Mon.’s Devo - God’s Atonement

Read: Leviticus 15:1-16:28; mark 7:1-23; Psalm 40:11-17; Proverbs 10:13-14 God told Moses how to deal with unclean bodily discharges. A man with a discharge was unclean and contagious. He was to wash himself and bathe in water. When he was cleansed, he was to count seven days and offer a sacrifice on the eighth day. The same goes for a emission of semen or a woman in her period. If a woman’s period continues like the woman with the issue of blood, she shall remain unclean until she stops bleeding. *** When Aarons’ two sons died by offending the Lord, Moses told Aaron that he must not come just any time into the Holy Place or he would die also. When he did come, he must come with blood of a bull or a ram. He should wash with water and then put on his holy garments. *** He was to take two goats and one ram. The ram was offered for himself and his own sins and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat seven times . He was to cast lots between the goats to choose the one who would die for the sins of the people. The other was the scapegoat and the priest would lay all the sins of the people on its head and release it into the wilderness. *** This ritual represented the blood of Christ making atonement once and for all for our sins. The scapegoat represented our sins being removed from us as far as the east is from the west. *** In Mark, the Pharisees noticed that Jesus’ disciples were not doing the ritual hand-washing they had instituted. Jesus called them hypocrites and said that their worship was a sham. They taught their laws as if they were God’s laws. *** Jesus confronted them on another of their traditions. They taught that they didn’t need to provide for their elderly parents as long as they gave the money they would give to their parents to the Temple. It would also give them more clout with them and with God. Jesus told them this was so wrong. They were ignoring God’s commandment to honor their father and mother to look good to man. This was just one of many of God’s laws they had twisted to benefit themselves. *** Jesus disciples questioned him further about what he had said and he explained that it wasn’t the food that was the problem, it was what came out of the heart that was the problem. This was like the unclean discharges in Leviticus. What came out of the Pharisees spread to all the people, making them unclean. Jesus came to point out their sin and show them to way to be clean. If the heart was evil then only evil could be produced from it. The other side of that coin is that if you put into your heart the Word of God and meditate on the good things of God, you will produce the fruit of the Spirit. *** Lord, may we eat at your table and produce fruits of righteousness and love.