August 3 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

What we know as the New Testament is God's last word for the last days. But how did we get the gospel of God in this written and printed form? The book did not fall from heaven. It has a history.

It was "first announced by the Lord." What Christ said and did was God's good news to people. This was the first form of the gospel.

Not only did Christ proclaim his message and fulfill his mission, he also prepared for the church of the future. He saw to it that faithful witnesses would tell the world what he had said and done. These witnesses were mainly the twelve apostles who had been with him since the beginning of his ministry. And it was to these apostles that Christ showed himself alive after he had risen from the dead.

These witnesses carried their report into the world. And while they did that, "God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit." In this way God was underlining the truth of what the apostles were saying.

For instance, through the apostle Peter, God made a lame man leap (Acts 3) and punished a liar with death (Acts 5). God even brought a dead woman back to life (Acts 9). Thus God proclaimed loudly that the message of the apostles was reliable.

Then came the third stage. The apostles died, but the believers were very careful to adhere to the apostolic teaching. They needed the great message in a permanent form. God provided for that need by preserving both the church and the apostolic record.

The report of the apostles who were witnesses to Christ was written down under God's care. It is the New Testament. This is the last word for the last days. No one who clings to it can go wrong. And no one can survive if he or she ignores it.

REFLECTIONS

God took great care to make sure we got his message. What does that tell you about God? About us? About God's message?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

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 updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.