The Bible’s Number 5…
#5-Covenants-Instructions, teachings, rules, obey and be be blessed, ignore and be cursed
Learning of God’s Statutes and Ordinances and Related Blessings and Curses We are ready to make the hard decision to follow God and His instructions for entering the land, but first God tells us again the price of entering the land, along with the promise of blessings and the guarantee of consequences if we turn away from Him and ignore His statutes and ordinances. God warns us to obey Him so He may bless and prosper the work of our hands and multiply us in the land He has provided. In Deuteronomy 30:19 He makes a solemn promise: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live.”
Things often found associated with five
- Statutes, ordinances, rules
- Blessings, curses, consequences
- Life, death, darkness and light
- Covenants
- Instructions and teaching, reminding and exhorting
- Promises, oaths
- Swearing, curse
- Vineyard, vine, branches,
More about number five:
God has prepared the perfect explanation of the message of Deuteronomy and the theme for number five. Rather than try to put it in my own words, I have included a part of the instructions Moses gave to Israel just before he died and gave to Joshua the task of leading the people into the land.
Deuteronomy 30:8-20:
And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
Example verses
Following are some example verses that have strong content pointing to the theme of one:
INSTRUCTIONS AND REMINDERS OF THE LORD’S BLESSINGS (IN THESE WELL-KNOWN PASSAGES):
- The Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12): “…honor your father and your mother.”
- The fifth part of the Lord’s Prayer: “…give us this day our daily bread.”
- The fifth verse in the 23rd Psalm: “…you prepare a table before me…my cup overflows.”
- The fifth Beatitude: “…blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
SET BEFORE US IS DARK AND LIGHT, FEAR AND JOY, LIFE AND DEATH:
John 1:5 says, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Jonah 1:5 says, “Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god.”
WARNINGS TO WATCH OURSELVES:
Haggai 1:5 “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’” GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US:
Joshua 1:5 “…I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.”
Nehemiah 1:5 “I …the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness….”
Hebrews 1:5 “…I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME.”
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
CONSEQUENCES OF FALLING AWAY AND NOT OBEYING:
Lamentations 1:5 “…the LORD has caused her grief Because of the multitude of her transgressions ….”
Psalm 1:5 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment….”
TEACHING AND INSTRUCTION:
Proverbs 1:5 “A wise man will… increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel….”
2 John 1:5 “…writing to you a new commandment…that we love one another.”