Wed.’s Devo - Judgement and Atonement

Read: Numbers 15:17-16:40; Mark 15:1-47; Psalm 54:1-7; Proverbs 11:5-6 When they came into the land God promised they were to bring him a sacrifice from the first fruits of the land. *** If they as a congregation sinned by mistake, they were to offer one bull for a burnt offering, a grain offering, a drink offering and a goat for a sin offering. Then, they and everyone who lives among them will be forgiven. *** If just one person sinned by mistake he was to offer a female goat as a sin offering and the priest will make atonement for the person. But if a person sins purposely to defile the Lord, that person would be cut off and bear his own sin. There was no repentance for him. *** They found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath and the Lord said to stone him to death. *** God told them to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to put blue tassels in the corners of their shawl. This was to remind them of the commandments of the Lord and to not follow the desires of their flesh. *** Korah who was a son of Levi, Dathan and Abiram who were sons of Eliab along with 250 of the chiefs of the congregation joined together to stand against Moses and Aaron. They were tired of following Moses and Aaron and wanted to rule instead. *** Moses told them to bring censers with fire and incense in them to the tent of meeting and the Lord would choose who was holy and who was not. Dathan and Abiram refused to come but Korah showed up. The Lord wanted to kill them all but Moses cried out for the innocent. The Lord then told Moses to get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Moses stood before their tents and told the people to stand back or they would be judged along with them. Dathan and Abiram and all their families came to the front of their tent. Moses told them that the ground was going to open its mouth and swallow them if they had despised the Lord. That is exactly what happened and they went to Sheol alive along with their families and all their belongings. The earth closed over them and all Israel fled with fear. *** God told Moses to tell Eleazar to take their censers and scatter the fire to make them holy. Eleazar obeyed then took their bronze censers of the ones who had died and hammered them out as a covert for the altar. It was to remind the people of what happened and that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron should draw near to burn incense before the Lord lest they die like these men did. *** We have a mirror of that same rebellion in Mark. The chief priests and scribes and the whole council bound Jesus and took him to Pilate. Pilate wanted to know if Jesus was the King of the Jews. Jesus told him he said it. The chief priest told Pilate all the things they were accusing Jesus of and Jesus refused to give a rebuttal. Pilate was amazed at that. ** It was the feast and Pilate would customarily release a prisoner each year. He had a man named Barabbas who was a murderer and a insurrectionist. He brought him and Jesus before the crowd and asked which they wanted released. Because of their jealousy of Jesus, the priest instigated the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released. When Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus, they yelled to crucify him. Pilate could make no sense of their request but he released Barabbas and had Jesus scrounged and delivered to them to crucify. *** Jesus was led inside the palace of the governor and they clothed Jesus in purple cloth and a crown of thorns was placed on his head. They mocked him as the King of the Jews and spat on him and beat him. Then they put his own clothes back on him and led him to the cross. *** They made Simon, who was just passing by, carry his cross for him and led him to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. They cast lots for his garments and crucified him between two robbers. He was taunted and mocked by those who walked by. *** At the sixth hour, darkness covered the whole land for three hours. Then Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus cried out and then died. The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom and the centurions who were guarding him said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” *** The two Mary’s and many of the women who had followed Jesus watched all this from a distance. *** Joseph of Arimathea, who was a respected member of the council went to Pilate and asked for Jesus body. and took a linen shroud and wrapped him in it and laid him in his own tomb. He rolled a stone over the entrance. The two Mary’s saw where Jesus was brought. *** Lord, thank you for tearing the curtain between man and You. Thank you that we can come boldly before your throne any time we want and need to. Thank you that you are accessible and forgiving. You are our perfect High Priest.