November 10 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The Lamb breaks the seals of God's book. This means Jesus carries out God's plan for the world.

When the first four seals are broken, horses are released. Those horses trample the world with fanatic fury. Some think that the first rider is a picture of Christ or of the gospel, because he is white and looks like the rider in Revelation 19:11. But you might also think of the four horsemen or chariots that Zechariah saw (Zech. 6). There, in the vision of Zechariah, they are God's patrols with power to execute his judgment. If the four horses in Revelation are related to the images in Zechariah, the white one is not a picture of the gospel but is merely a horse of a different color.

War, famine, and deadly plague go through this world like so many wild riders. Men and women tremble when they hear the stamping of their hoofs. All of us, even the most sheltered, have heard rumors of their noise, and millions of people have had firsthand encounters with the fury of these horses.

We have not been able to stop wars or to prevent them. Famines have oppressed parts of the world since the beginning, and experts predict that global warming means more and worse are coming. The open mouth of death has been receiving the victims of the four wild riders in dreadful quantities.

But here in Revelation we receive a new perspective: Christ is behind this chaos. That's not supposed to be an explanation. Far less is it a justifica­tion for permitting wars to go unchecked and famines to continue. Instead the vision is intended to strengthen the faith of God's servants. In the dark hour of fury, they should know not only that the Lamb is still there but that he is in command. It is the Lamb who breaks the seals of the book.

Our faith is stretched to believe in Jesus' might over the all-devouring powers of these torrents of evil.

REFLECTIONS

What dark events are occurring in the world as you read this? Does it stretch your faith to believe in Jesus' might over these events?

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.