Today's Reading
Leviticus. Today's Scripture contains an instruction I have questions about, especially given Jesus' compassion for the sick, the hurting and the outcasts. It says, "In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God." The examples it gives are ones that bring me almost to tears. Perhaps, like other recent Leviticus passages, it is an outward law to teach an inward principle: we must present ourselves wholeheartedly to Him when we worship. What do you think?
Mark. Moses and Elijah weren't just two of the most famous people in Israel's history. Moses represented The Law and Elijah The Prophets. The only Scripture they had in Jesus' day was our Old Testament and the Jewish religion was built on The Law and The Prophets. The Mount of Transfiguration was a statement that Jesus was the fulfillment of both The Law and The Prophets.
When they came down from the mountain, Jesus' encounter with the demon in the little boy was a great lesson on dealing with evil spirits. Jesus was specific with His questions. The answers indicate the presence of what some call a "generational spirit." That means the spirit's presence came from the sins of someone else in the child's family. This often is the case when someone in a family has had serious dealings with the occult. The spirit was deeply entrenched and not easily rooted out. But Jesus showed the way!
Psalms today declares God as "the source of all my joy." I am not sure I can always say that, but that's the way I want it to be.
Proverbs. Perhaps it's better to open up and admit hatred than to hide it, but I would think that it should be in the form of confession and repentance.
I hope to hear from you today.
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Jesus's answer that this kind of spirit could only be cast out by prayer gives us an interesting glimpse into the power of prayer. In this passage prayer is the ultimate weapon, doing what the disciples coildn't do on their own... I'm afraid I often underestimate the power of prayer...
ReplyDeleteI have done the same, Julie. In fact, it has been the subject of my repentance on my part lately. Reading
ReplyDeleteThe Circle-Maker by Mark Batterson really helped me!
Regarding the Leviticus passage, I think the high standards for the lineage of Aaron (the high priesthood) were given so that the priests of Yeshua's [Jesus']* day would recognize Him as Messiah. Indeed, a great many of them did:
ReplyDeleteThe word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. - Acts 6:7
Source: New American Standard Bible : 1995 update.
New Covenant description of the High Priesthood as fulfilled by Yeshua [Jesus]:
This is the kind of cohen gadol [high priest] that meets our need—holy, without evil, without stain, set apart from sinners and raised higher than the heavens; - Hebrews 7:26
Source: Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible : An English version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B'rit Hadashah (New Testament) (1st ed.) (Heb 7:26). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish New Testament Publications.
* "Yeshua" is the Hebrew word for "Jesus" and it means "Salvation".
Excellent input, c2tl. Thanks!
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