Daily Devotional For July 5, 2025
The angel which I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by the one who lives forever and ever- who created heaven and the things which are in it, the earth and the things which are in it and the sea and the things which are in it- “Time will be no more.” But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God is finished, which He proclaimed as good news through His servants the prophets. Rev 10:5-7.
My friend Jim was walking through the American cemetery overlooking the Normandy beaches in Northern France. Thousands of American soldiers lost their lives on June 6, 1944 and in the days that followed. Young boys, full of hope and promise, would risk all in a land far away from their family, homes and friends, in order to liberate a distant land from the evil empire which was Nazi Germany.
Walking through thousands of neatly lined white crosses Jim’s attention was drawn to one in particular. It read:
The world cannot contain Him
Burnell W. Coolen
Pvt 8 Inf 4 Div
Massachusetts June 21 1944
Jim realized with reverential awe that this soldier, a private, had died exactly six years before he was born! Because Private Coolen was willing to die on Jim’s birthday, Jim was born free instead of under the tyranny of the swastika. As Burnell W. Coolen lay dying in Normandy, he could not have possibly imagined that more than sixty years later, his name and heroic deed would be eulogized in a book read all over the world. But that is how the acts of dedication are often rewarded. Long after the actor has passed from the stage of life, others are inspired by his or her acts of courage.1
In the New Testament the “mystery of God” is the gospel, that which was hidden in ages past but brought to light through the proclamation of Jesus Christ (Rom 16:25-26). According to the Book of Revelation, there will be a great final proclamation of the gospel just before the blowing of the last trumpet. That gospel tells us that another One was willing to die for you and me, far away from His home, so that we could live in freedom and make a difference in this world.
Lord, I want to walk in the footsteps of the One who died for me. I take up His marching orders as I approach the final events of earth‘s history. Help me to keep in step with His cadence today.
1 Based on an email from Jim Park, July 6, 2004.