God’s loving discipline – wooing His people back to Himself

Leviticus 26 blew me away this past week! Verses 1-13 talk about God’s blessing on His people for their obedience. Certainly in light of mankind’s depravity, ANY blessing from God is undeserved. Yet God promised exactly that for the Israelites. Unfortunately, they did not obey God, despite these wonderful promises.

The rest of the chapter, verses 14-46 talk about discipline for disobedience for the Israelites. Look at how God does this (Scripture quotations from ESV):

“14But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16then I will do this to you…”

“18And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins…”

“21Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.”

“23And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.”

“27But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.”

“40But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”

We know from history that the Israelites did disobey. The thing from this chapter that stood out to me wasn’t that God was vindictively punishing the Israelites for their disobedience, but rather how God was wooing His people back to Himself through loving discipline. The discipline becomes increasing more severe for the Israelites the more they disobey. The point isn’t God becoming increasingly angry at the Israelites for their continued disobedience. What God is doing is increasingly bringing discipline on them so as to bring them to a point of repentance. In a sense, God is doing whatever He needs to do to get the Israelites to repent. God’s heart in this is love for the Israelites. In their disobedience, they are prostituting themselves and serving other gods. Through discipline, God is lovingly wooing them back to Himself, the King of kings, Lord of lords, the God above all other gods. Disciplining them is the most loving thing God could do in the midst of their disobedience. And the fact that the discipline starts out light and becomes more severe shows that God was trying to woo them back to Himself, not unlovingly punish them in anger. The best evidence of this is the way the chapter ends in verses 40 and following where God talks about how He will graciously remember His covenants with their Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if they repent.

Leviticus 26 represents a type (Webster’s Dictionary: “a person or thing (as in the Old Testament) believed to foreshadow another [as in the New Testament]”) of the gospel message in the Old Testament. Just like Israel, all of mankind is sinful and repeatedly and continually runs after other gods. The penalty for this sin against God is death. God mercifully and graciously paid the penalty for our sin in the death of Jesus Christ. Just as He did with Israel, through discipline God lovingly woos mankind unto Himself so as to bring us to repentance (Hebrews 12:1-13). He graciously blesses those who repent with all kinds of blessings (Ephesians 1:3), just as He promised to bless Israel.

To God be all the glory for His wonderful gospel!!! Father, in your mercy, enable me to always respond favorably and quickly to Your loving discipline.