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daily devotinal
Evening...
Psalm 148:14 A people near unto him.
The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance. When God appeared
even to His servant Moses, He said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes
from off thy feet"; and when He manifested Himself upon Mount Sinai, to His own
chosen and separated people, one of the first commands was, "Thou shalt set
bounds about the mount." Both in the sacred worship of the tabernacle and the
temple, the thought of distance was always prominent. The mass of the people
did not even enter the outer court. Into the inner court none but the priests
might dare to intrude; while into the innermost place, or the holy of holies,
the high priest entered but once in the year. It was as if the Lord in those
early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome to Him, that He
must treat men as lepers put without the camp; and when He came nearest to
them, He yet made them feel the width of the separation between a holy God and
an impure sinner. When the gospel came, we were placed on quite another
footing. The word "Go" was exchanged for "Come"; distance was made to give
place to nearness, and we who aforetime were afar off, were made nigh by the
blood of Jesus Christ. Incarnate Deity has no wall of fire about it. "Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," is the
joyful proclamation of God as He appears in human flesh. Not now does He teach
the leper his leprosy by setting him at a distance, but by Himself suffering
the penalty of His defilement. What a state of safety and privilege is this
nearness to God through Jesus! Do you know it by experience? If you know it,
are you living in the power of it? Marvellous is this nearness, yet it is to be
followed by a dispensation of greater nearness still, when it shall be said,
"The tabernacle of God is with men, and He doth dwell among them." Hasten it, O
Lord.
Morning...
2 Peter 1:4 Partakers of the divine nature.
To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That
cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature.
Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect
of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we, by
the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of
the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature. We are, by grace, made
like God. "God is love"; we become love-"He that loveth is born of God." God is
truth; we become true, and we love that which is true: God is good, and He
makes us good by His grace, so that we become the pure in heart who shall see
God. Moreover, we become partakers of the divine nature in even a higher sense
than this-in fact, in as lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being
absolutely divine. Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of
Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head flows in the hand: and the
same life which quickens Christ quickens His people, for "Ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God." Nay, as if this were not enough, we are
married unto Christ. He hath betrothed us unto Himself in righteousness and in
faithfulness, and he who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Oh! marvellous
mystery! we look into it, but who shall understand it? One with Jesus-so one
with Him that the branch is not more one with the vine than we are a part of
the Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer! While we rejoice in this, let us
remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest
their high and holy relationship in their intercourse with others, and make it
evident by their daily walk and conversation that they have escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of
life!
Psalms 133:3
(3) As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
David ends this psalm by saying God commands the blessing of eternal
life. Because this is a psalm about unity, unity must be something that we do
in response to His command. When God commands something to be done, there must
be some response to accomplish His word. God says in Isaiah 55:11 that He sends
forth His word, and it does not come back to Him empty, unfulfilled, void. This
does not mean that hocus-pocus, abracadabra, something gets done. It means a
"work" begins and is accomplished, and God receives it back as a completed
project. He commands and gives everything needed for the work to be done, and
then someone must respond and do it, presenting it back to God as a finished
work.
Unity is such a work, commanded by God. We must respond to His charge and
give it back to Him as a finished work, or it will never happen! Unity is
something we do in response to His command that it be. It is like many other
godly works or acts that consist of God and us working together to produce
them. Sanctification is one of these godly acts. God does something for us,
usually far more than what we have to do or can do, but even what He does is
not enough. We, then, must respond to His action and carry it through for it to
be accomplished. He does not say, "You are saved!" and it is done. No. We have
to respond to His command—His calling—repent, be baptized, continue in His way,
overcome, grow, and endure to the end. Only through this whole process are we
completely saved.
Unity works the same way. God sends His Spirit—His very nature, and power
with whatever gifts we need to fulfill the process—and then we take up the
burden of promoting, continuing, and finishing it. Only then will we have
unity. A person can pray all he wants for God to unify the church, but if he is
doing nothing to build it, it will never happen.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Psalm 133
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daily devotional
Evening...
Deuteronomy 1:38 Encourage him.
God employs His people to encourage one another. He did not say to an angel,
"Gabriel, my servant Joshua is about to lead my people into Canaan-go,
encourage him." God never works needless miracles; if His purposes can be
accomplished by ordinary means, He will not use miraculous agency. Gabriel
would not have been half so well fitted for the work as Moses. A brother's
sympathy is more precious than an angel's embassy. The angel, swift of wing,
had better known the Master's bidding than the people's temper. An angel had
never experienced the hardness of the road, nor seen the fiery serpents, nor
had he led the stiff-necked multitude in the wilderness as Moses had done. We
should be glad that God usually works for man by man. It forms a bond of
brotherhood, and being mutually dependent on one another, we are fused more
completely into one family. Brethren, take the text as God's message to you.
Labour to help others, and especially strive to encourage them. Talk cheerily
to the young and anxious enquirer, lovingly try to remove stumblingblocks out
of his way. When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it
into a flame. Leave the young believer to discover the roughness of the road by
degrees, but tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of
the promise, and of the charms of communion with Christ. Aim to comfort the
sorrowful, and to animate the desponding. Speak a word in season to him that is
weary, and encourage those who are fearful to go on their way with gladness.
God encourages you by His promises; Christ encourages you as He points to the
heaven He has won for you, and the spirit encourages you as He works in you to
will and to do of His own will and pleasure. Imitate divine wisdom, and
encourage others, according to the word of this evening.
Morning...
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and
the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being
a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian.
You will never find true faith unattended by true godliness; on the other hand,
you will never discover a truly holy life which has not for its root a living
faith upon the righteousness of Christ. Woe unto those who seek after the one
without the other! There are some who cultivate faith and forget holiness;
these may be very high in orthodoxy, but they shall be very deep in
condemnation, for they hold the truth in unrighteousness; and there are others
who have strained after holiness of life, but have denied the faith, like the
Pharisees of old, of whom the Master said, they were "whitewashed sepulchres."
We must have faith, for this is the foundation; we must have holiness of life,
for this is the superstructure. Of what service is the mere foundation of a
building to a man in the day of tempest? Can he hide himself therein? He wants
a house to cover him, as well as a foundation for that house. Even so we need
the superstructure of spiritual life if we would have comfort in the day of
doubt. But seek not a holy life without faith, for that would be to erect a
house which can afford no permanent shelter, because it has no foundation on a
rock Let faith and life be put together, and, like the two abutments of an
arch, they will make our piety enduring. Like light and heat streaming from the
same sun, they are alike full of blessing. Like the two pillars of the temple,
they are for glory and for beauty. They are two streams from the fountain of
grace; two lamps lit with holy fire; two olive trees watered by heavenly care.
O Lord, give us this day life within, and it will reveal itself without to Thy
glory.
1 Peter 1:1-5
(1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (2) Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and
peace, be multiplied. (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, (5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
First, Peter reminds us who we are. The term "elect" is the very
ground of our comfort because it means (when connected to the foreknowledge of
God) that God knows us personally. A lot of people who would like to know that
the President of the United States knows them personally, but God knows us!
Some like it to be known that they are known by some person they
respect very highly. Whether the person is a millionaire or a billionaire, a
well-known athlete or entertainer, or somebody well known in the area, people
like to drop names. Peter says if there is any name you want to drop, drop
God's. He knows you!
Before God called us, He watched our lives because He wanted to
make sure that we would be able to work with Him and that He would not lose us.
He is sure that with His help we can make it. He can prepare us for whatever He
has in store for us.
That is the ground of our hope. God knows us, and because of
this, He will do things for us. He is in the position to do them. All He has to
do is give the word. God can open any door anywhere for us. And He will do what
is right for us.
Peter goes on in verse 3 to say that He is the Author of an act
of mercy by which He has given us a sure hope of being brought into our
inheritance. Even though we may have to go through sore trial, it can be done!
God has not given us something impossible to do. He has begotten us again to a
living hope.
Our hope is living because Jesus Christ is alive! He is our High
Priest. And He loves us in a way that we cannot even begin to understand. He
loves us so much that He gave His life for us. He loves us so much that He is
willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that we will be in His Kingdom.
We have access to the highest of all places. We have friends who have names and
power that are so awesome there is nothing greater.
We do not need to fear what is coming because God is able to
bring us through it. If we had to face it ourselves alone, there would be no
hope for us.
The apostle calls our inheritance "incorruptible" (verse 4). The
contrast is being made between Canaan or Palestine and the Kingdom of God.
Which is better?
Lastly, it is "undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for
salvation." Kept can easily be translated "guarded," "surrounded," "hedged in."
God is watching out for us in a way that He is not watching out for this world.
Because we are the apple of His eye, and because He is preparing us for
something, Jesus Christ will faithfully discharge His duties as High Priest in
our behalf. He is guarding us—protecting us—from the worst of what is going on
around us.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Don't Be a Prudent Agnostic
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