined. If you look 
specifically at verse 1, You have sort of foundational principles 
in verses 1 to 3. It highlights the object of worship 
and fidelity in terms of worship. So notice 26.1, you shall not 
make idols for yourselves, neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar 
shall you rear up for yourselves. nor shall you set up an engraved 
stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your 
God." So again, by way of recapitulation, summarizing in essence the gravity 
of the covenant, you're not supposed to have other gods. No other 
gods before me, no other gods besides me. And then in verse 
two, you shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary, I 
am the Lord. So the way that we maintain fidelity 
to Yahweh is to maintain fidelity with reference to Sabbath and 
sanctuary. And then notice how we can tell 
or how we see that we're dealing with a works covenant. Notice 
in verse three, if you walk in my commandments, then verse four, 
So if you obey the law of God as commanded by God, then you 
will reap the promises associated with that covenant. Then when 
we turn to verse 14, notice the contrast. But if you do not obey 
me and do not observe all these commandments, then basically 
these terrors and horrors will be unleashed upon you. So basically, 
they were told or taught that they needed to obey God. They 
understood that. They swear that fidelity in the 
book of Exodus. They have that principle undergirded 
throughout their time under the tutelage of God. And so this 
is a works covenant. It's not a covenant of grace 
or an administration of the covenant of grace. It is rather a works 
covenant. And there are reasons for that. 
On the one hand, It is to keep and restrain the children of 
Israel so that they don't go hog wild and jeopardize the seed. 
As well, it's typical. What we find in Moses and the 
children of Israel is typical of the coming kingdom of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And as well, it prepares the 
people for the coming of the Messiah. It caused them the faithful 
remnant to continue to look to the promise of God in terms of 
his sending the son of his love in order to save his people from 
their sin. So there's reasons and a rationale 
for it as a covenant of works. Again, Paul deals with that in 
Galatians chapter 3 very specifically. So covenant is a very important 
construct in the Bible. As Renahan says, it's the central 
architecture. It's a structuring device in 
scripture. And then when we come to this 
chapter, we saw the blessings for obedience, specifically in 
verses three to 13. And that brings us tonight to 
the curses of the covenant with Israel in verses 14 to 46. So 
first you have general warnings in verses 14 to 17, then you 
have specific curses stipulated in verses 18 to 39, and then 
you have the promise of restoration conditioned upon their humble 
repentance in verses 40 to 46. So let's look first at the general 
warnings in verses 14 to 17. Notice the condition again, but 
if you do not obey me, Now, if you're thinking about this in 
relation to the New Covenant, we ought to rejoice that the 
Covenant of Grace, what we call the Covenant of Grace, was in 
fact a covenant of works for the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled 
it all. He kept the demands of God. So everything that is written 
here, He did obey. Everything that is written in 
the Law of God, He did do. And He is our representative. 
He is our High Priest. He has the surety of a better 
covenant because of His obedience when we, by God's grace, believe 
we're not only washed in His precious blood, but we're clothed 
in His righteousness. And it's a wonderful thing that 
we have in the New Covenant. Not that the salvation of Christ 
was void in the old covenant. No, the people of God were saved, 
but it wasn't by virtue of the old covenant, it was by virtue 
of the new covenant. They were looking forward to 
the Messiah that was to come. And so the promises of God, as 
Paul tells us, are yea and amen in him. As a result of our covenant 
head, our covenant keeper, basically for us, the covenant of grace 
is the covenant of works, kept for us. So the Lord Jesus was 
born under the law. Born of a woman, born under the 
law. Why? To redeem those who were 
under the law. So when you read these old covenant 
passages, yes, there's a lot to learn. There's a lot to learn 
in terms of God's revelation of His law, of His mind, of His 
will, of His intention for the created order. But, as well, 
when we read this, we ought to read it with this new covenant 
perspective and thank God Most High for the coming of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, our perfect covenant keeper, the one in whom all the 
blessings of God flow to us by virtue of His doing and His dying 
and His rising again. So if you do not obey me, that's 
the condition. And then notice the demand. It's 
not just partial obedience. We oftentimes cite Second London 
Confession 19.1 in reference to obeying the law. It doesn't 
say give it your best shot. Try to get seven out of those 
10 commandments. God's gracious. He grades on 
a curve. Just do the best that you can. Look at what the demand of the 
covenant is. If you do not obey me and do 
not observe all these statutes or all these commandments, it's 
not the case that you get to pick and choose. It's not the 
case that you can forsake exact, entire, and perpetual obedience. That's the obligation placed 
by God upon the people of Israel. And then notice the issue involved. If you despise my statutes or 
if your soul abhors my judgments so that you do not perform all 
my commandments but break my covenant. Again, it couldn't 
be clearer that this is a covenant of works. It's something that 
is viable. It is something that is breakable. 
In fact, look at Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 is an old covenant 
announcement by an old covenant prophet of a new covenant blessing 
or new covenant reality. And he says specifically that 
there's a contrast between these covenants. Notice in 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, 
says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house 
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the 
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took 
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my 
covenant which they broke. So what does that imply or what 
does that teach concerning the new covenant? When you're in 
the New Covenant, it's not breakable. When you're in the New Covenant, 
you're eternally secure. When you're in the New Covenant, 
there is provision by God that you will persevere by grace and 
reach your intended destination. It is an unbreakable covenant, 
not contingent upon our obedience, but always predicated on the 
obedience of the Son of God, the true Israel of God, the champion 
of our redemption. So there is this stark contrast 
between the old and the new in terms of breakability or viability 
with reference to the covenant. And then back to our passage, 
note the general warning, the general warning in verses 16 
to 17. There would be the appointment of terror. Verse 16, I also will 
do this to you. I will even appoint terror over 
you. So God says, in light of this 
broken covenant, you're gonna reap the curses, you're gonna 
reap the judgment, you're gonna reap the penalties involved for 
having sworn fidelity and then going out and breaking it. And 
then specifically we have pestilence. I will even appoint terror over 
you, wasting disease and fever, which shall consume the eyes 
and cause sorrow of heart. You shall sow your seed in vain, 
for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, 
and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate 
you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues 
you." So the exact opposite or contrast to what you find in 
the promise section with reference to covenant faithfulness. Notice 
specifically with reference to the lack of food, when it says, 
You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 
If you go back specifically to verse 5, Your threshing shall 
last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till 
the time of sowing. You shall eat your bread to the 
full and dwell in your land safely. So, if one of the blessings in 
terms of covenant faithfulness was the provision of food, one 
of the curses for covenant unfaithfulness is deprivation of food. And then 
that statement in verse 17, again, it's exactly contrary to what 
you find in the passage concerning blessing. Verse 17, I will set 
my face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. 
Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee 
when no one pursues you. Look at verse 9, for I will look 
on you favorably. That's for faithfulness, but 
for unfaithfulness, I will set my face against you. And you 
shall be defeated by your enemies, verse 17. Remember, that's one 
of the blessings in terms of faithfulness in the covenant, 
is that God would vanquish their enemies. God would defeat their 
enemies. They would be the pursuers of those who came to do harm 
to them. And then that statement, it's 
picked up again in the rest of the chapter when it says, and 
you shall flee when no one pursues you. It's Proverbs 28, verse 
1. The wicked flee when no one pursues, 
but the righteous are bold as a lion. When you're walking with 
God, when you're faithful to the Lord, you don't have to fear. 
But when you are contrary to God, and God is contrary to you, 
you have everything to fear. That's what Paul says. If God 
is for us, what can man do? Well, the converse is true. If 
God is against us, what can man do? So there's going to be this 
fleeing, there's going to be this fearfulness. He indicates 
more of that in verses 36 to 39. But that's sort of a general 
statement concerning the warnings of God. Then the specific curses. Notice in verses 18 and following. First, the judgment of drought 
and no harvest. Again, verses 18 to 20. And you'll 
notice he uses this convention seven times more for your sins. I will punish you seven times 
more for your sins. That shows up here and then again 
in verses 21, 24, and 28. I think Wenham has a good observation. Seven seems to be a round number 
for repeated punishments. He gives a few verses to indicate 
that. It is an appropriate and evocative number in view of the 
importance of the seventh in Israelite religion. And it serves 
as a reminder that these punishments are for breach of the heart of 
this religion, the covenant. The book of Revelation portrays 
a series of seven-fold judgments overtaking the world in the last 
days in Revelation 5 to 16. I would suggest, brethren, that 
if you really want to understand Revelation, you want to get Leviticus 
26 down. If you want to understand the 
book of Revelation, you ought to get Deuteronomy 28 down. And 
it's not concerning our future. It's concerning the Israelites 
to whom the curses of the covenant were written and upon whom God's 
curses came in AD 70. That's the point of the book 
of Revelation. But I digress. So notice though, under this 
judgment of drought and no harvest, note that God identifies a particular 
sin. Verse 19, I will break the pride 
of your power. I will make your heavens like 
iron and your earth like bronze. That simply means there'll be 
no moisture, there'll be no rain, there'll be no clouds, there'll 
be no blessing from on high to saturate the earth and to cause 
it to yield and to be fruitful. Heaven's like iron and your earth 
like bronze. Your strength shall be spent 
in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall 
the trees of the land yield their fruit. Very simple. You go into 
the land, you do what you're supposed to, you'll get provision. 
You go into the land and you do what you're not supposed to 
and you'll get deprivation. That's the curse of the covenant. 
Then notice the presence of wild animals, verses 21 to 22. Again, contrast with verse 6. I will give peace in the land 
and you shall lie down and none will make you afraid. I will 
rid the land of wild beasts and the sword will not go through 
your land. It's got wild in the margin in the New King James. 
It's got evil in verse 6. I don't usually look at beasts 
as evil. They're wild, but they're not 
evil. I don't think they eat people because they've got a 
malicious spirit. I just think they're wild. So notice in verses 
21 and 22, if you walk contrary to me and are not willing to 
obey me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues according 
to your sins. I will also send wild beasts 
among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your 
livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways shall 
be desolate. That word desolate comes up a 
lot in this particular chapter. And again, I think there's some 
New Testament connections that ought to be made when it comes 
to desolation and the land of Israel. When you get to the Olivet 
Discourse specifically, Jesus says, see your house is left 
to you desolate. He's picking up an old covenant 
theme relative to the Israelites and showing how the judgment 
of God has come upon them to the uttermost. Now when it says 
your highway shall be desolate, imagine desolate Highway 1. Imagine 
desolate Yale Road. What would we think? We would 
think something bad happened. Or we might think just the opposite. 
Oh, I can make it across this little town in five minutes instead 
of 30 minutes. I actually probably would think 
that, but the desolation bespeaks God's judgment. It speaks of 
having had some negative sanction imposed. In this context, it's 
a curse. You want your highways not to 
be desolate. You want there to be trade. You 
want there to be flourishing. You want there to be commerce. 
You want there to be a robust economy. You want there to be 
crop sales and all that sort of thing. The fact that the highways 
are desolate is a warning, is a symptom, rather, of God's judgment 
upon them. And then notice thirdly, the 
judgment of war in verses 23 to 26. Again, this is directly 
contrasted with verses six to nine, when God would vanquish 
their enemies, when they would triumph, when a handful of Israelite 
soldiers would be able to come against a great number, a multitude 
of enemies and thwart that. So look though at verse 23, notice, 
and if by these things you are not reformed by me, but walk 
contrary to me. So in the midst of this, God 
is showing his patience, his long-suffering, his graciousness. He sends these things, why? To 
get their attention. He sends these things, why? To 
captivate their minds. He sends these things, typically 
through the prophetic announcement, to call them to repentance and 
faith. If you don't repent, If you don't make good on your covenant 
obligations, you're going to reap the consequences. So he 
says, And if by these things you are not reformed by me, but 
walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and 
I will punish you yet seven times for your sins, and I will bring 
a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the 
covenant. Again, a phrase that comes up 
in Jesus' all of that discourse when he's talking about the destruction 
of Jerusalem in AD 70 and he speaks specifically of the days 
of vengeance in Luke's gospel in chapter 21. When you see Jerusalem 
surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is near. You really 
need to understand Leviticus to understand the Olivet Discourse. I suspect that many people who 
take the Olivet Discourse and throw it into our future are 
not operating from a proper covenantal context in terms of God's Word 
to the Israelite nation. Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 
21 has one primary theme, the destruction of the temple in 
AD 70 by the Roman armies. That was an indicator that Christ 
was at the right hand of God most high bringing judgment and 
vengeance upon his enemies, namely unbelieving Israel who cried 
out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. So this vengeance 
of the covenant, again, picked up by our Lord concerning the 
days of vengeance relative to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
So he says, when you are gathered together within your cities, 
I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered 
into the hand of the enemy. When I have cut off your supply 
of bread, 10 women shall bake your bread in one oven. What 
does that mean? Well, typically, in a decent 
economy, every family would have their own oven. You wouldn't 
have to have 10 women sharing one oven. If you did, that means 
there's not a lot of bread. And that's why it says, and they 
shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and 
not be satisfied. It's not because you're a gluttonous 
pig, it's because there isn't enough. This is a time of deprivation. You violated and broke the covenant. As a result, the judgment of 
God comes upon you. Again, this is contrary to what 
you read in Deuteronomy 8.10. When you have eaten and are full, 
then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which 
He has given you. Now, up to this point, all these 
things had not transpired. This is all part of the covenant 
document. Here's what's going to happen. 
Here's what you get if you're faithful. Here's what you get 
if you're unfaithful. But if you've read the Old Testament, 
you know very well that they certainly underwent these things. 
You know how the story ends. They didn't fulfill their obligations. And then notice the judgment 
of war, but as well exile in verses 27 to 39. Exile means 
the removal from your country and placement in another country. Exile in Israelite religion was 
a huge negative sanction. I mean, central in Israel's religion 
was the land. Remember, God swore to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob that he was gonna give them a piece of land. 
And so they were tied to that land. They had inheritance in 
that land. That's where they lived. That's 
where they had families. That's where they farmed. That's 
where they worked. That's where they conducted themselves. 
That's where they worshiped God. Land was central. So when God 
through Moses starts to invoke this concept of exile, he means 
business if you break covenant. So notice, with reference to 
the judgment of war and exile, the purpose of God's judgments 
in verses 27 and 28. And after all this, if you do 
not obey me, but walk contrary to me. Interpret that. Don't 
read this and go, wow, this is vicious, horrible. Wretched stuff. No, God's patience and long-suffering. He's going to send these things 
to get the attention of His sinning people. He's going to send prophets 
to tell them what they're doing is wrong. In fact, when you read 
the prophetic literature, that's in large part what the prophets 
are doing. They're God's prosecuting attorneys. What are they prosecuting? 
Covenant breach. They're calling the people to 
repentance. They're calling the people back to the Lord God Most 
High. So and after all this, if you 
do not obey me, but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk 
contrary to you in fury. And I, even I will chastise you 
seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your 
sons and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. That's a pretty 
Sick concept, isn't it? I don't know how else better 
to say it. This actually happened. This happened. 2 Kings chapter 
6, Syria sieges Judah. And what happens in the midst 
of the siege? Cannibalism. What happens in the time of the 
Babylonian captivity? Cannibalism. Jeremiah in Lamentations 
2.10 or 2.20 and 4.10. He's crying out about the cannibalism 
that had happened among his people. And then it happened in AD 70 
as well. Josephus has, you know, a few 
sections in the wars of the Jews talking about cannibalism, talking 
about when the siege upon Jerusalem was so bad, there was no food. It was not uncommon for ladies 
to boil their babies and eat them. And again, that's a horribly 
vicious thought, but that's what the vengeance of God Most High 
looks like. Ezekiel 5.10, same sort of a 
concept. Meredith Klein makes the comment 
on Deuteronomy 28, which is parallel here. He says, the inhumanity 
of the enemy warrior pales beside the bestiality of even the tenderest 
Israelite mother turned cannibalistic in the horror of the siege. So 
God's telling them what's going to happen. Again, 2 Kings 6, 
Lamentations 2 and 4 tells us that it happened specifically 
in the Babylonian captivity. God threatens it through the 
prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 5.10. And Josephus details it in the 
wars of the Jews with the Romans, which took place in 66 to 73. 
The city and the temple fell in AD 70. There were a few years 
on either side of AD 70 where the Jews had risen up against 
the Romans. They didn't like to be subject 
to the Romans. They had enough. That's probably 
what Simon the Zealot was. He wasn't zealous for the Christian 
religion. He was zealous for the overthrow 
of the Roman empire. That's why when you look at the 
disciple group, you've got Simon the zealot and Matthew the tax 
collector. Only grace could get these two 
fellows in the same room and eating at the same supper. God's 
sovereign grace is truly glorious. I mean, you couldn't have polar 
opposites, a tax collector for the Roman government and then 
a zealot for the overthrow of the Roman government. So cannibalism 
would be an eventuality for breaking the covenant. Notice as well 
the reality of wholesale destruction in verses 30 to 33. I will destroy 
your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your 
carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols, and my soul shall 
abhor you. I will lay your cities waste 
and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell 
the fragrance of your sweet aromas. That's God's acceptance of sacrifice. Remember, in the beginning of 
Leviticus, we have that legislation concerning sacrifice. What happens 
when they offer up sacrifice? It's a sweet-smelling savor to 
the Lord. It's an aroma that's pleasing 
to Him. He says at this point, I don't want it. I will bring 
the land to desolation, verse 32, and your enemies who dwell 
in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among 
the nations and draw out a sword after you. Your land shall be 
desolate and your cities waste. Then notice the interesting turn 
of events. I mentioned the land was central 
in Israelite religion. The land's going to get its Sabbath. 
Remember in chapter 25 we had the law of the sabbatical year 
and you had the Jubilee law, the Jubilee year? What were they 
supposed to do? They were to let the land lie 
in rest. They were to give it a break. 
So that's what verses 34 to 35 highlight. Then the land shall 
enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, and you are 
in your enemy's land. Then the land shall rest and 
enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, 
it shall rest. For the time it did not rest 
on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it. You didn't do what you 
were supposed to do. You're gonna be vomited out by 
the land, and then the land will get its well-earned rest. So 
you see, God tells them that the very gift that He has given 
them is going to be forfeit, but it ultimately is going to 
reap benefit from God Most High in their judgment. And then notice, 
the people would undergo persistent distress. in verses 36 to 39. Basically, constant fear, verse 
36, constant vulnerability, verse 37, constant defeat, verse 38, 
and constant rotting away, in verse 39. So that would be their 
lot. That would be what they would 
get for having violated the terms of the covenant that they swore 
fidelity to. Now the chapter ends on the high 
note of a promise of restoration. Notice in verses 40 to 46, it's 
predicated on their repentance. Verse 40, but if they confess 
their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with, excuse 
me, their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me and 
that they have also walked contrary to me, And that I also have walked 
contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies. 
If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their 
guilt, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant 
with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham. I will remember. I will 
remember the land. The land also shall be empty 
by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without 
them. They will accept their guilt because they despised my 
judgments and because their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for 
all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will 
not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them to utterly destroy 
them and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their 
God. But for their sake I will remember 
the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out of the land 
of Egypt in the sight of the nations that I might be their 
God. I am the Lord. So there is this promise of restoration 
predicated on their humble repentance before God most high. And then 
that last statement summarizes the basic terms of the covenant 
in verse 46. These are the statutes and judgments 
and laws which the Lord made between himself and the children 
of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. Well, I want to 
just quickly run through the historical application of these 
curses. In other words, did this happen? 
Yes, it happened. I've already alluded to it. The 
first was the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in 2 Kings 
chapter 17. You can turn there. 2 Kings chapter 
17. It deals with the fall of the 
Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians. 2 Kings chapter 17. This took place in about 722 
BC. And if you look at verses seven 
to 17, you see the reason for God's judgment. Verse seven, 
for so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against 
the Lord, their God, who had brought them up out of the land 
of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and 
they had feared other gods and had walked in the statutes of 
the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children 
of Israel and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 
Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God 
things that were not right, for they built for themselves high 
places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. 
They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on 
every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned 
incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord 
had carried away before them. And they did wicked things to 
provoke the Lord to anger, for they served idols, of which the 
Lord had said, you shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified 
against Israel and against Judah by all of his prophets, every 
seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments 
and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded 
your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants, the prophets. Nevertheless, they would not 
hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, 
who did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected 
his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers, 
and his testimonies which he had testified against them. They 
followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who 
were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them 
that they should not do like them. So they left all the commandments 
of the Lord there. God made for themselves a molded 
image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host 
of Abed and served Baal. And they caused their sons and 
daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and 
soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the 
Lord to provoke him to anger. You see, there were reasons for 
the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings 17. But notice, Assyria 
is the instrument. It's not, you know, they're not 
the main reason. Well, Assyria was just a more 
formidable foe. They had a better military. They 
were more savvy. They were better equipped. They 
had all the tanks and the helicopter. No, look at 18. Therefore, the 
Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight. And then verse 20, He had cast 
them from His sight. So the violation of God's covenant 
meant the curses associated with that. Secondly, look at 2 Kings 
24. 2 Kings 24, this is the fall 
of the southern kingdom to the Babylonians in about 586 BC. We won't read as much here, just 
look at verses 1 to 4 in terms of the judgment of God. In his 
days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim 
became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against 
him, and the Lord sent against him, raiding bands of Chaldeans. I mentioned earlier when Jesus 
is ascended on high and this judgment comes upon Jerusalem 
via the Roman armies, I attributed it to Jesus. That's what Jesus 
says in Matthew 26 before the Sanhedrin. Are you the Messiah? Are you the Christ of God? It 
is as you said, and hereafter you will see the son of man coming 
on the clouds with power. That doesn't mean a second physical 
coming. It meant he's at the right hand 
of God most high, sending this historical judgment upon these 
covenant breaking wretches. just the way that Yahweh sent 
the Babylonians against these covenant-breaking wretches. So 
in verse 2, the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, 
bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon. 
He sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word 
of the Lord which he had spoken by his servants the prophets. 
Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, 
to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, 
according to all that he had done, and also because of the 
innocent blood that he had shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with 
innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon. And then notice 
the specific devastation by the Babylonians is listed in the 
end of chapter 24 and all through chapter 25. So you've got the 
fall of the Northern Kingdom, you've got the fall of the Southern 
Kingdom, and then you've got the fall of Jerusalem to the 
Romans in AD 70. You can turn to Matthew 24. Matthew 
chapter 24, we refer to this as the Olivet Discourse. The 
Lord Jesus Christ, after condemning the religious leadership in Israel, 
gives the Olivet Discourse. And again, there was a war between 
the Romans and the Jews from 66 to 73. Culminates in the destruction 
of Jerusalem in AD 70. But here specifically, I think 
it's very important that you almost go back to Matthew 21 
to get the whole thrust of what's happening in Matthew 24. But, 
but just picking up in chapter 23, just to sort of set the stage, 
Jesus has told them, uh, woe to the scribes and the Pharisees. 
He has warned people about them. And then notice in 2331, therefore 
you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are sons of those who 
murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of 
your father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how 
can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I 
send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you 
will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your 
synagogues and persecute from city to city. Sounds just like 
the Book of Acts, doesn't it? that on you may come all the 
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel 
to the blood of Zechariah." That's an A to Z in the Hebrew canon. Abel is Genesis, Zechariah is 
2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles in the Hebrew canon 
is the last book. So you've got an A to Z or an 
A to Z there. So the blood that on you may 
come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood 
of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, 
whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, 
now you can't miss verse 36 because Matthew's telling us when this 
is going to happen. Assuredly, I say to you, all 
these things will come upon Which generation? This generation, 
not ours, theirs. Not ours, theirs. On the heels 
of that, the prophet Christ, according to his humanity, laments. 
Notice, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets 
and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to 
gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under 
her wings. But you are not willing. See, 
your house is left to you. Look at that word from Leviticus 
26, desolate. For I say to you, you shall see 
me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of 
the Lord. So after this strict condemnation of the religious 
leadership in old covenant Israel, now notice in verse one of chapter 
24, then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples 
came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said 
to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, 
not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be 
thrown down. Brethren, it is special pleading 
to see this applied in AD 70 and then read into it a revived 
Roman Empire, a rebuilt temple only for it to be redestroyed. 
Jesus is talking about the temple that was standing right before 
his eyes. And if you look at 2434, just so you can see he brackets 
the entirety with this time frame reference. Assuredly, I say to 
you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these 
things take place. Brethren, everything that's indicated 
here in Matthew 24 up to that point took place in that generation. And it's talking about the curses 
of the covenant, vis-a-vis Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, coming upon 
these wretches who were pleaded with by prophets, who had the 
Lord of glory come to them. In fact, look at 21. Look at 
21, specifically verses 33 and following. We won't read the 
whole thing, but it's the parable of the wicked vinedressers. This 
isn't new and redemptive religion. Isaiah does the same thing in 
Isaiah chapter 5. The vineyard is God's people. 
And here, specifically, the vineyard has been abused. And so the vineyard owner sends 
his servants to plead with the guy. And the guy rejects them 
and resists them. And the vineyard owner says, 
well, I know, I'll send my son. Certainly, they'll respect him. 
No, they didn't respect him. They crucified him. And then 
on the heels of that, verse 43 is important. Therefore I say 
to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to 
a nation bearing the fruits of it. That's covenantal transformation. Old covenant Israel, new covenant 
Israel. Old covenant people, new covenant 
people. There is continuity, we are the 
true Israel of God, but there is this radical transformation. 
It's not ethnic Jews, it is Jews and Gentiles, whoever, by God's 
grace, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom is given 
to a nation. What does Peter say the church 
is? It's a holy nation. It's language that was used of 
old covenant Israel applied to new covenant Israel. So you gotta 
understand that what Jesus is doing in Matthew 24 isn't telling 
us about what's gonna happen in our future. He is telling 
his contemporaries what's gonna happen to the Jews as a result 
of them having filled up the measure of their guilt. That's 
what he says. And then turn to 1 Thessalonians 
2. The apostle Paul says this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Specifically at verse 14, for 
you brethren became imitators of the churches of God, which 
are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same 
things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans. You've probably heard me mention 
a few times going through acts whenever we have, that one of 
the first primary enemy of the church wasn't the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire certainly didn't 
love the church. The Roman Empire would turn its 
antipathy against the church. But initially, the Roman Empire 
just thought the church was just a subset of the Jews. The primary 
enemy of the believing Church of Jesus Christ was unbelieving 
Jews. And that's what Paul says. For 
you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which 
are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same 
things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans. Those are the Jews that didn't 
believe the gospel. Notice 15, who killed both the 
Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they 
do not please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to 
speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. So as always, to 
fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon 
them to the uttermost. What do you think he means? He 
means the Olivet Discourse. He means Jesus prophesied about 
this. Jesus told us that this is coming. And then one other 
passage by the Apostle Paul. And there's a lot more we could 
look at, but we'll just confine ourselves to Hebrews chapter 
8. Hebrews chapter 8. Notice specifically, we've got 
this chapter 7, chapter 8 thing going on, surety of a better 
covenant, better covenant, better promises, better hope. And then 
he appeals to Jeremiah 31 to show the glory and the superiority 
of the new covenant as prophesied by an old covenant prophet. And 
then after having quoted Jeremiah 31 in verses 7 to 12, notice 
what he says in verse 13. In that he says a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. Now, what is becoming obsolete 
and growing old is ready to vanish away. Now, if I could just give 
an amplified reading of this, I think what he means is this. 
In that he says a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete 
at the cross through the blood of Jesus. Now, what is becoming 
obsolete and growing old, the Jewish economy, with its sacrificial 
system, is ready to vanish away at the destruction of the temple. 
That's what he means in Hebrews 8, 13. Gil says, the apostle 
argues from the first covenant, being old to its being near to 
dissolution or a disappearance. And the dissolution or disappearance 
of this covenant was gradual. It began when the Chaldeans seized 
the land of Canaan, and the arch and eminent type of Christ being 
wanting in the second temple gave a hint of its waxing old. 
And both the civil and ecclesiastical government of the Jews were in 
great confusion under the second temple, at least towards the 
close of it. And even before the times of 
Christ, John the Baptist came and proclaimed the near approach 
of the Messiah and his kingdom. This covenant was of right abolished 
at the time of Christ's death. Upon his ascension, the spirit 
was given and the gospel published among all nations, by which it 
more and more disappeared. And in fact, it quite vanished 
away when the city and temple of Jerusalem were destroyed, 
which was in a little time after the writing of this epistle, 
so that the apostle with great propriety says, it is ready to 
vanish away. So you see, what we find in Leviticus 
26 comes to pass. It came to pass in 722 B.C., 
it came to pass in 586 B.C., and it came to pass one last 
time in AD 70. The old is gone, the new is in 
play, and because of Jesus Christ, our great covenant head and law 
keeper, we are not going to be cut off. We are not going to 
suffer that deprivation. We are not going to be those 
who are described there in Leviticus chapter 26. And interestingly, 
we think of the blessings that are given to us as a result of 
the Lord Jesus. We need to think about those 
curses of the covenant. Jesus stood for us. God made him who knew no sin 
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God 
in him. Galatians 3, 17. The apostle says, I'm sorry, 
313, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having 
become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone 
who hangs on a tree. We not only derive the benefits 
and the blessings and the promises associated with covenant goodness, 
But Jesus took for us the curses and the penalties and the sanctions 
that were due us for our violation of God's holy law. We have everything 
in the New Covenant. We have blessing in the New Covenant. 
We have the removal of cursing. That doesn't mean there's not 
going to be trials. It doesn't mean there's not going 
to be heartaches. It doesn't mean there's not going 
to be some degree of wanting in this present evil age. But 
it's not curses for covenant disobedience. It's the afflictions 
It's the refining fire, it's the following in the footsteps 
of the Lord Jesus who learned obedience through suffering. 
Those are the kinds of things that the people of God face nowadays, 
not exclusion, exile, cutting off from the very face of God 
Most High. Because of Christ, we have everything. All the promises of God are yea 
and amen in Him. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word, we thank you for what you 
tell us in Leviticus 26, what you show us in 2 Kings 17 and 
24, and what we find in Matthew 24 as well. We pray that you 
would help us to continually appreciate and express that gratitude 
and love and worship and adoration to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, 
that surety of a better covenant. We ask that you would go with 
us now, watch over all the brothers and the sisters in our local 
church, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.