A Daily Devotional

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God: More Than One Person

“And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).

The Lamb is one with and yet distinct from “Him that sat on the throne” (Revelation4:10; cf. 5:1,6,7). The four beasts (living creatures) and twenty-four elders nevertheless “fell down before the Lamb” to worship. If, as cultists maintain, the Lamb is less than God, how would violating of the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), be tolerated in God’s presence? The answer is that Jesus is God: one with Him who sat on the throne!

Two passages in Isaiah confirm this truth all the more. In Isaiah 42:8 we read, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another. . . .” Our text for today reads: “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” The Lamb, Jesus, shares in God’s glory; He cannot be “another.” He is, as He said, “one” with the Father (John 10:30). In Isaiah 48:11 the Lord said, “I will not give my glory unto another.”

All of this should in no way diminish the praise and honor due the Father. He is to be worshiped and praised for loving so much that He commissioned the Son to save sinners. The Son Himself said, however: “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:23).

If we have difficulty understanding the complexities of human personality, it should not surprise us that trying to understand the complexity of God is infinitely more difficult. We believe in the Trinity doctrine, not because we fully understand it but because the Lord reveals Himself as a triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Creation And The Finger Of God

“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:17,18).

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Timothy 3:16), but this portion of Scripture was given by direct inscription of God! Moses testified: “The LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly” (Deuteronomy 9:10). “He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (Exodus 34:28). Thus, out of all the Holy Scriptures, God chose to write this section, not through one of His prophets, but with His own finger! It should, therefore, be taken literally and most seriously.

It is also significant that these commandments were structured around a weekly day of rest, “remembering” God’s creation week—six days of creating and making everything in heaven and earth, followed by a sanctified day of rest and refreshment (note also Exodus 20:8–11 and Genesis 1:31–2:3). Ever since the creation, people have observed a weekly calendar. The seven-day week (unlike the day, month, and year) has no astronomical basis at all. People keep time in weeks simply because God did! Even those who deny the six-day week of creation must observe it, for their biological rhythms are constructed that way by God. “The Sabbath was made for man,” said Jesus (Mark 2:27). Since God considered the truth of the literal creation week so important that He inscribed it Himself, we should believe this portion of His word first of all.

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Maker Of Heaven And Earth

“My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2).

The psalmist rightly said, “Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). In fact, He not only made us, but continues to sustain our moment-by-moment existence.

What can we expect from such a wondrous Creator? Personal help—Not only is this related in the above text, but in Psalm 124:8 as well. “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” God’s power displayed in creation is the same power available to bring help and aid to those in tremendous need. Songs in the night—“But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night” (Job 35:10). Even in one’s darkest hour the Holy Spirit can bring comfort and joy, placing a song in the heart. Present blessing—“The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion” (Psalm 134:3). God pronounces blessing on those who are in the place of blessing. Future hope—“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is” (Psalm 146:5,6). “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2,3).

It would be fitting to remember the powerful words of Jeremiah 10:10,11. “But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. Thus shall ye say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.”

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Paul And Titus

“To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 1:4).

On the surface, this verse might be considered insignificant and could easily be missed, for it is part of a lengthy greeting to Titus by Paul at the beginning of this book. However, many nuggets are contained therein, and it is well worth our study.

Titus was one of Paul’s most trusted companions. He was a faithful worker who had accompanied Paul on a number of his journeys. Late in Paul’s life, after years of discipleship, Paul asked Titus to carry on the work he had started in Crete, an island well known for its deplorable moral state. Paul may have been instrumental in Titus’ initial conversion, for he calls him “mine own son,” literally, “my true child,” a very endearing term. The bond of “common faith” gave them a mutual goal, and, of course, it is the same faith which we share.

Paul greets Titus with “grace, mercy, and peace.” Grace is a manifestation of God’s love toward undeserving rebels, resulting in forgiveness and blessing. “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Mercy is the attitude of God toward those who are in distress. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Peace comes as a result of the restoration of harmony between God and the forgiven one. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

This three-fold blessing comes from both “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.” What a comfort to recognize both Father and Son as involved in the bestowment of all aspects of our salvation.

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Deliverance From Evil Works

“And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (II Timothy 4:18).

As Paul sits in the Roman prison writing to Timothy, he puts down some painful thoughts about the persecutions by his enemies and the desertion of his friends. Only Luke is still with him and things look bleak. “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion” (v.17).

Just as in Paul’s time, so today many evil works surround us, that our only hope is in the Lord’s deliverance. Psalm 18:48–50 reads: “He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth He to His king; and sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.”

Such preservation is for the Christian, thus enabling him to be a part of his heavenly kingdom. For those who endure, Acts 14:22 comments, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” “That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). The Lord deserves praise for His protective and sustaining hand. It is He and He alone who is able to deliver. In his last recorded words, Paul, as he reflected on God’s faithful working throughout his life and ministry, exhorted us to give glory now and forever to Him. Soon, the executioner released him to enjoy God’s everlasting preservation.

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Our Job As Ambassadors

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20).

Christ has made each of us His ambassadors here on earth. He is no longer here in the flesh, and so now He expects us to faithfully and effectively represent Him. He has given us two basic tasks to perform.

First of all, we are to spread the good news of salvation in such a way that unbelievers will be drawn to the light and out of their darkness, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18). To do this, we must live a life of conformity to His life and teachings. “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (I Peter 1:15).

Secondly, we are to saturate ourselves totally with the knowledge of His will and His word so that we will be enabled to encourage other Christians, strengthening them for their duties as ambassadors as well. “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15).

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16,17).

It has rightly been said that the only two things which will last for eternity are people and the word of God. These things must occupy our attention if we are to be effective “ambassadors for Christ.”

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Captives Of The Devil

“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).

Strange as it may seem, the experience of Job indicates that godly believers can be captured by the devil. God Himself allowed Job to fall into such captivity, for He told Satan: “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life” (Job 2:6). All the sufferings which Job endured were inflicted by his captor, who hoped thereby to get him to renounce the Lord. Similarly, Peter was briefly bound in Satanic captivity. “Simon, Simon,” said Jesus, “behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31).

Such bondage, however, is temporary. Job was delivered “when he prayed for his friends” and Peter when he was “converted” and went forth to “strengthen (his) brethren” as Christ had told him (Luke 22:32). In both cases, they continued strong in faith during their captivity, and deliverance came when they turned their concerns to others.

More serious is the case of those who are in bondage because of sin. Nevertheless, Christ died to set them free “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).

Christ died to set the captives free, but they must first be told and then gently led to freedom by those who care for their souls. “The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (II Timothy 2:24–26).

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The Indwelling Trinity


"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:16-19).

This prayer of the apostle Paul applies to us as well as "to the saints which are at Ephesus" (Ephesians 1:1). Paul directs his prayer "unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (3:14), and he requests both that "Christ may dwell in your hearts" and also that the Holy Spirit would strengthen our "inner man." We know elsewhere that Christ is at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Ephesians 1:20), so that the Holy Spirit is the person who actually indwells our bodies as believers. And yet, because God is a tri-une God, if the Holy Spirit indwells us, so also must "the Spirit of Christ," or else "he is none of His" (Romans 8:9).

But the prayer doesn't end with Christ dwelling in our hearts. He further prays that "ye might be filled with all the fulness of God," and thus the Father is there too! When we accept Christ, we accept also the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the three are one, and God in all His tri-une fullness thenceforth lives in our bodies.

The Lord Jesus Himself had prayed essentially the same prayer. "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; . . . and my Father will love , and we will . . . make our abode with " (John 14:16-17,23). What a priceless privilege and responsibility is ours as believers, that our tri-une God of creation and redemption and direction is with us always!

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The Oracles Of God

“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1,2).

Although God loves all the world (John 3:16), it became necessary for Him to choose one nation through which He could convey His word to all nations. The Jews therefore were given the high honor of bringing both the written word and the living word into the world. With such privileges, they also must bear great responsibility; yet most modernday Jews deny both the inspiration of the Bible and the incarnate deity of Christ. Nevertheless, as the next verses point out: “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid” (Romans 3:3,4).

This phrase, “oracles of God,” occurs just three times in the New Testament. The word “oracles” (Greek logion) was understood by the Greeks of that day to refer to actual supernatural utterances given by a spirit through a human medium. Thus, as used in our text, it indicates that the Old Testament should be regarded as verbally inspired by God.

Then, in Hebrews 5:12, there is emphasis on the importance of “the first principles of the oracles of God,” rebuking those believers who have neglected to learn even the foundational truths of the inerrant Scriptures.

Lastly, the phrase is used in I Peter 4:11: “If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God.” In context, the apostle is urging anyone with the spiritual gift of teaching to see that his teaching conforms fully to the words of God as revealed in Scripture.

One other time the word “oracles” is used. Moses “received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38). Thus the first five books of the Bible are especially singled out as the “living words” of God!

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And They Died

“And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died” (Genesis 5:5).

Eight times in Genesis 5 the phrase, “and he died,” is recorded. Eight astonishing tombstones: Adam (v.5), Seth (v., Enos (v.11), Cainan (v.14), Mahalaleel (v.17), Jared (v.20), Methuselah (v.27), and Lamech (v.31). These men lived amazingly long lives (six over 900 years), yet they died! Why?

The first reference to death in the Bible is Genesis 2:17: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Before this, God had brought forth a great explosion of life in the six days of creation. But to Adam came the ominous warning about death. It was a clear command that Adam later on deliberately disobeyed (Genesis 3:6). The probable question in Adam’s mind from that point was, “Did God mean what He said?” Eventually Adam died and so did all those who followed him, and so do we! “The wages of sin” is still death (Romans 6:23).

Death basically means separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body; spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God; eternal death is the separation of the soul from God eternally. If the Lord tarries, we all will die physically, but we do not have to die eternally. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “He that hath the Son hath life” (I John 5:12). There is one, however, who escaped death in Genesis 5, and that is Enoch. “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (5:24). He went directly into the presence of God without dying. It would be wonderful if we, like Enoch, would also be taken up to be with the Lord and bypass having a tombstone like all of those who have preceded us!

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The Counting God

“Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?” (Job 31:4).

God is surely the Great Mathematician. All the intricacies of structure and process of His mighty cosmos are, at least in principle, capable of being described mathematically, and the goal of science is to do just that. This precise intelligibility of the universe clearly points to a marvelous intelligence as its Creator.

God even “telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names” (Psalm 147:4). Astronomers estimate that at least ten trillion trillion stars exist in the heavens, and God has counted and identified each one! And that is not all: “The very hairs of your head are all numbered,” Jesus said (Matthew 10:30). From the most massive star to the tiniest hair, God has counted and controls each component of His creation.

Such countings are far beyond human capabilities, for “the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured” (Jeremiah 33:22). But God has also created “an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22) and has promised that the redeemed will include “a great multitude, which no man could number” (Revelation 7:9).

No wonder that David exclaimed, “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Psalm 40:5).

Perhaps the most wonderful of all God’s counting activities is that implied in Job’s rhetorical question: “Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?” If He has numbered the hairs on our heads, we can be certain He numbers our steps along the way, and guides them all. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37:23).

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The Heart Of Stone (#19940313)
by John Morris, Ph.D.

“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18).

The blindness mentioned in our text is the same word used to describe a kind of stone. In verb form, this word indicates a process and means “to make hard or to petrify.” Often the word is translated as hardness.

The people of Israel developed a hard heart and mind toward God and the things of God (II Corinthians 3:13–15) which continually brought both grief and anger to the Lord Jesus (Mark 3:5). Even the disciples suffered from this hardness (Mark 6:52; 8:17).

Our text is directed toward New Testament believers who are challenged not to become blinded or petrified as are unbelievers. This petrification in the moral realm can be compared to the loss of sensation in the physical realm—a kind of spiritual paralysis as when sensor and motor nerves no longer respond. “Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:19).

Petrification of once-living tissue usually takes place over the course of many years, as each organic molecule decays and is removed, with the space it occupied refilled with stony material dissolved in groundwater percolating through the host material. Or, it may take place as material is injected into the living tissue, thus stopping all life processes. In just such a way the hardening of the heart can take place slowly, but finally petrification is complete. Petrification of wood can be stopped by removing it from the decay-and-replacement process, but natural processes cannot return it to its former state. Praise God that we can “put on the new man” (v.24) with a renewed (new) mind and spirit (v.23), no longer hardened toward the things of God. JDM

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Matter Of Life And Death (#19940314)
by Connie J. Horn

“For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26).

The Hebrew verb bara, translated as “created” in the first chapter of Genesis, is used only when God is the subject. Man can make or form things out of pre-existing matter, but only God can create something from nothing and life from non-life. It is God “in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10). It is He alone who can give life to the “new creature” born again by His Spirit (II Corinthians 5:17; John 3:3–6). Whether a man is saved or lost depends upon whether he is alive in Christ (I Corinthians 15:22) or “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

Only God can impart that life through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Adam’s sin brought death into the world and in him “all die” (I Corinthians 15:22). “Without shedding of blood is no remission” of sin (Hebrews 9:22), and it is the “precious blood of Christ . . . foreordained before the foundation of the world” (I Peter 1:19,20) which “taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Jesus’ death was the perfect, wholly acceptable offering for our sin. His resurrection from the dead is the Creator’s powerful display of an endless life and of His victory over death and its sting. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (I John 5:12). “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). CJH

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Signs Of The Everlasting Covenants (#19940315)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth” (Genesis 9:16).

The first mention of the key word, “covenant,” is in Genesis 6:18 where God promised to establish a covenant with Noah after the flood. This everlasting covenant was made with all the earth’s future populations and is still in effect, symbolized continually by the beautiful rainbow after a rain.

God also made an everlasting covenant with Abraham and Isaac. “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7,8). This time, the symbol of God’s everlasting covenant was that of circumcision, “a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:11).

There is still another everlasting covenant—this one with all the redeemed of all the ages. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:40). God has made this “new covenant” applicable to all the saved, and this time, the sign of the covenant is nothing less than the blood of Christ. “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will” (Hebrews 13:20,21). HMM

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The Danger Of Willful Sin (#19940316)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

“Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken His commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him” (Numbers 15:31).

Under the Mosaic law, there was ample provision for forgiveness of sins committed unintentionally. “If any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, . . . and it shall be forgiven him” (Numbers 15:27,28). However, as in our text, it was altogether different for one who deliberately disobeyed God’s law. One who would so despise God’s commandment was to be put to death.

In this Christian dispensation, many would say that this harshness of God’s law has been replaced by His love. There is abundant pardon for all, since Jesus died for all our sins. Now, all we need is to confess our sins, and He will forgive us (I John 1:9). But, “if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, . . . He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?” (Hebrews 10:26,28,29).

Even assuming this warning applies specifically only to those who have willfully renounced faith in Christ, the question still remains whether one with true saving faith will willfully sin against the known will of God, as revealed in His word. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). Only God knows the heart, but those “Christians” who deliberately reject and disobey His word should at least “examine (them)selves, whether (they) be in the faith” (II Corinthians 13:5). HMM