Can't Take Out the If

Deuteronomy 28:13 13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: This passage would be a whole lot better without the "if" wouldn't it? Israel would be the head, not the tail, and above, not below "if" they would keep the commandments of God. Well, they had some great victories and blessings in their obedience, and they also had some pretty big failures because of their disobedience. The Old Covenant hinged upon God's law and man's ability to perform it. Instead, the law revealed man's disability when it came to law keeping. So can we too claim these awesome promises about being the head and being above? We certainly can't claim them based on our personal record of righteousness, but we can claim it based on our perfect substitute! Jesus obeyed every commandment of God. He didn't miss a single one! Now through Him, we can claim all of these amazing promises that hinge upon law keeping. Isn't it great to have an elder brother! I am the head, not the tail......I am above and not beneath.....thank you Jesus!