The Covenant Runs Deeper Than Judgement

Leviticus 25:55, 26:12, 26:44

"The people of Israel are my servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 25:55)

"I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." (Leviticus 26:12)

"Yet even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them." (Leviticus 26:44)

I want to ask you a question.

Have you ever believed in God — and yet found yourself thinking: "I have failed too many times. Surely God has given up on me by now."

Today, the closing chapters of Leviticus answer that question head on.

Let us look first at Leviticus 25, verses 24 to 55. The key concept in this passage is a Hebrew word — go'el (גֹּאֵל). It means "the one who redeems," "the redeemer," or "the kinsman-redeemer."

In Israel, if a man fell into poverty and lost his land — or sank so low that he sold himself into servitude — his nearest relative had both the right and the responsibility to pay the price and buy him back. That was the role of the go'el.

The principle embedded in this law is profound: no matter how far a person had fallen, no matter how much they had lost, there must always be a kinsman willing to come and bring them home.

We see the most beautiful human expression of this go'el in the book of Ruth, in the figure of Boaz. Boaz stepped forward as kinsman-redeemer for Ruth, a foreign woman, and for the destitute Naomi. But Boaz was himself only a shadow — a picture pointing to a far greater Redeemer. That Redeemer is Jesus Christ.

When we had lost everything through sin, our kinsman-redeemer came to us. He took on our flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14), and on the cross He paid our debt in full. The go'el institution of Leviticus 25 was fulfilled on Calvary, two thousand years ago.

Now, Leviticus 26 is a more challenging passage.

Chapter 26 is the conclusion of the entire book of Leviticus. God speaks with unmistakable clarity: obedience brings blessing; disobedience brings judgement. And the list of judgements is a heavy one — famine, plague, war, and exile. God repeats His warnings no fewer than five times.

Why does God announce such severe judgement upon Israel?

Because Israel is not merely a collection of created beings. They are a covenant people. Look at chapter 26, verse 12: "I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people."

This is not a simple master-and-servant arrangement. This is something far closer to the bond of marriage — a covenant relationship. When a spouse is unfaithful, indifference is not love. In the same way, God's judgement is not a sign of His indifference. It is a sign of His passionate commitment. It is an expression of His love.

Now turn to verses 40 to 46 of chapter 26. This is the closing word of Leviticus, and it is the heart of today's sermon.

Israel is in captivity, held in the land of their enemies. Every judgement God warned of has come to pass. It is the very worst of situations. And it is precisely here that God speaks:

"Yet even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God." (Leviticus 26:44)

Look carefully at the Hebrew verbs in this verse. "I will not spurn them" (ma'as, מָאַס). "I will not abhor them." "I will not destroy them utterly." "I will not break my covenant with them." Four consecutive negatives. God refuses — absolutely and emphatically — the very language of abandonment.

How is God able to say this? Because His covenant is not grounded in human faithfulness. God's covenant is grounded in His own character. Even when Israel fails, God remembers the promise He made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. The covenant runs deeper than the judgement.

What a comfort this is to us. At the moment of our deepest failure — when the place we find ourselves feels like enemy territory — God says: "I will not abandon you. I will not destroy you. My covenant will not be broken."

Here, then, is the gospel that Leviticus 25 and 26 declare to us today.

No matter how much you have lost — your go'el is here. Jesus Christ, your kinsman-redeemer, has paid the price in full.

No matter how deeply you have failed — God's covenant runs deeper than your failure. He will not cast you aside.

No matter how much the place you are in feels like enemy territory — God is searching for you even there. For He has declared: "I am the LORD your God."

And what must we do? Verse 40 tells us: "If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers." Simply confess. Turn back to God. That is all. God will do the rest.

The covenant runs deeper than judgement. Grace outlasts sin. The love of God overcomes our failure.

"Yet even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God." (Leviticus 26:44)

Amen.