The final chapter of the Gospel of Matthew shows us the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the event that changes everything.
Matthew 28 Verse by Verse
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A Prayer Prompted by Matthew 28
Heavenly Father,
You are the Source of all life and the Creator of all things. And we understand that you gave your Son to suffer death in our place so that our sins would be forgiven.
We thank you for Jesus, who died, but was always planning to rise from the dead. He is now risen, just as he said.
He has conquered the grave and the gates of hell cannot prevail against his church.
Though we may feel sinful, dirty and lost, we trust that our sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ.
Though we may feel forgotten and alone, we understand that he is Immanuel, God with us, and he has promised to be with us always.
Help us to constantly keep that in mind as we wait for his soon return.
Thank you in Christ’s name,
Amen.
Ultimate victory – Matthew 28
The resurrection turns the ultimate defeat into the ultimate victory. Sin, death and Satan have now been dealt with forever because the Son of God has risen from the grave. The consequences of humanity’s fall into sin are reversed, never to take control of us again.
Just before issuing his Great Commission to the disciples, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” That means the sin, death and Satan combined have approximately zero authority.
Since this deals once and for all with our biggest problem, lesser problems also come into a proper perspective. All of the hurts, problems and defeats that I have experienced or that I have caused are reduced to times that my team and I have fallen behind in a winning game. It may look bad for the moment but our final victory is ultimately assured.
There is never a reason big enough to give up hope. Christ is risen and someday we too will be resurrected into a completely new life in him.
A Prayer Prompted by Matthew 22
Heavenly Father,
We say yes to your invitation to come to marriage supper of the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ. As we do, however, we admit that it is only by your grace and his shed blood that we can come. It is not on the basis of our own righteousness.
We then confess our belief in Jesus as both our human Savior and our divine Lord.
We acknowledge our belief in the resurrection of the dead, and to that end we cry, “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus,” as we await his soon return.
We also pray that you would help us to be model citizens while here on this earth, obeying those in authority and faithfully paying what we owe. At the same time help us to remember that all earthly authority is still subject to you.
Finally, we ask your help in doing all that we do in love, first of all in love for you, but also in love for others – a love that no one could deny in both our attitudes and our behavior.
And we pray all of this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Central Reflections 