Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, Son of the living God, let me hear Your voice! Amen.
Text: John 5:25-29
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
Devotion
Death is separation of what belongs together. When Adam fell from God, he died, and so now all people are by nature dead in trespasses. This is spiritual death, which becomes eternal death, if a person is not reborn in his time of grace. Of the “dead” the Lord says that “they will hear the voice of the Son of God and live.” He is the eternal living One, who by becoming Man brought life to mankind again, and His voice contains life, so everyone who hears it is made alive. But this voice of God’s Son is nothing other than the Gospel that is preached in His Church. If you hear it and listen to the heavenly truth that it contains, then you are made alive again by the life of God’s Son. He speaks so that the dead hear. Whoever will hear, arises and lives in God. But many close their ears and remain in death. One day every person will hear anyway.
As we all are by nature spiritually dead, we are also all subjected to physical death, but the hour is coming, when all who are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth – the faithful shall enter the resurrection of life, glorified, so that body and soul enjoy eternal life and salvation, but the wicked, who in this life did not listen to His voice, shall enter the resurrection of condemnation, wretched in body and soul, condemned to the eternal fire. O listen, children of men! Listen now to the voice of God’s Son, and live!
Closing Prayer
Yes, give us the open ears of the Spirit, merciful God, so that we may obey Your call and become heirs of life. Lord Jesus, You became Man for our sake and by Your death and victory You won the whole human race as Your possession, so that You have the power of judgment over us all. O grant that we may see You with joy, when You come in the glory of Your heavenly Father. Make us alive now, that we then may enter with You into eternal life. Amen.
Hymn
God’s Son to our graves then takes His way,
His voice hear all tribes and nations;
The portals are rent that guard our clay,
And moved are the sea’s foundations.
He calls out aloud, “Ye dead, come forth!”
In glory we rise to meet Him.
O Jesus, draw near my dying bed,
And take me into Thy keeping
And say when my spirit hence is fled:
“This child is not dead, but sleeping.”
And leave me not, Savior, till I rise
To praise Thee in life eternal.
Landstad: I know of a sleep L 570:5-6 ELH 525:5-6 tr. The Lutheran Hymnary;
tune: Den signede Dag