April ‘LW’: Prefiguring the Resurrection

(LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me,” Jesus told the Jews in Jerusalem. “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me” (John 5:39, 46)

Jesus tells us that the Old Testament — just like the New — is all about Him. As Luther put it, “All the Scriptures point to Christ alone” (AE 35:132).

The April issue of The Lutheran Witness features “An Old Testament Walk Through Holy Week.” From Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, you will read about Old Testament events and people that prefigure Christ, His Passion and His resurrection.

You will see Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of “Hosanna,” just as David rejoiced and danced to see the ark of the covenant brought into Jerusalem in 2 Samuel. You will see our Lord institute His supper to feed Christians for centuries to come, just as He fed His people with manna in the wilderness in Exodus.

“When we talk about figures in the Old Testament, we’re not just talking about things that are like other things,” the Rev. Dr. Geoffrey R. Boyle writes in his reflection on Maundy Thursday. “Nor are we imposing later things onto earlier things, as if forcing the Old Testament to say something it doesn’t want to say. Instead, when we turn to the Old Testament … we’re looking at real things that actually happened. … We’re looking at history and historical events that reveal something more. These real events prefigure the reality that comes in Christ — in what He says, does and fulfills for us.”

We encourage you to keep this issue handy on your bedside or prayer table and to read through the articles and corresponding Old and New Testament readings each day of Holy Week, April 13–20. If you weren’t able to use it this year, save it for next year. As the prophets of old looked ahead to Jesus’ death and resurrection, the crux of history, may we ever look back to this holiest of weeks, which really occurred just under 2,000 years ago, for the salvation of all throughout the ages who place their trust in Jesus.

To subscribe to the print LW, and to read select print content and additional web-exclusive articles, visit witness.lcms.org.

Posted April 15, 2025