AFTER WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS FOR FORTY YEARS, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL RECEIVED FINAL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE CROSSING INTO “THE LAND” OF MILK AND HONEY
- You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;
Deuteronomy 11: 8 NASB
IDENTIFYING “THE LAND”
- For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11: 10-12 NASB
NOTE: IF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ARE IN “THE LAND,” THEN GOD CARES FOR IT. IF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ARE NOT IN “THE LAND,” THEN THEY HAVE TO CARE FOR IT.
GOD IS JEALOUS FOR ”HIS LAND”
- Then will God be jealous for His land, and pity his people.
Joel 2:18 KJV
THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE
- See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.
Deuteronomy 11: 26-28 NASB
THE BLESSINGS
IF THEY KEEP COMMANDMENTS
1. YOUR DAYS IN “THE LAND” WILL BE PROLONGED
- “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Deuteronomy 11: 8-9 NASB
2. NO DROUGHTS WHILE IN “THE LAND”
3. BUMPER CROPS WHILE IN “THE LAND”
4. HERDS WILL INCREASE WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love The Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.“
Deuteronomy 11: 13-15 NASB
5. NO SICKNESS WHILE IN “THE LAND”
6. NO MISCARRIAGES WHILE IN “THE LAND”
7. LIVE TO A RIPE OLD AGE WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- But you shall serve The Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
Exodus 23: 25-26 NASB
8. ENEMIES WILL FEAR YOU WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- No man will be able to stand before you; The Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
Deuteronomy 11: 25 NASB
THE CURSES
IF THEY DON’T KEEP COMMANDMENTS
WHILE IN “THE LAND”
1. DROUGHTS WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- Beware that your hearts are not easily deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods, and worship them. Otherwise, the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the sky so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then you will quickly perish from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
Deuteronomy 11: 16-17 NASB
2. PLAGUES WHILE IN “THE LAND”
3. DISEASES WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- Then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
Deuteronomy 28: 59-60 NASB
3. DEFEATED BY YOUR ENEMIES WHILE IN “THE LAND”
- As swift as the eagle, The Lord will bring against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they will eat the increase of your livestock and produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, oil. Or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. And they will besiege you at your gates until your high fortified walls, which you trust in, come down. Throughout all your land they shall besiege you at all your gates, throughout your land which The Lord your God has given you.
Deuteronomy 28: 49-52 NASB
WHY DOES GOD DO THESE THINGS TO US?
- And it shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
Jeremiah 5:19 NASB
MORE
SURVIVORS WILL BE REMOVED FROM “THE LAND” SCATTERED TO THE NATIONS
- Furthermore, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known.
Deuteronomy 28: 64 NASB
IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY
- Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it. As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall. They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength to stand up before your enemies. But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.
Leviticus 26: 34-39 NASB
CONTINUES
WHILE IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY
1. NO REST
2. FEARFUL / TREMBLING HEART
3. FAILING EYES
4. DESPAIR
- Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
Deuteronomy 28: 65 NASB
EPHRAIM DOESN’T REALIZE THAT HE IS IN THE LAND OF “THE ENEMY“
“Ephraim mixes with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
Foreigners sap his strength,
but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
but he does not notice.”
Hosea 7: 8-9 NIV
SO THAT THE EPHRAIM WILL KNOW THAT THEY ARE IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY
SO, WHAT IS THE SOLUTION FOR THESE CURSES?
THE PROMISE OF RESTORATION
RETURNING TO “THE LAND“
So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons,then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and make you more numerous than your fathers.
Deuteronomy 30: 1-5 NASB
Next: Passages Concerning the Greater Second Exodus
Conversations concerning this and other articles are being discussed on FaceBook. Click this link to enter EXODUS X – THE GREATER SECOND EXODUS AND RETURN OF THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL on FaceBook.
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH FRIENDS
