One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on the Daily Radio Bible, a daily Bible‑in‑a‑year podcast with 20‑minute Scripture readings, Christ‑centered devotion, and guided prayer.This daily Bible reading and devotional invites you to live as a citizen of Jesus' kingdom, reconciled, renewed, and deeply loved.
TODAY'S EPISODE:
Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! On this September 3rd episode, Hunter guides us through Ezekiel 20–21, Psalm 11, and Revelation 8.
Today's readings confront us with difficult images of rebellion, violence, judgment, and a world experiencing the consequences of turning away from God. Ezekiel announces the coming sword, while Revelation gives us the frightening imagery surrounding the opening of the seventh seal and the sounding of the trumpets.
Yet right in the middle of these unsettling passages, Psalm 11 reminds us where our hope is found. The righteous Lord loves justice, and the virtuous will see his face.
Then something remarkable happens in Revelation. Heaven falls silent.
Before the Lamb, there is nothing left to say.
Today's devotion invites us into that silence and asks us to look again at the face of God revealed in Jesus. At Calvary, Christ enters into the violence and judgment of this world, not answering violence with violence but overcoming it through self-giving, radically forgiving love.
God's dream for creation is not destruction. It is reconciliation, restoration, and shalom. Even when the darkness around us seems overwhelming, we are invited to train our hearts to see what God sees and trust that Christ is making all things new.
TODAY'S DEVOTION:
Terror and the sword, and the face of God.
How sobering these passages are.
Ezekiel cries out about the sword that is coming upon a world caught up in rebellion. Revelation gives us images of terror and judgment. The prophets will not allow us to pretend that violence, idolatry, injustice, and human rebellion have no consequences.
A world bent on destruction eventually experiences the fruit of its own way.
But before we despair, the psalmist speaks:
"The righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face."
His face.
That is what God desires.
Relationship.
Communion.
Face to face.
God is not intent on destruction. God is intent on drawing his creation into the fullness of life with himself.
Yet our violence, pride, fear, and idolatry blind us to his face.
Then Revelation gives us this extraordinary scene.
The Lamb breaks the seventh seal.
And heaven falls silent.
There is awe.
There is mystery.
There is the recognition of everything that is unfolding.
Sometimes silence is the only appropriate response when we begin to see the depth of what God has done in Christ.
The psalmist asks, "Why do you say to me, 'Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety'?"
Where do we flee when the world seems overwhelmed by violence?
Where do we go when terror and the sword seem to surround us?
We fly to Christ.
We fly to Calvary.
That is our mountain of safety.
At Calvary, the Lamb of God enters completely into the violence of his rebellious creation.
And what does he do?
He does not strike back.
He does not answer violence with greater violence.
He stretches out his hands.
He forgives.
Through his self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love, Jesus enters death itself and breaks its power from within.
This is the face of God.
Look at Jesus and see.
God's dream is not endless destruction.
God's dream is a world restored.
Humanity reconciled.
Creation healed.
Enemies becoming friends.
The broken made whole.
The lost brought home.
Shalom.
Jesus has come to accomplish this, and God's dream for his creation will not fail.
The darkness around us may be easy to see.
Violence is easy to see.
Fear is easy to see.
Division and despair are easy to see.
But faith trains our eyes to see something more.
Faith teaches us to see what God sees.
It teaches us to look at the Lamb and believe that his love is stronger than death.
Paul could see the day when Christ would be all and in all.
John could see a multitude gathered around the throne.
The prophets could see swords becoming plowshares.
They were learning to see God's dream.
And so must we.
Let us fix our eyes on Christ.
Let us train our souls to recognize his face.
Let us receive his peace, his joy, his forgiveness, and his life.
And then let us go into this frightened and divided world as ambassadors of his radically reconciling love.
Sometimes the appropriate response is simply silence.
To stand in awe before the Lamb.
To see his face.
To receive his love.
And then to become what we have received.
That's the prayer I have for my own soul. That's the prayer I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, and my son. And that's the prayer I have for you.
May it be so.
TODAY'S PRAYERS:
Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.
Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen
And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray...
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen.
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