Sun.’s Devo -God is King

Read: Judges 8:18-9:21; Luke 23:44-24:12; Psalm 99:1-9; Proverbs 14:9-10 When Gideon captured Zebah and Zalmumma he asked them what the men looked like that they killed in Tabor. he described his own mother and brothers. They had to die, so Gideon told his oldest son, Jether to kill them but he was so young he couldn’t do it. The kings told Gideon to be a man and do it himself, so he did. *** The people wanted to make Gideon their king but he refused saying that God was there king. He did ask for a golden earring from their spoils of the war. He was given 43 pounds of gold. He made an altar which became a trap for Gideon and his family. They began to worship it instead of God. *** Gideon had 70 sons from his many wives and one son named Abimelech from a concubine who lived in Shechem. Gideon died an old man and was buried in Oprah. As soon as he died, the people worshipped Baal and forgot about the God who had rescued them from the Midianites. *** Abimelech went to Shechem and visited all his uncles and convinced them to make him their king. They gave him money from the Baal Temple to hire men to support him. He took this army to Oprah where they killed all of Gideon’s son except Jotham, who escaped. Jotham was the youngest of Gideon’s sons. The leading citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo called a meeting. When Jotham heard about the meeting, he climbed to the top of Mt. Gerizim and yelled to them. He told them a parable of trees that decided to choose a king. They went to the olive tree, the fig tree, and the grapevine. None of them wanted to leave their jobs to be the king. As a last resort, they turned to the thornbush and asked it to be their king. It would only become king if it could burn up all the cedars of Lebanon. 
 *** Jotham was referring to their decision to make Abimelech their king as the thornbush. He had devoured all of Gideon’s sons to become the king. He continued to say that if they had acted honorably then may they live to enjoy their decision; but if they hadn’t acted in good faith, then may fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leading citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo. And, may fire come out from these citizens to devour Abimelech. In other words, he was saying, if what they did was wrong, may they destroy one another. ***In Luke, There was a solar eclipse over the land for three hours. The veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom and Jesus gave up his spirit to into his Father’s hands and died. *** The Roman officer who oversaw the execution said that surely this man was innocent and the people went home in deep sorrow. The women who followed Jesus stood at a distance watching. *** Joseph who was member of the Jewish high council had been waiting for the Kingdom of God to come. He went to Pilate to ask for Jesus body. He took him down and wrapped him in a linen cloth and laid his body in his new tomb that had been hewn out of a rock. He did this right before the Sabbath would begin. *** The ladies saw where he had put Jesus’ body and went home to prepare spices for his body. *** Very early in the morning on the day after the Sabbath, they came and found the stone had been rolled away. The body of Jesus was gone. As they stood there, an angel appeared to them in glory. The women were terrified and bowed down. The angels asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead because he was risen. *** The women ran to tell the disciples what they had seen but they didn’t believe what they were saying. Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb and saw the empty tomb and the linen cloth and went home pondering what he had seen. *** Lord, may we believe without having to see with our natural eyes. May we be slow to follow a man but quick to follow your spirit. May we have great discernment in these days we are living in and may we recognize that you are our King!