Devotions: Ps 78, 81, 82, 119:97-120; Jer 7:21-34, 8:18-9:6; Rom 4:13-5:11; Jn 7:37-52, 8:12-20
Let the people listen and ponder the deeds of YHWH our God. He established His testimony among the children of Israel. As their history unfolded, the tribe of Ephraim turned back in battle, breaking God's covenant and forgetting the great deeds God had done to deliver the people from slavery and to bring them through the wilderness, giving them water from the Rock, manna and quail for food, and protection against their enemies. When they sinned against Him, God sent them plagues, and they repented for a time. But their heart was not steadfast toward God, and He, compassionate, repeatedly forgave and restored them. When they provoked Him by worshiping other gods, YHWH abandoned His shrine at Shiloh and gave His people over to the sword of oppressors. But God roused from His slumber and again delivered His people, putting their enemies to rout. He chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion; He chose David to shepherd His people, and guided them with skillful hand. Let us sing alound to YHWH our strength, Who has lifted our burdens. Let there be no strange gods among His people; He is YHWH Sabaoth, our God, Who brought us up from slavery in Egypt. How He longs to bless His people, but our unfaithfulness keeps us in jeopardy and hunger, while God wants to feed us the finest foods and honey from the rock. He is Judge of all creation and of all spirit beings as well. To Him belong all nations, all peoples, and everything that exists! Lord, how I love Your law; it makes me wiser than my teachers or the elders of my community. I will cleave to Your ways, for Your word lights my way and illuminates my thoughts. I hold fast to my God, Whose testimonies are true and sure. Lord, I love Your law; uphold me according to Your integrity, as I bow before you in awe and trembling. Don't let me fall into Your judgment; preserve my life and give me effective faith!
YHWH spoke through Jeremiah: 'I don't need your sacrifices; My command is: Obey My voice, and I Will Be your God and you shall be My people. But they did not; each generation outdoes its ancestors in rebellion and unfaithfulness. I sent them prophet after prophet, but they do evil in My sight. They defile My temple and worship false idols, doing things I cannot abide. They sacrifice their own children. So slaughter will come upon them. I will feed their corpses to the beasts of the earth and birds of the air.' Jeremiah grieved beyond healing, for the wound of his people: 'Is there no balm in Gilead? No physician there? May the fountain of my tears never end. How I wish I could move away from this adulterous people, full of treachery and lies, because they do not know or acknowledge the Lord. Trust no mortal, as they heap oppressions and deceits to the heavens. 'They refuse to know Me,' says YHWH.
God's promise to Abraham and his descendants came through the righteousness of faith, not by obeying the law. The law brings wrath, but also awareness of righteousness and the meaning of transgression. God's promises rest upon His grace and faithfulness, and receiving what He has promised depends upon faithful response to His goodness. Abraham, by faith, is the father of us all, just as God said to him. Abraham believed that he would be the father of many nations, despite his frail and aging body, and his post-menopausal and barren wife. Abraham was about 100 and Sarah about 90 when God promised them a son and numerous descendants. But he did not waver through unbelief regarding God's promise, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. For that reason, God reckoned Abraham's faith as righteousness; and that will be our situation, too: it will be reckoned to us who believe in Him Who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus, Who was put to death for our trespasses, and raised from death for our justification. Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Through Him, we have obtained access to the grace in which we stand; we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. We even rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character brings hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Whom God has given us. At just the right moment, despite our motality and weakness, Christ died for the ungodly. Generally, one would hardly die, even on behalf of a righteous person, though that is conceivable. But God shows His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefor, since we are now justified by Hos blood, much more we will be saved by Him from the wrath of God. If we were reconciled by the death of His Son when we were God's enemies, now that we are reconciled, we will be even more surely saved by His resurrection and eternal life. We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have not received our reconciliation.
On the last, greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and proclaimed, 'If any one thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me will experience what the scripture proclaimed: "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."' Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit, which those who believed in Jesus would receive when He had been glorified. Hearing this, some people said 'This is really the Prophet whom Moses predicted.' Others said, 'He is the Messiah.' And some objected, 'Surely the Messiah is not to come from Galilee; He will be David's descendant and will hail from Bethlehem, David's home town.' So the people were divided over Jesus. Some of the Jews wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand on Him. The temple police sent by the Jewish authorities returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, 'Why didn't you arrest Him and bring Him here?' They answered, 'No one ever spoke like this man!' And the Pharisees mocked, 'Have you been led astray too? None of the authorities has believed in Him, have they? This rabble is accursed and ignorant of the Torah.' However, Nicodemus, one of them but also one who had visited Jesus in secret, asked them, 'Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning about what he does?' But they ignored his question, saying 'Are you from Galillee too? Search the scriptures and you will find that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.' [So their denial of Jesus was based on ignorance of His history and misinterpretation of their scriptures.] Again Jesus addressed the people: 'I Am the Light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.' The Pharisees objected, as ever: 'You bear witness to yourself; that is not valid.' Jesus replied, 'Even if I do bear witness to Myself, I know where I come from and where I am going; you know neither. You judge according to the flesh, while I judge no one. Even if I did judge, however, my judgement is true, for I do not judge alone; I judge with the One Who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two persons is valide. I bear witness to Myself and so does the Father Who sent me.' They asked Him, 'Where is your father?' Jesus answered 'You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.' He said this in the temple treasury, where He was teaching. No one arrested Jesus, because His hour had not yet come.
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