LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, September 9, 2026

For those of you who may be just joining us we are studying the various applications of the phrase “on that day” in the Bible. Each usage fits into one of three categories:

1. A specific day in history when God does something that teaches us about who He is;
2. A prophetic day in which God would work and accomplish His divine purpose;
3. A coming single day in which God will bring everything to conclusion.

 Today we come to a difficult passage in the book of Numbers chapter nine. It’s been two years since the people of Israel came out of  slavery in Egypt. God is giving Moses instruction about how the people are to institute the celebration of the Passover, to remember the deliverance that he provided for them. But with the Passover feast came certain regulations, one of which was that anyone who was considered unclean could not participate in it. One of the ways a person would be considered unclean was if they had touched a dead body. This disqualified them from celebrating God’s deliverance into life.

On that day, as Moses gave these instructions to the people several men came forward and asked, “Why should we be excluded from this celebration just because we had a death in our family and had to take care of the body?” Moses recognized the value of such a question and so he told them he would bring it before the Lord. God then instructed him to tell the people that if they were unclean they could celebrate the Passover one month later after going through the purification process.

I want to share two very simple principles for us today. First, notice God’s grace. Being unclean does not exclude you from participating in what God did to rescue us from sin. God wants every member of his family to participate in the remembrance and the celebration of his sacrifice to cleanse us from sin and deliver us from its slavery.

But second, Notice that God still requires holiness to be in intimate relationship with him. I see here some very personal and challenging applications. I wonder how many of us come to a time of worship in our churches, especially the communion service, with known sin in our lives. Do we truly expect God to intimately fellowship with us in the celebration of his Son’s death when we stand impure before him? And I also wonder how many of us come to him in prayer on a daily or frequent basis and expect him to answer when we have not come to him with purity in our hearts and minds.

It would seem to me from the example of unclean people and the Passover celebration, that God requires us to deal with our sin before coming to him for perfect intimacy. God does not permit sinfulness in his presence. The psalmist tells us that if we regard sin in our heart the Lord will not hear our prayers. I don’t think we take the holiness of God seriously enough. So on that day that you come to worship the Lord prepare your heart and your mind with repentance and surrender so that any sin that you regard as important to you is cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ so you can receive from God all that he has promised you.

Pastor John