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December 20 Daily Devotional

Twilight: The Last Prophet of the Old Covenant

the Rev. Andrew Kuyvenhoven

Monthly Theme:

The Prince of Peace, the Son of David, was announced by Isaiah. The story of his coming was proclaimed by the evangelists, each with a different emphasis. Jesus made God's kingship real in this world. Today, the kingdom is here—and it is coming.

Bible Reading:

Luke 3:15–20

Bible Text:

John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod ... he locked John up (Luke 3:18–20).

Devotional:

He was the last one in the row of prophets. All of them had pointed forward and said: He is coming! Only John the Baptizer could touch him with his hand and point him out to the crowd: ''Look, the Lamb of God...."

John was a prophet of the Old Covenant. He preached the good news of the kingdom, as did all his predecessors. With them he saw the coming of God's kingdom as a revelation of salvation and vengeance.

You and I, New Testament believers, know that there is a long distance between God's coming in grace and his coming in glory. We know that the Messiah first came as Savior, and we expect his coming as Judge. We know that we live between the two comings that the Old Testament saw as one event.

Jesus once told his followers that although there is no one greater than John born of a woman, the very least in God's kingdom are greater than he. Not morally greater, of course. But closer to the heart of God. John was part of the time of promise. We are part of the kingdom that began coming with the fulfillment of that promise, and as a result we have some things that John did not. We have knowledge of the cross. We have experienced God's love for sinners (Matt. 11:11).

Morally, however, John remains our example. He spoke the truth without fearing or favoring anyone, and it cost him his head (Matt. 14:1–12). But it is eternally safer to stay on the side of the truth than to lie about the seriousness of sin.

For he whose coming John announced hates and defeats the darkness.


Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.

 

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