A Daily Devotional

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The Beginning Of Months

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2).

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, not only was their manner of life changed, but even the way they kept track of time. A new calendar was established by the Lord beginning around the time of the Exodus, so that each New Year would henceforth automatically make them remember their new beginning when God led them out of bondage in Egypt toward a new land of liberty.

This beginning of months, the month Abib, corresponding approximately to our modern April, was to be marked especially by observance of the Passover supper, on the fourteenth day of the month. The lamb was to be selected for each family on the tenth day of the month, and presumably the first nine days were days of preparation. The week following was to be marked by the use of unleavened bread in each home. The leaven represented the sin which had been purged from the home symbolically by the sacrifice of the lamb and their deliverance by God from bondage in Egypt when He saw the shed blood (note Exodus 12:13).

Although our annual calendar is different from that of Israel, the spiritual significance of their religious New Year can well be applied in our own lives today. We can remember that “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7), offering special thanks for our great deliverance from sin and death by our “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Then, like the redeemed Israelites, we should likewise “purge out therefore the old leaven, . . . the leaven of malice and wickedness,” and we should feast, instead, on “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Corinthians 5:7,8). If we would make—and keep—such New Year’s resolutions as these, this month would, indeed, become “the beginning of months” to us.

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Be Patient

“Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:.

Many of us have been looking for the return of the Lord Jesus for a long time. The writer has kept a simple little plaque on his office wall for over fifty years. It reads: “Perhaps today,” and serves as a daily reminder that today might indeed be the day when He comes again. We do long for His appearing, and as things seem to grow worse in the world year by year, it is easy to become impatient, or perhaps even despondent, when He doesn’t come.

Yet, day by day, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh!” as our text teaches. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:36,37).

Even the first-century Christians had to learn patience, as they also anxiously were awaiting Christ’s return to deliver them out of their tribulations—tribulations which were so great they seemed to fit “end-time prophecies.”

“Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13) is His admonition to all who await His second coming. “Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing” (Luke 12:43). But rather than hoping the Lord will come quickly to free us from our tribulations, we should “count it all joy when (we) fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of (our) faith worketh patience” (James 1:2,3). We need patience, and “tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3). For God will render “to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life” (Romans 2:7). We should “be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7).

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Adam And The Animals

“And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (Genesis 2:19).

This event occurred on the sixth day of creation week, between the formation of Adam’s body and that of Eve (note Genesis 1:26–31; 2:7,22), and there is no reason not to take it literally. Nevertheless, modern theistic evolutionists, including many seminary professors, have found two imaginary problems which they argue prevent taking it literally.

The first quibble finds a “contradiction” with Genesis 1:21–25, which says the animals were all made before Adam—not afterward. This supposed problem vanishes when the text verse is translated as follows: “The LORD God had formed every beast of the field.” This is a legitimate—in fact, preferable—translation of the Hebrew original.

The other alleged difficulty is the supposed inability of Adam to name all the animals in one day. The fact is, however, that he only had to give names “to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field” (Genesis 2:20)—that is, those nearby birds, cattle, and other mammals that might be seen as potential candidates to be a “help meet” for Adam. No marine animals, reptiles, insects, or “beasts of the earth” (Genesis 1:24) (i.e., living far away from Eden), were brought to him. Furthermore, he did not need to name every species, but only each relevant “kind”—possibly each “family” (i.e., dogs, horses, eagles, etc.).

Finally, his divinely created mental abilities were not yet limited by the disease of sin, so that he could appropriately name each kind much more rapidly than we could do. Thus, no sincere Bible student should be tempted to doubt Genesis by any such “difficulties” as these.

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No Place To Run

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

In our text verse, “which doth so easily beset” is one Greek word meaning to be thwarted in every direction. This best can be illustrated as one who is surrounded on every side by a high wall that he cannot cross over. God has called us to do His work, but our own flesh and the wiles of the devil “surround” on every side to discourage that calling.

“Beset” in the Old Testament has much the same meaning. Psalm 22 is a graphic picture of our Lord on the cross: “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round” (Psalm 22:12). This word “beset” means to “besiege.” When the Lord Jesus Christ was purchasing our salvation, the forces of Satan surrounded that cross in an effort to keep Him from doing the will of the Father.

If we read further in Hebrews 12, we find that Jesus Christ is indeed the example of how we must “run with patience the race that is set before us.” “For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (v.3).

The “laying aside” of every weight and the sin that keeps us from our Father’s will is not a gentle nudge. The terrible scene at the stoning of Stephen included the coats of the murderers being thrown at the feet of Saul. The writer used the same Greek word for this act as he did when he compelled us to lay aside every weight and sin that would cause us to lose sight of God’s purposes.

Psalm 139 also speaks of a “besetting,” but it is for our good and protection. “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me” (v.5). The God who calls us to His work will not leave us to mount the battle alone.

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Men From Mars


“The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16).

Science fiction and star-wars movies have conditioned people to believe in extra-terrestrial life, and billions of dollars have been wistfully spent by scientists and politicians dedicated to finding evidence of intelligent life in outer space. All of this is futile, for it is merely arrogant rejection of God’s testimony that only planet Earth has been given to man; all else belongs to God.

When God created Adam and Eve, He commissioned them to “have dominion . . . over all the earth” (Genesis 1:26). At Babel, rebellious men made their first attempt to intrude into God’s heavenly domain, erecting “a tower, whose top (is) unto heaven”—that is, designed for communicating with, and no doubt worshipping the presumed hosts of heaven, and consequently, God proceeded to “scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:4,9).

There are, of course, angels in the heavens, but even these (including Lucifer himself, the highest of all) cannot intrude in those realms restricted by God, and a third of the angels were actually cast out of heaven (note Isaiah 14:12–15; Revelation 12:4,9), when they attempted it.

“No man hath ascended up to heaven,” said Christ (John 3:13). “(God) hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26).

There is no hint in the Bible of men on Mars or anywhere else in space, and all real scientific evidence likewise is against such notions. The planet Earth, alone, is where God became man, where He died for man’s salvation, and where He will establish His universal throne in the ages to come.

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The First Christian


“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light” (John 1:.

Perhaps the least understood and appreciated man in the Bible is the man who was the first Christian soul winner, missionary, martyr, disciple, and pastor, as well as the first to make disciples for Christ, to acknowledge His deity, to baptize converts to Christ, to be imprisoned for his faith, and to teach concerning Christ, as Christ later commanded in His great commission.

John the Baptist is often mistakenly called the last Old Testament prophet, but that was Malachi, 400 years earlier. John was actually the first Christian! He leaped in joyous recognition of Christ while still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:44); in fact, he uniquely (apart from Christ) was “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15).

He was such a godly man that he was often mistaken for Christ, and John the Apostle even had to stress that John the Baptist was not really that Light, but that God had sent him to bear witness of the true Light—Jesus Christ. Christ Himself testified that no greater man than John the Baptist (not even Noah, Abraham, Job, Moses, or Daniel!) had ever been born (Matthew 11:9–11).

In no sense was the message of John an “Old Testament” message. He preached the deity of Christ, redemption by His sacrificial death, and salvation only through faith in Him (John 1:34,29; 3:36). He “began” the gospel message (Mark 1:1,2), and baptized and taught disciples whom he then directed to Christ. Their baptism was “Christian baptism.” In fact, John had baptized Christ Himself! Finally, when he had “(made) ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17), he was imprisoned by Herod and executed because of his faithful witness for Christ. He had given the “knowledge of salvation unto His people” (Luke 1:77).

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Characteristics Of Co-laborers


“I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1).

In Romans 16, thirty-five men and women are mentioned by name, all faithful co-laborers with the apostle Paul. Five terms are used to describe them. These same attributes should characterize Christian workers today: They were known as servants. “Phebe . . . a servant” (v.1). Greek, diakonon, from which we get our English word, deacon. It literally means, “through the dust,” which not only shows the servant’s humble position, but, also, that he works so hard he raises dust as he goes! They were known as helpers. “Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus” (v.3); “Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ” (v.9); “She hath been a succourer (helper) of many, and of myself also” (v.2). Being a helper is one position in the body of Christ that can be filled by anyone and everyone. They were known as laborers. “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us” (v.6); “Salute Typhena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord” (v.12); “Persis, which labored much in the Lord” (v.12). Greek, agonizomai, or agonize. Our labor for Christ does not always go smoothly. They were well-beloved. “Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus” (v.5); “Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord” (v.; “Salute . . . Stachys my beloved” (v.9); “Salute the beloved Persis” (v.12). Greek, agapao. Co-laborers should be treated with loving respect. They were known as having been approved. “Salute Apelles approved in Christ” (v.10); that is, he was tested and found worthy. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward” (I Corinthians 3:13,14).

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Thou Shalt Be Saved!


“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).

This was Paul’s answer to the trembling jailer’s question: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). To our modern sophisticated ears, such terms as being “saved” may sound strange and old-fashioned, but there is no more accurate term than this to describe the miracle that happens when a person becomes a real Christian, and is “born again.”

Before being saved, he is under God’s condemnation because of sin, destined for hell; but when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is “saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). Not only is he saved from eternal wrath, he is saved to eternal life. Christ is “able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

This great salvation is not achieved by good works of any kind or number, “for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

Although being saved is God’s gift to man, its cost was infinite to Christ. “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

The price of our salvation was the shed blood of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and the greatest of all sins—the one for which there is no forgiveness—is that of rejecting Him. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). He is our great redeeming Savior, and only He can save!

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Line Upon Line

“The Word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” (Isaiah 28:13).

This familiar passage (repeated mostly from Isaiah 28:10 just before it) is often cited in support of a detailed, verse-by-verse method of Bible study and exposition. However, the context is one of rebuke to the people of Ephraim (that is, the Northern Kingdom of Israel) in the days of the divided kingdom. Isaiah especially castigates the priests and prophets who should have been teaching God’s Word to the people, but who had instead become proud and then drunkards, leaving the people in great ignorance and spiritual confusion.

Therefore, cried Isaiah: “Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts” (v.9). Before they can really grow in the knowledge of God, they must be built up carefully, line upon line, for they are yet carnal babes in spiritual matters.

A very similar rebuke was administered to the early Christians, and would be even more appropriate today: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age” (Hebrews 5:12–14).

Such an admonition is greatly needed today, when Christian believers subsist almost entirely on spiritual milk—or even worse, on the froth that passes for evangelical literature in most Sunday schools and Christian bookstores today. We need to get back to the strong meat of the Word, lest we “fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”

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Publishing The Word

“The LORD gave the word: great was the company of those that published it” (Psalm 68:11).

The 68th Psalm prophesies the ascension of Christ. “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them” (v.18). This verse is quoted in Ephesians 4:8, applying it not only to Christ’s ascension but also to the sending forth of the gifts of the Spirit to redeemed men.

Before He ascended, however, He gave the Word—that is, the Great Commission—to His disciples. With that Word began the greatest publishing enterprise of all history. The Commission included not only preaching the gospel of salvation and baptizing believers, but also dissemination and indoctrination of all the Scriptures—“teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

The “all things” included many things—verbal inerrancy of the Scriptures, special creation, the worldwide flood, His atoning death and bodily resurrection, the second coming, and, in reality, everything in the Bible!

Soon thereafter, beginning at Jerusalem, then in all Judaea and Samaria, and eventually to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:, the wonderful Word of God began to be published by a great and invincible company of witnesses. The Scriptures have, to date, been published at least in part, in over a thousand languages, and have been read by more people than any other book ever written.

The psalmist David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesied 3,000 years ago the amazing worldwide spread of the message of the coming Savior. “Blessed be the LORD, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah” (Psalm 68:19).

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Can It Be?

“Christ also suffered for us . . . Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (I Peter 2:21,24).

Those who love good church music have come to love Charles Wesley’s commitment to and knowledge of His Savior and the Scriptures, for he wove into his music and poetry deep insights which challenge and thrill us even today. One of his finest hymns, “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” has unfortunately been much abridged in modern hymnals. Let us use its original five verses as an impetus to study the doctrinal themes expressed there:

And can it be that I should gain, An interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him, to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be, that thou, my Lord, should’st die for me?

Even the Old Testament saints wondered why God loved man so. “What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” (Job 7:17). The New Testament contains many similar expressions of wonder. “Behold, what manner of love (literally ‘what a different kind of love’) the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (I John 3:1). “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:8,11).

The point is, we were desperate sinners, deserving His wrath. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love (i.e., ‘amazing love’) wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)” (Ephesians 2:4,5).

He has extended His love toward us, undeserving though we are.

Amazing love! How can it be, that thou my God should’st die for me?

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The Immortal Dies

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17).

The second verse of “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” poses and solves a great mystery:

T’is mystery all! the immortal dies! Who can explain this strange design? In vain the first-born seraph tries, To sound the depths of love divine; T’is mercy all! Let earth adore! Let angel minds inquire no more.

Our text reminds us that God is immortal. And yet, “Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3), in order to bring us salvation. If this astounds us (and it should), we can take solace in that we are not alone. “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things . . . which things the angels desire to look into” (I Peter 1:10–12).

Think of it! The creator, the author of life, has died to offer eternal life to His creation, for “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), and the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). He died, so that we don’t have to die! This grand plan remains beyond our full grasp, as it always was to the prophets and the angels.

The motive behind His plan is God’s mercy. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us; . . . which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5,6).

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33).

Amazing love! How can it be, that thou my God should’st die for me?

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His Mercy Found Me

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:.

The third verse of the hymn which has drawn our attention, “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” sets the stage for the implementation of His majestic plan.

He left His father’s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace! Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race; T’is mercy all! Immense and free, For, O my God, it found out me!

The plan involved the death of God the Son. The Creator dying for the Creation. The righteous Judge taking on Himself the penalty of the condemned. The rejected holy One becoming sin on behalf of the true sinner. The convicted ones, powerless to alter the situation, simply receiving the offered grace through faith (see our text).

First, God had to take on Himself the nature of the condemned, live a guiltless life so that He could die as a substitutionary sacrifice. To do so, God the Son had to leave His Father’s throne. And, although “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (i.e., was willing to give up His kingly status): But made Himself of no reputation (literally, ‘emptied Himself’), and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: . . . and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6–8).

Adam had rebelled against his Creator’s authority, and all of mankind suffered. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12), yet Christ’s work on the cross changed all that. “For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (v.15).

Amazing love! How can it be, that thou my God should’st die for me?

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My Chains Fell Off


“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (I Peter 2:9).

The fourth verse of Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” compares Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison with a sinner’s deliverance from bondage to sin. “Peter was sleeping, . . . bound with two chains. . . . And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: . . . And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him . . . follow me” (Acts 12:6–8).

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light: My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

The Bible teaches that before being delivered, “ye were the servants of sin (i.e., in bondage to sin), but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:17,18). We were powerless to gain freedom on our own.

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” (II Corinthians 4:6), bringing freedom and life.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened (i.e., made alive) by the Spirit” (I Peter 3:18). “And you, being dead in your sins . . . hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13). If He has done all this for us, how can we do less than follow Him?

Amazing love! How can it be, that thou my God should’st die for me?

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Alive In Him

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The final verse of Wesley’s “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?” provides a fitting climax to all that has gone before:

No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, with all in Him, is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th’eternal throne, And claim the crown, thru Christ, my own.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). “Who is he that condemneth?” Not Christ! “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (v.34).

As in our text, we are now alive through Christ’s work on the cross. This gives us a standing far beyond our comprehension. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:9,10).

The song calls Him our “living Head,” and so He is. Peter calls Him a “living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. . . . The same is made the head of the corner” (I Peter 2:4,7).

In response to His love, we “put off concerning the former (way of living) of the old man . . . and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22,24). Dressed in His righteousness, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (II Timothy 4:.

Amazing love! How can it be, that thou my God should’st die for me?