Dawn 2 Dusk When the Lamb Takes the Shepherd’s StaffJohn’s vision shows a throne-room reality that feels almost too gentle for a world this hard: Jesus, the Lamb, is not distant or indifferent—He personally shepherds His people, leads them to life, and tends every sorrow until none is left. The Lamb Who Shepherds Revelation 7:17 overturns our instincts: “For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd.” The One who was slain is the One who leads. That means His authority is not cold power; it’s love proven in blood. He isn’t guessing what you need—He bought you, knows you, and stays with you. When Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11), He’s not describing a job; He’s describing His heart. So when you feel exposed, confused, or weary, you’re not being managed—you’re being shepherded by the Savior who has scars and still carries a staff. Led to Living Water The promise isn’t merely that heaven will be pleasant; it’s that Christ will actively lead you: “He will lead them to springs of living water” (Revelation 7:17). Notice the direction—He doesn’t only give a map, He guides your steps. And He doesn’t lead you to a puddle, but to springs—sources that never run out. Jesus already began this work in you: “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Today, that can look like returning to His Word when your soul feels dry, choosing prayer when you’d rather numb out, and trusting that obedience is not deprivation—it’s being led toward life. Every Tear Answered God doesn’t shame tears; He promises to end them: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). Not every situation gets explained right now, but none of your pain is ignored. The hand that wipes tears is personal—He is close enough to see them and kind enough to remove them. And this isn’t wishful thinking; it’s anchored in God’s final victory: “He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face” (Isaiah 25:8). So you can face today’s grief with honest sorrow and stubborn hope, saying with Scripture, “I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Father, thank You for Jesus our Shepherd and for the living water You provide; help me follow Your lead today and comfort someone else with the comfort You give. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer God EncounterIt is fear of falling into the hands of God that makes us so eager to get things reduced to a formula. We feel that if we can learn the 'secret? of salvation or the 'steps? into the blessed life, we can control our future and (though we would not admit it) control God Himself to a large degree. This saves face and preserves our self-confidence, but it also mutes the voice of power in the gospel and weakens the operations of God in the soul. Only the despairing heart can know the inward witness. In the final analysis, no one can lead another to God. All he can do is to lead the inquirer to the door of the kingdom and urge him onward. Between God and the returning soul there is a zone of obscurity through which he cannot see. It is the light that no man can approach unto and past which no one can go on his feet or by means of reason or theological knowledge. There faith must make its leap of pure trust into the arms of God crying with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him" (Job 13:15), or with Newton, "O Lord, I trust in Thee completely, and if I go to hell I'll go down standing on Thy Word."?
It is this utter desperation that brings the witness, and yet I cannot tell anyone how to reach such a state. All I can do is to urge everyone to repent and believe on Jesus Christ. If the repentance is genuine and the faith real, all human confidence will come crashing down and the humbled soul will be forced to make its leap of faith alone.
The reader that cannot find his way from here is in all probability still impenitent. And let him beware of seeking cheap comfort from a text jockey who will cry - `Peace, peace,?. . . when there is no peace? (Jeremiah 6:14). He had better by far take his Bible and retire to the secret place to seek God alone. If there's hope for him, he?ll find it there. But he?ll find it nowhere else. Music For the Soul The Captain of the Lord’s HostAnd He said, Nay; but as Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come. - Joshua 5:14 The army of Israel was just beginning a hard conflict under an untried leader. Behind them Jordan barred their retreat, in front of them Jericho forbade their advance. Most of them had never seen a fortified city, and had no experience nor engines for a siege. So we may well suppose that many doubts and fears shook the courage of the host as it drew around the doomed city. Their chief had his own heavy burden. He seems to have gone apart to meditate on what his next step was to be. Absorbed in thought, he lifts up his eyes mechanically, as brooding men will, not expecting to see anything, and is startled by the silent figure of " a Man with a sword drawn " in His hand, close beside him. There is nothing supernatural in His appearance; and the immediate thought of the leader is, "Is this one of the enemy that has stolen upon my solitude?" So, promptly and boldly, he strides right up to Him with the quick challenge " Whose side are You on? Are You one of us, or from the enemy’s camp?" And then the silent lips open: " Upon neither the one nor the other. I am not on your side, you are on Mine, for as Captain of the Lord’s host am I come up." And then Joshua falls on his face, recognises his Commander-in-Chief, owns himself a subordinate, and asks for orders. "What saith my Lord unto His servant? " " The Captain of the Lord’s host." He Himself takes part in the fight. He is not like a general who, on some safe knoll behind the army, sends his soldiers to death, and keeps his own skin whole; but He has fought and He is fighting. Do you remember that wonderful picture in two halves, at the end of one of the gospels, " the Lord went up into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God, . . . they went forth everywhere preaching the word? " Strange contrasts between the repose of the seated Christ and the toils of His peripatetic servants! Yes! Strange contrast; but the next words harmonise the two halves of it: " The Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." The Leader does not so rest as that He does not fight; and the servants do not need so to fight as that they cannot rest. Thus the old legends of many a land and tongue have a glorious truth in them to the eye of faith; and at the head of all the armies that are charging against any form of the world’s misery and sin there moves the form of the Son of Man, whose aid we have to invoke, even from His crowned repose at the right hand of God. " Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, and in Thy majesty ride forth prosperously, and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Genesis 1:4 And God divided the light from the darkness. A believer has two principles at work within him. In his natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter of Romans: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." How is this state of things occasioned? "The Lord divided the light from the darkness." Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord sends in light, there is a conflict, for the one is in opposition to the other: a conflict which will never cease till the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a division within the individual Christian, there is certain to be a division without. So soon as the Lord gives to any man light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around; he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial, for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him, and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for "We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ went without the camp, bearing his reproach, so let us come out from the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as he was, so we are to be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our Master. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Faithful and UsefulIf David spoke thus, we may be sure that the Son of David will be of the same mind. Jesus looks out for faithful men, and He fixes His eyes upon them, to observe them, to bring them forward, to encourage them, and to reward them. Let no true-hearted man think that he is overlooked; the King Himself has His eye upon him. There are two results of this royal notice. First we read, "That they may dwell with me." Jesus brings the faithful into His house, He sets them in His palace, He makes them His companions, He delights in their society. We must be true to our LORD, and He will then manifest Himself to us. When our faithfulness costs us most, it will be best rewarded; the more furiously men reject, the more joyfully will our LORD receive us. Next, he says of the sincere man, "He shall serve me." Jesus will use for His own glory those who scorn the tricks of policy and are faithful to Himself, His Word, and His cross. These shall be in His royal retinue, the honored servants of His Majesty. Communion and usefulness are the wages of faithfulness. LORD make me faithful that I may dwell with Thee and serve Thee. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer I Will Do All My PleasureTHE purpose of God cannot be frustrated. His holy mind can never be disappointed. His will is law. His counsel must stand. He is in one mind, and none can turn him. He takes pleasure in them that fear Him, and in them that hope in His mercy. He chose them to salvation in Jesus, according to the good pleasure of His will. He works in us to will, and to do, of His good pleasure. He will fulfill in us all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power. He is pleased to save His people with an everlasting salvation. He is pleased with our obedience to His precepts. It is our Father’s good pleasure that gives us the kingdom. He accomplishes the purposes of His will by angels; they are His ministers which do His pleasure; by men, good and bad; by devils; by Jesus Christ; the pleasure of the Lord prospers in His hand. For His pleasure all things are and were created; and he worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Let us seek to be like-minded with our God; let us acquiese in all that pleases Him, and let us take pleasure in glorifying him. If God does His pleasure our best interests are safe. God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea. And rides upon the storm. His power and wisdom will fulfil, The utmost counsel of His will. Bible League: Living His Word "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."— John 12:26 ESV If you're a Christian, then you're a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1). If you're a servant of Jesus, then you're also a follower of Him. Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is deliverance from the slavery of sin, but the deliverance is not a release to do whatever we want. It is a release to become a servant and a follower. Followers of Jesus, therefore, live lives of self-sacrifice. Jesus himself lived a life of self-sacrifice. Indeed, He made the ultimate sacrifice at the cross (Philippians 2:6-8; Mark 10:45). Like Jesus, His followers are expected to surrender any self-serving and self-seeking desires they may have. We are expected to follow His example. Understandably, as followers of Jesus we will be where He is. Where is Jesus? Bodily, Jesus is in heaven (1 Peter 3:22). Although we can't be with Him bodily at this time, we can be with Him spiritually. Indeed, spiritually, we are already seated with Him "in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 2:6). Spiritually, we reign with Him over the earth (2 Timothy 2:11-13). Wherever Jesus effectuates His reign over the earth, wherever He works to expand the Kingdom of God in the various areas of life, we will spiritually follow Him. We will take up our unique, individual positions behind Him. We will be where He is, because we will have spiritually followed Him to where He wants us to be in those areas. We must be observant and pray to find out where He is working and what He wants us to do there. Following Jesus has many rewards. In our verse for today, however, the Apostle John singles out one reward in particular. He tells us that the Father will honor us. We will be honored, perhaps not by men, but in accordance with the service to Jesus that we have rendered. Labor with Jesus and work for the reward that does not perish or fade (1 Peter 1:4). Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 3:13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. Romans 14:10,12,13 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. • So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. • Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. Romans 2:16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. John 5:22,27 "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, • and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Jeremiah 32:18,19 who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name; • great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds; New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.” Insight When the light of the truth about Jesus illuminates us, it is our duty to shine that light to help others. Challenge Our witness for Christ should be public, not hidden. We should not keep the benefits for ourselves alone but pass them on to others. In order to be helpful, we need to be well placed. Seek opportunities to be there when unbelievers need help. Devotional Hours Within the Bible True BlessednessEmerson’s advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest attainments. It has been noted, that if the world would make a set of beatitudes, they would be just the reverse of those that Jesus spoke. None of the classes pronounced blessed by Him would be called happy by the world. The poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and holiness are not the world’s favorites. These are not the qualities natural men consider most worthy of quest. The first beatitude is for the humble ones. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This beatitude is not for the poor in an earthly sense, for one may be very poor and yet proud ; and one may be rich in worldly goods and yet be lowly in spirit, in disposition. The Bible everywhere praises humility. God dwells with the humble. Christ refers only once in the Gospels to His own heart, and through the window He opens, it is this picture that we see, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (11:29). To be poor in spirit is to be rich toward God; while pride of heart is spiritual poverty. Humility is the key that opens the gate of prayer; while to the loud knocking of pride, there comes no answer. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the humble. They may wear no earthly crown but a crown of glory, unseen by men, rests upon their heads even here in this world. The second beatitude is for those who mourn. We do not usually regard mourners as blessed. We pity them and think their condition unenviable. Christ, however, has a special beatitude for those who are sorrowful. Probably He means particularly penitent mourners, those who are sorrowful on account of their sins. In all this world there is nothing so precious in the sight of God as the tear of contrition. No diamonds or pearls shine with such brilliance, in His sight. It was Jesus Himself who said there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents (Luke 15:10). Truly blessed, therefore, are those who mourn over their sins. They are comforted with the comfort of God’s pardon and peace. But the beatitude refers also to those who are in sorrow. Blessing never is nearer to us, than when we are in affliction, if we submit ourselves to God in love and trust. Someday we shall understand that we have received our best things from heaven, not in the days of our joy and gladness but in the time of trial and affliction. Tears are lenses through which our eyes see more deeply into heaven and look more clearly upon God’s face than in any other way. Sorrow cleanses our hearts of earthliness, and fertilizes our lives. We grow the best when clouds hang over us, because clouds bear rain and rain refreshes. Then God’s comfort is such a rich blessed experience, that it is well worthwhile to endure any sorrow in order to receive it. The third beatitude is for the meek. Meekness is not a popular quality. The world calls it a cowardly spirit, which leads a man to remain quiet under insult, to endure wrong without resentment, to be treated unkindly and then to give kindness in return. Men of the world say that the disposition of meekness is unmanly, that it shows weakness, cowardice, a lack of strength. So it might be if we looked to the world for our ideal of manhood. But we have a truer, a diviner example for our model of manliness, than any that this world has set up. Jesus Christ is the only perfect man who ever lived in this world, and when we turn to His life we see that meekness was one of the most marked qualities of His character. He was gentle of disposition, never provoked, patient under wrong, silent under reproach. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not. Possessing all power, He never lifted a finger to avenge a personal injury. He answered with tender love, all men’s wrath, and on His cross, when the blood was flowing from His wounds He prayed for His murderers. Meekness is then no cowardly spirit, since in Christ it shone so luminously. Then it is not an impoverishing virtue but an enriching grace. The meek shall inherit the earth. The fourth beatitude is for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. This, strangely, is a beatitude for dissatisfaction. We know that peace is promised to the Christian, and peace is calm repose and satisfied restfulness. The words hunger and thirst appear to suggest experiences incompatible with rest and peace. But when we think more deeply we see that spiritual hunger must form a part of all true Christian experience. Hunger is mark of health. It is so in physical life; the loss of appetite indicates disease. So a healthy mind is a hungry one; when one becomes satisfied with one’s attainments, one ceases to learn. In spiritual life, too, hunger is health. If we become satisfied with our condition of faith, love, obedience and consecration, we are in an unhappy condition. There is not growth after that. Often invalids die amid plenty, die of starvation; not because they can get no food but because they have no appetite. There are many professing Christians who are starving their souls in the midst of spiritual provision, because they have no hunger. There is nothing for which we should pray more earnestly, than for spiritual longing and desire. The fifth beatitude is for the merciful. Cruelty is opposed to everything Divine and heavenly. All that is unloving is condemned in the Scriptures. Blessing cannot come to the resentful, the unforgiving, the vindictive, to those who have no sympathy with distress, no hand to help human need. In our Lord’s picture of the last judgment, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, those on the right hand are those who have been kind, gentle, patient, thoughtful, ministering to suffering and need. Jesus Himself set an example of mercifulness. His miracles were for the relief of those who were suffering. We must note in this beatitude also, that we receive in life what we give the merciful shall obtain mercy. The unmerciful shall find the gates closed upon them, when they cry for help. A boy stood before a perpendicular crag, and when he began to shout he heard the echo of his own voice. When he spoke gently, a gentle voice responded. When he spoke angrily ; he was answered back in angry tones. It is so in life. Those who show kindness to others, receive kindness in return. Those who are bitter, selfish and cruel find this a loveless world to live in. The sixth beatitude is for the pure in heart. There is no beatitude for anything unholy. There is no room with God for anything that defiles. If we would enter heaven, we must prepare for heaven here. To a child who expressed a wonder how he could get up to heaven, because it was so far away a wise mother’s reply was, “Heaven must first come down to you; heaven must first come into your heart.” Heaven must really be in us before we can enter heaven. Just was we become pure in heart, are we made ready for the heavenly life. But what is heart purity? It is not sinlessness, for none are sinless. A pure heart must be a penitent heart, one that has been forgiven by Christ, cleansed by His grace. It is one also that is kept pure by obedient living, and close communion with Christ. An essential part of true religion before God is, to keep one’s self unspotted from the world. It is an evil world in which we live but if we carefully follow our Master, doing His will, keeping our hearts ever open to the influences of the Holy Spirit, we shall be kept, Divinely kept, from the corruption about us. As the lily grows up pure and unstained amid the soiled waters of the bog so does the lowly, loving, and patient heart of a Christian, remain pure in the midst of all this world’s evil. The seventh beatitude is for the peacemakers. Too many people are not peacemakers. Some people seem to delight in finding differences between neighbors or friends which they try not to heal but to widen. Christ’s beatitude is for those who seek always to make peace. When we find two people in danger of being estranged by some misunderstanding, we should seek to get them together and prevent their falling apart. If we would be true peacemakers, we must never be quarrelsome or easily offended. Paul says that love is not easily provoked, that is, it does not take account of little or great hurts but is patient and forbearing (see 1 Corinthians 13). It is a great thing to be a peacemaker. Of the peacemakers it is said, “They shall be called sons of God.” The eighth beatitude is for those who are “ persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Some people avoid persecution by conforming to the world, by being very careful never to offend the world. But Christ wants us to be loyal and true to Him, whatever the cost may be. Blessing comes upon those who suffer persecution for Christ’s sake. Paul spoke of the wounds and scars he had received in persecution, as marks of Jesus, honorable decorations. We must notice, however, that is it when we are persecuted for righteousness sake that we get this beatitude. Sometimes people suffer for being ill-natured, but the blessing cannot be claimed in this case. It is when we do the will of God and suffer for it that we can claim the Divine blessing. We are commanded to rejoice and be exceeding glad when called to suffer reproach and injury for Christ’s sake. It is not easy to do this, although many Christians have actually rejoiced in pain and trial, so strong was their faith. Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts, wrote exultantly, “Now I am beginning to be a disciple!” In two striking figures Jesus showed His disciples what they were to be in the world, how they were to bless it by the influence of their lives. “You are the salt of the earth.” You are, by living your new life in the world to preserve it from rotting. This seemed a strange thing to say that day to a little handful of fishermen but these men and their successors have done just that for the world through the centuries. We know what salt is and what its influence is. We are to be the salt of the earth, not merely in the words we speak but especially in the influence of our lives. We must take heed therefore that the salt we are does not lose its savor, its power to bless. We must make sure that the world is purified, sweetened and made better in every way by our living in it. “You are the light of the world.” We are lamps which Christ lights and which are to shine upon the world’s darkness for its enlightening. We must remember that the light of heaven can reach other lives and brighten the world only through us. We must see to it, therefore, that the light in us never fails. We must never allow it to be covered up by anything. The object of the shining is not to glorify the lamp but to honor God. We are not to parade our virtues but to brighten the world and lead men to love our heavenly Father. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 40, 41, 42 Job 40 -- Job Humbles Himself to God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 41 -- God's Power Shown in Creatures NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 42 -- Job Confesses; God Makes His Friends Submit; God Blesses Job NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 15:22-41 Acts 15 -- The Council at Jerusalem; James' Support; Barnabas and Paul Part Ways; Second Missionary Journey begins NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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