November 19 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

John sees the fiery red glow of the dragon, poised for the attack. He is the anti-Messiah. He is the other candidate for the throne of the world. Seven heads and ten horns tell of his gigantic intellectual and physical power.

The tail of the red dragon swept away a third of the stars. What do you think those stars represent? Angels? Princes? Or is this just an indication of the dragon's cosmic significance?

The dragon threatens the woman. He wants to make her Son his victim, because her Son is the opposing candidate for the throne of the world. Her Son is God's candidate.

This picture explains the history with which all the original readers were so familiar, and which all of us, the present readers, ought to know as well. Israel was loved and protected by God because of her Son. Israel was also attacked and threatened by the dragon because of her Son.

The attacks of the dragon were external: the Pharaoh in Egypt tried to kill the Savior of Israel by drowning the baby boys in the Nile. The Amalekites, the Philistines, and many other tribes also attempted to destroy God's people, but none succeeded.

Yet the Israelites were nearly destroyed by their own sins. We might call these sins the devil's internal attacks on Israel's existence. And here the dragon nearly succeeded. At times in the history of Israel God himself admitted that his people were no better than the nations he had destroyed because of their sins. Sometimes God's own people were no better than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

But God loved his sinful people. And the Lord remained faithful to his pledge that the daughter of Zion would give birth to the Son. For that reason, and for his own name's sake, he spared the woman from the fury of the dragon.

REFLECTIONS

What do the devil's "internal attacks" on you look like today? What comfort can you find from God's reactions to Israel's sins?

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.