Wed.’s Devo - God’s Precepts

Read: Exodus 21:22-23:13; Matthew 24:1-28; Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 7:6-23 We are reading the ordinances of daily living that God gave Moses. These are the laws of everyday living. The essence of them is that the punishment must meet the crime and there is justice for everyone. Not every law was concrete; some crimes were determined by the husband but approved by the judge. Some laws were concrete, like you must not allow a sorceress to live. Not all restitution was the same, but all was just and fair. *** Crimes against humanity, like in verse 22 were serious. God was extremely protective of widows and orphans because they had no one to defend themselves. Those who exploited them would die violently making their wives, widows and their children, fatherless. *** Some of the laws had to do with their relationship with God. They were not to hold back anything from their crops that was to be offered to the Lord. The first-born sons were the Lord’s. The first-born of their animals were the Lord’s, but they were to leave the newborn animal with its mother for 7 days, and give it to the Lord on the eighth. *** In Romans, God tells us that the law is spiritual which means every law of God has a spiritual meaning to us today. *** God had a lot to say about false witnesses and twisting justice. He hates deceit and lies because that is the definition of the evil one - Satan. He is the great deceiver and the father of lies. Bribes twist the truth, so we are not to take them. *** We are always to remember that we were once foreigners in the land of Egypt which means we were once unsaved, so we must have compassion on those who are not yet saved. *** Everything and everyone must enjoy their day of rest. We are about to enter into a millennium of rest, but if we’ve never practiced it during days of work, we will miss it, like the children of Israel missed theirs. *** In Matthew, Jesus was leaving the Temple with his disciples and saw ahead to the time when every stone would be torn down and not one would be left standing upon the other. He was talking about the foundation of the religion taught at that time. Every stone (word) would be torn down. He warned them about their explanations of what would happen in the end when these things start falling apart. *** The world would be experiencing wars, famines and earthquakes in different places. Christians will be persecuted for their faith, and many would turn from their faith and betray other Christians. False prophets would arise to deceive God’s people and many would hate those who disagreed with them. The gospel would be preached around the world and all nations would hear it before the end comes. This is a perfect picture of our world today. We are ripe for a harvest of souls! *** Jesus prophesied the sacrilegious object that would be placed in the Holy place in the Temple. When they saw this happen, they would know to flee to the mountains. It would be a horrible time to live but God would shorten the time for them. *** This very thing happened when Antiocus Epiphanes came into the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar in the Holy Place. It began a terrible time of persecution for the Christians and they had to flee to the mountains. *** Jesus told them that if people tried to tell them that the Messiah was somewhere hidden that they had to find, they should know that this was not how he was to return. His return would be very obvious and all would know and see it. *** Lord, may we not be deceived into thinking this is the end when this is the beginning of the greatest time to be on the planet. May we discern our day and be busy about your business.