Overtaken

The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail.

Deuteronomy 28:43–44 (LEB)

The Bible has been fractured today by the thousands of denominations in Christianity. People in these sects often do not place any importance on the Creator God of the Old Testament and what He told His chosen people, Israel. The attitude today in many denominations of Christianity appears to purposely dismiss what the Creator revealed about Himself and focus on poor interpretations of the letters Paul wrote. Of course I am not diminishing Paul’s writings; however, they must be viewed in light of what the Father and Messiah Yeshua said as well. As Paul stated in his letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (LEB): ¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ in order that the person of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

We are able to glean understanding from what the Father showed Israel through example. God told Israel that if they obeyed His commandments they would prosper, and if not, they would fail miserably. These commandments were not limited to Israel. Sure, the sacrificial system was something unique to Israel, but God wanted His ways shown to the world so everyone could benefit.

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 (LEB): ⁵ See, I now teach you rules and regulations just as Yahweh my God has commanded me, to observe them just so in the midst of the land where you are going, to take possession of it. ⁶ And you must observe them diligently, for that is your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all of these rules, and they will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ ⁷ For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, whenever we call upon him? ⁸ And what other great nation has for it just rules and regulations just like this whole law that I am setting before you today?

We can apply these concepts to any person or any nation. God shared the secrets of the universe to Israel and they are there for us to contemplate and understand. This is the eternal covenant that was extended to the world through Yeshua, and it was planned from the beginning.

A nation can expect the promise of the curses if that nation completely turns its back on the eternal covenant, that is the “ten commandments”, and oppresses the alien living among them.

Deuteronomy 27:19 (LEB): ¹⁹ ‘Cursed be the one who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Anyone depriving a foreigner will be cursed according to these words. I believe this can apply to a nation, a region or an individual. Moreover, when we allow murders, stealing and sexual immorality to abound, how much more should we expect the curses? One of those curses is that the foreigners in the land will rise up higher than the native born.

Deuteronomy 28:40–45 (LEB): ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵ “And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, by observing his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

We can see through these verses that listening to God is equal to observing His commandments. Our walk with God is about observing His commandments. The only reason we can even be in covenant with God and keep His commandments is due to the fact that He sent His son, Yeshua, to save us. This is His grace. Grace is giving us salvation and the ability to please God through His ways and through His Spirit.

John 14:21 (LEB): ²¹ The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

When we reject the commandments, we are rejecting the Messiah and God. It is like the saying, “you had one job”. The Father gave us all the secrets of a successful life on earth, His Son gave us the ability to believe and live according to the covenant, and all we have to do is believe it is true. If we believe it is true, then we will want to do it.

If we don’t do as God commanded, the alien will rise up and take our place according to the verses in Deuteronomy we looked at earlier. What happens if we continue to live contrary to His commandments?

Leviticus 18:24–28 (LEB): ²⁴ “ ‘You must not make yourself unclean in any of these things, because the nations whom I am driving out from your presence were made unclean by all of these. ²⁵ So the land became unclean, and I have brought the punishment of its guilt upon it, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you (neither the native nor the alien who is dwelling in your midst) shall keep my statutes and my regulations, and you shall not practice any of these detestable things ²⁷ (because the people of the land, who were before you, did all these detestable things, so the land became unclean), ²⁸ so that the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean just as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

The specific detestable things spoken about preceding these verse are all about sexual immorality. There is a specific list that is given detailing exactly what God means. The people in the land before Israel did these things and the land vomited them out. Israel is promised that if they do these things the land will vomit them out as well. We see the principle of one law for the foreigner and Israel clearly here. Those that think God changed and does not hold people accountable to His laws today are wrong. The land vomited out nations for doing the following:

Leviticus 18:6–23 (LEB): ⁶ “ ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is his close relative to expose nakedness; I am Yahweh. ⁷ You must not expose your father’s nakedness or your mother’s nakedness—she is your mother; you must not expose her nakedness. ⁸ You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s wife—it is your father’s nakedness. ⁹ As for your sister’s nakedness, whether your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad, you must not expose their nakedness. ¹⁰ As for the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, you must not expose their nakedness, because they are your nakedness. ¹¹ As for the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, she is your sister, a relative of your father; you must not expose her nakedness. ¹² You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. ¹³ You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative. ¹⁴ You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not have sex with his wife—she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You must not expose your daughter-in-law’s nakedness; she is your son’s wife; you must not expose her nakedness. ¹⁶ You must not expose the nakedness of your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷ You must not expose the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, or her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter; you must not take her as wife to expose her nakedness; they are close relatives—that is wickedness. ¹⁸ And you must not take as wife a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness before her during her life. ¹⁹ “ ‘And you must not have sex with a woman to expose her nakedness during her menstrual uncleanness. ²⁰ And you must not have sex with your fellow citizen’s wife, becoming unclean with her. ²¹ “ ‘And you shall not give any of your offspring in order to sacrifice them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh. ²² And you shall not lie with a male as lying with a woman; that is a detestable thing. ²³ And you shall not have sexual relations with any animal, becoming unclean with it; and a woman shall not stand before an animal to copulate with it—that is a perversion.

He continued with more of the ten commandment concepts.

Leviticus 19:1–4 (LEB): 19 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the community of the Israelites, and say to them, ‘You must be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy. ³ Each of you must revere your mother and your father, and you must keep my Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God. ⁴ You must not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal; I am Yahweh your God.

My only experience is western civilization, and it appears that we have been taunting God by seeing how far we can go with severely breaking all of these commandments.

Leviticus 18:5 (LEB): ⁵ And you shall observe my statutes and my regulations by which the person doing them shall live; I am Yahweh.

We are overdue for “the alien to ascend higher”, and being vomited out of the land. Consider these things when looking at the western nations taunting the rest of the world to the brink of war. Consider how fractured the western countries are and how well the population could stand up against a foreign invader. The writing is on the wall for what our future in the west will be. Repent now while there is still time.

Featured photo by Kevin Schmid on Unsplash.