Reading for today
Old Testament: Leviticus 22, 23, 24
New Testament: Mark 10
Thoughts from today’s reading
Leviticus 23:40. The feast of Tabernacles which is described in this chapter was a feast of celebration as they gathered in the harvest at the end of the autumn season. It was also to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt and how they were kept in the wilderness by the Lord. They were to take palm branches, first fruits and other tree branches and rejoice before the Lord.
The picture that comes to mind here is when Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people took palm branches and began to rejoice before Him. This was significant as Jesus was about to be the lamb of sacrifice that would take away sin, deliver us from the hand of satan and make us new creatures and first fruits to God.
Mark 10:2-9. Jesus says here that certain laws that came from Moses were not necessarily what God had intended. The reference being about divorce. God’s intention from the beginning was for man and wife to live in harmony and partnership to replenish the earth. It is sin and the hardness it causes in our hearts that led to the need for people to separate.
That said, Jesus does not condemn any, and if any has made a mistake in this area He says, go and sin no more, He is not concerned about holding the past against us.
Prayer
1. Heavenly Father, thank you that Jesus is our deliverance from the power of darkness who brings us into the kingdom of light and presents us blameless in your sight. We bring the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving as we rejoice before you knowing that Jesus is the fulfilment of our feast of tabernacles.
2. Lord thank you that you came to do away with an old covenant established on the law and bring us into a new covenant established on better promises. Open my eyes to observe that which the Father has intended from the beginning and help me to walk in the newness of life.