Blessings Are Conditional: Deuteronomy 28:1, 15

“‘Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

The blessings that the Lord promises to give to us are conditional. Now, I can hear many of you saying that this is not a true statement. You will say that blessings are a matter of God’s grace and mercy. To this I say that we are blessed that we serve a God who loves us and from His love we receive grace and mercy. We will return to the role of grace and mercy later. So, I say again that the blessings that the Lord promises to give us are conditional.

The book of Deuteronomy is a record of Moses giving his last instructions to the children of Israel before they enter into the Promised Land to take possession of it. These instructions tell them how to conquer the land, and how to possess the land. It is possible to conquer the land and not take possession of it. For example: In 1991 the United States military forces and their allies quickly defeated the military apparatus of Saddam Hussein and Iraq. However, it took several years to take control of the land because there remained pockets of Iraqi forces that refused to surrender. In addition, there were Iraqi citizens that lived in opposition to the presence of the United States military. Moses gave instructions for the military conquest of the land. After they had gained military victory the people were to live by God’s laws so that they would be successful.

In Deuteronomy Moses gives the people God’s laws for the people to live by in their relationship with one another. He gives them laws to govern their relationships with the nations around them. God gives them laws for worship, financial justice and stability, for growing their crops for food, the care for their animals, for raising their children, how to take provide medical care for diseases, and many other situations. The seriousness of these laws is seen in the fact that they are often repeated and emphasized. These laws do not come from Moses. Rather, the Lord gives them to Moses, and Moses gives them to the people. The people are to obey all the laws diligently. They are not at liberty to pick and choose which laws they will obey and those that they will ignore and disobey (See 28:1).

Deuteronomy 28 follows Moses’ instructions that he had given to the people in previous chapters. In previous chapters Moses addresses each law separately including the consequences for obeying or disobeying the law. When Moses gives these laws each individual is responsible for compliance to the law with appropriate blessings and punishments. In chapter 28 Moses addresses the people as a nation. We can say that God’s laws are intended to govern both individuals and the nation as a whole. God is the God of each individual person and He is the God of the nation. “Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, ‘Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the LORD your God’” (Deut. 27:9, NASB). “‘You shall therefore obey the LORD your God, and do His commandments and His statues which I command you today’” (27:10). If we obey God’s law there will not be a conflict between individual rights and the good of the nation. Paul the apostle gives us instructions so that the individual person’s attitude and conduct will support the good of their brothers and sisters. If they obey his instructions the unity of the members of the church will be like that of the Son Jesus and the Father (See Phil. 2:1-11).

The key word for understanding that the blessings are conditional is “if.” The word “if” is used to introduce an exclamation for what is being addressed. In this case the word if introduces conditions that must be met if the people want to receive the Lord’s blessings. The word if is also used by Moses when he introduces all the curses that will come upon the people if they do not obey the commandments. It is not enough to know what the law says. We must obey the law. I know this from personal experiences; especially in regards to the speed laws on our nation’s highways. I have been stopped by law enforcement officers for speeding. I do not recall ever not being aware of what the posted speed limit was. I had my reasons for speeding, and I drove speeding knowing that I could be stopped and likely receive a speeding ticket. In the same way, it is not good enough for us to know the law. We must diligently obey the law. We must be careful to do what the law says do. There is no grace and mercy in the law. The ticket that the law enforcement officer gives me for speeding means that I am going to be punished by paying a fine. The officer could show mercy and grace by not giving me a ticket. Once the officer gives me the ticket he cannot grant me mercy and grace.

God promises both blessings and curses. Blessings in this context are favorable outcomes if we do what we should do. On the other hand, curses are unfavorable outcomes if we do not do what we should do. We are given the same choices that the man and the woman were given in the garden (Gen. 3). They could obey the words of the Lord and continue to receive His blessing. Conversely, they could choose to listen to other voices and follow the other voices that spoke in opposition to the Lord’s commandments. If we choose to obey the other voices, we will not receive God’s blessings. Disobedience to the law will result in receiving the curses. So, what about grace and mercy?

The word mercy means that we do not receive what we deserve because of our sins. Grace means receiving what we do not deserve on our own merits. Mercy means that we escape the wrath of God. Grace means that we get another chance. We should not take the Lord for granted and assume that He will not punish us for our wrongdoings. We should not take it for granted that we can do wrong and God will bless us anyhow. You see, both blessings and curses are promises that God gives to us. God is a promise keeping God.

As human beings all of us are born under a curse. We are born in sin and separated from God. Because we are sinners we are condemned to eternal punishment. We cannot stop sinning. Sinning is the natural thing to do. We had no bargaining power; nothing to offer God in exchange for His forgiveness and our reconciliation to Him. As sinners we are separated from God and have no peace with God. As sinners we are the enemies of God. We belong to the kingdom of Satan the devil. As sinners we live in bondage to the power of sin with no way of escaping.

When the Lord sent Moses to deliver His people from slavery in Egypt it was because God chose them to receive His mercy. Egypt is a symbol of God’s wrath. The people under the leadership of Moses, a type of a Messiah, are freed from Egypt. They are baptized in the Red Sea, but they are not yet in the Promised Land that the Lord had promised their forefathers that He would give to them. They wandered in the wilderness forty years. They had been saved, but they had not received the blessings promised to them.

This is the conclusion of the matter. You can change your behavior, your friends, and your lifestyle, but that does not mean that you have been chosen by God. You can join a church and be baptized and yet not receive the Lord’s blessings. Grace and mercy are unconditional and they will save you. It’s a matter of God’s choice. Blessings and curses in the Promised Land are conditional. We must live by the word of God in its entirety.