#DailyDevotion We Will Walk In The Land Of The Living

Introit  (Psalm 116:3–5, 8–9; Antiphon: John 16:22)

Now is your | time of grief,*

      but I will see you again and no one will take a- | way your joy.

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came up- | on me;*

      I was overcome by trouble and | sorrow.

Then I called on the name | of the Lord:*

      “O Lord, | save me!”

The Lord is gracious and | righteous;*

      our God is full of com- | passion.

For You, O Lord, have delivered my | soul from death,*

      my eyes from tears, my feet from | stumbling,

That I may walk be- | fore the Lord*

      in the land of the | living.

Glory be to the Father and | to the Son

      and to the Holy | Spirit;

as it was in the be- | ginning,

      is now and will be forever. | Amen.

Now is your | time of grief,*

      but I will see you again and no one will take a- | way your joy.

Now this psalm is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. The antiphon (Now is your | time of grief, but I will see you again and no one will take away your joy.) is taken from the Gospel but if aptly chosen because it speaks the truth of this psalm. Indeed, the cords of death entangled Jesus upon the cross and the grave. He allowed this to happen and gave himself into it. Yet, he experienced the pain and suffering of death as the due payment for our sins.

As Jesus cries out Psalm 22, he fulfills the verse, “Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, save me!’” For while the verses in that psalm start off with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” they also speak, Psa 22:27 “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.” Jesus believes the words in this psalm, the Lord will deliver him from death even as he accepts death into his soul. And so, on the third day Jesus is risen from the dead, walking in the land of  the living. His three day trip to the grave caused them grief but he saw them again and gave them joy.

Now this applies to you as well. Even as we are grieved because we do not see Jesus now, we shall see him again in the land of the living and be filled with joy. Though we still die, this psalm also says, Psa 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” All of you who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, this means you. If our Father would not leave Jesus in the grave, you who followed him and carried your cross, he will not leave you in the grave either. We may cry out the same words of Christ, but we do so with the same faith of Christ. This psalm is the promise of your resurrection also. He will raise you up from the dead. You will see Jesus again. You will be filled with the joy the apostles were when they saw the Lord. You will walk before the Lord forever in the land of the living.

Heavenly Father, even as you have raised your son from the dead, so too, grant us faith in Jesus that we may be raise to life eternal, to walk in the land of the living and may this promise give us the strength as we walk today through the shadow of death. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.