Week 40 Devotions

October 1 - - “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” was God’s command to His people (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). God had completed His creation work in six days and then rested the seventh day, not because He was tired, but as an example that human beings should follow (Genesis 2:1-3). How does one keep the Sabbath holy? In His commandment given through Moses, God said, “Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; then He rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy” (Ex.20:9-11; Deut.5:13-15). When the people of God left Egypt and needed food, God provided them manna that appeared fresh on the ground every morning. God told the people not to keep any of the manna overnight because it would be full of maggots and stink by the next morning. God wanted His people to trust Him every day. But, on the sixth day, the Israelites were to gather twice as much manna so they would be able to observe the Sabbath as a holy day and not have to work. God preserved their manna on the sixth day, unlike the other days (Exodus 16:14-31), so it would be edible on the Sabbath. By Jesus’ day, the religious leaders had come up with a long list of things they defined as work so people would know what they could and could not do on the Sabbath. These regulations were not given to humans by God, but by man. These religious leaders were more concerned with being “keepers of the Sabbath” than they were in personally “keeping the Sabbath.” They loved being moral police more than they did pointing people to God. When Jesus came, he did not question the importance or the value of the Sabbath. But, he did question the legalistic list the Pharisees had comprised. Because their definition had not come from God, but from man, Jesus looked right at these religious hypocrites and asked, “If you had one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you get to work and pull it out? Of course you would. And how much more valuable is a person than sheep! It is morally right to do that which is good on the Sabbath.” And then he healed a man with a deformed hand (Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11). “Is the Sabbath a day to save life or to destroy it?”, he asked them (Mark 3:4). Jesus was concerned that God’s people understand the purpose of the Law as it relates to the Sabbath and observe it as best they could so their hearts could be close to God. He wasn’t as interested in people obeying man-made rules and regulations with hearts that were far from God. “I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28; Matt.12:8; Lk.6:5). For, “the Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God didn’t establish people so they could worship the Sabbath. He established the Sabbath as a benefit to people. We would all be wise to give God honor and worship every day of the week, but especially on the Sabbath. October 4 - - Four hundred years before the time of Jesus Christ, God spoke these words through the prophet, Malachi, “I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents” (4:5&6). Malachi was the last prophet to speak to God’s people before a prophet, like Elijah, would enter the scene and prepare God’s people for the Messiah’s coming. John the Immerser had been preaching a message of repentance, declaring that people needed to turn from their sins and turn to God (Mark 1:4-8; Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 3:2-14). When Jesus did arrive, he asked to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness, to do the right thing, and to set an example for others (Mark 1:9-11; Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21&22). At that time, John began to point his disciples and anyone else who would listen, to Jesus (John 1:19-28). John even declared Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Even though John continued his ministry, fewer people gathered to listen to him because more and more were being drawn to Jesus. When John’s disciples showed concern over this trend, John assured them, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” (John 3:30). John knew he had been sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus. And John also knew the satisfaction of being successful in his mission. Rather, than feel sorrow because more were following Jesus, John drew delight in knowing he had completed what God had sent him to do. Having said all that, there must have been a little sliver of doubt yet, in John. While in prison because he dared to also preach against Herod’s sins, John sent disciples to inquire of Jesus if he really was the Messiah. The scene is reminiscent of the father who brought his demon-possessed boy to be healed by Jesus. Jesus told the father, “Anything is possible if a person believes.” And the father replied, “I do believe, but help me not to doubt!” (Mark 9:23&24). It also reminds us of Christ’s disciples after Jesus had resurrected from the dead. He had already appeared to them on several occasions and yet, just before he prepared to ascend into heaven, “some of them still doubted” (Matthew 28:17; Luke 24:41; John 21:12&13). Jesus’ disciples were sure this resurrected person they saw was really Jesus, but it was such a tremendous miracle, there was still a little doubt. So, Jesus assures John’s disciples that he really is the Messiah (Matt.11:4-6; Luke 7:21-23). And then Jesus teaches the people a tremendous truth about the Kingdom of God. “I assure you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!.....if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand” (Matthew 11:11-15; Luke 7:24-28). As great a man as John was, Jesus promised that the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven was more privileged than even John. Are we listening to what Jesus is telling us? Or, are we so busy that we miss a message intended for each of us? Do we now believe this great truth or do we still doubt?