Tuesday within the Octave of the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ

Scripture: Ezekiel 31:25-27 (NKJV)

25 “‘‘Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, 26 thus says the Lord God:

“Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing shall remain the same. exalt the humble, and humble the exalted.

27 Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.”‘”

Devotion

All of us are poor, miserable sinners ruled in this life by a wicked, profane and iniquitous king. We are ruled by sin, death and the devil—the unholy trinity. On account of our sin, we are not worthy to be a part of the spiritual Israel, and deserve to be led into eternal exile in Hell, where the wicked and profane prince of Hell, the devil, scowls as fierce as he will against all of the good creation of God.

But our loving and merciful God and Father sent us a new Prince and Ruler; His One and Only-Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. By His perfect obedience to the Law of God and on account of His suffering and death in our place on the tree of the holy cross, the wicked and profane prince of the world, the devil, has been overthrown. He can no longer harm us. He has been judged; the deed is done. He cannot rule over us any longer.

We have been rescued and ransomed from sin, death and devil. They have no more power over us. Therefore, us poor, miserable sinners—even though we do not merit it on account of anything that we do—have the gift of eternal life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and with all the company of the spiritual Israel forever.

We pray: Almighty God, Who through the resurrection of Thy Son didst secure peace for our troubled conscience, grant unto us evermore this peace, that, trusting in the merit of Thy Son, we at length come unto the perfect peace of Heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.