KNOWING GOD BY KNOWING HIS WAYS

Ex. 33.13

Through the Bible Daily Devotionals

Tom Adcox

One would have to read about four chapters a day to read through the Bible in a
year. The following readings are not designed to lead one through reading the entire
Bible in a year, but they do start with Genesis and end with Revelation. If the reader
would read the context of each passage dealt with, he would read a substantial portion
of the Bible in a year. By filling in other chapters not covered, he could read the entire
Bible in a year.
Just as these readings are not designed to cover the entire Bible, neither are they
designed to cover every important passage or concept. What part of the Bible could we
leave out as unimportant? It is all the inspired word of God. Rather does it deal with
passages that have been particularly meaningful to me in my walk with the Lord and
study of his word. I am not saying that one passage is more important than another,
only that some have been more helpful to me than others. That is obviously a weakness
on my part for not seeing the significance of each passage as fully as could be desired.
By the grace of God I will see more as time goes on.
The Old Testament translations are my revisions into modern English of the
American Standard Version, compared with the Hebrew. The New Testament
translations are my own. My translations are quite literal rather than in polished
English so that the reader may get as close as possible to the Greek.
The personal name of God in the Old Testament, first used in Gen. 2.4 and
explained to Moses in Ex. 3.13-14, is, in English letters, YHWH. Hebrew has no written
vowels. It became the custom of the Jews not to pronounce the name of God because of
its holiness and their fear of accidental blasphemy by mispronunciation. When they
came to the name in the reading of the Scriptures, they substituted the Hebrew word
Adonai, My Lord. This tradition has been continued in English translations of the Bible,
which print the word in all capitals, LORD. When an English reader sees the word LORD
in the Old Testament, it represents the Hebrew name of God, YHWH. There are certain
books in which God is called “Lord YHWH.” Since “Lord LORD” would not be an
acceptable translation, “Lord GOD” has been used, in this case GOD in all capitals
representing the divine name.
Since the name of God has not been pronounced by the Jews for millenniums,
and since there are no vowels in the ancient Hebrew texts, no one knows the correct

pronunciation of YHWH. Some have taken the vowels of the Hebrew word Adonai, My
Lord, and inserted them into YHWH, coming up with Jehovah (based on German
JHVH, a different rendering of the letters in that language). Some Christian students of
the Bible have come to general agreement that “Jehovah” is not correct, and that the
name should be written and pronounced “Yahweh.” This is by no means a certainty. I
have chosen in this work to use the name I AM because I speak English and I AM is the
literal English translation of the Old Testament Hebrew of God’s personal name.
I have added a short prayer to the end of each reading. These are designed to be
a starting point to help the reader begin his prayer, not to be the entire prayer. Nor have
I ended every prayer with, “In Jesus’ name.” It seemed to me to be extremely repetitious
to keep using that phrase over and over, three hundred and sixty-six times, in short
readings. It is my conviction, however, that it is in the name of Jesus that we reach the
Father. The reader will end his prayers as he sees fit.
My prayer is that these Scriptures and thoughts will be helpful to you, as they
have been to me, in knowing, trusting, loving, and obeying the Lord. If that is the case,
his people, individually and corporately, will be edified and our great God will be
glorified, and I will not have labored in vain.

WALKING WITH GOD

Jan. 1. Gen. 1.1: “In the beginning God….” The Bible begins with God, showing us that the
universe we live in and the time we go through find their meaning in God. We are so
distracted by the need to make a living and the desire to make more than a living, by
our own bodies and emotions, by the constant clamor of the world around us, that it is
natural for us to think, perhaps without realizing it, that the meaning of life is the
pursuit of happiness. “If only I could have (be, do) so and so I would be happy.” But
that is not the case. The meaning of the universe and of our lives is not happiness, but
God. We were made by him and for him (Col. 1.16). If we pursue happiness we will
likely not find it, but if we pursue God, we likely will.
The first chapter of Genesis tells us that God created everything that is. Thus
everything finds its meaning in God. The prophet tells us, “For you will go out with joy
and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth before you
into singing, and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands” (Is. 55.12). The Lord
Jesus said, “If these were silent, the stones would cry out” (Lk. 19.40). Everything was
made to declare the glory of God (Ps. 19.1).
That is your purpose and mine. We were made to declare the glory of God, not
just by our words of witness or proclamation, but by our everyday lives. How do we do
that? In a sense, we cannot do it. It is beyond us, but if we set our hearts to know God

and to serve him and yield ourselves to him to let him work in us, he will produce in us
glory for himself. The work is his. The willingness is ours. And even that ultimately
comes from him (Phil. 2.13).

Dear Lord, I see that you are the meaning of all that is and that I was made for
you. I give myself to you unreservedly and ask you to do the work in me that will bring
glory to you through me. Amen.

Jan. 2. Gen. 1.26: “And God said, ‘Let us….'” Whom was God addressing? No people had
been created yet. He was not talking with angels, for he was preparing to make man,
and the angels did not participate in that. We could say that God was talking to himself,
or better, among himself. This verse contains the Bible’s first hint at what we call the
Trinity, the belief that God is three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is not our
purpose just now to try to explain the Trinity. That cannot be done, for God is far
beyond our little brains. Our purpose is to learn something about God that is
foundational to all of life, including our lives.
As we think about the fact that God is three in one, we see that there is
relationship, fellowship, love within God himself. That is the nature of God. John tells
us that God is love (1 Jn. 4.8, 16). Paul writes that the more excellent way is love (1 Cor.
12.31-13.13). The Lord Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one
another, as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13.34-35).
This fact about God is set forth in the context of his making man. It is very
instructive that the Bible says, “God created the man in his own image. In the image of
God he created him. Male and female he created them” (Gen. 1.27). It says that he made
the man, singular, “male and female he made them,” plural. That is, there is not to be a
division between man and woman in the sense of opposition. In God’s intention,
mankind is one. The fact that man is male and female is designed by God to reveal the
love relationship within God himself. Man is not made to be alone, but to live in
relationship, a relationship of such intimacy, such oneness, that it reveals what God is
like. Love is basic to life because God is love.

Heavenly Father, please lead me in the more excellent way. Amen.

Jan. 3. Gen. 3.1-7: “Now the snake was more crafty than any other beast of the field which I AM
God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God really said, “Do not eat of any tree of
the garden?”‘ And the woman said to the snake, ‘Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may
eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “Do not eat of
it, and do not touch it, so that you do not die.”‘ And the snake said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die,
for God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,

knowing good and evil.’ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit and
she ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loin coverings.”
A terrible thing came into God’s creation. The snake, Satan, the rebel angel who
wanted to usurp God’s place, seduced the creatures that were made to reveal God’s love
nature into self-love instead of self-giving love. He called God a liar and tempted the
creature to become its own god. The two of them ate, and thus the universe fell into the
state it is in today, with nature itself often opposing man, and man filling the world
with sin, hatred, misery, and death.
It is easy for us to point a finger at Adam and Eve and say it is all their fault. We
cannot help sinning because we were born sinners in a fallen world (Ps. 51.5). Yet we
have to confess that we all have sinned willingly. We have chosen to sin. God has made
the way for us to overcome sin and its penalty and we have all rejected that way.
Thanks be to him that we have come to accept that way and now he is leading us back
toward self-giving, back to revealing what he is like.

Lord, I thank you that though I sinned willingly, you have made a way for me to be
forgiven and have taken me to yourself. I confess that I am still full of self-love, but I
thank you that you are transforming me into the image of your Son who perfectly
reveals your nature. Amen.

Jan. 4. Gen. 3.15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed
and her seed. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” This sentence records
God’s words to Satan after he had tempted man into sin. It is considered by many Bible
students to be the first prophecy in the Bible, telling of the time when Satan would
bruise the heel of the Lord Jesus, the seed of the woman, and the Lord Jesus would
bruise Satan’s head. That is, Satan would deal a blow to Christ in bringing about his
death on the cross (from his viewpoint; actually Jesus laid down his life, Jn. 10.17-18),
but it would not be an ultimately fatal blow. However, the Lord would deal Satan a
blow to the head, a spiritually fatal blow, one that would bring an end to his evil
activity forever (see Col. 2.15, Heb. 2.14, 1 Jn. 3.8).
God’s highest creatures had just fallen into sin and had taken all the material
creation with them. What had been made by God without a trace of evil was now
plunged into the darkness of sin and separation from God. Yet God had a plan to
redeem what had been lost, and he gives that first hint of it here in these words. God, of
course, knows all things and knows the end from the beginning (Is. 46.10), so he was
not surprised by man’s fall. His plan had been in mind from all eternity. It would not be
clear on that awful day exactly what that plan entailed, what was meant by the snake

bruising the seed’s heel, and the seed his head, but from our position of hindsight we
can see that it meant the giving of his life for our sins by the Son of God. We learn of
God in this verse that the one who made us and whom we offended by sin, has forever
had in mind our redemption, and more, he took the cost of that redemption on himself.
What a great God of grace and mercy we serve!

Gracious God, I must confess my sinfulness, but I thank you that you made provision
for me by sending your Son to bruise the head of the snake by allowing his own heel to
be bruised. Eternal praise and thanksgiving to you! Amen.

Jan. 5. Gen. 14.18: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was
priest of God Most High.” This verse is one of the most important in the Bible because it
shows us God’s original idea of priesthood. We tend to think of priesthood in terms of
the Levitical priesthood of the Jews from Moses onward, but that priesthood was
brought in for a time of failure. The priesthood God wants is revealed here in Gen.
14.18, where the word “priest” is used for the first time in the Bible, and in other
passages that we will consider later. The first priest we encounter is Melchizedek,
whose name means king of righteousness and who was also king of peace, the meaning
of Salem (Shalom). This priest brought forth bread and wine. What priest ever brought
forth bread and wine? Priests in Israel always brought forth blood. This priest was also
a king. What priest in Israel was ever king, or what king, priest? Only the tribe of Judah
could furnish kings, and only Levi, priests.
There is another Priest and King, though, who fulfills God’s original idea of
priesthood revealed in Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the Levitical
priesthood by his offering of himself and now is High Priest after a higher order, the
order of Melchizedek. He now brings forth bread and wine, symbolic of his body and
blood to show what he did for us, but there is no more need for the shedding of blood.
He has done that once for all.
He is also King. He is King of Israel, King of kings, King of righteousness, King
of peace, eternal King over everything. He combines kingship and priesthood in one
office. Thus he is Priest and King not according to the Jewish law, but according to the
order of Melchizedek. We will see more of this priesthood as we continue through the
Bible, and will reference this reading when we do so.

God of righteousness and peace, I thank you that the Lord Jesus has gone beyond the
Jewish priesthood and established a new priesthood, and that he is King as well. Please
reveal to me the meaning of that new order for me. Amen.

Jan. 6. Gen. 15.6: “And he had faith in I AM, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” We
may have the impression that in the Old Testament, God’s people were saved by

keeping the law, whereas in the New Testament they are saved by grace through faith.
This one verse in the Old Testament shows us that such an idea is not true. Abraham
was considered righteous by God, not because he kept the law. Indeed, the law had not
yet been given. He was considered righteous because he had faith in God. Paul makes
much of this revelation of truth. He says in Rom. 3.20 that no flesh is justified by the
works of the law. Three times he quotes the verse in Rom. 4, vs. 3, 9, 22, and again in Gal.
3.6, arguing that justification is by faith, not by works, and using Abraham, the father of
the Jewish people who hold to the law, to prove it.
This belief in salvation by faith may seem commonplace to us who have heard it
preached so many times, but how real is it to people in actual fact. So many people
when asked if they are saved or will go to Heaven reply with, “I hope so.” When asked
the basis of their hope, it is something like, “I have tried to live a good life. I think my
good outweighs my bad.” That is exactly the same thing that the ancient Jews believed.
It is salvation by works. And how many Christians, even, are not certain of salvation
because of guilt over failure to do entirely as they should have done? Yet this is exactly
where the concept of justification by faith is so important. Which one of us has done
entirely as he should have? “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone
at her” (Jn. 8.9). Let us, with Paul, rest in the righteousness that is based on faith in the
word of God and the finished work of Christ.

God of all grace, I thank you again that you made salvation dependent not on my
works, for I have sinned and broken your law, but on my faith in you, in what you have
said, and in what you have done. Amen.

Jan. 7. Gen. 22.8: “And Abraham said, ‘God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering,
my son.'” This Abraham who believed God when he was told to leave his native land
and go out to a land he would be shown and when he was given a promise impossible
with man, the bearing of a son by a barren woman now too old to conceive, and who
was considered righteous by God because he believed, is now told to sacrifice that only
son to God. Would his faith stand this test? We are told only that, after he had received
this command, Abraham rose early the next morning and took two servants, Isaac the
beloved son, and the wood for the burnt offering and set out for Moriah as God had
commanded. When they arrived at the place of sacrifice, Isaac, not seeing an animal for
the offering, asked his father where the lamb was. Our verse is Abraham’s answer: “And
Abraham said, ‘God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.'” He did
not know what truth he spoke. When he had bound his son on the altar and raised the
knife to put him to death, the angel called to him from Heaven to stop. It was a test of
faith, and Abraham had passed the test. He had not withheld his dearest treasure from
God.

As Abraham looked up from the altar he saw a ram caught by his horns in a
thicket. God had indeed provided his own lamb. What a foreshadowing of the Lamb he
would later provide, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And what
provision for our need. We could not die for our own sins, except as punishment for
them. We had no hope in ourselves. But God provided a Lamb himself, and that Lamb
gave his life on a cross-shaped altar that we might walk away from that altar alive.

Blessed be I AM Who Provides (Gen. 22.14). Amen.

Jan. 8. Gen. 25.27: “And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a
complete man, dwelling in tents.” Our translations use various English words to translate
the word we have rendered “complete.” NASB has “peaceful,” NIV “quiet,” and KJV
“plain.” The word means “complete.” It seems strange to say that Esau was a skillful
hunter while Jacob was complete, so apparently the translators tried to come up with
what they thought must be meant. Why not translate it as it is? Jacob was a complete
man.
What does that mean? We find the answer in the contrast between Jacob and
Esau. Their story is well known. Esau was a hardworking outdoorsman. Jacob made his
way, not by hard work, but by trickery. Even his name describes his character,
supplanter, swindler, cheat. If we were to compare the two on their merits as citizens,
Esau would win. He was far the better man in that way. And he believed in God
Jacob also believed in God, but he tried to cheat even him. When God appeared
to Jacob in the dream at Bethel, Jacob gave God an opportunity he could not refuse: “If
God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to
eat and clothing to put on so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then I AM
will be my God….” How magnanimous of Jacob, to allow I AM to be his God if he
would do all these things for him! Yet God saw something in Jacob that caused him to
take him up on his offer. God knew that Jacob was such a cheat that he would try to use
even God for his own advantage, but he also knew that deep down in Jacob was an
appreciation of spiritual things, and that is where he was complete.
Yes, Esau was a hardworking man who believed in God, but he had no
appreciation of spiritual things. When he had to choose between his birthright, the right
to carry on the interests of God in this world, and one meal, he chose the meal: “See, I
am going to die, and what is this birthright do to me?” (Gen. 25.32). Esau was a good
man in many ways, but he was incomplete, not valuing the spiritual. Jacob was a very
bad man, but he valued the spiritual. So God took him up on his offer and dealt with his
flesh over the next twenty years to bring him to a point of brokenness before God. In the
end we find Jacob blessing Pharaoh, the greatest man in the world of his time, blessing
his grandsons, and worshipping God. God had developed the completeness he saw in
Jacob when it was buried too deep for anyone else to see.

Dear Lord, Please give me a proper sense of the value of the spiritual. Your word says
that the things seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4.18). Open
the eyes of my heart to what is truly valuable (Eph. 1.18). May I be a complete person in
your sight. Amen

Jan. 9. Gen. 32.31: “And the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel, and he limped on his thigh.”
In yesterday’s look at Jacob, we saw that God dealt with him and brought him where he
wanted him to be spiritually. Today we see the event where God won the victory over
Jacob. Jacob had fled from his father-in-law, Laban, and now he faced his brother Esau,
from whom he had taken both birthright and blessing. Esau was on the way with four
hundred men. Jacob was very afraid. He sent his family and goods on ahead and spent
that night alone. His great fear was God’s opportunity.
As Jacob spent that night alone, he wrestled with God. The picture is of the flesh
of Jacob resisting God, resisting brokenness before God. The flesh will not go to the
cross voluntarily. Jacob’s fight was really with himself, not with God, and when he
finally lost to God and broke, he won the victory. As long as the flesh is strong, the
person is weak with God, but when the flesh has been broken, the person is strong with
God. Jacob’s flesh broke that night and he became Israel, one who strives with God, for
he had striven with God and had won. He won by losing, by giving up and giving in to
God. He won over his flesh, a victory we all need. And he went away with a reminder for the rest of his life, for the angel with
whom he wrestled put the socket of his thigh out of joint, and Jacob went away limping.
That limping joint pictures the flesh that has been broken before God. Jacob always
walked with a limp; he was a broken man with regard to the flesh. Ah, but how strong
he was from that day on because he did not depend on his swindling flesh, but on God.
When he limped in the flesh, he was strong in the Lord. Is. 33.23 says that the lame take the prey. And as we saw yesterday, he ended his days a man of God.

Almighty God, please give me the grace to stop resisting you, to give in to you, to allow
the flesh to be broken, for only then will I be strong with you. Amen.

Jan. 10. Gen. 50.20: “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to
bring about, as it is this day, to save many people alive.” One of Joseph’s strengths was that
he understood the sovereignty of God, knowing that no matter what happened in his
life, God either caused it or allowed it for his glory and Joseph’s good. Thus when he
was done wrong by someone, he could maintain his spiritual and psychological
equilibrium, knowing that God had not lost control, but would use the circumstance for
good.
Joseph had many opportunities to learn this lesson. His mother died when he
was still rather young. He was the favorite of his father, but his ten brothers hated him

because of it, and they sold him into slavery in Egypt. There he excelled at his work for
his owner and was a youth of purity, but still he was cast into prison on false charges.
There he was such a model prisoner that he was put in charge of the prison. Then when
he interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker, the cupbearer, whom Joseph
had asked to remember him in prison when he was restored to his position, promptly
forgot about him, leaving Joseph in prison yet longer.
The hand of God was seen in all, though, when Pharaoh has his dreams of the
cows and the ears of grain. When no one could interpret the troubling dream, the
cupbearer remembered Joseph, who interpreted the dream and was made ruler of
Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, for the purpose of carrying out his plan of preparing for
the famine. Thus he saved not only Egypt, but the fledgling people of God, the seventy
souls in the house of Jacob.
Joseph always relied on God and did his best no matter what situation he was in
because he knew God was sovereign. He is still sovereign today, in your life and in
mine.

Sovereign God, give me grace to trust you and to yield to you in every circumstance,
knowing that you rule over all the affairs of men. Amen.

Jan. 11. Ex. 3.14-15: “And God said to Moses, ‘I Am That I Am,’ and he said, ‘Thus shall you
say to the sons of Israel, I Am has sent me to you.’ And God said moreover to Moses, ‘Thus shall
you say to the sons of Israel, I AM, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my
memorial to all generations.'” We often take this story of the revealing of his name to
Moses by God as the first revelation of the name, but that is not the case. The name was
revealed to Abraham in Gen. 15.7. Here the name is explained. “I AM” is not the normal
Hebrew word for “I am,” but a form of it. Thus does God explain to Moses the meaning
of the name that he had been know by for hundreds of years.
What can we learn about God from this name, I Am? First, it shows us that God
is eternal and self-existent. That is, he was not made and did not begin, but has always
been. Every other being is created and depends on another for its existence. Then we see
that in the eternity which God inhabits, all is present to him. He does not remember a
distant past or anticipate a distant future. He is. His name is not I Was. His name is not I
Will Be. His name is I Am.
Finally, this name shows that God is whatever we may need. Do we need peace?
God does not give peace. He gives himself. I Am Peace. Do we need comfort? He gives
himself. I Am Comfort. Do we need grace. He gives himself. I Am Grace. I Am is all we
need. His name is not I Give. His name is I Am.

Eternal yet present God, teach me not to seek things from you, but to seek you. Amen.

Jan. 12. Ex. 12.13: “And the blood will be to you a sign on the houses where you are, and when I
see the blood I will pass over you, and there will no plague be on you to destroy you, when I
smite the land of Egypt.” When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt on the night when
the angel of God struck all the firstborn of Egypt with death, the Israelites were safe
because they had availed themselves of the protection God provided for them. He had
told Moses to have all Israel kill a lamb on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,
then to put some of the blood on the doorposts and lintels of the houses, then to roast
and eat the lamb. When the destroying angel came, he would pass over the houses
where he saw the blood. To this day the Jews remember that night with the festival of
Passover, the night when God saved those who were under the blood.
Could there be any clearer picture of our salvation under the blood of Jesus?
Without the Passover, the Jews would have seen all their firstborn die. Without our
Passover (1 Cor. 5.7), we would all die in our sins and face eternal judgment. But when
we are under the blood of Christ, the destroyer sees that blood and passes over us. It is
good to have a special day in the year to call to mind certain events, but thanks be to
God that we can celebrate our Passover every day, for the shed blood stays effective
continually and forever.
The Passover of the Jews is to be eaten with bitter herbs. The Passover is a
celebration, for it is salvation, but the bitter herbs remind that salvation cost life. Let us
not lose sight of the fact that our salvation, our life, our freedom, rest on shed blood, on
the death of the one who gave himself for us. Yes, we celebrate, but let us partake of the
bitter herbs of awareness that our life came out of his death. Thanks be to him.

Lord Jesus, how I thank you for your precious blood, for your sacrifice of yourself for
me. I know that human words cannot give you the thanks you deserve, but I ask you to
accept my thanks as the expression of a heart that wants to give you all you deserve.
Here, I give myself to you. Amen.

Jan. 13. Ex. 15.23-25: “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of
Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people
complained against Moses saying, ‘What will we drink?’ And he cried to I AM, and I AM
showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters and the waters were made sweet.” In the Bible
water is often a symbol of the Holy Spirit. In this passage we find Israel having just
crossed the Red Sea safely by the miraculous intervention of God, but now three days
into the desert with no water. When they did find water it was bitter, and they began
their long career of complaining to Moses. We have already seen, in considering Jacob,
that God deals with our flesh. When the Holy Spirit begins to put pressure on our flesh
as he attempts to bring it to the cross, he is like bitter water. It is bitter to the flesh to
face death. Because of this bitterness we often resist the dealings of God and seek to get

out of them, perhaps not realizing that he is doing what is best for us. All discipline
seems “unjoyful” at the time (Heb. 12.11).
What was God’s answer to the bitter waters? He showed Moses a tree, and when
Moses cast the tree into the waters, they became sweet. What is God’s answer to our
bitter waters when the Holy Spirit is dealing with us? He shows us a tree. When God
reveals the cross to us as the place where all that would destroy us, our sins, our sinful
nature, our flesh, comes to an end, and as the doorway to his resurrection life in us, and
we then embrace that cross as the way out of death and into life, those bitter waters
become sweet. That Holy Spirit who was bitter water to us when dealing with us
becomes sweet water to us when we are filled with him. What is God’s answer to bitter
waters? He showed him a tree.

Dear Lord, please reveal to me the cross in its fullness as the end of all the old that has
to do with death and the way into life, eternal and abundant. Please show me that tree.
Amen.

Jan. 14. Ex. 17.6: “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall
smite the rock, and waters will come from it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the
sight of the elders of Israel.” Water from the rock! This is a story we are all familiar with. It
shows the provision of God for his people in a desert place, thus giving encouragement
to us as we live in the desert of this world. There is more to the story.
In 1 Cor. 10.4 Paul writes, “And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank
from the spiritual Rock that followed, and the Rock was Christ.” The Rock that followed
the Israelites in the desert and took care of them was Christ. He is the Rock from whom
the water came, spiritually.
It is of note that Moses had to smite the Rock with his rod to get water. The Lord
Jesus is the source of our water of life, the Holy Spirit, but he had to be smitten on the
cross for that water to flow. When the spear entered his side, out came the blood that
washes away our sins and out came the water that symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who
came into our dead spirits and made them alive toward God.
Later, in Num. 20, when there was again no water, when God told Moses to
speak to the rock, he struck it in disgust with the complaining people. Water came out,
but God told him that because he had smitten the rock rather than speaking to it as
instructed, he would not be allowed to enter the land of promise. Why was there such a
severe punishment for one act that almost seems excusable when the people had gotten
away with so much? It is the symbolism. Moses had already struck the rock. It did not
need to be struck a second time, but only spoken to. The Lord Jesus, the Rock, has
already been smitten once. He does not need to be smitten again, but only spoken to in
prayer, for the water to come forth. Our Rock was smitten for us to provide the Holy
Spirit. Now he delights to give him to us as we ask (Lk. 11.13).

Lord Jesus, our Rock, thank you for being smitten for me that my sins might be forgiven
and I might receive the Holy Spirit. Thank you that I have only to ask for him. I ask
now. Please give me a fresh supply of your Spirit for now (Ps. 92.10). Amen.

Jan. 15. Ex. 19.5-6: “Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
then you will be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you
will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you will speak to
the sons of Israel.” This passage is another one of those pivotal ones of the Bible and goes
with our reading for Jan. 5 on Melchizedek in Gen. 14.18. It gives us more light on God’s
design for priesthood. In Genesis we saw that God’s concept is after the order of
Melchizedek in which Priest and King are combined in one, the Lord Jesus. Now we see
that not just a select few are to be priests, as in every religion in the history of the world
that has priests, but every one of the people of God is to be a priest. God wants a
kingdom of priests.
We are familiar with the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. Here is the
biblical basis for it. It is what God wants. The priest is the one who is able to contact
God or a god or gods on behalf of the people. They cannot contact God, but must depend
on the priest. But God’s desire is that every one of his people live in contact with him.
We may all come into his presence, no, more, live in his presence. The Levitical
priesthood of the Jews was brought in because the people were afraid of God and
wanted a priesthood (Ex. 20.19), but that is not God’s desire. He wanted Israel to be a
kingdom of priests.
Israel failed in that desire of God, but the Lord Jesus lived as God wanted his
people to do and established the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. The
Lord Jesus is the High Priest and King in that order. We are the priests. Those who have
been redeemed by the blood of Christ are priests after the order of Melchizedek. We
will see more of this line of thought.

Dear Lord Jesus, our High Priest, thank you for the privilege of serving as a priest
under you in the order of Melchizedek. Teach me to know and carry out my duties as a
priest. Amen.

Jan. 16. Ex. 33.13: “Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, show me now
your ways, that I may know you, that I may find favor in your sight….” In yesterday’s
thoughts we saw that God wants all his people to be priests, to live in his presence.
Today we find Moses asking God to show him his ways that he may know him. Those
are very nearly two ways of saying the same thing. One who lives in the presence of
God will know him. This matter of knowing God is of utmost importance. It is not
enough that we know about God or that we believe the right doctrines and do the right

things. God’s highest desire is that we know him. In Jer. 31.31-34, quoted in Heb. 8, God
says that he will make a new covenant with his people, and in v. 34 he says that under
that new covenant they will all know him.
It is difficult to define or describe what it is to know God to one who does not
know him. It is like describing a picture to one who has never seen. When one has met
God in a personal way and has a personal relationship with him, he knows God.
Everything else flows out of that. A part of our ministry as priests in the order of
Melchizedek is reaching the lost for Christ. Another part is helping other believers
whose personal knowledge of God is lacking. We cannot carry out these ministries if we
do not know God. People do not need our intelligence, our ideas, the results of our
study. They need God! But how can we introduce them to God if we do not know him?
It is possible to be a Christian and not know God. One is saved by grace through
faith when he believes and calls on the Lord for salvation, but God may not become
personally real to him at that time. Moses, so mature in the Lord after forty years of
testing and breaking, and then of confronting Pharaoh and leading the people out, asks
God that he might know him, and he indicates that the way to know God is to know his
ways. What are the ways of God? We will consider this question tomorrow as we
continue these thoughts.

Heavenly Father, please lead me to know you personally. Amen.

Jan. 17. Ex. 33.13 continued: “Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight,
show me now your ways, that I may know you, that I may find favor in your sight….” What are
the ways of God? The ways of God have to be learned by searching his word and by
experience. All we can do here is indicate some of his ways, but one must seek the Lord
about these things and ask him to reveal them to the heart. Just having head knowledge
of them is not knowing them or knowing him.
God’s way is the way of grace. How can we define grace? It is indefinable. It is of
the nature of God. It is the way he operates. He does not deal with us as we deserve or
according to our good works or bad works. One writer has said that grace “is no more
hindered by sin than it is conditioned by works” (Hermann Cremer). That is, our bad
works do not stop the flow of grace from God, though they may hinder our receiving it,
and our good works do not cause it. He is grace, regardless of what we are.
Along with grace, and much the same thing, God is pure unconditional love. We
almost always have strings attached to our love, at least to some degree. God does not.
If we choose hell he will not love us less. He is pure self-giving, never self-getting.
He is the God of the cross. That is, for one thing, he himself pays the price of our
folly. But the cross is much more than the remedy for our sins. It is the remedy for our
sin nature. Our sins are not our real problem, just the results of the real problem. The
real problem is that we are sinful by nature. The cross deals with that by putting it to

death. The cross is the end of everything of the natural, not just our sinful nature, but
our natural abilities, our strengths, as they are in the natural.
God is the God of resurrection. The cross is for the death of the old, but that is
not God’s ultimate purpose. His goal is life, his life, not natural life, but supernatural
life, welling up in his people and overflowing. He is the God of the cross and
resurrection, that is, life out of death. He wants resurrection life, but one cannot get to
resurrection without going through death. The cross first, then the life.
God is the God of revelation. We cannot know him unless he is pleased to reveal
himself to us. We do not know him by intelligence, study, reasoning, reading good
books, hearing good messages. We know him by revelation.
These are some of the ways of God. Ask him to show you (reveal to you) his
ways, that you may know him.

Dear Lord, please reveal your ways to me, and in revealing them reveal yourself to me.
Amen.

Jan. 18. Ex. 40.34: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of I AM filled the
tabernacle.” God had given Moses instructions to build a tent in which he would dwell
among his people. This tent, called the tabernacle to distinguish it from other tents,
though the word in both Hebrew and Greek is tent, was actually a prophetic picture of
the Lord Jesus. Every part of it symbolized him in some way. We will not go into a
detailed study, but let us just mention a few aspects of the tabernacle. The reader might
want to read all of Ex. 25-40 before continuing.
The materials of the tabernacle were wood, gold, silver, bronze, linen, animal
skins. The wood pictures the humanity of Christ; the gold, his divinity; the silver, his
being Redeemer; the bronze, his judgment in our place; linen, his righteousness; animal
skins, his sacrifice of himself. The colors were gold (pure gold overlay and pure solid
gold), red, blue, purple, white. The gold again pictures the divinity of Christ; red, his
blood shed for us; blue, his heavenly origin; purple, his royalty; white, his purity; the
cherubim woven into some of the curtains, his glory, for the function of cherubim is to
reveal the glory of God (Ezek. 1, 10).
The furniture included an ark, which was made of wood overlaid with gold and
served as the throne of God, a gold altar of incense, a gold lampstand, and a table of
bread, made of wood overlaid with gold, a laver (bowl for washing), and an altar of
bronze. The ark shows the Lord Jesus as the “place” where God dwells among his
people: he is Immanuel, God with us; the altar of incense, the one through whom prayer
is acceptable to God; the table of bread, his being the Bread of life; the lampstand, his
being the Light of the world; the laver, his being the agent of our being continually
cleansed; the altar, his cross.

There were sacrificial animals, grains, and oil associated with the tabernacle.
There were oil of anointing and incense. The sacrificial items picture Christ giving his
life for us; the anointing oil, his Spirit; the incense, his qualities that are pleasing to his
Father (2 Cor. 2.14-15, Eph. 5.2).
When all of these, and other, elements had been put together exactly as God
instructed, the glory of God filled the tabernacle. John 1.14 says, “And the word became
flesh and tabernacled [literally] among us, and we beheld his glory….” It is the Lord
Jesus in whom God dwells in and among his people. Just as the tabernacle of old was
filled with the glory of God, so is he full of the glory of God.

Dear Father, thank you for sending your Son through whom you dwell among your
people. Thank you for revealing your glory through him. Amen.

Jan. 19. Lev. 1.9: “… The priest shall cause the whole to ascend in smoke on the altar, a burnt
offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to I AM.” The Jewish sacrificial system had
five kinds of offering made by fire to God, as set forth in Lev. 1-6. They were the whole
burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the guilt
offering. All of these typify some aspect of the Lord’s offering of himself in his life and
on the cross, and they apply to us as well. The sacrifice we want to look at today is the
whole burnt offering.
In this offering, a bull, a sheep, a goat, a turtledove, or a pigeon (these latter two
for the poor who could not afford the other animals) was sacrificed to God, and the
entire animal was to be burnt on the altar, except for the skin of the animal, which was
the priest’s. In most offerings, only a token bit of the animal was burned, and the rest
was to be used for food by the priests. The purpose of the burning of the entire animal
was to show a person given wholly to the Lord. It is obvious that this sacrifice was
fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, who did give his life wholly to God. In Jn. 4.34 he says, “My
food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.” In Heb. 10. 5-7 we
read that the Lord Jesus fulfilled Ps. 40: “Sacrifice and offering you did not want, but a
body you prepared for me. Whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins you did not take
pleasure in…. Behold I have come … to do, God, your will.” And in Gethsemane he
prayed, when facing the cross, “Not my will, but yours be done.” The whole burnt
offering of Jesus was himself in doing the will of God fully in life and in death.
That is the same requirement the Lord makes of us. Paul wrote in Rom. 12.1, “I
urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your logical service.” God calls on us to give ourselves
as a whole burnt offering to him, just as his Son did. He came to die for us. We are
called to be living sacrifices, though there are some who are called on to die for him, to
let him be Lord of our lives fully. Absolute surrender, trust, and obedience. We are to be
whole burnt offerings.

Dear Father God, I yield my self wholly to you to be a whole burnt offering, a living
sacrifice. Amen.

Jan. 20. Lev. 11.44: “… Be holy, for I am holy.” Holiness is the outstanding theme of
Leviticus. This book shows the people of God how to be holy. Perhaps our first question
should be, What is holiness? We often equate holiness with sinlessness or near
sinlessness and the doing of much good work. Those are aspects of holiness, but they
are not the basic concept.
At its base holiness implies separation. We are to be separated from the world for
God. That does not mean physical separation, such as withdrawing from the world to
live alone or with others who have so withdrawn. It means separation in heart and in
conduct. This is why Paul can address all Christians as saints in his letters. We may
think we are not saints (which means “holy ones”), but if we are Christians, we are
saints, people set apart for God.
Of course the kind of life we live grows out of that separation for God. We are to
shun sin and to do the will of God. There should be a difference in the way God’s
people live and the way the world lives. The world is mad for money, things, pleasure.
It is stressed and worried. It is self-centered and self-seeking. It is proud. It is willing
ultimately to kill to get what it wants. These characteristics of the world should tell us
that a different people will be content with what they have, laying up treasure in
Heaven, at peace, Christ centered, self-giving, humble, willing to lay down life for God.
Paul writes about separation in 2 Cor. 6.14. He tells us not to be unequally yoked
with unbelievers, then writes, quoting Is. 52.11, that we are to come out from them and
be separate. He deals primarily with our associations.
In 1 Pt. 1.16 the apostle quotes this verse. In v. 14 he had written not to be
conformed to former lusts, that is, the lusts they had before they were saved, and in v.
15, to be holy like the Holy One who called them. Then he quotes Lev. 11.44, then goes
on to deal with conduct. His emphasis is the holy conduct that comes from separation
to God.
Whether it be in heart or in conduct, we are to be holy, separated for God, as he
is holy.

Holy Father, give me the grace to be holy in both heart and conduct. Amen.

Jan. 21. Lev. 16.34: “And this will be for you an everlasting statute, to make atonement for the
sons of Israel from all their sins once in the year.” The tabernacle that we considered earlier
had two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The priests ministered daily in
the Holy Place, tending to the lampstand, the bread, and the altar of incense, but no one
was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies but the High Priest, and he could enter only

once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On this day he took blood to
sprinkle on and in front of the ark of the covenant. Thus he made atonement for the sins
of Israel of the past year.
We use the word “atonement,” but the Hebrew word (kippur) actually means
“covering.” The word “atonement” literally means “making one,” the idea being that the
sins that have separated from God are dealt with so that the people are again at one
with God. But Heb. 10.4 tells us that “it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins.” That is where we see the importance of seeing the actual meaning of the
word “kippur,” “covering.” The Jewish Day of Atonement was really the Day of
Covering, for the sins were not taken away, but only covered until a better sacrifice
should come.
That sacrifice came in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself not
to cover sins, but to take them away. Heb. 10 goes on to say that the Lord Jesus “having
offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God” (v.12)
because he did not cover sins, but took them away so that he has no more work to do in
regard to sin, and that “by one offering he perfected for all time those who are
sanctified” (v. 14).
We have a great High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies in Heaven with his
own blood on our behalf and did away with our sins. They are not covered. They are
gone. What is pictured by the Day of Covering is fulfilled. Now it is the Day of Taking
Away.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you did not just cover my sins for a year, but you took them
away eternally. Amen.

Jan. 22. Num. 12.3: “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on
the face of the earth.” We know that Moses was raised by the daughter of Pharaoh, and as
such he was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt and was a man powerful in words and
in deeds (Acts 7.22). We see from his subsequent history in leading the nation of Israel
that he was one of the great men who have ever lived. If someone were to compile a
short list of the most able men who ever lived, Moses would be on it. If anyone had
grounds for pride, Moses was the man. Yet this verse tells us that he was not the
proudest, but the humblest man on earth. Why was he so humble?
Moses was humble because he had been dealt with and broken by God. This man
of such great ability and such high position in the mighty nation of Egypt was reduced
to fleeing for his life, then herding sheep for forty of the best years of his life, and they
were not even his sheep! He was a hired hand in a very humble, and humbling, job.
Furthermore, he was not in one of the great political and commercial centers of his day
where the action was, as we say. He was on the backside of the desert. One could have
gone lower than Moses, by being a slave or some such, but not a lot lower.

Moses is a prime example of how God must deal with all of us. Because he was
of such great ability and opportunity, it was natural for him to depend on himself. If
anyone could get the job done, he could. But God does not want people to get the job
done for him in the strength of their own flesh. He must break the person of
dependence on the flesh and bring him to dependence on God. No matter how strong
we are, we cannot do the work of God. Only he can do it in us. But do we ever try! Thus
he takes us a way that will break us of trusting in the flesh and bring us to trust only in
him. It was a humbling experience. Moses went through it. He was the humblest man
on earth in his day.

Dear Lord, give me grace to submit to you in your dealings with my flesh. Take away
my pride and teach me to be truly humble before you. Amen.

Jan. 23. Num. 12.6-8: “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, I AM, will make
myself known to him in a vision. In a dream I will speak with him. Not so with my servant
Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, and appearing and not
in dark sayings. And the form of I AM he sees.” We saw above in our thoughts on Ex. 33.13
that God’s highest desire is for us to know him. Here in Numbers is a word-picture of a
man who knew God.
The prophets of Israel knew the Lord and received his word in a living way.
They were able to declare it in the power of the Holy Spirit. But Moses goes beyond
that. The prophets received word from God in visions and dreams. God says here that
Moses knew him mouth to mouth, or, as we would say, face to face. God appeared to
Moses and he saw the very form of God. Such an experience is recounted in Ex. 33.19-

Apparently there were other such encounters with God.
We saw yesterday that Moses was the humblest man of his day. That goes a long
way toward explaining why he knew God so intimately. Scripture says that God resists
the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Prov. 3.34, James 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5). Moses had
been brought very low by the dealings of God that took him from high up in Egypt to
low down on the back side of the desert. In that humbled condition, he knew that he
could do nothing of himself for God and was quite open to the grace of God. That
marvelous grace took such a humble man to the face of God. Moses did not see the face
of God (Ex. 33.20), but he was face-to-face with him without the face of God being
visible. And he did see the form of God. Such is the reward of humility.
Gracious God, please give me the grace to be humble before you in such a way that I
may know you intimately even as Moses knew you. Amen.
Jan. 24. Num. 21.9: “And Moses made a snake of bronze and put it on the standard. And it
came about that if a snake bit anyone, when he looked to the snake of bronze he lived.” Israel had

just had another of its episodes of complaining against the Lord and Moses, and the
Lord had sent fiery snakes among them as a punishment. Many died, so the people
called on Moses and asked him to intercede with God to remove the snakes. God told
Moses to make a snake of bronze and put it on a standard, with the word that anyone
who was bitten would be healed if he looked to the snake of bronze. What instruction
does the Lord have for us in this incident?
This passage is referred to by the Lord Jesus in John 3.14-15: “And as Moses lifted
up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that all who believe in
him will have eternal life.” He showed that the bronze snake signified something
beyond itself. It was only a physical object, but it symbolized something else. It pictures
one who saves spiritually and eternally, rather than just physically and temporarily as
the snake in the desert did. In the Bible, bronze is symbolic of judgment, for it is a metal
made in fire. We know from Gen. 3.1 that the snake is Satan. The snake of bronze
pictures Satan and sin judged. In 2 Cor. 5.21 we are told by Paul that Jesus became sin
for us and bore the judgment of our sin, fulfilling the symbol of the snake of bronze. He
became sin judged. All who look to him will live.
The word is looking to him, not at him, meaning that one looks to the Lord in
faith for forgiveness and life. When one does so, he receives not physical life, as the
Israelites of Moses’ time did, but spiritual and eternal life.
We have all been bitten by the snake of sin. Let us look to the Lord Jesus, who
was lifted up and became sin for us, that we may have life eternal.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you who knew no sin became sin for me that I might
look to you and live eternally. Amen.

Jan. 25. Dt. 6.4-5: “Hear, Israel, I AM our God, I AM is one, and you shall love I AM your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The first of these verses,
“Hear, Israel, I AM our God, I AM is one….” is the fundamental confession of faith of the
Jews, both ancient and modern. By the time they came into existence as a people, the
world had descended from the one God of Adam and Eve into a world of belief in
many gods, what is called polytheism (poly = many, theism = belief in gods). Every
people had its god or gods. It is one of the great facts of history, and one of its great
achievements, that Israel set forth monotheism (one God). It took many centuries for
monotheism to be generally accepted in the world, but it eventually became the
prevailing view, though there are, of course, many small groups that believe in other
gods. We say this was an achievement of history only figuratively. It was a revelation
by God to Israel, and through Israel to the world. Christians, descended spiritually from
the Jews, believe that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only God there
is. Thus are we freed from attempting to placate many gods who might do us harm, and

from fearing that some other nation’s god will be stronger than ours and thus give its
people victory over us in battle.
The second verse, “… and you shall love I AM your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might,” is the commandment which the Lord Jesus
said was the most important (Mk. 12.29-30). Actually the Lord Jesus included v. 4 from
Deuteronomy in his statement of the greatest commandment. The statement that God is
one is in itself a command to believe in that God. What a blessed people we are. We
have a God whom we can love willingly with all our hearts. We do not have to be afraid
of him, though the fear of God is necessary, or try to do things to get him either to do
something for us or not to hurt us. That has been the history of religion. But we can love
our God with all our heart, soul, and strength. Praise him!

I AM God, the only God, you alone do I believe in and worship and love. Please give
me your grace to love you with all my heart, soul, and strength. Amen.

Jan. 26. Dt. 6.23: “… He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land
which he swore to our fathers.” The land of Egypt is an Old Testament picture of the world
and the lost condition of those who are of the world. The crossing of the Red Sea is a
picture of coming out of that condition through the death of Christ (waters often
symbolize death, as in baptism) and into a saved condition. What a wonderful thing
that God has made provision for us to be brought out of Egypt. We cannot praise him
enough through all eternity for what he has done for us. Without minimizing this fact,
though, let us note that it is not unusual to encounter someone who is so taken with his
salvation that he spends the rest of his life, or much of it, thanking God for bringing him
out of Egypt and testifying to the fact. But God did not just bring us out. He brought us
out to bring us in.
The time Israel spent wandering in the desert is another symbol. It shows the
Christian, saved, yes, but not living in victory. He is wandering, not having definite
direction as to his Christian life. He complains. He is easily defeated by the enemy. But
God did not bring us out to leave us wandering in the desert. He brought us out to
bring us in.
The promised land is yet another picture. It is the victorious Christian life. Some
think it is Heaven, but there were enemies in the land that had to be fought and
defeated for the land to be fully possessed. That is the case now, in this life, not in
Heaven. Victorious life is entered in the same way salvation is, through waters. The Red
Sea is the waters of the death of Christ for us. The Jordan River is the waters of our
death with Christ (Rom. 6.1-6, Gal. 2.20).
Both bodies of water are crossed by faith. We trust Christ for salvation. We trust
him for victory. That faith, by the grace of God, takes us from death into life and from
defeat into victory. We are brought out to be brought in.

God of life and victory, thank you that the Lord Jesus died to bring me out of death, and
that I died with him to be brought out of defeat. But thank you, too, that you brought
me out to bring me in. I trust you now for victory just as I did for salvation. Please teach
me more about living in victory. Amen.

Jan. 27. Dt. 7.7-8: “I AM did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more in
number than all the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples, but because of I AM’s love
for you….” Here in the Old Testament, in the last book of Moses, the last book of the law,
we have a statement of the grace of God. His choice of Israel did not come out of
anything they did or did not do, but out of his love for them. The two words for “love”
in these verses are different. The first is a verb (set his love) and means to be attached.
The second is a noun and is the usual word for love in the Old Testament. God attached
himself to Israel because he loved Israel.
We may ask why God loved Israel. It was not because it was a large nation. It
was the smallest. It was not because the land he had in mind for Israel was a rich land.
All the oil is in neighboring countries! Israel is not rich in natural resources. It was not
for any deed Israel did or any attitude toward God. God’s love for Israel came out of –
God. It is grace.
We may also ask why God loves us. Why does he love you? Why does he love
me? It is surely not because we are examples of great Christians or people who are so
attractive that he could not resist us. He loves us for the same reason he loves Israel –
grace. It is what he does.
And he has attached himself to us. The Bible says that Israel is the wife of God
(Jer. 2.2, 31.21, Is. 54.5, 62.4-5, Ezek. 16.32) and that the church is the betrothed of Christ
(2 Cor. 11.2, Eph. 5.23-32, Rev. 19.7-9, 21.2). Is there any closer attachment? Actually
there is. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 6.17 that we who are the Lord’s are one spirit with him.
That is how close we are to God, as close as husband and wife, no, more, one spirit. And
all because of his grace.

Gracious God, thank you again for your grace that caused you to love me and attach
yourself to me. Thank you that I am one spirit with you. Please teach me the
implications of that fact. Amen.

Jan. 28. Dt. 30.14, 19: “For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that
you may do it…. I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you
and your seed….” The book of Deuteronomy is a recounting of what God had done and
commanded from the Exodus up to its time. When we come to our verse for today we
come to the great point of the book. All that has been set forth is designed to show

God’s way as the way of life and disobedience to him as the way of death. Then the
great challenge is issued: choose life!
Paul quotes this passage in Rom. 10 in pointing out that the way to salvation is
not difficult. It is in the mouth of the one who hears the gospel. If he believes in his
heart in the resurrection of Christ and confesses with his mouth his Lordship, he is
saved. That was the same choice that faced Israel. When God through Moses set forth
life and death, blessing and curse, they had to make a decision in their hearts and a
statement with their mouths. They had to believe in their hearts that what God said was
true, and then with their mouths they had to say, “We choose life! We choose to love
and obey God.”
We are faced with the same choice daily, for this pattern does not apply only to
our being saved to begin with, but to our walk with the Lord. As we are challenged
every day by the world, the flesh, and the devil, we have to affirm in our hearts, “Yes, I
believe God,” and say with our mouths, “Jesus is Lord. I will love and obey him.” As we
do so, we find the grace of God available to us to keep us faithful to him and victorious
over our enemy. Choose life!

Creator and Sustainer of life, I choose life! I choose to trust, love, and obey you. Please
give your grace that I may so live. Amen.

Jan. 29. Josh. 3.17: “And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of I AM stood firm on dry
ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel passed through on dry ground, until all the
nation had finished passing through the Jordan.” We saw on Jan. 26 that the waters of the
Red Sea symbolize the death of Christ for us so that we might pass through his death
from Egypt, the lost condition, into life, and that the waters of the Jordan symbolize our
death with Christ, through which death we pass from defeat in the desert into victory in
the land of promise. We see in today’s verse that the nation of Israel passed through the
Jordan River on dry ground, just as they had passed through the Red Sea.
This passing through the waters was an act of faith, for the priests had to believe
God that when they put their feet into the overflowing river, they would not be swept
away, and the people had to believe that when they went through, the waters would
not suddenly flow over them. It is faith that is the key to our receiving from God. By
faith these people died in principle, for they stepped into a situation in which they
would normally have died.
Paul tells us in Rom. 6 and in Gal. 2.20 that we were crucified with Christ. That is
a death that actually occurred on the cross nearly two millenniums ago. Yet it is of no
benefit to us if we do not appropriate it by faith. We may not feel as though the old man
is dead. We may not act as though the old man is dead. But he is dead nonetheless. The
Bible says so. As we accept that fact by believing what God has said, we pass through

that death into newness of life. The death does not harm us, only the old man who
would destroy us, so that we go through it on dry ground.
Death has no horror for those who pass through it in Christ, for he has taken its
full force and come back from the dead into resurrection life. In him, so do we.

Dear Father, thank you that I can pass through the waters of death on dry ground into
life and victory, for Christ has absorbed the full shock of death for me. Amen.

Jan. 30. Josh. 5.9: “And I AM said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt
from you.’ Therefore the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” When the Israelites
had entered the land of promise, almost the first order of business was to circumcise all
the males. Those who had been born in Egypt had been circumcised, but they had all
died except Joshua and Caleb, and those born in the desert had not been circumcised.
Since circumcision was given by God as the mark of his covenant with his nation, he
now required Joshua to fulfill the command.
Circumcision has an important spiritual lesson for us. The cutting away of a bit
of flesh symbolizes what the Bible means by having the flesh dealt with as a spiritual
concept. In Rom. 2.29, Paul writes, “… and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not
the letter,” and in Col. 2.11, “In him you also were circumcised with a circumcision not
made with hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ.” In these passages, including their contexts, Paul shows that what is really
important is that the flesh be dealt with. It must be cut away.
We might expect such a teaching in the New Testament, but it is so instructive
that we find the same concept in the Old. We will not quote them all because of space,
but the reader should look up Lev. 26.41, Dt. 30.6, Jer. 4.4, and 9.25-26. As far back as
Moses, the Lawgiver, we find Dt. 10.16, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your
heart, and do not be stiffnecked any longer.” It was recognized even in the earliest days
that circumcision was to be the outward sign of an inward reality, the circumcision of
the heart in the cutting away of the flesh, and not just an outward sign. Without the
inward reality, the sign is meaningless and of no value.
Under the new covenant, we are not required to live by the Jewish law, but the
necessity of the flesh being dealt with remains. As the Lord deals with our flesh through
circumstances, conviction, or any other means, let us choose to submit to him in his
taking of the flesh to the cross.

Heavenly Father, I pray for grace to submit to the true circumcision, that of the heart.
Help me not to resist you in your dealings with my flesh. Amen.

Jan. 31. Josh. 5.9 continued: “And I AM said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach
of Egypt from you.’ Therefore the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” We continue

today with the same verse. The name Gilgal means “rolling.” The circumcision of the
males was the sign that God’s people had left Egypt, the world, and come into covenant
with him. Thus their reproach as being of the world had been rolled away, and the
place where this event took place was named “Rolling,” Gilgal, to commemorate it. We
saw yesterday the necessity of the flesh being dealt with, of the inner man being
circumcised. Today we want to take note that the Israelites were camped at Gilgal and
more than once returned there during their exploits (Josh. 10.15, 43, and other
statements of their being camped there).
The point of noting the camp and return to Gilgal is that since it is the place
where the flesh is dealt with, we have to camp there and keep returning there. The flesh

stays with us throughout this life and must continually be dealt with. It is not once-for-
all done away with. We may experience great victory over the flesh and go out in that

victory in successful service to the Lord, but if we do not return to Gilgal, keep close to the cross with regard to the flesh, we will experience defeat at the hands of the flesh. We may become proud of our great service to God. That is the flesh. We may think we are doing it for the Lord, not he is in us. That is the flesh. We may think we can relax now, we have the flesh under control. That, too, is the flesh trying to deceive us so it can stay away from the cross. We must return to Gilgal.

Dear Lord, please give me the wisdom to keep returning to Gilgal, to keep close to the cross with regard to the flesh. Amen.

Feb. 1. Josh. 6.20: “And the people shouted, and they blew the trumpets. And it came about,
when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted a great shout, the wall fell
down flat. And the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the
city.” The story of the battle of Jericho is one of the famous ones, remembered in story
and song. It is the first example of victory in the land of promise, and it is the first
example of victory by faith. How did the people take the city? They did it by obeying
the words of the Lord that appeared to be a foolish way to try to take a city. It took faith
to follow this plan. But when the people obeyed, the word of God proved true and they
won the victory.
That is the first lesson for us in this passage. Believe God and obey his word.
That is faith, and faith is the way of victory (see 1 Jn. 5.4). There is a second lesson. God
told the people how to take Jericho and it worked. They could have assumed that now
they knew how to take cities, so they would just do the same thing at each city and take
the land in that way. But we never hear of any other city being taken in this way. Why
is that?
The reason is that God is not a God of techniques, but a God of relationship. He
does not tell us how to do something, then leave us to use the technique over and over.
His primary desire is that we get to know him personally, and we do not get to know

him by using techniques. We get to know him by going back to him every time and
asking him, “Lord, how do I proceed this time?” He will have a new plan for each
occasion. The old one probably will not work again.
It is human nature to want a technique because that is easier than developing a
relationship, and it is something we can get good at and so take some of the credit. It
feeds our pride. But God is the God of relationship. He wants us to know him.
Father, you want me to know you and I want to know you. Please deliver me from

trying to find techniques, and teach me to seek you continually for each situation.
Amen.

Feb. 2. Josh. 7.1-4: “But the children of Israel acted unfaithfully in the devoted thing, for Achan,
the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted
thing. And the anger of I AM burned against the sons of Israel. And Joshua sent men from
Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and spoke to them saying, ‘Go up and spy
out the land.’ And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to
him, ‘Do not let all the people go up. Let about two or three thousand men go up and smite
Ai. Do not make all the people toil there, for they are few.’ And there went up there from the
people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai.”
Israel had just experienced great victory by faith, by doing what God had
commanded, even though the method appeared not to be militarily sound. But God had
told Joshua before the battle that everything in the city was a devoted thing, that is,
devoted to God, and so must be destroyed. Nothing could be appropriated for personal
or national use. The only exceptions were Rahab and her family for hiding the spies
(Josh. 2.1-21), and the gold, silver, bronze, and iron, which were to go into the Lord’s
treasury.
When Israel attacked the next city, Ai, they were defeated, to the great
consternation of Joshua and the people. When they cried out to God, he told Joshua that
Israel had sinned by taking some of the devoted things. When Joshua followed God’s
instructions, the guilty man, Achan, was discovered and executed, along with his family
and livestock, and they burned their bodies and everything they had.
Why such a severe punishment? To show the severity of sin. We tend to take sin
lightly in our day. Society’s standards are so low and we are so surrounded by sin that
we easily get used to it and develop a tolerance for it. And having lived all our lives in a
fallen world, we do not know how glorious it was before sin ruined it. But sin is of great
seriousness and does untold harm. Thirty-six Israelites died in battle because of Achan’s
sin. The Lord’s name was besmirched when his people were defeated. We need to have
a strong sense of the absolute horror of sin. Its consequences are unknowable, but very
great.

Holy and righteous God, please give me a sense of the greatness of the evil of sin and a
sense of horror at tolerating it. Amen.

Feb. 3. Josh. 9.14: “And the men took from their provision, but did not ask the mouth of I AM.”
This verse occurs in the story of the Gibeonites, the inhabitants of the city of Gibeon
near Ai. When they head of Israel’s victories over Jericho and Ai, they devised a plan to
save themselves. They dressed in worn out clothes and sandals and took worn out wine
skins and bags and old, dry bread and went to the camp of the Israelites. They told
Joshua and the men that they had come from a far country and asked them to make a
covenant with them. The Israelites were fooled by the subterfuge and agreed to let the
Gibeonites live.
This agreement led to trouble for Israel. In three days they learned that the
Gibeonites were dwelling in the land of promise and were not from far away. Israel
made them slaves, but had to keep their word and let them live. Next, the Gibeonites
were attacked and Israel had to go to their defense. And Israel had to continue to live
with these people in their land whom God had told them to destroy.
Why was Israel so easily deceived? Our verse tells us that they did not seek the
mouth, or counsel, of the Lord. They acted without asking the Lord’s will and wisdom.
As a result they got themselves into a situation they had to live with from then on. Sin
and folly do have their consequences. God will forgive us for them, but he does not
always remove the consequences. Sometimes we have to deal with a bad situation for as
long as we live because of some sin or some foolish choice. Perhaps we all have a few
Gibeonites in our lives.

Gracious Lord, Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your grace that enables
me to live with the results of my poor choices. Help me to learn from this situation and
always ask for your direction before I act. Amen.

Feb. 4. Josh. 17.14, 17: “And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, ‘Why have you given me
but one lot and one portion for an inheritance though I am many people, for until now I AM has
blessed me?’ … And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying,
‘You are many people and have great power. You will not have one lot only.'”
While he was in Egypt away from his family, Joseph married and had two sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh. When Jacob had gone to live in Egypt and had come near
death, he blessed the two sons of Joseph, calling for greatness for them in every way
(Gen. 48). After that, when the sons of Jacob are listed, the two sons of Joseph stand in
the list in place of Joseph. Thus Joseph became two tribes. Now that they were in the
land of promise and were dividing the land, his descendants asked why they were
getting only one lot, and they were given two. Jacob’s blessing proved true.

Why, though, did Joseph become two? If we look at the life of Joseph we find an
answer. Joseph is one of the more highly regarded figures of the Old Testament.
Virtually everything said about him is good, and his achievements were many and
great. He ended his life as ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. But his experience
had not always been the best.
Joseph was the only son of Rachel, who was his father Jacob’s favorite, his
beloved. But when she bore her second child, Benjamin, she died in childbirth. Thus
young Joseph lost his mother. Because he was the favorite of his father, since he was the
son of his beloved, his brothers hated him. They hated him so much that they sold him
into slavery in Egypt and led their father to believe that he had been killed by a wild
animal.
In Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar and put to work in his house. So capable
was Joseph, and so diligent, he was put in charge of the house. Then, when he refused
the advances of his master’s wife, she accused him and Joseph was thrown into prison.
There he was such a model that he was put in charge of the prison. Then, when he told
the cupbearer and the baker the meanings of their dreams, asking the cupbearer to
remember him when he was restored to Pharaoh’s court, he was promptly forgotten by
the cupbearer. Five times did Joseph experience serious setbacks, yet in all he was
faithful and submissive to God. He was allowing God to use his difficult circumstances
to mature and train him. Little did he know what he was being trained for, the throne of
Egypt. We will continue these thoughts tomorrow.

Dear Lord, please give me the grace to be faithful and submissive to you in my
circumstances. Who knows what you may be preparing me for? Amen.

Feb. 5. Josh. 17.14, 17 continued: “And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua saying, ‘Why have
you given me but one lot and one portion for an inheritance though I am many people, for until
now I AM has blessed me?’ … And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to
Manasseh, saying, ‘You are many people and have great power. You will not have one lot only.'”
Because Joseph was faithful and submissive to God in his trials, God was able to
use them to train him for the throne of Egypt. Because he ruled over small situations in
his own life, he was made able to rule over a great nation. In addition, God was able to
bless Joseph. Thus when the time came many centuries later for the land of promise to
be divided among the tribes of Israel, Joseph had indeed been enlarged to the point of
being two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and required two lots. But more importantly,
God was able to enlarge Joseph’s spiritual capacity. Joseph was not the firstborn son of
Israel, but he was the one who carried on the spiritual heritage of Israel.
Joseph was what the New Testament calls an overcomer, one who is victorious in
life, reigning over his circumstances rather than being “under the circumstances.”

Because of that, he was trained for the throne. You and I are also being trained for the
throne, trained to reign with Christ when he comes and establishes his kingdom. We
will be prepared to reign with Christ IF we are faithful and submissive in our
circumstances, IF we learn to reign over them. If we do not….

Father God, enable me to allow you to use my circumstances to train me for the throne.
Teach me to reign in life, in this life, over my circumstances. Amen.

Feb. 7. Jud. 11.30-31: “And Jephthah vowed a vow to I AM and said, ‘If you give the sons of
Ammon into my hand, then it will be that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to
meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it will be for I AM, and I will offer it
up as a burnt offering.'” Today’s thoughts are difficult and sobering. Jephthah did win
the victory, but when he arrived at home, his daughter, his only child, was the first out
the door to greet him. Then he realized the magnitude of his vow. He had vowed to
God to offer her as a burnt offering.
One difficulty we have is that God himself had specifically forbidden human
sacrifice, one of the detestable practices of the peoples around Israel (Lev. 18.21, 20.2-5,

Dt. 12.31). In order to keep his vow Jephthah had to break another law. It would seem
to us better to keep that law and break the vow. Another is that God would allow him
to keep his vow.
These are questions we probably have to leave with the Lord. We cannot answer
them. What we can do is learn the seriousness of our words, especially of vows we
make to God. It is easy to make a vow in the excitement of the moment, but it may be
quite another matter to keep it later when we realize the full implications, including
aspects we did not think of when making the vow. It is a very serious matter to make a
vow to God, and we should do so only after careful prayer and consideration. Certainly
we should obey him in all things, and we can do so without making vows. There may
be times when a vow is appropriate, but we should seek the Lord carefully and
deliberately about these. Our words have consequences, and not only for ourselves.
Think of the consequences Jephthah’s words had for his daughter.

Dear Lord, Impress on me the seriousness of my words, and especially of vows. Help
me to consider my words carefully, and to make vows only after prayer and
deliberation. Amen.

Feb. 8. Jud. 16.30: “And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ And he bowed himself
with might, and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. And the dead
that he killed in his death were more than they that he killed in his life.” John Greenleaf
Whittier wrote, “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might
have been!'” These words apply to Samson, whose story is one about what might have
been. Samson was a man who was called before he was conceived (Jud. 13.2-5) and who
was uniquely gifted by God with great strength. He was raised up by God to deliver
Israel from the Philistines. He was indeed used by God in this endeavor, but because
Samson was not able to apply some strength of self-control to himself, and not just
physical strength to his enemies, he came to an end far less that he could have had.
Samson could not, or would not, control his physical appetites. He had great
strength of muscle, but he had a great weakness for women. He first married a
Philistine woman, something expressly forbidden by God. When she was taken away
from him after he killed thirty Philistines, he met Delilah, after visiting a prostitute, and
fell for her. She, of course, was his undoing as she enticed from him the secret of his
strength and told the Philistines. Thus was Samson taken captive, blinded, and forced to
do manual labor. Then he met his end when he cried to the Lord for one final show of
strength and pulled down the house on the Philistines gathered to worship Dagon, their
god.
What might have been? Samson could have been remembered as a man of
spiritual strength and greatness if he had followed the Lord in purity and self-control.
He is remembered for his great strength and his exploits with it and for his weakness

for women. He ends as a rather pitiful figure, salvaging what he can from a wasted life.
We can learn from his experience. We need to seek the Lord to enable us to live a life of
purity and real devotion to him. We all have weaknesses, whether they be more of the
body or more of the mind and emotions and will. We can all fail as Samson did in our
own areas of weakness. We should seek the Lord to bring us to a good end of a life fully
given to him, not to an end of salvaging what we can.

Dear Father, I thank you that you have called me, just as you called Samson, to serve
you. You have given me strengths and weaknesses, just as you did Samson. Please
enable me to surrender my strengths to you so that you may use them, rather than my
trying to use them for you, and my weaknesses, that you may make your power perfect
in them. Amen.

Feb. 9. Ruth 4.5: “Then Boaz said, ‘On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you
buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his
inheritance.'” The faithfulness of Ruth the Moabitess to her mother-in-law Naomi is one
of the beautiful pictures of Scripture. Naomi went to Moab with her husband and two
sons because of famine in Israel. Her husband died. Then her two sons took wives of the
Moabites, but they also died, leaving three widows. When Naomi decided to return to
Israel, she tried to talk her daughters-in-law into staying in their native land, but Ruth
refused and accompanied her back to Israel. The passage we have quoted above brings
us to the real point of the book of Ruth.
Every Israelite was guaranteed by law a lot, an inheritance, in Israel. Naomi’s
family had left its lot to go to Moab. Now she has returned in poverty. She must sell the
lot to have money to live on. Because of the law guaranteeing the inheritance, the
closest kinsmen had the right to redeem the property, that is, buy it and keep it in the
family. Boaz was a close kinsman and had taken an interest in Ruth because of her
kindness to Naomi, but there was a closer kinsman still. When Boaz presented him with
the need to redeem the lot, he intended to do so till he learned that Ruth came along
with it.
Another law in Israel required that if a married man died childless, his brother,
or close relative, had to marry his wife, with the first son of the union being considered
the son of the dead man, so that his name would not die out and his lot would not be
lost to his family. Thus the man who redeemed the lot of Naomi had to marry Ruth and
raise up a son for her dead husband, or perhaps in this case, since Ruth was a
Moabitess, for Naomi’s husband, whose sons had died also. The closest relative could
not do this, so Boaz redeemed the lot and married Ruth. The issue of the marriage was
Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, king of Israel and ancestor of the Lord
Jesus.

The point for us is that, just as the inheritance of an Israelite could not be taken
from him, but he was guaranteed a share in Israel, so are we who are the Lord’s
guaranteed a share in him. He is our Kinsman, our Redeemer. He has bought our
inheritance for us with his blood, and has acquired us along with it, and we will never
lose our place in him. Our Kinsman Redeemer guarantees our inheritance.

Dear Father, thank you that the Lord Jesus is my great Boaz, my Redeemer, who
guarantees my share in you, my inheritance, eternally. Amen.

Feb. 10. Ruth 4.13,17: “So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and I
AM gave her conception and she bore a son.” “… And they called his name Obed. He is the
father of Jesse, the father of David.” In Gen. 19.30-38 we are told the story of Lot’s
daughters’ incestuous relationship with him. Each bore a son by him after their mother
was turned to a pillar of salt without having borne a son. One was named Moab and
became the father of the Moabites. The other was Ben-ammi, the father of the
Ammonites. Thus did the Moabites begin in incest.
When the Israelites were approaching the promised land, the Moabites and
Ammonites did not bring them bread and water, and Moab hired Balaam to curse
Israel. Thus God gave Moses the instruction recorded in Dt. 23.3-4, “An Ammonite or a
Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of I AM. Even to the tenth generation shall
none of them enter into the assembly of I AM forever, for they did not meet you with
bread and water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired
against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you.” No
Moabite was ever to enter the assembly of the Lord.
Ruth was a Moabitess. Yet she not only became a member of Israel, she also
became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of King David, making Ruth the great
grandmother of David and an ancestor of the Lord Jesus. Under the law this would
have been impossible. Ruth would have been excluded, and it was against God’s clear
command to Israel not to intermarry with non-Israelites. Yet Boaz did marry her and,
without knowing it, put her in the lineage that led to the Lord Jesus.
This is an example of grace in the Old Testament. Impossible under the law, but
reality under grace. God has always been the God of grace.

God of grace, thank you that you included someone like Ruth in the ancestry of our
Lord Jesus. If the law prevailed, I would be excluded as she would have been, but
because of your grace I can enter your assembly and be a part of your people, even one
whom the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call brother (or sister) (Heb. 2.11-12). Amen.

Feb. 11. 1 Sam. 1.10-11: “And Hannah was bitter of soul and prayed to I AM and weeping she
wept. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘I AM of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of

your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give to your
maidservant seed of men, then I will give him to I AM all the days of his life, and no razor will
come on his head.'” Often when God wants something in this world he gives his people,
or one of them, a burden for it unbeknown to the person. Hannah was a barren woman
whose husband had another wife, Penninah, who had children and taunted her for
being childless. Hannah suffered bitterly. The cry of her heart was for a son. Little did
she know that while she wanted a son, God wanted a Samuel.
Israel was in a low state spiritually. The period of the judges, which we have just
been considering, was a time of continual failure by God’s people. They would fall into
idolatry and sin, then would be allowed by God to be oppressed by an enemy, then
would cry to God and find deliverance, only to start the process again. Judges ends
with the statement that every man in Israel did what was right in his own eyes. That
period continues through the book of Ruth and into 1 Samuel. In fact, Samuel was the
last judge, but he was more than a judge, as we will see later. Thus God, desiring a man
who would bring Israel to a higher state spiritually, gave a barren woman, a picture of
Israel, spiritually barren, a bitter longing for a son.
In her bitterness, Hannah made a vow to God. We considered vows in dealing
with Jephthah. Apparently Hannah was following the will of God, for he answered her
prayer and she kept her vow and Samuel was a man of God. She vowed to give the boy
to the Lord and to let no razor come on his head, one of the signs of a Nazarite, a man
dedicated to God. God wanted a man dedicated to him whom he could use for his
purposes in Israel. Both got what they wanted. Hannah got a son, and God got a
Samuel.
As we think about these facts, let us look at our own desires in their light. Is there

something we long for, even weep bitterly for and cry to God for? We are so self-
centered that we look at everything as for ourselves, but perhaps there is something

God wants that is prompting that burden. Perhaps we could ask the Lord to show us
how we might commit our desire to him for his use. Who knows what might come of it?

Gracious God, please forgive me for being so selfish in my desires. Is there something
you want from me that is behind the cries of my heart? Amen.

Feb. 12. 1 Sam. 3.1: “And the boy Samuel ministered to I AM before Eli. And the word of I AM
was rare in those days. There was not vision spread abroad.” We noted yesterday the
spiritual condition of Israel in the days we are considering. It was the time of the judges,
a time when Israel had sunk low spiritually. By the time we get to the boyhood of
Samuel, the word of God was rare. That means that God was not speaking to his people
very much, and that was because he had no one to speak through. That is why he
wanted a Samuel, someone through whom he could speak to his people.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God. It is our spiritual
food. His word is alive (Jn. 6.63). What a tragic situation had developed in Israel when
there was little spiritual nourishment. Nor was there vision spread abroad. That is, no
one had a clear view or idea of the purpose of God, both long-term and for that time.
No one had vision. We read in Prov. 29.18 that when there is no vision the people cast
off restraint. That was exactly the case in Israel at this time. Every man did what was
right in his own eyes.
Israel’s desperate need at that time was for living word from God and for vision.
How did God go about meeting that need? He raised up a man. How did he raise up
the man? He raised up a woman who had such a burden for something she wanted for
herself that she offered to give it to God if God would give it to her. Thus did God use
the heavy burden of a barren woman to begin the meeting of Israel’s need and the
renewing of his word and vision in Israel. What heavy burden are you bearing? Might
he want to use you in some way among his people?

Dear Lord, I want to be used by you. Please work in me in any way necessary to bring
that about. Amen.

Feb. 13. 1 Sam. 3.7, 19-21: “Now Samuel did not yet know I AM, and the word of I AM had not
yet been revealed to him…. And Samuel grew, and I AM was with him and did not let any of his
words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was
established as a prophet of I AM. And I AM appeared again in Shiloh, for I AM revealed himself
to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of I AM.” God had raised up Samuel to be his instrument
through whom he would again speak to Israel in a living way. In v. 7 we see that when
Samuel was still a boy he did not yet know the Lord, nor had the Lord’s word been
revealed to him. That was the night on which God was calling to him, “Samuel,
Samuel,” and he thought Eli was calling. God revealed his word to Samuel, what he
would do regarding the house of Eli, and Samuel came to know the Lord through
hearing his word.
As he grew it became obvious to all around him that he was a man of God. His
words all proved true, that is, what he spoke as from God, and Israel knew that he was
a prophet. Samuel was the last of the judges, and he was the first of the prophets.
(Abraham and Moses and one other had been called prophets, but Samuel was the first
of the prophets as a class that were active in Israel from this time on.)
A prophet is one to whom and through whom God speaks in a living way, either
for the time in which he speaks or in telling the future. Living word from God is vital,
for it is our spiritual nourishment, as we noted yesterday. Num. 11.29 tells us that
Moses said, “Would that all I AM’s people were prophets, that I AM would put his
Spirit on them,” showing that the Holy Spirit is necessary for one to be a prophet. As
Christians we all have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Thus, though we may not be

called to the office of prophet in the sense of declaring the Lord’s word to his people or
to the lost, we can all hear from God in a living way. He can speak to each one of us
through his word. Like Samuel, the word of the Lord can be revealed to us, and thus
can we come to know him in a personal way.
Thank God that he raised up his word in a living way in Israel again and thus
gave us the Scriptures we know as the books of Samuel, and thank him that he lives in
us today and still speaks through his word.

Dear Lord, I thank you for your word and for your Holy Spirit who lives in me, and
that you speak to me through your word and the Spirit brings it to life in my mind and
heart. Please do speak to me. Amen.

Feb. 14. 1 Sam. 13.14, 16.7: “But now your kingdom will not endure. I AM has sought for
himself a man after his own heart, and I AM has appointed him to be ruler over his people,
because you have not kept what I AM commanded you.” “But I AM said to Samuel, ‘Do not
look not at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man
looks, for man looks on the outward appearance, but I AM looks at the heart.'”
Saul had been chosen as Israel’s first king, but he had been disobedient to God’s
instructions through Samuel, so Samuel now tells him that he has been rejected by God
in favor of one after his own heart. We see first in this verse the importance of very
careful obedience to all that God says. It is easy to be generally obedient, but to be
careless in some of the details. Every word of God is important and obedience is of
paramount importance. He is the Lord and has good reasons for everything he says and
does, reasons that are for our good as well as for the furtherance of his plan. And just as
a parent knows what is best for a child, so does God know what is best for us. The very
matter that we may think unimportant because small may be the very matter that God
sees as most important.
Next we see the importance of the heart in our relationship with God. We have
stressed through these readings that God’s greatest goal for us is that we know him.
Really knowing someone involves heart commitment. We cannot hold back the heart
and still get deeply involved with someone. Samuel says that God had found someone
after his own heart who would be king. And the Lord told Samuel, who was seeking
out who this one was, not to look at his outward appearance, but to ask the Lord who it
was, for God looks at the heart. Of all that God may want from us in the way of trust
and obedience, his first and greatest desire is that we give him our hearts, that we love
him with all our hearts.

Dear Father, I do love you and want to be obedient to you. Give me your grace to obey
you carefully from a heart full of love for you. I give you my heart. Amen.

Feb. 15. 1 Sam. 16.12: “And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful
eyes and a good appearance. And I AM said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.'” This is the first
appearance of David in the Scriptures. This is the man after God’s own heart of whom
Samuel had spoken to Saul, but whose identity Samuel himself did not know until this
moment. Samuel had been told by God to go to Jesse at Bethlehem, for he had chosen a
king from his sons. When he arrived and Jesse called in his sons, Samuel saw one good
looking one and thought he must be the one, but God said to him the words of
yesterday’s thoughts, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature,
for I have rejected him. For not as man looks, for man looks on the outward appearance,
but I AM looks at the heart.” So he went through all seven sons, but God did not
indicate one of them, and Samuel asked if these were all. The answer was that there was
one more, but he was the youngest and was out tending sheep. Samuel said to call him
in, and when he arrived, God spoke, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
David was the eighth son of Jesse. Seven is a number that often indicates fullness
or completion in the Bible. Thus eight means something beyond completion, that is,
something entirely new. The fact that David was the eighth son tells us that with him,
God was doing a wholly new thing in Israel. Israel had asked for a king like all the
other nations and had gotten Saul, but Saul’s heart was not fully God’s and he took
liberties with God’s commands. But here was David, a man whose heart was the Lord’s
and who would be careful to obey him in every detail. He was a man through whom
God would rule his people.
It is not God’s desire for his people to have a king from among themselves. He
does not want man to rule over man. That is a necessity in our fallen world, but it is an
evil necessity, for all men are fallen and it is an evil thing to give one fallen man power
over another. But God does have one whom he wants to rule over his people, and he is
the Son of David, a descendant of his line. With David, God brought in the line that
would not end, but would consummate in the Son of David ruling forever, something
entirely new.

Heavenly Father, Thank you that your promise that there would be a king on the throne
of David forever will be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. We do not yet see him reigning on
earth, but he reigns in Heaven and will reign on earth forever from the time of his
return. Please hasten that day. Amen.

Feb. 16. 1 Sam. 17.26: “And David spoke to the men who stood with him saying, ‘What will be
done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is
this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?'” David had
come to the battle with the Philistines to see his brothers who were in the army. When
he arrived, they were in the process of being taunted by Goliath, the giant whom all the
men of Israel were afraid to fight. We have seen that one of the outstanding

characteristics of David was that his heart was wholly the Lord’s. He loved God and he
loved the people of God who were his testimony in this world. When he saw the armies
of God, and thus God himself, being taunted by an uncircumcised Philistine, his heart
was broken. He saw the reproach on Israel, and thus on God, because such a man struck
fear into all their hearts. He could not stand it and he cried out, “Who is this
uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
When he was taken to King Saul, David repeated these words and said he would
kill the giant. When he went out to face the giant, he taunted him in return and told him
he would defeat him without a sword, for there was a God in Israel and the battle was
his. And, of course, it happened just as David said. David was not even a man yet, but a
boy with a sling killed a giant because his heart was fully God’s, and thus was broken
over the reproach being brought on God by his people.
Do we have the same broken heart today as we see the reproach brought on our
God by his own people? Today Christians and the church are God’s testimony in this
world. What is the state of that testimony? How do our hearts respond?

Dear Lord, please make my heart sensitive to how you are perceived in the world and
make it to respond accordingly. Show me how I can help take away any reproach
brought on you by your people. Amen.

Feb. 17. 2 Sam. 12.7: “And Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man.'” David is one of the
greats among God’s people and is an example to all of us of a heart given to God. Yet he
fell into very serious sin. He was king and had everything he could want, including
numerous wives, but he wanted Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers. He sent for
her and had an illicit union with her while her husband Uriah was away at war. When
he learned that she was pregnant, he sent for her husband to come and spend the night
with her so he could cover his guilt, but Uriah was an honorable man and would not
sleep with his wife while his fellow soldiers were away fighting. Thus did David
instruct his commander to put Uriah in a place in the battle where he would be sure to
be killed, and he added to adultery the sin of murder.
He thought he had covered his tracks, but Nathan the prophet came and told
him the famous story of the poor man with one lamb that his rich neighbor took and
killed for his guest. When David’s anger burned against the rich man, Nathan said,
“You are the man.” Instantly David knew that he had been found out, but there was a
major difference between his response and that of Saul when Samuel had caught him in
disobedience. Saul made excuses, and Samuel told him he had been rejected by God.
David said, “I have sinned.” He confessed and repented, and Nathan told him God had
forgiven him, but that the baby would die.
The Bible’s penalty for both adultery and murder is death. David committed two
crimes punishable by death. Yet God forgave him and let him live. How could this be?

We do not fully understand the ways of God. All we can say is that David made honest
confession and repentance, showing that his act had been a lapse from what he really
was rather than an example of his true character, and that God knew David’s heart was
truly his. How important the heart is. How vital that we do indeed give God our heart
and love him with all our heart.

Gracious God, please give me the grace to acknowledge my sin and to repent rather
than trying to hide it and making excuses. Amen.

Feb. 18. 2 Sam. 24.24: “And the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will certainly buy it from you
for a price. And I will not offer burnt offerings to I AM my God which cost nothing.'” David
was incited by the Lord to take a census of Israel because God was angry with Israel
and intended to send a punishment among them. The census apparently was a matter
of pride on the part of David, designed to show how great his kingdom was rather
than to glorify God. Pestilence came among Israel and many died. When the destroying
angel was about to touch Jerusalem the Lord relented and told him to stop. He was at
the threshing floor of Araunah. Thus did David go to buy the threshing floor so as to
make offerings to God there in thanks for the stopping of the plague.
Araunah offered to give David the threshing floor and the oxen and wood for the
sacrifice, but David made the reply recorded above. He knew that if he gave God what
someone gave him it was no sacrifice. Only if it cost him would it be a sacrifice, and
thus he refused to take it as a gift. He paid for it and made his offerings.
Thus do we learn a lesson about our giving to God. We are called to be living
sacrifices to God (Rom. 12.1), which means that we give ourselves to God along with
everything we have. That is costly. Then as we make various gifts to God in our walk
with him, we give up something we might like to keep or even feel that we need. It
costs us something. A gift by someone to us is more meaningful if we know he paid for
it rather than giving us something someone gave him. In the same way our gifts to God
are genuine if they cost us something. How meaningful would it be if we gave God
something we did not want anyway?
Above all this, though, is the fact that God gave us everything we have. We do
not really give him anything. We only give back to him what was his to begin with. But
let us determine in our hearts to give sacrificially to God, of ourselves first, then of what
we have.

Giving God, thank you for all you have given me. As I give back to you, help me to give
what is of value to me and not something I do not want anyway. Amen.

Feb. 19. 1 Kings 3.9: “Give your servant a hearing heart to judge your people, to discern
between good and evil, for who is able to judge this your great people?” This is Solomon’s

famous prayer for wisdom when God appeared to him in a dream and told him to ask
what he wanted from God. Instead of making the expected requests, wealth, fame,
security, Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave him wisdom and all the others
things, too. Solomon showed that he already had some wisdom by making such a wise
request, and God multiplied it greatly.
The verse is usually translated, “Give your servant an understanding heart,” or
something similar, but the Hebrew says, “a hearing heart.” This is the secret of
Solomon’s wisdom. It was not his wisdom, but God’s, and Solomon was able to hear
from God. Solomon really did not ask God to give him wisdom, to make him a wise
man, but to make him able to hear from God. What greater prayer could we pray for
ourselves?
If we could hear from God, would we not have wisdom? Would we not know
what to do in a situation? Would we not be able to declare to his people the word of
God? Would we not be able to minister to those in need around us? Would we not have
wonderful fellowship with him?
The heart is the inner person, partaking of the spirit, that “part” of us that is able
to communicate with God. It is so difficult for us to hear from God because he speaks
with a small voice while our bodies and souls clamor incessantly for attention. Would
that he would give us hearing hearts and that we would quieten our outer selves and
listen for him.

All-wise God, please give me a hearing heart. Amen.

Feb. 20. 1 Kings 10.21: “And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the
vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver. It was not
considered anything in the days of Solomon.” The kingdom of Solomon was so rich that
silver had no value in his days. Why is that?
We are told in 2 Sam. 12.24-25 that God loved Solomon, the son of David and
Bathsheba, and told Nathan the prophet to have David name him Jedidiah, beloved of I
AM. Then we learn in 1 Kings 1.30 that David had designated Solomon as his successor,
even though he was not David’s firstborn. This fact came out because Adonijah,
apparently the oldest living son of David (Amnon and Absalom were dead and we are
not told anything more about Chileab), had himself proclaimed king without David’s
knowledge while the old king lay dying. When he was informed, David confirmed that
Solomon was his choice, and those close to David made him king. Adonijah’s group fled
for their lives, and Adonijah himself came and prostrated himself before Solomon to
beg for his. Then we have God’s confirmation of Solomon as his choice by his appearing
to him in a dream and telling him to ask for what he would (1 Kings 3.5).
So Solomon was the king of God’s choice. That is the answer to our question as to
why silver was not considered of any value in Solomon’s day. Because the right king,

the king of God’s choice, was on the throne, Israel knew great blessing. Indeed this was
the golden age of Israel from the standpoint of material prosperity, military strength,
and peace. Never before and never since has that nation attained to such greatness.
If the right King, the Lord Jesus, is on the throne of our lives, we, too, will know
great blessing. We may or may not know material prosperity. God’s promises to us as
Christians are not material, but spiritual. We will have spiritual riches, even if our
circumstances are not pleasing to us. We will have the power of God to overcome our
enemy as he tries to attack us. We will know peace, even if all around us is in turmoil.
The same is true of the world. The problem with the world today is that it has the
wrong king. The Bible says that Satan is the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31) and the god of
this age (2 Cor. 4.4). As long as he rules, the world will know all the misery it now has
of war, poverty, injustice, devastated lives, on and on. What we need is the right King,
the King of God’s choice, the Lord Jesus. When he returns and establishes his reign on
this earth, we will experience a golden age that will cause Solomon’s to pale. Gold will
not be considered anything in that day.

Dear Lord Jesus, I accept your kingship in my heart, and I pray for your return that the
world may have the right King. Amen.

Feb. 21. 1 Kings 11.4: “And it came about at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives
turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not complete with I AM his God, like
the heart of David his father.” One of the stern warnings that God had given Israel almost
from the beginning was that they were not to intermarry with non-Jewish women, or
the women with non-Jewish men, for their spouses would turn their hearts to foreign
gods. As king, Solomon had the freedom to take as many wives as he wished, and he
availed himself of the opportunity quite liberally. He had seven hundred wives and
three hundred concubines. Many of them were not Jewish. Just as God had warned,
they turned his heart from God to their gods.
In his old age Solomon went after such gods as Milcom, who required child
sacrifice, and he built a high place for Chemosh, the god of Moab. Because of this, God
was angry with Solomon and determined to tear away most of his kingdom, dividing it
into two nations, Israel and Judah. He did not do this in Solomon’s lifetime for his
father David’s sake, but did so with Solomon’s son after his death. Thus in one
generation did Israel go from its golden age as the greatest nation on the earth of its day
to a divided pair of warring kingdoms full of idolatry.
How vital it is that we heed the warnings of God. We may think we can form
associations with unbelievers, but maintain our devotion to God. He knows how strong
those human attachments are, and how weak the flesh is. We may have the best of
intentions, but we may not have the will or strength to overcome when we have to
choose between God and the other. Solomon, the greatest king Israel has had to date,

became the cause of the decline of his kingdom by not obeying God. How ironic that the
wisest of all men did not exercise wisdom in his choice of wives in direct disobedience
to God.

Father God, please enable me to be obedient to you in my associations in life, knowing that
you know best. Amen.

Feb. 22. 1 Kings 17.13-14: “And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear. Go and do as you have said,
but make me a little cake from it first and bring it to me, and afterward make for you and for
your son. For thus says I AM, God of Israel, “The bowl of flour will not be empty and the jar of
oil will not fail until the day that I AM gives rain on the face of the ground.”‘” The prophet
Elijah bursts on the scene in 1 Kings 17.1 with no introduction and almost no
biographical information. His first act is to tell King Ahab that there will not be rain
except by his word, and there was not. As a result there was severe famine.
So severe was the famine that Elijah himself could not find food, and God told
him to go to Zarephath to a widow who would provide for him. Thus do we come to
our passage for today. Why did the widow obey Elijah with her last meal? We are not
told, but for whatever reason, she did so, and his word proved true. What are we to
learn from this story?
One lesson is the answer to the question of Ps. 78.19, “Can God prepare a table in
the desert?” The land of Israel and its neighbors had become a desert because of the
famine, but God was able to prepare a table for Elijah, the widow, and her son. He is
able to provide for us today, no matter what our circumstances. He may do it
miraculously or he may do it through the normal process of working for a living, or he
may have some other way, but he will provide.
Another lesson is seen in the symbolism of the oil. In the Bible oil is often
symbolic of the Holy Spirit. In this spiritual desert of a world we live in, the Holy Spirit
is our source. Whatever we face we can draw on him, and there is always enough. We
will never know whether he is enough or not unless we use what we have. If we do, we
will find that he is always enough. Even if the jar appears to be almost empty, he will
always be enough. Draw on him!
The flour symbolizes humanity because it is the result of human effort. The flour
did not fail either. That is because it was mixed with the Holy Spirit. We cannot survive
in this spiritual desert on our own. We would dry up in a flash. But when we mix the
Holy Spirit with our humanity, ground to powder by the dealings of God, the flour
does not fail.

Lord our Provider, Thank you for my daily bread. Thank you for your indwelling Spirit
who is always there and always enough. Amen.

Feb. 23. 1 Kings 19.4: “And he himself went a day’s journey into the desert, and he came and
sat down under a juniper tree. And he asked for himself that he might die and said, ‘It is enough.
Now, I AM, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.'” James says that Elijah was a
man with passions like ours. That is, he was a great man of God, but in himself he was
just a man like the rest of us. The greatness was in God, not in Elijah. This story shows
us some of his weak humanity.
Elijah had just finished the contest with the prophets of Baal. God had given him
the victory by miraculously sending fire from Heaven to consume the sacrifice when
Baal had been unable to do so, then he had killed all four hundred and fifty prophets.
What a victory! Then Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran for his life. Why would a
man who could kill four hundred and fifty men run from one woman? But that is not
the end. When he arrived at a place of safety, his ostensible goal, he asked to die. Why
would a man run for his life, then when he was safe ask to die?
We cannot criticize Elijah or make excuses for him. All we can do is recognize
that he was a frail human like the rest of us. We have been just as inconsistent. Yet
despite all that, he was mighty in God. Few characters in the Bible can match Elijah for
the open display of the power of God. He was a man full of the Holy Spirit, and that
Spirit overflowed him. When he trusted in God and obeyed him, the Spirit brought
great victory. That wicked Jezebel did not kill Elijah. In fact, Elijah did not die at all, but
was caught up to Heaven alive. The dogs ate what was left of her.

God of Elijah, help me to see clearly that the greatness did not depend on Elijah, but on
you, and that it does not depend on me, but on you. I am an ordinary person, but I ask
you to fill me anew with your Spirit and to teach me to draw on him in faith and
obedience. Amen.

Feb. 24. 1 Kings 19.11-12: “And he said, ‘Go and stand on the mountain before I AM.’ And
behold, I AM passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the
rocks before I AM, but I AM was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but I AM
was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but I AM was not in the fire. And
after the fire a voice, a small whisper.”
We often complain that we cannot hear from God. In all likelihood the problem
is that we are making too much noise to hear him. This passage tells us that God spoke
to Elijah in a voice, a small whisper. Ps. 46.10 reinforces this thought when it says,
“Relax and know that I am God.”
In most of our prayers we do all the talking, usually asking God to give us
something or to do something. Perhaps if we got quiet enough we could hear that small
whisper. God does shout from time to time, but that is rather rare. He usually whispers,
and we have to get very quiet to hear him. If we must talk for a while, thanksgiving and
praise and worship are in order.

If we are not praying and doing all the talking, then it may well be that we are
complaining about our circumstances and symptoms. If we are busy complaining, how
can we hear the small whisper of God? He does speak, and he probably has some words
about our circumstances, perhaps, “All things work together for good for those who
love God,” or “I have learned in whatever circumstances I am to be content,” but he is
probably whispering. We will not hear him if we are doing all the talking.

Quiet God, I am listening….

Feb. 25. 2 Kings 6.17: “And Elisha prayed and said, ‘I AM, open, I pray, his eyes, that he may
see.’ And I AM opened the eyes of the servant and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.” How enslaved we can be to what we can see
with our physical eyes, and how oblivious to the unseen spiritual world around us. We
are so prone to look at our circumstances and let that sight fill us with fear or
depression. That was the case with Elisha’s servant. The king of Syria sent an army to
Dothan to capture Elisha because he was telling the king of Israel every military move
Syria was making. The army surrounded the city, and that is what the servant saw.
Fearing for his life, he cried out to Elisha, “My lord, what will we do?”
Elisha had spiritual eyes that had been opened. He saw what the servant could
not see and asked God to open his eyes. When the Lord answered the request, the
servant saw a great sight: “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around
Elisha.” This was God’s army. There was no danger, except to the Syrian army!
Just as Elisha had asked God to open his servant’s eyes, he asked him to close
those of the Syrian army, and he did. Then Elisha led the blind army to the king of
Israel and asked God to open their eyes again. What a surprise! They were surrounded
by the army of Israel. When asked by the king if he should kill them, Elijah told him no,
but to feed them and send them home.
The story is somewhat comical. God must have a few laughs at us, too, when we
get so frightened by our circumstances. If only we could see. We are in no danger if we
are the Lord’s. Are we surrounded by an enemy army? No matter, that army is
surrounded by the army of almighty God. God give us spiritual perception.
God of the unseen, please open my eyes to the true state of matters, to see that I am
surrounded by your army and am in no danger. Even if Satan is allowed to take my life,
he will only put me into your presence. Praise you! Amen.

Feb. 26. 2 Kings 7.9: “And they said one to another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day
of good news and we are keeping silent. If we wait till morning light, punishment will find us.
Now come, let us go and tell the king’s house.'” The city of Samaria was near starvation
after a long siege. Four lepers decided to go out to the enemy camp to see if they would

feed them. They said they would die anyway, so why not try? Meanwhile God had
caused the besieging army to hear a sound like the advance of an army, and they fled in
terror, leaving everything behind. When the lepers found the camp deserted, they ate
and drank and began to hide spoils. Then they realized what they were doing and
spoke the words above. They had to share the good news with the rest of the city.
These men were lepers. In the Bible leprosy is often a physical symbol of the
spiritual disease of sin. In ourselves we are all lepers, but those of us who are the Lord’s
have found the good news. Is it right for us to keep it to ourselves? It is no more right
than it would have been for the lepers in the story to keep the news from the city. When
they told the king, the whole city was saved. Who knows what God might accomplish
through one of us telling the goods news we have found? The lepers were not cured of
their disease, but only found food to keep them alive. But we who have found the Lord
have found the cure for our disease. Our sins are forgiven and gone, as though they had
never happened. Our sin nature has been dealt with, so though we still struggle with
temptation and sin, we are no longer slaves to it.
It is interesting, too, that those who found the needed supplies were lepers,
outcasts from the community. Down through the centuries, beginning even in the Old
Testament, God’s people have been persecuted and cast out, but they are the ones who
have the answer. For those willing to receive help from a leper who has found help, the
supply of his need is available. And even for those of us who have been Christians for a
long time, it is easy for us to look down on certain people. Let us beware of such
behavior. They may be the very ones who have the answer we need for what we are
facing at the moment. Let us remember that we were all spiritual lepers, and if we are
not now, it is by grace, not by our doing.

Loving Father, thank you for the cure for the spiritual disease of sin. Deliver me from
pride in my standing with you, realizing that it is all of your grace. Amen.

Feb. 27. 1 Chron. 14.15: “And it will be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the
balsams, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to smite the army of the
Philistines.” We saw in dealing with the taking of Jericho that God gave a plan that was
never repeated, and learned that God is not a God of techniques, but of relationship.
Now we have another example, and we learn something else as well. When David
inquired of God about going to meet the Philistine army, God told him not to go
straight up to face them, but to circle around and wait for the sound of marching in the
trees. That would be the indication that God had gone ahead and was fighting the
Philistines. Then David was to attack. It came about just as God said.
We see that God went ahead of the army of Israel to fight for them. It was really
an unfair fight, though we do not accuse God of being unfair! He is righteous in his
judgments. But the Philistines were fighting against an almighty foe they could not see,

and they did not even know it. It was a relatively easy matter for David’s army. God
won the victory before them. They did not have to win victory. They had to march in it.
It is the same with us. We have to fight many battles in this land, but God is in
us, with us, behind us, before us. Satan really has no chance if we trust and obey. It is an
unfair fight. God will use different methods at different times so that we, like David,
will keep inquiring of him and thus getting to know him, but the fact of victory is
always the same. God has the victory already. As we go into battle with our adversary,
let us not go hoping to win. Let us go knowing God has already won and has given us
victory.

Almighty God, thank you for the victory! Thank you that I do not have to fight for
victory, but in victory. Amen.

Feb. 28. 1 Chron. 28.9: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him
with a whole heart and with a willing soul, for I AM searches all hearts and understands every
intent of the thoughts. If you seek him he will be found by you, but if you forsake him he will
reject you forever.” We saw in our reading for Feb. 13 the importance of the heart being
the Lord’s, and that the secret to David was that his heart was wholly the Lord’s, and for
Feb. 20 that in his old age Solomon’s heart was turned away from God, and the tragic
circumstances that resulted. Now we go back to the time just before his reign when his
father David charged him to serve God with his whole heart. David was speaking from
experience. Though he knew his failures, David loved God with all his heart and was
devoted to him.
This charge to Solomon occurred three times over. We see it in 1 Chron. 22.19
and 29.19. Yet with all the experience of David behind this charge, and with the fact that
it was given to Solomon three times, not to mention the command of God that the
Israelites not intermarry with foreigners and Solomon’s great wisdom, he still in the end
had his heart turned away from God. Was Solomon’s heart really wholly the Lord’s at
the beginning? It is not for us to say. Only God can see the heart. But we can see his
action, and it reinforces for us the importance of seeing that nothing should be allowed
to capture our hearts other than God himself. Everything else in our lives should be a
matter of his will and not something additional to him.
David said that if Solomon would seek the Lord, he would be found. Let us take
that word seriously. Let us seek the Lord and ask him to win our hearts fully to himself,
that we might not be turned away from him.

God of my heart, please do purify my heart and make it wholly yours. Amen.

Feb. 29. 2 Chron. 16.9: “For the eyes of I AM run through all the earth to show himself strong
with the hearts of those wholly his.” The eyes of the Lord run through all the earth. It does

not matter where his people are, or that he has people everywhere. He sees them all at
all times. He never loses track of them. In addition, he sees everything on earth that
might bring good or harm to his people. Nothing escapes his vision.
Having this knowledge of his people, he shows himself strong for them. Is there
something good they might gain? He will see to it that they gain it. Is there some harm
approaching? He will control the harm and protect his people.
What he asks is that our hearts be wholly his. We have been stressing the heart
with David and Solomon. It is such an important issue. The Lord Jesus said that where
our treasure is, there will our heart be. How crucial that we see to it that God is our
treasure and that he has our whole heart. He is almighty and he wants to show his
might for us, but we must be his for him to do so as fully as he wishes.
What comfort we can take from knowing that Satan himself can do nothing to us
without God seeing all and either allowing or preventing it. If he allows it, he will use it
for our good so that even Satan becomes his tool. If he prevents it, we will probably
never know about it, at least in this age. How many times has God shown himself
strong for us without our even knowing it? He is our protection.

Strong Father, thank you for your protection and provision. Keep working with my
heart that it may be yours and only yours. Amen.

March 1. 2 Chron. 20.21-22: “And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed
those who would sing to I AM and give praise in holy array as they went out before the army,
and say, ‘Give thanks to I AM, for his mercy is for ever.’ And when they began with song and
with praise, I AM set those lying in wait against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir,
who had come against Judah, and they were smitten.” This passage sets forth yet another
battle plan given by God, this time during the reign of Jehoshaphat. In it, the men of
Judah were not to fight at all, but to send out a choir to sing praises to God. How much
less military can God get? A choir would be easily destroyed by a large army made up
of three armies. But when Judah obeyed, the Lord caused an ambush on the hostile
army by men (or angels?) who are not identified so that two of the armies destroyed the
third, then turned on each other. Judah just watched, then took the spoils.
The obvious lesson for us is that when we have to go out into battle with our
enemy, praise should be in the lead. Why is that? Because praise is affirming the truth
about God and giving him credit for it. It says that he is almighty. It says that he has the
victory already. It says that Satan and his forces cannot stand before God. Since the
battle has already been won, we do not need to fight. We have to go out to the battle,
but we go in praise because we already have the victory.
Satan operates by deceit. He cannot make us do anything. His power lies in his
ability to mislead people into going his way. If we begin the battle by praising God, we
are countering Satan’s deceit with truth. A liar cannot stand before the truth.

In Eph. 6.10-18, Paul tells us that in battle with the enemy we do not fight, we
just stand. Why? Because the victory has already been won. We just stand there on the
battlefield and let Satan do his worst. If we are claiming that victory already won by our
Lord, we can stand there and praise, and there is nothing Satan can do other than to
keep trying to deceive. If we hold to the truth, expressed in praise, we enjoy the victory.
Praise!

Victorious God, thank you for the victory! Praise to you! Please remind me to praise
when I have a battle with the enemy. Amen.

March 2. 2 Chron. 26.16: “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up so that he acted
corruptly and was unfaithful to I AM his God, for he went into the temple of I AM to burn
incense on the altar of incense.” Uzziah was king of Judah. He did right in the sight of God
and sought him and was greatly blessed by God in battle and in building up the
defenses and army of Israel. His response to such blessing sounds a dire warning for
us.
It is not for nothing that the old idea of the seven deadly sins includes pride.
Pride is so dangerous because it exalts us before God as though what we are or have is
our own doing. We do not have anything that God did not give us (Jn. 3.27, 1 Cor. 4.7).
Even if we work hard and achieve much, where did the ability to do so come from? Did
we make ourselves capable people? Why were we not born retarded or handicapped or
totally disadvantaged economically as so many in the world are? They may have
ability, but they have no hope, for there is no way for them to do anything but try to
stay alive. Why were we born in a land of prosperity and opportunity? These are all
God’s blessings.
Thus there is no room for any pride at all. Yet Uzziah became proud when he
became powerful. His heart swelled with what he had accomplished. So proud was he
that he entered the Holy Place in the temple to burn incense, something only the priests
could do. When he was confronted by the priests who ordered him out, he became
enraged, but while he was enraged God smote him with leprosy. It broke out on his
forehead in the sight of the priests. We saw earlier that leprosy symbolizes sin. Thus did
Uzziah bear the symbol of his sin of pride to the grave. Until then he had to live in a
separate house even though he was king, and his son ran things in his place.
Let us guard our hearts against pride at all costs. “God opposes the proud, but
gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3.34, James 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5, see Jan. 23).

God of grace, please help me guard against pride and humble myself before you. I do
not want you to oppose me, but to give me grace. Amen.

March 3. Ezra 1.5: “Then the heads of fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin arose, and the
priests and the Levites, all whose spirit God had stirred to go up to build the house of I AM
which is in Jerusalem.” With the book of Ezra begins the return of God’s people from
captivity in Babylon. Their sin against God had been so persistent that he had finally
unleashed judgment on them and the nation and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed.
The magnificent temple of Solomon was burned to the ground. When it came time to
return, the spirits of many were stirred to rebuild the house of God.
The house of God had great real and symbolic value to the people. It was the
place where God dwelt in the midst of his people. True, they could not go into his very
presence, but there he was among them. The house also had great value for God, for it
was his desire to dwell among his people. The fact that the house was in ruins
proclaimed to all that God was not dwelling among his people. They were the poorer
because they were not dwelling with their God, but so was he, if we may so put it, for
he was not with them.
Furthermore, the house of God pictures his testimony to the world. It says,
“There is a God in Israel, and he is the only God.” The destruction of the house only
symbolized the destruction of his testimony that had long since taken place among his
sinful people. With his city in ruins and his people in exile, the testimony of God was in
ruins in the world. Thus was the call to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple a call
to reestablish the testimony of God in the world.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah have much to say to the church today. To what
extent is the house of God, the church, his testimony, in ruins today? With all the
division among his people, all the toleration of sin, all the materialism and even
hedonism, how strong a testimony is there? Is the house of God in ruins today?

Great God, please speak to me about the condition of your house today? What do you
want me to do? Amen.

March 4. Ezra 3.2: “Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel and his brothers rose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt
offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.” The first thing to be
rebuilt when the exiles returned to Jerusalem was the bronze altar. The altar was the
place of sacrifice for the sins of the people and for the other offerings, and these
sacrifices were begun as soon as the altar was ready, the first activity to be resumed. We
can see the importance of the altar in this situation. Judah had been in exile because of
sin, especially the sin of idolatry, but for immorality and injustice as well. As the exiles
returned to their city with the awareness of their sin as the cause of the destruction of
their city and their removal from their land, they would want to resume the sacrifices
for sin as soon as possible.

Further, these offerings were the law of God. With the history of sin and its
consequences, obedience would be uppermost in their minds. The people of Judah had
been warned repeatedly for centuries to stop their idolatry and worship their God only.
The horror of the experience of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the exile
purged idolatry from the people. We do not again find idolatry to be a problem with the
people of God.
The altar in the Old Testament corresponds to the cross in the new. The cross
was the place of the ultimate sacrifice as the Lamb of God offered himself for our sins.
Just as the Jews were quick to rebuild the altar when they returned, so should we, when
we sin, hurry back to the cross and claim once again the blood of the Lord Jesus as the
means of our forgiveness. Christ was offered only once, so we do not make a new
sacrifice, but we keep coming back to that shed blood, offered once because it took
away our sins forever. Thanks be to God for the cross, the altar of our forgiveness.

Forgiving Father, thank you again for the cross and for the blood shed there. Thank
you, Lord Jesus, for shedding your blood. Keep me near the cross. Amen.

March 5. Ezra 7.10: “For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of I AM and to do it, and to
teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.” Ezra was a priest, descended from Aaron, the
original High Priest (Ezra 7.1-5), and he was a serious student of the Torah, the five
books of Moses, Genesis – Deuteronomy. The word “torah” is usually translated “law,”
as it is here in Ezra and in the New Testament, but it is a more inclusive word having to
do with all the teaching of God. Of course, what God taught would be law. His word is
our command. Ezra had set his heart to seek the Torah and to live by it and to teach it.
Each of the leaders who brought the exiles back to Jerusalem had a different
emphasis. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the governor and priest, were burdened to rebuild
the temple, and so they did (Ezra 3.8-13, 5.1-5, 6.13-15). Nehemiah, who would come
later, would rebuild the walls of the city. Ezra’s burden was to enforce the law of God,
to see to it that the people obeyed the law, for that was the way to honor God and to
receive his blessing in the Old Testament. Thus did Ezra set his heart.
We do not live under the law today, the Lord Jesus having brought us into a
relationship with God by grace, but we would do well to set our hearts as Ezra did to
seek the word of God, that is, to read and study it prayerfully that we may understand
it and take it into our hearts. We do not just want to know what it says, but we want
God to reveal it to us and so to put it into our hearts that we live by it. That is how we
nourish ourselves spiritually (Dt. 8.3). It is how we guard our way (Ps. 119.9). It is how
we learn about God, and about ourselves, and what God expects of us. Most of all, we
meet God himself in his word as he uses it to reveal himself to us.

Dear Lord, I set my heart to seek your word. As I seek it, may I find you. Amen.

March 6. Neh. 1.3-4: “And they said to me, ‘The remnant that remain from the captivity there
in the province are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and
its gates are burned with fire.’ And it came about when I heard these words that I sat down and
wept and mourned for days, and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens.” We have
seen that Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and then Ezra, went back to Jerusalem with particular
burdens on their hearts. Now Nehemiah comes on the scene. Neh. 1.9 tells us that
Jerusalem was the place where God had chosen for his name to dwell. Nehemiah knew
this, and when he heard of the condition of Jerusalem, his heart was broken for his God
and the city of his God.
Jerusalem is a small city in a very small land. In itself it should be without
importance. But God has chosen it to be his city, the place where his name dwells, and
Satan has contested that choice ever since. We still see the results today in the continual
fighting over Jerusalem among three religions. That little city is dear to the heart of
God.
In addition, Jerusalem stands for something, the people of God. That is God’s
real burden, a people among whom he can dwell. By his grace he has chosen to have a
people to live with. And Satan has contested that from the beginning, with Adam and
Eve in the garden, with Israel, and with the church. The reason Nehemiah’s heart was
broken was that he loved God and he knew that what God loved was in ruins. Thus he
wept and mourned for days and fasted and prayed.
Do we have the same love for what is dear to God? He still wants that people
among whom to dwell. Are the walls of his city in ruins? Is the church one or is it
divided? Is the church pure and holy and fully his? If not, are our hearts broken for
him? We always want so much from God. Do we care what he wants?

Dear Father, Thank you that you have chosen to have a people among whom to dwell
and that you have included me. Please help me to know if you have what you want and
how I may contribute to your having it. Amen.

March 7. Neh. 4.9: “But we prayed to our God and set a watch against them day and night
because of them.” We might call this reading “Prayer and Common Sense.” Nehemiah
and the people were opposed by their enemies in building the wall and threats were
made against them. He knew that God was their protection, so he and the people
prayed. But he knew God would not do for them what they could do for themselves, so
they posted sentries. We are taught that we cannot live as we should and that we have
to let Christ live in us. That is true, but sometimes we get carried away with this
teaching and think we should do nothing unless the Lord says to or the Holy Spirit
picks us up and moves us.

No doubt God could do those things, but he is unlikely to most of the time. We
know we have to get out of bed in the morning and we are able to do it. God will not
drag us out of bed. We will have to get up. There is such a thing as trying to be super
spiritual. There is also such a thing as being so heavenly minded we are of no earthly
good.
We can go to the other extreme and take the whole burden of living as a
Christian on ourselves. It is up to me to try harder, to be a better Christian, to read the
Bible more, pray more, give more, witness more. That is also a wrong approach. We
will fail if we try to live as a Christian by self-effort.
There is a middle ground. Yes, Christ lives in us and we cannot succeed as
Christians unless we let him live in us as he wants to, but that does not mean he will be
some kind of physical force that will impel us. We have to go about our duties, not
trying to be good Christians, but trusting him for the will and power to please him. As
we exercise common sense in doing what we have to do, at the same time
acknowledging our weakness and praying for his life to be expressed in us, we find him
expressing victory in our lives.

Dear Lord, thank you for living in me and enabling me to live as you want me to by
doing so. Help me to exercise common sense and not try to be super spiritual. Amen.

March 8. Neh. 6.3: “And I sent messengers to them saying, ‘I am doing a great work so that I
cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?'” The
opponents of Nehemiah and the Jews as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem tried
various ways to stop the work. At this point they asked Nehemiah to come down to
them, apparently to negotiate, but their plan was to harm him. He gave a great reply: “I
am doing a great work….” His work for the Lord was such that he could not stop to
attend to something else. It was a great work and it was his calling.
We all have a calling from God. Most are not called to preach or teach or write or
go to a foreign mission, but all have a calling. Most will serve God in the normal routine
of life, working, raising children, and so forth. What higher calling is there than raising
children to know the Lord? There is something God wants you to do that no one else
can do. Your work may seem small to you, and it is likely not something so outwardly
grand as rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but to God it is a great work. It is what he
wants you to do. At the judgment seat of Christ we will not be judged by how large or
public or spectacular our work was, but by how obedient we were to the call God gave
us. Faithful in small things is just as great to God as faithful in large things. Faithful is
what matters.
Like Nehemiah, we need to tend to our work from God. This does not mean that
we do not take care of all our responsibilities, such as providing for our families and
spending time with them, being a good friend and neighbor, fulfilling our church

commitments, and so forth, but that we cannot let every little distraction claim our
attention. As with Nehemiah, there will be times when Satan tries to get us doing
something that will take us away from what God has called us to do. Then we must be
aware that we are doing a great work and cannot leave it. And we must be aware that
he means harm to us, and to the work of God. We must answer that we are doing a
great work and cannot come down, but not by way of arguing with Satan. Just make the
statement and then turn to the Lord, being taken up with him and not with the enemy.

Heavenly Father, help me to know your calling for me and to know what to say no to.
Give me a sense of the greatness of what you want me to do for you, not because it is
big in the world, but because it is what you want. Amen.

March 9. Neh. 6.15-16: “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
And it came about, when all our enemies heard, that all the nations that were around us feared
and fell greatly in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God.” The
wall was finished! Nehemiah’s first task was accomplished. The wall, of course, was the
protection of the city, keeping her enemies out. It also has a spiritual meaning as we
think of it in relation to the people of God. A wall divides, keeping certain things out.
That should be the case with the people of God. There are things that should not come
among his people.
Israel and Judah had been very sinful, and that is why the city was destroyed.
Now that a remnant had returned and rebuilt the temple and the wall, it was important
that those sins that had led to the destruction be kept out. As we read through the rest
of Nehemiah we learn of the confession of sin as the law was read, the exclusion of
foreigners, non-Jews, and the breaking up of mixed marriages. Solomon comes in for
mention again as one who was greatly loved by God, but who fell away because of his
mixed marriages.
As the church, we need to keep the walls in good repair, the walls that keep out
worldliness, using the world’s methods in the church, and deliberate sin. We all fail and
sin from time to time, but if one is persisting in sin and trying to continue as a part of
the church as though nothing were happening, the church needs to deal with it. Church
discipline is a lost element in these days of toleration and desire not to offend anyone,
but it is very much part of the word of God. The church is not to be exclusive in the
sense that some are not welcome to attend services, but it is to be exclusive in accepting
people into full fellowship. The walls need to be up. Perhaps in our day they need to be
rebuilt. Perhaps we need a few Nehemiahs.

Righteous God, please help me as one of your people, and the church as all your people,
to be open to all who would come to you, but to keep the walls in good repair, that

what is of the world, the flesh, and the devil may be kept out from your people, insofar
as that is possible in a fallen world. Amen.

March 10. Est. 4.14: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for
the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows
whether you came to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther, a young Jewess, had
become queen, but she had not revealed her race. A wicked man had hatched a plot to
kill all the Jews in the kingdom. She was the only hope for her people, it appeared, but
she could not go into the king’s presence uninvited on penalty of death, unless he held
out his scepter to her when she appeared. When she notified her Uncle Mordecai, who
raised her, of these facts, he sent back to her the words above. Thus did Esther have to
decide whether to risk her life by going to the king or hope to save it by keeping quiet.
What a question Mordecai put to her: “And who knows whether you came to the
kingdom for such a time as this?”
Most of us will never face a decision regarding such a matter as this, the saving
of an entire race of people, and God’s chosen people at that, but many of us will face
decisions that have an important impact on others. And some of us will face “such a
time as this.” How will we respond in that hour?
Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God. Yet it is clear
from the beginning that God is at work in the circumstances to bring about the saving
of his people. He knew the queen would displease the king and be removed, and he
had Esther ready to replace her. He knew of the plot of Haman. Mordecai made it clear
to Esther that the salvation of the Jews depended on God, not on her, but that she could
be the one used by God to bring it about. Thus was she faced with her great decision.
Perhaps you are faced with an important decision, probably not so earthshaking
as Esther’s, but important to you. Have you thought about whether or not God has an
interest in what you decide that goes beyond your own interests? Who knows, perhaps
he has brought you to such a time in order to accomplish something through you?
Think and pray about that decision from the larger perspective of God’s interests.

Dear Lord, help me to know your will in all my decisions, and especially if there is
some decision that has implications beyond my own interests and has to do with your
work through me. Amen.

March 11. Est. 4.16: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are found in Shushan, and fast for
me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. Also my maidservants and I will fast in
the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I
perish.” Esther rose to the challenge. She realized that she would die anyway if the Jews
were not saved, so she decided to do the only thing possible to save them. But she did
something else as well. She called on her people to fast and pray with her for three

days. She knew the importance of prayer. When God’s people stand together as one in
seeking him, they have an effect that one might not have alone, and certainly a divided
people would not have it.
In this case Esther added fasting. It is interesting that the Bible does not
command Christians to fast. It is a matter of one doing what he thinks he should do in a
particular situation. One may think that God is leading him to fast, or he may want to
do it voluntarily in order to show his seriousness about the matter. When facing such a
life-and-death decision, Esther certainly felt the need of all the prayer help she could
get, and by adding fasting, she was saying that nothing else matters now except the
matter we are praying about. What is the importance of food if we are going to die
anyway? Thus did Esther take on the challenge of being used by God at the risk of her
life. And she spoke those immortal words, “If I perish, I perish.”
We are not likely to be faced with death as the result of obeying the Lord, but it is
possible. We are in an evil and rapidly changing world. It would be wise to be praying
that if we ever do come into such a situation, we would say with Esther, “I am going to
do the will of God, and if I perish, I perish.” We can seek the Lord now to be making us
strong in him. We will have to make decisions without such implications, but if we are
prepared for the ultimate, we should be able to do something short of that. God give us
grace.

Dear Lord, thank you for the example of Esther in determining to do what was right
even if she had to die for it. Please be working in me to prepare me for whatever you
might call me to. Amen.

March 12. Job 1.11-12: “‘But now put forth your hand and touch all that he has and he will
curse you to your face.’ And I AM said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only
on him do not put forth your hand.’ So Satan went out from the presence of I AM.” We learn
from this exchange between God and Satan an important lesson toward victory in our
lives as Christians. It is that God, not Satan, was in charge of what happened to Job, and
Satan could not do anything to Job that God did not permit. Satan did not have a free
hand in Job’s life. God set the limits. Here Satan was allowed to takes Job’s possessions,
but he could not harm Job personally. Later he was allowed to harm Job physically, but
he could not take his life.
It is the same with us. When we come into a difficult time in life, we tend to think
that God has lost control or must not care about us, or something! We spend much time
trying to get God’s attention and to get him to get us out of the trouble. What we need
to see is that God has been in charge from the beginning. What has happened in our
lives is God’s doing. He has a purpose in it, both for his glory and for our good. Satan
has not gotten free of God and run roughshod in our lives. He can do only what God
will let him do, and God will let him do only what is for our good.

We will see as we continue in the book of Job what the good was that God had
for him. For now, let us see clearly that Satan has to get God’s permission to do
anything in our lives, that God’s maintains control, and sets the limits, and that he has
our good in mind in what he allows.
It is only in the hard places that we grow. We do not develop muscle lying on the
sofa watching television. We develop muscle by lifting something a bit too heavy. It
hurts, but we are willing to go through the suffering because we want the reward that
results. It is the same spiritually. When we find ourselves in a hard place, it is God
trying to develop some spiritual muscle. Instead of asking him to get us out of it, we
should be asking him to get what he wants out of it in our lives.

Sovereign God, I thank you that you are in complete control of my life and you are in
complete control of Satan. He can do nothing in my life that you do not allow, and what
you allow is for my good, my development, my growth in you. Thank you for the hard
places. Amen.

March 13. Job 1.20-22: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the
ground and worshipped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will
return there. I AM gave and I AM has taken away. Blessed be the name of I AM.’ In all this Job
did not sin or ascribe wrong behavior to God.” Job demonstrated the response we all should
when we have a difficult situation. He had just lost all his material possessions and all
his ten children were dead. He certainly felt deeply and terribly the pain and sorrow of
what had happened, but he worshipped God and did not say that God had done
wrong. He believed what we said yesterday, that God was sovereign over what was
happening in his life and that he had good reasons, perfect reasons, for allowing it to
happen.
The most usual human response to such a trial is to ask God why, or to blame
God, or at least imply blame, in some way. How could a God of love let this happen?
That is a very normal response, but it is normal because we are so accustomed to seeing
only what is visible to the physical eye, and because we are accustomed to measuring
everything by its impact on us alone. Job had learned to see with the spiritual eye and
knew that God had not gone wrong. He knew that what happened in his life had
implications for God’s interests, not just for his own. Thus, though he hurt beyond our
comprehension, he did not question God or blame God or even curse God, or sin in
doing so. He maintained the perfect right of God to do whatever he pleases, knowing
that God does nothing that is not right, both for him and for us.
Many people become bitter toward God in such a circumstance. Some say they
are atheists, but the truth is they hate God and they express their hatred as atheism. It is
of the essence of biblical faith that God is all good and he is all love. If he allows
something terrible in our lives, it is for good. We say we believe this when things are

going well. What do we show that we really believe when tragedy strikes? Job showed
that he really believed what he said he believed. He worshipped God and did not
impugn his character.

Dear Father, these thoughts are difficult. It is so hard for us to see beyond our
immediate circumstances and feelings and to react in any but a self-centered way.
Please prepare me to worship you no matter what happens and to look for your
interests in my experiences. Amen.

March 14. Job 13.15: “Behold, he is killing me. I wait for him. Surely I will show my ways to be
right to his face.” This verse is one of the more difficult in Job to translate from the
Hebrew because of technical matters in the Hebrew text. The translation we have used
appears to be as true to the text as possible. The time honored, “Though he slay me, yet
will I trust in him,” does not appear to be exactly accurate, but the difference in
translation does not materially affect our interpretation.
Job’s suffering is such that he says that God is killing him. But he still says, “I
wait for him.” That is, his trust is still in God and he waits for him to act to save him.
Then he makes what might appear to be a presumptive, arrogant statement: “Surely I
will show my ways to be right to [God’s] face”! But one of the recurring themes of Job is
that his friends keep telling him that he has sinned and that is why he is suffering, while
Job maintains his innocence all the way through. He will not admit that he has sinned.
He is not saying, of course, that he was not a sinner. Of course he had sinned. He meant
that he had not committed some specific sin for which God was punishing him. He did
not know what was going on, but he knew it was not punishment. He was innocent in
that regard. He was so sure of this that he said he could prove it to God’s face. And in
fact he was innocent in the way he meant it. Yet he still had to back down from God
when the time came, as we will see..
In all of this suffering and arguing, Job holds his position that God is his hope,
even if he dies from what is happening to him. He will not look anywhere else for an
answer. He will wait for God. He was true to his first response to his disaster: he
worshipped God and “did not sin or ascribe wrong behavior to God.” That is an
example for us in our own trials.

Merciful God, so work in my heart that when I am faced with great difficulty, my
response will be to wait for you and not look elsewhere. You are my only hope. Amen.

March 15. Job 14.14: “If a man dies, will he live again?” There is very little in the Old
Testament about what we call life after death. There is no developed doctrine of Heaven
and hell. In fact, the word “hell” does not occur in the Hebrew Old Testament. There is
only the grave (sheol in Hebrew, a word used in the previous verse, Job 14.13). Yet there

are a few flickers of the light of hope in Heaven. Here is one of them. Supposedly Job’s
answer to his question is, “No, when a man dies he is dead. That is it.” Thus is it
important to have a pleasing life, and thus does Job wait for God to redeem him from
his current troubles. Yet there is that lingering question.
Of course, in the light of the New Testament it is easy for us to make a
resounding response, “Yes, yes indeed! Praise God! There is Heaven for eternity!” But
Job did not have the light we have. How much more impressive, then, that he would
even raise such a question.
There is in every person the hope of immortality. A theme of fiction throughout
the centuries has been the quest for the fountain of youth or for some other means of
not dying or surviving death. We have the means! Even if we die physically, the Lord
Jesus told us that we will never die if we are his. Death is not the end, but the beginning
of life as we have never known it, life unhampered by the fall and sin and all our
limitations brought on by them. Talk about abundant life!
And there stood Job, millenniums ago, wondering, wondering. Yes, Job, if a man
dies in Christ, he will live again.

Wonderful Lord, thank you for the life eternal that is in us even now, and that will go
through death as though it were only a doorway, which it is! Praises be to you. Amen.

March 16. Job 19.25-27: “But as for me I know that my Kinsman lives, and at last he will stand
on the dust. And after they destroy my skin, this, then from my flesh I will see God, whom I,
even I, will see for myself, and my eyes will see, and not another.” We saw in Ruth that the
kinsman was the one who could redeem the inheritance (Feb. 9). Here Job uses the same
word of his Redeemer. Yesterday we considered Job’s question, “If a man dies, will he
live again?” and saw that he had no final answer, but was remarkable in raising the
question. Now we see Job carrying the thought a bit further. He knows that his
Kinsman, the Redeemer of his inheritance, lives and at last will stand on the dust. It is
not clear what Job means by the dust. Some take it to mean the grave in which Job
would be buried. The word is the same as that used when God formed Adam from the
dust, and also when he said to him that he was dust and to dust he would return.
Then Job says that when his skin is destroyed, from his flesh he will see God.
What does he mean by “from my flesh”? Did he mean “away from my flesh,” meaning
that as a departed spirit he would see God? Did he mean “from within my flesh,”
meaning that he would rise again, returning to the flesh? We do not know. The point of
interest, though, is that Job’s mind turns to such questions. In that day when there was
not much thought of life after death, as we call it, here was a godly man saying that he
knew he would see God again, whether he meant as a spirit or as one raised from the
dead.

With our greater knowledge this side of the cross, we can give a hearty “Amen”
to Job’s words. Yes, he will see his Kinsman, his Brother, the Lord Jesus, his Redeemer.
He sees him now as we write and read these words. We will see him with Job one day.
And whatever Job meant by his Redeemer standing on the dust, we know that the Lord
Jesus will stand on the earth, beginning at the Mount of Olives, and will establish a rule
of righteousness over this earth. With Job we will enjoy that day!

Eternal God, thank you for the hope that is in me because of what you have done for
me. I will see you standing on this earth! Praise you! Amen.

March 17. Job 23.10: “He has tried me. I will come forth as gold.” We have noted that gold is
often a symbol of divinity in the Bible. The gold of the tabernacle, for example, pictures
the divinity of the Lord Jesus. When one belongs to the Lord, he, the Lord, dwells in
him. There is the gold of God in one of his own. But that gold is mixed with the flesh of
the person. We all know the experience of trying to serve God by self-effort, after the
flesh. The desire to serve God comes from him, but the flesh often asserts itself, or
perhaps we have not yet grown to the point of understanding that the service of God
cannot be rightly done after the flesh.
Because of this mixture within us, God does a purifying work. That is one of the
reasons for our trials. When we are in the crucible of trial, God is purifying the gold.
The gold is melted and the dross is burned, with pure gold the result. That is a lifelong
process, for the flesh is always with us in this life. We are reminded of 1 Pt. 1.7, “… that
the proof of your faith, more precious than gold which perishes, though tested by fire,
may be found to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Job seemed to be completely bewildered by what was happening to him. His
long discourses in answer to his “friends” set forth his continual maintaining of his
innocence and his continual question, “Why?” Yet here in chapter 23 he has a flash of
insight. Whether he really grasped it himself or not, he said that he was being tried, and
that when the trial was complete, he would come forth purified. He would be gold. We
would say that the flesh had been consumed and the presence of God in him had been
purified.
We have that to look forward to. The fire can be very hot when we are in the
experience of being refined, but in the end we will come forth as gold. We will be
people who bring praise, glory, and honor to our great God.

Dear Lord, I want my life to bring praise, glory, and honor to you. Give me you grace to
endure the fire of trial, knowing that you are refining and purifying the gold of your
presence in me. Amen.

March 18. Job 31.1, 7: “I made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I look on a virgin?”
“… And if my heart has walked after my eyes….” Job has maintained his innocence all the
way through his ordeal. Now he tells some of the things he has done to keep his way
clear before God. There is a children’s song that has the line, “Be careful little eyes what
you see.” Job understood that principle. He knew that the heart could follow the eyes.
His heart belonged to God, yet he knew it could be turned away. Remember Solomon,
whose heart was turned away from God by his many foreign wives.
That phrase, “And if my heart has walked after my eyes,” is a very arresting one.
We live in a day of immorality when eyes are constantly lured by pictures and by
immodest dress. We need to have a clear understanding that our eyes can turn our
hearts away from God. We do need to be careful what our eyes see. It is in order for us
to pray for the grace to look away if need be and not to be caught by that hook. We
cannot avoid the world, but we can ask God to keep us pure.
Job had made a covenant with his eyes. That is also an arresting statement. Have
we made a covenant with our eyes? Have we decided ahead of time that we will be
careful what we look at, and that when we cannot avoid the first sight that we will look
away? The first sight is not sin. The second probably is, and it can lead to much greater
sin. Job made a decision ahead of time that he would not use his eyes immorally. Have
we made such a decision?
The writer of Hebrews said that we should “look away to Jesus,” (12.2), and Paul
wrote in 2 Cor. 3.18 of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” When that first tempting sight
comes, let us have made up our minds ahead of time that we will look away to Jesus
and behold his glory.

Dear Lord, please do lead me in purity. I choose now to be prepared to look away to
Jesus and behold his glory in the hour of temptation. Amen.

March 19. Job 38.1-4: “Then I AM answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, ‘Who is this
who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, for I will
ask you and you answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Say if you
have understanding.'” All through the book Job maintained his innocence, and he said
more than once that God was not doing to him according to his way, that he wished he
could present his case to God, that he would defend himself to God’s face. His “friends”
assailed him, but he was unshakable.
Now it is God’s turn to speak to Job. It is very instructive to us that it is true that
Job was innocent. He had not done something that was causing God to punish him.
God was behind what was going on, but he had a different goal in mind, which we will
see more fully tomorrow. God did not accuse or convict Job of sin, but he spoke
withering words to Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”

When God pressed Job for an answer, Job replied in 40.3 that he was putting his hand
over his mouth. How can one answer back to the Almighty?
So God goes through a long list of examples of his great power, dealing with the
creation of all that is, and asking Job where he was. One can almost see Job sinking
further and further down into his chair.
But Job begins to see something. As God continues to convince Job of his own
greatness and of Job’s utter insignificance by comparison, the light begins to dawn. We
come down to the end of the book and Job is ready to answer God, but his answer is far
from what he himself had thought it would be when he was wishing for an audience
with God. We will see that answer tomorrow.

Almighty God, even though your greatness reveals my total lack of significance in
myself, thank you that you are at work in my life, just as you were in Job’s. Even in my
great perplexity you are accomplishing something. Amen.

March 20. Job 42.5-6: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” We said yesterday that God was
behind what was going on in Job’s life, but that it was not the punishment of some sin.
He was dealing with what Job was. He was not punishing him, but trying to change
him inwardly, trying to get him somewhere spiritually. That was why he had asked
Satan at the beginning, “Have you considered my servant Job?”
Job 1.1 tells us that Job was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away
from evil. There was not a better man in his day. Yet there was something missing, and
we see it in today’s passage. Job had heard of God, but he had not seen him. That is, he
knew about God, but he did not know God personally. He had heard about God and
believed what he heard, and thus conducted himself so as to be blameless and upright,
one who feared God and turned from evil. But God’s primary goal is that we know him,
and it is usually in the hard places in life that we come to know God.
When Job held to his innocence all through his long trial, even almost
reproaching God, he nonetheless held to God. He waited for God to vindicate him.
Then when God did speak to him, Job saw something he had not seen before. He saw
God in a new light. When we say he saw God, we do not mean that he saw him with his
physical eyes, but he received revelation about God. It went from head knowledge to
heart knowledge. When that happened, even though Job had been blameless and
upright, he despised himself and repented. One cannot see God as he is without also
seeing himself as he is. As good as we may be humanly speaking, the depths of our
fallen condition are revealed by the light of God.
And so did Job come to know God personally. On the one hand he was fully
vindicated, but on another he was reduced to nothing by the words of God. It is
interesting, almost humorous, that after God gave Job his tongue-lashing for his own

shortcomings, he turned to his friends and told them he was angry with them for telling
Job what was not right, and suggested that they offer a burnt offering and have Job pray
for them. They obeyed and God accepted them for Job’s sake.

Dear Lord, when I go through a difficult place in life, please give me the grace to
realize that you are trying to accomplish something in me, and to hold to you no matter
what. I know that you are trying to bring me to know you personally, the highest
experience a person can have. Amen.

March 21. Ps. 1.2: “But his delight is in the law of I AM, and on his law he meditates day and
night.” This word states one of the factors in a person’s being blessed. The law of I AM
when the psalms were written was the first five books of the Old Testament. That was
the Bible of God’s people in that day. The psalmist says that one who delights in God’s
word and meditates on it day and night is blessed. And to be blessed means to know
goodness from God.
In our days of hectic living it is often difficult to make time to read even a few
verses of the Bible, and where is the time to meditate day and night? This reality raises
the question of priorities. What is most important to us? What do we delight in? We
may say we delight in the word of God, but do we? A person usually finds time for
what he really wants to do.
It is easy for us to take the approach, perhaps without realizing it, that Bible
reading is an obligation, something we do because we have to or so we will gain points
with God or avoid his displeasure. Why would God want to make us do something that
is an obligation that we get nothing from? He loves us, and we are under grace, not law.
God himself is revealed in his word, and that is one of the primary places where we
find him and get to know him. There is nothing he wants more than for us to know him
personally. There is no greater joy that we can know than to know him, to be aware of
his presence and speaking. Do you want to know God? That is true blessedness.
One way we can meditate on God’s word is to memorize it so we can think about
it when we are driving or waiting in line. One may have time to memorize only one
verse. That is a good starting place. If a person does that and seeks the Lord in that
verse, he will find himself making time for more, for as he comes to know God, he will
delight in his word.

God of blessing, I do want to know you. I will find the time to read at least a little of
your word each day. Please do reveal yourself to me in it and give me delight in you
and your word. Amen.

March 22. Ps. 2.1-3: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings
of the earth take a stand and the rulers take counsel together against I AM and against his

anointed: ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters from us.'” A number of the
psalms are known as messianic psalms because they contain prophetic statements about
the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. From this point on, we will mark these psalms “messianic”
at the beginning so they can be distinguished from the ones that are not. Ps. 2 is one of
these. It shows the opposition of the world’s rulers to the Lord Jesus and the fact that
God has chosen him to be his King of the universe and will establish him on the throne.
The rage is against the Lord Jesus as messianic King. The vain thing the rulers
imagine is that they can break away from his kingship and maintain their own rule. V. 4
of this psalm says that God laughs at them. He will put his Son on the throne.
We live in a day of great evil and there is much opposition to God and the things
of God in the world, and especially in our own nation. There has been an ongoing
attempt to dismiss God from every aspect of public life. Every evil thing, the more
sordid the better, is exalted, and every wholesome thing is scoffed at. It is not harmful
to give a school child a condom, but it is harmful for him to pray at school. In this kind
of atmosphere, the Christian often is distressed and angry, but feels helpless. It often
appears that the kings of the earth have indeed thrown God and his Son out.
When it appears this way it is time to remember this psalm. We may feel
distressed, but God is laughing at them. We can go by his word, not by outward
appearances. There will be an end to evil. There will be the reign of righteousness of the
Son of God.

Ruling God, thank you for the comfort and assurance that you give in your word that
you will bring the evil of this world to an end and establish your Son on the throne of
the universe for an eternal reign of righteousness. Amen.

March 23. Ps. 8.4-6: “What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you
visit him? For you have made him a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and
honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all
things under his feet.” Messianic. David begins this psalm with the recognition of the
majesty of God’s name and the praise due him. Then he wonders at the facts stated in
our verses above in the light of this greatness of God. He thinks back to the creation in
Gen. 1-2 and marvels that God has put everything he made under the dominion of man.
It is a marvel indeed, isn’t it?
Yet we know that man has failed to exercise dominion as he should. He does
have much power over the earth and the animals, and he has extended his dominion
into space to some degree. Yet there has been much abuse of the earth and its animals.
They are here for our use, but not for our misuse.
Because of this failure of man this psalm is messianic The writer of Hebrews
points out in his second chapter that the Lord Jesus has fulfilled this psalm perfectly. He
is crowned with glory and honor where man has shamed himself. He exercised

dominion during his earthly ministry as he did miracle after miracle that showed his
dominion over nature. Now that he has died a sinless death in obedience to his Father,
he has been raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God where all things
are being put in subjection under his feet. The day will come when we see all things in
subjection to him, and that will be a glorious day, for it will bring in his reign of
righteousness over the earth. Then those who have been faithful to him will reign with
him. We ordinary humans will experience dominion over God’s creation as it was
meant to be.
Thanks be to the Lord Jesus for succeeding where we failed, and for bringing us
into the good of his success.

God of the universe, thank you again for the promise of that day when we will be able
to be all you made us to be because of the work of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

March 24. Ps. 16.10: “I have set I AM always before me. Because he is at my right hand I will
not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell in
safety. For you will not abandon my soul to sheol, nor will you allow your holy one to see decay.
You will cause me to know the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy.” Messianic. This
messianic psalm contains this Old Testament prophecy of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus. Sheol in the Old Testament is death or the grave, and it is also used many times of
the place of all those who have died, both God’s people and others. It corresponds to the
New Testament hades, except that in the New Testament, it was recognized that God’s
people went to Heaven at death and hades was the prison of the lost dead and of
certain evil spirits who were awaiting final judgment and hell. In this psalm sheol
means the grave.
When David writes that God would not abandon his soul to sheol or allow his
body to undergo decay, he means literally that God would not leave him in the grave to
decay. David probably had himself in mind when he spoke these words, expressing
hope that he would survive physical death. We saw this theme in Job, and now we see
it growing a bit stronger. Job raised questions about it? David said that he would not be
left in the grave.
David was also a prophet, and these words of his were prophetic of the Lord
Jesus. They are quoted in Acts 2.25-28. Peter, the speaker in Acts 2, says that David
knew God had promised that one of his descendants would always be on the throne, so
he looked ahead and prophesied the resurrection of Christ, who was that one who was
not allowed to decay in the grave. That was the basis of David’s hope.
It is the basis of ours, too. Because the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and
was not left in the grave to decay, we have the assurance that even if we die physically
and our bodies decay, as David’s did, we will nonetheless be raised from the dead and

given bodies that cannot decay. We will not be left in the grave forever. We are a people
with real hope.

Living God, thank you for the promise of life that survives the grave, and for the sure
basis on which it rests, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

March 25. Ps. 22.1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Messianic. This psalm
is one that is very sobering, for it is a prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ. It is
obviously prophetic, for it gives an accurate picture of crucifixion long before the
Israelites were exposed to such a means of execution.
These first words of the psalm describe the worst moment ever experienced by a
human being. They were those uttered by the Lord Jesus as he hung on the cross,
having been made sin for us (2 Cor. 5.21) and thus experiencing the first and only break
he had ever known in his perfect fellowship with his Father. For us who are so
accustomed to sin and the seeming absence of God, these words may not carry so much
impact. But try to imagine being in a perfect relationship of love from all eternity with
no sin and evil at all, and then becoming an evil thing and having the beloved forsake
you because of it. That was what the Lord experienced for us.
His physical sufferings are graphically described in the psalm: the jeering of his
tormentors, bones out of joint, heart failing, no strength, dry mouth, pierced hands and
feet, bones visible through the skin, clothing divided up and gambled for. As horrible as
these were, they would almost be as nothing to the experience of being forsaken by
God. And he voluntarily went through that for you and me.
The last part of the psalm tells of the ultimate victory of the Lord Jesus. We thank
God for his victory, for it is our victory. But we can never forget what that victory was
over: Satan, temptation, the unimaginable experience of the cross. All we can do is bow
in worship before the one who went to such an extreme for us.

Dear Lord Jesus, I can never know what that awful moment was like for you, but I
thank you and I worship you for going through it for me. Please help me to express my
worship by the way I relate to you and live my life. Amen.

March 26. Ps. 23.1: “I AM is my shepherd.” Messianic. In John 10, the Lord Jesus calls
himself the good Shepherd, showing that he fulfills the Old Testament picture of God as
the Shepherd of his people. Ps. 23 is probably the best known and favorite of the
psalms. It pictures God providing for us and taking care of us. It begins with our not
wanting, and ends with our cups overflowing, and with us dwelling in the Lord’s house
forever. It goes through paths of righteousness and the valley of the shadow of death.
There is no fear of evil because of the Lord’s presence, and there is the head anointed
with oil, a picture of receiving the Holy Spirit. It is a psalm of great comfort.

All of these comforts are spiritually fulfilled in the good Shepherd. He provides
our spiritual nourishment as the bread of life and the giver of the water of life, the Holy
Spirit. He leads us to rest in him as our Savior with no obligation to do something to
save ourselves. When our souls, primarily our emotions in this verse, are weary with
the stresses of life, he restores them. He is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1.30).
He is the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11.25) and walks through that valley of the
shadow of death with us. He overcame evil and is with us. His shepherd’s rod, mightier
than that of Moses, is always in his hand for use in our behalf. Even before our enemies
he feeds us spiritually and they are helpless to stop it. He has filled us with his Spirit.
Our cups overflow. His goodness and mercy will be with us throughout this life, and
when this life ends, we will only move to his house above forever. What more could we
ask in a shepherd?
Yet there is more. The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (Jn. 10.11).
He is able to lead us through that valley of the shadow of death because he walked
through it himself, and came out of it alive from the dead. He has conquered death and
given us life, life eternal.
And a bit more: The sheep “know [my] voice” (Jn. 10.4). Our good Shepherd
speaks to us, and we recognize his voice. He has made himself known to us and we
know when he is speaking. He speaks words of love, of comfort, of direction, of
correction, of warning. All his words, of whatever sort, come from a heart of love. He is
the good Shepherd.

Dear Shepherd, please give me the grace just to be one of your sheep, to trust you and
follow you and obey your voice. Thank you for being the good Shepherd. Amen.

March 27. Ps. 24.7-10: “‘Lift up your heads, gates, and be lifted up, everlasting doors, and the
King of glory will come in.’ ‘Who is the King of glory?’ ‘I AM strong and mighty, I AM mighty
in battle.’ ‘Lift up your heads, gates, yes, lift them up, everlasting doors, and the King of glory
will come in.’ ‘Who is this King of glory?’ ‘I AM of hosts, he is the King of glory.'” Messianic.
T. Ernest Wilson has said that Pss. 22, 23, and 24 form a trilogy that shows the
past, present, and future of the Lord Jesus. Ps. 22 shows him as Sufferer in the past; 23,
as Shepherd in the present; and 24, as Sovereign in the future. In our verses for today,
we see a repetition of the command to open the gates, the question as to who the king
is, and the response. Why twice?
There are two primary mountains in Jerusalem, Zion, where the palace of David
was located, and Moriah, where the temple was located. In the Old Testament, the kings
and priests were from separate tribes. A king could not be a priest, and vice versa. But
the Lord Jesus is both King and Priest. The first command to open the gates is to the
gates of the city so that the King may come in and take his throne. The second is to the

gates of the temple, that the Priest may come in and take his office. The King and the
Priest are one and the same, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the psalm the King of glory is identified as I AM, but we say that the psalm is
prophetic of the Lord Jesus. Remember that Jesus was I AM in the flesh. The name Jesus
means “I AM saves.” There is only one God.
Not just anyone could ascend the mountain of the Lord. The psalm asks, “Who
may ascend to the mountain of I AM, and who may stand in his holy place?” The
answer is, “He who has clean hands, and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to
falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.” The Lord Jesus fulfills these requirements. We
have one coming to the throne of the universe who has suffered for us in the past and is
shepherding us now. He will be Sovereign. He is the King of glory!

Dear King of glory, I praise you for your suffering for me, for your being my shepherd
now, and for your eternal reign in righteousness that is coming. Please come soon!
Amen.

March 28. Ps. 27.4: “One thing have I asked from I AM. That will I seek: that I may dwell in
the house of I AM all the days of my life, to behold the delightfulness of I AM, and to inquire in
his temple.” We have noticed several times through our readings that God’s highest
desire is for us to know him. Now we see David expressing his desire to know God.
When David asked to dwell in the house of I AM and to inquire in his temple, the
temple had not yet been built, and it was not built until after his death. What did he
have in mind?
The house of God is his dwelling place among his people. From the time of
Moses until the temple was built, the tabernacle was God’s house. It is not likely that
David had the tabernacle in mind, for it was in Gibeon during his reign (1 Chron. 16.39,
21.29). He knew that the temple was to be built by his son. Probably he was thinking of
knowing God and of his presence in a more spiritual way. He wanted to know God and
sense his presence. He wanted to see the delightfulness of God, not with his physical
eye, but in his day-to-day experience of life he wanted to see the good hand of God in
his favor. And he wanted to be able to inquire of God, to seek his direction for his life so
he could do the will of God (see Acts 13.22). We have seen that David’s heart was God’s.
Now he expresses that heart in a desire to know God.
In our day, the house of God is his people (Eph. 2.19-22, Heb. 3.6, 1 Pt. 2.4-5). He
does not dwell in houses made with hands (Acs 7.48). To desire to dwell in the house of
the Lord is to desire to experience being built into that spiritual house that Paul speaks
on in Eph. 2.19-22 noted above. It is to know oneness with God’s people. It is in God’s
house that we know him, for that is where he is, and his house is his people.
How can we know God if we separate ourselves from his people by not meeting
with them for worship, prayer, ministry, and fellowship, or by trying to experience God

alone. We can experience God alone, but he has told us not to forsake assembling
ourselves with other believers (Heb. 10.25), for there is a much greater revelation of God
there. I am only one facet of the jewel, to change the metaphor. You are only one facet.
There are millions of facets, but we cannot come to know those aspects of God if we do
not meet with those facets. If we want to know God, we must learn what he has
revealed to others. No one of us has it all.

Dear Lord, please let me, like David, live in your presence, both when I am alone and
when I am with your people. Let me behold how delightful you are, and let me inquire
of you and learn your will for me step-by-step. Amen.

March 29. Ps. 30.5: “For his anger is for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last
for the night, but in the morning is joy.” It is a recurrent theme in the Bible that God is
merciful, but that he will bring judgment on sin if it is persisted in. However, our real
problem is not the sins we commit, but the sinful condition we are in. God works with
his people to put their sinful condition to death so that the acts of sin cease. Thus we
may know something of the anger of God, against sins and against the sinful condition.
David says that when we know that anger, we can take comfort in the fact that if we are
not persisting in sin, the anger is brief, but the favor of God is forever. We may weep
tonight under the discipline of God, but in the morning there will be joy.
We saw in dealing with Job that God had another purpose beyond sins and sin.
He wanted Job to come to know him personally. Job experienced much weeping as God
brought him to a place of brokenness in his flesh, but the end of that came and the last
years of Job were twice as good as the first, and, of course, he has been in the presence
of the Lord for millenniums now, and he will be there for eternity.
What dealing of God are you going through that brings weeping? Remember
that it is the hand of love that disciplines you for your good, now and forever. The
anger is temporary. The favor is forever. The weeping will soon be over. The joy will
never end. It may be a dark night now, but everlasting day will break.
Gracious God, thank you that your anger and discipline are for my good and that they
will yield eternal favor and joy. Please help me to be submissive to you when you
discipline me. Amen.

March 30. Ps. 37.25: “I was young and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his seed begging bread.” God has promised to provide for his people. In the Old
Testament days, when David lived and wrote this psalm, his promises to Israel were
material. If they would keep the law they would be blessed with peace, prosperity,
good health, and children. When Israel followed God, these conditions did indeed
prevail. There was never perfection, but in general this was the situation. When Israel

turned away from God, as we saw in the book of Judges, and as it took place after the
reign of Solomon, they knew war, lack, sickness, barrenness. David could say that in his
day he had gone from young to old and had never seen a righteous person forsaken or
his seed, his children, begging bread.
God’s promises to us as Christians are spiritual. He has promised to provide for
our material needs and does so, but there is no guarantee that this will always be the
case. Sometimes God’s people are called on to suffer for the Lord and there may be
illness or inability to have children, imprisonment or even martyrdom. He has his
purposes in these times, some of which we have seen as we have considered the
purposes of suffering. And who knows how many shut-in Christians have been mighty
prayer warriors unknown to any but God who have won great battles in the spiritual
world?
We may know need in this world, if God so will, but he will not let us be
spiritually poor or hungry or ill if we trust and obey him. He has promised to give us
spiritual riches. It is wrong for a Christian to desire this world’s riches, but it is not
wrong to desire riches with God. He will never let one of his righteous ones be
forsaken, nor will he let his seed beg for bread. He will provide for our spiritual needs.

I AM Yireh, my Provider (Gen. 22.14), thank you for your promise to meet all my
spiritual need with your riches. Thank you, too, that you provide for my material needs.
If the time should come when I am called on by you to suffer material want, give me
your grace to endure for your name’s sake. Amen.

March 31. Ps. 40.6-8: “Sacrifice and offering you have no delight in. My ears you have dug.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come. In the scroll
of the book it is written of me, “I delight to do your will, my God. Your law is within my
heart.”’” Messianic. This passage is quoted in Heb. 10.5-7 and applied there to the Lord
Jesus. The point in Hebrews is that the blood of the animal sacrifices cannot take away
sins, and thus they have to be repeated continually, and what God really desires
anyway is not all the sacrifices, but obedience. Israel went through many times when
the sacrifices were regularly offered, but the people were not obeying God in their lives.
The sacrifices were required by God, but without obedience they were meaningless to
him (see 1 Sam. 15.22).
David writes a mysterious line, “My ears you have dug.” What could this mean?
Over and over in the gospels and in Revelation, the Lord Jesus spoke the words, “He
who has an ear, let him hear.” Of course, everyone had an ear, two of them, in fact.
What he meant was that some had had their spiritual ears opened so that they could
hear the message of God in the words of men. The idea of digging the ears seems to be
that the ears are cleaned out, opened up, so that the hearing is clear, and when applied
to the spiritual hearing, that any obstruction to hearing from God is cleared away. Any

sin, any pride, any self-righteousness, any rebelliousness, has been dealt with. This
psalm is ultimately about the Lord Jesus. It is clear that his ears were open to God when
he lived here as a man. The gospel of John stresses that he said nothing except what he
heard from the Father.
It is also true of him that he delighted to do the will of God. Sometimes we do
what we think God wants, but we do not like it and do it only because we think we
have to. At other times we may do God’s will, but be openly rebellious. We obey out of
necessity, but we are rebellious in our hearts, like the little boy who was made to stand
in the corner. He said to his mother, “I may be standing in the corner on the outside, but
I am running through the house on the inside.”
God desires not observance of religious duties, but obedience to his will from a
heart that delights to do his will. The Lord Jesus did that perfectly. He is our example.

Loving Father, help me not to do your will grudgingly or rebelliously, but to take
delight in doing your will. Amen.

April 1. Ps. 41.9: “Also my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his
heel against me.” Messianic. This verse is prophetic of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus by
Judas, and is quoted by the Lord in Jn. 13.18. The psalm itself shows his becoming sin
for us (2 Cor. 5.17): “I AM, be gracious to me. Heal my soul for I have sinned against
you” (v. 4). He had no sin of his own, but the psalm pictures him confessing our sin as
though it were his.
The Lord Jesus tells of his enemies speaking against him. This is to be expected,
of course, but it is nonetheless difficult to take, especially when one is completely
innocent and should not have any enemies.
Then we come to our verse for today. It is one thing to be opposed by enemies,
but to be betrayed by a friend is another matter. Judas, one of the twelve, who had
walked with the Lord for three years, seen his miracles, heard his teachings, observed
his tender love with those in need, and been a witness to his opposition to religious
formalism without life, now turns against him and, on the very night when he sat at the
table of the last supper with the Lord and the other eleven, he betrays him to his
enemies so they can arrest him under cover of night.
The Lord Jesus was not surprised by this event, for he knew from the beginning
that it would take place, but that does not lessen the hurt of betrayal. This occurrence
was just one more aspect of what our Savior bore for us that terrible night and
following day.

Dear Lord Jesus, what you bore for me is beyond my understanding. I bow before you
in worship for your undergoing betrayal and all the other evils of that night and day for
me. Amen.

April 2. Ps. 42.5: “Why are you cast down, my soul, and disturbed within me? Hope in God, for
I will praise him again for the help of his face.” It is likely that all of us have a downcast soul
at one time or another. The Bible teaches that a person consists of spirit, soul, and body,
not just soul and body. The spirit is the immaterial “part” of a person that is able to
relate to God. The soul is the psychological makeup (the Greek word for soul is psyche,
the word we get “psychology” from), the intellect, emotions, temperament, personality,
strength of will. The body, of course, is the physical aspect.
In this psalm the writer asks his soul why it is downcast and disturbed, and then
tells it to hope in God. The point is that if we allow our feelings, a part of our soul, to
control us, we will live an up-and-down existence that never knows stability. When we
feel downcast, if we let that feeling dictate what we believe and how we behave, we will
be in defeat as Christians. The place of stability lies in the spirit that is in touch with
God. Unpleasant emotions are normal. If we did not feel bad when something bad
happens there would be something wrong with us. It is how we respond to them that
matters.
When those bad feelings come, as they surely will, our response needs to be that
we understand why we feel bad, but the truth is that we belong to God and he works all
things in our lives for our good. Our stability is based on him and his word, not how we
feel. Thus our spirit can speak to our soul and tell it not to continue being downcast, but
to hope in God, for there will soon be praise for his help when he deals with what is
causing the downcast soul.
One of the most important lessons we can learn is not to live by our feelings, but
to bring them into subjection with a spirit that knows God and relies on his word. Pss.
42 and 43 contain these thoughts three times and should be read together.

Dear God, thank you that I am not a slave to how I feel, but I can choose to live by your
presence and by what your word says. And thank you that your presence never leaves
me, whether I feel it or not. Amen.

April 3. Ps. 44.22-24: “For your sake we are killed all the day. We are considered sheep for the
slaughter. Awake, why do you sleep, Lord? Arise, do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your
face and forget our affliction and our oppression?” Have you ever felt that God has forsaken
you or forgotten about you? You are in great difficulty and you cry out to him, but he
seems to be nowhere to be found? Do you feel like shaking God and telling him to wake up
and help?
The experience of the absence of God is common. Probably very few have
escaped it, and some of those considered people of great spiritual maturity have gone
through very difficult times such as this. Some write of what they call the dark night of

the soul when all appears to be dark, there is no light, and God’s presence is not to be
known. What is happening during this time?
We have seen what was happening in our consideration of Job. There is
something God wants to gain in our lives that requires such a dark time. If we can hold
to our trust in him even when he seems to be absent, even uncaring, when we come out
of that hard place, our faith is stronger. His presence is more real than ever. As Job said,
“He has tried me. I will come forth as gold.” It is a testing time in which God is making
us stronger, not in ourselves, but in him.
The Apostle Paul knew much of suffering and affliction in the work of the Lord.
In the great eighth chapter of Romans, the victory chapter, he tells of the work of the
Holy Spirit within us to give us victory over our own sin and flesh, as well as over the
world and the devil. It is a soaring, glorious chapter. Yet near then end of it he quotes
the first words of our verses above: “For your sake we are killed all the day. We are
considered sheep for the slaughter.” Why would he quote such a verse in such a place?
It is because God’s principle is resurrection, life out of death. Paul knew such
great heights of the life of God because he had been down to the depths of death to the
flesh. He knew the deep touch of the cross on all that was of himself, that it might die
and be replaced by the resurrection life of God. Paul knew some of those agonies of the
silence of God, but out of it came much of the New Testament. And God was never
absent, with him or with you. He only withheld your experience of his presence that
you might pass through death to life.

Heavenly Father, it is very difficult to stand those times when you seem to be absent or
silent or even uncaring. Remind me when they occur that you are none of these, but you
are pouring out your love by delivering me from that which would destroy me, my
own flesh. Praise to you. Amen.

April 4. Ps. 45.6-7: “’Your throne, God, is forever and ever.’ A scepter of uprightness is the
scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God,
your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” Messianic. This
psalm has to do with the marriage of the king of Israel. It is a psalm of great joy and
celebration. It is not difficult to see its application to Christ and his bride, the church.
First his greatness is extolled, and then she is urged to desire him and bow down to
him. Her beauty is praised, but it is the beauty that God has worked into her through
his dealings with her, just as he is even now making the church, sinful as we its
members can be, a beautiful bride for Christ.
The author of Hebrews applies vs. 6-7 to Christ in his first chapter. As he tells of
the superiority of Christ to angels, he quotes these verses. In the Old Testament, the
words were spoken to God, “Your throne, God, is forever and ever,” with the rest of the
statement applied to the king of Israel. But in Hebrews the entire passage is spoken of

Christ. Thus the writer calls him God. How could there be any clearer statement in the
Bible of the divinity of the Lord Jesus? An inspired writer takes an Old Testament
statement made of God and says it of Christ.
Because the king of Israel held a scepter of uprightness and because he loved
righteousness and hated wickedness, God had anointed him with oil above all others in
Israel. The word “anointed” is the Hebrew word from which we get “Messiah,” which
means “Anointed One.” The Lord Jesus was anointed by God, not with oil, but with
what it symbolizes, the Holy Spirit, to be his Messiah. It is the oil of joy. And what great
joy there will be when we his bride are presented to our beloved Lord Jesus. Hasten the
day, dear Lord!

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, how I thank you that our Lord is a Lord of
uprightness and righteousness and that you have anointed him with your Spirit to be
the Messiah, the King. And I thank you for the promise of my being a part of his bride.
As you work in me now to prepare me for that day, give me grace to yield to you and
allow you to accomplish your purpose so that I will not miss that day. Amen.

April 5. Ps. 46.4: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” We have seen
that oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Another symbol of the Spirit is water.

While oil primarily conveys the idea of the power of the Spirit, water indicates his life-
giving and life-sustaining ability. Where there is fresh water in nature there is usually

life. Where the Holy Spirit is there is spiritual life.
The city of God can be taken in more than one way. The earthly city of God’s
choice is Jerusalem. There is no river flowing through Jerusalem, so it is not likely on
the psalmist’s mind. Paul tells us in Gal. 4.26 that the Jerusalem above is our mother,
indicating that there is a heavenly city of God. Ezekiel’s vision of the stream flowing out
of the temple comes to mind, but Ezekiel writes of a vision, and interpreters are not in
agreement on whether he meant a physical temple would be built, and if so, when, or
he meant something symbolic. Finally, we have the picture in Rev. 22.1-2 of the river in
Heaven.
The river here in Ps. 46 refers to the river in Heaven of Rev. 22, giving us the
promise that the Holy Spirit will flow like a river of life in Heaven. We will know
eternal abundant life. But it also refers to the experience of God’s people now. There
was not a physical river in Jerusalem, but the psalmist had in mind the water of life that
flows when God is present and is honored. When God’s presence is known among his
people, there is a flow of life that sustains all who are there.

Just as the inhabitants of Jerusalem in that ancient day could know the life-
sustaining power of God’s presence, so can we today. We as Christians are the spiritual

people of God now. When we gather together around him and worship him, the water

of life flows among us. We know the presence of the Holy Spirit. We know the river
whose streams make glad the city of God.

Fountain of life, thank you for the water of life that flows from you to your people,
giving and sustaining life. Thank you for the Holy Spirit as the water of life in us. I
thank you for his presence in me. Amen.

April 6. Ps. 51.5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
Ps. 51 is David’s prayer for forgiveness after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the
murder of her husband. In making his confessions he brings out an important truth
stated in the words of our verse for today. That truth is that we are born sinners. When
Adam and Eve sinned, they and all creation fell from the state in which God had made
them into what we call a fallen condition, one in which there are sin and evil and their
consequences. All of us are sons and daughters of Adam. We all inherited his fallen
nature.
That being the case, we are born as sinners. We do not become sinners when we
sin for the first time. We sin because we are sinners. We were sinners before we ever
sinned because we were born that way. It is a certainty that we will sin. We cannot help
it.
Someone might raise the question, Since we were born sinners and cannot help
sinning, how can we be held accountable? Perhaps we could not be, except for one fact:
we have all sinned voluntarily, not just because we had to. In addition God has made it
possible for us to stop being sinners and thus to overcome sin. If we reject his remedy,
we are indeed accountable for that. His remedy is that when the Lord Jesus died on the
cross, we died with him (Rom. 6.2-7, Gal. 2.20). Just as Adam included all humans in his
fall, so Christ included all humans in his death. In Adam we lost the unfallen nature. In
Christ we can “lose” the fallen nature. If we fail to do so by accepting in faith what
Christ has done for us, we have no defense before God.
We were born “in Adam,” sinners by nature. We can be reborn “in Christ,” saints
by nature. Then we are free from slavery to sin. We may still sin from time to time, but
that is because we still have to contend with our flesh, not because we are sinners. We
are saints.

Gracious God, you have made a way for me to be free from sin. I choose to take that
way. Please give me your grace to exercise my freedom. Amen.

April 7. Ps. 51.16-17: “For you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. You have no
pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart,
God, you will not despise.” We have seen before that obedience to God’s laws of ritual are
meaningless without genuine faith and obedience toward him. David had committed a

great sin. He knew that just going through the motions of offering an animal for his sin
would not satisfy the righteousness of God. He knew that what God really wanted was
real repentance from a broken and contrite heart.
The word “contrite” conveys the idea of being bruised. That is, when we sin, we
are not just sorry we got caught, but we have a heart that breaks and feels spiritually
bruised because we have offended God. We made much of the fact that David’s heart
was God’s, that he was a man after God’s own heart. Now, when he had let himself slip
into sin and do something totally contrary to that heart given to God, he felt that
brokenness and contrition. He hurt because he had sinned and thereby hurt God.
That fact raises a great question for us. When we sin, do we just pass it off as a
slip, or excuse it, or do something religious, or maybe even ignore it? Do we really feel
heartbroken because we have hurt God? It is our sins that sent Jesus to the cross. All our
sins have already been forgiven, even the ones we have not committed yet. They were
forgiven at the cross in principle, and that was applied to us when we were saved.
When we sin now, we bring up again what caused our Lord to die. A broken heart and
contrition are a good response.

Dear Father, please give me a sense of the seriousness of sin and what it cost you. Give
me genuine brokenness and contrition and repentance. Amen.

April 8. Ps. 56.8: “Put my tears into your wineskin. Are they not in your book? We live in a
world full of heartache and sorrow. Because we believe in God and in his love and
might, it is easy for us to question him as to why he allows the things to happen that
bring so much hurt. Many people blame God and turn away from him.
We need to grasp two facts. One, God did not make the world the way it is. He
made it a paradise, without evil, sin, and suffering. It is our fault that the world is the
way it is. True, the fall occurred long before we were born and we had nothing to do
with it, but we cannot deny that we have all sinned deliberately. We might not have
been able to help sinning to begin with, but we have indulged in it willingly. We are
guilty. Thus to blame God for the condition of the world is to impugn his character and
to blame him for what we did. It is close to blasphemy.
Second, we need to see that God knows all our hurt, all our sorrow, all our grief,
and more, he did something about them. He became a man and went to the cross to
take away the cause of all the suffering, sin. We are free from the penalty and the power
of sin now, and one day we will be free from its presence and its consequences. He not
only knows our hurt, he also feels it. All of our tears are in his wineskin. They are
recorded in his book. One day he will wipe away every tear.
Instead of questioning and blaming God, let us understand that he is our only
source of comfort. Where else can we turn? It is he who did something about the
problem and who keeps all our tears. Let us go to him for comfort and hope.

Compassionate God, I thank you for being aware of my every tear and for keeping
every one in your wineskin, and for doing what needed to be done to bring an end to
sin and suffering. Amen.

April 9. Ps. 66.10-12: “For you have tried us, God. You have refined us as silver is refined. You
brought us into prison. You laid a heavy burden on our loins. You caused men to ride over our
heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us out into abundance.” The
theme of God using suffering to mature his people has run through our daily readings.
We saw it in Jacob and Joseph and Moses, and especially in Job. We have seen it here in
the psalms. This psalm is written from the standpoint of one who has come through the
trial into abundance. It is a psalm of praise.
It is quite noteworthy that the psalm is one of praise. When we are in the midst
of trial, it is difficult to bear, and it is difficult to praise God. We certainly do not feel
like praising! But God has a purpose in the trial, our spiritual enlargement. He is trying
to increase our capacity for him. This psalmist probably cried out himself when he was
in the fire of refinement, for fire burns, in prison bearing heavy burdens, being ridden
roughshod over, going through fire and through water. But now he is praising God
because he sees what the goal was, abundance.
And the abundance is the abundance of God. We are told to be filled with the
Spirit. The one who can hold a pint and the one who can hold a gallon may both be full,
but the one who can hold a gallon has more. That is why God is trying to stretch us, to
enlarge us, just as an athlete puts himself through difficulty so he can have more
strength. He wants us to be able to hold more of himself.
If we can get that truth firmly in mind, it is a great help to us when there is
difficulty. We can remind ourselves that God has a goal, and that goal is our increased
capacity for him. We may not feel like praising, but we can praise God by faith because
we know the outcome of what we are in is abundance. There will be a greater measure
of him in our experience. Abundance! That is God’s goal.

Refining God, please remind me when I am in trial that your end is abundance for me.
Amen.

April 10. Ps. 68.18: “You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have
received gifts among men.” Messianic. This psalm of thirty-five verses is a song of the
triumph of God over all his enemies and over nature, and his provision for his people.
In the midst appears our verse for today. In Eph. 4.8, Paul applies the verse to Christ
with regard to his giving gifts to men. Those gifts are ministers in the church, apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The psalm says God received gifts among
men. Paul says the Lord Jesus gave gifts to men. What are we to make of the change?

The Holy Spirit is an analogy. In Acts 2.38 he is called “the gift of the Holy
Spirit” by Peter in his sermon at Pentecost. Just earlier in that message, v. 33, Peter had
said that the Lord Jesus had received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit and
had poured him out, explaining what had happened at Pentecost. The Lord Jesus
received the Holy Spirit from the Father and in turn gave him to men. In the psalm he
received the gift among men, from the Father. In Ephesians he gave the gift to men.
The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift we can receive, for he is God himself dwelling
in us. Remember that there is only one God. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God
and the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8.9), and the Spirit of the Father (Mt. 10.20). He it is who
makes us spiritually alive at new birth when he comes into our dead human spirits and
makes them alive toward God. He is our Teacher, Guide, Comforter, Exhorter,
Encourager (Jn. 14-16). He is the promise of our full inheritance in Heaven (Eph. 1.14).
He is the gift that the Lord Jesus received from the Father when he ascended on high,
and that he poured out on his people at Pentecost, and ever since then as they come to
faith in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who makes men aposles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors and teachers, God’s ministry gifts to his people.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the heavenly gift, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in us,
making you real to us, and glorifying Christ. Amen.

April 11. Ps. 69.1: “ Save me, God, for the waters have come to my life.” Messianic. Waters
are often symbolic of death in the Bible. The flood, the Red Sea, and baptism are
examples. This verse of Ps. 69 says that the waters are about to overwhelm the speaker
and take his life. David wrote this psalm about his own difficulties, but it is also
prophetic of the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane and on the cross especially, and in a few
other incidents also. Several verses in the psalm give these prophecies. We will just list
these and then comment on the whole.
The first is v. 8, “I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my
mother’s sons,” alluded to in Jn. 7.5, “For not even his brothers believed in him.”
V. 9, “For zeal for your house has consumed me” (quoted in Jn. 2.17 after Jesus
cleansed the temple), “and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on
me” (quoted by Paul in Rom. 15.3 in telling his readers that Christ did not live to please
himself).
V. 20, “And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none and for
comforters, but I found none,” a prophecy of the desertion of the Lord Jesus by his
disciples in Mt. 26.56 and Mk. 14.50.
V. 21, “And they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink,” a prophecy fulfilled in Mt. 27.34, 48, Mk. 15.23, 36, Lk. 23.36, and Jn.
19.29 as the Lord hung on the cross.

V. 25, “Let their habitation be desolate. Let none dwell in their tents.” This word
does not concern the Lord Jesus directly, but is a prophecy of the end of Judas,
reminding us of the betrayal suffered by the Lord. It is quoted in Acts 1.20.
All of these verses taken together, as well as most of the rest of the psalm,
prophesy to us and thus remind us of all that the Lord Jesus went through for us. His
suffering was not just the physical agony of the crucifixion, but the spiritual desolation
of facing becoming sin, knowing the desertion of his closest friends, and experiencing
being forsaken by his Father.
Yet there is the wonderful ending of vs. 29-36, prophesying the resurrection and
exaltation of our Lord. Thanks be to him for what he has done for us! Praise be to God
for exalting him to his right hand!

Dear Lord Jesus, I will never understand what you went through for me, but I bow
before you in worship and thanksgiving. Amen.

April 12. Ps. 73.25-26: “Whom have I in the heavens? And besides you I desire nothing on
earth. My flesh and my heart fail. God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
How much of our time we spend trying to get God to see things our way, to do
something for us or give something to us! What a great day it is when we first begin to
have just a bit of desire for God himself rather than for what he can do for us and give
to us! We have noted several times in these pages that God’s highest desire for us is that
we know him. He wants our greatest desire to be to know him. The psalmist Asaph
expresses this desire in our passage for today.
We know only a little of Asaph, but God’s blessing through him is great. He was
a descendant of Levi, so in the priestly tribe, but he was not descended from Aaron, so
he could not serve as a priest. Instead he was one of the Levites who assisted the priests.
In 1 Chron. 16.4-5 we learn that he was appointed by David to be the chief singer in the
celebration, thanks, and praise to God at the tent set up for the ark in Jerusalem. We see
in 2 Chron. 29.30 that he was known as a seer, a prophet, and that he wrote psalms. He
wrote twelve psalms, 50 and 73-83.
“Whom have I in the heavens?” Did Asaph have in mind Heaven, meaning that
God was all he had in Heaven, or the skies (the word is always plural in the Hebrew
Old Testament), the idea being that there was nothing in creation, skies or earth, that he
wanted besides God himself? We do not know. Either way he expresses his hunger for
the Lord, and a hunger not for the things God does and gives, but for God himself. He
wanted to know God.
Asaph knew that his own flesh and heart could not stand in themselves. He
would fail in himself. But God was the strength of his heart. He would keep Asaph
faithful to the end. And more, God was Asaph’s portion, and that forever. One’s portion
is his share. When Israel occupied the promised land, each tribe got an allotment of land

and each family got a share. Each tribe except the tribe of Levi. Their portion was the
Lord, and they served him as priests and Levites (Num. 18.20). And being a Levite,
Asaph had as his portion the Lord, and that was just as he wanted it, for he desired
nothing in the heavens or on the earth but God.

Dear God, please give the grace Asaph had to desire only you for your own sake and
not for what you can do for me. Let me know you. Amen.

April 13. Ps. 74.22: “Arise, God, plead your cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches
you all the day. Do not forget the voice of your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise up
against you, which ascends continually.” We live in an evil day. We need not recount all
the sins of our age in the areas of human pride, materialism, immorality, hedonism,
glorification of evil, and hatred of God. Paul warned of this kind of day in 2 Tim. 3. If
we love God, we cannot help but feel distressed. We are reminded of Peter’s description
in 2 Pt. 2.8 of the experience of Lot, whose righteous soul was tormented by the conduct
of the sinful people among whom he lived.
A major aspect of the problem for us is that we know God can do something
about it, we want him to do so, we plead with him to do so, and we wonder why he
does not. We cry out to God with Asaph the psalmist, “Arise, God, plead your cause.”
Why does God wait to deal with evil?
We do not know fully, but the Bible does give us some direction. In a very
pregnant statement in Gen. 15.16 God says to Abram that “the iniquity of the Amorite is
not yet full.” What does he mean by this word? It seems that God will let evil run its
course, but it reaches a point at which it is ripe for judgment. The Amorites were
idolatrous people who lived in and near the promised land. God’s primary purpose in
leading Israel from Egypt to the land was to give them the land and establish them and
his testimony there, but an additional purpose was to use Israel to punish the idolatrous
peoples whose iniquity would be full at the time of their arrival. God’s action against
evil awaits its fullness.
It is Peter again who tells us in 2 Pt. 3.9 that God is patient, “not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He delays, giving men time to
repent before judgment falls. He is a gracious God, a fact we all have benefited from, for
he could have judged us before we found him, but he did not, patiently giving us time
to repent.
So we see at least two reasons for what appears to us to be God’s slowness. He is
waiting for the fullness of evil, at which time there will also be fullness of judgment.
And he is patient and full of grace. He is giving the sinful time to repent. We may take
comfort in both his gracious patience and the certainty of his judgment of evil.

Patient God, I thank you for your patience with me and pray that many would repent
while judgment waits. Use me to draw people to you. I thank you, too, though it is a
somber thought, that you will one day bring evil to an end. Amen.

April 14. Ps. 78.19: “Can God prepare a table in the desert?” Ps. 78 recounts the dealings of
God with Israel as they passed through the desert from Egypt to the land of promise. It
shows the unfaithfulness of Israel, the judgments of God, and the ultimate triumph of
God in bringing them to the land. When they faced the prospect of starvation in the
desert, they asked the question, “Can God prepare a table in the desert?” The answer
was a resounding yes! He gave them manna from the skies all the days of their
wandering, and gave them meat as well in response to their complaints about the
manna.
We as the Lord’s people today live in a spiritual desert. There is nothing in this
world for us to eat spiritually. It is a barren place. Sometimes we may be tempted to ask
the same question, “Can God prepare a table in the desert?” The answer is still a mighty
yes! The Lord Jesus tells us in Jn. 6, the Bible’s great chapter on spiritual bread, that the
Israelites ate manna in the desert, and though it sustained their lives for a while, they
nonetheless died, but that he was the true bread from Heaven. If anyone eats of him, he
will never die. He sustains life eternally.
He it is who proves to us daily that God can prepare a table in the desert. Every
day we can feed on the Lord Jesus spiritually. He is always with us. Indeed, he is in us.
He is our very life, and thus he keeps us alive spiritually in this desert, and he will do so
forever. We can feed on him by reading his word, for he is the Word. He said that man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God,
and he is the Word that comes out of the mouth of God!
We can feed on him by prayer, especially as we give thanksgiving, praise, and
worship to him. We gain so much more when we give to him than when we ask of him.
It is blessed to sing to him, both to him and to us. We can feed on him by just sitting
quietly in his presence, thinking about him, his wonderful character and deeds, what he
has done for us, but more importantly, who he is to us. What a feast, what a banquet,
our God has prepared for us in this desert, the feast of our Bread from Heaven.

Blessed God, how can I ever thank you enough for the lavish table you have prepared
for me? Amen.

April 15. Ps. 81.16: “He would feed him with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the
rock I would satisfy you.” In the first half of the sentence Asaph is speaking for God,
saying what he would do, and in the second half the voice of God comes in. Both
pronouns, “him” and “you,” are in the singular number, meaning that God was
considering Israel as a whole.

The psalm begins with praise to God for his deliverance from Egypt. V. 10 ends
this section with the words of God, “I am I AM your God, who brought you up from
the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” What a wonderful promise
from God! Open a little wider and I will pour in more! All we have to do is receive from
our God.
But then come the sad words of the next verse: “But my people did not listen to
my voice, and Israel did not want me.” All they had to do was open their mouths to be
filled by God, but they would not. They wanted to go their own way, and they paid a
heavy price for doing so. He let them walk in their own way and reap the bitter harvest
of doing so.
In vs. 14-16 he tells what he would do if Israel would walk with him, ending with
our verse for today, a return to the theme of filling their mouths: “He would feed him
with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” That is
still God’s desire for us today. What is the finest of the wheat, and what is the honey
from the rock?
We have seen that flour can symbolize humanity (Feb. 22). Sometimes flour
refers to the humanity of Christ, for it shows him as wheat crushed and milled to
become bread for us. Here we see him as bread made from the finest of the wheat. He is
the Man from Heaven who came here to become our spiritual food.
Bread is the most basic of foods, that which we require to stay alive. But the Lord
Jesus provides not just bread, but honey. In our Jan. 14 reading we saw that the Lord
Jesus was the Rock from which water came. Now we see that not just water, the
necessity, but honey, the luxury, comes from our Rock. Ps. 34.8 says, “Taste and see that
I AM is good.” He is indeed good. He is sweet to our taste. If we will walk faithfully
and obediently with our God, he will feed us, not just with bread, but with bread from
the finest of the wheat, and with the luxury of the sweetness of honey. How bountiful is
the provision of our God!

Bountiful God, thank you for your rich provision for me. You give me the necessity, the
Bread, but you add the luxury, the Honey. How wonderful you are! Amen.

April 16. Ps. 85.10: “Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed
each other.” Here we see a lovely picture of what might be seen as a conflict within God
resolved. Truth is the reality that God sets before people that they are required to live
up to, but no one has ever lived up to it. Righteousness is the legal requirement of God
that we refrain from sin or pay the consequences, but we have all sinned. What are we
to do? We have no hope.
But God is also the God of mercy. He wants to forgive us. He is the God of peace
who wants to bring us into peace with himself and to put his peace in us. How can the

God who must uphold the law, or not be true to his own character, extend mercy and
peace to sinners?
The answer, of course, is the Lord Jesus. When he went to the cross to die for our
sins, he satisfied the truth and the righteous requirement of God. He was an acceptable
sacrifice because he had no sin. He was an unblemished Lamb. Thus the penalty for sin
was paid. But the dying of the Lord Jesus was not only the anger of God on sin, but it
was also the grace of God for us, for since it paid the penalty for sin, it made it possible
for God to give us mercy and peace and still be true to his own truth and righteousness.
We might say that God found a way, except that he did not have to find it, but had
planned it from eternity.
The psalmist poetically describes what God has done as mercy and truth,
enemies in a sense, meeting together, and of righteousness and peace, another pair of
enemies, kissing each other to give us not just a statement of the idea, but a picture of it.
A picture is worth a thousand words. As you see that picture in your mind of two old
enemies meeting together, kissing each other, remember that law and grace met in the
Lord Jesus for you and for me, giving us mercy and peace.

God of grace, thank you for making a way for me to satisfy your truth and your
righteous requirement in the Lord Jesus. Thank you for that meeting, that kiss. Amen.

April 17. Ps. 87.2-6: “I AM loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God…. And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that
one were born in her….’ I AM will count when he writes up the peoples, ‘This one was born
there.’” The hill of Zion in Jerusalem is the place where David built his house and came
to be the symbol of the place God loves most on earth. There he intends for his name to
dwell forever. Glorious things are spoken of Zion because of God’s love for her. Indeed
all born there will be noted as specially blessed because of having that birth place, for
God will especially notice those born there.
With the coming of Christ and then the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem
by Rome in A.D. 70 and 135, and the deporting of the Jews from the land in 135, Zion
became for Christians a symbol of the people of God. The writer of Hebrews says that
we as Christians have come, not to an earthly mountain, Sinai, but to Mount Zion,
meaning the church as the people of God. Then he calls it the heavenly Jerusalem. It is
now a spiritual concept (12.22).
We can now use the statements above about the church: “I AM loves the church
more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, church of
God…. And of the church it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her….’ I
AM will count when he writes up the peoples, ‘This one was born there.’”
The wonderful truth for all of us as Christians is that we were all born in her.
Paul writes in Gal. 4.26 that the Jerusalem above is our mother. We Christians are all

natives of Mount Zion. God will look at every one of us and specially note, “This one
was born in the city I love most, the heavenly Jerusalem.” And add to the wonder that
the new Jerusalem that comes down out of Heaven will be the people of God adorned
as a bride for her husband. The Lord Jesus will be married to the city he loves forever,
the city that stands for his people (Rev. 21.2).
Let us not forget, though, that God still loves the earthly city of Jerusalem and
the Jewish people and that he has not cast them off forever. His ancient people will yet
own their Messiah in the city of Zion as they join with Christians to form the eternal
people of God.

Dear Lord, I thank you for your great love for your people, both Jews and Christians,
and I thank you that I am included, and that you see me as one born in the city that is in
your heart. Amen.

April 18. Ps. 91.11-12: “For he will give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your
ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.”
Messianic. This verse is quoted by the devil in Matt. 4.6 in his attempt to get the Lord
Jesus to sin. He told the Lord that if he would jump off the temple, he would not be
hurt, and used this verse from the psalms as a proof-text. His idea was that this feat
would prove that he was the Son of God and the people would believe him. He could
gain the crown without going to the cross.
The response of the Lord Jesus was to quote another Scripture, Dt. 6.16, to the
effect that one is not to tempt God. Jumping off the temple would be daring God to let
him be hurt, and God might just do it! Further, jumping off the temple would be sin, for
it was not God’s will for him, in addition to being the sin of tempting God. What would
God do toward Jesus if he sinned? We cannot answer that question, but we can see how
such an act would be tempting God.
We can learn three lessons from these thoughts. One, God’s angels protect us. We
have no idea how many times they, invisible creatures, have come to our aid and saved
us from danger. We do not want to be centered on angels, for Christ is our center, but
they are “ministering spirits sent for service because of those who will inherit salvation”
(Heb. 1.14). We can thank God for these who minister to us without our even knowing
it.
Second, we must not assume that we are therefore protected from any danger we
might get ourselves into. We are not to tempt God any more than the Lord Jesus was. It
is a sinful presumption on our part that because we are God’s, nothing can hurt us.
There is truth in the belief that nothing can hurt us, but it is of a different sort. If we are
faithful and obedient to God, nothing can hurt us, for even if we die we are not hurt,

just transported into the visible presence of the Lord. But if we tempt God, we are not
being faithful and obedient to him.
Third, we will not gain the crown without the cross any more than the Lord Jesus
did. We are called to reign with him, but we will not reign if we are not trained. We are
trained to reign by reigning over the difficulties God allows into our lives. If we cannot
rule over a difficulty, how can we rule over a city or a country? As we take up our
crosses and follow the one who went to the cross for us, we will be trained to reign with
him when he comes in his glory.

Almighty God, I thank you for your protection of me. Enable me not to presume on
your protection. Give me grace to take up the cross and follow. Amen.

April 19. Ps. 102.25-27: “Of old you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your
hands. They will perish, but you will endure, and all of them will wear out like a garment. Like
clothing you will change them and they will be changed, but you are the same and your years
will not end.” Messianic. This psalm is a very good answer for those who do not believe
that the Lord Jesus of the New Testament is God and is equal with the Father, for these
verses, spoken here of God, are applied to the Lord Jesus in Heb. 1.10-12. How could
the same passage be applied to both if they are not one?
We also see in these words the eternity of God, what we would call eternity past
when he founded the earth and made the heavens in the beginning, and eternity future
when the heavens and the earth wear out and he goes on, his years never ending. The
Lord Jesus, God the Son, participates in these realities just as fully as does God the
Father.
Another aspect of God revealed in this passage is the fact that he is unchanging,
what the theologians call immutability. The earth and the heavens will grow old, but
God is the same. And once again, the Lord Jesus bears the same description. In addition
to this statement being applied to him in Heb. 1.12, the writer of the epistle also says of
him in 13.8, “Jesus Christ, yesterday and today the same, and into the ages.” We can
rely on God, and on the Lord Jesus, fully, for there is no danger of his changing in any
way, whether changing his mind or undergoing some change in his character or power.
He has always been what he is now, and he always will be. We can count on him, now
and forever.
Such is the greatness of our God, and such is the equal greatness of his Christ.
Lord Jesus, you will never change. What a comfort for me and for all your people to
know that we can always rely completely on you. Amen.
April 20. Ps. 103.10-12: “He has not done to us according to our sins, or rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those

who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from
us.” This passage is one of the Bible’s great statements of the grace of God, and is one of
its most comforting. All of us have to admit that our sins are many and our sinfulness
great. If God did to us according to our sins, if he rewarded us according to our
iniquities, we would all long ago have perished spiritually in fiery judgment. But he has
not dealt with us in that way.
God is of Heaven. We are of earth. We tend to be vindictive, determined to get
even. God is high above that, as the heavens are above the earth. Just as great is his
mercy toward us if we fear him. Instead of judging us for our sins, he has removed
them from us, and he has removed them so far that they will never return. It is as
though we and our sins went in two different directions and will keep going forever.
That is how far east is from west.
We said that these verses are a great statement of grace, and that they are. But
they speak of his great mercy toward us, and there is a difference between grace and
mercy, though they are very similar. Both involve our being freely forgiven when we do
not deserve it, but their motivation is different. Grace is the character of God. He gives
grace to us because he is grace. It does not matter how good or how bad we are, he still
extends grace to us. Of course, we can refuse it, but it is extended nonetheless.
Mercy, though, responds to the misery of people. God sees the miserable
situation we have gotten ourselves into by our sins and his mercy is stirred up. He
responds to us in mercy. That situation may be known to us in the hardships of life we
go through because of sin, or it may be unknown, in the case of those who are heading
for the judgment of hell and do not know it. Whatever the case, God’s great mercy, as
great as the height of the heavens above the earth, infinity, is toward us. Thanks be to
him for his infinite mercy.

Merciful God, thank you for not doing to me or rewarding me according to my sins and
iniquities. Thank you for removing my transgressions from me. Thank you for your
great mercy. Amen.

April 21. Ps. 110.1: “I AM says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a
footstool for your feet.’” Messianic. This verse is one of the most quoted Old Testament
verses in the New Testament. I AM is God the Father. My Lord is the Lord Jesus. David,
king of Israel, is the speaker. He says prophetically that God says to his Son Jesus, “Sit
at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
We see in this statement a prophecy of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the
throne at the right hand of God after his sinless life, obedient death, resurrection, and
ascension. God has chosen his Son from all eternity to be King over his creation.
Because of the sin of Satan and of man, the one chosen to be King has enemies who
want to usurp his throne. Through his sinless life and work at the cross, he has utterly

defeated all those enemies. There is not any question as to whether or not he will come
to the throne. He will in God’s time.
Meanwhile God is using those very enemies to develop his people on earth
spiritually. As they overcome temptation and sin, as they endure trial, as they live lives
that are faithful and obedient to God no matter what comes their way, they are matured
in Christ and trained to reign with him. God is actually using his people on earth now
to put the enemies of the Lord Jesus under his feet. When we live overcoming lives we
put Satan under the feet of the Lord Jesus. It is not that he needs us to do that, for he has
already overcome, but he uses that method for our maturing and training. So while he
is waiting for all his enemies to be put under his feet, God is using us to accomplish the
task.
Christ used this verse himself in Mk. 12.35-37 to stump his opponents. The
Pharisees and Sadducees had been asking him questions, trying to catch him in some
misstatement that would give them an opportunity to prove him wrong or even to
arrest him for blasphemy. He turned the tables, first by answering all their questions
well, and then by asking them a question based on our verse for today: “How do the
scribes say that the Christ is David’s son? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The
Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for
your feet.”‘ David himself calls him Lord, so how is he his son?” This is the kind of
question that many of the rabbis would debate endlessly, never coming to a conclusion.
Jesus gave them something to chew on for a long time, and he put an end to their trick
questions. They dared not ask him any more.

Dear Lord Jesus, it is good to know that you are sitting on the throne now, and that you
are waiting while the Father uses me to put Satan under your feet. Give me grace to
allow him so to use me. Amen.

April 22. Ps. 110.4: “I AM has sworn, and will not change his mind: you are a priest for ever
according to the order of Melchizedek.” Messianic. We saw in our readings for Jan. 5 and 15
that God’s original idea of priesthood was the order of Melchizedek in which the High
Priest is also the King and everyone in the kingdom is a priest. That is, all the people
know the Lord and are in his presence and serve under the Priest/King.
Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament, in Gen. 14 and here
in Ps. 110. Both are pivotal passages. Gen. 14 has the first mention of a priest in Bible,
showing us that Melchizedek represents God’s concept of priesthood. Now in Ps. 110
David prophetically applies the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek to the
Lord Jesus, giving the word of I AM. The Lord Jesus will be a priest forever, according,
not to the order of Levi, but to the order of Melchizedek. Thus does God himself,
through the mouth of the prophet, reveal his mind and confirm what we saw in the Jan.
5 and 15 readings.

Another aspect of this priesthood is that it lasts forever. The Levitical priests
served temporarily because of death, and the Levitical priesthood itself was given by
God only for a time, until the Lord Jesus should come and establish the Melchizedek
priesthood. The Lord Jesus, of course, lives forever, so his priesthood will never end,
and neither will ours, for we, too, will live forever in him.
What God originally had in mind, delayed because of man’s failure, will
ultimately prevail. His purposes cannot be thwarted. All his people will know him.

Eternal God, how great you are in establishing your purposes. I thank you that one of
them is the inclusion of all your people in knowing you personally. Please reveal
yourself to me more and more fully. Amen.

April 23. Ps. 115.4-8: “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have
mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do
not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not feel; they have
feet, but they do not walk; they do not groan in their throat. Those who make them will be like
them, all who trust in them.” From time to time we find the Bible mocking the idol gods of
the nations. The God of Israel is the living God. Their gods have mouths, but they do
not speak, and so forth. God can and does do all these things. They are gold or silver, or
even a block of wood. God is the eternal spirit, the maker of the gold and silver and
wood. One of the great questions of history asks why men would worship something
they can make. If they can make it, it should worship them! We worship our Maker.
The last line of the verses quoted is very telling. Those who make the idols will
be like them. That is, the idols, even though they have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands,
feet, throats, they have no life and can do nothing. Their devotees will eventually have
no life other than the miserable existence of the eternally lost.
We learn a truth for ourselves from this fact, and not just the negative one that
we should not worship idols. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 3.18, “But we all with unveiled face
beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image…,” and John
adds, “We know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 Jn.
3.2). Just as the idol worshippers will be like their gods, lifeless, so will we be like our
God if we behold him. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (12.2) as
our goal as we run the race set before us. As we see him by faith, we not only draw
closer to him as we run, but we become more like him as we run, and when he appears
visibly, we will be like him, for we will then see him, not by faith with the eye of the
spirit, by with our physical eyes. We will see the one who became sin like us so that we
could become like him.

Living God, I thank you that you speak your word to me, have your eye on me even as
you do on every sparrow, hear my every cry, smell the sweet fragrance of the Lord

Jesus offered in my place, take me by the hand, walk with me, and pray through me
with groanings that cannot be put into words. Thank you that I will be like you. Amen.

April 24. Ps. 118.22-23: “The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This
is from I AM, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Messianic. This passage is quoted five times
in the New Testament and alluded to at least one other time. All of these references are
applied to the Lord Jesus as the head of the corner. Three of them are in the gospels, one
each in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all of them giving an account of the same episode in
the life of the Lord.
In Mt. 21.33-44, Mk. 12.1-11, and Lk. 20.9-18 the Lord Jesus tells the Jews the
parable of the evil tenants of the vineyard and closes the encounter with the quotation
of our passage. His point is that the Jews are the tenants of God’s vineyard, Israel, but
when God sent his Son Jesus to collect the produce of his vineyard, they rejected him
and killed him, just as the psalm says that the stone was rejected by the builders. But,
the Lord adds, that stone has become the head of the corner, that is, the cornerstone of
God’s house (which is his people, not a building).
Peter quotes the verses in Acts 4.11. He and John had been arrested and jailed
overnight for teaching the Lord Jesus after the healing of the lame man. When they
appeared before the rulers, elders, and scribes the next day and were asked in whose
name they were acting, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, declared that they worked in
the name of the Lord Jesus, “the stone rejected by you the builders, who has become the
head of the corner.” Peter added the word “you.” His point is the same as that in the
gospels. The Lord Jesus was rejected by the Jews, but he has become the head of the
corner of God’s house.
Paul perhaps alludes to the passage in Eph. 2.20 when he says that Christ is the
cornerstone on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, on which God’s people are
being built together as a dwelling place for God.
It is Peter again who provides the final quotation in his first epistle. In 2.4-6 he
writes of the Lord’s people being living stones who are being built up into a spiritual
house and are a priesthood who will offer spiritual sacrifices to God in that house. He
says, quoting Is. 28.16, that the Lord Jesus is the cornerstone, then adds that for those
who do not believe, Christ is the stone rejected by the builders who has become the
head of the corner.
The final word of our passage is that the choosing by God of the one rejected by
men is marvelous in the eyes of the writer and those with him. We have looked at God’s
ways (Jan. 16-17 readings). One of his ways is to see value in and choose what seems
worthless to men, and to reject as of no value what seems precious to men (see 1 Cor.
1.18-31).

Marvelous God, thank you that you chose someone like me, with no value in myself, to
be a stone in the building of which Christ is the head of the corner. Amen.

April 25. Ps. 119.67, 71: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I observe your word.”
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.” No one wants or enjoys
affliction, and our first response to it usually is to cry out to God to get us out of it. One
of the most important lessons we can learn, though, is that God is sovereign over our
lives, so nothing can come into them that he does not either cause or allow for our good.
If we find ourselves in the place of affliction, our first thought ought to be, “Lord, what
do you want to gain in me by having me here?” He wants to teach us something or to
make some change in us that requires hard dealing.
The psalmist gives two reasons in these verses why affliction is good for us. The
first is that we tend to go astray, and affliction is like the discipline of a parent that turns
us away from the harmful way and into the way of life. Discipline is not pleasant while
it is being undergone, but later it yields a rich harvest (Heb. 12.11). God our Father is
willing to discipline us so that we will not ruin our lives by going in wrong ways, and
so that we will build lives useful to him and joyful to ourselves. Affliction can be one of
his means.
The second benefit of affliction is that it can drive us to the word of God for
answers. As we learn the word, we find it producing a crop in us, too. There are New
Testament verses that indicate that God’s word is a seed (Mk. 4.14, Lk. 8.11, Ja. 1.21, 1
Pt. 1.23). When the word is sown, implanted, like a seed it slowly leaves the husk,
sprouts, grows up, and produces a crop of righteousness. That is one reason why it is
important for us to read the word faithfully, even in times when it does not seem to be
meaningful to us. We are sowing seed. The Holy Spirit will see to the crop, and a
bountiful crop it will be.
No, affliction is not pleasant, but if we submit to God’s dealings in it, we will find
him using it to his eternal glory and our eternal good.

Dear Lord, I must confess that it is good for me that I was afflicted that I might walk in
your ways and seek you in your word. Give me grace to endure trial in faithfulness to
you. Amen.

April 26. Ps. 122.6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” It is interesting that there are not many
things the Bible says to pray for, but this verse contains one of them, the peace of
Jerusalem. We have seen that God has chosen Jerusalem to be the city on this earth
where he has caused his name to dwell (March 6). The Jewish people are a racial group
that God has chosen to be his people among the nations, and Jerusalem is the earthly
city of his heart. He loves Jerusalem.

It is also interesting that “-salem” in Jerusalem means “peace” (the familiar
“shalom”), yet it has always been a city of conflict, up to and including our day. It seems
that this ancient prayer request that God gave to his people will never be answered, and
indeed it will not be answered in this age. We will see peace in Jerusalem only when the
Prince of Peace returns to her to establish his throne there in his Kingdom. Thus to pray
for the peace of Jerusalem is to pray for the return of Christ.
That, of course, is a prayer that should be on the heart of every Christian in this
desert of a world and this evil age. How we need him! The world is being run by the
wrong ruler, and how badly mismanaged it has been. It is not being run for the good of
its inhabitants, but for their eternal undoing. There may be temporary pleasure in the
world, but it does not satisfy the heart, and it cannot even solve its own problems, one
of which is the continual fighting in the Middle East.
Let us indeed pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but let us remember as we do so
that we are praying for the coming of the Lord, and let us give a hearty Amen to that
prayer! “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”

God of the universe, I do not know why you have chosen Jerusalem to be your city on
earth, but I pray for her peace, and I pray for the coming of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of
Peace. Amen and amen!

April 27. Ps. 130.1, 5: “Out of the depths I cry to you, I AM.” “I wait for I AM. My soul waits,
and for his word I hope.” Most of us have been in the depths at some point in life, for
whatever reason. The pain of personal hurt or circumstances seems unbearable and
God seems to be nowhere to be found. We cry out, but we hear no answer. What do we
do in such a situation?
If we have been walking with God and feeding on his word, we have a store of
truth built up in our minds and hearts. We know that God is with us, indeed in us,
whether we have any awareness of it or not. We can take a stand on that truth and trust
him to see us through. That is not easy, and this is no easy answer, but it is nonetheless
true.
When God seems to be absent, the one thing we want most is to hear from him in
some way, either a sense of his presence or a word from him, either in our hearts or
through the Scriptures. Just the knowledge that he is there and that he cares would
mean so much. The psalmist felt this same yearning when he wrote, “… for his word I
hope.” Most of our translations say, “in his word,” but the Hebrew text says “for.” Our
hope is for some word from God that tells us he is there or gives us some direction. That
is the greatest hope we can have, that we will hear from God.
Another word that is prominent in these verses is “wait.” The psalms especially
say quite a bit about our need to wait for God. Waiting is one of the hardest things for
all of us to do. In our instant society we want everything now. But God is a God of

waiting. He has plenty of time, and he takes it. Why does he do so? One reason is that
our waiting is an expression of trust in him. If we looked elsewhere it would be an
expression of mistrust in him, but when we wait for God, patiently or impatiently, we
are saying that we trust him. We believe the answer is in him and nowhere else, so we
wait. We wait for him and we hope for his word. What else can we do? As Peter said,
“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6.68).

Faithful God, when I experience those times in the depths when you seem not to be
there, give me grace to wait for you and to hope for your word, to trust you, for where
else would I go? Amen.

April 28. Ps. 150: “Praise I AM. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the expanse of his
power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise
him with trumpet sound. Praise him with harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dance.
Praise him with stringed instruments and flute. Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with
resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise I AM. Praise I AM!”
It seems fitting to close our consideration of the psalms with the full quotation of
this last one that rings with praise, for our God is indeed worthy of praise. I AM is the
personal God who has revealed himself to us by name. For this he is worthy of praise.
His sanctuary is his people. Let us praise him as we gather together in his name. The
expanse, the heavens, reveal his power, for he made it. For this he is worthy of praise.
He has done many other mighty acts. For this he is worthy of praise. His greatness
excels beyond our understanding. For this he is worthy of praise.
He is worthy of praise in every way we can think of, with trumpet, harp, lyre,
tambourine, dance (yes, it is good to dance before the Lord when he inspires it), flute,
cymbals. Not everything praises God now, but one day everything that has breath
will praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord! It would be good if you took time now to praise God in
whatever way he leads you to do so.

Worthy God, Praise you! Amen.

April 29. Prov. 1.7: “The fear of I AM is the beginning of knowledge.” We live in a day of
knowledge, a scientific age. As Daniel wrote in his prophecy, knowledge has increased
(12.4). Because of the great success of science in solving many problems and making life
more comfortable and efficient, our age has come to believe in science as the answer to
all our needs. Sooner or later man will find an answer.
All that science has accomplished has not satisfied the inner man. In addition,
with the rejection of God in our day and the dependence on man to solve his own
problems, we may have much of the superstructure of knowledge, but we do not have

its foundation, its beginning, and without the foundation, the structure will inevitably
collapse.
The beginning, the foundation, is the fear of I AM. Sometimes we recoil from that
word fear, but it is a good word when rightly used. We ought to be afraid of God if we
are not his, for he is the eternal Judge. And we ought to be afraid of him if we are his,
afraid that we might displease him. And though our fear of displeasing him rests partly
on the possibility of his disciplining us, it ought to rest more on the possibility of our
hurting him because we love him. We want to please him because of all he has done for
us and is to us.
Proper fear involves respect, and in the case of God, reverence. Yet there is very
little fear of God in the world today. Not many years ago sinners knew they were
sinners and feared God even if they would not turn from their sins. Today no one will
admit that he is a sinner. Under moral relativism, the only sin is something society does
to its victims. There is no personal sin. People commit the most corrupt of sins, and do
so openly and proudly. Where is the fear of God? It is not to be found.
Worse, there is a hatred of God, of the very concept of God. There is the effort to
drive him out of our society. Instead of fearing him, people hate him and want to be rid
of him. That, of course, frees them to do anything they please. What a load of judgment
our day is storing up for itself. God have mercy on us.

Dear God, I do fear you. I fear your judgment. I fear hurting you because I love you.
Please give me grace to fear you in the right way and to live accordingly. Amen.

April 30. Prov. 3.11-12: “My son, do not despise the discipline of I AM and do not be weary of
his reproof, for whom I AM loves he reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights.”
One of the themes of Proverbs is submission to discipline, for by it one gains wisdom,
and wisdom is the way to life (Prov. 3.16, 18, 8.35, 13.14). The word “discipline” actually
means taking a child to school, so the thought is not so much of punishment as of
exercising discipline so as to learn. God puts us all in his school, usually a school of
experience, by which we learn his ways and come to know him.
There is punishment, of course, as the word “reproof” shows. That reproof, that
punishment, is proof of God’s love for us, for it shows that he cares enough about us to
bother with us! If he did not love us, he would just let us go wherever we would. If we
end in hell, so be it. But he does love us, and he reproves us when we are wrong. His
discipline and reproof are like that of a father who loves his son and wants him to be
equipped to live a successful life, successful in every way, not primarily materially.
The writer of Hebrews quotes this passage in chapter 12 as he tells his readers to
continue to run the race set before them and to fight against sin. He calls these verses an
exhortation (v. 5), which is what he also calls the entire book of Hebrews (13.22). He
draws out more of the implications of the discipline of the Lord: if they were not

disciplined by him they would not be his sons, but would be illegitimate; if we
respected our human fathers when they disciplined us, how much more should we
submit to the father of spirits; they were not perfect disciplinarians, but God is;
discipline is not pleasant when it occurs, but it yields the fruit of righteousness.
The great word to us when we are experiencing what can be the heavy hand of
God in discipline and reproof is that these are proof that he loves us and delights in us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your discipline and reproof, for they show that you do
not want me to ruin my life, but to live successfully, as you measure success. Help me to
submit to you fully. Amen.

May 1. Prov. 3.13: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets
understanding.” Wisdom is the main theme of the book of Proverbs. Happy is the man,
we read, who finds it. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the understanding of what to do or
of how to do something. Many people have knowledge, but they do not know what to
do with it. Wisdom is practical. It knows what to do. Proverbs, of course, is concerned
with how one lives one’s life. Wisdom, then, involves God, for one cannot live his life
properly without God.
How does one go about getting wisdom? Ultimately it comes from the Lord, as
in the case of Solomon, who wrote much of Proverbs. It comes through seeking him,
through reading and studying his word, through fellowship with wise people. Prov.
13.20 says, “He who walks with wise men will become wise.”
Our verse says that the man who finds wisdom and understanding is happy.
Happiness seems to be the goal of most people. Whatever they may think will make
them happy, money, companionship, pleasure, something else, happiness is the goal.
Our verse for today tells us that happiness is not a good goal to have. If one’s goal is
happiness, he will likely not find it. Happiness is not intended by God to be a goal. It is
a byproduct. When one seeks and finds wisdom, which really means he seeks and finds
God and learns to walk in his light, he will be happy. It just naturally occurs without
any effort on the person’s part, just as apples just naturally grow from apple trees with
no effort by the tree. It just is an apple tree, so it produces apples. If we just are in Christ
and walking with him, happiness happens!

All-wise God, as I seek after you, please make me a wise person, one who knows what
to do and how to live life as you intended. Amen.

May 2. Prov. 4.23: “Above all guard your heart, for from it are the issues of life.” One of the
issues that the Lord Jesus faced, as set forth in Mt. 15 and Mk. 7 was the matter of the
outward keeping of the letter of the law while breaking it in spirit. His point was that it
is the heart that matters, for it governs what kind of person one is, and ultimately what

he does, though he may feign doing right. We saw this fact in considering David, the
man after God’s own heart.
The heart is the inner person. The Bible teaches that man is body, soul, and spirit,
the soul being the psychological aspect and the spirit, that which is able to relate to God
(see the reading for April 2). The heart appears from Scripture to consist of both soul
and spirit. God is much more interested in the inner person than in the outward, for he
knows that the inner is the real person. While the body certainly has an effect on what
kind of people we are, that is temporary. This body will either die or be changed in an
instant at the coming of the Lord, but the inner person goes on forever. What a person is
inwardly determines what he will do in the body.
Because of the heart’s great importance, Solomon says to guard it above all else.
Make sure your heart is right with God and is set on him, on trusting and obeying him.
All the issues of life will flow from what kind of heart the person has, the way he sees
himself, the way he relates to God and to people, his honesty or dishonesty, his
encouraging or discouraging people, his helping or hindering, the direction, influence,
and impact of his life. When your life on this earth is over, how will you be
remembered? Your heart will determine that. You will act out what your heart is.
Do not be centered on yourself, but spend time before God about this matter of
the heart. Saul lost his kingdom because his heart was not fully God’s. The Lord Jesus
will establish a kingdom on this earth that will never end, and he wants you to reign
with him. Your heart will determine whether or not you will.

God who looks on the heart, please examine my heart, as David writes in Ps. 139.23-24,
and deal with anything there that is wrong. Make my heart wholly yours. Amen.

May 3. Prov. 9.10: “The fear of I AM is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy
One is understanding.” We saw in our April 29 reading that the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge. Now we see that it is also the beginning of wisdom. No matter
how wise one may appear in the world, he has no wisdom if he does not fear God, for it
is utter foolishness not to fear God. He is our Creator and Lord, whether we
acknowledge it or not, and he is our eternal Judge. Those who do not fear him rightly in
this life will know much greater fear of him when it is too late.
We said that wisdom is practical, knowing what to do, how to apply knowledge.
The fear of God is the most practical matter of all, for it will determine how one
approaches life. One who has no fear of God will do things that will destroy him, if not
in this life, in eternity. One who does fear God and act on that fear will live in
submission to God and will build a worthwhile life now and will know eternal life
afterwards.
It is possible to live in the fear of God in the wrong way. One can be very
legalistic, abstaining from everything that might be remotely enjoyable and doing only

“religious” things. But our verse says that knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
One who knows the Holy One knows that he is not a legalist. The law was given to
show us that we could not keep it and needed something else. That something else is a
Someone, the Lord Jesus living in us by his Spirit.
If we know the Lord and act on our knowledge, we will be free from religion,
one of Satan’s greatest tools, and able to enjoy the Lord. That does not mean we do not
meet with God’s people, for we are parts of a body and cannot be complete on our own,
but we will not do so in a legalistic manner, because we have to, but because we come
to know more of the Lord as we see him revealed through others (see March 28
reading). We are obedient, not because we have to be, but because we respond to God’s
great love for us with a desire to please him.

Dear Lord, please give me a healthy fear of you, but give me understanding of you, too,
that I may be a wise person and one who loves you with all his heart. Amen.

May 4. Prov. 27.17: “Iron sharpens iron. So a man sharpens the face of his friend.” This
proverb teaches us a lesson about the way God uses people in their relationships. If one
wishes to sharpen iron, he rubs it against iron. That rubbing action removes any rough
spots that have developed with use and brings the edge, made thick with use, back to
the thin point of sharpness.
In the same way, God often puts us with people with whom we have difficulty in
order to sharpen us, perhaps both of us. If we are with a person we have difficulty
liking or loving or getting along with, then perhaps God has put us there to reveal some
of our flesh and to deal with it. Why do we have trouble with this person? Very often
the trait we dislike in someone else is our own, and we apparently, perhaps
unconsciously, resent being faced with our own failing. Someone may have an aversion
to an argumentative or critical person, not realizing that he himself is argumentative or
critical.
That fleshly trait in me needs to be rubbed off, so God puts me with someone
who “rubs me the wrong way.” If I submit to God in that situation rather than trying to
get away from it, God will be able to use that annoying person to smooth my rough
places and sharpen my dull edge. And he may also use me to help sharpen the other
person.
Another application of this verse would have to do with our helping one
another. The verse says literally that “a man sharpens the face of his friend.” It may be
that in sharing and praying together, friends help each other learn spiritual lessons and
grow in the Lord. The physical face may brighten, but more likely the face here refers to
the person himself, meaning that a person is helped, not by being irritated by someone,
but by being prayed for and by learning from his friend’s experiences. Character is
developed by the fellowship. Christ is formed in those who share him together.

Whether one is in a difficult relationship or in a deeply gratifying one, God can
use it to sharpen. It is our place to be open to his working in us and through us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for those relationships, difficult and pleasing, that you use
to sharpen my character. Please use me, too, to sharpen others. Amen.

May 5. Prov. 29.18: Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint, but he who keeps the
law is happy.” When people have a vision of something larger than themselves that they
are working toward, they exercise self-discipline to achieve the goal. We see a historical
example of this fact in the rise of the United States from a handful of poor colonies to
the greatest nation in world history. There was the American dream. People risked their
lives to come here so they could have an opportunity to do their best, achieve economic
success, and be happy. Whether or not these are worthy goals is another matter. Our
point is that there was vision and it kept people disciplined.
When vision is lost, that discipline goes with it. People cast off restraint and do
whatever they please. Our nation is an example of this fact also. Beginning with World
War II the economic potential of the country was developed beyond anyone’s dreams.
In the 1950’s and ‘60’s American became a very wealthy nation. The American dream
was being realized by millions. But with the achievement of the goal came a loss of
vision. Since the goal had been achieved there was nothing to work toward. The sexual
revolution began. The drug culture emerged. Hedonism gained strength. Crime
increased exponentially. There was no vision and the people cast off restraint.
Today we live in a nation that tolerates, even defends, the murder of over
1,000,000 babies every year. Euthanasia is gaining momentum. Marriage is optional.
Homosexuality is glorified. Criminals are not offenders of society, but victims of it.
There is little restraint.
With the coming of wealth there was the loss of felt need for God. Before that
time, even people who were not godly and who did not attend worship meetings, had a
respect for God and what was right. They knew right from wrong. That has been lost.
There is no vision of God, and restraint has been cast off. Yet there is still an inner need
for something beyond oneself, and people try to fill that need with pleasure, drugs,
money, immorality, even good works.
With all of this, though, there are still those who follow the Lord, who keep the
law, as our verse puts it, and they are happy, for happiness comes not from trying to be
happy, but from trusting and obeying God.

Dear Lord, please give me an increased vision of you and of knowing you more and
more fully, and use that vision to keep me moving toward the goal, the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.

May 6. Eccl. 1.2: “Futility of futilities, says the Preacher; futility of futilities, all is futility.”
Ecclesiastes shows us the view of a man who sees things only from an earthly
perspective with no heavenly or eternal standpoint. What he sees is futility. Everything
happens only to happen again, and so on forever. What is the point? As we go through
the first chapter, we read that generations come and go, but the earth remains, the sun
rises and sets, only to do it again, the wind blows and blows again, the rivers flow to the
sea, but the sea is not full, so the rivers keep on flowing to the sea. Everything is tiring.
There is nothing new under the sun. Futility.
Futility means the state of having or achieving no purpose. What is the purpose
of the sun rising and setting day after day, year after year, millennium after
millennium? Man is born, lives his life, and dies. So what? Futility.
If this earthly viewpoint is the right one, then Solomon, the writer, is right. It all
is purposeless. If the humanists and atheists of our day are right, it is all futile. What
does it matter how you live if this is it? Do what you please and get all you can for
yourself. Enjoy yourself while you can. Futility.
But what if there is another viewpoint? One of the recurring themes in
Ecclesiastes is that there is nothing new under the sun. That is more or less true. What is
there that there has not been before in this world? Yes, we have new inventions, but
they come from what was already here and are just extensions of man’s knowledge.
More of the same. But what about above the sun? What if there is a view from Heaven,
from eternity? The Bible says that God’s mercies are new every morning. When that sun
rises again for the millionth time, new mercies rise with it for the millionth time. And
God does do new things. He is not limited to working with what he finds. He makes
things out of nothing. He thinks of things no one else ever thought of. He thought of
everything that is here when none of it existed.
Yes, there is something new above the sun. All is not futility. There is something
worth working for that goes beyond this life, not salvation, for we do not work for that,
but growth in Christ and eternal reward. Purpose of purposes; all is purposeful.

God above the sun, thank you for a sense of purpose in the universe and in my life.
Thank you that my life is not futile, but meaningful in you. Give me grace to achieve
your full purpose for me. Amen.

May 7. Eccl. 3.11: “He has also set eternity in their heart….” We have seen that the Old
Testament does not have a developed doctrine of Heaven and an afterlife. There is no
word for “hell,” and sheol is simply death or the grave. Those there, which includes all
who have lived, may have an existence, but that is all that can be said of it. In addition
to this general view of the Old Testament, we have Solomon in Ecclesiastes limited to
“under the sun.” He sees that everything, and everyone, has its time, and then time is
up. Man is limited by time. He will die and that is the end.

Yet this pessimistic philosopher senses something beyond. “He has set eternity in
their heart.” Man has an innate knowing that there is something beyond this life. There
is a craving for immortality. History has many stories and fables of those seeking the
fountain of youth so that they might never grow old and die, but live forever. Where
did this knowledge and this craving come from?
We have said that man is not just soul and body, like the animals, but is also
spirit. The animals are souls, according to the Bible (e.g., Gen. 1.21, 30, 2.19). They are
alive, but they do not know that they will die and they have no thought of anything
beyond this life. But man is spirit, made in the image of God, who is spirit (Jn. 4.24), and
he has eternity in his heart. God put it there when he made man. Man knows there is
more, even if he tries to convince himself it is not true.
So even the pessimistic preacher senses the answer to his own conclusion that all
is futile. If everything is under the sun, it is futile, but God has set eternity in the heart.
The preacher could not put it into words, for he only had a sense in his heart, not
knowledge, but what he sensed but could not know, Jesus Christ has revealed to us.
There is something beyond the sun, and we know it.

Eternal God, thank you for the sense that there is something beyond the futility of this
life, that there is purpose in this life, and there is the full realization of purpose in
eternity. Amen.

May 8. Song of Sol. 2.16: “My beloved is mine and I am his.” The Song of Solomon,
originally written as a love song of Solomon and one of his wives, is also prophetic. It
speaks of the love between Christ and one of his own. Much of the Bible deals with the
corporate relationship between God and his people Israel or Christ and the church, but
the Song has do to with the personal relationship that each believer has with Christ.
In this first verse that we consider, the believer, the bride, exults that her beloved
is hers and she is his. What joy it is to know that the one you love also loves you and
has given himself to you. He is yours! She is yours! This picture corresponds to the love
we feel for Christ when we first come to him for salvation and realize that Christ is
mine. Christ! The one who is eternal God has become a man and died for our sins
because he loves us. He loves me! He is mine!
Thus do the thoughts of the bride run. She is full of admiration for her beloved:
he is handsome, he is like a tree of the forest, he is like a gazelle, his love is better than
wine, he is first among ten thousand, his head is pure gold, his hair is black, and his
eyes are like doves.
He is also full of praise for her: she is most beautiful among women, her cheeks
and neck are lovely, she is a lily among thorns, her voice is sweet, her eyes are doves,
and on it goes. As she hears these words spoken of her by her beloved, her heart thrills,

he is mine! What could a maiden desire more than that her beloved should be hers and
feel about her the way she feels about him?
So we see a new believer in Christ thrilled with the joy of knowing him and all of
his benefits. The things of the world grow dim in the light of Christ the beloved. He is
all I want, and he is mine. Yes, I am his, but he is mine.

Beloved Lord Jesus, how thrilled I am that you love me and have given yourself for me
and to me. You are mine! Amen.

May 9. Song of Sol. 6.3: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” With today’s verse we
see a bit of growth in the relationship between the bride and Solomon, between the
believer and Christ. Formerly she said that he was hers and she was his. Now she puts
him in the first place: I am his and he is mine. That initial joy of knowing that she has
won her beloved and he is hers has not gone away, but it has matured into more
concern with giving herself to her beloved than with having him for herself. She can
rest in his love, knowing that he is hers, and can concentrate on giving herself to him
and seeking his happiness.
So does our relationship with Christ grow. We are sure that he is ours and will be
through eternity, so we can turn from that assurance and seek his best. What pleases
him? How can I give myself to him? What is his will for me? How can I look away from
myself and fix my eyes on him?
Paul tells us in Eph. 5 that human marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.
His words are about the corporate relationship, but they apply to the individual as well,
for the corporate is made of the individuals. A part of Christ’s work in this age is to
cleanse the bride by the washing of water with the word. That is, as he applies the word
of God to us, we see areas where we are not clean before him, and as we submit to that
revelation and allow the word to do its work, that uncleanness is washed away. When
we are presented to him as his bride on his wedding day, his work will have succeeded
and we will be a beautiful bride.
How can we please our beloved? By submitting to him in this work. We are
anything but beautiful in ourselves. We were all ugly sinners when he saved us. But he
wants a beautiful bride. We please him by allowing him to do his cleansing work
throughout our lives. And a part of the wonderful truth is that as he washes away the
dirt from our sins, he also washes away the spots and the wrinkles. We will not be just
clean before him, we will be beautiful.
Yes, he is ours, but let us concern ourselves with the fact that we are his, and
submit to his workings in our lives to make us a beautiful bride for him whom we long
to please.

Dear Lord Jesus, I am yours! Take me body, soul, and spirit and cleanse me and make
me beautiful to you. Fill me with desire to be yours and to please you. Amen

May 10. Song of Sol. 7.10: “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me” Now we come to the
pinnacle of the relationship. The bride’s first thought was, “My beloved is mine, and, oh
yes, I am his.” Then she moved on to, “I am his and he is mine.” In the end she has lost
all thought of herself, so taken is she with her wonderful beloved. She is lost in him. I
am his.
The Bible uses many figures of speech to picture our relationship with Christ.
One of the most common in the New Testament is that we are his slaves and he is our
owner. We are his. We are at his disposal. In this world, such slavery is a horrible thing
that should not be. When one person owns another he takes away his freedom and
treats him any way he pleases. But slavery to Christ is the greatest of freedoms. He does
not abuse us, but showers blessing on us.
There is a beautiful picture in Ex. 21 of a Hebrew slave. If a Hebrew got into such
dire financial straits that he had to sell himself into slavery, he could continue as a slave
for only six years. At the seventh he could walk away a free man. But he could also say
that he loved his master and did not want to go free, and choose to remain a slave the
rest of his life.
When we first come to Christ, we are so overjoyed that he is ours. Then as we
grow, we realize that we are his and he is ours. Then one day we realize that we have
no right to ourselves. God made us, so we are his. Christ bought us, so we are his. We
have no freedom and no rights. He will not press his claims, though. We can walk away
from him and live as we please. But what believer who has known slavery to Christ
would walk away? Would we not say that that time of slavery has been the most
wonderful time of our lives? Would we not say that we love our Lord and do not want
to go free?
What is the outcome of her being taken wholly with her beloved? His desire is
for her. Her giving of herself totally for his happiness makes her all the more attractive
to him. What she most wants for herself she recevies when she forgets herself.
That is the bride in the Song. No more, he is mine. I am his. I do not want to go
free from him.

Precious Lord, I am yours. I do not want to go free. I choose to be your slave for all
eternity. Amen.

May 11. Is. 6.9-10: “And he said, ‘Go and tell this people, “Hear indeed, but do not understand,
and see indeed, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with
their heart, and turn and be healed.”’” These are the words of God spoken to Isaiah when

he had had his vision of the Lord and said, “Here I am. Send me.” This is his
commission.
Why would God tell him to make the people unable to hear, see, and understand
so that they would not repent and be healed? The reason is that a person or a people can
resist the dealings and conviction of God to the point that God judges them with
insensitivity to him. Their spiritual deafness, blindness, and inability to perceive were
God’s judgment. We think of judgment as coming after this life, but it can come in this
life, too. God had already decided that Judah had gone too far in sin and resistance to
him, so he judged them with this insensitivity even before the judgment of Babylonian
exile came.
This passage is also one of those frequently used in the New Testament. The
Lord Jesus quotes it in Mt. 13.14-15 and Mk. 4.12 to explain why he spoke in parables: it
was to conceal the truth from those outside whom God had already decided to judge
with spiritual insensitivity. He quotes v. 10 again in Jn. 12.40, saying plainly in v.39 that
the unbelieving Jews could not believe and supporting that statement with this verse.
Paul quotes both verses in Acts 28.26-27 to explain the unbelief of the Jews in Rome.
These sobering passages tell us how serious a matter it is for one to resist the
conviction of God. If one is lost and resists, he runs the risk of God ceasing to deal with
him so that he can never be saved. If a Christian resists, he will not lose his salvation,
but he can refuse the dealings of God to the point that God will let him stay in slavery
to himself and will allow him to lose any reward he might have received before the
judgment seat of Christ. When God is dealing with a person, it is vital that he listen and
obey and not incur this judgment of spiritual insensitivity.

God, the Judge of all, I choose to listen to you and submit when you bring conviction or
deal with some area of my life. Please enable me to do so. Amen.

May 12. Is. 7.14: “Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and she will call his name
Immanuel.” These words were spoken by Isaiah to King Ahaz as a sign that Judah
would not be defeated in battle by the kings of Israel and Syria. It is believed by all who
take the Bible to be true that it is also a prophecy of the virgin conception of the Lord
Jesus by Mary, and indeed it is quoted in Mt. 1.23 as the explanation of Mary’s being
pregnant before she was married, and Matthew adds the meaning of the name
Immanuel, God with us.
The birth of the Lord Jesus took place centuries after Ahaz was challenged by
Israel and Syria. How then could the birth of the Lord Jesus of a virgin be a sign to him?
The answer is not certain. Some believe that Isaiah’s son, who had a name that was a
sign, Is. 8.3, was the immediate sign to Ahaz and that the Lord Jesus was a greater
fulfillment of the burden of the prophecy, that the Lord’s people would ultimately
triumph over their enemies. Or it may be that Ahaz as king was seen as standing for the

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nation as a whole, the sign of the Lord Jesus being a sign to the nation of victory in the
end. Either way, the sign was indeed fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, as Matthew makes
clear.
The virgin birth of the Lord is an important article of Christian faith. If he had
been born in the usual way of a human father and mother, he would have inherited the
fallen nature passed on by Adam and would have sinned, thus being unable to die for
our sins. But he was not born of a human father and did not inherit the fallen nature.
Thus he had the choice Adam had, to sin or not. Where Adam failed and plunged us all
into the fall, the Lord Jesus succeeded by the power of the Holy Spirit and lifted us all
into the heavenlies in him. We do still live in fallen bodies in a fallen world, and still
have to contend with the world, the flesh, and the devil, but we are in victory in Christ
and can live in that victory now. He was able to die for our sins, and for our sin nature
because of the virgin birth.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the birth of the Savior without the fallen nature, that he
might be able to die in our place and take away our sins. Thank you for your
miraculous provision for us. Amen.

May 13. Is. 9.2: “The people who walked in darkness will see a great light. Those who dwelt in
the land of the shadow of death, on them the light will shine.” Isaiah gives this prophecy of
the future blessing of God’s people, and it is Matthew again who tells us that it was
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. Christ spent much of his ministry in Galilee. In Is. 9.1 it is
called Galilee of the Gentiles, and this is repeated in Mt. 4.15. It is called Galilee of the
Gentiles because when the nation of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in the eighth
century B.C., most of the Jews were carried off into exile, and foreigners were brought
in to occupy the land of Israel. By the time of the Lord Jesus, Galilee was a land of
mixed blood looked down on by the pure Jews of Judah, especially the Pharisees and
Sadducees. It was a land of Gentiles to them.
One of the great facts of the gospel is that it is for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
This was God’s intention all along, as the Old Testament indicates here and in other
places. The Jews, though, took their choice by God to be his people as a reason for pride
and exclusivity. Instead of reaching out to the nations with the truth God had revealed
to them, they shunned them and tried to avoid all contact with them, which would be
defiling. This fact, by the way, reveals that it was especially galling for the Jews to be
ruled by the Romans, hated, unclean, uncircumcised Gentiles.
The Jews failed in their calling as missionaries to the nations, but that calling was
fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. He spent much of his ministry in Galilee, and in the end told
his disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations. That opened the gospel up to
those of us who are Gentile by birth and allowed us to share in the riches of God. Isaiah,
of course, had the Jews in mind as well when he gave this prophecy, and we can be sure

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that they will finally own their Messiah and also enter into the blessing of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of the Jews and God of the nations, how can I thank you enough for including me
in the invitation to accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus? I pray for Jews and Gentiles
alike who do not know you to come into a saving knowledge of you, and I offer myself
for you to use as you wish. Amen.

May 14. Is. 9.6-7: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on
his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of government and of peace there will be no end, on the
throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with
righteousness from now and forever. The zeal of I AM of hosts will accomplish this.” What a
wonderful book Isaiah is! It is almost another gospel. We have just seen the prophecies
of Christ’s virgin birth and of his taking the gospel to the outcasts and Gentiles, and
now we have this marvelous prophecy of his work and his rule.
He will take the government on his shoulder. The problem with the world today
is that it has the wrong ruler, and what a terrible condition it is in. When the Lord Jesus
comes and takes the throne, the right ruler will reign, and it will be a thousand years of
righteous rule. During his days on earth in the flesh, now in the Spirit, and in his future
kingdom he was and will be Wonderful, Counselor, or Wonderful Counselor if you
prefer, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
One of the woeful facts of our day is the increase of government. It is an
insatiable animal that never stops growing, and what a burden it is to those of us who
have to pay for it, and it is getting worse and worse to live by its rules. But when the
Lord Jesus rules, we will welcome the increase of his government, for it will all be for
our good, not his exploitation of us. It will be great blessing to us, not a burden. And it
will never end. And the zeal of God will see to it that it comes about. Praise him!

Lord Jesus, thank you for the promise that when you rule, the world will be run rightly,
and you will manifest all your lovely character as king for us, not using us. Please
hurry! Amen.

May 15. Is. 11.1-5: “And a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his
roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of I AM will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of I AM,
and his delight will be in the fear of I AM. And he will not judge by the seeing of his eyes, or
decide by the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and with
uprightness he will decide for the oppressed of the earth. And he will smite the earth with the rod
of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips will he kill the wicked. And righteousness will be the

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belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist.” Much of Isaiah has to do with the
millennial reign of Christ and the wonderful blessings his people will enjoy in that time.
Such is the case with the present passage.
Jesse was the father of David, and the Lord Jesus is known as the Son of David.
He is the one who will rule forever on the throne of David in fulfillment of the promise
made to him by God. He is the shoot from the stump of Jesse and the branch from his
roots. He came the first time in lowliness to suffer death for our sins, but he will come
the second time in power to rule. The Spirit of God will rest on him. He will judge
justly. He will destroy the wicked and make the earth a glorious place to live.
Righteousness and faithfulness will characterize his reign.
Isaiah had the greatest revelation of the Lord Jesus of any writer in the Old
Testament. We will see numerous passages as we go through the book. He saw him in
both his first and his second comings. Here we have the great encouragement of his
coming reign, when the earth will be governed as God intended from the beginning
when he gave Adam and Eve dominion over it. Then the earth will know the blessing of
righteous rule rather than the curse of evil rule.

Mighty God, thank you for the promise of the coming rule of the Lord Jesus with its
blessing on your people. Please hasten that day. Amen.

May 16. Is. 11.6-9: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with
the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child will lead them.
And the cow and the bear will feed. Their young ones will lie down together. And the lion will
eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child will play on the hole of the cobra, and the weaned
child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy
mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of I AM as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah
contains some of the most beautiful poetry in the Bible, with chapter 11 being among
the best in Isaiah. His word pictures of the millennial reign of Christ are fine art.
The world we live in now is so full of suffering, death, heartache. Those who rule
often do so to exploit those under their control. Many are hungry, many die of
starvation, because their governments will not let donated food get to them unless they
are paid off, or they steal the food and sell it for their own profit while their people
starve.
In addition nature is in the same fallen condition as humanity. The animals prey
on one another, and many are dangerous to human beings. It is a perilous world to man
and animal. The Israelites of Isaiah’s day faced the prospect of being conquered with
great brutality by Babylon and carried off into exile. Not a lot has changed in that way.
We just have more efficient ways of killing masses of people rather than one at a time.
Against this backdrop of sin, killing, and suffering Isaiah paints his picture of
animals that are naturally hunter and hunted eating vegetation together and laying

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down to sleep together, with their young being playmates. Even a child can be in the
company of what are now highly poisonous snakes without danger. And a little child
will be the shepherd of what are now dangerous predators.
The reason for this lack of hurting and destroying is that, with evil banished and
the Lord Jesus reigning as King over the universe, the earth will be full of the
knowledge of God, that is, knowing God, as the waters cover the sea. Almost all people
will know God, though there will be some who are waiting their time to rebel, as Rev.
20 indicates. But so widespread will be the personal knowledge of him that there will be
no harmful behavior in that kingdom.

God of peace, thank you for this lovely picture of the peace and joy of your kingdom.
How I look forward to that day. Please make it soon! Amen.

May 17. Is. 14.12-15: “How you are fallen from the heavens, shining one, son of dawn. You
were cut down to the earth, the one laying the nations low. And you said in your heart, ‘I will
ascend to the heavens. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the
mountain of assembly in the remote parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.’ Yet you will be brought down to Sheol, to the
remote parts of the pit.” Along with the beautiful pictures painted by Isaiah we have this
grim one that most Bible students take to refer to Satan and the reason for his fall.
Historically the passage is Israel’s taunt of Babylon in the end, when Babylon falls and
Israel is exalted, but it soars beyond the earthbound Babylon to its spiritual ruler, Satan
in the heavens.
It seems that Satan was at one time a very high angel, perhaps the highest. We
will see more of this in Ezekiel. Being taken with his own beauty and greatness, he
became proud and wanted the place of God, the worship due to God alone. That pride
was his downfall, and he led a rebellion against God designed to take his throne.
Indeed he wanted to be like God.
Satan and his forces were cast out of Heaven. There is no danger of his usurping
the place of God. But what havoc he has wrought in creation. Everything is in a fallen
condition, with all the misery that goes with it. Because of the sin of man, Satan is the
ruler of this world. That is the reason for all the injustice and suffering.
But there is hope! Not only was Satan cast out of Heaven, he will also be cast
down to sheol, the same as hades in the New Testament, the prison of the lost dead who
are awaiting final judgment and hell. This casting down to sheol is his binding in the
abyss for the one thousand years of the millennial reign of Christ of Rev. 20.1-3. There
he will be held until his final rebellion, judgment, and casting into hell for eternity. We
will be rid of his misrule, first for a thousand years, and then forever. Praise the Lord!

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Almighty God, thank you for the assurance of the final banishment of Satan. I long to
see the world as the place you made it to be. Please deliver me from the pride that led to
his fall and give me true humility before you. Amen.

May 18. Is. 28.16: “Therefore thus says Lord I AM, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes will not be in haste.’” Judah was
being threatened by Assyria, so she made a covenant with Egypt to fight with her, and
on this protection of Egypt she relied. God said through Isaiah that this covenant could
not be relied on, but would fail. He added that he would lay his own foundation of
safety, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone. Only God could be relied on for
safety by his people.
When originally given, this prophecy would have meant that that reliance on
God was the proper and only hope for Judah. They were his people and should look to
him, not to a strong earthly power. He who believed this word would not be in haste,
that is, in haste to flee to Egypt for protection, or to flee from a conquering army. But
this word is also and primarily prophetic of the Lord Jesus.
Paul quotes a part of this verse, along with Is. 8.14, in Rom. 9.33 in explaining
why the Jews did not believe the gospel and the Gentiles did: “As it is written, ‘Behold,
I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and the one who believes in him
will not be put to shame.’” “Behold, I lay in Zion” comes from our verse. “A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense” comes from Is. 8.14. And “the one who believes in him
will not be put to shame” comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament made
about two hundred years before the time of Christ. Notice that it says, “will not be put
to shame,” instead of “will not be in haste.” This is a bit complicated, but it will be clear!
Paul quotes the last part of his verse again in Rom. 10.11.
Peter quotes our passage in his first epistle (2.6), also using the Greek Old
Testament, “will not be put to shame.” We saw on April 24 that Peter applied Ps. 118.22
to those who do not believe: for them Christ is the stone they rejected who became the
head of the corner. In this same passage he quotes our verse for today as applied to
believers. For them the stone is a chosen, precious cornerstone, in whom they will not
be put to shame.
The Jew in the time of Isaiah who hurried to Egypt for protection would be put
to shame, for that reliance would fail. The Jew who trusted in the Lord for protection
would not be put to shame. In the time of the Lord Jesus, the same is true. The one who
trusted in him in the day of his rejection would not be put to shame, for he would prove
to be the chosen, precious cornerstone of God’s building, his people. Nothing will move
that stone, and those relying on him are eternally safe.

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Protecting God, thank you for the sure foundation of the Lord Jesus, the chosen,
precious stone who is the head of the corner. Please lead me in building my life on him.
Amen.

May 19. Is. 40.3: “The voice of one calling, ‘Prepare in the desert the way of I AM. Make
straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” This passage in Is. 40 deals with the
millennial reign of Christ. It calls for making the way for I AM, the only God. In the
New Testament this verse is applied to John the Baptist as the one calling in the desert
and to the Lord Jesus as the one for whom way is being made (Mt. 3.3, Mk. 1.3, Lk. 3.4,
Jn. 1.23). This is another example of an Old Testament passage originally speaking of
God and applied to Jesus in the New Testament, showing their unity and equality and
opposing those who say Jesus is less than God the Father.
If the Isaiah passage refers to the millennium, why is it applied to the Lord Jesus
at his first coming? You have probably read or heard that one of the truths of prophecy
is that the Old Testament prophets saw the things they predicted as a distant mountain
range, and they saw all as one group of peaks. Thus they saw all their prophecies as
applying to one time. What they did not see was the valleys separating groups of peaks.
Those valleys are the time intervals separating events of prophecy. The fulfillment of
Old Testament prophecy concerning the end of this age and the millennial reign of
Christ began with the first coming of Christ and will reach their conclusion at his
second coming. The work of the Lord Jesus in his sinless life and death and resurrection
made the way for the people of God to be formed. They will reach their fullness at his
return.
John the Baptist was the lone voice calling. He was himself a prophet, like his
Old Testament counterparts, who saw “the beginning of the end” and called for people
to repent to be prepared to meet the Lord. It is likely that John himself did not see the
valleys and thought that the Lord Jesus would bring in the kingdom at his first coming.
We will see more of this when we deal with John in the gospels. Whatever he thought,
his message is valid in any age, for all people should prepare to meet the Lord by
repentance. And his message is still true that the end is coming. We as Christians have
the greatest of hopes, that our Lord will return for us. We prepare his way by
repentance, faith, and obedience.

Great God, thank you for the hope I have of the coming of my Lord Jesus. Please search
my heart and give me true repentance so I may help prepare the way of the Lord.
Amen.

May 20. Is. 40.31: “Those who wait on I AM will renew their strength. They will mount up
with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.” Waiting is
one of the most difficult tasks we have to face, yet it is one of God’s most common

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requirements. The psalms and other parts of the Bible are full of admonition to wait on
the Lord. Most of us are impatient by nature, and we live in an instant world. In
America most people have enough money or credit to get what they want when they
want it. We are used to having everything now. And God says, “Wait.”
We tend to rebel against the idea of waiting. We try to help God by going ahead
with what we think we are waiting for. We go ahead and do something whether we
know it is God’s will or not. Never mind, I will do what seems good to me and ask God
to bless it. God says, “Wait.”
Why does he keep saying, “Wait”? When we wait on God we are trusting and
obeying him. It is trust to believe that God will keep his word at some time in the
future. The world says that seeing is believing. The Bible says believing is seeing, and
that Moses endured as seeing him who is unseen (Heb. 11.27). If we can see what God
has promised with the eye of faith when we cannot see it with the physical eye, and we
wait for his time, that is faith. It is also obedience. We wait because God says to wait.
That is reason enough. We do not have to have explanations. We have to obey. He is the
Lord. We are the slaves.
But God has a very good reason for requiring us to wait. While we are waiting in
faith and obedience we are growing strong in him. God takes decades to make mighty
oaks. If we tried at the beginning of our Christian lives to mount up with wings as
eagles, we would crash flat on our faces. If we tried to run, we would get too tired. If we
only tried to walk, we would faint. Babies cannot even walk, and they fall many times
before they learn to walk well. After walking comes running. After running comes
soaring. But we want to soar the day we are born. God says, “Wait.”
If we will wait, trusting and obeying, those baby steps will give way to running,
and one day we will soar with the Lord in realms undreamed of, without the
embarrassment of crashing in front of everyone. God knows what is best for us. He
says, “Wait.”

God of patience, please give me the good sense to wait when you say to. Amen.

May 21. Is. 42.1-4: “Behold, my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul
delights. I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry
out or lift up his voice or cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a
dimly burning wick he will not quench. He will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail or be
discouraged till he has established justice on the earth, and the coastlands will wait for his law.”
One of the themes of the last part of Isaiah is the Servant. The passages on this theme
are further prophecies of the Lord Jesus.
The last part of the first verse is quoted or referred to in Mt. 3.17, Mk. 1.11, and
Lk. 9.35. The first two occur at the baptism of Jesus. After he was baptized in obedience
to the Father, a voice came from Heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I delight.”

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This voice was repeated at the transfiguration of Jesus as reported in Luke, where his
gospel notes that the Lord Jesus is the chosen one of God. The obedience expressed in
submitting to baptism brought forth the voice.
One of the characteristics of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus was the fact
that he forbade men and demons to tell who he was. Matthew quotes our entire passage
as explanation for this behavior: it was the fulfillment of prophecy. Again we have
prophecy fulfilled in both comings of the Lord. Up through the statement that he would
not quench a dimly burning wick, our passage refers to the first coming of the Lord, in
lowliness and gentleness. From that point on we have the second coming, when he will
establish justice on earth by exercising his power to conquer and to rule.
V. 1 says that he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles, and v. 4, that the
coastlands will wait for his law. Both of these words refer to the same people. The
coastlands are the lands one encounters as he goes away from Israel, the lands of the
Gentiles. Thus do we have here another prophecy of the gospel being for the Gentiles as
well as for the Jews.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the gentleness you showed at your first coming, and that you
still show it to your people. Thank you for your great power that will enable you to take
the throne of the world and establish justice. And thank you for including the Gentiles.
Amen.

May 22. Is. 43.2: “When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers,
they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and the
flame will not burn you.” This verse is one of those great comforting promises of the
Bible. God goes with his people through whatever they must face and protects them,
whether it be waters or fire.
Waters in the Bible often symbolize death. When one is baptized, he symbolically
goes down into the waters, picturing the old man going to the grave in death with
Christ, then comes up out of the waters, showing the new man coming up with new
life, the life of the Lord. Noah and his family and the animals passed through the
deadly waters of the flood in the ark, a picture of Christ who takes us safely through
death. Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River safely
because God held back the death in the waters.
We may face situations in life in which we are in danger for our lives, or feel that
way. We have the promise of God that he will be with us in them and that the waters
will not overflow us. Even if we do die, we will not be hurt, for we will sail right
through those waters into Heaven in Christ our Ark. What better could happen to us?
Fire is symbolic of judgment. We who have received Christ have already escaped
the judgment of hell for our sins, but we find that God puts us through many fires in
this life to burn away what is of the flesh. We have the gold of God in us, but it is

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impure because it is mixed with our flesh. We have his promise that the fire will not
burn us, but only the dross that is the impurity. When we go through trials in life, we
need to remember that God has us there for a purpose, and that purpose is to judge the
flesh and send it through the refining fire. If we are faithful to him in those situations,
they will achieve their purpose.
Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 3.10-15 that after this life the works of Christians will pass
through the fire of judgment, not for salvation, but for reward. Those who have built
with gold, silver, and precious stones will see their works pass through the fire
unscathed. Those who have built with wood, hay, straw, will see their works burned
up. There will be no reward. Yet even then, we have the Lord’s assurance that the
person will not be harmed. He will be saved.

God of the waters and of the fire, thank you for your wonderful promise that even
death and judgment will not hurt me if I am in Christ. Judgment will only purify me,
and death will only take me into the visible presence of my Savior, to whom be praise.
Amen.

May 23. Is. 45.3: “I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.” The
treasures of darkness. What are these treasures? We have seen in numerous passages
that God often puts us into a difficult place to accomplish his purposes in us. Sometimes
we seem to be in the dark spiritually and do not know what is going on. When that is
the case, we can be sure God is at work producing something of great value.
Precious stones are produced in the dark beneath the surface of the earth,
sometimes very deep down, and there they are subject to great pressure. The stone has
no consciousness, but if it did it might well wonder, as we do, why God has it in such a
dark place. We do have consciousness and we do wonder! But the darkness is light to
God, and that is where he does some of his best work, where it appears all dark to us.
As we submit to him in the dark place and wait for him to achieve his purpose,
he does indeed produce precious stones in us. In yesterday’s reading we saw Paul’s
word that we build with wood, hay, straw or gold, silver, precious stones. Where do we
get the precious stones to build with? We get them from our dark times when it seems
that God is nowhere to be found, if we are submissive to him in those times. We need to
be aware that God never leaves us and never loses control. Whatever we are in, he is
there and he has a purpose in letting us be there. As we trust him in the dark place, he
forms precious stones in us to add to his building.
And notice in Rev. 22 that the heavenly city is made entirely of precious
materials, gold, pearls, and other precious stones. Where do those materials come from?
From the people of God who have been faithful to him in the dark place. As they have
waited on God in darkness and silence, he has produced something of inestimable

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value in them, material that will go to the building of Heaven itself. Our dark times may
well be our most valuable spiritually. Trust God in them.

Precious Lord, thank you for this assurance that you are at work in me when I am in the
dark, and that this work is producing precious stones that will survive the fires of
judgment and go to the building of the heavenly city. Amen.

May 24. Is. 45.23: “By myself have I sworn. The word has gone forth from my mouth in
righteousness and will not return, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear.”
Here is yet another of those passages that apply to God in the Old Testament and to the
Lord Jesus in the New, testifying to us once again of the greatness of our Savior. He is
God, equal with his Father.
God declares in the context of idolatry and belief in many gods during the days
of Isaiah that the day will come when every knee will bow to him and every tongue
swear that he is the only God. Then Paul, in one of the sublimest of all passages in the
Bible, Phil. 2.5-11, says that because of Christ’s complete denial of himself in obedience
to God, even going so far as death on a cross, the shameful death of a blasphemer and
criminal, “God has raised him to the highest place and given him the name that is above
every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in the
heavens and those on the earth and those under the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Great humbling brought great
exaltation.
So we have two lessons. One is that there is only one God, but he consists of
Father and Son (and the Spirit, who is not mentioned in these verses), the two (the
three) being equal. In fact, Phil. 2.6, which we just referred to, says that the Lord Jesus
did not consider equality with God something to be held on to, but he was willing to let
it go to be obedient. He did not lose equality with God, of course, but he did turn loose
of it.
The other is that the way up is down. If we want to be great with God, the
pathway is that of great humility, of great service, of laying down everything we want
to hold on to, just as the Lord Jesus did his equality with God. God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble, grace that will exalt them in due time.

Great and only God, I thank you for the greatness of our Savior, and for his willingness
to let everything go for me. Give me grace to have the same way of thinking he did, that
even equality with you is not something to hold on to. Help me to humble myself and
be a servant. Amen.

May 25. Is. 49.6: “It is too light a thing that you should be my Servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that my

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salvation may be to the end of the earth.” Israel was called by God to be his people on the
earth in order for them to be his testimony to the nations, to draw all men to himself,
but they instead took his choice of them as a source of pride and exclusion of the
nations. And not only were they not a light to the nations, they did not even keep their
own obligations to God. That is why prophets such as Isaiah were raised up.
God spoke through Isaiah that his Servant, whom we have seen to be the Lord
Jesus, would fulfill that obligation. Jesus was the one Israelite who was fully all that
God wanted all Israelites, the nation itself, to be. He was sent by God to restore Israel to
faithfulness to God, but also to be a light to the nations. This same phrase is also used in
Is. 42.6. Historically, the Lord Jesus is already a light to the nations, but has not yet
restored Israel, a nation in unbelief to this day, with many not only not believing in
Jesus as their Messiah, but also not believing in God at all.
After the ascension of Jesus, Christianity was basically a sect of Judaism for some
time. It was made up of Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah, but who could still
be found in the temple. Gradually, though, as more and more Jews rejected Jesus, the
rift between the two groups widened. God raised up apostles like Paul to take the
gospel to the Gentiles, and he had many conflicts with Jews who did not accept Jesus as
Messiah. By the late first century A.D., Christianity was largely made up of Gentiles.
Some from the nations had received the light. The Jews had rejected.
We believe that the Lord Jesus will also fulfill his other calling of restoring Israel
in the last days of this age. They will accept him as Messiah, and they, too, will be a
light to the nations.

Dear Lord, thank you once again that the Lord Jesus is a light to the Gentiles. I pray for
your people Israel that they would soon be restored to you. Amen.

May 26. Is. 51.1-2: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek I AM. Look to
the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to
Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for when he was but one I called him, and I
blessed him and made him many.” In these words God gives direction to those who would
find righteousness, who would find God. That direction is to look to the rock from
which they were hewn, to Abraham and Sarah. And what do they see when they look
to Abraham and Sarah? They find the simple requirements of God, faith and obedience.
Abraham was a man of faith. Indeed he is considered the Bible’s supreme
example of a man of faith. God told him he would give him a land and Abraham
believed him. He put that faith into action by obeying in leaving the land of his birth
and going he knew not where. God told Abraham he would give him a son when he
was too old to father one and Sarah was too old to conceive, and he believed him. Sarah
laughed at the notion (Abraham had also laughed), but she came to believe, too. When

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they did have the son, God told Abraham to sacrifice him. Again Abraham believed
God, that he had an answer to the death of Isaac, and he again obeyed.
The results of this faith and obedience are wonderful. Isaac was spared, and
though him God made Abraham into nations. One of those nations gave birth to the
Savior of the world. All of them have been blessed because of Abraham’s faith because
they have heard the gospel, and many have received it. We still look to Abraham this
very day, May 26, for encouragement in our faith. If you would know righteousness, if
you would know God, look to the father of faith and of faith in action. Then look away
to the Son of Abraham, not Isaac, but the greater Son of promise, the Lord Jesus. Trust
him and obey him. That is the way to righteousness and to God.

Trustworthy God, lead me in walking in the steps of Abraham, not trusting in him, but
like him believing you and obeying you. As I do, please make yourself known to me
more and more fully. Amen.

May 27. Is. 53.4-6: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed
him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our peace was on him, and by his stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and I AM
has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” With this passage we come to the highest revelation
of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, and indeed it is on a par with the New
Testament. Who has ever seen him more clearly? Were there space, we would print here
the entire passage, Is. 52.13-53.12, and it should be read in full at this point.
The Jews expected their Messiah to be a conquering hero who would deliver
them from their enemies and establish them as the greatest of nations. That fact,
combined with such passages as this one, caused some to believe there would be two
Messiahs, one who would suffer and one who would reign. Like the prophets they
could not see the valleys between the mountain ranges. They did not see that there
would be one Messiah, but he would come twice, the first time to suffer, and the
second, to reign.
From our position of hindsight we can see the Lord Jesus so fully in this passage.
He bore our sins and all the misery that goes with them. He took our punishment. He
was stricken by God, his own Father, for what we did. We have all gone astray as sheep
do, but our going astray has been after false gods, even if we thought they were only
money and pleasure and so forth. All of those sins were laid on him. By his stripes we
are healed.
Not a lot needs to be said about these verses. We just need to bow our heads in
worship and thanksgiving and surrender of ourselves to the one who did this for us.

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Lord Jesus, how can I ever thank you enough for taking my sins on yourself? I worship
you. I give myself to you, not to repay you, for that cannot be done, but to thank you,
however inadequately. Blessed be your name. Amen.

May 28. Is. 53.10: “Yet it pleased I AM to crush him.” This statement contains one of the
great revelations of the character of God. How could it please God to crush his Son?
God could not have taken pleasure in the crushing of his Son itself. Yet because of his
great love for us lost sinners, he was pleased to do whatever it took to save us. In his
powerful sermon at Pentecost, Peter said that the Lord Jesus was crucified “by the
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2.23).
God knew from all eternity that this sacrifice would be required. He was not
surprised when man sinned. He did not have to come up with some way to meet the
situation. Forever has he been willing to go to this length to save us. He created us,
knowing that he would have to carry out this plan.
We have spoken of grace several times. Here is the greatest example of it. What
man would not do anything to save his son? Yet God willingly, with pleasure, gave him
for us. That kind of love is beyond our understanding, that love which surpasses
knowledge as referred to by Paul in Eph. 3.19. We cannot grasp it. We can only accept
it, and then respond with the giving of ourselves in return.
Though it is not stated in this verse, there is also the willingness of the Lord Jesus
to submit to this plan of God. He has ever been the obedient Son, taking the submissive
role in the Trinity. Rev. 13.8 says that he is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world. He, too, knew what would be required of him, and he submitted to it before
creation. He made man knowing he would have to pay this price for his redemption.

God of grace, how could you take pleasure in paying such an awful price for me? Such
love is beyond me, but I receive it with thanksgiving and with the yielding of myself to
you. Amen.

May 29. Is. 54.11-12: “Afflicted one, storm-tossed, not comforted, behold, I will set your stones
in antimony, and lay your foundations in sapphires. And I will make your battlements of rubies,
and your gates of carbuncles, and all your border of precious stones.” All of us go through
sorrows in life. For most of them we find comfort, but sometimes there is something
that, though we may gain some measure of comfort, refuses to be fully comforted. The
hurt will not go away. We will carry it to the grave if the Lord does not take us from
here first. What are we to do with those hurts that will not be comforted?
The Lord, through Isaiah, here addresses those who are afflicted, storm-tossed,
and not comforted. He gives the assurance that what they are going through has the
purpose that we saw in our May 23 reading of producing precious stones. We have here
a preview of the new Jerusalem in Revelation. The stones of the city walls are set in

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antimony, a metal often used in alloys, thus giving strength. The foundations are of
sapphires, the battlements around the top of the walls of rubies, the gates of carbuncles,
and the border of precious stones. Everything is something of great value.
That great value is wrought out in the heart of the one who cannot find comfort
for some hurt, yet keeps looking to the Lord, trusting him, serving him. This is perhaps
the hardest place of all to be in, and it produces the greatest worth. So, though you may
not find full comfort, take what strength you can from the Lord’s assurance directly to
you, the one not comforted, that he is doing a great work in you that will shine through
eternity. He will see you through, and you will be amazed at what he has done with
your sorrow.

Loving Lord, you know all the pain I feel, yet I will never know the pain you felt at the
cross. That greatest of pains worked salvation for the world. Thank you for your
assurance that my pain will work eternal value. Keep me trusting you and walking with
you. Amen.

May 30. Is. 54.17: “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” There is a spiritual war
going on in this world. We have an enemy who wants to dethrone God and destroy
people, and he especially wants to harm God’s people who stand against him. It is not
enough that we must contend with the general influence of the world and the specific
desires of our own flesh, but we also have an intelligent spiritual enemy who is bent on
our destruction. If he cannot send the Lord’s people to hell, he will do all he can to ruin
their lives and testimonies now. What are we to do?
If our safety depended on ourselves, we would not have a chance. We cannot see
our enemy, and he is much smarter and craftier than we are. But we have the assurance
of God, as stated in our verse for today, that no weapon formed against us will prosper.
It will not achieve its diabolical purpose. That is absolutely true of eternity, for if we are
the Lord’s Heaven is assured. There is a condition to the promise in this life, though it is
not stated here. It seems obvious that we must be faithful and obedient to God. We do
have the choice of turning away from him, of sinning, of getting involved in such things
as drugs or the occult that open us to Satan. But if we do walk with God, we can be sure
that no weapon formed against us will prosper.
There is much more about Satan and his work in the New Testament than in the
old, so we will wait to get into detail until we come to the New Testament. For now, we
can take encouragement from the fact that God makes this assurance to us here in the
prophecies of Isaiah. Our God is our strength and our protection, and he is much more
than a match for Satan.

Dear Lord, it is encouraging to know that I have your protection from Satan. No
weapon formed against me will prosper. Amen.

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May 31. Is. 55.8-9: “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways,’
says I AM. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” God does not think the way we think. We see this
reality in the New Testament in many places. One example concerns the time when the
Lord Jesus told the disciples of his impending death. Peter rebuked him, but he said to
Peter, “Get behind me, Satan, for you do not think the things of God, but the things of
men” (Mk. 8.33). Peter’s thought was that a man should fight to save his life and to
advance his own interests. One comes to the throne by fighting for it. Jesus’ thought
was that he would gain his life by losing it and come to the throne by dying in
obedience to God.
Another example is found in Phil. 2.5-11, where Paul tells his readers to “have
this way of thinking among you as also was in Christ Jesus.” He then goes on to
describe how the Lord turned loose his equality with God and became a man, and a
servant at that, and died a shameful death for the people he came to save.” Thus do we
see that God’s way of thinking is to gain life by laying it down, to come to the crown by
way of the cross. Man is out to get. God is out to give.
We have seen quite a bit of the ways of God in these daily readings. Our Jan. 17
thoughts set forth a number of these, grace, unconditional love, the cross, resurrection,
revelation. We must say, too, that there are thoughts and ways of God that we cannot
list here, for we do not know them. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. We
cannot imagine it all, much less understand it. God is a different order of being from us.
It is not that he is like a man, only smarter, stronger, wiser, and so forth. God is not
“smarter” than man. Intelligence deals with the ability to learn and think. There is
nothing for God to learn. He knows everything! Paul writes in Rom. 11.33, “Oh, the depth
of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments
and untraceable his ways.” And just think, if we could understand God, what kind of
God would he be?

Great God, how truly great you are. How great are your thoughts and ways. Please lead
me in thinking the way the Lord Jesus thought. Amen.

June 1. Is. 55.10-11: “For as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not
return there without watering the earth and making it bring forth and bud, giving seed to the
sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It will not
return to me empty, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing for
which I sent it.” God is a God who speaks. He has sent forth many words out of his
mouth. Much of what he has said has to do with his purposes, such as bringing his Son
to the throne of the universe. Much of it consists of promises to his people, such as those
to Abraham and his descendants that they would be a great nation in whom all the

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families of the earth would be blessed, and those to Christians, that they will be raised
from the dead to eternal life with Christ. The truth is that much of our relationship with
God consists of promises and faith.
In Heb. 11.13 and 39 we read that the Old Testament believers did not receive the
promises, but died in faith. It is much the same with us. We have received the gift of the
Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of our inheritance, but most of what God has promised
has not yet been given. We do not see it with the physical eye, but only with that of
faith. We cannot prove that anything the Bible says is true. We might say that we have a
lot of IOU’s from God.
Will we ever see what has been promised? That is a matter for faith. Obviously
we believe we will, or we would not pursue our present course. But time will tell.
Meanwhile, we have another promise from God, the one cited above, that everything he
has said will accomplish its purpose. No word will return to him without achieving its
purpose. Those who have come to know him believe that they have good reasons for
believing God without seeing, for he has proved himself to them in many ways. “Faith
is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11.1).

Faithful, trustworthy God, I do believe your word. Thank you for the many times you
have proved yourself to my heart. Keep me trusting in you to the end. Amen.

June 2. Is. 61.1-3: “The Spirit of Lord I AM is on me, for I AM has anointed me to preach good
news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the
captives and opening to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of I AM’s favor and the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to appoint for those who mourn in Zion, to
give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
fainting, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of I AM, that he may be
glorified.”
The Lord Jesus himself read the first two verses of this passage in the synagogue
in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, and told his hearers, “Today this Scripture
has been fulfilled in your ears” (Lk. 4.18-21). He applied the passage to himself. He was
the one anointed by I AM to preach, and so forth. The verb “anointed” is the Hebrew
mashach, the noun of which is mashiach, Messiah. Isaiah prophesied the coming of such a
one, and the Lord claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophecy.
He came to proclaim the meeting of needs, whatever they might be. The year of I
AM’s favor is likely the age of grace in which we live, during which time we may come
to God on the basis of grace by faith and be freely forgiven for all our sins. That has
always been the case, even in the Old Testament, but there was also the obligation to
keep the law, not to be saved, to be sure, but to be obedient to God. Now the law has
been set aside. We are still to live in obedience, but it comes out of the life of Christ in
us, not out of our self-effort to keep the law, which has ever been doomed to failure.

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There is a year of favor. There is also a day of vengeance, but God judged evil
through the Lord Jesus at the cross, and he will surely bring that judgment to full
realization at the second coming of Christ. That is a wonderful promise to us, if on the
negative side, for it is evil that brings all the sorrow and suffering in this age.
The Jews of biblical days would put ashes on their heads or lie in ashes as a sign
of mourning over bad news (2 Sam. 13.19, Est. 4.1, 3, Job 2.8, 42.6, Is. 58.5, Dan. 9.3,
Jonah 3.6, Mt. 11.21, Lk. 10.13, ). The Lord Jesus will give to those who mourn a garland
instead of ashes, the oil of joy, and the garment of praise. They will be strong, beautiful
trees of his planting, that he may be glorified.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for fulfilling this Scripture! Thank you for all that you have
done for me, and for your willingness to do all that was required to bring such blessing
to me. Let my life indeed glorify you. Amen.

June 3. Is. 62.4-5: “You will no more be called Forsaken (Azubah), and your land will no more
be called Desolate (Shemamah), but you will be called My Delight is in Her (Hephzibah), and
your land Married (Beulah), for I AM delights in you, and your land will be married. For as a
young man marries a virgin, so will your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over
the bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” We saw in our Jan. 27 reading that Israel is the
wife of God. Between that time and the time of Isaiah, Israel had been through much
unfaithfulness to God, some of which we will see in prophetic books that come after
Isaiah. That unfaithfulness had led God to cast off his nation for a time, sending her into
exile. This passage in Isaiah, like so many in this prophecy, deals with the millennium.
In that time, the wife of God will no longer be forsaken by him and desolate, but he will
delight in her and marry her again.
In the beginning of our readings together we read that God himself is a Trinity, a
being in whom there is love, relationship, fellowship. He made man male and female
and said that it was not good for the man to be alone. He is currently seeking out a
bride for his Son, just as Eleazar sought a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24). This God of
relationship desires the loving company of his wife, and in the end he will bring her
back to himself. The people of Israel have known much abandonment and desolation
over the millenniums since their turning away from God, and they are spiritually
desolate today. But they have the promise that they will yet know the joy of being
delighted in by God and married to God.
We as Christians can also take encouragement from this passage, for we are
being prepared to be the wife of Christ. He delights in us. He will marry us as a people,
a corporate bride. What joy we will know with our Beloved, and that joy will never end.

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Blessed God, dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the promise of such joy with you.
How could you delight in me and want to be married to me? I cannot understand, but I
thank you and worship you. Amen.

June 4. Is. 62.6c-7: “You who cause I AM to remember, take no rest for yourselves, and give him
no rest till he establishes and till he makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth.” In earlier readings
we have seen that Jerusalem is the city of earth that God loves especially, where he will
cause his name to dwell and where his Son will reign as King (March 6, April 26). Now,
in the midst of the unfaithfulness of Israel to God, when Jerusalem is about to become
desolate and anything but a cause of praise, God speaks through the prophet to those
who also love Jerusalem and pray for her. They are to take no rest for themselves, and
they are not to give God rest till he makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth.
These instructions were given over 2500 years ago, and Jerusalem is still not a
praise on the earth, but is the scene of daily hatred and violence. Many of God’s people
there do not believe he exists. Thus we find that this command of God to pray for
Jerusalem is still in effect. He will restore his ancient people to himself, and he will make
Jerusalem a praise. When he does, the Lord Jesus will have returned and will be setting
up his kingdom to reign in righteousness. It is he who will make Jerusalem a praise, and
thus this prayer for Jerusalem is in fact a prayer for his return.
All the hopes of both Jews and Christians will be realized in him. The Jews do
not yet realize this fact, but when those who are godly see him they will own him as
their Messiah. He it is who will make them secure in the land he has given them. He it is
who will raise the dead in Christ to never-ending life, and not just never-ending, but his
glorious life.
We are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122.6) and to “bother” God till he
makes her a praise on the earth, and both these prayers are prayers for the coming of
Christ.

Dear Lord, I remind you that you inspired these words millenniums ago, and I continue
the request that you make Jerusalem a praise on the earth. Amen.

June 5. Is. 66.7-9: “Before she travailed she brought forth. Before pain came on her she delivered
a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Will a land be born in one day?
Will a nation be brought forth at once? Zion travailed and she brought forth her sons. ‘Will I
bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?’ says I AM. ‘Will I who cause to bring forth shut
the womb?’ says your God.’” In yesterday’s reading, as well in several before that, we
found the promises of God that in the end Israel would be restored to her land in peace
and security under the Kingship of the Lord Jesus. Here Isaiah sees this event as a birth
happening instantly.

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As soon as a woman goes into labor, she gives birth, even before pain comes on
her. It takes years, even decades or centuries, to build a nation, but then a nation will be
built in one day. As soon as Israel sees and receives her Messiah, the nation will be
born. Zion is the hill in Jerusalem where David had his house and that is God’s special
symbol for the whole of the city. Zion goes into travail and instantly brings forth her
sons, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And it is God who does this: he brings to the birth
and he will not close the womb.
What a glorious day that will be when the Lord Jesus appears in the clouds and
descends to the earth in Jerusalem to take his throne, and the nation as he means it to be
springs into existence at the sight of him. It is a miraculous birth. And that is also our
hope as Christians. The entire world will be what it was made to be when he rules, a
place of righteousness, peace, prosperity, joy, love, service.
God has been several millenniums building up the full number of his people, but
when that number is reached, it will all come forth in a day.

Mighty God, thank you again for the promise of righteousness filling the earth as your
people suddenly become your nation and the Lord Jesus reigns. Please hasten that day.
Amen.

June 6. Is. 66.24: “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have
transgressed against me, for their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched, and they
will be an abhorrence to all flesh.” With all of the glorious passages in Isaiah we can get
caught up in the wonder of it, but then the prophet ends his book with this chilling,
somber note. He reminds us that not all will participate in the glories to come, but that
those who reject the Lord will know eternal loss.
Some have taken the worm to refer to the soul of man, and the fire to the fire of
hell, so that this verse says that the soul will be in hell eternally. The Bible does teach
that the lost will know eternal hell, but the worm here does not refer to the soul, but to
the worms in the grave that consume the flesh of the lost. It is as though the lost will
know eternal decay, never regaining the full bodily existence that God made man for, as
the resurrection of the saved shows. And in this condition he will also know fire that is
never quenched. What a bone-chilling prospect.
We who are the Lord’s need not fear such a destiny, but the awareness of it
should cause us to seek the salvation of the lost. There are many ways we can go about
sharing the gospel. There are personal witness, the giving out of literature, the
supporting of evangelistic and missionary efforts by presence and contributions, prayer
for the Lord to send laborers into the harvest, with a willingness to be one of those
laborers. Whatever way the Lord may lead each one, we all need to support the sharing
of the Lord Jesus. He is the only hope of those who are headed right now for the
gruesome end depicted in our verse. Think of the fact that the gospel came to you,

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however it may have been. Thank God for the fact. And ask him to lead you as to how
you should pass it on.

God of salvation, I do thank you so much for sending the gospel to me and for saving
me. Please show me how you want me to participate in spreading this wonderful news
to the lost. Amen.

June 7. Jer. 1.4-5: “Now the word of I AM came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the
inward parts I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you. I have given
you a prophet to the nations.’” Jeremiah was a young man when he was called by God, but
the Lord told him that he was known, sanctified, that is, set apart, and given as a
prophet before he was conceived. His life was not his own, but he had been created by
God for his own purpose. His name means, “Yah will cast forth,” “Yah” being a
shortened form of I AM, the personal name of God. I AM did indeed cast him forth as a
prophet.
What is true of Jeremiah is true of all of us in some degree. The vast majority of
us are not called to be prophets to the nations, but we all have a calling from God, and
that calling has been in existence from eternity. It has always been in the plan of God.
Paul writes in Eph. 1.4 that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”
There is something that God wants done that no one but you can do.
Satan would have us get all worried about what it is. We hear much about trying
to determine God’s will. We need not take such an approach. We should ask God to
make his will known to us, but then we should go about doing what we know to do in
faith and obedience to God. If we walk with him in this way, he will lead us in his
calling for us. We may not even know it, at least for some time.
Another difficulty we have with God’s will is making excuses. We think we will
have to be a preacher or missionary and we know we cannot do those things, so like
Moses we say that we cannot speak well, or like Jeremiah, that we are too young. Any
excuse will do. But God does not want excuses. He wants surrender and obedience. If
he has called you to preach or go into missions, go, but more likely he wants you to
serve him in your everyday life, being a testimony to his grace, serving those in need,
raising children, sharing his love.
If you hear the call of God, obey. If not, be faithful to him where you are. He will
use you there, and if he wants to move you, he is fully able to do so.

Eternal God, thank you for the truth that you have had a plan in mind for me from
eternity. Please help me to serve you now where I am, and if you want me somewhere
else or doing something else, I yield to you to lead me there. Amen.

June 8. Jer. 9.23-24: “Thus says I AM, ‘Let the wise man not boast in his wisdom, and let the
mighty man not boast in his might, let the rich man not boast in his riches, but let him who
boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am I AM who exercises mercy,
justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,’ says I AM.” One of the
themes that we keep returning to in our readings is the matter of knowing God. We
have said that his greatest desire for us is that we know him. Now in our passage for
today, he says plainly that wisdom, might, and riches are no grounds for boasting, but
only the knowledge of the Lord. He does not mean knowledge about the Lord, but
knowing him personally.
There are some matters about himself that he lists here. First is the fact that he is I
AM, that is, the God whose personal name is I AM. He exists eternally, he is always
present, and he is, not has, all we need. Then he is the one who exercises mercy, justice,
and righteousness on the earth, for he delights in these things. It is possible to know
these truths about God without knowing him, but as we diligently seek him and ask
him to reveal himself to us, these facts move from the realm of intellectual knowledge
and become known to us by revelation. That is the great difference. We know God by
his revealing of himself, not by our study or reasoning.
It is difficult to tell someone how to know the Lord because he deals differently
with different people. There are some who seem to have no interest whatsoever in God,
and even live very sinfully, yet God suddenly reveals himself to them for no apparent
reason. Others seek God for years without making any visible progress. Most are in
between these extremes. All we can say is that God wants to be known by us, and if we
will seek him, he will make himself known in his way and time. One way of making
oneself receptive is to give up boasting in whatever one’s strengths may be, for such
boasting is pride, and God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Prov. 3.34,
James 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5).

Dear Lord, please do reveal yourself to me more and more. I thank you for the degree to
which I do know you, but I know there is more. I lay aside all boasting in myself and
boast only that I know you. Amen.

June 9. Jer. 29.11: “’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says I AM, ‘thoughts of
peace and not of evil, to give you a future and hope.’” These words were spoken by the Lord
through Jeremiah to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. He was assuring them that if they
would seek him, they would be allowed to return to their land after the seventy years
he had ordained for their exile (v. 10). He tells them that his thoughts toward them are
of peace, not of evil. Up to this point, the book of Jeremiah has consisted almost entirely
of God’s denunciations of his people and of his threats to destroy their nation and send
them into exile. Now suddenly the tone changes.

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One reason for the change is that the attention has turned from those still living
in Judah to those already in exile. There was a first series of exiles in 605 and the 590’s
B.C., but Jerusalem and the temple were not destroyed. Then the Jews remaining in the
land rebelled against Babylon and the city and temple were destroyed in 587, and most
of the rest of the people deported. Jeremiah prophesied all during these events. Much of
his prophecy was directed at the people still living in Judah after the first deportations
and before the destruction of city and temple. The words of our verse were in a letter
from Jeremiah to the exiles.
God’s purpose in the exile was not primarily punishment, though that cannot be
ignored, but the purging of his people. They were full of idolatry, immorality, and
injustice. He was forced by them to take drastic action to get their attention, as we might
put it. Now Jeremiah tells the exiles, whose attention has been gotten, that God’s
thoughts toward them are not of evil, but of peace. The word “peace” is the Hebrew
shalom, which really means much more than our word “peace,” signifying well-being in
general. That is God’s desire for his people, and if they will return to him, he has for
them a future and hope.
That same word comes down to us through the centuries. God’s thoughts toward
us are for our well-being in every way. He has for us a future and hope. It is up to us to
receive what he has for us.

God of grace, thank you for your grace toward me before I knew you and when I have
turned away from you since I met you. I choose to receive all you have for me. Thank
you for the assurance of a future and of hope. Amen.

June 10. Jer. 30.6-9: “‘Ask now and see if a man gives birth. Why do I see every man with his
hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces turned pale? Alas, for that day is great,
with none like it. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he will be saved from it. And it will come
about on that day,’ says I AM of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from his neck and I will tear off
his bonds. And strangers will no more make him their slave, but they will serve I AM their God
and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.’”
When Jeremiah had this word he was seeing beyond his own day, when there
was such pain that the men appeared to be in labor as a woman is, to the time of the end
of this age. The days of his time will seem as nothing compared to the day that is
coming, a great day with none like it. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, what is called in
the New Testament the great tribulation. During that time Israel will be all but
destroyed, but will be saved from it by the appearing of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Then the yoke will be broken from Israel’s neck and her bonds torn off. Up to
this point what Jeremiah has said applied to his own day, except for the great day with
none like it, but we know he is seeing the end from what follows: they will no longer be

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slaves, and they will serve I AM their God and David their king. They have been
enslaved many times since Jeremiah’s time. David their king had long since died. The
only way for this prophecy to be fulfilled is for the Son of David, the Lord Jesus, to
come to the throne of Israel. He will, says Jeremiah.
The time of Jacob’s trouble will be the final purging of his people by God. At the
end of it they will see the Lord Jesus and know that he is their Messiah. Rebellion will
be gone from them and they will bow to him and serve him as their King. And we will
share that glorious day with them.

God of Jacob, thank you for your promise that in the end your people Israel will return
to you, and that you have included me in your people in Christ. Amen.

June 11. Jer. 30.24: “The fierce anger of I AM will not return until he has done and until he has
caused to stand the purposes of his heart. In the latter days you will understand this.” One of
the great themes of the Bible is that God is a God of purpose. He has one great purpose
that stands over all, and he has many other purposes that go to the realizing of that
grand purpose.
We do not fully know God’s great purpose. There was something he had in mind
to do when he made man and woman and put them into his garden, but that purpose
was delayed by the fall into sin. Since that time God has been about the process of
bringing man back to the point at which he fell. When he has accomplished that task, he
will get on with what he had in mind at the beginning.
We know a bit of what that purpose. It involves the bringing of his Son to the
throne of the universe to reign forever with his corporate bride, made up of his people.
Then everything will reveal the glory of God. But exactly what will be done in that
situation we do not know.
One of the purposes designed by God to bring man back to the point at which he
fell is the raising up of a nation on this earth that would be his people, the nation of
Israel. But Israel has failed up to now. Another is the creating of a spiritual people, the
church, toward the same end. The church has not done very well either. It is full of
division, flesh, apostasy. Things do no look so good for the accomplishment of God’s
purpose.
But Jeremiah assures us in our verse for today that God himself will achieve his
purpose. It does not depend on Israel or the church, but on God. His fierce anger will
not turn back until he has fully done all he intends to do and caused his purposes to
stand. The fierce anger of God is capable of achieving its purpose.
Jeremiah did not expect the people of his day to understand what he was saying,
but said they would do so in the latter days, that is, at the end of this age. The New
Testament indicates that we have been living in the latter days since the first coming of
the Lord Jesus, so we do have some understanding. We know that God will bring his

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Son to the throne to destroy evil and establish righteousness, partially in the
millennium and fully after that, with his people reigning with him. Then we will move
into God’s original purpose. What can he have in mind?

God of purpose, how exciting it is to think of learning your plans for eternity and
participating in carrying them out. Please give me grace to be prepared by your
dealings in my life for that day. Amen.

June 12. Jer. 31.31, 34: “‘Behold, days are coming,’ says I AM, ‘when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” “‘I will put my law into their
minds, and on their hearts I will write it. And they will not teach again, a man his neighbor and
a man his brother, saying, “Know I AM,” for they will all know me, from the least of them to the
greatest of them,’ says I AM, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no
more.’” The writer of Hebrews quotes this entire passage, vs. 31-34, in his eighth
chapter, vs. 8-12, in support of his claim that the new covenant of the Lord Jesus is
superior to the old covenant. Under the old covenant, God gave his people the law and
told them that if they kept it he would bless them, and if they did not, he would curse
them. Their blessing depended on their obedience.
We know from the New Testament, especially the writings of Paul, that no one
can keep the law, and that it was not given to be kept, but to show that it could not be
kept, necessitating something else. That something else is a Someone else, the Lord
Jesus. Paul writes in Rom. 3.20 that no flesh is justified by the law, the reason being that
no flesh can keep it perfectly. Under the new covenant, God puts the law, not outside a
person as a standard to be lived up to, but inside him, giving the person the will and the
power to obey God. Our obedience is not perfect, any more than was that of the Jews,
but obedience to gain God’s favor is not his way. That law within gives us the desire to
obey God because we have already gained his favor by grace, and the power of the
Spirit is there to enable us.
The result of God’s law being put into our minds and written on our hearts is
that we will all know him. Not just the greatest, but the least, and indeed, the least may
know him best, for God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
strong. No one will have to encourage his neighbor or brother to know the Lord, for all
will know him. That is God’s ultimate goal for us, and he himself will accomplish it,
and has done so through the Lord Jesus. Many know God now, and in time, God will
bring the knowledge of him to fullness.

Covenant God, thank you for the old covenant that shows me my need of the Lord
Jesus, and thank you for him as he lives within under the new covenant, giving the will
and the power to know you and obey you. Amen.

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June 13. Jer. 51.37: “And Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, a waste and
an object of hissing, without inhabitant.” In a sense the Bible could be called A Tale of Two
Cities, Babylon and Jerusalem. We have noted several times that Jerusalem stands for
God’s people and his purposes on earth. It is the capital city of ancient Israel, and thus
represents that land and people, and the Jerusalem above is the mother of Christians
(Gal. 4.26). In the end, the people of God will be the new Jerusalem coming down out of
Heaven (Rev. 21.2). Jerusalem stands for all that is of God.
Babylon is the opposite. It stands for all that is not of God in this world. It began
with the tower of Babel when man tried to make his own way to Heaven without God
(Gen. 11.1-9). The word “Babylon” means “confusion,” and it stands for the confusion
of the world in spiritual and worldly matters as it tries to leave God out. Babylon is the
ancient home of astrology and the occult and a center of idolatry. It was the capital of
the empire that destroyed Jerusalem. That was done under God’s hand to punish and
purge his people for their sins, but it was overdone so that God promised to punish
Babylon (Is. 47.6, and see the entire chapter). Her destruction is seen at the end in
Revelation as God’s judgment of his ancient enemy, the world against him.
Jeremiah devotes two long chapters to the judgment of Babylon, chapters 50 and

They are summarized in our verse. Babylon will become heaps, that is, ruins, a
dwelling-place for jackals, a waste and an object of hissing, without inhabitant. It is
God’s plan to bring to utter ruin that symbol of all that opposes him, but not just the
symbol. He will destroy evil itself and all its miserable consequences. As Babylon passes
into desolation, Jerusalem will be established both as God’s capital on earth and as his
heavenly people. The city of God will prevail in the end, and eternally.
Eternal God, how comforting it is to know that you will destroy evil and its results and
exalt righteousness and peace and love and joy on the earth you made. Please help me
to know my place in bringing that about. Amen.
June 14. Lam. 3.22-23: “It is I AM’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his
compassions do not fail. They are new in the mornings. Great is your faithfulness.” It is literally
true that it is God’s mercies that we are not consumed. We would all drop dead
instantly if he did not sustain our lives. Life is of him, and of nothing else. We may say
that people and animals and vegetation reproduce, and that is very true, but they do
not give life. They pass on what they received, and that goes back ultimately to God. He
is life. He created life outside himself. He sustains life.
It is also true that it is his mercies that we are not consumed because of our sins.
We were all born sinners, and we all have committed sins willingly. We deserve God’s
judgment, but we have received his mercies. His mercies are available because his
compassions do not fail. He knows we have sinned, but he also knows that we could
not help it initially because we were born sinners. He knows that we must contend with

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our own flesh that wants to be its own god. He knows our weakness. He knows that we
live in a world where we are assaulted constantly by temptations, and that we have a
spiritual enemy who cleverly deceives us into sin. He responds to our condition with
compassion.
These compassions of God are new each morning. He knows what we faced the
day before and he knows what the new day will bring. He sees the difficulty we have
contending with all that opposes us each day and he feels new compassions.
We are unfaithful, but he has determined to bring us to maturity in Christ and to
bring us safe to his kingdom, and ultimately to Heaven, and he is faithful to his own
purpose. Thus he is faithful to us, for we are part of the object of his purpose. Paul
wrote, “If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim.
2.13). God cannot be what he is not, but only what he is, and he is merciful,
compassionate, faithful.

Merciful God, it is not possible to thank you adequately for your mercies, your
compassions, and your faithfulness. Lead me in being faithful to you and in returning
your love for me. Amen.

June 15. Lam. 3.31-33: “For the Lord will not cast off forever, for though he causes grief, yet he
will have compassion according to the greatness of his mercies. For he does not afflict from his
heart or grieve the sons of men.” All of us know the discipline of the Lord. That discipline
may come because of specific sin, or it may be his dealings with our sinful condition,
designed to put the flesh to death and make way for his life in us. The present passage
seems to be more of the former, the specific sin.
We do not live in a tit-for-tat relationship with God in which every time we sin
he punishes us in some way. He is merciful, as we saw yesterday. But if we persist in
some sin deliberately, he may be required to deal with us accordingly for our own
good. We will destroy ourselves if we persist in sin, not in the sense of losing our
salvation, but of destroying our testimony, our counting for the Lord in this life, and
our reward in his kingdom. In addition, we can work much destruction in the lives of
people around us. How many Christian families have been broken by the sin of father
or mother? How many parents’ hearts have been broken by children who turn away
from the Lord.
The discipline of the Lord is not something to be taken lightly. Heb. 10.31 says
that “it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God,” and this statement was
written to Christians. Rom. 2.4 tells us that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to
repentance, but if we refuse to repent and force him to deal with our sin, we may pay a
heavy price. Our passage today indicates that he can cast off, grieve, and afflict. These
are fearful terms. We can bring much suffering and sorrow on ourselves by refusing to
repent.

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Yet when God does so discipline, he does not inflict the pain from his heart. His
purpose in doing so is from his heart, for he seeks to correct us for our good, but the
pain is a necessity, not something he desires. And he will have compassion and restore
us to himself if only we will turn back to him. His discipline is proof of his love, as Heb.
12.6 says: “Whom the Lord loves he disciplines.” His mercies are great.

Dear Lord, please give me grace not to persist in sin, not to force you to bring me to
grief. Thank you again for your mercy and compassion. Amen.

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June 16. Ezek. 1.28b: “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of I AM, and when I
saw it I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one who spoke.” The first chapter of Ezekiel is
full of symbols that are very mysterious to us. There are the four living beings with
their four faces each, their wings and hands, the wheels within wheels and their
movements, and the appearance of a throne with something like a man on it. What are
we to make of all this?
The four living beings are angels, what the Bible calls cherubim (plural; the
singular is cherub), as Ezekiel tells us in Ezek. 10.15. They are the same as the four
living beings in Revelation. The Cherubim have to do with the revealing of the glory of
God in a way that man can see it and not be destroyed. The word “glory” in both
Hebrew and Greek has as its root meaning “weight.” That is, God is not a lightweight,
but a very impressive heavyweight. There is substance to him. What an
understatement! When the glory of God appears it is overwhelming. Usually in the
Bible it is associated with such bright light that anyone looking would be blinded or
even destroyed. It is the work of the cherubim to mediate the glory of God so that we
can know his presence without dying.
The book of Ezekiel is very much about the glory of God. Here in chapter 1 there
is Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God that leads to his calling as a prophet. In chapter 10
it is repeated, and Ezekiel sees the glory of God departing from the temple, symbolizing
God’s withdrawing from Israel and Judah because of their sinfulness. In chapter 44 he
sees the glory returning to the restored temple at the end of this age when God’s people
turn back to him.
The departing and returning of the glory of God tell us that God’s presence is
made known to us when we are living in a right relationship of trust and obedience
with him. When we turn from him, he withdraws his manifest presence, except in the
matter of conviction of sin. He is always with us, indeed, in us, but we do not know the
joy of his presence unless we are in a right relationship with him. His glory is
manifested when he is pleased with us. We know his blessing, even in difficult times.
Glory also has to do with reputation or fame. We speak of an army or an athletic
team gaining glory on the field of combat or play. We mean that they have
accomplishments that make them famous and give them a good reputation. So it is with

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the glory of God. When he is making his presence known to us, we see his greatness
and think highly of his character and works. There are few blessings in this life that can
compare with the sensing of the presence of God. That is glory!

Glorious God, thank you for the times when I am aware of your presence and for the
great blessing that is. Thank you, too, that your presence is with me in conviction when
I turn the wrong way, for that brings me back to your warm, comforting, joyous
presence. Glory to you! Amen.

June 17. Ezek. 11.17: “Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord I AM, “I will gather you from the peoples
and assemble you out of the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of
Israel.”’” Moses told Israel in Dt. 30.1-5 that if they disobeyed God, he would scatter
them throughout the nations, but in the end he would bring them back to their land.
Now we find Ezekiel giving the same prophecy in the midst of the scattering. He was
with the first round of exiles to Babylon before Jerusalem and the temple were
destroyed and most of the rest of the people were exiled. The first half of what Moses
said had come about. Ezekiel says that the second half will also.
You and I are living in the day when the second half has started being fulfilled.
We are seeing prophecy that relates to the end of the age coming true before our eyes.
After the first World War, many Jews returned to their land, but it was not a nation.
After World War II, in 1948, Israel became an independent state. And after seventy-four
years at this writing of violent opposition by their enemies who surround them, Israel survives. They
are overwhelmingly outnumbered, but God protects them. He has brought them back,
and there they will stay.
It is both exciting and fearful to see such things, exciting that we may be
witnessing the end of the age in our lifetime, but fearful what will come on the world
before the end comes. Israel, though in her land, will be virtually destroyed, hanging by
a thread when the Lord Jesus appears from Heaven to destroy her enemies. Christians
who are on the earth at that time will know terrible persecution. The entire world will
be under the fierce judgment of God.
But though it will be a fearful time, the Lord tells us not to be afraid. It is fearful
for those who oppose God. For those of us who are his, we can rest assured that he will
protect us, even if we have to die for him, for death is only the doorway to Heaven. And
we can be encouraged in our belief of what God says by the fact that what Moses
prophesied 3500 years ago, and Ezekiel 2600 years ago, is taking place before us.

Faithful God, I am encouraged by the fulfillment of your ancient word. I trust in you, no
matter what may come. Please give me your grace to live up to that commitment.
Amen.

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June 18. Ezek. 28.12-15: “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to
him, ‘Thus says Lord I AM, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the ruby,
the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and
the emerald, and gold, the workmanship of your settings and mountings, was in you. On the day
when you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers. And I set
you so that you were on the holy mountain of God. You have walked in the midst of the stones of
fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until unrighteousness
was found in you.”’”
We saw in our reading for May 17 on Is. 14 that Satan was originally a very high
angel, but that pride, the desire to take the place of God, was his downfall. Now Ezekiel
tells us more about his high position, and about his beauty and perfection, if students of
the Bible are right that this passage, like the one in Isaiah, goes beyond the king of Tyre
to his spiritual ruler, Satan. It is noteworthy that Ezekiel says that he was “the anointed
cherub who covers.” The cherubim are important figures in Ezekiel. We saw them in
chapters 1 and 10, and found that they have to do with revealing the glory of God in a
mediated way so that those who see it will not be destroyed. Satan was the cherub who
covers, perhaps meaning that he was the one closest to God who covered his glory,
allowing it to shine through, but in a reduced way.
It is also of great interest that when he is called “the anointed cherub,” the word
“anointed” is the same Hebrew word as the word “Messiah.” Isaiah tells us of Satan’s
desire to take the place of God. Here we see his desire to be the Messiah. It might be
more accurate to say that he wanted to present the Messiah, for just as the Messiah is
the Son of God, so Antichrist is the son of Satan, Satan’s false messiah.
Ezekiel goes on in v. 17 to reveal the same pride that Isaiah did. We see the
genuine horror of pride and our great need to be delivered from it completely. It is the
most spiritually destructive force there is. We say it once more: “God opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3.34, James 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5). And Ezekiel
shows the casting down of Satan and his doom.

Dear Lord, I see that all the beauty and perfection of Satan were gifts from you, yet he
took pride in them as though they were his doing. Please deliver me from thinking that
any strength I may have is my doing. It is your gift. Please help me to accept it humbly
and gratefully and allow you to use it for your glory rather than my trying to use it for
my own glory. Amen.

June 19. Ezek. 36.22-23: “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord I AM, “I do not
act for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the
nations where you went. And I will show my great name to be holy, which has been profaned

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among the nations, which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am I
AM,” says Lord I AM, “when I show myself holy in you before their eyes.”’”
We tend to spend so much of our time thinking about what we want God to do
for us, or even being thankful for what he has done for us already, that we forget that
God has his own interests. After all, we exist for him, not he for us. We are his creatures.
He made Israel to display his glory on the earth and to be a testimony to the Gentiles,
but they profaned his holy name by their great sinfulness. Thus he judged them.
One result of his judgment of Israel was that the Gentiles had said that the Jews were
God’s people, but he was not able to keep them in their land (v. 20) making God look

weak and unable to keep his word. Thus God says in
our passage for today that in restoring Israel to the land and making of her a great
nation, he is not acting for them, but for himself. He is showing the Gentiles that his
name is indeed holy. He is able to keep his people in their land. They were driven out
by him through their conquerors, not because he could not keep them there, but
because he was judging them.
Israel has been brought back to her land, as we have noted in several of our
readings, but she has not yet been restored to genuine independence and greatness. She
has to fight for her life every day. Her existence appears to be very precarious. We who
know and believe the word of God think that her existence is assured because God will
see to it, but for now she is a beleaguered nation. But for the sake of the holiness of the
name of God, she will prevail by his doing.

Holy God, please help me to realize that the universe, including me, was made for the
advancement of your interests. You are not mine in the sense of possession, but I am
yours. Please use me to advance your interests and glorify your holy name. Amen.

June 20. Ezek. 36.24-27: “For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all
the lands, and I will bring you to your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water on you and you
will be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give
you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put within you. And I will take away the heart of stone
from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my ordinances and do them.”
What is said here of Israel is also true of Christians spiritually. When God brings
his people back to their land and to himself, he will sprinkle them with clean water.
Water symbolizes the Holy Spirit. When one comes to the Lord, he is forgiven by means
of the blood of the Lord Jesus, he is washed clean of the defilement of sin with the water
of the Holy Spirit, and he is made spiritually alive by the entrance of the Holy Spirit
into his dead spirit. At the same time he is given a new heart, not the rebellious heart of
the old man, but a heart for God.
In dealing with David we saw the importance of the heart. David was the King of
Israel whose heart was after God’s own heart. Yet his people were hardhearted,

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stiffnecked, and rebellious. They resisted God and were determined to go their own
way. We also saw in Proverbs that a person acts out of what is in his heart. Israel’s
rebelliousness against God was only true to the nature of her heart. But God will take
away that heart of stone, that hard heart, and replace it with a heart of flesh, a soft heart.
What a wonderful thing is a heart that is soft before God, and toward his people.
And God will put his Spirit within his people, who will cause them to walk in his
ways. No longer will they be required to keep an external law by self-effort, but they
will have the will and the power to obey God within them.
All of these things are true of Christians now to some degree. When these things
are true of Israel, they will be perfectly true of us, as well as of them.

God of the soft heart, please do soften my heart toward you and toward your people.
Take away any rebelliousness and cause me to walk in your ways. Amen.

June 21. Ezek. 39.17-18: “And you, son of man, thus says Lord I AM, ‘Speak to the birds of
every kind and to every beast of the field, “Assemble yourselves and come, gather yourselves
from every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of
Israel, and you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the
blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of
Bashan.”’”
This gruesome picture is Ezekiel’s prophecy of Armageddon. John refers to this
verse in his account in Rev. 19.17-18. The armies of the earth will be gathered against
Israel and against the Lord Jesus (Ps. 2.1-3, Rev. 19.19). The meaning of “Armageddon”
is not certain, but the most likely understanding is that it comes from the city and valley
of Megiddo in northern Israel. “Ar” may come for the Hebrew word har, mountain or
hill, perhaps referring to a mountain in the vicinity of the city and valley. Whatever the
place, this will be the scene of the last great military encounter on earth in this age.
We do not call Armageddon a battle, for there will be no battle. The armies will
gather against the Lord Jesus and he will kill them all with a breath (2 Thess. 2.8). If they
fire a shot, it would be laughable if not for the horror of the situation of so many of
God’s creatures determined to kill God’s Messiah and rule their own lives and world,
and instead paying for their rebellion with their own lives and eternity. And imagine
firing a shot at a man who has been raised from the dead!
God calls this great multitude of bodies his great supper for the animals and
birds. He calls them to come and feast on the flesh and blood of those who thought they
were the great ones of the earth. Then the humble will inherit the earth. He calls it his
sacrifice. We saw in the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac that God provided his own
sacrifice for our sins. At Armageddon he will provide his own sacrifice for the feast of
the birds and beasts.

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This is a terrible picture, but we can give thanks to God that he gives man every
opportunity to repent, and that he will destroy evil from his creation. Righteousness

and peace will prevail because God will prevail.

Mighty God, thank you for saving me, and thank you for making salvation available to
every person. It is terrible to think of so many losing their lives, physically and
spiritually, in opposing you, but it is good to know that evil will come to an end. Amen.

June 22. Ezek. 43.4-5: “And the glory of I AM came into the house by the way of the gate that
faces the way of the east. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and,
behold, the glory of I AM filled the house.” Chapters 40-48 give the account of Ezekiel’s
vision of the restored temple, offerings, sacrifice, kingship, priesthood, and land. The
vision is of the millennial time, and probably extends on into eternity and Heaven, for
much of these visions is seen again by John regarding Heaven, as he reports in Rev.
21.1-22.5.
The interpretation of these chapters is not a matter of universal agreement. Some
think the temple that Ezekiel sees is a physical building and grounds that will exist in
Jerusalem during the millennium. Others do not think so, considering the passage to be
symbolic. It seems that the latter are probably right, for all of the aspects of Judaism that
appear in Ezekiel’s vision were fulfilled in Christ. Revelation tells us that there will be
no temple in Heaven because God and the Lamb will be the temple (21.22). We will not
need sacrifice, for Christ has been sacrificed once for all (Heb. 7.27, 10.10). He will be the
King on David’s throne. He will be the High Priest according to a new order, or rather,
the oldest order, that of Melchizedek (Gen. 14.18-20, Ps. 110.4, Heb. 6.20), replacing the
Levitical priesthood (Heb. 7.11, 18-19). The land, of course, will be restored to its
rightful owners.
In our passage for today we see the glory of God filling this millennial temple.
The glory filled the tabernacle when it was first put up (Ex. 40.34), and it filled the
temple of Solomon (1 Kings 8.10-11). There is no report of it filling the temple built after
the return from exile. But when Christ returns, the glory will fill the temple. We said
that we believe this temple to be symbolic. God does not dwell in houses made with
hands (Acts 7.48). His house is his people (Eph. 2.19-22, Heb. 3.6, 1 Pt. 2.4-5). His glory
will fill his people. We saw that God’s glory is his presence and his greatness (June 16
reading). His people will be full of his presence and will know him and his greatness
intimately.
Then in Heaven God and the Lamb will be the temple. This really amounts to the
same as God dwelling in his people, for a temple is a house where “a god” dwells. God
would not dwell in himself as a house. What is meant is that no walls of a temple will
separate God from his people, or shut them out from him. They will be in his very

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presence, and he in them individually and among them corporately at all times. What a
hope we have!

Great God, thank you for the hope I have of dwelling in your manifest presence forever.
Nothing is sweeter to me than those times when your presence is real to me now. What
will it be when there is nothing between? Praise you, Lord! Amen.

June 23. Ezek. 47.1-5: “And he brought me back to the door of the house, and, behold, waters
flowing from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the face of the house was toward the
east, and the waters were coming down from below, from the right side of the house, from south
of the altar. Then he brought me out the way of the north gate and led me around the way outside
to the outer gate, the way of the gate that faces east, and, behold, waters trickling from the south
side. As the man went toward the east with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits,
and he led me through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. And he measured a thousand,
and led me through the waters, waters that were to the knees. And he measured a thousand, and
led me through waters that were to the loins. And he measured a thousand, and it was a river
that I could not pass through, for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not
be passed through.”
Several times we have encountered water symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Here, as
in Rev. 22.1-2 (see Ps. 46.4, April 5 reading), we see the Spirit flowing out of the house of
God, his people, going toward the east, then turning south, as v. 8 tells us, and making
the Dead Sea a fresh water sea with life in it, picturing the Holy Spirit of God bringing
life in the place of death. The farther the Spirit flows the deeper he gets. The water of
life in the kingdom of God will be a flood. There will still be death in the millennium (Is.
65.20), but it is life, not death, that is the rule in the kingdom. Here death ends
everything. There life will prevail.
This is another one of those wonderful promises that we can look forward to. In
this age, life is ultimately tragic, for it ends. No matter how much someone may love
someone else, one of them will die, leaving the other bereaved, and then the other will
die. No matter how long life may last, it will end. No matter how good life may be, it
ends in the tragedy of death.
God did not make his world that way. We brought death into it by sin. In the end
God will do away with death, not just yet in the millennium, but there will be such a
prevalence of life that death will not end everything. It will almost be the exception.
Some will probably live through the entire millennium. Methuselah lived 969 years
when Satan was the ruler of this world. What will life spans be when the Lord Jesus
rules? And of course, there will be the knowledge that even if someone does die during
the millennium, that is not the end. God will have raised the dead in Christ for all the
world to see, and it will be known that in the end life, not death, will prevail! Praise the
Lord!

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God of life, how wonderful to know that in the kingdom age there will be a foretaste of
the victory of life over death. And thank you that we have a bit of a taste of it now by
your Spirit dwelling within us. Amen.

June 24. Ezek. 48.35: “And the name of the city from that day will be I AM Is There.” In this
age when we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5.7), for much of our lives we do not
have any awareness of God’s presence except by faith. We do not see him or feel him or
hear him speaking. Especially when we are in a hard place does he often seem to be
nowhere to be found. One of the experiences we desire most is the presence of God.
Ezekiel tells us in the last verse of his prophecy that the day will come when the
name of the new Jerusalem will be I AM Is There. We will all live in the experienced
presence of God. We are actually always in his presence now, but he does not make
himself known to our senses, so we often feel that he is not here. In that wonderful day
that is coming, we will not have that sense of the absence of God. The city, of course, is
his people. We could say that the name of the people will be I AM Is There.
The Scriptures seem to indicate that there will be people living in nations on the
earth even in eternity (Rev. 21.24-26). They will know the city, the people of God, as the
place and people where the Lord is. The nations will bring their glory, their most
precious treasures, to the city. They will come to be in the presence of God where there
is such blessing.
Ezekiel traces the history of Israel from his own time of exile and suffering
through her return to her land after the exile, her scattering to the nations, her ultimate
return, the terrible war at the end, her salvation by her Messiah, the Lord Jesus, his
restoration of all things, and then this glorious experience of living in a city known as I
AM Is There. Those who have always been the people of God since he chose them
thousands of years ago, will live in their land in his presence, and we who have come
from the Gentiles into Christ will share that experience of his presence without end.
Jerusalem will truly be at peace and will be a praise on the earth (Ps. 122.6, Is. 62.7).

Present God, thank you that you are always present with me and in me, even in those
times when you seem absent to me. And thank you for the hope I have of experiencing
your presence eternally. Amen.

June 25. Dan. 2.17-18: “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they would ask mercies of the God of the
heavens concerning this secret, that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the
rest of the wise men of Babylon.” In Ezekiel we saw the future history of Israel, if we may
put it that way, especially regarding the last days of this age and the beginning of the
next. Revelation views the same matters as they affect the church. Daniel covers the

time from Daniel’s day through the end of this age by looking at the future history of
the Gentiles.
In the verses for today we pick up the story of Daniel at the point at which King
Nebuchadnezzar had had his troubling dream and had demanded that his wise men
tell him the dream and its interpretation. Of course, no one could do it, so the king gave
the order that all the wise men be executed. That included Daniel and his three friends.
Daniel’s response was to ask for time so that he could fill the demand. Then he went to
his three friends and asked them to pray for God to reveal the dream and its
interpretation.
Here we learn a very important lesson about Daniel that is still vital for us today.
Daniel’s response to a crisis was prayer, and we will see later that he did not just pray in
a crisis, but that it was his practice to pray three times every day. Thus was he in touch
with God when the crisis came, rather than having to find him under pressure. The
point is that Daniel was a man of prayer. God revealed the dream and its interpretation
to Daniel, and then Daniel continued in prayer, not forgetting to thank God for
answering his request.
Many times when we have a crisis, major or minor, we try everything we can,
then when all else fails, we try prayer. We say that all we can do is pray, seeming to
mean that we are in a very bad place. We cannot take care of the situation, so we will
have to ask God to do it. But prayer should not be our last resort. It should be our first
resort, as with Daniel. Prayer is not all we can do. It is the most important thing we can
do. Let us learn from Daniel and seek God first, not last.

God who hears, teach me to see prayer as the most important thing I can do in any
situation, and that it should be my first resort, not my last. Amen.

June 26. Dan. 2.31-33: “You, King, were looking and behold, a great statue. This statue, which
was huge and whose splendor was brilliant, stood before you and its appearance was terrible.
This statue’s head was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its midsection and its thighs
of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” In his dream the king saw
the statue described here, and he also saw a stone cut without hands that struck the
statue’s feet and crushed them, and then the whole statue became like chaff and was
blown away without a trace.
Daniel explained to him that the statue pictured four great empires that would
rule. The first, the head of gold, was Babylon, the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel
did not name the next three, but they are believed by Bible students to be Medo-Persia,
the conqueror of Babylon, then Greece, the conqueror of Medo-Persia, and then Rome,
the conqueror of Greece. The stone cut without hands is the Lord Jesus, who will
destroy Gentile rule at the end of this age and establish a kingdom that will never end.

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Israel would be ruled by all these kingdoms. The last will probably not actually
rule Israel, but will virtually destroy her at the end of this age. The times during which
she would be so ruled are called the times of the Gentiles (Lk. 21.24). Because of her
rebellion against God, and especially because of her rejection of the Lord Jesus, Israel
would not know independence again until near the end of this age, except for a short
period between Greek and Roman rule. In the passage just mentioned, Luke says that
she will be trampled underfoot by Gentiles, and that is precisely what has happened.
Are the times of the Gentiles coming to an end? Israel is back in her land as an
independent nation. It could well be that in our lifetime we will see the Stone cut
without hands establish his kingdom that will never end.

Great and mighty God, it is good to know that you are sovereign over the affairs of
men, that you know what will happen, and that you have given your assurance of the
ultimate triumph of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

June 27. Dan. 4.26: “… after you have known that the heavens rule.” We have taken just a
part of this verse to show a very important truth. In its spiritual blindness the world
thinks that it rules itself. People run their own lives and governments run countries. But
Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the heavens rule. It is likely that he meant, not
Heaven, but the spiritual world. Scripture tells us in a number of places that the world
is organized by both God and Satan into a hierarchy of command.
Perhaps the best known passage in this regard is Eph. 6.12 and its context: “For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the world-powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenlies.” The heavenlies in Ephesians are not Heaven, for Paul tells us in this
verse that there are forces of evil in the heavenlies, and there is no evil in Heaven. The
heavenlies are the spiritual world.
We find that God has archangels, such as Michael (1 Thess. 4.16, Jude 9), and Col.
1.16 says that all things were created by him and for him, “whether thrones or lordships
or rulers or authorities.” These could refer to good and/or evil angels. The point is that
there is a spiritual world, and it rules the material world. Those people of the world
who think they are governing themselves are actually being ruled by Satan. The
spiritual is superior to the material.
It is Satan, under the sovereignty of God, who is the ruler of this world (Jn. 12.31)
and the god of this age (2 Cor. 4.4). He determines what will happen in his kingdom,
within the limits set by God. The same is true of God’s people, that he rules in their
lives. Nothing comes into our lives that he does not either cause or allow for our good,
now and eternally.
In our struggle against spiritual evil, one of Satan’s greatest weapons is
ignorance and deceit. If he can keep people from knowing what is going on, he has the

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upper hand. The world does not, and he leads them around by their noses. Many
Christians are not aware that our battle is against spiritual evil, and they are upset with
other people, thinking that they are the enemy. They are not. Satan is the enemy. Or
they think some material thing such as alcohol or drugs is the problem. They are not.
They are symptoms. The problem is spiritual. We need to understand this truth so that
we do not fight after the flesh, but in the power of God. The heavens rule.

Sovereign God, please teach me how to deal with spiritual evil, and help me to see that
it is the spiritual world that rules. Even though Satan rules this world, he is under your
sovereignty, so your people are safe in you. Amen.

June 28. Dan. 6.10: “And when Daniel knew that the decree had been signed, he went into his
house (now his windows were open in his roof chamber toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his
knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done before.” In
our June 25 reading we saw the importance of prayer as a first resort, and Daniel as a
man of prayer. Now we find him continuing that good practice.
He had risen to the level of one of three men in the kingdom who were over the
provincial governors. His colleagues and the governors were jealous of his ability, the
gift of God, and tried to find some way to accuse him, but he did nothing wrong.
Knowing that Daniel prayed faithfully every day, they came up with the scheme of
having King Darius sign a decree that no one could petition any god or king except
himself for thirty days. The king signed the decree. When Daniel learned that he had
done so, he went to his room and prayed with the windows open toward Jerusalem,
that is, in a place where he could be seen praying. He was accused at once, and
condemned to the den of lions.
Darius was very grieved, but he could not change the decree. He believed in
Daniel’s God, though, and told Daniel that his God would deliver him. He did so, of
course, and then the king had his accusers, along with their wives and children, thrown
into the lions’ den. It was not wise to arouse the wrath of an oriental despot!
Because Daniel was a man in the habit of prayer, three times every day, and
more than just a habit, a living encounter with God, he was not forced to try to get in
touch with God when the crisis came. He lived in the presence of God, always honored
him in every area of his life, and trusted in him completely. It is difficult to develop a
meaningful prayer life in a crisis because it usually takes time to do so, and there is not
much time in a crisis. It is better to spend time with the Lord every day, hearing from
him as well as speaking to him, thanking as well as asking, and worshipping him. Then
when there is an emergency, one will already be in contact with God and will not have
to try to find him.

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God of deliverance, teach me how to live in contact with you day by day and
continually. Teach me to pray in the way Daniel did so that I might live in your
presence. Amen.

June 29. Dan. 7.13-14: “I was looking in the visions of the night and behold, there came with the
clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought
him before him. And to him were given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples,
nations, and languages might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not
pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed.” This verse is one of the most
glorious in the Bible. It shows the end of this age when the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man,
comes before his Father, the Ancient of Days, to receive the kingdom that he will rule
forever. This is the scene that causes all the “Hallelujahs” in Rev. 19.1, 3, 4, and 6.
The Lord Jesus himself quoted this verse of himself on two occasions. In Mt.
24.30, in telling his disciples of the things of the end of the age, he said that after the
great tribulation they would see the Son of Man coming with the clouds. At his trial as
reported in Mt. 26.64, he told the High Priest, the scribes, and the elders that they would
see the same sight.
The fulfilling of this vision will bring to an end the times of the Gentiles, their
rule over Israel, as we noted in our reading for June 26, and it will also see the casting of
Satan into the abyss for a thousand years, during which time King Jesus will rule the
world in righteousness.
It is very instructive that the Lord Jesus was seen as a Son of Man. The term
means exactly what it says, a son of a man, a human being. It tells us that God the Son
became a man. It was his favorite title for himself. He stressed that he took on humanity
and lived among people in the same way they had to live. He had to earn his living
until his ministry began. He had to eat. He had to sleep. He faced temptation. He
experienced sorrow. He walked by faith as a man, not by sight as God. Because he took
this lowly place in obedience to his Father, and then went to the cross in obedience, he
was raised from the dead, and he will be brought to the place seen in our passage for
today, before his Father to receive everlasting rule. He is worthy!

Dear Son of Man, thank you for coming from the highest place to the lowest place for
me. Thank you for the promise of your receiving the rulership of this universe and
coming again to establish your righteous kingdom on earth. Please hasten that day.
Amen.

June 30. Dan. 9.2-3: “In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the
number of the years which was the word of I AM to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing
of the desolations of Jerusalem, seventy years. And I set my face to the Lord God to seek by
prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” We have emphasized the fact

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that Daniel was a man of prayer. Today we see what is perhaps the high point of his
prayer life. Daniel was also a man of God’s word. He had a copy of Jeremiah’s
prophecy, and he learned from Jer. 25.11-12 and 29.10 that the Babylonian captivity was
to last for seventy years. He realized that it was about that time, so he set himself to
pray and seek the fulfillment of this word by God. He cried out with confession of the
sin of Israel and Judah and pleaded for the mercy of God in restoring the people to their
land.
One result of his prayer was that the angel Gabriel appeared to him to reveal
additional events of the future. We will deal with that revelation tomorrow. For now we
want to see the role Daniel’s prayer played in the affairs of his people. It was not long
before Cyrus, the Medo-Persian ruler who conquered Babylon, issued the decree
allowing the Jews to return to their land. Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest led the first
group back, and they were followed by Nehemiah and then Ezra. These were the men
who rebuilt the city and its temple and reestablished the worship of God in Jerusalem.
They were well-known for their leadership and achievements.
As is always the case in the work of God, though, there was someone in the
background who took up the spiritual battle in prayer and won the victory in the
heavenlies before the work seen on earth was done. Daniel was that man. As far we is
known, Daniel never went back to the land. He gained no fame among the people back
in the land during his day. But he was the man God used to make the way for what
took place. In our June 27 reading we saw that the heavens rule. The real battle is in the
spiritual world, not on the visible earth. When Daniel prevailed in prayer, the way was
made for Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the others to do their visible work.
The same principle is true today. Behind every great preacher, teacher,
missionary, evangelist, or other well-known leader in the Lord’s work are people who
are unknown and unseen, but who pray for these leaders and, winning the battle in the
heavenlies, make the way for their work in the visible. They would not succeed without
those who pray. Many people say that they cannot preach or teach or go to a mission
field. Are you one of those? Anyone can pray, though such prayer is work and is
learned through the dealings of God. Perhaps God is calling you to be a Daniel, to
prevail in the spiritual so that the outward work may be done.

God of the heavens, please work in me to make me one who can pray with power in the
spiritual world. Help me to win victories there that those who work in public will have
the way made for them. Thank you for the example of Daniel and the lessons we learn
from him. Amen.

July 1. Dan. 9.24-27: “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish
transgression and to make an end of sins and to cover iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy. Know and discern

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that from the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a
prince, will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. It will be built again, with open space, but not
unlimited, in times of trouble. And after the sixty-two sevens an anointed one will be cut off and
will have nothing. And the people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the holy
place, and his end will be with a flood. And until the end there will be war. Desolations are
determined. And he will make a firm covenant with many for one seven, and in the middle of the
seven he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease, and on the wing of abominations will come one
who makes desolate until the consummation, and that determined, is poured out on the one who
makes desolate.”
Even though this passage is longer than we usually consider, we deal with it
because it is one of the key passages in all the Bible for understanding prophecy. Most
conservative Bible students believe that the “sevens” are weeks of years, that is seven
years. Seventy sevens, then, would be 490 years. That would be the length of time until
the end of this age. The decree to rebuild Jerusalem would be that of Artaxerxes in
March-April (by our calendars) sometime in the period 455-445 B.C. (ancient
chronology is not exact), authorizing Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. “An anointed one”
in v. 26 is thought to be the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, for “messiah” means “anointed.”
The cutting off of an anointed one in v. 26 would be the crucifixion of Jesus. The prince
who is to come is Antichrist. His covenant is with the Jews for seven years. In the
middle of that seven years he will break the covenant and make the temple desolate by
taking his place there and demanding worship (2 Thess. 2.3-4). In the end he will be
destroyed.
We will continue with this passage tomorrow.

God of the prophets, please give me understanding of the prophecies of your word so
that I may know what I should do with regard to them. Amen.

July 2. Dan. 9.24-27: “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish
transgression and to make an end of sins and to cover iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy. Know and discern
that from the going forth of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a
prince, will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. It will be built again, with open space, but not
unlimited, in times of trouble. And after the sixty-two sevens an anointed one will be cut off and
will have nothing. And the people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the holy
place, and his end will be with a flood. And until the end there will be war. Desolations are
determined. And he will make a firm covenant with many for one seven, and in the middle of the
seven he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease, and on the wing of abominations will come one
who makes desolate until the consummation, and that determined, is poured out on the one who
makes desolate.”

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If we calculate from the date of 455-445 B.C., when the decree was issued to
rebuild the walls, and add sixty-nine sevens, 483 years, we get a date in March-April in
the period A.D. 28-38, the month thought to be the time of the triumphal entry of the
Lord Jesus into Jerusalem, with that week ending in his crucifixion and burial, with the
year of these events falling in the ten-year period. Thus the first sixty-nine sevens fit our
calendars. But what about the last seven, which would be seven years?
The last seven years have been suspended because of God’s temporary rejection
of the Jewish people because of their rejection of their Messiah. The interval between the
first sixty-nine sevens, and the last one is the time we are living in now, the age of the
church and of the preaching of the gospel of grace. At some point in this age, and it may
be soon because of the return of the Jews to their land and establishing of an
independent nation, the final seven will begin. What will start that clock ticking we do
not know. Some would have thought the establishing of the nation of Israel would have
done so, but it has now been in existence for about fifty-four years.
When the final seven begins, there will be the rise of Antichrist to power and his
pact with the Jews. In the middle of that seven year period, he will break the pact, enter
the temple and proclaim himself there to be God, and outlaw all other religion or
worship. This will precipitate the great tribulation, as Matthew and Revelation call it,
the terrible time of Antichrist’s persecution of God’s people, Jewish and Christian, and
of God’s judgment on the evil world. That period will close with the visible return of
Christ to destroy the enemy armies, cast Antichrist and the false prophet into hell,
imprison Satan in hades, raise the dead in Christ and catch them up to himself in the air
along with those who are alive in Christ. Then he will establish his throne in Jerusalem
for his thousand-year reign. “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” Such is Daniel’s chronology of
prophecy.

Sovereign God, thank you once again for the promise of the end of evil and the coming
of the Prince of Peace and Righteousness. Please lead me in doing my part in
establishing your will on the earth. Amen.

July 3. Dan. 10.12-14: “Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that
you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were

heard, and I came on your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-
one days, but behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there

with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to cause you to understand what will befall your
people at the end of the days, for the vision is for days yet to come.’”
Daniel had had another vision and it affected him dramatically: he lost his color
and his strength and he fell into a deep sleep. Then an angel appeared to him and spoke
the words of our passage for today. The point we want to see is that this angel had
started on his way to Daniel when he had first prayed, but it was three weeks later

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when he reached Daniel because he had been opposed in route by the prince of Persia.
This prince of Persia was one of Satan’s angels.
We stated in our June 27 reading that both God and Satan have a chain of
command in the spiritual world. It is clear from today’s passage that Satan has spiritual
rulers of nations who influence what happens there. Because the Medo-Persia Empire
was ruling at the time of this vision, it was the prince of Persia whom the Lord’s angel
had to get by to get to Daniel. When he could not do so, God sent Michael, the
archangel and the prince of Israel (v. 21), to help him.
This passage further emphasizes that we as the Lord’s people are involved in a
war in the spiritual realm. There are evil angels trying to work for our hurt, but there
are God’s angels protecting us. We have the assurance, especially from Job’s experience,
that God will allow nothing into our lives that is not for our ultimate good. We do not
need to be afraid in this war, as the angel told Daniel, because we are under the
protection of the Almighty, but we do need to respect our enemy and to be alert to his
schemes. If we are walking in faith and obedience toward God, we are safe, not matter
what happens.
We need to know that we have an enemy, and we need to know how to deal
with him. We will learn more about these realities in our New Testament readings.

Almighty God, thank you for your assurance that in this war in the spiritual world we
are safe in you. Please teach me how to fight and to be victorious in Christ. Amen.

July 4. Dan. 12.7: “… it will be for a time, times, and a half, and when they have finished
breaking the power of the holy people, all these things will be finished.” Daniel saw two men,
probably angels, standing by the river. One asked the other when all the wonders of the
book of Daniel would be completed. The words above are part of his answer. We want
to see what he meant by these words.
All through the Old Testament we read of the rebelliousness and stubbornness of
the Israelites toward God. Many times he called them a stiffnecked people. He would
allow them to be defeated by their enemies in order to turn them back to himself. They
would do so, but no sooner had they gotten out of trouble than they rebelled again.
Finally God allowed the nation to be destroyed and his people to be sent into exile out
of their land.
They came back to their land cured of idolatry, but they continued their sinful
ways, and fell into a formal religion that had little if any life in it. Their ultimate
rebellion came when they rejected their Messiah and had him put to death. Then God
rejected them for a time, a time that has lasted to this day. During that time, God
allowed first the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, and then the destruction of the
nation in A.D. 135, with virtually all Jews being deported. In the more than eighteen

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centuries since then, the Jews have suffered mightily under the hand of Gentile rulers,
with many persecutions climaxing in the holocaust of World War II.
Yet with all this suffering, the stiffnecked people have yet to be broken before
God. They still resist. Many are atheists. Thus God will bring on them a time of
suffering such as has not been seen before. We saw on June 10 that it is called the time
of Jacob’s trouble in Jeremiah. In Matthew and Revelation it is the great tribulation. See
also Dan. 12.1. It will be the times, time and half a time, the three and one-half years of
Antichrist’s persecution and God’s judgment. It will be this time that will finally break
the rebellious people of God. “The power of the holy people” to resist God will be
shattered by the great tribulation. Then they will yield to God and own their Messiah
Jesus, and then these wonders will be complete.
The lesson for us is that God is also working to break the flesh of each of his
Christian people. How much will it take to break you? How much will it take to break
me? God will do whatever it takes, including great tribulation, because of his great love
for us. It is to our advantage to yield to him fully in all his dealings in our lives.

Dear Lord, thank you for the promise that you will break the rebelliousness of all of
your people, Jewish and Christian. Help me not to resist you, but to surrender fully as
you deal with my flesh. Amen.

July 5. Hos. 1.2: “When I AM spoke at the first through Hosea, I AM said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to
yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry; for the land commits great harlotry,
departing from I AM.’” The book of Hosea tells the story of the prophet Hosea and his
adulterous wife Gomer as a picture of the relationship between God and Israel. We
noted in our Jan. 27 reading that Israel is the wife of God. We have also seen much of
the unfaithfulness of Israel toward God. She was an adulterous wife, following many
gods.
God had Hosea to take Gomer back to show that in the end he would take Israel
back. Ultimately she will be the faithful wife of God. He told Hosea to name his
children Lo-ruhamma, She Has Not Obtained Mercy, and Lo-ammi, Not My People, to
show that he would reject his people, his wife, because of their rejection of him. Then he
spoke the words of Hos. 2.23, “And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained
mercy, and I will say to those who were not my people, ‘You are my people.’”
Peter quotes these words of the Gentiles in his first epistle, to show that they had
not received God’s mercy and were not the people of God, but they did receive mercy
and became his people (2.10). Thus we have a word to both Jews and Gentiles that in
the end we will all be recipients of mercy and will be God’s people.
If it were up to Israel to be the people of God, she would never do it because she
is a rebellious nation. If it were up to us to be the people of God, we would not be
either, for we are just as rebellious in ourselves as she is. Our flesh wants to be its own

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god. But because of his grace God chose Israel to begin with (Dt. 7.7-8), and he chose us
(Eph. 2.8-9), and he took Israel back many times, and he has taken us back many times,
and he will make Israel a faithful wife to himself eternally by his great love for her, and
he will make us a glorious, beautiful bride (Eph. 5.27).
Hosea portrays the persistent grace of God prevailing in the end.

Gracious God, thank you once again for your grace in saving me, putting up with me,
and promising to bring me through in the end. I do not deserve it. You are wonderful!
Amen.

July 6. Hos. 4.6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” It is important that God’s
people be knowledgeable about spiritual truth for more reasons than one. We have an
enemy. He has been defeated by our Lord, but he has been allowed to continue
operating so that God can use his efforts to purify and strengthen his people. This fact
of Satan’s defeat is one bit of knowledge we need. If we did not know that, we might
live in fear of him and even do things he wants us to because we think we have to. We
need to respect Satan, but we need have no fear of him, for he has already been defeated
by our Lord.
Further, Satan’s means of operating is deceit. Since he has been defeated, he
cannot make us do anything, but he is the cleverest and most ruthless liar ever. That is
why we need to respect him. He is smarter than we are. He knows more than we do.
And he is very good at what he does. If we do not have knowledge of the truth, we are
subject to being deceived by him.
During childhood most of us developed lies that govern how we function.
People who experienced serious rejection or abuse may have conscious or unconscious
beliefs that they have something morally wrong with them, that they are worthless,
shameful, incompetent. Many feel insecure or have no self-confidence. Many are filled
with anger that they are unaware of until it suddenly bursts out at a slight provocation.
Many are afraid without knowing why or what they are afraid of. Satan still uses these
lies to torment us and exercise some measure of control over us through deceit. A part
of the knowledge we need is that these beliefs and feelings are lies planted in our
psyches by Satan when we were too small to know what was happening. They can be
dealt with.
On the more positive side, God has abundant blessing for us in the form of the
fullness of the Holy Spirit, the gifts he gives, the fruits he produces. We are new
creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5.17), no longer the lost sinners we once were, but people in
Christ who are righteous and holy because of him. We are sons and daughters of God,
seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2.6). The power that raised Christ from the
dead works in us (Eph. 1.19-20, 3.20). We are free from sin and the flesh to be all that

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God made us to be. We are not alone, but are part of the body of Christ, where there is
help (Eph. 4.12-16).
If we do not know these truths, how will we live effectively as Christians? Satan
will deceive us and we will not know what is ours to claim. We will not lose our
salvation, but our lives can be destroyed for lack of knowledge. That is why it is so
important to read and study the word of God, and to fellowship with others who know
him and have grown in him. What we do not know can hurt us.

God of all knowledge, as I read and study your word, please make it alive to me,
revealing the truth I need to know in order to live as you want me to do. Thank you.
Amen.

July 7. Hos. 6.1-3: “Come and let us return to I AM, for he has torn, and he will heal us, he has
struck, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us. On the third day he will raise us
up, and we will live before him. And let us know, let us press on to know I AM. His going forth
is sure as the dawn, and he will come to us as the rain, as the spring rain that waters the earth.”
Just as God allowed Israel to fall into difficulties through being conquered and exiled,
and then brought her back, so will he bring chastening on us if we wander from him,
but he will bring us back. Even if we do not wander from him, he will deal with our
flesh, for it is ever with us in this age, and he is determined to take it to the cross.
We may know the tearing by God and the striking by God of our flesh, so painful
to us, but we also know his healing and binding up. He does not wound us in anger,
but in love, working to destroy that which would destroy us, the flesh. It is that we may
be filled with his life. We know that it is that we may be filled with his life because of
the prophetic word Hosea speaks here: on the third day he will raise us up. He smote
the Lord Jesus on the cross when he became sin for us, but on the third day he raised
him up, and the same resurrection life is available to us. As the flesh goes more and
more to the cross, it is more and more replaced with the resurrection life of Christ.
So, then, when we find ourselves in trials, we should realize that God is tearing
and striking at the flesh that we might know life, and should press on in that situation
to know the Lord. That is probably the primary way we do come to know him: knowing
his ways in dealing with us in trial, and in knowing those ways, submitting to him in
them. We do not try to escape the trial, but to find the Lord in it. That is why we have it.
If we will press on to know him in our circumstances, his coming is as sure as the
dawn. He will reveal himself to us and we will know him. He will refresh us with the
spring rain of the Holy Spirit coming on us and welling up in us.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your discipline and your dealing with the flesh. Help
me to yield, and as I do so, fill me with your life. Amen.

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July 8. Joel 2.28-32a: “And it will be after this that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and
your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men
will see visions. And also on the servants and on the maid-servants in those days will I pour out
my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of
smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible
day of I AM comes. And it will be that whoever calls on the name of I AM will be delivered.”
Joel is another prophecy of judgment on Judah for her unfaithfulness to I AM. It
deals with his immediate judgment by means of a plague of locusts, but then the
prophet looks far into the future and sees another day of judgment and then restoration.
In that restoration the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. There will be wonders
in the skies and on the earth. All who call on the Lord in that day will be delivered.
This is the passage, of course, that Peter used on the day of Pentecost. When all
those gathered to the location of the pouring out of the Spirit were wondering what was
going on, some thinking these people were drunk, Peter said, “…These are not drunk as
you suppose…, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel….” He then goes on to
quote our passage, saying that it was the Holy Spirit who had been poured out. John the
Baptist and the Lord Jesus had also said that the Spirit would be poured out, John by
saying that the Lord Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus referring to the
promise of the Father and power from on high. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled at
Pentecost, when the disciples were indeed baptized and filled with the Spirit and
received such power that three thousand were saved that day. They called on the name
of the Lord, as Joel said, and were delivered.
It is obvious, though, that the prophecy has not yet been completely fulfilled. The
Spirit has not been poured out on all flesh, but only on those who receive the Lord Jesus
as Lord and Savior. And the wonders in the skies and on the earth have not yet
occurred. Jesus made it clear in Mt. 24.29 that these would not appear until after the
great tribulation and just before his visible return. So we have a partial fulfillment, but
with the complete fulfillment yet to come. We can look forward to the day when those
who reject the Lord are removed and the Spirit will be poured out on all those who
receive him at the end.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your promise of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that he lives
in me now. Please fill me with him and keep me full, and hasten the day when he will
be poured out on all flesh. Amen.

July 9. Joel 3.11-15: “Come help, come, all the nations surrounding, and gather yourselves there.
Bring down, I AM, your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused and come to the valley of
Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations surrounding. Put in the sickle, for the
harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

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Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of I AM is near in the valley of
decision. The sun and the moon will be darkened and the stars will hold back their shining.”
On June 21 we saw Ezekiel’s description of Armageddon when God will destroy
the armies of the nations gathered against Israel. Today we have Joel’s picture of the
same event. Joel uses metaphors that are taken up in the New Testament. When he says
to “put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe,” he is referring to the gathering of the Lord’s
people to himself. The harvest is the Lord’s people. The vintage, the gathering and
trampling of the grapes, is applied to the judgment of those who oppose God. The
probable reason for this picture is that the grape juice flowing as the grapes are
trampled is like the blood of the enemies of God flowing at their judgment.
Revelation uses the same symbols in 14.14-20, with the Lord Jesus gathering the
harvest, and angels the vintage. V. 19 says that the angel “cast the grapes into the great
winepress of the wrath of God,” and v. 20 contains the picture of the blood flowing like
grape juice. Rev. 19.15 says that the returning Lord Jesus “treads the winepress of the
wine of the wrath of the anger of God Almighty.” He makes the point!
Our passage begins with the calling of the nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat.
The word “Jehoshaphat” means “I AM judges,” so that the nations are called to the
valley where I AM will judge them. Then we have one of those great poetic statements
in the Bible, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” The day of the Lord will
be the deciding day of the eternal destiny of multitudes. That is the day on which the
Lord Jesus will come again. It is then that the sun, moon, and stars will not give their
light, but the Lord Jesus will light up the sky like lightning from east to west (Mt. 24.27),
so there will be no need of natural light. Indeed, his brightness at his coming may be the
reason the heavenly lights do not shine as their light is simply lost in his dazzling light.
What a terrible time of judgment that will be for the lost, but what a great day of
rejoicing for those who long to see the end of evil and the return of the Lord Jesus.

God the righteous Judge, please prepare me for the day of the Lord, that whether I am
alive on the earth when it occurs or have already left this life I will be ready to face you.
Judge me now and cleanse me while it will be for my good. Amen.

July 10. Amos 4.12: “Prepare to meet your God, Israel.” Amos was a prophet sent to the
northern kingdom of Israel that had split off from Judah after the reign of Solomon. He
begins his prophecy denouncing the nations around Israel. He begins with Damascus of
Syria: “Thus says I AM, ‘For three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not
turn away her punishment.’” Then he moves on to Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and
Moab. One can picture the Israelites standing around Amos shouting their amens. Then
he comes to Judah, and the amens are especially strong because Judah receives the
special hatred of a close relationship gone bad.

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But then Amos cries out, “For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will
not turn away her punishment.” Suddenly his popularity wanes. Amos has stopped
prophesying against Israel’s enemies and has taken sides with them. What does he
mean denouncing his own nation?
Then Amos goes on to name a number of Israel’s sins and comes to the great
statement of our verse for today, “Prepare to meet your God.” How does one prepare to
meet God? If he is a sinner, he prepares by repentance, and Amos was telling Israel that
they had better repent. When a sinner meets God he meets him as Judge. When he
repents he meets him as Savior. Such was the message of Amos to Israel, for he
continues in 5.4, “For thus says I AM to the house of Israel, ‘Seek me and live.’”
Those same words ring down through the centuries to our day: “Prepare to meet
your God,” and, “Seek me and live.” To the one who is lost, the Lord would be Savior,
not Judge. To the Christian who is not walking worthily of his calling, the Lord would
judge him now and bring him to repentance rather than at the judgment seat of Christ
where he might lose his reward. We have seen the coming judgment numerous times in
our readings. Prepare to meet your God.

Dear Lord, please show me how you would have me prepare myself to meet you, and
do what you need to in me to prepare me. I want to be ready for your coming. Amen.

July 11. Amos 5.21-24: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn
assemblies. For though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept
them, and I will not regard the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from me the noise of
your songs, and I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll down as waters,
and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.”
The great sins of Israel in Amos’ day were injustice, immorality, and idolatry.
These three kinds of sin were related. In most religions of that day, the religion was
unrelated to life. So long as one observed the religious rites he could live his life as he
pleased. There was no problem with being immoral or unjust. In fact, many of the
religions had cultic immorality as a part of their rites. This is the temple prostitution we
read of in the Bible.
One of the truly great characteristics of God’s revelation is that one’s relationship
with God is related to how he lives. God does not want religious observance without a
holy life. God’s way is an ethical way: one who worships him must turn away from sin
and do what is right, and more, do the will of God for his specific life.
Thus does God say through Amos that he hates the very rituals he gave Israel to
observe. He hates them because they have become formal religion with no relationship
to life. The people of Israel can leave his temple and go to the temple of another god,
then go to a prostitute, then cheat a widow or an orphan. It is this last sin, injustice
toward the weak, that Amos is particularly burdened for in this passage and he writes

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another of those great lines of biblical poetry: “But let justice roll down as waters, and
righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.” God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hos.
6.6), justice and not ritual. We would do well to examine our hearts today and ask

ourselves if in our lives justice rolls down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-
flowing stream.

God of justice, please examine me for any injustice in the way I treat others, family,
friends, strangers, and make me a person from whom justice and righteousness flow.
Amen.

July 12. Amos 6.1: “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion.” Amos speaks a word to those
who are materially prosperous in Israel, yet who, instead of taking their prosperity as
God’s blessing and living lives of thanksgiving toward him, simply live for their own
ease. They are in Zion, the city of God. They are blessed, so everything must be all right.
Amos is a prophet of doom. Pay him no attention. But what Amos prophesied came to
pass, and Israel was destroyed as a nation, with the people carried off into exile. These
tribes of Israel disappeared and have never been traced.
As we think about our lives today in the United States, the wealthiest nation in
the history of the world, we should listen to this word of Amos. Are we at ease in Zion?
By Zion we now mean not Israel or the United States, but the church, the present
spiritual people of God. There is very little cost to being a Christian in this country and
in these days. Our lives are not threatened, nor are our freedom or possessions. We live
very comfortable lives. We attend our church services and then go on with our affairs.
While we are in a church meeting, in most places we are not likely to hear a prophetic
word such as Amos gave. We may hear a challenge, or we may hear words of comfort,
but seldom do we hear, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion.”
The effect of our prosperity on us should be that we first realize that it is God’s
blessing. Then we should seek his leading as to how we should use the opportunities
our affluence provides. All that we have is his, not ours. He has entrusted it to our care.
What kinds of stewards are we? Our thoughts at present are not primarily about giving
money, but more about giving ourselves. It is relatively easy for a prosperous person to
write a check, but there are many who need involvement in their lives. They need
someone who cares and shows it, someone who will be there in time of need.
God deliver us from taking our blessings as the occasion of relaxing in Zion. As
noted before, we are involved in a war to the death, and eternal death at that. We dare
not be at ease in time of war.

Dear Lord, thank you for the freedom and opportunity this nation provides, and for all
that you have given me. Please do lead me in doing your will in every way, with myself
as well as with what I have. Let me not be at ease in time of war. Amen.

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July 13. Ob. 17: “But on mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy, and the
house of Jacob will possess their possessions.” The little book of Obadiah is largely a
prophecy of judgment on Edom, the descendants of Esau who lived to the southeast of
Judah. When Judah was conquered by the world empires, Edom looked on with
delight, and even helped a bit. Therefore, says the Lord, they will be judged.
We need to remember also that Edom, like the great empires, was one of the
nations God used to bring judgment on his people. The problem with these nations was
not that they attacked Israel and Judah, but that they went farther than God intended
and that they gloated over the misfortune of God’s people. Our point is that Judah was
not walking with God, and thus they were not possessing their possessions, as Obadiah
puts it.
What were the possessions of Israel and Judah? We mention both nations
because the promises of God were made to them when they were one, though
Obadiah’s word is to Judah, and the fact that they were divided is evidence in itself that
they were not what God intended. We will use Israel to refer to all the people of God
from this point. God’s promises to Israel were based on their keeping of the law and
were material in nature. If they were obedient they would have peace, security,
prosperity, good health, and so on. These were the possessions they could have
possessed if they had kept the law.
Of course, they did not keep the law, and thus they did not possess these
possessions. They were continually at war with neighbors, with each other, with distant
empires. They were conquered several times. They knew times of prosperity and times
of great need. They knew disease. Think of all the physical maladies the Lord Jesus
encountered in his healing ministry. Obadiah prophesies that in the end there would be
those on Mount Zion “who escape” the judgments of the end, “and it will be holy, and
the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.” As we have seen numerous times,
God will ultimately bring his people to himself. His purpose will not fail.
What is the lesson for us? We also have promises from God. Ours are spiritual,
not physical. If we walk with the Lord in faith and obedience, we will know peace in
our hearts and minds, even if there is great conflict all around us. We will have the
security of knowing that no matter what happens to us, God will allow only what is for
our good to come into our lives. We will be spiritually rich, overflowing with God’s
blessing of himself. We will be spiritually healthy, not sickly and weak, but vibrant and
active. We, like Israel, can fail to possess our possessions, but we can also posses them
now, not waiting until the end. There will be a greater possessing when we get beyond
this age, but we can still enjoy God’s outpoured blessing now. Possess your
possessions!

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Gracious God, thank you for your wonderful promises. Please teach me to possess my
possessions now. Amen.

July 14. Jon. 1.17: “And I AM appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the
stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” In Mt. 12.38-40 some of the scribes and
Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus to perform a sign to prove who he was so they could
believe him. He replied, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign
will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” What was the sign of Jonah?
The Lord goes on, “For as Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three
nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”
The only sign to be given to the Jews was the resurrection, and they would have to
accept that by faith if they were to receive it. They did not.
Thus does Jonah prophesy the coming of the Lord Jesus. Jonah was a man who,
in principle, died. He was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish. What hope
could there be for such a man? He even said in v. 2 of chapter 2 that he was in the
depths of sheol, which is death and the grave or the place of the dead, and in v. 6, that
he was brought up from the pit, another name for death, the grave, or the place of the
dead. When Jonah was thrown up onto the shore by the fish, he was a man alive from
the dead after three days and three nights in the grave. This man alive from the dead
went and did the work of God with power. The name Jonah means “dove,” a symbol of
the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit does, so did Jonah convict of sin, and Ninevah
repented.
It is the same with us. If we are to serve the Lord effectively, we cannot go in the
strength of our flesh, but only in the resurrection life of Jesus. But the only way for us to
get resurrection life is to die, for resurrection life is by definition life from the dead. We
will have to allow the dealings of God to have their intended effect in us of putting to
death the flesh by submitting to him in them rather than trying to get him to get us out
of them. We must let ourselves be spiritually thrown overboard into the sea, and trust
God to bring us back from the dead. If we do, we, like Jonah and the Lord Jesus, will
know life from the dead and the power of that life in our service to the Lord.

Dear Lord, thank you for the sign of Jonah, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and for
the availability of his life to his own who will let the flesh go to the place of death.
Enable me by your grace to submit to your dealings with my flesh, and fill me with
your life. Amen.

July 15. Mic. 5.2: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, small to be among the clans of Judah, from
you will come forth to me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old,
from days of eternity.” When the wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem on their
way to worship the baby King of the Jews and inquired as to where he was, Herod the

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king called together the high priests and scribes and asked where the Messiah was to be
born. They answered that he was to be born in Bethlehem, and quoted this verse in
Micah. Thus was this prophecy of the Messiah fulfilled.
Bethlehem means “house of bread,” a name prophetic of the coming of the Bread
of Life from Bethlehem. Ephrathah, another name for Bethlehem, or perhaps a name
given it to distinguish it from Bethlehem in Zebulun, means “fruitfulness,” another
word applicable to our Lord, the Vine that supplies the branches where the fruit grows
and who pours out the Holy Spirit who produces fruit in those he indwells.
It is of great interest that an Old Testament book would speak of the ruler who
would come from Bethlehem as being “from days of eternity.” The nature of the
Messiah is not a developed concept in the Old Testament, and indeed, in the days of the
Lord Jesus on earth, the Jews were not agreed among themselves about the Messiah.
Micah makes it clear, in stating that he is “from days of eternity,” that he is divine. No
one but God comes from what we would call eternity past.
So we have in the little book of Micah prophecies that strengthen our faith in the
Lord Jesus as we see him fulfilling those prophecies even as a newborn baby who had
no control over where he would be born, that depict his life of feeding his people, and
that confirm his divinity.

God of the prophets, thank you for the prophets and for the prophecies they gave that
were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, and that thus strengthen our faith in him. Thank you,
too, that as we trust him, he proves himself within our hearts. Amen.

July 16. Mic. 6.6-8: “With what should I come before I AM and bow myself before the high
God? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will I AM be
pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Should I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, man, what is
good, and what does I AM require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God?”
Several times we have seen the truth that what God delights in is not religious
ritual, but doing what is right. In fact, he hates his own rites when they are done by
people who are not living as they should. In this passage, Micah asks a series of
dramatic questions to underline this principle, in particular as it regards being forgiven
for sin. Will burnt offerings and calves bring forgiveness? It is remarkable how many
times the Old Testament says that the ritual of Israel, prescribed by God, will not bring
forgiveness and standing with God. Those prophetic souls who really understood God,
insofar as man can, knew that all the ceremony was ineffective. Something else was
needed.
Would God forgive for thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil? How
poetic Micah becomes. No, all this will not bring forgiveness and a right relationship

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with God. God made the rams and the oil out of nothing. Why does he need us to give
them to him?
Then Micah reaches the height of his poetry with his next question: “Should I
give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
There were some even in Israel who practiced child sacrifice to appease their gods. The
God of Israel forbade such an abomination, and Micah sees that it would do no good
anyway. How could the death of someone else take away ones sins?
Well then, what does God want? Right living: justice, mercy, walking humbly
with him. That is all. And what Israel could not do under the law because the law
imparts no power to keep it, all can do in the One who can and did die for the sins of
others. He is justice, mercy, humility, and he will live those qualities in those who will
let him.

God of justice, mercy, and humility, please deliver me from observing rituals without
living as you desire. May the Lord Jesus live out justice, mercy, and humble walking
with you in me. Amen.

July 17. Mic. 7.18: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in mercy.”
The name Micah means “Who is like Yah?” Yah being a shortened form of I AM, the
personal name of God. Micah, Who is like Yah? asks, “Who is a God like you?” The
answer, of course, is, “No one else.”
What is so different about I AM? Many things, of course, but the one thing Micah
deals with in this passage is his mercy in forgiving iniquity and transgression. He is not
out to judge and condemn people, but to be merciful to them. He delights in mercy.
Sometimes it seems that some servants of the Lord are so judgmental that they
want as many sinners as possible to go to hell. That may be an extreme statement, but
that comes across sometimes. But God wants to save as many people as possible. He
loves people. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33.11). He has
pleasure in their repentance and coming to him.
All of us have to admit, if we are honest, that we have sinned and offended God,
and thus are deserving of judgment. Many seem to think that a person is saved by his
good works outnumbering his sins, but that is not what the Bible says. It says that the
law is the law, and if one breaks it the penalty must be paid. If we had to pay it
ourselves, condemnation would be our destiny. But our merciful God provided a way
for Someone else to pay our penalty so he could delight in showing mercy. That is the
God we serve.
Yes, he is angry with sin. He has to be, for he is holy and righteous and cannot
ignore what is opposed to his nature, but he is not angry forever. He deals with sin and
shows mercy. Who is like our God? No one else but he.

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Merciful God, thank you for being merciful to me, a sinner. Amen.

July 18. Nah. 1.7: “I AM is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who
take refuge in him.” The book of Nahum is a prophecy of the destruction of Ninevah, the
capital of Assyria. As such it is the opposite to Jonah, in which we read of the
repentance of Ninevah and her subsequent sparing by God. Ninevah returned to her
sins, and in the end was destroyed by a coalition of Babylonians, Scythians, and Medes,
and remains a ruin to this day.
Nahum was a prophet in Judah, probably in the seventh century B.C. Nothing
else is known of him. Because of his residence in Judah and the threats of Assyria
against Judah, Nahum’s prophecy would be an encouragement to the people of Judah.
They would welcome the news of the overthrow of such an enemy. Indeed it was
Assyria that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and deported her people.
The word of Nahum to his people in light of God’s promise of judgment on her
enemy is one of comfort and encouragement. Our verse for today is an example. I AM is
good. That is, he treats his own people well, providing for them and protecting them.
He is a stronghold in the day of trouble. Assyria had already overthrown Israel and was
threatening Judah. What should Judah do? They could not hope to prevail in war
against Assyria in their own strength. Should they make an alliance with another
foreign power and rely on it for help? Nahum’s word is that Judah should rely on the
Lord. In this day of trouble, he is the stronghold Judah needs.
Nahum adds that the Lord knows those who take refuge in him. It is a very
encouraging word that God knows us. Virtually everyone in the United States knows
who the president is and would recognize him on sight, but he does not know who the
vast majority of us are. If you met him, you would say, “Hello, Mr. President.” He
would say to you, “Hello.” He does not know who you are. But if you go to the King of
kings and Lord of lords and say, “Dear Lord,” he will reply, “Hello, – ,” with your name
in the blank space. He knows who you are. He watches over you continually. He is
always with you and in you. He has planned your life to the detail and is carrying out
that plan for your eternal good. He knows you. Take refuge in him.

Great God, how wonderful it is to know that you know me by name and are guiding
my life moment by moment. Thank you that I can take refuge in you in time of trouble.
Amen.

July 19. Hab. 2.3-4: “For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hastens toward the end,
and will not fail. If it holds back, wait for it, for it will surely come. It will not delay. Behold, his
soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him. But the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk
writes to the nation of Judah threatened by Babylon. He is told by God that in the end

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the evil world powers will be thrown down. His vision of that end relates to a time yet
future, its appointed time, so though it may not come at once, wait, it will come.
Against this backdrop of judgment and final restoration, we have one of the
great words of the Bible, one that inspired Paul to preach faith over against the law and
led Martin Luther to preach justification by faith alone: “But the righteous will live by
his faith.” The proud will not stand, the one who thinks he can save himself by his own
works (see Hab. 1.11, “those whose strength is their god”), but the one who trusts in
God will live.
Paul quotes this verse twice, in Rom. 1.17 and in Gal. 3.11, both times to show
that both Jew and Gentile are saved by faith apart from works of the law. If the Jew tries
to gain righteousness, and thus salvation, by keeping the law, he must keep it perfectly.
That no one can do. But if he, along with the Gentile, will put his faith for righteousness
and salvation in God rather than in himself, he will find them and live.
The writer to the Hebrews also quotes this verse in 10.37-38. The wording is a bit
different because he quotes from the Greek Old Testament rather than the Hebrew, but
the meaning is the same. He begins with v. 3 of our passage in Habakkuk, but he makes
an important change. Habakkuk says that the vision of the triumph of the people of
God in the end will surely come true. It will not delay. Hebrews writes, “He who is
coming will come and will not delay” (emphasis mine). That is, the vision will be
fulfilled by a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be the righteousness of those who
have faith, and he will be the restoration of God’s purpose. All of Old and New
Testament prophecy find their fulfillment in him. He is the subject of prophecy, and of
all the Bible.

Dear Lord, thank you that we do not have to earn salvation by keeping the law
perfectly, but that you give your righteousness to the one who trusts in you. I do trust
you. Amen.

July 20. Hab. 3.17-18: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, the
labor of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, the flock is cut off from the fold and there are
no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in I AM. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.”
Habakkuk sees the impending conquest of Judah by Babylon and knows that it
will mean the destruction of the crops and livestock. Nonetheless, he says, he will
rejoice in the Lord. How can a man rejoice in the Lord in such a situation?
He rejoices by faith, faith in what God has promised. Even though there will be a
terrible time of suffering, God will use the suffering as a means of purging and refining
his people of the sin and evil that would destroy them. And while the suffering goes on,
God has promised to be with his people at all times. He will never leave them. There
will also be a restoration, and more than just a restoration of things as they are in this

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age. A new age will be brought in by the Lord Jesus that will restore things to God’s
original intention.
Perhaps you are going through some difficulty or some barren time in your life
when it seems that all the crops have been destroyed. Can you take the position that
Habakkuk took, that no matter what, you will rejoice in the Lord? Can you rejoice by
faith, knowing that God will use this hardship to refine the gold of himself he has
placed in you? He is the God of your salvation, and your salvation is sure. He will bring
you through this experience into a place of abundance and joy. Instead of questioning
God and asking him to get you out of the trouble, praise him and ask him to accomplish
his purpose in the trouble. You will come to know him in the process.

Father, thank you for the assurance that there will be full salvation in the end. Please do
use my trials to achieve your purpose in me. I rejoice in you. Amen.

July 21. Zeph. 1.14-16a: “The great day of I AM is near, near and hastening exceedingly, the
voice of the day of I AM. There the warrior cries out bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm.” As most of the other prophets
do, Zephaniah prophesies of the judgment of Judah and her enemies and the restoration
at the end. One of the major themes of this book is the day of I AM, the final day of
judgment and restoration at the end.
It was the usual practice for the Jews to see the day of I AM as judgment for her
enemies and glory for her, but Zephaniah and other prophets make it clear that just
being a Jew will not save one on that day. It is those who are right with the Lord who
will be saved. Instead of a day of glory, it will be a day of wrath, trouble, distress,
devastation, desolation, darkness, gloom, the sounds of war. Thus it is repentance that
is in order as the day of the Lord approaches, and since we do not know when the day
of the Lord will be, repentance is always in order. And, of course, death will be an
individual day of the Lord for each one who dies before the end of the age, so it is only
wise to be right with the Lord at all times.
We as Christians do not need to fear eternal judgment at the day of the Lord, but
his word does say that judgment will begin from the house of the Lord (1 Pt. 4.17) and
that all Christians must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the deeds
done in the body, good or bad, that, is reward or loss of it. We must not blithely assume
that because we are Christians we need not give the close of the age a thought. We must
be ready, too, just as everyone must. It will be a day of judgment.

Righteous Judge, please enable me to submit to your judging now in my life so that I
will not be ashamed before you at the judgment seat. Amen.

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July 22. Hag. 2.3, 9: “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And how
do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?” “‘The latter glory of this house will be
greater than the former,’ says I AM of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ says I AM of
hosts.” Haggai and Zechariah were raised up by God when the Jews who returned to
Jerusalem after the exile ceased work on the building of the temple and left it
unfinished for about sixteen years. They called the people back to the building work
and the people responded, completing the work.
As the people worked on the temple, word came from God to Haggai again and
he spoke the words of our passage for today. He compared the new temple with that of
Solomon. It seemed as nothing in comparison, but then the Lord gave Haggai a word of
encouragement. In the end, God would see to it that the glory of the house would be
greater than that of the first temple, and in addition, he would give peace in its place.
There is an important lesson for us in these thoughts. In the United States of our
day we tend to see things on a grand scale. A small temple that does not compare
favorably with a former one just will not do. It must be bigger and better. But God says
that the increase and the imparting of glory are up to him. We should not be
discouraged if our work for the Lord seems small and insignificant. What matters is not
outward impressiveness, but faithfulness and obedience to his will on our part. He calls
very few to outwardly great work, but he calls all to something and he will measure us
by how we carry his direction for us, not by the greatness of someone else’s work.
The glory will be revealed at the judgment seat of Christ, and it will be seen then
that many works that were never heard of outside their small circles will be much
greater in God’s eyes that some of the famous works. It is the heart, the trust, the
obedience that matter. He will see to the glory.

Dear Lord, thank you for the assurance that my standing with you does not depend on
my doing something great, but on my trusting and obeying you, and on your grace to
keep me faithful and obedient. Amen.

July 23. Hag. 2.21-23: “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the
heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, and I will destroy the
strength of the kingdoms of the nations. And I will overthrow the chariots and those riding in
them, and the horses and their riders will go down, every one by the sword of his brother. On
that day,’ says I AM of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, son of Shealtiel,’ says I
AM, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says I AM of hosts.”
Zerubbabel was the governor of the first group of exiles that returned to
Jerusalem, as we saw in our consideration of Ezra 7.10, March 5. He was the governor
and Jeshua or Joshua was the priest. As the governor, and more importantly, as an
ancestor of Jesus (Mt. 1.12-13, Lk. 3.27), Zerubbabel was prophetic of the Lord Jesus as
King in the age to come. God speaks to him through Haggai and tells him that he will

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make him a signet, that is, the ring on his, Zerubbabel’s, finger that gives him authority
to act in his, God’s, name. He is, of course, prophesying the coming of the Lord Jesus to
the throne. In him Zerubbabel, as will David, will have a Son on the throne forever.
But the first thing God says to Zerubbabel is that he will shake the heavens and
the earth. He had already said this once in Hag. 2.6-8 in saying that he would shake the
wealth of the nations from them and give it to glorify the temple so that its latter glory
would be greater than the former. Now he repeats this word. This time he refers it to
the destruction of the nations that oppose him and his choice for King, probably a
reference to Armageddon and the events leading up to it. This may already be
happening as we see the turmoil within and among nations in our day. When this has
been done, Zerubbabel, that is, the Lord Jesus, will be the signet of God, the King acting
in his authority.
The writer of Hebrews quotes this statement in 12.26, actually quoting Hag. 2.6,
to make his point that God will shake the heavens and the earth to remove what can be
shaken, namely, created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. What
cannot be shaken is what is uncreated, what is of God. Thus is it vital for us to allow
God to form Christ in us rather than giving our lives to the accumulation of earthly
things. If we want to endure the shaking, we must have Someone unshakable living in
us.

God of the heavens and the earth, thank you that you are forming Christ in me so that
when he comes to his throne by way of the shaking of everything I will have him, the
unshakable one, living in me. Amen.

July 24. Zech. 1.14: “So the angel who spoke with me said to me, ‘Call out saying, “Thus says I
AM of hosts, ‘I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.’”’” One of the
themes that have recurred in our daily readings has been the Lord’s great love for
Jerusalem. Now Zechariah hears from an angel that God has a great jealousy for
Jerusalem and Zion. Zechariah, as was Haggai, was called by God to stir up the people
to complete the rebuilding of the temple after the exile, but he, as Haggai also did, saw
far into the future, past our day, to the time of the end. Thus do his prophecies speak to
his own day, and to all God’s people since.
Jerusalem and Zion are the earthly city that stand for all that is of God on this
earth. He loves that little piece of real estate in the land of Israel, as he loves that land,
but beyond it, he loves his people, for whom the city stands. He has always intended to
have a people who would have dominion over the earth in his name and who would be
in fellowship with himself. That purpose was put on hold by the fall of man into sin,
but God is now bringing man back to his original state by saving him and forming
Christ in him. In the end his purpose will be achieved.

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As we think about what the city represents, we need not to lose sight of the fact
that the city itself is also important. God chose the land of Israel to give to his earthly
people and he chose the city of Jerusalem to be its capital. We need to pray for
Jerusalem, for its peace and for it to be made a praise on the earth, and we need to
support what is right for the city. It is the place where he has chosen for his name to
dwell on the earth, and it is the place where the Lord Jesus will establish his throne
when he comes to rule the earth.
If God is jealous with a great jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion, so should we be,
both for the city in Israel and for the people and purposes of God.

God of Jerusalem and Zion, I pray now for the peace of Jerusalem and for you to make
her a praise on the earth. I know that by doing so I am praying for the return of the
Lord Jesus. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Amen.

July 25. Zech. 4.6: “‘Not by might and not by power, but by my Spirit,’ says I AM of hosts.” In
this word to Zerubbabel through Zechariah, God tells the governor that the temple will
be finished, both in his day and in the end, not by the might or power of man, but by
God’s Spirit. It is not the strength of man that accomplished things for God, but the
Spirit of God that accomplishes things in man. It is easy for us to think that we must do
our best for God, but the truth is that our best is not nearly adequate.
We are dealing with a spiritual enemy. We are trying to reach the hearts of
people for the Lord. We are trying to make the way for a heavenly kingdom. How can
we do these things in our strength? It is not possible. It is only by the Spirit of God
working in us.
Zerubbabel lived in a day of small things (Zech. 4.10). Only a remnant returned
with him from Babylon. He with Haggai saw the temple that appeared as nothing
compared to Solomon’s. He was working in a ruined city. But God told him not to
despise that day of small things, for the Spirit of God was at work in it. What began as
something seemingly insignificant would be brought to a place of glory by the Spirit.
We need to take the same word to heart. When what we are doing by way of
service to God seems so small that it is nothing, we must remember that it is not by our
power or might that anything will get done for God. It is by his Spirit. He is the one
who supplies power. The Lord Jesus said in Acts 1.8 that we would receive power when
the Holy Spirit came on us. The sooner we stop trying to do things for God and start
seeking his Spirit to work in us, the sooner we will be really useful to God. When the
task appears impossible, it is to human strength, but nothing is hard for God.

Almighty God, please fill me with your Spirit and teach me to rely on him within me
rather than on my own strength. Amen.

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July 26. Zech. 12.10: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and they will look to me whom they have
pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and will be in bitterness for
him as one who is in bitterness for the firstborn.” All through the prophetic parts of the Old
Testament is the theme that Israel will one day recognize and accept her Messiah, the
Lord Jesus. Here Zechariah makes a plain statement that cannot reasonably be
understood as referring to any other than Jesus. At some point in the affairs of the very
end, a remnant of the Jews will look to the Lord Jesus as he returns. Having had the
Spirit of grace and of supplication poured on them, they will see that he is the one
whom they pierced.
What could be clearer? The Lord Jesus had his brow pierced by thorns, his hands
and feet by nails, his side by a spear. This was done at the instigation of the leaders of
the Jews who wanted to be done with him. And we must add that the sins of all of us
pierced him. We cannot point fingers at any other group. We simply note here that
Scripture says that those who rejected their Messiah will realize who he is when they
see the one they pierced.
When they see him they will mourn and be bitter, not bitter in an evil way, such
as resentment, but in the way of inner pain over the death of a firstborn. They will see
what they have done and recoil in horror from their own deed. Yet they will have the
Spirit of grace, grace that forgives, and the Spirit of supplication, he who inspires
prayers of confession and repentance that receive the forgiveness. They will mourn
their sin and receive God’s forgiveness.
What a wonderful day that will be. Tomorrow we will see more of God’s
response to this repentance on the part of his people.

Dear God, how wonderful that your people will see their Messiah and mourn for their
sin of rejection of him, for that mourning is godly sorrow that leads to repentance and
salvation. Please help me to be truly sorry for my sins, too. Amen.

July 27. Zech. 13.1: “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity.” Yesterday we saw the remnant of the
Jews looking to and mourning over their Messiah, the Lord Jesus, when he comes, and
we saw the Spirit of grace receiving them with forgiveness. Today we see the fountain
opened to them for sin and for impurity. What is the fountain? The old hymn tells us,
“There is a fountain filled with blood.” Just as we as Christians have been saved
because of the blood of the Lamb, so will those Jews be who accept their Messiah. His
blood will wash them clean of sin and impurity.
The house of David is the royal line from which the Lord Jesus descended. Those
of David’s house who own their Messiah will have that fountain opened to them. The
Lord Jesus will be the King who reigns over that royal house with his human relatives

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gathered around him. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, those not related to the house of
David, will also have the benefit of that fountain. There will be a city of Jewish believers
who will join with Christian believers under the blood.
What began in the garden with the slaughter of an animal to make skins for the
naked couple to wear and found its fulfillment at the cross, the shedding of blood for
sin, will find its ultimate use in the salvation of the believing remnant. All the blood of
thousands of animal sacrifices over centuries could not remove one iota of sin, but the
blood of the Lamb slain for the sins of the world is effective for all sin. Those sacrifices
were made by the very people who rejected the Lord Jesus, but they will recognize in
him the fulfillment of what they had been doing and will kneel before the Lamb of God.
They, as we , will be redeemed with precious blood.

Gracious God, thank you for the fountain filled with blood that washes away my sin,
and will wash away the sin of your ancient people on that day when it is opened to
them. Amen.

July 28. Zech. 14.1-4: “Behold, a day is coming for I AM when your spoil will be divided among
you. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, and the
houses ransacked, and the women ravished, and half of the city will go forth into exile, but the
rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then I AM will go forth and fight against those
nations as when he fights on a day of battle. And his feet will stand on that day on the Mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its midst
from east to west by a very great valley; and half of the mountain will move toward the north
and half of it toward the south.”
This great passage tells us once more that the nations will be gathered against
Jerusalem, and we see that it will be all but totally defeated, with terrible destruction
and suffering, but then I AM himself will go forth to fight, and the spoil of battle will be
divided by the Jews, not by their attackers. We are told that his feet will stand on the
Mount of Olives. It seems certain that this is a reference to the Lord Jesus descending to
the earth at his return, for he ascended from the Mount of Olives and the angels told
them that he would return in the same way. We take this to mean bodily and with the
clouds, but a return to the same place seems likely, especially in light of this word in
Zechariah.
This is yet another passage in which I AM and the Lord Jesus are identified as
one. The verse here says that the feet of I AM will stand on the mountain. I AM is the
name of the God of the Old Testament, as revealed to Abraham and to Moses. Yet it is
the Lord Jesus who will descend to earth at the end of this age. Once more we ask how
some can deny the equality of the Lord Jesus with the Father when the New Testament
applies passages such as this Old Testament word about I AM to the Lord Jesus.

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When his feet touch the mountain there will be a great earthquake, splitting the
mount to the north and south, making a great valley through which the survivors of the
fighting in Jerusalem will flee as the Lord Jesus deals with the armies of the nations. V.
12 gives the graphic picture of the end of those who oppose the Lord: “And this will be
the plague with which I AM will strike all the peoples that have warred against
Jerusalem: their flesh will rot away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot
away in their sockets, and their tongues will rot away in their mouths.” A horrible
picture, but one which awaits those who will not repent and turn to the Lord, but
persist in trying to destroy his people and cast off his kingship. The rest of the chapter
gives the story of the glory of the Lord’s people and of Jerusalem in that age when the
nations come up to worship in Jerusalem, when everything in the city will be holy.

Lord Jesus, thank you for this promise of your return even in the Old Testament. Please
do not delay. We love you and we need you and we want to see your face. Amen.

July 29. Mal. 2.7: “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and they should seek the
law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of I AM of hosts.” The prophet Malachi tells us in effect that
there should be no need for prophets. It is the responsibility of the priests to preserve
the knowledge revealed by God and to teach the law to the people. If they did so, the
prophets would not have been raised up. Prophets are instruments of God for a time of
failure. When his people are not being and doing what they should, he calls prophets to
call the people back to God’s intention.
It is a touch of irony that Malachi says that the priest is the messenger of God, for
the name Malachi means “My Messenger.” The priest is supposed to be the “malach”
(messenger) of God, but if he fails in this role, God will raise up a “Malachi.” The very
fact that there are prophets reveals that the people of God are failing in their
responsibility to God, and that the priests are failing toward him and the people.
We have emphasized several times in the course of our readings that under
Christ, the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, all Christians are priests.
As such, we have the responsibility of preserving what God has revealed and of
teaching the people. The people would be the lost, who need to hear the gospel and
come to the Lord, but more particularly they would be younger Christians, those new in
the faith who need to be taught so that they in turn can exercise their priesthood.
It is a sobering experience for one to realize that he is called by God to be his
messenger, to tell those around him what God is saying. Most of us are not called to be
preachers or teachers in the church, but we are all called to bear faithful testimony to
what God has made known to us and what he has done in our lives. That is fulfilling
the priesthood that we all share in. If we do not do so, perhaps God will raise up
prophets to reveal our failure. God grant that we not need prophets.

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Dear Lord, thank you for those who have been faithful to teach me the truths of your
word. Please work in me and use me to teach what I have learned from you through
both study and experience. Amen.

July 30. Mal. 3.1-2: “‘Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare a way before me,
and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, behold, he is coming,’ says I AM of hosts. ‘But who can endure the
day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like a
launderer’s soap.’” Once again we have the play on the name of Malachi, My Messenger.
The first verse starts, “Behold I will send malachi,” my messenger. God has sent the
prophet Malachi to tell of another messenger he will send who will prepare the way of
the Lord. This one, of course, would be John the Baptist, of whom this verse is quoted in
the gospels (Mt. 11.10, Mk. 1.2, Lk. 7.27).
In this message the Lord points out that his people seek the Lord who is coming
and desire the messenger. They are operating on the assumption that they are right
with God although, as Malachi points out, they are full of sin. So God asks the question,
“Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” He will
not come to stamp you approved, but to refine you in fire and wash you with soap. You
will not be approved, but judged, by him.
We see this fact in the ministry of John the Baptist, the messenger who prepared
the way of the Lord. He was a preacher of judgment and repentance. He called the
Jewish leaders a brood of vipers. He said that the axe has been laid to the roots of the
trees and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down. He said that the
coming Lord would have a winnowing fork in his hand to separate the wheat from the
chaff, and that he would cast the chaff into the fire.
The Lord Jesus included the same element in his preaching. He also called for
repentance (Mk. 1.15), and he had harsh words for the leaders of the Jews. Mt. 23, for
example, is virtually an entire chapter of condemnation of the Pharisees.
We say that we long for the return of the Lord Jesus. We welcome his day. But
we need to ask ourselves how we stand in the light of Mal. 3.2. Will he find us repentant
and ready, or will he find us smug in our religious practices and in our certainty that
God is pleased with us? We need to ask God to examine our hearts and do whatever
needs to be done to insure that we are ready when he suddenly comes to his temple,
which is his people (see Ps. 129.23-24).

Holy and righteous God, please do examine my heart and do the work necessary to
prepare me for your coming. Refine me and cleanse me now rather than at the
judgment seat of Christ. Amen.

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July 31. Mal. 3.16-17: “Then those who feared I AM spoke one with another, and I AM listened
and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared I AM and
who thought on his name. ‘And they will be mine,’ says I AM of hosts, ‘on the day when I make
up my own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’” In
our reading for Jan. 15, we saw that God wanted Israel to be his “own possession from
among all peoples…, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The word there for “own
possession” is the same word that is used here in Malachi. So we see that God’s original
desire for his people will be fulfilled in the end.
This is a lovely picture. Those who fear the Lord and think on his name, who
love him and make it their aim to serve him, go through much in this evil world. Many
are persecuted. Those who do not know direct persecution are nonetheless distressed
by the evil on every hand. All who live in this world suffer and know sorrow. God
himself puts us through much by way of his dealings to bring our flesh to the cross and
to refine the gold of himself within us. Sometimes we wonder if it is really worth it all.
Does God really know and care?
Our reading for April 8 on Ps. 56.8 showed us that God has kept all our tears in
his wineskin and has recorded them all in his book. Yes, he sees every tear. He knows
every heartache. He hears when his people who fear him share him together, talking
about what he has done for them and what he is to them. Having heard his people so
speaking, he had a book of remembrance made. You are in that book if you fear the
Lord and think on his name. God says that on the day he makes up his own possession,
his special possession, that is, when he brings Ex. 19.5 to fulfillment, you will be a part
of his treasure. Whatever judgment some may have coming, he will spare you if you are
among those who fear him and think on his name.

Loving God, thank you for the assurance that you hear every word, see every thought,
capture every tear, feel every heartache that I experience in this world, and that you will
include me in your special possession if I fear you and think on your name. Please teach
me and lead me to do so. Amen.

Aug. 1. Mal. 4.2: “But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing
in its wings, and you will go out and leap as calves of the stall.” We might just as well
paraphrase this verse, “But for you who fear my name the Son of righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings, and you will go out and leap as calves of the stall.” V. 1 of
this chapter says that God will do away with evildoers, a picture of the judgments at the
return of Christ, but for those who fear him, that day will be like a day when the sun
rises in great glory after a rainy day and a dark night of evil, such as we live in the
midst of today.
The Son of God will rise, and he will have healing in his wings, healing for all
our diseases, injuries, and disabilities, spiritual, psychological, physical. We will be like

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calves who have been kept penned up in the stall for a long time that, when released,
just jump for joy. We are currently penned up in a world of evil, in a body subject to
temptation, sickness, death, in a battle with our own flesh that opposes God even while
we want to submit to him, in limitation of every kind. How we would be free! We will
be! All that will be done away with and we will not just leap as calves, but we will soar
as eagles.
What wonderful promises we have from our God. Yesterday we saw the promise
that we will be parts of his special possession, and now we see that beautiful Sonrise of
our Lord and Savior who has walked with us every step of the way in this fallen world,
indeed, has carried us most of the time. And we see his healing and liberation. Praise
him! Oh that he would hurry!

Father of the Son of righteousness, please do hasten that glorious Sonrise. Teach me
how to do my part to hasten that day. Thank you for such a wonderful promise. Amen.

Aug. 2. Mal. 4.5-6: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day
of I AM comes, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the hearts of the sons to
their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the earth with a curse.” The Lord Jesus said in
Mt. 11.14 and 17.10-13 and the angel said in Lk. 1.17 that John the Baptist was the Elijah
to come, with the last of these verses quoting our passage in Malachi. Malachi calls the
day of the Lord great and terrible, echoing his theme that it will be a day of judgment,
not just of the lost, but of God’s people as well. John fulfills this picture with his
warnings of judgment and calls for repentance.
Like his predecessors in the Old Testament, John was a prophet, someone who
heard from God in a living way with a message for his people. The Holy Spirit was
apparently not heard from in Israel from the time of Malachi, the last prophet, until
John appeared, a period of over four hundred years. He was full of the Spirit and
proclaimed the coming of one who would not only be full of the Spirit, but would
baptize in the Spirit. By his calls for repentance, John was turning the hearts of fathers
to sons and sons to fathers, of any who were at enmity, for that situation cannot persist
if one would be right with God.
When Malachi says that Elijah will come before the great and terrible day of the
Lord, he raises the question in our minds as to whether or not John was the complete
fulfillment of this prophecy, or if there will be another coming of Elijah at the end of the
age. John did come before the day of the Lord, but now it has been nearly two thousand
years before. Will he come again to complete the prophecy? The Lord Jesus raises the
question again in Mt. 17.11-12, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things, but I say to
you that Elijah has come already….” Is he saying that John was Elijah, but that Elijah
will come yet again? Perhaps so.

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Whether or not there will be another coming of Elijah at the end, the message
that the original Elijah and John the Baptist gave will be relevant at the end, for they
called the people of God not to rest in their name as God’s people, but to repent and be
genuinely ready for the coming of the Lord. It will be a great and terrible day. We must
have our hearts turned toward any with whom we might be at enmity.

Great and terrible God, please lead me in genuine repentance before you that I might
have a heart turned toward all your people and prepared for your coming. Amen.

Aug. 3. Mt. 1.1: “The scroll of the lineage of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.
Matthew begins with the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, first calling him Son of David,
Son Abraham, and then listing the ancestors from Abraham to his birth. We want to
consider the meaning of calling him Son of David, Son of Abraham.
Who was the Son of David? Solomon. Solomon was not the firstborn of David,
but he was the one whom God had chosen to succeed David, and God had promised
David that Solomon would be king. David is considered the great founder of the
kingship of Israel. He was promised that one of his descendants would reign over Israel
forever. When Solomon came to the throne, he was the first step in the fulfillment of this
promise.
The reign of Solomon was the golden age of Israel, with peace, prosperity,
security, blessing flowing like a river. If David’s reign typifies the victorious Christian
life, when one is in the land of promise and having to fight the enemy, but prevailing,
then Solomon’s reign typifies the millennium, that wonderful age to come when the
Lord Jesus will rule the world in righteousness. The name Solomon means “peace”
(Hebrew shalom). To say that the Lord Jesus is the Son of David is to say that he will be
the millennial King and the Prince of peace.
He is also Son of Abraham. Who was the son of Abraham? Isaac. Isaac was the
Son of promise. He was promised to Abraham and Sarah when she had been barren all
her life and both were too old to have children. And God had promised Abraham that
through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. In Gal. 3.16 Paul makes the
case that God had given the promises to Abraham and to his seed, pointing out that he
said “seed,” not “seeds,” and that the one seed (descendant) is Christ, and in 2 Cor. 1.20
he says that all the promises of God are yes in Christ. To say that the Lord Jesus is the
Son of Abraham is to say that he is the Son of promise, the promised Lamb provided by
God and the one in whom all God’s promises to his people are yes. It is in Christ that
we receive the promises of God, especially the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit
(Lk. 24.49, Acts 1.4-5, Gal. 3.14, Eph. 1.13).
He is the one who brings peace to our hearts now and will bring an age and then
an eternity of peace, and he is the one in whom all the promises of God find their yes.

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Dear Lord Jesus, Son of David, Son of Abraham, thank you for peace with God and the
peace of God, and thank you for pouring out the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit,
on your people, and for all the promises of God. Amen.

Aug. 4. Mt. 3.13: “Then came Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.”
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Why then
would the Lord Jesus, who was sinless, come to be baptized by John? The reason lies in
the picture that baptism presents. We noted in some of our readings in the Old
Testament that waters often symbolize death. Such is the case with baptism. God had
told Adam and Eve that if they sinned they would die, and Paul explains that the wages
of sin are death (Rom. 6.23). We have all sinned, so we must all die.
But the Lord Jesus died in our place so that from God’s viewpoint we died in
him when he died. When he went down into the grave, we went with him. When he
was raised up from the grave to a new life, we were raised up with him (Rom. 6). That
is baptism. When one is lowered into the waters, he is symbolically lowered into the
grave, showing that the old man has died (Rom. 6.6). When he is raised up from the
waters, he is symbolically raised up from the grave with new life. Baptism is a picture of
what happens to us spiritually in Christ.
The Lord Jesus submitted to John’s baptism because he wanted to give a
foreshadowing of the fact that he would go through the waters of death and into the
grave, and that he would be raised from the grave. He came as the Messiah. The Jews
expected the Messiah to raise an army and drive out the hated Romans, restoring Israel
to independence and greatness. By going through baptism, he gave a prophetic picture
that he would not be a Messiah who would kill his enemies, but a Messiah who would
die for them.
Thus we have at the very beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus on earth a
pictorial declaration that he would lay down his life for the lost.

Lord Jesus, your going through the waters of death took away my sins and my old
sinful man, and your coming up from the waters brought me into new life in you. I
thank you and praise you and worship you. Amen.

Aug. 5. Mt. 8.8-9: “And answering the centurion said, ‘Lord, I am not fit that you should enter
under my roof, but only speak with a word and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man
under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one, “Go,” and he goes, and to
another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this,” and he does it.’” A centurion, a
captain of a hundred men, came to Jesus and asked him to heal his servant. When the
Lord said that he would come and heal him, the centurion spoke the words of today’s
passage. The response of the Lord Jesus to this word was amazement, and he said that
he had not found such faith in Israel, and this centurion was a Roman soldier.

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The soldier had a clear understanding of authority and he carried that
understanding over from his military world to the spiritual world. He was able to
exercise authority over those under him precisely because he was properly submitted to
the authority over him. We might think that he would say he was a man in authority,
but he said he was under authority. That is a key to a proper understanding of
authority. He knew that if he acted properly in the name of Rome, all the authority of
Rome that he was under would back him up.
The centurion said, “I, too, am a man under authority.” When he said “too,” he
indicated that someone else was a man under authority, and that someone was the Lord
Jesus, who was properly submitted to his Father. Because he was under authority, the
Lord Jesus could exercise authority over what was under him, such as illness and the
demonic, even nature and death.
Many times we want to exercise authority without being properly submitted
ourselves. A good example is the question of a man’s authority over his wife. This
matter generates a lot of heat, and there is not always much light. The Bible says that a
man is the head of his wife, but it also says that Christ is his head, and if he is properly
submitted to Christ, he will not exercise his authority in his home in a wrong way.
Christ loves those under him. He died for them. If we love as he loved, headship and
submission will not be an issue unless there is rebelliousness on the part of the wife. We
are all under some authority, and ultimately the authority of God. If we submit to our
authorities, God will enable us to exercise authority according to his will.

Heavenly Father, if the Lord Jesus was submitted to you, how can I be any less
submitted? Forgive me of rebelliousness and teach me to yield wholly to you. Teach me
to be more concerned with submitting than with exercising authority. Amen.

Aug. 6. Mt. 11.2-3: “Now John, hearing in the prison the works of Christ, sent through his
disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the coming one, or should we look for another?’” John the
Baptist was given miraculously to Zacharias and Elizabeth to be the forerunner of the
Messiah. He apparently lived a separate life, even seeming to be a strange person to
those who knew him. He gave his life to his ministry, and was willing to denounce even
the leaders of the Jews because he thought he was doing the will of God.
He prepared the way for the Lord Jesus, he baptized him, he deferred to him. But
now he finds himself in prison, and Jesus is out preaching and teaching and working
miracles. He wonders what is happening. Was he mistaken about Jesus? He sends
messengers to ask him if he is the coming one, or if he should look for another.
What was behind John’s questions? John, as did most of the Jews, expected the
Messiah to be a military or political leader who would deliver Israel from Rome and
reestablish her as an independent nation. He looked for an earthly kingdom. The
problem was that Jesus did not meet his expectations. He would indeed set up an

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earthly kingdom, but it would be at his second coming, not at his first. At his first he
would preach the kingdom, teach, do good, lay down his life. The cross would precede
the crown. Because the Lord Jesus did not meet his expectations, John questioned
whether or not he had been right in seeing him as the coming one, and sent to ask.
It is often true that the Lord does not meet our expectations. We are told that if
we will give our lives to Christ he will bless and use us and life will be filled with joy.
We do so, and then we have trials and heartaches. God seems to be nowhere, or he is
putting us through the refining fires. Our Christian life is not what we expected. What
do we do when that happens? Do we question the Lord? Do we turn away from him?
Do we become bitter at him? It is instructive that John did not get an answer from Jesus.
The Lord said to tell him what was happening and added, “And blessed is the one who
does not stumble over me.” John died without getting an answer. What will we do in
this situation?

Dear Lord, it is true that you often do not meet my expectations. Please help me not to
stumble over you, but to trust in you in those times and to submit to your work in me.
You are the coming one. Amen.

Aug. 7. Mt. 11.12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of the heavens
exerts force and men of force seize it.” Please note that Matthew almost always calls the
kingdom “the kingdom of the heavens,” and he is the only biblical writer to do so. He
means the same as the kingdom of God as used by other gospel writers, but his term
shows that the kingdom is heavenly in origin and nature. This verse is usually
translated, “the kingdom suffers violence” (NASB) or in some similar way, but it is
difficult to know how to interpret the saying if that is the case. How can the kingdom of
the heavens suffer violence? How can any man touch it to do harm? It is of Heaven. It
cannot be seen. It is the sovereignty of God. His sovereignty does not suffer violence.
The verb can also be translated as we have done, “the kingdom exerts force,” and
it is much clearer when so rendered. By saying that since the days of John the kingdom
has exerted force, the Lord Jesus is saying that the coming of John and then of himself
began an invasion of Satan’s kingdom by the kingdom of the heavens. Satan is the ruler
of this world (Jn. 12.31) and the god of this age (2 Cor. 4.4). This is his kingdom. But
God moved to take back what is rightfully his from the usurper when he sent John and
his Son. They defeated Satan and established a beachhead in this world, and since then
the church has been expanding that beachhead by bringing people to the Lord and by
obedience to the will of God. Of course, the church has failed much, but there are
always those faithful ones who are victorious in the Lord.
What does it mean to say that men of force seize the kingdom? It means that
Satan opposed the invasion of the Lord Jesus – he tried to have him killed as a baby by
Herod (Mt. 2.16) – and he opposes us as we determine to come under the rule of God

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now and to share in the millennial reign of Christ. Satan will do all he can to keep a lost
person from entering the kingdom, and he will do all he can to keep the saved from
being ruled by God. We must exert force to enter the kingdom. It is a battle. But we
have all we need to win, for the battle has already been won. We have the victory of the
Lord Jesus as our foundation, the armor of God, and the indwelling Spirit. We can
indeed lay hold of the kingdom by the act of our will and by faith.

Sovereign God, thank you for the victories your kingdom has won against Satan. I am
one of those victories, for I have been saved from his kingdom, and I choose for you to
rule my life and trust you to do so. I seize the kingdom in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.

Aug. 8. Mt. 12.32: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but
the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of
Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven
him either in this age or in the one to come.” This is the much debated passage on the
unpardonable sin. We consider it not so much because it is personally meaningful, but
because there is so much confusion about it, and many who feel they have committed it
are therefore in despair.
What is the unpardonable sin? It is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but it is
more specific than that. It is attributing to the devil the work of the Holy Spirit through
the Lord Jesus while he was on earth in the flesh. The Pharisees saw and admitted the
miracles of the Lord Jesus. When they could not deny them, they said it was the power
of the devil that did them, not the power of God. It was almost as if they were permitted
to walk for a moment by sight rather than by faith, but still would not believe.
If the unpardonable sin is what we have said, then it could not happen at any
time except when the Lord Jesus was here in the flesh. He is no longer here in the flesh,
so that sin cannot be committed. Those who feel they have committed it can rest in the
assurance that it is not possible to do so. They cannot commit a sin that God cannot
forgive.
It is remarkable that there are those who feel that they have committed the
unpardonable sin, but they do not even know what it is. Is that not obviously the lying,
accusing work of the devil? If God convicts, he makes it plain what he is convicting
about, and when the sin is confessed and forgiven, it is history, never to be brought up
again by God, for it is just as if it had never happened. It is Satan who accuses of past
sins that have been forgiven and who tries to create vagueness and confusion. If
someone does not even know what the unpardonable sin is, but feels that he has
committed it, he can be sure it is the devil speaking to him. God does not deal in
confusion (1 Cor. 14.33). He is very clear.

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If you or someone you know is concerned about this sin, please be assured that it
cannot be committed in our day, for the conditions for its occurrence are not present.

Dear Lord, thank you for forgiveness, and thank you that there is no sin I can commit
that you cannot forgive. Amen.

(I am indebted to the Association of Exchanged Life Ministries for guidance on the
proper interpretation of the unpardonable sin.)

Aug. 9. Mt. 13.44-46: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field which a
man having found hides, and from his joy goes and sells all things, whatever he has, and buys
that field. Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a merchant, seeking good pearls. And
finding one pearl of great value, when he has gone he sells all things, whatever he has, and buys
it.” The kingdom of the heavens is first the rule of God in one’s life and then the
millennial reign of Christ. We saw in our consideration of Mt. 11.12 (Aug. 7) that we are
opposed in our desire to be ruled by God and to enter the millennial kingdom and we
have to fight for those blessings. Today we see that being ruled by God and sharing in
the reign of Christ are worth everything we have. They are worth fighting for.
The kingdom is like a treasure that is so valuable that one would sell everything
he has to get it. The kingdom is like a pearl that is so valuable that one would sell
everything he has to get it. There is debate as to what the treasure and the pearl
represent in these parables. Are they the church, which Christ found in the world and
gave his all to acquire? Are they Christ hidden in the gospel, which a lost man will give
all to gain? Are they the gospel hidden in the Bible, which a sinner will give all to
obtain? It is probable that some question could be raised about any interpretation, but it
seems best to take Scripture in its simplest and plainest meaning unless there is good
reason for another approach. It seems that the simplest explanation in these verses is
that the treasure and the pearl are the kingdom. It is worth anything it costs.
Why is the kingdom so valuable? Because being ruled by God will lead one in
the most blessed way in this life. His way in this life may not be easy. It may, in fact, be
very difficult. But it will be blessed, for it will be the way that leads to knowing God, the
formation of Christ within, and sharing in his rule in his earthly kingdom, and beyond
into eternity. We do not live for this age and this world. We live for the age to come and
eternity. What is of this age and this world will perish. What is of the kingdom is
eternal. It is worth whatever it takes to obtain the treasure, the pearl.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the treasure hidden in the field, for the pearl of great
value, for your rule in my life now and your promise of a share in your earthly
kingdom in the age to come. Please give me grace to submit fully to your rule so that
you can prepare me for the age to come and for eternity. Amen.

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Aug. 10. Mt. 16.16-18: “And answering Simon Peter said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.’ And answering Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, for flesh and
blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in the heavens. And I say to you that you
are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades will not overpower it.’”
The word “Christ” is the Greek form of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” To say that the
Lord Jesus is the Christ is to say that he is the Messiah. When he asked his disciples
who they said he was, Peter said that he was the Christ, the Messiah. He was the
Deliverer Israel had long awaited.
The Lord Jesus had come to this world incognito. He was born as a baby like
anyone else. He was a submissive son at home and probably worked as a carpenter
until time for his ministry. He came preaching and teaching the kingdom and doing
miracles, but he made no public claim to be the Messiah, and he even commanded those
who knew who he was to keep quiet. The knowledge of who he was came by revelation
from God, and he told Peter that that was what had happened.
Then the Lord gave Simon a new name, Peter, saying that he was Peter, and on
this Rock he would build his church. The Greek word for “rock” is petra, and Peter is
Petros, a masculine form of the same word. There is much dispute as to the meaning
intended by the Lord when he used these words. The Roman Catholic interpretation is
that he was appointing Peter the pope on whom the church would be built. However,
Paul says plainly in 1 Cor. 3.11 that “no other foundation can be laid than that which is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The church is founded on Christ, not on Peter. It is also Paul
who writes in 1 Cor. 10.4 that Christ is the Rock.
Peter himself writes in his first epistle that Christians are living stones who are
being built together into a spiritual house in which to offer sacrifices to God. He would
include himself among the stones.
Finally the Lord says that the gates of hades will not overpower the church. The
word hades has unfortunately been translated “hell” in the KJV, but that is not what it
means. The Greek word for “hell” is gehenna. Hades is not hell, but death, the grave,
and the prison of the lost dead who await final judgment and hell (2 Pt. 2.4, where tartarus is the same as hades, and Jude 6). All who die go into
hades in the sense of the death and the grave. The lost dead go to hades as the prison.
What the Lord Jesus means by these words is not that hell will assault the church and
the church will prevail, but that death and the grave cannot hold Christians. They will
be raised from the dead. They will be victorious over death. The verse has nothing to do
with hell, but with the resurrection of Christians at the return of Christ.

Lord Jesus, you are indeed the Messiah. You are the Rock on which the church is built
and on which my life is built. You are the one alive from the dead who will raise your
people at your return. Thank you for these wonderful truths. Amen.

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Aug. 11. Mt. 18.23-24: “Therefore the kingdom of the heavens is likened to a man, a king, who
wanted to settle accounts with his slaves, but when he began to settle, one debtor of ten thousand
talents was brought to him.” This parable, which one should read in full before
proceeding with these thoughts, compares how much God has forgiven us with how
much we forgive others. This slave owed his master ten thousand talents. A talent was a
Roman-Greek monetary measure equal to about six thousand days’ wages for common
labor. Thus ten thousand talents would be 60,000,000 days’ or 200,000 years’, labor. The
Lord Jesus uses this gross exaggeration to show the absurdity of man trying to repay his
debt of sin to God. In addition, what slave would ever be able to borrow such a sum
from his master?
The slave which this slave later refused to forgive owed him the equivalent of
about one hundred days’ labor. These two amounts show how much we owe God, if we
put our sin in monetary terms, and how much we have been offended by others. It is far
beyond impossible for us to pay our debt to God, or to put it another way, to earn
salvation. Yet it is easy for us to hold another accountable for a relatively minor
incident. Should we not forgive small offenses when we have been forgiven so much?
But leave aside the matter of forgiving others. Consider the grace of God shown
in what we have been forgiven. If you literally had to work for 200,000 years to gain
salvation, what would your chances be? That is 2587 lifetimes based on seventy years.
You will not live that long in this age! All of this is intended by the Lord to reveal to us
the staggering amount of our sin seen as debt to God, and his overwhelming grace in
forgiving us. And more, he himself did what it took to provide forgiveness in becoming
a man and dying for us.

How can we not fall on our faces before him in gratitude and worship?
God of grace, it is not possible for me to comprehend what you have done for me. All I
can do is say poor words of thanks, and worship you. Thank you. I worship you. Amen.

Aug. 12. Mt. 22.20-21: “And he said to them, ‘Whose are the image and inscription?’ They said
to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give then the things of Caesar to Caesar and the things
of God to God.’” The Pharisees and Herodians, mortal enemies who had joined together
to try to destroy the Lord Jesus, asked him if it was permissible to pay taxes to Caesar.
He asked for a coin, and they had one. The Herodians would be expected to have
Caesar’s money, for they supported him, but the Pharisees either had one or were allied
with those who did. They might hate Caesar, but they had and used his money.
The real point of the story, though, seems to lie in the matter of the image. When
the Lord Jesus asked his enemies whose image and inscription were on the coin, they
said. “Caesar’s,” and he told them, “Give then the things of Caesar to Caesar…,”
meaning that whatever had Caesar’s image was his and should be given to him. Then
he added, “… and the things of God to God.”

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If we take the two statements as parallel, we would have to ask what bears the
image and inscription of God. What does? You do. I do. We are made in the image of
God. Then give the things of God to God. Give him yourself.
It is only right that we do so, for we are his in two ways. He made us. Is not
something made the property of its maker? And when we sold ourselves into slavery to
sin he bought us back at great price, at the cost of the blood of the Lord Jesus. We are
bought and paid for.
We give ourselves to him first of all by accepting what he has done to redeem us,
receiving Christ as Savior by trusting in him. Then we surrender our lives to him,
asking him to be Lord of our lives. He is free to do with us as he will and to use us as he
will. We may not like the imagery, but the Bible says that we are God’s slaves. A master
can do as he pleases with his slaves. Yet we know that slavery to him is freedom indeed,
freedom from self and sin and their consequences. To give ourselves to him whose
image we bear is to gain ourselves eternally.

Creator God, I bear your image. I am yours. I freely give myself to you. Thank you for
the freedom that comes with slavery to you. Amen.

Aug. 13. Mt. 25.1-4: “Then the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom, but five of them were foolish and five prudent.
For the foolish ones took their lamps, but did not take oil with them, but the prudent ones took oil
in the containers with their lamps.” The parable of the ten virgins brings up the matter of
reward in the millennial kingdom of Christ. All ten were Christians, for a virgin is a
symbol of the Christian in the New Testament. But five were prudent and five were
foolish.
The prudent took extra oil in case the bridegroom delayed. The foolish did not.
When he did delay, they all went to sleep, which probably means that they died. When
he did finally come and the call came to rise and meet him, the prudent were ready
with extra oil to keep their lamps burning, but the foolish were not. While they were
away buying oil, the bridegroom came and took those who were ready. When the
foolish virgins later asked to be admitted to the wedding feast, he would not admit
them.
The oil is the Holy Spirit. The prudent virgins had extra oil. That is, during their
lives on earth they were surrendered to God and filled with his Spirit. They were
faithful and obedient. They allowed the Spirit to do the work necessary in them to do
away with the flesh and increase their capacity for him. They went through the refining
fires in submission. Thus the Spirit was indeed able to increase their capacity and fill
them with extra oil.
The foolish were not so fully surrendered to the Lord. They did not seek to be
full of the Spirit. They believed in God, but they had difficulty trusting him in hard

circumstances and tried to work things out the best they could. Their obedience was off
and on. They resisted the dealings of God with them, asserting their flesh against the
work of the Holy Spirit. They complained and did all they could to escape the fires of
refinement. The Spirit was not able to increase their capacity very much because the
flesh would not be taken away, so he could not fill them with extra oil.
When the midnight call came, the call to rise from the grave, the prudent were
ready to join the Bridegroom at the wedding feast. The foolish were not. They were
saved, but they missed being a part of the bride of Christ, celebrating the wedding feast
with him, and reigning with him in the millennium. You will not lose your salvation,
but you surely can lose your reward. Choose now to be a wise virgin.

Heavenly Father, I do want to be at the wedding feast of the Lamb, to be a part of his
bride, and to reign with him in his kingdom. I choose now to surrender fully to you and
to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with my flesh and increase my capacity for him. I want
to have extra oil. Please do fill me with your Spirit. Amen.

Aug. 14. Mt. 26.36: “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the
disciples, ‘Sit here while I go there and pray.’” On the night before he was crucified, our
Lord Jesus took the disciples from the last supper to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
He knew what he was facing, and he knew that as a human being he must go to the
Father in prayer to gain the victory there before he faced the physical cross. Yes, he was
God in the flesh, but he voluntarily and deliberately lived as a man, not as God.
There in the garden he agonized in prayer, asking that the cup might pass from
him if possible. Matthew tells us that he was sorrowful and distressed. Luke tells us that
he sweat blood. Yet he came to the victory in the heavenlies, the spiritual world, and
submitted to the will of God: “Not my will, but yours be done.”
The word Gethsemane means “oil press,” the press in which olives were put to
press out the oil. As the olives were crushed, the oil flowed. Oil symbolizes the Holy
Spirit. It was the death of the Lord Jesus which took away our sins and made it possible
for us to receive the Holy Spirit who would make us alive toward God, thus saving us
from hell and making Heaven our eternal home. As the Lord Jesus went into the oil
press of the cross and was crushed for our sins, the oil of the Holy Spirit flowed. As
Peter put it at Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2.33, “Therefore having been exalted to the
right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father,
he has poured forth this which you see and hear.”
We saw in our reading for May 28 on Is. 53.10 that it pleased God to crush him.
In the oil press he was crushed. The result is the pouring out of the oil of the Holy
Spirit.

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Dear Lord Jesus, what great lengths you went to in order for me to have the life of the
Holy Spirit in me. You were crushed that I might live. I bow before you in worship.
Amen.

Aug. 15. Mt. 27.50: “But Jesus again crying with a great voice dismissed the spirit.” The Lord
Jesus was born of a virgin without a human father, so he was not born as a fallen son of
Adam. He was not born in sin with a sinful nature that had no choice but to sin. He had
the same choice that Adam had, to sin or not. All sons and daughters of Adam are
stillborn spiritually, but the Lord was born with a spirit alive toward God.
In addition, death is the penalty for sin. Since he had no sin, he was not subject to
death. He said in Jn. 10. 17-18, “Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my
life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have
authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. This commandment I
received from my Father.”
In Jn. 19.10-11 we read of Pilate’s amazement that Jesus did not defend himself.
He asked the Lord, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to
release you and I have authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would not have
any authority over me unless it had been given to you from above.”
Then we come to our verse for today that says that the Lord Jesus dismissed his
spirit. That is, he did not passively die. His life was not taken from him. When he knew
that the work was finished and the penalty for sin had been paid, he laid his life down.
He dismissed his spirit.
So we see the Lord Jesus reigning in this life over every circumstance. No matter
what he was involved in, he was always in charge. If a miracle was needed, he was able
to rule over nature, illness, demons, even death. If he was in a dispute with his enemies,
he always had the right word to say to silence them. If he was dealing with his disciples
or a sinful person, he always knew just what to say to meet the need. And when the
time came to die, he was in charge. He knew the moment of death chosen by his Father
and he dismissed his spirit. Our Lord was and is King. He ruled over every situation in
his life on this earth, he rules now, and he will come back to this earth to begin his reign
that will extend through a thousand years and for eternity.

Dear Lord Jesus, I am thankful that even at your death you were in control. No one took
your life, but you laid it down for me, and for all. Your life was truly given for the
world. Amen.

Aug. 16. Mt. 27.51: “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom into two….”
The tabernacle of the Jews in the days of Moses and beyond was the place where
God dwelt among his people. So was the temple built by Solomon. But both of these
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into the Holy Place, and no one but the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies,
and he could go only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Between the
Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was a heavy veil that no one could pass but the High
Priest on that one day in the year. Thus, even though God dwelt among his people, they
could not go into his very presence, but had to worship him from a distance. Even the
High Priest could not dwell in his presence.
The gospels tell us that when the Lord Jesus died, that veil in the temple was torn
into two pieces, and it emphasizes that it was torn from top to bottom. That is, it was
God who tore the veil, working from above. By tearing that veil, he was saying to his
people that all who would come could enter the Holy of Holies and dwell in his very
presence. No one would have been allowed to enter the physical temple in Jerusalem,
but Hebrews tells us that the true tabernacle is in Heaven (Heb. 9.11, 24). We who have
faith in Christ are already seated with him in the presence of God in Heaven (Eph. 2.6). And God
is here with us and in us at every moment. We live in the presence of God.
What greater or plainer symbol could God have given of the way made open to
him than this tearing of the veil that had for centuries separated him from his people?
There is no more separation. You do not need to try to find God. He is in you and all
around you, and you are in him. You are as close to him as you are to yourself. Be bold
in his presence, as Hebrews 4.16 and 10.19 say, for his throne is a throne of grace.

Eternal God, thank you for tearing the veil and making the way for your people to be in
your presence. Thank you that I am always in your presence because I am in you and
you are in me. Amen.

Aug. 17. Mk. 3.27: “But no one who has entered the house of the strong man can plunder his
goods unless he first bind the strong man, and then he may plunder his house.” The Lord Jesus
uttered these words when he was accused by the scribes of casting out demons by the
ruler of the demons. He first showed the absurdity of the charge by saying that a
kingdom divided against itself cannot stand and a house divided against itself cannot
stand. If Satan were casting out his own demons, he would be fighting against himself
and could not stand.
Then he spoke the words of today’s verse. This parabolic saying means that he,
the Lord Jesus, had bound the strong man, Satan, and had plundered his goods. Satan’s
goods are people held in bondage by him through deceit, physical illness, and mental
and emotional illness. They know no way of escaping his clutches. But the Lord has
bound Satan and can release his captives at will.
When did Jesus bind Satan? There probably is not an exact answer to this
question, but we can look at several truths that will help us. In Revelation it is said that
Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That is, he has chosen from
eternity to be submissive to his Father and to give his life for his people. That choice

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bound Satan, for he has no power against one who has laid down his life in obedience
to God. He bound Satan in his temptation in the desert, for there he was tested three
times and each time emerged victorious over the tempter. He bound him all through his
earthly life by perfect obedience to his Father. Most of all, he bound him at the cross
when he dismissed his spirit. When the Lord Jesus died a sinless death, Satan was
utterly cast down forever. He can do nothing with a man alive from the dead, and
because he was sinless, Jesus rose from the dead.
Because the Lord Jesus has bound Satan, he can plunder his house, setting free
the lost, the sick, the deceived. You and I are examples of his plunder. We have been
taken by the Stronger Man from the strong man whom he bound. Praise be to him.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you once again for all you have done for me and for all your
people. I was indeed a captive of Satan, but you freed me from him. Thank you. Amen.

Aug. 18. Mk. 6.5-6a: “And he could not do there any work of power, except that he laid hands
on a few sick and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.” This verse refers to
the visit of the Lord Jesus to the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth. The people
were amazed at his teaching and his miracles, but they were offended by him because
he was just a local boy. They knew him to be a carpenter, and they knew his family.
They were just common working people. Who did he think he was to have such
wisdom and power?
As a result of this unbelief, Mark tells us, he was not able to do many works of
power in his own town. Thus do we see the importance of faith and the spiritually
devastating effect of unbelief. In one way it is remarkable that people do not believe in
the power of God. If he exists, he is obviously able to do anything, for he made
everything by a word. As Christians we believe that he is totally honest. The Bible even
says in two places that God cannot lie (Titus 1.2, Heb. 6.18). If that is true, why do we
have so much difficulty believing him?
Perhaps it is because we live in an age of unbelief. There is so much skepticism
all around us that it rubs off on us. The world trusts in science, and we as Christians
have benefited greatly from science, too. But the people in Nazareth lived in an age of
belief. People believed in many gods. There was not a problem with belief in God. Yet
they did not believe in the Lord Jesus even when they admitted his wisdom and
miracles.
Perhaps it is because our church background has conditioned us to believe that
God will not do anything. We are taught that God can heal the sick, but it rarely
happens in a miraculous way. There is a lot of talk, but not much reality. We escape
from the world for a couple of hours on Sunday and talk about how great our God is,
then go back to our life in the world doing the best we can, not expecting anything from
God.

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If we do not expect anything from God, that is unbelief. And he cannot do many
works of power where there is unbelief. Are we like the Nazarenes?

Almighty, all-truthful God, please fill me with faith. Teach me to use what faith I have,
expecting you to work and thus enabling you to do mighty works. Amen.

Aug. 19. Mk. 8.34-35: “And when he had called the crowd with his disciples he said to them, ‘If
anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake and the
gospel’s will save it.’” If we would follow the Lord Jesus we must walk the same path he
walked, and he is a man who went to a cross. He does not require most of his followers
to lay down their physical lives for him, though that is a possibility for any of us, but he
does require that we deny ourselves and take up our cross.
To deny the self means to deny selfish and fleshly desires that go against the will
of the Lord for us. To take up the cross means only one thing, that we die. We tend to
glorify the cross by putting crosses atop steeples and fashioning lovely jewelry in that
shape, but the cross had only one use and there was nothing beautiful about it. It was
used for a cruel, torturous execution. It is not likely that we will actually face physical
death for the Lord, but he does require that we lay down our lives for him by following
his will, not our own. He gave his life for us. We are to give our lives for him by living
them in submission to him, and by accepting physical death if he should so will.
Another aspect of taking up the cross is set forth by Paul in such passages as
Rom. 6.1-6 and Gal. 2.20, where he says that we have been crucified with Christ. Christ
died for our sins, something we could not do for ourselves, but we also died in him
when he died. Thus we have been freed from our real problem, which is not sins, but
the self that commits the sins. The old man was crucified with Christ. A part of our
taking up the cross is accepting the implications of our death with Christ, that we are
freed from sin and are to present ourselves to God and our members to God as
instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6.11-14).
The Lord Jesus then adds his statement that the one who “wants to save his soul
will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” He is
not talking about the soul being saved from hell. The most common use of the word
“soul” in the Bible is as life, the fact of being physically alive. The Lord is saying that the
one who would reserve his life for himself, to live as he pleases, will lose it in the end,
and that eternally. The one who takes up his cross, loses his right to live his life his own
way, loses it for Christ and the gospel, will save it, and that eternally.

God of the cross, I choose to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow you, losing my
life for your sake and the gospel’s. Please enable me by your Spirit in me to live up to
this choice. Amen.

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Aug. 20. Mk. 10.42-45: “And summoning them Jesus said to them, ‘You know that those
recognized as ruling the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over
them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you will be servant of all,
and whoever wishes to be first among you will be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.'” We have noted a
number times in these pages that God is a self-giving, serving God. The Lord Jesus
came to put that fact into reality as a human being. Now we hear him telling his
disciples that they are to be like their God and their Lord.
It is certainly true in this world that virtually everyone with any authority at all
over anyone else has used that authority to his own advantage. Where possible, those in
government have looted the national treasury and enriched themselves while keeping
their citizens in poverty. Lower officials have demanded bribes to allow the least action.
Corruption is rampant. Even in a nation like ours that is relatively free of such
corruption, bureaucrats sometimes make life uncomfortable for people who are
required to get their approval for something. They may not get a bribe, but they throw
their weight around and make the citizen feel small and abused, thus making
themselves feel important at the expense of the taxpayers who are paying them. They
lord it over people. Fortunately not all behave so.
In some nations, people kill to get into power so they can enrich themselves. In
our nation people fight it out in elections. They want to get on top so they can exercise
authority and wield power. But the Lord Jesus told his followers that greatness in his
kingdom is measured by service. The greatest one would be the one who served most.
And if someone wanted to be number one, he must become the slave of all! No lording
it over others. No exercising authority. Just serving, slaving, laying down life. For the
Lord of all came to serve and to lay down his life. We are to follow his example. Indeed,
we are to let him live that life in us again.

Serving God, it is enough for a disciple to be like his Teacher. My Teacher came to serve
and to give his life. Please lead me in paths of service and of laying down my life for
you and your people. Amen.

Aug. 21. Lk. 4.1: “Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by
the Spirit in the desert….” Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of the baptism of the Lord
Jesus and of the Holy Spirit descending to him as a dove, but Luke is the only one who
adds that he returned from his baptism full of the Spirit. There is a very important
lesson for us in this fact. It is that Jesus did not live his life on earth as God, but as a
man. He had to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish his mission.
It is easy for us to think that Jesus could do certain things, such as miracles or
knowing what someone was thinking, because he was God, but that is not the case. Paul

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tells us in Phil. 2.5-7 that the Lord Jesus did not hold on to his divinity when he became
a man, but emptied himself. That does not mean that he was not divine. He was fully
divine. But he was also fully human, and he did not live by his divinity. Rather he lived
as a man by faith in dependence on his Father, just as we must do. He can be an
example for us because of this fact.
Luke also says that the Lord Jesus was led by the Spirit. That is further evidence
that he lived as a man. He did not walk about as God going wherever his will pleased,
but as a man being led by the Holy Spirit. He did what he was told by his Father who
dwelt in him through the Spirit.
It is not possible for us to have the omniscience and almightiness of God, and if
the Lord Jesus lived by drawing on those attributes of God he can be no example for us.
But we can be full of the Holy Spirit and led by him, just as the Lord Jesus was, so he
gives us hope that we can live this life as God wants us to. A man has done it. Other
men and women can. And they do it just as he did, by trust and obedience. We will not
do it perfectly, for we are fallen creatures who have to contend with our own flesh
opposing our desire to obey God, whereas the Lord Jesus did not have a fallen nature,
but God does not require perfection of us, but trust and obedience. When we fail, he
forgives, and we go on with him.
If the Lord Jesus needed the fullness of Holy Spirit to live his life as God wanted,
how much more do we?

Lord Jesus, thank you for your Spirit and for his fullness. Please fill me and keep filling
me and lead me in your way for me. Amen.

Aug. 22. Lk. 12.37: “Blessed are those slaves whom the Lord, when he comes, will find awake.
Amen I say to you that he will gird himself and have them recline and come and serve them.”
This verse is one of the remarkable verses in the New Testament for what it tells us
about the nature of our Lord. When he comes again he will come with power and great
glory and he will establish his reign on the earth. Then he will demand that his subjects
gird themselves and serve him at his table. No, that is not what it says. He will gird
himself and serve his slaves.
What master ever served his slaves? What kind of Lord is this whom we follow?
He is the one who reveals the nature of God as pure self-giving, as unconditional love,
as grace. He is this God in the flesh, a God who serves his creatures.
We are reminded of the Lord’s word that he did not come to be served, but to
serve. Yes, but that was when he was on the earth after his first coming when he came
to give his life. At his second coming, he will be King. Surely then he will be served?
No, he will serve.
We are reminded of his washing of the feet of the disciples, one of the lowliest of
tasks in that day. Peter even refused to let him wash his feet because it was beneath

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him, but the Lord Jesus told Peter that if he could not wash his feet he was not his. He
took the place of a slave, as Paul puts it in Phil. 2.7, and performed the lowliest service.
This was God in the flesh.
Everything in our experience conditions us to expect the higher to be served by
the lower. For the most part we are too proud to do certain things. Only the lowest
people on the socioeconomic scale will do certain tasks. We could not conceive of even a
mayor or governor, not to mention a head of state, taking the lowest place and serving
his constituents. They honor him. But the King of kings and Lord of lords, the President
of presidents and Governor of governors serves. And not just at his first coming, but
when he returns as King.
We cannot comprehend such a nature. All we can do is bow down and worship
before him, and allow him to lead us in the same path of taking the lowest place and
serving, for he calls us to be as he is.

Dear Lord Jesus, how can it be that you, not just a King, but God, could gird yourself
and serve slaves in your kingdom? You are beyond my imagination. Please lead me in
your ways. Amen.

Aug. 23. Lk. 12.50: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am hemmed in until it
is accomplished.” What did the Lord Jesus mean by this strange statement? In saying that
he had a baptism to be baptized with, he was referring to his death on the cross. To be
baptized is to be plunged into the waters, and the waters symbolize death. The Lord
Jesus came to give his life: his purpose was to undergo this baptism.
But he added to these words that he was hemmed in until the baptism was
accomplished. By this statement he meant that as a man he was only one. He could be
in only one place at a time. He could do only one thing at a time. He had a ministry that
encompassed the entire world, but he was limited to where he happened to be at any
given time. He was hemmed in by being that one human being.
He said that he was hemmed in until the baptism was accomplished. That is, his
death would accomplish the forgiveness of sins and thus allow the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. After his death and resurrection, when he could pour
out the Spirit, he could reproduce himself over and over in as many people as would
receive the Spirit. He himself could and would be everywhere at once, and he could
dwell in people everywhere. He would no longer be hemmed in, but would be free to
fill the earth, indeed, the universe. So even though his death was something to be
dreaded, as he did, it was nonetheless the means to his end, of escaping the limitation of
one man.
We, too, have a baptism to be baptized with. We noted in our Aug. 19 reading
that we are to take up our crosses and follow him. As he died on the cross, so are we to
accept our death with him, and to submit to his dealings with us designed to make real

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in experience the crucifying of the flesh (Gal. 5.24). As we go through the baptism of our
trials and sorrows, we will find that our capacity for the Spirit is increased, and that as
he fills us we become one of those millions in whom the Lord Jesus is reproducing
himself. Our baptism will never be fully accomplished in this age, but as we yield to the
Lord, it will reach a point at which he can fill us with himself and reach out to those
around us in spiritual need. In us people will encounter the Lord Jesus, who is no
longer hemmed in.

Dear Lord Jesus, what a blessed privilege it is to be one in whom you reproduce
yourself by living within. Please do use me to reach those around me who need your
touch. Amen.

Aug. 24. Lk. 17.5-6: “And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith,’ but the Lord said, ‘If
you have faith as a grain of mustard, you would say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and be
planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.'” We often hear that we need more faith. The
disciples apparently felt this need, for they asked the Lord Jesus to increase their faith.
But his reply shows that the need is not for more faith, but to use the faith we have.
It really is not a matter of how much faith we have, but of whether or not we use
it and of where we put it. The Lord said that if we would just use what we have, even if
it is as small as a mustard seed, we would see extraordinary results. And just as a seed
grows when it is planted in the sense of producing a plant much larger than itself and
more seeds, so does our faith grow when it is used. It grows in strength.
And God is the only reliable place to put our trust. We tend to trust our own
efforts, help from other people, money, influence, whatever forces we can bring to bear
on a problem, then turn to God when these fail. Sometimes these things do help us gain
our objective, but they do not help our faith in God. If we would turn to him first and
see his answer, we would be blessed by doing so and we would have stronger faith.
People would consider us foolish if we buried our money in the back yard and
expected to receive interest on it. We must put it to work somewhere to get a return. Yet
we seem to be able to expect God to do whatever we want or need when we have not
really made an investment of our faith. The Pharisees said they would believe in the
Lord Jesus if he would do a miracle for them. His approach was that if they would
believe, they would see miracles. Of course, they did see miracles and still did not
believe, so their demand for a sign was false anyway. But do we act as the Pharisees
did, in effect reserving our faith until God proves himself? He will not prove himself
until we invest our faith. Then it will get a return. Use what you have.

Heavenly Father, I probably do not have much faith, but your word says it is not up to
me to have a lot of faith, but to use what I have, however little it may be. I choose now

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to trust in you in all circumstances of my life, and I ask you for your grace to enable me
to walk in this choice. Amen.

Aug. 25. Lk. 18.15-17: “Now they were bringing to him even the babies that he might touch
them, but when the disciples saw it they rebuked them. But Jesus summoned them saying,
‘Permit the children to come to me and do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these. Amen I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will not
enter it.'” The first truth we see in this story has to do with the kind of person the Lord
Jesus was. In his own mind he was not too important for anyone, even a baby or a child.
He loved all equally and was available to all equally.
Perhaps the main lesson, though, is in his statement as to how one enters the
kingdom of God. It must be as a child. What did he mean by this statement? First of all
one must have faith. How trusting a child is, if he has not been mistreated. He does not
stop to wonder if his parents will take care of him and provide for him. He may not
think about these things at all. He just knows, perhaps unconsciously, that they will. Do
we trust God that way, or do we worry about the matters that are difficulties in our
lives?
Another fact about a child is that he has nothing and can do nothing for anyone
materially. It is sad, but most of us relate to people at least to some degree on the basis
of what they can do for us. They can give us business or use their influence to help us
get something we want. Maybe they are important and we want to rub shoulders with
the important. But a child has no way to appeal to us in this way. There really is nothing
we can gain from him.
Yet the Lord Jesus says that the kingdom of God belongs to people like these
children who have nothing and cannot make any claim on it. What he is trying to
convey to us is our total and absolute poverty when it comes to having any claim on
God, and the utterness of his grace. We are and have nothing that we can use to say that
he owes us anything or should let us into his kingdom. He does not and should not,
based on us. But his grace is overwhelming. Our entrance into the kingdom is based
wholly on God. Yes, we have to receive it, but we can do so only because of what he is,
pure grace, not because of what we are, pure need. Let us realize that we are as
children, with nothing of value to give to God, but that he has given us his kingdom on
that basis.

Gracious God, it is true that I have no claim on you in myself, but you have chosen me
anyway. How can I understand such selfless love? I can only give you thanks and
praise and worship. Amen.

Aug. 26. Lk. 19.17: “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave. Because you were faithful in
the smallest thing, you are to have authority over ten cities.'” This verse occurs in the parable

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about the use of money by three slaves while their master was away. The first and
second used his money to make more money. The third was afraid of losing it, so he hid
it until the master returned, then gave it back to him. The master was angry with him
because he did not earn a return on the money, called him a worthless slave, and took
the money and gave it to the one who had earned ten minas ( a mina was the amount of
money given to each slave, worth about 100 days’ wages).
This parable has to do with reward for Christians. All three were slaves of the
same master. All Christians are slaves of the Lord Jesus. All Christians are entrusted
with something from the Lord to use for him in this world, or more accurately, to allow
him to use in them. Those who use the talent or the opportunity or whatever it may be
in his service and under his lordship will one day hear those wonderful words, “Well
done, good slave.” Unfortunately there will be those Christians who will not hear those
words. They have not used his gift in his service, but have lived for the things of this
world or have resisted his dealings or have even lived in sin. They will be saved, for
they are his slaves, but they will lose reward.
The first slave who received a mina earned ten more and was put in charge of ten
cities. The second earned five more and was put in charge of five cities. The Lord is
referring here to the privilege of reigning with him in his kingdom during the
millennium. It will be a great blessing and honor to reign with Christ, but we are
trained to reign in this life by reigning over our circumstances and using the
opportunities he has given us in his service. If we are trained by so doing, we will be
able to reign with him. If not, we will not be able to. The trained will reign. The
untrained will lose that reward.

Coming Lord, please help me by your grace to be trained by the circumstances I find
myself in and by using the opportunities you have given me to serve you in this evil
age. Please prepare me to hear your “well done.” Amen.

Aug. 27. Lk. 24.45-47: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to
them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.'” Luke reported in verses 27 and 32 of chapter 24 that the Lord
Jesus had explained the Scriptures about himself to the two on the road to Emmaus, and
that their hearts had burned within them as he spoke. Now we read that he opened the
minds of the eleven disciples and those with them to understand the Scriptures, in
particular the facts of his suffering and resurrection and the preaching of repentance to
the nations.
We think at once of such passages as Is. 52.13-53.12 with regard to his suffering
and resurrection, and of Ps. 16.10 on the resurrection, and of Is. 9.1-2, 42.6, and 49.6 on
the preaching of the gospel to the nations. Our primary thought at this point is not so

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much the specific truths the Lord revealed, but the fact that he opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are understood by revelation. One may spend many years
studying the Bible and have a knowledge of what it says, but without revelation from
God he will not understand it. Understanding the Scriptures is a matter of the spirit, not
of the brain, or even of the mind, which transcends the brain. The brain, a part of the
body, gathers information from the world by the five senses for the use of the mind, an
aspect of the soul. The spirit receives revelation from the spiritual world for use by the
mind. Understanding comes with the revelation from God through the spirit.
The most basic understanding one can have of the Scriptures is that they are
about the Lord Jesus. He, not some doctrine or practice or scheme, is the key to the
Bible. When one understands the Bible he will see the Lord Jesus from beginning to
end. He is the living Word. The Bible is the written word which sets him forth.
One of our most important prayers is that he would open our minds to
understand the Scriptures. It is they that testify of him.

Dear Lord Jesus, please do open my mind to understand the Scriptures and reveal
yourself to me in them. Amen.

Aug. 28. Lk. 24.49: “And behold, I send the promise of my Father on you, but you stay in the
city until you are clothed with power from on high.” The Old Testament in, for example, Joel
had promised that God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh. John the Baptist said that
the Lord Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Now, as he prepares to leave them for
Heaven, the Lord Jesus tells the disciples that he is about to send the promise of his
Father, the Holy Spirit. They are, however, to wait in Jerusalem until the outpouring
occurs, at which time they will be clothed with power from on high in order to be
witnesses to him.
Just as we saw in yesterday’s reading that revelation is a necessity to understand
the Bible, so today we see another necessity, the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish
the work God has called us to. We cannot do his work properly without it. The flesh
cannot serve God, for it is opposed to him by nature. Human effort is not enough, for
we are involved in a spiritual war that requires spiritual weapons and power, indeed,
divine weapons and power.
Probably all who have served the Lord have known the experience of trying to
serve him the best they could. They used their intelligence, their talents, their training to
the best of their ability, but they fell short. They were not accomplishing the work of
God. Only God can accomplish the work of God, but he has chosen in grace to do it
through his people by filling them with his Spirit, who has the knowledge, wisdom, and
power to achieve what God desires. God does not want people to work for him. He
wants people through whom he can work.

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All who have been saved have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8.9), but the Lord Jesus
indicates in today’s verse that he wants his people clothed with power from on high.
Paul calls this being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5.18). The Lord told his disciples to wait
until they had been so clothed to serve him. So it is today that all who would serve the
Lord Jesus should seek after the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that God will
give him to those who ask (Lk. 11.13), so we should ask in faith, trusting him to fill us,
to deal with our flesh, and to use us in his service.

Heavenly Father, I ask you for the promise of the Father, for the filling of the Holy
Spirit, that I may know his cleansing and refining work in me and his use of me in your
service. Amen.

Aug. 29. Jn. 1.14: “And the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his
glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Our Jan. 18 reading
indicated to us that the tabernacle was a prophetic picture of the Lord Jesus, every
aspect of it symbolizing him in some way. Now John tells us that the Lord Jesus became
flesh and tabernacles among us, for “tabernacled” is the word used. That is, the
prophetic picture of Exodus was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus at his coming.
The tabernacle in the desert was the dwelling place of God in the midst of his
people. This fact tells us that the Lord Jesus is the dwelling place of God among his
people. In him God dwells among us. That is why his name was to be Immanuel, God
with us.
So the first disciples knew this one in whom God dwelt among them, and what
did they see in him? Glory. Glory is that about God which conveys his weightiness, that
about him which gives him a good reputation (see the June 16 reading). When they saw
his glory, what is it they were impressed with? Grace and truth. The Lord Jesus was full
of grace and truth.
Grace is the self-giving nature, the unconditional love, of God. Although the Old
Testament is full of grace, it is the law that stands out there. Israel was given a law to
keep, and their keeping or not keeping it affected their relationship with God. The Lord
Jesus revealed that God has always been a God of grace. No one in the Old Testament
who was saved was saved by keeping the law (Rom. 3.20). Anyone saved then was
saved by grace through faith. It just was not put that way in the Old Testament, though
it does say that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. The
Lord Jesus made it clear: he was full of grace because God is full of grace.
And the Lord Jesus was full of truth. There are two aspects to this word truth.
One is honesty. Satan operates by deceit, but there is no deceit in God or in his Son.
What Jesus revealed is true. The other aspect is reality. The Lord Jesus dealt with reality.
Whatever circumstances people were in, he dealt with the reality. No platitudes. No

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pious promises. No pretending everything was alright when it was not. He faced reality
as it is in this world and dealt with it victoriously. He was full of truth.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the manifestation of your glory when you dwelt here on earth
in the flesh, and that the revelation that came by that manifestation is that you are full
of grace, you tell the truth, and you deal with reality. Amen.

Aug. 30. Jn. 1.51: “And he said to him, ‘Amen, amen I say to you, you will see Heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'” In Gen. 28 we have the
story of Jacob’s dream as he fled from his brother, the dream in which he saw the angels
of God ascending and descending on a ladder set on earth and reaching to Heaven.
When he awoke, he realized that he was in the house of God. There was more to that
dream than Jacob realized.
The Lord had shown Jacob that there was a connection between Heaven and
earth, that he could come down to man and man could come up to him. The Lord Jesus,
in telling Nathaniel in our verse for today that he would see Heaven opened and the
angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, revealed that he is that ladder. He
is the connection between Heaven and earth, between God and man.
With the fall of Adam and Eve a barrier was erected between God and man.
Is.59.2 says that our iniquities have separated us from God and our sins have hidden his
face from us. That is the barrier, our sin. Because God is righteous, that is, a God of
justice, the penalty for sin has to be paid, and the penalty is death. It was possible for
one man to die for all if that one were sinless, but there were no sinless men. Thus each
person must die for himself, and die in his sins.
The grace of God intervened, though. He himself, in the person of the Son,
became a man and lived a sinless life on earth, thus qualifying to die for the sins of all.
Adam included all in his sin, for all are descended from him. In the same way the Lord
Jesus included all who will trust in him in his sinless life, for those who do are born
again, descended from God. In dying for the sins of men, the Lord Jesus became the
ladder to Heaven, the way by which God can reach us and remain righteous and the
way by which we can reach him and Heaven.
The Old Testament is truly full of the Lord Jesus, for it is about him. Here is just
one further example, the ladder connecting Heaven and earth, God and men.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you once again for taking my place on the cross and thus
making the way to Heaven for me. Please use me in sharing this good news. Amen.

Aug. 31. Jn. 3.3: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Amen, amen I say to you, unless one is born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God.'” We saw in our readings for April 2 and May 2 that man
consists of spirit, soul, and body. When the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be

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born again, he was referring to the spirit. Everyone has had a physical birth, but not
everyone has had a spiritual birth. The latter is a necessity to see the kingdom of God.
Man’s problem before salvation is that he is born a sinner and will sin as surely
as day follows night. He is born spiritually dead toward God. His spirit functions, but
he cannot relate to God because he is spiritually dead in sin. Thus his eternal destiny at
that point is hell, and his greatest need is the life of God, life that is eternal, for his
physical life will end. But if a man still in his sins came into contact with God, he would
be destroyed.
The Lord Jesus solved the problem by dying in our place as a sinless sacrifice, a
lamb without blemish. He took away our sins and made it possible for us to receive the
Spirit of God into our dead spirits, making them alive toward God with the life of God,
eternal life. That is what we might call a technical definition of salvation or new birth.
When one is born again, spiritually, the Holy Spirit enters his spirit and makes it alive.
Now he has not just physical birth and life, but spiritual birth and life. He was born of
his mother. Now he is born of the Spirit (Jn. 3.6).
In v. 5 of this passage the Lord Jesus says that one must be born of water and the
Spirit. When he died, his blood took away our sins, making it possible for the Holy
Spirit to come into us. The Holy Spirit then washed us clean of our guilt and cleansed
our consciences (Heb. 10.2, 22), symbolized by the water, and himself entered our
spirits, making them alive.
The world scoffs at the idea of new birth, showing that it does not understand
spiritual things, just as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 2.14, but the one who has been born again
knows what it means, that he has a spirit alive with the eternal life of God that can now
relate to God and fellowship with him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the new birth, the spiritual birth, that brings me into
fellowship with you. Amen.

Sept. 1. Jn. 3.16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This verse is probably the best-
known Bible verse of all, one that most Sunday School children memorize at an early

age. It has been called the gospel in a nutshell, for it sets forth the elements of the gospel
so succinctly. God loved. He gave. He gave his Son. Whoever believes or has faith. Will
not perish. Will have eternal life. The actual death of Christ is not mentioned, but we
understand that it is included in God giving his Son.
This verse emphasizes once again the nature of God as love demonstrated in
giving. His love is not just something he does or gives. It is what he is. In his first
epistle, John says that “God is love” (4.16). Because he is love, he gives.
What he gives, of course, is his Son, his only Son. We are reminded of Abraham
and Isaac, of course, and we saw in our consideration of Mt. 1.1 that the Lord Jesus is

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the Son of Abraham. Within the Trinity is that perfect eternal fellowship of love in
which the Son takes the submissive role toward the Father. We think often of the
suffering of the Lord Jesus for us, but think, too, about the suffering of the Father in
giving his Son to such suffering. Only supreme love could give so much for such
unworthy recipients.
We receive what God is giving to us simply by believing that what he says is true
and taking it. There is no form to fill out, no test to pass, no set of rules to follow, no
probationary period. If we believe and accept, we receive. That is what Paul means by
being saved by grace through faith, not by works (Eph. 2.8-9).
The result of what God gives and our receiving of it is twofold. First, we escape
hell. The ultimate penalty of sin is no longer our destiny, for the Lord Jesus bore that
penalty for us. In him we are forgiven, judicially declared not guilty, and allowed to go
free. Second, we receive eternal life, which does not mean just that we live forever. The
lost will live forever, but they do not have eternal life. Eternal life is the life of God that
will carry us through eternity in Heaven.
What this one verse of Scriptures says has been written about in untold numbers
of volumes, including these poor words here, but none have exhausted it. Thanks be to
God for his inexpressible gift.

Father God, I can never thank you sufficiently for your gift of your Son and life in him,
but I do thank you. I want him to live that same life of giving in me. Amen.

Sept. 2. Jn. 3.30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John the Baptist had a true
servant’s heart. When he learned that his followers were leaving him for the Lord Jesus,
he said that because of that his joy was made full. He knew that he was not the Messiah,
but that he had been sent to prepare the way for him, and when he came, he was
pleased to lose his following to him.
What a great lesson this is for us. It is the nature of man to want to exalt himself,
build an empire for himself, build himself up all he can. Unfortunately this is also true
among God’s people. Many ministers want to increase, not decrease. Many church
members want to run the church. Many want public credit for what they do in serving
God. But John saw the necessity of himself decreasing and Christ increasing.
The explanation of many of our trials in life is found along this line. The real
problem in a man or woman wanting to increase is flesh. It is the flesh that wants to
increase. Thus God must send difficulties into our lives to deal with the flesh, to take it
to the cross. If we resist the dealings of God, Christ decreases in us and we, our flesh,
increase. If we submit to them, we will find the flesh decreasing and Christ increasing.
What hardship are you going through just now? It may be that God is trying to decrease
the flesh in you that the measure of Christ in you may increase.

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The choice is really quite simple. There will be more of me, or there will be more
of Christ. There will not be more of both of us, and he will not force the increase of
himself on me. It is my choice, and it is yours. Do you want to advance your interests at
the expense of Christ’s, or do you want to advance his interests at the expense of yours?

Dear Lord Jesus, I see the necessity of my decreasing that you may increase. I choose
that way. Please enable me by your Spirit within to submit to your dealings with my
flesh that you may increase in me. Amen.

Sept. 3. Jn. 4.23-24: “But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship
the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father also seeks those who so worship him. God is
spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” This verse embodies
one of the great revelations in all of history about the nature of spiritual things. It has
always been true that religions have required that people worship in certain places or
by certain rites. Worship has largely been a matter of what one does outwardly. This
fact was true even of Israel, whose worship was given to them by God himself.
The Lord Jesus made a great change. He said that it does not matter where one
worships, or we might better say that one should worship everywhere. God is always
worthy, and we can always worship him, no matter where we are. He said that worship
is a matter of the spirit (see again April 2, May 2, and Aug. 31 readings), not the
outward. That is, our spirits fellowship with God and worship him. It is inward, a
matter of the heart, and we have emphasized several times the importance of the heart
to God. The body may not be able to attend a public service. No matter, the spirit can
still worship God.
The Lord said that we must worship in truth. By that he means what we have
just been saying about worship being inward. One can attend a service in body and go
through the rituals, but his heart can be far from God. It is a show, a lie. He is not
worshipping God. But when one worships inwardly, in the spirit, it is true worship, for
it comes from the heart.
God himself is spirit. That is, he is not a bodily being such as we are. He inhabits
the spiritual world. The Lord Jesus took on a human body when he came into this
world, and he retains that body now, but God is spirit. That being the case, the outward
forms are not really important to him in themselves. What matters to him is the heart.
The spiritual is primary in this universe (see the June 27 reading). If we would truly
worship him, we must worship him in our spirits and in reality, not just in outward
show.

Heavenly Father, I see the need to worship you from the heart. I do so worship you
now, and I ask you to teach me more and more how to worship you. Amen.

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Sept. 4. Jn. 6.63: “The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.” The flesh is
all that a person is apart from God, his abilities, his intelligence, his personality, and the
sum total of all his experience in life. Since man is a fallen creature, his flesh wants to be
its own god (Gen. 3.5) and is opposed to the true God. A lost person is what the Bible
calls “in the flesh” (Rom. 8.8) and has no choice but to live by his own resources, by his
flesh. A Christian is no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Rom. 8.9). This fact,
however, does not guarantee that he will walk according to the Spirit. He has a choice.
He is in the Spirit, but he can walk according to the Spirit or according to the flesh
(Rom. 8.12-13).
The Christian who walks according to the flesh is one who is not trying to walk
with God and serve him, or he is one who is trying his best, out of his own resources, to
serve God, but he is failing because he is relying on himself to do the work of God. The
Christian who walks according to the Spirit is one who walks with God and serves him,
but he does so knowing that he cannot do so by his own resources and is trusting the
Spirit of God within him to lead and empower him. There is all the difference in the
world.
As the Lord Jesus said in today’s verse, it is the Spirit who gives life. That life is
the life of God, life that is not subject to death, life that is powerful. It enables one to live
a life that is pleasing to God. But the flesh profits nothing. The flesh cannot serve God,
though it may appear to try to do so. The flesh cannot accomplish the work of God
because it does not have the life of God in it. If one tries out of his own resources to
serve God, he is trying to do spiritual work with fleshly resources. It cannot be done.
Many Christians, when they fail, try again and try harder. This approach really
says that the flesh can be improved. It cannot be. God is not interested in improving our
flesh, but in nailing it to the cross. He does not want us to do better, but to give up
doing at all and let him do in us. It is he who both wills and works as he pleases in us
(Phil. 2.13).
The efforts of the flesh end in death. The Spirit gives life (Rom. 8.6,13).

Dear Lord, I yield myself to you to walk according to the Spirit, letting you will and
work in me what pleases you. Please teach me how to do this. Thank you for your life in
me. Amen.

Sept. 5. Jn. 7.37-39: “On the last day, the great day, of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out
saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the
Scripture has said, from his inner being will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said of the
Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive. For the Spirit was not yet, for Jesus had
not yet been glorified.” The festival referred to in these verses is the Festival of Booths (or
Tabernacles). At this festival the Jews built booths outside their houses and lived in
them for a week, commemorating the years in the desert between Egypt and the

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promised land when Israel lived in booths (Lev. 23.42-43). It was also an agricultural
festival in which they thanked God for the harvest just brought in and prayed for the
next crop to be good.
As a part of the ceremony of the festival and taking notice of the necessity of rain,
on the last day of the festival an offering was made of water poured out to God. It was
on this day, when the water would be poured out, that the Lord Jesus stood in the
temple and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” He is the
source of the true water, the Holy Spirit, who would quench the deepest thirst of man
and who would become rivers of living water within. John says that the Lord Jesus
spoke of the Spirit.
The way of receiving this water is belief in the Lord Jesus. Faith in him takes
away sin because of the shedding of his blood, making the way clear for the coming in
of the Holy Spirit. Continued faith in the Lord brings greater capacity and the Spirit
grows into a river flowing from within, watering the person and flowing out to those
around who will respond.
With the Spirit flowing within one, he is not dependent on something outside
himself to have his spiritual thirst quenched. Whatever may happen outwardly, he has
all he needs inside. As he draws from that river by trust in the Lord Jesus, he finds
sufficiency.
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”

Lord Jesus, I do believe in you and I come to you to drink of the Holy Spirit and to have
him flowing from within me. Thank you for this blessed privilege. Amen.

Sept. 6. Jn. 8.31-32: “Therefore Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you remain in
my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you
free.'” We have noted several times in our readings that Satan operates by deceit. His
power has been destroyed by the Lord Jesus and he cannot make anyone do anything,
with the possible exception of someone who has so given himself over to Satan that he
is possessed by him. Even then the demons can be cast out. The Lord Jesus confirms this
assessment in a way by showing what it is that makes us free: it is truth.
The great problem that most of us face, probably without knowing it, is that
Satan has us deceived to some extent. We act out of lies rather than truth, and we reap
the consequences. For example, someone is raised in a home in which he is shown little
love and much rejection. He unconsciously develops the feeling that he is unacceptable.
There is something wrong with him. He does not know what it is, but there is
something. This fact does not excuse sin, by the way, but simply explains why many of
us behave in ways, not necessarily sinful, that leave us unhappy and unfulfilled. Sin is
another matter, and it, too, must be dealt with.

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The person who feels this unacceptability acts it out in life. He relates to people
in ways that they do not like, so they reject him. He got what he expected, reinforcing
his feeling. He does not have satisfying relationships.
How is this problem to be solved? It is solved by replacing the lie with the truth.
The truth is that every person is acceptable to God. He gave his Son to die for everyone.
What is something worth? It is worth what someone will pay for it. What did God pay
for you? The precious blood of his Son (Acts 20.28, 1 Pt. 1.18-19). That is what you are
worth to God. Another aspect of this problem is that just knowing something
intellectually may not root out the feeling-based lie. It is necessary for God to reveal
truth in order for the truth to set free. One who faces such a difficulty should search the
Scriptures for the truth that will replace his deceit, and he may also need the help of a
competent Christian counselor, depending on the severity of the deception.
There is hope and help. The truth does set free.

Dear Lord, please reveal to me areas in which I am basing my life on lies and show me
the truth that will make me free. Amen.

Sept. 7. Jn. 8.44: “You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father.
He was a murderer from the beginning and he has not stood in the truth, for truth is not in him.
When he speaks a lie he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” We come
now to the primary passage of Scripture in which we see the plain statement that the
devil is a liar and operates by deceit. He has been a liar and that is his nature since his
fall. Since God is the God of utter truth, it is Satan’s strategy to get people to doubt
God’s honesty, for in believing lies they damage their own lives and may do harm to
others, deliberately or unwittingly.
It is Satan’s ultimate aim for people to destroy them in hell, and his means of
achieving that objective are lies. If he can get people not to believe in God at all he has
won his point. If people do believe in God, he tries to get them to believe in a false god
or gods. If he cannot get them to believe in a false god, he tries to get them to worship
the true God in a wrong way, such as the child sacrifice of ancient Israel and other
cultures. He is still at work among Christians to have them approach God on a legalistic
basis, trying to earn salvation, or if they are clear on salvation by grace through faith, he
tries to have them attempt to work for God after the flesh rather than after the Spirit.
It seems obvious that one of Satan’s greatest achievements is religion. In our
world today we have Protestants and Catholics killing each other in Northern Ireland,
though that has lessened in recent years. We have so-called Christians and Muslims at

odds in the Balkans. For many years Lebanon was torn apart by fighting between so-
called Christians and Muslims. The Middle East has been a powder keg for decades

because of the enmity between Israel and the Muslims. Africa sees large-scale
persecution of Christians by Muslims. India has periodic outbursts among Hindus,

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Muslims, and Sikhs, with some persecution of Christians. Indonesia has recently seen
the murder of Christians by Muslims. On it goes. It is all religion, the devil’s work.
God is the God of relationship. He wants us to know him and walk with him
moment-by-moment, not practice certain prescribed rituals. We need not fear Satan, for
though he is the cleverest of liars, his power has been destroyed. If we do know God
and his word, trust him, obey him, though we must respect Satan because he is very
good at what he does, there is no place for fear, for our God is already completely
victorious over him. This truth makes us free.

Almighty God, thank you that in my having to deal with Satan’s lies I have your truth,
and I have you living in me. And when I call you almighty, I am saying that you have
all the might and Satan has none. Praise you for that. Please keep me alert to his
schemes. Amen.

Sept. 8. Jn. 9.1-3: “And as they went along they saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples
asked him saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this one or his parents that he was born blind?’ Jesus
answered, ‘Neither this one sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be
manifested in him.'” It was common theology in biblical days that God blessed the
righteous materially and did not bless the sinful. We see that belief in this story in the
disciples’ question. The man was born blind, so it was obvious that either he or his
parents sinned. Apparently if it was his sin it was something God knew would be done
later.
Another example of this way of thinking is seen in the story of the rich young
ruler. When the Lord Jesus said that it was difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom
the disciples were dumbfounded. Their response was based on the fact that the man
was obviously righteous since God had blessed him with riches. The Lord’s further
teaching on that occasion and on this one with the man born blind sets aside that
theology. Material blessing or lack of it is no sign of righteousness or sinfulness. The
rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.
The man was not born blind because of someone’s sin, but because God intended
to use him to manifest his works. The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead has
a similar point (Jn. 11.4). We are not told that the man born blind asked to be healed or
that the Lord Jesus said anything to him before he applied mud to his eyes, but only
that he did so, and then said to him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. When he did so he
received his sight. The works of God were indeed manifested in him. The name Siloam
means “sent.” This man was sent into the world blind by God that he might be a vessel
who would display the glory of God. While he did not enjoy blindness all those years,
he would say now in Heaven that it was well worth it to be so used by God.
The Lord Jesus also used this incident to teach on spiritual blindness and sight.
Those who insist that they see, the Pharisees, are blind, while those who admit their

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blindness and need for God to open the eyes of their hearts (Eph. 1.17-18) are given
sight. The Pharisees, born with physical sight, rejected the Lord Jesus. The man born
blind worshipped him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the truth that my circumstances are arranged by you to
manifest your works. Please manifest your works in me, and give me grace not to keep
trying to get you to change my circumstances that I do not like, but to look to you to
manifest your works in them. Amen.

Sept. 9. Jn. 12.4-6: “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said, ‘Why
was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii [nearly a year’s wages for common labor]
and it given to the poor?’ But he said this not because it mattered to him about the poor, but
because he was a thief, and having the money bag he took what was put into it.” The Lord Jesus
appointed a thief to carry the money bag for his little band. There can be no doubt that
he knew in advance that Judas was a thief and would steal the money, for this is exactly
the kind of thing that the Father would reveal to him and lead him to do. Why then
would he knowingly give the money bag to a thief?
The reason is that the Lord Jesus was not concerned about money, but about
character. He put Judas into a situation that would reveal the kind of person he was. If
you want to discover a thief, give him the opportunity to steal. Judas, of course, failed
the test and went on to greater things.
The question naturally rises from this truth as to what situation the Lord has put
you and me into and what is he trying to reveal about us. It is usual for us to say when
we react badly in some circumstance or when we have negative emotions that the
situation or the feelings made us do it. That is not true. The situation gave us an
opportunity to reveal what was in us, but it did not make us do anything. We chose to
react the way we did. Our character has been revealed. The Lord brought about that
situation so we could repent and allow him to work in us to manifest his character.
There may also be good elements of character that the Lord wants to reveal and
to develop. Abraham was a man of faith, so God put him to the ultimate test of faith:
sacrifice your only son to me. Abraham rose early the next morning to obey. His
character was revealed, and it was strengthened.
What do my reactions reveal about me? What do yours reveal about you? What
“money bag” has God put into your hands?

Gracious God, thank you for bringing out the dreaded truth about me so it can be dealt
with. If there is anything of value in my character, please develop it for your glory.
Amen.

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Sept. 10. Jn. 12.24: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and
dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” There are certain statements in the
Bible that capture truths that are of the very essence of what the Bible teaches. This
statement is one of them. The Lord Jesus is talking about his death. We saw in
considering Lk. 12.50 (Aug. 23) that he was limited to himself until his death had been
accomplished, and now we see the same truth stated in different words. As long as he
remained alive he remained alone. His death would be like that of the seed planted in
the ground: it would make the way for much fruit.
A seed contains life, but that life is trapped inside a husk. When the seed is
planted, the husk dies and rots and the life gets out. When it gets out, it produces much
fruit with many seeds. The Lord Jesus contained the life of God, enough for all, but it
was necessary for him to die for the life to escape and to produce the crop.
The principle holds true for you and me. If we have been born again, we contain
the life of God, but we also have a problem called flesh. The life of God is trapped
inside our husk of flesh. The only way for the life to get out is for the husk to die and
rot. That is the explanation of our trials in life, our difficulties, sorrows, heartaches. God
is putting the flesh into the ground of circumstances so that it will die and rot and let
the life out. When it does we will find our lives producing much fruit.
Most of us, of course, spend many years of our lives resisting these dealings of
God, staying after him to get us out of hard places, perhaps even being upset or bitter
toward him. Yet he puts us into such situations precisely for our good, that what would
destroy us, the flesh, may die and what would see us through eternity, his life, may get
out and grow.
If it was necessary for the Lord Jesus, who had no fallen flesh, to die for the life to
get out, how much more us? We are full of flesh. It is a lifetime proposition for God to
deal with it. It is to our advantage to yield now to his efforts to put it to death, for when
we do we will start to see the crop coming up, and in the end we will bear much fruit.

Lord Jesus, thank you for accepting death that your life might be made available to me.
Open my eyes more and more to the truth that I, too, must die, my flesh must die, for
your life in me to escape and bear fruit. Amen.

Sept. 11. Jn. 18.6: “And when he said to them, ‘I am,’ they went back and fell to the ground.”
This verse occurs in the story of the arrest of the Lord Jesus. We saw in our reading for
Aug. 15 that he was in charge at his death, that no one took his life, but he laid it down.
Now we see that he was also in charge at his arrest. When Judas came with the soldiers
and officers to seize the Lord, he asked them whom they were seeking. When they
answered, “Jesus the Nazarene,” he responded, “I am,” and they were knocked back by
the words and fell to the ground. Here are armed Roman soldiers and Jewish officers

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seeking to apprehend one man, and when he tells them he is the one they are looking
for, they fall down. He has to get them up so they can arrest him. Who is in charge?
It may be that his answer, “I am,” had something to do with the power of the
words. “I Am” is the personal name of God revealed to Abraham and Moses. The Lord
Jesus used that word of himself many times through the gospel of John, showing that he
was “I Am” in the flesh. The Jewish officers especially would be taken aback by such
words. That is why they came to arrest him, for his blasphemy, and yet he says that he
is the one they want with the very words they are arresting him for. Who is in charge?
The Lord instructed the soldiers and officers to let his disciples go. Then when
Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the slave, the Lord told him to put up his
sword. Everyone was taking direction from the one being arrested. It is in question
whether or not he would have been arrested if he had not managed to get himself
arrested. Who is in charge?
So we see once again the King reigning. In every situation of his life he reigned,
up to and including his arrest and death. This one was “I Am” in the flesh.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this picture of the Lord Jesus reigning over a situation
in which he is supposed to be the one who follows orders. Thank you that he still reigns
today, and will eternally. Thank you that he reigns in me. Amen.

Sept. 12. Acts 2.4: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit gave them to speak.” Pentecost, the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy and
of John the Baptist’s, of God’s promise and the Son’s. All these had promised that those
who believed in the Lord Jesus would be baptized in and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Just before his departure from this earth the Lord had told them to wait for the promise
of the Father, explaining that they would be filled with power for witness when that
promise came on them. Now it had happened.
As the disciples prayed together in one place, the Holy Spirit entered the room
with a great noise and filled it, and then filled them. The promise had been that they
would receive power for witness, and witness they did, speaking languages they did
not know, and they were understood in their own tongues by people from all over the
Roman world who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover.
When these wondered what was happening and some said they were drunk,
Peter, full of the Spirit, stood and explained that this was what had been prophesied by
Joel, that it was the Holy Spirit being poured out, then went on to preach the Lord Jesus
crucified and resurrected. The result was the salvation of three thousand who believed
that day. Power indeed!
This baptism was not the initial receiving of the Spirit. In Jn. 20.22 we read of the
Lord Jesus breathing on them and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. They received
the Spirit then. They were born again. But at Pentecost they were filled with the Spirit

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and empowered to bear witness to the Lord Jesus. All of us who have been born again
have the Holy Spirit, but are we full of him? Have we been empowered for witness?
That is the key to doing the work of God. It is not us working for God, but God working
in us by his Spirit. He is the power.

Heavenly Father, you have promised the Holy Spirit in fullness. I ask you to fill me
with your Spirit and empower me for witness. Amen.

Sept. 13. Acts 2.24: “… whom God raised, loosing the birth pangs of death, for it was not
possible for him to be held by it.” This statement was made by Peter in his sermon at
Pentecost. The phrase we want to focus on is “the birth pangs of death,” for that is the
literal translation of the original. What did Peter mean by these words?
We usually see death as then end of something or of someone, and in fact that is
usually the case, at least in this world. But birth pangs are the beginning of something, a
new life. Though there is pain, something wonderful comes of it. Thus did the Lord
Jesus say in Jn. 16.21, “A woman has sorrow when she gives birth, for her hour has
come, but when the child is born, she no longer remembers the tribulation for the joy
that a man has been born into the world.” So why does Peter combine birth pangs and
death?
The reason is that this was not just any death, but the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the death that conquered death. He was sinless and so did not deserve to die.
Death had no claim on him. Thus it could not hold him. God raised him from the dead
to resurrection life, and that is the new life that was born out of the birth pangs of that
death. Never before had there been resurrection life. There had been life from the dead,
but it was restoration to the same life as before, and those who were raised died again,
permanently. Resurrection is raising to a spiritual body, to a life that is no longer subject
to disease, death, and decay. Because the Lord Jesus died in obedience to the Father,
resurrection life was born.
It is that life that is available to all. All who will believe and receive the salvation
offered by the Lord Jesus receive that life. They do not receive resurrection bodies just
yet, to be sure, and will eventually die physically if the Lord does not end the age first,
but they have that life in them and will be raised. Death will not be able to hold them.
They will rise from the grave as their Lord did.
There is also a principle of life in these thoughts. It is not just with physical death
at the end of this life that this principle is true, but with all the “death situations” we face
in life, those circumstances that are hard, heartbreaking, crucifying to the flesh. If we
will trust in the Lord in these places, we will go through not just the pain of death, but
the birth pangs of death that will give birth to new life, the formation of the Lord Jesus
in us (Gal. 4.19, where Paul, too, uses the figure of birth pangs).

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Dear God, thank you that when I trust in you, you will bring new life out of the “death
experiences” of my life, and that new life is Christ in me. And thank you for the ultimate
promise that the grave will not be able to hold me, but I will be raised to eternal life in
Christ. Amen.

Sept. 14. Acts 7.55-56: “But being full of the Holy Spirit and looking intently into Heaven he
saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, ‘Behold, I see the
Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'” One of the great
truths of the Scriptures is what is called the finished work of Christ. That is, the work he
did for our salvation is complete, with absolutely nothing yet to be done for our
salvation. The work is finished. Only the acceptance by us remains to be done.
This fact of the finished work of Christ is symbolized a number of times in the
book of Hebrews by the picture of the Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of God (Heb.
1.3, 8.1, 10.12, 12.2). The priests of Israel stood day after day ministering the same
sacrifices because they could never take away sins and their work was never finished.
They could never sit down. But the Lord Jesus made one sacrifice for sins, himself, and
sat down. His work was finished. Sins were taken away. So we have this comforting,
encouraging picture of our Lord sitting at the right hand of God.
But Stephen, at his martyrdom as recorded in our passage for today, saw the
Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Why was he standing? There are two
reasons. The work of the Lord Jesus for our salvation is complete, so in that regard he
sits. But his work of getting us through this life and into his visible presence safe and
faithful is not finished. Paul tells us in Rom. 8.34 that he is at the right hand of God
interceding for us, and it is Hebrews again that says that he always lives to intercede for
us (7.25).
The Lord Jesus lived on this earth as a man. He knows what we go through. He
knows the temptations, the discouragements, the weakness of the flesh. Thus he is
constantly at work praying for us, calling on the Father to bring us through this
temptation, that heartache, this difficult circumstance, that test. Do we think that we are
staying faithful and obedient to God? Not in the least. We are being interceded for by
our Lord, held up by him, brought through by his Spirit within. Without his
intercession we would all have fallen away long ago. But he is standing at the right
hand of God at his work for us now, interceding for us. Thus might he have prayed for
Stephen, “Father, Stephen is being called on to lay down his life for you. Please give him
the power to do so in trust and obedience. Bring him through.” And God brought him
through.
The second reason is that he was standing there waiting to welcome Stephen
home to Heaven. Can you not picture the Lord Jesus taking Stephen in his arms and
saying to him, “Well done, good slave. Welcome home. Enter into the joy of your Lord”?
And he will stand there to welcome you and me as well.

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Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for interceding for me. I would never make it
otherwise. And thank you for that wonderful encouragement that I will one day see
you standing there with open arms to welcome me into your visible presence. How can
I ever praise you and worship you enough? Amen.

Sept. 15. Acts 12.13-15: “Now when [Peter] knocked at the door of the gate a servant girl
named Rhoda came to answer, and knowing the voice of Peter, from joy she did not open the
gate, but running in she announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, ‘You
are out of your mind,’ but she insisted that it was so. But they said, ‘It is his angel.'” Perhaps
we can learn an important lesson about prayer from this passage. The context concerns
the angel releasing Peter from prison while the church was praying for him. The
interesting and ironic point is that they were praying for Peter to be released, but when
he was, they did not believe it. What does this say about their confidence in prayer, or
perhaps their faith in God?
But how often do we pray the same way? We ask God for something not really
expecting him to do it, and when he does we are surprised. Why are we surprised? Did
we not pray, asking him to? It is almost as though prayer is a religious ritual we go
through, but we do not expect anything to come of it. Certainly God has the authority to
say yes, no, or maybe (wait) to our prayers, but should we really go to him expecting
nothing?
Another way in which we pray is similar to this one. We have a difficult
situation, so we try everything we can think of to solve the problem. When nothing
works we pray, saying, “Well, all we can do is pray.” What do we mean, “All we can do
is pray?” The most important thing we can do is pray. We should have done that first.
Our words indicate that we have little confidence in prayer, that we do not think much
will come of it, but all we can do is pray.
We serve a God who is almighty and who delights to bless us. He knows what is
best and may say no to some requests, but our approach to prayer should surely be that
we expect a positive response from God. Why pray if we do not think it will do any
good? Perhaps if we would learn to pray first, not last, and to pray expectantly we
might see more come from prayer than we do now. Maybe we would not be so
surprised when Peter knocks at the door.

Father God, thank you for your delight in hearing our prayers, even when you have to
say no. Please lead me to pray with real faith in your kindness and belief in the efficacy
of prayer. I expect a positive answer! Amen.

Sept. 16. Acts 26.19: “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
When the Apostle Paul was converted on the road to Damascus he was blinded by a

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great light. Before that time he was engaged in persecuting Christians, and indeed that
was his mission as he traveled toward Damascus. As long as he could see physically he
had no spiritual vision. When he lost his physical sight he gained spiritual vision. The
eyes of his heart were opened (Eph. 1.17-18).
That heavenly vision had to do with his calling from God to take the gospel to
the Gentiles as well as to Jews (Acts 9.15). Now as he appears before King Agrippa just
before his journey to Rome, he declares that he was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision. Or, as he wrote to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the
course. I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4.7). Paul faithfully did the work assigned to him
by God.
The call of God comes to all of us. Most are not called to be preachers or
missionaries, but all are called to faithful, obedient witness wherever God puts them.
Most will hold ordinary jobs or be housewives and go through the routine of life, of
raising children and making a living. There are people you can reach that no one else
can, perhaps your own children or fellow workers. Perhaps you are involved in some
group where you are the only one who knows the Lord. You do not have to go overseas
to be a missionary.
Some have said that those who are used greatly by the Lord in an outward way,
winning many to Christ through great evangelistic crusades or gaining a measure of
fame in Christian circles for their mission work, will receive a greater reward than those
who do only a little. But the measure of success or failure is not numbers, but
faithfulness to what God has called one to. The great evangelist who wins thousands
will receive no greater reward than the one who wins a few by living a faithful,
obedient life, if that is what God has called him to. Indeed, who knows whether or not
the famous one has really been faithful to God? Only God knows.
The point is that we need to be faithful to whatever our heavenly vision is. What
has God called you to? That is what you are to do. What is important is that we can join
Paul near the end of our lives on this earth in saying, “I was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision.”

Faithful God, please make clear to me what you have called me to and give me grace to
be obedient to the heavenly vision. Amen.

Sept. 17. Rom. 5.1-2: “Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have gained access into this grace in which we
stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.” Romans is one of the great foundational
writings of the doctrine of justification by faith. Paul had spent his life trying to gain the
righteousness (another word for justification) which is based on the law, but he found
that the righteousness that is based on faith far surpassed anything he could gain by his
own efforts.

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Justification is at first a legal term. It is a verdict of acquittal in court. The
defendant is tried and found not guilty, so is justified. Then it is a practical term,
referring to living out what is right based on being justified. Paul says that we are
justified by faith, and that word is the foundation of those who believe the Bible is the
only authority for doctrine and practice to this day.
Paul goes on to say that because we have been justified by faith we have peace
with God. Peace is another of those words that contains more than at first appears.
Peace means the absence of conflict, but that is negative. It is a very positive word,
implying well-being in every way. It does mean the absence of conflict with God, for
when we were in our sins we were certainly at odds with him, but it also means that we
are on good terms with God and he is blessing us spiritually. What a wonderful thing it
is to have peace. We may not think much about it until we do not have it, but then we
do, and we are very grateful for it when it returns.
This peace comes through the Lord Jesus, by faith in him, because of his work for
us on the cross. That is what took away our sins and rendered us not guilty in court.
Therefore we have access into the grace in which we stand. We have commented on
grace a number of times in these pages. It is the place to be, for when we are in grace,
we are in God’s favor and all his good intentions are toward us. It is his nature.
Finally, we have hope of the glory of God, hope that we can boast in. Boasting
can be a negative practice, implying bragging on oneself, but when Paul says we can
boast in hope of the glory of God, he says that we are bragging on God and what he has
done, not on ourselves. We have a genuine hope, a sure hope, not just wishful thinking.
It is based on the promises of the God who has been faithful to this day.
Being found not guilty before God carries great rewards.

Righteous God, thank you for the work of the Lord Jesus by which I have been
acquitted of my sins, giving me peace with you, your favor, and the sure hope of
sharing in your glory. Amen.

Sept. 18. Rom. 5.17: “For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the one, Jesus Christ.” Adam and Eve failed in their opportunity to reign in life by
choosing to eat of the wrong tree, and thus death has reigned through the one, Adam.
The wages of sin are death. All of us descendants of Adam have sinned and we will all
die, except for those who are alive at the end of the age.
Paul tells us, though, that those who receive the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness will reign in life. Yes, we all failed to reign in life when we were
lost sinners, and all Christians have failed to reign in life to some degree by being in
bondage to some sin or being controlled by emotions or circumstances. But it need not

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be that way. We can reign in life. We can reign over our circumstances, our feelings, our
temptations instead of letting them reign over us. How? By receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.

The Lord Jesus has already won complete victory over Satan. He has overcome the world (Jn.
16.33). He did not need to overcome fallen flesh, for he was not born with it, but he did
have to overcome temptation so as not to fall into fallen flesh. This one who has
overcome every enemy lives in us and wants to live that victorious life in us. The grace
available for this life is abundant. The gift of righteousness, which is both justification
and doing what is right, is abundant. We have all we need in Christ who lives within.
As we surrender ourselves to him and draw on his life within, we reign in life because
he lives through us.
We have noted more than once that we are being trained to reign with Christ in
his kingdom. If we do not reign in life now, how can we expect to reign with him in his
kingdom? The circumstances, feelings, and temptations you are in are given to you by
the Lord as an opportunity to reign. If you reign over them, you will be trained to reign
with him. Draw on those abundant resources of grace, of righteousness, of Christ living
within.

Victorious Lord, I yield to you now to live your triumphant life in me. Please teach me
to draw on you for the grace and righteousness I need to reign in life, and to be trained
to reign with you in your kingdom. Amen.

Sept. 19. Rom. 7.18: “For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.” The
matter of the flesh has been a theme throughout these pages. By flesh, of course, we do
not mean our physical tissues, but all that we are apart from God, with the
understanding that since we are fallen creatures, the flesh is opposed to God and wants
to be its own god (Gen. 3.5).
Rom. 6, 7, and 8 deal with victorious Christian living. Chapter 6 shows the way
of victory. Chapter 7 shows a Christian trying to live by Rom. 6 and failing because of
the opposition of the flesh. Then chapter 8 shows how to come into the victory of
chapter 6. Paul may well have been writing about his own experience, revealing in
chapter 7 that as much as he tried to be a good Christian he failed. He finally saw that
good did not dwell in his flesh. He could not be a good Christian by trying harder.
The flesh is made up of personality, talents, temperament, intelligence and so
forth, those aspects that all people have whether they are Christians or not. Because we
are born sinners and will certainly commit acts of sin, we do not have contact with God
and have no choice but to rely on our flesh, our own resources rather than God’s. A
baby comes into the world without any knowledge of such things. All he can do is react
with his feelings to his environment. If it is good, he will develop a positive outlook and
what we would call healthy feelings. If it is not good, but full of rejection and

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mistreatment, he may well develop negative feelings about himself and about his
chances in life. One important aspect of this process is that his flesh will develop ways
of coping with his surroundings. For example, if he feels unloved he may develop a
fantasy world in which he is loved by those he imagines.
All of us have to face life with these realities going on within us. Even those who
are very positive and self-confident have a flesh problem. They may be proud, critical,
judgmental, self-righteous. The negative people have a very difficult time. When one
comes to Christ, he does not lose his flesh. It will be there all through this life. When he
tries and fails at being a Christian he feels condemned and tries harder. He fails again
and tries harder. This can go on indefinitely. Some finally give up. Others just get by the
best they can and wait for Heaven.
There is victory, and one of the keys to coming into it is the recognition that the
flesh does not need to be improved or rededicated. Good does not dwell in it and it
needs to go to the cross. Tomorrow we will look at victory in Rom. 8.

Heavenly Father, I see that good does not dwell in my flesh and that I do not need to try
to be better and do better. Please do show me the way of victory. Amen.

Sept. 20. Rom. 8.1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” The
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the key to victory. By law we do not mean a
legal requirement given by God or man, but an explanation of the way something
works, such as the law of gravity. The law of sin and death says that man is born a
sinner and will certainly sin, and as a result he will die, he will know condemnation.
There is no escaping that law. We are all subject to it.
Just as a higher law, such as aerodynamics, can overcome gravity, the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus can overcome the law of sin and death. The reason we
cannot gain victory over the law of sin and death in ourselves is that the only way for us
to do it ourselves is self-effort. We must try to keep the law of God. We may be able to
keep some of the law some of the time, and even some of the law all the time, but we
will surely fail in some point at some time. It is not possible for a human being to keep
the law of God perfectly, and that is why Paul says in Rom. 3.20 that no flesh is justified
by the law.
How does the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus work? It begins with faith.
The life of Christ is in us by his Spirit. We accept that fact by faith and just quit trying to
be good Christians. That does not mean that we do any wrong thing we can think of,
but that we understand that it is not in us to be what we should be, but we have a life in
us, Christ, who is what he should be, and he is willing to live his life in us if we will
allow him to do so. We yield ourselves to him and ask him to live in us. Then as we
make decisions, we do so not trusting in ourselves to be able to figure out what we

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should do and then do it, but trusting in Christ within to guide us, even if we are not
aware of it, to the right decisions and to do in us what should be done. When we yield
ourselves to that law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, he overcomes the law of sin and
death, of continual failure, and lives out his victory in us.

Dear Lord, thank you for the higher law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. I
yield myself to him to live in me and trust him to do so. Amen.

Sept. 21. Rom. 8.26: “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know
how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” All
Christians have known the frustration of not knowing how to pray. There is a situation
in which it is difficult to know what to do. There is one in which it seems there is no
hope. We want to call on the Lord, but we just do not know what to say.
This verse tells us that God understands how weak we are in prayer and has the
Holy Spirit to pray in us with groanings that cannot not be put into words, at least into
human words. Sometimes we feel a groan within as we try to pray about something
that has us very upset, but we do not know what to say. That groan is the Spirit praying
in us, interceding for us and for the situation we are trying to pray about.
We find that in every area of Christian life we fall short. If it is up to us to be
good Christians there really is no hope. We cannot even pray as we should. Paul tells us
in Phil. 2.13 that “it is God who works in you both to will and to work.” We are required
as Christians to will and to work, yet the Bible says that we cannot will and work as we
should, but that if we will do so anyway, knowing that we cannot, but trusting God,
then he will come into our will and work and accomplish the goal. We cannot do what
we should, but if we try, not trusting in our trying, but in God who says he will come
into our trying, then he will do so.
So it is with prayer. No one can pray as he should. Yet if we go to the Lord and
confess our weakness and pray anyway, trusting him to see our hearts and to take up
the prayer himself, he will do so. The Holy Spirit will help us to pray, and when we just
cannot, having no idea what to say, he will groan within us. It is a groan to us, but the
Father knows what the Spirit is saying. He sees our desire to pray as the proper prayer.
Even when we do not know how to pray we should pray anyway.

Heavenly Father, I confess my weakness in prayer. I do not know how to pray as I
should, but I thank you that you see my desire to pray, not my lack of perfection at it,
and that the Holy Spirit comes into my poor prayers and expresses what needs to be
said, even groaning in me when I have no words. Thank you that you hear. Amen.

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Sept. 22. Rom. 8.28-29: “But we know that all things work together for good for those who love
God, for those who are called according to purpose. For those whom he foreknew he predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
The truth set forth in these verses is one of the most important of all for Christians to
grasp and live by. That truth is that God is sovereign over the lives of his people (and
everything else, too) and allows nothing into their lives that he cannot use for good, and
that good is that we be conformed to the image of his Son.
If this is true then whatever we go through, whatever, is either caused or allowed
by God for our ultimate good. This does not mean that everything we go through is
good. There are many evil things that we have to deal with. The death of a loved one, a
child who rebels and makes choices that hurt him, financial difficulties, illness are all
things that are not good. Yet our God is such that he can use all things for good if we
will allow him to do so. If we submit to him in the hard place and ask him to achieve his
objective in it, we will find that more and more we are conformed to the image of
Christ.
Christ has been the submissive Son from eternity. When he became a man he
submitted even to the shameful death of a cross. That is the worst thing that has ever
happened in the history of the universe, the murder of the sinless Son of God. But what
did God do with it? He saved the world with it. If God can use the worst thing that ever
happened to accomplish the greatest thing that has ever happened, what can he do with
your troubles and mine? He can use them to conform us to his submissive Son, that we
might be obedient to him in all things as was his firstborn.
Yes, life can be very hard, and Christians are not exempt. But they have
something the world does not have, the assurance of God that nothing can come into
their lives that he cannot use for their good, and their eternal good at that.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this promise that you will use everything in my life for
my good if I will let you. I choose to let you do so and ask you to conform me to the
image of Christ. Amen.

Sept. 23. Rom. 12.2: “And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, the good and pleasing and perfect.”
This age is an evil age, according to Paul (Gal. 1.4), and as such it is not what we as
Christians should be conformed to. Instead of being conformed, we should be
transformed, made in experience what we are in fact, new creations in Christ (2 Cor.
5.17). The means by which we are transformed is the renewing of the mind. What does
Paul mean by this statement and how do we go about it?
Perhaps the first aspect of what Paul means is found in the next verse in Romans:

we should not think more of ourselves than we should, meaning we should not be self-
centered, thinking of ourselves all the time, and we should not think we are better in

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any way than we are. It is difficult to discern and do the will of God when we are
centered on ourselves.
In addition, we all have based our lives on some measure of deception because of
Satan’s clever lying, with the bad results that can be expected. A part of the
transforming of our minds is the exchanging of the lies we believe for truth. That is
done by study of the word of God to see what the truth is, and then by deliberate
accepting of that truth and rejection of the lie.
For example, some people are raised in a atmosphere in which they received love
and approval only when they accomplished something. They grow up believing that
they have to perform to be accepted, even by God. They can never rest in the grace of
God and the finished work of Christ, but are always trying to earn God’s approval. The
truth is that we never can earn God’s approval. His approval is not available at any
price. However, it is available free for the taking, for we are approved, not by our
works, but by his grace (Eph. 2.8-9, one of many passages that could be cited). All who
come to him in faith are accepted and approved by him. He may have to change some
of our behavior, but that is not the basis of acceptance. Rather, the acceptance is the
basis of the change.
In addition, the Holy Spirit will be at work in our minds doing a renewing work
that we are not even aware of. One day we just realize that we do not feel the way we
used to feel. The Spirit has replaced some lie with truth, and that truth has exchanged
negative emotions for positive. This is one good reason among others for studying the
word of God. By it we build our lives on truth, with eternal good consequences.

Heavenly Father, as I read your word, help me to discover truth that will displace the
lies I have fallen for. Thank you for the secret work of your Spirit within to renew my
mind. Amen.

Sept. 24. Rom. 15.4: “For what things were written before were written for our teaching, that
through the endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Some seem to think that the Old Testament is outdated and the New Testament is what
really matters for Christians. Such a verse as today’s should dispel such a notion. Keep
in mind that the Old Testament was all the Bible the first Christians had. Look through
your New Testament and see how many times the Old Testament is quoted.
Two facts stand out as we consider the Old Testament as Scripture on a par with
the New Testament. The first is that it is about Christ (Jn. 5.39). We can see him all
through the ancient Scriptures of the Jews. He is the fulfillment of its prophecies, the
antitype of its types, the reality of its shadows. When we learn to see Christ in the Old
Testament, it comes alive with him and has much to teach us of him.
The second is that these Scriptures were written for our teaching. Much of the
New Testament sets forth truths and principles. The Old Testament gives examples in

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the lives of people. We say that we are saved by grace through faith. Abraham was a
man who was given a promise by God that had no possibility of fulfillment in the
natural, and he believed God. Thus Moses writes that his belief was counted to him as
righteousness (Gen. 15.6). Abraham is an example of a man who was saved by grace
through faith.
The nation of Israel that came out of Egypt failed through unbelief and
disobedience to enter into the land of promise, all but two of them dying in the desert.
That is a negative example for us. Do not do what they did. Believe God, trust him,
obey him, enter into his rest. There are many more such examples.
As you read the stories of the Old Testament, ask the Lord to open your eyes to
Christ, and to the real-life examples of truth played out there. It is a wonderful
experience to have the Scriptures of the Jews to come alive to a Christian. The Messiah
is their Messiah, as well as ours. Their Bible is about their Messiah, and ours.

Dear Lord, please do open my eyes to your Son in the Old Testament, and reveal to me
how the experiences of people there illustrate truth. Thank you for all of your word.
Amen.

Sept. 25. 1 Cor. 1.22-24: “For Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom.” The Jews, desirous of being free
of Roman domination, were interested in power and wanted a Messiah who would
bring about such a deliverance. To them the cross was a stumbling block because it was
weakness, a Messiah losing his life to the Romans rather than destroying them.
The Greeks, interested in the eternal discussion of ideas, wanted wisdom. The
idea of a Savior who died by crucifixion was foolishness to them. How could anyone
executed in a way reserved for the worst criminals be a Savior?
But the death of Christ is the power of God because it took away sins, conquered
death, and rendered ineffective the one who had the power of death, the devil (Heb.
2.14). In taking away sins, the cross provided eternal salvation, a deliverance far greater
than deliverance from the Romans. This was a deliverance from the domination of sin
with its consequences, from death, and from hell, and a deliverance into victory now,
resurrection life, the millennial kingdom, and Heaven.
The death of Christ is the wisdom of God because it made a way for him to save
his people and maintain his righteous character. His righteousness demands that the
penalty for sins be paid, and that penalty is physical death ending this life and the
spiritual death of hell. His love yearns to save the lost. How can he be true to both
aspects of his nature? By having a second representative man, Adam being the first,
who would live a sinless life and thus qualify to be a sacrificial victim without blemish.

All those who accept his sacrifice of himself for their sins are forgiven, the penalty
having been paid, and are saved forever.
Jews who become Christians see the cross as God’s sign of his power, as well as
his wisdom, and Greeks who become Christians see it as God’s wisdom, as well as his
power.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your power and your wisdom to save, the cross of
Christ, and thank you, Lord Jesus, for taking my place on that cross. Amen.

Sept. 26. 1 Cor. 2.14: “But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know, for they are spiritually examined.” The
word we have translated “soulish” is usually rendered as “natural.” The Greek word is
actually the adjective of the noun “soul.” Soul is psyche, and the word in this verse is
psychikos.
Soulish is exactly the right description for the lost man, about whom Paul is
writing. We have noted more than once that man is spirit, soul, and body, with the
spirit being the immaterial aspect of man that is able to relate to God, the soul, the
psychological aspect, and the body, the physical. The Christian has a spirit made alive
toward God, so he is able to hear from God and make spiritual judgments. The lost man
has a spirit that is dead toward God, so he is limited to his soul. He is not able to
examine spiritual things because he is limited to his own intelligence and wisdom.
Spiritual things are foolishness to such a person, as we saw yesterday in our thoughts
about Christ crucified, for he does not have the necessary faculty to examine them, a
spirit alive toward God.
When one is born again and his spirit comes alive toward God, spiritual things
begin to make sense to him. He has the wisdom of God dwelling in his spirit by the
Holy Spirit. Through the human spirit the Holy Spirit opens the mind to understand the
Scriptures (Lk. 24.45). One begins to see that the spiritual world has primacy over the
material and governs it, and that spiritual things do not work in the same way as
material things. One simple example: the more money you give away, the less you
have, but the more of Christ you give to others, the more you have. Giving increases
what one has in the spiritual world.
The soulish man may spend many years studying the Bible and may know what
it says, but he will never be able to examine spiritual things so as to make correct
judgments about them precisely because he is soulish, limited to his own soul.

Dear God, thank you for a spirit alive with your Spirit, and able to receive revelation
from you about spiritual things. Please help me to grow in my understanding of
spiritual truth. Amen.

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Sept. 27. 1 Cor. 6.17: “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit.” This statement
is one of the most astounding in all the Bible. We could have spelled the word “spirit”
with a capital “S” as well as with a small one, for it refers to both the Holy Spirit and our
spirits. If we join ourselves to God, that is, are born again, receiving his Spirit into ours,
we are one Spirit/spirit with God. Do you grasp that? You and God are one.
We often feel that God is a million miles away. We say that our prayers do not
get above the ceiling. We say that we need to get closer to God. God is a million miles
away, but he is also in you, and you are in him (Acts 17.28). You are one with him. It
does matter whether your prayers even reach the ceiling or not. The God you are
praying to is inside you. And you will never be any closer to God than you were the
moment you were born again.
Of course, when we say we need to be closer to God, we mean relationally, not

spatially, and that is true. But Satan is so clever at getting us to believe lies and half-
truths that he can take this thought of getting closer to God and have us thinking we are

far from God. We are not. He is in us and we are in him. It is not possible to get any
closer.
Wherever we go, we take the Holy Spirit with us. That should cause us to give
thought to the places we go. Whatever we participate in, we take the Holy Spirit into.
Whatever we look at, we subject the Holy Spirit to. Whatever we say, the Spirit hears.
Whatever we think, he knows. The Bible says not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4.30).
Do the places we go, the things we do, the things we see, the things we say, the
thoughts we have grieve the Spirit? We cannot avoid taking him with us, for we are one
with him.
Satan loves to create the notion that we are separated from God. There is no
separation, for “the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit.” This truth affects
both our concept of our close relationship with God and our decisions as to what we
will do.

Blessed Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit and for the astounding truth that I am one
with you because he is in me. What a comfort to know that no matter what I face, you
are there. Please help me, too, not to grieve the Holy Spirit by my thoughts, words, and
deeds. Amen.

Sept. 28. 1 Cor. 12.12: “For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of
the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” Paul’s understanding of the church is
one of the primary aspects of his teaching, one that we will see more of as we continue
in his epistles. In this verse he points out the fact that the body is one, but has many
members, and the members are many, but are one body. There is complete unity in
diversity and diversity in unity.

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The point that Paul is making is that that is how Christ is, but he is not talking
about the physical body of Christ (yes, he still has his physical body), but about the
church, which he calls the body of Christ. Christ is one member of the church. He is the
head. (When we say member of the church, we do not mean one who has joined an
organization, but a part of the church.) We are the other members. By saying such a
thing, Paul includes us in Christ. Saying that we are one spirit with God is astounding
enough (yesterday’s reading). Now he says that we help to make up Christ.
In this chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul is dealing with spiritual gifts. His point is
that just as a body has many members, but is one body, in which the members play
different roles, so is the church. Not every member of the church does the same job.
There are varieties of jobs to do, and these are given to different members, just as the
work of the hand is given to the hand and the work of the foot is given to the foot. Paul
is trying to combat the notion that every member should have every spiritual gift, and
perhaps also the notion set forth by those who have a certain gift that it is the best one
and everyone should have it. No, everyone has his place in the body of Christ as God
has chosen and gifted him.
And Paul says this is Christ. He is the head, we are the many members, and we
are all one. Christ is a corporate man, as Adam was. All people are born of Adam and
share in him, in his fallen nature. Those who are born of Christ share in him. With him,
they make up the church, the body of Christ.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the wonderful truth that I help to make up you by being
a member of the body of which you are the head. Please help me to know my place in
the body where I may serve and glorify you. Amen.

Sept. 29. 1 Cor. 12.31b-13.1: “And I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal.” The church at Corinth was one that had many spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 1.7) and
was very much caught up in gifts. They were even arguing about them, as chapter 12
indicates. Paul writes all of chapter 12, and then chapter 14, to deal with this issue and
to explain how a church meeting should function. But between these two chapters he
inserts a few words that have come to be regarded as one of the high points of the New
Testament.
He tells the Corinthians that with all their gifts, tongues, prophecy, knowledge,
faith, there is a more excellent way, something far more imporatrant than gifts. That
something is love. There are four Greek words for “love,” and Paul uses the word that
refers to the kind of love God has, his unconditional love. Instead of arguing over who
has the best gift, the Corinthians would do well to love each other.
Why is love better than the gifts? Because it is the nature of God. God is love, 1
Jn. 4.16 says. The Christians at Corinth had demonstrated that those with spiritual gifts

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could be at each others’ throats. But love will not do wrong to another. Those with the
gifts were not expressing the nature of God to one another, but the flesh. Indeed, Paul
had called the Corinthian Christians “fleshly” (1 Cor. 3.1-3). One would think that those
who had spiritual gifts would be spiritual Christians, but Paul says they were not. They
were fleshly Christians, walking according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit.
Let that thought sink in. Possession of spiritual gifts is no guarantee of spirituality.
What is the sure sign of spirituality? Love. The Lord Jesus said in Jn. 13.35 that all
men would know his disciples by their love for one another. Paul says here that all the
gifts will pass away. There will be no need for tongues or prophecy or knowledge after
this age has come to a close. But love will never pass away. It is eternal. And it is
eternally the expression of what God is.

Dear Lord, please lead me in the more excellent way. Whether I have any spiritual gifts
or not, let me love you and your people and the lost with your love as you live in me.
Amen.

Sept. 30. 1 Cor. 15.16-19: “For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised. But if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain. You are still in your sins. Then also those who
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of
all men most pitiable.” Paul makes it absolutely clear in these statements that the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus is essential to our faith. Some have thought that it does
not really matter whether or not Christ was raised from the dead. What is really
important is the kind of life he lived and the death he died. While those are also
essential, by themselves they are useless.
One famous New Testament student of some years ago said that what matters is
not whether or not Christ was raised from the dead, but whether or not we believe he
was. If we believe it, that is sufficient. That means that if Christ was not raised, we
should believe a lie in order to be saved. Somehow that does not seem to agree with the
Lord’s words that the truth will make you free. Nor does it agree with what Paul says
here.
Why is the resurrection so important? It is because death is the penalty for sin. If
you sin you will die. Adam died spiritually the moment he sinned, and physically later
on. We are all born dead spiritually, and we will all die physically except for those here
at the close of the age. If there is no resurrection we cannot escape the penalty for sin.
We will stay spiritually dead for eternity.
We are to be pitied more than any others if our hope in Christ is just for this life,
because we will have the greatest shock and disappointment. We will have lived in the
confidence that when we come to physical death we will go into the visible presence of
the Lord, when in fact we will not, but will face eternal separation from him.

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We need to be most careful in our defense of the resurrection of Christ, and we
need to be most thankful that he has indeed been raised from the dead. That is our
hope. He is the first fruits from the dead (1 Cor. 15.20). We are the harvest. If we die, we
will be raised from the dead.

Heavenly Father, thank you that the Lord Jesus not only died for my sins, but
conquered death, so that I can be forgiven and raised from the grave. Death cannot hold
me, for it could not hold my Lord. Amen.

Oct. 1. 2 Cor. 1.4-6: God is “the one comforting us in every tribulation of ours, that we might be
able to comfort those in every tribulation with the comfort with which we ourselves have been
comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, so through Christ our comfort
also abounds. If we have tribulation, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it
is for your comfort, which is working as you endure the same sufferings which we also suffer.”
We might note here at the beginning that the word translated “comfort” is the
Greek word paraklete, which some will recognize as the word used by the Lord Jesus to
describe the Holy Spirit in John’s gospel. This word can also be translated “helper,”
“encourager,” “exhorter,” “counselor,” and there is a verb form for each of these words.
Any of these words could be used in this passage.
Because of the fallen world we live in, suffering is a given. It is not a matter of
whether or not we will suffer, but of when and how. Everyone goes through difficulty.
The important question, then, is how we will react to our sufferings. We have already
seen several times that God uses our sufferings to deal with our flesh and form Christ in
us. Now we see another use for our sufferings.
Paul went through much trouble, more than most of us will. He knew the
comfort of God in his tribulations. He also saw that his sufferings and the resultant
comfort had a purpose beyond himself. It was that he might be able to comfort others
who went through the same sufferings. We have all probably had the experience of
being in some hard place and having someone who had no idea what we were going
through telling us he knew how we felt or just to trust the Lord. We do need to trust the
Lord, but we do not need platitudes when we are hurting badly. It is much better to
have someone who has been there tell us that God can get us through it.
Paul says that his tribulations are for the comfort and salvation of his readers.
The very reason he has tribulations is that he may be able to help others in the same
situation. And it is not just with comfort, but also with salvation. That is, when he
ministers to one hurting, he can not only give words of comfort, but he can help the
hurting one to see how God can use the difficulty for his salvation. By salvation we do
not mean the new birth of the spirit, but the process of making the soul (psychological
aspect) healthy. We will see more of this matter in later readings.

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Patiently enduring the tribulations that come make the comfort effective.
Comfort is available. We have to accept it and accept the truth that God has us where he
wants us for his good purposes. There is comfort in that fact alone, and yielding to the
Lord in that way makes it effective.

God of all comfort, thank you for the comfort you give. Help me to see my own
sufferings as your instruments to enable me to comfort others. Amen.

Oct. 2. 2 Cor. 4.3-4: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are perishing, in
whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is God’s image.” Several times in these readings
we have seen that Satan operates by deceit. In these verses Paul says that Satan is the
god of this age. The meaning of that thought would have two aspects, one, that Satan
rules this age, and then, that he is worshipped by this age, albeit unknowingly. This one
whom Paul calls the god of this age was called the ruler of this world by the Lord Jesus
(Jn. 12.31). John writes in his first epistle that the whole world lies in the evil one (1 Jn.
5.19).
This god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. That is a part of
his work of deceit. The gospel is foolishness to them because of the blinded state of their
minds (see the reading for Sept. 26 about the soulish man). Satan tells people that
money will make them happy. If they can just get enough money to buy whatever they
want they will be happy. The lives of many of the wealthy should show the untruth of
that claim.
He tells them that the freedom to do anything they please will make them happy,
so we have an immoral, drug-ridden society of people trying to “feel good.” “If it feels
good do it.” Many of them damage their minds or die of overdoses, and all of them,
instead of being free to do as they please, are slaves to a terrible master. Many have
damaging diseases, some of which have no cure as yet.
Notice that the goal of all such behavior is happiness. The problem with such a
goal is that it is self-centered, and God did not make us to be self-centered, but to be
Christ-centered. If we pursue happiness it will probably elude us. If we pursue Christ,
we will realize at some point that we are happy. But Satan says to make happiness the
goal and do whatever it takes to gain it, thus blinding the minds of the unbelieving. The
god of this age is the ultimate getter, and he says to get. The true God is the ultimate
giver, and he says to give. The results speak for themselves.

Dear God, the real God, thank you for opening my eyes and my mind to your truth and
enabling me to see the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ, that he is indeed the
way. Amen.

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Oct. 3. 2 Cor. 4.7-12: “But we have this treasure in vessels made of clay, that the surpassing
nature of the power might be of God and not of us, having tribulation in every way, but not
crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, knocked down, but not
destroyed, always carrying about in the body the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also might
be manifested in our body. For we who live are always being delivered to death through Jesus,
that the life of Jesus might also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death works in us, but
life in you.”
The fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians is one of the great, deep chapters of the Bible.
We cannot escape quoting it at length in today’s reading, and we will see more of it
tomorrow. Paul makes the point that God’s way is life out of death, and shows that in
every way death works in the natural so that the life of God may come through. We are
not treasures, but clay pots with a treasure in us. V. 7 literally says, “that the hyperbole
of the power may be of God.” “Hyperbole” in English is a literary technique that uses
exaggeration to make a point (see the Aug. 11 reading for an example). Paul says that
the fact that the treasure is in clay pots makes the power of God appear exaggerated,
though it is not. It surpasses even its appearance.
Everything in Paul and his fellow-workers is a working of death, tribulation,
perplexity, persecution, being knocked down, “always carrying about in the body the
death of Jesus.” Why all this working of death? It is the putting to death of the flesh and
the releasing of the life of God. God puts his workers in places where they have no hope
if God does not come through, and that is proof that it is the life of God that prevails in
a situation. As they experience death in their flesh, those they work with experience the
resurrection life of the Lord Jesus. His life comes out of their death.
As we serve the Lord, we can expect to be in similar situations. If it is up to us, it
will not get done. The flesh profits nothing. We can expect to be out of our depth
without a boat or a life jacket. We will experience the death of all that is ours by nature,
our intelligence, our wisdom, our education, our experience. None of it will do. It
cannot accomplish the work of God. But as we yield to that working of death in us, then
just as with the Lord Jesus, there is resurrection. Life comes out of the death. “So then
death works in us, but life in you.”

Lord Jesus, I cannot fully comprehend what this passage is saying, but I pray that as
you allow death to work in me so that what is of the natural may be put out of the way,
life will come from that death, your resurrection life. That is the way of true ministry.
Amen.

Oct. 4. 2 Cor. 4.16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but even if our outer man is wearing
away, our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light tribulation works
for us an eternal weight of glory from surpassing to surpassing, while we do not look at the
things seen, but at the things not seen, for the things seen are temporary, but the things not seen

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are eternal.” Paul uses the same word, “hyperbole,” in these verses as he did in
yesterday’s, and that is why we have translated “from surpassing to surpassing.” That is
not the best English, but it is what the Greek says. We might translate it “from
exaggeration to exaggeration,” meaning that the weight of glory worked for us is
beyond all exaggeration. If we were to exaggerate it beyond our wildest imaginations,
we would fall short of the reality. We have little comprehension of what God has for us
beyond this age.
Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outer man, our body, is wearing
away, because what we are going through, if we submit to the dealings of God in it
with trust and obedience, is working for us that exaggerated weight of glory. The
tribulation that seems so endless and heavy now will seem as light as nothing when we
come into the weight of glory. Knowing that, we are renewed in the inner man, our
spirit that knows God.
What do we mean by glory? We saw earlier (June 16) that glory has to do with
weightiness, reputation, fame. God is famous and well thought of because of his nature
and deeds. The weight of glory for us is God’s, “Well done,” spoken to us. Imagine the
fame that will win for us when the world’s idea of fame is gone and God reveals those
of his children to whom he can say, “Well done.” That will be glory! Then it will not be a
matter of selfishness or pride, for we will immediately fall before the Lord Jesus who
made it possible and give him all the glory. Only he is worthy. We will have made it
because of him, not because of ourselves.
And all this comes by faith, for that is what looking at the things not seen is.
Human reason sees the material reality and says that is all there is. Faith sees through
the material to the spiritual reality and says that is what rules now and will prevail in
the end. Moses “endured as seeing him who is unseen” (Heb. 11.27). We do not lose
heart, for we see the unseen.

Dear Lord, thank you for the awareness of the unseen reality of you and the spiritual
world. Please open my eyes more and more to your truth and enable me to live by the
unseen, and for my spirit to mount up with wings as eagles even though the body is
wearing out. Amen.

Oct. 5. 2 Cor. 5.9-10: “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be pleasing to
him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the
things which he did through the body, whether good or bad.” We are taught that salvation is
by grace through faith with no reference to works, and that is exactly what the Bible
says. If we stop with this truth, though, and do not bring out what the Scriptures says
beyond salvation, we may be lulled into a false sense of security. I know I am going to
Heaven when I die, so what difference does it make what I do now? That seems to be
the attitude of some, perhaps of many.

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The answer to the question is that it makes a great deal of difference. All
Christians must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, not to be judged for
salvation, a settled issue, but for reward. We will be rewarded according to our works,
and there is great reward to be gained or lost. The Bible does not teach just that we go to
Heaven when we die, but that there will be a millennial kingdom ruled by Christ after
this age comes to an end. Those who have been faithful in doing the will of God and
using the “talents” he has given (Mt. 25.14-30) will hear the Lord’s “Well done” and will
reign with him. Those who have not will lose this reward.
The Bible also teaches that Christ will have a bride presented to him in his
kingdom (Eph. 5.27, Rev. 19.7-9). We saw in our consideration of Mt. 25.1-4 (Aug. 13)
that it is possible for a Christian to miss this blessing of being a part of the corporate
bride of Christ. That is the meaning of the man without a wedding garment in the
wedding hall being cast out in Mt. 22.11-14. The outer darkness there is not hell, but
simply “outer,” outside the wedding hall where those Christians who are ready are
celebrating the wedding feast with the Lord Jesus. We will see more of this situation
when we come to Rev. 19.
In addition to these two blessings of reigning with Christ and being a part of his
bride, there will surely be other rewards, for these are major rewards, and there will be
all sorts of rewards ranging from none to much, depending on what a Christian has
done in the body.
Yes, it does matter greatly how we live our lives as Christians, for there is much
to be gained and much to be lost. All Christians will be saved, but not all will receive
the same reward, and there are great rewards to be won.

Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be prepared to stand before your judgment seat and hear
your “Well done.” Please work in me that I might do your will obediently and faithfully
and so be ready. Amen.

Oct. 6. 2 Cor. 7.10: “For the sorrow according to God works repentance to salvation without
regret, but the sorrow of the world works death.” In this passage Paul is writing about
sorrow for sin, and he says that there are two kinds of sorrow for sin. The sorrow that is
according to God, the kind God wants in people, is the sorrow that works repentance,
and this sorrow leads to salvation. This salvation could be the new birth of one who
comes to the Lord for the first time in confession and repentance, or it could be the
ongoing salvation of the Christian who has failed and comes to the Lord to be restored.
Because he repents, that is, changes the way he thinks and thus the kind of person he is
and his behavior (“For as he thinks in his soul, so is he,” Prov. 23.7), his sorrow results in
salvation, the healing of his damaged soul (psyche).
The sorrow of the world is that of the person who says, “I am sorry I got caught,”
or of the person who just does not understand the ways of God. There is no repentance,

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no changing of the way one thinks (recall that God does not think as man thinks, Is.
55.8-9), and thus there is no salvation, either the new birth of the spirit or the ongoing
healing of the damaged soul (psyche). There is just regret, no repentance.
A good example of the sorrow according to God is Peter’s sorrow when he
denied his Lord. He wept bitterly he was so sorry in his heart. Surely he would have
given anything to have been able to undo what he did. Yet it was one of the best things
that ever happened to Peter because it destroyed his confidence in himself (his flesh)
and led to his restoration by the Lord Jesus in a way that worked great healing in his
damaged soul. Peter was a different man after his restoration, and the better for it.
An example of the world’s sorrow is Judas. Yes, he was terribly sorry for what he
did. So filled with regret was he that he returned the money he had received for
betraying the Lord Jesus and then hanged himself. There was great regret, but no
repentance. Apparently Judas had no real grasp of the nature of what the Lord was
teaching and acting out. Perhaps he looked for an earthly kingdom, and when he saw
that that was not coming and that he had betrayed a good man, he saw no other way
out. Whatever went on in his mind and heart, he did not repent to salvation, but
regretted to death.
Repentance is one of the great needs of all people, including Christians. We need
to have repentant hearts, hearts always wanting to be delivered from the way people
think to the way God thinks, for that is the way of salvation. Sorrow for sin according to
God works such repentance.

Heavenly Father, please teach me to be sorry for my sins in the right way, according to
you, so that I will truly repent, change the way I think, and gain salvation. Amen.

Oct. 7. 2 Cor. 10.3-5: “For though we walk in flesh, we do not war according to flesh, for the
weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful before God to the tearing down of fortresses,
tearing down speculations and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God, and
taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ.” When Paul says he walks in flesh,
he does not mean “in the flesh” in the sense of Rom. 8.8 (see the Sept. 4 reading), but
simply in the body. Even though he walks in the body, the weapons of his warfare are
not fleshly, swords and spears and clubs, or in the case of his work in the gospel,
techniques designed to bring great response to his message without genuine repentance
and conversion.
Instead his weapons are powerful before God. Since his foe is a spirit, the evil
spirit, his weapons are spiritual. What are spiritual weapons? Since Satan operates by
deceit, the primary weapon is truth, the word of God, but we must add that this
weapon must be used by one who is the Lord’s and is being obedient to him. Even
Satan can quote Scripture, as his temptations of the Lord Jesus show, and the seven sons

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of Sceva, while not quoting Scripture, were thoroughly beaten up by an evil spirit when
they tried to use the name of Jesus without being his (Acts 19.11-17).
We counter the lies of Satan in our own minds by standing on what the word of
God says, and we teach others the truth in opposition to his deceit of them. Where Satan
has built a fortress of deceit in one who has believed him so much that his lies are very
difficult to dislodge, Paul would continue in the Scriptures until the fortress was torn
down, opposing deceit with truth. In addition he might call on another spiritual
weapon, the authority given in the name of Jesus to cast out demons. Even then the one
delivered would need to be brought to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus and
instructed in the truth so as not to fall prey to Satan’s efforts to reclaim him by more lies.
The emphasis, though, is firmly on truth. Speculations were a problem in Paul’s
day (1 Tim. 1.3-4, 4.1-3, Heb. 13.9). How does one deal with speculations? By pointing
out that speculations have no basis other than the imagination of the one producing
them. One person’s speculations are as good as another’s. Neither have any value. But
the word of God has a basis in revelation and the experience and testimony of his
people. There is reality behind it. Every thought can be taken captive to obedience to
Christ by one who knows and relies on the Scriptures as one submitted to their Author
and enlightened and led by his Spirit within.

Dear Lord, as I walk in this fleshly body, teach me not to try to fight my spiritual enemy
with fleshly weapons, but to use spiritual weapons that are powerful before you,
especially your living word. Thank you that we have victory in Christ. Amen.

Oct. 8. 2 Cor. 11.2: “For I am jealous for you with God’s jealousy, for I betrothed you to one
husband to present you a pure virgin to Christ.” Betrothal in the days of the Bible was an
arrangement somewhere between our modern-day engagement and marriage. In
betrothal, a couple were committed to each other in a legal way even though they had
not yet married and consummated the marriage. That is why, for example, it says in Mt.
1.18-19 that Joseph was going to divorce Mary when he learned that she was pregnant
before their marriage. They were not married, but they could divorce, or break the
betrothal.
Paul says in today’s verse that he is jealous over the Corinthians because he had
betrothed them to Christ. That is one of the implications of becoming a Christian. When
one receives Christ, he is pledged for marriage to him in his kingdom. We as Christians
are not yet married to Christ, but we are betrothed to him. We are legally committed to
him. If we are unfaithful to him by going after other gods, we are guilty of adultery.
That is why James could call his readers adulteresses if they were friends with the
world. It is of note that he uses the feminine, adulteresses, even though he was writing
to men and women. They were the bride-to-be, betrothed to Christ, and were
adulteresses if they were unfaithful. Paul wants to present his converts to Christ as a

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pure virgin, as a corporate bride that has had nothing to do with other gods, but has
been wholly faithful to her Lord.
What a great blessing for us to be betrothed to Christ, but what a great challenge
as well. We have something wonderful beyond our wildest dreams to look forward to,
the marriage supper of the Lamb and marriage to the Lord Jesus. But we also have the
challenge of being faithful to him now, not worshipping ourselves, money, pleasure,
power, things, other people, but him alone. In addition to Paul’s jealousy expressed in
this verse, we also have his statement in Eph. 5.25-27 that the heavenly Bridegroom
himself is at work on his bride now in this age to see to it that when she is presented to
him, she will be holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle. We must be faithful to
him, yet as in all things it is not our effort, but our submission to him, for he will
accomplish the task in us if we will allow him to do so. He is at work in us both to will
and to work (Phil. 2.13) his good pleasure.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the thrilling prospect of being a part of your bride.
Please do work in me to see that I am a pure virgin for you, one who worships you only
and has nothing to do with other gods. Amen.

Oct. 9. 2 Cor. 12.9: “And he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in
weakness.'” Paul has just written of his visions and revelations and stated that God
allowed him to have a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to keep him from lifting
himself up because of the visions and revelations. It is not known what the thorn was,
but since he says it was in the flesh, it was probably a physical ailment of some kind.
When the apostle prayed about this problem three times, asking God to take it
away, the Lord’s reply was, “My grace is sufficient for you.” The thorn would not be
removed, but enough grace to endure it would be given. In the first place, this verse
should show the fallacy of those who preach that no Christian should ever have
anything wrong, and those who do do not have enough faith. If Paul himself, the great
apostle who wrote much of the New Testament, was allowed to have something wrong
and was told he would have grace to bear it, what makes us think we should never
have a problem? It is a terrible disservice to a child of God to tell him that if he had
enough faith he would be healed, or whatever the need. Perhaps God has said to that
one, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Second, this promise of God is one of the great words of the New Testament.
Every believer needs this word at one time or another. We all have to bear some
difficulty, some sorrow, at some time in life, many times for most of us. God has
promised that we will not have more than we can bear and that his grace will always be
enough. He himself will see us through if we trust him. Sometimes he sees us through
even when our faith is weak, knowing that we are dust (Ps. 103.14). He has purpose in

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what he allows into our lives, the formation of Christ in us, and he will enable us to gain
that goal.
Paul adds that the Lord told him that power is made perfect in weakness. We
usually think we should use our strengths for God and do our best with them. There is
truth in that, but sometimes our strengths are God’s greatest hindrance, for where we
think we are strong we do not realize that we cannot do it, but must have the Lord do it
in us. Where we know we are weak we know we need the Lord and readily turn to him.
The truth is that our strengths are also weak in serving God, for in themselves they are
flesh. When we see our total weakness, including our strengths, and seek the Lord to
work in us, then his power can be perfected in that which is completely yielded to him,
not in that which is trying to help him. He needs no help.

Gracious God, thank you for your sufficient grace for whatever I may be experiencing
at a given time. Let me see my weakness in my difficulties and yield to your power.
Amen.

Oct. 10. Gal. 1.15-16a: “But when he who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me
through his grace thought it good to reveal his Son in me….” Paul did not come to the Lord,
or it might be better to say that the Lord did not come to Paul, till some time after Paul
was grown and was engaged in his career of persecuting Christians. But, Paul says,
even though that is true, it is nonetheless also true that God had separated him from his
mother’s womb. The word “separated” is not the Greek word for “set apart” in the sense
of “make holy,” but is the general word for “separated.” Paul does not say that God
made him holy from his mother’s womb, but that he was present at his birth and
protected him, for he had a calling for him.
That calling came to Paul later on the Damascus road when the Lord Jesus called
out to him, and in Damascus when Ananias spoke with him about the Lord’s
instructions. The calling was indeed one of grace, for Paul was persecuting the church,
but which of us can say that his calling by God was not of grace, but deserved?
Then Paul uses an unusual way of speaking when he says that God revealed his
Son in me. We would think he would say “to me,” but he said “in me.” It was not just an
experience of something or someone outside himself, but an awareness of Christ within
him that Paul had. He is the great user of the thought of “Christ living in me.” He it was
who wrote, “Christ, who is our life…” (Col. 3.4). He knew that Christ was not just up in
Heaven or all around him, but in him, and he knew it because Christ had been revealed
not just to him, but in him. Paul knew the Lord Jesus because they both inhabited the
same body.
Paul also uses the word “when,” indicating that there is a time element to the will
of God. God had designated Paul from eternity to be his apostle. He was present at his
birth. But it was many years later when he thought it good to reveal Christ in him. Why

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did God not reveal his Son in Paul earlier so he would not have persecuted the church?
We do not know. God thought it good. Many of us have experienced God calling us
later rather than sooner, yet knew that he had had his hand on us all along, from birth.
Many of us who have known the call of God have experienced delay in his opening of
the door to what we felt called to do. Why does he delay? We do not know. He thought
it good. Knowing this truth, we can wait in faith, knowing that when the right time
comes, God will act. If we try to help him by acting sooner ourselves, we will regret it.
He knows the right time.
When he thought it good….

Dear God, the revealer of the Lord Jesus, please do reveal your Son in me more and
more, and enable me to wait in faith for your timing in the seasons of my life. Amen.

Oct. 11. Gal. 3.2-3: “This alone I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit from works
of law or from hearing of faith? Are you so ignorant? Having begun in the Spirit are you now
being perfected in the flesh?” One of the problems that Paul faced was Jews called
Judaizers who came behind him and told his converts they also had to keep the Jewish
law to be Christians. When some of the Galatian believers responded to this message,
Paul wrote this letter to defend his teaching that salvation is by grace through faith
alone, with no involvement of works. He pointed out to them that they had received the
Holy Spirit when they believed the gospel and accepted it. There were no works done
to receive the Spirit. He came in response to faith alone. That being true, why do they
now need to start keeping the law, which is works?
The question he put to them makes it so clear that their approach was ignorant.
The flesh could not save them and was a major obstacle to their being saved. That
being the case, and their salvation having come by faith and the work of the Spirit, not
their work, what made them think they could become mature Christians by the effort of
the flesh? No! If salvation is by faith alone, so is Christian life.
We face the same problem today. Evangelical churches do a good job of teaching
and preaching salvation by grace through faith alone. But what are people taught once
they have become Christians? Attend church, read the Bible, pray, tithe, witness, do not
do certain things. These are all things that should be done, but they are all works. In
effect, the new Christian is told that, having been saved by faith, he is now to begin a
Christian life of works that indicate his maturity. Paul would ask the same question of
this situation as he asked the Galatians.
New Christians, not to mention old ones, need to be taught that the living of
Christian life and growth in it are every bit as much by grace through faith as salvation
is. We can no more live as Christians or grow toward maturity by self-effort than we
could be saved by self-effort. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, there are things we
should do and not do, but these are not done as evidence that we are good Christians

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(there aren’t any!), but in obedience to the Spirit within and in loving response to what
God has done for us. So many are so tired of trying to be good Christians. They should
quit trying and ask the Spirit of God in them to take over and lead them in letting Christ
live through them. He is the only “good Christian.” Remember Jn. 6.63: “The flesh
profits nothing.”

Dear Lord, what a liberating truth, that I do not have to try to be a good Christian, but
that I can just yield to the Holy Spirit in me to lead me and empower me. Thank you!
Amen.

Oct. 12. Gal. 5.22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faith, humility, self-control.” In line with Paul’s teaching in Galatians that
Christian life is lived by the Spirit within, not by self-effort, is his statement about the
fruit of the Spirit. Does fruit grow by the effort of the tree or the branch? No, the tree is
just a tree and the branch is just a branch. If they will continue in that way, fruit will
happen! It is the same with Christians. If we try to produce fruit, we will fail and be
miserable in the process. If we just abide in Christ, as the Lord Jesus put it in Jn. 15, or
walk in or by the Spirit as Paul writes here in Gal. 5.16, there will be fruit.
Sometimes we think of the fruit of the Spirit almost as a kind of ornament. I will
really look good as a Christian if I can display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faith, humility, self-control. But the purpose of my Christian life is not for me
to look good, and the purpose of fruit is not ornamental. I need to be as invisible as
possible while Christ looks good. Fruit has two purposes. One is that fruit is food. It is
to be eaten. When the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives, it is so that we may be fed,
and that we may feed others. How many people are desperate for love, for peace, for
kindness? If the Spirit produces those fruits in you, you can nourish others until the
Spirit has produced fruit in them.
The other purpose of fruit is the spreading of seeds that the tree might be
reproduced. It is the Holy Spirit in us who produces the fruit. He wants to spread what
is in us, namely, himself, to others, so he can produce fruit in them, too. As we share the
fruit he has produced in us with the lost and they receive the Spirit in trusting Christ for
salvation, he is reproduced in them, and he can begin the process of maturing them to
the point of bearing fruit.
Never try to produce fruit. Just abide in the Vine, walk in the Spirit, and there
will just naturally be fruit.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit within, and thank you that it is his job,
not mine, to produce fruit. Help me just to rest in him and let him do his work. Amen.

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Oct. 13. Eph. 1.9-10: “… having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure which he purposed in him for a stewardship of the fullness of the times, to sum up all
things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth….” The book of Ephesians is
one of the great documents ever written. Some say it is the greatest. It sets forth God’s
purpose and his view of the church as he intends it, not as it is outwardly in this fallen
world with imperfect members.
In our passage for today Paul writes of the mystery of God’s will. A mystery in
the Bible is not a difficult case that someone might figure out with some clues and good
thinking, like one of our murder mysteries. In the Scriptures, a mystery is God’s secret
which can be known only by his revelation, and which he will make known at the right
time. What is the mystery of God’s will? It is the summing up of all things in Christ.
The Old Testament reveals the calling of the Jews to be the people of God, and it
prophesies a coming Messiah. It does not, however, make a full revelation of the
Messiah. It is not clear from the Old Testament that the Messiah would be the divine
Son of God who would become a man. While the Old Testament does show that there
will be a son of David who will rule forever, it does not deal with the complete
centrality to God’s plans of his Son.
It is in the New Testament that we learn that the Lord Jesus is to be God’s heir of
everything, that he is to have a corporate bride, the church, that all things were made by
him and for him (Col. 1.16), and that God will sum up everything in him. The Lord
Jesus is God’s beloved Son whom he has put at the center of his eternal will and
purpose.
Paul says that this will of God comes out of his good pleasure: it is his good
pleasure to give everything to his Son. He also speaks of the stewardship of the fullness
of the times. Stewardship is proper care and use of something entrusted to one. One is
to be a good steward of his abilities, his opportunities, anything entrusted to him. There
is a stewardship of the fullness of the times. That is, there is a time when it will be right
for the present evil age to come to an end and the kingdom of God to come to this earth
visibly and fully.
Who has the stewardship of that time? God does, for one, and he will see to it
that his purpose is realized. But he has also given the church a measure of the
stewardship of the fullness of the times. It is up to the church to do what it can to hasten
the coming of the day of God (2 Pt. 3.12) by being and doing what God desires. If the
church will be and do what Ephesians sets forth, it will exercise good stewardship of
the fullness of the times and will hasten the coming of the Lord. And the church is made
up of individual Christians, each one of whom needs to be and do what God desires,
individually and corporately.

Lord Jesus, I see that you are at the center of all the Father’s plans. Please lead me in
trusting and obeying you that I might be what you want me to be, and that I might

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contribute to the church’s being what it should be. Help us to hasten your coming.
Amen.

Oct. 14. Eph. 1.17-18: “… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give
to you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him, the eyes of your heart being
enlightened….” It is not possible for a human being to know God or the things of God
apart from revelation by God. It is possible to know about God. Paul points out in Rom.
1.19-20 that the reality of God is evident through creation. What has been made implies
a Maker. It is also obvious that God is a God of right and wrong, everyone knowing
intuitively that some things are right and others are wrong. But it is not possible to
know God himself without his revelation of himself, or the things of God without his
making them known.
Ephesians was written to Christians, people who knew God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. For them Paul prays that God will give them a Spirit of wisdom and
revelation in knowledge of him, the eyes of their heart being enlightened. It is always
possible to gain a greater knowledge of the things of God, of his nature, his purpose, his
ways (see the Jan. 16 and 17 readings), his plans for us. This knowledge comes, not just
by study of the word, though that is vital and is a means God uses, or by intellectual
effort and reasoning, but by the work of the Holy Spirit within. He is the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation. He is the one who enlightens the eyes of the heart. As we study
his word and fellowship with other believers, as we trust him and obey him, he reveals
truth to us.
And note that the knowledge is of him. In the end, what God reveals to us by his
Spirit is himself and his Son. He is not so much giving us information as he is letting us
know him personally. I know about the President of the United States, but I do not
know him. I have never met him. I know about God, but I also know God. I have met
him. That is what Paul means here by knowledge of him, that we know him. That is
God’s ultimate desire for us.
Yes, there is information, and Paul mentions some of it in the following verses,
the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, the
surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. But all this flows from
knowing him. Without that, the other is just information.

Dear Lord, please do give me a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
you and enlighten the eyes of my heart. I want to know you more and more. Please do
reveal yourself to me. Amen.

Oct. 15. Eph. 2.19-22: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow
citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the head of the corner, in whom all the

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building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being
built together for a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” God does not dwell in houses made with
hands (Acts 7.48). Anyone who calls a church building the house of God is mistaken. In
this passage Paul says that God dwells in his people. He does so individually, but Paul’s
point here is that the people of God are being built together into a corporate building
for God to dwell in, not a physical building, but a spiritual house (see 1 Pt. 2.4-5).
Each believer has been built onto the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
not the foundation which consists of them, but the foundation which they have laid in
preaching the Lord Jesus. He is the foundation (1 Cor. 3.11), and he is also the
cornerstone. This building is being fitted together. That is, the stones have to be cut to
fit. That is the meaning of many of the trials we face. God is using them to deal with our
flesh and to form Christ in us, to shape us to fit into the house he is building for himself.
That is the explanation of some of the saints we find it difficult to get along with. God is
rubbing us together to rub off some rough edge so that we will fit.
Paul says that this structure grows. Buildings do not grow. Buildings are built.
But this building grows. That is, it is not a physical building, but a spiritual one, a living
thing, the church. It is growing into a temple for the Lord. The word translated “temple”
actually refers to the Holy of Holies, the room God dwells in. You and I are being built
into a Holy of Holies for God to dwell in. The Israelites could never go into the Holy
Place even, much less the Holy of Holies. God dwelt among them, but they were
separated. But God is building himself a spiritual Holy of Holies out of you and me,
and we will be a dwelling of God in the Spirit. That is some of the revelation of the
church that God gives in Ephesians.

Heavenly Father, thank you for taking me from being a stranger and an alien among
your people and making me a living stone in your dwelling place. Give me grace to
accept the shaping you do through trials and difficult relationships. Amen.

Oct. 16. Eph. 3.16-19: “… that he might give to you according to the riches of his glory to be
strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell through
faith in your hearts, you being rooted and founded in love, that you may be fully able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.”
Here is another of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and what a prayer it is! We may take
it as a prayer for us as well.
Paul wants us to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man.
That is, he is not looking for physical power, for that is of this world and is temporary,
but for spiritual power. He wants us to be strong spiritually that we may be able to
resist the enemy, lay hold of all God has for us, and do all he wants us to do. He wants
Christ to dwell in our hearts. Of course, he does dwell in them, but by faith we know it

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and benefit from it. Trust in the Christ who is in you. He is not off somewhere. He is in
you. Draw on that fact by faith.
The apostle prays for us to be rooted and founded in love. Love is the soil into
which we sink down roots. It is the foundation on which we are built. And what is
love? God is love. He is our strength, our nourishment, our foundation.
When Paul prays for us to know the breadth, length, height, and depth, he does
not say of what. Some say it is the love of Christ, but it seems to me it is Christ himself.
He is a great Christ. He is far grater than we can imagine. When God gave Israel the
dimensions of the promised land, he went all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to
the Euphrates River. Israel never occupied such a large territory. She never knew the
breadth and length and height and depth of the land. And we have never known the
breadth and length and height and depth of Christ. He is vast. He is great beyond
measure. Paul wants us to know something of that.
And he does want us to know the love of Christ, love which surpasses
knowledge. What love would motivate someone who lived in the perfection of Heaven
and had the perfect fellowship of the Trinity to leave that for the spiritual desert of this
world, and to go through rejection and a miserable death, and to experience being made
sin and tasting hell? It surpasses knowledge.
But if we can grasp a bit of this love, we will be filled with all the fullness of God,
for it will transform us into what he is, and love is what he is. His love will fill us and
we will be channels of his love to all around us.
That is one of Paul’s prayers for us.

Dear God, your thoughts toward me are beyond imagining. Your desires for me are so
much grater than my desires for myself. Please help me to grasp even a bit of what you
have in mind and to know something of what Paul prays for me in this passage. Amen.

Oct. 17. Eph. 4.11-13: “And he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints to the work of service,
to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to a measure of stature of the fullness of Christ.”
V. 7 of this chapter says that Christ gave gifts to men (see the April 10 reading). Now
Paul tells what the gifts were: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. God
gave these ministries to the church and he gave the men who filled them, and he still
does.
The purpose of these gifts was the equipping of the saints so that they could
serve and build up the body of Christ, and the purpose of that work is the ultimate:
unity, knowledge of Christ, maturity as measured by Christ. The saints (all Christians)
are not just to sit and listen to those who prophesy, evangelize, pastor and teach week
after week and never do anything else. It is really the saints who are intended by God to

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do the work of the church. The place of those who are recognized as leaders, preachers,
and teachers is not to do the work of the church, but to equip those who are to do it. We
have turned things around in the church: the place of the saints is to listen to what the
leaders have to say and support them financially so they can do the work of the church.
It should not be that way.
As the saints are equipped, they are to serve, ministering to those in need,
sharing Christ with the lost, praying with the hurting, giving counsel to those needing
guidance. By so doing they build up the body of Christ, bringing in new members and
strengthening those who have been in the church for some time.
The goal is threefold: (1) to come to the unity of the faith, being of one accord in
trusting and obeying the Lord, with no one pushing for his agenda, but with all seeking
the Lord’s agenda; (2) the knowledge of the Son of God, that is, knowing Christ
personally, not just knowing about him; (3) coming to a mature man, according to a
measure of stature of the fullness of Christ. There are many measures of stature: money,
achievement in some endeavor, heroic deeds, selfless service. Paul says that the proper
measure of stature in the church is Christ. If we want to be critical of someone else and
put forth ourselves as an example, the first thing we should do is to measure ourselves
by Christ. If we measure up with him, then we can be critical of others. If not, we had
best hold our counsel. We are not the measure. Christ is. He is the goal of the church,
oneness with him, he filling all (Eph. 4.10).

Dear Father, thank you for your gifts of men in the church who are able to equip others.
Show me my role in your work in and through the church and enable me to fill it by
your Spirit within. Help me to do my part in achieving the goal of Christ himself filling
all. Amen.

Oct. 18. Eph. 4.15-16: “… but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all things into him
who is the Head, Christ, from whom all the body, being fitted together and held together through
every joint of supply according to the working in measure of each individual part, produces the
growth of the body for building itself up in love.” Paul is still writing about the church, not
individual Christians, in these verses, but, of course, the church is made up of
individuals and each one should find his place in God’s plan for the church. His desire,
as in yesterday’s reading, is that we grow up into Christ, showing again that he is the
standard of measure.
One aspect of this growing up is speaking the truth in love. There are times when
we must say something to someone that may be difficult. When this is necessary, it
should be done in love so as to maximize the possibility that it will be well received.
There are also times when speaking the truth in love requires not saying anything. Love
governs, not truth. In addition to these conversations between individuals, there is also

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the preaching and teaching of the word. These can be done in an unloving way.
Whatever the speaker may be burdened by God to say, he must say it in love.
Christ is the Head. He is the one who governs the body, telling each part what to
do and when to do it. What a difference it would make in the church if each part
followed this rule.
A major question in the last part of this passage is, What is the subject of the
sentence? The main verb is “produces,” and what is produced is the growth and
building up of the body in love. It is very interesting that the subject is “the body” in the
first part of the statement: “from whom all the body.” The body produces its own
growth and builds itself up in love. We might think that God or Christ or the Holy
Spirit would produce the growth and the building up, but no, the body builds itself up.
But is that not just the way it is with our human bodies? The head, the brain,
directs each part to do what is necessary to care for the body, to cause it to grow, and
when grown, to maintain health. Remember that the church is the body of Christ, he
being the Head (see the Sept. 28 reading). Christ and the church are one organism. He
the Head directs each part to do what is necessary for the growth and building up of the
body. Each individual member has a part to play, a job to do, that contributes to the
good of the whole. If each member of the body would hear from him and carry out his
instructions, what would the church be in our world?

Dear Lord, please show me my place in the body and enable me to hear from the Head
so I can contribute my part to the growth and building up of the whole. Amen.

Oct. 19. Eph. 5.18: “Be filled with the Spirit.” It is quite clear from the Bible that all who
have been saved have the Holy Spirit (see, for example, Rom. 8.9). In fact, that is what
saves them, the Holy Spirit entering the human spirit that has been dead in sin and
making it alive toward God because of the forgiveness made possible by the blood of
the Lamb (see the Aug. 31 reading). But Paul writes to Christians who have the Holy
Spirit to be filled with the Spirit, indicating that it is possible to be saved but not filled
with the Spirit. His word is a command. Christians are to be filled with the Spirit.
Just what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? This matter has been the
subject of much disagreement. To be filled with the Spirit means that one has
surrendered himself to the Lord to allow him to come into every aspect of life and be
Lord of all. When he makes this surrender, the Holy Spirit will become a refining fire
within, purging the flesh and purifying the gold. We are usually taught that when one
is filled with the Spirit it is a glorious experience that will change his life and make it a
movement from one joy to another till Jesus comes. That may well happen, but make no
mistake, if there is genuine fullness of the Spirit, there will also be the refining fire, and
that aspect of the Spirit is not glorious or joyful.

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One must be filled with the Spirit to live a victorious Christian life. The flesh
cannot gain victory over Satan, sin, and the world, and it does not want to, anyway. It is
opposed to God and wants to be its own god. Only the power of the Spirit within one
can provide the strength necessary to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Fullness of the Spirit is necessary for the doing of the work of God. Without it,
one is working in the ability and power of the flesh, and that has no effect on Satan and
his forces or on God and his forces. The flesh is out of its element in the spiritual world.
Human intelligence may perform wonderfully against other human intelligence, but it
is a joke to Satan. This is why the best minds in the world labor incessantly to solve such
problems as the Israeli-Arab problem and have no success. The problem is spiritual.
They are trying to solve it with a fleshly weapon. Satan need not even take notice.
But the one who is Spirit-filled, who is operating out of the overflow of the Holy
Spirit in his own life, has what is needed to do the work of God. He has the spiritual
weapon of almighty God himself within to deal with spiritual problems. He has the
Spirit’s opening of the Scriptures and use of them to counter deceit. He has the leading
of the Spirit so he knows where to go and where not to go, what to do and what not to
do.
Being filled with the Spirit is not a suggestion from God. It is a command. Be
filled with the Spirit!

Heavenly Father, Please do fill me with your Spirit and keep filling me. Amen.

Oct. 20. Eph. 6.12-13: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenlies. Therefore take the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the
evil day, and having done all things, to stand.” Paul states in plain language a point we
have made a number of times: we are not fighting a fleshly enemy, but a spiritual one,
and we cannot fight him with fleshy weapons, but with spiritual ones. Even though
some other person may be opposing us, that person is not our enemy. Our enemy is the
evil spirit who is deceiving the one opposing us and who is in fact also the enemy of the
one opposing us. He wants to destroy him and us.
Our enemy is first Satan, and then his hierarchy of evil that we have seen before
(see the June 17 and July 3 readings), the rulers, the authorities, the cosmocrats (literal
Greek) of this darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. The heavenlies are
not Heaven, but the spiritual world, inhabited by both good and evil. This fact is clear
from the verse just cited, for there are no spiritual forces of evil in Heaven, but there are
in the heavenlies.
What is a Christian to do against such a foe? We cannot see him. He is smarter
than we are. He knows all about us, our strengths and weaknesses, our likes and
dislikes. What hope do we have? We have much hope, for he who is in us is greater

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than he who is in the world (1 Jn. 4.4). First, we stand on the truth of God’s word in
faith, the truth that our Lord has defeated the lord of evil and that he lives in and
protects us. Satan can do nothing in our lives that God does not allow for our good.
Then we are to take the whole armor of God so that we may resist and stand. The
armor of God is simply Christ: he is truth; he is our righteousness; he is our peace; he is
the author and finisher of our faith; he is our salvation (vs. 14-17). The one weapon is
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Holy Spirit will recall to our
minds the Scriptures we need in a given situation. That is one reason why it is
important to read the Bible, even when it does not seem meaningful. The Holy Spirit
cannot call to mind what is not in the mind. It is up to us to put it there. It is up to him
to direct its use.
Yes, we are in a war, and we have a foe we must respect, but we need not fear
him, for we already have the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our place is not to fight
for victory, but, clothed with Christ, to stand in victory by faith.

Almighty, victorious God, thank you for the assurance that I already have victory
because I am in Christ and he is in me. Please teach me to stand in that victory. Amen.

Oct. 21. Phil. 1.21: “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Paul’s life was Christ, and
the meaning of his life was Christ. He had no other reason to live. The Christian faith is
not a religion, and it is not about doctrines or practices. These have their place, but the
Christian faith is a Person and a relationship with him. Many people like religion
because it gives them a way to do a minimal amount and be approved, and then they
can live their lives as they please. But a relationship is costly and it is difficult in some
ways, and that is what the Christian faith is.
Correct doctrine and correct practice without the living experience of Christ are
not Christianity. They are dead religion. It is the relationship that matters. Everything
else flows from that reality. The first Christians experienced Christ, then developed
doctrines to explain what they had experienced. Today too many believe the doctrines
and think that is what makes them Christians. It does not. Faith in Christ himself, not in
Christian doctrine, is what makes one a Christian.
Paul wrote this letter from prison and he knew there was a possibility he would
be executed. He believed that if he went on living, he would experience more of the life
of Christ in him and more use of him by Christ to do his work of the gospel. That would
be a wonderful way to live. If he died he would gain Heaven and the sight of Christ
himself. He knew him in spirit, but then he would see the one who died for him. That is
why he could call death gain. It is not really death for the believer. Only the body dies.
The believer lives on in the visible presence of the Lord.
Col. 1.16, also written by Paul, says that all things were made by Christ and for
him. Paul knew the reality of that truth by experience, and thus he could say that to him

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to live was Christ, for he knew that he was made for him, and to die, gain, for that
would be more of Christ.

Blessed Savior, thank you for being my very life as you live in me. Open my eyes more
and more to the fact that for me to live is you, and for me to die is to gain more of you.
Amen.

Oct. 22. Phil. 2.5-11: “Have this way of thinking among you which also was in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God did not consider equality with God a thing to be held on to, but
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being in the likeness of men. And being found in
appearance as a man he humbled himself, becoming obedient as far as death, and death of a cross.
Therefore also God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name,
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven and those on the earth and
those under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father.”
We have quoted this passage at length because it is one of the highest peaks of
Scripture. Nowhere else is the nature of God more fully revealed than in these words.
Paul says that we are to have the way of thinking that Christ had. The way we think is
so vital. It governs what we are and what we do. “For as he thinks in his soul, so is he”
(Prov. 23.7). By the way we think, we do not mean so much our intellectual concepts,
what we know are the right answers, but the almost unconscious beliefs that are what
we really believe. Think the way Christ thought.
How did he think? “Being in the form of God, he did not consider equality with
God a thing to be held on to.” He was the Son of God from eternity, and before he
became a man he willingly turned loose of his divinity. We do not mean that he was not
divine, but he did not live by his divinity when he became a man. He lived as we do, by
faith and obedience. How did he think? He emptied himself of his divinity, in the sense
of living by it, and took the form of a slave. From the form of God to the form of slave
and the likeness of men.
How did he think? He humbled himself, going so far as to die, and on a cross at
that. Paul first emphasizes that the obedience of the Lord Jesus did not stop at death,
but then he stresses that it was not just any death. Crucifixion was a Roman means of
execution that was reserved for the worst offenders. Jesus did not die the glorious death
of a martyr. He died as a blasphemer against God, about as low as a Jew could go, and
for treason against Rome, accused of trying to displace Roman authority with his own,
the King of the Jews.
How did he think? He thought in terms of perfect submission to his Father, no
matter what his own will might be. He thought of giving, not of getting. He thought of
letting life go, not trying to hang on to it. He did not choose the crown, which was
already his and had been eternally, but the cross. He chose to love rather than be loved,

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to serve rather than to be served. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are
not his ways.
What was the result of his thinking the way he did, and acting accordingly? God
has exalted him to the highest place. Because he chose the cross, he now has the crown.
He is not a King who exploits his people, but who exploits himself for them, if we may
so put it. And this one who thinks this way said, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you live in me and thus I have your mind. Please
transform me more and more to think as you think, and then to act as you acted. Teach
me to take up my cross and follow you. Amen.

Oct. 23. Phil. 3.10: “… to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being conformed to his death.” We have emphasized numerous times in these
readings that God’s greatest desire for us is that we know him. Now we see that Paul’s
greatest desire was to know him in the person of the Son. Indeed, in v. 8 of this passage
Paul wrote that he counted all things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. Nothing
else mattered.
He adds that he wants to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. It is easy for us to say a hearty amen to
knowing the power of his resurrection. That sounds glorious and wonderful. But the
sufferings and death are another matter. But the two, power on one hand and
sufferings and death on the other, go together.
We must know the power of Christ to endure the sufferings we are called to.
Without it we would not be able to hold out. But at the same time, we cannot know the
power of his resurrection without the sufferings and death. That is because God’s
means is life out of death. The natural cannot conquer death. When the natural has
come to its end, then God can step in with his life. Resurrection is not just coming back
to this life from death. It is being transformed with a spiritual body that is no longer
subject to death. That resurrection power is in us now in Christ who lives in us, but we
cannot know it without the flesh being taken to the cross. There must be that taking up
of the cross and following him, that death of the flesh, in order for there to be
resurrection life and power. Resurrection life is wonderful indeed, but the only way to
get it is to die.
So we see that the power and the sufferings and death operate together, at the
same time and in the same person. God brings the life out of death, and the life enables
us to endure the sufferings. And on it goes throughout this life. There is a continual
dying, taking up the cross daily (Lk. 9.23) (see also 1 Cor. 15.31 and my article Life out of Death in 2 Corinthians on this website), and a continual flow of life and power from that death.

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All of this is part of knowing Christ, and Paul considered it worth more than
everything he was and had. “That I may know him.”

Lord Jesus, I want to know you. I admit my fearfulness at thinking of facing the
sufferings and dying of the flesh, but I want to know you and your resurrection power,
so I ask you for grace to take me through the sufferings and death. Amen.

Oct. 24. Phil. 3.20-21: “For our commonwealth is in the heavens, from which we await a Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness to be like the body of his
glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.” We are
inhabitants of two worlds. We live in the spiritual world, seated with Christ in the
heavenlies (Eph. 2.6), and in the material. Our true commonwealth is in Heaven. This
world is not our home. Our mother is the Jerusalem above (Gal. 4.26). We seek a
fatherland, a heavenly one (Heb. 11.14-16). We know in our hearts that we do not
belong in this spiritual desert, but we belong with our Lord in Heaven.
And we await his coming from Heaven to catch us up to himself. It may be that
we will go there as most do, by way of physical death, but there will be some who are
alive at his coming who will not taste death, but will be caught up to meet him in the
air. To await a Savior does not mean that we just wait, but that we are looking for him.
Do you ever look into the sky and think that one day Christ will descend with the
clouds? Are you hoping for it to be soon?
One of the wonderful promises he has given us is that these bodies that we now
inhabit that are subject to pain, disease, death, decay will be transformed and will be
like his body, now a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15.44) no longer subject to these things. The
concept of a spiritual body is foreign to us, for spirit is by definition immaterial and our
bodies now are material, but God will be up to the job. He knows how to do it.
When the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, he was able
to appear and disappear, to pass through walls. The stone was rolled away from the
tomb, not so that the Lord Jesus could get out, for he passed through his grave clothes
and left them lying where they were, and through the stone or the walls of the tomb,
but so that the disciples could see that the grave was empty. Our bodies of lowliness
will be transformed to be like his body of glory.
The power which enables him so to transform us is the same power by which he
is able to subject all things to himself. Do we realize what an almighty Savior we have.
Satan has been utterly defeated. He has lost. He is done for. The Lord Jesus has the
highest place and has the name above every other name. He is “far above all rule and
authority and power and lordship and every name that is named, not only in this age,
but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1.21). Far above all. Nothing else is close. Certainly
not Satan. Praise the Lord!

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Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the awareness that this world is not my home, that my
commonwealth is in Heaven, that you will come from there for me and all of your own
(please hurry!), and that you will transform my lowly body into one like yours. Praise
to you. Amen.

Oct. 25. Phil. 4.6-7: “Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with
thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Of the many promises
of God that we have, this is one of the most comforting. There is no need to worry about
anything. Worry really says that I cannot do anything about something, and I do not
believe God can either, or that he will not even though he can. But there are a few
Scriptural facts that we need to take into account.
God is almighty and sovereign, so nothing happens without his willing it or
permitting it. He sees to it that all things work together for good for those who love him
and are called according to purpose. Loving God is up to the individual, but all
Christians are called according to purpose. The circumstances of our lives are arranged
by God to give us the opportunity to reign over something in this life so that we will be
trained to reign with the Lord Jesus in his coming kingdom.
If all these things are true, what is the basis of worry? The basis of worry is one
or both of two things, unbelief or lack of submission to the Lord. If we do not believe
the facts just stated, then we will probably worry. Or if we are holding out for our own
will and trying to get God to do it instead of his, then we will probably worry. It is
remarkable how much we say to God in effect, though we would not say the words,
“Not your will, but mine be done.” We act as though God’s reason for existence is to
make us comfortable and happy. The Bible says that we were made for God, not that he
exists for us. We are his slaves; he is not our slave.
If we resolve these matters of trust and submission, what is the basis of worry?
There is none. If we believe that God is almighty and sovereign and that he will allow
nothing into our lives that is not for our good, then as we make our prayers to him,
remembering to thank him for all that he has done for, given to us, and most
importantly is to us, his peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And his
peace not only surpasses the worry that Satan would try to talk us into, but it surpasses
understanding itself. More than one person has testified that he knew peace in a
situation in which it was humanly impossible to know peace: it had to be supernatural
peace, beyond understanding. Rom. 5.1 tells us of peace with God. Here we learn of the
peace of God.
If you are having trouble with worry and anxiety, examine your trust and
submission before God. If you are fully trusting and submitted, you will know his
peace.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful promise. I choose to trust you and I
submit myself to you. Please work in me to enable me to live out these choices. Thank
you for your peace in my mind and heart. Amen.

Oct. 26. Col. 1.15-16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in
him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible an the things
invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities. All things were made through
him and for him.” We have noted the centrality of Christ in a number of our readings.
This passage in Colossians is one of the Bible’s great statements of that truth. The man
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the word become flesh. He said to Philip,
“He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14.9). If we want to know what God is
like, we can look at the Lord Jesus.
Paul writes that he is the firstborn of all creation. Some might take this statement
to mean that Jesus was created rather than being eternal God. The passage we are
considering itself rules out this interpretation in the next verse, v. 17, when it says that
the Lord Jesus was before all things. Firstborn can mean literally the first child borne by
his mother. It also means the one who has priority. In biblical cultures, the firstborn son
was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance, and sometimes all of the inheritance.
Yet we find many exceptions in the history of God’s work among his people, for
example, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, David over all his seven brothers. Heb.
12.23 speaks of the church of the firstborn, indicating that all Christians are firstborn
sons to God. That is the meaning of the term as applied to the Lord Jesus here. He was
not created and born of a mother, but he has the first position.
Rom. 8.29 says that he is to be the firstborn among many brothers, meaning just
what we have said, that of all the millions of sons of God, he is first in priority and rank.
In the messianic Ps. 89.27 God says that he will make the Lord Jesus his firstborn. He
already existed, and had eternally, but would be made firstborn by the appointment of
God. The Scriptures are clear that the Lord Jesus is eternal God.
Indeed he is the agent of creation, for in him all things were created. If he were a
creature how could he be the creator of all things created? He could not make himself,
and no creature would have the ability to make the universe. He made everything in the
heavens and on the earth, including the hierarchies of universal government (see the
June 27 reading).
The statement that sets forth our main point in these thoughts is the last, that all
things were made through him and for him. “All things” includes you and me. We were
made for Christ and for no other reason. We exist for him. When we surrender
ourselves to him and let him exercise lordship over us, indeed, let him live in us, we are
functioning as we were made to function and we find that things go well (this does not
mean there will be no trials, but that we will reign over them). If we resist, we are not
functioning as we were made to function and things go poorly. All warranties are void

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if something is not used according to its purpose. That is the explanation of all the
misery of humanity. It was made for Christ, but it is not living according to that
purpose. How important that we follow the manufacturer’s manual, the Bible.

Dear God, thank you for the greatness of the Lord Jesus and the highest position that he
occupies. I see that I was made for him and I want to live according to that purpose. I
surrender to him within me to be my Lord and my life. Amen.

Oct. 27. Col. 1.18-19: “And he himself is the Head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that he himself might have first place in all things, for in him all the
Fullness was pleased to dwell.” We continue with the centrality of Christ. We have already
considered that he is the Head of the body (see the readings for Sept. 28 and Oct. 18).
He is the one who governs and directs the other members of the body.
Christ is also the beginning of the church, its first member: he is the firstborn
from the dead (see also 1 Cor. 15.20). We saw in yesterday’s reading that the Lord Jesus
is the firstborn of all creation, that is, the first in rank and priority. Now we see that he is
the firstborn from the dead, resurrection being seen as a birth from death. The church is,
among other things, the society of those who have conquered death (see the Aug. 10
reading). Christ is the one who actually conquered death, and all in him will also
prevail over it. Even if we die we will be raised from the dead, for death cannot hold us.
We have been forgiven of the cause of death, sin, so death has no authority over us, no
claim on us.
The Lord Jesus has first place in all things. Because of his complete obedience to
the Father, even to the point of death of a cross, he has been highly exalted to first place
in all things (Phil. 2.5-11). He has first place in the church, for he is its Beginner, but he
also has first place in all things. There is nothing that is not subject to him (Heb. 2.5-8).
The heavenly Father was so pleased with his Son that he was pleased to dwell in
him in all his fullness. The Fullness is God (Col. 2.9). In Mk. 2.21 we read the response
of the Lord Jesus to the question as to why his disciples did not fast. He said, “No one
sews a patch of unshrunk cloth to an old garment. Otherwise the fullness takes from it,
the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.” That is, the unshrunk cloth, when the
garment is washed, will shrink and pull away from the garment, making a worse tear.
Preshrunk cloth was not available in Bible times! In this passage the Lord Jesus gives
three examples of the fact that the relationship with God he is bringing will not fit the
old forms of Judaism. One does not fast when the Bridegroom is present. The Lord
Jesus is the Bridegroom. One does not put New Wine into old wineskins. The Holy
Spirit is the New Wine. And one does not sew Fullness of unshrunk cloth to a garment
that has already been washed and has shrunk. The Father is the Fullness.

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This new relationship of Fullness, man knowing God and being able to dwell in
his presence, is found in Christ, the one who brings God and man together. And he has
first place in all things.

Dear Lord Jesus, what a wonderful thing it is that all the Fullness of God dwells in you,
and in you I can know that Fullness. I want you to have first place in me. Amen.

Oct. 28. Col. 2.16-17: “Therefore let no one judge you in eating and drinking or with regard to a
festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are shadows of the things to come, but the body is of
Christ.” One of the problems among the Colossians which Paul wrote this letter to deal
with was the teaching of those who sought to subject Christians to rules and practices,
whether Jewish or otherwise. Some said not to eat or drink certain things, others, that
they must observe certain days.
The refutation which Paul employs against all these teachings is that they are
shadows, but Christ is the body that casts the shadow. The Greek literally says “body.”
Paul’s question is, Why would you want the shadow when you have the reality? All of
the Old Testament practices are prophecies of Christ, the High Priest, the sacrificial
system, the sabbath, the tabernacle, the festivals. They were shadows cast by the Lord
Jesus before his coming to earth as a man. Now that he has come, it is superfluous to
hold on to the shadows.
In our own day there are sometimes so many requirements set forth as
qualifications for full fellowship with some believers. One denomination requires a
certain form of baptism. Another requires another form of baptism. One requires
acceptance of a credal statement. Another thinks creeds are evil. Some are exclusive and
will not allow other Christians to partake of the Lord’s Table with them unless they join
that group. These are all shadows. Yes, they are shadows cast by Christ and they have
their place, but why do we make them central when they are shadows and the one who
casts the shadows is here? He is central. He is the only basis of Christian fellowship.
There is only one church. If we are in Christ, we are in the only church there is. If we are
in the church, why is full fellowship denied? Why do we hold to shadows when we
have the reality?
When we gather as Christian believers, are we gathering around a doctrine? Are
we gathering around a practice? Are we gathering around a man? The only one around
whom it is proper for Christians to gather is Christ. He is the reality. He is central.
Everything else is meaningless and useless without him. Do not let anyone judge you
with regard to food, drink, days, observances. You will be judged only by the measure
of Christ at his judgment seat. Do not accept any other judgment now. Hold to the
Reality.

Dear Lord Jesus, you are the Reality! Whatever shadows I may observe because I think
you want me to, thank you that I see that they really do not matter in themselves, but
only in relation to you. I want you to be central in my life in every way. Amen.

Oct. 29. Col. 2.19: “… and not holding fast the Head….” This bit of a verse of the Bible
reveals the cause of the vast majority of the problems in the church and shows the only
way to solve them, and what all Christians, individually and corporately, ought to do at
all times.
The Head is Christ. He is the one who governs and he is the one we should
gather around for worship and other functions of the church. He is the only thing we
should hold fast. No doctrine, no practice, should be held fast. That does not mean that
we should not teach correct doctrine, but who knows all the truth besides God? I think I
am right about everything I believe or I would change what I believe, but I know that
my knowledge is not complete and there are some things I am wrong about without
knowing what they are. I cannot deny you fellowship because you disagree with me on
some doctrine.
That does not mean that we should not endeavor to do the things in our church
activities that we believe Christ wants us to do. But the same statement applies: no one
knows all the truth about what we should do except God. I cannot deny you fellowship
because you disagree with me on some practice.
There are doctrines that the Scriptures are very clear about being essential. The
divinity and humanity of Christ, his efficacious death, his resurrection, are among
these. But even these should not be held fast as doctrines. There will be people in hell
who believe all these doctrines. We hold fast Christ and Christ alone. The doctrines and
practices flow out of our relationship with him.
Probably the primary reason for all the division in the church is not holding fast
the Head, but insisting on some doctrine or some practice, or some man even, as
essential. If we would simply hold fast the Head and seek his leading on all these
matters, waiting to act until we hear from him, he would lead us and we would avoid
dividing the body of Christ. “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you
baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1.13) NO! Nothing in this universe is worthy of
our holding fast but the Head. If we hold him fast, he will see to it that the things we
believe and do are proper. It is not up to us, but to him. He is the Head. Hold fast the
Head.

Lord Jesus, I see the radical nature of your centrality. You really are not first, but only,
and everything else flows from you. Please give me grace to hold you fast. Amen.

Oct. 30. 1 Thess. 4.16-18: “For the Lord himself, with a shout, with the voice of an archangel,
and with the trumpet of God, will descend from Heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

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Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up in clouds together with them to meet the
Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with
these words.” Paul did not want the Thessalonian believers to grieve over those who had
died as those who have no hope grieve, but to grieve as those who have hope. The dead
in Christ are not gone forever, but will rise from the dead, as Christ did.
At the end of this age, the Lord Jesus will return from Heaven to earth. There
will be a shout, an archangel’s voice, and the trumpet of God, and the Lord will appear.
Those who have died in Christ will rise, and they and those who are alive at his coming
will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and will always be with him from that time
on. These are indeed words of comfort.
The matter of meeting the Lord in the air is one that is instructive to us. Eph. 2.2
calls Satan “the ruler of the authority of the air.” People in Bible times believed the
world was flat, with Heaven above and hades below. The air between Heaven and earth
was Satan’s domain and kept people from Heaven. But the writer of Hebrews tells us
that we have “a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens” (4.14). That is,
the Lord Jesus ascended from earth back to Heaven after his resurrection. The heavens
that he passed through would be the same as the air. He passed through Satan’s
domain, and Satan could do nothing about it. These facts are further proof that the Lord
Jesus defeated Satan and has complete victory. And when he returns, where will his
people met him? In the air, in Satan’s domain, and Satan will have to stand by
helplessly and watch. The next thing that will happen to him will be his imprisonment
in hades for a thousand years. Praise the Lord!
Take comfort in the fact that our Lord is victorious over the lord of evil and
death, and that all who die in Christ will rise again and be with him, along with their
loved ones who are in Christ, forever.

Heavenly Father, thank you again for your wonderful promises, and especially for this
one, that we will always be together with the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Oct. 31. 1 Thess. 5.18: “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.”
This verse captures one of the fundamental principles of Christian faith and
walking with the Lord. We say that we believe God is sovereign and that everything
that comes into our lives is allowed or caused by him and that he will work all things
together for our good. Then when something we do not like comes our way, we
immediately turn to God to get us out of it. Perhaps after some time we realize that, oh
yes, God sent this for our good, so we accept it from the Lord and try to endure.
But Paul writes here that we should give thanks in everything. Some point out
that it says in everything, not for everything (bur see Eph. 5.20). That is alright. If you are able to thank
God for it, do so. If not, thank him in it. He will develop you along his way for you.
Also, the word “this” could be taken as referring to giving thanks or to the situation one

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is in. Probably it refers to giving thanks: it is God’s will for us to give thanks. But God
did allow or cause the situation, and it would not hurt to give thanks for it, too. If it is
his instrument for our good, should we not give thanks for it?
We tend to think of our good in this age as of our physical and psychological
good. Anything unpleasant is hurtful to this life, so we need to get rid of it so we can
enjoy life. But God thinks in terms of his kingdom and of eternity, and in terms of our
spiritual good. Anything that will cause us to grow strong in spirit and that will prepare
us to reign with Christ could be used by him for our spiritual and eternal good. Should
we not give thanks for such things?
Giving thanks in everything is an expression of faith, and real faith in God brings
peace, in addition to opening the door for God to work in our hearts. It is also
obedience, for we are commanded in this verse to do so, and he gives the Holy Spirit to
those who obey him (Acts 5.32), not in the sense of new birth, for that comes by faith,
but of the continual and increasing supply of the Spirit. And what is Christian life but
trust and obedience, and Christ dwelling within through them?

Dear God, I give you thanks in the circumstances I am in at present. Please do use them
for my good and for your glory. Open my eyes to the spiritual and eternal rather than
the material and temporal. Amen.

Nov. 1. 1 Thess. 5.23-24: “Now the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and your whole
spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he
who calls you who also will do it.” We have stated a number of times that man consists of
spirit, soul, and body, not just of body and soul as is commonly believed, even by
Christians. Here Paul refers to all three in one sentence. Why would he distinguish the
three if there are only body and soul, with spirit and soul meaning the same thing, as
some believe? Is Scripture so inexact?
It is important that we see the distinction, for it is the spirit that is able to know
God and relate to him, who is spirit, and our enemy is spiritual, so that we must know
how to deal with him with spiritual weapons, not fleshly. Yet our whole being is to be
sanctified, made holy. The Bible is very clear that God requires that our faith in him
carry over to our souls and bodies, that we do what is right in every way. We cannot
say, and some have said, that only the spirit matters, so we can do as we please in the
soul and body, thinking and doing anything we desire. Our outward man is our
witness to the world. What kind of witness is it to say that we are Christians, then live
in sin?
The great comfort of these verses is that they say that it is up to God to
accomplish his work in us. He does not tell us what to do, then stand back and see if we
can do it. We do have to trust and obey, doing what we know is right, but we cannot
sanctify ourselves. Only God can do that. So Paul prays that God himself will do so,

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then states plainly at the end that he will do so. He is faithful. He called us to
something. He will see that it is accomplished. It is one of the paradoxes of Scripture
that we are told to do what we should do, but that we cannot do it, and only God can.
And he will. God will not honor indolence, and he will not reward effort made by trust
in the flesh, but if we try to obey, knowing that we cannot obey but trusting in him to
bring us through, he will do so. Faithful is he.

Faithful God, thank you that you yourself do in us what you tell us to do if we will obey
in faith, and that you will sanctify me and keep me blameless at the coming of the Lord
Jesus. I cannot accomplish those things, but you will. Amen.

Nov. 2. 2 Thess. 2.3-4: “Let no one deceive you in any way, for [the day of the Lord will not
come] unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against everything called god or an object of
worship, so that he takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, setting himself forth that he is God.”
Please review the readings for July 1 and 2. There we saw that at the end of this
age, one will rise who will bring about what Daniel called the abomination of
desolation, which is also referred to by the Lord Jesus in Mt. 24.15 and parallels. Now
Paul tells us of the same occurrence. Apparently some had taught the Thessalonians
that the day of the Lord had already come. Paul says that it could not have come, for it
will not do so until the apostasy, which means falling away from God, comes first and
the man of lawlessness is revealed.
We may well be living in the day of the apostasy, for many who claim to be
Christians are denying the truths of the Scriptures and promoting practices within the
church that are an abomination to God. Many so-called Christian teachers deny the
divinity of the Lord, his virgin birth, the efficacy of his blood, his resurrection, his
return, the reliability and authority of Scripture. Many promote such sins as
homosexuality, even allowing such people to hold offices in the church. God loves these
people and we should, too, but we cannot accept their behavior against the clear word
of Scripture. Many approve of abortion. The practice of living together without
marriage is commonly accepted even in churches. Is this the apostasy? It could be.
The revealing of the man of lawlessness is the revealing of Antichrist, the one
Daniel said would bring about the abomination of desolation. The Lord Jesus says in
Mt. 24.15 that this abomination would be standing in the holy place, in the temple in
Jerusalem. Now Paul says that this abomination is Antichrist himself desecrating the
temple by entering it and proclaiming himself there to be god. This event will begin the
great tribulation, for God will pour out judgment on such blasphemy and Satan will
launch a great persecution of all who will not renounce their religions and worship him.
This persecution will include Jews and Christians especially, for they of all peoples will
not renounce their faith, though perhaps some will.

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The day of the Lord, his closing of this age by his coming to destroy Antichrist
and his armies, to catch up his people, and to establish his kingdom, cannot come until
the events described have taken place. The Lord reveals these truths to us, not to
entertain or excite us, but that we might not be caught unawares, but be ready for them,
trusting him and obeying him, watching for and hastening the day of his coming (2 Pt.
3.12). Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for preparing us for the events of the end. If these are
indeed those days, I want to be ready for them and ask you so to work in my heart that
I will love your appearing and be looking for it and not be caught off guard. Amen.

Nov. 3. 1 Tim. 1.5: “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good
conscience and an unhypocritical faith.” Paul’s first instruction to Timothy in this letter is to
stay at Ephesus and teach certain men not to teach strange doctrines, myths, and
genealogies, which give rise only to speculation. His goal, he says, is not these things, or
even the truth, as we might expect as a contrast to the speculations, but love. We are
reminded of 1 Cor. 12-14, where Paul says that love is greater than all the gifts of the
Spirit.
The apostle gives three sources of this love. One is a pure heart. What is a pure
heart? Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful above all things (17.9), but the Lord said
through Ezekiel that he would give a new heart (36.26). There are at least two aspects of
a pure heart. One is the purifying of the heart from evil thoughts and desires. It is so
easy for us to have impure thoughts and desires, especially in this day when immorality
is constantly before us in all the media. It is an evil day. But a pure heart is one that has
turned from these thoughts and desires to a desire for the Lord.
Let us add that it is the Lord’s work to purify the heart. We can make the
decision, but only God can accomplish the work, so we should not be discouraged by
failures if we have determined to turn away from these things and given ourselves to
the Lord, and if we genuinely repent when they occur. We do not excuse them and say
that it does not matter, God will forgive us, for that is not repentance. But we should
not let Satan accuse us either.
The other aspect of a pure heart is that the heart is wholly given to God, with no
other gods or idols, things that we would not call gods or idols, but which can be, such
as money and the things it can buy, pleasure, fame, even family.
The second source of love is a good conscience, a conscience that is “confessed
up” and is not bearing the guilt of some hidden sin. It is difficult to love God and his
people when there is a guilty conscience, for then one is almost trying to avoid God and
his people.
Paul’s third source of love is an unhypocritical faith. We have translated literally
to show exactly what Paul wrote. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be

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something he is not. One who was pretending to have faith in God when he did not
actually have it would be a hypocrite, and his faith would be hypocritical.
Unhypocritical faith is genuine, the person truly trusting in the Lord for salvation and
for life. Love for him and his people can grow in such soil.

Heavenly Father, please do purify my heart and win it completely to yourself, convict
me when I need to confess and give me true repentance, and take all pretense from my
professed faith in you. Fill me with love from these sources. Amen.

Nov. 4. 2 Tim. 3.16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for setting straight, for discipline which is in righteousness, that the man of God might
be qualified, equipped for every good work.” There are reasons why Christians believe that
the Scriptures are the only authority. One is that they deliver us from the opinions and
rulership of men. We are not to go by what men say, no matter what positions they
appoint themselves to, but by what God says in his word. Another is what we see here
in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. They are profitable.
One who has not tested the Scriptures by living by them might be critical or
scornful of them, but one who has come to know the Lord of the Scriptures and has
submitted himself to his authority and that of the Scriptures knows that they are
profitable. The results in his life bear this out.
The Scriptures are profitable for teaching. If one would know ultimate truth, he
must study the word of God under the teaching of the Spirit of God within. If he then
orders his life according to what he learns, he will find peace within, a fulfilling sense of
purpose, and the wherewithal to live victoriously.
The word is profitable for reproof, that is, conviction of sin when one is wrong. It
is of great profit to be reproved when wrong, for the wrong would destroy one, but if
he will respond to reproof with repentance, he will find not destruction, but edification.
The Bible is profitable for setting straight, as we translate literally. We are wrong
about many things, sometimes just in ignorance because we have not yet learned the
truth, at other times because we have been deceived by Satan. The word of God can set
us straight, again helping us along the path to life as opposed to death.
The Scriptures are profitable for discipline which is in righteousness. Discipline
is literally child training. A child has to be brought up, trained, disciplined, but this
discipline should be done in righteousness, not out of anger or resentment. That is the
way the Scriptures bring us up from spiritual birth to maturity, in righteousness. God is
not angry with us or resentful of the bother we are to him. He loves us and does what is
right for our good. He uses the Scriptures to bring us up, and he does so righteously.
The goal of this profitability of Scripture is the qualifying and equipping of all of
us, for all Christians are men and women of God, to do the work of God. As we are

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taught, reproved, set straight, and brought up by the Scriptures, we are qualified and
equipped, for they are God-breathed and have his life in them (Jn. 6.63b).

Dear God, thank you for breathing your word into men of old who have passed it on to
us in a living way. Thank you for the profitability of Scripture. I yield myself to be
taught, reproved, set straight, and brought up by it. Amen.

Nov. 5. 2 Tim. 4.6-8: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my
departure has come near. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the
faith. So then there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his
appearing.” In Phil. 2.17 Paul referred to his life as a drink offering being poured out for
the Lord, and now he uses the same figure in 2 Timothy, this time referring specifically
to his death rather than to his life of service.
As he faces death, Paul can write those wonderful words, “I have fought the
good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.” What a blessing to be able
to end life with such a testimony. While the world has been constantly at war, fighting
to gain worldly rewards, Paul can say that he has fought the good fight, not one that
leaves death, suffering, and misery in its wake, but one that leaves eternal life, joy,
peace, hope. He can say that he has finished the course. He did not give up before the
end, but kept at it all the way. He did what God set before him to do. He can say that he
has kept the faith. He has not fallen away from God in unbelief because of all the
difficulties, but has seen them as God’s instruments in his life for the formation of Christ
in him.
The result of such a life? God himself will give Paul a crown of righteousness.
Righteousness means both being made righteous, in the judicial sense of being acquitted,
and doing what is righteous. Paul would stand before God and be rewarded for being right
and for doing right. And he recognizes that such a blessing is not his alone, but is
waiting for all who have loved the appearing of the Lord Jesus, that is, who have
longed for his coming and have worked to bring it about.
May the Lord give us all grace to come to the end of life in such a way, or to be
living in that way when the Lord himself brings this age to a close.

Heavenly Father, please give me grace to live as Paul lived, being poured out for you,
fighting the good fight, finishing the course, keeping the faith. I know that the Lord
Jesus, not Paul, is the example, but we do see in Paul a man in whom Christ lived for
your glory and our benefit. Thank you for him. Amen.

Nov. 6. Titus 2.11-14: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
disciplining us, in order that we, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, might live sensibly and

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justly and godly in the present age, waiting for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all
lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his possession, zealous for good works.”
Paul covers the gospel rather well in these few words to Titus. The grace of God
has appeared, that on which all is based, and it has brought salvation to all men. One of
the great tragedies of this world is that every person has had salvation brought to him,
but so many do not accept it. No one will be able to say on the day of judgment that
God did not make salvation available to him.
It is an interesting thought, and not a usual one, that grace disciplines us, but it
makes very good sense, for grace does what is for our good, and discipline is good for
us. It delivers us from what would destroy us and prepares us to live a productive life.
The discipline of grace has as its goal that we would turn away from what would
destroy us, ungodliness and worldly lusts, and turn to what would save us, living
sensibly, justly, godly. Living sensibly does not mean as the world thinks is sensible,
but living with the kingdom and eternity in mind.
Another goal of the discipline of grace is that we would look for the coming of
the Lord Jesus. That is our blessed hope. This world is a spiritual desert. It is a place of
evil. There is so much pain, suffering, sorrow. There is death. There is nothing for us in
this world that has any lasting value. But we have blessed hope, that our great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ, will return and transform this world into a place of righteousness
and joy.
After dealing with these aspects of the gospel, Paul turns to the sacrifice of
himself by the Lord Jesus, who gave himself for us. The result of his giving of himself is
our redemption and purification, that we might be a people for him to possess. What
greater destiny could we imagine than being possessed by the Lord Jesus? What he
possess he blesses beyond expectation. And he wants this people to be zealous for good
works. And would we not desire with all our hearts to do his good works, since he has
given himself for us, redeemed us, and purified us? We want to respond to all his
blessing with obedience to him, and not just obedience, but doing from the heart, out of
love for him, what he wants us to do. Our zeal is really for him.

Wonderful Lord Jesus, thank you again for your grace and for the salvation it brings. In
response to all you have done for me, but even more, what you are to me, I want to live
as you want me to and to do what you want me to do. I yield myself to you to live in me
that this might be done. Amen.

Nov. 7. Phm. 15-16: “For perhaps for this reason he was separated from you for a time, that you
might have him back eternally, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother,
especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” It is evident
from the letter of Paul to Philemon that Onesimus was a slave of Philemon who had run

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away, and that he had found the Lord through Paul’s ministry. Paul wanted to keep
him as a helper, but thought it only right to return him to his owner, with the request
that he send him back.
Paul points out in our verses for today that probably the Lord himself was
behind the escape of Onesimus so that Onesimus would be saved and Philemon would
receive him back as a brother. The truth we want to see is stated by Paul in these words.
Nothing occurs by chance in the life of someone who belongs to the Lord. Everything
that comes into his life is either caused or allowed by him for his glory and the person’s
good. Onesimus is an example in the flesh.
Many today would question Paul’s cooperation with slavery. We need not try to
solve this question. Paul lived in a different culture, and though that does not justify, it
does perhaps explain, and it needs to be remembered that it is the Christian faith that
ultimately brought an end to slavery in most of the world, though there is still some
slavery today. What we want to see is that the very fact that Onesimus was a slave may
have been God’s way of bringing him to salvation. If he had not been a slave, he would
not have run away, and thus would not have encountered Paul, and possibly would
never have come to the Lord. When we remember all the hard circumstances of our
own lives through which God has worked, let us remember the circumstance of slavery
in the life of Onesimus and the fact that it led him to salvation.
Let us see that whatever circumstances we are in are ordered by God for some
good purpose in our lives. As bad as was the lot of Onesimus, it led to eternal life. And
remember Joseph: he was sold into slavery by his own brothers, but that circumstance
was used by God not just to save Joseph, but to save his world, and in particular his
family, the family that gave birth to the Lord Jesus. Who knows what plans God may
have for the circumstances you find so difficult and would change if you could? God is
in charge of those circumstances, and has a purpose for them. Trust in him in the hard
place.

Dear Lord, thank you for this assurance from the life of Onesimus that you have
purpose in all my circumstances. I trust you to use my circumstances for good, both
yours and mine. Amen.

Nov. 8. Heb. 1.1-2a: “Having spoken of old to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and
in many ways, God, at the last of these days, has spoken to us in a Son….” One of the greatest
of all truths of Scripture is the fact that God speaks. He does not hide himself in mystery
and let us wonder what he wants, what we have to do to keep him from hurting us or
to get him to do what we want him to do. No, we are of all people most blessed, for we
have a God who reveals himself, and who does so by speaking. How many times does
the Old Testament say, “God said,” or, “Thus says the Lord”? We do not have to wonder
and worry about our God.

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In the Old Testament he spoke to the fathers, the founders of the nation of Israel,
the people of God, in the prophets. He spoke through them in many portions and in
many ways. There were and are many portions of Scripture. There are thirty-nine books
in the Old Testament. All of them are portions of the speaking of God through inspired
writers or speakers, that is, prophets. He spoke in many ways: by dreams, by visions,
through angels, through speaking directly to prophets, perhaps by giving them
thoughts, though we are not told exactly how God spoke when the word says, “God
said to….”
God did not speak to Israel for over four hundred years between the prophecy of
Malachi and the coming of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. But now, at the last of
these days, that is, in the closing age of history and the world as we know them, he has
spoken again, and he has spoken in a Son. This Son is called the Word (Jn. 1.1). He is the
speaking of God. The man Jesus walking around on the earth was God speaking.
What was God saying in him? He said that the kingdom of God was near, so
people needed to repent and have faith. He said that the Holy Spirit was about to be
poured out. He said that the outward keeping of the law meant nothing if the heart was
not right with God. He said that God’s nature is not to be served, but to serve, not to
get, but to give. He said that his people are to be like him. He said, “Come to me, all you
who labor and are burdened down, and I will give you rest.” He said, “Neither do I
condemn you.” More than anything else he said that God is love, and he demonstrated
what he meant by giving his life for his people.
And God has said these things, not in many portions and in many ways, a little
here, a little there, but fully and finally. What more can be said after what was said by
the Lord Jesus? Yes, many thousands of volumes have been written to explain and
apply what he said, including this one, but they are all poor efforts to grasp the
ungraspable. All they can hope to do is bring someone into living touch with the Son
himself, that he might speak to his heart what he needs to hear. May that be the case
with these words.

Our God who speaks, thank you for all your speaking, but most especially that which
came through the Word made flesh. Please do send his words, and himself, deep into
my heart and accomplish their purpose there. Amen.

Nov. 9. Heb. 2.10: “For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all
things, in bringing many sons to glory, to mature the originator of their salvation through
sufferings.” Heb. 5.8: “… although being a Son, he learned obedience from the things he
suffered.” We cite both verses, for they go together and convey one of the great truths
about our Lord Jesus. We might at first question why he, who was God in the flesh,
needed to be matured and to learn obedience. Was he not perfect in every way?

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Yes, he was perfect, but he chose to become a man and live in this world as we
must. People are matured through what they suffer. We do not grow in easy times, but
in difficult ones. The child growing up does not gain maturity when he is having fun,
but when he is working at a school project or a home chore just a little beyond his level
of understanding. The athlete does not gain muscle and strength when he is resting, but
when he is straining at a weight just a bit too much for him. We learn obedience
through suffering. It is the discipline of life that brings obedience, not the times we “get
away with it.”
What we see in these verses is the humanity of Christ. Yes, he was fully divine,
but in our day of denial of his divinity, we can get so caught up in defending his
divinity that we forget his humanity. Yet his humanity is the very thing that makes him
a comfort to us. His life on this earth would have been easy if he had lived as God, but
he did not. He lived as a man. He suffered. He was matured. He learned obedience. He
knows what we go through. When we feel so defeated or discouraged, he understands,
not because he was defeated or discouraged, but because he has been one of us and
knows the situations that give rise to those feelings. He knows the pull of those feelings.
He himself said, in facing the cross, that his soul was full of sorrow, even to death (Mk.
14.34). He knows our emotions.
We have a Savior who has walked where we walk and sympathizes with us. And
he won the victory, which we also have in him.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the understanding that you went through what
I go through, and you did so victoriously. You know what it is to suffer, not just on the
cross, but in everyday life, and you know how to be victorious there. And you live in
me. Amen.

Nov. 10. Heb. 2.17-18: “Therefore he was obligated to be made like the brothers in all things,
that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able
to help those who are tempted.” These verses continue the thoughts we considered
yesterday. The Lord Jesus was made like us in all things. In particular, this passage
points out that he was tempted, so he understands what it is like. His temptations were
real. He could have chosen to give in to them. He had the same choice Adam had, to
obey God or to disobey. He obeyed, but that does not lessen the severity of his
temptation.
When Satan assailed him in the desert at the beginning of his ministry, he
tempted him at a point of great weakness, for the Lord had not eaten for forty days.
There was nothing inherently wrong in turning stones into bread, but he knew that it
was not the Father’s way for him, so he resisted the temptation. He knew that he had to
face the cross in order to gain the crown, so Satan gave him a way to gain the crown

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without suffering, by worshipping him. But the Lord Jesus, even though he knew the
horrors that awaited him at Calvary, said that only God was to be worshipped, no
matter what the cost. Satan gave the Lord Jesus a way to be accepted by his people who
would otherwise reject him, by jumping off the temple and proving that he was who he
said he was. But the Lord Jesus, though he faced rejection, knew not to tempt God.
Satan’s temptations continued through the ministry of the Lord Jesus. As he was
constantly baited by his opponents, it would have been easy for him to lash out at them
or to do something miraculous to put them in their place, or even to do away with
them. When they asked for a sign so as to believe him, he could very well have given
one and ended the suspense. This was the very same temptation that Satan had given
him in the desert, to prove who he was by a miracle.
The temptations in Gethsemane and at the cross must have been the greatest. As
the Lord sweat drops of blood in contemplating what lay before him, he was strongly
tempted to turn away from the cup the Father gave him, but he said, “Not my will, but
yours be done.” And as he was mocked on the cross by those who said that if he was the
Son of God he should come down from the cross, how he must have been tempted to do
so, but he just hung there and died. But at that moment, his victory was total and
Satan’s defeat was complete. He resisted every temptation and died an innocent, sinless
man, qualified to make propitiation for the sins of the people, that is, assuage the anger
of God against sin.
And because he knows such temptation, greater than any we will ever face, he is
able to help us who are tempted. He is a merciful and faithful High Priest. (See also
Heb. 4.15-16.)

Lord Jesus, again I bow before you in thanksgiving for what you went through in this
world for me and for all your people. Please give me grace to turn to you in time of
temptation for your help, knowing that you went through the same thing, and more,
and did so victoriously. Amen.

Nov. 11. Heb. 3.18-19: “To whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest if not to
those who disobeyed? And we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.” We have tried
to emphasize in these readings that the two basic elements of Christian living are faith
and obedience. In the passage for today the writer of Hebrews is dealing with the
failure of the Israelites who left Egypt to enter the promised land, and he gives two
reasons for the failure, unbelief and disobedience.
The promised land in the Old Testament is a symbol for our day of the victorious
Christian life. There are battles to fight, but we can fight them victoriously if we trust
and obey. When that is the case, we have the rest and peace that go with victorious
living. If we do not trust and obey, we cannot enter into rest and peace, for it is trust
and obedience that open the supply line from God.

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How were the Israelites disobedient? They complained constantly. They
worshipped an idol. They gathered more manna than God instructed them to. They
refused to attack the land when Joshua and Caleb only among the twelve spies said that
they could take the land, then they did attack it when God had said not to. They got
involved immorally with the women of Moab.
How were they unbelieving? They did not believe that God could deliver them
when they were trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. They did not
believe God could supply them with water in the desert. They did not believe that God
could feed them in the desert: they asked the question, “Can God prepare a table in the
desert?” (Ps. 78.19, April 14 reading) Their answer was no, but the correct answer was
yes. They did not believe they could take the land. They were right about that, but God
was going to give it to them and they did not believe him.
All of this unbelief and disobedience led to God’s anger with his people, and he
said that they would die in the desert, never entering the land of promise. It is possible
for a Christian to be genuinely saved and on the way to Heaven, but to live a defeated
Christian life, never entering into the rest and peace of victory in this life, which is
available for all his people. The reason is unbelief, disobedience, or both. But trust in
God and what he says and obedience to his word result in victory, reigning in life (Rom.
5.17, Sept. 18 reading), and the peace and rest that go with victory. We enter his rest
through faith and obedience.

Dear Lord, I choose to trust you and obey you. Please empower me by your Spirit to do
so, and let me enter into your rest. Amen.

Nov. 12. Heb. 4.12: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword and piercing to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and judging the
thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Several times we have pointed out the fact that
Scripture teaches that a person is made up of spirit, soul, and body. It is relatively easy
to tell the body from the inner person, although there are interworkings there, such as
chemical secretions affecting emotions, but it is virtually impossible, even in the Bible,
to separate spirit and soul. Together these form the inner person, which cannot be seen,
making it that much harder to understand.
Some teach neat categories. For example, the soul consists of mind, emotions,
and will, while the spirit consists of intuition, worship, and conscience. There is a
measure of truth in these categories, but one can find a multitude of Scripture verses
that speak of both spirit and soul thinking, feeling, and willing, and of the soul
knowing, worshipping, feeling guilt. The inner man is so intermixed that it cannot be
separated.
It cannot be separated except by one thing, the word of God. If one is walking
according to the spirit (or Spirit), he is obedient to God and is overcoming the flesh. If

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he is going by his soul, his own intelligence, wisdom, feelings (see the Sept. 26 reading),
he is walking after the flesh and is not overcoming. Sometimes it is very difficult for us
to tell the difference. We have some strong feeling about something. If it is something
we want to do, that very fact makes it feel right. If it is right, it must be of God, right? If
it is right, yes, but perhaps it is not right. Here is where one needs to take the time
necessary to be alone with God and his word to discern.
This would be especially true in the case of such decisions as marriage. There is
such an overwhelming emotional element in such a choice that it is very hard to hear
the Lord. When someone thinks he is head over heels in love, everything feels so right.
But is it? Only the word of God can separate between the emotions of the soul and
the genuine leading of God in the spirit. If one will search the Scriptures with prayer
and true submission to the will of God, the truth will come out and he will be able to
know whether what he is sensing is soul or spirit, the will of the flesh or the will of God.
This is not an easy area, but one that needs the attention of Christians.

Heavenly Father, I see the difficulty of separating the aspects of my inner person, of
soul and spirit. Please teach me to use your word to divide between the two so that I
will walk in your will according to the spirit and not in the will of the flesh. Amen.

Nov. 13. Heb. 7.11: “Now if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of
it the people were given the law, why is there still need for another priest to arise according to the
order of Melchizedek, and not designated according to the order of Aaron?” We saw in our
readings for Jan. 5 and 15 and April 22 that God’s original idea of priesthood was that
according to the order of Melchizedek, and that the Levitical priesthood was given for a
time of failure, the failure of all God’s people to be a kingdom of priests. Now we come
to the book of Hebrews where the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is a
major theme.
The point that the writer makes in our verse for today is that perfection did not
come on the basis of the Levitical priesthood, so another is needed. By perfection, he
means the removal of sin so that the people are without sin before God. The problem
with the Levitical offerings was that they did not take away sin, but only covered it. The
blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins (Heb. 10.4).
There is perfection on the basis of the priesthood according to Melchizedek.
Hebrews speaks of what a great man he was and says that he was made like the Son of
God (7.3-4). His priesthood was based on the power of an indestructible life (7.16). Such
life the Lord Jesus had, so he could be the High Priest in the new order, taking away sin,
perfecting the believers. And because these believers are perfected, they can be the
kingdom of priests in this new order that God has always wanted.
This new order of priesthood is in effect now. We have a High Priest who is also
King. He could not be High Priest under the law of Moses, for under that law all priests

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came from the tribe of Levi, and the Lord came from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of the
kings. But in the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, one Man is both
High Priest and King, Melchizedek, the type, and the Lord Jesus, the reality. We serve now in this evil age under him, holding
forth the promise of perfection from sin, the forgiveness that takes a way sin and gives
eternal life.

Dear God, thank you for this priesthood that is able to take away sin and perfect the
believers, and for the blessing of serving in this order as a priest under our great High
Priest and King. Amen.

Nov. 14. Heb. 10.19-22: “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for the entrance of the Holy of
Holies by the blood of Jesus, which he inaugurated for us, a new and living way through the veil,
that is, his flesh, and a great Priest over the house of God, let us come with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and body washed with pure water.”
The high priest of Israel could enter the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle or
temple only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to sprinkle the blood on and before
the ark. No other Israelite could ever enter the Holy of Holies, the dwelling place of
God among his people. But Hebrews tells us that every Christian can have boldness to
enter the Holy of Holies, to go into the very presence of God.
In fact, we do not go into the presence of God, for he lives in us and we in him,
so we are always in his presence. We live there. But Hebrews uses the picture of the Old
Testament place of worship to make his point, that we can do something that only one
Israelite ever got to do, and he only once a year.
We have such boldness to enter because of the blood of the Lord Jesus. Our sins
had separated us from God (Is. 59.2). The blood of Christ took away our sins as he paid
the penalty for them. We could never go into God’s presence on our own, but in Christ
we can be bold. Be respectful of God, but walk right in.
By dying in our place, the Lord Jesus made a new and living way for us through
the veil, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. That veil is itself
a symbol of the flesh of Christ. The veil had to be torn or removed for us to enter. It was
torn, by God himself, when the Lord Jesus died (see the Aug. 16 reading). The flesh of
Christ had to be torn for us to come into the presence of God, for it was the tearing of
his flesh, the shedding of his blood in death, that took away our sins and tore the veil
from top to bottom.
We can enter with full assurance of faith because we know that our hearts have
been sprinkled with that blood that washes away sin and the evil conscience it
produces, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. This statement is
probably a reference either to our washing with the Holy Spirit, of whom water is a
symbol, as he cleansed us from the defilement of sin when we were justified and
entered our spirits to make them alive toward God, or to baptism as a picture of our

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dying to the old sinful life, its defilement washed away, and rising to the new life in
Christ. Either way, we have full assurance of faith to live in the very presence of God.
Therefore, says the author of Hebrews, come, come into the Holy of Holies.

Gracious God, thank you for making the way through the death of the Lord Jesus for
me to have boldness to enter into your presence, and that I always live in your presence.
Thank you for a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and a body washed from sinful
practices. Amen.

Nov. 15. Heb. 11.1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.” Heb. 11 is one of the Bible’s great chapters on faith, calling the roll of many of the
Old Testament men and women of God. Just what is faith, specifically, faith in God?
Faith in God is not believing that God exists. It is not believing the correct doctrines.
Faith is trusting in God personally, then believing what God says and acting on the
belief. Without the acting it is not faith. By this we do not mean that salvation is by
works, but that if there is no accepting of what God offers and living by what he says,
there is no faith. There may be intellectual agreement with a set of statements, but there
is no faith without its practical application. There must be the speaking of God, for faith
is believing what he says (see Rom. 10.17), and there must be the belief and response of
the believer.
These words of Heb. 11.1 are not a definition of faith, but a description of it.
When one really does believe God to the point of acting on what he believes, he has
faith, and he has the assurance that what he hopes for, which is what God has
promised, will come about, and the conviction that what he believes in, but cannot see,
is real.
Since faith is believing what God says, it is not believing anything you want to
believe. There are some who teach that if there is something you want, usually having
to do with material prosperity, you should believe God for it and you will get it. But
you cannot believe God for something he has not said he will give, for faith is believing
what God says, not whatever you want to believe. He has not promised us material
wealth in this world. He has promised always to be with us, never leaving us. He has
promised hardship and testing and refining. He has promised peace. He has promised
eternal life. We can have assurance and conviction of those things, along with many
others, because God has said those things.
Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5.7 that we walk by faith, not by sight. The promises of God
are by and large of things not seen, yet we can be sure of them because he said so. The
word of God is enough for one who knows him. He does not require visible proofs, for
he knows that the word of God is more certain than anything visible to the human eye.
To use a material metaphor, it is money in the bank.

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Faithful God, thank you for the certainty that your word is true, that I can count on it
more than on anything I can see. Please give me grace truly to trust in you, believing
what you say and acting on it. Amen.

Nov. 16. Heb. 11.23: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his
parents, because they saw that the child was pleasing, and they did not fear the edict of the king.”
We want to consider one word in this verse that helped Moses’ parents exercise faith. It
is the word we have translated “pleasing.” In the Hebrew of this statement in the Old
Testament (Ex. 2.2) the word is “good.” The question is, good in what sense. The Greek
of the New Testament here in Hebrews (and also in Acts 7.20) helps us to understand
the sense in which his parents saw that Moses was good.
The Greek word here is asteios. The word it is based on means “town.” The
original meaning of the word was “of the town,” as opposed to “of the country.” Since
town people often had or were thought to have better social graces than country people, the meaning
“urbane,” from “urban,” came to be a connotation of the word. Urbane means finished or
polished in manners and social graces.
The idea of urbane really captures the meaning if we can put it into spiritual
terms. An urbane person is one who has been subjected to the civilizing and “culturing”
influences of town life. He knows how to move among people in a socially graceful
way. God saw in Moses something that could be developed into knowing how to move
in the spiritual in the right way, the way that could lay hold of God and get things done
in the spiritual, and then manifested in the material.
Moses was “spiritually urbane” to God because God saw in him a hunger for God
and for the spiritual that would not be left unsatisfied. Here was a man who asked to
see the face of God, knowing that no man could see the face of God and live. Here was a
man of whom God himself said, “Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you,
I, I AM, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. My
servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house [also quoted in Hebrews]. With
him I will speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches, and the
form of I AM he will behold. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my
servant, against Moses?” This man was good in God’s sight. He was urbane, spiritually.
He knew how to move and function in the spiritual realm. May we be so good!

Dear Lord, I want to be able to move in the spiritual as Moses did. Please teach me how
to do so, and use me to accomplish your work in the spiritual world and manifest it in
the material. Amen.

Nov. 17. Heb. 12.1-2: “Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses around us, let us
also, laying aside every impediment and the entangling sin, run through patience the race set
before us, fixing our eyes on the originator and finisher of faith, Jesus, who for the joy set before

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him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.” The great cloud of witnesses consists of the list given in Heb. 11, and all they
represent. There is difference of opinion as to whether “witnesses” means those who are
watching us who are now running the race they have completed or those who give
testimony that the race can be run successfully by fixing the eyes on Jesus. Either way
we have the same instruction.
Since we have these who have completed the race victoriously, we should follow
their example. We should lay aside every impediment, things perhaps not evil in
themselves, but of this world and not having eternal value. We should lay aside the
entangling sin, that sin peculiar to each of us that can so easily catch us off guard.
Laying aside these impediments and sins, we are to run through endurance the race set
before us, the life God has laid out by his will for us to live, the work he has given us to
do.
Key to all is the fixing of the eyes on the Lord Jesus. He lives in us and we in him,
but here the figure is of him in Heaven, having completed the race victoriously and thus
having sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. We look away to him in that
place of victory, knowing that because he won the race we can, too, not in ourselves, but
by his power in us. Faith has been the theme of chapter 11, and it carries over to these
verses which perhaps should be a part of the same chapter. Faith was the means of
victory in chapter 11. It is our means, as we look to the originator and finisher of faith.
As we face the difficulties of life that come because of our surrender to the Lord,
Satan’s attacks or man’s scoffing or persecution, we should take note that our Lord Jesus
endured the cross, something far worse than we will ever know, despising the shame,
for the cross was shameful, the death of a criminal, not of a martyr. He is our example,
but he is also the power within us to bring us through. As we live by that power, we
will one day join that great cloud of witnesses who have won the race.

Dear Lord Jesus, as I fix my eyes on you in the place of victory, at the right hand of the
throne of God, I see that I can win the race, too, if I will run it in faith, looking to you
who are in fact in me to provide the power to lay aside hindrances and sins and to
endure. I do fix my eyes on you. Amen.

Nov. 18. Heb. 12.6: “For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son he
receives.” These words are actually a quotation from Prov. 3.12. Hebrews is making the
point that the discipline we undergo at the hands of the Lord is not something to be
belittled, but is proof that we are his sons. If we are not disciplined, we are not
legitimate sons, but illegitimate (v. 8). We should rejoice in his discipline, for it is for our
good, both now and eternally. It will keep us from ways that devastate our lives in this
world, and it will prepare us to reign with the Lord Jesus in his kingdom and beyond.

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The Greek word for “discipline” actually means “child training.” That is, God is
not just punishing us out of anger or some such. He is raising us as his children,
training us in how to live life wisely and well so that it will be a fulfillment for us and a
service to him.
Discipline comes to us in many ways. Sometimes we feel hemmed in by life. We
cannot do the things we want to do for financial or health reasons. Sometimes even our
service to God is limited or almost nonexistent. We wonder why God would hold back
someone who wants so much to serve him. He is training us. If we can trust him and
obey him in the place of waiting, we can trust him and obey him in the place of service.
If we can reign over that circumstance instead of letting it get us down, we will be able
to reign with him in his kingdom.
A baby is not born into this world mature and knowing everything. He is most
immature and knows almost nothing. It is the same with Christians. When we are born
again, we are spiritual babies. We have to be raised, trained, disciplined. A baby starts
out totally self-centered and would continue that way, not caring whom he hurt or how
much he hurt others, even ruining his own life through self-indulgence, if he were not
disciplined and trained. It is a painful experience, but as Hebrews says in v. 11, later on
it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Without discipline we could not live life
successfully, materially or psychologically or spiritually.
“Whom the Lord loves he disciplines.”

Dear Father, thank you for helping me to see that your discipline of me proves that you
love me, that you take the trouble to keep me from ruining my own life by teaching me
the way of righteousness and peace. Amen.

Nov. 19. Heb. 12.22-24: “But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God,
heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the festal assembly and church of the firstborn
enrolled in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous perfected,
and to Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood that speaks better than that of
Abel.” This passage, beginning at v. 18, contrasts the experience of the Israelites under
Moses with that of the church. Because of the separation between God and the
Israelites, they came to a fearful display of the majesty and awesomeness of God, such
that they were afraid of God and wanted Moses to mediate for them.
But we have not come to God in this way. There is no separation between us
because of the blood of the Lord Jesus that has taken away sin. We have come to Mount
Zion, not the physical mount in Jerusalem, but to the people of God whom we have
joined by new birth. We have come to the city of the living God, again, not the physical
city, but heavenly Jerusalem. The church is not of the earth, but of Heaven. It is
heavenly in origin and does not belong here. We are strangers and aliens in this world.
We have become a part of something that is heavenly in origin and destiny.

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The fact that we have come to myriads of angels is further proof that what we are
about is heavenly. Yet these heavenly beings join us on this earth to minister to us (Heb.
1.14) without our even knowing it. Since we are of Heaven, we have an unseen
heavenly army here protecting us from the evil one.
We have come to a festal assembly. The church is a place of great rejoicing, for
we have been delivered from the destiny of hell and rerouted to Heaven, delivered
from the authority of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. We are a rescued,
redeemed, ransomed people, and the work for accomplishing this was done when we
were still enemies of God and had no claim on him.
We have come to the church of the firstborn. In the Bible the firstborn son has
priority. He inherits a double portion of the inheritance, or sometimes all of the
inheritance. Yet in the church, we are all firstborn. God puts all of us in the place of
inheriting a double portion. No one is second or third or last. Our names are enrolled in
the heavens. It is the spiritual world that will prevail over the material in the end, and
there our names are recorded. This world may pass away, but the record of our new
birth will not.
We have come to God the Judge of all. He will reward us according to our works
and he will put an end to evil. His creation will be the place of perfection he made it to
be.
We have come to the spirits of the righteous perfected. That is, we have joined by
new birth a fellowship that includes all who have gone before us in faith and all who
will yet believe. We have the promise that we, too, will be perfected by our God.
We have come to Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant that does not tell us to keep
the law and we will be blessed, but to believe and we will be blessed and will be
enabled to live lives pleasing to God.
We have come to sprinkled blood that speaks better than that of Abel. The blood
of Abel cries, “Revenge.” The blood of Christ cries, “Forgive.”

Heavenly Father, what a blessed fellowship we have come to. I see that I am in a festal
assembly and I rejoice in you, all that you are to me, all that you have done for me, and
all that you promise for the future. Amen.

Nov. 20. Heb. 12.26-29: “… whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying,
‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the sky.’ Now the ‘yet once more’
indicates the removal of the things that can be shaken, as of created things, that the things that
cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore since we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us
have gratitude, through which let us serve God pleasingly with reverence and awe, for our God is
a consuming fire.” The quotation about shaking the earth and the sky is from Hag. 2.6,
referred to again in Hag. 2.21, which we dealt with in our July 23 reading. Both the
prophecy in Haggai and its consideration by Hebrews indicate that at the end of this

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age God will shake everything in creation, earth and sky. The purpose will be the
removing of the things which can be shaken, that is, things which are not of God, so
that the things that cannot be shaken, what is of God, may remain.
We may well be going through that shaking or its beginnings now. The world is
in such turmoil, with the ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict, the threat of terrorism, the battle
between humanism/relativism and Judeo-Christian values, militant Islam, constant civil
war in Africa, and on and on. Almost everywhere in the world there is conflict. What
has been accepted as normative for the world in terms of values and standards is no
longer considered valid by millions of people, perhaps billions.
In the midst of this shaking of the kingdoms of the world is a minority,
Christians, who have an unshakable kingdom. It is not of this creation, but is the
sovereignty of God himself. We need not fear, though all around us appears to be in an
earthquake, for our God has put into each of us what cannot be shaken, himself. He is
our life, our hope, our peace. When all else has been removed by the shaking of God,
his kingdom will remain with his people living under the rule of the Lord Jesus.
Therefore, instead of fear let us have gratitude. The shaking means not that we
are to be afraid, but that the end of evil is near. The present evil age is about to close.
The Lord Jesus is about to return to establish his kingdom. “Lift up yor heads, for your
redemption is drawing near” (Lk. 21.28). Let us serve God in a way pleasing to him, with
reverence and awe. The Greek word for “reverence” has to do with being careful in our
relationship with God and our handling of the things of God. Awe, of course, has to do
with the overwhelmed sense we have in the presence of the Majesty on high. He is a
consuming fire, so we need to have the proper respect for him, but we can also rejoice
and dance with joy in his presence. The kingdom he gives us cannot be shaken.

Sovereign God, thank you for the assurance that I am part of a kingdom that cannot be
shaken no matter what happens in this world. What I have will remain when all else
falls, for I have you. Amen.

Nov. 21. Ja. 1.2-4: “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials, knowing
that the testing of your faith works endurance. But let endurance have finished work, that you
may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” If anything is against human nature it is
having joy in trials. We do not like trials. We complain. We plead with God to get us out
of them. But James says to consider it all joy when we fall into various trials. Why?
Trials are God’s instruments for developing us spiritually, for forming Christ in
us, for maturing us in him. Does an athlete enjoy hard practice in the summer when it is
hot and humid? No, actually he hates it, but he is willing to go through it because he
knows it will develop his athletic ability and give him an opportunity to be a champion.
Practice is a trial, but it develops endurance and the other skills needed to win.

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Trials in our lives develop endurance in us so that we can run the race God has
set before us without giving out. We can go on to the end. Think about it: anything that
is good for us is a joy, is it not? Yes, it is, even if we do not like it. When we reap the
reward we see the joy. So, consider it a joy now by faith when you do not yet see the
joy.
James says to let endurance have finished work. We might put it in English, “Let
endurance finish its work.” If we let the endurance brought by trial finish its work in us,
we will be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. Maturity refers to the full
formation of Christ in us (Gal. 4.19. He is our maturity. The truth is that there are no
mature Christians, but there are maturing Christians, those in whom Christ is being
formed. The word for “complete” means having one’s full share or allotment or
inheritance. God wants us to have all that he has for us, but we cannot lay hold of it
unless we let trials work endurance and let endurance finish its work in us.
As God keeps taking the flesh to the cross through our trials and forming Christ
within in place of the flesh, we will come into full possession of God’s inheritance for
us. Trials really are joys, for they bring us to fullness in the Lord. Like the athlete, when
we finish the race as champions, we will know it was all worth it, indeed, that it was a
joy. So consider it joy now and give thanks to God.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you send into my life what I need to deal with my
flesh and form Christ in me. I consider my falling into trials as joy, not because I enjoy
them, but because I know what they are producing in me. Amen.

Nov. 22. Ja. 1.21: “Therefore laying aside all filthiness and abundance of evil in humility,
receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls.” The word of God is a seed. In
Mk. 4.14, in explaining the parable of the sower, the Lord Jesus says that the sower sows
the word. Like a seed, when the word is planted in a heart that is good soil (Mk. 4.8), it
will grow up and produce fruit for the Lord. The fruit which is produced as referred to
here in James is a saved soul. What do we mean by that?
The salvation of the soul in the New Testament has nothing to do with initial
salvation, which is new birth of the spirit. We hear that the lost need to have their souls saved. That
is true, but what the one who says it really means is that the lost need to have their
spirits made alive toward God. Initial salvation has to do with the spirit, not with the
soul.
The soul (Greek psyche) is the psychological aspect of man. All of us have some
measure of damage done to our psyches by being wronged by others and by our own
sin (1 Pt. 2.11). Virtually everyone experiences some measure of rejection as a child, and
that does psychological damage. This is one of Satan’s major means of destroying
people. When a little child feels rejection, Satan, evil as he is, will tell him that he is not
lovable and acceptable and no one could love him. The child, not knowing enough yet

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to realize what is going on, thinks it is his own thought and believes it. With a child it is
more on the feeling level than the rational, but it becomes a part of the unconscious
principles he lives by. When he grows up, he may say that he believes God loves him,
but he does not feel it and can never feel secure in God’s love. Perhaps he is always
trying to gain God’s acceptance by works. Many people work so hard for the Lord, not
out of gratitude for his acceptance of them, but trying to gain what they already have.
This is soul damage, and the salvation of the soul in the New Testament has to
do with the lifelong process by which God repairs the damage or restores the soul to
health, as the Greek word for “save” actually means. His primary means is his word. As
the seed of the word is implanted in us, since it is truth it begins to uproot the lies that
Satan has planted in our unconscious. It may take a long time with some, for with them
the hurts go very deep and the lies are firmly entrenched. But the truth of the word of
God will work in the soul that receives it. We will probably not be fully healed in this
life, but John writes that when we see the Lord Jesus we will be like him (1 Jn. 3.2). He
does not mean that we will look like him, but that we will have him so formed in us that
we will have his character. We will know full healing of our damaged souls. This is yet
another reason for reading, studying, and memorizing the word of God.

Dear Lord, thank you for the promise of healing in the emotions and thoughts and will,
in the personality. As I read your word, help me to let it be implanted in me that it may
save my soul. Amen.

Nov. 23. Ja. 1.26-27: “If anyone thinks himself to be worshipful while not bridling his tongue,
but deceiving his heart, this one’s worship is useless. Pure and undefiled worship before the God
and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from
the world.” We have seen more than once that outward observance of ceremonies of
worship without a heart right with God is of no use. Now James adds the other side of
the coin, saying that the observance of rites without doing what is right outwardly is
also useless.
The Greek words used in this passage for “observance” refer primarily to the
outward forms of worship, ceremonial rituals, fasting, and so forth. James says that one
who thinks himself to be in good standing with God because he observes the rites of
worship is deceiving himself if he is not living as he should. One of the great aspects of
Judeo-Christian faith is that it is ethical: it is not just ritual, but it also requires that one
do what is right in everyday life.
James points out three aspects of doing what is right that are required if one’s
worship of God is to be acceptable to God. First is the bridling of the tongue. How much
damage has been done by the tongue? Gossip, sarcasm, angry words, the spreading of
rumors, lying have all caused untold hurt. It is unfortunate that most Christians
probably know another Christian who has caused such hurt. There is often someone, or

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more than one, in a church that will not stop talking about things that are not his to talk
about, often under the guise of informing people so they can pray. As James writes in
chapter 3, also dealing with the tongue, “These things should not be so.” All of us as
believers should examine the tongue. Is it spreading blessing or hurt?
Pure and undefiled observation of worship consists of visiting orphans and
widows. One of the strong emphases of James is the helping of the materially needy.
Orphans and widows in James’ day were likely to be needy, and that is very often the
case today. What good does it do to make a public show of worshipping God without
helping those in need? None, James says. In the United States of the twenty-first century
this is especially true. We are so prosperous, while so many in the world have almost
nothing, especially the children and widows who have no one to care for them.
James adds that what we would call social action today is not enough by itself,
either. One needs to keep himself unspotted from the world. It is another unfortunate
fact that the inward, spiritual side of Christian faith and outward action to help those in
need have so often been separated into either/or categories. We do one or the other, but
not both. That is not the Lord’s way. One should develop his spiritual life, keeping clean
from the world, but he should not neglect orphans and widows. And the one who helps
the needy should not neglect his spiritual life and conduct.
When we go to worship, let us see to it that our outward conduct flows from our
worship, and when we leave the place of worship, let us understand that we can and
should worship everywhere and in every way, by helping those in need as well as by
addressing God.

Worthy God, you are indeed worthy of all worship, but you also want me to live
worship all the time. Please lead me to do those deeds of kindness that will give
genuine meaning to my public worship. Amen.

Nov. 24. Ja. 2.14-17: “What benefit is it, brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food and one of you
says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give to them the necessities of
the body, what benefit is it? Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead, by itself.” All
through chapter 2 James continues the line of thought we saw yesterday. In the passage
for today he brings up the question that has caused some to believe that he differs with
Paul about justification by faith alone. Martin Luther did not like the book of James
because of this fact.
James does not disagree with Paul, though. He simply shows that faith that does
not result in works is not faith at all. Faith is practical (see the Nov. 15 reading). Faith
does something, if it is only to wait because God says to. James gives a very practical
example. Here is someone who is without adequate clothing and hungry. If we say to
him what James says, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving him what he

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needs, is that not an absurdity? Some in our day would say that if the poor brother had
enough faith, he would not be cold and hungry. God help us! Such “faith” is not faith.
Again the ethical side of Judeo-Christian faith comes out. It matters to God how
we live much more than how we act at public worship. The Israelites had such
commands from God through the mouth of Moses. Their law contains numerous
provisions for the care of the needy. The book of Ruth is a good example, as we see the
gleaners in the grain fields. The gleaners were the poor who did not have their own
grain fields. Those who did were required by the Jewish law to allow the poor to pick
up the residue of the harvest that dropped along the way. The same kind of thinking
and acting carries over to the early Christians, as seen in Acts by the sharing of all
things with one another as any had need.
Faith without works is dead, James said. If there ever was any faith in one who
will not act on his faith, then it has died. It is alone, by itself, like the seed of Jn. 12.24
that is not planted: it is a nice seed, but it is alone. Faith that is not planted, put to work,
is alone, alone in death. The common saying in our day is, “Put feet to your prayers.” If
you believe, do something about it.

Holy Father, I want to have living faith, not dead belief. Please lead me in living out
what I say I believe so that my faith will be of benefit, not just to me, but to all around
me, especially those in need of any kind. Amen.

Nov. 25. Ja. 3.15-18: “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly,
soulish, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there are disorder and every bad
thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, forbearing, open to reason, full of
mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. But the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace by those who make peace.” James contrasts two kinds of wisdom, that which comes
down from above, from God, and that which does not. That which does not is earthly.
The Greek word means literally “on the earth.” That is, it cannot reach Heaven, but is
limited to this earth and this world. Such wisdom is not able to draw on God.
It is soulish (see the Sept. 26 reading). The soul is not the spirit. It is the spirit that
is able to be made alive to God and to draw on him. The soul (Greek psyche) is the
psychological aspect, intelligence, feelings, will power, temperament. The wisdom that
does not come down from above is limited to man’s intelligence and ability to judge and
decide. It cannot draw on God. It is limited to the soul.
It is demonic. Without knowing it, the person who is limited to his own wisdom
without direction from God is influenced by demons. That is one of the great problems
in the world today. The wisest, most intelligent people of our world are given the task
of dealing with our most difficult problems, such as the Israeli-Arab conflict. They try
hard, but they are limited to their own resources and they are influenced by demons.
How else are we to explain the constant pressure on Israel to give in while there is no

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pressure on the Arabs who, under Satan’s deception, are the source of the conflict? It is the world’s wisdom
influenced by demonic forces.
The wisdom from above is characterized by the attributes listed in our passage.
We need not analyze each word, for their meanings are obvious. Man’s wisdom sows
seeds that will lead to more conflict. The wisdom from above plants seeds of peace that
yield the fruit of righteousness. Only when the Prince of peace rules will we see such
wisdom in this world.

Dear Father, please give me the wisdom from above. I do not want to be limited to this
earth and my own resources, and I certainly do not want to be influenced by demons. I
submit myself to you for your wisdom. Amen.

Nov. 26. Ja. 4.1-3: “Where do fights and where do quarrels among you come from? Is it not
from here, from your pleasures that war in your members? You desire and do not have. You
murder and are jealous and cannot obtain. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you
do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, that you may spend it on your
pleasures.” James deals with serious issues and uses strong language. Fights. Quarrels.
Murder. He raises a question that is very relevant to all people of all times: Where do
the fights and quarrels come from? They come from selfish desire: I want this and you
want that, so we fight about it. Did we so learn Christ (Eph. 4.20)?
Christ did not come to get, but to give, and he calls us to follow him, indeed, to
take up a cross and follow him. The purpose of a cross is death. We are to die to selfish
desire and live to give.
We do not have to fight with each other. We have a fight within our own
members. Our bodies have unholy appetites that must be kept under control. Our
minds conceive of all sorts of pride and pleasure. We want to have pleasurable
emotions. We want to be self-willed. Yet there is that in us that wants to know the Lord
and to serve him.
We want something we cannot get. We murder and are jealous and still cannot
get what we want. There are cases of Christians murdering another to get something,
but a more likely application for the vast majority would be anger. The Lord Jesus said
that if we have strong anger toward someone, we are liable to the court (Mt. 5.22).
Why do we not have? Because we do not ask God. He is our source. He has
promised to provide for us. We do not have to fight to get things, but to ask. But then
we ask and do not receive. Why? Because we ask wrongly, not to be able to serve God,
but to spend whatever we are asking for on our own pleasures. There is nothing wrong
with pleasure. Ps. 16.11 says that in the right hand of God there are pleasures forever.
But pleasure is not to be the purpose of our lives. We are to submit ourselves to God to
be used by him as he wills, and ask him in faith for our needs. If there is something we
desire beyond need, we are to ask God for it, but to ask in submission, willing for him

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to say no and desiring to glorify him in the thing if he does give it. He is the purpose of
our lives.

Heavenly Father, I do want to know you and serve you and have you as the purpose
and meaning of my life. Please teach me how to win the battle within myself between
competing desires, to deny those things that are wrong, and to ask you rightly, that it
may be used for your glory. Amen.

Nov. 27. Ja. 5.17-18: “Elijah was a man of like nature to us, and he prayed earnestly that it
would not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed
again and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.” Most of us as Christians tend to
think there are certain great Christians who can gain certain things from God in prayer
that the rest of us cannot. It is true that some have talents that others do not have, such
as music or oratorical ability, and some have spiritual gifts that not everyone has, but
any Christian lives in the presence of God at all times and can call on him just as any
other Christian can.
James uses Elijah as an example. He certainly was a great man of God and he
gained extraordinary miracles from God, but James says that he was of like nature to us.
The Old Testament record bears out this claim. Just after Elijah called down fire from
Heaven to consume his sacrifice when the prophets of Baal could not do so, and then
killed all four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, he ran for his life when one woman
threatened him. Then when he got to the place to which he was running for his life he
asked God to let him die. Why would someone run for his life, then ask to die? Elijah,
great though he was with God, was just as human as the rest of us and could be just as
emotional and confused as the rest of us. He was only a man.
The key to Elijah’s greatness with God was not Elijah, but God. He was a man
who had a great God. He believed in and obeyed that great God and great things took
place. We can all do the same. We may not see all the miracles Elijah saw, for that is a
matter of the will and calling of God, but we can nonetheless see God work. If we truly
are surrendered to God, trust him, obey him, he will work.
Elijah prevailed in prayer. He prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain,
then he prayed that it would and it did. He was praying according to the will of God,
trusting him and obeying him, and what he prayed came about. We can do the same.
We have the same great God that Elijah had. If we will give ourselves to him fully, have
faith in him, obey him, seek his will and pray accordingly, we will also see answers to
prayer.

Great God, thank you for pointing out through James that a great man like Elijah was
really just a man, and that the key to his deeds was you as he trusted you and obeyed

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you. I have the same great God. I surrender myself to you and ask you to teach me to
pray according to your will. Amen.

Nov. 28. 1 Pt. 1.3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who
through his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in
the heavens for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be
revealed at the last time….” Surely all of us would agree that it is the great mercy of God
that caused us to be born again. Mercy responds to those in need who have no claim on
it. We who have offended God had no claim on him, yet he responded to our great need
and caused us to be born again, born spiritually, as we saw in considering Jn 3.3 (see the
Aug. 31 reading).
We are born again to a living hope. The world uses the word “hope” primarily to
mean wishful thinking. They have no basis for assurance, but they just hope something
will happen. But believers in the Lord Jesus have a sure basis for hope. His presence in
us by his Spirit is grounds for hope. God’s working in our lives to form Christ in us is
basis for hope. His provision for us in every way, materially, psychologically, and
spiritually, is basis for hope. As Heb. 6.19 says, “… which [hope] we have as an anchor
of the soul, sure and firm and entering in within the veil….” The resurrection of Christ
from the dead is the ultimate basis of our living hope. Because he lives, we will, too.
As we live with Christ, we will also inherit with him, and our inheritance, unlike
a material inheritance on earth, is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. Nothing can
touch it with harm. We will never lose it. It is reserved in the heavens for us.
Then Peter says that we are kept by the power of God through faith. This concept
is so important. If any Christian thinks he is standing, he is in grave danger (1 Cor.
10.12). None of us are standing. We are all being kept, held up by God. But we are kept
through faith. We do have to trust in the God who is holding us up. His provision is
there to keep us. We have to take it.
Finally we read that we will have a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the
last time. Thus does Peter state what we have seen before, that our salvation is not just
past: “I was saved,” but is also future (and present, too, we might add). There is a
salvation ready to be revealed. We will see the nature of this salvation tomorrow.

Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the hope, the
inheritance, and the salvation that I have. Amen.

Nov. 29. 1 Pt. 1.6-9: “… in which you rejoice, if now for a little while you must be distressed by
various trials, that the proof of your faith, more precious than gold which perishes, though tested
through fire, may be found to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom
not having seen you love, in whom now not seeing but believing you rejoice with joy

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inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining the goal of faith, the salvation of your souls.” This
salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time, which we considered yesterday, is
something in which we rejoice. We rejoice even though we have to go through trials at
present, for we know by faith in the word of God that these trials are refining our faith
through fire and preparing us for that salvation.
Gold is something that is perishable, but it is refined by fire. If something
perishable must be refined by fire, how much more something far more valuable,
because eternal and effective in the spiritual world, our faith? If our faith is refined and
proved by the fire, it will be found to praise and glory and honor to God at the
revelation of Christ, and we will hear his “Well done.” We express that faith by loving
and trusting and rejoicing in Christ now when we cannot see him or the salvation that is
reserved for us. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5.7).
What is the result of this expression of faith and its proving? The salvation of our
souls. We saw in our Nov. 22 reading on Ja. 1.21 that the salvation of the soul is not new
birth, initial salvation, but the lifelong process by which God works to heal the
damaged psyche. Now Peter tells us that this process will be completed at the
revelation of Jesus Christ. When we see him we will know full psychological healing
and health, for, as John writes, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. The
emotional hurts, the feelings of rejection, of not being loved, of not being lovable, of not
measuring up, will all be gone, as will the damage we have done to ourselves by our
own sin (1 Pt. 2.11), and we will know the love of God for us as we have never known it
before. It will flood our souls, our psyches, with full healing. That is the nature of the
salvation that we will obtain as the result of our faith in this day in which we still suffer,
yet we believe in the one we cannot see and in his promises. May his revelation be soon.

Dear Lord Jesus, I do love you and trust you and rejoice in you even though I cannot
see you. You are real in my heart. Please give me grace to go through the fires of testing
and to come out full of praise and glory and honor to you. Thank you for the promise of
full salvation. Amen.

Nov. 30. 1 Pt. 1.13: “Therefore girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope perfectly in
the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Peter uses a picturesque
figure to tell us to have our minds ready for action. The men of his day wore robes
rather than the pants that men wear today. When they worked these robes would get in
the way of their feet and legs, so they would tie them up around their loins, gird up
their loins. Thus they would be ready for work. Peter tells us to gird up the loins of our
mind, thus being ready for the work before us.
Why would he tell us to gird up the loins of the mind? Since Satan is the master
of deceit, it is vital for us to be aware of the truth and to think properly. Remember the
word of Prov. 23.7, “For as he thinks in his soul, so is he” (see the readings for Oct. 6 and

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22). Satan’s primary way of getting us into trouble is to get us to believe lies, and
probably more important than an individual lie he might deceive us into at a given time
are the unconscious thoughts and emotions that we actually base our lives on, no matter
what we may say we believe. Many Christians know that God loves them and accepts
them because his word says so, and they will say that is what they believe, but deep
down they do not feel loved and accepted by God, and that is what governs their
relationship with him. That deep sense of rejection by God is Satan’s lie.
Thus we must learn the truth and be transformed by the renewing of our minds
(Rom. 12.2, see the reading for Sept. 23). We gird up the loins of the mind by knowing
the truth, by applying it to ourselves, and by countering Satan’s lies with it when he
tries to mislead us. Being alert is also part of the process. When ones loins were girded,
he was ready for work. We must be ready at all times to deal with deceit.
Peter also says to be sober. By this he means to be serious. We are not to be so
serious that we are humorless, but we must not be flippant about life. It is a deadly
serious business, with the course of life now and eternity at issue.
Having girded the loins of our mind and taken a position of seriousness about
life, we are to hope perfectly in the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It is grace that brought us to God to begin with, grace that saved us, and grace
that sustains and blesses us now. Yet there is more grace to be brought to us. If we die
before the coming of the Lord, there will be grace to die. We do not need that grace
now, so we need not look for it now. When we need it, it will be there. When he does
come, we will receive the greatest grace of all, seeing him come to this evil world to put
an end to the evil and establish righteousness and to take us as his bride, and then
entering his kingdom and then eternity with him. Amazing grace from before the
beginning to eternity. Bless the Lord!

Heavenly Father, how wonderful your grace is, working even before I came to you to
bring me to you, sustaining me now, and preparing me for your kingdom and eternity.
What must you have in store for your people! Praise be to you. Amen.

Dec. 1. 1 Pt. 1.18-19: “… knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or
gold, from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a
Lamb blameless and spotless, of Christ….” Peter writes that we were redeemed. What is
redemption? It is buying someone out of slavery. The picture of redemption is that of
the slave market, of someone going to the slave market, buying a slave, and setting him
free. You and I were slaves to sin and its consequences, both now and eternally (Rom.
6.6, 17, 20), but our Redeemer purchased us with his own blood out of the slave market
of sin and set us free.
Some object to this interpretation of this picture on the grounds that it makes
God pay the devil the price of our redemption, but that is not the case. We often use the

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term “pay the price” to mean simply that someone does what it takes to accomplish
some goal. We say that athletes pay the price to win a championship. We do not mean
that they give money to someone. We mean that they do what it takes by way of bodily
training and discipline. To say that Christ redeemed us with his blood does not mean
that he or the Father paid the blood to the devil. Indeed, in the Old Testament, the blood
was sprinkled on the altar and on the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies. That ark
was the throne of God. Yes, we were slaves to sin, and Christ redeemed us from that
slavery and gave us the glorious freedom of the sons of God.
We were not redeemed with something corruptible, that is, perishable. When
someone is kidnapped, his captor usually wants money for his release. We call this
transaction ransom. When someone brings a slave to freedom, he usually does so by
paying money for him, then releasing him. But Christ redeemed us with something far
more precious. Gold and silver will perish with this world, but the price of our
redemption is eternally effective. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
What something is worth is what someone else will pay for it. If I think
something is worth $50, but the highest offer I can get is $40, it is worth $40, at least at
that time. What did God pay for you? Silver and gold? No. He paid the precious blood
of his Son for you. That is what you are worth to God. What riches we find in
considering redemption!

Dear God, thank you for the precious blood of Christ, and for your willingness to go to
that expense to redeem me. My worth to you is really beyond my comprehension. Why
would you pay such a price for me? Amen.

Dec. 2. 1 Pt. 2.4-5: “… coming to him as a living stone rejected by men, but to God chosen,
precious, you yourselves as living stones are being built into a spiritual house for a holy
priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” The Lord Jesus
is the stone rejected by men, but chosen by God, as we saw in our readings for April 24
and May 18. He is a living stone, the cornerstone of God’s spiritual house. As his
people, we are also living stones and we are being built into that house. This house is
for God to dwell in (see the Oct. 15 reading).
In addition to being the house of God’s dwelling, we are also to be the priesthood
in that house or temple. Recall that we are the priesthood according to the order of
Melchizedek under the Lord Jesus as the High Priest (see the readings for Jan. 5 and 15,
April 22, and Nov. 15). Every believer is a priest in this priesthood. All of us minister in
the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of God. Peter adds in v. 9 of
this passage that we are the fulfillment of Ex. 19.5-6, God’s desire for a kingdom of
priests.
The sacrifices we offer are not animals, but they are spiritual. What are spiritual
sacrifices? We probably will not know the full answer to this question until we see the

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Lord, but we know some of the sacrifices. Heb. 13.15-16 tells us to offer sacrifices of
praise, doing good, and sharing. Any time that we praise God it is a sacrifice pleasing to
him, but there are times when we find it difficult to praise him because of our difficult
circumstances. When we give him praise by faith in these times despite our feelings, it
is especially pleasing to him, for it shows that we trust him no matter what.
Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10.38). Hebrews
says that we should not neglect doing good. When we do something for someone else
simply because we are the Lord’s, that is a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God. So is
sharing. A good example of sharing as a sacrifice is found in Phil. 4.18, where Paul says
of the gift sent to him by the Philippians that it is “fragrant aroma, an acceptable
sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”
It is also Paul who says in Rom. 12.1 that we are to present our bodies as living
sacrifices to God. This giving of ourselves to God, including our bodies as our means of
contact with the material world, and thus of his contact with those around us, is a
spiritual sacrifice.
Such sacrifices, offered through Jesus Christ, are acceptable and pleasing to God.

Dear Lord, thank you for including me as a living stone in your temple. I want to offer
spiritual sacrifices to you. I give myself to you and I praise you, and I ask you to lead
me in doing good and in sharing. Amen.

Dec. 3. 1 Pt. 2.19-20: “For this finds favor, if because of consciousness of God one bears up
under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten you
endure? But if when doing good and suffering you endure, this finds favor with God.” Suffering
is something that everyone will face in life. It is a given in this fallen world. No normal
person enjoys suffering, and most of us try to get out of when it comes. We seem to
think that God’s purpose in existing is to keep us out of difficulty and make us happy
and comfortable.
As we grow in the Lord, we come to the place where we realize that our
suffering, which will certainly come, is ordered by God for his purpose in us, namely,
the conforming of us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8.29-29). Usually our first reaction to
it is still to cry to God to get us out of it, but eventually we see that we need to submit to
him and endure as he does his work in us. Especially if we know we have done wrong,
and thus brought on the suffering, do we accept it. But that is no credit to us. Why
should we not be punished if we do wrong? And remember that the discipline of the
Lord is not to hurt us or make us feel bad, but to bring growth, child training, out of our
wrongdoing. What a wonderful God!
But sometimes we suffer when we do what is right, indeed, for doing what is
right. We know of the extreme examples in which a servant of the Lord is martyred for
serving him. These martyrdoms have occurred all through Christian history, and they

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continue, having taken place very recently. Few of us in the United States are likely to
face dying for the Lord unless conditions change dramatically, as they certainly could,
but we have life so good in this nation that the least little inconvenience upsets us. And
if we do right and still suffer, that is hard to take.
It seems that there was someone else who suffered unjustly and endured it
before God. His name was Jesus (see 1 Pt. 2.21-23). And of course there were James and
Stephen and Paul and Peter. When we take a stand for the Lord and are ridiculed for it,
let us remember these examples. Many in our day protest and work against abortion.
Often the law is applied to them in a harsher way than to their opponents. Indeed, it is
usually not applied to their opponents at all. These people know they are doing the will
of God for them, and they carry on, even when they suffer unjustly.
Such behavior gains favor with God, for it is an example of his character,
character that will not stoop to the level of those who do wrong by treating them the
same way, but will even die for their salvation. That is the God we serve, and that is one
of the things he calls us to.

Heavenly Father, please give me the grace to endure unjust suffering as a witness to
you if I should be called on to do so. If that occurs, please use it to minister Christ to
those who do me wrong. Amen.

Dec. 4. 1 Pt. 3.15: “… but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready with a defense for
all who ask you a reason for the hope in you.” This verse raises the question for us as to why
we hope in Christ? Why do we? Is it because that is what we were taught as children? Is
it because we have joined a congregation and been baptized? Is it because we believe
the major Christian doctrines? All of these possibilities embody aspects of Christian
faith that are important, but by themselves they do not provide a sure defense for faith.
If someone were to ask you why you hope in Christ, what would you tell him?
Peter tells us to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. To sanctify means to set
apart. Of all the possible lords of our lives, we are to set apart Christ from all the rest,
enthroning him and dismissing all the rest. As we do so and begin to experience his
lordship, we will have a greater grasp of why we hope in him. The real basis for our
hope is that Christ himself has made himself real to us in our hearts. We cannot prove
to anyone that he even exists, but we know whether or not he is real to us, and that is
sufficient. We need to know the Bible, for if we go only by what we think or feel, we can
go very wrong, and Satan will try to see to it that we do by giving us bad guidance. But
even the Bible itself is not a good defense for our hope if that is all we have. There must
be the reality of Christ within.
Peter says to be always ready with a defense. The word defense is the meaning of
the Greek word apologia. We get “apology” and “apologetics” from this word. It does not
mean “apology” in our sense of saying, “I’m sorry,” but “defense.” Apologetics is the

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defense of the gospel and the faith. We do not all need to study apologetics at the
college or seminary level to be able to give a defense for our hope, but we should all
give thought to the matter so that we will know what we would say. Perhaps some
should even talk with a pastor or professor about the matter so as to get a clear idea of
the reason for hope in Christ. The unbelieving world will not go for clichés. There must
be reality if we are to reach the lost, especially those who are very skeptical.

Dear Lord, please do make yourself so real to me within and through your word that I
will have certainty myself of the hope I have in Christ, and help me to clarify my
thinking on why so I can share my reasons with those who ask. Amen.

Dec. 5. 1 Pt. 4.12-13: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial among you for testing
which has come to you, as though something strange were happening to you, but as you share
the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice, being
glad.” It should come as no surprise when we face fiery trials because of the fallen world
we live in. Everyone, whether the Lord’s or not, faces suffering, and those who are the
Lord’s face the possibility of persecution by the world that opposes him.
In addition to there being the persecution of the world, our trials are also testing
by God. The same word in Greek means both “testing” or “trial” and “temptation.” What
is from Satan’s viewpoint a temptation is from God’s a test. God’s tests, though, are not
just neutral, done to see if we pass or fail. They are designed to prove us, to show that
we do pass. Remember Abraham’s greatest test in being told to sacrifice Isaac. When he
passed the test, God said, “Do not stretch forth your hand against the boy and do not do
anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, and you have not withheld your
son, your only one, from me.” Did God not know beforehand whether or not Abraham
would pass the test? Of course he did. The test was for Abraham, not for God. It was
designed to make Abraham stronger in the Lord for having passed it. That is the
purpose of our trials, to make us stronger in the Lord. The world says, “Success breeds
success.” It is the same in the spiritual world.
Peter adds that the sufferings that come on us are Christ’s sufferings. We need to
realize that when the world rejects us, it is not rejecting us, but God, because it hates
God. Just as Israel was not rejecting Samuel, but God (1 Sam. 8.7), so the world is not
opposing us, but God. The Lord Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has
hated me before you.” Thus our sufferings are our share in Christ’s sufferings.
But, says Peter, rejoice, for as we suffer with Christ now, we will rejoice with him
at his revelation. The sufferings are temporary. The rejoicing is eternal.

God of our tests, thank you for showing me that my trials are not something to be
surprised at, but are your instruments for making me stronger in you, and that the end
will be eternal rejoicing. Amen.

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Dec. 6. 1 Pt. 5.6-7: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may
exalt you at the right time, casting all your care on him, for it matters to him about you.” In v. 5
of this passage Peter quotes Prov. 3.34, which is also quoted in Ja. 4.6, and which we
have noted more than once already, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.” Now he continues with the exhortation for his readers to humble themselves
under the mighty hand of God. To do so brings his grace, not his opposition.
It also makes it possible for God to exalt us at the right time. The New Testament
is quite clear that Christ humbled himself before he was exalted, that he endured the
cross before he claimed the crown. It also teaches that those who identify with him now
in the day of his humility, for he is still in humility on earth, not having revealed
himself openly yet, will be exalted with him when he is revealed in glory. If we were to
be exalted now, it would probably reveal our pride, which Peter has just said to avoid,
and it would mean our exaltation before that of our Lord. It is not yet the right time, but
when the right time comes, it will last forever.
Since we are humbled with him and scorned by the world, we are bound to have
cares. Peter says for us to cast all our care on him. Instead of worrying and being
anxious and afraid, if we take our cares to the Lord he will take them and give us his
peace instead. We cannot trust and worry at the same time. Worry will not help. In fact
it will hurt, making one sick and cutting him off from the Lord, for worry is unbelief.
Trust will help, for it opens the way for God to work.
The reason we can cast all our care on God is that it matters to him about us. He
knows each one of us by name and loves each one of us individually. He planned each
one of us before creation. He has invested so much of himself in each one of us that it
matters to him what happens to us. He will use our care for our good, bringing us into a
closer relationship with him as we trust him. And the very giving of our care to him is a
humbling of ourselves, for it says that we know we cannot take care of matters
ourselves. And God gives grace to the humble. The very giving of our care to God
brings his grace in our time of need.

Heavenly Father, thank you for letting me know that it matters to you about me. Please
help me to humble myself under your mighty hand and to give all my care to you.
Amen.

Dec. 7. 1 Pt. 5.8-9: “Be sober. Be alert. Your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour, whom resist, strong in faith, knowing that the very same sufferings
are being accomplished by your brotherhood in the world.” Just before the end of his first
epistle, Peter gives his readers a warning. They need to be sober and alert, for they have
an adversary who is walking about looking for someone to devour, but we cannot see
this enemy. Since we cannot see him, we need to learn his ways and be alert to his

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subtle attacks. Satan likes to speak ideas in our minds using our voices so that we think
they are our own ideas. Any time we have a thought that does not agree with the truth
of God’s word, we can be sure Satan is lying to us. That is another reason why it is
important to know what the Scriptures say, for they are our source of truth with which
to detect and counter Satan’s lies.
Satan is an adversary. He is not some fairy tale creature dressed in a red suit and
carrying a pitchfork. He is a spirit who is just as evil as the Holy Spirit is holy. He is
diabolically clever, with great intelligence and knowledge of our weaknesses. He knows
when and where to attack us, but his attacks are rarely in the open. He does few frontal
assaults. Rather he whispers those lies into our minds. He is out to devour us. He
cannot keep us from Heaven if we are the Lord’s, but he can lead us to ruin our victory
and testimony if we fall prey to his schemes. We must be sober and alert.
He can be resisted. He cannot make us do anything. If we are alert to his lies and
speak the truth against them, trusting in the truth of the word of God, then we are
strong in faith and we can be victorious. We are also aided by knowing that our
brothers elsewhere are facing the same sufferings as ours. We can take encouragement
from their victorious resistance. It is very noteworthy that Peter says the sufferings are
being accomplished. We do not think of sufferings as being accomplished, but as being
endured. But they are to be accomplished. That is, God has something in the sufferings
for us that will work to our eternal good. As we do endure, trusting in him, we
accomplish what he intends for us in the sufferings. They are not just something to be
endured, but are of the “all things” that will work together for our good.

Dear Father, please keep me sober and alert against the prowlings of Satan, and teach
me how to resist him with the truth of your word. Make me strong in faith in you, and
encourage me as I think of others, including the Lord Jesus himself, who have
accomplished sufferings. Please give me grace to accomplish something when I suffer.
Amen.

Dec. 8. 2 Pt. 1.3: “… since his divine power has given us all things that have to do with life and
godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence….”
One of the truths of the Bible that we so need to get firmly in mind is that we already
have everything in Christ. We are always asking God to give us such things as peace
and patience and power and more faith, and so forth. Why do we ask God for what we
already have? We will never have any more of Christ than we had the moment we were
saved, for we received all of him then. Yes, we will learn more of what we have, and we
will develop a closer relationship with him, but we received everything we need for
time and eternity when we received him. His divine power has done this.

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We have what we need to live this life as we should, for we have Christ living in
us, and he is beyond perfection if that is possible. We have what we need to be godly,
for we have the godly one living in us.
The key to our walking in this truth is knowledge. If we do not know that it is
true that we have everything in Christ, we will live as though we do not and we will
suffer for it. We have all heard stories of a poor person who lived above oil and did not
know it. He was rich, but he lived like a pauper, because he did not know he was rich. As
Christians we are spiritually rich, for we are the children of God and we have Christ
living in us. But if we do not know that we have everything, we will live as though we
do not, and we will suffer for it.
God called us by his glory and excellence. That is, we were attracted to him
because of what we saw in him. We have come very selfishly at first, just wanting
something for ourselves, relief, help, whatever. God held out hope for our need. It is
alright to come to God that way at first. It is probably all we can do. He takes us on that
basis and begins to work in us to transform us into the image of his Son. He does so by
forming him in us (Rom. 8.29, Gal. 4.19).
As we grow, we begin to desire that God be recognized and honored by others
for his glory and excellence. Just seeing God as “for me” goes and the desire for
something for God comes. We thought he existed for us. Now we learn that we exist for
him, and we rejoice in that, for in being his we are all we can be, and that is true
fulfillment and satisfaction.

God of divine power, thank you for giving me everything I need in Christ to live and be
godly. Please continue to open my eyes to my vast wealth in Christ and teach me to live
on that wealth in this world. Amen.

Dec. 9. 2 Pt. 1.4: “… through which he has given to us precious and great promises, that
through these we might become partakers of divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.” Yesterday we saw that we have everything that has to do with
life and godliness so that we can live in this world as we should. Today we see more of
this reality. God has given us precious and great promises. He has promised never to
leave us, never to put on us more than we can bear, sufficient grace, power to live
rightly and to do his will, a place in his kingdom, eternal life, and more. Through these
promises we can become partakers of divine nature. What does Peter mean by this
statement?
He most certainly does not mean that we become divine, as some teach.
Nowhere does Scripture teach such a thing. God is divine and uncreated. We are
human and created. That will never change. To partake of divine nature means that we
have Christ living in us and we can live by that life. Paul said that Christ is our life (Col.

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3.4), and he said, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2.20). We can draw on
that divine nature dwelling in us for the living of our lives as God desires.
It is through the precious and great promises that we can do so. That is, it is by
faith. We believe what God says, his promises, and so we partake of his nature that is in
us in Christ. It is faith that lays claim to all that God has for us. Our promises are not
material, but spiritual. We do not see God or what he has promised, but when we take
by faith what he has promised, we have it. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5.7).
One of the benefits of being partakers of the divine nature is that we have
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, both the current moral
depravity of the world and the corruption of the body after death. Divine nature is
incorruptible, and we partake of it. Yes, if we die, our bodies will decay, but we will live
on with the Lord in spirit, and he will one day resurrect our bodies, transformed into
incorruptible spiritual bodies. That is just one of our precious and great promises.

Faithful God, thank you so much for your precious and great promises and your
faithfulness to them, for causing your divine nature to live in me, and for delivering me
from corruption, now and forever. Amen.

Dec. 10. 2 Pt. 1.16-18: “For we did not follow cleverly made-up myths when we made known to
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For
when he received glory and honor from God the Father, a voice of such kind was brought to him
by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.’ And this voice we
heard brought from Heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.” It is one of the
intriguing facts of Scripture that Peter, one of the twelve who was with the Lord Jesus
for all of his earthly ministry, refers in his two epistles only to the transfiguration of all
that he witnessed in those three or so years. Why did he choose that event?
Perhaps we cannot say for certain, but it seems quite likely from what Peter
writes here that he uses that occurrence as evidence for the truth of his claims as a
preacher of the Lord Jesus. He lived in a very religious world that had many religions,
mythological among them. The official religions of Greece and Rome, if we may call
them that, were the mythologies that we still read of and study today. There is no
historical basis to these religions. Their gods were created from tales designed to
explain mysterious events or to illustrate human strengths and failings. It is ironic that
Jews and Christians are accused of creating God in man’s image when in fact God is
nothing like humans, except that both he and they are spiritual beings, while the gods
of ancient Greece and Rome are very obviously created in man’s image. They were just
as capricious, hateful, spiteful, and morally weak as any human ever was.
Peter makes it clear that Christian faith is based on no such mythology. Instead,
he, James, and John were eyewitnesses of the majesty of the Lord Jesus: they saw the
transfiguration, they saw Moses and Elijah, though that is not mentioned here, and they

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heard the voice of God from Heaven. One of the most fundamental of all truths of
Judaism and Christianity is that they are historical in nature. They are not based on
myths, but on God’s real actions in human history. The transfiguration was one of those
historical occurrences.
The voice they heard spoke the words that were spoken at the baptism of the
Lord Jesus, showing that his public ministry after his baptism was just as pleasing to his
Father as his private life before it had been. God was pleased with his Son that he took
the step of baptism, thus indicating that he would die (see the reading for Aug. 4), and
he was pleased that he continued on that path even when he faced the opposition of his
enemies.
The transfiguration was the historical testimony of God to Peter, James, and John
that the Lord Jesus was indeed his Son and that he was all he claimed to be. That
eyewitness experience became one of the foundation stones of the gospel.

Dear God, thank you that our faith is not based on myths and fairy tales, but on real
historical events, your working among men. Our faith, my faith, is based on truth.
Amen.

Dec. 11. 2 Pt. 1.19: “And we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to
come as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in
your hearts.” The only Bible the first Christians had was the Old Testament. It was the
prophetic word. They had learned from the Lord Jesus that those prophecies spoke of
him and his sufferings, his resurrection, and his coming glory. As he interpreted those
Scriptures to the two on the road to Emmaus, their hearts burned within them (Lk.
24.32), and then he opened the minds of the disciples and those with them to
understand the Scriptures (Lk. 24.45). How alive those passages must have been!
But Peter writes in today’s verse, a continuation of yesterday’s passage, that we
have the prophetic word, the Old Testament, made more sure by the eyewitness
experience of the transfiguration. When Peter, James, and John saw the Lord Jesus
glorified, they had a present eyewitness testimony to what their Scriptures, the Old Testament, said. They
were always sure words. Now they were more sure.
That being the case, one does well to come to that prophetic word, and we may
now add the New Testament Scriptures also, as to a lamp shining in a dark place.
Darkness is the Bible’s symbol for ignorance of the truth and for the desire to hide evil
deeds. This world is the dark place. Satan is the ruler of darkness (Lk. 22.53). How
instructive that Jn. 3.19 says that men love darkness, ignorance of the truth and hiding
of what they do, because their deeds are evil. Men love ignorance of the truth. They
prefer darkness. No wonder we do well to come to the Scriptures as the lamp.
The matter of the day dawning and the morning star are of interest. They are “in
your hearts.” The future power and coming of the Lord will not be in hearts, but

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external and visible. The present dawning and morning star are the grasping in our
hearts of the reality of the Lord’s ultimate power and coming as our hope, and our
confidence in them so as to endure to the end. The future external reality “dawns on
us,” as we say, as a present reality in our hearts, so that we live in this dark world not
just in the light of the word of prophecy, but of the light within. When prophecy has
become a living hope within, it has dawned in our hearts. The morning star has risen in
our hearts.

Blessed Father, thank you for the lamp of your word that shines in the darkness of this
world, and for its reality in my heart. To whatever degree the hope of the power and
coming of the Lord Jesus is not a living hope to me, please do reveal it to my heart.
Amen.

Dec. 12. 2 Pt. 3.8-9: “But do not let this one thing escape your notice, beloved, that one day with
the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow
concerning the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” We who are time-bound have a
tendency to think of God in the same way. When we wait many years to gain
something or to experience victory over something, we may say that God takes a long
time. We ask why he waits so long? But the fact of the matter is that it is not God, but
we, who are slow.
In this passage Peter applies God’s patience to the lost who need to be saved,
saying that God is being not slow, but patient, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. He gives people all the time possible to repent and
turn to him. But the patience applies to Christians, too. God is dealing with all of us in
some way. The reason so much time passes for us in such dealings is that we are slow to
learn, slow to repent, slow to have Christ formed in us. We resist the dealings of God
and complain about them, though he is working for our temporal and eternal good.
Does he become upset with us and cast us off? No, a thousand years of our
slowness are only a day to him. We might say that he has all the time in the world, for
time means nothing to him. And he is very patient with us. He works at our pace. Yet
he is not willing for us to fall short of all that he wants for us, so instead of having done
with us because we are slow, he is patient.
Thus do we see another aspect of the grace and kindness of God. He is the
offended one, and we are the offenders, yet he takes all the initiative to do something
about our hopeless situation, and then he waits patiently while we move so slowly. He
should be the one asking, “How long?”

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Dear Lord, your patience is indeed a blessing. I see that I am the one who is slow, not
you. I am slow to learn and slow to repent, but you wait patiently for me. A thousand
years of my slowness are only a day to you. Amen.

Dec. 13. 2 Pt. 3.10-13: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, on which the skies will pass
away with a noise and the elements will be destroyed, being burned, and the earth and the works
on it will be burned. Since all these things are to be so destroyed, what kind of people should you
be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the skies will be destroyed, being burned, and the elements will be melted, being
burned. But we await new skies and a new earth according to his promise, in which
righteousness dwells.” We usually think of the day of the Lord as associated with the
return of Christ. Here Peter speaks of the burning of the creation, skies, elements, earth,
at the day of the Lord. It seems clear from other passages, though, that the day of the
Lord occurs after the great tribulation, but before the millennium, but the burning of the
creation occurs after the millennium. Rev. 21.1 says, “And I saw a new sky and a new
earth, for the first sky and the first earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.”
What John saw in this vision very plainly occurs after the millennium and the final
judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20.10-14). Probably Peter saw all the events of
the judgments of the end as one, not separating earlier and later occurrences.
The point of the passage, though, is not the order in which events will occur, but
the need to be ready for the end to come at any moment. Peter says that the day of the
Lord will come as a thief, that is, with no warning. Readiness is a necessity. Then he
asks one of the great questions of the Bible: “What kind of people should you be in holy
conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” Since
the day of the Lord could come at any second, even while I write this or you read it, is it
not crucial for us to be living at all times as God wants us to live? Running the risk of
getting by without being ready for the day of the Lord is like running the risk of not
having any insurance on one’s house, but with far greater potential consequences. We
cannot buy insurance when the house is on fire, and we cannot get ready for the day of
the Lord when it comes. How we should examine our hearts and our conduct before the
Lord now!
We will continue with these thoughts tomorrow.

Heavenly Father, I see the need to be living in a way pleasing to you at every moment.
Please search my heart and my conduct and cleanse me of anything that is not pleasing
to you. I want to be holy and godly. Amen.

Dec. 14. 2 Pt. 3.10-13: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, on which the skies will pass
away with a noise and the elements will be destroyed, being burned, and the earth and the works
on it will be burned. Since all these things are to be so destroyed, what kind of people should you

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be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the skies will be destroyed, being burned, and the elements will be melted, being
burned. But we await new skies and a new earth according to his promise, in which
righteousness dwells.” “What kind of people should we be, looking for and hastening the
coming of the day of God?” Not only are we to be holy and godly, but we are to look for
and hasten the coming of the day of God. We look for the coming of the day of God by
being aware of it and wanting it, by praying for it. How do we hasten it?
God has chosen to work through his people, but without violating their free will.
The degree to which he is able to work through them is the degree to which they trust
and obey, to which they have submitted to the dealings of God, to which Christ has
been formed in them. If you or I resist the dealings of God and delay the forming of
Christ in us, we limit and delay his use of us. The same is true with his people as a
body, the church. It can also limit and delay God’s work. Or the church and each one of
us can hasten the work of God, not, to be sure, by making something take place, but by
being yielded, by submitting to God in the place of discipline, by trusting and obeying.
The more the church and each one of us are what God wants us to be, the sooner the
day of the Lord will come, and thus the sooner Christ will return. How important
indeed that we be characterized by holy conduct and godliness!
A part of that holy conduct and godliness is awaiting the new sky and the new
earth in which righteousness dwells. One who is surrendered to the Lord and knows
him closely will long for that day, being greatly distressed by the continuation of the
progress of evil in this age. He will cry out to God to bring the present evil age to a close
and bring Christ to the throne. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Heavenly Father, I want to do my part in hastening the coming of the day of God.
Please work in me to develop holiness and godliness. I do cry out to you for the return
of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Dec. 15. 1 Jn. 1.5-7: “And this is the message that we have heard from him and announce to
you, that God is light and in him there is not any darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we are lying and not doing the truth. But if we
walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood
of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.” We saw in our Dec. 11 reading that darkness is
the Bible’s symbol for ignorance of the truth. Light, then, is knowledge of the truth. John
tells us that God is light and in him is no darkness. Recall that the Lord Jesus said that
he is the truth (Jn. 14.6). Both Titus 1.2 and Heb. 6.18 say that God cannot lie. He is
utterly truthful, honest, trustworthy. That, perhaps, is why we are called on to live by
faith. Faith demonstrates the complete honesty of God. It bears witness to his honesty.
God thus being light and not darkness, if we say that we fellowship with him,
but walk in the darkness, we are lying. Since there is no darkness in God, one could not

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possibly walk in the darkness and be in fellowship with him. His light reveals all. It
reveals the sins of the darkness. It is noteworthy that John says that we are not doing the
truth. We do not usually think of doing, but of knowing or believing, the truth. John
says that we should do it, that is, live by what we believe to be true. Walk in the light,
doing what truth says should be done.
Walking in the light produces fellowship with others who are walking in the
light. Paul asked in 2 Cor. 6.14, “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” It
does not and cannot have any, for where there is light, there is no darkness. What
happens to the darkness when light comes? It does not go away, but ceases to exist.
Everything that was in the dark can be seen when light comes. If one in darkness tries to
fellowship with those in the light, he will be revealed, for he will not be able to show the
fruits of light (Eph. 5.9). When two or more who are in the light fellowship, the light
will reveal that the fellowship is real.
Those in the light, though, still sin from time to time, being still fallen creatures
in a fallen world, but when they do, it is obvious, for they are in the light, and as they
confess (v. 9), the blood of Jesus cleanses from every sin. Walk in the light.

Dear Father, I want to walk in the light and have fellowship with you and your people.
Please reveal any darkness that is in me and fill me with your light. Amen.

Dec. 16. 1 Jn. 2.1-2: “My little children, I write these things to you that you might not sin, and
if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he
himself is the propitiation for our sins….” It is the will of God that his people never sin, and
what John has written in this epistle is designed to bring that situation about. But God
knows our weakness (Ps. 103.14, Mk. 14.38), so he has made provision for us if we do
sin. He is dealing here, of course, not with deliberate, persistent sin, but with our
unintended failures. His provision is that we have an advocate, that is, a lawyer.
The picture is judicial. God is the Judge. Satan is the accuser. The Lord Jesus is
the defense attorney. When we fail and sin, Satan accuses us before God, saying that we
obviously are not saved because we sinned. Then our advocate says that our sins have
been put onto someone else and we are not guilty. That one on whom our sins have
been laid is our defense attorney himself. He himself is proof that we are not guilty, for
he bore our sins, taking them from us. We do not have any sin. That may sound radical,
but it is true. We do not have any sin. All our sins were put onto the Lord Jesus almost
two thousand years ago. He took them away from us and paid the penalty for them.
They no longer exist.
When God the Judge hears this defense, he declares in a mighty voice and with
the strong sound of his gavel, “Not guilty!” Satan must slink away. We can stand boldly
before the Judge, free of any charge.

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John says that the Lord Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is one of
those long theological words that can look formidable, but its meaning is quite simple.
The Bible teaches that because God is a righteous God, that is, judicially right, he cannot
overlook sin. Its penalty must be paid. There is the anger of God the righteous Judge at
sin. If we received the anger of God for our sins, we would be destroyed by it and
would spend eternity in hell. But there was one who could receive the anger of God for
us, Jesus Christ the righteous. The word “righteous” is of utmost importance in this
statement. It is because he himself was righteous, without sin, with no cases pending
against him in court, that he could die for our sins. He was the unblemished Lamb. Yes,
the anger of God put him to death, but because he was sinless, death could not hold
him. He was raised from the dead and now lives as our defense. Do not sin, but if you
do sin, we have an advocate with the Father.

Righteous Judge, I know I fail and sin from time to time, but it is the desire of my heart
not to sin, but to please you in every way. Thank you that you yourself, the Judge,
provided me with an advocate, a righteous one who himself did away with my sins and
can so testify before you. How unsearchable is your grace. Amen.

Dec. 17. 1 Jn. 3.2-3: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it does not yet appear what we
will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And everyone
who has this hope in him purifies himself, as he is pure.” John deals with what we are now
and with what we will be. Now we are children of God. In the New Testament, the
word “child,” when used of a child of God, usually refers to someone fairly new in the
faith or somewhat along the way. When maturity is dealt with, the word is “son.” We
may know some measure of maturity in this age, but our full sonship will come with
the return of the Lord.
So, for now we are children of God, learning and growing. That is a wonderful
thing. We have been born into a new family with a new Father in place of Adam. Our
destiny is no longer death, but life. We are taught and brought along by the Holy Spirit.
During this time it does not yet appear what we will be. Though the Bible reveals
much to us about what lies beyond this age for the people of God, the truth is that what
God has in mind is way beyond us. We do not know fully what to expect. All we can
comprehend is comparisons with what we know now. Surely God has plans that go
beyond what we know.
There is one thing we do know, though even with it we do not know all the
details. If, and we could say when, for it will, if it, what we will be, does appear, we
know that we will be like the Lord Jesus, for we will see him as he is. He has promised
to transform our bodies into spiritual bodies like his (see 1 Cor. 15.42-44, and the
reading for Oct. 24). We will lose all the damage of sin and ill treatment. We will lose

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indwelling sin and the downward pull of the flesh. But we do not know fully what we
will be.
The logical response to such a hope is for us to purify ourselves, as the Lord
Jesus is pure. Do we want to have any trace of impurity in us when he appears, when
we see him and stand before him? Surely not. Let us purify ourselves in thought, word,
and deed that we may be ready to see him.

Holy Father, thank you for the promise that I will be like the Lord Jesus and for the
assurance that I will see him. Please help me to purify myself so as to be ready to see
him. Amen.

Dec. 18. 1 Jn. 3.8b: “For this the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil.” We
have endeavored in these pages to show the complete and utter victory of the Lord
Jesus over Satan. We as Christians already have victory because we are in the victorious
one and he is in us. Now we come to this statement in 1 John that tells us that the Lord
Jesus came for this very purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
There are two other passages that go along with this one in telling us of the
absolute victory of our Lord. The first is Col. 2.15, “Having disarmed the rulers and the
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in him.” At the
cross, God disarmed the rulers and authorities, the hosts of Satan. They have no
weapons. They cannot hurt us. We are in victory. Yes, they are masters of deceit, so we
must respect them and be wary of them, but that is all they have. They have been
disarmed.
The other is Heb. 2.14-15, “Since therefore the children partake of flesh and
blood, he himself also in the same way shared in the same, that through death he might
make ineffective the one who had the power of death, that is the devil, and set them
free, as many as who through fear of death were through all of life subject to slavery.”
The Lord Jesus came to make Satan ineffective. He did so by dying and rising again,
thus taking away the fear of death by which Satan had held virtually all people in
slavery, slavery to horrible religious acts, such as child sacrifice, in an attempt to gain
immortality. We need no longer fear death. Where is its sting? It is in the tomb of the
Lord Jesus, but he is not there.
The works of the devil referred to by John in today’s verse are sin (vs. 4-8a). We
do not yet see sin destroyed in this world, but we can experience the destruction of sin
in our own lives as we draw on the power of the Holy Spirit in us to live in victory. We
do not have to sin. Yes, we do sin from time to time, but that is a momentary lapse, not
the direction of our lives. We are free from sin. One day, when the Lord Jesus returns,
we will see the virtual elimination of sin in his millennial kingdom, and then, after the
final rebellion of Rev. 20.7-10, its complete elimination. It was destroyed at the cross. It
will be removed at the end of the millennium.

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Blessed Lord, what a wonderful truth, that Christ has completely defeated Satan, sin,
and death, and that because I am in Christ, I, too, am in victory over sin and the fear of
death. Praise be to you. Amen.

Dec. 19. 1 Jn. 4.8, 16: “God is love.” These three words are stated in both verses. What a
lesson they hold for us. Since we live in a material world and are physical beings
ourselves, we tend to think of all things as separate, for physically they are separate.
There is a law of physics: two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
That explains auto accidents!
The problem is that we transfer this way of thinking to God and spiritual matters
also. We think that God has love, a thing separate from him, and that if we need love,
he gives us some. But God does not give us a thing called love. He gives us himself.
When he does so, he gives us love precisely because he gives us himself, and he is love.
We have all heard the cliché, “Christ is the answer.” There is a reason why clichés
become clichés: they are true. They may be time-worn, but they are true. Christ is, not
has, the answer. What we need is he himself.
This line of thought carries over to the other “things” we need. Do we need
peace? He is our peace (Eph. 2.14). Do we need wisdom, righteousness, holiness,
redemption? He is our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, redemption (1 Cor. 1.30).
One of the truths that emerges from such an approach is one that we have tried
to emphasize in these devotional readings, namely, that God’s highest desire for us is
that we know him. Usually we see God as having what we need or being able to do
what we want done and we want him to give it to us or do it for us. But what he wants
is that we want HIM, not what he can give us or do for us. Of course, the truth is, if we
have him, we will have all the “things” we need and he will do for us what we need
done. But we get the cart before the horse.
The reason for this great desire of his that we know him comes back to the words
of today’s verses: God is love. He wants us to know him because that is absolutely the
greatest “thing” that any of us could experience or have. When a person loves someone,
the most important thing is not what they do for each other or give each other, but that
they be together. All the giving and doing flow from the being. Without the being, the
giving and doing do not mean much. Witness a workaholic father who buys his
children everything they want, but has no time for them. He is all they really need and
want. So it is with God. Desire him for himself. Seek him for himself. He is, not has.

Dear God, thank you for helping me to see that you ARE love, not one who gives love
as a thing, and you are all I need. If I know you, I “have” everything. Please do reveal
yourself to me more and more. Amen.

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Dec. 20. 1 Jn. 5.4b: “And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.” Faith is the
victory, the hymn says. In what sense is faith the victory? We cannot see the victory
with our physical eyes. We live in a fallen world ruled by Satan (Jn. 12.31, 2 Cor. 4.4). It is full of
sin and injustice. Everything outwardly visible says that there is no victory, that the
words of the Bible are just pious stories.
But faith sees the unseen. We saw in our reading for Oct. 4 on 2 Cor. 4.16-18 that
faith sees through the material to the unseen spiritual and realizes that it is the realm
which governs and prevails. Heb. 11.27 says that Moses “endured as seeing him who is
unseen.” We have referred several times to 2 Cor. 5.7: “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
Faith is the victory in that it believes what the Bible says and lives by it. When we do so,
we are living in the victory that the Lord Jesus won.
This victory overcomes the world. The world goes against faith, for it deals only
with what can be seen. It says that seeing is believing. Faith says that believing is seeing.
If we believe what the word of God says, there will come a day when we will see what
we have believed. Some of those things will come during this life, others only at the end
of this age. Those things which God knows that we need during this life he will bring to
us when the time is right. The resurrection of the dead and the ultimate prevailing of
the Lord Jesus in his kingdom will be seen only at his return.
The world not only goes against faith by its reliance on the seen, but it also tries
to allure us away from faith. The world hates God and his Christ, and it opposes us
because we claim his name (1 Jn. 3.13). It will do all it can to ruin our testimony by
getting us to slip up in some way and fall into sin. The world can be a very attractive
place, so it is no wonder that it is so alluring, but those who know the Lord and his
word know that the bait of the world has a hook in it and to go for what looks so good
leads to death, if not eternal death in hell, then to a living death in this world. Faith says
that the allure of the world is deceit.
If the world cannot entice us away from faith, then it may well try to use force.
We are not living in conditions of persecution now in the United States, but many in
other places in the world are, and it is not hard to imagine it coming about here in light
of all that has taken place in our country over the last several decades. Faith can
even die for the Lord, believing that those who trust in him will never die, but will only
move from this body on earth to Heaven with the Lord.
“This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.”

God of faith and not of sight, thank you for opening my spiritual eyes to the unseen
world, and for giving me faith to believe what you say, so as to overcome the world.
Please prepare me for anything I may have to face from the world. Amen.

Dec. 21. 2 Jn. 7: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not acknowledge
Jesus Christ come in flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” The little letter of 2 John

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has as its issue the humanity of Christ. We dealt with this issue in our reading on Heb.
2.10 and 5.8 on Nov. 9. It is a vital Christian doctrine, for without it he could not have
been our sacrificial Lamb. He had to be one of us. There were some in the early days of
the Christian faith who believed that flesh was inherently evil, with the soul being the
good part of man. That being the case, Christ could not have come in the flesh, for God
could not take on an evil form. He only appeared to be in the flesh.
John takes up this matter and deals with it decisively, saying that those who
deny the humanity of the Lord are the deceiver and antichrist. Three matters in 2 John
revolve around this issue of the humanity of the Lord Jesus. The first is truth. John says
in v. 4 that at least some of the church he is writing to walk in the truth. In the context of
this letter, that means that they hold to the humanity of the Lord Jesus. They see the
crucial significance of it and will not let that belief go. Truth versus deceit. The truth is
that Christ has come in flesh.
The second issue is love. Love is walking according to the truth (vs. 5-6). That
may seem a strange definition of love. In fact it is not so much a definition as an
example of one of the ways love expresses itself. It is not love to practice deceit, for
deceit leads to destruction and death. Satan came to steal, to kill, and to destroy (Jn.
10.10), and he does it by deceit. Love comes to give, to give life, and to build up.
Knowing the Lord Jesus as our human brother (Heb. 2.11) helps to build up, for it gives
us assurance that we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses
(Heb. 2.17-18, 4.15).
The third issue is obedience. Obedience is trusting in the truth (v. 9). Again it may
seem unusual to say that obedience is trusting, but look at the words of the Lord Jesus
also recorded by John. When asked what the works of God were, he replied, “This is the
work of God, that you trust in him whom he sent” (Jn. 6.29). Christian life is a life of
works, for God has prepared them for us to do (Eph. 2.10), but our first work is faith,
and all our works are based on faith. In this epistle, John deals with a matter of faith
that concerns the person of the Lord Jesus himself. It is obedience to believe the truth.

Heavenly Father, thank you for underlining again the humanity of our Lord Jesus and
for showing me the necessity of this truth. I do believe that he was one of us, and still is.
Please lead me in loving him and your people and in obeying, first by believing the
truth. Amen.

Dec. 22. 3 Jn. 2-4: “Beloved, I pray concerning all things that you may prosper and be in good
health, as your soul prospers. For I was very joyful when brothers came and testified to your
truth, as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than this, that I hear of my children walking in
the truth.” John’s third epistle, addressed to Gaius, also very brief, has as its theme
walking in the truth and a particular aspect of walking in the truth. He indicates that
walking in the truth leads to prosperity of soul. This thought corresponds with our

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earlier readings that indicate that the renewing of the mind from walking in deceit to
walking in the truth transforms a person and saves his soul (see the Sept. 23 and Nov.
22 readings). John shows the practical side of the truth: walking in it. As James says,
“But be doers of the word and not hearers only” (1.22). It is the practical application, not
just the intellectual agreement, that transforms and makes healthy and prosperous.
The particular aspect of walking in the truth that John emphasizes is the matter
of receiving all brothers. In vs. 5-8 he points out that Gaius has done well to help the
missionaries who have come his way. We are not given many details about who these
were, but John does say that in supporting them financially, Gaius is a fellow-worker
for the truth. That principle applies to us today, too. As the Lord Jesus said in Mt. 10.40-
42, “The one who receives you receives me, and the one who receives me receives the
one who sent me. The one who receives a prophet for his name as a prophet will receive
a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous man for his name as a
righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these
little ones only a cup of cold water for his name as a disciple, amen I say to you, he will
not lose his reward.”
In vs. 9-13 John contrasts Diotrephes and Demetrius. Diotrephes loves to be first
in the church, and will not receive those who do not accept his self-appointment,
including John himself. Demetrius has received a testimony from everyone, including
the truth, and John adds his testimony. Demetrius does not reject those who are the
Lord’s. He is an example for us, for we should all be open to all who are the Lord’s, not
excluding them on grounds of doctrine or practice, unless they are denying essential
truths about the Lord himself. We are to be inclusive brothers and sisters.

Dear God, I see that all who are yours are my brothers and sisters and I am not to
exclude them because we disagree on some matter, and certainly not because I want to
be recognized as someone important. Please lead me in walking in the truth in every
way, and especially with regard to receiving all who are yours. Amen.

Dec. 23. Jude 9. “But Michael the archangel, when, disputing with the devil, he spoke about the
body of Moses did not dare to bring a judgment of slander, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’” We
hear much in our day about talking to the devil, rebuking him, ordering him around,
and so forth. We do have authority over evil, for we are in victory in Christ, but it
should be obvious from this verse that we should be careful. If even an archangel would
not rebuke Satan directly, but said, “The Lord rebuke you,” how much more should we
exercise caution?
We need not fear Satan, for he has been defeated by our Lord and we have full
protection in him. The devil cannot harm us without the permission of God, and if such
permission were given, it would be in God’s plan for our good, as with Job. Satan
cannot make us do anything. We need to have great respect for him, though, for he is

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the cleverest of liars, and we do not need to get onto his ground by being the kind of
being he is, bringing slanderous judgments against him. If we are acting as he acts, we
are no better than he is at that moment and we may be laying ourselves open to him.
If we feel that a rebuke of Satan is in order, the safe approach is to follow the lead
of Michael and say, “The Lord rebuke you.” If we believe that Satan is lying to us, it is
good, rather than speaking to him, to speak to ourselves the truths of God’s word. If
Satan tells us that God has left us when we feel that he has, as we sometimes do, we can
just say to ourselves that God promised in Heb. 13.5 never to leave us, and we choose to
believe him. Or we could speak to God, telling him that we believe the devil is trying to
deceive us, but that even though we do not feel his presence, we believe his word when
it says that he will never leave us. We do not live by feelings, but by facts, and God’s
word sets forth the facts.
The less we have do to with the devil the better. He is not the problem anyway.
Our own flesh is our biggest problem. Satan knows how to appeal to it, but if it were
not there, what would he appeal to? In addition, we should keep our focus on the Lord
Jesus. Hebrews does not say to keep our eyes on the devil, for he might sneak up on us
if we do not, but to fix our eyes on Jesus (12.2). If we are taken with him, he will protect
us. We need to understand our enemy and be alert, but our preoccupation is the Lord
Jesus.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this word of caution about being too taken with Satan
and being overconfident toward him. Help me to keep my eyes on the Lord Jesus and to
let you issue the rebukes against the devil. Amen.

Dec. 24. Jude 24-25: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you
stand before his glory blameless with joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority before all the ages and now and into all the ages.
Amen.”
We have emphasized over and over the necessity of faith and obedience on our
part. As true as that is, it is nonetheless also true that it is God who brings us through. It
is one of the ironies of our faith that we have to do our part, yet our works have nothing
to do with our making it. It is God who does it. He is the one who is able to keep us
from stumbling. He is the one who is able to make us stand before his glory blameless
with joy. We would never make it if it were up to us.
We are reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus, “Without me you can do
nothing” (Jn. 15.5). That is literally true, for without him we would all drop dead, and it
is true of our living for him. If we had to do it, we would not only stumble, we would
fall away completely. We are reminded of the words of Paul, “Let the one who thinks he
stands take heed, lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10.12). We are not standing. We are being held up
by God. We are reminded of the words of Peter, “… you who are kept by the power of

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God through faith…” (1 Pt. 1.5). Yes, we must exercise faith, but it is God who keeps us
by his power.
Through Jesus then we want to give him glory: we want all the universe to know
the wonderful deeds of our God; majesty: we want his greatness to be revealed; might:
we want him to have all power, for only he is able to exercise it with no thought of self
and wholly for his people; authority: he is the only one who has the right to rule and be
worshipped, and we want this truth known and practiced.
These attributes of his have always been in operation, before all the ages, they are
now, and they will be forever, into all the ages. Our desire is that all of these be revealed
to all the universe and that they be operative on earth as in Heaven. We want the end of
the current administration of the world and the exaltation to its throne of the one who
made it and is worthy of ruling it.
When that occurs, we will stand before the presence of his glory blameless with
joy.
God our

Savior, thank you for keeping me from stumbling. Please keep me trusting in
you and obeying you that you might make me stand before you blameless with joy.
And may you indeed exercise all glory, majesty, might, and authority, for you alone are
worthy. Amen.

Dec. 25. Rev. 1.1a: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his slaves, the
things that must take place soon….” The book of Revelation is the revelation that belongs
to Jesus Christ because God gave it to him. It is also the revelation of Jesus Christ. That
is, he is what is revealed. Many truths and beings and events are revealed in this book,
but in the end, it is primarily the Lord Jesus himself who is revealed in power and great
glory.
The Greek word for “revelation,” apokaluptos, literally means “unveiling.” At the
present time the Lord Jesus is veiled to the world, though not to his people. At the end
of this age he will be unveiled for all the world to see. Some call this book the
Apocalypse because that is its name in Greek, and probably all of us have heard the end
of the age called apocalypse or have heard of apocalyptic literature.
God gave this revelation to the Lord Jesus to show to his people, his slaves,
which is what the Greek word means. Just how much slavery to God is freedom is
revealed by a word of the Lord Jesus in Jn. 15 compared to this verse in Revelation. In
Jn. 15.15 he said, “I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his lord
is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I
have made known to you.” A lord does not tell his slaves what he is doing, but here in
Rev. 1.1 we are told that God gave this revelation to Jesus to show to his slaves. We
slaves of his are free, and we know what he is doing.

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The revelation consists of things that must take place soon. Many would
question the truth of this word, for it has been over nineteen hundred years since it was
spoken, and that does not seem to be soon. We could attempt various explanations: one
is that a thousand years with the Lord are as a day. We saw in our reading for July 2 on
Dan. 9.24-27 that the final seven years of prophecy, rather than occurring immediately
after the other four hundred eighty-three, have been suspended because of God’s
temporary rejection of the Jews, and that at some point that last week of years will
begin. When it does begin, the events of Revelation will take place soon at that point.
That is the probable explanation.
These events will consist of Satan’s persecution of God’s people and of God’s
judgment of the people of evil in the world. It will bring to an end the present evil age,
throw Antichrist and his false prophet into hell, bind Satan in the abyss (hades), and
bring the Lord Jesus Christ and his bride to the throne of the world. Here we can read
the last chapter of history before it occurs. Thus there is no excuse for not being ready.
Be alert! Be ready!

And a blessed Christmas to you as we celebrate the one who came to make all this possible.

And a blessed Christmas to you as we celebrate the one who came to make all this possible.
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, what a time I have to look forward to if indeed it does
occur during my lifetime. I want to be ready for whatever may take place, whether
death or the events of the end. Please keep working in me to prepare me for your will
for me. And thank you for the coming of your Son. Amen.

Dec. 26. Rev. 1.6a: “… and he made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father….” We saw in
Ex. 19.5-6 (Jan. 15) that God’s desire is that all his people be a kingdom of priests, that is,
that all of them know him and live in his presence. That was his goal for Israel when he
made this revelation in Exodus, and it still is. In the church this desire of God has been
fulfilled, as our verse for today says, though many of us do not see our true standing
with God and do not live in the good of it.
As priests we are able not only to come into the presence of God, but to live
there. We are never away from the presence of God, living in the Holy of Holies. How
could it be otherwise when he is in us and we are in him? In addition, God can thus use
us to bring the lost to him and to bring other Christians into a better understanding of
this reality. We are not telling others about someone who is far away in Heaven while
we are here on the earth. We are telling about someone we know personally and are
always with. There is not any separation between God and us.
Priests also minister to God (Acts 13.2). Indeed this is their first responsibility.
We are so accustomed to constantly asking God to minister to us and to give us things
and to do things for us that we may not realize that he wants us to minister to him. He
wants the love and fellowship of his people. Nothing pleases him more than for one of
his beloved, among whom you are included if you are the Lord’s, to set aside time just
to be with him, not so much making petitions, but enjoying his presence, giving thanks

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to him, worshipping him. And this relationship with God can and should be pursued
both individually and corporately. When the church assembles, its first duty is to
minister to the Lord, though duty is not in our minds if we know and love him. It is
more along the lines of pleasure. Nothing else can match the experience of the presence
of God.
What God wanted for Israel, but did not get, he now has in us, the church. And
we have his promise that Israel will yet be a kingdom of priests when it owns its
Messiah.

Father God, what a concept, that I can live always in the Holy of Holies, in your very
presence. Yet it is true, and I am more than in your presence, for I am in you and you
are in me. We share one life. I do so want to minister to you, to bring pleasure to you.
Please teach me to do so. And use me, too, to bring the lost to your presence and other
Christians into all that you have for them. Thank you for the kingdom of priests. Amen.

Dec. 27. Rev. 2.4: “But I have against you that you have left your first love.” Revelation is
addressed to seven churches in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It is generally agreed
that these seven churches represent the church as a whole so that the book is addressed
to all the church. The seven churches are examples of conditions that churches, and
individual Christians, for the church is made up of individual Christians, can be in. The
Lord Jesus is walking among the churches (Rev. 2.1), and he is looking for something.
He is looking for the testimony of Jesus, a phrase used several times in the book. In five
of the churches he finds fault with something and threatens judgment.
The first church addressed is that at Ephesus. What the Lord finds wrong is that
this church has left its first love. He means by this its first love for him. Over and over in
these pages we have maintained that God’s greatest desire is that we know him and of
course, that includes loving him. Usually when someone first meets the Lord and learns
what he has done for him, he has a fervent love for the Lord. It is much the same the
first time a person “falls in love” with one he hopes to marry. First love is so strong. It
will do anything for the beloved. Sometimes, though, as time passes, first love
dissipates. There may still be love, but the fervency of first love is no longer there. What
was done with great feeling can be done out of routine or duty.
It is the desire of God that his people love him with first love at all times, and
indeed, that love grow rather than diminishing. The Ephesians still did much work for
the Lord, persevered in difficulty, held to true doctrine and practice, but they did it
without first love. The Lord Jesus tells them to repent, or else he will remove their
lampstand, that is, take away their place as a testimony to him. They may continue to
exist and name the name of Jesus, but his life will be gone from the situation.

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This word is addressed to a church, but also to every individual in the church. It
is addressed to you. It is addressed to me. Love the Lord Jesus with first love, with the
love of a bride on her wedding day.

Dear Lord Jesus, I do love you and want to give you the love you desire. Please work in
me to assure that I always love you with first love. Amen.

Dec. 28. Rev. 2.7b: “To the one who overcomes I will give to him to eat from the tree of life
which is in the paradise of God.” Each of the letters to the seven churches contains this
phrase, “to the one who overcomes,” or one very similar. The Lord Jesus is addressing
these letters to churches that for the most part are failing in being his testimony in some
way. He says that in the midst of this failure there can be those who nonetheless
overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil and prevail for the Lord. Even though the
majority may fail, the overcomers will receive the rewards listed in each of the letters.
These overcomers are much the same as the remnant of Israel in the Old
Testament. Most of the nation failed to be what God wanted, but there were
overcomers. Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the adult generation who came out
of Egypt who entered the promised land. The rest died in the desert. In Elijah’s day
there were seven thousand who did not bow the knee to Baal. After the Babylonian
exile, only a remnant returned, most preferring the comfort of their new life in
Babylonia.
The message of Revelation is very strong, and confirms what we have tried to
point out in a number of readings. There are rewards for Christians based on their
works. It is possible to lose these rewards. All of the rewards listed in the seven letters
will be received by the overcomers, but the rest will lose them. Those who are saved
will not lose their salvation, but they will lose reward.
How does one overcome? He lives by faith and obedience toward God. He
submits to God when he is being dealt with. He follows the teachings of these seven
letters, loving the Lord Jesus with first love, for example. But ultimately we overcome
by realizing that we cannot overcome. Only the Lord Jesus has overcome, having lived
a sinless life. It is in him and by reliance on him that we overcome. We cannot live up to
these seven letters unless he does it in us. It is the same paradox: we must do our part,
but then it is up to the Lord Jesus to bring us through. We need not fear that our efforts
will fall short and we will fail to overcome. It is not up to our efforts, but to the one who
already has victory and lives in us. Yield to him and he will do it.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have overcome and that you live in me. I want to
overcome, but I know I cannot do it. I also know, though, that you are my life and I
surrender to you to live your victorious life in me. Amen.

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Dec. 29. Rev. 13.8: “And all those dwelling on the earth will worship him, whose name is not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the world.” This verse
deals first with the worship of Antichrist by those dwelling on the earth, but that is not
the part of the verse we want to deal with. What we wish to see is that the Lord Jesus is
the Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the world. Long before he came into this
sinful world to die on the cross, he had died in principle. Indeed he has been the
obedient Son who lays down his own life from all eternity. The Trinity consists of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In that relationship, the Son has always been the
submissive one, giving example to the principle of love and authority on which creation
is based. There is authority, but for it to work properly in any ultimate way, it must be
based on love, not on force. Force breeds rebellion. Love generates a submissive spirit.
This Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the world is also the Lamb who
was physically slaughtered on the cross in time. What he did on the earth was only a
carrying out of what he had always been in principle. He died in submission to his
Father, who was pleased to crush him (see the May 28 reading).
When we look into the future here in the book of Revelation what do we see?
When John wept, as reported in chapter 5, because no one was found worthy to open
the scroll, one of the elders told him to stop weeping, that the Lion of the tribe of Judah
had overcome and could open the scroll. When John looked to see this mighty Lion
ready to pounce on his enemies, what did he see? Rev. 5.6: “And I saw in the midst of
the throne and of the four living beings and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing
as though slaughtered….”
When John looked to see the Lion, he saw the Lamb. The nature of the Lord Jesus
will never change. When he comes to his throne to rule the universe, he will not
suddenly change into a self-serving king who will exploit his people, as kings do in the
history of this world. He has always been the Lamb slaughtered and he always will be.
It is his nature to lay down his life for his Father and for his people. We can look
forward to an eternity of a King who will serve us instead of using us. Such is our Lord. How can we
keep from falling on our faces and worshipping him?

Precious Lord Jesus, you are so worthy. I have no words to express your worthiness. I
have no words to thank you and worship you as you deserve. All I can do is speak the
words I have and give myself to you. Please so work in me that my life will be worship
to you. Amen.

Dec. 30. Rev. 19.6-9a: “And I heard something like a sound of a great multitude and something
like a sound of many waters and something like a sound of strong thunders saying, ‘Hallelujah,
for the Lord our God the almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him, for
the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready, and it was given to her
that she might be clothed in fine linen, bright, clean, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of

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the saints.’ And he said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.”‘” One day we will hear these great sounds shouting out, “Hallelujah!”
Christ will return. Antichrist will be cast into hell. Satan will be bound. Righteousness
will reign.
Perhaps the most wonderful event of those days will be the marriage supper of
the Lamb. Those who have overcome, living lives of faith and obedience to him, will
make up his corporate bride. The statement is that she has made herself ready. How
does she make herself ready? Her wedding dress is made of fine linen, and the fine
linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. She makes herself ready by doing righteous
deeds, by doing the will of God, during this life. She weaves her own wedding dress by
doing righteous deeds.
Those who so live will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is
possible to be saved and yet miss this greatest of all occasions. The Christian who
neglects his life with the Lord, who does not seek to do his will, who resists the dealings
of God with his flesh, who does not allow the Lord to form Christ in him, can only
stand by and watch as those who have overcome enter the wedding hall. Blessed are
those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Outside there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22.13).
The way may seem difficult now. The cost may seem too great. But this life will
be over in a flash, and then the kingdom of God will come visibly and the marriage
supper of the Lamb will take place. Will the cost seem too great then? It will seem as
nothing. Will what we gave up the kingdom for seem valuable then? It will be rubbish.
We saw in our reading for Aug. 9 on Mt. 13.44-46 that the kingdom of God is worth
anything it costs, and that is what we are dealing with here. Take this word to heart.
Seek the Lord now about the matter of overcoming and so be invited to the marriage
supper of the Lamb. There is no greater reward.

Dear Father, It is in my heart to want to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, but I
know I cannot do what it takes in myself. I give myself to you to deal with as you wish,
to form Christ in me, to enable me to weave a wedding dress of righteous deeds. I want
the Overcomer to live his life in me. Amen.

Dec. 31. Rev. 22.20: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” We come to the end of our year in the
word of God together. We began with the truth that God is and that he is what creation
is about. Everything was made by him and for him. We have seen the history of Israel,
the failures and the victories. We have considered the psalms where spiritual
experience, good and bad, is set down in ink on paper. We have looked at wisdom. We
have heard the prophets call for a Savior who will give his life and for a kingdom that
will not end.

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We have seen the Lord Jesus coming to this earth as a man to go about healing
and doing good, and to give his life. We have walked with the first missionaries. We
have read what they had to say to the churches at whose birth they were present. We
have heard that God’s greatest desire is that we know him, and that we come to know
him by trust and obedience and by his dealings with us. We have learned that there is
great reward awaiting those who overcome, but that it can be lost. We have heard the
challenge to be ready at all times.
In all of this, one great truth has cast its shadow over all. That truth is that the
Lord Jesus will return to take his bride and his throne. How we long to see the face of
the one who died for us. How we long to fall before him in worship and thanksgiving.
How we look forward to becoming his corporate wife, being married to him and
reigning with him forever.
He is the only hope of this world. Man cannot solve his individual problems.
They grow worse. Man cannot solve his societal problems. They grow worse. Those
who hate evil cannot do away with it. It grows worse. What have we done with the
sinless world God made? We have brought sin into it, and thus the curse, and it will not
be what it was made to be until the one who became a curse for us comes to reign. The
world has the wrong ruler. It will not improve under him. The only answer is the right
ruler, the Lord Jesus, the one who will rule for his people, not for himself.
We want to look for and hasten the day of his coming. Let us live in submission
to him, trusting him, obeying him, yielding to his work in our hearts, seeking to know
him. He lives in us. Let us allow him to be our life.
He has promised to come again. We say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Dear Lord Jesus, Amen. Please come soon. Amen and amen.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Copyright © 2002 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with
others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial
purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include
this notice if you share it or any part of it.
Old Testament quotations are the author’s revision of the American Standard Version.
New Testament quotations are the author’s translations.

KNOWING GOD BY KNOWING HIS WAYS

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