Daily Devotional
May 9
Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin
by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)Republished from the OPC Website
Bible Text:
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. —Ephesians 4:10
Devotional:
Though Christ began to make a more illustrious display of his glory and power at his resurrection, having now laid aside the abject and ignoble condition of this mortal life, and the shame of the cross, yet his ascension into heaven was the real commencement of his reign. This the apostle shows, when he informs us that he "ascended that he might fill all things." Here, in an apparent contradiction, he suggests to us that there is a beautiful harmony, because Christ departed from us, that his departure might be more useful to us than that presence, which, during his continuance on earth, confined itself within the humble mansion of his body....
The Lord declared to his disciples, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." Now, he proposes a consolation for his bodily absence, that he "will not leave them comfortless, or orphans, but will come again to them," in a manner invisible, indeed, but more desirable: because they were then taught by a more certain experience that the authority which he enjoys, and the power which he exercises, is sufficient for the faithful, not only to procure them a blessed life, but to insure them a happy death.
... Being received up into heaven, therefore, he removed his bodily presence from our view; not that he might no longer be present with the faithful who were still in a state of pilgrimage on earth, but that he might govern both heaven and earth by a more efficacious energy. Moreover, his promise, that he would be with us till the end of the world, he has performed by his ascension; by which, as his body was elevated above all heavens, so his power and energy have been diffused and extended beyond all the limits of heaven and earth. —Institutes, II, xvi, xiv
John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.
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