Preparing for Worship - March 31, 2024

This Sunday is Easter Sunday when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There are a number of possible readings since there can be a Sunrise Service and others. I will include here the one you will most likely hear.

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 25:6-9. It is a prophecy of the heavenly joy for all believers in the Promised Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. The veil of sorrow and death that covers all people will be taken away, along with all tears and reproach. It will happen on the mountain of the Lord as Jesus suffers and dies and rise again in victory. He dies and rises for all people, but the heavenly blessings come only to those who are brought to trust in Him and wait with joy for His salvation. The celebration in heaven is pictured as a great feast and celebration.

In Psalm 16, David knows that he has no good apart from the Lord. He praises the Lord for the cup of blessing and the beautiful inheritance he will have from the Lord. In v.9-10, David prophesies of the Holy One, Jesus, his coming Savior, who will die but not see corruption. He will rise and make known the path to eternal life through Him and provide joy and pleasures forevermore in His presence in heaven.

In Mark 16:1-8, women come to the tomb of Jesus on the Sunday after His death on the cross. They come to anoint the body of Jesus with spices but find the stone rolled away from the tomb, the grave empty, and a young man (an angel) announcing that Jesus has risen from the dead. They are to tell the disciples and Peter to go to Galilee, where they will see Jesus alive again, just as he had said (Mark 14:28). The women flee from the tomb, and at first, in fear and trembling, they tell no one. That quickly changes, the other Gospels tell us. (What scholars think are the earliest manuscripts of Mark do not have verses 9-20, but these verses simply affirm what is said in other Scriptures. Some think that the abrupt ending in verse 8 may be a way of saying that Jesus did rise and the tomb was empty. Eyewitnesses tell us that. What ending will you put on this for yourself? Will you believe in what all the Scriptures affirm - that Jesus died and rose also for you, that you may have eternal life? See also, for example, John 20:19-31.)

The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Paul affirms that Jesus died and was buried but rose again on the third day. Paul mentions many people who saw Jesus alive again. Paul himself was one of those people, a strong unbeliever and persecutor of Christians until Jesus appeared alive to him. He turned his life around to faith in Him by God’s grace. Paul was now a preacher of the Good News of Jesus because he knew it was all true. Paul also says that as he wrote this letter to the Corinthians, there were many others still alive who had seen the Risen Lord and were eyewitnesses to Him.