He Makes Wars to Cease: A Meditation on Psalm 46 for the Last Sunday of the Church Year

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

 

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,

the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved:

God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:

he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

 

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

what desolations he hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;

he burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God:

I will be exalted among the heathen,

I will be exalted in the earth.

 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

 

If there was anyone in Judeo-Christian history that understood the rigors, dangers, and calamity of war, it was the author of our appointed Psalm for this week.  Not only was David the second King of Israel, a shepherd and giant slayer in his youth, but he was also a soldier, a poet, a musician, and despite his many flaws, a man whom God described as having a heart like His own.  David was not perfect by a long shot, but he did have tremendous faith in God as His Savior, not only prophesying of the coming Messiah but foreshadowing Jesus in many ways.  David knew that war was an ugly reality of life in a fallen world, where evil people would bring forth disastrous effects as they worked out their wicked will upon their fellow men.  But just as surely, David knew that God was the King of the Universe, the omnipotent Savior of all who put their trust in Him, so that no one who fought for righteousness and the Word of God in this world would ever fight alone.  The Lord of Hosts is with us, David writes, even if the world itself is thrown into calamity and convulsion, which makes the God of Jacob our refuge and strength so that we will not fear though the earth is removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

 

David was not a man who loved war, but he was accomplished in its art and strategy.  He faced so many enemies that he often described the perils in his Psalms as being completely surrounded by forces that sought his destruction.  He was the target of both internal political intrigue (the first king of Israel, after losing his mind tried to kill David on numerous occasions, and later in his life even some of his own sons tried to take the crown from him) and international conspiracy, not to mention the demonic forces which sought to tear down Israel and David altogether so as to blot out any witness to the Word and Will of God among men.  David went to war as a servant of the Living God for the good of the people given to his care, and to keep the yoke of evil off the neck of his nation.  Just because David was accomplished at war didn’t mean that it was his life’s obsession, or that war was what David desired.  On the contrary, it is the same David who wrote in the 23^rd Psalm of his love for green pastures, still waters, and of living without the depravations of food and comfort which come with life on the battlefield—the good into which David knew His God would shepherd him both in this life and the next.  David was a man fitted for war, but his heart remained with His God and Savior, who he knew would be his strength, victory, and refuge over every evil foe.

 

Wars have not declined in the nearly 3000 years between David and our own time, nor have the enemies of God, His people, and His Word.  Still today, those who would seek to live after God’s own heart by abiding in His Eternal Word, face intrigues, persecutions, and assaults from forces near and far.  Time would fail to name every enemy of the Living Word at work in the world today, who spend their time, energy, resources, and evil minds upon the task of wiping out, subjugating, or corrupting everything in their path.  While the names and movements and leaders of the enemies of God have changed many times over the course of history, God has not changed at all.  His Word has remained among His people as their strength and refuge in every age, including our own.  That Word which became flesh and dwelt among us, which the Apostles beheld as full of grace and truth, who overcame the worst that wicked men and demonic angels could throw at Him through His life, death, and resurrection, is still the Lord of Hosts and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, is the God whom David confessed as Savior and Shepherd and Lord.  The same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges, the God of Samuel, David, and Solomon, the God of Elijah, Elisha, and the Prophets, the God of Peter, James, John, and the Apostles, is the same God who abides with us today.

 

History has a way of making people forgetful of the glories and calamities of their past, with modern iconoclasts always trying to tear down any memory of prior ages which testified to undeniable truth of God at work in the world to save His people.  Yet God remains the Lord of Hosts, the God of Sabaoth, who is a greater master of war than any human general has ever dreamt of being.  It is He alone who could conquer every enemy of mankind through His Vicarious Atonement upon a Roman Cross, leaving sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil a heaping wreckage upon the sands of time.  He plotted His strategy from before the foundation of the world, worked it out through all the generations from Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus’ time, preserving His people and His Word from every evil design.  He guided the course of history from Creation to the Cross, and He is guiding it even now toward the Last Day.  He is not only the omniscient strategist who can account for every variable of every material and spiritual entity in the entire cosmos, but the omnipotent King who makes His victory certain by His own unconquerable power, and abides as omni-present with each and every one of His people in every time and place.  He is not a distant commander or conniving bureaucrat, but the ever living and imminent God, accomplishing all that He promised for those who abide in Him by grace through faith.

 

Like the saints before us, we are called to live in faith and courage, knowing our God to be exactly who He has revealed Himself to be through His Eternal Word:  the Lord of Hosts, the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer of all those who put their trust in Him.  It is He alone who will cause all wars to cease through His victory over ever evil thing, and He alone that will gather His people to Himself from every tribe and tongue, every culture and civilization, every age and place, into His Kingdom which has no end.  He is the God of our Salvation who calls us, like David before us, to contend with His power for the faith once delivered to the saints, to bear witness to the Word of His Gospel Promise wherever we are sent, and to know that any privations of war we now experience shall be swallowed up when He invites us to His Table where our cup shall overflow forever in His glorious banquet hall.  Hoist His colors high, and rally to His banner on every field of battle, all you His saints, who live forever in His power and grace!  All glory, laud, and honor be to our Redeemer King, now and unto ages of ages!  Amen.

 

Peace Amidst Convolution: A Meditation on Luke 21 for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

And as some spake of the temple,

how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts,

he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come,

in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another,

 that shall not be thrown down.

 

…

 

And when these things begin to come to pass,

 then look up, and lift up your heads;

for your redemption draweth nigh.

 

This text in Luke 21, and its parallel in Matthew 24, record a startling discourse between Jesus and His disciples near the Temple in Jerusalem.  There were few symbols closer to the heart of the Jewish people than the Temple, even if some of those running it in Jesus’ day were corrupt.  Though it was not the Temple Solomon built before the Babylonian Captivity, it had been restored recently under King Herod’s reign, and was the center of the Jewish sacrificial system.  The Temple was where sacrifices for sins were made with the blood of animals according to the Law of Moses, and it foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice Jesus was preparing to make on Calvary for the sins of the whole world.  When Jesus said that despite the beauty of this central edifice of Jewish identity not one stone of it would escape the judgment to come, His disciples could only muster a question about when such a horrible calamity would occur, and the signs of its approach.  Jesus responded by giving them warnings about not being deceived by false teachers, about terrific suffering and social upheaval, and consolation that even as they would see these terrors, their salvation would arrive, too.

 

In a practical sense, Jesus gave His disciples a dual warning.  First, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans did happen within their generation, about 40 years after Jesus’ Ascension.  Many Christians who walked with Jesus would live to see their nation, capital city, and Temple utterly destroyed, and their people exiled to the far corners of the Empire.  Many Christians during this cataclysm remembered Jesus’ words, and when they saw the armies converging on Israel, they fled and escaped the onslaught while thousands of Jewish rebels were cut down.  Though the Roman destruction of Jerusalem was one of the greatest massacres that bloody land had ever seen, Jesus preserved His people by His Word, so that many of them escaped by trusting Him.  Secondly, there is a sense in Jesus’ warning about the final calamity coming upon the whole world.  Like the fall of Jerusalem, it would be a divine judgement upon the evil which would run its course and come to full, festering flower.  At the End of Days, it will seem that evil has prevailed, that it has corrupted and overtaken everything, and that the saints of God are abandoned to obliteration.  It is at that time that Jesus tells His disciples not to flee to the mountains, but to lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.  The final cataclysm will dwarf the regional calamities which came before it, but the totality and completion of salvation with the final revelation of Jesus Christ in all His divine glory will outshine it all.

 

There is some gritty reality baked into Jesus’ words that we are wise to consider.  Not least is the realization that there is real evil in the world, and it will do real damage.  It is not that Jesus desires evil to flourish, but in the reality of a world where people are free to either accept or reject Him, the consequences of freedom can be as bitter as they might be sweet.  Only in a universe of freedom is true love possible, so that divine love might shine through broken creatures who willingly accept the grace of their Creator, and thus receive Him as their Savior.  But also in such a universe are the heights of evil a potentiality, where fallen creatures may reject their Creator’s overtures and make of Him a terrible Judge.  Not shying away from this reality, Jesus set the frankness of their situation before His disciples so they could grow into greater maturity.  Jesus didn’t gild the lily regarding human nature, nor hide the consequences of humanity’s poor use of freedom—instead, He helped them see that He would be with them and save them through the midst of this crazy world.  Jesus didn’t offer them pleasant lies or escapism, but the promise of walking with them and leading them through every tumultuous age yet to come.

 

We would be wise to consider Jesus’ frank address to His disciples in our time, as well.  We should not be tempted to think better of human nature than it is, and to realize that human freedom apart from God can only result in ever greater atrocities.  There is no political solution to the world’s problems, no matter how fond we may regard our own camps, parties, associations, or movements.  Every attempt to build an earthly utopia on the merits of man’s impulse ends in disaster, blood, and flame.  The best political systems we have are not models of perfection, but tools of practicality, aiming to recognize the depravity of man and dividing his ability to wield power over his neighbor… but this is no solution for utopia, only a restraint upon rampant evil.  Likewise, we must not despair at the rise of evil in our age, as if somehow God has abandoned His people or has been overthrown by the kings of Silicon Valley.  Evil will rise from time to time, and God will crush it from time to time, as well.  And even if we are destined to live in the final conflict of rising evil against the Triune God, to see every terror and persecution and ravage of war, our God is still our Savior in this world and the next.  Not the final Antichrist, nor the Devil, nor the Beast of the Apocalypse, nor countless hordes of demons swarming over the fruited plains, nor tyrant states of murderous Marxists, can separate us from the redemptive, saving love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.  There is real evil in the world, and thank God He has given us a real Savior.

 

As the Church listens and learns from Jesus in these final days of the ecclesiastical year, hear again the real truth of our salvation made present in this world by Jesus and His Eternal Word.  Today there is real evil running amok around us, but there is also a real King of the Universe who has done the real work to seek and to save all who will hear Him, repent, and believe.  And to all those who will abide in Him by grace through faith, He will abide in and with them, to give them rescue, provision, and guidance in every perilous hour.  The peace we have been given through our reconciliation with God in the Blood of the Lamb outshines every terror, and the fall of every vaunted icon.  In Jesus is the rest and work and redemption of the saints, never fearful nor pollyannish, never despairing of the promise of eternal life, nor the mystery of that blessed life already at work in us now.  The stones of our temples and cities and monuments may topple, but the people whom Jesus has made into living stones shall never be overthrown in this age, nor the age to come.  He is our peace, our courage, and our strength, just as He is our faith, our hope, and our love.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

Blessed Are They: An All Saints Day Meditation on Matthew 5 and Revelation 7

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain:

and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:

for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,

and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:

for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

 

…

 

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,

What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me,

 These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,

and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore are they before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple:

and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;

neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,

and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:

and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

 

The Feast of All Saints, which is officially November 1^st on the church’s calendar, is often marked on the Sunday either immediately prior or after.  It is a time to reflect on eternal realities that can sometimes escape notice in the cacophony of daily life, and particularly the realities of eternal life.  Regardless of modern dalliances with atheism and materialism, every soul of every person will live forever, and there’s something deep inside every person that knows this is true.  That sense of eternity is what gives life meaning, informs our sense of human value, and the very nature of ethical obligations we have toward each other.  If man had no future beyond his short span of temporal life, then actions and thoughts wouldn’t matter in the least, and there would be no more appropriate axiom to life than the Epicurean ideal to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die… without meaning, consequence, or purpose.  To the contrary, God speaks to all people that their lives have meaning and accountability far beyond the handful of years spent toiling away under the sun, and that for His people who abide in Him by grace through faith, that eternal state is one of blessedness.  Yet for those who reject Him, it is not their eternal destiny which is denied, but their blessedness and joy in His presence.  All people will live forever, and those who live forever in God’s fellowship, will live forever in joy.

 

In the Gospel text from Matthew 5, Jesus uses a Greek term for “blessed” that could just as easily be translated “joyous.”  Transliterated as Makarioi, it is a declarative term that those who abide in His Word will in fact be full of joy, if less manifest in this world than the world to come.  The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those yearning after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for keeping Jesus’ Word—all will experience trouble and tribulation in the present world, but will be filled with His joy in the world to come.  Jesus noted that such was the fate of the prophets who came before them, who in ages prior had lived struggling to abide in the Word and grace of God, suffered much at the hands of evil people and the wicked designs of malicious demons, only to find their names written indelibly in their Lord’s Book of Life.  Like the prophets before them, many who suffered tremendously for their testimony and faithfulness to God, would find that their eternal rewards in heaven far outstripped their temporary suffering.  In the presence of God their Savior, those who pass from this world to the next find joys unspeakable by mortal tongues, and a fulfillment of their created purpose inconceivable to dimmed earthly intellects.  It is as John glimpsed in His Apocalypse, where the white robed saints, forever washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb, abide with and are led by their God and King, no more to suffer nor weep.  The blessedness and joy of such an eternal fellowship is what the best of earthly fellowships strain to approximate, and it is the future toward which all Christians press by grace through faith in Christ alone.

 

Yet is important to remember how a person becomes blessed, inducted into such a great and unending fellowship.  It is not by powers native to fallen man, for no fellowship of man can achieve such joyous camaraderie.  Every fellowship of men in this world is marked by the sin and weakness of those men who form it, and pressed upon by the evil desires of those who are outside it.  To be sure, there are better and worse human associations in this world, those which do greater or lesser good, and those which do greater or lesser evil.  But the limits of fallen man prevent him from ever building utopia on earth, as every failed attempt at doing so in human history has demonstrated.  However, the fellowship which God creates in this world presses toward fulfillment in a world without sin, without evil, and without the associated pain and judgement evil brings forth.  When God calls people into His fellowship, He begins to transform them into His likeness, renewing the image of their Creator in them which was so horribly deformed by sin.  By the power of His Word and Spirit, He begins to transform their pride into humility, their warmongering into peacemaking, their gluttony into a hunger for righteousness, their vengefulness into mercy, their corruption into purity.  In the end, He even transforms the world’s persecution of them into marks of eternal accolade, where in His eternal Kingdom, those who suffer and are despised the most in their faith are elevated first among all.  It is God alone who makes the saints, and to God alone belongs the glory of their service.

 

As if fellowship with the King of the Universe were not enough, it is His good pleasure to pour out grace upon grace by creating and extending that fellowship outward among His people.  In the Creed we confess this as the Communion of the Saints, acknowledging the Cloud of Witnesses described by St. Paul in the book of Hebrews, and the heavenly hosts described by St. John, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others.  The fellowship of God is a communion of all who abide in Him, knit together in the same divine love, grace, hope, faith, and joy that enlivens each individual soul.  It is a mysterious union shared across time and space between all who are grafted into the Vine of Jesus, an eternal reality that presses into the temporal realm of our daily lives.  Each baptized and faithful person in this world is in fact a part of the Body of Christ, numbered among His people with their names written in His Book of Life just like those who have gone on to glory before us.  In this fallen world the bonds of fellowship can be hard to see, but we recognize the same Holy Spirit at work among us through the same Word of Holy Scripture, bringing about faith and repentance in all who will believe and live in Him.  And what we see partially and imperfectly in this world, God is making pure and perfect in the world to come, so that when we press from this veil of tears into the glories of eternity, we press into the fullness of His Gospel made perfect in us forever.  We catch glimpses of this eternity in the signs He has given us according to His Word, of Holy Baptism, of the Body and Blood of the Eucharist, of Absolution for our sins, of the preaching of His Law and Gospel, and of the Spirit at work in us through our various callings and vocations bringing forth fruits of divine, sacrificial love.  It is a reality we can only now approach by faith, but to which God gives the surety of His promise both now and forever.

 

This is the joy which passes all understanding, which is being prepared for the saints of every time and place.  The fallen world will always be at war with the Word and Spirit of the Living God, and while they may exact their toll of suffering and mayhem in this time bound world, they can never overthrow the King of the Universe.  His Word of Gospel grace—that we are reconciled to the Father for the sake of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit—cannot be broken or undone by any force of man or devil.  The gift of grace, received by faith in Jesus, is what makes the saints Makarioi, full of joy with life unending in the fellowship of God their Savior, and with the countless hosts of those white robed saints who have pressed into eternity before us.  Glory and thanksgiving be to God, now and forevermore, who has built His Kingdom on the Word of His Promise, and called all people into fellowship with Him.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.