SUNDAY JUNE 14, 2020
TOPIC: SAY 'NO' TO ENSLAVEMENT
TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 15:12-23
KEY VERSE: "And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee" (DEUTERONOMY 15:12).
On December 2, 1808, in his annual message to Congress widely reprinted in most newspapers, President Thomas Jefferson denounced the "violation of human rights" attending the international slave trade and called for its criminalisation.
The Lord in this chapter, prohibited the Israelites from keeping fellow Israelite servants beyond six years. On the seventh year, they should be set free and allowed to go wherever they want without any conditions. The servant who willingly expresses his or her desire to stay in service beyond six years, is to have a hole bored on the right ear to signify that he volunteered willingly to stay in service with his master beyond the stipulated period.
The Lord reminded the Israelites of the horrible experience they had while working as slaves in Egypt. He wanted them to act differently from the prevailing harshness and cruelty meted out to slaves and servants among the surrounding heathen nations. He wanted them to hate enslavement with passion.
Human trafficking in any form for the purpose of exploitation is a gross violation of human rights. Within the body of Christ, under the current dispensation, it is a serious offence against God for any believer to put people in servitude or subject them to oppression for any reason.
The Lord has already condemned in Scriptures the habit of keeping workers or employees under poor working conditions and failing to pay them their wages when due. God does not answer the prayers of those who oppress their fellow human beings.
To have His favour and blessings, we must obey His command to set free those we have placed under captivity and oppression, instead of engaging in endless prayer and fasting.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Set the captives free and release those under oppression.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 SAMUEL 23-24
HIGHER EVERYDAY
SUNDAY JUNE 14, 2020
TOPIC: CHRIST CLEANSES THE TEMPLE
TEXT: MATTHEW 21:12-14
MEMORY VERSE: "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves" (MATTHEW 21:12).
Stephen Beale writes, "In a ministry marked by great mercy and kindness, the incident involving Jesus and the moneychangers stands out"; adding that though the whipping sometimes appears to apply to the moneychangers themselves, the original Greek indicates that the whipping was primarily directed at the sheep and the oxen.
However, by overturning the tables of the moneychangers, Jesus was justly showing His anger against the worldly commercial activities corrupting the holiness of the temple; a place set apart by God for solemn dignity, holy adoration, and prayer, but turned into a place of noisy commerce, the bellowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep.
The expulsion of the animals symbolized the new order of worship and the end of mediation toward God by sacrifice where the temple of God has no sacrificial rite. It simply meant replacing the Mosaic system with the presence of Jesus who scourged the sheep and Himself was scourged for us. The Scripture says your body is the temple of God. So, make it a holy place and flush out any corrupting thing that dishonours God.
QUOTE: Your body is the temple of God.
CHALLENGE: Make your body a holy place always.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, purge me of whatever dishonours You.