A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

The Mystery of Darkness

“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 22:5)
 
The Bible reveals that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), and also that, in the ages to come, there will be no more darkness. God promises twice that there shall be “no night there” (Revelation 21:25; 22:5) in the very last references to night in the Bible.
 
Why, then, is there darkness, and where did it come from? God gives the answer: “I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness” (Isaiah 45:6-7). Light was always in and with God, but the darkness had to be created! And, it has a purpose, serving as a contrast to the light.
 
Men and women were created to love and have fellowship with their Creator, not as robots but in freedom. Darkness thus served as the choice that could be made against God and the light, for those so minded. Satan and his hosts of fallen angels and wicked spirits have become “the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12). The tragedy is that ever since Adam, men have “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19), and so have been practicing “the works of darkness” (Romans 13:12), and deserving nothing but “the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 1:13).
 
But our Creator has become our Redeemer. He “hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9), paying the great price for our redemption on the cross. The Father “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13); we are now free to enter into the eternal fellowship with God that He had planned before the world began. We should “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

God's Son in the Old Testament

“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalm 2:7)
 
There are many today (especially Muslims, Jews, and Christian “liberals”) who are monotheists, believing in one supreme God but rejecting the deity of Christ. They argue that the doctrine that Jesus was the unique Son of God was invented by the early Christians and that the God of the Old Testament had no Son. Orthodox Jews in particular emphasize Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”
 
The fact is, however, that there are a number of Old Testament verses that do speak of God’s only begotten Son. Note the following brief summary.
 
First, there is God’s great promise to David: “I will set up thy seed after thee, . . . I will be his father, and he shall be my son. . . . thy throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:12, 14, 16).
 
Consider also the rhetorical questions of Agur. “Who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?” (Proverbs 30:4).
 
Then there are the two famous prophecies of Isaiah, quoted so frequently at Christmastime. “Behold, a [literally ‘the’] virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [meaning ‘God with us’]” (Isaiah 7:14). “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
 
Perhaps the most explicit verse in this connection is our text. “The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son” (Psalm 2:7). Then this marvelous Messianic psalm concludes with this exhortation: “Kiss the Son, . . . Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

His Word Is with Power

“And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.” (Luke 4:32)
 
God’s words, whether spoken by Jesus or written in Scripture, are indeed full of power, and it is noteworthy how many and varied are the physical analogies used to characterize and emphasize its power.
 
For example, consider Jeremiah 23:29. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” The fire analogy is also stressed in Jeremiah 20:9, when the prophet became weary of the negative reaction against his preaching: “Then I said, I will not . . . speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
 
God’s Word is also called a sharp sword wielded by the Holy Spirit. As part of the Christian’s spiritual armor, we are exhorted to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
 
Even more significantly, perhaps, it is compared to light, for light energy is really the most basic of all forms of energy, or power. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path.” “The entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:105, 130). The first spoken words of Christ our Creator were “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).
 
But no earthly form of power can compare to the power in the words of the One who is Himself the living Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is actually “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The New Heavens and New Earth

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)
 
There is a glorious future awaiting the redeemed. Although God’s primeval creation of the heavens and the earth is eternal (note Psalm 148:6, etc.), these are now groaning in pain under the effects of sin and the curse. When the Lord returns, they will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into . . . glorious liberty” (Romans 8:21), and God will make them all new again, with all the scars of sin and death burned away by His refining fires (2 Peter 3:10).
 
There are four explicit references in the Bible to these “renewed” heavens and Earth. In addition to our text, which assures us that they will be so wonderful that this present earth and its heavens will soon be forgotten, there is the great promise of Isaiah 66:22: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.” Thus, that heavens and Earth will remain eternally, and so will all who dwell there, with their true spiritual children. Note also that both God’s “creation” and “making” powers will be applied to the new heavens and new earth, just as they were to the first (Genesis 2:3).
 
The third and fourth references are in the New Testament. “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). Not only will no sin be present there, neither will the results of sin and the curse. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; . . . And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:1, 4). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Land of Uz

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.” (Job 1:1)
 
Uz was a son of Aram and a grandson of Shem (Genesis 10:22-23). Shem’s first son, Arphaxad, was born two years after the Flood, and his remaining sons would have been born in some reasonable sequence thereafter, probably around 36 years apart (Genesis 11:10-26). It is unlikely that Aram, Uz’s father, was born past the first century after the Flood. The events at Babel took place during the fifth generation (the generation of Peleg), and Uz would have been alive then.
 
The land of Uz is later associated with the territory of Edom (Lamentations 4:21), which is near the area southeast of the Dead Sea, toward the upper reaches of the Sinai Peninsula, east of Egypt and just north of the Red Sea. Although that area is not very pleasant now, at the time of Abraham it was “well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar” (Genesis 13:10). Quite likely, this was one of the more beautiful spots that was safely away from the rule of Nimrod and farther away from the climate shifts that were leading to the coming Ice Age.
 
We must guard against seeing the message in the light of our own experience, education, and entertainment. When we read that Job had vast herds of “camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household” (Job 1:3), our first reaction is to reject that as pure exaggeration since we “know” that that whole area is desert and could not possibly support that kind of lifestyle. Perhaps we need to “let God be true, but every man a liar” when we approach the words of Scripture (Romans 3:4). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Job and Friends

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.” (Job 2:11)
 
When this epic poem begins, Job is wealthy by any standards (Job 1:3). He was likely a tradesman, something of an import-export businessman, with vast livestock and wholesale food supplies, equipping distance caravans for himself and others.
 
His friends lived at different points across the Arabian Peninsula. Eliphaz was from Teman, a city in the northern part of the land later known as Edom. Bildad was from Shuhu, somewhat south of Haran near the southern borders of what is now Turkey. Zophar was from Naamah, which was likely located to the east in the south of Canaan. Elihu, the young man who speaks later in the book, was from Buz, in northern Arabia.
 
These men came to comfort Job from some distance, but although they had a strong conviction about a Creator God, they struggled with a “works” salvation, continually accusing Job of having a secret sin of some sort. But God had said, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8).
 
In his own defense, Job insisted that everyone knew of his godly behavior. “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. . . . I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind. . . . I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth” (Job 29:11-17). Would to God that each of us could have the same confidence in our behavior. HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Satan's Arrogance in Heaven

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” (Job 1:6-7)
 
This startling piece of information does not fit with the common idea that Satan was cast out of heaven prior to Genesis 3 or as described in Luke 10:18. Many suggest that the same event is in view in Revelation 12:7-9 when Michael led the battle against Satan, casting him and his demons to Earth to become “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) and confining him to Earth, where he worked feverishly to assemble the ultimate human army to defy the Creator.
 
If that is so, then the rather nonchalant appearance of Satan in Job 1:6 among the “sons of God” in the throne room seems very much out of place.
 
Perhaps the arrogance of Satan is based on the freedom he believes he has as one of the chief angels, “going to and fro” with apparent impunity, “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Whatever may be the actual state of Lucifer’s freedom under the sovereignty of almighty God, Satan responds to God’s question regarding Job with little fear of contradiction or any concern for personal rebuke.
 
Please remember: Satan was a created being with such majesty and beauty (Ezekiel 28:15-17) that he believed he could overthrow the Creator Himself (Isaiah 14:12-14). This short passage, which appears no other place in the Bible, gives us unique insight into the nature of the angelic world and the sovereign confidence of the One who knows “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Satan's Proposition

“Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 1:9-11)
 
Satan acknowledges the sovereign power of God, whether in pretense or flattery, by conceding that God has “made a hedge” around Job and that He has “blessed the work of his hands.” Satan had the power to do damage (and he does have great power), yet he appears to understand that no damage could be done unless the Creator Himself gave the permission. Even in his blatant disdain for everything God represents, Satan knows that God must withdraw the “hedge” before any “touch” on Job could occur.
 
The Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand” (Job 1:12). So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
 
Although God’s “thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [His] ways” (Isaiah 55:8), He does extend His protective authority on all of His twice-born. “No temptation [has] taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
 
Whatever may happen “to them who are the called according to his purpose” in this life, God is overseeing and protecting every moment so that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Satan's Malice

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? . . . Still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 2:3-5)
 
After Satan suddenly plunges Job into total poverty and rips his children from him, “Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:20-22).
 
Nonchalantly appearing among the “sons of God” again, Satan callously suggests that if God would strike “His hand” against Job—this time by ruining his health—Job would rebel and disavow his relationship with God. All of heaven must have cowered as Satan maliciously baited God again. But the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” (Job 2:6-7).
 
As Job moves to the trash heap to scrape the oozing pus from his sores, his wife throws a final slur at his face: “Curse God and die.” But Job simply says, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). May the example of this good man encourage us to trust God even in times of woe. HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Pain and Suffering

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him . . . they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. . . . And none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.” (Job 2:11-13)
 
If God is sovereign and omnipotent, why does He permit “bad” to exist? Since pain and suffering exist, God seemingly must not be omnipotent, or not good, or both. Those who have been hurt by evil often conclude that if God cannot stop it, He does not deserve worship. Although this debate won’t be settled in this short devotional, some Bible facts must be considered.
 
When Adam and Eve chose to embrace the lie of self-determination and reject the rule of the Creator over them, God pronounced a sentence of death on all life and the sentence of disorder on all functioning systems in the universe. Death, of course, is the source of all pain and suffering, and “thorns and thistles” represent the ultimate decay of function and order in everything else. Pain and suffering are the result of evil, not the cause (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:22).
 
Satan reverses that truth and would have mankind believe that God is the source of evil and must be placated.
 
Since Job was suffering, and God was sovereign, the only solution seemed that Job had violated one of God’s laws and therefore was suffering because he had sinned. Logic dictated that God was good and right, therefore Job was wrong and evil. The trouble was, of course, that human logic could not take into account the inscrutable omniscience of an omnipotent Creator. “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Health and Wealth

“If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.” (Job 8:6-7)
 
Bildad was reflecting the half truths and logic Satan used with Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3). When theology or philosophy differ from Scripture, the choice is either one or the other. Attempting to amalgamate the differences always leads to error. The prosperity gospel often taught today is an extension of that error.
 
Satan refused to understand that some of the human race were “perfect and upright” like Job (Job 1:1) and loved and trusted God for their eternal destiny. Such godly people cannot be bought by possessions or circumstances. As Job later said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).
 
Satan’s original lie to Adam and Eve was that they could obtain the power of God by grasping the “secret” of evil. As the human race grew more despicable, embracing Satan’s lie, Satan began using the duplicity of angelic power and human procreation (Genesis 6:1-4) to attempt his coveted coup (Isaiah 14:13). That was destroyed by God with the great Flood.
 
Satan tried again with Nimrod at Babel and was defeated when God confounded human language. Lucifer then attempted to “trick” God into taking away His blessing on Job so Satan would have an example to show of God’s capricious care. All Satan got for his efforts was the testimony of this great man enshrined in Scripture to encourage the rest of humanity. “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Human Sufficiency

“If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; if iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear.” (Job 11:13-15)
 
Zophar clearly summarized the belief that the human will is all that is necessary to reach perfection. He believed in a Creator God. He knew that God was holy, but Zophar had bought into Satan’s first lie: “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
 
Satan needed a lesson in sovereignty, but also a lesson in love. Satan’s logic would have it that all love is self-serving. He had deceived himself into believing that he could overthrow the Creator, that he could win the worship of the human race by throwing his largess of power and brilliance on those who follow his leadership. (Sounds suspiciously like the history of political manipulation over the millennia.)
 
Throughout the Scriptures, God presents Himself as sovereign over the affairs of men. “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor?” (Romans 9:20-21).
 
The theological debate is whether the salvation event is by God’s grace alone (Calvinism) or if mankind must willingly cooperate with God to obtain and maintain salvation (Arminianism). The great mystery of the human will and the choice to submit to and love God is beyond explanation. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Job's Gospel

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27)
 
The main thought among Job’s friends concerning righteousness seems to be reciprocity. That is, if you are good, good things will happen to you. If you are bad, bad things will happen. However, it is very clear that this reciprocity was not the belief system that motivated Job. His friends may well have bought into the growing philosophy that “works” would suffice for salvation, but not this “perfect and upright” servant of God (Job 1:1).
 
Although Job continually protested he had lived a righteous life and was mystified why God had allowed the calamities to descend on him, Job still understood that he was a sinner by nature and needed the cleansing only God could provide.

    “What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” (Job 7:17)
    “But how should a man be just with God?” (Job 9:2)
    “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” (Job 14:4)

The New Testament simplicity of the gospel through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ may not yet have been clear to Job. However, even God Himself said of Job, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8). Job knew the “good news” of a holy, loving, saving Creator and coming King. HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

Job's Flood Facts

“Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?” (Job 22:15-17)
 
The many references to the Flood in the book of Job are couched in the language of those who had personal knowledge of the event. Modern creationist and Flood geologists can only surmise what may have happened during the year of the Flood. Job and his friends were living during the lifetime of Noah and his sons and had heard the account of the Flood.
 
The families of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had spoken to the original occupants of the Ark, and they knew! If these men had not heard directly from the mouths of Noah or one of his sons, then they had heard from their fathers or their fathers’ fathers, who had heard directly. Noah lived 350 years after the Flood. Shem lived 502 years beyond the day they disembarked from the Ark. Shem outlived Abraham!
 
The horrible consequences of the great Flood were still fresh in their minds (Job 12:14-15). Once the evil of the world became intense and widespread, the gracious and omnipotent Creator offered 120 years of opportunity to repent (1 Peter 3:20). But when that opportunity ran its course and Noah, the “preacher of righteousness,” gave his last invitation, God shut the door to the Ark, and the judgment waters came and overwhelmed the earth (2 Peter 2:5; 3:6).
 
Our generation openly mocks the authority and power of God. “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:20-21). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.

[Soldier4Christ]

God's Behemoth

“Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee.” (Job 40:15)
 
As God responded to Job, He spent an unusual amount of time referring to animals Job would be familiar with—lions, goats, unicorns (probably the aurochs or wild ox), peacocks, the ostrich, the horse, hawks, and eagles, all within 33 verses.
 
Then, as though Job needed to pay special attention, God took 44 verses to talk about two animals—behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and leviathan (Job 41:1-34)—citing the behavior and descriptions of these very large animals. Why the interest? Why should it matter?
 
To begin with, behemoth was “made with thee.” Whatever it was, it was created at the same time as man. Behemoth was an enormous animal that “moveth his tail like a cedar” and had bones like “strong pieces of bronze” and “bars of iron.” Behemoth was “the chief of the ways of God; only he that made him can make his sword to approach him.” This animal illustrates something of the enormous power of the Creator and gives evidence that only God could control it (Job 40:15-19).
 
Today, with only fossil bones to give some idea of the enormity of this animal, science would likely call behemoth an Apatosaurus. This creature really lived in the past. The fossils indicate it was between 70 and 90 feet long and nearly 15 feet high at the hips. The tail was about 50 feet long (remember the cedar tree), and it had peg-like teeth that suggest its diet was plants. The legs were like columns. Estimates suggest that the animal weighed around 35 tons.
 
With this much known evidence, it is sad to see the notes in the margins of many Bibles insisting that the behemoth was either an elephant or a hippopotamus. Perhaps these “scoffers” are “willingly ignorant” (2 Peter 3:3-5). HMM III
 
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III.