God Ordains Exodus and Resurrection

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 Devotions: Ps 7, 99, 115; Ex 12:40-51; 1 Cor 15:29-41; Mt 28:1-16 YHWH, my God, I take refuge in You; save me from my pursuers; they seek to drag me away and tear me to pieces. By Your grace, in the righteousness of Jesus my Lord, care for me. In Your anger, Lord, arise against the fury of my adversaries. Act as righteous Judge, and let the wicked of the evil come to an end; my shield is God, the Almighty One. I will sing His praises all day long. He has cared for His people since Eden; He led them forth from Egypt by the agency of Moses and Aaron; He provided them judges, and priests and kings. Let us extol the Lord our God and worship Him alone, for YHWH our God is holy! Lord, glorify Your name, for the sake of Your steadfast love and faithfulness. I worship the true and living God; all other objects of worship are vain idols, the work of the mortals who then worship them! They have mouths, noses, hands, feet, throats—but they cannot speak, or smell, or touch, or walk or sing. People become like the one(s) they worship and trust. So: let us trust in YHWH, our Help and Shield. YHWH has been mindful of us and will bless us, great and small alike. The descendants of Israel lived in Egypt 430 years, then YHWH brought them out. And their offspring keep that same vigil to this day. YHWH told Moses and Aaron: 'This is the ordinance of the Passover; no foreigner shall eat of it; but your circumcised slaves may partake. No sojourner or hired servant shall eat of it. Eat it in one house; carry none of the flesh outside that house. Break none of its bones. Let everyone in Israel keep it. If a stranger sojourns with you and desires to keep the Lord's Passover, let that man and each male in his household be circumcised; then they may draw near and participate. There is one law for both native Israelites and sojourners among you.' All this on the very day that God led the people out of Egypt. Paul continues his discourse on resurrection: If resurrection were not real, no one would be baptized on behalf of their dead; and I would face no peril at all. But no: I die every day; I say this by the pride I have over you in the Messiah Jesus! From a human perspective, I have no advantage for fighting beasts in Ephesus. If the dead were not raised, we might as well join those who say, 'Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die.' Don't be deceived: it is a much truer statement that 'Bad company ruins good morals.' Come to your right mind; sin no more! Some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Somebody will ask how the dead are raise—in what form do they rise? Think, fools: what is sown cannot grow unless it dies; what you sow is the bare kernel. But God gives it a body as He chooses—each seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike: there is man-flesh, animal-flesh, bird-flesh, fish-flesh; there are celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, and each has its own kind of glory. The sun's glory is unlike the glory of the stars; and stars vary in glory, too. After the Sabbath, near dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. And there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the tomb's entry, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment was white as snow. The guards feared for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, 'Don't be afraid; for I know you are seeking Jesus Who was crucified. He Is not here, for He has risen. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold: He Is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him. Now I have told you.' So the women departed quickly from the tomb, in both fear and great joy. They ran to tell the disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, 'Hello!' And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.' As the women were carrying this out, some of the guards went into Jerusalem and told the chief priests all that had taken place. They assembled with the elders, and after they had discussed what to do, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers and instructed them” 'Tell people that His disciples came by night and stole His body while we were asleep.' The soldiers took the money and did as they were directed; and that story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.