April 28 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Romans 4:13-25:

¹³For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
¹⁴For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
¹⁵Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
¹⁶Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
¹⁷(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
¹⁸Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
¹⁹And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
²⁰He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
²²And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
²³Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Devotional

God does everything at his own appointed time. In Old Testament times He gave assurance of the coming of Christ, so that his people might have hope and comfort. But He did not make known the day nor the hour when Christ would come. Christ himself said, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me, ) to do thy will, O God." In the fulness of time God sent him forth. He came and preached, saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." After Christ's work on earth was done, and He had suffered the cruel death on the cross, and was risen from the dead, and his disciples could not in faith lay hold of the glorious fact of the resurrection, he told them, that the whole thing was but a fulfillment of Scripture. "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things." Paul writes to the Ephesians, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both of which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." And he adds: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."

Prayer

O God, grant us grace to give heed to Thy Word, to believe Thy promises and to live to Thy name's honor and glory. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Ps. 40:7; Heb. 10:7; Mark 1:15; Luke 24:44-48; Eph. 1:10-12.

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