Mon.’s Devo - The Festivals of the Lord

Read: Exodus 23:14-25:40; Matthew 24:29-51; Psalm 30:1-12; Proverbs 7:24-27 God gave the Israelites three festivals to celebrate - Unleavened Bread which celebrated their departure from Egypt; the Festival of Harvest which celebrated their first harvest of crops; and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the year when they brought in their end-of -the-year harvest. At these three times the men were to come before the Lord to worship him. They were to always bring a sacrifice of blood as well as the best of the produce from their harvest. God was sending an angel to watch over them and help them take their land but he would not forgive their rebellion. The angel would drive their enemy out little by little with fear as long as they obeyed him. They were not to make any treaties with the enemy. Moses was to go back up the mountain and bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders. The were to worship at a distance but only Moses was allowed to come near to the Lord. The people said they would obey all the instructions the Lord had given him. Moses wrote the instructions down for them to have. He built a fire and set up 12 pillars, one for each tribe and the young men presented burnt offerings and sacrifices on them. They took the blood and after Moses had read the Book of the Covenant to them, he sprinkled the blood on the people sealing their covenant with God. Moses took the men and climbed up the mountain. They saw the Lord in his glory and ate a meal in his presence. Then, Moses was called to come up higher on the mountain. Moses left Aaron and Hur in charge of the people. He and Joshua climbed up the mountain and stayed for forty days and nights. God gave Moses and Joshua a list of things the people could donate to the Lord. These would all be used in the Tabernacle they would make to worship the Lord during their travels. First, they were to make an ark of wood and cover it with gold. It was to have four rings of gold attached two to a side to slide poles through to carry the ark. The poles were to be made of wood and covered with gold. Two seraphim were to be carved from gold to sit on the top. This would be the mercy seat where God would meet with them. The tablets God was going to give them would be kept in this piece of furniture. Next, they were to make the table of shewbread with dishes and spoons and bowls. It was to be make of wood and covered with gold. A menorah was to be fashioned out of pure gold. It was to have bowls at the top of each of the branches for the oil to burn. It was to look like an almond branch with buds and flowers. Moses was shown the real pieces in heaven that they were to mirror here on earth. They were bringing heaven to earth. These pieces were in God’s sanctuary in heaven. In Matthew, Jesus was still explaining the last days and the end of days. In the end the sun and moon will be darkened. The stars will fall from the sky. The people will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. He will send out his angels to harvest the whole earth. Jesus told them that they would see this scene happen: two men will be working in the field and one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill and one would be taken and the other left. This scene actually happened in their day when the Assyrians came and took Jerusalem. This scene would happen again when at the end of time. It sounds to me like the ones taken are taken to death and the ones left are left to carry on God’s plan on the earth. During Noah’s time it was the ones taken away in the water that perished because of their rebellion against God. Noah and his family were left to carry on the earth. Jesus gives a parable about a master and a servant. If the servant did well he would be allowed to stay and eventually be given all the master owned but if he did evil, he would be sent to the place where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Lord, help us to remain faithful to the destiny you have given us. May we finish all that is in our book to do on the earth. May our lives bring you glory.

Sun.’s Devo - God’s Commandments are Good

Read: Exodus 21:22-13; Matthew 24:1-28; Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 7:6-23 God’s commands are good and just. They cause every man to take responsibility for his actions and to have respect for others. They teach us God’s justice and what he requires from us so that we are not in the dark on how to please him. Some of the things God required was the first born son and first born animals, and offerings from their crops and wine. He also required that they keep the Sabbath holy. Jesus gave us a warning of all the things that would be happening in the world: wars, rumors of war, the fall of the Temple, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the arrest of his followers, false prophets, etc. All these things have happened over the decades but Jesus said these are signs will precede his coming back but not be the sign of the end of the world. But, when they see the sacrilegious object that causes desperation is standing in the Holy Place, the people of Judah must flee to the hills. This happened when Antiochus Epiphanes killed a pig on the altar in the Temple. Jesus was telling them of what was about to happen in their lifetime and it did. It is also a picture of what will happen again. Our Psalm gives us a detailed picture of what happened when God spoke from Mt. Sinai. No wonder the people were so frightened and asked him not to do that again. Lord, may we see your commandments as safety nets for our lives not as restrainers of our fun. Every statute you give us is for our good. May we walk in your Word.

Sat.’s Devo - God’s Presence

Read: Exodus 19:16-21:21; Matthew 23:13-39; Psalm 28:1-9; Provers 7:1-5 When the third day came, there was thunder and lighting with no rain and a long blast was heard from a ram’s horn. The people came to the foot of the mountain to hear from God. The mountain was full of smoke and fire ascended from its top. The sound of the ram’s horn got louder and louder like a siren. God sent Moses back down to remind the people not to come near the mountain. Then the Lord spoke his commandments to the people. He explained who he was and what he required of them. The first four had to do with Him specifically and the others had to do with how to treat others. God didn’t have to worry about the people coming too near because they were scared to come close. They told Moses that they would rather he told them what God said rather than God speaking to them like this again. This was too scary. Moses explained that God came to them in this dramatic way so that they would be afraid to sin against him. Then God told them the type of altar they were to build and what they were to sacrifice. He gave them laws of slavery and how to treat another person under their authority. He told them how to treat their father and mother and their wives. In Matthew, Jesus came down on the religious leaders who worked so hard to look squeaky clean and holy but inside their hearts they were merciless and faithless sinners. Their hears were filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Jesus told them the most important aspects of the law, which they were ignoring were justice, mercy and faith. Their ancestors had killed the prophets that God sent them and they would do the same. They would be held responsible for all the murders of the innocent from Abel to Zechariah. They would also kill the Messiah, but one day their people will bless those that God sends. Lord, we look forward to the day when You will be honored in the earth as the only God and maker of us all. May we welcome your presence and boldly approach your throne.

Fri.’s Devo - Battle Won by Praise

Read: Exodus 17:8-19:15; Matthew 22:34-23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; Proverbs 6:27-35 The warriors of Amalek attacked the Israelites probably for the water God had sent them. The Amaleks were from the lineage of Esau. Moses stood on top of the hill holding up his staff. As long as he held his staff over the battle, the Israelites would be winning but when he dropped his staff the Amaleks would prevail. Finally Aaron and Hur had to hold his arms up until the day was over and the Israelites had won. God told Moses to write it down… God would erase the memory, remembrance, and scent of the Amaleks from under heaven. Moses built an altar and called it Jehovah-nissi because the Lord had sworn that he would have war with the Amalek from generation to generation. Jethro heard about all Moses had done and where he was camped, so he came with Moses’ wife and children to meet him. Moses told Jethro all God had done for Israel and Jethro praised the Lord as the God greater than all the other gods. Moses had two sons: Gershom which means “I have been a foreigner in a strange land,” and Eliezer which means “God of help.” These names summed up Moses’ life up till then. Jethro stayed with Moses and observed how Moses governed his people. He watched as Moses decided disputes all day long and advised him to teach other men who feared God and hated bribes in God’s laws. They could handle the small cases for him while he just dealt with the larger cases. Moses took Jethro’s. Forty days after they had left Egypt, God called Moses up on Mt. Sinai. He told him that if the people obeyed his commandments and kept the covenant with Him, they would be his own special treasure from all the people on the earth. The would be his kingdom of priests, his holy nation. He called the people together and told them what God had said and they agreed to obey God’s commands. God would come to Moses in a thick cloud and allow the people to hear him talk to Moses. First they would need to consecrate themselves and wash their clothes. They must be ready in three days. This would end up being 50 days from the Passover they had celebrated in Egypt making it Pentecost. God told Moses to mark off a boundary around the mountain that the people could not breach or they would die. The ram’s horn would sound from heaven when the people were to assemble. In Matthew, The Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees so they set off to trap him. They asked Jesus which was the most important commandment and Jesus said to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. Then he added that the second was equally important which was to love their neighbor as they love themselves. He knew that that one would get them. That didn’t go like they had planned so they asked him who’s son the Messiah would be. They answered their own question with “David’s son.” So Jesus asked them why David called the Messiah his Lord in Psalm 110:1. How could the Messiah be his son and his Lord? That shut up the Pharisees. Then Jesus exposed the religious leaders for what they were…hypocrites. Jesus told the people that they might say the right thing but they didn’t even practice what they preached. Jesus told them to not call anyone ‘Father’ but God or anyone ‘teacher’ but the Messiah. Everyone was equal as brothers and sisters. (I bet the religious leaders were shaking with anger when he said that.) Lord, help us to see each other as our equal brothers and sisters. Thank you for the many battles you cause us to win as we praise you.

Thurs.s Devo - The Way of the Kingdom

Read Leviticus 25:47-27:13; Mark 10:32-52; Psalm 45:1-17 Proverbs 10 22 God gave the people a way to be bought back from slavery. If a person ended up destitute he could sell himself to a wealthy foreigner or a wealthy Israel, but always had the option of being bought back. Anyone from his extended family could buy him back. The price would be negotiated based on the number of years till the net year of bile. The foreigner was not to be allowed to treat them harshly. If the people don’t set up idols and keep the Sabbath and obey Gods commands then the land would yield bountiful harvests. They would live in peace with no fear of war. Their women wold be fertile and multiply. God would walk among them and be their God and they would be his people. If they refused to obey his commands, they would experience terror, disease, blight and defeat. If they continued in sin they would be punished seven times over for their sins. God would withhold the rain which would kill their crops. Wild animals would attack and kill them. Armies would attack and take them as hostages. Plages would destroy them and their food supply. They would eat their own children and their cities would become desolate and the land would lie in ruins. Survivors would be demoralized and live in terror. They would die in the land of their captors. At last, the people would repent and turn back to the Lord. God would remember his covenant with them and redeem them. Chapter 2 tells us the cost of a person to be dedicated to the Lord. They were valued according to their age and gender. A vow which involved an animal’s valet according to its condition and whether it was clean or not clean ames and John secretly asked Jesus if they cold have placed of honor ext to him when he sits on the throne. Jesus told them they had no idea what the cost of gaining those positions. The other disciples caught wind of what they had asked and were indignant. esus told them that the way to earn those positions was by serving and laying down his life. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus healed a blind man named Bartimeus who then followed Jesus. Lord, may we learn the ways of you kingdom. May we lay down or lives and serve one another because that was what you did.

Thurs.’s Devo- Testing

Read: Exodus 15:19-17:7; Matthew 22:1-33; Psalm 27:1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26 When the people of Israel witnessed the Lord bring the waters back on the Egyptian chariots and drown them, Miriam picked up her tambourine and led the women into a song and dance of praise to the Lord. Moses led the people three days into the desert where there was no water. When they finally came to water, it was bitter and the people complained to Moses. Moses cried out to the Lord and he showed Moses a log and told him to throw it into the water. The water was made drinkable. God then told the people that he would test their faithfulness to him by their obedience. If they did what he said, they would never experience the diseases they had in Egypt. They traveled another month and ran out of bread so they complained to Moses and accused him of bringing them out there to starve to death. God gave them another test to see if they would obey. He told them he would send bread from heaven in the morning and they were only to gather enough for the day. They were not to keep any of it till the next day. Some obeyed while others didn’t believe God and saved some overnight. In the morning it had worms and stunk. Moses was very upset at them. On the sixth day they were to gather enough for two days. Moses also told them he would give them meat to eat in the evening. That next morning they awoke to flakes of bread on the ground and that evening they witnessed quail that flew in. Some of the people didn’t gather enough manna on the sixth day and were surprised to have no manna on the seventh. The seventh day was to be a Sabbath day and it was to be a gift from God to them. It was a day of rest. God told Moses to gather a day’s worth of manna, two quarts, and put it in a jar to save as a testimony to God’s provision. The people went on to Rephidim where they were tested again as there was no water. Instead of trusting the Lord, they complained to Moses. The Lord was testing their faith while they tested the Lord’s patience and mercy. The Lord told Moses to take his staff and the elders to a rock at Mt. Sinai. He was to strike the rock and water would come gushing out. He obeyed and it happened just as God said it would. He named the place Massah which means “test” because the Lord was testing them, and Mariah which means “arguing” because the people were arguing. In Matthew, Jesus told another parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. A king prepared a great wedding feast for his son and invited all his friends but they refused to come. They all had excuses. The king then sent his servants out to find anyone who would come and invited them until the banquet hall was filled with guests. One of the men wasn’t wearing the proper clothes and had no excuse. He was bound and thrown into the outer darkness. The moral of the parable was that many are invited, but few are elected. This ticked the Pharisees off as they knew he was referring to them as the villain in all of his parables. They met to discuss how they could trap Jesus into saying something they could arrest him on. They came back with a question to test Jesus. They asked him if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus knew what they were doing and called them hypocrites because they were acting. He told them to give to Caesar’s what was his and to God what was his. They went away amazed at his wisdom. The Sadducees then came with their question to trap Jesus. It had to do with resurrection since they didn’t believe in the resurrection. Jesus saw through their acting also and cut straight to the chase. He reminded them of what God had said about himself in talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Long after they had died, God said that he was their God. How could he be the God of the dead? There had to be a resurrection. The crowds were astounded by his teaching because instead of barking out man-made commandments, he was explaining God’s commandments where they could understand them. Lord, help us to have faith to pass the tests of life. May we not test you with our disobedience but learn about you through our obedience. Thank you for your grace to follow you.

Wed.’s Devo - Final Victory

God led his people to the Red Sea with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They brought Joseph’s bones with them just like they had promised. The pillar stopped at Pi-hahiroth which means “mouth of the defiled.” It was across from Baal-zephon where the Egyptians worshipped the Baal of the north. Every plague dealt with one of Egypt’s gods and God would deal with another. Meanwhile, Pharaoh changed his mind again and came after them as they were trapped against the Red Sea with nowhere to escape. Pharaoh and his chariots chased after them with 600 of Egypt’s best chariots and caught up with them. The Israelites panicked when they saw the Egyptians coming. Moses told the people to not be afraid but just stand still and watch what the Lord would do to rescue them. The Egyptians they saw today, they would never see again. He told the people that God would fight for them. The Lord asked Moses why he was crying out to him, Moses needed to act. God told Moses to pick up his staff, raise it over the sea and divide it. (Reminds me of when Jesus told his disciples, “you feed them” talking about the 5,000.) God told Moses that the sea would divide and the people would walk over on dry ground. The angel of the Lord went behind them and put the cloud as a dividing line between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The Israelites had light on their side and the Egyptians had darkness. Moses raised his hand over the waters and the sea divided. The wind blew all night turning the sea into dry land. The people walk through the path to the other side. Pharaoh and his army chased them and when they got to the middle of the sea. God told Moses to stretch his army back over the sea and the waters returned. Their chariot wheels got stuck in the water and drown them all in the sea. The people of Israel saw the great deliverance that God gave them and sang a powerful song about the Almighty God they served. In Matthew, the Pharisees and leaders of the law came to ask Jesus who gave him the authority to do the things he did. He asked them whose authority did John operate from. They couldn’t answer him so he told them that he wouldn’t answer them either. Then Jesus told them a parable about a man who had two sons. He gave them the same assignment to go work in his vineyard. The first son told his father he wouldn’t go, but changed his mind and went. The second son told his father he would go, but didn’t. Jesus asked them who did the will of his father. They said the first one. Jesus explained that they had been given John the Baptist to tell them how to live and they refused to do it. They were the second son. The tax collectors and prostitutes heard John’s teaching and accepted it and repented. They were the first son. If that didn’t make them mad enough, he told them another story about a vineyard owner. He set up his business, then left it to overseers to run. When he sent his servants to collect his proceeds, they beat one, killed another and stoned the next. The owner decided that the only one they would respect was his son, so he sent him. They murdered him so they could have the vineyard to themselves. Jesus asked them what they thought the owner would do when he returned himself. They answered that he would kill the wicked men and lease his vineyard out to others he could trust. Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22-23 about the cornerstone. Then the religious leaders realized he was referring to them as the wicked overseers who had killed the prophets and would soon kill the son. Lord, thank you for the great stories you give us about your deliverance and your great power. The government of this world is truly on your shoulders.