Bible study (Deautronomy)

Another reading from Israel Today, simply confirmed what pastor teach about ' there's no middle ground'
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When I go abroad to speak about the current situation in Israel, I always begin with the following verse from Deuteronomy “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.”

The word curse isn’t very popular these days. But I didn’t choose it. God did. Pick up a newspaper, read a magazine, turn on the television or just walk down a city street. Everywhere you turn, it’s increasingly evident that faith in God and in His Word is not the world’s view. But this doesn’t change the fact that we’re talking about a life and death decision.

Today, the majority of the world’s population no longer believes in God or uses the Bible as its plumb line. And because people don’t know the Word of God, they accept anything that comes down the pike, from convoluted gibberish to unreliable media reports about Israel. But in a court of law, unbelief and ignorance won’t protect the defendant from being punished for his actions.

God lays blessing or curse before all mankind, giving every individual the freedom to choose between the two. He doesn’t coerce anyone. He wants us to make our choices freely. He wants obedience to come from our hearts.

In Numbers 24:9, it’s written, “Blessed is everyone who blesses you [Israel], and cursed is everyone who curses you.” You may say, ‘I have never cursed a Jew!’ That may well be true. But if you’ve withheld blessing, you’ve effectively done the same.

If I neglect to feed a child, he will die of malnutrition and dehydration. The sin of omission would bring the same result as if I murdered him deliberately. It’s the same principle with blessing and curse. Jesus said, ‘He who is not with Me is against Me’ (Matthew 12:30).

There is no middle ground in the Kingdom of God; there isn’t any “no-man’s land.” You can’t be neutral. It’s not enough to talk of a loving God and live in a grey zone. Speaking to the church at Laodicea, the Lord minces no words. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit [literally, vomit] you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

There is no middle ground on this issue. Those who choose not to bless Israel become an ‘empty shell,’ which is the meaning of the Hebrew word for “curse.” Such a person will experience what God wrote on the wall for Belshazzar—that he has been found wanting, like an “empty shell,” which is blown away by the wind (Daniel 5).

The Bible is not a salad bar from which we can pick and choose what we like. If we don’t take God’s instructions about Israel seriously, we loose the very heart of God and diminish our ability to receive what we need from Him in our personal lives. Israel is that central to His unfolding plan of redemption for all mankind.