Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

December 24– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.”

—Isaiah 40:5

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world will be converted to Christ— when the gods of the heathen will be cast to the moles and the bats, when Romanism will be destroyed and the crescent of Mohammed will fade. Never again will they cast their menacing rays upon the nations. Kings will bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations will call their Redeemer blessed.

Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is in it will one day to be burnt up; but, afterwards, we will see a new heaven and a new earth. We cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that Jesus will rule the entire world, and he works methodically toward that end.

We are not discouraged by the length of his delays. We are not disheartened by the long period during which he lets the church struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never allow this world, which has already seen Christ’s blood shed upon it, to remain the devil’s stronghold. Christ here came to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout will be heard when men and angels unite to cry “Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”

What satisfaction we will have on that day to have shared in the fight, to have participated in breaking the arrows of the bow and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are those who entrust themselves to the Conquering Lord and who fight side by side with him, doing their little in his name and by his strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is not only a losing side but a loss which loses all things forever. Which side are you on this evening? [M&E]