An Easter Devotional

I wrote the blog series, “Psalms of our Suffering Savior,” to help us “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead” (2 Tim. 2:8).

It is to be used devotionally leading up to Easter (Resurrection Sunday). It is a 12-day devotional that starts with the Triumphant Entry and goes through to the Ascension of Jesus Christ.[1]

In these devotions, we’ll be looking at Psalms that express Jesus’ experience. Jesus “saw in the experiences of David the pattern, writ small, of his own calling.”[2] And as Jesus said, in Luke 24:44 “the Psalms must be fulfilled.”[3]

These devotionals will help us see how it is that Jesus fulfilled the Psalms.[4] And it is quite amazing to see.

Remember “many prophets and righteous people longed  to see what you see” (Matt. 13:17)! So, let’s intentionally celebrate and “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead”! 

If you’re interested in this devotional series, like the Facebook page here or follow the blog via email (look to the right under the search bar) and receive the devotionals that way.

It is my desire that through the “Psalms of our Suffering Savior” we would grow in our love of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God. If you profit from this series even just a fraction as much as I have from writing it then I believe it will be well worth your time.

[1] So this devotional does not follow the chronology since Jesus ascended to the Father forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3).

[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 180. We see this all over the Gospels. Look for example at the Gospel of Mark: Mk. 14:18/Ps. 41:10, Mk. 14:34/Ps. 42:5, 11, 43:5, Mk. 14:55/Ps. 37:32?, Mk. 14:57/Ps. 27:12, 35:11, 69:4, Mk. 15:24/Ps. 22:18, Mk. 15:29/Ps. 22:7; Mk. 30-31/Ps. 22:8?, Mk. 15:32/Ps. 22:6; 69:9, Mk. 15:34/Ps. 22:1, Mk. 15:36/Ps. 69:21, and Mk. 15:40/Ps. 38:11. 

[3] “The Gospel made extensive use of the Psalms to disclose Jesus’ identity” (C. Hassell Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms, 89). The Psalms are quoted more often in the New Testament than any other book. There are some 400 quotations from the book of Psalms in the New Testament; of course, this list includes phrases as well as complete verses. Only Isaiah comes anywhere close the frequency of the Psalms (see Ibid., 89).

[4] “In the words of St. Augustine, ‘the New Testament is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.’ A Savior is anticipated in the Old Testament; he is named Jesus by the New Testament” (Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms, 65).