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 Morning, October 10 Go To Evening Reading

"Faultless before the presence of his glory."

—Jude 24

Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, "faultless!" We are far from it now, but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in his work of love, we shall reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep his people to the end will also present them at last to himself as "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." All the jewels in the Saviour's crown are of the first water without a single flaw. All the maids of honor who attend the Lamb's wife are pure virgins without spots or stains. But how will Jesus make us faultless? He will wash us from our sins in his own blood until we are white and fair as God's purest angel, and we shall be clothed in his righteousness, that righteousness which makes the saint who wears it positively faultless; yea, perfect in the sight of God.

We shall be unblameable and unreproveable even in his eyes. His law will not only have no charge against us but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the work of the Holy Spirit within us will be complete. He will make us so perfectly holy that we shall have no lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory, will—every power and passion shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil. We shall be holy even as God is holy, and we shall dwell forever in his presence. Saints will not be out of place in heaven; their beauty will be as great as the place prepared for them. Oh, the rapture of that hour when the everlasting doors shall be lifted up, and we, being made meet for the inheritance, shall dwell with the saints in light. Sin is gone, Satan shut out, temptation passed forever, and ourselves" "faultless" s" before God, this will be heaven! Let us be joyful now as we rehearse the song of eternal praise so soon to roll forth in full chorus from all the blood-washed host; let us cop David's exultings before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the throne.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 10

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"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.""

—Jeremiah 15:21

Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah himself interposes to deliver and redeem his people. He pledges himself personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that he may have the glory. Here is no word of our own effort which may be needed to assist the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is considered, but the lone I, like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficiency. Why do we calculate our forces and consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding? Jehovah has enough power without borrowing from our puny arm. Peace, unbelieving thoughts, be still and know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint concerning secondary means and causes.

The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers: he undertakes the work alone and feels no need for human arms to aid him. Vain are all our looking around to companions and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them—often unwilling when able and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be well to wait only upon him, and when we do so, our expectation never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The Lord will utterly consume them; they will be pitied rather than feared. As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold our integrity, fatty, fast tyrants shall be overruled for our good. When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel that he could not digest, and when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again. In all times of fiery trial, patience lets us possess our souls.

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

October 10: The Power Behind the Drama

Ezekiel 21:1–22:31; Revelation 10:1–11; Job 35:1–8

The concerns that make up our mini-narratives can sometimes distract us from the great drama in which we have been cast. When a mighty angel appears with a scroll of John's revelation, the apostle's part of God's great redemptive drama suddenly becomes clear. He swaps his role of scribe for that of actor, speaking his very words."

"And I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll, and he said to make and eat it up, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth, it will be sweet as honey.'" And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it up, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth, and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they told me "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kin""" (Rev 10:9–11). John's new task parallels EEzekiel's call to speak God's words. The prophet eats a scroll to internalize and say the words of Yahweh, which turn sweet in his mouth (Ezek 2:8–36; see Psa 119:103; Jer 15:16). The words of God are also lovely for John, but the bitterness that follows reveals that a two-fold judgment is comingGod's’s words are sweet and comforting for the believers, but they also bring judgment. John has seen what lies behind the curtain and is charged with making this drama known to all—even to those who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the Author.

John was charged with bringing the things he had learned to the people and nations of the earth. Today, we are all cast in this drama of God's redemptive work. Our individual narratives should be informed by His more excellent drama—they should be seamlessly intertwined so that we display His creative and redemptive work. We should, together with John, profess this truth to all we encounter.

How are you testifying about the God who brings both comfort and judgment?

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 10

Whereby shall I know?

I thank Thee, O Father, … because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Matthew 11:25.

In spiritual relationships, we do not grow step by step; we are either there or not. God does not cleanse us more and more from sin, but when we are in the light, walking in the light, we are cleansed from all sin. It is a question of obedience, and instantly the relationship is perfected. Turn away for one second out of obedience, and darkness and death are at work at once.

God's revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes. God's truth works in you by soaking in it, not worrying about it. The only way you can get to know is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. Obey God in the thing He shows you; instantly, the next thing is opened up. We read tomes on the work of the Holy Spirit when one five minutes of drastic obedience would make things as clear as a sunbeam.' 'I suppose I shall understand these things someday'!' You can understand them now. It is not study that does it, but obedience. The tiniest fragment of obedience and heaven opens, and God's most profound truths are yours immediately. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming" "" "wise and prudent"""

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

October 10

O Lord God, thou knowest

Ezek. 37:3

Here is the response of faith" "" "Thou knowe" ""” What a pillow for the heart to repose upon """"Thou knowe" ""” What few but comprehensive words sum up and express the heart's difficulties, perplexities, and trial" "" "Thou knowest" ""” What an inexpressibly sweet resting placeamilife'ss tumultuous heavings, amid a sea that knows no calm, amid a scene in which tossings to and fro are the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can find no words to express its big emotions, for a heart whose sorrows are too deep for language to find its way to God! Oh, they were ever uppermost in the soul as the response to every difficulty in our path! They answer to everything we cannot fathom, for our hearts to rest upon, and our lips to utter when every way is hedged up so that we cannot pas" "" "O Lord God, thou knowest" ""” Rest here, believer. Lean thy soul on these words. Repose calmly on the bosom of thy God, and carry them into every scene of life" "" "O Lord God, thou knowest"""

F. Whitfield

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