May 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ephesians 4:1-13:

¹I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
²With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
³Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
⁴There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
⁵One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
⁶One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
⁷But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
⁸Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
⁹(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
¹⁰He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
¹¹And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
¹²For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
¹³Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Devotional

Much is made in our day of Christmas and also of Easter, but Ascension Day is well nigh forgotten. Yet it is of the utmost importance, and for the believer of the greatest comfort.

By nature we lay in the dark dungeon of sin. We were cap­tives of Satan, and in the power of death and hell. We could not free ourselves. We were bound with unbreakable chains, and the walls of our prison house were insurmountable. But Christ came to deliver us. He left his heavenly glory and descended into the lower parts of the earth. There is where we were. He came to us, into the very depths of our lost condition to lift us up and set us free. He did this by taking our sins upon himself, and paying the penalty for them, by dying on the accursed tree, the shame­ful cross. And then, after being three days in the grave, rising again from the dead and ascending into glory. By so doing He not only set us free, but made prisoners of those who held us captive. He led captivity captive. "Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." He now is our Advocate with the Father, and bestows his gifts upon us. Heaven is for us an assured reality. We already sit in heavenly places with him. We have all in Christ now, by faith.

Prayer

Our Father, we thank Thee that Jesus Christ humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and that Thou hast highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. We thank Thee that He is our advocate at Thy right hand, and makes intercession for us, and will take us, his members, up to himself to share his heavenly glory. We thank Thee for the gift of Thy Spirit, by whose power we seek those things which are above, and not things on earth. May we realize that heaven is our home. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Eph. 4:9, 10; Col. 2:15; Eph. 1:20; 2:6.

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