A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

The Stars Forever

"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:3)

The setting of this beautiful verse is after the resurrection of the saved to everlasting life, and the unsaved to eternal shame (v. 2). Its glorious promise to those who are "wise" and who "turn many to righteousness" through Jesus Christ is that of "shining" forever, like the stars.

Evolutionary astronomers believe that stars evolve through a long cycle of stellar life and death, but this idea contradicts God's revelation that He has created this physical universe to last forever. Speaking of these stellar heavens, the majestic 148th Psalm, centered on God's creation, says that God "hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass" (Psalm 148:6).

It is true that, because of sin, "the whole creation groaneth . . . until now" (Romans 8:22), and the heavens "shall wax old as doth a garment; . . .and they shall be changed" (Hebrews 1:11, 12). In fact, the earth and its atmospheric heaven (not the sidereal heaven) one day will "pass away" (Matthew 24:35), and then will be transformed by God into "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:13) which will never pass away.

But the infinite cosmos of space and time, created in the beginning by God, was created to last forever, and God cannot fail in His purposes. "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him" (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

The stars are innumerable, each one unique, each one with a divine purpose, and they will shine forever. We can never reach them in this life, but in our glorified bodies, we shall have endless time to explore the infinite heavens.

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The "Light" Equation

"God is light." (1 John 1:5)

The biblical text is rich with metaphors and similies, one of which often appears in John's writings. God is said to be "light"--the most constant, clearly observable, and all-pervasive experience in our universe.

God's life is the light of men (John 1:4).

God's light is not conquered by darkness (John 1:5).

God's light attracts men who love truth (John 3:21).

Jesus is the "light of the world" (John 8:12).

John's emphasis in his epistle is focused on the application of the "light" in our lives. Since God IS light (our text; see also 1 Timothy 6:16), we can never be a participant in the life of God apart from the light of God (1 John 1:6). If we claim fellowship with God, we must "walk in the light, as he is in the light" (1 John 1:7). Since God is the "true light" (1 John 2:, we are not part of His family if we despise those He loves (1 John 2:9).

It is equally obvious that since God is holy (Psalm 99:9) and righteous (Daniel 9:14), the light that we are to "shine" (Matthew 5:16) must be a "radiant" righteousness that is visible to all who come in contact with us (Proverbs 4:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:5).

Our breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) should "blind" the ungodly with the brilliance of our lifestyle of holiness--so much so that even if we are spoken against by those who hate God, they will be forced to glorify God ("adorn with luster") because of our good works (1 Peter 2:12).

Because the God of our salvation is "the light of the world" (John 9:5) and we have been made "the children of light" (Ephesians 5:, "ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

[Soldier4Christ]

Eternal Life

". . .that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13)

Although this powerful, five-chapter letter from the Apostle John is full of vital insights into the Chrisitan life, it is written to "little children" (1 John 5:21) so that they might "know" the majesty and wonder of eternal life.

John begins his epistle with a reminder that he "knew" this Jesus from whom the promise of eternal life came (1 John 1:1-3). John was an eyewitness to Christ's resurrection (John 20), which is the most powerful proof of the claims and promises of the Lord (Acts 17:31).

Much of that which is applied in John's epistle is based on the precise teachings of the Lord Jesus Himself, heard by John and recorded in John's Gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (John 20:31).

Those who believe will "not perish" (John 3:15-16).

The "water" of Christ springs up to "everlasting life" (John 4:14).

Whoever has everlasting life "is passed" from death to life (John 5:24).

Those who come to Christ will "never hunger" (John 6:35).

No one is able to "pluck" the believer out of the Father's hand. (John 10:28-30).

"|W|hosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:26).

Based on the Word of God, John gives us several experiential tests by which we can know that we "live."

We love and keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).

We know and love the Truth (1 John 2:20).

We love the brethren (1 John 3:14).

We have God's Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13).

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Savor of Life or Death

"For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Corinthians 2:15, 16)

It is remarkable how the very same testimony can have such dramatically opposite effects on its recipients. A lecture on the scientific evidences of creation, for example, or on the inspiration of the Bible will be received with great joy and understanding by some, provoke furious hostility in some, and generate utter indifference in others. This seems to be true of any message--written, or verbal, or simply demonstrated in behavior--which has any kind of biblically spiritual dimension to it. It is like the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, which "came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night" (Exodus 14:20). A Christian testimony draws and wins the one, repels and condemns the other. Some there are who "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:17).

Thus the wonderful message of the gospel yields two diametrically opposite results. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). Christ came to bring both unity and division. "Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. . . . Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient. . . . a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word" (1 Peter 2:6-8).

But the wonderful thing is this: whether a true testimony generates life or condemns to death, it is still "unto God a sweet savor of Christ."

[Soldier4Christ]

Dividing Light from Darkness

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness." (Genesis 1:3, 4)

Initially, the created cosmos was in darkness--a darkness which God Himself had to create ("I form the light, and create darkness"--Isaiah 45:7). But then the dark cosmos was energized by the Spirit's moving, and God's light appeared. The darkness was not dispelled, however, but only divided from the light, and the day/night sequence began, which has continued ever since.

This sequence of events in the physical creation is a beautiful type of the spiritual creation, "a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Each individual is born in spiritual darkness, but "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). We are now "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," because He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness" (Colossians 1:12, 13).

However, the light in the primeval darkness resulted only in a division of night and day. The night still comes, but God has promised that, in the coming Holy City, "there shall be no night there" (Revelation 22:5).

Just so, even though we have been given a new nature of light, the old nature of darkness is still striving within, and we have to be exhorted: "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:. Nevertheless, "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18). When we reach that city of everlasting light, all spiritual darkness will vanish as well, for "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth" (Revelation 21:27), and we shall be like Christ.

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Catastrophe or Cataclysm

"|God| spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." (2 Peter 2:5, 6)

These two verses speak graphically of two different kinds of terrible physical convulsions, both of which were divine judgments. The volcanic upheaval that sent fire from heaven pouring over the wicked cities of the plains was called an "overthrow" (Greek katastrophe, from which, obviously, we get our English word "catastrophe"). Great upheavals such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and hurricanes are rightly called catastrophes.

But such events are only local or regional in extent, and occur relatively often. There was one event, however, which was unique in all history. When God brought the "flood" upon the ungodly antediluvian world, the word used to describe it was the Greek kataklusmos, and this word is never applied in Scripture to any event except the terrible Genesis flood, when "the world that then was, being overflowed |Greek, katakluzo| with water, perished" (2 Peter 3:6). From these Greek words we derive the English word "cataclysm."

There was never any flood like this flood! It covered all the world’s mountains, and everything on the land died, leaving great fossil deposits and great beds of lithified sediments all over the world.

There has been only one worldwide cataclysm in the past, but another is coming--global fire instead of global water. Jesus said, "For as in the days that were before the flood |i.e., kataklusmos| they . . . knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:38, 39).

[Soldier4Christ]

Saints and Sinners

"Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." (Job 40:3, 4)

It is remarkable how the saintliest of men often confess to being the worst of sinners. The patriarch Job was said by God Himself to be "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil" (Job 1:. Yet when Job saw God, he could only say, "Behold, I am vile."

And consider Abraham, who is called "the father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11). When he presumed to talk to God, however, Abraham said that he was "but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).

David, "the sweet psalmist of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1), and "a man after |God's| own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), said: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). Isaiah, the greatest of the prophets, testified when he came into God's presence: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5).

The angel recognized Daniel the prophet as "a man greatly beloved" by God (Daniel 10:11). Yet when Daniel saw God, he fell on his face, and said: "My comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength" (Daniel 10:.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter said: "I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:, and Paul called himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). God dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16).

The closer one comes to the Lord, the more clearly one sees his own sinfulness and the more wonderful becomes God's amazing grace. No one who is satisfied with his or her own state of holiness has yet come to know the Lord in His state of holiness! None dare face the Lord except by His grace, through the mediator, Jesus Christ.

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Resisting the Devil

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1 Peter 5:8, 9)

The devil is far more powerful and intelligent (as well as subtle and seductive in his malignant purposes) than any combination of human enemies we could ever face, and we would be utterly unable to defeat him with our own human resources. Yet God’s Word makes it plain that we are neither to yield to him nor flee from him. Instead, the admonition is: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).

But how can we resist such a mighty foe? As in our text, we must constantly maintain sobriety and vigilance against his enticements, and be careful to remain "steadfast in the faith." Otherwise, the pseudo-intellectualism and social peer pressure to which we are subjected daily could quickly persuade us to compromise the faith, or even to depart from the faith.

We are commanded not to yield and not to compromise. Instead we must "put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." We have "the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the |wicked one|," and also "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:11, 16, 17).

This mighty sword with which we can make Satan flee from us, is literally "the saying of God"--that is, an appropriate individual word from the complete Word of God. This was the instrument with which the Lord Jesus Himself resisted the devil, parrying each temptation with an incisive thrust of Scripture. The result then--as it will be now with us also--was that the devil "departed from him for a season" (Luke 4:13).

[Soldier4Christ]

He Became Poor

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The doctrine of Christ's kenosis, or self-emptying, is one of the most amazing of all biblical truths. The extent to which He who was not only "in the form of God," but also "equal with God," condescended to "make himself of no reputation" (the translation of kenoo in Philippians 2:6, 7), is utterly beyond human comprehension.

He who once sat on the throne of the universe came to earth "lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). Throughout His public ministry, He had "not where to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). Because He had no money to pay the tax, He had to catch a fish with the necessary coin in its mouth (Matthew 17:27). In His agony at Gethsemane, none of His friends would pray with Him and, when He was arrested, they all "forsook him and fled" (Matthew 26:40, 56). No one defended Him at His trial.

On the cross, the soldiers stripped away His only personal possessions--the clothes on His back--and then "parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take" (Mark 15:24). When He died, His body had to be buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:59, 60). No home, no money, no possessions, no defenders, not even a tomb of His own in which to lie.

But He had a cross on which to die and, because He was obedient to the death of the cross, "God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Through His poverty we become rich, through His homelessness we have a mansion in heaven, and through His terrible death on Calvary we have everlasting life. Yes, we do know the grace of Christ!

[Soldier4Christ]

Son of Man

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle." (Revelation 14:14)

This is the last of some 87 New Testament references (84 in the four Gospels, one in Acts, none in the Epistles, two in Revelation) to Christ as the Son of man. Here we see the Son of man coming on a white cloud from heaven (just as He had ascended into heaven after His resurrection) as the conquering King of all the earth.

What a contrast is this to the first New Testament reference to the Son of man. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). From humility and poverty on earth to power and riches in heaven, and for all eternity--this was His journey when Christ left His heavenly glory to join the human family.

In between the poverty and the power lay the whole human experience, for He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Finally, as Son of man He must die for man’s sin, for "the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again" (Luke 24:7). Even in heaven He is still the Son of man, for Stephen saw Him thus: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56).

There is, indeed, a great man in the glory! Christ called Himself "the Son of man" much more often than "the Son of God," though He will eternally be both, the God/man. He delights to identify with those whom He has redeemed, for He "is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:11). "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" asked Jesus. Then we say, with Peter, "Thou art . . . the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:13, 16).

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Fellowship with the Father

". . .and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:3)

One marvelous reason for which God has adopted us (Ephesians 1:5), indeed part of the very "calling" to become God’s chidren, is to fellowship (1 Corinthians 1:9) with the great God of Creation!

Jesus prayed (John 17) that we, His chosen disciples, might have the same kind of relationship with the Heavenly Father that Jesus Himself had throughout eternity. Our minds may not totally grasp that wonder down here--except as we try to understand something of the key of walking "in the light" (1 John 1:7).

The nature of light in our universe gives us clues:

    Light is unchangeable; one cannot make light dark.

    Light exposes everything (reveals and brings clarity).

    Light is the sustainer of all life as we know it.

The nature of darkness is also very instructive:

    Darkness is driven away by the smallest spark.

    Darkness covers everything (hides and obscures).

    Darkness will kill all life as we know it.

"he path of the just is as the shining light. . . .The way of the wicked is as darkness"(Proverbs 4:18-19). The promise of fellowship with God is that He "will lead them in paths that they have not known" and that He "will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight" (Isaiah 42:16).

Therefore, "let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:. Since we were "sometime darkness" but have been delivered from "the power of darkness" (Colossians 1:13), we should no longer "fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11).

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Sign of the Sabbath

"It |that is, the Sabbath| is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:17)

It is obvious from this passage that God's everlasting seven-day week was established to commemorate His first week as the unique week when He created all things. If language means anything--especially God's language as written with His own finger on a table of stone (Exodus 31:18)--then the days of God's creation week were literal days.

Sabbath means "rest" (not "seventh") and God, in His omniscience, knew that men and women would need a day of rest and remembrance of Him as Creator if they were to serve Him effectively in carrying out His plan for the world. "The sabbath |that is, the weekly day of rest| was made for man," said the Lord Jesus (Mark 2:27).

This is why the weekly day of rest and worship was to be a sign forever, and also probably why it was--for God's covenant people, Israel--a capital crime to break it. "Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:15).

This severe penalty may no longer apply today, but it does indicate the importance placed by God on His week of creation. Just as the rainbow was the sign of His covenant with the world through Noah, and circumcision the sign of His covenant with the seed of Abraham, so a weekly day of worship is the sign that we still honor Him as our Creator and Savior. If it was needed to keep ancient Israel true to God in the midst of a world where evolutionary pantheism reigned in other nations, it is even more important today as a testimony against modern evolutionary humanism.

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The First Love

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24)

This is the very heart of the moving prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in the upper room before His arrest and crucifixion. As we hear Him pray, we are translated back in time, before time began, and there we encounter the indescribable love within the counsels of the triune Godhead--Father, and Son, and Spirit--three persons, yet one God.

Then, after speaking of this love, Jesus prayed--in the final words of His sure-to-be-answered prayer--"that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (v. 26).

This love--the love within the Trinity--was the primeval love and, therefore, is the spring from which flows every other form of true love--marital love, mother love, brotherly love, love of country, love of friends, love for the lost, or any other genuine love.

It is appropriate that the first mention of love in the Old Testament refers to the love of a father (Abraham) for his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2), and then, that the first reference to love in the New Testament (Matthew 3:17) speaks of the heavenly love of God the Father for God the Son. In both cases, the son is called "beloved," yet in both cases the father and son are prepared to go to the altar of sacrifice, that the will of God might be done, and a way of salvation be provided for lost sinners.

"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). One day--as He prayed--we shall be with Him, see His glory, and even experience His own eternal love in our hearts.

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The Turning of the Day

"Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light." (Judges 19:26)

This tragic story took place in Israel in a time when "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). The woman was of the tribe of Judah, concubine to a Levite dwelling among the tribe of Ephraim. Although she had been unfaithful, he had taken her back and they were traveling to Ephraim, staying overnight in a city of Benjamin. The "sons of Belial" among the Benjamites, however, had abused the woman throughout the night, leaving her dead at "the dawning of the day."

The whole sordid story illustrates the depths of depravity to which even men among God's chosen people can descend under cover of darkness. We are commanded to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret" (Ephesians 5:11, 12).

In the midst of this dismal record, however, there is an interesting scientific insight which should be noted. The evil events of the night terminated at what the writer calls "the dawning of the day." But the Hebrew word used for "dawning" (Hebrew, panah) is not the normal word for the dawn. Instead it is the word for "turning." Thus, it is not referring to the rising of the sun, but to the rotation of the earth which, after a dark night of evil, once again turns its face to the "light of the world."

Note also Job 38:14: "It |i.e., the earth's surface| is turned as clay to the seal," again suggesting the earth's axial rotation each day/night cycle. There is coming a glorious dawning, however, when we shall dwell in the presence of the One who is the true light of the world, and "there shall be no night there" (Revelation 21:25).

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They That Wait upon the Lord

"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)

This is one of the best-loved promises of the Bible, for it is easy to grow weary and faint in our mortal bodies, even when doing the work of the Lord. The answer, we are told, is to "wait upon the LORD."

But what does this mean? The Hebrew word (gavah) does not mean "serve," but rather, to "wait for" or "look for." It is translated "waited for" the second time it is used in the Bible, when the dying patriarch Jacob cried out: "I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD" (Genesis 49:18).

The first time it is used, surprisingly, is in connection with the third day of creation, when God said: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place" (Genesis 1:9). That is, the all-pervasive waters of the original creation, divided on the second day of creation, now are told to wait patiently, as it were, while God formed the geosphere, the biosphere, and the astrosphere, before dealing again with the waters.

Perhaps the clearest insight into its meaning is its use in the picture of Christ foreshadowed in the 40th Psalm. "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry" (Psalm 40:1).

"The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary" (Isaiah 40:28), and His gracious promise is that we can "renew our strength" (literally, "exchange our strength," our weakness for His strength!) by "waiting upon Him." We wait patiently for Him, we gather together unto Him, we look for Him, we cry unto Him, we trust Him, and He renews our strength!