Leviticus 26:3 “‘If you live by my regulations, observe my mitzvot and obey them; 4 then I will provide the rain you need in its season, the land will yield its produce, and the trees in the field will yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing time will extend until the grape harvest, and your grape harvesting will extend until the time for sowing seed. You will eat as much food as you want and live securely in your land.
6 “‘I will give shalom in the land — you will lie down to sleep unafraid of anyone. I will rid the land of wild animals. The sword will not go through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before your sword. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand — your enemies will fall before your sword.
9 “‘I will turn toward you, make you productive, increase your numbers and uphold my covenant with you. 10 You will eat all you want from last year’s harvest and throw out what remains of the old to make room for the new. 11 I will put my tabernacle among you, and I will not reject you, 12 but I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke, so that you can walk upright.”
These few verses near the end of Leviticus hold within them a lifetime of truth.
As with anything under the sun, we tend to weigh truth based on how it affects us first.
If presented with something that rubs against our life or lifestyle, we immediately get defensive and maybe even aggressive. We start looking for the flaws or loopholes, or we begin the hunt for why it does not apply to us. We don’t easily bring hard teachings into our lives, and less so do we put it into action. These truths get pushed aside or, at best, get “handled”.
On the other hand, if what we are told affirms or builds us up, we grab hold of that “promise” and stand diligently until it comes to pass. Some people even wait a lifetime for that promise to appear. Others go to work manipulating whatever they can in order to have it come to pass.
What is it woven into both of these positions that is the true issue? Easy, it’s us.
If I were to ask you about your ideal life, where would you begin? If you’re anything like me, it begins with my circumstances:
And the striving continues.
In essence, an ideal life is 100% based on our circumstances. Shave away any of these -- provision, comfort, power -- and we begin the downward spiral into despair. Our lives become obsessed with getting these very things established in our lives. An imbalance in any of these categories and we immediately get to work to correct them. And we work incredibly hard on that correction.
The fascinating thing about this is that these are (essentially) the same temptations Yeshua encountered in the wilderness.
Yeshua’s temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4) is not a random sequence of spiritual challenges, it is a deliberate confrontation with the same three pressure points that have plagued humanity since Eden: provision, identity/comfort, and authority. The Adversary approaches Him with these temptations in the very areas where Israel stumbled in the wilderness and where each of us is tested throughout life.
But we can overcome.
When the Tempter says, “Order these stones to become bread,” he is targeting the instinctive fear that God will not provide. This is the wilderness question: “Will the Father feed me, sustain me, and carry me when I cannot?” Yeshua refuses to grasp for self-provision and instead entrusts Himself to the Father’s faithfulness. His obedience in the place of hunger becomes the reversal of Israel’s murmuring and our own daily anxiety about being provided for.
The second temptation -- “If you are the Son of God…” -- is a challenge to identity, security, and comfort. The Adversary’s words echo the ancient whisper that we must prove our worth, defend our identity, or demand comfort outside the timing of God. Israel demanded water on its own terms. We demand affirmation, stability, and relief in ours. But Yeshua rejects the pull to define Himself by spectacle or to use the Father’s power as a safety net. His confidence is rooted in sonship that does not need to be proven. In doing so, He shows us what it means to rest, truly rest, in who God declares us to be.
Finally, the Adversary presents the offer of authority: “All this I will give you…” Here the test is dominion without submission, influence without obedience, a crown without a cross. This is the perennial temptation to grasp control, to build our own kingdoms, and to accept power apart from God’s presence. Israel reached for kingship before its time. We reach for platforms, results, or influence on our terms. Yeshua refuses the shortcut. His loyalty to the Father is unbreakable, and He embraces the truth that all real authority flows from worship, not ambition.
These three temptations are not only the battleground of the wilderness. They are the very domains addressed here in Leviticus, where YHVH promises blessings for obedience. Rain in its season (provision), peace in the land (identity and security), and victory over enemies (authority) are blessings tied not to striving, proving, or grasping, but to walking faithfully with YHVH. Yeshua embodies that obedience perfectly.
Where Israel failed, where Adam failed, and where we so often fail, He stands firm. His victory in these three areas becomes the pattern for our own: trusting God to provide, resting in who He says we are, and submitting to His authority so that we may walk in His strength. The wilderness temptation is not merely an ancient story, it is the map of every human heart, and Yeshua shows us the way through it.
So yes, you can resist the Enemy. And yes, he will flee.
What Yeshua models in the wilderness becomes the doorway into a deeper truth: obedience to the Father doesn’t deprive us of provision, identity, or authority. It positions us to receive them in the way Abba already intended. The blessings promised in Leviticus are not rewards for manipulating God through good behavior, they are the natural overflow of walking in alignment with His ways.
When YHVH says, “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commands… I will give rain in its season… I will give peace in the land… I will cause your enemies to fall before you,” He is revealing a pattern woven into creation itself. Obedience harmonizes us with the grain of reality. It places us inside the flow of God’s provision, peace, and authority as sons who trust their Father.
This is why Yeshua refuses each temptation.
In each case, Yeshua models the truth that obedience is not loss. It is alignment. It is trust in a Father who already intends to bless His children.
When we obey, we are not performing to earn things from our Father. We are walking with the One who already promised these things. Provision becomes a gift, not a scramble. Identity becomes a settled reality, not an insecurity we try to soothe. Authority becomes delegated strength, not stolen power.
We don’t obey to manipulate God into giving us a comfortable life. We obey because we love Him and because obedience places us under the shelter of His wisdom and generosity. The blessings of Leviticus 26 flow naturally from relationship, just as the wilderness temptations are resolved naturally by trust.
Yeshua shows us that the way of the Son is not grasping for what we fear we lack, but resting in what the Father delights to give. The world tempts us to secure provision, comfort, and authority by our own strength. But the Kingdom reveals the opposite: yielding to the Father is the way those blessings come. Not as payment. Not as leverage. But as the fruit of love. The fruit of walking with Him.
We just have to let the world go.
Believe it or not, it is possible to break free from that incessant and tiring pull of the world. Once you leave slavery behind and embrace your position as a son of THE Father, life suddenly becomes full of, well, life. All that you could ever need is set before you:
Leviticus 26:4 “…I will provide the rain you need in its season, the land will yield its produce, and the trees in the field will yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing time will extend until the grape harvest, and your grape harvesting will extend until the time for sowing seed. You will eat as much food as you want and live securely in your land.”
For many of us, this is the goal of life. Yearly cycles of plenty followed by yearly cycles of plenty. While there is nothing wrong with this in itself, there is so much more to our time here on earth. Provision is not the ultimate goal.
This is just the beginning. It turns out that comfort and authority are for us also:
Leviticus 26:6 “‘I will give shalom in the land — you will lie down to sleep unafraid of anyone. I will rid the land of wild animals. The sword will not go through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before your sword. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand — your enemies will fall before your sword.”
Peace, no fear, no threats. How does that sound?
Guess what: even that isn’t the end. Here is where it takes a turn. Obedience now gives you the authority to push back against the enemy. But this is only allowable if you are keeping His commands. How many people go out to fight demons and maybe the Adversary himself only to come back whooped and bruised? Too many.
Obedience and sonship must precede authority. We see this happen to some folks who decided to utilize the authority of Yeshua without having these things in place:
Acts 19:13 Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, “I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha’ul is proclaiming!” 14 One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this; 15 and the evil spirit answered them. It said, “Yeshua I know. And Sha’ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding.
I think this sums up a great deal of spiritual warfare I’ve personally witnessed throughout my life.
But for a son? A son has the authority of Heaven behind him, and there is true power to overcome the Adversary and his kingdom. This is the place all mature believers truly wished they dwelled: pushing back every ruler, authority, power, dominion or any other name that can be named. And for some reason we tend to consistently come up short against the kingdom of darkness. This should not be the case for us.
Simply speaking, we have some work to do. And it is not based on anything but wanting to serve the King of Kings with the purest heart imaginable. We must realize that He gave us His instructions in order to combat the darkness. More than that though, we are to live in the light.
But is even this the end of our purpose? No!
Let’s recap where we are:
How does a life like this sound? For most of us, this sounds like the perfect life. What more could there possibly be? Glad you asked. You see, this is where things really begin to sparkle:
Leviticus 26:9 “‘I will turn toward you, make you productive, increase your numbers and uphold my covenant with you. 10 You will eat all you want from last year’s harvest and throw out what remains of the old to make room for the new. 11 I will put my tabernacle among you, and I will not reject you, 12 but I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”
Pay close attention. It’s at this point the Kingdom begins to expand. The covenant becomes the signpost for life within. All that is new will push back the old because there simply isn’t enough room for it all. This is not just “making it” to the next season, it is a fullness we cannot begin to comprehend. The generational impact is beginning.
As the borders press out and the Kingdom begins its push, YHVH Himself settles in among you and your land. His presence floods the walls of this space and lives are impacted by Him even if others have not ushered in His presence for themselves. People will look upon you as a witness to the goodness of our God. You will be a priest unto all that cross your path.
You have become a light in this dark, dark world. And if you can believe it, there is one more monumental thing that floods your life. And this is the greatest thing of all:
I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
Oh, my! Can you even begin to think about what this must be like? I can’t. I have a vague notion and a Mickey Mouse idea, but the reality of my God walking beside me is beyond anything I can process right now.
The Creator of the Universe, YHVH Himself wants to walk with you! He wants to walk with me! And the only thing preventing that is our defiled quest to have the petty luxuries and empty promises of this world. The Prince of Darkness is having his way with us and we don’t even realize it. But we can overcome.
If we were to distill this all down, the one singular question now set before us is this:
Would you rather have a ton of money, men submitting to our authority, and the comforts of this world, or do you want to literally walk alongside your God?
Choose wisely.