December 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Readings:

Isaiah 9:6-7, King James Version:
⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 53:3-6, KJV:
³He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

John 18:33-36, KJV:
³³Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
³⁴Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
³⁵Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
³⁶Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Ephesians 2:12-22, KJV:
¹²That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
¹³But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
¹⁵Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
¹⁶And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
¹⁷And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
¹⁸For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
¹⁹Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
²¹In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Devotional:

Having passed through the most costly war in all history mankind should be interested in peace among nations. That suspicion, jealousy, and greed might be banished from among nations is the desire of many peoples. But how may it be done? What statesman or party of statesmen in our land or any land is wise enough to suggest a plan to end war and forceful enough to persuade the nations of the earth to execute a plan? And if agreement may be arrived at, is there any guarantee that promises will be kept? Are there not abundant illustrations of the Word of God that wars and fightings spring from man's sinful nature?

If we may be sure of the root of the difficulty, we may also discover the only remedy. But mankind shrinks from accepting the only means whereby wars may be brought to an end. It is God who "maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire." And in Christ Jesus peace is guaranteed. He is the Prince of Peace promised to those of old who wanted peace but were powerless to effect it. But this despised and rejected one sought peace and pursued it. He brought into being a kingdom of peace by making reconciliation between the offended God and His offending people. That cessation of hostilities was made possible by the shedding of His blood.

The Kingdom of peace seeks no compromise with the nations of the earth. A spiritual kingdom, it captures the minds and hearts of men by the sovereign power of this exalted Prince and Savior, and in that way grows until at last it engulfs and overcomes all nations of the earth at the return of the King. This stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall consume all nations so that everlasting peace shall be reali/zed.

May men see peace today? May peace come between men today? Yes, when men cease to depend on their own powers and trust in the Christ who made peace by the blood of His cross.

We are very happy to make available to you this month these devotionals by the late Rev. LeRoy B. Oliver. They originally appeared in The Presbyerian Guardian during the late 1940's.

The description of his "Your Family Altar" page in The Presbyterian Guardian also fits this Web page: "The page is designed for both private and family use, whichever is most convenient in your case. If you do not have family worship in your home, we hope you will begin, and suggest using these readings. They should not, however, take the place of reading books of the Bible, or the Bible itself, through in regular course." It is those who abide (continue) in the Word who are truly Christ's disciples, who know the truth, and who experience freedom in Him (John 8:31-32). May these devotionals be used for the building up of God's people and to the glory of God.