Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 17–19; Revelation 7 Click HERE to give! 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 2nd episode, Hunter guides us through Ezekiel 17–19 and Revelation 7.
Ezekiel gives us vivid riddles and prophetic pictures of Israel’s history, its broken covenants, and the consequences of choosing its own way. Yet running through these difficult chapters is an important word about responsibility, repentance, and God’s desire to bring life out of what appears hopeless.
Then Revelation gives us an extraordinary vision. John sees a multitude so vast that no one can count them, gathered from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They stand together before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white and singing the song of salvation.
Who are these people? And how did they get there?
Today’s devotion invites us to see that they are not standing before God because they successfully hid their failures or managed to make themselves worthy. They have been washed, healed, and clothed by the Lamb. Their old coverings of shame, fear, reputation, and striving have been exchanged for the life of Christ.
This is our invitation too. We can stop hiding, stop striving to make ourselves acceptable, and receive the love that makes us new.
TODAY'S DEVOTION:
Who are these people dressed in white?
And why does John take such care to describe them?
John looks and sees a vast crowd, far too great to count.
They come from every nation.
Every tribe.
Every people.
Every language.
They are standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
And together they are singing:
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
But who are they?
One of the elders tells John that these are the ones who have come through great suffering. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
It is a strange and beautiful image.
They are dressed in white, but not because they managed to keep themselves clean.
They stand where they stand because of what the Lamb has done for them.
They once knew hunger and thirst.
Now they are satisfied.
They once knew tears and sorrow.
Now every tear is being wiped away.
They once knew what it was to feel exposed, vulnerable, ashamed, and alone.
Now they are sheltered.
They are known.
They belong.
They are loved.
And perhaps this is one of the great invitations of the gospel.
We spend so much of our lives trying to find something with which to clothe ourselves.
We clothe ourselves in our accomplishments.
We clothe ourselves in reputation.
We clothe ourselves in religion.
We clothe ourselves in being right.
We clothe ourselves in the approval of other people.
We try to cover the parts of ourselves that we fear others might see.
We hide our wounds.
We hide our failures.
We hide our shame.
We keep adding layers, hoping eventually we will feel safe.
But none of these garments can give us the life we are looking for.
The people John sees have let those old garments go.
They have come before God as they really are.
And the Lamb has done for them what they could never do for themselves.
He has made them clean.
He has given them life.
He has clothed them in himself.
That is why they sing.
Their song is not about what they have accomplished.
Their song is about what God has done.
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
This is good news for us today.
You do not have to hide.
You do not have to manufacture a version of yourself that you think God will finally accept.
You do not have to cover your shame with achievement, religion, success, or the approval of others.
You can come as you are.
The Lamb has stepped forward for you.
The Lamb has given himself for you.
The Lamb clothes you in his own life and love.
And notice who is standing there.
Every nation.
Every tribe.
Every people.
Every language.
This is the great family God is gathering.
The Lamb is not building a small tribe of people who look alike, think alike, speak alike, or come from the same place.
He is gathering humanity.
And together this innumerable multitude discovers what is true.
They are known.
They are sheltered.
They are loved.
Their hunger will not have the final word.
Their thirst...
