The theme for John Macarthur Daily Devotional December 24 2022 is ”The Restriction of Man’s Destiny”
Here is today’s John Macarthur daily devotionals designed for your today’s spiritual refreshment. Kindly read today’s teaching by John Macarthur, meditate on the word of God and endeavor to act in accordance with them. As you start your day with God through his word, may he go before you to perfect all you have to do today.
Read John Macarthur Daily Devotional December 24 2022:
SCRIPTURE: “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him” (Heb. 2:8).
God’s original destiny for man was restricted by man’s sin.
God gave man dominion over all the earth, and the earth supplied his every need. All he had to do was accept and enjoy the earth as provided for him. But Adam sinned and Satan usurped the crown. A new chain of command was born: the earth now rules man.
To know how true that is, all you need do is look at the amount of effort expended on restoring the ecological balance of the earth. Environmentalism is a popular watchword of our day. Yet with all our modern technology, we are still unable to gain control over the earth.
Look what happened once Adam sinned: no longer could man easily harvest what the earth provided—now he had to toil by the sweat of his brow (Gen. 3:18). Women would experience pain in childbirth (3:16). Murder soon followed in Adam’s family. God had to destroy virtually all mankind in the Flood because they had become so debauched.
Much of the animal kingdom now lives in fear of man and cannot be tamed. Where once the earth produced good things naturally and abundantly, now it produces thorns, weeds, and other harmful things. Extremes of heat and cold, poisonous plants and reptiles, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, hurricanes, and disease were all products of the Fall. Man was no longer a king but a slave—a dying creature fighting a losing battle with a dying earth.
Amazingly, the earth is aware of its condition: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it” (Rom. 8:20). Now it eagerly awaits for the day when the sons of God, believers, are manifest in the kingdom, for then it will be liberated from the bondage of corruption (vv. 19, 21-22).
There is coming a day, in the wonderful plan of God, when man will receive once again the dominion that he lost. May our Lord hasten its coming!
Suggestion for Prayer
Thank God that He will one day redeem the earth from its subjection to the curse.
For Further Study
Read Isaiah 60:21, 65:25, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:27. What will characterize the new earth?
Credit for todays Grace To You Daily devotional December 24 2022: Grace to you/gty.org
