“…you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse….” (Deuteronomy 21:23 NIV)

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8 ESV)

In this day and time, we take the idea of blessings and curses too lightly. I might sign off on an email with the closing “Blessings.” We might say “bless you” when someone sneezes. We say, “Bless her heart” when, well, you can finish that thought…. And curses, well, we all surely know how prolific yet thoughtless we can be with our curses, from voodoo witch doctors to taking the name of God in vain.

But in the Bible, when God blesses us, this means life. And when He curses, this means death. Blessings and curses are serious business – Life and Death. Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the children of Israel reminding them of the blessings and curses that God has specified. For example, in Deuteronomy 30:15-20:

 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, …”

There are many examples in the Bible of God demonstrating the power of the curse. Sometimes it was against enemies of his chosen people. Sometimes it was for infractions that might seem insignificant. In Leviticus, for example, we read about God’s reaction to the sons of Aaron when they offered strange fire. After quite an investment in their training and their investiture as priests, God did not hesitate to punish them by death for not following his precise commands. “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” (Stop: Just try to imagine this!) “Moses then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: ‘”Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored’” (Leviticus 10:1-3).

Make no mistake; God is serious when he pronounces a curse. We should definitely take seriously the teaching on blessings and curses; they continue to be God’s promise to us. In the Old Testament, in order to receive the blessing, one had to love God, walk in his ways, and keep his commandments. Even in the New Testament, Paul writes in Galatians 3:10 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’”

The difference is that with coming of Jesus, God has provided us an alternative to relying on the works of the law. God fulfilled His promise made to us beginning in Genesis 3:15 that he would send a Savior. In Isaiah 53, God speaks through Isaiah to tell us more about how the Messiah would save us. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).*

Paul writes in Galatians 3:13-14 (quoting from our opening passage in Deuteronomy 21:23):  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”*

This is why God sent his son: to be the curse that God has promised from the beginning, to take on our sins and to die an unspeakably horrific death on the cross (tree). The curse that every single one of us deserves has been borne once and for all by Jesus, our Messiah.

We are approaching Easter in less than two weeks. As you prepare your hearts to celebrate the Resurrection (which could not have happened without the death of Jesus), let’s reflect on the meaning of the Crucifixion. If you haven’t already, I hope you will turn your life over to Jesus and ask Him for and receive forgiveness for your sins, thereby sparing you from the curse of eternal death. Let us all thank God for his many blessings, and most especially eternal life.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).

In Christ,

Judy

*Extra credit: notice the verb tenses in these two passages. This is important to really understanding the meaning of the Scriptures.