Daily EncouragementSample

These words express the positive purpose which God had in view when he brought the people out of Egypt. He brought them out to bring them into the promised land.

The same is the case with the great salvation of which their experience was a type: “For he has rescued as from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). The preacher of the gospel is sent to fulfil this positive purpose: “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18). If the bringing out is wonderful - and it is - the bringing in is more glorious still.

Exhortations and prayers in the Epistles encourage us to enter fully in to the riches of our salvation in Christ: “that you may know . . . the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints’ (Eph. 1:18-19). Equally relevant are the solemn reminders in Deuteronomy of those who through disobedience and unbelief failed to enter the promised land. “So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Heb. 3:7).