Sat.’s Devo - Jesus Enters Jerusalem -

Read: Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 6:12-15 This Passover day was to be a memorial that was to be kept as a feast to the Lord forever. On the first day of the feast they were to remove all the leaven from their house and keep it out till the seventh day. Anyone who ate leaven would be cut off from Israel. On the first and the seventh day they were to hold a holy assembly and no work was to be done on that day. This week would be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread because on this day, God brought them out of the land of Egypt. This was to be celebrated on the 14th to the 21st of Nissan (Abib). *** They were to select a spotless lamb as the Passover lamb - kill it, and smear its blood on the two doorposts and the lintel at the top. Then they were to enter the house and not come out till morning. That night the Lord would pass through Egypt and strike the first born of every household that didn’t have the blood applied to their doorposts. *** They were to observe this ceremony when they came into the land that the Lord was giving them to remember when the Lord struck the people in Egypt and spared their houses. *** The people of Israel obeyed the Lord and the death angel passed over at midnight and killed the firstborn of Egypt and there was great wailing heard in Egypt. There was not a household that wasn’t affected by the death. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them to go serve the Lord and take anything they wanted, and bless him also. The Egyptians were anxious to get rid of the Israelites and told them to hurry and get out of their land. They left with such hurry, their dough hadn’t even had time to rise. They had asked for gold and silver and clothing from the Egyptians and left with the wealth of Egypt. About 600,000 men along with their wives and children left with their livestock and herds. *** They had lived in Egypt 430 years to the day. *** The rules of the Passover were that no foreigner could participate. Slaves who were bought could participate only if they were circumcised. The lamb had to be completely consumed in the house. A stranger who was traveling with them they may participate if they are circumcised. No uncircumcised person could eat it. (Since this represented Jesus, all must be saved to share in his salvation.) *** The Lord told Moses to consecrate all their firstborn because they were his. He had saved them in the Passover. They were to represent the remnant, the set apart, redeemed from death. They were to celebrate this feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover when they came to the promised land so they could tell the story to their children of what God did for them. *** All the firstborn of their sons and animals were to be set apart as the Lord’s. If they had a firstborn donkey and they choose not to redeem it, they must break its neck. The donkey stood for the stubborn, like Pharaoh who refused to follow the Lord. *** Jesus fulfilled the Passover by becoming our Passover lamb and dying for our sins. We participate in Unleavened Bread when we consecrate our lives to him and allow him to remove the leaven from our lives. This takes a life-time thus the seven days. Our lifetime is expressed as our “week”on the earth. It lasts as long as God has ordained. *** In Matthew, Jesus came out of Jericho to meet two blind men. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem where he would die. The blind men cried out for him to have mercy on him. Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they recovered. This was a picture of why Jesus came to earth. He came to open man’s spiritual eyes to see God. These men immediately began to follow Christ. *** Jesus came to Bethphage and sent two of his disciples to go into the village and find a donkey with her colt. He was to bring them both to him. Jesus somehow sat on both the donkey and its colt and rode into Jerusalem on them. The people spread their own cloaks for them to step on them. They were singing the Hallel, the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134), as they traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover. When they saw Jesus, they sang them over him. *** Once again, Jesus drove out the money-changers and said that his Father’s house was to be a house of prayer, not a den of robbers. *** Jesus began healing the blind and the lame. The chief priests and scribes saw all the miracles that Jesus was doing and heard the children singing praises to him and they were indignant. Jesus reminded them of Psalm 8:2 which talks about how the praises of babies stops the enemy and the avenger. *** Jesus spent the night in Bethany and early the next morning he was hungry. He saw a fig tree, but found it had no fruit. He cursed it to never bear fruit again. The vine immediately withered. The disciples saw this and asked him how it happened and he told them that they could do the same if they had faith. *** The fig tree represented Israel and the spiritual decline it was in. Jesus cursed its fruit and said that that root would never be allowed to prosper again. That vine was not the true vine but one steeped in religion and man-made laws meant to crush the people, not give them life. We have the same power to crush the religious spirit of death in our country. *** Lord, may we understand the fullness of what you have done for us on the cross. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the cross. May we have the faith to curse darkness and see it crumble.