November 23 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Government under God is good. This we learn in Romans 13. Government that takes the place of God becomes a beast. This we learn in Revelation 13.

The government of a country can, and often does, surrender to the beast. That's probably why nearly all Christians are intuitively opposed to permitting a great deal of power to flow into the hands of only a few. We know the nature of the human race and the character of the beast who takes his orders from the dragon.

On the other hand, we also know that the government must have power to interfere, for the good of the citizens. Otherwise it is money that decides who the oppressor will be and who the oppressed. Mammon also takes orders from the dragon.

That's why we must interest ourselves in politics.

The Christians who read and heard this Scripture for the first time recognized the emperor of Rome as the beast who ruled the earth. These Christians knew from their own experience how people worshiped the beast. Maybe they themselves had asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against it?" At that time it was unthinkable that the Roman Empire could fall.

Rome did fall. But the fall of Rome did not mean the end of the beast's rule. In the ninth century, Christians knew the beast. In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther had a name for the beast. And in the opening years of the twenty-first century, there is no shortage of those who persecute the Christian church.

Until the everlasting kingdom is revealed, the beasts rising from the political sea of nations will be permitted their blasphemies. It will last forty-two months or three-and-a-half years—a time, times, and half a time. That is, as long as the fury of the devil and the persecution of the woman continue.

REFLECTIONS

Who or what would you identify as a "beast" that is "rising from the political sea of nations" and attacking the Christian church today?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.