Bible Reading Plan | Devotion for the week of April 24, 2022

Weekly reading: Galatians 6; Exodus 21-24; Psalm 109-110

Passages referenced: Exodus 24:1-4; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 2:14-18; Revelation 21:22-27

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.” When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. – Exodus 24:1-4

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Revelation 21:22-27

Prior to Jesus, the people of God were separated from God’s presence. But Jesus’s death on the cross changed everything. We, the people of God, can now approach God more freely. And yet, there is more to come. We will dwell in the city of the Most High forever. There will be no sun and no lamps to light our path because the glory of the God who is among us in that day will light our way.

Take some time to reflect on the separation from God that once and still afflicts humankind. Reflect on the blessing of the work of Jesus Christ to be our high priest in the present day.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. – Hebrews 2:14-18

He is risen! We have such hope in the wake of the resurrection. 

Reflect on your week to come. Does anyone come to mind that is burdened and afflicted in this day? I encourage you to simply invite that person to a meal. Invite them to the dinner table. Eat, enjoy each other, and maybe, the hope you have in Jesus Christ will spill over into the conversation as well. Remember, you are loved. – Cole Baker