Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

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

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: Isaiah 44:21-28 (NKJV)

21 “Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!

22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.

24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;

25 Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, and drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness;

26 Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ to the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ and I will raise up her waste places;

27 Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;

28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”‘”

Devotion

On account of your faith in the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the tree of the holy cross for your salvation, the heavenly Father has blotted out your transgressions and sins like a thick cloud. We have all experienced thick fog, and how impossible it is to see very far when we are in it. So, too, are your sins blotted out. They cannot be seen. They are blotted out on account of the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we rejoice and sing “Alleluia!” Praise the Lord! The whole world rejoices and sings—the lower parts of the Earth; the mountains; the forest, and every tree in it. We have been made Christians in the womb of the Church in Holy Baptism. Our heavenly Father has washed us and made us His children on account of the sacrifice of His Beloved Son Jesus.

We now cling to Him in faith and lay our transgressions before His throne of grace, so that we might receive from Him, forgiveness, life and salvation. He has opened for us the door of Heaven and eternal life. He has destroyed, once and for all, the power of death and the grave, so that we might live with Him for all eternity with all the saints of Heaven. Our sins have been blotted out and we receive eternal life, even though we deserved the punishment that our Lord Jesus Christ endured. For this we give eternal thanks and praise.

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

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