Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Wed’s Devo - Jesus’ Last Days

Read: John 11:38-57; Luke 17:11-18:8
Jesus resurrects Lazareth as a precursor of his own resurrection. This was the straw that broke the Pharisees’ back. The High Priest realized that Jesus was getting so popular that he was afraid the Roman army would come and destroy both their Temple and their nation out of fear of a revolt. I think that the High Priest was in fear of an internal revolt even more. Caiaphas prophesied that it would be better if one man should die for the people and save the nation from being destroyed. Little did he know but he was proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ mission was to die for the whole world and unite the children of God that had been scattered. God hid Jesus in a city called Ephraim until his time had come. Jesus was to die on Passover to be our passover lamb.
On his way to Jerusalem for the feast, he met 10 lepers. They cried out for mercy so Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest. As they were going they were healed. The Samaritan came back and fell before Jesus thanking him for healing him. Jesus asked why the others didn’t return to give thanks to God then turned to the Samaritan and told him that his faith had made him whole. The nine Jews got a physical healing but the one Samaritan got a physical healing and spiritual salvation. The nine went to the priest and presented themselves. They were now able to enter services in the synagogue. The one Samaritan didn’t have a priest. He realized Jesus as his priest and can now enter the synagogue of heaven. This was to show the rejection of the Jews as a nation and the hunger of the Gentiles for salvation.
The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Since they were looking at God’s kingdom (Jesus) and couldn’t see it, he told them of the one they would see which would be Jesus’ second coming. He warned them that they would be so busy living their lives then also and would miss that one too. Only, this time they would lose their eternal lives too.
Lord, open our eyes to see the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

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