Tues.’s Devo - The Messiah Has Come!

Read: Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 11:16-17 Moses had just numbered the men who were army age so he was to use those numbers to divide the land. He was to give it the land in proportion to the size of the tribes. The Levites had numbered 23,000 but they were not given land. Not one of the people, except Joshua and Caleb, were on the list that Moses had made when they started out on their journey. They had all died because of their rebellion and this was the next generation. *** One of the men had had no sons and his first born was a daughter, Zelophehad. She got no inheritance because she was not a man. She came to Moses to petition for land for their family. God said her claim was legitimate and she should be given an inheritance. She stood for every woman who had no husband or father to protect her. She was given land because God shows no favorites between man and women. *** The Lord took Moses to the top of a mountain to let him see the promised land. He would not be allowed to enter because of his rebellion at the waters. Moses asked the Lord to appoint a leader who would lead the people and God appointed Joshua. He showed Moses how to transition Joshua into his place. Moses brought Joshua out before the people and laid his hands on him transferring his leadership to Joshua. Then he commissioned him to lead the people. *** God told the people to present him a morning and evening sacrifice to him. Every morning we are to acknowledge the Lord and remember him every night before we go to sleep. He is the reason we live. As special offering was to be presented on the Sabbath which is when we worship with other Christians and set aside that day as special to him. Another special offering was to be presented to God at the beginning of the month. All of these were to remind the people that God is holy and they were to honor him as their source of everything. *** In Luke, Luke established all the people who were ruling in the government and in the Temple. God sent John, Zechariah’s son, to the Jordan and told him to preach that people should be baptized to show that they had repented from their sins and turned to God to forgive them. John was the voice in the wilderness that Isaiah had prophesied. He was the one who would prepare the hearts of the people to receive Jesus. *** He called the multitude a brood of vipers and asked them who had warned them of the wrath that was about to come. He warned them that being Abraham’s sons was not going to help them if they didn’t repent of their sins. When they asked John what they should do to show they had repented, he told them to start caring for one another, especially the poor. When the tax collectors asked the same question, John told them to only collect what they were told to collect and no more. *** They had all expected the Messiah to come soon and were hoping John was him, but John made sure they knew he was not the Messiah. He would baptize with water as a picture of cleansing, but the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire when he comes. The Messiah would separate the chaff from the wheat and burn up the chaff with fire. Then he would clean up the threshing area and gather up the wheat into his barn. *** We are witnessing the separating of the chaff from the wheat in our nation. The chaff will be burned up, then the threshing area will need to be cleaned up. After that, his children will be gathered together in him. *** John’s commission was to point out sin. He even criticized the ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas. Herod had married his brother’s wife. Herod didn’t appreciate John’s boldness to speak against him, so he put John in prison. *** Before John was put in prison, while he was still baptizing, Jesus came to be baptized by John. When he baptized Jesus, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit, like a dove come down and descend on Jesus. He heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” *** Lord, may you say that about us. May we be bold like John and not fear what man can do to us. Guard our hearts as we go through this cleansing period and may we keep our hearts pure.