A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

Headstone of the Corner

“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” (Psalm 118:22)
 
That this enigmatic verse is really a Messianic prophecy is evident from the fact that Christ Himself applied it thus. “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?” (Matthew 21:42). The Jewish leaders had refused Him as their Messiah, but the day would come when they would have to confess their sad mistake.
 
Later, addressing them concerning “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,” the apostle Peter said: “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:10-11).
 
This analogy evidently refers back to the building of Solomon’s great temple a thousand years earlier. At that time, each of the great stones for its beautiful walls was “made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings 6:7). According to tradition, there was one stone which didn’t fit with the others, so the builders moved it out of the way. At last, when the temple tower was almost complete, they found they were missing the pinnacle stone which would cap all the rest. Finally they realized that the stone they had rejected had been shaped to be the head stone at the topmost corner of the tower.
 
Peter referred to it again in his epistle: “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, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient”
(1 Peter 2:6-8). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Fear Not, Little Flock

“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Luke 12:31)
 
In these days of financial worries and rampant materialism, it does us good to reflect on Christ’s teaching concerning our priorities. In this passage, He was teaching His disciples not to be troubled over temporal things (v. 22), but to rest in the fact that He will supply our needs. “If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (v. 28). We are not to have our mind set on material things (v. 29), neither are we to be “of doubtful mind” wavering between hope and fear of the future.
 
We are to be different. We are children of the King and are in His care. The “nations of the world seek after” (v. 30) these things. Our Father knows that we have need of certain things, and since He loves us and has our best interests at heart, we have nothing to “fear” and can be assured that “all these things shall be added unto [us]” (v. 31).
 
But more is involved. It is not enough simply to avoid improper fixation on the things of the world; we are to seek rather “the Kingdom of God”; we are to be about His business. His priorities should be our priorities. We must strive to know Him and His Word so well that we naturally conform our actions to His desires. If we do so, He not only will take pleasure in supplying our physical needs (v. 31), but also “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32).
 
It is our privilege to participate in His work on Earth as He enables. Our part may be to give: “Sell [what you] have, and give alms,” thereby storing up “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not” (v. 33), or to pray, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (v. 34). If our primary desire is to enhance the work of the Kingdom, then He will give us that desire, and we will see fruit which lasts for eternity. JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

Pastors and Teachers

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” (Ephesians 4:11)
 
The four or five specific spiritual gifts mentioned by Paul in this passage are said to have been given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). And all of this is for the ultimate goal that “we . . . speaking the truth in love, may grow up into [Christ] in all things” (Ephesians 4:14-15).
 
The teaching gift is of particular importance in attaining this goal. The gift of serving as an apostle was given only to the twelve plus a few others (e.g., Paul) who had actually seen the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 9:1); the last of these was John. The gift of real prophets who could convey God’s revelations to men was necessary in that first century before the New Testament was written, but that also has apparently ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8), though there are still many false prophets (Matthew 24:11).
 
The gifts of evangelists and pastors will continue as long as there continue to be lost people who need to be won and new believers who need to be led (the word “pastor” actually means “shepherd” and is so translated in all its other occurrences). The other two lists of spiritual gifts do not mention either evangelists or pastors, but all three do mention teachers (Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28). Many pastors also have the gift of teaching, but the other two lists indicate that teaching is a gift for many others as well.
 
In fact, Christ’s great commission included teaching people “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). And since He in the beginning had created “all things” and is now “upholding all things” (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:3), this teaching could well include all true education, in every subject. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Christ Our Substitute

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:28)
 
There are two specific references in the New Testament to Christ “bearing” our sins as He died on the cross. In addition to our text above, the other is 1 Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.”
 
However, the same word (Greek anaphero) is also used with a similar thrust in Hebrews 7:27, where it is translated “offer up”: “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”
 
When Christ died, He died as a substitutionary sacrifice, “offering up” our sins for judgment and punishment by a holy God, as He simultaneously “offered up” Himself as the One who would submit to that judgment and bear that punishment. He was able to do this because He was both the infinite Creator and the one sinless man, who needed not to offer a sacrifice for His own sins. He was willing to do this because He loved us and wanted to save us.
 
This doctrine of substitutionary sacrifice is central to the gospel of salvation, and therefore precious to the saint. But its central importance likewise means that it is profoundly offensive to the natural man. Many acclaim Him as a great martyr or a great teacher, but deny either His deity or His humanity, and certainly deny the universal efficacy of His shed blood in substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of a lost world.
 
Nevertheless, He did bear the sins of “the many,” and He did completely settle our account with God. In both Hebrews 7:27 and 9:28 (as cited above), the word “once” means, literally, “once for all.” He did have to die once—but only once—as our sin-bearing substitute. Thus, when He comes again, it will be “without sin unto salvation.” HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Threescore Years and Ten

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10)
 
When Moses wrote these words near the end of his life, he was 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7), but all the rest of the people of Israel (except Caleb and Joshua) who had been over 20 at the beginning of the 40-year wilderness wanderings, had died there (Numbers 14:28-34), and so there were no others over 60 years old.
 
In former days men had lived much longer. Adam died at 930 and Noah at 950, but then Shem only lived to 600, and Abraham died at 175 years of age. Thus, the normal lifespan by Moses’ time was down to 70 or 80 years, and he prophesied that this would continue.
 
It is remarkable that, with all the increase in medical knowledge, this figure has stayed about the same, and there seems to be little the gerontologists can do to increase it.
 
Furthermore, the latter years are largely “labor and sorrow,” just as God told Adam when his sin brought God’s curse on the earth (Genesis 3:17-20). No matter how much we try to prolong our lives, we are “soon cut off.”
 
But then, we “fly away”! The soul/spirit complex of the Christian believer, released from its weary body, flies away to be with the Lord. Those left behind may sorrow, but “to depart, and to be with Christ . . . is far better.” The Christian may confidently say with Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:23, 21). In the meantime, as our time grows shorter, it is more important than ever that we “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). “So teach us to number our days,” prayed Moses (and so should we), “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Elioenai

“And the sons of Neariah; Elioenai, and Hezekiah, and Azrikam, three.” (1 Chronicles 3:23)
 
Elioenai’s name is in a long list of names in the book of Chronicles. In fact, it is significant that the Bible contains the proper names of more individuals than can be found in all the other books of antiquity put together—strong evidence of its historical authenticity. These were real names of real people, and each would, no doubt, have a fascinating story to tell if he could. The ancient Israelites were very conscious of their divine calling as God’s chosen people; family relationships and genealogical records were highly valued.
 
Godly parents were very conscious that “children are an heritage of the LORD” (Psalm 127:3) and commonly gave each of them a name with some special spiritual meaning. Neariah, whose name meant “servant of the LORD,” was a distant descendant of David, and his firstborn son was Elioenai. This was a testimony of parental faith, for it means “turning your eyes to the mighty God.”
 
Very little else is known about Elioenai (except the names of his two brothers and seven sons), but the lengthy genealogies break off in the generation of his sons, indicating probably that his parents were in the generation taken captive to Babylon. It is fascinating to wonder why they gave Elioenai his name and to imagine how it may have influenced the life and spiritual growth of Elioenai himself.
 
In any case, it is a beautiful and meaningful name, and we can hope that his character developed accordingly. For, if so, believers will be able to meet him in heaven someday.
 
His name still bears an urgent message to us today: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; turn to the mighty God, your Creator and Savior!” We should also remember the example of the godly parents in ancient times, in giving our children names that will inspire them and be a testimony to others. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Who Shall Let It?

“Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43:13)
 
This is one of the classic “archaisms” of the King James Version, where the English word “let” does not mean “allow” (as we now use the word), but almost the exact opposite. This particular English word was originally written and pronounced “lat” and was from the same Teutonic root as the word “late.” Thus, to our Old English ancestors, it meant essentially “make late,” or “hinder.” Note its similar use in the King James in Romans 1:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
 
However, the Hebrew word (shub) from which it is translated in the verse of our text is extremely flexible, being rendered no less than 115 different ways in the Old Testament, occurring about 1,150 times altogether, with the context controlling its meaning in any given case.
 
In this context, the great theme is that of God as omnipotent Creator and only Savior. The first occurrence of shub, however, is at the time of the primeval curse on the creation, implanted in the very dust of the earth because of Adam’s sin. To Adam, God had said: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). Here, shub is twice rendered “return,” and this is the way it is most often translated in its later occurrences.
 
God therefore challenges every man: “When I work, who can return anything [or anyone] to its [or his] prior condition?” Though none can deliver out of His hand, or “make late” His work, He has promised to be our Savior, “and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:11, 25). When it is time for God to do His work—whether of creation or judgment or salvation—there is no one in all His creation who can “make it late”! HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Flesh and the Spirit

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
 
The conflict between flesh and spirit is a frequent theme in Scripture, beginning way back in the antediluvian period: “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3). The “flesh,” of course, refers to the physical body with all its feelings and appetites, while man’s “spirit” refers especially to his spiritual nature with its ability to understand and communicate in terms of spiritual and moral values, along with its potential ability to have fellowship with God.
 
Because of sin, however, the natural man is spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). When the flesh dominates, even the apostle Paul would have to say, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). This aspect of human nature became so dominant in the antediluvian world that “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12), and God had to wash the world clean with the Flood.
 
Now, however, the substitutionary death of Christ brings salvation and spiritual life to all who receive Him by the Holy Spirit. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:10-11). By the Lord Jesus Christ, the human spirit is made alive right now, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the body’s resurrection is promised when Christ returns.
 
“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh.” The daily challenge to the believer is this: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

To Be Like Him

“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
 
Scripture admonishes us as Christians to be like our Lord and Savior in “all manner of conversation,” or all manner of life. We are His earthly witnesses, and we must so order our lives that we are an adequate reflection of Him.
 
We are to be like Him in the purity of our lives. As our text points out, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). “Follow . . . holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
 
Our daily walk and lives should be patterned after Him. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:7).
 
Furthermore, we are to be like Him in love. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God . . . for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). We are to be willing to suffer unjustly without revenge, “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:21-22).
 
Being like Him involves a life of service, as well. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).
 
Christ has forgiven each of us many times, even though our sins grieve Him deeply. He stands ready to forgive and restore fellowship, and so should we. With His help, we can emulate Him, even when we are wronged. “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

Habitation for God

“Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool.” (Psalm 132:5-7)
 
These fascinating verses may well have a double meaning. First, a retrospective reference to David’s desire to build a temple for God and, second, a prophecy concerning a still future habitation for God. Ephratah was the same as Bethlehem, the birthplace of both David and his greater son, Jesus.
 
The writer of this psalm may have been King Hezekiah, a contemporary of the prophet Micah, who had written: “Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, . . . out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). He was also a contemporary of Isaiah, who had written concerning this same coming Son: “His name shall be called . . . The mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).
 
David had desired to build an earthly habitation for the mighty God of Israel; Isaiah had said this “mighty God” would be “a child born” and “a Son given”; and Micah said He would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah. Our psalmist must have been thinking about these truths when he saw, through the future eyes of those “in the fields of the wood,” “at Ephratah,” this “place for the LORD,” who then would go to “worship at His footstool.”
 
Some 800 years later, “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields” at Bethlehem Ephratah, when a great host of angels told them the promised Savior had come, directing them to go to His “habitation” to worship Him. And that was where they did, indeed, find Him, “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8, 12), and they were the very first to “worship at his footstool.” HMM

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The God of Heaven

“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9)
 
It was by these words that the prophet Jonah identified himself to the merchants of Tarshish as he was fleeing on their ship from the presence of the Lord. This special title, “the God of heaven,” seems generally to have been used by the Jews when they were talking to men of other religions, stressing that their God was no mere tribal deity, but the true God who had created the very heavens.
 
The title was first used by Abraham, speaking to his servant: “And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth” (Genesis 24:3). At this time, the nation of Israel existed only in the promise of this “God of heaven.”
 
It also appears frequently in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, first in the decree of Cyrus the Persian: “The LORD God of heaven . . . hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:2). Even though the Persians followed lesser gods, Cyrus knew that the one God of heaven was the Creator. The name then reappears several times in the book of Daniel, who was living in the palace of the heathen king of Babylon. Its final Old Testament occurrence is Daniel 2:44: “The God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”
 
In the New Testament it occurs only twice, both in Revelation. In one instance, John writes that the ungodly nations “blasphemed the God of heaven”; in the other, he says they “gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelation 16:11; 11:13). In our own witnessing today, especially to those who don’t know or believe the Bible, it is also good to stress that our God is not just the God of Judeo-Christian tradition, but the Creator of all things. HMM

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Showers of Blessing

“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” (Ezekiel 34:26)
 
This verse provided the inspiration for the old gospel hymn “Showers of Blessing.” While it applies specifically to Israel, it states a divine principle which believers of all times have rightly appropriated to their own lives. The same word (“showers”) is also frequently translated “rain,” speaking of the rain which followed Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal at the end of the three-year drought. “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (1 Kings 18:41).
 
In general, the word is most commonly used to indicate very heavy rains. In fact, its first occurrence is in connection with the great Flood. “The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12). This rain had poured forth from the windows (literally “sluiceways”) of heaven, and it provides an impressive picture of the tremendous showers of blessing which God desires to pour down on His people.
 
In the context of our key verse, the promised showers follow the condition of the preceding verses: “And I the LORD will be their God, . . . And I will make with them a covenant of peace” (Ezekiel 34:24-25). The greatest blessings of God, accordingly, must follow the knowledge of God and the peace of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
No doubt the greatest of all spiritual blessings, at least in this life, is the inspired Word of God, and the same word is so used: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud. . . . So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). HMM

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Righteous Boldness

“The righteous are bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1)
 
A holy boldness is imparted to those who seek to speak the truth of God (Acts 4:31). The miracle of the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit was followed by several incidents where the various apostles and early Christian leaders spoke “boldly in the Lord” (Acts 14:3, etc). Where does this boldness come from?
 
The Presence of the Holy Spirit: The Sanhedrin “saw the boldness of Peter and John” when they were dragged before them (Acts 4:13), after they had healed the lame man shortly after Pentecost. Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 4:8) and boldly answered the farcical questioning of those self-righteous leaders, and they “took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). When we speak with God’s authority, we speak boldly.
 
The Words of God’s Word: The first church prayed “that with all boldness they may speak thy word,” and they were enabled to speak “the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29, 31). When Paul was starting the church in Ephesus, he “spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8). We should have boldness when we have opportunity to “make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).
 
The Assurance of a Righteous Life: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Several godly traits of righteous men are given in Hebrews, “so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).
 
These are from where that boldness comes. HMM III

[Soldier4Christ]

Inherit the Wind

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” (Proverbs 11:29)
 
This verse was selected to provide the title for one of the most widely distributed movies ever produced in Hollywood. Inherit the Wind was a black-and-white movie produced in 1960 starring Spencer Tracy as the famous atheist lawyer Clarence Darrow. The theme of the picture was the Scopes evolution trial held in Tennessee in 1925. The picture glorified Darrow and evolutionism, portraying creationists and Bible-believing Christians as fanatical buffoons.
 
Although the movie grossly distorted history, it has continued all these years to be shown over and over. The Scopes trial itself—in the absence of any real scientific evidence for evolution—is repeatedly rehashed in print by evolutionists in their zeal to destroy creationism. This is typical of the “profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20) to which evolutionists resort in lieu of evidence.
 
As far as the Scripture verse itself is concerned, it should serve rather as a sober warning to those evolutionary humanists who are still troubling our nation’s homes and schools and churches with this false and deadly doctrine of evolution. They are the ones who will inherit the wind. “The ungodly . . . are like the chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalm 1:4). They are the ones who, “professing themselves to be wise,” became fools (Romans 1:22), “who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).
 
It is the one who proclaims “no God” who is “the fool” (Psalm 53:1) of our text. Evolutionists, humanists, atheists, and other anti-biblicists will inherit nothing but wind, but “the wise shall inherit glory” (Proverbs 3:35). HMM

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 Wondrous Things in the Word

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)

The word “law” (Hebrew torah), as used in the psalms, actually refers to all the revealed Scriptures. We may well understand it today to mean the entire Bible. And we can indeed behold wondrous things in the Word if we have eyes to see and hearts to believe by the grace of God.

The adjective “wondrous” is often used to describe God’s mighty miracles in Egypt and elsewhere (e.g., Psalm 106:22 “Wondrous works in the land of Ham”). This would indicate that there are many evidences of divine origin that can be gleaned from the Scriptures, if our spiritual eyes are open to discern them as we search.

This 119th Psalm itself illustrates this truth. It has 22 stanzas (keyed in turn to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each with eight verses (the number eight representing new life, since eight suggests a new beginning after the “completeness” represented by the number seven). In each stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter—aleph, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, in the first stanza, beth in the second stanza, etc.—and the 176 verses (i.e., 8 times 22) of the psalm (the longest chapter in the Bible) have 176 references to the Holy Scriptures.

The great theme of the psalm is, therefore, the wonder and power of the life-giving, written Word of God. As the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead on the “eighth day,” and as there are eight other instances of the dead being restored to life in the Bible, there are eight different Hebrew words used for the Scriptures in the psalm.

Life through the Word! This is also the testimony of the gospel of Christ, revealed in “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). HMM