Tues.’s Devo - The Law is Spiritual

Read: Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23; Luke 8:40-9:6l Psalm 71:1-24; Proverbs 12:5-7 Moses explained that there would be people who would dream dreams and prophecy and do miracles. If they tried to entice them to worship another god other than Him, then they were to know that they were false prophets and they were not to follow them. This was a test to see if they loved God more than them. They were to kill that person who tried to entice them to stop the deception from spreading. If this happened in towns, a thorough investigation was to be made of the town to establish that this was happening. If it was then that town was to be destroyed with all the people in it. It must never be rebuilt. God would be merciful only if they listened to his voice and obeyed Him. If they were in mourning, they were not to cut themselves or shave their hair above their foreheads because that was what heathen people did. They were not to eat detestable animals considered unclean, but there were plenty of animals they could eat. The animals they were allowed to eat had to have completely split hooves and had to chew the cud. Since the law is spiritual, to us that means that what we eat spiritually has to have balance and it has to be meditated on and thought out and not just swallowed whole. They were to eat only marine animals that had fins and scales. Fins are to help the fish swim balanced and scales were covering. We must eat the Word that is balanced and we must be covered with the blood of Jesus, and with God as our Fatherly covering. They were not to eat creatures that preyed at night given in verses 11-18. These animals personified Satan’s kingdom. God did not want them to cook a young goat in his mother’s milk. This statement is given three times in scripture. I think it means that it is an abomination to mix life and death. The mother’s milk was the nourishment for the young goat. It was wrong to then use it in the death of that same goat. It reminds me of what Judas did to Jesus. The tithe was to be brought to the designated place and eaten there with their household and shared with the Levites in their town. At the end of every third year they were to bring all their tithe for the year and store it in the nearest town. It was to be distributed to the Levites and the poor in the town. At the end of every seven years they were to cancel the debts of everyone who owed them money. This only applied to the Israelites and no one else. This would end all poverty of their people! If they met a poor Israelite they were to be generous and lend to him no matter how close it was to seventh year. God would bless them for their generosity. Any Hebrew slave was also free at the end of the seventh year unless he wanted to stay. Then he would be brought to the door of the master’s house and his ear pierced through with an awl to the door. Then he would be a servant for life. This is the picture of salvation. Every first born males from their flocks were to be given to the Lord unless they had defects and then they could be eaten by the family. The first born represents our natural birth which has to be given to the Lord and we have to be born again. The life we have then is given back to us to live for Him. In Luke, we read about a girl who is 12 and a woman who has been blessed for 12 years. Their stories are woven together to tell us a greater story. The woman was unclean because of her bleeding and when she touched Jesus, she would have transferred her uncleanness to Jesus making him unclean. Instead, he went and touched a virgin daughter of a leader in the synagogue who was dead and very unclean, giving her new birth. The unclean woman was also made clean and healed. In the Old Testament, if you touched an unclean person and you became unclean. In the New Testament, if you touch an unclean person and he becomes clean. Jesus then gave his disciples the power to go do the same thing. They would be able to heal anyone who received them in the name of the Lord. Lord, may we bring life to those we touch today.