A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

The Bright and Morning Star

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” (Revelation 22:16)

The epilogue of Revelation contains many words of comfort to the believer. Our Lord promises, among other things, that “behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me” (v. 12), and “blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (v. 14). Likewise, many names for God are given, such as “the Lord God of the holy prophets” (v. 6), “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (v. 13), and “the root and the offspring of David” (our text). This rehearsal of names and deeds provides comfort, but why is Christ called the “bright and morning star”?

The analogy is to the planet Venus, so often seen shining brightly in the early morning. The sight provides a pledge of the coming day during which the light is brighter and the sight clearer.

Likewise, however beautiful and awe-inspiring our perception is now by the light of our Bright and Morning Star, Jesus Christ, we are promised a more complete view. Although He has “shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and although Christ appeared as “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3), soon we shall see Him “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12) and even “be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Our view now constitutes only the beginning of a clearer sight—a guarantee of the glorious day that has no night, when we shall see the King in all His beauty. There will even be no need of the sun, “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). JDM

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Great Reward

“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” (Luke 6:23)

Sometimes great rewards are promised to those who help locate dangerous criminals or to those who win a lottery, but such pecuniary rewards are trivial compared to those awaiting all the faithful servants of Christ. The “great reward” promised by Christ in our text is specifically for those believers who willingly have endured hatred, ostracism, reproach, and slander “for the Son of man’s sake” (v. 22).

Such rewards are distinct from salvation, of course, for that reward is given only “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). “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; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:5-6).

That is, salvation is a free gift, received only through personal faith in Christ and His sacrificial death for our sins. Rewards, on the other hand, are earned by faithful witness and work for Christ. In that day when “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10), many will learn to their dismay that, although they have indeed received everlasting life, they will have very little reward. For “the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13)—not the quantity, but its quality and fidelity to God’s Word. Then, “if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved” (v. 15).

We need to remember that one of the last and thus most significant promises of Christ was: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). HMM

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Behold, He Cometh

“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)

This striking verse, which deals with the return of Christ, contains several aspects well worth our study.

First: “Behold, he cometh.” This event is still future, but it is as sure as if it has already taken place. Christ will return.

Second: “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). His coming “with clouds” was also prophesied in Daniel 7:13, Matthew 26:64, Acts 1:11, and elsewhere.

Third: “Every eye shall see him.” Who is included here? Certainly everyone living at the time, both Christian and non-Christian. But also the saved dead and raptured saints will be present (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Can it be that the unsaved dead will likewise “see” Him come? Those who died without Christ should be vitally interested. Either the coming rebellion will defeat Christ and free their spirits from Hades, or they will soon face certain, final judgment.

Fourth, notice the different reactions. His tormentors will be in horrible distress; those who “pierced him” will be in inexpressible anguish as they realize the awful consequences of their actions. Who pierced Him? Certainly Israel, but the collective sins of all men of all ages pierced Him. Some have gained forgiveness and will gladly see Him come; others have refused and will “wail” at His return.

Saints in heaven and on Earth will delight in His coming. To them, it means release from persecution, justice on their persecutors, and a righteous kingdom established. It will mean questions answered, imperfections removed, the Curse repealed. Any distress felt for friends and loved ones still living in rejection will be swallowed up in the rightness of the action. JDM

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King of All the Earth

“For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:7)

This stirring psalm of praise, which celebrates the reign of Christ over all the earth, finds its primary fulfillment in Christ’s second coming and full reign over His kingdom. The reader is exhorted to “sing praises unto our King” (v. 6). The reign of Christ certainly gives cause for celebration. His arrival forces the psalmist to proclaim, “O clap your hands, all ye people” (v. 1).

What has happened to make this kingship such cause for celebration? After all, “by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16). He belongs on the throne. We should expect to find Him there. However, even though there is a sense in which He reigns today, the sad fact remains that another has usurped rule.

This usurper can be none other than Satan, who not only claims rule of the creation for himself but also tempted Adam and Eve to spoil the original perfection of the creation which now “groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22). He has encouraged men to accept the mindless concept of evolution and even denies Christ recognition as Redeemer, as the humanist’s creed “We will save ourselves!” boasts.

But all is not lost! Our text assures us that Christ will reclaim His kingdom: “He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet....God reigneth over the heathen” (vv. 3, 8). Christ the Creator, the Redeemer, the Heir, has conquered the enemy and soon will assume His rightful throne—“the throne of his holiness” (v. 8), “greatly exalted” (v. 9). Then we shall join the redeemed of the ages, and “shout unto God with the voice of triumph” (v. 1). JDM

[Soldier4Christ]

The Holy City

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Revelation 21:2-3)

On the night of the last supper, Jesus made a wonderful promise to His disciples: “In my Father’s house are many mansions....I go to prepare a place for you. And...I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). Eventually, at His second coming, those who belong to Him shall be with Him.

That this promise applies to all His disciples (not just the 11 in the upper room) is evident in His prayer right after this conversation: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word....Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (John 17:20, 24). When the Lord returns, or when we die as believers, “so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

That place where we shall be with Him, which He is still preparing for us, is the Holy City, the new Jerusalem; for our text says that “he will dwell with them” there and be their God. The last two chapters of the Bible describe in some detail that beautiful “tabernacle of God” in which we who believe in Christ will all have our Christ-prepared mansions some day.

This magnificent city is not heaven, for John saw it “coming down from God out of heaven.” Right now, therefore, it is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is, along with the souls of those believers who already have gone “to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). There in the Holy City, “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him” with eternal joy (Revelation 22:3). HMM

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Made Manifest by the Scriptures

“But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” (Romans 16:26)

This revelation was written by Paul the apostle as a conclusion to his great doctrinal epistle to the Romans. That which “now is made manifest...to all nations” had been “kept secret since the world began” and was essentially the simple truth revealed in “my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ” (Romans 16:25), offering to people from every nation (not just Israel!) the wonderful gift of salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

And note that this was being made manifest not just by the preachers and Scriptures of the New Testament but also “by the scriptures of the prophets”—that is, by the Old Testament Scriptures. There are some today who think the Old Testament is no longer significant to Christians. But they are wrong! Remember that Jesus after His resurrection rebuked two of His disciples, saying, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:...And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25, 27).

Furthermore, the Old Testament abounds with wonderful promises and precepts and examples that are supremely practical and profitable for the Christian life. As Paul said, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). In fact, every Old Testament Scripture is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Live Honestly

“Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” (Hebrews 13:18)

It ought to go without saying that a Christian should live honestly in all things. Apparently it does need saying, however, because the Scriptures contain many such references. For example: “Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17). For the sake of one’s Christian testimony before other men, it is vital that utter honesty characterizes his life. Even if men cannot see our little acts of dishonesty, God can, and so even our secret actions must be “providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Corinthians 8:21). “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest...think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

We live in a corrupt and cynical society where genuine honesty is rare. Petty pilfering at the office, cheating on taxes, plagiarizing, loafing at the job, padding expense accounts, cheating on tests, cutting corners on obligations, breaking promises, exaggerating—the list of petty dishonesties is endless, not even to mention the crime and major corruption so prevalent today almost everywhere. In such an environment dominated and conditioned by a humanistic educational system, unsaved persons easily adapt to such questionable practices, for “unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15).

But when Christians do such things (and, unfortunately, they do!), those same people find it scandalous and blaspheme the gospel because of it. How vital it is for Christians to become scrupulously sensitive about even the smallest matters. This should, in fact, be a major item of daily prayer, as in our text for the day. HMM

[Soldier4Christ]

Too Holy to See

“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

Skeptics sometimes complain that if there really were a God, why doesn’t He simply show up? The Bible has two responses.

First, as today’s verse suggests, if God did “simply show up,” His glorious, radiant holiness would obliterate any nearby sinners. For this reason, He hid His full glory when He did show up. For instance, during Moses’ ministry, “on the third day in the morning,…there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled” (Exodus 19:16).

Indeed, “clouds and darkness are round about him” (Psalm 97:2), and “he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies” (2 Samuel 22:12).

God once took the form of a man to hide His glory enough for Jacob to wrestle Him. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [face of God]: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).

Last, what do these dealings reveal? His grace! In His grace He shows up in ways that preserve even the wicked. He shields us from His overwhelming brightness because “the Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart...that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered” (Joel 2:12, 32). “We shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9), for “he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2), even the skeptic. BDT

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Wages or a Gift

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

This wonderful verse has been used by the Holy Spirit countless times to bring a person to the point of salvation, and rightly so. Seldom did the author of Scripture pack so much into so few words, and seldom is the gospel of salvation more clearly and succinctly presented.

Perhaps the key to this verse and its teaching is the little word but, for marvelous contrasts hinge on it. In fact, pointing out the parallel but contrasting statements has proven to be an effective witnessing tool. Let us consider these individual contrasts.

First, wages versus gift: Wages are something that must be earned, while a gift cannot be earned; it is free. The wages of employment follow directly from having done the work, just as the wages of sin follow directly from having done the sin. Similarly, the gift of God follows directly from God’s own character. He is a loving, gracious God who freely showers His gifts on those who will accept them.

Second, sin versus God, or sin versus the sinless one: We might even define sin as the opposite of godliness. Sin is the deed that merits the wages, while God is the being who gives the gift. Sin is a wrong action, attitude, or thought, while God is a person, active and loving. Sin takes; God gives.

Third, death eternal versus life eternal: This is conscious existence in separation from God versus conscious existence in communion with God. Sin brings death, surely and permanently; God gives eternal life.

This gift of eternal life is not given capriciously, however; it is based on the work of Jesus Christ, the one who Himself collected the wages of our sin. The sinner who accepts God’s gift, through Jesus Christ, can hardly fail to recognize Him as Lord. JDM

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The Spirits in Prison

“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 by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” (1 Peter 3:18-19)

Just who were these imprisoned spirits to whom Christ preached when He had been “put to death in the flesh”? This has been a controversial verse, so one should not be dogmatic in discussing it. However, the idea that these were souls in purgatory to whom Christ was offering a second chance is clearly wrong, for Hebrews 9:27 declares plainly that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

One point often overlooked is that the word “spirits” can apply to angels as well as human beings. In fact, when it occurs in the plural, as it does here, it refers specifically to angels in at least 26 of its 30 occurrences.

This strongly suggests that these were evil spirits to whom Christ was (literally) “proclaiming” the victory He had won over Satan when He had “once suffered for sins” on the cross (the same word is translated “proclaimed” in Luke 12:3—“proclaimed upon the housetops”). These fallen angels had tried to corrupt all flesh “in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:20; see Genesis 6:1-4, 12) and therefore had been cast “down to hell” and “delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).

But as Peter had preached on the day of Pentecost: “His soul was not left in hell....This Jesus hath God raised up” and “hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:31-32, 36). Thus, He is now our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom some day soon “every knee should bow,...in heaven, and...in earth, and...under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). HMM

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For Our Justification
“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

We rejoice greatly in Christ’s resurrection, knowing that He has promised that “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). But it is also very important to realize and remember that if He had not been raised from the dead, we would still be lost sinners, separated eternally from God. He was raised, Paul reminds us, “for our justification.”

The immensity of the load of sin that Christ bore with Him on the cross is beyond comprehension. He had to “taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9), for He was the offering “for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), were it not for the infinite power and infinite love of both the Father and the Son, such an infinite weight of sin would be impossible to overcome. Christ would die forever, and we would be lost forever. How could we ever know that we were forgiven and that He paid the awful price that would suffice for our salvation? How could we ever be acquitted and declared righteous before God?

That is exactly what the resurrection of Christ assures! “By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18). His infinite righteousness has more than balanced the terrible weight of “the sin of the world,” and He was able to take it away (John 1:29). Although the wages of sin must be death, “the free gift is of many offences unto justification” (Romans 5:16).

This gift of total and eternal justification is free because of His love, but even a free gift must be accepted before it can be possessed. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). HMM

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Lessons from the Rich Fool

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20)

This sobering verse gives in a nutshell God’s evaluation of people whose dominating concern is the accumulation of material possessions. Such a person is, by the Lord’s own testimony, a fool.

But before the man in this parable became a covetous fool, he first became a self-centered clod, interested only in his own desires. In the verses comprising his monologue (Luke 12:17-19), he used the personal pronouns “I” and “my” no less than 11 times and then even addressed himself using the pronoun “thou” or “thine” twice more.

Satan was the first to be covetous and proud: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:...I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Lucifer’s primeval, self-seeking covetousness brought rebellion and sin into the angelic host and then into the human family. Ever since his fall, he has used this deadly sin of self-centeredness to keep men away from God and to lead them into all kinds of other overpowering sins.

In the case of the rich man, his pampering of self had led him into a life of such greed and covetousness that he was still concerned only with his own personal comfort (“eating and drinking”) right up to the day of his death. He “thought within himself” (Luke 12:17), giving no thought whatever to God’s will or the fact that all his possessions really belonged to God. Multitudes over the ages have been overtaken by this same sin of self-centered covetousness, perhaps never more pervasively than in modern America, even among American Christians. To anyone of such covetous spirit, the day may soon come when the Lord will say, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” HMM

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God Our Habitation

“LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)

These are the tremendous opening words of the oldest psalm in the book of Psalms called, in its superscript, the “prayer of Moses the man of God.” Moses must have written it shortly before his death as he looked out over the promised land and realized that he himself would never live there (Deuteronomy 34:4-5). It did not really matter though, for he had lived in many places and none of them were really his home. He lived for a brief while in a basket on the river as a baby, then in a queen’s palace, then 40 years in Midian, and 40 more years wandering in the wilderness.

Furthermore, he meditated on the men of God of previous generations (after all, he had compiled all their ancient records in the book of Genesis) and found that they, too, like the apostle Paul 1,500 years later, had “no certain dwellingplace” (1 Corinthians 4:11). Adam was expelled from the garden; Noah lived for a year in an Ark on a worldwide sea and lived the rest of his life in a devastated earth; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents in Canaan, and their descendants lived as slaves in Egypt.

Yet wherever they were, the Lord was with them. He was their dwelling place, and this was Moses’ first thought as he composed his great prayer. He also had written down “the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death” (Deuteronomy 33:1). Its climax was this great assurance: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (v. 27). The “refuge” of this promise is the same Hebrew word as “dwelling place” in our text.

We, like they, are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13), but “underneath are the everlasting arms.” Where the Lord is—there home is! HMM

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Lifelong Love

“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:9)

The above wise advice was written by King Solomon in his later years after many years of searching for happiness through intellectualism, worldly pleasures, riches, and power and finding that all of it was mere “vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

Solomon had 700 wives, all of whom were “princesses” and thus were marriages at least partially for purposes of prestige and politics. But various references in his book of Proverbs suggest that these were more a problem than a help. It is interesting that the Bible only records one son, Rehoboam, and two daughters.

That one son was born a year before Solomon became king, while he was still very young, and Naamah (Rehoboam’s mother) was thus very likely the only wife he really loved (compare 1 Kings 11:42; 14:21), as described so beautifully in his Song of Solomon, which Solomon himself called his “Song of Songs.”

So, it seems poignant and significant that near the end of his life Solomon counsels young men to cultivate that special love “with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity.” (Note also Proverbs 5:18-19.) The Bible very seldom refers to romantic love or marital love (nearly always biblical love is agape love), so this rare reference to romantic love (as between a young bride and bridegroom) is especially noteworthy. The admonition to “live joyfully” is from a word usually translated “alive,” so his advice was to keep that young marital love alive and fresh all through life! HMM

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Nests in the Ark

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.” (Genesis 6:14)

Details surrounding the story of Noah and the Flood have long caused laymen and theologians alike to stumble and compromise.

None could argue that the wording was not clear. God commanded Noah to build a wooden boat of huge dimensions and to take on board representatives of land-dwelling, air-breathing animals. The Flood, Scripture reveals, devastated the entire world. But nineteenth-century theologians, pressed on by James Hutton, Charles Lyell, and others proposing the new uniformitarian interpretation of Earth history, became convinced that the scriptural account must be understood in a figurative sense. Their later counterparts repeat this error, promulgating the non-biblical idea that the Flood was only local.

Some have wondered how Noah could gather all the animals, but the Bible simply says they “went in two and two unto Noah into the ark” (7:9), evidently migrating to the location on God’s command.

Their care while on the Ark has also been raised as a problem. But in all likelihood the animals entered a state of semi-dormancy, as nearly all of their descendants do today when faced with danger over which they have no control and from which they cannot flee.

Scripture supports this idea in our text: the word “rooms,” which is more properly translated “nests” everywhere else in Scripture, implies a small place to sleep or nestle rather than a large cage. The job of caring for the animals may have been difficult, but our gracious God would have seen to it that it was possible. Questions like these are no cause for compromise. JDM