CHRIST OUR KING FROM A TO Z

Fourth Sunday of End Time—Christ the King

The Eternal One
The Ruling One
The Anointed One

SERMON TEXT: Revelation 22:13

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”’

Bible Readings

FIRST LESSON: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23-24

For this is what the LORD God says: I myself will seek the welfare of my flock and examine them carefully. As a shepherd examines his flock when he is with his sheep that have been scattered, so I will examine my flock and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the settlements of the land. I will pasture them in good pasture, and their grazing land will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and they will pasture on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will let them lie down, declares the LORD God. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak. I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I will shepherd them in justice. Therefore, this is what the LORD God says to them. I myself am going to judge between the fat sheep and the skinny sheep. Because you have shoved them with your side and shoulder and knocked down all the weak with your horns until you had scattered them abroad, I will save my flock so that they will not become plunder any more. I will judge between one sheep and another. Then I will raise up over them one Shepherd, and he will tend them, my servant David. He will tend them, and he will be their Shepherd. I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be the Prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

SECOND LESSON: 1 Corinthians 15:20–28 (EHV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Death is the last enemy to be done away with. Certainly, “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Now when it says that all things have been put in subjection, obviously that does not include the one who subjected all things to him. But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.

VERSE OF THE DAY: Revelation 22:13

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and
the End.””

GOSPEL: Matthew 27:27–31

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.