Leviticus

Leviticus 26: God remembers His covenant

Begin in prayer

Before we read Leviticus 26, where God sets out covenant blessings, solemn warnings for rebellion, and His promise to remember His covenant when sinners confess their iniquity, let us bow our heads. Ask the Lord to humble our hearts to trust in Christ.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

Jeremiah 31:33

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us the greatness of Your covenant mercy, humble our uncircumcised hearts to confess our sins, and lead us to trust in Jesus, who bore the curse of the law for us. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

In Leviticus 26 the LORD forbids idols and commands Israel to keep His Sabbaths and revere His sanctuary. In verses 3 to 13 He promises rain, abundant harvests, peace, victory, and His own presence walking among them if they walk in His statutes. In verses 14 to 39 He warns that if they walk contrary to Him, He will chastise them seven times more for their sins. Sickness, drought, siege, and exile among the nations will come while the land enjoys its Sabbaths. Yet in verses 40 to 46, when they humble their hearts and confess their iniquity, God promises to remember His covenant with Abraham.

As you read Leviticus 26, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God judges covenant-breakers, yet remembers His covenant of grace when sinners humble their hearts and confess, fulfilled in Christ.

Leviticus 26 sets out the sanctions of the national covenant made with Israel at Sinai (verse 46). Verses 1 to 13 promise rain, peace, and God's presence, “I will walk among you, and will be your God” (verse 12). Those earthly promises of rain and military victory belonged to Israel as a nation, not a prosperity contract for today. Verses 14 to 39 warn of sevenfold discipline if Israel walked “contrary to me,” ending in exile (verse 34). Yet judgment is not the last word. When their “uncircumcised heart is humbled” and they “confess their iniquity,” God remembers His covenant with Abraham (verses 40 to 42). Notice that God reaches back behind Sinai to His gracious promise to Abraham. In Galatians 3 verses 13 and 14, Christ redeemed us from the law's curse on the cross, bringing Abraham's blessing through faith.

How does Leviticus 26 show us that God judges covenant-breakers, yet remembers His covenant of grace when sinners humble their hearts and confess, fulfilled in Christ?

God promises His presence to walk among His people, who were redeemed from Egypt.

After forbidding idols and commanding reverence for His sanctuary, God promised rain, harvests, and peace in Canaan (verses 1 to 10). Verse 12 gives the crown of the blessing, “I will walk among you, and will be your God.” Verse 13 reminds them that grace came first when He brought them out of Egypt and broke their yoke. Through Christ, God dwells among believers as His living temple (2 Corinthians 6 verse 16).

Refusing God's word and discipline brings the heavy curse of the broken law.

If Israel rejected God's statutes and walked “contrary to me,” He warned He would chastise them “seven times” (verses 14 to 28). Sickness, drought, sword, famine, and exile among the nations would come while the land enjoyed its Sabbaths (verses 16 to 39). Israel broke that covenant, and all under the works of the law are under a curse (Galatians 3 verse 10).

When sinners humble their hearts and confess their iniquity, God remembers His covenant.

Even in exile, verses 40 and 41 open mercy when “they confess their iniquity” and “their uncircumcised heart is humbled.” In verse 42 God promises, “then I will remember my covenant with Jacob” and with Isaac and Abraham. God's mercy rests on His unbreakable promise, not human merit (verses 44 and 45). Christ bore the law's curse on the cross and sealed the new covenant in His blood for sinners (Hebrews 8 verse 12).

Memorise

I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.

Leviticus 26:12

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, have I walked contrary to God, or humbled my heart to trust Jesus?

In Leviticus 26, the LORD promised Israel, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.” Yet He warned that if they walked “contrary to me,” the heavy curses of the law would scatter them in exile. Even then, when their “uncircumcised heart is humbled” and they “confess their iniquity,” God promised to remember His covenant with Abraham.

Every one of us has walked contrary to God and broken His holy law. Left under the law, we stand under its curse and deserve to be cast out of God's presence forever. That is why God remembered His covenant of grace and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to walk among us. As Galatians 3 verse 13 declares, Christ redeemed His people from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for them on the cross. He bore the full wrath of the broken covenant, died as their substitute, and rose on the third day. He bore it in full.

Stop walking contrary to God. Humble your heart today, turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus. Everyone who trusts Him is forgiven, given a new heart, and kept in God's covenant forever.

Parent's note

Tell your children we broke God's law, and Jesus bore its curse on the cross to forgive all who trust Him. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for remembering His covenant of mercy and sending Jesus to bear the curse of the law on the cross, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

Hebrews 8:12

Merciful Father, we confess our iniquity and the hardness of our hearts, for we have often walked contrary to Your holy law. Thank You that You remember Your covenant of grace, and that Jesus became a curse for sinners on the cross so You might remember our sins no more. Please humble our hearts, give each of us faith in Jesus, and walk among us as our God. Amen.