March 18 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet..." (Revelation 1:9–10).

Devotional

Our adorable Immanuel frequently reveals the most brilliant beams of his glory in seasons of the most painful trial and deepest gloom. Just as the darkness of night reveals more distinctly and brightly the existence and beauty of the heavenly bodies, so the dark providences of God often bring out in richer radiance the glories of his beloved Son.

To manifest this remarkable revelation of his risen glory to his servant, our Lord selected precisely such an occasion. To the eye of reason this occasion would appear the most adverse and unlikely. But to the eye of faith, it is the most appropriate for such a revelation of Jesus. The emperor Domitian, try as he might to crush God's kingdom, merely served as an instrument to execute God's eternal purpose of grace and love. God's hand was moving—and moving too, as it often does, in the "thick darkness." Even though this Roman emperor exiled John "on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" to a desolate island of the Aegean Sea, the Redeemer was but preparing the way to reveal those visions of glory—and none more sublime or more precious ever broke upon the eye of mortal man! God was not only putting his beloved servant in the right place to see them, but he was also most wisely and graciously training and disciplining his mind spiritually and humbly to receive them.

Notice how this dark and trying incident was working for the good of this holy exile. Even though he was banished from the saints, from society, and from all means of grace, no one could banish him from God's presence. Nor could persecution separate him from Christ's love. To his view, Patmos became resplendent with the glory of a risen Savior. A reconciled God and Father was his Sanctuary. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, overshadowed him. And the Lord's Day, already so hallowed and precious to him in its association with the resurrection of the Lord, broke upon him with an uncommon radiance, sanctity, and joy.

Oh, how richly favored this beloved disciple was! Great as his previous privileges had been—travelling with Christ, seeing his miracles, hanging on his words, leaning on his bosom—yet never had he been so privileged! Never had he learned so much of Jesus, nor seen so much of his glory, nor drunk so deeply of his love, nor experienced so richly his unutterable tenderness, gentleness, and sympathy. And never had he spent such a Lord's Day as now, even though he was the solitary inhabitant of an isolated island.

Oh, where is there a spot that Jesus cannot irradiate with his glory? Where is there solitude that he cannot sweeten with his presence? Where is the suffering, privation, and loss that he cannot more than compensate by his sustaining grace and soothing love? And where is there a trembling and prostrate soul, which his "right hand" cannot lift up and soothe?

This, then, was the occasion on which the Lord appeared in so glorious a form, with such soothing words and sublime revelations, to his beloved servant.

Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
how ever dark it be!
Lead me by thine own hand,
choose out the path for me;
smooth let it be or rough,
it will be still the best;
winding or straight, it leads
right onward to thy Rest.

The kingdom that I seek
is thine; so let the way
that leads to it be thine,
else I must surely stray.
I dare not choose my lot;
I would not if I might:
choose thou for me, my God,
so shall I walk aright.

Take thou my cup, and it
with joy or sorrow fill
as best to thee may seem;
choose thou my good and ill.
Not mine, not mine the choice
in things or great or small;
be thou my Guide, my Strength,
my Wisdom, and my All.

(Horatius Bonar, 1857)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.