Daily EncouragementNäide

These words remind us that there is hope in the darkest hour for the kingdom of God. It would have been difficult for Luke to draw up a more comprehensive list of villains and evil men than this one, which comprises the names of the secular and religious leaders of the day. Not much room for the true and living God among that crowd! No wonder it was only the godly remnant, the Simeons and the Annas, who lived in hope. And hope did not disappoint them, for John’s voice now rang out in the wilderness.

The brightest light on a dark day in Church and State is a man to whom the word of God has come. “John was a lamp that burned and gave light” (John 5:35). Shafts of light began to pierce the thick darkness which characterized the Church of Luther’s day when he nailed his theses to the door. Hope came to Britain - morally degraded and on the verge of revolution - when Wesley and Whitefield rode out with the word of the Lord.

The real rulers of the world are the prophets of God. “See,” says the Lord to Jeremiah, “today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10).