Al's Devotional

Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.  Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.  But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries . Exo 23:20 -22     The angel of the covenant   I . His nature was Divine.   1. Equal with God. (1) Bearing the Divine name; "My name is in Him." The incommunicable covenant name of Jehovah. (2) Performing Divine actions; " Mine angel shall go ," etc., " I will cut them off ." So New Testament, " I and My father are one ." 2. Distinct from the personality of the speaker, " I send ," so New Testament, " The Father which sent Me ."   II. His office was to conduct the covenant peopl...

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.  Rom 3:21 -26     The righteousness of God   In various places this phrase signifies either that holiness and rectitude of character which is the attribute of God, or that distributive justice by which He maintains the ...

This is exceptional! And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  Rev 9:2-3     And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.  Rev 9:7    The fictions of sin   These mystical locusts personify the lusts and passions which destroy the soul, and which, destroying the soul, destroy all things. Our text suggests that sin affects great things, it promises great things, and it never gives what it promises. " On their heads were as it were crowns of gold ." It is not a real, solid, golden crown, but " as it were ." Sin always acts by an...