106. Friday after Septuagesima Sunday.
God, anoint our eyes
with thy Holy Spirit!
Isaiah 53, 10-12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
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The love with which God loves us is inconceivably great; so intense and deep that it pleased him — actually pleased him — to bruise his only begotten Son and put him to grief, when this was necessary, in order that we might be saved. At what a sacrifice have we not been bought! How great was the labor which was done by the Son of God in order to deliver us from the power of death! Yes, he, he has labored for us, and done the pleasure of the Lord, and set us free. He has fulfilled all righteousness, he has done every deed of the law, he has borne the whole punishment, he has paid the whole debt, he has suffered all pain, he has endured all trouble, he has tasted all the bitterness of death in our stead, and brought his work to perfect completion; the pleasure of the Lord has succeeded by his hand. Now he lives alway to intercede for us. What, then, is his reward? His reward is to give us a portion with himself in the joys of heaven. His reward is to own our hearts, to have our trust and our love. Is this, then, worth so much to him? Yes, it is; for the reason that he is love, and for the reason that we are they whom it has pleased him to love so well. Truly, I grow dizzy when I attempt to search this matter out; but I am and shall be inexpressibly rich in joy and glory in and through my Lord Jesus. I am righteous, I am holy, I am saved and glorified through him. None can bring anything to my charge; none can condemn me. I believe and confess that Jesus is my righteousness before God; I stay by him, my high priest; in him I am wholly righteous, and there is nothing which I must do to become righteous. He has taken away my sin, and I am clothed in his righteousness. All who know him are justified by him. I will therefore give myself wholly to thee, my precious Savior. Thou didst pour out thy soul unto death, in order that I might find room in thee instead of making my home with the devil. Take me in, Lord Jesus; I am thine, I love thee, I serve thee, I live unto thee, and I am blessed in giving myself to thee as the spoil of thy work of salvation; thou whose delight it is to own us, and whose meat it is to be loved by us, thou great and eternally blessed God, praised and glorified by all the hosts of heaven! Amen.*
Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
When from the dust of death I rise,
To take my mansion in the skies,
This even then shall be my plea:
“Jesus hath lived and died for me.”
[TLH 371, LSB 563 (listen here); or ELH 432 (listen here)]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.