A Daily Devotional

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By Man Came Death

"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Corinthians 15:21-22).

These verses, coupled with others throughout the Old and New Testaments, teach a very important principle not fully appreciated by those Christians who would hold that man evolved from lower animals, or even that his tenure on Earth was preceded by millions of years. For if the earth is old, then death is part of the natural order of things, and billions upon billios of organisms have lived and died, struggling for existence, surviving only if they were "fit."

Taken at face value, however, the Bible indicates a far different scenario. Evidently, at the beginning, all living creatures (i.e., conscious life as opposed to plants and non-conscious "animals") were created to live forever. There was no death, for all were designed to be vegetarian (Genesis 1:30). God had warned them of disobedience to His one command: "For in the day that thou eatest thereof |i.e., of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil| thou shalt surely die" (or more literally, "dying thou shalt die") (Genesis 2:17). All of creation was placed under the curse of death at that time, the animals (3:14), the plants (v.18), the ground (v.17), and mankind (vv.15-17,19); all would be dying. Sadly, as we know all too well, this situation continues today (see Romans 8:22).

But if death is a part of the created order, what can our text mean? Furthermore, if death was not specified as the penalty for sin, what does the death of Christ mean? Belief in the concept of the old Earth destroys vital doctrines, including our redemption through Christ's death.

Thankfully, the reign of death and the curse will end one day (Revelation 21:4; 22:3) as God restores the creation to its intended state.

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Heavy Sorrow

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations" (I Peter 1:6).

The Greek word translated "heaviness" in our text denotes a deep sorrow. The saints to whom Peter wrote had recently suffered tremendous loss. Due to persecution, they had been scattered around Asia Minor (I Peter 1:1). Often-times great loss (job, health, finances, home) can cause heavy-hearted sorrow.

Paul spoke of another cause for great sorrow -- bereavement. He wrote to the Philippian church about their beloved pastor, Epaphroditus. "For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow" (Philippians 2:26-27).

Another cause of great sorrow is Satanic attack. Oftentimes these attacks can be so intense that the feelings of despair and discouragement tempt us to give up. It seems that we might never succeed in our goal of accomplishing what will please the Lord. Jesus had endured such an attack. "And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch" (Mark 14:33-34). Here we note again this great "heaviness," almost to the point of death. Yet Christ persevered through this period by prayer.

Few have been tried like the great patriarch Job. His confident faith in God through great trial is an inspiration to all who face trials today: "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

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On Eschewing Evil

"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it" (I Peter 3:10-11).

The venerable English word "eschew" is not used much these days, perhaps because there is not much evil that people eschew any more. Nevertheless, a wonderful formula is couched in this terminology in our text. If anyone desires to "see good days," then he should "eschew evil," even in his speech, and instead "do good."

The Greek word translated "eschew" here is ekklineo , meaning "incline away from." That is, instead of having an attitude that "inclines toward" evil, as the world does, the Christian's inclination must be its polar opposite.

The word is used only two other times in the New Testament. "Mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). We are not only to eschew evil words and deeds, but also evil men who teach things contrary to God's Word. The other occurrence refers to what ungodly men eschew. "They are all gone out of the way . . . there is none that doeth good" (Romans 3:12). Here ekklineo is translated "gone out of the way." The ungodly eschew doing good; those who would love real life and see good days must do good and eschew evil.

That such an attitude honors and pleases God is especially evident from His thrice-repeated testimony concerning the patriarch Job, a man that "feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1,8; 2:3), "a perfect and an upright man." Job saw some bad days, of course, but there were far more good days of great blessing until he finally died "full of days" (Job 42:17). Like Job, let us eschew -- shun, avoid, run away from -- evil in any form.

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Those Who Depart

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us" (I John 2:19).

One of the most hurtful experiences in the life of a Bible-believing fellowship is when an ostensibly Christian leader, teacher, or pastor decides to abandon his faith and even to teach against it. This sort of thing does happen, all too often, and it obviously raises difficult questions.

Can a true believer, a teacher of the Word, a soul-winner, actually lose his salvation? Can a born-again Christian go back and be unborn? Can one who has received everlasting life through faith in Christ not really have eternal life?

If so, what about the many promises which have assured us that "ye may know that ye have eternal life" (I John 5:13) and that we "shall never perish" (John 10:28)?

The answer to this vexing question is apparently in our text verse above. When such people, who once seemed to be genuine Christians become apostates, denouncing the truth they once taught, it is because "they were not of us" at all, no matter what they professed at one time.

This fact implies a sober warning. When professing Christians fall away, assuming they have truly understood the facts and evidences of the Christian faith, it is impossible "to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:6).

How important it is, therefore, for all professing believers to "give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10). We must be "rooted and built up in Him" (Colossians 2:7), "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (I Peter 3:15).

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Dark Sayings of Old

"I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us" (Psalm 78:2-3).

Most people do not think of parables -- especially the parables of Christ -- as dark (i.e., hidden) sayings, but rather as figurative illustrations to help people comprehend some spiritual teaching. But Christ used parables to conceal truth, not to reveal truth! "Therefore speak I to them in parables," He said in response to the disciples' question as to why He was speaking in parables, "because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand" (Matthew 13:13). The principle is this: a person must first believe and obey the light he has already received before God will give Him further light. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath" (v.12).

Thus the parables of both Old and New Testaments are not of any obvious interpretation. They require study, meditation, and obedience to comprehend, but then they bring great blessing. "Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (v.52).

The "dark sayings" of Scripture are not to be associated with occultism or darkness, of course. The word in Greek simply means something hidden from the world, but transparent to eyes of faith and love. "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. . . . Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. . . . But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (I Corinthians 2:7,8,10).

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Lifted up from the Earth

"And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth" (Genesis 7:17).

This first occurrence in the Bible of the verb "lift up" is in a scene of judgment on a wicked world. The earth had been filled with such evil that God sent a global flood to destroy the old world and begin a new dispensation.

But there was an Ark of safety, and it bore all the battering of the storm for those who had entered the door in its side. The waters which buried the world merely lifted up the Ark above the earth and "eight souls were saved by water" (I Peter 3:20) from the sins of the old world.

Another greater judgment was yet to come, this one for the combined sin of the whole world and every age. Once again the judgment fell on One who would be lifted up from the earth, not this time by water, but "by wicked hands" and "crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23).

Jesus said: "Now is the judgment of this world: . . . And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said, signifying what death He should die" (John 12:31-33). The Ark of Noah, lifted up from the earth to save those who trusted their lives to it, is a type of the greater "Ark" of safety, lifted up from the earth on the cross to die for the sin of the world and to save all who trust Him.

The Lord called Noah and all his house into the Ark to shield them from judgment. Similarly, the Lord Jesus said: "I . . . will draw all men unto me," and Paul assures us that "There is therefore now no condemnation |or `judgment'| to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). And as "the flood was forty days upon the earth" to assure the fulfillment of its purpose, so Jesus "showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days" (Acts 1:3).

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Life in Christ

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).

A host of biochemists and other scientists have tried for over a century to determine how life evolved from non-life. Such a quest is absurdly impossible, for the simplest imaginary self-replicating system would be infinitely more complex than the most elaborate machine ever designed by man. Life can come only from life. The first human life, indeed the first living system of any kind, could only have come by special creation from the living God. "For I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).

Thus, "in Him we live, and move, and have our being," and He is "not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:28,27). The Lord Jesus Christ is the one "by whom also He made the worlds" and who now is "upholding all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:2-3). The beating of our hearts, the breathing of our lungs, the very atoms of our bodies, are continually sustained by Him. Were He to withdraw His power for a moment, life would cease and all light would become darkness. Even those who reject Him and blaspheme His name owe their very existence to His power and grace.

"As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26). Life is "in Him"; He alone can conquer death and raise the dead. "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will" (v.21), for as "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (I Corinthians 15:45).

Thus, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (I John 5:12). Through faith in His sacrificial death and resurrection life, "ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Henceforth is Christ Himself "our life" (Colossians 3:3-4).

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Fruitless Trees and Fruitless Lives

"He was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And His disciples heard it" (Mark 11:12-14).

Many detractors of our Lord have pointed with glee to what on the surface seems like a fit of petty anger on Christ's part, spawned by His selfish appetite. In reality, it was probably unrealistic to expect figs at that time of year, a fact which He must have known quite well.

Perhaps the key to the whole passage is in the fact that "His disciples heard it." When we look at the surrounding passages, we see that Christ was using the barren fig tree to teach His disciples something they desperately needed to know. This might be called a living parable.

Our Lord had just come from His triumphal entry into the city, having been proclaimed as King by the multitude (vv.7-11), knowing their shallow adoration would soon turn into cries for His death. Leaving the fig tree, he drove the money changers from the temple grounds, having recognized that they were not only exploiting all the Jews who entered, but had taken over the court of the Gentiles, using it as a shortcut through town (v.16) and a place of business (v.15), thus denying the possibility of true worship to all, both Jews and Gentiles.

The fig tree was an object lesson on barrenness, typifying the Jewish nation's condition in spite of their privileged heritage. This type of hypocritical fruitlessness receives condemnation (vv.20-21), exhibits a lack of faith (vv.22-23), and hinders our prayers (vv.24-26).

Our desire must be to bear much fruit in our worship, in our faith, in our prayers, and in our lives.

[Soldier4Christ]

That Which Endures Forever

"But the Lord shall endure for ever: He hath prepared His throne for judgment" (Psalm 9:7).

This world will eventually pass away. The law of entropy assures us, in fact, that everything decays and dies. Atheistic scientists have even calculated that the very protons of which matter is composed will eventually disintegrate. And the Bible itself also tells us that the present Earth and heaven "shall wax old as doth a garment" and "shall perish" (Hebrews 1:11).

But God Himself is eternal! As our text confirms (and many other texts agree), "the Lord shall endure for ever." And that is not all! His glory will remain! "The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in His works" (Psalm 104:31).

And His great name will never change. "His name shall endure for ever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him" (Psalm 72:17). That means too that His righteousness will never change. "His righteousness endureth for ever" (Psalm 112:3).

Then also "His mercy endureth for ever." All 26 verses of Psalm 136 end with this wonderful assurance, and the same promise occurs 16 other times as well. If God's perfect righteousness will last forever, then also His great mercy must endure forever, and we shall continue to thank Him for His everlasting mercy in all the ages to come.

Next, God's Word will endure. "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89). "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (I Peter 1:25).

Finally, because God is forever, we also shall live forever. "His seed shall endure for ever" (Psalm 89:36). "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (I John 2:17).

[Soldier4Christ]

Never Like This

"And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel" (Matthew 9:33).

In His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was fully human (except that He did no sin). He probably looked and acted very "average," yet He continually performed works of healing and other miracles which were utterly different from those magical deeds attributed to the many conjurers of the day. When the man "sick of the palsy" was instantaneously and completely cured, he "went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion" (Mark 2:12). It was no wonder that Nicodemus, Israel's greatest teacher at the time, acknowledged to Jesus that "no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with Him" (John 3:2).

It was the same with His teachings. When officers were sent to arrest Him because of these teachings, they came back empty-handed, reporting simply that "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46).

His words and deeds were uniquely from God, and those who saw and heard Him should have known this. It was appropriate that, when the time came for Him to fulfill Zechariah's prophecy concerning the coming of Israel's King, entering Jerusalem on a donkey, He had to "find a colt tied, whereon never man sat" (Mark 11:2) to serve as His kingly chariot. Others before Him had come into the city on donkeys, but never like this, on an unbroken colt.

And when He died, He had to be buried in "a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid" (John 19:41). His birth was different, as were His life and death and burial, from those of other men, and "there is none other name . . . whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

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Blind Hearts

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18).

It is a tragedy for a person to have blinded eyes, but infinitely worse to have a blinded heart. No one ever willfully chooses to be sightless, but spiritual blindness is a product of the human will.

After Christ had given sight to the man born blind, the Pharisees still refused to believe, so Jesus said to them: "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. . . . If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John 9:39,41).

Like these ancient intellectuals, it often seems that modern intellectuals are incurably blind. They profess to teach science and philosophy of the highest complexity, but their understanding is darkened and their hearts are blinded when it comes to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul says: "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (II Corinthians 4:3-4).

Even very religious people, people who believe in God as Creator, may blind themselves when confronted with the truth that the Creator must also become their Savior. "But their minds were blinded: . . . even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart" (II Corinthians 3:14-15).

Nevertheless, Christ came as "the light," and when anyone will simply in faith "turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away" (II Corinthians 3:16), and the gospel will "shine unto them" (II Corinthians 4:4).

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The House of the Lord

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple" (Psalm 27:4).

The theme of the house of God is prominent in the book of Psalms. The phrase, "the house of the Lord," occurs seven times plus once each for "the Lord's house" and "the house of the Lord our God." There are three references to "the house of God," one to "the house of my God," and one to "the house of our God." Then, "thy house" is mentioned eleven times, making a total of at least 25 explicit references to the house of the Lord in the book of Psalms alone.

Many of these passages refer, of course, to the actual temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand, since it was in the temple's holy place that the Shekinah glory dwelled and where the high priest met once each year with God on behalf of the people, there naturally follows a personal metaphorical application with the house of the Lord referring to the spiritual presence of the Lord in the life of each believer.

In our text the psalmist expresses as his highest desire that of continually dwelling in God's presence all the days of his life. A number of the other references express the same holy desire, and the New Testament response is that indeed, "ye are the temple of God, and . . . the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 3:16).

It is wonderful to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life," but that is not all we can look forward to. The glorious concluding assurance of the 23rd Psalm is even greater. "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 23:6).

[Soldier4Christ]

Promised in Writing

"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

For those of us who have trusted God for salvation, based on the finished work of Christ on the cross, God has already done for us the most difficult and costly thing He could ever do. He graciously sent His only Son to Earth, and then to the cross and the grave, in order to make forgiveness and eternal fellowship with us possible. We are now adopted children in His family, joint-heirs with His beloved Son, Jesus Christ (vv.16,17,29, etc.) from whom we will never be separated (vv.35-39), "whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (v.15).

Consider our state when all this was being done for us. It is easy to love a beautiful baby that needs someone to care for it; but we were not at all attractive. We were filthy sinners, born in sin and habitually choosing to offend God's holy nature by succumbing to "the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). Furthermore, we were even "enemies" of the cross at the time "we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10). Outside of His eyes of love and grace we would have appeared more like a repulsive maggot than a beautiful baby.

It stands to reason that He who has already done the most difficult, yea, infinitely difficult thing for us out of His great love, will continue to manifest that love to us, especially now that we are of His family. As our text tells us, He will " freely give us all things." With our best interests at heart, He will see that "all things work together for |our| good" (Romans 8:28).

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

[def]

Well Pastor Rogers, i must say good night again, I am tired now had a big fishing day.and i read some of the good teachings, and  it goes in my heart to fortify me. I can not read all of course but the ones that the Holy  spirit guide me to read, not many of them but the one that I read put fire in me, with my Burning Bush that God has put inside of me.good night all of you my brothers and sisters. let us pray for those in need OK OK.

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen! Good night sister.