[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 291-Matthew 11-13; John 16 summary!]
Exodus 5-7 reminds us of Joseph’s early days in Egypt. God was with Joseph, yet Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers; served faithfully as a slave in Potiphar’s household, but was falsely accused of rape; and ended up in prison, where he was a model prisoner, yet wasn’t released for a number of years. Similarly, when Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery, Pharaoh immediately increased the work load on the Israelites. This does not sound like God delivering the people from slavery, does it? When the Israelite leaders went to Pharaoh to complain about their increased work load, Pharaoh’s response was, “You must be lazy. Otherwise, why do you want to go out into the wilderness to worship your God?” In other words, “It’s your fault that you’re undergoing this increased work load. When the Israelite leaders left Pharaoh, they saw Moses and Aaron. Immediately, they told Moses and Aaron it was their fault that this increased burden had come to the people, and they weren’t going to listen to them anymore.
Can you imagine being Moses and Aaron? They had done everything God told them to do. The result was their people were in a far worse condition than before they had done anything. Or at least it seemed that way. If you have been following Jesus for any length of time, you have probably experienced this principle: When you commit yourself to serving the LORD, life often gets harder, before the deliverance comes. I don’t know how many times over my life I have deepened or renewed my commitment to follow Jesus, and soon afterwards, if not immediately, life got harder.
I can go all the way back to my teenaged years when I committed to asking our basketball team to pray together and dedicate the season to the Lord. The other four starters said, “Yes.” We got down on our knees and prayed to God and dedicated the season to the Lord. The result? Our team went 4-17 (for those of you who aren’t familiar with won-loss notation, that’s 4 wins and 17 losses.) We were one of the worst teams in the history of our high school from a win-loss standpoint, and we had a lot of other problems. In the middle of the season my brother Kenn had the cornea of his eye torn at practice. It didn’t seem that God answered the prayer at all.
Yet, if you know my story, you know it was that injury to Kenn’s eye that led to several key events: 1) God healed Kenn’s eye through the prayer of Pastor Andy Weigand; 2) I experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and 3) God called me to serve Him as a pastor. I wish I could say, that was the beginning of everything going wonderfully, but as we will read in the rest of Exodus and on through Deuteronomy, the Israelites continued to go through a series of challenges and deliverances.
As we turn to Mark 16, we read the account of Jesus’ resurrection. Mark’s account is the shortest account of Jesus’ resurrection, and the earliest manuscripts of Mark include only verses 1-8. Thankfully, even the shorter version of Mark tells us of the empty tomb, the angel’s announcement of Jesus’ resurrection, and the promise of Jesus meeting the disciples in Galilee. The longer ending reminds us Jesus called us to go to the ends of the earth with the good news of His salvation. No one’s life is ever the same after experiencing the resurrection power of Jesus. In the short-term, that difference will include some roadblocks and problems. In the long-term it means victory and eternal life!
Day 291-Matthew 11-13; John 16
In Matthew 11, the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus to ask whether He was the One who was to come, or if they should look for another? The question was John’s not theirs. John had been arrested for his work, and as he sat in prison, he wondered whether Jesus was really the Messiah. Jesus’ answer was a quote of Isaiah’s prophecy of what the Messiah would do. Jesus affirmed John as the greatest man ever born of woman, and then said the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. As the chapter continues Jesus condemns Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum for their unwillingness to trust Him as Messiah and to repent. Finally, Jesus tells the crowds if any are tired and overburdened to come to Him, because His “yoke” is easy, and His burden is light. The yoke was used to couple two ox or cows together to multiply their work. When we yoke ourselves to Jesus every burden and work is lightened and made easier.
In Matthew 12, Jesus tells the religious leaders He is Lord of the Sabbath, when they question Him about His disciples picking grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus also heals a man on the Sabbath, which evoked their wrath. Jesus pointed out to everyone that He is God chosen servant. When the Pharisees say Jesus cast out demons by the prince of demons, He said that every sin we commit will be forgiven but sin against the Holy Spirit. He defined the sin against the Holy Spirit here as attributing to Satan the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus went on to tell us that a “tree” is identified by its “fruit,” meaning we can judge between Him and the religious leaders by the work accomplished. Jesus told the people who would not give them a sign of who He was except for the “sign of Jonah,” which referred to His three days in the tomb, as Jonah had been in the belly of a great fish. Next, Jesus told a parable warning of the danger of having an evil spirit cast out of a person, without the person then being filled with the Holy Spirit. Finally, Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him, but Jesus responded that His mother and brothers were those who did the will of His Father in heaven.
In Matthew 13, Jesus told the Parable of the Sower, and told the disciples why He told parables. After that, He explained the Parable of the Sower. Then Jesus told the Parable of the Weeds, and of the Mustard Seed and Leaven. After that He explained the Parable of the Weeds. After telling several more parables, we’re told of Jesus being rejected in Nazareth.
As we return to John 16, Jesus continues His farewell discourse to the disciples, which included more information about the Holy Spirit as well as words of comfort that they would be sorrowful (at His death), but eventually their sorrow would turn to joy.