#DailyDevotion The Law Of The Lord Is Just, Right, and Merciful
October 22nd
Read Deut 21:1–23
Deu 21:8 Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’
Deu 21:14 But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
Deu 21:17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
Deu 21:21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Deu 21:23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
In today’s lesson we see that one of these things is not like the others. In this lesson we see the justice, mercy and wrath of the Lord. We are made aware of His wisdom and justice in the first case where a murder is left unsolved but instead of destroying a village in which the culprit probably lives a substitute is made declaring the village innocent of the sin.
In the second, while we may not like that a woman is forced against her will to marry a man, the man is not given license to treat her as he will especially if for some reason he is no longer pleased with her. Provisions must be made.
In the third, the rights of the firstborn outweigh how a man may view his wives if he has more than one. The Lord keeps order in the relationships in which people get themselves into. The Lord is a God of law, order, peace and doesn’t show partiality.
In the 4th, we see the wrath of God against incorrigible children. Indeed those children of God who refuse to repent even though they have been admonished and warned and given every chance but will not trust God nor obey Him and His representatives are cast outside the city to die.
Finally in the last one, mercy is shown to the one cursed by God. He, though deserving death, even death by tree is buried before night falls. Because he represents the One who shall ultimately be cursed by God, he is shown mercy. The One cursed by God is God Himself. Not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, but the Son, who is God the Lord, who has become Man, takes the curse of God into his flesh and soul and becomes cursed for us. That which we deserved for our rebellious acts, our sin, our guilt, our shame, our iniquities, our transgressions and whatever else you want to throw between you and your Creator, the Son receives it in Himself, bears and nails it to the cross. He buries it in the tomb with His flesh never to be seen again. Jesus doesn’t stay in the tomb though. He is resurrected. His resurrection is the assurance that sin, death and the devil is defeated. Our death is left behind in the tomb and His life He gives to us freely, all who put their trust in Jesus have received this life and the wrath of God cannot touch us because it was nailed to the cross in Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ, you were cursed by your Father who hung you on the tree of the cross. Grant us faith in this work of yours that we may not be put outside the City, the New Jerusalem like incorrigible children. Amen.