Bible League: Living His Word All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.The Apostle John tells us in our verse for today that the victorious will inherit the blessings mentioned previously in the chapter. These blessings include the right to dwell with God in the New Jerusalem that is located on the new earth with the new heaven above. This will be a place where there is no more death, or crying, or pain. And we will have the right there to drink from the springs of the water of life. These blessings are no doubt not an exhaustive accounting of everything that could be said about the new situation, but they are enough to let us know that everything will be fundamentally transformed and everything will be good. Who are the victorious? The idea of a spiritual battle taking place in the present dispensation is a common theme in John's writings and the New Testament as a whole. The victorious are all those who have "won your battle with the evil one" (I John 2:13) and all those who have defeated "this evil world" (I John 1:4). They have overcome the evil one and his evil regime "by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony" (Revelation 12:11). They have overcome the evil one and his evil regime, in other words, by their faith in Jesus Christ and their testimony to that effect (I John 5:4). In this fundamentally transformed heaven and earth God will be our God. This does not mean, of course, that God was not our God before this time. God has been God for all eternity and has been God over all creation and over all people since He made them. It means that our relationship to God as God and, specifically in this context, to God as our father, will have come to its complete fulfillment. We will no longer be alienated from God in any way, shape, or form. Further, as the people of God we are already God's children, but the elimination of everything that separates us from our father God means that our relationship to Him as children will also have come to its complete fulfillment. We will never again act as if we were not God's children. Our struggles against the evil one and his evil regime are not done without purpose or reward. Our victory gains us the perfect world of Revelation 21. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 10, 11, 12 Job 10 -- Job Complains to God, Craves a Little Ease Before Death NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 11 -- Zophar Rebukes Job for Justifying Himself; God's Wisdom Is Unsearchable NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 12 -- Job Maintains Himself against His Friends; Acknowledges God's Omnipotence NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 8:1-25 Acts 8 -- Saul Persecutes the Church; Philip in Samaria; Simon the Sorcerer; the Ethiopian NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven't done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”Insight What does your money mean to you? Although Jesus wanted this man to sell everything and give his money to the poor, this does not mean that all believers should sell all their possessions. Most of his followers did not sell everything, although they used their possessions to serve others. Instead, this story shows us that we must not let anything we have or desire keep us from following Jesus. We must remove all barriers to serving him fully. Challenge If Jesus asked, could you give up your house? Your car? Your level of income? Your position on the ladder of promotion? Your reaction may show your attitude toward money—whether it is your servant or your master. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 1 Corinthians 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.Some persons have the foolish notion that the only way in which they can live for God is by becoming ministers, missionaries, or Bible women. Alas! how many would be shut out from any opportunity of magnifying the Most High if this were the case. Beloved, it is not office, it is earnestness; it is not position, it is grace which will enable us to glorify God. God is most surely glorified in that cobbler's stall, where the godly worker, as he plies the awl, sings of the Saviour's love, aye, glorified far more than in many a prebendal stall where official religiousness performs its scanty duties. The name of Jesus is glorified by the poor unlearned carter as he drives his horse, and blesses his God, or speaks to his fellow laborer by the roadside, as much as by the popular divine who, throughout the country, like Boanerges, is thundering out the gospel. God is glorified by our serving him in our proper vocations. Take care, dear reader, that you do not forsake the path of duty by leaving your occupation, and take care you do not dishonor your profession while in it. Think little of yourselves, but do not think too little of your callings. Every lawful trade may be sanctified by the gospel to noblest ends. Turn to the Bible, and you will find the most menial forms of labor connected either with most daring deeds of faith, or with persons whose lives have been illustrious for holiness. Therefore be not discontented with your calling. Whatever God has made your position, or your work, abide in that, unless you are quite sure that he calls you to something else. Let your first care be to glorify God to the utmost of your power where you are. Fill your present sphere to his praise, and if he needs you in another he will show it you. This evening lay aside vexatious ambition, and embrace peaceful content. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 143:2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. Isaiah 27:5 "Or let him rely on My protection, Let him make peace with Me, Let him make peace with Me." Job 22:21 "Yield now and be at peace with Him; Thereby good will come to you. Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Galatians 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. Romans 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Acts 13:39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. 1 Corinthians 15:57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. |
Click for Video Devotionals     |