Mon.’s Devo - The Fulfillment

Read: Deuteronomy 18:1-20:20; Luke 9:28-50; Psalm 73:1-28; Proverbs 12:10
The priests were not to get their inheritance in the world but their inheritance was the Lord himself. That is our inheritance as priests to the Lord. The priests were to get the meat from the burnt offerings and the first fruits of grain, wine oil and wool. The things given to the Lord were theirs also. If a Levite received an inheritance from his family and moved to a Levite town he was not to be penalized by having an inheritance but was to be paid the same as the other priests. God is not a socialistic god. Everything that Jesus received from his father is now ours also.
When they entered their land, they were not to use the spiritual methods of the people living in the land. They sacrificed their sons and daughters for favor, practiced divination and sorcery, interpreted omens, engaged in witchcraft, cast spells and used mediums and spiritualists who talked to the dead. In our nation they do all these things under the umbrella of energy, raki, shamins, etc. and “new age” techniques. Don’t be fooled by the new language, it is the same thing.
God would not use any of their techniques but he would speak through prophets. They would know if he was a true prophet because of the fruit his prophecy would bear.
When they got settled in the new land they were to set up cities of refuge close to where the people lived and make clear roads with signs to the closest city of refuge. If someone witnessed a fatal accident and there was no witness to exonerate him, he had to be able to get to the city fast, before the avenger of blood caught him and killed him. As they enlarged their land, they had more cities of refuge built. They started with six and ended up with 48 cities of refuge (Joshua 21:41).
God gave them instructions about who should go to war and who shouldn’t. We go to war when we fight spiritual enemies. We should not engage in spiritual warfare if we are walking in disobedience, or we have just finished a work and not rested, or we have not completed a vow we made to the Lord. We can not win if either of these things are not completed. We have to have all our armor on to be an effective warrior.
When faced with an adversary, they were first to ask them to surrender. If they did, then they became their slaves. If they didn’t then they attacked and completely destroyed their town and its people. If they were laying a siege to the city, they could not cut down any tree that was bearing fruit. Trees are people (Psalms 1). If people outside the city are actually bearing fruit, they were not to destroy them. These trees stand for people that have a heart to repent. They are not truly wicked just in the wrong camp. We witness to these people and cause them to bear fruit in the right camp - the kingdom of God.
In Luke, Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the mountain with him to pray. This is the first time Jesus invited his disciples into his prayer time. They fell asleep, but awoke to see Jesus’ body glorified. Then they witnessed Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah about his own exodus from this earth. Both Moses and Elijah had been taken by God to heaven just as Jesus was about to be taken. They didn’t kill Jesus: he gave his spirit up to God (Luke 23:45). He was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
When Peter wanted to make three shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, God spell from the cloud and told them to listen to his Son. Jesus was bringing a new covenant, not of a written law, but a law written on the heart of every believer.
Lord, thank you for your new covenant of grace and spirit. Help us to listen with our spiritual ears and obey.