A Daily Devotional

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He Is Risen, As He Said

“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6).

Christ frequently predicted His coming death, but never did He predict His death without also predicting that He would rise from the dead (i.e., Matthew 17:22,23). His persecutors even knew of this prediction and attempted to prohibit it by placing guards at the tomb (Matthew 27:63–66).

That He died should come as no surprise. Everyone dies, and Christ had been hounded by death. Herod had tried to kill Him as a baby (Matthew 2:16). Satan tried to convince Him to jump from a high place (Matthew 4:6). The people of Nazareth attempted to throw Him over a cliff (Luke 4:29). The Pharisees, for some time, had sought to kill Him.

Jesus had come to die, but His death had to be a specific death. He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:. The will of the Father, which He had come to do, included not only His sacrificial death but His resurrection as well, to gain the victory over hell and death (Revelation 1:18). When the time came He did die, bearing our sins on the cross. And as our text tells us, He arose from the dead just as He said He would.

The resurrection cannot be over emphasized. We have no assurance of His deity, nor forgiveness of sins, nor eternal life apart from His resurrection. “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (I Corinthians 15:17).

The enemies of the cross know this. They still seek to destroy the young child, denying His incarnation and virgin birth. Priests and politicians still crucify the Lord and set guards over His grave, declaring Him to be dead. But, as we see in our text, “He is risen, as He said.” By this fact, we can be assured that it is the skeptics and the detractors who are on trial. They either will come to the cross for salvation or be cast by it into eternal darkness.

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Scriptural Soul

“Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18).

Scriptural soul-winning is soul-winning based on the Scriptures, and accomplished by using the Scriptures. The “Word of Truth” is the means by which the Lord brings about the miracle of regeneration. This is also the testimony of the apostle Peter: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23). “The seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:11) which, when properly sown and watered in good ground, will bring forth the fruit of salvation. One must “Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

The Lord Jesus has said: “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). And, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life” (John 5:39).

It is only in the written Word that we learn of the living Word, without whom “was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3), and who “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He is “the Word of life,” and “these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God” says the apostle John, “that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (I John 1:1; 5:13).

It may be that no two people ever come to faith in exactly the same way, but one thing is always essential: “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth” (text verse). If we would win others to Christ, we must believe and live and use the Holy Scriptures, for only they can make one “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 3:15).

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Renovation For God

“Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it” (Judges 6:30).

The Lord had given Gideon instruction to throw down the altar of Baal which his father, Joash, had built, and to cut down the sacred grove that stood by the altar (v.25). Further, he was to build an altar unto the true God in Baal’s place, sacrifice a bullock, and burn the sacrifice on the altar, using the wood from the grove. Gideon took ten servants and accomplished the task by night, because he feared the men of his father’s household and the men of that city.

In the morning after the deed was done, it was learned that Gideon led the foray and determined that he should die for what he had done. But his father spoke up and said in effect, “Do you need to plead for Baal? Can’t he plead for himself as a god?” This stance offset the pressure of the people and led to a renaming of Gideon to Jerubbaal—“Let Baal plead against him” (v.32).

Frequently there are important changes that need to take place in our lives—ones for our own good. Yet we have altars that stand for former behavior of which we can’t seem to let go. It takes a champion of right to see clearly the need for change and get it started. People of God—exhorters—come our way, and in frank statements or behavior help us make the transition. In Gideon’s case, it was the angel of God (v.20). First, the altars have to come down. We must focus on the primary issue that has taken us away from God’s presence. Remove it, once and for all! Tear it down! Construct a pattern of behavior in the place of the old, to assure that our course has been reset. We then should look around at what helped us stray far from God, and burn them up as a sacrifice to the permanency of the event.

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Origin Of The Races

“These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood” (Genesis 10:32).

This is the concluding verse of the tenth chapter of Genesis, known as “The Table of Nations.” It tells us that all the original nations of the world were formed from the descendants of Noah. The basis of this worldwide division was their dispersion at Babel (Genesis 11:9), “every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations” (Genesis 10:5; see also 10:20 and 10:31). Lest anyone think this list of original nations is simply folklore, he should remember that William F. Albright, probably the greatest archaeologist of the 20th century, called it “an astonishingly accurate document.” Many ethnologists still speak of Japhetic, Hamitic, and Semitic peoples and languages.

But what about the origin of races? One searches the Bible in vain for this information, for neither the word nor the concept of “race” appears in the Bible at all! There is no such thing as a race—except the human race! Skin color and other supposed racial characteristics are mere recombinations of innate genetic factors, originally created in Adam and Eve to permit development of different family characteristics as the human race was commanded to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28; 9:1).

“Race” is strictly an evolutionary concept, used by Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, and the other 19th-century evolutionists to rationalize their white racism. But from the beginning, it was not so! “God that made the world and all things therein; . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:24,26). “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?” (Malachi 3:10).

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Og, King Of Bashan

“And Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 136:20).

The Lord Jesus likely meditated on and sang Psalm 136 during His earthly walk. It praises God for great wonders (v.4)—wonders of creation (vs.5–9), and wonders of redemption and deliverance (vs.10–24). Christ, Creator and Redeemer both, certainly could have related to these truths. But how might He have related to Og?

This ancient king apparently was huge. His bed was made “of iron . . . nine cubits” in length (Deuteronomy 3:11). This is about 13 feet long! It was a great victory for God’s people when this enemy was defeated.

Jesus knew that He had come to confront an enemy much stronger than Og. He met Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:3 ff.) and said of him, “No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house” (Mark 3:27). Jesus knew that He had entered hostile territory (Satan’s house) with the purpose of binding Satan and delivering people “from the power of darkness” to His own kingdom (Colossians 1:13).

Jesus, God’s “strong hand” and “stretched out arm” (Psalm 136:12), came to confront evil to the core and win. For a time it seemed that Satan was winning. The bed, a “sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid” (John 19:41), was for Jesus—not Satan. But the second part of our text reminds us of God’s “mercy” which endures forever.

God’s wrath against evil fell squarely on Christ, but the Psalm reminds us over and over again that “His mercy endureth for ever.” Justice was met at Calvary, but a few days later the Father raised His Son in mercy from death’s bed. Together, Father and Son impart mercy “for ever” on the elect, through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

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Science—true And False


“And out of the ground made the L SIZE="-1">ORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9).

It is significant that the first reference to “science” in the Bible is in connection with the tree of the “science” of good and evil. The English word “science” comes from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge.” In both Old and New Testaments, “science” and “knowledge” translate the same Greek and Hebrew words respectively. Science—properly speaking—is what we know, not naturalistic speculation (as in evolutionary “science”). Adam and Eve knew a great deal about God and His creation, and all of it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31); they did not need to have a knowledge of evil, and God warned them against it (2:17).

But they partook of the evil tree anyway, and therewith evil knowledge entered the hearts and minds of mankind. Throughout the long ages since, true science has been of great good in the world and false science has wrought great harm. The apostle Paul has warned us against it: “Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (I Timothy 6:20). In the context of the times, Paul was specifically warning against the evolutionary pantheism of the gnostic philosophers.

In contrast, the final, climactic reference in the Bible to knowledge is Peter’s exhortation to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and in Jesus Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Therefore, let us resolve to eschew the knowledge of evil and grow in the knowledge of Christ!

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Loving His Appearing

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (II Timothy 4:.

It is fascinating to learn that the Lord has a special reward for all those who “love His appearing.” The word “appearing” (Greek epiphaneia) can refer to either the first or second advent of Christ, depending on the context. Paul urges us to be “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). For “the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light” (II Timothy 1:10).

Our text for the day obviously refers to His second coming “at that day,” exhorting us not only to look for, but to love His appearing! At that great day, “the Lord, the righteous judge” will award to those who have loved His appearing a special crown of righteousness. We have already received the imputed “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17) by His grace, and have been “made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21), so this crown of righteousness somehow must be (as a wreath encircling the head of a victor in a race) an enveloping glow of divine appreciation for a godly life lived in daily anticipation of the Lord’s return.

The apostle John beautifully expressed the way in which such a life, loving Christ’s coming, produces a growing righteousness now and perfected righteousness then. “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. . . . We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (I John 2:28; 3:2,3).

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Life In The Blood


“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

This great verse contains a wealth of scientific and spiritual truth. It was not realized until the discovery of the circulation of the blood by the creationist scientist William Harvey, in about 1620, that biological “life” really is maintained by the blood, which both brings nourishment to all parts of the body and also carries away its wastes.

Its spiritual truth is even more significant. The blood, when shed on the altar, would serve as an “atonement” (literally, “covering”) for the soul of the guilty sinner making the offering. In fact, the “life” of the flesh is actually its “soul,” for “life” and “soul” both translate the same Hebrew word (nephesh) in this text. When the blood was offered, it was thus an offering of life itself, in substitution for the life of the sinner who deserved to die.

Human sacrifices, of course, were prohibited. No man could die for another man, for his blood would inevitably be contaminated by his own sin. Therefore, the blood of a “clean animal” was required. Animals do not possess the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27), including the ability to reason about right and wrong, and therefore cannot sin. Even such clean blood could only serve as a temporary covering, and it could not really “take away” sin. For a permanent solution to the sin problem, nothing less was required than that of the sinless “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). Since His life was in His blood, He has “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).

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An Honest Witness


“For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (II Corinthians 1:12).

Who is the modern man, being torn apart by criticism, that could write, “In good conscience I gladly testify that in all my life and relationship with you, I have acted sincerely, frankly, simply, purely, and in holiness? I have not depended on my own skills or intellect, but on God’s power that He gives me by His grace.” Yet this is what Paul could say, in all honesty.

He left no room for duplicity or bragging about one aspect of his life while hiding another. Certainly the man who penned these words to the people at Corinth lived in a time and place where it was no more socially acceptable to be a Christian than it is for us today.

In fact, in his day, and in the Jewish culture in particular, but also among the Romans, one could experience wretched persecution and even death for such activities and testimonies. Yet his example urges us to allow one goal—holiness, to rule our existence—to pervade every relationship.

His life shines as a model for us to emulate, even when we are tempted to be embarrassed by our Christian stand. We clearly can hear the call to have a singular mind, without hidden attitudes or complicated explanations. No duplicity! Living such a pure life, simply, openly, and frankly before others, answers Christ’s call for holiness.

How can we live such a life? Only by the power given to us by God’s grace. The same power and grace that the apostle Paul had learned to appropriate will flow from Heaven to us who determine to live, always and everywhere, the frank and sincere life of holiness.

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The Trinity In Ephesians


“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).

Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus is surely one of the most profoundly doctrinal—yet intensely practical—books of the Bible, and it is not surprising that the doctrine of the Triune God breaks into his message so frequently. For example, note Ephesians 2:18: “For through (Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

More often, however, it appears not in a succinct formula like this, but rather in inter-connected references to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, always implying that each is deity, but never that they are three different “gods.” Paul prayed that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17).

He also prayed “unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . that He would grant you, . . . to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:14,16,17). Thus the believer is “filled with all the fulness of God” (v.19).

We are exhorted to “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, . . . even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:30,32). And “be filled with the Spirit; . . . Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18,20).

There are others, but note especially our text, speaking of our unity in Him and His tri-unity in us. “There is . . . one Spirit . . . ; One Lord, . . . One God and Father of all, who is above all [i.e., the Father], and through all [the Son], and in you all [the Spirit].” All this is a magnificent mystery, but a wonderful reality!

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Watchful Sobriety

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:.

Several words are used in Scripture to imply spiritual watchfulness, and each has a slightly different meaning. Only as we compare and combine these words do we get the full force of the Scripture exhortations to watchfulness.

One such word is the Greek word agrupneo, translated “watch.” In Mark 13:33 we read, “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” The word literally means to be sleepless, and comes from two Greek words meaning “to chase,” and “sleep.” It implies a purposeful and active state of awareness.

More commonly used is gregoreo. It is a stronger word, meaning to arouse oneself and shake off lethargy, implying activity as on the part of one who is fully awake. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith” (I Corinthians 16:13), and “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh” (Mark 13:35).

A third word is nepho, which literally means to abstain from drink which would produce stupor, as well as sleep, and therefore conveys the additional idea of sobriety. By combining the teaching of these three words, we are instructed not only to keep awake but to keep active, and to avoid the intoxication of this world’s seductive pleasures.

In our text, we see that we are not only to be sober (nepho), and vigilant (gregoreo), but we also see the reason why. Our “adversary the devil” is a vicious opponent. He stalks us both day and night with brutal cunning. We dare not underestimate him by figuratively closing our eyes in sleep or dulling our senses with intoxicants. “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober” (I Peter 1:13).

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Jots And Tittles

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16).

Concerning Scripture, Christ taught that every “jot and tittle” (i.e., even portions of letters, not to mention words and phrases) was inspired and would last forever. In many portions of Scripture, the teaching rests on a seemingly rather insignificant component of a word or phrase.

For example, consider the phrase “yet once more” in Hebrews 12:26, quoting Haggai 2:6. We see, in verse 27, that the argument requiring a coming judgment on all of creation hinges on it pointing back to a similar judgment in the past. Similarly, in Galatians 4:9, we see Paul couching his comments to the Galatian believers, who had returned to a legalistic system, in a question which turned on the active voice of a verb, rather than passive. We have not only “known God,” but “are known of God.” In John 8:58, a clever use of verb tense was made—“before Abraham was, I am,” thereby asserting Christ’s deity. Note also, in John 10:34–36, how Christ cleverly used the mood of a verb while quoting from Psalm 82:6 in order to defuse the charge of blasphemy leveled against Him. Paul’s argument, in Galatians 3:16, based on a quotation from Genesis 22:17,18, shows how even the singular or plural form of a word is equally inspired.

Consider Christ’s answer to the Sadducees who denied personal resurrection, when He said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). Christ is their God; not simply was, “and when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at His doctrine” (v.33).

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.” Let us handle Scripture with the same care, and love it with the same fervency as did Christ and the apostles.

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Divine Logistics

“And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O L SIZE="-1">ORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee” (II Chronicles 14:11).

Asa was one of the better kings of Judah (great-grandson of Solomon), and his prayer is a beautiful model of how a servant of God can pray when all the human odds are against him. Asa’s army consisted of 580,000 foot-soldiers, whereas the invading Ethiopians had a million-man army, with 300 chariots. Yet “the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa” (II Chronicles 14:8,9,12), and his prayer prevailed.

The Bible has many such examples: Abraham (Genesis 14:1–16); Gideon (Judges 7:7; 8:10); King Hezekiah (II Kings 19:14–19,35). Before King Saul gained a great victory over the hordes of the Philistines, it was the courageous testimony of Jonathan, his son, that led the way. “It may be that the LORD will work for us,” he had said, “for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few” (I Samuel 14:6). Later, David won many battles against all odds, including his personal victory over Goliath (I Samuel 17:40–49). The servants of the Lord do not need a majority to prevail in the battle against sin and Satan, for “if God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). That is the key, of course. We must not beseech the Lord to fight on our side. He will be for us, if we are first on His side!

This was the message of the prophet Azariah to the godly King Asa: “The LORD is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you” (II Chronicles 15:2). Political power, military might, financial resources—all are futile. “Our help is in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 124:.

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Those Who Pass By

“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger” (Lamentations 1:12).

This heartbroken lament, uttered by Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” personifies the devastated city of Jerusalem after the Babylonian invasion. She who had been “beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, . . . the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2), now lay in ruins, and neither the triumphant armies who had ravished her nor the careless peoples living around her cared at all that this was the city of God being chastised for her unfaithfulness.

Many Christians have, at times, felt alone and confused, longing for someone who would care, saying with the psalmist: “There was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4). But no one has ever been so alone or has suffered so intensely and so unjustly as the one who was the very “Man of Sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). He was “smitten of God, and afflicted” in the day of God’s fierce anger, for “the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4,6).

Just as there were those who passed by suffering Jerusalem, some gloating and others unconcerned, so there were those who passed by and viewed the suffering Savior as He hung on the cross. “And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads” (Matthew 27:39).

There are multitudes who still pass Him by today. Some revile Him; many ignore Him, altogether uncaring that He loved them and even died to save them. Soon, however, “every eye shall see Him, . . . and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Revelation 1:7). Their indifference will be turned quickly into mourning, in that day. “Is it nothing to you?” the Lord would ask.

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Keeping And Avoiding



“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (I Timothy 6:20).

Note that there are contained here both positive and negative charges. Timothy, Paul’s son in the faith, is instructed to keep certain things and avoid others. The word “keep” is a military word which might better be translated “guard.” The word “avoid” implies more than merely refraining from contact. It has to do, instead, with actively and deliberately turning away from something.

Timothy is to guard that which has been committed into his care—by inference, something quite valuable—the complete gospel of Jesus Christ. “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost” (II Timothy 1:13,14).

Paul knew, however, that in order to guard the truth, Timothy must actively avoid the false, and lists three specific potential pitfalls. The first is profane babbling, i.e., any of those conversations and arguments which are of a worldly, ungodly, unclean nature. Next, he is to avoid vain, empty, hollow arguments. Elsewhere, Paul teaches “shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” (II Timothy 2:16).

Lastly, he is to avoid the opposing arguments of false science, or knowledge. Human wisdom, found to be contrary to the wisdom of God, may be called knowledge by some, but if so, it is “falsely so called.” Even “some professing (Christians) have erred concerning the faith” (v.21).

Paul closes with the benediction, “grace be with thee.” The word “thee” is in the plural form. May we all enjoy God’s grace as we attempt to keep the true, avoid the false, and discern the difference.