Super Happy Fun Words

Balaam's Prophesies and Foreshadows of Jesus Numbers 24 has one of the most amazing and awe-inspiring prophecies in the Old Testament. God essentially takes an idol-worshiping sorcerer, and reveals the coming of the Messiah through him. He says in his fourth prophecy:   17 “I see him, but not now;    I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob;    a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab,    the skulls [ b ] of [ c ] all the people of Sheth. [ d ] 18 Edom will be conquered;    Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,    but Israel will grow strong. 19 A ruler will come out of Jacob    and destroy the survivors of the city.”  To some, this may seem like a long shot. But the evidence is there to support the claim that he is talking about Christ. It is traditionally held that the Magi in the second chapter of Matthew's gospel account, rega...

So many things to write about from the past several days' passages. If anyone has thoughts on the following please feel free to comment: Moses' humility Numbers 12:3 says, (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) This is a peculiar, but an arguably true statement. We see Moses humility time and again as he shepherds Israel through the wilderness. Of course, Moses burned with anger at the sight of Israel's rebellion and he himself was not without shortcomings and sinful behavior. Even, still his humility is noteworthy. (Traditionally, it is believed that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible; even Jesus and Paul attest to this. It's funny to think that he would write a statement about his own humility. Perhaps it was an insertion made by a later editor, which would explain the parentheses.) When Israel rebelled, Moses interceded for them when God sought to destroy them in holy anger. The phrase, "Mose...

Today's passages presents, in part, a wonderful account of God's dwelling with Israel; he guided them by day in the cloud and by night in the pillar of fire. Moses' relationship with God is revealed as a real and intimate one; he is deeply in-tune with God's movement whether the Israelite camp comes to a rest or sets out to a new destination. Everything that God commanded them to construct or fashion seems to be put to use, from the tabernacle to the trumpets. We also see Moses sharing his deep agonies and complaints with God. In this instance, the rabble, who were presumably not Israelite, began to sway the sentiments of God's people against Him. They even reasoned that in Egypt, they had it easy, since they were provided for. It was as if they completely forgot the ruthless labor that they were subjected to. As a parallel to Christian life, when following Christ becomes difficult we often reason that life under slavery to sin was somehow easier and even beneficia...

Because I feel that today's reading is pretty self-explanatory, I would like to expand on what the editor of this Bible says in the devotional titled "A Nation Under Law" for the date of February 5. In the gray paragraph, the very last sentence struck my heart like a sword. It says, " ...you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. " Reading about all of these laws in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus may seem very overwhelming at the surface. However, if you really think about why these laws were declared and were to obeyed, then I think you can really see the amazing love of God. Think about where these Israelites are coming from-they were slaves in Egypt but freed by the power of God's hand. After seeing that the road ahead of them was not going to be as easy as they thought, they grumbled about many things: food, water and safety. They even forged a calf out of gold when they had thought God was taking too long with Moses on Mount Sinai. They...