March 23 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"One Lord" (Ephesians 4:5).

Devotional

The church is also one in the Son—"There is one Lord." The Lord Jesus is the one Head, as he is the one Foundation, of the church. All believers are chosen in Christ, blessed in Christ, saved in Christ, preserved in Christ, and will be glorified in Christ. The work of Christ is the one resting-place of their souls. They rely for pardon upon the same blood. They rely for acceptance upon the same righteousness. And they rely for sanctification upon the same grace. One in Christ, all other differences and distinctions are merged and forgotten: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

Blessed truth! The "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction" (Rom. 3:22) imparts the same completeness to all believers in Christ. Upon the breastplate of the great High Priest, now within the veil, every name is alike written—not a sectarian appellation dims the luster of the "Urim and the Thummin," in whose glowing light the names of all the saints are alike enshrined.

What a uniting truth is this! Jesus is the one Head of life, light, and love to all his saints. He carried the transgression of all. He bore the curse of all. He endured the hell of all. He pardons the sin of all He supplies the need of all. He soothes the sorrows of all. And he lives and intercedes for all. To him all alike go—it is true, with different degrees of knowledge and of faith, and from different points. Yet, to Jesus, as to one Savior, one Brother, one Lord, they all alike go.

Oh! what a cementing principle is this! The body of Christ—the purchase of the same blood, loved with the same affection, and in heaven represented by the same Advocate, and soon, oh, how soon, to be "glorified together" with him.

What love, then, ought you to bear towards him whom Jesus has so loved! How can you feel coldly to, or look unkindly at, or speak uncharitably of, one whom Jesus has redeemed with the same precious blood, and whom he carries each moment in the same loving heart?

The church's one Foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word:
from heav'n he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from ev'ry nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with ev'ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain and cherish
is with her to the end;
though there be those who hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against or foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail.

'Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with the God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

(Samuel J. Stone, 1866)

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.