Mon.’s Devo - The Feasts

Read: Deuteronomy 16:1-17:20; Luke 9:7-27; Psalm 72:1-20; Proverbs 12:8-9 God had seven feasts that he shared with the people so they could begin celebrating them. The Passover was to be celebrated in Abib, the first month on their religious calendar and the seventh month on their civil calendar. They were to sacrifice a lamb in the place God chose for them to worship. They were to eat it with unleavened bread which would begin the feast of Unleavened Bread. This was to commemorate when they left Egypt and slavery. Unleavened Bread would last a full week in which they were to eat no leaven. Seven weeks later they were to celebrate the harvest of grain called the Feast of Harvest or Pentecost since it was 50 days later. They were to bring God a portion of their first fruits of harvest. These celebrations were in the spring. *** In the fall, they were to celebrate the last feasts in the fall. The only one mentioned here was the festival of Shelters or Feast of Tabernacles. This was to celebrate the grape, fig, and olive harvests. This was to be a happy time. The main three where the men were required to come to the designated place were Unleavened Bread, Festival of Harvest, and Festival of Shelters. They were not to come empty handed but with a gift for the Lord. *** All of the feast represented set times that God would visit his people. Every year God follows his feasts and on certain yearss, he demonstrates them in a way everyone can see. He did this when he sent Jesus to die on Passover, be buried on Unleavened Bread, and rise on First Fruits. He sent his Holy Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2. He will complete his feasts when he comes again on Feast of Trumpets, judges the world on Day of Atonement and sets up his Kingdom on Feast of Tabernacles. *** Every town was to have just and honest judges. They were never to set up idolatrous altars anywhere but especially not near God’s altar. *** They were never to offer defective gifts to the Lord. He hates that. Anyone found to be worshiping other gods was to be fully investigated. There must be more than one witness. If they are found guilty, they must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. *** If there is a case too hard for the town judge to determine, the case must be taken to the priests for them to examine. Whatever they say must be done to the person by the letter. *** When they get settled in their land and decide they want a king like the other people have, then it must be one of their own people and they should let the Lord choose him. This king should not have an army of horses or buy them from Egypt because they were never to go back there. This king should not take many wives because they would turn his heart from the Lord. He must not accumulate lots of gold and silver for himself. He must copy the law on a scroll and read it every day as long as he lives so he would learn to fear the Lord by obeying it. This will prevent him from turning away from God’s commands and he and his descendants would reign for many generations in Israel. *** In Luke, Herod Antipas heard about all the miracles Jesus was doing and wondered who he was. He heard that some believed he was John who had come back to life. This was disconcerting since he was the one who had had John beheaded. He kept trying to see Jesus. *** Meanwhile, the disciples came back after Jesus had sent them out to do the miracles they had seen him do. They came back with great stories of all they had witnessed. *** Jesus led his discipled to Bethsaida but the crowds followed. Jesus taught until late in the afternoon. The disciples told Jesus to send them home so they could go eat. Jesus told them to feed them. They had just gone out by themselves and done the things they had seen Jesus do, now they needed to do them with Jesus with them. They only had five loaves of bread and two fish and there were over 5,000 people. *** Jesus had them sit in groups of 50 and prayed over what he had. God bless the bread and the fish and they began distributing it. Everyone had all they wanted and 12 baskets of leftovers were picked up. *** When Jesus was alone with his disciples, Jesus asked them who the people thought he was. Some thought he was John the Baptist, some Elijah and others a prophet risen from the dead. Then he asked them who they thought he was. Peter said, “You are the Messiah, sent from God!” Jesus then told them not to say that out loud. He was going to be killed, but he would rise on the third day. *** What is so ironic about all this is that everyone of their theories about who Jesus was had to do with someone who had risen from the dead and was now walking among them, and yet, they had such a hard time believing that Jesus was actually going to do this. *** Jesus told the crowd that if they wanted to be his follower, they must take up their cross daily and follow him. What they proclaimed publicly would determine their eternal destiny. He promised that some of them would not die till they saw the Kingdom of God. In other words, there were many who would really believe unto salvation. *** Lord, help us to believe every promise in your Word and not doubt even when it comes to those in our family that it looks impossible to save. Your hand is not short but can reach to the lowest valley and the highest mountain. You, who left the 99 to save the 1 will complete everything that concerns us. We believe, Lord. Help our unbelief.