Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Beautiful bringer of God's great mercy Sunday, April 12, 2009 John 20:1-9 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) New day dawns. It’s hard for me to comprehend the change Jesus brought to the world until now ruled by the renegade angel Satan. When the stone was rolled away, so was the dominion of evil. I don’t see it clearly; we killed a hundred million of our brothers and sisters in the twentieth century. Men use God’s name to destroy each other. How can that be in the world that Jesus came to save? This awful anomaly notwithstanding, how would we ever choose to roll the stone back into place? Is the new covenant, the New Testament that Jesus brought worth so little? A song we sang in church this weekend evokes both grief and joy in me: God sent his Son, incarnate word named Jesus God and man Humbled himself, born of the virgin Mary Without sin Jesus, God of all glory, he’s Jesus Oh what a story of God’s great mercy Under the law, born in a low condition Wrath of God Cursed to the cross, suffered and died then buried Power of death Jesus God of all glory, he’s Jesus Oh what a story of God's great mercy Jesus gracious redeemer, he’s Jesus Beautiful bringer of God's great mercy And in rising again ascending to heaven He sits at the right hand of God And in coming again to judge the world at the last day Christ is exalted … Christ is exalted …* Read the next part of John’s story. Unlike Peter and John, Mary waited by the tomb, weeping. And guess what? Jesus came. Living in the world with all its evil does confuse me. I often feel alone. But there is a more real reality just beyond my eyes, just beyond my reach, and that reality is Jesus. Maybe I don’t get to him the way I’d like, but He gets to me. And when I close my eyes and look, He’s there. Hallelujah! You are with me, Jesus; what can man do to me? It is better to take refuge in you than to trust in man. You are my strength and my song, and you have become my salvation. I give thanks to you, O Lord, for you are good. And your love endures forever. * â€�Christ is Exaltedâ€� by Ryan Flanigan: http://cdn1.libsyn.com/insideworship/Christ_Is_Exalted.pdf?nvb=20090412120437&nva=20090413121437&t=0bb24ac4d4f6ee8a4a887 "; Add      Edit    Delete