Tues.’s Devo - The Sign

Read: Genesis 48:1-49:33; Matthew 15:29-16-12; Psalm 20; 1-9; Proverbs 4:20-27
Joseph learned that his father was ill so he took his two sons for him to bless them. He arranged them so that he would put his right hand on the head of his oldest son and his left hand on the head of youngest son but Jacob crossed his arms making the symbol of the cross, blessing the second son to be greater than the first born. Remember, I taught that the second-born stands for the person who has been born-again since that is our second birth and the first-born stands for our natural birth which is born into sin. So, it is fitting that the second-born would be blessed to rule over the first-born. We are to rule over the sin habits and nature of our old man and be victorious.
Then, Jacob called his other sons and gave them their blessings which would be a blueprint of the future for their particular tribe. It would be interesting to study out the different areas that the tribes settled in the promised land and see what that land is like and how it fulfills these words. We know that Jesus came from Judah so we see so many references to Jesus in his prophecy.
Jacob was buried with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah so he was gathered to his people to wait for Jesus to come and rescue them.
In Matthew, Jesus healed everyone that came to him and when he realized they were hungry he called his disciples and told them he didn’t want to send them away hungry. His disciples still hadn’t learned from the feeding of the 5,000 and immediately thought in the natural. They only had 7 loaves and a few small fish and there were 4,000 people. This time, Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the disciples and they had to break them and give them to the people so the miracle happened in their hands. They took up 7 baskets of left over food. Jesus once again proved that he would meet our natural needs and our spiritual needs.
The Pharisees found Jesus and asked him for a sign, as if he hadn’t given them enough. He told them that the only sign he would give them was the sign of Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days then resurrected on land. He was a picture of the resurrection. When the people of Nineveh saw him, they repented because Jonah was the sign. Jesus was saying that he was the sign and that his resurrection would prove it but they would never see it because their eyes were closed and their hearts hardened.
Lord, help us not to be deceived by wrong doctrine or disappointment. You have promised to bless and keep us and we trust in your unfailing love. You promise to give us the desire our our heart and to make our plans succeed. We shout for joy at the name or our God.