A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

The Wings Of God (#19951020)
by Norman P. Spotts, D.D.

“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (Exodus 19:4).

The wings of God are a great place of security for the believer. “I bare you on eagles’ wings,” the Lord says. He will never allow us to fall. “The eternal is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him” (Deuteronomy 32:11). God bears us on His wings, so that He can bring us to Himself (text).

The wings of God are a place of renewed strength. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5).

The wings of God are a place of healing. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). The first time the Lord came was to heal our sin-sick souls; the second time He comes He will heal us—body, soul, and spirit.

The wings of God are a place of refuge. “Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (Psalm 57:1). “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust” (Psalm 91:4).

The wings of God are a place of rejoicing. “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice” (Psalm 63:7). “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). NPS

[Soldier4Christ]

"cataclysmed" With (#19951021)
by John Morris, Ph.D.

“Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (II Peter 3:6).

In comparing the intensity and global extent of the coming judgment of sinful mankind, “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (v.10), to the intensity of the historic judgment of sinful man at the time of the Flood (the denial of which constitutes willful ignorance, v.5), Peter uses extraordinary language. The word “overflowed” in our text translates the mighty Greek word katakluzo, from which we get our word “cataclysm.”

In the Greek New Testament, this word is only used to refer to Noah’s Flood (see Matthew 24:38,39; Luke 17:27; II Peter 2:5); Other words were used for other, local floods—see Luke 6:48 and Revelation 12:15. Such a distinction is likewise borne out in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word used over and over again in Genesis 6–11 is mabul (see also Psalm 29:10), and stands as qualitatively distinct from other lesser floods, both of water and figuratively of invading armies, or the Red Sea crossing.

As a matter of fact, God promised that Noah’s Flood would be different from all other water floods (Genesis 9:11), in that it was a display of God’s awful wrath on sinful mankind and the world infected by that sin.

And that is the point. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It always has been, always will be. God is not the sort of God who will allow sin to go unpunished. His holy nature demands the punishment of death for sin.

But just as “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:, so do believers of today. The penalty for sin is indeed death, but “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

Incorruptible Things (#19951022)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers” (I Peter 1:18).

Not all the wealth of the world can redeem a single soul, for all the gold and silver are merely corruptible elements in a world under “the bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21). Everything in the physical creation is decaying and dying. In fact, one day all these “elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:10). Even the very seeds which transmit life are “corruptible seed” (I Peter 1:23), and all mankind is “corruptible man” (Romans 1:23). Modern science recognizes this universal principle of decay as one of its most basic laws—the law of increasing entropy.

Even in this corruptible world, however, some things are incorruptible. There is the “incorruptible . . . word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23). Even though “heaven and earth shall pass away,” the words of Christ “shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

We are redeemed, not by silver and gold, but “with the precious blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:19). God Himself is the “uncorruptible God” (Romans 1:23), and He has “begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (I Peter 1:3,4). We work, not as others “to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (I Corinthians 9:25).

Finally, these dying bodies will themselves be redeemed, “for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (I Corinthians 15:52,53). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Blessed Man (#19951023)
by John Morris, Ph.D.

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

The first psalm constitutes a contrast between the godly individual who delights in God’s law, and the ungodly who is destined for destruction. “Blessed” literally means “happy,” and the habits of such a happy one are described as not only avoiding the thought patterns and lifestyle of the wicked (v.1), but also delighting in and obeying the word of God (v.2). Our text describes four results of being blessed or happy in the Biblical sense.

First, “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,” with the implication being to dwell in a secure, bountiful state. The verb “plant” actually means “transplanted,” now firmly rooted and provided for, no longer vulnerable, tentative, and undernourished.

Second, he “bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” One does not so nourish a tree without any purpose. Here, following the analogy, the godly individual, nourished and protected by his Maker, can likewise expect to accomplish a purpose—in this case to bear spiritual, eternal fruit.

Third, “his leaf shall not wither.” Eternal life is the present possession of all who have been “transplanted” by the Lord. Such a one can expect to faithfully bring forth precious fruit in each season of his life.

Fourth, “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Success in each endeavor undertaken by one whose delight is the Lord can be expected, such success defined by that which brings spiritual maturity, and eternal fruit, and prosperity, as He defines prosperity.

“For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (v.6). JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

All Nations (#19951024)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).

It has been estimated that there are from 12,000 to 17,000 ethnic groups in the world, including all the cultural groups with distinct dialects of their own. According to the great prophecy in our text, some from each of these will one day stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation. Yet only about 5000 of these groups have been reached with some kind of meaningful and fruitful witness to date, at least in terms of their own dialects.

The Lord has commanded that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47) and has also promised that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” (Matthew 24:14).

Although there are different interpretations as to how and when these prophecies will be fulfilled, they have not yet been fulfilled, for the end has not yet come. It is clear that the Lord desires every group to hear the gospel message, for some in each must eventually be saved. He “hast made of one blood all nations of men. . . . That they should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:26,27).

With millions of Christians today, as well as hundreds of mission societies and thousands of full-time missionaries, it should at least be possible to establish in each ethnic group an effective witness for Christ in this present generation.

It will be a wonderful day when, gathered at His throne, we can sing praises with all the nations to Him, saying: “Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Divine Loss Of Memory (#19951025)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).

Of all God’s marvelous promises, this promise that God will forget all our sins is surely one of the most amazing of all. How can the omniscient one fail to remember anything, especially all the sins we have committed against Him and His creation. Yet this is His promise! “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

This can only be, of course, because Jesus Christ “bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24), and “He was manifested to take away our sins” (I John 3:5). Once the Lord returns and judgment is past, all sin is forgotten, and righteousness will endure forever.

There is a beautiful foregleam of this truth in the New Testament references to the Old Testament men and women of faith, especially in the “faith chapter,” Hebrews 11. This chapter notes the great works of faith of Abraham, of Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, and others, but there is never a mention of any of their sins. Noah’s drunkenness, or Abraham’s deception with Sarah, or Jacob’s lie to his father, or Moses’ anger, or David’s adultery, or any of the other sins which are fully recounted in the Old Testaments are never mentioned in Hebrews 11 or anywhere else in the New Testament.

God is, indeed, a gracious and forgiving God to all those who receive Christ as their sin-bearing Savior. “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11,12).

Because Christ has borne them away, our sins and iniquities will be eternally forgiven and forgotten by our heavenly Father. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Keeping the Law


"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).

The law of God, centered in the Ten Commandments, is "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12) and expresses perfectly the will of God for holy living. "The man that doeth them shall live in them" (Galatians 3:12).

The problem is that no man can possibly do them all. A man may keep most of the commandments most of the time, but he will inevitably fail in some of them some of the time. Since the law is a divine unit, breaking any commandment--as our text reminds us--breaks the whole law, bringing the guilty one under God's curse of death. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (Romans 3:20).

All men, having sinned against God's law, are therefore lost and in urgent need of salvation. This is where God's wonderful grace comes in. "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, . . . Even the righteousness . . . which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Romans 3:21-22), "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). He kept the law for us, and bore its curse for us: Thus we are saved through trusting Him.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid" (Romans 6:1-2). We now desire to keep His commandments, because we love Him. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous" (I John 5:3). We are now able to keep them, because His Spirit now lives in us, and we are "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16).

[Soldier4Christ]

The Marvel of Design


"And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another" (Genesis 43:33).

When creationists calculate the extremely low probability of the chance origin of life, many evolutionists scoff at the calculation, alleging that any one arrangement of the components of a simple, living molecule is just as likely as any other arrangement, so it is no great marvel that the components fell into this particular arrangement.

This is a puerile argument, of course, quite unworthy of the intelligent scientists who use it. There are at best only a few arrangements that will contain the organized information necessary for reproduction, compared to "zillions" of arrangements with no information at all.

This fact is beautifully illustrated in our text. Why should Joseph's brothers "marvel" when they were seated in chronological order of birth by a host who (presumably) was entirely unaware of that order?

The reason why they marveled was because there are almost 40 million different ways (calculated by multiplying all the numbers, one through eleven, together) in which the eleven brothers could have been seated! It seemingly couldn't happen by chance.

Maybe an evolutionist would not "marvel" that this unique seating arrangement happened by chance, since he somehow believes that far more intricately organized arrangements than this happened by chance to produce our universe and its array of complex systems. Anyone else, however, would immediately have realized this, and so the brothers of Joseph "marvelled one at another." So also, when we behold the wonders of design in the creation, we should "Lift up eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things" (Isaiah 40:26).

[Soldier4Christ]

Captives of the Devil


"And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10).

Strange as it may seem, the experience of Job indicates that godly believers can be captured by the devil. God Himself allowed Job to fall into such captivity, for He told Satan: "Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life" (Job 2:6). All the sufferings which Job endured were inflicted by his captor, who hoped thereby to get him to renounce the Lord. Similarly, Peter was briefly bound in Satanic captivity. "Simon, Simon," said Jesus, "behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22:31).

Such bondage, however, is temporary. Job was delivered "when he prayed for his friends" and Peter when he was "converted" and went forth to "strengthen brethren" as Christ had told him (Luke 22:32). In both cases, they continued strong in faith during their captivity, and deliverance came when they turned their concerns to others.

More serious is the case of those who are in bondage because of sin. Nevertheless, Christ died to set them free, "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Christ died to set the captives free, but they must first be told and then gently led to freedom by those who care for their souls. "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will" (II Timothy 2:24-26).

[Soldier4Christ]

Our Umpire in Heaven

"For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay His hand upon us both" (Job 9:32-33).

Job, in His sufferings, was mystified by the complete silence of God, whom he had loved and tried to serve faithfully all his life. He longed somehow to be able to come before the great Judge to plead his case, but this was not possible, for God was not a man like himself. He did not even have a "daysman" to mediate between himself and God.

Oh, yes he did! And so do we. A "daysman" is an arbitrator or umpire, or mediator (as this word is usually rendered in modern versions). But how could there be an umpire to mediate disputes between God and man, unless such an umpire could somehow be both God and man, able to "lay His hand upon us both"?

There is one perfect umpire, of course. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (I Timothy 2:5-6). The ransom He paid was His own blood, with which "He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:12).

Thus the God/man Christ Jesus, is perfectly able to bridge the chasm between God and man. Perhaps an even better connotation of "daysman" is that of "advocate." Now, when Satan "the accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10), accuses us of sin before God, as he did against Job, our great Intercessor defends us. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 2:1), and "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

[Soldier4Christ]

The Lord's Presence (#19951026)
by Norman P. Spotts, D.D.

“I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:.

One of the greatest of spiritual blessings is to realize that the Lord’s presence is with us at all times. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Salvation is a person, Christ, and because we have the person, He “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30).

There is great security in Christ. “Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Because Jesus is at God’s right hand (Hebrews 1:3) and at our right hand, we have a divine connection that can never be broken. The Lord promised His presence to Israel in Moses’ day. “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest” (Exodus 33:14) as well as in the future millennium, “and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). The Hebrew name for this aspect of God’s attributes is Jehovah Shammah.

But to the New Testament believer, His presence is here and now. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5); “The Lord is at hand,” or nearby (Philippians 4:5). “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23).

May we ever practice the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ moment by moment as we live for Him each day. When our last day comes, we will say: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me . . . Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Psalm 23:4,6). NPS

[Soldier4Christ]

The Creator's Hands (#19951027)
by Paul G. Humber, M.S.

“In His hand are the deep places of the earth: . . . and His hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:4,5).

When the Creator “put His hands” on the blind man of Bethsaida, restoring sight (Mark 8:23–25), and this was not an isolated incidence: “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them” (Luke 4:40).

The creative hands of the Lord Jesus extend to every aspect of creation: “But unto the Son He saith. . . . Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands” (Hebrews 1:8,10). The Lord calmed, and continues to calm, storms (Psalm 107:29) and opens His hand to feed thousands (Psalm 104:28). His hand does indeed hold “the deep places of the earth,” and, as our text continues, “His hands formed the dry land.”

His hands also became engraved, eventually nailed to a cross according to Divine plan (Psalm 22:16). The Lord had previously asked, “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands . . .” (Isaiah 49:15,16), the same hands pierced on Calvary.

He blessed children, placing hands on them, and reached out from glory to touch a trembling disciple (Revelation 1:17). He holds disciples today in His hand, affirming: “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

It was while the Lord “lifted up His hands, and blessed them” that He was “carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:50,51). He will return with uplifted hands, too, for the Scripture reads, “this same Jesus, which is taken up . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). PGH

[Soldier4Christ]

Grace Upon Grace (#19951028)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16).

We can never exhaust the riches of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we receive Him as Savior, we receive “grace for grace”—that is, one grace after another, grace upon grace.

In the first place, we have received His saving grace: “For by grace are ye saved” (Ephesians 2:. We also receive justifying grace, because we are “justified freely by His grace” (Romans 3:24), having the very righteousness of Christ credited to our account. It is then standing grace, enabling us to stand confidently in our grace-given salvation. “We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand” (Romans 5:2).

That same boundless grace soon becomes working grace and serving grace. “By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10). “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

Yet there is more, for we need grace for times of testing and opposition as well as for serving. When such times come, “He giveth more grace” (James 4:6). “My grace is sufficient for thee,” He says “For my strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9). He gives strengthening grace and sufficient grace for every need.

The grace of Christ is thus truly abounding grace, for “God is able to make all grace abound toward you” (II Corinthians 9:. It is even giving grace, and we should “abound in this grace also” (II Corinthians 8:7). Therefore, we should continually “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Waxing Gross (#19951029)
by Kenneth B. Cumming, Ph.D.

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

Jesus in His early ministry ran into stubborn opposition from the scribes and Pharisees. So, he told the people about heavenly truths in veiled stories that only the believers could understand. His reason (v.11) was that “it is given unto you [believers] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Another function of these parables was to fulfill prophecy, as in verse 35: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

Here is a verse that explains the progressive nature of God’s revelation to man. There are certain times when new knowledge is given as man is able to handle it. He then can use it to grow in grace if he is prepared for its application in his life. Or, he can willfully turn it off and it becomes a vehicle of condemnation.

We should pay attention to the sequence of such misunderstanding. Because a man’s heart (the central directory of information) has grown callous, and his hearing dull, and his eyes closed, vital information cannot be perceived by this senseless being. Raw stimuli from the outside world cannot get into the soul to alert it of impending danger, much like a drunken man’s reaction to crises around him. Perception is lost; discernment is gone. Life becomes an endless bumble. What a breakthrough that we are allowed to change, to turn in our way and be healed. If God’s gift of Jesus is still an enigma, we should cry out for restoration that we may be healed and blessed. KBC

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In The Spirit (#19951030)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).

We cannot see or hear the Holy Spirit, but He is very real and is, in fact, the very life of each true Christian. It is only through Him that we have access in prayer to the Father, as our text points out. Christ in His resurrection body is seated at the right hand of the Father in the distant heavens, but the Holy Spirit has His temple in our very bodies.

He not only hears each spoken prayer, but also each thought of our hearts. From the moment we receive Christ, we live in the Spirit; He is always with us, to guide our steps, to bear witness with our spirits that we belong to God, to Illumine our understanding and, when needed, to convict and chasten when we get out of His will.

Therefore, “if we live in the Spirit; let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). When we yield to some worldly temptation, it is because we have ignored this admonition for the promise is: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The very presence of the Holy Spirit assures our eternal salvation, so how can we ignore His holy constraints on our behavior? “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). We speak of worshiping God in church, or home, or elsewhere, but if we really worship Him, we must “worship God in the Spirit” (Philippians 3.3), for we have access to the Father, and the Son, only in the Spirit.

When we pray, we must be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. . . . For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:9,14). HMM