Day 3 - Tuesday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Hour |

 Morning, October 15 Go To Evening Reading

"But who may abide the day of his coming?"

—Malachi 3:2

His first coming was without external pomp or show of power; in truth, few could abide it's testing might. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for him showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting him when he came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan who tried many religious professions, and few enough could abide by the process. But what will his second advent be? What sinner can endure to think of it? "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." When in his humiliation he did but say to the soldiers, "I am he," they fell backward; what will be the terror of his enemies when he shall more fully reveal himself as the "I am?" His death shook earth and darkened heaven, what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, he shall summon the quick and dead before him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son lest he be angry! Though a lamb, he is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces; and though he breaks not the bruised reed, yet will he break his enemies with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. None of his foes shall bear up before the tempest of his wrath or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of his indignation. Still, his beloved blood-washed people look for his appearance with joy and hope to abide it without fear: to them, he sits as a refiner even now, and when he has tried them, they shall come forth as gold. Let us search ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in our minds. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy and to be found of him sincere and without rebuke in the day of his appearing.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 15

"But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck."

—Exodus 34:20

Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's, but since the ass was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means. God admits no exceptions. The ass is his due, but he will not accept it; he will not abate the claim, yet he cannot be pleased with the victim. No way of escape remained but redemption—the creature must be saved by substituting a lamb in its place, or if not redeemed, it must die. My soul, here is a lesson for thee. That unclean animal is thyself; thou art justly the property of the Lord who made thee and preserves thee, but thou art so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept thee; and it has come to this, the Lamb of God must stand in thy stead, or thou must die eternally. Let all the world know of thy gratitude to that spotless LLambwho has already for thee and so redeemed thee from the fatal curse of the law. Must it not sometimes have been a question with the Israelites which should die, the ass or the Lamb? Would not the Lamb man pause to estimate and compare? Assuredly, there was no comparison between the value of the soul of man and the life of the Lord Jesus, and yet the LLambdies and man tLambss is spared. My soul admires the boundless love of God to thee and others of the human race. Worms are bought with the blood of the Son of the Highest! Dust and ashes were redeemed with a price far above silver and gold! What a doom had been mine had not plenteous redemption been found! The breaking of the neck of the ass was but a momentary penalty, but who shall measure the wrath to come to which no limit can be imagined? Inestimably, dear, is the glorious LLambwho has redeemed Lamb from such a doom.

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

October 15: Picturing God

Ezekiel 30:1–31:18; Revelation 14:14–15:8; Job 37:1–8

If you were to ask five people randomly, ""how do you picture God?"" you would receive five very different answers. A social network prompt to ""describe God in one word"" confirms this idea: It resulted in more than 50 answers. For John, that one word was logos or "" ord."" Ultimately, God is far too complex to fit into human language. His personality is too diverse to capture in a painting. His intricacy of character far surpasses ours.

God is able to feel the full spectrum of emotions and articulate who He is using the full spectrum of vocabulary. He can encounter us in any way He sees fit. Where we may be able to change only our hair color, glasses, or general way of speaking, He can change anything.

Throughout the books of Ezekiel and Revelation, we see diverse descriptions of God. They are so different that they could, by analogy, range from a mannerist painting of Jesus to a surrealist or modern one. Ezekiel 30:1–8 depicts Yahweh as a warrior, whereas in Rev 14:14–20, we see God using messengers to glean a crop and bring fire. The images vary even more when we peek into the next chapter, where a warring God sends His angels to bring plagues (Rev 15:1–8).

There is no depiction of God in the Bible, and any attempt to create one is an ill-conceived effort. We know much about Him, but we need help understanding Him. As we attempt to picture God, we should be aware that our words about Him and visions of Him are shortsighted compared to who He actually is. Yet one thing we do know for sure is that He, our indescribable creator, desires to enter into a relationship with His creation (e.g., John 15–17).

How do you picture God? How do you describe Him?

John D. Barry

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

October 15

The key to the missionary message

And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2.

The key to the missionary message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus. Take any phase of CChrist'swork—the healing phase, the saving and sanctifying phase; there is nothing limitless about those. ""He Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"" That is limitless. The missionary message is the infinite significance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is soaked in that revelation.

The key to the missionary message is the missionary aspect of CChrist'slife, not His kindness and goodness and His revealing of the Fatherhood of God; the great limitless significance is that He is the propitiation for our sins. The missionary message is not patriotic; it is irrespective of nations and individuals, and it is for the whole world. When the Holy Ghost does not consider my predilections, He brings me into union with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is wedded to the charter of his Lord and Master; he has not to proclaim his own point of view but to proclaim the Lamb of God. It is easier to belong to a coterie that tells what Jesus Christ has done for me. It is more accessible to become a devotee to Divine healing, to a particular type of sanctification, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Paul did not say—" one is unto me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me," but—""One is unto me if I preach not the gospel!"" This is the Gospel—""he Lamb of God, which taketh away the world's sin!"

 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

October 15

Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation

1 Thess. 5:8

Faith, love, and hope are the defensive armor that guards the soul and makes self-control possible. Like a diver in his dress who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity and whose head is covered with the helmet of hope may be dropped down into the wildest sea of temptation and Hopeworldliness and yet will walk dry and unharmed through the midst of its depths, and breathe air that comes from a world above the restless surges. Faith will bring you into communication with all the power of God. Love will lead you into a region where all the temptations around you will be touched by IIthuriel's speech and show their own foulness. And Hopeee will turn away your eyes from looking at the tempting plan. I hope to fix them upon the above glories. And so the reins will come into your hands in an altogether new manner, and you will be able to be king over your own nature in a fashion that you did not dream of before if only you will trust in Christ and love Him, and fix your desires on the things above. Then, you can govern yourself when you let Christ govern you.

Alexander Maclaren

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