December 4 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

For two thousand years God had a covenant with Abraham and his children—and with them only. You and I may not say that this arrangement was unfair to the Chinese and the Egyptians. We must study God's plan of salvation with diligence and adoration, but we may not try to make up a better one.

Praise the Lord: God did not forget those of us who had forgotten him and are not of Jewish birth. He was already thinking of us when he spoke to Abraham about "all the families of the earth." You can hear the gospel in Genesis 12:3, says Paul.

With the first coming of Jesus Christ, God turned to all people of all races. When Jesus was only forty days old, Simeon held the baby in his arms and said: "Here is a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32)—that is, all those who are not Jews.

God did not change the covenant with Abraham. That covenant of grace is still in force. But now the Gentiles who believe in Jesus are also members of this covenant. And Paul, "the apostle to the Gentiles," was chosen by God to explain this plan for including the Gentiles and to begin its execution.

This teaching about the continuity of the covenant of grace from Abraham till today, and about the inclusion of the Gentiles by faith in Jesus Christ, has all sorts of implications. For one thing, our way into God's favor is always by way of Israel, by obtaining citizenship as children of Abraham. It does not matter if we are offspring of Native Americans or if we are sons and daughters of the Pilgrim fathers or of any other heroes of Gentile origin. Salvation is of the Jews, and God's blessing is in the covenant he made with Abraham.

However, since we, and even the Jews, may be included in the covenant of grace only by faith in Jesus, the question of our origins has become unimportant. It does not matter where you come from. It matters where you are!

REFLECTIONS

Give thanks that you are, by believing in Christ, a child of Abraham and a son or daughter of the covenant of grace.

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.