All loving parents not only tell positive things to our children to encourage them, but we also tell them that if we go carelessly through life, fail to do the right things, and instead do wrong things, we will suffer poverty or accidents. We warn them about running in the road, driving carelessly, and how accidents can result in broken hands, legs, grotesque faces, paralysis, coma, or even death. We show them some cruel videos—terrible ones—not to make them feel bad, but because true love always warns. In love, we warn them to show the dangers of going in the wrong direction.
That is what Israel’s Heavenly Father does in chapters 26 and 27, which are parting words from Sinai on the path to the promised land. He not only encourages them by giving wonderful blessings for obedience in the promised land, but He also gives terrible, terrible warnings of disobedience accompanied by severe curses.
We saw an overview of this in Leviticus 26 last week: the chapter begins with verses 1-14 promising blessings if Israel obeys, and verses 15 to the end promising curses if Israel disobeys. We also saw that these are not empty threats, but guarantees from Jehovah. We can trace this in Israel’s history by comparing what God said would take place if they disobeyed with what actually happened in the history of these people.
We see these principles apply to us. We are also saved from sin as a redeemed people; we will be blessed if we obey God and do good works. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. But when we abuse that grace as a license to sin—falling into laziness—then we will face the consequences. Last week was a bird’s-eye view of the chapter overview; now we want to zoom in and examine it section by section.
We will try to grasp verses 1-13, the blessings section, through four headings: the foundation of all blessings, and three groups of blessings represented by three P words—Plenty, Peace, and Presence.
Foundation of All Blessings (Verses 1-3)
“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…”
Before God talks about what He will pour out, He talks about what we must clear out. Blessing requires alignment. Verses 1–3 focus on eliminating idols, keeping the Sabbath, and walking in His statutes. These are the foundations required to be blessed by God.
Think of it like a pipe channel through which God’s blessings flow to us. If you block this, all blessings stop. Verses 1-3 talk about three things, giving us three channel pipes of blessings: God’s way, God’s day, and God’s house.
First, negatively, don’t do this, and positively, do these two things. Negatively, verse 1 says you shall have no idols; give first place to Me. I am the Lord. No worship according to your own likes, but rather according to what I command. That is God’s way.
Secondly, positively, there is God’s day: verse 2 says you shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary.
Thirdly, there is God’s house.
Negatively, we can call this exclusive worship. You should not make idols, nor set up statues or engraved stones in your land to bow down to them, for I am the Lord your God. You should offer exclusive worship.
They were neither to depict Jehovah according to their own imaginations, likes, and dislikes, nor were they to carve images from their own imaginations of false gods by making pillars or chiseled stones as they pleased. In other words, no self-made worship is allowed in Israel. You do not worship as you like or hear sermons as you like; you worship God as He is—as He has revealed Himself. Worship comes second to His revealed will.
Second, notice the command to keep the Sabbath (verse 2) and reverence His sanctuary. They were told to literally guard My Sabbaths. You guard the Sabbath by not doing your own work, giving that day to Him, and using it for spiritual rest. Then He connects this to reverencing His sanctuary: coming to His house morning and evening, and not taking His house lightly. You don’t say, “Ah, today is Sunday, I will go to work, enjoy a vacation, or attend family functions.” No, no!
So, we have three channels of blessings: God’s way of worship, God’s day of worship, and God’s house of worship. Worship must be exclusive and pure; worship Me as I commanded in My house. Then second, keep My Sabbaths and honor My sanctuary—and how do you honor it? By regular attendance.
Notice that the Sabbath and church attendance are connected together, not only here, but even in Leviticus 23:3, where you are to have a holy convocation at the tabernacle. How frequently? Every Sabbath there is to be a holy convocation. Honor My sanctuary with respect and with your attendance.
This is the positive lifestyle pattern. God establishes a specific rhythm and cadence for our lives—consecrating our time (the Sabbath) and honoring His presence (the Sanctuary). To experience His blessing, we must sync our weekly calendar to His design.
So, remember the three things: God’s way, God’s day, and God’s house. Do not have idols; worship Me in My way, keep My Sabbath on My day, and honor My house. If you keep this, I will abundantly bless you.
The Modern Condition and Idolatry
Do you see why today’s Christianity is in a cursed state? If this is the only channel through which Jehovah promises to bless us with divine blessings, what has modern Christianity taught us? Oh, people say this is all an Old Testament principle with no relevance to the New Testament; we don’t have any physical idols now, so as long as we don’t have carved images, we can worship God however we want. There are no rules for that. They claim that worshiping in God’s way—just as the Lord has commanded in the Scriptures—is outdated, and that God’s way of reading Scriptures, singing hymns, praying corporately, and preaching is boring.
Instead, worship has to be lively, interactive, and attractive to every sinner so the crowds will come. They throw out all outdated methods and use entertainment, skits, jokes, dancing, acting, and puppetry—anything they want, as long as they say it is for Jesus.
This is a dispensation curse over the last 100 years. The Sabbath is not taken seriously today either; we can come for one hour in the morning, and then spend the rest of the Sabbath day watching mobile phones, TV, going to relative functions, or even going to work to enjoy the day and make a profit. People think guarding the Sabbath was only for Old Testament people. What about God’s house? The old temple was destroyed long ago, so people think we can worship God anywhere today and just skip gathering. It’s no longer a day of worship and soul refreshment; it’s a day for fun and profit.
Today we have church, but people think it’s not very important—it’s just a small church, unlike the massive Old Testament temple. In today’s internet age, people think you can get the benefits of the church from a live stream, sitting at home and listening to preaching without having to reverence God’s house like Old Testament people did. They think, “The church pastor is a nice person and won’t scold me, so it’s fine.”
By doing that, they completely remove the three pipes of all blessings. And then they wonder, as God’s people, why are we struggling so much? Why are there problems and suffering not only in the world, but a complete lack of spiritual blessings, growth, or victory, leading to secret, sinful, defeated lives? Why?
Mr. Bonar says this: “All declension and decay may be said to be begun wherever we see these God-ordained worship ordinances, the Sabbath, and the temple despised.” God’s way, day, and house are three fences that guard our love for God and protect us from the evil forces in the world. When we break those fence walls, we allow the temptations of the world, covetousness, and worldly demons to attack and torture our souls, as described in Revelation. Worship in God’s way, on God’s day, and in God’s house—these are the lifelines for spiritual survival.
Are these three principles not applicable in the New Testament today? Very much so! These commands are part of the Ten Commandments, which are applicable for all time. Here, God restates the second commandment (“Thou shalt not make any graven images… nor bow down to them”) and the fourth commandment (“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”). The reason these two are repeated here at this point is that the violation of the second commandment produces curses in a life, while the observance of the fourth commandment produces blessings.
God has to be the center of worship, not what we prefer. If you think that idolatry consists only of bowing down to actual carved images, you are very mistaken. Christians today can be deeply idolatrous. Our idols are not graven images of wood and stone, but they are nonetheless gods before whom we bow—the god of materialism, worldly love, the gods of our jobs, families, careers, ambitions, worldly pleasures, and sex. Mobile phone addiction is a major god today, often treated as more important than God’s word. People spend Sunday mornings polishing their cars—their modern idols.
Why did ancient people worship their false gods? Because they believed those gods would give them worldly pleasures. Venus was the goddess of sex; Baal and Ashtoreth were gods of worldly prosperity, rain, and war. This modern idolatry is the root cause of all curses. Whatever you give first place in your life becomes your god, and that will block God’s blessings and bring a curse.
To receive blessings, He must be given first place in our life—not self, family, job, or anything else. Idolatry blocks the flow of blessings. If you want to block God’s blessings in your life, make anything else more important than God. That is a sure way to block them. Will He bless something that you treat as more important than Him? You can’t ask God to bless your life while harboring rivals to His throne.
Ask yourself: What is your idol?
- What quietly competes with God for first place in your heart?
- The heart never stays empty; if God is not enthroned, something else will be.
- Whatever gets first place in your heart will shape the whole course of your life.
- If someone watched your week, what would they say matters most to you—God or everything around Him?
- What gets your first thought in the morning—God or your phone?
- What do you run to first for comfort—God’s presence or quick distraction?
- What do you protect most carefully—your walk with God or your personal convenience?
- What disappoints you most when it is threatened—Christ’s honor or your plans?
- What fills your daydreams most easily—God’s kingdom or your own success?
- What gets your best energy—devotion to Christ or devotion to your ambitions?
- What gets reshuffled first when your week gets busy—prayer or everything else?
- What steals your heart most easily: career, comfort, entertainment, or approval?
The Method of Worship and Reverence
Regarding the method of worship, the New Testament in 1 Timothy talks about how worship should be conducted. Paul says the church is the temple of God’s house—we are in that house now—and he rebukes the Corinthians for the wrong way of worship, pointing out that they are suffering because they are insulting God’s house.
Just coming and sitting without any preparation, going through the motions—that does not bring blessings. “You shall reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.” When I am going to church to worship God and listen to His word, I need to go on time, sit for a few minutes in prayer, and prepare my heart.
We prepare carefully for office presentations, job interviews, family functions, and travel plans—but do we prepare our hearts for worship? Do you treat His house with reverence, coming prayerfully and prepared?
Some feel more urgency about reaching the office on time than coming before God on time. Is that reverence? We rarely miss flights, meetings, medical appointments, or family functions, but how lightly we can miss worship. When worship becomes optional, spiritual decay becomes predictable. To dishonor God’s day is to weaken the soul’s defenses.
Some enter God’s house with a rushed body, a scattered mind, and an unready heart. It is possible to be present in church physically, yet absent in reverence spiritually. How easy it is to treat worship as one more weekly activity instead of a holy appointment with God. The question is not only, “Did I come to church?” but “Did I come with reverence, readiness, and hunger?”
By contrast, the observance of the Sabbath produces blessings: spiritual and mental renewal, calmness, the absence of stress and anxiety, and freedom from inner turbulence and tumult.
Worshiping in God’s way, on God’s day, and in God’s house forms the lifeline for spiritual survival. This will sweeten the character, purify the springs of action, incite righteous and noble deeds, encourage sacred ministries, foster reverence for the Scriptures, and prompt recognition of the claims of the unseen world. Ultimately, it brings down the blessings of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If you’re going to obey and inherit the blessing while avoiding disobedience and averting the curse, you must honor God’s way, God’s day, and God’s house. Give first place to God, show that by honoring the Sabbath, regularly meeting together in church, and worshiping God upon His day, in His house, and in His way. This is the foundation of all of Jehovah’s blessings—the only channel for experiencing them.
Let me ask you: what would be the condition of your soul today if your Lord’s Day habit was to skip the house of God and continuously work? Some of us would have suffered spiritual heart failure. What would be the condition of your soul even now? Oh, how sinfully tangled your life in the world would be! Brethren, this is our spiritual hub. Don’t just view it as coming and going home. What a blessing it is, and what a cursed state we fall into when we neglect the church—something we deeply felt during the days of COVID-19. Let us guard it so we can be properly ordered instead of sinfully tangled. Let us redouble our defenses against the enemy’s attacks so that we will inherit the blessings and not the cursings. Thus, the foundation of all blessings rests on these three: God’s way, God’s day, and God’s house.
Secondly: The Three P Group Blessings (Plenty, Peace, Presence)
When that foundation is right, we receive the three P group blessings: Plenty, Peace, and Presence.
There is a promise of a supernatural supply of plenty. Notice verses 4-5. Notice how it all starts as the fruit of obedience: “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.”
If you obey, verse 4 promises that God will give you rains in their season, so the land will yield its produce and the trees will bear their fruit. You will eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.
Now we see how this is easily applied to agricultural Israel. We find that they would not only be given rains, but rains at just the right time for maximum harvest effect. Rains would come just after planting, then just upon cultivating, and then just before the harvest.
Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. Harvest threshing would usually end around May, and by September people would pluck grapes. But the harvest would be so massive that the Israelites would still be processing grain four months later when it was already time to pick grapes. The grape harvest would be so overflowing that they would still be stomping grapes when it was already time to plant the next year’s crop in November and December. It is an unbelievable, overlapping abundance—a cycle of uninterrupted prosperity. The supply would last so long that the end of one blessing would bleed directly into the beginning of the next, leaving absolutely no room for scarcity, famine, or lack. That is why He says you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely.
Now this applies to ancient agricultural Israel, but what about us? To the child of God, in the church of God?
Did our Lord not say: Do not worry about what you will eat, what you will drink, or what you will wear? Give Me and My kingdom first place in your life. Seek first the kingdom of God—the principle of the same exclusive worship. Do not give place to any other idols in your life. Every single day, seek the kingdom as your first priority in every area of your life. What will be the result of such obedience? Divine blessing, with all of these things added unto us. It is the infallible promise of God, not given to everyone indiscriminately, but to those who seek God’s kingdom first. They will find divine provision taking care of all their needs in a supernatural way.
Paul, writing to the Philippians when they helped him in his need for the gospel’s sake—referring to financial need—said in Philippians 4: “My God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” You see, profoundly, there is that literal dimension of the blessing of plenty for the believer who obeys God and seeks first His kingdom.
The Greater Spiritual Wealth
But that’s not the end of the blessing of plenty. Whatever worldly blessings we have are temporary. As 2 Corinthians 4:18 says: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
You think of all the richest men in this world—Ambani, Adani, Elon Musk, Bill Gates. They have great wealth on the outside, for sure. Superficially, we think, “Oh, wow!” But if God opens our eyes to see their inside—their mind, soul, and conscience—their soul is utterly poor and dying without spiritual food. Their conscience is full of fear. There is no peace or lasting joy inside them; they are always worried about old age and the fear that one day they will die and leave all this behind.
Paul says we look to the invisible as we get older. As 2 Corinthians 4:16 says: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
New covenant believers have greater, loftier inheritance blessings than those in the Old Testament. We graduate from the toys of this world to eternal spiritual blessings. Though we may not have large earthly wealth, we are eating the rich bread of life from heaven for our souls and drinking living water—things these worldly people know nothing about.
John Newton wrote:
Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, All his boasted pomp and show; Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion’s children know.
Now, isn’t that the blessing of plenty? The possession of the child of God? The world is in a spiritual famine, but God, one blessing upon another, is giving plenty of spiritual food and feasting. God is feeding us so much—surplus so massive that storage becomes your only problem, and there is barely time to feed on and enjoy it all!
Even in our sufferings, we have purpose, for our light and momentary afflictions are producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. As 2 Corinthians 4:17 puts it: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
So we see the foundation of all blessings: God’s way, God’s day, and God’s house, accompanied by the promise of a supernatural supply of plenty.
Thirdly: The Blessing of Peace (Verses 6-10)
Prosperity is meaningless without peace. God doesn’t just fill your barns; He guards your borders. In these verses, the Israelite is promised that he will lie down for an afternoon nap in a grassy meadow in that ancient land, and he won’t have to fear man—no invading army coming over the ridge to cut his throat while he sleeps. He won’t even have to fear beasts; no mountain lion will come and tear him apart, for God will cause even the beasts to be at peace with them if they obey.
We have seen this worked out historically with Israel. The enemies were put to flight. Joshua put the enemies to flight, and hailstones crushed them. God gives victory against outrageous odds, as this chapter mentions in verse 8: “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.” We think of Gideon going against the Midianites. How many soldiers did the enemy have? As many as the sand on the seashore—a vast multitude! Gideon started with thirty-two thousand men, but God said there were too many and whittled them down to three hundred. Now I like those odds because it fulfills the exact promise given: a few will put many to flight. David, a little whippet of a youth, takes down the giant warrior Goliath. Peace was given to ancient Israel, and how deeply they enjoyed it when they obeyed God.
Peace for the Modern Believer
But what about us? How many of you face a literal Goliath? Where are those tens of thousands like the sand on the seashore against us? Well, these promises are still relevant for us because we are Christian soldiers. We are outnumbered—one against the sands of the seashore. We find in Ephesians 6 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Five against ten thousand—that is how the church often finds itself. Yet we find we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Sometimes we feel spiritually and physically attacked and discouraged, losing our peace. Do the problems of life and depression tempt us to disobey God just to find relief? In some cases, we know we can find immediate relief from distresses by disobeying God, sinning, and doing wrong things. But whatever relief or peace we get from sin is not only temporary, it will also cause our problems to multiply. The Word of God says we cannot go down that course.
Listen to these blessings and curses. If you obey, you will have relief and peace—a very calm and sedated life. Those who swarm about us will retreat. The Lord will fight for you; trust in Him and obey Him even in difficult times. Those Goliaths against us will fall headlong before us, and those dungeon walls of depression will eventually tumble down. That is the promise: if you obey, you will have peace and security.
Think of the deepest application of peace. What does obedience bring but a great peace of conscience? Psalm 119:165 states: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
When we are made right with the living God, all that internal warring of the soul is quieted. We can say with Paul in Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in Romans 8:31: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The devil, his minions, his legions, and his soldiers may swarm about me, but that is okay, because God promises that if I obey, I will have peace. As the psalm writer says, “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
One commentator wrote: “Calm of conscience is the peculiar privilege of the believer in Christ. Bodily suffering even cannot destroy this peace.” There is the testimony of a well-known minister on his deathbed who spoke these words: “Within I have deep peace, though around me is constant searching pain.” That is our peace—peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fourthly: The Blessing of God’s Presence (Verses 11-13)
Come with me, fourthly, to the blessing of God’s presence in verses 11 through 13.
We find God promised the ancient people of Israel that if they obeyed, that obedience would result in His walking among them—footsteps in the camp. Jehovah would dwell there in that tabernacle in their midst. God confirms His covenant, places His tabernacle among them, and walks among them. This is the cream of all blessings: the presence of Jehovah with His people. As we see today, the ultimate goal of all blessings is relationship with the Father and access to His presence—the crowning, highest blessing.
Think of what a wonderful condescension it was for the living God, whom the universe cannot contain, to dwell among sinful men. Tonight, which one of us would be willing to forsake our nice, white, fluffy pillows in our bedrooms, leave them behind to go down to a slum in a barren village, live there for a few months, sleep on the floor of a footpath with beggars, and condescend to dwell with them and minister to them? If one of us were to do such a thing, we would look at that stooping and condescension as a Herculean act of love, wouldn’t we? But how much more so when we think of the living God leaving all the glory of heaven to live among dirty, sinful people!
One commentator says this: “If one nurtured in good society revolts at the idea of close communion with those inferior in the social scale, whose manner of life and habits of thinking are so different, how great must be the disparity between heaven and earth!” Yet God came down to dwell with His people.
Think not only of that typological dwelling of God with His people in the tabernacle, but of its ultimate fulfillment. When John 1 speaks of the Word becoming flesh and tabernacling and dwelling among us, think of how Christ came to dwell with petty, selfish sinners. Brethren, I know we think of migrant workers living in shanty-like environments as an example of Herculean stooping and condescension, but what of Christ? He lived with sinners. Christ sojourned like ourselves in a house of clay. He took up a body, mingling with men and women in their daily tasks. He sat at the same table with publicans and sinners. He walked among the ancient church, and He still condescends to dwell with us in modern churches.
In Revelation chapter 2, we find the Lord Jesus Christ walking among the lampstands. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is profoundly in their midst. In Matthew 28, He promises, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Brethren, when we meet together as the people of God in assembly, Christ comes down and tabernacles among us.
But that is not even the fullest implication of it. The fullest implication is eternal. We find in Revelation 21:3: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
God will dwell with us in the heavenly New Jerusalem when all our shackles of sin are gone, our resurrection bodies are ours, and for eternity we shall dwell with the living God. He shall indeed walk among us. You see, we have a great promise of the blessing of God’s presence if we obey and are faithful to the words of God.
Notice the beautiful progression for your listeners: God starts with our foundation of obedience, and then the three P blessings follow—Plenty will be yours, Peace will be yours, and My presence will be yours.
Application
Simply as we are moving in these last couple of weeks to the close of the book of Leviticus, I say to you, child of God, may these parting words sink deep:
- Consider the wonderful blessings of obedience in this life and the eternal fortune of these blessings that God offers you if you obey Him. At this stage of your life, the evil one—Satan—tries to entice you, dangling shiny, worthless trinkets before your eyes to make you disobey and lose these supreme blessings. Like he did to Eve, he makes things look so nice: “Look how enjoyable, how nice, you will know good and evil, you will be wise.”
What trinket or fleeting sensory thrill is the evil one dangling before you right now at this stage of your life to entice you into disobedience and make you throw overboard this great fortune?
Those are not harmless things; they are not just balloon balls, but bombs of sulfur and acid. They will not just burst, they will deeply burn wounds into your soul. Do not be deceived! Are you already feeling that it looks so satisfying, only for it to always disappoint and leave you with guilt, shame, and pain? That is immediate, but God’s avenging curses will soon fall upon a rebellious life one by one. We will see the thunder of curses next week. See how they fell on the people of Israel, on Samson, on Saul, on Absalom, and on Ahab—men who not only lost all the blessings of obedience, but were ultimately cursed.
How long are you going to walk down this deceiving path and never experience the true blessings of obedience? Stop running after the shiny illusions the enemy dangles before you. Resolve to turn back, obey, and inherit these blessings. Resolve that you will be faithful to the living God and inherit every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Again, understand that God is not expecting the impossible. God is not expecting flawless, perfect obedience. He knows our fallen human nature and its inbuilt tendency to sometimes fall into temptation. That is why He provided all the provisions for redemption—the burnt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, sacrifices, cleansings of all types, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. These are God’s gracious provisions to deal with the sin and rebellion of your heart. When He says you must obey Me, it includes bringing your sins to the cross of Jesus Christ when you stumble, immediately repenting, turning back, being cleansed by His blood and grace, and growing in holiness.
Practical Steps for Worship:
- God’s Way of Worship (Heart Check): “This week, identify one idol competing with God for first place, and bring it before the Lord in repentance.” Examine your schedule: does your weekly rhythm reflect God’s priorities or yours? Do you guard the Sabbath so nothing disturbs your Sabbath worship?
- Reverence My House: Prepare your heart on Saturday night—reduce distractions, pray over the sermon, and come ready to meet with God. Plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, sit quietly, and spend that time in prayer asking God to prepare your heart to worship Him with reverence.
If there is an unbeliever here tonight, may you receive a holy envy to inherit these things. Your carnal mind is enmity against God; it cannot obey these commands or receive these blessings. The only way to change that heart is to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God awaken you from any spiritual slumber leading toward destruction by the thunder of these passages, and draw you gently by the sweet way He comes with His promises of blessing.
Follow-up Question: Which of the three foundational channels (God’s way, God’s day, or God’s house) do you feel is currently most vulnerable to distraction in your weekly routine?