Deuteronomy 28:15

‘ALL THESE CURSES’

‘All these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.’

Deuteronomy 28:15

These blessings and curses have not been repealed. It must, of course, be granted that Israel was an earthly people, whereas we are sitting with Christ ‘in the heavenlies.’ But these enumerations have perpetual illustration and fulfilment in modern life. A very large portion of the suffering of the world arises from disobedience to God’s wise and benevolent laws.

Men first reject Him, then ignore His law. They suffer from ill-health, because they disregard fresh air, exercise, wholesome food, or drench themselves with alcohol and narcotics. They suffer in their affections, because they have not learnt the primary art of self-control. They suffer from poverty, overcrowding, etc., because they flock from the country to the cities, glory in militarism, and prefer present pleasure to the harvests of sober, steady toil. In trade, in agriculture, in social life, we cannot but suffer wherever there is disobedience to the Divine Law.

Illustration

(1) ‘If we are in Christ we are free. The Son has made us free, and “we are free indeed.” Free from the law as a means of salvation, of life, or of securing the favour of God. But if we refuse Christ, or if we fail to recognise and appropriate all that He has done and is, or if we are seeking to justify ourselves by doing our best in the energy of our resolutions, we are children of the bond-woman. “Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman. With freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.” ’

(2) ‘Here are the curses incurred by disobedience—many, grievous, terrible. They would pursue the sinner wherever he went, and in whatever he undertook. How marvellously is all the machinery of nature in arms against the man who is at enmity with God! “The stars in their courses” fight against him; though for a time he may seem to prosper in his evil way.’