My Utmost for His Highest Daily Devotional for Friday, 29 December 2017 "Deserter Or Disciple?" by Oswald Chambers
From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. (JOHN 6:66)
When God gives a vision by His Spirit through His word of what He wants, and your mind and soul thrill to it, if you do not walk in the light of that vision, you will sink into servitude to a point of view which Our Lord never had. Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ. Do not look at someone else and say — “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why cannot I?” You have to walk in the light of the vision that has been given to you and not compare yourself with others or judge them, that is between them and God. When you find that a point of view in which you have been delighting clashes with the heavenly vision and you debate, certain things will begin to develop in you — a sense of property and a sense of personal right, things of which Jesus Christ made nothing. He was always against these things as being the root of everything alien to Himself. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth.” If we do not recognize this, it is because we are ignoring the undercurrent of Our Lord’s teaching.We are apt to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we have had. If there is one standard in the New Testament revealed by the light of God and you do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding, because it means your conscience does not answer to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you for going on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ, or for going back as a deserter. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20
Zechariah 9:1 A prophecy, the word of Adonai:
In the land of Hadrakh and Dammesek
is where [God] comes to rest,
for the eyes of humankind are directed toward Adonai,
as are those of all the tribes of Isra’el,
2 also Hamat at its border,
Tzor and Tzidon, for she is very wise.
3 Tzor built herself a fortified tower,
heaping up silver as if it were dust
and fine gold as if it were mud in the streets.
4 But Adonai will dispossess her
and break her power at sea,
while the city itself
will be destroyed by fire.
5 On seeing this, Ashkelon will be terrified;
‘Azah too will writhe in pain;
likewise ‘Ekron, as her hopes are dashed.
“The king will vanish from ‘Azah,
Ashkelon will be without people,
6 and a mixed people will live in Ashdod,
as I destroy the pride of the P’lishtim.
7 I will end their eating meat with its blood still in it,
snatching the disgusting things from between their teeth.”
But the surviving remnant will belong to our God;
it will be like a clan in Y’hudah;
and ‘Ekron will be like a Y’vusi.
8 “Then I will guard my house against armies,
so that none will march through or return.
No oppressor will ever again overrun them,
for now I am watching with my own eyes.
9 Rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Tziyon!
Shout out loud, daughter of Yerushalayim!
Look! Your king is coming to you.
He is righteous, and he is victorious.
Yet he is humble — he’s riding on a donkey,
yes, on a lowly donkey’s colt.
10 I will banish chariots from Efrayim
and war-horses from Yerushalayim.”
The warrior’s bow will be banished,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
He will rule from sea to sea,
and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.
11 “Also you, by the blood of your covenant,
I release your prisoners from [the dungeon,]
the cistern that has no water in it.
12 Return to the stronghold,
you prisoners with hope!
This day I declare to you
that I will grant you double reparation.
13 For I have bent Y’hudah as my bow
and made Efrayim its arrow.
I will rouse your sons, Tziyon,
and make you like a warrior’s sword
against your sons, Greece.”
14 Adonai will appear over them,
and his arrow will flash like lightning.
Adonai Elohim will blow the shofar
and go out in the whirlwinds of the south.
15 Adonai-Tzva’ot will defend them;
they will devour and trample the sling-stones.
They will drink and roar
as if they had drunk wine;
they will be filled, like basins
and like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day Adonai their God
will save them as the flock of his people;
for they will be like gems in a crown,
sparkling over his countryside.
17 What wealth is theirs, what beauty!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine the young women.
10:1 Ask Adonai for rain in the spring,
Adonai who makes the rain clouds;
and he will give them showers of rain,
grass in the field to each one.
2 For the household gods talk nonsense,
the diviners have seen a lie;
their dreams convey delusions,
and the comfort they offer is in vain.
Therefore they go their way like sheep
in distress from lack of a shepherd.
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will vent it on the leaders of the flock.”
For Adonai-Tzva’ot will care for his flock,
the people of Y’hudah;
he will make them like his royal war-horse.
4 From them come cornerstone and tent peg,
from them the bow for battle,
from them all the rulers together.
5 They will be like warriors
trampling the mud of the streets in battle.
They will fight, because Adonai is with them;
they will rout even those on horseback.
6 “I will strengthen the house of Y’hudah
and save the house of Yosef.
I will bring them back in my compassion for them;
they will be as if I hadn’t driven them out;
for I am Adonai their God,
and I will answer them.
7 Efrayim’s men will be like warriors;
their hearts will be cheered as if from wine.
Their children will see it and rejoice,
their hearts will be glad in Adonai.
8 “I will whistle for them and gather them,
because I have redeemed them;
they will be as numerous
as they were before;
9 and I will sow them among the peoples.
In distant lands they will remember me;
they will rear their children and then return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them out of Ashur.
I will bring them into Gil‘ad and the L’vanon,
until there is no more room for them.
11 “Trouble will pass over the sea
and stir up waves in the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will be dried up,
the pride of Ashur will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will leave.
12 But I will strengthen [Isra’el] in Adonai;
they will travel here and there in his name,”
says Adonai.
11:1 Open your doors, L’vanon,
so that fire can consume your cedars.
2 Wail, cypress, because the cedar has fallen,
those splendid trees are ruined.
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
because the thick forest has been felled.
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds,
because their glory is spoiled.
Listen to the roaring of young lions,
because the Yarden’s thickets are plundered.
4 Adonai my God says this: “Shepherd the flock for slaughter. 5 Their buyers kill them and go unpunished; while those who sell them say, ‘Barukh Adonai! Now I’m rich!’ Even their own shepherds show them no pity. 6 I will no longer show pity to the inhabitants of the land,” says Adonai. “No, I will hand every one of them over to the power of a neighbor and to the power of his king; they will crush the land; and I won’t rescue them from their power.”
7 So I shepherded the flock for slaughter, truly the most miserable of the sheep; and I took two staffs for myself. I called the one No‘am [pleasantness], the other I called Hovalim [bound together], and I shepherded the flock. 8 “In a single month I got rid of three shepherds, because I grew impatient with them; and besides, they detested me. 9 I said, ‘I’m not going to shepherd you. Whichever one is going to die, let it die; whichever is going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and the rest can all devour each other.’”
10 I took my staff No‘am and snapped it in two, “in order to break my covenant, which I made with all the peoples.” 11 On that day when it was broken, the most miserable of the sheep who paid attention to me knew that this was indeed a message from Adonai. 12 I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; if not, don’t.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty silver [shekels, that is, twelve ounces]. 13 Concerning that “princely sum” at which they valued me, Adonai said, “Throw it into the treasury!” So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and threw them into the treasury in the house of Adonai.
14 Then I snapped in two my other staff Hovalim [bound together], in order to break up the brotherhood between Y’hudah and Isra’el. 15 Adonai said to me, “This time, take the equipment of a worthless shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who won’t bother about the ones who have been destroyed, won’t seek out the young, won’t heal the broken and won’t feed those standing still; on the contrary, he will eat the meat of the fat ones and break their hoofs in pieces.
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd
who abandons the sheep!
May a sword strike his arm
and his right eye.
May his arm be completely withered
and his right eye totally blinded.”
12:1 A prophecy, the word of Adonai concerning Isra’el — here is the message from Adonai, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit inside human beings:
2 “I will make Yerushalayim a cup
that will stagger the surrounding peoples.
Even Y’hudah will be caught up
in the siege against Yerushalayim.
3 When that day comes, I will make Yerushalayim
a heavy stone for all the peoples.
All who try to lift it will hurt themselves,
and all the earth’s nations will be massed against her.
4 When that day comes,” says Adonai,
“I will strike all the horses with panic
and their riders with madness;
I will keep watch over Y’hudah,
but I will strike blind all the horses of the peoples.
5 The leaders of Y’hudah will say to themselves,
‘Those living in Yerushalayim are my strength
through Adonai-Tzva’ot their God.’
6 When that day comes,
I will make the leaders of Y’hudah
like a blazing fire pan in a pile of wood,
like a fiery torch among sheaves of grain;
they will devour all the surrounding peoples,
on the right and on the left.
Yerushalayim will be inhabited
in her own place, Yerushalayim.
7 Adonai will save the tents of Y’hudah first,
so that the glory of the house of David
and the glory of those living in Yerushalayim
will not appear greater than that of Y’hudah.
8 When that day comes, Adonai will defend
those living in Yerushalayim.
On that day, even someone who stumbles
will be like David;
and the house of David will be like God,
like the angel of Adonai before them.
9 “When that day comes, I will seek to destroy
all nations attacking Yerushalayim;
10 and I will pour out on the house of David
and on those living in Yerushalayim
a spirit of grace and prayer;
and they will look to me, whom they pierced.”
They will mourn for him
as one mourns for an only son;
they will be in bitterness on his behalf
like the bitterness for a firstborn son.
11 When that day comes, there will be
great mourning in Yerushalayim,
mourning like that for Hadad-Rimmon
in the Megiddo Valley.
12 Then the land will mourn,
each family by itself —
the family of the house of David by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Natan by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
13 the family of the house of Levi by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
the family of the Shim‘i by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
14 all the remaining families, each by itself,
and their wives by themselves.
Revelation 20:1 Next I saw an angel coming down from heaven, who had the key to the Abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan [the Adversary], and chained him up for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, locked it and sealed it over him; so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that, he has to be set free for a little while.
4 Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them received authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for testifying about Yeshua and proclaiming the Word of God, also those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands. They came to life and ruled with the Messiah for a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is anyone who has a part in the first resurrection; over him the second death has no power. On the contrary, they will be cohanim of God and of the Messiah, and they will rule with him for the thousand years.
7 When the thousand years are over, the Adversary will be set free from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,[Revelation 20:8 Ezekiel 38:2] to gather them for the battle. Their number is countless as the sand on the seashore; 9 and they came up over the breadth of the Land and surrounded the camp of God’s people and the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 The Adversary who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11 Next I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened; and another book was opened, the Book of Life; and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 The sea gave up the dead in it; and Death and Sh’ol gave up the dead in them; and they were judged, each according to what he had done. 14 Then Death and Sh’ol were hurled into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was hurled into the lake of fire.
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it. (from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
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