Mon.’s Devo - Infiltrating Israel

Read: Numbers 24:1-25:18; Luke 2:1-35; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 11:14 Balaam realized that God enjoyed blessing Israel so this time he didn’t do all his rituals to get God to talk. God’s Spirit came upon him and he spoke. He described the dwellings of the Israelites as beautiful gardens beside a river. God himself would water them and cause them to prosper and multiply. God brought them out of Egypt to destroy other nations. Blessed are those who bless them and cursed are those who curse them. *** Needless to say, Balak was not pleased with this prophecy especially since he was the one wanting to curse them. He told Balaam to flee from his presence and he would receive no honor from him. Balaam reminded him that he had told his servants from the start that he could only say what the Lord allowed him to say. Then he added that he would tell him what the Israelites would do to Balak’s people in the latter days. *** A star and a scepter (a king) would come out of Jacob and he would crush Moab, Edom, Seir, Amalek, and Kittim (Greece and Italy). *** Balaam and Balak departed but not before he gave Balak some advise in how to take Israel down. Revelation 2:14 tells us that Balaam taught Balak how to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel - how to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So the next thing we read is that the daughters of Moab were the stumbling block. They taught the people of Israel to worship Baal. *** God was so upset he told Moses to take all the leaders of this rebellion and hang them in the sun. Before they could act on this a man brought a Midianite woman to his family and into his tent. This was so flagrant that when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar saw it, he took a spear and went into the man’s tent and drove it through both of them. This stopped the plague that had begun. Twenty-four thousand died in the plague. *** Moses was so proud of what Phinehas did he blessed him with the covenant peace and the covenant of a perpetual priesthood to him and his descendants. The man killed was a chief in the tribe of Simeon. The woman’s name was Cozbi which means “my lie” from Zur which mean “to besiege.” So that means that she was sent to bring them down through deceit. Isn’t that what a stumbling block is supposed to do? *** In Luke, Caesar Agustus made a decree that all the world had to go register themselves at their birthplace. Joseph had to go to Nazareth to Bethlehem where he was born to register. He took Mary his fiancé with him. She was about to deliver and barely made it to Bethlehem. Jesus was born in the stable and placed in the manger because the inns were full because of the census. *** Shepherds outside of Bethlehem were visited by an angel of the Lord. He told them that he had great news. A child had just been born as a gift to them who is Christ the Lord, their Savior. They would find him in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then the sky was filled with angels who sang glory and honor to the Lord and peace to the earth. *** When the angels left, the shepherds wanted to go to Bethlehem and find this baby. They did find him and told many people what they had heard from the Lord. Mary treasured these words in her heart. They left praising the Lord for what he was doing. *** Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day and given the name, Jesus. Then Mary and Joseph brought him to the Temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. *** A old man named Simeon was there who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die till he beheld the Lord’s Christ. He took Jesus in his arms and blessed him as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Simeon also blessed Mary and Joseph and told Mary that many in Israel would fall and many rise because of Jesus. She would feel the sword in her own soul, but Jesus would reveal the heart of many. Boy, did that ever come true and is still true today. *** Lord, we are so thankful you sent your son, Jesus to reveal hearts, to be a light of revelation to us, and to see Israel be glorified. We trust what you are doing right now in Israel and know that you are causing the rise and fall of many. May your name be great in the earth!