Today: How Yesterday and Tomorrow Intersect

Hebrews 1:15 calls us to hear God's voice semeron—today. Joseph Exell's 1887 exposition reveals three vital truths about the present moment.

First, today stands between yesterday and tomorrow with distinct purpose. We honor yesterday by extracting its lessons to strengthen today's choices. We prepare tomorrow authentically by proving faithful to today's opportunities. Jesus warned that looking backward unfits us for kingdom work; Christian loyalty demands breaking with the old for the new's sake.

Second, today holds critical importance. Both Old and New Testaments emphasize the present moment: "We must work while it is day." Our present character becomes the Divine judgment upon past conduct. Yet today is not merely history—it prophesies the future. Foresight is truly insight. No violent rupture separates yesterday from today; whatever emerges tomorrow already exists in today's seeds. Evolution, not revolution, characterizes spiritual growth. Today is yesterday's child and heir; tomorrow will be today's child and heir.

Third, each day arrives laden with blessing prepared through millennia. Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia—priests and philosophers, prophets and poets, discoverers and inventors across countless centuries have contributed to your present opportunity. The vegetation of primeval years fuels today's fires. Every dawn carries countless relations with distant things and people. We inherit material and moral good wrought through ages of human struggle and labor.

No day is poor or commonplace to the prepared soul.