I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Savior.
– Isaiah 43:11.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, trying Him, and saying: "Master, which is the great commandment of the Law?" Jesus said unto him: "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets." So instead of walking into the open trap, and setting one commandment above the other, our Lord recited the sum of all commandments and of all their explanations, which is the love toward God and toward the neighbor. But who dare boast of this love? Who can thereby become righteous before God and be saved? Not one. – Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them: "What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?" They said unto Him: "The son of David." He said unto them: "How, then, doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool? If David, then, called Him Lord, how is He his son? " And no man was able to answer Him a word. And the trials were at an end. (Matthew 22, 34-46.)

True, Christ is the son of David. But at the same time Christ is He who through the prophet said: " I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior." And Jesus is the Lord who became David's son and our only Savior. And He, through His vicarious life, suffering, death, and resurrection, procured for us that righteousness which we sinners could never bring about by the fulfillment of the Law. Let us look to Him in faith, then shall we be righteous before God and obtain life eternal.

PRAYER. – O Jesus Christ, my Lord and God – Lord and God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David, and of all who in all ages desired Your salvation – I give thanks to You, for You have kept Your gracious Word, and by Your salutary birth and by Your bitter suffering and death did make Yourself our Savior. Truly, besides You there is no Savior. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit I may bow my knees before You in firm confidence, and be and remain a partaker of Your salvation, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost are true God, blessed forever. Amen.

Hymn 93, 3. 4.

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him, who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line, Whom David Lord did call;
The God incarnate, Man divine; And crown Him Lord of all!

These devotions are adapted from Crumbs by C. M. Zorn (1914).
The hymn stanzas are from Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (1918).
The illustration is from The Doré Bible Gallery (circa 1885).