Easter isn't just proof that Jesus rose. It's the guarantee that his promise holds. Using the framework of a first-century Galilean wedding, this sermon walks through what Good Friday paid, what the empty tomb guarantees, and what it means to live as a Bride actively waiting for the Groom's return.

When the crowd ran out with palm branches to meet Jesus on the road into Jerusalem, they weren't being spontaneous. They were performing something specific — a civic ceremony called apantēsis — and the Apostle Paul used that exact word to describe Christ's return. Once you see it, Palm Sunday and 1 Thessalonians 4 will never read the same way again.