Sun.’s Devo - Moes Dies, Joshua Arises

Read: Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshua 2:24; Luke 13:22-14:6; Psalm 79:1-13; Proverbs 12:26 Moses climbed Mt. Nebo up to Pisgah Peak where he was able to survey the whole promised land. He was actually standing in the land given to Reuben on the west side of the Jordan. This was the place that Balak took Balaam the second time and Balaam gave the prophecy about the Messiah, the king was among them. Balaam proclaimed from here that God was not a man that he should lie. His commandment was to bless these people and he was to changing his mind. Moses was 120 years old and yet his eyes were not dim or his strength gone. When he left, the people mourned for him for thirty days. There has never been a prophet like Moses that spoke to God face to face. The Lord had sent him to perform mighty miracles against the Pharaoh of Egypt. Joshua rose up full of the spirit of wisdom he had received when Moses laid his hands upon him. The people vowed to follow him like they had followed Moses. God promised Joshua that he would give him all the land his feet touched and no one would be able to stand against him. He told Joshua to be strong and very courageous because God was going with him and he would be successful. Joshua was to meditate on the law day and night and do everything it said to do and he would have complete success. Joshua sent word throughout the camps to get ready because in three days they would cross into their land. He called the leaders of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh and reminded them of their promise to go help them take the land. They were ready to fulfill their commitment. Joshua secretly sent out two spies to spy out the land. He had learned from the last time that only two came back (he was one) with a positive report so this time he only sent two. They came to Jericho and met Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho. She told them how afraid everyone was of them. She hid them from the officers of Jericho and made them promise to save her and her family when they came to take the city. The spies promised if she left the scarlet thread hanging in her window, they would save the people in her house. She agreed and let them down the rope out of the city. She told them to stay in the mountains for three days then go home. The spies returned to Joshua and told them that God had given them the land. The people in the land were terrified of them. This was the report Joshua wanted to hear. In Luke, a man asked Jesus if only a few people would be saved. Jesus told him that we must work hard to enter the door to God’s kingdom because one day it would be too late. There would come a day when the door would be shut. The people who seemed least now would be great in God’s kingdom and the ones who were important now would be the least then. Immediately, some Pharisees tried to scare Jesus to leave by telling him that Herod Antipas wanted to kill him. Here was an important person on earth that Jesus called a “fox”. Jesus had no respect for him. He had killed John the Baptist over a provocative dance. Jesus told them to tell Herod that he would keep doing what he was doing - healing and casting out devils. Jesus knew Herod would not be able to touch him till he came to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where the prophets were killed. That would be where he would be killed. One Sabbath day, Jesus was eating at the home of the leader of the Pharisees. There was a man, probably planted there by them, who had swollen legs and arms. Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked them if the law said anything about not healing on the Sabbath. None of them could answer because it doesn’t. Jesus turned it back on them and told them that their cow fell into a pit on the Sabbath, they would get it out, so he healed the man. Lord, help us to see the big picture and not stain at the small stuff. Help us to be strong and courageous and take your land back from the devil. May we help those who have fallen into a pit of sin.