Tues.’s Devo -The Power of the Blood

Read: Leviticus 25:47-27:13; Mark 10:32-52; Psalm 45:1-17; Proverbs 10:22 God gave his people the right to redeem themselves back from slavery if they had had to sell themselves out to a foreigner. Anyone from their extended family could buy them back also. They would then go to the owner and negotiate the price of the man they wanted to buy back. The price would be based on the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee when everyone is free. They would pay the owner how much work their man would have done until Jubilee and paid him the price. Once he was bought back he could choose to stay and work for the man and receive a salary as a free man. God bought us back from the enemy with the blood of Jesus but as God’s children, we have to appropriate it. We can buy back blood relatives through prayer. We reap what we sow so just because we get saved, we still have to reap the things we did before we got saved. It may take a while to get out of the entanglements that we have gotten ourselves into, but freedom will come eventually. God reminds them of two of his commandments. The second Commandment was: don’t set up carved or graven images. The fourth Commandment was to keep the Sabbath day of rest to show reverence for His sanctuary. Obeying these two commandments would bring about the blessing of rain in the right seasons and bountiful harvests that overlap each other. It also brings security and peace in the land. God said He would chase their enemies and always give them victory. He promised his favor upon them and that they would multiply in people and in crops. God promised to live among them and put his favor on all they did. If they refused to follow God’s commands, the opposite would happen. They would be punished seven times over for their sins. If they repent, God will heal their land and remember his covenant of peace with them. If someone wanted to make a vow to dedicate someone to the Lord by paying the value of that person, the cost of the man ages 20-60 was 50 shekels of silver. A woman would be 30 shekels of silver. A boy ages 5-20 would be 20 shekels of silver and a girl 10 shekels. A man older than 60 was valued at 15 and a woman 10 shekels of silver. If you can’t afford to pay that amount you could appeal to the priest who would give you a price based on what you could afford. Animals could also be used in this way and bought back. The value would be set by the priest plus 20%. Jesus bought the world back with the redemption price of his blood. No amount of money could be counted to amount to the value of his blood. In Mark, Jesus tells them again everything that is about to happen to them so they will understand. We know they didn’t understand then, but they did later. James and John took Jesus aside and asked it they could sit in honor on his left and right side when he came to his kingdom. Jesus explained to them that they didn’t know what they were asking. Those places would be reserved for ones that suffered and died like he did. God would determine who sat in those places. The other disciples found out what James and John had requested and were indignant. Jesus explained that it was the one who served others and gave his life as a ransom for many that would be exalted in heaven. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus gave us a picture of what he had just said to his disciples. Bartimaeus was blind and could not see and yet he would not give up asking Jesus for mercy. When Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do for him, Bartimaeus called Jesus his Rabbi and told them he wanted to see. Jesus gave him that because he believed in faith. Bartimaeus then followed Jesus down the road. That was the message Jesus wanted to get to his disciples. Jesus had spent his three years trying to make his disciples see spiritually and just follow him in faith. Who is on his left or his right determines how they did these things. Lord, give us eyes to see and a heart to follow your. May we put our faith out there no matter what we see with our natural eyes.