the Third Week after Easter
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Leviticus 26:34-46
God’s rights will have to be recognised in one way or the other. If the nation does not observe the sabbath of years prescribed in ch. 25, the LORD will constrain them to do so by driving them out by force from the land which is His. Israel will not, so to speak, have fulfilled the conditions of tenancy laid down by their Landlord. And this will be one of the reasons for the carrying away to Babylon (read 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).
The consequences of Israel’s sin will indeed be terrible. God is more severe towards this people than He is towards other nations. Their responsibility is certainly much greater. The divine oracles have been entrusted to them. They are standing in relation to the true God whose name, through them, is blasphemed among the Gentiles (Romans 3:2; Romans 2:24). But if God has been more exacting towards Israel than towards the pagan nations, do you not think that He must be even more so towards those who like us have His Word in our hands, or are brought up by Christian parents? "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:48).
Note also that to confess one’s sin (v. 40) and to accept the punishment for it (v. 43) are the conditions for restoration.
