Deuteronomy 28:14

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:14-20, “And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.[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:[16] Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.[17] Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.[18] 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.[19] Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.[20] 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.” It is important to often point out the difference between law and grace, and the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. These verses in Deuteronomy emphasize the tremendous negative consequences for those who are under the law: a curse. One important point to know about the requirement of the law is the word “all” that is used in verse 15. It says, “to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes.” It is not good enough to obey some of the commandments or most of the commandments. You must obey all, or else you have failed to keep the law. You disobeyed the law. You are a law breaker. James 2:10 says it very clearly, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

If you stay under the law, you will not be able to escape the curse. The curse will follow you wherever you go: all the way to the judgment. That is why it says in verse 16, “Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.” By the way, there is one way to escape the curse: find the grace of God through faith in Christ. Grace is so good. With grace God gives you freely what you did not earn and cannot earn. With grace you are given a standing of holiness with God even though you do not deserve it. Grace is based upon what Christ has done for you instead of what you can do for God.

The following is a very long passage where God is emphasizing how bad it will be for the children of Israel if they stop serving the Lord. This is a terrible description of suffering and loss and ruin. Sadly, it is a description of exactly what eventually happened to Israel when it was conquered by Babylon. God warned them, but they did not listen. God warns people now that they need forgiveness of sins, and they need to turn to Christ and trust in Him. Eternity is a long time. Hell is a horrible place. You do not have to go there. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:[14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:21-46, “The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.[22] 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.[23] And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.[24] The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.[25] The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.[26] And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.[27] 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.[28] The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:[29] 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.[30] Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.[31] Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.[32] Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.[33] The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:[34] So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37] And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.[38] Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.[39] Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.[40] Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.[41] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.[42] All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.[43] The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.[44] He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.[45] Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:[46] And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.” The greater the opportunity that God gives you, the greater the judgment will be if you throw away the opportunity. Why did not Israel continue as the greatest nation on earth: sin. Why did the Jewish people suffer so greatly in this period in their history: sin. Why were the Babylonians able to totally conquer the Israelites and destroy Jerusalem: because of the sins of the citizens of the nation of Israel. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” You will reap what you sow. If you are a believer, the better that you serve the Lord, the more that you will prosper according to His will. The more that you fail to serve Him, the more that you will suffer for it. The world is constantly lying. One of the lies of the world is that you will lose if you serve God, but the opposite is what is true.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:47, “Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;” What does it mean to serve God with joyfulness and gladness of heart? I am sure that it means a lot of things, but it especially means that you serve Him willingly. You do not serve Him out of some feeling of obligation, but you do it because you really want to. One of the things that is said about life is that if you really want to be happy, then do what you really want to do. God wants happy servants. If your number one goal in life is to serve the Lord Jesus, and you do serve Him, then one would think that you would be very happy about it. You get to do what you really want with your life. You get to live by faith in Jesus, wherever you go, and whatever happens to you. Deuteronomy 28:47 says that we will serve the Lord “for the abundance of all things.” In other words: count your blessings. Everything that you have, including your gifts and talents, come from God, and He has given you abundantly above all that we could ask or think. If we honestly think of all that Jesus has done for us, shouldn’t we be joyful and full of gladness? He died for us. He rose from the dead. He gave us eternal life. He has given us exceedingly great and precious promises that He will always keep. He has given us His Word, which is our spiritual nourishment. He has given us the Holy Spirit to be with us during the earthly walk. He has made us part of the family of God and given us a purpose in life. Jesus will return. What is not to be happy about? O, yes, there are persecutions and tribulations. But He has promised to fight our battles, and to give us victory over those too. There are so many benefits to being a Christian, and these are just a few.

Once again God tells the Israelites how bad it will be of they do not follow the Lord. If they turn away from God after all that He had done for them, here are the consequences. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:48-57, “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.[49] 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;[50] A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:[51] 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.[52] 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.[53] And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:[54] So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:[55] So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.[56] The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,[57] And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.” God was very specific. And it would be terrible. It would get so bad that they would turn to cannibalism. They would devour their own family members in order to survive. Terrible. Horrible. Unimaginable. Do not turn away from God when He offers you His best. You will be turning to the worst of destinies. The reason that God gave these warnings was so that people would turn from their evil ways. God also gives warnings about hell. He gives warnings in His Word. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:[14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Jesus spoke of a rich man who went to hell, and Jesus said in Luke 16:22-24, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;[23] And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.[24] And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” You can avoid going to hell by turning from your sins and turning to Jesus for forgiveness before it is too late.

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