1 Corinthians 1: 18

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for taking care of the Jewish people, which gives me comfort that You will also take care of me, fighting for me, as a member of Your body.

Nehemiah 6 vs16 

And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

For further study - Nehemiah 6:1-16

What a stamp of approval, the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," when the world, in fact the enemy of the Jewish people, realized that "the work was wrought of our God". The work Nehemiah wrote about, of course, was the rebuilding of the “walls and the streets” of the city of Jerusalem.

God had worked in the heart of the King of Persia to allow Nehemiah, the King's cupbearer, to return to Jerusalem to reconstruct the walls around the city and repair the streets of the "holy city".

As we come to the sixth chapter of Nehemiah, we see that the job has been completed, verse 15. This was a very fine bit of civil engineering, to repair the walls and the streets of a war-torn city. Actually it had taken only 52 days to do all of this work in this devastated city, verse 15.

As the "foreman" on the job, Nehemiah had led the workers, as a man of God, with a purpose focused on service for the Lord and His chosen city. It was a matter of "focus" with Nehemiah.

Verses 2-4 indicate that the enemies of the Jewish city and its people wanted to stop the work of the Lord. They tried to divert Nehemiah away from his work. Notice Nehemiah's response to the invitation to walk away from his God-given mission, verse 3.

The focus, according to Nehemiah was, "I'm doing a great work, so that I can not come down." When doing a great work for the Lord, we must stay focused on the mission that God has given us and let nothing distract us from His will for our lives. It may be hard to focus but we must do so to get His work done.

As one reads through all of Nehemiah's account of this rebuilding of the walls and repairing the streets of Jerusalem we can find example after example of how God's man under God's leadership and provision, can do God's will much faster than previously thought.
This project was done as a testimony to the "heathen" around Jerusalem who were doing everything they could to cause Nehemiah and his team to fail. This event is one of the "milestones" along the way, in Jewish history.
The fact is that the Persian king Artaxerxes would make a decree that would mark the time in history to start the count that would lead up to the time when Jesus Christ would be hailed as the King of Kings, on the day of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, Daniel 9:25-26.
The exactness of this pronouncement by the King sets in place the point of reference by which Jews, Gentiles and Christians can begin to count 173,880 days until Messiah Jesus Christ would show up in Jerusalem, Luke 19:40-45.
According to Jesus, in the Luke passage, He showed up in Jerusalem on the exact day He was to be there, not a day late or a day early, the exact day He was to be there. Jesus then told those there and the ones who would read this passage later that by reading the Word of God, and understanding what it's saying, we can know what time it is in His plan for the future.
The practical and the prophetic come together in this passage of scripture, our devotional reading for today.


PRAYER THOT: Help me, dear Lord, to focus on the mission you have given me to complete for you.

Nehemiah 8 vs.8 

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

For further study - Nehemiah 8:1-18

This chapter in Nehemiah is an exhortation for each of us to read the Word of God, come to an understanding of the Word, and then to obey the Word. Nehemiah 8:8 tells us how this can happen. The verse explains the process that Ezra, the scribe, used in order for God's Word to be understood and obeyed.

First the people would read the Word. Notice how they would read from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The teacher, Ezra, would stand behind a pulpit, Nehemiah 8:4, and the people would stand as Ezra would read the “holy scriptures”, Nehemiah 8:5.

When someone tells me, based upon Nehemiah 8:4 that I must stand behind a pulpit to preach, I remind them that they must then stand while I preach based on the next verse.

Notice after the Word was read, Nehemiah 8:8, that Ezra would give the sense of the Word. In other words, he would do a Bible study with the people so that they would understand what was being read.

It is interesting to note that the people had a respect for God's Word, as indicated by the fact that they stood as the Word was read. We must first respect God's Word before we can really understand what God is saying to us through it. When we respect and understand His Word, then we will obey His Word, as we see happening in this passage, Nehemiah 8:9-18.

Did you notice the time of the year that the passage takes place? It is in the fall of the year, Nehemiah 8:2, the first day of the seventh month. That is the day that the Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Notice also that as the people read and understood God's Word, they realized that they were to observe the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, Nehemiah 8:14-18. The seven-day Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated by reading the Word each day, Nehemiah 8:18, in addition to living in their “thatched huts” for the seven days of the feast.

This chapter gives us an understanding of how we are to relate to God's Word. It also looks into the future with the mention of the two Jewish feast days, Trumpets and Tabernacles.

These two Jewish Feasts foretell of the time of the return of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to the Earth. Christ will come back to the Mount of Olives on the Feast of Trumpets. And the Millennial Kingdom will begin on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Nehemiah 8 is a great chapter that reminds us of the importance of reading, understanding, and obeying God's Word. But also it reminds us of things to come, Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.

PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord to read Your Word, understand it and obey it.

Nehemiah 10 vs39 - For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.

For further study - Nehemiah 10:1-39

As we come to our devotional reading for today we must be reminded of some background information before we look at our passage for our extended reading.

Nehemiah had traveled back to Jerusalem to rebuild the streets of the city and the walls around the city. That job completed, the scribe, Ezra comes into the Temple with the "Torah", the five books of Moses, the first five books of the Old Testament, Nehemiah 8:1.

The day Ezra arrived at the Temple, 8:2, the first day of the seventh month on the Jewish calendar, was the Jewish Holy Day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, also known as the "feast of trumpets.

As Ezra stood behind a "wooden pulpit" , 8:4, the people stood up for the reading of the Word, 8:5. Then Ezra gave the people an understanding of the portion read to the congregation. As a result of the reading of the Word and a response to the Word there was "revival" among the Jewish worshipers.

In Nehemiah 9:3 we see that the Jewish worshipers would spend one-fourth of their day reading the Word of God and one-fourth of their day confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord their God.

It was because of what was happening among the Jewish people that leads us to the point in time of our reading for today. The last verse in Nehemiah 9, verse 38, states that they made a promise, a vow in writing, and sealed it.

Nehemiah 10:1 points out the families that made this vow and verse 28 shows us that the Jews separated themselves from the other people and unto the law of the Lord. They made a strong vow, an oath, to walk in Gods law and do all that they observed and to do all it commanded them to do.

Walking in the law of the Lord was made manifest in their giving of their wealth to the service of the Temple, verse 32. Verse 35 also reveals that those who had come under the influence of this revival also gave the "first fruits" of the farm products they were harvesting for the activities at the Temple.

Then, in our key verse, verse 39, we see that they did all that was reported of them, and made a vow to forsake not the "house of their God".

This last statement reminds me of the exhortation Paul wrote in the book of Hebrews, 10:25, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another: and so much the more as we see the day approaching".

The "day approaching" is the day of the coming of the Lord. That day could be today. This behooves us to let the Word of God be that by which we live everyday of our life as we await His seemingly soon return.

PRAYER THOT: Lord help me to join others as we assemble ourselves together to hear Your Word in preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Numbers 10 vs. 2 - Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

For further reading - Numbers 10:1-10

The Lord gave instruction through Moses to the Jewish people on how to worship and how to provide a covering for their sins. These instructions are found in the Torah, the Law, contained in the first five books in the Old Testament.

Here in Numbers 10, the Lord instructs Moses to make two trumpets of pure silver that were to be used for calling the Israelites to a “solemn assembly” and for direction for their journey to the Promised Land.

There were additional times the trumpets were to be blown. They were to be blown for “days of gladness”. They were blown to call attention to “special solemn assemblies”. They were to be sounded on the “first day of each month”. Also the trumpets were to be sounded during “certain sacrifices”.

God told Moses also to have the trumpets sounded as an “alarm” when an enemy was approaching, and when the Children of Israel would go to “war” against the enemy, verse 9.

The prophet Joel, many years after Moses, wrote of using the trumpet to warn of the coming enemy that will appear in the Last Days. Joel told the Jews to “blow the trumpet in Zion”, Jerusalem, and “sound the alarm” in the Lord's holy mountain, the Temple Mount, Joel 2:1.

The trumpet sound of Joel's prophecy was to warn Jews of the “judgment coming at the end of time”. A close look at Joel's prophecy and the other Jewish prophets will reveal that the time for Joel's trumpet to be sounded in Jerusalem is quickly approaching.

I must remind you that before Joel's trumpet is sounded, another trumpet will be heard and it will call all Christians into the heavenlies at the Rapture of the Church, I Thessalonians 4:16 and I Corinthians 15:52.

After the Rapture trumpet sounds, according to the book of Revelation 4 to 19, the seven year Tribulation Period follows. Revelation reveals a description of the “terrible time of judgment”. In Revelation 8,9 and 11:15-19, John writes of seven judgments that intensify in severity as the seven angels blow the seven trumpets of judgment.

There is yet another trumpet that will be sounded. That trumpet will be blown by order of Jesus Christ when He returns to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Matthew 24:31. The Lord will tell the angel to “sound the trumpet to gather the Jews from all of Creation to Jerusalem”.

The blast of the trumpet on the day that Jesus comes back to Earth is actually on the Jewish feast day, the “Feast of Trumpets”. The Feast of Trumpets is fulfilled at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ - not the Rapture of the Church. The sound of the trumpet at the Rapture takes place at least seven years earlier. The truth is, that trumpet sound may be heard today.

Keep looking up as you listen for that next trumpet sound.

PRAYER THOT: Help me be prepared, pure, and productive until I hear the sound of the trumpet for the Rapture.

Numbers 13 vs30

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

For further study - Numbers 13:1-33

This is the story of Moses dispatching the twelve spies, one from each of the tribes of Israel, to enter the Promised Land to determine if all of the Israelites could enter the land at that time. You may already know the results of the mission by these twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel.

Ten came back and said the land was filled with giants who would destroy the invading Jewish nation. In fact, in the eyes of these ten spies, they perceive themselves to be "grasshoppers" as compared to the inhabitants of the land that God has promised the Jewish people.

However, there were two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, who came back with a great report. Moses had told all the spies to scout out the lay of the land and be sure to bring some fruit back from their mission, verse 20. At least two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, had gone over to Hebron, the oldest Jewish community in the history of the world - a Jewish town established by Abraham when he was promised all of the land.

There, near a brook, the brook of Eshcol, they cut down a bunch of grapes that took two men together to bear the grapes out of the land and bring them back to Moses. This is evidence of how God would provide for His people and that the land was indeed as the two spies reported, a “land of milk and honey”, verse 27.

The other ten spies reported that the enemy would kill the Jewish people if they went into the land. The Israelites believed the ten spies and as a result wandered in the wilderness for the next 39 years.

Remember, Hebron, was the burial place for the patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the second most sacred piece of real estate for the Jewish people. Today it is a very controversial location - a place of violence between the Jews and the Palestinians.

This entire event speaks volumes about the lack of belief among the Jewish people. As the Lord gave them the land 3,500 years ago, and at that time they failed to take it, so today His promise of returning the people to the land is not truly believed by many of the Jewish people.

God's promises to the Jewish people are true and forever. However, these promises must be accepted by faith. One day, seemingly some day soon, God will fulfill His promises to the Jewish people including giving them all of the land He has promised them.

PRAYER THOT: Help me, dear Lord, to believe Your promises for me as I move towards Your return to gather me to be with you, forever.


Numbers 19:1-3 

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face.

For further study - Numbers 19:1-21

The ordinance of the "Red Heifer" was given to the Jewish people, from God, through Moses. This ordinance was for the “cleansing of those desecrated”, desecrated by coming in contact with “death”. Any such contact would make that Jewish person “un-pure” and with the need of “purification”.

The “ordinance of the Red Heifer” was given after the “Ten Commandments”, to Moses as the spokesman for God, to the Jewish people. It is a “prophecy”, in symbolic form, which was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

As you can see by reading our devotional passage for today, the “red heifer” was to have never worn a “yoke” and was to be without a blemish of any type, verse 2. The “red” color of the young cow must also be without any other spot of any other color.

The priest was to lead the red heifer to an “alter without the gate”, meaning 3,000 feet away from the Temple, and “before his face”, verse 3, meaning to the “east” of the Tabernacle or Temple. “His face” is referring to the “Glory of the Lord” that hovered over the “Ark of the Covenant”.

After the priest “ceremonially killed” the red heifer it was placed on a “fire” of cedar wood and reduced to ashes. While that was happening the priest added a “scarlet ribbon” and some “hyssop”, a sponge-like plant, and the ashes of these ingredients were then added to a “stone jar” with “living water”, running water or rain water, for the “ashen-water” that was sprinkled on that or those desecrated.

This ordinance will be reinstated during the Tribulation Period but is only a prototype of the “purification by the blood of Jesus Christ”, to cleanse each of us from our personal desecration, the result of sin. By the way, there is now a Red Heifer ready to be used during the Tribulation Period, that yet future time of Judgment on the Earth.

The Talmud, extra-Biblical Jewish writing, says when a “tenth” Red Heifer shows up to be used in this God-given ordinance, it is the “time of the coming of the Messiah”. That “tenth” Red Heifer is now ready to be used by the Jewish people.

It is truly amazing to think of how close we are to the Rapture - which must happen before the “Red Heifer ordinance” is restored during the Tribulation Period. In fact, we are so near that it could be today that the Rapture happens. Are you prepared for that event to happen?

PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord to be ready for the “any- moment” Rapture to take place and use me to tell others of how close we are to the call, by You, to join You in the heavenlies.
Numbers 20 vs21 

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.
For further study - Numbers 20:14-29
The account we read for our devotional today, these 16 verses, record the travels of the children of Israel, led my Moses, toward the Promised Land. You will notice that they travel along the "King's Highway" which was the road of the merchants from Africa through Egypt along the lower section of Israel near the Red Sea and then into southern Jordan going north.
I have traveled many times along the King's Highway as was the case for the thousands of Jews near the end of their 40 years of wandering in the "wilderness" because of unbelief. They did not believe Joshua and Caleb who gave the positive report of the "Promised Land" after their "spy mission" into the land almost 40 years earlier.
What we read in our devotional today is the account of what happened right after Moses had been disobedient to the Lord when the Lord told the leader of the Jewish people to "speak" to the "rock" and instead, Moses "smote" the rock, Numbers 20:7-13. The Lord told Moses and Aaron that because of their lack of obedience they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land, verse 12.
The last 7 verses of our reading for today record the death of Aaron, the brother of Moses and the High Priest. The record shows that Aaron died atop Mount Hor that is near the headquarters of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, a place called Petra. As I have visited Petra many times, I have often thought about the disobedience of Aaron and Moses and the penalty they both had to pay for not following the instructions that God gave them.
In verses 14-22, we see that the Edomites would not allow the children of Israel, their "brothers," verse 14, to travel along the King's Highway but instead they had to travel farther east towards Saudi Arabia and go around the land of Edom, Numbers 21:4.
You might remember the account of the Lord sending Esau and his family to Mount Seir, which is the same location of the Edomites in this passage. When Esau arrived in Petra the Lord changed the land area, so that it would be known as Edom, after the name that God had given Esau, Genesis 36:1.
Space will not allow for me to trace from Esau in Petra, the land of Edom, to the modern-day Palestinian people (see my audio series Esau and the Palestinians.)
Verse 18 reveals that Edom would not allow the children of Israel to travel the King's Highway towards the Promised Land even though Moses said he would pay for any damages made by his people and their animals, verse 17. This account is simply one chapter in the life and struggle of two brothers, Jacob and Esau.
Their mother was told by the Lord that these two boys struggling within her womb would become two nations - two manner of people, Genesis 25:23. The Scriptures tell us that they would continue this struggle until Jesus Christ returns to the earth to settle the battle between these two brothers, Obadiah 17 and 18.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict of today is evidence of the truth of God's word and the prophecy that will be fulfilled in the end times.
PRAYER THOT: Help me, Lord, to obey You and follow Your instructions.

Numbers 21 vs8

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

For further study - Numbers 21:1-35

I have just realized that more and more I am giving you a whole chapter in a book to read for our extended devotional. I hope that you agree, it should not hinder us in our devotional time to spend a bit more time in the "Book".

I will point out several tidbits in this chapter for today, but first to our key verse. Let me give you the background for our reading today. Moses was leading the children of Israel towards the Promised Land and at this time they had been wandering for almost forty years.

The Israelites were very discouraged at not being able to get to the Promised Land; howbeit, it was their own fault because of their disobedience and unbelief.

Verse 4 tells us that they were not able to continue along the "Kings Highway", 20:17, because the Edomites refused to allow them to pass that way. Therefore they had to travel by way of the Red Sea, towards Arabia, around Petra and Edom and then into Ammon before they would cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

The people once again spoke against Moses and his leadership, complaining also against God, verse 5. This then caused the Lord to send "fiery serpents" among the children of Israel. Many of the Jews were bitten and they died, verse 6.

At this point God told Moses to make a replica of the "fiery serpent" and put it atop a pole that was to stand up in the wilderness. God then said that if the Jewish people would look up to the "fiery serpent", they would live. This "look and live" action was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ on His cross.

The people of Israel would continue along the "Kings Highway" and be confronted by Sihon the King of the Amorites in the area of "Heshbon". If you've ever traveled on a tour with me thru the Land of the Bible and into Jordan, you have seen "Heshbon".

It was at "Heshbon" where God allowed the Israelites to defeat the Amorites. It was after that victory that the Lord told Moses to send a group up into Bashan to defeat Og, the King of Bashan. The children of Israel defeated the people of Bashan and later Joshua gave Bashan to the half tribe of Manasseh, even though it was on the eastern shore of the Jordan River.
By the way, Bashan is the name also known in the Bible, and today, as the "Golan," the Golan Heights. This event took place 3,500 years ago. That's how long ago that God gave the Golan Heights to the Jewish people.
One has to wonder why the Syrians lay claim to the Golan Heights. The truth of the matter is, the enemies of Israel, the Jewish state today, don't want Jews anywhere in the Middle East. Which is a satanic influence that is in all of the enemies of Israel.
How up-to-date our devotional readings are each and every day.