Father, Thank You for Hope

Matthew 28:5-6

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said.”

Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Charles Wesley, 1739)

Christ, the Lord, is risen today
Sons of men and angels say
Raise your joys and triumphs high
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply

Lives again our glorious King
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Once He died our souls to save
Where thy victory, O grave?

Soar we now where Christ hath led
Following our exalted Head
Made like Him, like Him we rise
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies

Alleluia!

1 Peter 1:18-21

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed– not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake.  Through him you now trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Corinthians 15

Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you– unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received– that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures…

Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.