Thur.’s Devo - Promises for the Remnant

Read: Numbers 16:41-18:32; Mark 16:1-20; Psalm 55:1-23; Proverbs 11:7
God killed Korah and his family because they rebelled against the Lord and the people all rise up against Moses and Aaron. God came swiftly to their defense with a plague. He would have killed all of the people had not Moses and Aaron ran and burned incense between the dead and the living to offer an atonement.
God instructed the leader of each tribe to bring a staff with their name written on the staff and lay them inside the tabernacle. The next day, they went to get them and Aaron’s rod had budded, brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms and had produced almonds. It had completed every stage of maturity. This was God’s stamp of approval on the Levites as his people to minister before him.
God then told the people that since they complained about everything about God, only Aaron’s sons would do the ministry in the tabernacle. They would be his. It was a picture of the remnant getting smaller and smaller. First it was the first born who were set apart, then it was the Levites - a smaller group and now it was Aaron’s sons, an even smaller group.
The Levites were paid by the sacrifices the people brought, but they even had to give a tenth of that to the Lord.
In Mark, Mary, Mary and Salome went to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. They wondered how they are going to roll the heavy stone away. That reminds me of Jacob when first met Rachael. Rachael was waiting till all the women shepherdesses arrived so they could together roll the heavy stone off the well. Jacob walked up and single-handedly took the stone off the well. Jesus is the well of salvation that was now available for all to drink of. The stone had been rolled away by the time the women reached the tomb and the angel explained that Jesus had risen …just like he had told them he would. They were to go to Galilee to see him. Jesus appeared to them many times and taught them. Then he sent them out to preach the Good News to everyone and told them that signs and wonders would be with them, they would speak in new languages, handle snakes without being harmed, and lay their hands on the sick and they would recover.
When Jesus was taken to heaven, they did all these things. These are the promises for the remnant too.
Lord, help us to walk in the authority and power you died to give us. Let us not be afraid or weary.