Wed.’s Devo - Repent!

Read: Judges 11:1-12:5, John 1:1-28, Ps. 101:1-8, Pr 14:13-14 A general theme of the Judges is that the people did what was right in their own eyes. Today’s reading is an example of that. Jephthah is the son of a prostitute driven out of his house by his brothers who are the sons of the “real” wife. They don’t want to share their inheritance with Jephthah. But, when they are being attacked by the Ammonites they run ask Jephthah to help them. He agrees only if he can be their ruler which they consent to. Then he makes a rash promise to God. If God gives him the victory, he will sacrifice their first thing that comes out of his door. Apparently he had all kinds of animals in his house. God does give him the victory and instead of a lamb or ox coming out of his house, it is his only child, a daughter. The crazy thing to me is that she agrees to it and just asks for two months to go and lament the fact that she will never experience love or motherhood. I’m afraid if that would have been me, I would have gotten lost in those woods and never come home. She did and was killed. This goes right along with our Proverb: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” We are now in John and this is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. How could they comprehend these verses? How can we fully comprehend these verses? Jesus and this Word are the same. John was sent to usher this eternal Word which would dress in an earthly form. This Word was going to be so holy that John was to cleanse the people’s hearts so they could receive it. He did that in the act of baptism. His message was “Repent, for the Messiah is coming”. Lord, you are going to come back again and your message is still, “Repent, for the Messiah is coming”.