Let Us Love One Another, as Christ Jesus Has Loved Us and Loves Us to the End

“The Lord’s Passover” (Ex. 12:11) and “the blood of the covenant” at Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:8) foreshow the Lord’s Supper. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, now covers us, and we keep His Supper “as a feast to the Lord” (Ex. 12:14). In Him, we see “the God of Israel” (Ex. 24:10), and yet He does not lay His hand on us to punish us, but from His hand we eat and drink in peace. As our High Priest, He “entered once for all into the holy places … by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). He shed His own blood in order to “purify our conscience” and bring us before His God and Father “without blemish” (Heb. 9:14). The holy apostles received this New Testament in His blood from the Lord Jesus “on the night when he was betrayed,” and they delivered the same to His Church, which we also now receive in the name and remembrance of Christ (1 Cor. 11:23–26; Matt. 26:26–28). He has “loved his own who were in the world” and He loves us “to the end” (John 13:1); therefore, let us also “love one another” (John 13:34).

Now Is the Hour When the Son of Man Is Glorified

“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming.” He comes in gentle humility, “sitting on a donkey’s colt,” yet also as the King of Israel “in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13, 15). His royal glory is faithful obedience and self-sacrificing service “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). The love of God is manifested in the cross and Passion of His Son for the salvation of sinners. Since He has borne our sins and suffered our death, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9), and He exalts us in His resurrection. Our Lord did not hide His face “from disgrace and spitting” (Is. 50:6), but He trusted His God and Father, who raised Him from death and the grave and exalted Him to His right hand. This same King Jesus now comes to us in gentle humility in His Supper, where He feeds us with His body and cleanses and covers us with His blood, so that “after his resurrection” we also shall rise and enter the holy city (Matt. 27:52–53).

Our Lenten Midweek Prayer service for Wednesday, April 1, focuses on the Sixth and Seventh Petitions, and the Conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer. Join us via live stream at 5:00PM at www.bethanylcs.org/livestream, or on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

Jesus Christ Is the Resurrection and the Life

The illness and death of Lazarus happened “that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus prompted His arrest and crucifixion, whereby He would die “for the nation” and gather “into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51–52). As He called Lazarus from…

Our Lenten Evening Prayer service for Wednesday, March 25, focuses on the Fifth Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. Join us via live stream at 5:00PM at www.bethanylcs.org/livestream, or on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, and Made Man

“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). But “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). He opens ears to hear and wombs to conceive. “Let it be to me according to your Word,” says St. Mary (Luke 1:38). The Most High who once dwelt in the tabernacle comes to overshadow Mary, who believes the angel’s “annunciation” (Luke 1:35). “The virgin shall conceive and bear…

We Worship the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit and Truth of His Gospel

Though the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, “all the congregation of the people of Israel” grumbled against Him because “there was no water for the people to drink” (Ex. 17:1). Despite their quarreling, the Lord graciously provided for them. He did not strike the people for their sins, but by the hand of Moses He struck the rock instead and brought forth water for the people. In the same way, living water flows from the pierced side of Christ at “about the sixth hour” (John 4:6; 19:14), when He…

Our Lenten Evening Prayer service for Wednesday, March 11, focuses on the Second and Third Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

The Word of the Gospel Opens the Eyes of Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus

The Lord called Abram (Abraham) to leave his home and go to a land that God would show him. He also promised to make of Abram “a great nation,” to bless him and make his name great as a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:2–3). “Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (Gen. 12:4), and in Canaan “he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). He “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Here the grace of God…