May 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev. 1:18).

Devotional

O Christian reader, if you fully believe this one truth—that Jesus is alive again—then it will give you greater confirmation of the truthfulness of God's character, the trustworthiness of his Word, and the perfection and all-sufficiency of Christ's work than all other truths beside.

Is Jesus alive at the right hand of God? Then the debt is paid, and justice is satisfied. Is Jesus alive at the right hand of God? Then the Father is well pleased in the work of his Son, and "he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing" (Zeph. 3:17). Is Jesus alive at the right hand of God? Then every promise shall be fulfilled, all the blessings of the everlasting covenant shall be freely bestowed, and I—a poor worthless sinner, yet resting upon his atoning work—shall also live.

May the Holy Spirit lead you into the full belief of this glorious truth—the belief of the heart as well as of the judgment. This is the keystone of the temple. Press it as you will. The more you lean upon it, the stronger you will find it. The more you rest upon it, the firmer your hope will grow.

Only receive it in simple faith. Jesus is alive! Alive for you! All you need in this valley of tears is here! All your temporal mercies are secured to you here! All your spiritual blessings are laid up for you here!

Such is the great charter and such the immense untold blessings it contains that, come how you will, come when you will, and ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you (John 15:7). Why? Because Jesus is alive at the right hand of God.

You may well take up the dauntless challenge of the apostle Paul, "It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. 8:33–35). Your salvation is complete, your heaven secure, and all victory, happiness, and glory bound up in this one great fact.

You may well exclaim with the apostle Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet:1:3).

Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
and, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him,
ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and by his grace,
vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust.
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well
nought from him my heart can sever,
life nor death nor powers of hell,
joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
but my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
hast a crown of life before thee;
thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian's Trust.

(Christian F. Gellert, 1757; tr. by J. D. Lang, 1826)

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.