Thursday November 15, 2012

Read Deuteronomy 20

 

The pain of the Jewish nation continued. In the small town of Modin, about 27 km north west of Jerusalem, an altar to Zeus was erected.  The towns folk were called out to offer sacrifices to it.  An aged Priest named Matthias was chosen from the crowd and was forced to offer the pig sacrifice in honour of the pagan god, Zeus. He refused. The crowd knew that after the sacrifice they would be forced to eat the unclean meat as an act of identification with their offering.  While another Priest offered to make the sacrifice, Matthias ripped a sword from the hand of a Syrian officer and killed him. He also killed the apostate Priest. Matthias’ 5 sons joined in and killed the soldiers present.  The revolution had begun.   Soon Matthias died and his son Judah took over the reigns. He was a brilliant strategist and the rebel army grew in number.  He was given the name Maccabee which many believe came from the Hebrew word which meant ‘Hammer’. The revolt raged for three years. The rebels fought hard and frustrated the Syrian army.  They won many great victories and soon opened the way back to Jerusalem.

 

They were not prepared for the devastation and destruction they saw in Jerusalem.  But none the less, they rebuilt the altar to the Lord three years to the day after it was desecrated.

 

Years after the event, a tradition arose that told of how the rebels found only a small vile of unpolluted oil to use in burning before the Lord. It contained one day’s worth of oil. But, the legend says, it burnt for 8 days until new batch of oil could be consecrated. Thus arose the explanation of why Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days.

 

Sometimes the Lord calls us to battle against the world. When we are called to fight we fight boldly and confidently knowing that the Lord is with us and fighting on our behalf.  At present the Lord has called us to battle for the truth. Genesis 1-12 is attacked and ridiculed by people both inside and outside the church. The Word of God in its entirety is being questioned and ridiculed and minimized.  The God given institution of marriage is being attacked. The role and rights of parents are being eroded as is the Biblical concept of the family. We must fight for the truth and we must uphold the truth. We must be ready to defend the truth and to stand up for what we believe.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

 

Adoration:

Confession:

 

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray that Christians would be ready to stand up for the truth of God’s Word. Pray that all believers would have the courage of their convictions and that there would be less and less compromise in the church. Pray that we would see the entire bible, cover to cover, as the reliable and infallible Word of God.

¥ Pray that God would raise up individuals and churches and leaders to champion the cause of marriage in this country. Pray that we would see a resurgence of people who wish to keep marriage as per the biblical definition. Pray that God would be strengthening families and marriages in our churches.

 

My Additional Prayer Points.

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