Day 7 - Sabbath - Saturday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiet Hour |

 Morning, October 4 Go To Evening Reading

“At evening time it shall be light.”

—Zechariah 14:7

Oftentimes, we look forward with forebodings to the time of old age, forgetful that at eventide it shall be light. To many saints, old age is the choicest season in their lives. A balmier air fans the mariner’s cheek as he nears the shore of immortality; fewer waves ruffle his sea, quiet reigns, deep, still, and solemn. From the altar of age, the flashes of the fire of youth are gone, but the more real flame of earnest feeling remains. The pilgrims have reached the land Beulah, that happy country, whose days are as the days of heaven upon earth. Angels visit it, celestial gales blow over it, flowers of paradise grow in it, and the air is filled with seraphic music. Some dwell here for years, and others come to it but a few hours before their departure, but it is an Eden on earth. We may well long for the time when we shall recline in its shady groves and be satisfied with hope until the time of fruition comes. The setting sun seems larger than when aloft in the sky, and a splendour of glory tinges all the clouds which surround his going down. Pain breaks not the calm of the sweet twilight of age, for strength made perfect in weakness bears up with patience under it all. Ripe fruits of choice experience are gathered as the rare repast of life’s evening, and the soul prepares itself for rest.

The Lord’s people shall also enjoy light in the hour of death. Unbelief laments; the shadows fall, the night is coming, existence is ending. Ah no, crieth faith, the night is far spent, the actual day is at hand. Light has come, the light of immortality, the light of a Father’s countenance. Gather up thy feet in the bed, see the waiting bands of spirits! Angels waft thee away. Farewell, beloved one, thou art gone, thou wavest thine hand. Ah, now it is light. The pearly gates are open, the golden streets shine in the jasper light. We cover our eyes, but thou beholdest the unseen; adieu, brother, thou hast light at even-tide, such as we have not yet.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 4

“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

—1 John 2:1

“If any man sin, we have an advocate.” Yes, though we sin, we have him still. John does not say, “If any man sin he has forfeited his advocate,” but “we have an advocate,” sinners though we are. All the sins that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is suggestive. “Jesus.” Ah! Then he is an advocate such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it is to save. “They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” His sweetest name implies his success. Next, it is “Jesus Christ”—Christos, the anointed. This shows his authority to plead.

Christ has a right to plead, for he is the Father’s own appointed advocate and elected priest. If he were of our choosing, he might fail, but if God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our trouble where God has laid his help. He is Christ, and therefore authorized; he is Christ, and consequently qualified, for the anointing has fully fitted him for his work. He can plead to move the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness, what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when he stands up to plead for me! One more letter of his name remains, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” This is not only his character but his plea. It is his character, and if the Righteous One be my advocate, then my cause is good, or he would not have espoused it. It is his plea, for he meets the charge of unrighteousness against me by the plea that he is righteous. He declares himself my substitute and puts his obedience to my account. My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine advocate; he cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in his hands.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

October 4: Defibrillators for Sardis

Ezekiel 9:1–11:25; Revelation 3:1–13; Job 33:8–18

We cover up the dead places in ourselves with all sorts of regalia. We fill the emptiness with fine clothing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, or relationships in which the other is set up as a god. Underneath the trappings, though, we’re decaying.

Of all the churches addressed in Revelation, the church in Sardis receives the most intense critique. Sardis was a wealthy city and a military stronghold. And the church, like the city, seemed to be alive and well. But Christ, speaking truth through John’s revelation, uncovers and names the decaying parts: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. Be on the alert and strengthen the remaining things that are about to die, for I have not found your works completed before my God” (Rev 3:1–2).

The community in Sardis needed more than a stern scolding. They required immediate resuscitation. They had so compromised their faith that many among them were spiritually dead. Those parts not already dead were dying. And the façade only perpetuated continued decay.

What was the answer? Was there hope for Sardis? Is there hope for us?

Sardis could be brought back from the edge of death, but only through repentance: “Therefore remember how you have received and heard, and observe it, and repent” (Rev 3:3). Urgency is paramount: “Be on the alert,” Christ tells them. “I will come like a thief.”

We have received the exact instructions. Like Sardis, we might—if we try hard enough—meet others’ expectations. But we shouldn’t lie to ourselves. God sees our outward works, but He also knows our hidden hearts. Name your need, repent, and find hope in Christ, the only one who can fill the emptiness.

In what areas of your life do you feel empty? How can you name your sin?

Rebecca Van Noord

 John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

October 4

Be not afraid, only believe

Mark 5:36

Be not downcast if difficulties and trials surround you in your heavenly life. They may be purposely placed there by God to train and discipline you for higher developments of faith. If He calls you to “toiling in rowing,” it may be to make you the hardier seaman, to lead you to lift up the hands which hang down. The feeble knees, and, above all, to drive you to a holier trust in Him who has the vessel and its destinies in His hand, and who, amid gathering clouds and darkened horizon and crested billows is ever uttering the mild rebuke to our misgivings—” Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?”

Macduff

 Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).