Humiliating the Criminals (Deut. 21:22-23)

6/15/2009 8:35 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Humiliating the criminals

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 21:22-23

 

            Message of the verses:  “22  "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23  his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.”

            The way that Warren Wiersbe writes about this section is that it is a picture for the other children of Israel to see and to remember that they are serving a just God whose laws are just as He is.  Not all people who were stoned were then hung on a tree, for sometimes their crimes did not fit this kind of punishment, but some of the worst offenders of the laws were not only stoned to death, but were then hung on a tree for the remainder of the day so the people could look at them and be reminded of how these crimes were to be punished in Israel, and also realize that they should not become a part of any of these types of crimes. 

            There is another part of these verses that has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, for He too was hung on a cross and Paul writes about this in Galatians 3:13 “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE.’”  Jesus Christ became the curse for us, those who believe in Him alone for salvation, but we are the one’s who should have been cursed! 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There a lot of times in my life that life just does not seem fair to me, when someone wrongs me or something happens that just is not fair, but what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ was not fair in the greatest examples of fairness in the history of mankind.  Jesus Christ is the perfect Son of God, and the creator of all things that has ever been created, and when He came to earth He was treated as if He was the criminal and not those who placed Him on the cross to kill Him.  He became sin for me, the sinner, and He gave me His righteousness, who is the unrighteous man.  None of this was fair, but it was love and it was grace, and I am so very thankful!

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
2. Put on the spiritual armor, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Keep a short list with the Lord.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                              Ephesians 3:14-17

 

14.  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

15.  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

16.  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17.  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

6/15/2009 9:30 AM