Wed.’s Devo - Salvation Through the Blood

Read: Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22: Proverbs 6:12-15 God said that this was a day to remember. He gave them the ordinances of his feasts so they could join with him in celebrating them. *** The first feast was Unleavened Bread which was to last 7 days. They were to eat no yeast during this week. On the seventh day they would have a holy assembly with no work done except to prepare the food. It was to remind them that the Egyptians forced them out of their land in such haste they didn’t have time to let their bread rise. It was to be celebrated every year on the fourteenth day of the first month of their new calendar. *** Then they were told how to prepare their Passover meal. They were to slaughter the lamb and use a hyssop branch to dip and smear on the top and sides of their door frames. Then they were to enter their house through the blood and stay. That night the death angel would pass over and if they had the blood on their door, it would not kill their firstborn. They were to celebrate these feasts every year from here out. *** That night the death angel passed over Egypt and killed the first born of Pharaoh down to the first born of the prisoners in the dungeon and even the first born of their cattle. There was not a single house where someone had not died. *** Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night and told them to get out. The Egyptians urged them to leave also. *** The Israelites left during the night and left with the riches of Egypt. There were 600,000 men plus the women and children. Some of the Egyptians went with them also. *** They had lived in Egypt exactly 430 years. The day they ate their Passover meal they were delivered from Egypt. *** God had just saved their first born son with the blood so he explained that they were now his. He had bought them with blood. This festival would be a visible sign to them like a mark branded on their hand or their forehead. It was to remind them that on this day, God rescued them from bondage. This is the celebration of salvation. *** They were to present every first born son to the Lord but then they must buy him back. Jesus died on the cross to purchase us. We buy ourselves back by offering ourselves on the altar. When we do this, we get to live forever instead of dying in sin. That is how we buy ourselves back. *** In Matthew, Jesus was nearing Jerusalem to die. He met two blind men and healed their blindness. He send the disciples ahead to the city to bring a donkey God had prepared for him to ride in as their king. The people that were coming to Jerusalem for the Passover saw him and put their garments and cut down branches to spread on the road to honor him as their king. They sand praised to him as he entered the city. *** When the people of the city heard the singing they asked what was going on and they said it was Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth. *** Jesus entered the Temple and drove out the people buying and selling animals. He upended the tables of money changers and cried that His Temple will be called a house of prayer, but they had turned it into a den of thieves. *** Jesus healed the blind and the lame and the children sang praises to him. The leaders were indignant when they heard the songs of the children. They asked Jesus about it and his reply was, “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures?” (I bet that got them upset.) “For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’” Then he left and went to Bethany. In the morning he went back to Jerusalem and on the way he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went to see if it bore fruit but there were only leaves. He cursed the tree to never bear fruit again. When his disciples questioned him about it, he talked about faith. The fig tree represented the state that Israel was in. It had not recognized its king, so he cursed it. We can do this also to corrupt evil entities that defy God. We are not to tolerate evil in our nation. We can curse their plans and their authority and loose God’s righteous government in our land. Lord, we do that. We curse the powers of deception and perversion that have ruled in our nation and our world. We proclaim your Kingdom come. We pray that everything the devil has planned for us will boomerang back on them. We pray for righteousness to reign in America and in the nations.