Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a
curse; A blessing, IF ye
obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a
curse, IF ye
will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the
way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not
known. (Deut
11:26-28)
The little two letter word, IF, provides such a grand hope and promise; but it
also carries with it a devastating damnation. It provides a certain response to
a given action, thought, or word. It is said that the Persian commander of the
armies under Xerxes sent the Spartan King Leonidas a message which said; “If
I come down there and defeat your armies, I will waste your cities and take
away your wealth,’ to which Leonidas simply responded, “IF!”
Perhaps the greatest poet of Great Britain in the last
century was Rudyard Kipling. He wrote this meaningful poem for his son, John,
entitled, “IF:”
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on
you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting
too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in
lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk
too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make
thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just
the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for
fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with
worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of
pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your
loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they
are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold
on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the
common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none
too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance
run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my
son!
A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943)
My father used to say, “If grasshoppers could carry a 45 pistol, chickens would
not peck at his bottom.” Of course, that is a rather large IF that requires the
satisfaction of a miraculous condition!
The word ‘if’ is most often used as a conjunctive part of speech. It joins one
condition to another expressed in two separate clauses or phrases. The addition
of the word ‘if’ completely changes the meaning of a statement; i.e. “I will go
with you to New York,” is a statement fully vested with a promise; but, if we
add the qualifying word ‘if’ at the end, then some condition is required to
make the promise happen. “I will go to New York with you if you
will buy the tickets.” That is what God does in His Holy Word and in the
referenced verses above from Deuteronomy.
Knowing that the Old Testament is a Book of the Laws and Prophets, and what the
Law means to the sinner, perhaps you may recall the profound meaning of its
final word? Hint: the answer may be found in Galatians 3:10 – For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them. (Gal 3:10) So do you now remember the
concluding word in the Old Testament? Yes, it is CURSE. “And he shall
turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a CURSE.”
(Mal 4:6) Now, since we know that no one can be sinless in those things written
in the Book of the Laws, we will also know that no one can be saved through the
merits of the Law. So what is needed? GRACE is needed and NECESSARY for us to
be accounted righteous through the shed blood of Jesus Christ!
I hate to keep asking these embarrassing questions (to the minimal Bible
scholar, for I know many true scholars know the answer by HEART), with what
words does the New Testament end? “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you all. Amen.” (Rev 22:21) Is this not profound in
meaning? The Old Testament Book of the Laws and Prophets ends with CURSE, and
the New Testament presenting the love of Christ ends with GRACE! So how does
God’s counsel in the opening verses of this devotion apply to us today: Behold,
I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, IF ye obey
the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a
curse, IF ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but
turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods,
which ye have not known. (Deut
11:26-28) Can we
keep the Moral Law as revealed in the Ten Commandments of God without fail? No,
we cannot in any wise do so! Then are we cursed as the last clause of the
quoted text stipulates for not keeping them?
The key to keeping all of the Commandments is found in the very first: “I
am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage.Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex
20:2-3) This is the
Chief Cornerstone upon which the other Nine Commandments are suspended just as
surely as those two Commandments Jesus gave to the inquiring lawyer, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The
Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than
these.” (Mark 12:29-31) This epitomizes the First
Commandment. I have heard unknowing minister claim that this is some NEW
commandment the Lord has given, but it is as old as the Ten Commandments
themselves. See here: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And
thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might.” (Deut 6:4-5) and “Thou shalt not avenge,
nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” (Lev
19:18)
What is the qualifier that runs through both of these last commandments the
Lord Jesus Christ gave? Is it not L-O-V-E? The shield against the curse
of the Law is LOVE! You are kept from turning away to false gods, and from
treating your neighbor maliciously if your heart is brim full of that LOVE.
Does not your “cup runneth over?” If it does not, it cannot
contain that love of Christ. See how powerful in eradicating the CURSE is
LOVE: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of
thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”
(Lev 19:18) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.” (John 3:16) “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” (John 14:15) “By
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another.” (John 13:35)
Of course, there are other verses that seal the whole – many other verses – but
I quote only two that have moved my heart so much: “And now abideth
faith, hope, love (charity), these three; but the greatest of these is love
(charity).” (1 Cor 13:13) (Note: CHARITY is the Greek
word for Agape’ LOVE.) And the concluding blessing for the Morning and Evening
Prayer Service of the traditional Book of Common Prayer ends with this
scriptural text: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” (2
Cor 13:14)
The LOVE and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ purchased your salvation. If
you love Him, you will avoid the pitfalls of intentional sin and harm to your
neighbor….and to God.
