Who are these in white robes? A Meditation on Revelation 7 for All Saints Day

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great

multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and

kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,

and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms

in their hands…

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and

have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood

of the Lamb.

At various times in my life, I have found it too easy to be absorbed in my own temporary problems.  For whatever reason, it seems a perennial mark of the whole human race to think that they—whatever group of individuals, in whatever time or place they find themselves—are the focus of all meaning in the universe.  If my day goes badly, the coffee is missing, the beer is poor, I missed my breakfast, had a cold or flu, or whatever it was that captured my attention, my temptation is to call out to God and ask how such calamities should befall me, and then beg His divine intervention to save me from the troubles which beset me.  Somehow, in my little brain I see the issues of my life as paramount in the world around me, and the key to understanding the whole scope of the world’s current tumult. 

But of course, this is insanity.  It refuses to see the greater swath of the current moment across all time and space, or to see the current moment in the broad sweep of history.  It fails to note that I am one small person amongst billions in the world at this very moment, and amongst uncounted masses who have populated the earth from its beginning to its end.  When taken together in the context of what is happening to people across all the continents and nations of the world, what is the significance of my particular cup of coffee?  When measured against the whole host of nations which have ever risen or fallen, what is the significance of my car problems, or traffic patterns, or my property value, or my fraternal associations, or my retirement account?  The twisted reality of my sinful nature causes me to always see the world and all creation through my own distorted lens.  I, like every fallen human being to populate this world, tend to see myself at the center of creation, and the summit of God’s interest.  In fact, my selfishness and pride have a deep root in my fallen nature, and reveal that I am more inclined to worship myself than the only true God.

On a more positive note, however, our personal calamities have a way of cutting through our delusions.  When we are sick, or persecuted, or slandered, or oppressed by forces we cannot resist, we are brought to know the limits of ourselves.  When we are throwing up in the bathroom, wasting away from disease or chronic malady, scorned by friends and enemies, we must see ourselves as we really are:  broken, finite, fallen, and dying.  Ultimately we are reminded that we did not come into the world by our own will or power, and nor shall we by our own will or power remain.  We are not in control of the world, or the great rolling river of history.  We are not the center of the cosmos, and we are not the measure of whether things are going well or poorly in it.  We are but brief wisps of smoke in the maelstrom of time as it passes upon this globe, like the flowers which bud and fade by season.

This would of itself be enough to drive anyone to despair.  If we are but a short burst upon the stage, what point is there to life at all?  Why bother building homes, or cities, or civilizations, or even propagating the human race, if we know that all our efforts are shortly fated to destruction?  It is a word of eternal law to us, that the holiness and righteousness of God’s eternity is incompatible with our sinful, prideful, selfish delusions of grandeur, and the judgment of that law upon us is cast in the inescapable script of death.  To escape our delusions of self deity and self importance, only to find ourselves stripped bare, facing death and eternal judgment before the only true God, is no solace.  Neither the delusion of our own making, nor the holy law of God’s own speaking, is a comfort to suffering and dying people; one drives off the cliff of eternity blindly, while the other is pushed over the cliff against its will, but both find that the only inexorable end of our sinful condition is death.

But thanks be to God, there is another Word He has spoken to us.  It is a Word He has been speaking since our fall into sin, and a Word He brought forth in the Person of His Son—a Word made flesh to dwell among us, to be the propitiation for our sins, and to restore to us eternal life in place of our death.  It is a Word of Gospel which declares the sinner forgiven for the sake of Jesus’ sacrificial death upon His Cross; a grace received only by faith in the Savior who has won it for us, and delivers it to us.  This Word of Gospel cuts through the delusions of our grandeur, and satisfies the curse of the law.  It restores to us a vision of life which endures forever, and which cannot be contained by death.  This Word is salvation and life, our rescue from the condemnation of time’s unyielding flow, by hiding our lives in the transcendent and eternal life of Jesus Christ.  It is a Word which makes us heirs of God’s Eternal Kingdom, and eternal citizens of His holy nation.

And it is a Word which calls together all people of every tribe and tongue, time and place, into one great throng of people saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.  It is a Word which calls, gathers, and enlightens Christ’s people into One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which abides forever in Him as His very Body.  It is a Word which reaches down and enlivens dying sinners in the midst of their great tribulation, washing their sullied robes until they are white and spotless in the shed Blood of the Lamb.  It is a Word that endures forever, lavashing forgiveness and life upon His people, who by His Word and His grace shall also endure forever.

Rather than being victims of our own delusions, or despairing before the just judgment of death upon our sin, we are called and gathered by grace through faith in this Word of Gospel into forgiveness, life, and salvation.  By this Word of Gospel we lift our eyes and see this same great throng of every tribe and nation, their sins washed clean by Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice, and find ourselves standing among them.  Here is the patience, the peace, the victory, and the exultation of the saints—united across time and space to the eternal grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Here the Christian takes refuge in every storm, every persecution, and even our final struggle through the portal of death.  Here the Christian remains steadfast upon the Rock of his salvation, though nations, churches, and the whole world give way.  Here we sing with one voice to our one Savior an eternal song of praise.  Hear the Word of the Lord, and the never ending song of His saints—repent, believe, and live.  Amen.

If you continue in My Word, then you are My disciples indeed; A Meditation on John 8, for the Feast of the Reformation

As the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation quickly approaches (commonly dated from Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses in 1517) many questions continue to arise.  What was the point of the Reformation?  Why should we celebrate it?  Was it a good thing or a bad thing in the life of the Church?  Has it run its course?  How do we measure the Reformation relative to its fruits in history through the current day?

Because of the cloud of various Christian traditions which emerged from the Reformation and populate the modern Christians landscape, it is difficult to get a straight answer on any of these questions.  Even if we managed to summarize the answers in light of the three chief Reformers (Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin) we would find that even they had significant problems with each other’s teachings, and the various theological schools and synods which emerged from their influence were even more hostile to each other.  Division built upon division, until we have the tens of thousands of different Protestant Christian groups out there today, most of which in some way fall under the historical influence of Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli.  Rather than attempt to reflect on the meaning of the Reformation from Calvin’s inheritance of highly rational and systematized theology, or from Zwingli’s charismatic and enthusiast offerings, I’ll consider a perspective from Luther’s patrimony in which I reside.

For Luther, as evidenced by his own writings and the eventual compilation of the Lutheran Confessions by him and his fellow theologians, the central and abiding issue of the Reformation was the Word of God.  For Luther, the Word of God was everything—the means by which the Holy Spirit created saving faith and delivered grace to the sinner; the means by which we can know who God is and what He demands of us; the means by which we can know ourselves and our just sentence under God’s Holy Law; the means by which we may know Jesus as the only Way, Truth, and Life; the only means we can trust with infallibility, because it is breathed out by the only infallible God; the means by which disciples of Jesus Christ are made, sanctified, and glorified; the means of knowing the love of God and remaining in His gracious fellowship forever; the only necessary ground of theology, and the only reliable reference for the theologian; the only reliable canon or rule of faith against which all teachers and preachers and theologians are rightly judged; the only source of the abiding presence of Christ Jesus with His people, who is the very Word Made Flesh, the Logos of the Father.  For Luther, the Word of the Lord is the beginning, middle, and summit of the Christian life, and the only thing which abides forever:  His great and holy Law shining forth the reality of truth and righteousness, and His great and holy Gospel shining forth the forgiveness of sinners for Christ’s sake alone.

This is why, among the various texts often reflected upon for the Feast of the Reformation, we hear Jesus speaking in John 8:

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.

Should the Reformation exist to perpetuate schisms and sects?  Absolutely not—there is but one Jesus, and His Body should be one in His one Holy Word!  Should we celebrate the Reformation as a successful ongoing rebellion against Rome, or any other authority in the Church?  No, not at all—all authority in heaven and earth belong to Jesus, and by His Word alone should we submit to every rightful earthly authority.  Should we live into the dark prophecy of Roman theologians at the time of the Reformation, who declared that every man would become his own pope, forming his own church with his own Bible and as many followers as his charisma could woo together?  God forbid—for Jesus alone is the one head of the Church, into which all the faithful are knit, and to Whom are all teachers accountable!  The Reformation is not, at least in the way Luther and his fellow confessors envisioned it, a selfish plea for rebellion, sectarianism, licentiousness of mind or body, or anarchy.  It was an appeal to the Word of God as central and foundational to everything, since by the Word of God alone are we saved, brought to faith and repentance and newness of life in Christ Jesus our Savior.  There, in and by the Word of God, we find the truth which sets us free from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  This is the enduring point worth celebrating in the Reformation, and which continues to shape and form the Church of Jesus Christ in every age.  It is not unique to the 16^th century, but has echoed in every generation as those who live in the Word of God call others to that same forgiveness, life, and salvation.  It is the same plea of Moses and the Prophets, the Apostles and the Martyrs, and the Confessors of every time and place who stand against the lies of the devil and fallen world, shining forth the light of Christ’s Word into every dark corner of creation.  It is the eternally abiding truth that only by Christ’s Word are His disciples alive in Him, and only by His Word does Christ set them free indeed.

And so, wherever you are, dear Christian, in fellowships great or small, of traditions ancient or modern, of languages common or arcane, in lands near or distant, that same Word calls to you with the same demands of the Law and the same great promises of the Gospel.  The Reformation is no more worth celebrating than any other time, place, or personage in all of history—but the white hot flame of God’s Word which kindled the Reformation, reaches out to kindle your heart, as well.  Be you Roman or Anglican, Eastern or Western, Lutheran or Presbyterian or Baptist, or whatever other name your fellowship has been called, it is the same Word which calls us all together in Christ, and the same Word by which our faithfulness is measured.  There alone do the faithful abide forever, living free in Christ Jesus their Savior, knowing their brothers and sisters by the same Holy Spirit which has worked the same faith by the same Word in each repentant heart.

Do not be dismayed by the fractious and sectarian scars left on the Body of Christ by those who love their peculiar bureaucracies and privileges.  Likewise, do not trust in denominations and synods and names given by men for your salvation.  Rather, hear the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ call you to faith and repentance, that by His grace you might live in Him forever, forgiven and free.  For if the Son who abides forever sets you free, you are free indeed.  Amen.

Who Then Can Be Saved? A Meditation on Mark 10

 

And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his

disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into

the kingdom of God! And the disciples were

astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and

saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust

in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!  It is

easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for

a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And

they were astonished out of measure, saying among

themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus

looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but

not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Sometimes when Jesus speaks, He can stop everyone dead in their tracks.  In chapter 10 of Mark’s Gospel, a wealthy young man (sometimes called a rich young ruler) comes to Jesus, asking with sincerity what he must do to be saved.  Jesus begins by forcing him to think about why he is calling Jesus “good teacher,” since there is only one who is good… that being God alone.  Next he reminds the young man of the Law—something the young man claims to have kept from his youth.  Jesus tenderly helps him see where his covetousness and greed still cling to him unawares, as He tells the young man to sell everything he owns, take up the cross, and follow Him.  The young man goes away sorrowful, because his love of his possessions keep him from following Jesus into eternal life.

Immediately thereafter, Jesus helps his disciples understand the implications of what just happened, and His proclamation stops everyone cold:  how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!  Specifically, for those who trust in riches, it will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for that man to enter God’s Kingdom.  Hearing Jesus’ Words, the disciples nearly despair as they ask in a panic:  Who then can be saved?

This is exactly what Jesus wanted His disciples to understand, and exactly where He wanted them to be.  They were at the end of their intellectual rope, and realized that people—everyone, including themselves—were in a very precarious state.  As they tried to answer for themselves the young man’s question, What must I do to inherit eternal life?, Jesus points out to them just how incapable they are of doing what is necessary to be saved.  To the young man, and to each of His disciples, the Words rang in their ears, It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle…  Without trying to turn this phrase into some kind of cute speculative reference to camels on their knees through a particular gate in Jerusalem, let’s just take it as the disciples did:  IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

And that, dear Christian, is the point.  What must you do to inherit eternal life?  Keep the Commandments—every one of them, perfectly, in thought, word and deed, things done and left undone, for every second of your entire life.  Indeed, it would be easier for a camel to thread a needle than for you to pull that off.  We, being fallen into sin and death, can’t manage a single breath apart from the sin that courses through our veins, let alone a perfect and sinless life.  It is impossible for us to do what we need to do to be saved.  Once we understand that, we’re ready to hear what Jesus has to say next:  With men it is impossible, but not for God.  For with God, all things are possible.

What that rich young man needed is exactly what the disciples needed, and what we need today:  Jesus.  Only Jesus could live that perfect, sinless life.  Only Jesus as fully God and fully man could bear the curse of our sin on the Cross, die for the sins of the world, and satisfy an eternal justice.  Only Jesus could rise the third day, with the blessed Gospel of forgiveness, life, and peace on His divine lips.  Only Jesus could ascend to the right hand of God the Father Almighty to intercede between God and men, until His triumphal return at the end of time to judge both the quick and the dead.  With men the work of salvation is impossible, but not with Jesus.  For Jesus, all things are possible—even the salvation of sinners such as us.

Have you been searching the world for a good teacher that will give you the secret to eternal life?  First, you must remember who is truly good—and that is God alone.  Have you heard the Law declare unto what you must do to be saved, and think you have kept all His Law in perfection?  Test yourself honestly and you’ll know you have failed, finding that you still cling to hell by your greed, selfishness, pride, lust, and every other disordered passion, rather than to the righteousness of God.  Have you finally come to despair of your own works to save yourself, knowing that you cannot climb the ladder to heaven because you are dead in your trespasses and sin?  Ah, then your heart is prepared to hear the real answer to your question:

Who then can be saved?  No one by their own power, will, decision, holiness, love or might.

Who then can be saved?  Everyone, by the power, will, decision, holiness, love and might of Jesus Christ poured out for you upon His Holy Cross.

Who then can be saved?  You can, dear Christian, by grace through faith in Christ alone.  What was impossible for you, is not impossible for Him.  For it is the Father’s good will to give you His Kingdom, to forgive you your sins, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness—to give you a new birth from above by Water and Spirit, that you might live in Jesus by His grace through faith and repentance all your days in this world, and in the world to come, inherit eternal life.

Amen.

The Urgency of Today: A Meditation on Hebrews 3, for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost

Many have reflected that while the past is behind us and the future ahead of us, it is only the present moment that we have to live in.  Indeed, no one can go into their past, no matter how passionately they may want to, and improve anything they have done.  Rather, each person’s past is written like a book in stone which cannot fade, having passed beyond our grasp forever.  Likewise, the future always stays ahead of us, just out of our reach and vision.  We might wish we could jump forward to a time we think will be better than the moment we’re in, but the reality of our existence shows us that we have no idea what tomorrow will bring.  Every plan we put in place today, can be dashed to pieces by wars, famine, disease, death, market collapses, or any of a thousand different variables.  The past, while we can see it, is outside our reach, and the future sits shrouded beyond our ability to transcend it.  What we have is this present moment alone in which we live, and it is the only time we can influence.

It is this present moment we all live in, which the Apostle Paul writes about in his letter to the Hebrews as he speaks about “Today.”  In his third chapter, he draws a clear analogy between the People of God in the Church, and the People of God in the desert with Moses.  God came to His people with Moses, and many rebelled against Him, bringing condemnation and death upon the people.  They used their Today in which God called them to faithfulness, to instead live in unbelief.  Since grace and salvation come only through faith, the choice made by God’s people in Moses’ day to reject God and His Word resulted in great calamities—from the earth opening up to swallow whole groups alive into sheol, to the 40 year wanderings that left a whole generation dead in the desert.  God visited His people in their day, and there were only two responses to Him that had eternal consequences:  receiving God’s Word by faith brought grace and life, while rejecting God’s Word in unbelief brought condemnation and death.

St. Paul would have us know that this same Today comes to each and every one of us, as well.  To every Christian, and to the whole world, God calls through His Word Today for all to respond in faith and repentance.  Today, God gives His Spirit to every human heart through His Word, that they may believe in Him, cling to Him, and turn away from the darkness of their own evil.  Today, God the Word—Jesus Christ—who has suffered and died and risen again to save every person who will ever live upon this globe, calls all people away from death and hell, and into His eternal life.  Today the Word calls to everyone, Jew or Gentile, Muslim or Buddhist, Korean or Austrian, to live by grace through faith in Him.  Today, God visits His people, and Today His call demands an answer.  St. Paul urges us, together with the Christians to which he wrote:

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,

 in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily,

while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened

through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ,

 if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,

as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did

provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it

not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the

wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should

not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

How stark a difference between the Word of God written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the wisdom on our own age!  Who today senses an urgency to the Gospel which demands an answer from us?  Who does not say in his own heart, “Tomorrow I shall repent of my sin, if it is convenient—tomorrow I shall believe, when I have nothing better to do—tomorrow I shall follow God, after I have satiated myself with all my worldly pursuits”?  Our generation is marked by reliance on tomorrow, on the human promise of something better or more pleasing on the horizon, and the avoidance of virtue or duty today.  Today we indulge our lusts.  Today we embrace our sins.  Today we write into human law the flagrant disregard for God’s eternal Law.  Today we neuter the Gospel of Jesus Christ and decorate it like a transgendered whore, so that a decadent and deluded western culture—itself an aging prostitute to every technological wonder or philosophical sophistry born of selfish hedonistic pride—might better tolerate or appreciate it.  Today we are found to be worshippers of ourselves, gluttonous consumers of every vice, butchers of babies and destroyers of nature.  Today, we have shown ourselves to be dead in our trespasses and sins, with every day of our past written in the unfading stone of eternity, like a hellish eulogy declaring the justice of our condemnation to eternal perdition.

And yet, it is Today that the Lord Jesus Christ comes to you, even in the midst of your wickedness and debauchery.  Today, He shows to you His pierced hands and feet, His pierced side from which blood and water flowed for you.  Today, He brings to you the gift He won for you through His most holy Cross, that your sins might be forgiven, and that your dreadful past full of days which earned for you only hell, be absolved and washed clean by His grace.  Today Jesus calls to you, showing you how He entered into your evil and darkened world, so that He might take your suffering and death upon Himself, that you might not die forever.  Today the Lord of Life calls you out of your darkness, and into His eternal light.  Today His Holy Spirit enlivens you through His Word to turn your back on the evils which bring only death, so that you might by grace through faith in Him rise up unto everlasting life.  Today the Father declares to you through His Only Begotten Son a day of grace and mercy and compassion which you could never earn.  Today He yearns to tell your repentant and faithful heart, “Your sins be forgiven you—go, and sin no more.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and to Whom all time is present, knows that Today He is your only hope.  Do not harden your heart against His Word of Law and Gospel, for when Today is past, it is gone forever.  Today the Word of Life calls you.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.