Wed.’s Devo - In Need of a Saviour

Read: Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8 Proverbs 11:16-17 God told Moses what to do with the census he had taken. He was to divide the land and give the largest land to the tribes with the largest number of people. *** The Levites were listed according to their clans - the Gershonites, the Kohathites and the Merarites. Moses and Aaron were from the Kohathites. There were 23,000 Levites from the ages of a month old and upward. They were not given an inheritance in the land because the Lord was their inheritance. *** We are a kingdom of priest according to 2 Peter and our inheritance is not earthly but heavenly. Our inheritance is the Lord. *** This new census didn’t include any of the first census Moses had taken. They had all died in the wilderness because of their sin, except for Joshua and Caleb who brought back a good report about the land the Lord had given them. *** The daughters of Zelophehad who had no brothers came to present their case. They wanted to inherit their father’s land when he died. Moses sought the Lord’s counsel and he agreed with the women. It became a presidence that if a person died without a son, their land would go to their daughters. If he had no children, it would go to his brother, then if that was not possible it would go to his closest of kin. *** Moses was then taken on the mountain where he could see the land he had brought the people to, but he would die there and not get to enter. The land had never been about Moses, it had been about God’s promise to his people. *** Moses asked the Lord to appoint a leader for the people and God chose Joshua. He was to stand him before Eleazar, the priest and all the congregation and commission him so everyone would see who God had chosen to lead them. *** Then God gave Moses the details of the different offerings the people were to offer to him. They were to also bring offerings on the Sabbath and on their new moon at the beginning of their months. Everything was to begin with honoring him and being thankful. *** In Luke, Luke makes sure we understand that Judea was ruled by non-Jews. Iberius Caesar was in his 15th reign over them. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea and Herod was the tetrarch over Galilee. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priest who were not chosen by God. They needed a Savior. *** God came to John who lived in the wilderness and told him to begin baptizing people who wanted to repent of their sins He was the voice in the wilderness telling the people to get their lives ready to receive the salvation of the Lord. *** John told them that being a child of Abraham was not enough to save their soul from sin. They need to change the way they lived. Stop extorting money from one another and begin honoring God in the way they treated others. *** People began saying that John could be the Messiah but he quickly put a stop to that. He told them that he only baptized with water, but the one coming was far greater than him and he would baptized them with the Holy Spirit and fire. *** John reproved Herod the tetrarch for taking his brother’s wife, Herodias from him, so Herod had John put in prison. *** Before this, John had baptized Jesus and when he did the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” *** Lord, may we remember to always be thankful every day for what you have given us. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for our sins and save us from death.