November 9, 2023

Passage Read: Revelation 5-6
Meditation Verse: 5:5

Thought

Jesus triumphed and so is worthy to open the scroll. How did He triumph? According to the songs that follow, He triumphed by giving His life to purchase men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. He triumphed by being obedient to His Father to the point of death. He did not love His life so much as to shrink from death, but surrendered Himself and His life in obedience to the Father. He lived in perfect obedience and died in perfect obedience, so He triumphed over sin and Satan and all temptation, so that His death would not be deserved, but could stand in payment for our lives, our souls.

Application

I too should not love my life so much as to shrink from death on behalf of Christ. I too should not love my life so much as to shrink from obedience to the Father. Though I cannot claim to have triumphed over sin for all of my life, but I can determine to conquer it in and through Christ, over the course of however many days remain to me. I must prefer obedience to the Father over my own preferences and comfort, and even my own life. I am not my own, I was bought with a price, and that price is Jesus's triumphant death.