January 19 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 1:35–39

Devotional

It was at the tenth hour that John and Andrew were introduced to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Truly, this was an unforgettable hour. It was an hour of unsurpassed joy for the soul. It was an hour in which they met their Surety. In this hour they were privileged to meet Him who could deliver them from the burden of guilt.

Do you know such a tenth hour in your life? This tenth hour cannot be understood apart from those hours that preceded it. These are the hours of recognizing sin and guilt. The Lamb of God is of no significance if we have not understood John’s preaching of penitence which was to prepare the way for Christ. That is why Christ asked, “What seek ye?” He who thinks he has met the Lamb of God must examine himself whether he knows something of this preparatory way.

Are you burdened under the demands of the law? Are you afflicted by the law that pursues and threatens you and demands payment of what you owe? Is this yoke that God’s law lays upon you too heavy for you? If this is the case you will not be able to remain in the school of John the Baptist. The demands of the law cannot bring you any further, since you have nothing to pay with. But then there is a tenth hour in which lost sinners are acquainted with the Lamb who takes the guilt away. In that hour you experience that the curse has been taken away.

The yoke of law preaching is hard. However, in that hour it is heard, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There are no locusts or wild honey, no sad countenance, no fasting in sackcloth and ashes with Christ. With Him there is full satisfaction of joy. There is healing with Him even for those who only touch the hem of His garment. Even though His payment for sin is much greater and deeper than initially realized in that hour, it is still an incomparable joy for a lost child of Adam to behold Christ.

Have you experienced an hour in which you looked to Christ as your Surety? Taste and see that the Lord is good. Do not forget your time with the Lord. It is God who led you into this hour. Many hours of human life can be forgotten, but these tenth hours cannot sink away in a sea of forgetfulness. Times of acquaintance with the Lamb of God are a foretaste of eternal joy. And when your last hour comes, it will forever be the tenth hour!

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.