And you notice at the end of Joshua 8 we are given this deliberate notice that all the people, not just the men and the officials and the judges and the elders and Joshua and the priests and the Levites, but the women, the children, the sojourners living among them, everyone within the assembled congregation, hear it. Hear the warnings of the curses that come upon those who are disobedient, and hear the blessings.
Friends, the Bible is, in short, a big book about curses and blessings. From the very beginning in Genesis 3, cursed be you to the snake as he slithers on the ground. Yet there is the promise of blessing, that one is coming, that though he will grasp at His heel, yet He will crush the head of the serpent, and the announcement then to Abram in chapter 12 as you know it is come out of this land and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you will be a blessing not just to Israel but to the nations.
We are the inheritors of these blessings if we belong to Jesus Christ. There are still curses, beloved, and there are still blessings. So choose wisely.
This clip is part of the sermon “The God of Second Chances” delivered by Dr. Kevin DeYoung at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC on October 6, 2024.