✝️🔎TOPIC: THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD’S PEOPLE: NOW AND IN
ETERNITY
WATCH TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE VIA THIS LINK BELOW 👇🏽
✝️📖TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 23:1-8(NKJV)
1. “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD.
2. ” One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his [descendants] shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
3. ” An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his [descendants] shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever,
4. “because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
5. “Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.
6. “You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
7. ” You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he [is] your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.
8. “The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
✝️📜STUDY:
The assembly of the Lord is the gathering of God’s people. In the Old Testament, it referred to the place of worship where the Israelites gathered to worship Yahweh. However, there were certain people that were to be excluded from the assembly until the tenth generation. God gave reasons for their exclusion. Some of the reasons are: (1) Mutilations of the body that are associated with Canaanite worship (v.1). (2) Illegitimacy of children or children born out of wedlock (v.2). (3) Being Ammonites and Moabites for their ill treatment of Israel in their journey (vv. 3-6). However, the time for exclusion from the assembly for Edomites and Egyptians was reduced to the end of the second generation because of the good hands they extended to the Israelites (vv. 7-8).
The above narration is a shadow of reality to come on the day of the Lord. On the last day, when the righteous shall be gathered before God till eternity, it is certain that “there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles” (Rev. 21:27), “nor anyone who practices abomination” (Deut. 18:12-13). Therefore, as you wait for the glorious day of the Lord, be blameless before the Lord your God.
✝️🤔FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
“There shall by no means enter it anything that
defiles” (Rev. 21:27).