Sun.’s Devo - The Reward of Justice

Happy New Year! What a year we just finished! I see 2023 as being the year of the “Rude Awakening” for some and the “Great Awakening” for others. For those who haven’t had their eyes open to what has been going on under the surface, it will be a rude awakening. They will find out how evil the system has been that we have all been under. For those who have been awake already it will be a much waited retribution. Evil is going to be exposed and righteousness is going to rise. Our nation is shifting toward the light and toward good. We are being given one more chance to do it God’s way. The whole world will be going through this cleansing as we attempt to eradicate evil and return to the Lord. It will take years to rebuild and restructure but that will be the great part as we will use the gifts God has given us to bring life to the world. My word for this year is “justice”. God has been bringing justice for a while but I feel like this year we are going to begin to see the reward of justice. Justice is such a powerful relief and gift from God. Only God can bring true justice. In Scripture, justice and judgement go hand in hand. Proverbs 21:3 says “to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” You can’t have justice without God’s judgment. He judges then brings his decision which is his justice. God is going to decide many cases this year in respect to humanity and how they have governed his world. His decisions will bring a just reward. Jesus is the reward of justice. We will get to know him better and better as our Salvation. Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6 Today we go back to the beginning of our roots on earth. God created the heaven and the earth. Heaven is singular meaning the visible arch in which the clouds move under our ‘dome’. Another name for earth is “a field”. Jesus talked about ‘a field’ many times in his parables. Earth was empty and worthless until God began shaping it and adding to it. It was full of wickedness and an abyss of water. God’s spirit moved upon the waters and declared light in every sense. He declared happiness instead of depression. This light would be summed up in the word “Day” and the darkness would be called “Night”. Night means “a twist away of the light; adversity”. On this first day, God declared two different kingdoms: one of light and one of darkness. We are called to be children of the light and of the day. (1 Thessalonians 5:5) On the second day, God called forth a visible arch or dividing line in the sky to divide the waters (spirits) of the earth from the waters in the sky. The waters in the sky were called Heaven where the celestial bodies move. On the third day, God established the waters under the heaven to gather in one place and dry ground appeared. The dry ground was called Earth or common field and the waters were called the Seas. God brought forth grass and fruit trees with seed in them. Every tree bore the tree of its seed. On the forth day God spoke forth lights in the heaven to light the earth. He made two great lights. The greater light would rule the day and the lesser light would rule the night. They were to make a difference between light and darkness. On the fifth day God told the waters to bring forth moving creatures that had life and fowls to fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. God blessed them and told them to multiply on the earth. On the sixth day God told the earth to produce animals that were small, wild animals and livestock. They would all produce after their own kind. Then God created human beings to be a resemblance and representation of him. God blessed the male and females and told them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. They were to have rule over the fish, fowl, and every living thing on the earth. God gave man and animals the herbs as food. On the seventh day, God rested from his work and blessed the day. God kept everything watered with a mist that came out of the earth. Man was created from the dust of the earth as God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He became a living soul. God planted a garden on the east side of earth and put a man in it who he called Adam. The garden had a river that ran from it that branched into four heads. The first branch was called Pison (meaning “increase”) which flowed in the land of Havilah where much gold was found. It was also filled with aromatic resin and onyx stone. The second branch was called Gihon (meaning “breaking forth”). It was in the land of Ethiopia (meaning “black”). This was the land that Ham would inherit. The third branch was called the Tigris or Hiddekel (meaning “riddle of lightness”). This branch went toward the east of Assyria. The fourth branch was the Euphrates (meaning “fruitfulness”). God placed Adam in the garden with one rule. He was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he did, he would die. God declared the it was not good for the man to be alone so he would make a helper for him. Instead, God brought the animals to Adam to name. Adam noticed that there was not an animal suitable to be his mate. God put him to sleep and took a rib from his body and used it to form a woman. When he awakened, he knew this was his mate. God explained that they would be joined into one. They were both naked and felt no shame. In Matthew we are given Jesus’ lineage from Abraham to Joseph, Mary’s husband. His was the kingly lineage of Jesus. His lineage was divided into three groups which included fourteen generations each. We are then given the story of how the Holy Spirit came to Mary and filled her with a seed from God. God sent an angel who told Joseph in a dream the same thing so he would not be afraid to marry Mary. The angel reminded Joseph of the prophecy of Isaiah about a virgin that would have a son and be named “God is with us.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem just as the prophecy said. (Micah 5:2). Astronomers from Egypt had been looking for his star. When they saw it, they came to worship him. They stopped off at Herod’s to ask about the new king and got him all stirred up. The astrologers followed the star and found Jesus. They blessed Mary and Joseph with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did not return to tell Herod about Jesus. Lord, thank you for teaching us your concepts of good and evil from the very beginning. May we grow in wisdom and understanding.