Monday after the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord

Scripture: Hosea 13:14 (NKJV)

13:14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.

Devotion

Christ’s Church celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus every Sunday, but on Easter we make it a “more special” celebration. This event, along with Christ’s death on Good Friday, is the “main event” in the Christian Church. Without these events we would have no doctrine, no teaching, no reason for the Church to exist!

The women in yesterday’s text had a job to do. Their dear friend had been crucified and His body hurriedly placed in a tomb. Now that the Sabbath was over they needed to give Him a proper burial. We know that their expectation of finding His body in the tomb was wrong. It was clear that they didn’t expect Him to rise, and when they saw His body was gone they were very much afraid.

Many times in the Old Testament the Lord had told His people He would redeem them from death and the power of the grave. In our reading from Hosea for today we read, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O grave, I will be your destruction!”

However, right from the fall into sin, the devil, the world, and our old sinful nature have been making us afraid to take the Lord at His Word. Luther says: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ…or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me…and kept me in the true faith” (Third Article, Small Catechism).

We pray: Grant, Almighty God, that we who celebrate the solemnities of the Lord’s resurrection may by the renewal of Thy Holy Spirit rise again from the death of the soul; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.