withdrew – Praying Pint

17.n. “I will pass over you”

John 11:54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Exodus 12:11-14 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

The great deliverance from Egypt ended in the Lord’s Passover. “I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord.” What is the purpose of Ceremonial Cleansing? For them, it was tied to the Law and purification. Remember the Law pointed out their sin and there were certain legal rites and sacrifices required. The greatness of the Passover, the act of God to free and redeem His chosen from the hands of the Egyptians, was worthy of ceremonial cleansing so that they might worship and glorify God during this special feast of the Passover. ”The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The importance for us is in the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanses us from our sin. When we believe in Him and the work He accomplished on the cross for our sin, we are forever forgiven. Ceremonial cleansing was a form of repentance. I know I have sinned. I know I want to honor and glorify God. I want to worship and celebrate my redemption, salvation, forgiveness, and promise of eternal life. I repent, turn away from my old self, and now live each day in remembrance of the great price that was paid for my redemption, the death of Jesus Christ. We should never forget this, for there is a judgment day coming and only those who have confessed their sin, repented, believed, trusted, and relied on Jesus Christ will be passed over. Eternal life awaits those who believed, and eternal torment awaits those who did not.

15.u. “And many followed him, and he healed them all”

John 6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

Matthew 4:24-25    So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.  And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Matthew 12:15    Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all

Matthew 15:30-31    And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,  so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Fame spread and large crowds, great crowds, and many followed Jesus. The fame of His healing the sick, healing those possessed by demons, healing the blind, mute, and lame all pointed to Jesus being who the prophets spoke of hundreds of years before. Can’t you hear what people were saying? He healed my blind son, He cast the demon out of my brother, He healed my paralyzed friend, My dad can hear again, my daughter is no longer sick……. and the word spread about Jesus. Signs and wonders were all given out of grace and mercy but they were also given to show that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Many glorified God because of the miracles that Jesus did. Don’t you wonder how many came to the knowledge and understanding of the Gospel after Jesus was crucified? Do you wonder how many hearts were broken when He was hung up on the cross? How hard would that have been to see the very man who healed you or a friend or a family member being beaten, whipped, and hung on a cross? Wouldn’t your heartache? Wouldn’t you have questions? Wouldn’t you say this is all wrong? You have to know there were those in the crowds who doubted Jesus Christ even though they saw what He did. People today are healed still today but I would have to say that there is more doubt than ever before in the history of mankind. Jesus Christ is still the same though we have changed and thoughts about Him have dwindled. Our culture shouts out that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are nothing more than fairytales or man-made stories of weak men. In their hardened hearts they have set their path straight to eternity in hell. In their wisdom, they deny signs, wonders, and miracles that have been recorded for us so that our faith in Jesus Christ would continue to grow and we would forever continue to give glory to God.

128. But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away,

2 Samuel 20:1 Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!” So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 13:13     that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known,

Judges 19:22     As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door.

2 Samuel 23:6    But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand;

Worthless man, worthless men, what is it that keeps their heart from being softened and awakened to Jesus Christ? At some point in their life there had to be a turning away, a choice to step over the line, a want to do something they knew they shouldn’t. See, they were not worthless and foolish to start but their choices, over time, lead them on a path that took them down the foolish and worthless highway to destruction. They became hard in the heart and deaf in their ears to the things of God. See what Spurgeon said about how easy the fall is.

Spurgeon – I will give you another symptom, from a different quarter, and that is, the extreme easiness of conscience which we see in many men and women. They can commit a great sin, wash their hands, and then be done with it, as if the very washing of the hand or the wiping of the mouth was quite enough to put away all thought of the wrong. Many will sit here tonight, who have, through a long life, committed a hundred sins of which they would be ashamed to be reminded, and yet they are not ashamed of them. They would only be ashamed to be found out; they are not ashamed of the sin itself. A man truly awakened by the Spirit of God feels the memory of his sin to sting him as with scorpions. He cannot bear it. But the great majority of people do a thousand wrong things, and yet they are not troubled but feel quite at ease. Some of you are probably within a very short time of death and judgment, and yet you can make sport of sin. How often does it happen that people come to the place of worship, and go their way, having rejected solemn appeals: and they will never hear anymore! They have had their last warning. Oh, if they could only know that, during the week, they will fall down dead, or be laid aside by sickness, never to leave the bed again! Yet they trifle, on the brink of fate, on the very verge of everlasting woe. If you saw a man going straight on to the very brink of some dreadful precipice, and you saw him about to take another step, you would say, “That man is blind. I am sure that he is, or else he would not act like that.” People do not go into terrible danger with their eyes open; yet there are many of our fellow men, perhaps many of ourselves, going right on, carelessly and heedlessly, to the very brink of the awful abyss without a thought of danger. They must be blind. This horrible peace of conscience, this quenching of the Spirit whenever conscience does stir itself, this playing and trifling with death and judgment, prove that they are blind.

Restore us, O LORD God

“For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”

“Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!”

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.”

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Psalms 85:1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.

Jeremiah 31:18 I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the LORD my God.

Lamentations 5:21 Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Acts 13:39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Isaiah 54:7 For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.

Psalms 78:38 Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.

How do you know if God is angry with you? How do you know if you are being disciplined? How do you know if you are right with God? How do you know if your life is on the straight and narrow path of God? There are many examples in scripture that speak of generations of people who lived in a way that was apart from God. There was a choice made in their life to neglect Him and His statutes. This choice, I have to think, was not all at once but was the result of many small steps on a path that did not honor, serve, follow, or obey God. Taking many small steps or fewer large ones in the wrong direction on the wrong path will always end up further and further away from God. Soon you are lost and forget what the path of God for your life looked liked. The light on His path for your life becomes totally dimmed, if not dark and deserted. Everyday we battle our sinful desires that want to direct our heart, mind and soul. Neglecting Him and being complacent in service and obedience to Him is what Satan desires and uses to light a path away from God. The only way to win this battle is to stay in His word, desiring to stay close to Him, and wanting to be led by Him. Do not wait until you are totally lost before turning back to Him. Call out and seek to be rescued and restored. Seek Him and He will be found. Humbly serve Him and He will guide you.