A Daily Devotional

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The Living Word


“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

This is the great verse of the Incarnation, declaring to us that the Creator of all things, the eternal Word of God (John 1:1–3) actually became a man, being “made flesh.” Since this verse and the following verses unequivocally refer to “Jesus Christ” (v.17), there is no legitimate escape (though many have tried) from the great truth that the man called Jesus of Nazareth was the great God and Creator, as well as perfect Man and redeeming Savior. Furthermore, He has assumed human flesh forever, while still remaining fully God. He is Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

He is not part man and part God, or sometimes man and sometimes God, but is now the God-Man, fully and eternally true God and perfect Man—man as God created and intended man to be. See also Philippians 2:5–8 and I John 4:2,3.

When He first became man, He “dwelt among us” for a while. The word “dwelt,” however, is actually the Greek word for “tabernacled.” As in the tabernacle (or “tent”) prepared by Moses (Exodus 40:33) in the wilderness, the glory of God in Christ dwelled on Earth for a time in a “body” prepared by God (Hebrews 10:5). We also “beheld His glory,” says His beloved disciple, John. The Greek word for “tabernacle” (skene) is a cognate word to shakan (the Hebrew word for “dwell”), both being related to what has come to be known as the shekinah glory cloud that filled the ancient tabernacle (Exodus 40:34).

Eventually, when the Holy City descends out of heaven to the new earth, then “the tabernacle of God” will forever be “with men,” and He will “dwell with them” and “be their God” eternally (Revelation 21:3). Thus God’s “Living Word” is now and always our living Lord!

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Love Or Lust


“My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge” (Proverbs 5:1,2).

The entire fifth chapter of Proverbs concerns the use or misuse of the highest function of our physical bodies. Under the sovereign control of God, a man and woman have been granted the ability, through their union, to create an eternal soul with the ability to accept or reject God, eternal life, and forgiveness. The contrast in this chapter is between the usage of this God-given function in lust or love, adultery or fidelity.

Verses 3 through 6 provide insight into the character of promiscuity, which includes deception (v.3), and sorrow (v.4). Psychologists have long recognized that many prostitutes ply their trade out of a hatred for men, purposefully and conscientiously destroying their companions (v.5). The solution, of course, is to stay away. Don’t play with fire! Avoid any opportunities to be enticed (v.. The results, of course, of yielding to temptation would be that we would lose our youthful vigor (v.9), our wealth (v.10), our health (v.11), our self esteem (vs.12,13), and even our lives are in danger (v.14).

On the other hand, married love is a beautiful thing (vs.15–20), providing health, companionship, joy, and satisfaction. “Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth” (v.18).

Remember, none of this is done in secret. “The ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He pondereth all his goings” (v.21). We should stay away from any involvement in sin, for sin entraps us (v.22), and we keep going back. Men die for lack of instruction, or lack of obedience to the instruction they have (v.23). This leads to great folly, and, in the end, total shame and destruction.

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Pleasure At God's Right Hand



“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

The 16th Psalm contains the Bible’s first reference to the resurrected Christ at the “right hand” of His heavenly Father, and this is important, for there are 20 other such references that follow this one. “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110:1). This latter verse is quoted no less than five times in the New Testament (Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42; Acts 2:34; Hebrews 1:13).

Then there are seven references to Christ being at God’s right hand in Paul’s epistles (Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2), and seven in other books of the New Testament (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62; 16:19; Luke 22:69; Acts 7:55; Acts 7:56; I Peter 3:22). Lastly, “(Jesus Christ) is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.” It is noteworthy that the first reference speaks of Christ’s great joy at God’s right hand, the last, of His great power there.

One additional activity there is mentioned: “Who is he that condemneth? 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” (Romans 8:34). In fact, His continual intercessory ministry on our behalf is His main activity there in this present age (note Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1,2; etc.).

Soon He will become God’s strong right hand of power, manifested until all His enemies become His footstool, and we, His people, are taken up to be with Him (I Thessalonians 4:17). Then we shall enjoy with Him the pleasures and fullness of joy at God’s right hand forevermore.

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Spiritual Detours



“There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea” (Deuteronomy 1:2).

Detours, when we get off the main road, can be frustrating and time-consuming. Yet in the spiritual life, God seems to allow us to be detoured. One of the longest detours of all time happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. What should have taken them eleven days to enter the Promised Land turned into a forty-year detour in the desert. That detour was due to their deplorable lack of faith in God’s conquering power.

On the other hand, there were those who may have thought they were being detoured by God, but who later found they were on God’s perfect road of blessing all along. Consider: Moses was detoured into submission. Those forty years in the wilderness tending sheep were not a waste, but actually a training ground for tending Israel later on. The desert experience took all the trust in the arm of flesh out of him (Exodus 3,4). Paul was detoured into learning. “I went into Arabia, . . . Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem” (Galatians 1:17,18). Those years were good for Paul, so that he might learn of Christ and be trained for service. Philip was detoured from many, to one. He went from winning multitudes, to winning one man, the Ethiopian eunuch; from a great revival to a singular witnessing experience. The Lord is interested in each soul (Acts 8:26–39). Enoch and Elijah were detoured into heaven (Genesis 5:24; II Kings 2:11). But what a joyous detour!

Is today the day we will experience the same? “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:11).

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Preaching The Resurrection

“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).

There are multitudes today who believe that Christ’s resurrection was a “spiritual” resurrection, insisting that the idea of a dead body returning to life after three days in the grave is completely unscientific and impossible.

This was not what the apostles preached with great grace and great power, however. They would hardly have been excited about any kind of spiritual resurrection, since everyone—both Jews and the pagan Gentiles—believed in life after death. If that was their message, no one would have doubted, and no one would have cared. Even when the disciples saw the resurrected Christ, they first “supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luke 24:37). Christ even had to urge them to “handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39).

When the disciples finally became convinced of His bodily resurrection, they were quickly transformed into courageous evangelists, willing even to die in support of their glorious message of salvation. The resurrection was, indeed, contrary to scientific law and all human experience, and this very fact proved to them that their Lord was Himself the divine Lawgiver and author of all human experience. All other founders and leaders of human religions, ancient or modern, are themselves subject to death, but He alone has triumphed over death. Only the Creator of life can conquer death, and the resurrection proves that Jesus Christ is Creator, as well as Savior.

Therefore, when we today, like the apostles of old, proclaim the resurrection of Christ, we know that His name is above every name, and this enables us also to witness with great power, in great grace.

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Who's Rich?

“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (I Timothy 6:9).

When it comes to material wealth, it is good to remember that “The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up” (I Samuel 2:7). Rather than encouraging man to pursue wealth, the Bible contains strong warning against the deceitfulness of riches. “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (I Timothy 6:10). It is not what a man possesses that tunes his heart, but his attitude toward those possessions (many or few).

Who then is rich? In Genesis 14:22, Abraham said, “I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.” The word “possessor” comes from a root word meaning to create. As Almighty Creator, God has the right of ownership of heaven and earth. Yet, when He came to earth, He said to a scribe one day, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). As He hung dying on the cross, the soldiers at His feet gambled for His clothes, and He was buried in a borrowed tomb. From the world’s perspective, He owned nothing, but this could not change the fact that He was, and is, the Possessor of heaven and earth.

As Christians, we are “children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16,17); but “the eyes of (our) understanding need to be enlightened; that (we) may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe” (Ephesians 1:18,19).

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Flesh And Bones

“Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39).

One of the speculations of modern liberals who deny the resurrection is that the disciples saw some kind of apparition, or even were having hallucinations, when they “thought” they saw Jesus alive after His death. But a supposed “hallucination” is never seen by an entire group of people at the same time, as Jesus was seen, again and again.

Jesus Himself answers those who say it was a “spiritual” resurrection. His spirit never died, so His spirit could not be resurrected. At first the disciples did, indeed, think they were seeing His “ghost,” but then He showed them the scars of the spikes that had pierced His hands and feet, and he also ate part of a fish and a honeycomb before them (Luke 24:37,40,42). They could no longer doubt the reality of His bodily resurrection. It is sobering to realize that He will always bear those scars, even in His glorified body. The Scripture says that, when He comes again, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Revelation 1:7).

It is also significant that Christ did not use the more common phrase, “flesh and blood” when He spoke to the disciples, but “flesh and bones.” His blood had been shed on the cross as the price of our redemption (I Peter 1:18,19).

In our own future resurrected bodies which shall be like His (I John 3:2; Philippians 3:21), blood will no longer be needed. Blood is essential now for “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11), but in that day “the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (I Corinthians 15:52), to be like Him forever.

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Living Savior

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

There is a popular Christian song whose chorus ends with these words: “You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart.” This may sound spiritual, but this is not how we know He lives! We are saved because He died for our sins and then rose bodily from the tomb, triumphant over sin, death, the curse, and Satan, alive in His glorified body, forevermore. It is this which we must believe in our hearts and confess with our lips. For Him to rise bodily from the grave means that He is nothing less than God, the very Creator Himself. It is only because of who He is that He could do what He did, and this is what we must believe in our hearts.

There are people who believe that Buddha lives in their hearts, or the spirit of “the gods” indwells their hearts, or even that “the Christ” is in their hearts, but “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). We can believe many things, and feel many things that are not so. We know Jesus Christ is a living Savior, not because we feel His presence in our hearts, but because He rose from the grave on the third day and “shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3). The gospel of our salvation does not rest on our feelings, nor on someone’s teachings, but on the objective, proven, certain facts of history. Jesus Christ is alive, whether anyone feels Him living in their hearts or not, and He is at this moment bodily in heaven, at the right hand of the Father (e.g., Romans 8:34).

“Wherefore, He 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).

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His Own Place

“And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place” (Acts 1:24,25).

The last three words of this passage have profound significance. Although Judas had walked with Christ and the other apostles for three years, he was out of place there all that time. It took the traumatic events of the final week of Jesus' ministry to reveal his true character.

At death, each of us will go to his own place, whether heaven or hell. If a person has found the company of Bible-believing, Bible-living Christians uncomfortable in this life, and feels more at home with the Bible-doubting, God-ignoring majority, then his own place will surely be with them in the future life. Such a person would be more miserable in heaven than in “his own place.” The tragic words of the Bible’s final chapter are these: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11).

An artificial profession of belief, like that of Judas, will not change one’s basic character. Sooner or later, that person will be found altogether out of place. “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (II Peter 2:22). Yet a true change of heart, through genuine faith in Christ, will change our eternal residence, as well, for then God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Colossians 1:13).

There is, indeed, a wonderful “place” which Christ has gone to “prepare” for all those who truly desire to be with Him inHis place! (John 14:2).

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God's Quickenings

“Quicken thou me according to thy word” (Psalm 119:25).

God’s word is the ultimate source of quickening for the believer. The theme of Psalm 119 is the word of God. Eleven times the psalmist asks God to quicken him; that is, to revive or give him life by means of His word. “For the word of God isquick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). Quickening produces restoration: “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word” (v.25). Quickening produces comfort: “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me” (v.50). “I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy word” (v.107). Truly, it is the word of God that brings comfort in all our afflictions. Quickening produces deliverance: “Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word” (v.154). The quickening power of God in salvation has already “delivered us from the wrath to come” (I Thessalonians 1:10); from Satan, “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14,15), and from the world (Galatians 1:4). Quickening produces guidance: “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way” (v.37). Rather than turning aside into empty ways, we should allow God to guide us in the paths of righteousness. Quickening produces resolve: “I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me” (v.93). “Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness” (v.159).

How wonderful it is to know that the Holy Spirit quickens us through the word He authored so that we can face any obstacle on our pilgrim journey.

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Spiritual Genetics


“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).

Paul very skillfully explains the means by which the Gentile and Jew become justified by the faith of Abraham. In this chapter, he explains, point by point, the logic that leads to the conclusion that Abraham is the spiritual father of both the Jew and Gentile, because the heirship had nothing to do with physical seed (children) or the practice of circumcision. Instead, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (v.3), without works (v.4), before the rite of circumcision was instituted (v.11).

Here, then, is a remarkable revelation of an inheritance pattern unknown to Mendelian genetics. Mendel, as an Austrian monk, worked out the basic principles by which natural seeds cause inheritance of traits. The offspring of the plant crosses that he made depended upon the genetic traits inherited from the parents, whereas the offspring of God’s promise to Abraham are characterized by the trait of belief, or faith. This trait leads to the forgiveness of iniquities and the covering of sins in a person’s life (v.7).

What in the world is this all about? To the humanist, there is no inheritance in one’s life apart from the natural transmission of genes. With the child of God, there is more. One’s physical life and spiritual life can be transformed by the willing acceptance of God’s promises (Genesis 15:6; 17:4). Sin in a person’s life is a practice that has been permitted to emit from a person’s heart (mind) (Romans 1:28; 8:7; Ephesians 4:17; Jeremiah 4:14). Acceptance of Jesus' shed blood covers our sins and makes us heirs of our “father” Abraham.

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Buried With Him

“Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

The burial of Christ after His death was extremely important for two reasons: First, it assures us that His death was a physical death and that His resurrection was a bodily resurrection. Secondly, His burial—like His death and resurrection—has profound doctrinal and practical significance for the believer’s individual life. All this is pictured, as our text points out, by the ordinance of baptism, displaying symbolically the death of Christ for sin and the death of the believer to sin, then the burial of the corruptible body of flesh (which, for all but Christ, returns to dust in accordance with God’s primeval curse). And finally, the resurrection, demonstrating Christ’s eternal victory over sin and death, and, in the case of the believer, the beginning of the new life in Christ.

The same truth appears again in Colossians 2:12: “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.” Although these are the only New Testament passages where the doctrinal implications of Christ’s burial are specifically mentioned, the spiritual truths taught thereby permeate all the Scriptures. If our old bodies of sin are—at least positionally—already in the grave, then it is altogether grotesque for them still to be walking around in sin. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:5). We shall (not “should,” as wrongly rendered in our text) walk in newness of life, triumphant daily over sin through the implanted resurrection life of our Savior.

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A Little Flock


“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

The world tends to measure success by size, and this seems generally true in the Christian world as well. The most “successful” churches are considered to be those with the largest congregations, or the largest budgets, or the greatest number of converts baptized each year, or some other quantitative index. But this is not God’s criterion. At the judgment seat of Christ, “the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (I Corinthians 3:13). Not how big it is, but of what sort it is! Quality, not quantity, is the criterion.

Christ’s encouraging words to the “little flock” were given towards the end of an extended warning against the desire to accumulate wealth. “Take heed, and beware of covetousness,” He had said (Luke 12:15), speaking to His small group of followers. He was their Shepherd, and would provide the needs of His “little flock.”

Christ’s warnings against individual covetousness evidently apply also to group covetousness. A church, or any other Christian organization, needs continually to guard against the desire to be impressive in the eyes of the world. The cities of Christendom exhibit many ornate cathedrals and temples that are now mostly empty and spiritually dead.

The Lord Jesus promised an “open door” to the little church at Philadelphia, because it had “little strength” and had “kept (His) word” (Revelation 3:, but threatened to “spue . . . out of (His) mouth” the tepid church at Laodicea, which was boasting that she was “rich, and increased with goods” (Revelation 3:16,17). Not every “little flock” has kept God’s Word, nor has every big flock become lukewarm, but Christ’s words serve as both warning and encouragement. The greater blessings of the coming kingdom have been promised to the faithful “little flock.”

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Immortal, Invisible, God Only


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

Many of the grand old hymns of the faith consist of the actual words and phrases of Scripture, either repeated verbatim or paraphrased and collected around a doctrinal theme. Such is the case for the stately hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” where we find, almost in list form, the attributes and character of God. In each of the next four days, we will focus our attention on one of its four verses, and through them to our great God and His nature.

Immortal, invisible God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Obviously, much of the source for this first verse comes from the benediction in our text above. God is both eternal, and immortal. “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14) He called Himself. Later we read that the Immortal One died but rose from the dead and now “ever liveth to make intercession for (us)” (Hebrews 7:25).

Daniel called Him the “Ancient of Days” and described Him with great splendor and brilliance (Daniel 7:9–14). Paul called Him “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords: who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen” (I Timothy 6:15,16).

Note Daniel’s testimony of praise: “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His, And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: . . . and the light dwelleth with Him” (Daniel 2:20–22).

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The Unresting God

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding” (Isaiah 40:28).

The second verse of the mighty hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” continues with a listing of some of His attributes. Of course, the full list of His attributes as recorded in Scripture, would be very long, but many of them are pieced together here in this verse in a way which emphasizes God’s mighty works on behalf of His creation and us, His children, and His utter self-sufficiency and power.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light, Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might; Thy justice like mountains high soaring above, Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

As revealed in our text, God’s power is inexhaustible; He needs neither rest nor refreshment. He is not like the impotent Baal, “peradventure, he sleepeth” (I Kings 18:27), unable to hear and unable to answer.

God needs nothing from us. “Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Romans 11:35,36).

He never wastes His energy nor His actions. “For ever, O LORD, thy Word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

Several thoughts in the hymn are echoed by David’s praise to his Lord. “Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings” (Psalm 36:5–7).