Mon.’s Devo - Kingdom of Priests

Read: Exodus 17:8-19:15; Matthew 22:34-23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; Proverbs 6:27-35 God had just given them water in the wilderness and the Amalekites came out to fight them. No doubt they wanted their water. Everyone had heard about their deliverance from Egypt, but the Amalekites apparently had no fear of God or thought their gods were greater than the gods of Egypt. *** They were in Rephidim which means “banisters.” Moses commanded Joshua to choose some warriors and go out and fight the Amalekites. *** Moses took his staff and as long as he held his arms up like a banister, they prevailed, but when he dropped them, the Amalekites prevailed. Aaron and Hur held his arms up so they could defeat them. God told Moses to write down on a scroll and read it to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Moses build an altar to the Lord and called it Jehovah-Nissi which means “Jehovah my banner.” *** God told Saul to defeat the Amalekites but he lost his kingdom over them (1 Samuel 30:1-20). It was the tribe of Simeon who finally defeated them in 1 Chronicles 4:43. *** While in Egypt, Moses and Zipporah had another son and named him Eliezer which means “God is my helper.” He had sent his family back to Jethro’s home to be safe. Jethro now met with Moses to reunite his family and hear the stories of Egypt that he had just heard of through the grapevine. Jethro rejoiced with him and blessed him for all the goodness God had done for Israel. *** All day long, the people came to Moses with their disputes.He listened and judged according to God’s precepts. (Remember, the law had not yet been given.) Jethro witnessed this and told Moses he would burn out if he continued doing this day after day. He suggested Moses train other men to handle the small complaints, leaving the big ones for him. He took Jethro’s advice and found men that feared God, loved truth, and hated bribes. He would teach them his laws and let them judge the people on most problems, leaving the hard cases for Moses. *** In the third month since they had left Egypt, God met with Moses on the base of Mount Sinai. God told him to tell the people that he brought them out of Egypt to be his kingdom of priests, his holy nation. If they obey his laws and kept his covenant, they would be God’s special treasure. Moses met with the elders and told them what God said, and they promised to obey the Lord. Moses took their answer back to the Lord and he told Moses that he would come to Moses in a thick cloud and speak to him so the people could hear him so they would trust Moses. *** Moses told the people what God had said and they agreed to be God’s people. Moses reported back to the Lord. Then God told Moses to go down and prepare the people for His coming. They were to consecrate themselves, washing their clothes and getting ready because on the third day, the Lord would come to Mt. Sinai. They were to mark off a boundary around the mountain and warn the people not to touch the mountain. (Mt. Sinai was a tall mountain that you could actually walk up and touch.) *** In Matthew, the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, so they stepped up to take their turn. One of their experts came up with a question to trap Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” *** Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” This is the greatest and the second is equally as important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the laws would be fulfilled if these two laws were done. Then Jesus asked them a question. He asked them what they thought about the Messiah and whose son he was. They answered that he was the son of David. Jesus then asked them why David called the Messiah his Lord in Psalm 110:1? How could he be his son and his Lord. They could’t answer him and no one dared to ask another question after that. Every time they tried to trap Jesus, he turned it on them and trapped them. *** Jesus turned to the crowd and told them that the religious leaders taught the law but they didn’t live it ,so they could listen to what they said, but should not follow what they did. They crushed the people under their man-made laws and never had mercy. *** Everything they said was a cover-up for their sins. They were the essence of a hypocrite. They loved their titles but did not live up to them. Jesus told them they were all equal so they should never call anyone on earth their Father or their Teacher because only God is their Father and Jesus is the Teacher. The greatest title they should have is Servant. The way to be exalted is to humble oneself. *** Lord, may we realize that everything we have comes from you. You are our Father and our Teacher and our Helper. We are honored to be your kingdom of priests, your holy nation.