Preparing for Worship - October 22, 2023

The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 45:1-7, is an amazing prophesy of the coming of Cyrus, founder of the Persian Empire, long before he was even born. “For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel, My chosen,” God says that He will “anoint” and raise up Cyrus and “go before” him, so that he could easily conquer Babylon and then set God’s captive people free from the Babylonians to return to Israel. The Lord could predict and plan to do all this, long before it happened, because He alone is God. “There is no other,” and He is God for people “from the rising of the sun to the west” - for all people.

The Psalm is Psalm 96:1-9 (10-13). The psalmist calls upon “all the earth,” “all the peoples” “among the nations” to “sing a new song” to the Lord. He is to be “greatly praised” because He “made the heavens” and “established the world,” and “all the gods of other peoples are worthless idols.” He is to be “worshiped” and “glorified” in all the earth. He comes “to judge the world in “righteousness” and “faithfulness.”

The Epistle lesson begins a series of readings from 1 Thessalonians. Paul wrote to the people of this church as people God had “chosen.” They had “received the Word (of God) in much affliction” and “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They were living now in “faith” and “love” and “hope in the (risen) Lord Jesus, who will deliver them (and us) from the wrath to come. (You can read more about Paul and the Thessalonians in Acts 17:1-9.)

The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 22:15-22. Some of the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Herodians, people who ruled on behalf of the Romans, came to Jesus with a question, hoping to trap Him and condemn His for his words. They pretended to be complimentary of Jesus, but Jesus knew they were hypocrites. The question was “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus used a coin to show that they lived in two kingdoms. In the kingdom of this world, where government is needed, they should pay their taxes and give support. Also being in the Kingdom of God, they should give God the honor and worship and trust due to Him. The questioners went away marveling at Jesus and His answer.