Lent Devotional - March 24, 2023

Hymn: “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth” (LSB #438, v. 4)

Lord, when Your glory I shall see
And taste Your kingdom’s pleasure,
Your blood my royal robe shall be,
My joy beyond all measure!
When I appear before Your throne,
Your righteousness shall be my crown;
With these I need not hide me.
And there, in garments richly wrought,
As Your own bride shall we be brought
To stand in joy beside You.
 
In this verse, we sing with confidence about the future that is coming to us. We do not say “if Your glory I shall see,” but “when.” Not “if I appear before Your throne,” but “when.” We have confidence that we shall be brought to stand in joy beside Christ at the side of His throne. Our confidence comes not from within ourselves, either by focusing on the strength of our own faith or our own goodness before the throne of God. Our confidence comes entirely from Christ, the Lamb who went forth willingly to bear our punishments, died on the cross, and then rose again on the third day. Christ is risen and therein lies our confidence for the future.

            Since Christ has died and is risen from the dead, we shall see His glory and taste His kingdom’s pleasure. We get a foretaste of this feast to come every time we partake of the Lord’s body and blood at His table. We literally taste the goodness of God’s kingdom, as the psalmist instructs us to do (Psalm 34:8).

            Since Christ has died and is risen from the dead, His blood is our royal robe, His righteousness is our crown, and we shall stand in garments richly wrought. The death and resurrection of Jesus gives us a whole new wardrobe! Picture the white robe which Pastor wears on Sunday morning, symbolic of the white robe of righteousness which Christ gives to all of those washed in His blood. Picture the multitude in white robes gathered before the throne of the Lamb in Revelation 7. This is you by faith. You are a part of this fine-dressed crew. Your wardrobe has been upgraded.

            Since Christ has died and is risen from the dead, I do not need to hide myself in any other thing. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and God came strolling along, do you remember how they reacted? They covered themselves in fig leaves and tried to hide in the bushes. How well did that work for them? It is the same with our feeble attempts to clothe ourselves and hide ourselves from the wrath of God. The only thing which clothes us is Jesus. His blood. His crown of righteousness given as a gift. His blood-stained robe which makes us clean. The only reason that we shall appear before the throne of God on the Last Day as a bride beautifully adorned for her husband is because that Husband of ours died…and rose again. Thanks be to God for this amazing gift of love, undertaken willingly by the eternal Son. It is in this beautiful act, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, that we have joy…eternally.