Do Not Be Deceived: A Meditation on Mark 13, for the 26th Sunday after Pentecost

And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him,

Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!

And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?

 there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

 

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple,

Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign

when all these things shall be fulfilled?

And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled:

for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles:

these are the beginnings of sorrows.

 

But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils;

and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten:

and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings

 for my sake, for a testimony against them.

And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up,

take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,

neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour,

that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Now the brother shall betray the brother to death,

and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents,

and shall cause them to be put to death.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake:

but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

 

What began perhaps as a pleasant observation about the grand buildings of Jerusalem, including the rebuilt Temple which was only a shadow of its former glory under Solomon 900 years prior, Jesus used as an opportunity to teach His disciples about the transitory nature of human civilization, and what really matters all the way to the very end of history:  The Gospel.  The Word of God had been at work to seek and to save sinners since man’s Fall in Eden thousands of years before Jesus’ Incarnation, and it would continue working to seek and to save the lost until He came again at the end of the world.  Jesus taught His disciples not to be overly dismayed when the beautiful architecture and present systems of government fall into ruin by consequence of their civilization’s sin and foolishness, because the saving Word of the Lord endures forever, and whoever endures in that Word by faith unto the end, shall be saved by the grace which pours forth through it.  Within a single generation Jerusalem would fall under pagan Rome’s fire and sword, but the Incarnate Word would remain unto ages of ages without end.

 

This lesson is one worth pondering in our own age, as well.  While the citizens of any country might think themselves the pinnacle of human achievement, and their rulers might imagine themselves particularly enlightened more than any other age which has come before them, the reality is that their civilizations will almost certainly fall.  As evil begins to permeate a society, the seeds of its own destruction are sown, and the judgement of the King of the Universe will fall upon it whenever He deems that time is right.  How many great civilizations were in the Mediterranean, North African, and Mesopotamian regions 2,000 years before Jesus, when Abraham was called out of the land of Ur to follow YHWH into a multi-generational covenant that would shower blessings upon the whole world?  Time would fail to recount all the accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Acadians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians—or at least what clues and details history has left us to know.  And what of Greece, Sparta, and Persia?  What of Rome that lasted nearly 1,000 years before its fall?  Outside that Mediterranean crucible lay ancient dynasties in what are presently India, China, and Mongolia, as well as sub-Saharan Africa and northern Europe.  One could spend a lifetime exploring the history of civilizations no longer represented in the modern world, and still not cover them all.

 

How will our great buildings, government, and industries fare 1,000 years from now?  What will be the state of geopolitics, the aspirations of conquerors, or the imaginations of artists?  We do not know, and it has not been given us to know.  Jesus was clear that wars and famines and plagues and tumult would continue in the world until the end; just as it had since the Fall of man in Eden, so it has been since the rise of Christ from the grave.  Man’s response to God and His Word in each generation inevitably reveals their fate, as faith and repentance meet with His grace, while rebellion and evil meet with His judgment.  Our own nation is not yet 250 years old, and whether it will endure for another decade or century or millennium is known only to the hidden will of God—but His revealed will by His Word, is that His Law and Promises will remain by the power of His Holy Spirit until the end of time.  No matter who wins power over our government, or who captains our industries, or who sets the contemporary fads of fashion, the Word of the Lord was before their advent, and will be there long after they are gone.  As Christian citizens of our nation, we work for its wellbeing and pray for its providence before the throne of Almighty God, but we know that blessing and cursing, prosperity and plague, life and death, all come in their times according to His will and purpose for man before His Word.

 

It can be tempting to squint our eyes into the signs and wonders of our age, trying to detect when the end of all things may be upon us.  But the comfort Jesus gave His disciples was not to look forward to the judgment of the world, but to trust His grace and promise in the times they were given.  While Jesus did warn His disciples about the near-term fall of Jerusalem and the long term final judgement of the world, He did not teach them about what would happen to Rome when the Visigoths invaded, or how western kings in Christian lands would respond to the tyrannical and murderous plague of Islam; He did not teach them about rivalries between England and France, Spain and Portugal, Norway and Sweeden and the Netherlands, nor their colonial contests across the seas of the world.  He did not teach them about the rising threats of Marxism with Stalin and Mao, or Fascism with Hitler and Mussolini, even though they would produce the bloodiest world wars in any century of recorded human history.  What He did teach them is that despite all the wars and tumults and cacophony, His people would live by grace through faith in Christ alone, because His Eternal Word made that promise more certain than any human upheaval could displace.

 

In these last days of the Church Year, Christians remember again that Jesus has promised to come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, and that His Kingdom has no end.  But the comfort of that knowledge rests in the Promise of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners in our own age, just as He was crucified for the sinners in every other age that has ever been, or ever will be.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ rings out as it is carried to every nation, every hamlet, every village, and testified before both paupers and kings:  that God has so loved every soul in this world, that He came to seek and to save His people through the life, death, and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  It is Jesus, the Incarnate Word, who cannot be removed or displaced by any act of man or accident of history, because it is by Him, and through Him, and to Him that all things which were made, are made.  His Word comes to all, and to all who will receive Him by grace through faith, He gives them the right to become the children of God—born not of flesh and blood, but from above by Water and Spirit.  In this Eternal Word of promise His people both rest and work, trusting in Him who lives forever, and who keeps our lives safe and secure in Him unto ages of ages without end.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

Blessed and Holy: A Meditation on 1st John 3 for the Feast of All Saints

Behold, what manner of love

the Father hath bestowed upon us,

that we should be called the sons of God:

therefore the world knoweth us not,

because it knew him not.

 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God,

and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:

but we know that, when he shall appear,

we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him

purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

 

In the third chapter of St. John’s first epistle, he reflects on a central lived reality of all the followers of Christ:  that we are the children of God.  Because of who Jesus is and the work He accomplished on Calvary in His Vicarious Atonement, the love of God could be poured out on all mankind through His Word and Spirit, raising up children unto Himself by grace through faith.  The righteousness man could not achieve on his own, Jesus accomplished via His Incarnation; the satisfaction for sin man could not make on his own, Jesus accomplished by His Cross; the eternal life man could not acquire by His own power, Jesus gave out freely after His own resurrection from the dead.  Thus faith in Christ becomes the fundamental means by which man receives forgiveness, life, and salvation—which is grace—so that he might be raised up to new life, walking in the Word and Spirit of his Savior.  These are the children of God, whom Jesus refers to in Matthew 5 as the blessed, and everyone who finds themselves alive in this blessed hope, continuously purify themselves through repentance and faith all the days of their lives.

 

This is a different kind of definition than many Christians hold today.  In popular culture, saints are often reflected as exceptionally pious or holy, such as monastics and clerics, who regular people hope will pray for them because they think holy people will get God’s attention more regularly.  This idea extends even into the afterlife, where some people were thought to be so holy and blessed in this world, that they must have special privileges in heaven—like the power to impose upon God and bend Him to their will on behalf of lowly mortals who properly petition them.  When the idea of sainthood and holiness are separated from the Doctrine of Justification by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ alone, the result always seems to be that men judge each other in relation to their own standards of holiness, and bestow sainthood on those whom they most admire.  In history this has been used to bolster political and ecclesiastical claims to power and authority, while also keeping the average parishioner frightfully chasing patron saints to somehow intercede for them and avert the punishment of a vengeful God.

 

But look again at the Apostle John’s description of the unfathomable love God pours out on the whole world through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  The world did not know God by their own powers, because their own powers are irredeemably fallen and corrupted.  Instead, as John recorded Jesus’ teaching in His Gospel, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  Jesus did not come to bring destruction upon men, because men had already achieved their own destruction by enslaving themselves to sin, death, hell, and the devil.  On the contrary, Jesus is the love of God made manifest to the world—a sacrificial, selfless love that seeks the good of men, rather than their judgment.  Or as Luther would note, those who see God as vengeful and angry, do not see Him rightly, because they are not looking at Him through the Cross of Jesus.  God’s revealed disposition toward man is that of saving love, not desiring to see one soul lost to perdition, but that all might come to a saving knowledge of His Truth.

 

This disposition of divine love permeates not only life in this world, but throughout eternity in His Kingdom.  All the saints on earth are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, just all the saints in heaven are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, for as the author of Hebrews describes and St. Paul writes to St. Timothy, there is only one true mediator between God and men:  the Lord Jesus Christ.  Most certainly all the saints pray for each other and for the world in which we live, asking for the Lord of Glory to bestow upon His children His good and gracious will, for God Himself teaches us to pray to Him and seek the good of our neighbors in a love that reflects His own.  But no saint has power over God, in this world or the next, for every saint is saved by Grace and not by their own holiness or righteousness according to the Law—for as St. Paul would note in his letter to the church at Rome, by the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be saved.  There is no place for boasting among the children of God, because they are all saved by Jesus, and together work and serve as beneficiaries of His grace.  The communion of the saints we confess in the Creed each week is not an affirmation of some holy choir far distant from us, but of the whole family of faith wrapped around us, and extending with us into eternity.

 

On this Feast of All Saints, take courage and hope, dear Christian, for the Father has so loved you that He has called you His child, all by grace through faith in His only begotten Son.  Your place in His Kingdom is secure by His work and His power, as the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus stands in testimony to the whole cosmos of His love and grace poured out to you.  Though we pray for each other, even as the saints in heaven pray for the saints on earth, we do not approach the throne of God in fear, but in hope, for the perfect love of God in Christ Jesus casts out all fear from the fellowship of His saints.  And all we who hold such hope, given faith and repentance unto eternal life by God’s good and gracious gift, are purified in the Word and Spirit of Jesus, turning from the dark things of the world and toward His Light and life and grace.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

Freedom in Christ: A Reformation Day Meditation on John 8 and Romans 3

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed,

and were never in bondage to any man:

how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

 

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,

Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever:

but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free,

ye shall be free indeed.

 

In John 8, Jesus was teaching the Jews who followed Him that they were not as free as they thought themselves to be.  In a practical sense, the Jews were not free from Roman authority, as they were a conquered and occupied land by the time of Jesus’ Advent.  The regular people were not free of the capricious tyranny of their religious leaders, who endlessly made up new laws and promulgated them as the oracles of God, all while fleecing the people of their money and patronage.  Yet it was not these practical enslavements Jesus was speaking to them about, but a spiritual reality that anyone who is born in sin, lives in sin, and dies in sin, is not free, but a slave of the sin they commit.  Every person who submits themselves to sin becomes its servant, and Jesus taught them directly that no servant of sin abides in the Kingdom of God forever.  On the contrary, Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, was truly free and abides in the house of the Lord forever; therefore, if the Son was to make the people free, they would be restored to freedom before God and able to dwell with God in His Kingdom unto ages of ages without end.

 

As with so many things, this spiritual reality is greater than the physical manifestations of tyranny in the world.  No tyrant or human trafficker will live forever, and no unfortunate slave of their evil will suffer forever in their chains.  The human experience of evil tyranny in this world is bounded by the human lifespan, and thus the machinations of evil people and the suffering of the innocent under their rule, is definitionally transitory.  But the spirit of men will live forever, and it passes from this world into the realm of eternity on the day of one’s death.  At that moment, the soul will stand before God as the creature before its Creator, and give an account of all that has been done in their life to that point.  St. Paul in our epistle reading for today from Romans 3 makes clear that no one will stand justified before God on their own merits, because no one has lived a life of perfection before the holy and just Law of God.  Thus the promise Jesus made to the Jews was their only hope:  that if the Son of God as the Incarnate Word of the Father would set them free, then they would be absolved of their sins and welcomed into His Kingdom.

 

And yet, God is both Just and Merciful, Righteous and Gracious; He cannot be what He is not, and He cannot violate Himself as the ground of all reality and existence.  What was due by men by the curse of the Law before God, had to be paid if man could be forgiven—an infinite debt for every soul, paid by the only One who could do so.  No man could atone for his own sins, except to take his just place in hell for all eternity, and neither could he atone for the sins of others.  Only God could pour out a sacrifice of infinite worth to pay an infinite debt, and liberate the souls of men from the curse of their own depravity.  This is what St. Paul calls Propitiation:  that Jesus Christ took the place of fallen men on the Cross, and that His sacrifice as both fully God and fully Man was satisfaction before the Judgement Seat of the Father.  In Christ alone was the satisfaction of every man’s sins, and in Christ alone would the sentence of man’s fall be reversed.  In Christ alone was freedom from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil—a victory no man could win for himself or his loved ones.  While transient tyrannies of this world may come and go, the eternal tyranny of man’s soul was set free by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that all who would abide in Him by Faith would receive His saving Grace forevermore.

 

To what purpose, then, are we set free?  Freedom before God in Jesus Christ is not the libertarian ideal of modern politics, nor the Epicurean dream of self-satisfaction in whatever hedonistic desire may dominate a man’s mind.  To be free of the slavery of evil, is to rise into the freedom of the good—to be an adopted child of God, daily conformed to His image, and sent out to live according to His Word, Wisdom, and Will.  In Christ we are made free, not to follow our own desires and passions into the bleak darkness of our former slavery, but to rise into His righteousness, justice, truth, and mercy.  We are freed from the devil not that we would serve him again, but that we would become in fullness what we were created to be, reflecting in the uniqueness of our person the glories of Almighty God.  Rather than abolishing the Law of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ affirms it by the shedding of His blood and the Propitiation He has made in our place.  We are not saved from sin so that sin would abound in us, but that we might be motivated with a new heart and a new Spirit to emulate the Love and Truth and Righteousness that our Savior first gave to us.  We are free, once more, to seek the Good, unchained from the slavery of evil.

 

On this Reformation Day, we are called to remember that there is salvation in no other name given under heaven, but by Jesus Christ.  Our freedom from the darkness is not won by the efforts of any mere, fallen mortal, but by the Only Begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.  It is the Word of Jesus that comes to us by the power of His Holy Spirit, that we might repent, believe, and live in His Word, raised out of our darkness and into His marvelous Light.  In Christ alone we stand today in His grace, despite the transient vagaries of this world’s evils, its tyrants, and its machinations, knowing that our redemption passes from this world to the next, where no evil can abide forever.  In Christ alone we are raised to a new life, which seeks not our own pleasures and desires, but works in the love of God and of our neighbors as Christ first loved us.  In Christ alone we are now free to live as the children of God He has made us to be, that we might sing His praises unto all ages without end.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

 

Follow Me: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost

And when he was gone forth into the way,

there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him,

Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

 

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?

there is none good but one, that is, God.

Thou knowest the commandments,

Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal,

Do not bear false witness, Defraud not,

Honour thy father and mother.

 

And he answered and said unto him,

Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,

One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,

and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:

and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

 

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved:

for he had great possessions.

 

The young man who approached Jesus with his earnest question about eternal life (also recorded in Matthew 19) got a bit more than he anticipated from Jesus.  After first having prompted the young man to consider why he though Jesus was good when God alone is truly good, and then reminding him of his obligation before God to keep the Commandments, the young man confessed that He had done so since His youth.  Jesus expressed His compassion for the young man by showing him what he really needed, and what was holding him back:  a total commitment to God.  The young man was instructed to sell off his wealth, give to the poor, take up his cross, and follow Jesus.  While giving to the poor and taking up the horrors of crucifixion didn’t seem to affect the young man as viscerally, selling off his great wealth did—and the young man went away sorrowful, unwilling yet to part with it.

 

The Scriptures from beginning to end describe disciples of God in every walk of life, from poor to rich, and in many kinds of profession or trade, including land owners, shepherds, husbandmen, day laborers, warriors, traders, and politicians.  In each case, the relative profession and wealth were always of less concern than the fidelity of the heart to God and His Word, for from the earliest days of man until the end of the world, God has declared that The Just Shall Live By Faith.  Yet by the same token, no one’s profession or outward actions, even if they be of the priestly class or consecrated Nazarites or prophets or kings, would save them if their heart was not faithful to God.  What the young man of Mark 10 clung to above God was his wealth, and Jesus in His love for the young man, took the time to help him see his folly so that at some future point, he might repent of this idolatry, believe, and live in Jesus.  Regardless of the young man’s outward piety, he wasn’t ready to follow Jesus, because his heart was still trusting in his wealth.

 

It is worth noting that Jesus’ teaching to us is not necessarily that we should sell everything we have, give everything to the poor, then take up a physical cross and follow Him—though it could be.  The invitation Jesus gives us today, and to people in every age, is to examine ourselves before Him and His Word, and figure out what we’re clinging to that we shouldn’t.  All that we have is a gift from God, right down to the life we live and breaths we take, but in our fallen condition, pride and ignorance rise up in our minds to consider what we have, as our own.  Rightly seen, everything we have is given to us to serve God and our neighbor in love and compassion that reflects His love and compassion shown to us by His Cross—and nothing we have is so authentically our own that we should horde it, be obsessed by it, or put our trust in it as if it could save us.  Our wealth, possessions, powers of mind and body, and anything else we have been given, are all gracious gifts from the God who made us, sent us into this world to accomplish His will, and shall one day call us home to give an account of what we did with what He gave us.

 

Ultimately, we know we fail this test, because as Jesus reminded the rich young man, there is no one good but God alone.  Only Jesus could use the fulness of His Incarnation to work the salvation of the whole world, with a full devotion to His Father and compassion upon every soul that will ever walk in this world.  His work was complete and total, undivided in His mind or heart, and there was nothing in His possession that came between Him and His love for us.  He did set aside all the riches of heaven that were and are authentically His by virtue of His full divinity, so that He could be born of the Virgin Mary and walk among us as fully man; it is He who gave everything He had to the poor, that they might know Him, be healed by Him in body and soul, and live in Him forever; it is He alone took up His Cross for the sins of the whole world, suffering the eternal punishment of every soul that would ever exist, so that everyone who trusted in Him might never face that same judgment for their own sins.  Jesus is the Good One, because He is God and Man in one Divine Person, perfectly united with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  The full measure of devotion we could not muster to earn eternal life for ourselves, He accomplished for the whole world.

 

What Jesus has given to you, dear Christian, is the entirety of Himself, and He calls you to follow Him in the entirety of your redeemed self.  Let go your affections for baubles and trinkets which bind your mind and soul to lesser things, and receive the wholeness of your forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus Christ alone.  In your baptism, all of you was united with His death, and all of you rose to eternal life in Him, so that nothing in this world might take your devotion from the One who loved and saved you from every enemy of the human race.  Rejoice and give thanks, for the Lord of Glory is good indeed, and His goodness is poured out upon you by His grace, that you might live forever in Him by faith.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

 

What God Has Joined Together: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him,

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said unto them,

For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

 

And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife,

and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

 And if a woman shall put away her husband,

and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

 

In our age of hyper-libertine sexuality, Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10 can seem shocking or quaint.  At the time of this exchange between the Pharisees and Jesus, women not only had limited authority to own property and conduct business, but could be summarily dismissed by their husband through a writ of divorce.  Pious keepers of the Law, the Pharisees challenged Jesus with this teaching which they thought they could hang on an exception in Moses’ writings, justifying themselves.  Jesus, in turn, took them back to the beginning, where Moses wrote of man and woman being made for each other, and their complimentary union blessed by God should not be dissolved by man.  Jesus went further, teaching that if man were to break this union (Matthew’s parallel recording of this teaching adds, for any reason other than sexual infidelity,) and attempt to re-marry, both he and his ex-wife would be guilty of adultery before God.  Since adultery is specifically enumerated among the 10 Commandments given at the covenant of Sinai (and keeping the word of one’s covenant before God listed as the second commandment,) to do so is a breach with both Moses’ teaching and God’s command—a double condemnation for the self-justifying Pharisees and their legal gymnastics.

 

This teaching is clear, and was universally accepted across most of the Church’s history until the early 20^th century when specifically Protestants in the West began following the Pharisees’ old gymnastics in the pursuit of unbounded sexual engagements.  Feeling themselves self-justified, many inside and outside the Church have freely entered and dissolved marriages whenever their interests changed, or life together became challenging.  Failure to keep the Word of God in regard to marriage has brought forth calamity in the societies of the West, scarring the souls of children and parents alike, until libertine sexuality of adults becomes a higher priority than the care of nurture of the next generation.  The deconstruction and devaluation of the family, the central bedrock institution of civilization from the dawn of man, has also brought forth the industrialized plague of infanticide under the guise of abortion, and the horror of children being trafficked for adult sexual gratification.  While modern man might tell himself that the covenant of marriage is nothing of significance, the destruction of his own civilization and the wounding of his own soul declares otherwise, and brings forth the curse of Sinai that whoever despises God and His Word will have judgment poured out upon both himself and his progeny.

 

God, however, looks at the human marriage covenant as a reflection of His saving covenant with mankind.  When God gives His Word, it is immutable—His promises and commandments stand forever as the very scaffolding of the cosmos.  God’s covenants, therefore, are indissoluble, just as He is the guarantor of what He’s promised.  Thus, if God says our decent into evil will bring upon us His judgement, He is good and righteous to declare it.  So, too, if He declares that everyone who repents and trusts in Him, abiding in His Word by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, will be forgiven of their sins and rescued from the hell they have earned, that Gospel is likewise unassailable.  When God made us His people by His Word and Spirit, He did not enter into covenant with us as one who takes his word lightly, nor whose commitment might flag with future disinterest.  Unlike the travesty modern man has made of the wedding covenant between husband and wife, God promises to be wed to His people of faith and repentance in every generation, no matter where they come from or what their condition in life, bringing forth to them the blessing of Sinai by manifesting His steadfast love and compassion upon all who trust in Him.

 

The situation of modern man is not so far removed from the Pharisees of 1^st century Judea, nor of various pagan societies and ages where the Church first brought the light of God’s Word to bear upon their darkness.  While there will be some who reject the Word of God and bring destruction upon themselves and their families, the Word of God does not come to destroy, but that all might have life abundantly in Him.  Our choice before the Word of God is always the same, with God calling everyone to repent, believe, and live by grace through faith in His saving Gospel.  For there is only one God to whom all men are accountable, and through whom all men might be saved, so that there might be one Word Incarnate who has defeated death, hell, and the devil through His one Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the whole world.  The People of God become the Bride of Jesus Christ, prepared for that great wedding feast yet to come, when the fullness of His People have been called into His great and never-ending covenant of grace.  The Promise of God to save everyone who turns to him in faith is not a covenant He makes lightly, nor one He will ever rescind, for the Word of the Lord endures forever.

 

Take heart, dear Christian, however the Word of the Lord has encountered you today.  For it is not the Lord’s will to destroy you in your sin, but to save you by His love and grace in Jesus Christ alone.  Let go the self-justification of your evil desires whatever they may be, and receive the Word of redemption which calls you out of your darkness, and into His marvelous Light.  Hear the Word which comes to you by the power of His Holy Spirit, that each day you might be raised up into the image of your Savior, conformed evermore into the glory of His Word and Will, forgiven and free in Jesus Christ alone—for His covenant never fails.  Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.

Servants of God: A Meditation on Daniel 12 and Matthew 18, for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

 

And at that time shall Michael stand up,

the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:

 and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was

since there was a nation even to that same time:

 

and at that time thy people shall be delivered,

every one that shall be found written in the book.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;

and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

 

One of the more ancient Christian festivals on her ecclesiastical calendar is Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael.  Later ages would come to celebrate and reflect upon all the Holy Angels on this feast day, contemplating what the Scriptures teach the world about the angelic servants of God.  In our day, where modernity often shuns the spiritual realities of both angels and demons, the spiritual essence of mankind, and increasingly of God himself, it is worth taking some time to understand the reality of the world in which we live.  As even modern Physics reveals, there is much more about the universe that cannot be seen, than can be, echoing the opening confession of the Nicene Creed where we declare our faith in a God who has created all things—seen and unseen.

 

What are Angels?  In the strict sense, angels are purely spiritual creatures, made by God for their specific service and work, and given particular powers according to their callings.  There is some theological speculation regarding when the angels were created (either before the creation of the earth and material universe, during, or after that creation,) but regardless of when they were created, it is clear that they were.  They appear early in the story of mankind, rejoicing with God in the creation.  There is also a distinction between angels who remain faithful to God, and those who do not—as evidenced by the work of the devil in our first parent’s temptation (a rebellious angel who we later learn is named Lucifer or Satan,) and a warrior angel with a flaming sword sent to guard the way to the Tree of Life after man’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden (a holy angel, fulfilling God’s will to prevent man from living forever in his fallen state, without hope of redemption).  In this we learn that the angels are powerful, intelligent, ancient spirits, either fulfilling their created purpose as servants of the Living God, or corrupted in their wickedness by rebellion against God.  Elsewhere throughout the Scriptures, as in Revelation 12, we learn that they are many in number; though the multitude of their total is not revealed, it is indicated that roughly one third of the angels followed Lucifer in rebellion against God.

 

What do the Angels do?  Often, though the angels are only rarely named, their work is indicated by their names and what they say or do in Scripture.  St. Michael the Archangel is captain of the heavenly armies, defender of God’s people (the Jewish people of the Old Covenant, and the Christian people of the New Covenant,) and the one who cast down the devil out of heaven when Jesus’ victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil were accomplished via His Vicarious Atonement on His Cross.  St. Gabriel the Archangel is known for his annunciations of God’s Word to Daniel in the Old Testament, as well as to the parents of St. John the Baptist, and to Mary the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament.  St. Raphael the Archangel is recorded in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit, and connected with the healing of Tobit’s son, and driving away a demon who tormented his son’s future wife.  Both in Tobit and in Revelation, there are references to seven chief or Archangels who stand before the throne of God, but only three are named in Scripture (other ecclesiastical writings have offered names of the remaining four, but these are sometime contradictory and hard to nail down.)  Jesus, in our Gospel reading for today in Matthew 18, notes that some angels are guardians for people, especially children—cementing the warning Jesus gave about trying to harm a child in any way.  It is clear from Scripture that the Holy Angels do the will of God according to their callings, and that the demons work against that will, even though they are ultimate constrained by God’s will and providence.

 

Ultimately, what the Holy Angels do in the service of God, is help people to know and be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.  As evidenced across history and Scripture, they do not seek their own glory, and most often are completely unknown to people in this world, even as their work can be quite harrowing, doing battle in our defense against the evil angels who roam throughout the world, seeking souls to deceive and devour.  This means that everyone who is reconciled to God, baptized into Jesus Christ and living by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, is also befriended and aided by all the Holy Angels.  Those angels are not our saviors, but they are our fellow servants according to their created order and callings, so that we become members of the same Kingdom of God by the saving work of Jesus.  The Holy Angels live forever in the love and service of God, just as every redeemed soul of man shall live forever in His grace, and together we will sing of His wonders and love unto ages of ages without end.  The demons, and human souls who partner with them, will eventually be cast into the fiery prison of hell by those same Holy Angels, when the final trumpet of God sounds, and the return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead is complete.  Yet until then, the Holy Angels are our mostly unseen encouragers, guardians, and defenders, fellow workers in God’s Kingdom whom we shall see someday when the Lord of Glory calls us home.

 

While we wrestle not against flesh and blood in this world, but against the spiritual powers of darkness in high and low places, we do not wrestle alone—for the victory of Jesus Christ over every dark power is accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection, and His Kingdom shall have no end.  In that Kingdom we serve alongside every other creature who enjoys the friendship, providence, and grace of Almighty God, including the Holy Angels whom God has sent to draw us closer to Himself through His Word and Spirit.  Give thanks, O saints of God, for the gift of salvation which comes to us by Christ alone, in faith alone, and by grace alone—and that we do not strive nor serve our God alone, but in the marvelous and unmatched company all His holy saints and angels.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

Two Voices Calling: A Meditation on Proverbs 9 and John 6, for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost

Wisdom hath builded her house,

she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

She hath killed her beasts;

 she hath mingled her wine;

 she hath also furnished her table.

She hath sent forth her maidens:

she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

 

 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame:

and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:

rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:

teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:

and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

 For by me thy days shall be multiplied,

and the years of thy life shall be increased.

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself:

but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

 

A foolish woman is clamorous:

she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

For she sitteth at the door of her house,

on a seat in the high places of the city,

To call passengers who go right on their ways:

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there;

and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

 

Solomon’s inspired wisdom anticipated and pointed forward to the words of Jesus 900 years later, when He taught His disciples and anyone who would listen, that:

 

I am the living bread which came down from heaven:

if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:

and the bread that I will give is my flesh,

which I will give for the life of the world…

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:

 the words that I speak unto you,

they are spirit, and they are life.

 

What Solomon observed is that there are always two voices calling to mankind, and their respective ends are always the same.  God calls to mankind by His Wisdom through His Word, having built the house of His Kingdom in perfect enduring stability (seven pillars), prepared the feast which would nourish everyone who partakes of it, set the table for dining, and called to everyone to enter into His eternal fellowship and life.  His Word and Wisdom call those who lack wisdom and knowledge to come and learn of Him, to be fed and nourished by Him, and thus enlivened to go forth in the way of understanding, forsaking the path of the foolish.

 

Of course, this also means that there are other voices calling to mankind.  Solomon provided an example in the guise of a foolish and clamorous woman, whose lust and appetites she proclaims from the lofty parts of the city, enticing others to depart from virtue and consume her secret wares.  She also calls to the foolish and the simple, wooing others to a path of submission to their passions and vices, ending in death and destruction.  Though this voice is typified as an impure woman in contrast to the pure woman of Wisdom, the cacophony of voices calling man to destruction are really a dark symphony of vice.  All voices which call man away from God and the life He offers, are calling out from the same darkness and evil, with the same motive and end in mind for the men they call.  While God calls mankind to life, the voices of evil call mankind to slavery, death, and destruction.

 

Jesus spoke to the crowds all around Him about being the bread of life which would be given for the life of the world, and yet, many chose not to listen.  His Word went out with the power to convert every heart, but God still gives man the power to deny Him, and to turn away from life to death.  Like today, many who heard Jesus then turned back to the sultry voices of death rather than embrace the life of grace by faith and repentance He offered them.  Yet that is the curse of mankind, particularly those who think themselves wise, who ask presumptuously of the Word of God Incarnate, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?—or any number of variations on the theme of how God can grant the grace He promises.  Man still has the power to reject the King of the Universe in His offer of divine grace, but he cannot escape the King in His Law; man will either hear His voice and come to Him, forsaking foolishness that they might live, or they will follow the voices of the damned into the place of the damned, lost in the darkness forever.

 

Even so, God does not cease calling the world to Himself, nor in offering His true food and drink for the life of the world.  It is Jesus alone who could accomplish our salvation by His Cross, even when we thought it impossible—only Jesus who could call mankind out of slavery to sin, death, hell, and the devil, into the magnificence of His Kingdom through the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation offered freely by grace through faith in Him alone.  Even we simple and foolish mortals, consumed by our desires and so often lured into dark places by the siren songs of hell, are called today to the banquet of the King.  There is no hinderance placed before mankind to heed the call of His saving Wisdom, except the heart which prefers its own evil over the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and to suffer under the Law rather than to live liberated in the Gospel.  It is God’s good will that all might hear Him, repent, believe, and live, for God desires the death and destruction of no one.

 

Be of good cheer, all you who hear the voice of Wisdom in the Lord Jesus Christ:  for His house stands forever, and His banquet is never diminished!  There is no end to the mercies He pours out to you, withholding not even His own Body and Blood, that you might have food and drink indeed unto everlasting life.  Turn to Him, you who are simple of mind, who lack understanding, and as His disciples of old, He will fill you with the Words of eternal life.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.