Max Lucado Daily: A Lifetime of Hope - December 29, 2021
Bethlehem was just the beginning. Jesus has promised a repeat performance. Bethlehem, Act 2. No silent night this time, however. The skies will open, the trumpets will blast, and a new kingdom will begin. He will empty the tombs and melt the winter of death. The manger invites, even dares us, to believe the best is yet to be. And it could all begin today. But if it doesn’t, there’s a reason. No day is accidental or incidental.
The heart-shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left and the carolers have gone home and the lights have come down, these promises endure. Perhaps you could use some Christmas this Christmas? Let’s turn on the lamp, curl up in a comfortable spot, and look into the odd, wonderful story of Christmas. May you find what I have found: a lifetime of hope.
Numbers 4
Duties of the Kohathites
God spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “Number the Kohathite line of Levites by clan and family. Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age, all who enter the ministry to work in the Tent of Meeting.
4 “This is the assigned work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting: care of the most holy things.
5-6 “When the camp is ready to set out, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the covering curtain and cover the Chest of The Testimony with it. Then they are to cover this with a dolphin skin, spread a solid blue cloth on top, and insert the poles.
7-8 “Then they are to spread a blue cloth on the Table of the Presence and set the Table with plates, incense dishes, bowls, and jugs for drink offerings. The bread that is always there stays on the Table. They are to cover these with a scarlet cloth, and on top of that spread the dolphin skin, and insert the poles.
9-10 “They are to use a blue cloth to cover the light-giving Lampstand and the lamps, snuffers, trays, and the oil jars that go with it. Then they are to wrap it all in a covering of dolphin skin and place it on a carrying frame.
11 “They are to spread a blue cloth over the Gold Altar and cover it with dolphin skins and place it on a carrying frame.
12 “They are to take all the articles used in ministering in the Sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover them with dolphin skins, and place them on a carrying frame.
13-14 “They are to remove the ashes from the Altar and spread a purple cloth over it. They are to place on it all the articles used in ministering at the Altar—firepans, forks, shovels, bowls; everything used at the Altar—place them on the Altar, cover it with the dolphin skins, and insert the poles.
15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and the camp is ready to set out, the Kohathites are to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are in charge of carrying all the things that are in the Tent of Meeting.
16 “Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, is to be in charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular Grain-Offering, and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire Dwelling and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.”
17-20 God spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Don’t let the tribal families of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites. Protect them so they will live and not die when they come near the most holy things. To protect them, Aaron and his sons are to precede them into the Sanctuary and assign each man his task and what he is to carry. But the Kohathites themselves must not go in to look at the holy things, not even a glance at them, or they will die.”
Duties of the Gershonites
21-23 God spoke to Moses: “Number the Gershonites by tribes according to their ancestral families. Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who enter the ministry of work in the Tent of Meeting.
24-28 “The Gershonites by family and clan will serve by carrying heavy loads: the curtains of the Sanctuary and the Tent of Meeting; the covering of the Tent and the outer covering of dolphin skins; the screens for the entrance to the Tent; the cords; and all the equipment used in its ministries. The Gershonites have the job of doing the work connected with these things. All their work of lifting and carrying and moving is to be done under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. Assign them specifically what they are to carry. This is the work of the Gershonite clans at the Tent of Meeting. Ithamar son of Aaron the priest is to supervise their work.
Duties of the Merarites
29-30 “Number the Merarites by their ancestral families. Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who enter the ministry of work at the Tent of Meeting.
31-33 “This is their assigned duty as they go to work at the Tent of Meeting: to carry the frames of The Dwelling, its crossbars, posts, and bases, as well as the posts of the surrounding Courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, cords, and all the equipment related to their use. Assign to each man exactly what he is to carry. This is the ministry of the Merarite clans as they work at the Tent of Meeting under the supervision of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”
* * *
34-37 Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the Kohathites by clan and family. All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting, counted by clans, were 2,750. This was the total from the Kohathite clans who served in the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them just as God had commanded through Moses.
38-41 The Gershonites were counted by clan and family. All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting, counted by clan and family, were 2,630. This was the total from the Gershonite clans who served in the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them just as God had commanded.
42-45 The Merarites were counted by clan and family. All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting, counted by clan, were 3,200. This was the total from the Merarite clans. Moses and Aaron counted them just as God had commanded through Moses.
46-49 So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted all the Levites by clan and family. All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting numbered 8,580. At God’s command through Moses, each man was assigned his work and told what to carry.
And that’s the story of their numbering, as God commanded Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Today's Scripture
Revelation 5:1–7
(NIV)
The Scroll and the Lamb
5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throneo a scroll with writing on both sidesp and sealedq with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angelr proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lions of the tribe of Judah,t the Root of David,u has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb,v looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creaturesw and the elders.x The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes,y which are the seven spiritsa z of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
Insight
In Revelation 5:1–7, we see Jesus depicted as both a lion and a lamb, seemingly polar opposites. Yet in Jesus, they’re not. He’s a Lion to conquer Satan (Revelation 20:10) and a Lamb to satisfy God’s justice by being sacrificed for our sins (John 1:29). And He’s no ordinary lamb. Though slain, this Lamb is still standing, bearing the wounds of His sacrifice, and He has seven horns and seven eyes (Revelation 5:6). Commentator Matthew Henry states that this series of seven (the perfect number) signifies “perfect power to execute all the will of God and perfect wisdom to understand it all and to do it in the most effectual manner.” Why? Because He has seven spirits of God: “He has received the Holy Spirit without measure, in all perfection of light, and life, and power, by which he is able to teach and rule all the earth.” By: Alyson Kieda
Lion, Lamb, Savior!
he Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.
Revelation 5:5
Two stately stone lions watch over the entrance to the New York Public Library. Hewn from marble, they’ve stood there proudly since the library’s dedication in 1911. They were first nicknamed Leo Lenox and Leo Astor to honor the library’s founders. But during the Great Depression, New York’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia renamed them Fortitude and Patience, virtues he thought New Yorkers should demonstrate in those challenging years. The lions are still called Fortitude and Patience today.
The Bible describes a living, powerful Lion who also gives encouragement in trouble and is known by other names. In his vision of heaven, the apostle John wept when he saw that no one was able to open the sealed scroll containing God’s plan of judgment and redemption. Then John was told, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).
Yet in the very next verse, John describes something else entirely: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne” (v. 6). The Lion and the Lamb are the same person: Jesus. He’s the conquering King and “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Through His strength and His cross, we receive mercy and forgiveness so that we may live in joy and wonder at all He is forever! By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
What’s your favorite name for Jesus? What aspects of His character make you want to praise Him most?
Beautiful Savior, I could praise You for all eternity and never come to the end of all that You are. Thank You for giving Yourself for me, so that I may live in Your love forever!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Deserter or Disciple?
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— “…for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
Bible in a Year: Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
The Cleanup Imperative - #9123
If you don't like to wash your hands, don't ever become a doctor or a nurse. You have to wash your hands a lot! Scrubbing up is a routine procedure for people in the medical profession. I don't think any of us wants to be opened up by some doc who hasn't washed his hands all day! Right? Actually, a loved one of ours had a major heart surgery a few years ago, which she made it through. What she didn't make it through was the staph infection that she picked up in the hospital. It's avoiding that kind of thing that's at the heart of a hospital's insistence that healers and caregivers get really clean before they touch you. If they carry infection, they can do a lot of damage.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cleanup Imperative."
It isn't just doctors and nurses that have to be clean for what they do. It's a requirement that God makes of everyone He's going to use to do His work on earth, from teaching a class to working in ministry, to raising a family in His ways.
Listen to His uncompromising words, for example, in Isaiah 52:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "Depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord." Listen, when you're doing anything for God, you're touching the holy, whether you realize it or not. And you'd better not be handling the holy with dirty hands, with a dirty mind, a dirty motive, or a dirty attitude. God says, "Get rid of that infectious junk! You're carrying the 'vessels' of Almighty God!"
No one who is serving the holy, holy, holy God should dare to do it without "scrubbing up" on a regular basis, knowing that we get polluted some each day. When you're dealing with holy things day after day, frankly it's easy but deadly to become casual about it; and about sin that you're allowing to just creep into your life. You're just slowly drifting. But the judgment is greater for those who know what you know. Who bring infection into the spiritual "hospital" where He's trying to heal lives.
In 2 Timothy 2:20-21 - Paul makes very clear what God is looking for when He decides who He's going to use for great things. He describes a house with gold and silver vessels, which are used for special things, and with wood and clay vessels, which are used for dirty and gross things. He concludes, "If a man cleanses himself...he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master, and prepared to do any good work."
God's not impressed with our abilities, or our great résumé, our connections, our education, our credentials. He doesn't care about your cash. He doesn't care about your charisma. All He cares about is your character! He's looking for clean; getting rid of the dirt, staying clean. That's how you qualify to be an instrument in the hands of Almighty God.
Maybe you've let your hands, your mind, your spirit get dirty. You've gotten careless about sin that killed your Savior. Don't defile the work of a holy, holy God. Bow before Him. Let Him forgive you. Let Him cleanse you. Let Him purify you again. He has great work for you to do, many lives for you to touch with His healing love. But only if you're clean!
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.