The Amazing Grace of Salvation History: The Great Vigil of Easter


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One of the world’s most famous hymns is “Amazing Grace”. It begins with the words “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

These words speak to the journey of John Newton, the writer of this beloved hymn. Before Newton became known as for his hymn, he was a ship captain during the slave trade. 

Newton weathered many storms. At one point in time, he himself was sold as a slave. Yet it was after a literal storm that Newton had an awakening, leading to his own conversion and his eventual path to the priesthood in the Church of England.

Newton didn’t immediately give up his role in the slave trade after his conversion. When he did give it up, though, he became one of the greatest abolitionists in the land, using his inside knowledge to help destroy the slave trade from without.

While he could not have seen it at the time, every part of Newton’s path in his life led him to finding God. Every path led him to that Amazing Grace he came to speak so elegantly about.

We don’t always see where God is working right away, yet when we look at the path behind us, we often become enlightened to what God has been working in us all along.

This is what we witness this eve of sunset as we have journeyed through all our readings to the story of Jesus’ Resurrection. On this night, we have traveled in Salvation History throughout the Old and New Testaments. We have seen near the beginning of time with the Flood. We have walked through the Red Sea with the ancient Israelites. We have heard the Prophets of old. We have journeyed through the waters of Baptism with the early Christians. We have witnessed the empty tomb with the women of Jerusalem and with Peter.

We hear in the words of the Prophets that God is providing something new for God’s people. We see the depths God was willing to go for the ancient Israelites as they flee captivity in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea. We see God’s protection over the people as the waters cover their slave masters trying to take them back.

We see God from the very start with the Flood working to remake us into something better, and protecting Noah and his family in the Ark in order that mankind might one day be saved.

We see the work and transformation God is doing through us in the Baptism Paul speaks of with the Romans.

All these events are seen through the lens of the Cross. All of them show God’s love and willingness to work something new in our hearts in order to save us. All pave the way for God’s redemptive work through our Lord Jesus Christ and allow for His great sacrifice to be turned into the miracle of the Resurrection of the Dead.

We don’t see where God is working until we look back. We witness that through John Newton’s life and through the great course of Salvation History leading up to our Lord’s Resurrection which we celebrate this night. When we look back, as we have this eve, we see the threads God has laid out for our salvation throughout history. Our hope is to see these threads too in our lives. The Resurrection is proof that God is working something new in our lives, that God is transforming our very selves. As we see with Noah, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul, Peter, Mary Madeline, Joanna, Mary, mother of James, and John Newton, God’s transformation in our hearts is life-giving as it is life altering, if only we will accept the gift God gives us of this transformation with His Grace. 



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