REMEMBER! REMEMBER!
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Opening Prayer
Father, your provisions for me, temporal and eternal, seen and unseen, are beyond measure. Help me to express my gratitude in actions, as well as words.
Read DEUTERONOMY 26
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Firstfruits and Tithes
26 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3 and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” 4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. 7 Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. 11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.
12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. 14 I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. 15 Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Follow the Lord’s Commands
16 The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’1
We come now to the end of the section that began in Chapter 12 and deals with specific legislation. Stipulations are given for the offering of the first fruits and third-year tithes. The first fruits were a foretaste of the full harvest to come. In the New Testament, believers are the first fruits, saved to bear fruit for God in the here and now.2 We have also received the ‘firstfruits of the Spirit’ as a foretaste here and now of what will come in the afterlife.3
While offering the first fruits, the Israelite worshipper was to recite verses 5–10, which summarize God’s gracious acts on his people’s behalf. Starting with Jacob, the patriarch who gave Israel its name, the passage ends with the Israelites arriving in the Promised Land after being freed from Egyptian bondage. Some regard these verses as a kind of early Israelite creed. Significantly, they are recited as part of the traditional Jewish Passover celebration.
Remembering how God helped us in the past wonderfully encourages us to trust him both in the present and in the future. Some Christians record in a journal what the Lord has done for them. Others cherish in their hearts memories of special times when he protected and blessed them. We have a powerful visual aid to remind us of the historical event that changed forever the lives of all who follow Jesus—the bread and wine of Communion! These help us to never forget what Christ did for us at the cross. The first fruits ritual was intended as a joyful celebration. Communion for Christians should never resemble a funeral service. It certainly focuses on Christ’s sacrificial death, but it urges us to rejoice that Christ is risen and will come again!4
Apply
After reading this reflection, how might your next experience of Communion be different as you look back at Christ’s sacrifice and also his victory and return?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for leaving us a wonderful memorial meal in Communion, which looks both backward and forward, to your faithfulness and to your promises.
1 Ps 103:2 2 2 Thess 2:13 3 Rom 8:23 4 1 Cor 11:26
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