In a previous issue, we studied the Old Covenant, being the first of the two CONDITIONAL Covenants which God made with His people Israel. In this study we will deal with the second of these Conditional Covenants, the Palestinian Covenant.
 You will recall that under the terms of the Old Covenant, God promised to richly bless His people, and indeed, this Covenant constituted the marriage of Jehovah to His bride, Israel.  But unlike the other six unconditional Covenants God made with His people, this Covenant of blessing was conditional upon the obedience of the nation to Him.  God was not interested in promising them everything they wanted, and at the same time allowing them to do everything they wanted to do, irrespective of whether or not it met His requirements governing His wife’s obedience to her Husband.   The situation is easily recognised when we look at family conditions today, where in all too many instances, the parents give their children everything they want, irrespective of cost, and despite the fact of their disobedience and lack of proper respect for their parents.  God had no intention of setting up His family under such conditions.  He expected, indeed demanded, that His wife, the nation, would bring up her children, the members of that nation, in an atmosphere of complete respect and obedience.
But she didn’t, and we now have the situation where the Israel people generally have become a nation of spoilt brats, who demand everything they want with no thought whatsoever of the consequences of their selfish actions, nor any respect for, or even knowledge of, the God to whom they owe their allegiance.
But whom do we blame for this situation?  When for generations the children have been taught in their churches that God no longer demands obedience to His Laws, Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments, what else can we expect but the situation in which we now find ourselves, both as individuals, and as a nation.
Following the promises made by both parties to the Old Covenant, God proceeded to set forth the conditions which would automatically apply and become operative, dependant on whether or not His people obeyed or disobeyed His commandments.  God is not a fool, nor does He abide fools.  He made His requirements quite clear - indeed so clear that even a child could understand them.
In Deut. 4;5-6, Moses made this proclamation as to what God required of His people after they had settled in the land of Palestine;
 

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Later on, in Deut. 30:15-16, 19-20, God makes His intentions abundantly clear;
 

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

This command was not restricted to the land which Israel occupied at that time, but to all the lands which God had promised to Abraham’s descendants in future years when they were to spread to the four corners of the earth. We read in Deut. 32:8;
 

“When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.”

The promise to our father Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 28:14 in regard to the future disbursement of his descendants was;
 

“And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

At the time when Israel was already living in Palestine, 2 Sam. 7:10  records the following promise;
 

“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.”

The scattering abroad of the Israel people, as stated above, is fully supported by the Apostle James in James 1:1
 

 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.”

It is thus quite clear that these commandments which God gave to Israel were to apply to their future lands of residence as at that time, and was not restricted to the time they dwelt in Pakestine.
So what were these commandments which resulted in either “life and good”, or “death and evil”?  We read of them in Leviticus chapter 26, and Deuteronomy chapter 28.  In order for us to study them more easily, I will quote the relative verses in Deut. 28 which promise “life and good”, that is “Blessing”, and then those verses which promise “death and evil” or “Cursing,”   and add any further information contained in Leviticus 26 as necessary.  We commence with Deut. 28; 1-2;
 

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”

Compare this with the corresponding verse 15:

 
“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:”

Verse 3 informs us that for obedience;
 

“Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.”

Conversely, verse 16 tells us that for disobedience;
 

“Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.”

This tells us that depending on whether or not we are obedient or disobedient, our business activities, in the city, and our productivity, in the fields, will prosper or fail.

Verse 4 informs us that for obedience;
 

“Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.”

Conversely, verse 18 tells us that for disobedience;
 

“Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.”

The fruit of our body is our children.  How many of these precious little ones are born with crippling diseases and malformations?   Is this a blessing, or a curse?  And this should not be taken personally by those parents who are unwitting victims of such unfortunate incidents.  God doesn’t punish the unborn child because of some personal sin we might have committed, unless, of course, it has been something that has a direct bearing on the health of the unborn child.  This happens because of national sin.  Over the centuries, because of wrong eating, and stress brought about by our God-less political and economic system, our bodily structure, and our very genes, have been adversely affected, and this, in so many cases, has been passed on through our unborn children, and they are the unfortunate victims of our national disobedience to God’s Commandments.
How much of our land has become waste and unproductive, causing so much unnecessary hardship for our farming and rural communities?         Is this a blessing, or a curse?
How healthy have our livestock been, with all the diseases which have in late years destroyed thousands, if not millions of the best cattle and sheep within our Israel nations?        Has this been a blessing, or a curse?

Verses 5 and 8 inform us that for obedience;
 

“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.”
“The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”

This is reiterated in Leviticus 26:5 as follows;
 

“And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.”

Conversely, verse 17 tells us that for disobedience;
 

“Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.”

 Our “basket” and our “store” refers to our daily food and living requirements.  Are these now being fully met in the context of God’s promises?              Is this aspect of God’s requirements now a blessing or a curse?

Verse 6 informs us that for obedience;
 

“Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.”

Conversely, verse 19 tells us that for disobedience;
 

“Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.”

Can we, these days, leave our homes unlocked when we go out, and walk the streets with safety?  This surely needs no comment.                Are we reaping a blessing or a curse?

Verses 7 and 13 inform us that for obedience;
 

“The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.”
“And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:”

In Leviticus 26:7-8 we read;
 

“And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

Conversely, verses 36-37, 48-52 and 64-67 tells us that for disobedience;
 

“The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.”

“Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.”

“And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.”

Doesn’t this sound all too familiar?  Where now is that great Nation and Company, or Commonwealth of Nations upon which the sun never set? They used to say that an Englishman’s word was his bond.  But now, especially with our politicians, anything they say becomes a matter of great concern and doubt.  Our standing in the world as a righteous nation no longer exists. Every member of the true Israel nations has been reduced to the status of a third-world country.  We no longer have the rule over ourselves.  We are controlled in everything we do by organisations under the control of anti-Christ, and as one of the prophets once said, “We love to have it so.”  Is our present parlous position supposed to be a blessing from God?  Are we now in the position stated in Deut. 28:9-10;
 

“The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.”

Quite the contrary. As stated above, we have become the laughing stock of the world.

And what about the weather conditions which govern our prosperity?

Verse 12 informs us that for obedience;
 

“The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand:”

Leviticus 26:4-5 supports this promise;
 

“Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.   And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.”

Conversely, verses 23-24, tells us that for disobedience;
 

“And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”

Put very simply, God has promised that if we obey Him, we will be given rain in the right quantity, at the right place, and at the right time.  We will suffer neither flood nor drought.       What are we experiencing, the blessing or the curse?

And finally, what about our health, both individually and nationally?

The following readings inform us of the rewards for obedience;
 

“If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.”

             Exod. 15:26

 “And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.”                 Deut. 7:15;

 “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.”               Isa. 58:8;

Conversely, the following passages inform us of the dire results of disobedience;
 

“The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.”                                                                                                                       Deut. 28:20-22.

“The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.”

“The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.”                                                                  Deut. 28: 35.

“Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.  And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.”

          Deut. 28:59-62.

“And among these nations (where the Lord has scattered them as in the previous verse) shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life.”                                                                                                         Deut. 28:65-66.

I can only leave the conclusion of this matter to the individual reader.  These health curses for disobedience to God include every sickness and plague that are known to man, which we are now experiencing within our society.  The actual names given to them may not be the same as those used in medical circles today, but with a little thought, it will be observed that they describe every disease that is now ravaging not only the Israel nations, but are in turn affecting the entire world population.  We were formed to be a national testimony and witness to the rest of the world to the gracious mercy of the Lord God of Israel.  But because we have failed, as a nation, to live up to this responsibility, the rest of the world has not received the blessings which could have been theirs, and is now suffering the same consequences as God’s true Anglo-Israel people.

What I have recorded above constitute only the major issues at stake.  But there are many other issues which are covered which could possibly complicate the readers’ minds with all the detail.  I’m sure however that what I have quoted is sufficient to establish our national position before God.   But the real issue which should be uppermost in our minds is this.
 

• Of all the blessings of which we have read, we are not, as a nation, enjoying a single one of them.

• On the other hand, of all the curses of which we have read, we are nationally and individually suffering under every one of them!

Surely we are entitled, indeed obligated, to inquire diligently as to why this should be so.  The answer is simplicity itself, and requires no academic or theological training whatsoever to reach the only possible conclusion.  God made the situation quite clear.  He could not have made it any clearer.

If we obeyed His Laws, Statutes, Commandments, and Judgments, we would enjoy every one of the blessings He set forth in His Word.  On the other hand, if we disobeyed these instructions, we would suffer every one of the curses which are enumerated.  Let me repeat His promise that we quoted above from Deut. Deut. 30:15-16, and 19-20;
 

 “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:  That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

So what went wrong?  Why have we, both as individuals and as a nation, chosen the way of death and evil, and rejected the way of life and good?  What absolute and incomprehensible insanity has caused us to make such a decision as this?

In Romans 6:14 we read this statement by Paul;
 

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

The tragic fact cannot be ignored.  With very few exceptions, modern theologians have taught their flocks that this means that we no longer have to obey God’s Laws as, according to them, they no longer apply.
Whilst it is not my intention to offend, I make no apology for stating that in my opinion all too many ministers today spend four to five years in a theological cemetery, come out brain dead, and pass the disease on to their flock, who automatically accept every word that drops from their supposedly anointed lips.
Our people have been brainwashed into accepting that the Law has been done away with.  But why can’t we get some degree of honesty here.  The same Paul, in the very same epistle, said, as recorded in Romans 3:28 and 31;
 

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. . . . .
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

How is it that Paul could say in one breath that we do not make void the law, but that we establish it, and in the next breath say that the law has been abolished and replaced by grace?   The position is completely and clearly explained when we read his statements as recorded in Ephesians 2:15, and Colossians 2:14;
 

“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;”

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”

The ordinances were the sacrificial laws involving the ritual animal sacrifices which were at the beginning offered up to God for the remission of sins.  These ordinances had now been abolished by the everlasting sacrifice of God’s Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ. At no time, nor in any place, did God ever sanction the removal of the necessity to obey the main bulk of the Law, as contained in the Statutes, Commandments, and Judgments.

Just to illustrate just how utterly stupid the current teachings are regarding obedience to God’s Laws, let me submit this entirely hypothetical scenario.

We have just purchased a nice new sports car,  and take it out for a test run in the country.  As we drive along, we see a large sign which states that from this point on, there are no speed restrictions.   So what happens?  Our foot goes down on the accelerator to see how fast the car will go.  Suddenly we hear a siren, and a police car comes up along side of us and a police officer yells out for us to pull over.  We ask him what the trouble is.  He tells us that we have been breaking the speed limit.  So we tell him that a few miles back there was notice saying that there was no speed limit out here.  That doesn’t concern the officer, who gives us a ticket, and eventually the matter goes to court.   The judge hears the evidence, rules in favour of the officer and fines us $200 or a month in jail.  Could you ever imagine such a stupid situation occurring?
Yet, as stupid and foolish as this hypothetical story may seem, this is exactly what most of our theologians do today concerning God and His Laws.

Now we know from I John 3:4 that;
 

“sin is the transgression of the law.”

So putting all this together, we arrive at this totally ludicrous and God-dishonouring scenario.

God gives us a complete series of rules and regulations by which we must conduct ourselves for the benefit of both ourselves and our entire nation.  He also sets forth the punishments which will automatically come into force should we disregard and break these rules and regulations.   At a later date He suddenly decides to eliminate all these rules and regulations.  There is now no speed limit.  But for some inexplicable reason, being God, He also decides that the automatic penalties which He Himself had applied to the transgression of these now defunct rules and regulations, would still be applied to every one who broke these laws which now no longer existed.  Let us ask ourselves.  If there is no longer any law by which, under the above quoted definition by which we commit sin, then why are we still suffering from, and experiencing, every one of the curses which God automatically applied for breaking the Laws which have been removed, as it were, from the statute books?  Did God have a momentary mental block?  If He is the God who never changes, as we read in the Book of Malachi, then how could He now change His mind is such a serious situation as this, let alone in any situation?

But perhaps there is another, and much more feasible explanation.   Could it possibly be that our ministers, the shepherds of God’s Flock, have made a monumental error in their teaching?  Perish the thought.  In that case, we’d have to change all our eating habits.  No more tasty pork trotters. No more roast pork and apple sauce. No more prawns and octopus.  No more ham sandwiches?  We’d starve. But it gets worse.  We’d no longer be able to invest our money in our ever so friendly banks and financial institutions, and reap the reward of interest, or usury, to use the Bible terminology.  Our entire life system would be changed, and we couldn’t stand that at any price.  How could we possibly survive without all the sex and violence and blasphemy which has now become our daily diet for escapism?

But say or think what we might;  try as hard as we can to justify our present evil life-style, the problem remains.  The automatic penalties for breaking God’s Laws are still in operation, and as much as we might like to emulate King Canute in trying to hold back the waves of the sea, nothing - absolutely nothing - will stop the inexorable onslaught of God’s curses other than a complete national and individual return to obedience to God’s Holy and Righteous Laws.  We read in Isaiah 48:17-18;
 

“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”

Today’s false prophets, with their false teachings, and irresponsible arrogance and self-righteousness, have virtually destroyed God’s People.  Let us look at what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said about the subject of keeping His Laws, as recorded in Matthew 5:17-20;  (Living Bible Translation)
 

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them.
I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God’s law will remain until its purpose is achieved.
So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
“But I warn you—unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!

The words of the prophet in Amos 8:11 are as up-to-date as this morning’s sunrise;
 

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”

The prophet adds his testimony in Hosea 4:6-7;
 

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.”

Our only hope lies in our understanding, acceptance and implementation of God’s wonderful formula as recorded in II Chronicles 7:14;
 

“If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land.”

 
 
 

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