March 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:50–51).

Devotional

How touching and instructive is this parting interview! Oh, how worthy of himself was this, our Savior's final blessing! How harmonious with every previous act of his life was this, its closing act! Blessing to the last! And while with outstretched hands he was still breathing that blessing from his lips, he was "taken up into glory" (1Tim. 3:16). Oh, how full of grace and love is our adorable Immanuel! What a heart of overflowing tenderness and blessing is his!

Since we know this—both from experience and from the innumerable proofs which crowd every page of the New Testament—is it not a marvel that we would seek our blessing from any source other than Jesus? Is it not amazing that we would breathe our sighs, or pour our sorrows, or rest our aching heads, on any bosom other than his? Alas, our acquaintance with him—our best, our dearest, our most loving Friend—is so limited. We walk with him so coldly. We follow him so distantly. We believe in him so feebly. The greatest wonder is that in the midst of it all, his patient forbearance towards us is still so unwearied! His tender love towards us is still so great!

But who can describe this parting interview and last blessing? Clustered around him as a lonely timid band, saddened as they must have been by the thought that they were about to separate forever on earth from him whom they loved better than life itself—as many of them afterwards proved—to whom they were used to looking for guidance, on whom they were used to leaning for strength, and to the shelter of whose bosom they were used to fleeing in danger and in sorrow. They needed his blessing. They needed that which no one except Jesus could give to them. They were oppressed, and he alone could undertake for them. They were in sorrow, and he alone could comfort them. They were tried and perplexed, and he alone could sustain and counsel them.

And what do you suppose the blessing that he now breathed over them would contain? The richer anointing of the Spirit to fit them for their work. A larger measure of grace to shield them in temptation and to uphold them in trial. Increased light in their understanding with respect to the spiritual nature of his kingdom, as well as the meaning of the Holy Scriptures of truth. And—what to them at that moment would be unspeakably precious—a deeper discovery of his own pardoning love, a fuller assurance of their personal acceptance in himself, and a richer bestowment of the "peace of God, which passes all understanding" (Phil. 4:7).

Thus blessing, he "parted from them, and was carried up into heaven," to intercede for them there. And thus blessed, "they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (Luke 24:42), to spread the fragrance and to manifest the power of his name through all the world.

One there is, above all others,
well deserves the name of Friend;
His is love beyond a brother's,
costly, free, and knows no end:
they who once his kindness prove
find it everlasting love.

Which of all our friends, to save us,
could or would have shed his blood?
But our Jesus died to have us
reconciled in him to God.
This was boundless love indeed;
Jesus is a Friend in need.

When he lived on earth abased,
"Friend of sinners" was his name,
now above all glory raised,
he rejoices in the same;
still he calls them brethren, friends,
and to all their wants attends.

Could we bear from one another
what he daily bears from us?
Yet this glorious Friend and Brother
loves us though we treat him thus:
though for good we render ill,
he accounts us brethren still.

O for grace our hearts to soften!
Teach us, Lord, at length to love,
we, alas! forget too often
what a Friend we have above.
But when home our souls are brought,
we will love thee as we ought.

(John Newton, 1779)

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.