TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY

[Pearl]

Wow, I just read this chapter an just wanted to share it. Blessings and curses. So many blessings for those that obey the LORD.

Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for obedience
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands that I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity – in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground – in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Curses for disobedience

15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumours, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labour produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

36 The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.

38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.

45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants for ever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, 48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no corn, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.

53 Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you – so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot – will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name – the Lord your God – 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods – gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening, ‘If only it were morning!’– because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. 68 The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

 

[Pearl]

So many blessings but also so many curses for those who do not obey.

Do you think terms and conditions still apply today?

 

[Curtis]

So many blessings but also so many curses for those who do not obey.

Do you think (and other) terms and conditions still apply today?

No.

 

[amadeus]

So many blessings but also so many curses for those who do not obey.

Do you think (and other) terms and conditions still apply today?

Now the terms and conditions are written in our heart by the Holy Spirit if and when we allow it. If we do not allow it, how much mercy should we expect from God?

 

[Amazed@grace]

No.

What then of the passage where we are told God does not change?

If he meant it to apply then.

 

[Mayflower]

Now the terms and conditions are written in our heart by the Holy Spirit if and when we allow it. If we do not allow it, how much mercy should we expect from God?

That is really good. Because I think for believers, those blessings still apply in obedience. But Christ Jesus death on the cross also broke the curse of death and condemnation. God's wrath was satisfied by His Son's sacrifice. So the only judgements I believe are for the church now, are listed in Revelation, along with the natural consequences sin brings...

 

[Mayflower]

Romans 8:1-4

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 

[amadeus]

That is really good. Because I think for believers, those blessings still apply in obedience. But Christ Jesus death on the cross also broke the curse of death and condemnation. God's wrath was satisfied by His Son's sacrifice. So the only judgements I believe are for the church now, are listed in Revelation, along with the natural consequences sin brings...

The sacrifice of Jesus opened the Way which was closed in Genesis. The Holy Spirit provides the means for each of us to overcome as Jesus overcame. People say it is impossible to become that much like Jesus. That, to me, is denying the power of God in us when the Holy Spirit is in us. That is quenching the Spirit and thereby limiting God. God gave men the authority to go their own way and that is why mankind is in so much trouble so much of the time.

 

[amadeus]

Romans 8:1-4

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Amen!

 

[amadeus]

What then of the passage where we are told God does not change?

If he meant it to apply then.

Indeed, God does not change. He has always been and still is no respecter of persons.

 

[Amazed@grace]

Indeed, God does not change. He has always been and still is no respecter of persons.

Speaking of that. I always wonder how that coincides with the passages that refer to God's elect.

If he's no respecters of persons how are thete the elect of God, by his will and definition?

 

[Hidden In Him]

So many blessings but also so many curses for those who do not obey.

Do you think (and other) terms and conditions still apply today?

Good to be reminded of Deuteronomy 28.

I think the same terms apply today, only they were augmented slightly in light of persecution. Peter appealed to the same teaching, but accounted for the fact that at times it may look like we are cursed instead of blessed due to the opposition we face in standing for Christ. But the end was the same: For those who remained faithful, the end was blessings and peace in Christ throughout all eternity.

8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For “He who would love life and see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:8-17)

 

[amadeus]

Speaking of that. I always wonder how that coincides with the passages that refer to God's elect.

If he's no respecters of persons how are thete the elect of God, by his will and definition?

Too bad our friend @ScottA is not around regularly any more to help clarify time for us.

On the one hand we choose our own pathway and make our own choices. Our ultimate result is due to our pathway and our choices. We do not know our ultimate result beforehand. God does. This causes a quandary for some people who insist on logically understanding every little detail. God does.

We understand only what He has allowed us to understand. We are to live by faith rather than knowledge, but people come along insisting that they do know or that they need to know in order to serve God. I do not believe that.

God may have shown us many things definitely already but still what Paul wrote and what Isaiah wrote apply:

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." I Cor 13:12

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

 

[Curtis]

What then of the passage where we are told God does not change?

If he meant it to apply then.

Gods nature never changes, but His covenants did - we are in a new covenant founded on better promises.

The old covenant law you quoted, if you kept it, requires you to keep 613 statures, laws, and commandments down to the last jot and tittle (period and comma), including animal sacrifices, and stoning to death those who break its commands.

It was deliberately harsh and a yoke of bondage, to contrast trying to be righteous by works of keeping the law in the old covenant, with grace and salvation by faith, in the new covenant.

Shalom.

 

[amadeus]

Gods nature never changes, but His covenants did - we are in a new covenant founded on better promises...

Better promises and gifts to more people... so then what does God expect of us? Jesus expresses it here:

"But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48

Simply stated: "much is given... much is required". Especially people in countries like the United States today have been given so much in material things as well as a lot of freedom to pursue God openly before men, but are not so many who claim the label of Christian also so very selfish?

Are we like the rich casting a little bit from our abundance or are we more like the poor widow casting in all of her living?

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." Mark 12:41-44

Or consider what Paul penned here as God inspired him to do so:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom 12:1

 

[Pearl]

There are quite a lot of 'terms and conditions' scripture.

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

 

[Wrangler]

So many blessings but also so many curses for those who do not obey.

Do you think terms and conditions still apply today?

No.

Yes, T’s and C’s apply today! Jesus said his yoke was light - not non-existent.

 

[marks]

What then of the passage where we are told God does not change?

If he meant it to apply then.

God doesn't change, but He has done a variety of different things with people.

Much love!

 

[amigo de christo]

Look real closely at the messages given unto the seven churches .

 

[amadeus]

God doesn't change, but He has done a variety of different things with people.

Much love!

When did God speak all of the blessings and cursings which might apply to men?

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Isaiah 40:8

Was there ever a time when the Word of our God did not stand?