Read: Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54; Mark 11:1-25; Psalm 46: 1-11; Proverbs 10:23
Everything that is devoted to the Lord must first be judged. If the person who owned it wants to redeem it back he must pay a fifth to its value except in the case of the firstborn or the one devoted to destruction. The first born are the Lord’s and the ones devoted to destruction are Satan’s. Anyone in between can be saved by a fifth which stands for grace. The Jews believe that there are three groups of people: the chosen totally righteous, the totally evil and the in-betweeners which could go either way. We don’t know which are which so we listen to God’s Spirit who leads us. It is not up to us to save the world, that is the Lord’s business. It is our job to listen and obey. Every man must be accountable for what he has heard so we might be sent to tell a totally evil person about Jesus so that when he stands before God he can’t say that no one told him. Or we might be sent to talk to a person who is in the middle and could go either way. Our testimony might be the one that shifts them to the side of salvation. Or we might be sent to spread seed into the life of the chosen person who hasn’t seen the light yet. Our seed may be the one that one day causes them to turn. The results are not up to us. Our obedience is what God is looking for.
God told Moses to count the children of Israel and find out how many men from each tribe were army aged. There were 603,500. Only from the tribe of Levi were they not counted because the tribe of Levi were to handle the tabernacle and the holy things of God.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month. This was the day that the priests selected the Pascal lamb - the lamb that would die for the sins of the nation on Passover. The Pascal lamb would be examined for 5 days to make sure it was spotless. Jesus was entering his 5 days of examination also. He rode down the same path the Pascal lamb had just walked down and the crowd was still there. They did to Jesus the same thing they had done to the Pascal lamb. They laid down their robes and waved their palm branches and cried out, “Hosanah, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was not bearing fruit. It had leaves but no fruit. Fig trees get fruit before the leaves appear so it should have had fruit. The fig tree stood for Israel. Israel should have had fruit of faith and expectancy for the Messiah but it was steeped in the tradition of man and couldn’t make the leap to the spirit. Israel rejected Jesus so Jesus cursed that generation like he did the tree.
He then went and turned the tables of the merchants selling sacrifices for the Passover. He was cleansing his temple. Once Jesus comes into our lives he cleanses our temple and makes us holy.
Lord, help us to be ready and fruitful during our season. This is the season to manifest your glory and your works on the earth. Make us ready.
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