The Consequence Engine
We physicists often remind
ourselves that there are no uncaused effects in the universe. Even in very
ordinary events going on around us, there is always a preceding chain of linked
causes. In flipping a coin many times, one averages 50% heads and 50% tails.
But the outcome of each single throw of the coin has been determined by a multiplicity
of very real variables. Fluctuations in the stock market are all caused though no one has yet unraveled all the contributing
variables. Thus there is no entity in the universe called "chance"
which is causing coins to fall as they do. (1) According to the Bible, God is
behind the Laws of physics (and the moral Law). Nothing happens that God does
not permit, and ultimately nothing happens that He does not cause to happen.
Ephesians, Chapter One says "[God] works [energizes] all things
according to the counsel of His will" (1:11).
All
of us have had some sample, some contact, some encounter with the power of
nature -- we are awed by the mighty thundering of a storm that breaks upon our
heads suddenly, or by the power of breakers dashing upon the shore. In some
way, we find demonstrated to us the power of nature. God is a God of power, and
that power indicates to us a force behind nature. Nature is alive with power.
We are told that everything is in motion -- the atoms that constitute this
pulpit are constantly in motion. And behind the motion is the pulsating force
of energy. Nature is one great mass of energy. It bespeaks, therefore, of
mighty power that tells us of the existence of God.
But,
more than that, all of us have experienced some knowledge of the sovereignty of
God in nature. We don't play around with the laws of nature. Have you noticed
that? When we discover a natural law, we are careful to observe it because,
oftentimes, our very lives are at stake.
You
don't go fooling around with the law of gravity. You don't get on top of a
15-story building and shove your hands in your pockets and nonchalantly stroll
over the ledge to show people how superior you are to the law of gravity. You
won't break the law of gravity -- you'll just illustrate it. They'll just scoop
you off the pavement!
We
don't play around with the laws of electricity. When a wire is charged with
10,000 volts, we know that it will operate according to a strict and precise
law, and we are careful to observe that law because one little mistake is
enough to cause us to forfeit our life. Nature is sovereign. It has the right
to do what it was made to do, and in that we see the sovereignty of God -- his
right to be God, his right to choose, and his right to set up nature according
to his idea, not ours. This, if acted upon, is the minimum basis man needs to
know God -- and every man knows this. This is what Hebrews 11:6 says. But I
stress the words if acted upon.
It is not enough just to know about God's sovereignty: It must govern us. It
must control us. It must do something to us. (Ray C. Stedman, http://raystedman.org/romans1/0006.html).
Just as there are great
"natural" (built-in) laws at work in the material world, so there are
also even more important laws at work in the moral sphere. The God of the Bible
is a Just God, as well as a loving and merciful God: He rewards the good and
eventually punishes all evil. No detail escapes His attention.
Many people suppose that
God, being good, grants general amnesty to people, adding up our good deeds,
subtracting the bad, and throwing in extra mercy so that most everyone gets
into heaven somehow. Actually this is a long way from the truth one finds in
the Bible. Every human choice and every action has consequences, whether good
or ill. We are all affected by the choices others make as well!
The Consequence Engine in
Every Day Life
It is obvious that ordinary
daily life is full of consequences. Driving over the speed limit can lead to an
expensive traffic ticket. Driving under the influence can have more severe
consequences. Not paying the rent usually causes a renter to loose his
residence. Not showing up for work on time can get one fired. The slightest
disobedience to the Drill Sergeant in military basic training can prove
painfully costly.
"Sensible" people
who are law-abiding and "moral" cause less trouble for themselves in
this life, and are better off as long as they live--compared to the person who
is irresponsible, or promiscuous, who abuses booze and drugs and can't hold a
job. Neither type of individual may end up in heaven, but this present life is
better off for people who see the intrinsic order in the world and who follow
it as best they can, even if their motives are self-serving, and even if they
do not know God.
A common humorous expression
goes, "no good deed goes unpunished." Actually God takes note of
everything going on--nothing escapes his notice. Very often we do not know who
among us has a relationship with God and who does not. Seldom do we know the
motives of another man's heart--let alone our own motives. But God knows and
God sees:
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the
treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He
said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; For all
these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her
poverty put in all the livelihood that she had." (Luke 21:1-4)
The Consequence Engine
and the Non-Christian
The vast majority of people
in the world are uninterested in knowing the real God. They are actually
enemies of God. (Our general animosity towards the real God is the main reason
for the invention of earth's many religions). God grants everyone enough
knowledge of His existence and of His attributes so that all men everywhere are
without excuse, (Romans 1:18-21). When people hear, but reject, the gospel of
Jesus Christ, God ordinarily leaves such people alone and they live out the
rest of their lives--often in relative peace and even prosperity. There seem to
be no immediate obvious negative consequences to their unbelief. Because the
silent, invisible wrath of God rests upon all men who reject Him, there is
gradually increasing emptiness in the lives of those who refuse God's grace and
mercy (John 3:36). In Ecclesiastes, Solomon states clearly that enjoyment in
life is a gift from God given only to those who please Him--and not obtainable any other way!
"There is nothing in a man than that he should eat and drink,
and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from
the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For
God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but
to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give
to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the
wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26)
Nonbelievers do
not cease to exist when they die, nor do they pass into limbo or purgatory.
After death they end up intact and conscious at the "last" judgment
(2) described in Revelation 20:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were
opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead
were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the
books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered
up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his
works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake
of fire. (20:11-15)
The record books
of life are being kept every day by recording angels who miss no details.
Judgment is totally fair and just--even for the lost. Punishment is
appropriately proportional, following the great principle outlined in Romans
2--God weighs the motives of the heart as well as behavior, and He takes into
account the individual's actual knowledge of God.
It may seem to
some harsh and unfair, but no human being can enter heaven on his or her own
merits. It is only by trusting in the work of Jesus on our behalf that we are
qualified.
The consequence engines of
life, inexorable and unavoidable though they may be, do not usually bring
immediate consequences in response to our actions. An old Proverb says,
"The mills of God's justice grind exceedingly slow--but they grind
exceedingly fine." Because we often do not see the negative consequences
of our bad choices right away, we are often persuaded to make bigger and more
foolish mistakes. Because God's judgments are usually long delayed in time,
many think the Lord never judges anyone at all.
The Consequence Engine
and the Christian
Non-Christians are said to
be "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2) and therefore they are
quite unable to do anything which pleases God. However for the individual who
has entered into a personal relationship with God, everything one does matters!
The consequence engine runs full time and at full tilt--both in regard to good
and to ill--for those who follow Jesus with a committed heart. Christians are
not judged for their sins (3)--which have been paid in full by Jesus--but
certainly we are thoroughly evaluated for all our choices in life--like
everyone else. All of our choices in life have negative or positive
consequences.
The Negative Consequence
Engine
Negative
consequences in time and eternity occur when a follower of Jesus Christ does
things in his or her own natural energy and strength. A number of New Testament
passages highlight this:
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy,
murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand,
just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
One of the
features of the negative consequence engine at work is that we do not get to
choose the consequences of our sins. All sin is forgivable but all sin has
consequences. (4) Negative consequences can involve lost opportunities for
service, increased vulnerability to the same bad choices the next time we are
tempted, and in some cases even an early death. (5) Some forms of life-style
behavior exclude a person from entry into the kingdom of God altogether, thus
revealing that many who say they are Christians never were in the first place (Matthew
7:21-29)! A list of these moral absolutes in the universe is found in 1
Corinthians 6:9-11 and yet another in Ephesians 5:1-6.
"The wages
of sin"--which is death--are inevitable, inexorable, and unavoidable. Sin
pays us back with boredom, guilt, shame, loneliness, confusion, emptiness, loss
of purpose, and, in the end, with physical death itself--then final separation
from God--unless we have laid hold of the saving life of Christ.
The negative
consequence engine for the Christian should not be considered as punishment for
sins--because Jesus has already been fully punished for the believers sins--all
of them. Consequences of our bad choices is not the same thing as punishment
for sin. God's corrective discipline of his wayward sons and daughters is also
a separate matter (Hebrews 12:6-17).
The Positive
Consequence Engine
Like negative
consequences in life, the effects of the positive consequence engine at work in
our lives do not usually show up immediately. This is frustrating for folks who
want instant gratification and who expect a daily rewards balance sheet. The
big pay off for followers of Jesus is in the next life--not here and now.
"Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
"But recall the former days in which, after you were
illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you
were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you
became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in
my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you
have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do
not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of
endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the
promise: 'For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not
tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has
no pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of
those who believe to the saving of the soul." (Hebrews 10:32-39)
Positive
consequences of knowing God include wonderful inner qualities of wholeness,
fulfillment and contentment: Over time we become all we ever dream of being as
whole men and women. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)
This great principle--the
law of sowing and reaping in life--has never been revoked, altered, or amended.
The consequence engines connected with sowing and reaping run with 100%
reliability century after century in every generation.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man
sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh
reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap
everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season
we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galatians 6:1-9)
(In reality,
most Christians find we may still be reaping the unpleasant long-term
consequences of past bad choices and at the same time, as forgiven sinners, we
are probably also sowing to the Spirit for a future positive harvest).
As explained in Romans,
Christians have only two daily choices. We are all servants (slaves), and there
are only two choices of which master we choose to serve:
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to
obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death,
or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you
were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to
which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves
of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.
For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of
lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves
of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free
in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which
you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been
set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to
holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (6:16-23)
Yet another New
Testament description of the consequence engine at work in the life of the
Christian is described as that of building a house out of two different types
of building material:
"According
to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a
foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he
builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is
laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble--each man's work will become
manifest (openly visible), for the Day (of the Lord) will disclose it, because
it will be revealed (unveiled) with fire, and the fire will test what sort of
work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will
suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
(1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
"For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may
receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. Therefore,
knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men..." (2 Corinthians 5:10-11)
(3)
The Wages of Sin
A vivid illustration of how
the "law of sin and death" operates in our lives is given by the
Apostle James.
"Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by
God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away (lured) by his own desires and
enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when
it is full-grown, brings forth death." (James 1:13-15)
James says that we must not
attribute sin to God. God does not tempt us to sin. He is incapable of sin, He
has no experience with sin. ("Temptation" and "testing" are
similar--the same word in Greek is used for each. Temptation is the "solicitation
to do evil"). James says that sin involves a surrender of the will to our
inner desires. The terms "lured and enticed" are Greek words for
hunting and fishing. The devil plays upon our desires--even healthy desires
that are not in themselves sinful. The enemy attempts to get us to act in
independence of God. When we do act on our own and yield to these desires from
the heart--apart from God--an embryo is conceived in our inner being. The
"child's" name is sin and that child is inevitably brought forth into
the world as death. If we remember that death includes boredom, loneliness,
guilt, emptiness, frustration, the absence of life and lack of blessing from
God, it is easy to see the powerful metaphor James has chosen.
Christian Dynamics
What counts in life--actions
that lead to positive consequences, are the works Jesus does in and through us
when we make ourselves available to God. God does not want our best efforts on
his behalf! The basic rule of Christian life is "nothing coming from me, everything
coming from Him." We are not to give God our very best efforts.
Self-improvement programs are of no avail. "Trying harder" doesn't
cut it.
However, it is by trusting and acting on what God has promised that
we unloose the power of God working in us so that the consequence engine runs
in our favor. (6) Jesus is more than willing to live through us whenever we
give Him permission. Someone has said, "There is no limit to what God will
do through any individual, if that person doesn't are who gets the
credit."
Usually when we come to know
the Lord we abandon those bad habits which everyone agrees are socially
undesirable--such as getting drunk, living in a life style that is sexually
immoral, being dishonest in business, lying, stealing, cheating--and so on.
These actions do spring from that fallen humanity we all have inherited from
Adam. Actions which lead to sin arise within us from what the Bible calls
"the flesh." (The flesh is another name for the totality of our
fallen nature inherited from Adam.) Nothing good can ever come from the flesh
and so our entire "old nature" had to be nailed to the cross when we
were identified with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection--that is, when
we came to Christ and were spiritually reborn. (7)
What is harder to recognize
and deal with regarding the flesh is its "good" side. (A perfect
example of not dealing with the "good side" of the flesh is laid out
before us in the story of King Saul's loss of his throne in 1 Samuel 15). In God's
sight, there is nothing at all in us--in our natural lives--that is able to
please God. We must die and be replaced by Christ living in and through us day
by day, year after year. (8, 9, 10)
Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires
to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find
it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his
own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man
will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward
each according to his works." (Matthew 16:24-27)
For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. OI
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. OI do not set aside the grace of
God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
(Galatians 2:19-21)
Identifying the
"flesh" in our lives is a life-long task--the flesh will do anything
to avoid being put to death. We do not readily recognize the flesh in ourselves
apart from our daily obedience to Jesus--and our ongoing feeding on the Word of
God. Hebrews offers key insights into our day to day walk in the Spirit.
"Ethe who has entered His rest has himself also ceased
from his works [self-effort] as God did from His [in creation]. Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the
same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all
things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give
account." (4:10-13)
God and Community
American rugged
individualism would have us believe that our private actions do not affect
others. Not so. The Biblical God is a personal God who builds families and
communities of which He Himself is a member. Everything we do--whether public
or private--affects others--affects the community. As a participating member of
the community, God seeks to move the individual and the community towards
wholeness and well-being. Those who will not cooperate with His program will
find themselves left out entirely. Consequence engines work for groups of
individuals, and for entire nations. By the way, Jesus Christ is Himself the
appointed personal judge of all mankind (11).
Deeply ingrained within all
of us are the world's notions that each of us on his or her own energy is
capable of having a lasting effect on our generation. The Bible has clearly
teaches that only what Christ does through us will last. The Bible speaks of a
coming time of great shaking "Not only of the earth but also of the
heavens" (Hebrews 12:26). Only that which God has built will remain. Ray
Stedman comments,
We
have already noted that heaven is the realm of invisible realities, of forces
and principles which actually govern human life. The word translated
"created things" (pepoiemenon) means "things made," but 11:2 reminds us that behind the
visible things are invisible forces. This shaking of heaven and earth is both
of the visible and of the invisible. Isaiah also declares: "Therefore I
will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the
wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger" (Isaiah
13:13). It is this greater shaking from which there is no escape. That shaking
began with the preaching of Jesus (Haggai 2:6) has been continuing through the
Christian centuries, and will culminate in the great judgments described in
Daniel and Revelation. The earth and heaven will flee away and be replaced by
the new heavens and the new earth.
There
is something chilling about the thought of a shaking of heaven and earth. The
twentieth century has watched the crumbling of much which we once thought to be
stable. Faith in human government has been widely shaken; confidence in science
as the savior of the race has waned as the problems of pollution, urban decay,
biological warfare and existential despair increase. Long-accepted moral
standards have disappeared under the onslaught of divorce, unmarriages, sexual
explicitness, homosexuality and abortion.
But
there are some things which cannot be shaken and which will remain forever.
That which is shaken and removed is so done in order that what cannot be shaken
may stand revealed. Such an unshakable thing is the kingdom of God into which
those who trust in Jesus have entered. It is present wherever the King is
honored, loved and obeyed. The present active participle ("are
receiving") indicates a continuing process. We enter the kingdom at
conversion, but we abide in it daily as we reckon upon the resources which come
to us from our invisible but present King. Such unbroken supply should arouse a
continuing sense of gratitude within us and lead to acceptable worship of God.
What renders such worship acceptable is the sense of God as incredibly powerful
and majestic in person, and yet loving and compassionate of heart. (http://raystedman.org/hebrews2/heb2comm2.html)
Israel's Consequence Engine
Leviticus
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. 2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and
reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD.
|
The Positive Consequence Engine |
The Negative Consequence Engine |
|
3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments,
and perform them, 4 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. 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. 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 evil beasts, and the sword will not go through
your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the
sword before you. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred
of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword
before you. 9 For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful,
multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the
old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. 11 I will set
My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. 12 I will
walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13 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. |
14 Obit if
you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 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, 16 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. 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. 18
And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times
more for your sins. 19 I will break the pride of your power; I will
make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 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. 21 Athena, 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. 22 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. 23
And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24
then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times
for your sins. 25 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. 26 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. 27 And after
all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I
also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you
seven times for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons,
and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 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. 31 I will
lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will
not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. 32 I will bring the land
to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at
it. 33 I will scatter you
among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate
and your cities waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as
long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land
shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it
shall rest--for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in
it. 36 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. 37 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. 38 You shall perish among the
nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 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. 40 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, 41 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-- 42 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. 43 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. 44 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. |
45 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.'" 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.
From Deuteronomy 28:
|
Blessings for Obedience |
Curses for |
|
28:1
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of
the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command
you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the
earth. 2 "And all
these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the
voice of the LORD your God: 3
"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the
country. 4 "Blessed
shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase
of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your
flocks. 5 "Blessed
shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and
blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you
to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and
flee before you seven ways. 8
"The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all
to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD
your God is giving you. 9
"The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has
sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in
His ways. 10 "Then
all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the
LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 "And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the
fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of
your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give
you. 12 "The LORD
will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your
land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to
many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 "And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail;
you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of
the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe
them. 14 "So you
shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to
the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them. |
15 "But
it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to
observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you
today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 "Cursed shall you be
in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 "Cursed shall be your
basket and your kneading bowl. 18
"Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land,
the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 19 "Cursed shall you be
when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 "The LORD will send on
you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until
you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of
your doings in which you have forsaken Me. 21 "The LORD will make the plague cling to you
until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22 "The LORD will strike
you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning
fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you
until you perish. 23
"And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the
earth which is under you shall be iron.
24 "The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder
and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are
destroyed. 25 "The
LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one
way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become
troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 "Your carcasses shall be food for all the
birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them
away. 27 "The LORD
will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with
the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28 "The LORD will strike you with madness and
blindness and confusion of heart.
29 "And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes
in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed
and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. 30 "You shall betroth a
wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you
shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its
grapes. 31 "Your ox
shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your
donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be
restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall
have no one to rescue them. 32
"Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your
eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall
be no strength in your hand. 33
"A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and
the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed
continually. 34 "So
you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. 35 "The LORD will strike
you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed,
and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. 36 "The LORD will bring
you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your
fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods--wood and
stone. 37 "And you
shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where
the LORD will drive you. 38
"You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for
the locust shall consume it. 39 "You shall plant vineyards and
tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for
the worms shall eat them. 40
"You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall
not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. 41 "You shall beget sons
and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into
captivity. 42
"Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land. 43 "The alien who is
among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down
lower and lower. 44
"He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the
head, and you shall be the tail.
45 "Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and
pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey
the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes
which He commanded you. 46
"And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your
descendants forever. 47
"Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of
heart, for the abundance of everything,
48 "therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD
will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of
everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has
destroyed you. 49
"The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the
earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not
understand, 50 "a
nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show
favor to the young. 51
"And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of
your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new
wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks,
until they have destroyed you. 52
"They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified
walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall
besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your
God has given you. 53
"You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and
your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and
desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. 54 "The sensitive and
very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the
wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, 55 "so that he will not
give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has
nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall
distress you at all your gates. 56
"The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set
the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and
sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her
daughter, 57 "her
placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she
bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and
desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your
gates. 58 "If you do
not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book,
that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 "then the LORD will
bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues--great and
prolonged plagues--and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 "Moreover He will
bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and
they shall cling to you. 61
"Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book
of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 "You shall be left few
in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you
would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63 "And it shall be, that just as the LORD
rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice
over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked
from off the land which you go to possess. 64 "Then the LORD will scatter you among all
peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve
other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known--wood and
stone. 65 "And among
those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a
resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing
eyes, and anguish of soul. 66
"Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night,
and have no assurance of life. 67
"In the morning you shall say, Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening
you shall say, OH, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies
your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see. 68 "And the LORD will
take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall
never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies
as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you." (Deuteronomy 28) |
References:
1. No Such Thing as Chance! http://ldolphin.org/chance.html
2. The Great White Throne
Judgment, http://ldolphin.org/Gwhite.html
3. The Judgment Seat of
Christ, http://ldolphin.org/Jseat.html
4. The Scars of Sin, by Ray
Stedman, http://raystedman.org/scars.html
5. Deliberate Sin, and Sin
Which Leads to Death, http://ldolphin.org/deliberate.html
6. The Power You Already
Have, http://raystedman.org/misc/4308.html
7. How God Saves Us, http://ldolphin.org/howsaved.html
8. Jesus is our Sabbath
Rest, http://ldolphin.org/sabbathrest.html
9. Entering God's Rest, http://ldolphin.org/Rest.html
10. Elaine Stedman on the
New Covenant, http://raystedman.org/newrs/newcovenant.html
11. Jesus, Judge of All, http://ldolphin.org/judgment.html
Note: I first hear the term
"the consequence engine" from Glenn Miller, http://www.christian-thinktank.com/. Glenn denies being the originator of this term.
Lambert Dolphin
July
29, 2005. October 17, 2005.