Weekly Devotional - David Guzik | Enduring Word

David Guzik’s weekly devotional, based on a verse or two from the Bible.

What Mary Knew

December 19, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

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But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

The Bethlehem shepherds had a rare experience – a visitation from the angel of the Lord, announcing good news: the birth of a baby who was both Messiah and God. The same angel gave them a sign to confirm this good news – that they would find this baby wrapped in torn cloths, laying in a feeding-trough for animals.

Those shepherds immediately went to Bethlehem and saw the confirming sign. They then went throughout the village and told everyone they could. The people of Bethlehem were amazed at this remarkable news, but they seemed unchanged by it all. Mary the mother of Jesus was different. Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. There are at least three things to note about Mary’s reaction to the news from the shepherds.

Mary chose to remember the shepherds’ report, she kept all these things. Others in Bethlehem soon forgot that remarkable night, but Mary made the choice to remember. She had a special relationship to that baby boy, so it was easy for her to remember. If we have a special relationship with Jesus – adopted into His family and regarded as His brothers or sisters – then we will remember Him in a way that others do not.

Mary chose to treasure those things in her heart. She not only remembered the shepherds’ report and all it meant, she also held those things in her heart with affection. Mary was probably especially touched by the fact that God brought the word to the shepherds through angelic messengers. Mary’s whole connection with these events began with a message from the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:26-38). In the nine months following, the angels were silent. It must have been like a reminder of the love of God for Mary to know that God was once again working through His angels to accomplish the purpose of bringing the Messiah into the world.

Mary chose to meditate on those things; she pondered them in her heart. The promises made to Joseph and Mary about this baby were so big that they were hard to believe. You might say that they were easy to doubt – but God gave Mary reason to believe. Mary had a baby book written before the baby was ever born. When Mary heard that she would bear the Messiah, surely she spent so much time thinking about and pondering over all the promises in the Hebrew Scriptures about the Christ, the Messiah. She would think about the promises of the Messiah’s triumph and His agony; about the Messiah’s reign and His suffering.

Like Mary, you can hear what God says about His Son – that He is Christ the Lord, Messiah and God. You may treasure that word from God; think deeply upon it, and keep it upon your heart and affections. In this you show yourself to be part of Jesus’ family.

You can know what Mary knew.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Luke 2

Two Mighty Words

December 12, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

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For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. (Colossians 1:19)

We like the Christmas season, and we like to put our thoughts on the baby Jesus. So many aspects of the story appeal to us. We think of two relatively young people out among strangers and in great need. We think of the humble nature of their surroundings – no room in the inn – contrasted with the angelic glory of His birth announcement, even if it was heard only among a few shepherds. We think of the baby Jesus wrapped tight in fabric Mary probably brought with her all the way from Nazareth, knowing she would need it. We think of a little child on a starry night laid down to sleep in a feeding bin for animals.

All this is wonderful and true, yet it only scratches at the surface of the greatness of what God did on that night. The child sleeping in that manager was no mere man. God had humbled Himself to come not only in humanity, but in the full experience of humanity.

Theoretically, Jesus could have come to the earth as a 30-year-old man and began His public ministry immediately. After all, the first Adam came to the earth as an adult; perhaps the second Adam would also come that way. Yet it was good and right and important for the God to add humanity to His deity in a way that connected with the full experience of humanity, including the helplessness and dependence of a baby.

Yet make no mistake; Colossians 1:19 is just as true about the baby Jesus in the manger as it was true about the man Jesus on the cross: it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.

It is a broad statement – combining the two mighty words all and fullness. Put those two words together and you mean everything. There is nothing left out from the all and from the fullness, and these two words tell us that in Him – that is, in Jesus Christ – there is all of what makes God really God.

There was a definite idea behind the ancient Greek word Paul selected, the one we translate fullness. The ancient Greek word was pleroma, and it was a recognized technical term in the theological vocabulary of the ancient world, describing the total package of Divine powers and attributes. Paul took all that was implied in that one word and said, “All of this fullness – all of this stuff that makes God who He is – all of it dwells in Jesus.”

Notice that the fullness is in Jesus Christ. Not in a church; not in a priesthood; not in a building; not in a sacrament; not in the saints; not in a method or a program, but in Jesus Christ Himself. All who want more of God and all that He is can find it in Jesus Christ.

So long ago, all of that slept in a humble manger on that Bethlehem night.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Colossians 1

The Successful Persecutor

November 28, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

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As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.(Acts 8:3-4)

These verses from Acts 8 tell us what kind of persecutor Saul was.

Saul was an intense persecutor. The phrase “he made havoc” uses an ancient Greek word that could refer to an army destroying a city or a wild animal tearing at its meat. He hated the Christian faith so much that he viciously attacked the followers of Jesus. The verb tense in this phrase tells us that he did this continually.

Saul was an energetic persecutor. He did his work door to door, entering every house where Christians were suspected. He worked tirelessly to destroy the followers of Jesus.

Saul persecuted every suspected Christian, including men and women. Saul didn’t think, “it’s ok if the women are followers of Jesus – I’ll just focus on the men.” Saul felt that every disciple of Jesus Christ was worthy of punishment and some of them were worthy of death.

Saul followed through on his persecution, making sure that the Christians he discovered were committed to prison. It wasn’t enough to simply arrest them; they had to remain in a place where they couldn’t live out the Christian life.

As terrible as this was, I see something wonderful here. The way Saul persecuted Christians was like a mirror image of how, after his repentance and conversion, he loved. Of course, this man Saul is more commonly remembered by his Roman name – Paul.

– Once Paul was intense in his hatred – he became intense in his love.
– Once Paul was energetic to persecute – he became energetic to bring the good news of Jesus Christ.
– Once Paul persecuted every suspected Christian – he became an energetic messenger of God’s salvation to everyone who would hear it.
– Once Paul followed through on his persecution – he became a man who followed through with those who responded to the good news of Jesus, leading people to become true disciples of the Messiah.

We once served sin and self these ways. Now, it’s time for us to honor God with the same intensity and energy we once gave to sin and self.

Even though Saul was a successful persecutor of the followers of Jesus, God even used that in His plan. We read, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. The result was for the glory of God because the persecution simply served to spread the message. We shouldn’t think that those who left Jerusalem left as formal preachers. Most were “accidental missionaries” who talked about Jesus wherever they went.

We can be just like these early Christians. We can share the good news of what Jesus has done in our lives. Most people don’t come to Jesus through a professional preacher or an evangelist; they come to Jesus through people just like us.

Even Saul’s “success” at persecution just advanced God’s plan.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 8

Bringing Good from Pressing and Pain

November 21, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1)

A few verses before, we met the man who supervised the execution of Stephen, who was the first martyr of the Christian faith (Acts 7:58). Acts 8:1 continues the story of Saul, telling us first that Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen. The English translation probably isn’t strong enough. The idea behind the ancient Greek word suneudokeo is “to approve, to be pleased with.” Some people are reluctant persecutors, but Saul wasn’t one of these; he took pleasure in attacking and even killing Christians.

Saul of Tarsus – whom most of us know by his Roman name, Paul – later came to deeply regret this persecution of the church. He later wrote that he was not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Stephen’s death was only the beginning, the start of a great persecution that arose against the church. The floodgates of violence were now open against the Christians and Saul was only one of many persecutors. Before, individual apostles had been arrested and beaten and persecuted. Now, every believer was threatened with violence and perhaps death.

In 1956, on the shores of a river in the jungles of Ecuador, natives murdered five missionaries who came to preach Jesus. To many, this death seemed like a senseless tragedy. Many could only see five young missionaries who had their careers cut short or the five widows and fatherless children. But God did an amazing work through those five men, even in their deaths, and the blessing long echoed through people like Elisabeth Elliot – the widow of one the missionary martyrs.

In a similar way, Stephen’s death might seem meaningless at first glance. His young ministry of power and eloquence was cut abruptly short. His ministry also seemed to end in failure – no one was immediately brought to faith, and all that came was more persecution. But as often has been the case, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.

Afterwards, they were scattered throughout the regions. Now the Christians were forced to do what they had been reluctant to do – get the message of Jesus out to the surrounding regions. In Acts 1:8 Jesus clearly told His followers to look beyond Jerusalem and bring the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the whole world. Up to this point, Jesus’ followers had not done this.

The resulting good shows us that God can and will use painful and pressing circumstances to guide His people into His will. Sometimes we must be shaken out of our comfortable state before we do what God wants us to do. When God allows some shaking, pressing, or pain, don’t forget to look for His purpose in it all. It may be something greater than you ever imagined.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

Living the Life of a Martyr

November 14, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60)

Stephen was accused, arrested, and put on trial. He made his reply to the council, then Stephen suffered their angry and violent response. At the end of it all, they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Stephen’s life ended in the same way it had been lived: In complete trust in God, believing that Jesus would take care of him in the life to come.

As he died, Stephen said something with a loud voice – everyone could hear it. He said, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” Stephen showed the same forgiving attitude that Jesus had on the cross (Luke 23:34). Stephen asked God to forgive his accusers, and he made the promises loudly and publicly.

God answered Stephen’s prayer and used it to touch the heart of a man who energetically agreed with his stoning – even though the man didn’t know the prayer was being answered. When we get to heaven, we should thank Stephen for every blessing brought through the ministry of Saul of Tarsus.

God heard Stephen’s prayer, and Paul is the evidence of it. This first martyr of the Christian faith wasn’t a superman, but he was a man filled through all his being with the Holy Spirit. Many of us have little idea of how greatly we can be used of God as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. God even uses our suffering to His glory.

Look how Luke described the death of Stephen: “He fell asleep.” This speaks of the passing of Stephen as tenderly as possible. Instead of saying simply that he died, it says that he merely fell asleep – with the idea that he woke up in a much better world.

Stephen fell asleep, but the church now had to wake up. His death was just the beginning of greater persecution to come. It was going to be a battle filled with suffering, but also filled with glory to God.

Stephen was the first martyr of the Christian faith. I like the perspective of G. Campbell Morgan about Stephen’s martyrdom. He wrote that persecution doesn’t make martyrs, it reveals them. Stephen had the heart of a martyr – a witness, someone willing to die for the sake of his testimony to Jesus – before they stoned him. As Morgan wrote, Stephen “was the first martyr to seal his testimony with his blood.”

Most of us will never die the death of a martyr. But every one of us can live the life of a martyr, faithful to the testimony of who Jesus is and what He did to save us. Today, ask God to build that faithfulness in you.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

The First Martyr

November 7, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts 7:57-58)

For the ruling council, it was just too much. It was too much when Stephen exposed their familiar sins of rejecting those God sent to deliver them, and their idolatry of the temple. It was too much when Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the place of prestige and honor in heaven.

Because it was all too much, they screamed. That is, they cried out with a loud voice. The Sanhedrin reacted quickly and violently. Jesus, before this same council, declared that He would sit at the right hand of God, and they had a similar reaction (Matthew 26:64-66).

They did not only cry out with a loud voice. They also stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord. The reaction of the Sanhedrin seems extreme but is typical of those who reject God and are lost in spiritual insanity. They wailed in agony and covered their ears at the revelation of God, which they regarded as blasphemy.

It is a dangerous thing to be religious apart from a real relationship with Jesus Christ. This fulfills what Jesus warned about in John 16:2-3: Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him: The extent of their rage was shown by their execution of Stephen, which was done without regard for Roman law, and which was performed according to traditional Jewish custom (stoning).

The commentator F.F. Bruce quoted a second-century Jewish writing to explain stoning. First, they gave the condemned man the opportunity to confess. Then they stripped off his clothing. Next, one of the witnesses to the crime pushed him from a height. If that didn’t kill him, then the second witness dropped a heavy stone on the condemned man’s chest. If this didn’t kill him, they threw rocks at the condemned man until he was dead.

In all this, the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. A man named Saul was the supervisor of the operation. The phrase “young man” literally means, “a man in his prime.” He was almost certainly a member of the Sanhedrin, and he heartily approved of Stephen’s execution.

Stephen was the first Christian martyr. His death was a shock to the early church. Yet God did not abandon Stephen; Jesus received him in glory and used his death to bring many into the kingdom. The saying of the early church proved true: the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church’s harvest.

In Jesus, our sorrows need never be wasted.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

Jesus Standing By

October 31, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Grinding Teeth

October 24, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. (Acts 7:54)

This is a remarkable scene from Acts. Stephen, a servant-leader among the early Christians, was on trial before the same council that, just a few years earlier, had sent Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion. Stephen gave a remarkably eloquent and bold explanation of the council’s sin.

In response, these powerful men were cut to the heart. The council was angry because Stephen’s message hit the target. They couldn’t dismiss or ignore what he said. They were guilty of the same sins as many of their forefathers. They made an idol out of the temple, and they often rejected the deliverers God sent them. Especially, they rejected God’s ultimate Deliverer: Jesus Christ.

The Sanhedrin reacted with rage – they gnashed at him with their teeth. It is remarkable to think of this response from men who were dignified and respected leaders. This would as if a group of senators or ministers of parliament ground their teeth in anger in response to the testimony of a witness at a hearing.

According to some commentators (such as Gaebelein), the verb tenses in this sentence indicate that they did not wait until Stephen finished his speech to start grinding their teeth. It was a prolonged gnashing of teeth that lasted through all his words.

It’s not good to grind your teeth. The practice may show that someone is under a lot of stress, or lives with a lot of anger. It is a bad practice for your body, but here it was even worse as an indication of the spiritual condition of these men.

Many times in the Old Testament the gnashing of teeth describes how enemies of God’s people reacted with fury against those whom they persecuted:

They tore at me and did not cease…they gnashed at me with their teeth. (Psalm 35:16)

The wicked will see it and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and melt away (Psalm 112:10)

All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth. (Lamentations 3:16)

In at least 5 different places in Matthew, Jesus described hell (the lake of fire) as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” So when we read, they gnashed at him with their teeth, it can’t help but remind us of the imagery of Hell.

These men were prominent, successful, and appeared to be religious; yet they rejected God and associated with hell, not heaven. The stress and anger of their rebellion against God showed itself in the grinding of their teeth.

Yet in all of this, God had His victory. Look at Psalm 37:12-13: The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The LORD laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming.

Today, take confidence in God’s victory – even over those who grind their teeth against Him and His people!

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

Don’t Make the Same Mistakes

October 17, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.(Acts 7:51-52)

When Stephen was on trial before the Sanhedrin, he gave a history lesson. The points of his lesson were clear: God revealed Himself to Israel many times apart from the temple, and Israel often rejected those God sent to deliver them (such as Joseph and Moses).

Then, like any good preacher, Stephen applied the truth from the Bible. He said, “You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” We can imagine the angry whispering among the Sanhedrin as Stephen’s history lesson began to make sense. Stephen saw this and knew they were once again rejecting again the One God sent, just as before.

Stephen boldly confronted them with their sin: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!” Drawing on concepts from the Old Testament, Stephen rebuked those who rejected Jesus as stiff-necked (as Israel was described in passages like Exodus 32:9), and as uncircumcised in heart and ears (as Israel was described in passages like Jeremiah 9:26).

Almost 20 times in the Old Testament, God called Israel stiff-necked. These religious leaders in Acts 7 were acting just as their forefathers acted. Israel also prided itself on the sign of circumcision because it separated them from the Gentiles. Stephen essentially said, “You are just like the Gentiles in your rejection of the Lord.”

Stephen’s main point was unmistakable: “As Israel was in its history, so you are today. God gave you the law, but you have not kept it.” This accusation must have outraged those who prided themselves on their obedience to the law.

Though it must have offended the council, Stephen’s message was true. First, God is no respecter of places; that is, though the temple was a wonderful gift from God, it was wrong to overemphasize it as “the house of God.” Second, Israel at that time was guilty of what they had often been guilty of: rejecting God’s messengers.

Jesus said that it is impossible for old wineskins to hold new wine (Matthew 9:17). Through Stephen, the Holy Spirit showed how the old traditions of Judaism (especially the over-emphasis on the temple) could not contain the new wine of Christianity.

One idea behind a permanent temple is that God says, “you come to Me.” Israel was to be a light to the nations, but mainly thought the world should come to them for salvation. Through the church, God would show a different heart to the world: “I will go to you.”

We must not make the same mistake: repeating the sins of our forefathers, thinking the world will come to us for the message of salvation. God helping us, we will honor God and reach a needy world.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

God Greater Than His Temple

October 10, 2021/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran…” (Acts 7:1-2)

Stephen, a leader in the early church, was on trial before the highest council of the Jewish elders – the Sanhedrin. The high priest mentioned here was probably still Caiaphas, who also presided over the trial of Jesus (Matthew 26:57).

The high priest asked Stephen, Are these things so? He invited Stephen to explain himself considering the accusations recorded in Acts 6:11-14. Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God, and against this holy place [the temple], and against the law.

In his response Stephen gave a panorama of Old Testament history. We shouldn’t think Stephen instructed the Sanhedrin on points of Jewish history they didn’t know. Instead, Stephen emphasized some themes in Jewish history they may not have considered:

– The Bible says God never confined Himself to one place (like the temple).
– The Bible says the Jewish people often rejected those God sent them.

This really was not a defense. Stephen wasn’t interested in defending himself. He simply wanted to proclaim the truth about Jesus in a way people could understand. Stephen wasn’t trying to be acquitted; he wanted to clearly present God’s truth.

One of the charges against Stephen was that he spoke against the temple, and the same accusation was made against Jesus. Some of the Jewish people of the first century had made an idol out of the temple. They took something good – the temple and its services – and made it the entire center of God’s work. They thought so highly of the temple that it was a death-deserving sin to speak against it!

Stephen confronted this false and dangerous idolatry by remembering Abraham. Stephen explained, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. Stephen emphasized that the God of glory appeared to Abraham before he even came into the Promised Land.

Abraham didn’t need a temple for this revelation of the God of glory, and he didn’t even have to be in the land of Israel. God was greater than either. This explained why it was wrong for this council to put Stephen on trial for speaking against the temple.

It wasn’t as if God was in Canaan and Abraham was in Mesopotamia, and God said to Abraham “Come on over here so that I can speak to you.” God appeared to Abraham right where he was in Mesopotamia. He was the God of Israel and Jerusalem and the temple; but God was and is so much more.

Don’t think that you must go to a certain place for God to reveal Himself to you. We don’t go to church because it’s the only place God is; we go because that’s where His people gather. The God of all creation can speak to you right where you are today.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7