February Day 25

Leviticus 26-27 - Here we see another reminder to keep the sabbath just after warning about false gods.  God set the example for rest that he wants us to follow - work six days and rest one.  When we don't choose to sabbath (yes, it can be used as a verb), we are not trusting God's design for our lives.  We are ultimately saying we don't need the rest that God designed us for.  No wonder so many people burn out.  
Here he also establishes a principle that remains true - blessing follows obedience.  He specifically says that if they will trust him completely, obey him and rest in him, he will send rain and make their harvests abundant and give them a better harvest in 6 days of work than they could ever get in 7 days.  
When we trust his way, he will give peace and security and we will be able to sleep without fear
His favor is greater than our greatest effort, so it is much better to trust in God than in our own strength.  
If we don't obey, we won't be truly successful regardless of how hard we work.  Not only that, if we refuse to turn to him, God will oppose our efforts. 

Psalm 47 - We sing praises because we recognize that God is over all things and he is good!

Matthew 21:12-22 - The merchants selling animals for sacrifice were ripping people off because they had to have an animal for sacrifice.  They were taking advantage of the sacrificial system and using it for personal gain.  This angered Jesus so he flipped tables and ran them out of there. 
Jesus accepted the praise of the children who were calling him the Son of David - which was another name in the prophecies for the Jewish Messiah. He infers that God showed the children who he was by referencing Psalm 8:2 - which in turn was another way in which Matthew pointed out Jesus fulfilling prophecy. 

Acts 28:17-31 - Paul preached to the Jewish leaders in Rome.  Some believed, but many did not.  Paul explained that even their refusal to believe was a fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah 6:9-10. 

The reasons these fulfillments of prophecy are so important is they were proof to who Jesus was.  Not only that, many of those that were present during these teachings would have been familiar with the prophecies, yet they still refused to believe.  Their unbelief had blinded them from the reality of who Jesus was.