392. The Blessing and the Curse

“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: ‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’” etc.

These verses are written as an example for us in the church of the living God. The Israelites had crossed over the Jordan and come into the land. There was no Gerizim or Ebal out in the wilderness, so this only applies to Christians who have crossed the Jordan (are dead with Christ) and are now in the Promised Land, which is full of enemies. A church without an Ebal is a church where there is no Gerizim. If we are dead with Christ (Ebal), then we believe that we shall also live with Him (Gerizim). There is no victory without a strong, powerful Ebal. Joshua was not able to lead the people into rest because their curse over what God had cursed was not strong enough. Their love for God and His Word was too weak, and consequently, they did not have enough of God’s hatred and cursing. Love for God and hatred for sin makes the leaders and the people watchful, and that is required to come into perfect and complete rest.

David was a good king; during his reign Ebal was well developed, so the Israelite women could sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Saul had received the command to slay the Amalekites. He was commanded not to spare anything, but to kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. But what did Saul do? He and the people spared Agag and the best and the next best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings and the lambs—everything that looked good—and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything that was despised and worthless, these things they utterly destroyed. 1 Sam. 15:3-9. If Saul had loved God, he would have kept His commandment and obeyed His instructions. Saul’s Ebal was not as far reaching as God’s Ebal, and, as a result, Saul could never attain to God’s Gerizim. He was rejected as king, and another was appointed in his stead.

If we look at the angels of the churches in Asia Minor, we repeatedly find that the curse from Ebal was not powerful enough. The angel of the church in Ephesus had left his first love. His works were not perfect before God, and this was because his hatred for sin was not strong enough. The curse from Ebal did not extend far enough. However, the deeds of the Nicolaitans lay within the range of his hatred. God’s hatred and the hatred of the angel of the church were equal there, and this was praiseworthy.

Then it is written to the same church, “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” The angel of the church in Ephesus was not able to overcome because his curse over sin from Ebal was not strong enough. He needed to repent and do the first works in order to eat of the tree of life and enjoy the blessing from Gerizim.

The angel of the church in Pergamos permitted some people to hold the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. He received the command to repent, or else Jesus would come quickly and fight against them with the sword of His mouth.

The Holy Spirit Himself would fight the battle that the angel of the church in Pergamos was unable to fight because his Ebal was too weak. This would mean the Spirit would set aside the angel of the church and take up the battle against the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans through other instruments. However, it would have been a reproach for the angel of the church to have been put aside.

The angel of the church in Thyatira allowed the woman Jezebel to rule, and the fruit of her works was sin in the church. Ebal was too weak.

All of us have many things to seriously consider and be on guard against here, so that we do not permit anything that God does not permit. It takes the courage of a spiritual man to crack down on the foolishness that wants to sneak into the church. Wherever Ebal is working powerfully, the blessings of Gerizim are abundant. Ebal leads us to the lower parts of the earth. If we have been there, then the blessing from Gerizim lifts us up onto resurrection ground and places us in the heavenly Jerusalem among an innumerable company of angels. There we come to God, the Judge of all, to the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.