A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

Cities of Refuge

"Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge." (Numbers 35:14)
 
When the Israelites entered the promised land, God told Joshua to provide six "cities of refuge" into which those who had slain someone could flee for refuge until a trial could ascertain the facts and render a proper verdict. As such, these cities are a type of Christ, through whom "we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18).
 
The names of the six cities are given in Joshua 20:7-8 as Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. The meanings of these names seem planned especially to foreshadow this spiritual application.
 
Kedesh means "holy place," and Christ in the New Jerusalem is the ultimate refuge, for "the Lamb |is| the temple of it" (Revelation 21:22). Shechem means "strong shoulder," which answers to the "strong consolation" we have in Christ when we flee to Him for refuge.
 
Hebron means "fellowship," and we who have come to Christ have been "called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9). Bezer means "strong hiding place." The Scripture assures the believer that "your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).
 
Ramoth means "high place," and when we are hidden in Christ, God also has "made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). Finally, Golan apparently means "enclosure for captives," and this would speak of our being set free from sin and death to become captive to Christ. "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive" (Ephesians 4:8). Thus the cities are appropriately named, both for their immediate purpose, and as a picture of Christ as the Savior of sinners. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Jesus and the Flood

"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And 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)
 
The Lord Jesus Christ not only believed in the special, recent creation of all things by God (note Mark 10:6-8), but also in the worldwide Flood of Noah's day, including the special preservation of life on the Ark. The Flood in which He believed was obviously not a "local flood," for He compared it to the worldwide future impact of His Second Coming.
 
Neither was it a "tranquil flood," nor a "selective flood," for Jesus said, "The flood came, and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27). It is clear that He was referring to--and that He believed--the Genesis record of the great Flood! There it says that the whole earth was "filled with violence" (Genesis 6:13), having first been filled with people, and that the resulting world-cleansing deluge was so cataclysmic that "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth" (Genesis 7:23). Indeed, "the flood came, and took |literally 'lifted'| them all away."
 
This is what Jesus said, and what He believed, and therefore, those who are truly His disciples must also believe this. The destructive effects of the Flood can still be seen today, not only in the biblical record, but also in the abundant evidences of cataclysmic destruction in the rocks and fossil graveyards all over the world. To refuse this evidence, as do many modern intellectuals, can only be because they "willingly are ignorant," as Peter said in referring to this testimony (2 Peter 3:5). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

God's Everlasting Covenants

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." (Genesis 17:7)
 
The phrase "everlasting covenant" (or "perpetual covenant") is used no less than 16 times in the Old Testament, plus once in the New Testament. It always refers to a covenant promise of God to man, made in grace, for only He can make an everlasting promise.
 
The first everlasting covenant was made with Noah (Genesis 9:16), a promise never to send a worldwide flood again, sealed with the sign of the rainbow.
 
The second is recorded in today's verse and was God's promise to Abraham and his descendants. The promise was to give them "the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession" (Genesis 17:8), and the seal was to be the rite of circumcision.
 
Many of the "everlasting covenant" promises have to do with Israel. Some were stated unconditionally, but others were "broken" because of man's rebellion against God's covenant terms. One of the latter was the covenant of the Sabbath. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath . . . for a perpetual covenant. It 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 31:16-17).
 
The last reference is the most important of all: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Hebrews 13:20-21). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Indwelling Christ

"And they glorified God in me." (Galatians 1:24)
 
One of the greatest doctrines of the Christian faith is the amazing truth that the Lord Jesus Christ indwells each believer, through His Holy Spirit. "Christ liveth in me," said the apostle Paul (Galatians 2:20) and, since that was true experientially as well as doctrinally, he could invite people to see Christ and hear Christ and follow Christ by seeing and hearing and following him. This might seem incredibly arrogant if it were not real.
 
He could say, for example, that "it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me" (Galatians 1:15-16). And he could say, as in today's verse, that those who heard him "glorified God in me." He also commanded, "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9).
 
The Lord could say to His disciples, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9), and no one thinks it inappropriate, because He fully manifested the heavenly Father in word and deed. Similarly, Paul said that "the truth of Christ is in me" and referred to "Christ speaking in me" (2 Corinthians 11:10; 13:3), noting that Christ was "mighty in me toward the Gentiles" (Galatians 2:8).
 
This was not boasting, for Paul acknowledged that "in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). Still, he was bold to exhort, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).
 
Now the same Spirit of Christ who dwelled in Paul also indwells all true Christians, for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). We should be able to say with Paul, in practice as well as theory, that "Christ liveth in me." HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Holy Conversation

"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." (2 Peter 3:11)
 
The picturesque phrase "holy conversation" occurs only twice in the New Testament, both in Peter's epistles, one in his very first chapter, 1 Peter 1:15; the other in today's verse. The other is, "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." This distinctive King James rendering does not really mean "clean speech," but assumes the older, more precise meaning of "conversation," namely "behavior," especially behavior which involves other people. The Greek word translated "holy" primarily implies "dedicated to God." Thus, holy conversation simply means living in such a way that our entire manner of life is oriented to honor God and to influence other people to honor Him.
 
These two exhortations of Peter tell us why we should live this way. The first incentive is simply the holiness of God Himself: "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We have become children of God through faith in Christ, and we should therefore behave "as obedient children, not fashioning |ourselves| according to the former lusts in |our| ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14).
 
The second incentive given just before the words of today's verse is the ever-imminent return of Christ, following which, eventually, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (2 Peter 3:10). Incentives, both past and future, are thus given for holy living in the present!
 
Eight of the thirteen occurrences of "conversation" (Greek anastrophe) are in Peter's epistles, stressing his vital concern that Christians ought to demonstrate "all holy conversation and godliness" in their lives. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Wrong on Two Counts

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." (Matthew 22:29)
 
When the Sadducees, who were the theological, philosophical, and scientific elite of the day, came to Jesus with a trick question in an attempt to discredit Him, He responded with the stinging rebuke in today's verse. While His response dealt specifically with the fact of resurrection and the nature of the afterlife, His twofold evaluation of self-reliant scholars still fits today, particularly in regard to evolutionary speculations.
 
By the time Darwin had published his book Origin of Species, attributing evolutionary progression to natural selection, he had probably become an atheist and so set about to ascribe creation to natural causes. He attributed to nature abilities which clearly belong to God alone. He knew something of the Scriptures, but his memoirs show that he had little understanding of basic biblical teaching. He felt that if there was a God, He had little power or had not been involved in the affairs of this earth. Most atheistic evolutionists today follow Darwin's intellectual footsteps.
 
But what of Christian intellectuals, theistic evolutionists, progressive creationists, or advocates of the framework hypothesis, who claim to know God but yet deny His awesome power in creation? They too reject the clear teaching of Scripture regarding creation, relegating God to the mundane task of overseeing the evolutionary process, reducing His power to something man can accomplish. Peter aptly describes this attitude when he calls it willful ignorance (2 Peter 3:5).
 
It has been suggested by some that all human error can be traced to one or both of these categories: not knowing (and/ or believing) the Scriptures, and underestimating the power of God. JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

'Cataclysmed' with Water

"Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." (2 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 today's verse 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; 2 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 for "flood" 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 6:8), 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]

From Darkness to Light

"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)
 
The initial aspect of God’s newly created world was one of darkness in the presence of the all-pervading waters. Since "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5), the darkness had to be specially created (Isaiah 45:7) before God could then call for the light to appear in the darkness.
 
This would later serve as a striking picture of the entrance of light into the darkness of a soul born in sin. "For 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). The light enters our soul by His Word. "The entrance of thy words giveth light" (Psalm 119:130).
 
This great theme, contrasting the darkness of the soul without Christ to the glorious light He brings when that soul receives Him by faith, is found often in Scripture. "[Christ] hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9). "The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth" (1 John 2:8). Jesus even called Himself that true light which divided the light from the darkness. "I am the light of the world," He claimed, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).
 
And because we have received the true light, we should henceforth live in the light of His truth. "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8). "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light" (Romans 13:12). God’s light is good. In the Holy City "there shall be no night there" (Revelation 22:5). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Tithes and Offerings

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)
 
Today there is much talk of financial security. The biblical formula in today’s verse, given to Israel, but applied to all, begins with a scathing indictment. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings" (v. . What a terrible thing, to rob God. The result of their thievery, in God’s eyes: "Ye are cursed with a curse" (v. 9), such that their financial state was much worse than it would have been had they been obedient. This teaching and promise has not been rescinded (Luke 6:38; 1 Corinthians 16:2; etc.).
 
God’s charge to us as given in today’s verse is in three steps. First, we are told to obey; i.e., "bring ye." This cannot be considered an option. Secondly, God proposes a test. "Prove me," He says, give and see if He lives up to His promises. Thirdly, trust His promise to meet our needs.
 
Note that His promise is also threefold. It abundantly covers present needs, for He promises to "pour you out a blessing" unmeasurable in quality or quantity. Likewise, it covers the threat of future loss. "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field" (v. 11). Most precious is His promise to reward obedience and trust with a special relationship: "All nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land" (v. 12).
 
Thus we see that with less than 100 percent of our income at our disposal, we will have greater financial security than if we had kept it all to ourselves, thereby robbing God. JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

Hating Knowledge

"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?" (Proverbs 1:22)
 
This ancient question by the wise man, Solomon, was posed almost 3,000 years ago and is still relevant today. "How long?" he asked. How long will men continue to scoff at true knowledge? "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).
 
The answer to your question, Solomon, would have been 3,000 years at least! Peter prophesied "that there shall come in the last days scoffers . . . saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Peter 3:3-4); and Paul said "that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be . . . boasters, proud, blasphemers. . . . Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:1-2, 7).
 
Throughout history men have scorned the true knowledge of God and His creation. Peter says they "willingly are ignorant," and Paul says they are "without excuse" (2 Peter 3:5; Romans 1:20), but they "delight in their scorning" nonetheless.
 
It is remarkable that their hatred of God’s true knowledge is cloaked in a robe of scientism and evolutionary pseudoknowledge that even deceives many professing Christians. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22), despising the true wisdom and instruction of God’s Word.
 
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20). Those who scorn God’s Word have no light of their own, despite their scientific pretensions. "Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction" (Proverbs 10:14). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The I Will's Of Christ

"And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean." (Mark 1:41)
 
When the Lord Jesus makes a promise, that promise is sure to be fulfilled. When He made the above promise to the leper, "immediately the leprosy departed from him" (Mark 1:42). The promise may not always be carried out as rapidly as this, but it will come.
 
Look at some of the wonderful "I will's" of Christ. "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19) is His promise to all His true disciples (that is, those who follow Him). But first they must come to Him, and to those who come He promises, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out"
(John 6:37).
 
Another gracious promise to all who come: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). He also promises special love to those who obey Him. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, . . . shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).
 
There is a tremendous promise in John 14:13: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." He even emphasized it in the next verse: "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14).
 
He has also promised to come back again, and we can be certain He will do as He said: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). But probably the greatest of all His promises was given in His intercessory prayer. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory" (John 17:24). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Greetings from Peter

"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." (2 Peter 1:1-2)
 
All too often we skip over the introductory verses of greeting in a Bible book, but many times these verses contain rich information. Such is the case in today's verse.
 
We first notice the strange paradox in Peter's identification of himself. He is both the authoritative "apostle," the officially commissioned ambassador of Jesus Christ, as well as His "servant," or bondslave. Historically, we know that Peter was one of the inner circle of disciples in whom Christ placed great responsibility, but he was also the one who denied Christ at His trial. Christ had bought him with His blood as a slave would be bought, forgiven him much, and had sent him out on a lifelong mission.
 
The letter is written to those "that have obtained like precious faith," i.e., the same kind of precious faith possessed by the apostles, implying equal standing and privilege before God, obtained through His righteousness.
 
Peter uses two descriptive names for Christ, calling Him both "God and our Savior," referring to His dual divine/human nature and role. Peter's prayer for us (possessors of like precious faith) is moving. He desires the sanctifying and sustaining grace of God for us, the peace of God which brings joy even in the face of adversity, and that both would be multiplied. These traits would come "through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus, our Lord" (today's verse). Much of the rest of the book deals with false teachers and false knowledge, but Peter would have us grow into "full knowledge" (literal translation; see also vv. 3, 8) of God, through the walk of grace and peace. JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

Not Yet

"These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come." (John 8:20)
 
This is the last of seven times in the gospel of John that the phrase "not yet" is used in reference to the forthcoming death of Christ. Although this was the very reason He came into the world, the event itself could not be hurried.
 
When His mother wanted Him to provide wine for the wedding, He said, "Mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:4). When His brothers urged Him to show His mighty works in Jerusalem, His answer was, "My time is not yet come" (John 7:6, 8). When His enemies tried to take Him at the feast of tabernacles, "no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come" (John 7:30). Even when He preached His great promise of living water, John noted parenthetically that "the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39).
 
But His hour did come, and they did lay hands on Him, and put Him to death. Then He was glorified, and the Holy Spirit was given. And now we await another great time that has not yet come. John speaks of this also: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but . . . we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2).
 
In that great time to come, all things will be made subject to Christ. "But now we see not yet all things put under him" (Hebrews 2:8). These great promises and others associated with them have not yet been accomplished--the world is far from being in subjection to Him, and we are far from being like Him. But the hour will come, just as the first one did, and it will be glorious. For "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Fruit-Bearing Christians

"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:2)
 
As Christ emphasized in His parable of the vine and the branches, it is vitally important for a Christian to bear fruit. There are, in fact, many types of spiritual fruit mentioned in Scripture.
 
Perhaps the most important fruit, produced in one's life by the Holy Spirit, is that of a Christlike character. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22-23). "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Ephesians 5:9).
 
Holiness--the seal of a life dedicated to God--is a particular spiritual fruit. "Being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness" (Romans 6:22) and are "filled with the fruits of righteousness" (Philippians 1:11). This entails also the fruit of good works performed in the name of Christ, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work" (Colossians 1:10).
 
The habit of giving thanks and praise rather than complaint and criticism is a valuable Christian fruit. "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). Generosity is another important fruit. Paul commended the sacrificial giving of the Philippians: "Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account" (Philippians 4:17).
 
Finally, one vital fruit of a Christian witness is fruit borne in other Christians' lives. Paul's great desire was "that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles" (Romans 1:13). HMM
 

[Soldier4Christ]

The Gospel of Prosperity

"Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." (Romans 1:10)
 
This mention of the word "prosperous" is the first of the only four occurrences of the Greek word enodoo (meaning literally "good journey," but translated "prosper" or "prosperous") in the New Testament. Here it is actually rendered "prosperous journey."
 
It is obvious that Paul was not praying for his journey to prosper financially, for the next verse indicates his long desire had been to "impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established" (Romans 1:11).
 
However, the word has come to include any kind of prospering, as in 1 Corinthians 16:2, when Paul urged Christians to provide financial help for other Christians in need. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him," he said.
 
The term can also refer to physical and spiritual health. Its two other occurrences are in 3 John 2: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Unfortunately, certain teachers of these latter days have taken the biblical teaching of spiritual prosperity to mean financial prosperity, which they teach is the right of every Christian. But this "prosperity gospel" is so clearly unscriptural that it is merely a testimony to the cupidity of the Christians who believe it. "They that |desire to| be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts," warned Paul (1 Timothy 6:9). And to whatever extent God does prosper us financially, it is strictly for the purpose of helping others, not to indulge ourselves. "Charge them that are rich in this world, that . . . they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute" (1 Timothy 6:17-18). HMM