- I will not Cast Away, Abhor, Destroy
Leviticus 26:44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.
Because God is the Lord our God He will not break His covenant with us; He cannot, since is must be true to His character, which is faithful love. God will have to do what He promised; He will have to keep covenant. Therefore, the Lord says that He will not cast His people away, He will not abhor them, and He will not destroy them utterly. This sounds like a “damning with faint praise” promise, but it is really wonderful.
“Yet for all this” refers to the curses that came into effect because of idolatry, rebellion and disobedience. One of the main curses is that God’s people would be exiled from the Promised Land and live in the land of their enemies. In spite of the disobedience and the consequences of it, God is still good and full of love, whose mercy endures forever. Therefore, He made a way to restrain His Holy Wrath upon our sin by giving His own Son to bear the just punishment of the wrath of God, who by nature hates sin and must destroy sin, and the sinner. Because of this redemptive action in Christ, God won’t do the right thing. He will do the merciful and loving thing; He will forgive all sin and keep His promise for Christ’s sake.
In other words, we don’t get what we deserve. We get what Jesus Christ has deserved for us: forgiveness, life, salvation, holiness, and all the goodness of God. All this He does purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in me. And the redemption is total: we lose everything that is bad for us, and we gain everything that is good for us.
We are living in the land of our enemies. This earth and the people in it, under The Curse, belong legally to Sin, Satan and Death. These enemies would destroy us, but the Lord God will not. Instead of destroying us utterly, He will save us to the uttermost. It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. To which boss will you submit?