Why do lutherans stand for the reading of the gospel

And we have a number of hymns from England and America. We use the traditional instrument to accompany congregational singing—the organ.

What we hear and do in worship on Sunday influences our daily life and becomes part of the rhythm of our lives. Paul, in Ephesians 5. In the Communion liturgy, this takes place with the Introit at the beginning of the service of the word, which helps set the tone for that particular Sunday. There is also a shorter responsive reading, called the Gradual , before the reading of the Gospel. This serves as a bridge between the Gospel and the reading that comes before.

In the prayer services—Matins and Morning Prayer—Psalms form a main section. These services come to us from the monasteries in which the monks would pray together all the Psalms over a certain period of time. The Psalms are very conducive for reading responsively as they are Hebrew poetry. This is one way that we can grow in the faith and our understanding of that faith and learn to speak the language of faith.

Although all Scripture is the word of God, in the Communion Service we stand when the Gospel is read. By that we are recognizing the uniqueness of the Gospel for there are recorded the very acts and words of our Savior Jesus Christ; there are recorded the very acts and words of God when He became man.

By standing, we are showing respect for Him—like people stand when someone important steps into the room—and wish to give all our attention to His words and deeds recorded by the holy writers. The creed says back to God what He has just told us in His word. It is our acceptance of and saying in summary form what it is that the Church believes. The Nicene Creed from the 4th Century came about because of a heresy that denied that Jesus is true eternal God.

This creed was accepted by the whole church in council. Because it represents the united faith of the true Church, it has been traditionally used for Communion services because in the Lord's Supper we are united in Christ and with one another. The much longer Athanasian Creed nails down the two more difficult teachings of the Christian faith—the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine that Jesus is both true God and true man.

It is confessed on Trinity Sunday because of it clearly defining the doctrine of the Trinity. Forgiving sins is doing nothing other than preaching the Gospel. Without the forgiveness of sins, the gospel is no gospel. Instead, what does Christ say to His disciples? Jesus gave the authority to forgive sins to His Church.

Each Christian has the authority, then, to announce the forgiveness of sins to the person sorry for sin [Matthew The congregation has entrusted that authority to forgive sin publicly, that is, in the name of the congregation, to the pastor; the congregation has called the pastor to announce to it the absolution , which is the forgiveness of sins.

Holy Baptism clothes us with Christ [Galatians 3. It is not a one time event with no meaning today; instead, it gives meaning to our lives daily as it tells us who we are and Whose we are—dear children by grace of God.

Because it gives us the blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal life, we need to keep hearing of it and what it is and does, lest in the day-in-day-out struggles of every day life we forget what it is and its blessings and be deprived of them. In the Blessed Sacrament , Jesus gives us great spiritual blessing as He gives us His body and blood for the forgiveness of sin [Matthew But because Jesus is truly in, with and under the bread and wine [1 Corinthians All who receive this sacrament, receive the true body and blood of Christ.

That means that some can receive it not for their spiritual good but to their spiritual detriment [1 Corinthians In love for all, we invite those to receive whom we are reasonably certain are able to examine themselves [1 Corinthians When a person is a confirmed member of a congregation of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod , we can be reasonably certain that is the case.

Also, the Sacrament is a confession of faith [1 Corinthians By it we are saying that we agree in doctrine with what is taught from the pulpit and with those we are communing with.

Because of our care for your spiritual well being and because of the oneness of doctrine being confessed in this sacrament, we commune those who are confirmed members of a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and those church bodies throughout the world that are in altar and pulpit fellowship with the Missouri Synod. Will young children know exactly everything going on? Parents by bringing children week in and week out to church are teaching their children how to worship; they are teaching them the faith; they are using church and what goes on as opportunities to teach their children the faith.

They can be brought into the mystery and anticipation of the sacrament. Through the word, He is nourishing and strengthening the faith He created in baptism. Remember, Jesus wants the children to come to Him so that He may bless them [Mark We have several church books and Bible coloring books available for younger children.

However, if a child is still restless we have an area off the narthex downstairs with toys and books. Often one of the members will be more than willing to be with the toddler s so you may be at the service. Feel free to ask an usher if you have questions or need help with child care. Part of the service is an offering. It is an outward sign of our inner spiritual dedication.

However, we do not require that you give anything when you visit. The offerings are intended for the members to give them the opportunity to support and promote the preaching of the Gospel at Faith [1 Corinthians ] and throughout the world.

Because we are in the presence of the holy God we will want to show respect by what we wear—and this will differ from person to person—and how we act. However, the main thing is the heart as God cares more about the inward person than the outward appearance [1 Samuel The Holy Spirit says through St. Read Hebrews We know that He works all things for our good. And that must be the purpose in your and your mother's case, although it may be a bitter pill to swallow.

We must always turn to God in His Word and prayer for answers, never away from Him. Sometimes the answers He has are not evident right now, but later. It may even be in heaven that we see and understand His purposes.

In view of Scripture's wider teaching concerning forgiveness, it seems proper to understand Jesus' point in Matt. What Jesus is doing here, therefore, is issuing a strong warning to us to "search our hearts" to see if we really understand and accept the Gospel and its practical implications for our lives.

If we say, "I want God to forgive me, but I refuse to forgive those who sin against me," we really don't know what "forgiveness" and "faith in Jesus" are all about.

We cannot expect God to "forgive" us if the attitude of our heart reveals that we have no real understanding of or faith in his undeserved grace in Christ Jesus. Anyone who truly understands the true nature God's grace and forgiveness in Christ and puts his or her trust in that forgiveness will desire and seek to extend that forgiveness to others.

God's forgiveness is not a "reward" for our forgiving others, but once we receive it in true faith and gratitude it is impossible not to want to share it with others. Is it being sorry for your sins and confessing them to God, or does it mean to stop committing a certain sin?

Like if you are stealing, does repentance mean to stop stealing because that would mean we can stop sinning, and we know we can never stop sinning. I have sins that I commit over and over again, not like I did before I was saved, but I still commit them. So if I don't stop committing those sins repentance , does that mean that I am going to hell? And also, when the Bible talks about how worldly sorrow brings death but godly sorrow brings repentance and life, how do I know which one I have?

This "godly sorrow" comes from the Holy Spirit convicting us with God's law. But the Bible also uses the work of repentance in a broader sense to include faith in Jesus our Savior. This faith is produced by the Holy Spirit, who convinces us through the Gospel that our sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus, who lived, died and rose again for us. Put those two concepts together and you have repentance in its fullest sense.

Jesus told His disciples in Luke that repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations. According to the Bible, those who are truly sorry for their sins and trust in Jesus as their Savior also want to turn away from their sins, intending with the help of the Holy Spirit not to keep on living a life of sin.

If we want to keep on sinning, we need to ask ourselves if we have really repented. However, we are weak human beings and although we do not want to commit the same sins again and again, we may sometimes fall into sin out of weakness. Whenever we sin, we know as John says that "if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins" for the sake of Jesus our Savior 1 John If repentance becomes a "game" with God, if we don't really want or intend to stop committing a certain sin say stealing , and if we go on stealing and living always in that sin of stealing, then we place ourselves in grave spiritual danger.

We need to ask that God the Holy Spirit give us the power to stop committing that sin and trust Him to help us fight against it. Sad to say, the desire to sin may come back at times, for which we will have to repent again. That's not the same as living in sin. We all commit all kinds of sins daily, for which we have to daily repent.

As long as we are sorry for our sins and believe that God forgives our sins for Christ's sake, we will be forgiven and have eternal life. Worldly sorrow is the kind of sorrow Judas Iscariot had, which caused him to commit suicide. It was a self-centered remorse and despair that wrongly concluded that all was lost in this life, that there was no hope, that there was nothing God could do.

Second Corinthians says that this kind of sorrow brings death. But godly sorrow is true sorrow over sin accompanied by trust in Jesus for forgiveness. This is the kind of sorrow Peter had after he denied Jesus, and it is the sorrow King David had after he committed adultery and murder Psalm Godly sorrow leads to life and salvation because it includes faith in Jesus Christ. Could a person commit this sin and not know about it?

Is concern about this sin evidence that one has not committed it? It should be noted that Jesus does not say that the Pharisees had actually themselves committed this sin, but that they were in danger of doing so.

The sin against the Holy Spirit is the conscious, persistent, stubborn, unyielding refusal of someone who was at one time a believer to acknowledge his or her sin, be sorry for it, and desire God's forgiveness in Christ. It is impossible, therefore, for a confessing Christian to fall into this state unknowingly or unwillingly, and any confessing Christian who is sincerely concerned about the possibility of having committed this "sin" clearly has not committed it, because one of the necessary signs of being in this state of non-repentance and unbelief is having no real concern or remorse about being in this condition.

What happens to such people? Concordia Publishing House , , LCMS theologian Otto Sohn raises the question, "What stand does our church take regarding the heathen who have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and what is the individual's responsibility toward these people?

Christ, the Savior of the world, answered the first question in this way: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" Mark The apostle Peter put it another way: "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" Acts The same truth is expressed in John and ; Rom. Though such people have not heard the Gospel, they are without excuse Rom.

God has not left Himself without witness Acts , but He has revealed His existence by the works of nature and wants men to seek Him, if "haply they might feel after Him and find Him" Acts The Bible also reveals that people who knowingly and willfully reject the Gospel of Jesus will be more severely punished than those who never heard it Luke , Because of the horrible doom awaiting all those who do not believe in Jesus, we should seek to reach as many as possible with our own fearless witness and ardently support the missionary endeavors of our church on behalf of those whom we cannot reach with our own voice.

Nor must we forget our responsibility toward fellow Christians who are on the verge of erring from the truth, whether by word or deed Gal. And lest we should preach to others, but ourselves become castaways, we should be earnestly concerned about our own salvation Matt. While these are fiction books, they discuss the "end times" within a biblical context. What is the LCMS position on these books and their portrayal of the end times? ANSWER: The conceptual framework for the Left Behind series is the so-called "rapture," which is a central aspect of dispensational pre-millennial views of the end times.

Such views conflict with the Lutheran position on what the Scriptures and the Lutheran confessional writings teach concerning the coming of Christ and the end of the world. Included in this report is a discussion of current views of "the rapture" and helpful charts summarizing them.

It was also suggested that hell is not eternal. Are there scriptural references to support these points? Regarding heaven and "degrees of glory" the Commission says: "Eternal life is pictured in the Scriptures as a state of never-ending "blessedness.

At the same time, they will experience the unending joy of being with God in the new heavens and new earth e. Forever eliminated is the possibility of falling away from God.

This blessedness will bring with it the joy of being in eternal communion with fellow believers, whom we have reason to believe we shall recognize cf.

And, there will be no limitations or degrees attached to the enjoyment of the happiness to be experienced, though there will be degrees of glory corresponding to differences of work and fidelity here on earth, producing praise to God but no envy see 2 Cor. Lutherans certainly believe what Paul teaches in this passage, namely, that those who are still living on earth when Christ returns visibly on the last day "will be caught up" "raptured" together with "the dead in Christ" to "meet the Lord in the air.

Some Christians teach, however, that the "rapture" will take place not on the last day but in connection with an "invisible" coming of Christ occurring before a seven-year period of "tribulation" on earth, allowing Christians to "escape" this tribulation and then later return to earth for a literal "1, year reign of Christ.

Lutherans do not believe that these teachings are based on a proper understanding of Scripture. Scripture teaches that all Christians will endure varying degrees of "tribulation" until the last day, that Christ will return only once visibly to "catch up" "rapture" all believers, living and dead, into heaven, and that all believers will reign forever with him in heaven.

Lutherans understand the "1, years" of Rev. My first thought is that one cannot. But then I wonder if God takes away our free will when we get to heaven? I can't imagine why we would want to sin in heaven — we'll be perfect and the place we are will be perfect. But then I think of Adam and Eve before the fall — they were perfect, made in God's image, and they lived in a perfect place.

Yet they had free will and sinned. There is no sin in heaven, because it is the place where the sinless God dwells. Those who have been cleansed in the blood of the Lamb have been cleansed forever. There is no more death in heaven, the result of sin. We die once and then the judgment. Our death ends sin, the Scripture says. Just as the good angels are fixed in their sinless state now, so also we shall be.

We will serve God forever willingly, but it will be impossible for us to will to sin as did our first parents. In heaven it will not be like in the beginning of our human history. Old things have passed away, the new has come Rev. There will be only life, eternal life, and where there is eternal life there is eternal sinlessness. Are we judged immediately, and is our soul sent to heaven or hell or what?

The departed souls remain in heaven or hell until the Day of Judgment, when they shall be reunited with their own bodies Matt. Therefore, "The Last Judgment is the grand finale of this present world, in which the sentence pronounced in death over the individual will be publicly confirmed and extended to the body, which till then has returned to the dust, from whence it came.

He who continues in the faith unto the end has nothing to fear for his soul after death or for his body and soul on the Day of Judgment Rev. Louis: Concordia, While I truly believe that Jesus died for our sins, those who accept Him as their personal Savior, I have been troubled as to where my sister and father are now.

Are they asleep until the end of the world? Are their bodies asleep, but their souls with God? Or, are they in Heaven with God now? In the moment of death the souls of the believers enter the joy of heaven. Jesus said to the malefactor: "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" Luke Stephen said in the hour of death: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" Acts Whoever dies in the Lord is blessed "from henceforth" Rev.

Paul desires "to be with Christ," and adds that this is "far better" for him than to continue in the flesh Phil. For this reason we pray that finally, when our last hour has come, God would grant us a blessed end and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.

On the day of the final judgment, the redeemed souls in heaven will be reunited with their own now glorified bodies and will begin to enjoy the bliss of heaven in both body and soul John ; Phil. The Lutheran church has always rejected as unscriptural the idea that the soul "sleeps" between death and Judgment Day in such a way that it is not conscious of heavenly bliss.

I know the Word and the promises of the Gospel are our rock, but how do we distinguish between real faith and mere intellectual assent? I ask this because many evangelicals make me nervous when they say that if one has doubts about one's salvation, one is probably not saved because the Holy Spirit is supposed to provide inner assurance. I guess this ties in to the whole Pietist problem. But in the face of emotional ups and downs, moral failings, intellectual doubts, and confusion over doctrine, how can one know if one truly has faith in Christ?

Therefore, assurance of salvation is to be sought by looking to God's Word and promises in Christ which create and strengthen the faith through which one is saved , not by looking inward at the strength or weakness of one's own faith which creates either pride and false assurance or doubt and lack of assurance. Anxiety regarding doubts, strength of faith and certainty of salvation are signs of faith however weak it may be , not signs of unbelief, since the unbeliever has no concern or anxiety about doubts, faith or salvation.

If you would like to study this issue further, I would recommend Martin Chemnitz's book on Justification, available from Concordia Publishing House , stock no. If God already predetermined who was saved, what is the point of witnessing?

ANSWER: Let me first of all refer you to a couple of resources that set forth the position of the Synod on Election and objective or "universal" justification. From the standpoint of human reason, the scriptural teachings that God has objectively justified objective justification the whole world through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and wants all people to be saved through faith in Him subjective justification , and that He elected by grace from eternity those who are saved, cannot be resolved.

We must say with Paul when he contemplates the mystery of our election, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! And yet, we can say this on the basis of God's Word. By faith we hold that it is precisely because we Christians are God's elect that we proclaim the good news of salvation. We see this in Ephesians, where Paul begins by praising God for His election the purest of Gospel and only meant for our comfort; Eph. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ This same Apostle, who regarded himself as among God's elect, wrote to the Corinthians, "For necessity is laid upon me.

Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! We witness, therefore, because God commands us to make known His saving will to others and because we are in fact part of God's elective plan being carried out in history Eph. How does this relate to being saved by grace? ANSWER: The statements of the Creed read as follows: "At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and will give an account of their own works. And they that have done good will go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

It is important to note that the Athanasian Creed does not here say that certain people will "enter eternal life" because they "have done good. On Judgment Day, God will point to our good works not as the cause of our salvation but as the evidence of the faith through which we have been saved and which enabled us to do that which was well-pleasing in his sight. There are numerous Bible passages that make the same point and use the same language e. The confession of these sentences in the Athanasian Creed in our churches is, in fact, a helpful reminder of the relation of faith and good works as taught in the Bible.

In this connection you may wish to review the following comments on Rom. Rather, he is discussing the principle of judgment according to deeds. Judgment will be rendered according to one's deeds in the sense that the good works of the believer give evidence that he has faith. Good works, which are seen, give evidence of faith, which is unseen. However, in your Theses on Justification on this website it says plainly that believers have eternal assurance paragraph Which is it?

ANSWER: Lutherans believe both are true and Scriptural: It is possible for a believer to fall from faith and lose salvation, and it is possible for a believer to have complete assurance of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

If this seems paradoxical to human reason, then Lutherans say this is only because the teaching of Scripture itself on this issue as on many other issues appears paradoxical to human reason.

For Lutherans, this is essentially a matter of properly distinguishing between Law and Gospel: Warnings against falling from faith are the strongest form of God's Law, intended to warn against "carnal security" based on "good works" or against the attitude that "since I'm saved, I can do anything I want to do. Assurances of God's constant and eternal love in Christ are the sweetest and purest form of Gospel, intended to comfort those who are plagued by their sins and by their failures to keep God's Law perfectly.

QUESTION: I am having some trouble coming to understanding of faith alone based off of the Scripture that was cited on your website, and I was hoping for further explanation regarding the seemingly conflicting messages. I think for me what is most problematic is actually Romans 2 — not listed as a reference but essential in understanding fully Romans 3 and 4.

Romans 2 is based on the idea that to be truly Jewish is to be inwardly circumcised and not outwardly circumcised and inwardly something else. Then given Romans 3 and 4, is this necessarily an attack on good works as being a means for salvation or is this an attack on professing to be one thing and actually being another? I was just wondering because of the obvious stark contrast to James As you no doubt are aware, the central and consistent teaching of Paul that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ is nowhere more beautifully summarized than in Eph.

By its very definition "grace" means that human works do not contribute in any way to a person's salvation or justification, as St. Paul says in Rom.

Or as the apostle had already said in , " Paul said this, of course, in the context of Jewish opinions regarding what was required for salvation. By making circumcision a necessary requirement for one to be saved See Acts ff.

The faith of which Paul speaks, of course, is a living faith in Jesus Christ that produces, by God's Spirit, the good works that God wills be done in the Christian's life. That is why, immediately after his beautiful summary of the Gospel in Eph.

Of this living faith, Luther so eloquently said: "Oh faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good. Likewise, faith does not ask if good works are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is constantly active" Formula of Concord, SD, IV, This is precisely what the entire book of James is all about.

Genuine faith is a faith that shows itself in good works. Or as Luther again put it once, as an apple tree makes fruit and the fruit does not make an apple tree, so works do not make a Christian, but a Christian does good works. Lueker, editor; Concordia Publishing House, contains the following helpful summary of the Lutheran understanding of what Scripture teaches regarding the freedom of the will:.

The scriptural doctrine of the freedom of the human will is closely connected with the doctrine of original sin see Sin, Original. The doctrine of the freedom of the human will after the fall of man must be studied from the viewpoint of original sin. Scripture emphatically declares that man, also after the fall, continues to be a responsible moral agent, who in earthly matters, to some extent, may exercise freedom of will; but it asserts that "natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, Accordingly, Scripture denies to man after the fall and before conversion freedom of will in spiritual matters, and Scripture asserts that conversion is accomplished entirely through the Holy Ghost by the Gospel.

God "hath saved us It is also taught among us that man possesses some measure of freedom of the will which enables him to live an outwardly honorable life and to make choices among the things that reason comprehends. But without the grace, help, and activity of the Holy Spirit man is not capable of making himself acceptable to God, of fearing God and believing in God with his whole heart, or of expelling inborn evil lusts from his heart.

Additional Scripture passages which may be helpful as you study and discuss this issue are: John ; ; Rom. The Bible does not say that there are those who are chosen and that there are those who are not. So, does that mean God chose everyone to be saved before the foundation of the world and therefore it is man's choice whether he will accept God's saving grace? However, one cannot come into God's grace by himself, but by the Holy Spirit "leading" him unto salvation.

Is that the correct interpretation? I am confused by the fact that we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world, yet the very action of choosing can mean there were those who were not chosen.

Theologians throughout history have referred to this question as the "crux theologorum" "the cross of the theologians" because of the difficulty and from the Lutheran perspective, the impossibility of giving an answer to this question which is satisfactory to our human reason.

Some answer this question by pointing to man's "free will" — only those are saved who "choose" to be saved. Think of Athanasius, that faithful fourth-century pastor and confessor, who was exiled numerous times for his defense of the truth against the false teachers of his day. In our own day, there are faithful Christians who risk their lives — and sometimes die — to confess these truths.

In the Revelation to St. John, we find confession going on in heaven. Just listen to the snippets of the grand confession that swirls around God's throne:.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth In the same way, as we stand on holy ground where Jesus comes in his Word and Sacraments, we join that noble company of saints and martyrs, confessing these holy truths concerning the Triune God.

We brought nothing into this world, and we will take nothing with us when we depart. As Jesus so poignantly tells us, our treasures are already stored up for us in heaven Matt. There is, however, an offering that we do make, both now in our worship and one day in heaven itself.

It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving as we call on the name of the Lord Ps. In the Apology to the Augsburg Confession Article 24 , this eucharistic sacrifice is carefully distinguished from the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ.

The sacrifice for sins belongs to him alone. Every time we try to grab that honor for ourselves, we come up short — very short. But when we recognize our rightful place — that we are on the receiving end of God's merciful goodness — then the sacrifice of thanksgiving cannot help but pour forth from our lips as we give our thanks to the One who gave everything for us.

The giving of our firstfruits, whether it is money or possessions, time or talents, is also a part of this sacrifice of thanksgiving. Our mouths cannot remain separated from the rest of our bodies. If the thanksgiving is flowing from our lips, then it will also find expression in the giving of our very selves for the sake of Christ and the neighbor.

This is the eternal song of the angels who hover over the throne of God in the vision of heaven that was given to Isaiah Is. Such was the splendor of their song that the very foundations of the threshold of the temple trembled at the sound. At first glance, these words appear to be out of place at this point in the service. Nevertheless, the reality is that there is nothing in this entire world that compares with the miracle of Jesus' bodily presence to feed his people.

In this meal God is breaking into our world to give us life. The second half of the Sanctus contains a statement as bold as the first. Here we have our own little Palm Sunday. Heaven continues to break into our world as Jesus, our humble king, comes riding into our midst in the Lord's name.

This confession in the Sanctus of Jesus' real presence is so significant that Luther proposed moving the Sanctus after the Words of Institution in order to highlight the reality of the words we sing. Among many Christians, the words of Jesus that we often refer to as the Words of Institution are nothing more than an historical report: this is what Jesus did and what he said.

According to the command of Christ, we celebrate the Lord's Supper not as a mere meal of remembrance but as a Sacrament by which Jesus himself comes to us. We don't transport ourselves back in time; rather, he comes to us and brings heaven down to earth for our benefit.

Of course, in heaven we won't receive the Lord's Supper. There we will have Jesus — the Bread of heaven — in all his fullness. But for now, as we wait for his return, he establishes his own beachhead in our sin-infested world, coming as our defender and deliverer, offering his own body and blood as the medicine of immortality. Here we find strength for the journey as Christ dwells in us and we in him.

And the more we partake of this sacred food, the greater our desire becomes to be with Christ forever. O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see: May what we thirst for soon our portion be: To gaze on Thee unveiled, and see Thy face, The vision of Thy glory, and Thy grace.

Lutheran Service Book, Turning again to the Revelation to St. John, at one point John sees a scroll in the right hand of the One who was sitting on the throne. Then, between the throne and the elders, the Lamb comes into view.

Undoubtedly the most significant feature in John's description of this Lamb is that it is a lamb who appears to have been slain. It was, after all, with these very words that John the Baptizer pointed his disciples to Jesus John , As we prepare to feast on the Lamb of our salvation, we do indeed proclaim him who gave his life for us.

Here is the Lamb of God! Yet we also pray to him who is now present in his body and blood. We pray for mercy, mercy from the One who showed the true depths of mercy and compassion as he was silently led to slaughter, dying like a lamb shorn of all its honor.

Returning one more time to the apostle John's vision of heaven, we later hear his description of the saints in white robes. This is the blood of our redemption, the propitiatory sacrifice that was foreshadowed at the first Passover when the blood of the year-old lambs was sprinkled on the doorpost as a sign that blood had already been shed in that house.

In his Easter hymn, Martin Luther applies that incident to us, thus revealing our standing before the Father:. See, his blood now marks our door; Faith points to it; Death passes o'er, And Satan cannot harm us. So it is at every celebration of the Lord's Supper.