2013 Advent Devotions from the Lutheran Hour Ministries – Sunday, 29 December 2013 "THE BRINGER OF GRACE AND TRUTH - Fifth Day of Christmas" Read Exodus 2

2013 Advent Devotions from the Lutheran Hour Ministries – Sunday, 29 December 2013 "THE BRINGER OF GRACE AND TRUTH - Fifth Day of Christmas"

Read Exodus 2: Birth and Youth of Moses

2: Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,[a] “because,” she said, “I drew him out[b] of the water.”

Footnotes:

a. Exodus 2:10 Heb Mosheh

b. Exodus 2:10 Heb mashah. TEXT: For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

In the entire Old Testament one human being seems to rise above the others-Moses. Born a lowly son of slaves, he was raised in the house of Pharaoh's daughter, and was called by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. At Mount Sinai God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. Had God's people been able to keep the Law as He intended, Israel would have been the envy of every other nation because His people would have loved, protected and respected each other.

Knowing sinful humans could never keep His laws perfectly God established a system of sacrifices. People confessed their sins and sacrificial animals were killed in their place. Those sacrifices were pointing forward to the coming Savior whose once-for-all sacrifice on the cross would take away the sins of all people for all time.

As great as Moses was, he was merely the instrument through which God gave His people the knowledge of His laws. Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem was different. He was the Son of God Himself, and He came into our world bringing grace and truth. He fulfilled the laws and sacrifices of Moses, and completed the salvation first promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. From the cross His truth and grace pours out like an unending fountain for all time.

THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, You were born to bring us eternal salvation. As You have forgiven all our sins, prepare us to share Your grace and truth with all people. Amen.

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Mail:

Lutheran Hour Ministries

660 Mason Ridge Center Drive

St. Louis, MO 63141 United States

Telephone: (800)876-9880

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