January 27 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Devotional

Here is the grand evidence of the perfection and acceptance of Christ's sacrifice. On the cross he had uttered that wondrous cry, which sent gladness through all heaven and dismay through all hell—"It is finished" (John 19:30).

But, look, he dies! The Captain of our salvation is conquered! The promised Victor is vanquished! He is laid in the grave! The stone covers him! The earth imprisons him! What proof do you now have that he is more than mortal? What evidence that he is God? What divine seal is fastened to the great charter of redemption? What pledge do you have that it is complete? What security against the law's loud thunder, and the consuming flames of justice—against the wrath of an offended God, and the condemnation that is to come? In a word, how may you know that all the divine perfections are harmonized in your salvation, and that "whoever believes in [Jesus] shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)?

Behold, the Father raises him from the dead! This is the evidence, this is the seal, this is the pledge, and this is the security. You do not need to ask any more. It satisfied God; it satisfies you. At that moment all created intelligences were summoned to witness the great and final seal fastened to redemption's perfect work. And while every eye was thus intently focused on the yielding grave, the Father—in that stupendous act of his power and love—uttered his solemn voice, "This is my beloved Son, in whose person I delight, and with whose work I am well satisfied."

Oh, what majesty now encircled the rising form of the incarnate God! Never had he appeared so truly a Savior, never so illustrious a Redeemer, and never so perfectly the Mediator and Advocate as now—sealed by God the Father, made alive by God the Spirit, and radiant with the beams of his own divine glory.

Thine be the glory, risen, conqu'ring Son;
endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.

(Edmond L. Budry, 1884; Tr. Richard B. Hoyle, 1923)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.