Fri.’s Devo - God’s Pictures

Read: Numbers 19:1-20:29; Luke 1;1-25; Psalm 56:1-13; Proverbs 11:8
I love God’s not-so-subtle hints. When they offered the red heifer, it had to be perfect and one that had never been yoked to a plow. Its blood was to be sprinkled seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. As the High Priest watched, the heifer was to be burned completely. Then the priest threw in a stick of cedar, a hyssop branch and some scarlet yarn just in case we didn’t get it.
The heifer was the exact picture of Christ’s death on the cross. All the props were there. The cedar - the cross, the hyssop branch, the scarlet yarn - the blood thread that started in the garden of Eden and continues to the end, the perfect lamb, and the fact that Jesus had never became part of the religious system - he had never been yoked to their laws.
There is so much in today’s reading, I’m going to have to pick what to explain. The third and the seventh days are mentioned a lot today. The third day represents our day of salvation - the fruit conforms to the seed (Gen. 1:10-13). The seventh day represents the day we will rest in heaven.
To touch a dead person represented sin. We have all sinned so we have all touched or been exposed to death. We have to be cleansed with the ashes or the remains of the cross. Fresh water has to be poured over the ashes to make the memory of the cross fresh and alive in our hearts at the time of salvation.
It was the time of Passover and Israel had come to the entrance of the promised land once again. The same rock that gave them water before was waiting for them. That rock was Jesus (1 Co. 10:4). Moses was to speak to it this time instead of striking it because Jesus was struck once for us on the cross and there is no more need for another sacrifice. Now we pray or speak our faith into existence which was what Moses was suppose to do. Instead, Moses struck the rock twice and it cost him the promise land. God was serious about his pictures and Moses messed this one up.
Miriam died at Kadesh, which became a city of refuge and Aaron died at Mt. Hor where the Edomites refused to let them have passage through their land. Before he died, Aaron passed his robe on to his son Eleazar who would be the new high priest.
Luke was written for the Greeks, yet he addressed it to Theophilus who was a Roman. Luke was written in chronological order so this helps up put things in the right timing. He begins his narrative with the birth of John the Baptist. The promise of John came through an angelic encounter that his father, Zechariah had at the altar of incense. After 200 years of silence, God spoke to the nation of Israel that their Messiah was coming.
Thank you, Lord for your voice in the wilderness. Thank you for always letting your people know what is coming and how to prepare. Thank you that we are being prepared to bring your kingdom down to earth in great power and demonstration.