Tues.’s Devo- The Memorial

Read: Joshua 22:21-23:16; Luke 20:27-47; Psalm 89:14-37; Proverbs 13:17-19 The priests and heads of the tribes traveled to the Jordan to witness the altar the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had erected to find out their intentions. They were prepared to fight them it they built it to rebel against God. *** They gave their answer to why they had built the altar. It was not built to be used to sacrifice on, but a memorial, a witness, to remind the other tribes that they worshiped the same God and were part of Israel. They were afraid that in the years to come, Israel might forget that they were part of them. This memorial was to prove their devotion to God and that they were children of Israel, too. *** When Phinehas and the other chiefs heard their answer they were satisfied and left in peace. They went back and told the people and they were satisfied also. *** Years later, Joshua was very old and about to die. He summoned all of Israel, the leaders and the judges to come and hear his last speech. He reminded them all the Lord had done for them and that everything he had promised, he had done for them. He warned them to stay true and faithful to the Lord or the curses would come upon them and they would be just as bad as his blessings were good. If they turned away from serving the Lord, they would quickly perish from the good land the Lord had given them. *** In Luke, some of the Sadducees came to Jesus. They didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. They posed this ridiculous question about a woman whose husbands kept dying. Their question was, ‘whose husband she would be in the resurrection?’ *** Jesus gave them a lesson on eternity. First of all, in eternity, there is no marriage of people. They will be like the angels and will be children of God. Even Moses prayed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as if they lived in eternity. God was a god of the living, not the dead. The scribes liked his answer because they believed in the resurrection. I doubt the Sadducees liked it. *** Jesus went on further to explain that they taught that the Messiah would be David’s son. But, David referred to the Messiah as his Lord. How could He be both David’s son and his Lord? This gave them food for thought. *** Jesus told his disciples to beware of the scribes who walked around in their robes looking all important. They would receive the greater condemnation in the end. The scribes were the ones who copied the scriptures and kept the truth to themselves. They had access to the truth and yet they lived a lie and withheld the truth from the people. They would have to give an answer for this in the Judgment. *** Lord, help us to guard the truth in our hearts and live what we read in your Word. Thank you for being our truth and living it for us to see. May we follow in your footsteps, doing what you did and living as you lived.