Today in the Word Devotional

Today In The Word
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Today in the Word is a daily audio devotional available via podcast. Today in the Word features solid biblical content and study that models the mission and values of Moody Bible Institute.

  1. 17h ago

    God the Victorious Farmer

    I have often been encouraged to think of biblical prophecy in terms of seeing mountain ranges from a distance. There are one or more mountains in the foreground, and others in the background. They may have similar features. We can’t really see how far apart they are or what lies between them. At our location in history, we look back and see prophecies fulfilled. We also look forward and see prophecies yet to be fulfilled. How long until we reach the next “mountain”? Only God knows! Isaiah 61 begins with God telling us who He is (vv. 8–9). He loves justice and hates evil. He’s faithful, makes and keeps covenants, and gives blessings. The people He has chosen will be known among the nations, to His glory. Our fitting response is to delight and rejoice in the Lord (v. 10). Our wedding day is coming (see Rev. 19:9)! God is the groom, we His people are the bride. Our groom is also our high priest (see Heb. 2:17). He’s dressing us for the big day with “garments of salvation” and “a robe of his righteousness.” As Paul wrote: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14). Verse 11 reimagines all this in agricultural terms: Just as seeds grow and plants sprout, God will “make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (cf. Isa. 45:8). God will bring His kingdom plans to fruition, as surely as in the growing seed parable and as perfectly as in Isaiah’s threshing parable. It’s inevitable. Sovereignty is the divine attribute stressed here. In the short “mountain view,” the prophet had in view Israel’s return from exile. In the long “mountain view,” he also saw the eschatological implication of the Millennial Kingdom. Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    God the Victorious Farmer

  2. 1d ago

    Judgment Harvest

    In cartoons and even serious paintings and movies, death is often personified as a tall brooding figure in a dark robe. This deathly figure carries a scythe, which is a staff with a curved blade used for harvesting wheat and other crops. Thus, the term “grim reaper” refers to this foreboding figure who threatens to steal away life by sheer force. In Revelation 14, though, it is Christ Himself who holds the power of life and death and is pictured with a sickle for harvesting (vv. 14–16). “One like a son of man” is a messianic reference (Dan. 7:13). He wears a crown of gold, showing His kingship. His sharp sickle indicates His power and authority to judge. A sickle is similar to a scythe but generally shorter in the staff and blade. It can be used more precisely. An angel announces God’s decree, and Christ harvests the earth of His followers. A second judgment follows, this time of the wicked (vv. 17–20). For this one, an angel holds the sickle. Another angel announces a decree of judgment. Grapes are harvested and thrown into the “great winepress of God’s wrath” (cf. Rev. 19:15). Their trampling yields not wine but blood. The first harvest pictures Christ gathering His believers. There are no negative images. The second harvest is the judgment of the wicked. This imagery is only negative. This is the two-part harvest described in the parable of the wheat and the weeds yesterday. John the Baptist had similarly prophesied that the Messiah would gather His wheat into the barn and burn up the chaff with “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12). This vision is not time-specific, so we don’t know when these “harvests” will take place. What we do know is that they will perfectly carry out God’s love and justice. Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Judgment Harvest

  3. 2d ago

    Wheat and Weeds

    In August 2012, 40 goats were released into a park in Regina, a city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Why? To help control unwanted vegetation. Goats will eat almost anything, including weeds, and naturalists decided to put their habits to good use. Said one: “It’s environmentally friendly, chemical-free, great for the community.” Too bad that wasn’t possible in today’s parable, in which Jesus gave another agricultural picture of the kingdom of heaven (vv. 24–30). In Matthew 13, we read that a farmer sowed good seeds to grow wheat, but an enemy came and sowed bad seeds to grow weeds in the same field. When the wheat sprouted, the truth was revealed. What to do? Pull up the weeds? No, because that might harm the genuine wheat. Separating one from the other would have to wait until harvest time. Then the wheat would go into the barn and the weeds into a fire. Later, Jesus explained this parable to His puzzled disciples (vv. 36–43). The farmer is the Son of Man, Himself. The field is the world. The enemy is Satan. The good seeds are the “people of the kingdom,” or genuine believers. The bad seeds are the “people of the evil one,” including counterfeit believers. They are growing side-by-side in this present age. The harvest is the “end of the age.” The harvesters are angels, servants of God. There are two eternal destinies here. The weeds, “everything that causes sin and all who do evil,” will be pulled up and thrown into a “blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The wheat are the “righteous [who] will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (see Dan. 12:3). For us now, one lesson is discernment. Not all who say “Lord, Lord” will enter His kingdom (Matt. 7:21–23). Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Wheat and Weeds

  4. 3d ago

    Waiting for Christ’s Return

    What I once wrote in On Waiting Well, I feel now more than ever: “To follow Christ means we yearn at all times in all ways for His return.” The champions of faith in Hebrews 11 “waited in faith, hope, and expectancy, sure of God’s faithful love and of the superior city God has prepared [Heb. 11:16]. They are models for us on our own journeys. When Christ returns, they and we will finally be home.” Waiting for Christ’s return can be compared to farming, according to today’s passage. As we have seen in this study, the growth of the kingdom of God is like a crop growing toward harvest. It might seem slow, the progress almost imperceptible. But it’s definitely happening and is under God’s sovereign timing and control. One lesson for us from this is patience (vv. 7–8). We can be eager and patient at the same time. Just as a farmer waits patiently for the rains to come and crops to ripen, so we should be waiting patiently for our Lord’s return. It is “near” or imminent, meaning that it could happen at any time. Patience here includes standing firm or holding on to faith, especially in the face of suffering and persecution (v. 10). Another lesson for us is not grumbling against one another (v. 9). In other words, while we’re waiting, we should live in brotherly love. This honors Christ and exhibits the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). James draws our attention to two examples to help us obey these two lessons (vv. 10–11). First, the prophets were examples of faithfulness despite suffering. They patiently continued speaking God’s words despite their mostly hardhearted audiences. Second, Job also persevered in faith through suffering. Both Job and the prophets trusted that “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Waiting for Christ’s Return

  5. 4d ago

    The Sovereign Farmer

    George Washington, America’s first president, said of farming: “Agriculture is the most healthy, the most useful, and the most noble employment of man.” Today’s reading is an Old Testament poetic parable about the kingdom of God and the accomplishment of His plans. In Isaiah 28, God is pictured as a farmer. When farmers do their tasks, they don’t do them mindlessly or repeat them continually for no reason (vv. 24–25). For example, a farmer finishes plowing, then moves on to sowing seeds. Similarly, farmers deal with different types of seeds in the right ways (vv. 27–28). Cumin and caraway seeds are small and delicate and must be threshed differently than other kinds. The spiritual lesson here is that God knows and does everything in the right way at the right time (v. 29). His plans and actions are “wonderful” and “magnificent.” If farmers know the right way to do their work—by paying attention to God’s created order, we infer from verse 26—then surely we can trust God to know the right way to do His work. Furthermore, if farmers know to vary their processes according to the type of seed and crop, understanding that one size doesn’t fit all, then surely we can trust God to know and do the right thing in the right way at the right time. This includes His warnings earlier in this chapter to the leaders of Ephraim and Judah. The picture of cumin and caraway seeds being threshed instead of crushed implies that God might judge or punish His people, but He won’t destroy them (v. 27). His faithful covenant love can be trusted, even when His people are doing wrong. The title “LORD Almighty” is a bit generic (v. 29). Other translations render this “Lord of hosts” or “Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” The focus is on His sovereign and mighty power. Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Sovereign Farmer

  6. 5d ago

    The Growing Seed

    The people who owned our house before us planted tulips, a perennial flower. They appear every year, no matter how little we do, and bloom on all sides of our house in a variety of colors. Though we spoke a few days ago of all the work involved in gardening, these tulips take no work at all. The growing seed mentioned in Jesus’ parable in Mark 4 sounds like that. In yet another agricultural image, Jesus described the entire process of farming, from planting to harvesting. The process is inevitable. These pictures would have been very familiar and ordinary to His audience. What was Jesus saying about the kingdom of God (v. 26)? Just as seeds grow to harvest without human agency, so also does the kingdom of God. The farmer “does not know how” the harvest arrives (v. 27). It’s not that the farmer doesn’t matter, but he cannot cause the growth process to occur. Similarly, the growth of God’s kingdom depends on Him; it does not depend on human beings. It will surely happen, no matter what we do or don’t do, not unlike the tulips above. We can say with confidence that one of the results of this month’s study is understanding that the death-to-life process seen in seeds is a natural object lesson revealing supernatural truths. This transformation is not the result of human knowledge or effort, but of God’s wisdom and power. The gospel “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). The harvest is the consummation of the kingdom. This parable, unique to Mark, shows again that the kingdom won’t come all at once. As we know, the harvest is a time of judgment as well (Joel 3:13). Some sorting will need to be done when that day comes (see Day 29)! Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Growing Seed

  7. 6d ago

    Sowing Bodies

    As I accumulate birthdays, I’m becoming increasingly convinced of the second law of thermodynamics, that is, of entropy, the tendency of things to decay. I am speaking, of course, of the aches and pains of aging. The knee that throbs. The arthritis in that shoulder. Even the sudden need for reading glasses. If you share my experience, take heart. Believers in Christ will one day receive a new, redeemed, spiritual body suitable for spending eternity with Him. Again, God takes the principle of you reap what you sow and turns it into something better. Unimaginably better. We sow a body that was destined to decay and die, and in exchange we reap a glorified body that will last forever! What will our future glorified bodies be like? Different (vv. 35–41). Our current bodies are merely seeds. Seeds die and are transformed. Just as different seeds become various plants, so also will there be different, glorified bodies, from people to animals to astronomical objects. Paul then answered the question of what our future glorified bodies will be like (vv. 42–44). He did so mainly through contrast. Whereas our physical bodies now are earthly, perishable, dishonorable, weak, and natural, our resurrection bodies will be heavenly, imperishable, glorified, powerful, and spiritual. “Dishonor” refers to sin and fallenness, and “glory” to our redemption. “Weakness” refers to the effects of sin, namely, that we’re subject to death; “power” indicates that we’re free from that and will live forever. This transformation is done completely by God’s grace and strength. God breathed life into Adam, made of the dust of the ground (v. 45). So also will He breathe life into our resurrection bodies, giving them eternal life through Christ’s redemption. Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Sowing Bodies

  8. Oct 24

    Seeds Must Die

    Nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon once spoke of the importance of surrendering “one’s whole being to the great work of seeking to honour him [Christ]. Oh! I have striven for that: would to God I might attain unto it! I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to him.” This “one prayer” is inspired in large part by Jesus’ words in John 12. In the physical realm, a seed must die in order to produce life and come full circle to then produce many seeds (v. 24). The same is true spiritually (v. 25). It’s a paradox: to love life in this world is to “lose” or “destroy” it and gain nothing, but to “hate” life in this world is to “keep” or “guard” it and gain eternal life. Jesus uses the strong word “hate” as a hyperbole highlighting the contrast. Not only should we not place our values in the temporal standards of this world, we shouldn’t try a “hybrid approach” either. We must be “all in” on living for Christ (see Luke 14:26). Jesus led the way. The context is that the time had come for Him to be glorified, that is, for Him to go to the cross to die (v. 23). He would be the original Seed, and in giving Himself, He would win eternal life for all who believe. “Whoever serves me must follow me,” He said, meaning that we, too, must have the same mindset (v. 26). In comparison with following Christ, we must “hate” our lives in this world and die to self (Matt. 16:24–25; Gal. 2:20). This does not mean we’re to throw our lives away or seek out persecution or not enjoy His blessings. Rather, we’re to spend our lives wholly and completely on the right things—to make our life choices with eternity in view. Donate to Today in the Word: https://give.todayintheword.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Seeds Must Die
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Today in the Word is a daily audio devotional available via podcast. Today in the Word features solid biblical content and study that models the mission and values of Moody Bible Institute.

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