[Ninety-Ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The word “martyr” is a Greek word that means “witness” — a person who reports what he or she sees. Just before returning to Heaven, Jesus predicted His disciples would be witnesses of His death and resurrection.
The apostles appointed Stephen a deacon. It was his task to feed the widows and the poor, using the funds collected for that purpose. God blessed his work by performing miracles as well. When men from the local synagogue asked what he believed, God blessed Stephen’s word, so that his opponents could not find a reply to answer his arguments. They finally silenced him by charging him with blasphemy — speaking lies about God.
The same Sanhedrin that had condemned Jesus just a few weeks earlier now convened to hear Stephen’s case. Stephen told the truth — that the Sanhedrin had handed over Jesus to death falsely. This infuriated them. The last straw came when Stephen related a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God in heaven. For the Jewish people of the time, this was another way of saying that Jesus Himself is God. Jesus said the same thing in that very spot in the early hours of Good Friday. They condemned Stephen to death, too. This time, Pontius Pilate was not in Jerusalem. So they felt safe in defying Roman law and executing Stephen by the method ordered by the Jewish Law. They took Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. The man who would one day be the Apostle Paul held the coats of those who killed Stephen.
With the death of Stephen and others that followed, the word “martyr” took on new meaning. Now it meant dying for witnessing to the truth about Jesus and for preaching the good news. The martyrs’ deaths impressed the Romans. If you believe in something strongly enough to risk death by torture, they thought, then perhaps the martyrs might be right. Many were baptized because of such witnesses. That is why the church likes to say: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
[Ninety-eighth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Enore Post: On Maundy Thursday, Jesus told His disciples that they would abandon Him and that St. Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed. Peter swore he would rather die than betray his Lord. Later, Peter denied he knew Jesus — three times.
When Jesus rose from the dead, Peter began to change. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him. Three times, Peter said he did. Jesus showed He forgave Peter when He commanded Peter three times to feed God’s sheep. From then on, Peter was no longer a fisherman. He was now a pastor — a shepherd — to care for God’s people with God’s word and His sacraments.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to the crowd. Three thousand people were brought to faith and baptized that day. Peter went everywhere preaching, teaching, healing the sick, and suffering for his Lord. Later, Peter would write two letters that comfort God’s people to this day.
According to tradition, Peter would tell the story of Jesus to a younger companion, John Mark, who would write it down. He would die by the order of Nero Caesar, crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to die the way his Lord did. In his confession of faith, Jesus would build his church.
[Ninety-Fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples several times over forty days. Like the forty days and forty nights of the flood, the forty years of wandering of Israel in the wilderness, and the forty days of testing before his ministry, these forty days were for preparation. Jesus was preparing them to live without his physical presence.
At first, they would not recognize him. But one thing or another — his greeting of peace, his calling of their name, the miracle of a great catch of fish, and the breaking of bread — revealed him immediately to them. Jesus, at first, reassured them that it was really him. He had really risen from the dead, not only in spirit, but in his body as well. He ate bread and fish with them. He still had the wounds of the crucifixion — the holes in his hands and the place where the spear was thrust into his side. The very same Jesus stood before him in his flesh — only now transformed into a body that would never again die.
He also took the time to teach them more. Most of what he did was conduct a Bible study, showing them every place in the Old Testament that predicted his life, suffering, death, and resurrection. He also showed them how the whole Bible speaks about him.
He also gave them a mission — to baptize, to teach, and to forgive sins. They would do this everywhere in the world. All the while, Jesus promised to be with them until the end of time itself.
[Ninety-Three in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: In New Testament times, rabbis were not full-time teachers or ministers. Because God is a God who works, rabbis worked at a profession one-third of the time and studied and taught two-thirds of the time. The difference between these teachers and everyday people is that work was just a means to buy food and clothing. Jesus likely worked at His trade as a carpenter (more of a contractor than simply a worker of wood) sometimes. St. Paul continued his trade as a tentmaker.
After Jesus rose from the dead, Peter, James, John, and others moved back to Galilee. They picked up their nets again to earn a living. They caught nothing all night. Jesus called to them from the shore and told them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat. They saw a net full of fish. Jesus did this once before for them — at the beginning of his ministry. John instantly recognized it was Jesus. When they got to shore, the disciples saw Jesus had made a breakfast of fish and bread — just like he had fed 5000 people not long before. By preparing breakfast for his disciples, Jesus shows He blesses the everyday work God has given us. He helps his disciples do their jobs and gives them a hot meal to go with their catch.
But he also gives them another job to do. He asked Peter three times if the disciple loved him. Peter, quite upset by the question, said he loved Jesus three times. Each time Jesus told him to care for God’s people — His lambs and His sheep. That is what Peter and the other apostles did.
Today, Jesus calls on pastors, teachers, deaconesses, and others to do the same. Pastors teach his Word, proclaim the gospel of the forgiveness of sins in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. They forgive sins in his name, baptize, and feed his sheep with Christ’s own body and blood, together with bread and wine. They follow in the footsteps of Jesus, his apostles, and the pastors who went to every corner of the world, making disciples from every nation, language, tribe, and race.
[Ninety-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: St. Thomas was a practical, down-to-earth man. Called “the Twin,” he was a man of few words, yet very direct. When Jesus was determined to go to Lazarus‘ Tomb, not five miles from Jerusalem, Thomas said, “Let us also go and die with Him.” When Jesus told the disciples at the Lord’s Supper that He was going to prepare a place for them, he asked, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, how can we know the way?”
Subtle Thomas was not. Loyal and strong, he was. When Jesus was crucified, Thomas had no doubt the Lord was dead. He knew every detail. He did not want it to be that way, but he was a realist. Jesus was gone, end of story. So when the other disciples told Thomas with joy, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas would have nothing of it. He had to see the wounds that marked Jesus in a living man to believe. Even seeing would not be enough. He had to touch the wounds. On something as important as the life of the Lord, Thomas would not be fooled.
All of this changed when Jesus appeared to him and the rest of the disciples on the Sunday after Easter. The doors were locked, and suddenly Jesus was with them. Jesus said, “Shalom,” or “Peace, be with you all.” This greeting, even though it is the Hebrew version of “Hello,” had special meaning for the disciples. Jesus was telling them everything was all right. Turning to Thomas, he invited his hard-headed disciple to see for himself. “Stop doubting,” Jesus said, “and believe.”
This was all Thomas needed. He dropped to his knees to worship Jesus. All he could say was, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus mildly rebukes him and then blesses us. “You have seen and believed,” Jesus said. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” And so it is. Later, St. Peter introduces his first letter, praising God for all He has done for us. “Though you have not seen Him,” Peter says to his readers, “you love Him and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” Why? Because we know we are receiving what our faith really wants, the salvation of our souls.
In the end, this faith, which Jesus gave to Thomas — a faith that would send the Apostle to India to establish the church there — is itself a gift from God. It comes through His Word and Sacraments. “These are written,” St. John tells us, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing, you may have life in His name.” Blessed we are indeed to hear and say, “He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Sermon on Matthew 8:18–22 Friday in the Week of the 6th Sunday after Pentecost July 6th, 2018 Kramer Chapel Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Text: “Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The text for this morning’s meditation is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8, verses 18 to 22.
Welcome to Zion on the St. Joseph—where tranquil vistas, first-class architecture, vibrant worship, and perhaps the most comfortable, well-ordered library in the world await you. Here, you sit at the feet of profound scholars, studying Scripture and the Confessions. Yes, you have chosen well—and all it cost you is your whole life.
The would-be disciples in our text did what any pious, Torah-loving Jew of the age would do: they chose a great rabbi. But Jesus of Nazareth was unlike any other. He called His own students.
And so it is with you. You are here because you believe God may be calling you to ministry, in answer to the prayers of the Church that He send workers into His harvest field.
As those early disciples discovered—and as you may have discovered upon meeting your first drill sergeant, your Greek instructor—there is much more to come. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to assess the cost. And I don’t mean financially.
Ministry requires sacrifice and dedication.
The first would-be disciple thought that becoming a scribe meant simply following the teacher and taking notes. But Jesus reminded him: no five-star hotels, no comforts—just the road, wherever it leads. The second disciple wanted to fulfill his familial duties first. But Jesus made clear: the kingdom of God comes first, even before family.
This is not a lucrative trade. You won’t make much money as a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor. Stock options? Unlikely. Appreciation? Sometimes scarce.
You’ll arrive at your first parish and discover they expect you to be “on” before you’re even ordained. I remember pulling into my first church to unload books a week before installation. I was invited to dinner to meet the daughter of a member, who happened to be in a cult. Immediately, I was on. Time for cult evangelism.
The ministry calls at unexpected hours and in unexpected ways. It’s not just on Sundays. It’s 24/7, 365 days a year. Yes, you’ll have a vacation—but pastors are often called back for funerals. Even family time may be shortened, vacations truncated, and relocations sudden. Yes, this costs you your whole life.
Sometimes, that burden is heavy. When a policeman shines a light into your bedroom window at 3 a.m., you may not respond with grace. Yet ministry calls. Sometimes you’ll wonder why you ever said yes. Sometimes you’ll be appreciated. Sometimes your sermon will hit the mark—and the congregation will growl. Sometimes they won’t receive you at all.
Friedrich Wyneken arrived in town with a breathtaking call:
“Come, we need a shepherd.” But when he introduced himself, the man didn’t even look up. “So, you’re a preacher? The sick man’s house is over there. But you probably want to see the wagoner down the block.” How’s that for a welcome?
You’ll often feel unfit. Luther’s sacristy prayer says it best:
“Lord, you have made me a pastor and teacher of the Church, and you know how unfit I am for so great and responsible an office.”
So what do you do? You don’t pack up. You don’t leave. You do what God has called you to do.
And remember what it cost Jesus to call you. Though He was God, He did not cling to equality with God but emptied Himself, became man, and went to the cross. He died for you and me, taking our sin, our pride, our expectations—and nailed them to the cross. He rose again, and we rose with Him. You are never alone.
Now, when ministry is hard, God is with you. Jesus strengthens you through His gifts—through your hands, He blesses your flock with forgiveness, life, and salvation. He is present in the Sacrament and in the prayers of saints near and far. That grandmother who can’t make it to church? She prays for you daily.
You are never alone. He lives with us every day. And when we lay down our office in death, we will go to where He is now—where there is no sorrow, sighing, crying, or pain. And on that day, we will see the true fruits of the ministry He worked through us. It will have been worth it.
And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, fill our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
[Eighty-seventh in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: At the time of Jesus, bathing was an important part of being cultured. The Romans especially prized their public baths, which were as much a part of daily life as going to the gym to work out is today. Especially when you were going to a banquet, you would visit the baths before you went. Besides this, in the tradition of the Pharisees, Jewish people would ritually wash themselves and everything they would use to serve food. Especially during Passover, when no leaven could be eaten, these rituals were strictly followed.
The problem was that you couldn’t avoid getting your feet dirty in an age when you wore sandals and walked on dirt roads. In well-to-do homes, a gentile slave would be provided to the guests to wash their feet. A disciple would do many things for his master, but foot-washing was unworthy of them. When there was no slave, you would wash your own feet.
That is why Jesus’ action was so shocking. The last one who should wash feet is the Lord. Yet, he is the one who serves us all. Because he would wash feet, so also we are called to meet every need of everyone.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
There are a few things about Obadiah that I think you should know. First of all, it all boils down to Jacob and Esau. Jacob deceived Esau and got Esau’s birthright for a bowl of soup. And Jacob deceived Isaac for Esau’s blessing for well-cooked wild game. Jacob got everything; Esau got nothing. Even though Esau was older and Esau was stronger, Jacob prevailed and he made off with the promises of God.
Jacob ran away after that for twenty years. I was just reading with someone about Jacob and Esau the other day. And Jacob and Esau did finally meet again. And Jacob assumed war, but he and his brother reconciled. And yet there was still bad blood between them. For Israel ended up with the good land and Esau’s descendants ended up with the land of Edom, on the east of the Jordan.
Obadiah’s whole book is about this feud. His small chapter in the Bible, only 21 verses, was written about 1,300 years or more after Jacob and Esau lived in the land. By that time, Edom had attacked Israel and judgment was upon them. Brother rose up against brother, as it were. Assyria had already taken the northern kingdom and Babylon was near at hand to take Jerusalem. And Edom was gloating and boasting at the ruin of their brother Jacob, the nation of Israel. There was little hope for the people of God who had forsaken the Lord.
That’s the first point, that it all boils down to Jacob and Esau. But just like Jacob ran away from Esau in the beginning of this feud, Obadiah mentions that the people of God will also escape when he says, But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy,and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.The house of Jacob shall be a fire,and the house of Joseph a flame. In other words, and this is the second point, the church shall not be snuffed out. And that is valuable for us. Think about what God has done. First, He gave Jacob the blessings. Then He helped Jacob escape. Later, God’s people received the judgment and yet God still delivered them and they escaped.
Here we see 1,300 years of God’s mercy at work. Obadiah reminds us that we shall not be utterly destroyed. While there are powerful forces in our world that would love to humiliate us and to displace us, we have nothing to fear, for like Jacob we shall be preserved. Consider how much greater the house of Jacob is in our world today than the house of Esau. There is no house of Esau. But there is an incredibly vast and numerous church. Esau’s land was small, but the church has spread to every nation and tribe and language.
It is as Obadiah says, that the house of Esau is stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. At the end of the day, Esau has been judged. While Jacob was suffering at that time and Israel was under attack and nearly lost everything, the church, the Israel of God, has prevailed and expanded by God’s grace.
Consider what St. Paul says about this Jacob-Esau feud in Romans chapter 9. He boils it all down to this simple point: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. We know that this is true. We do not fight battles and wage wars for material gains by human will or exertion. We do not fight battles and wage wars for an eternal earthly kingdom. Rather we know that God has mercy on us and has compassion towards us. Fighting only accomplishes small victories. But God’s grace through faith is the eternal victory that has lasting, ahem, everlasting effect, as you yourselves can testify.
But to the next point. And this is the one that most clearly points us to Jesus. Obadiah ends his book with this beautiful promise: Saviors shall go up to Mount Zionto rule Mount Esau,and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. Here is the Jesus prophecy that we need to hear. The Savior shall fight for the church. The Savior shall save the church. From Mount Zion to the Mount of Olives, your Lord Jesus Christ overcame all the enemies and made them a footstool under His feet. From Mount Esau to Mount Calvary, your Lord Jesus Christ established the kingdom of God, the church on earth.
The Savior has come! That’s the Advent message for you today. We already knew that Obadiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. We already knew that from Jacob’s family, Jesus has been born. We already knew that our God would deliver us, as He did for thousand of years before His Son was born in Bethlehem.
The kingdom is the Lord’s, dear people of God. His kingdom grows and expands more and more by His grace and through faith. And His kingdom shall have no end. Let us rejoice and sing, for what Obadiah has foretold has come true for us, that God saves us now and forevermore.
Advent Midweek III Jonah 3:1-5, 10 December18, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Would you go? Would you go to Los Angeles and tell everybody you meet they need to repent? Would you walk right into the mayor’s office in Los Angeles and say, “Mayor, change your ways, believe in the Lord.” And then you would say, “Yet forty days and Los Angeles shall be overthrown!” That would take guts! We all might think that we would simply be escorted out of the office with guards, never to see the Mayor’s face again.
Would you go? Would you go to Las Vegas, to the casinos and the brothels, and go to the magnificent mansions and tell the leaders of the city, “Yet forty days and Las Vegas shall be overthrown!” Doesn’t it seem like a nearly impossible task to accomplish? Do you blame Jonah for running the other way?
Would you go? Would you go to Washington D.C. to turn the nation back to the Lord? You wouldn’t go there for political purposes and you wouldn’t go there for a vacation. You would go there to say to the President, “Yet forty days and America shall be overthrown!” I imagine the message falls on deaf ears. The security would probably think that you were nuts!
But Nineveh was not known for those things that Los Angeles and Las Vegas and Washington D.C. are known for. No, Nineveh was known for murdering enemies. The Ninevites were ruthless people. They killed babies. Would you go to Nineveh? Would you walk into the offices of the Nineveh of our day, Planned Parenthood, and preach against that slaughter and murder of the next generation? “Yet forty days, and Planned Parenthood shall be overthrown!” Imagine how many people would hate you! Imagine trying to stay alive yourself if you did that.
We may be able to sympathize with Jonah. We wouldn’t want Jonah’s job either. I think that all of us would rather run away from God and His people who need to hear the Gospel. We may not take a boat on the sea, but who among us would get in a car or a train or a plane to go anywhere but the place that God sends us.
Dear people of God, the first thing we ought to do is to pray for those Christians who are enduring persecution. Pray for the Pastors certainly, but also the congregations who live in the midst of great and grievous sin, who live where love and life are so messed up, who live among great leaders who despise God’s Word and do not gladly hear and learn it.
It takes incredible courage to be willing to go and to obey the voice of the Lord. The Lord said to Jonah a second time in our reading today, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” Sometimes parents do have to say something more than once for the kids to do what they ask. And in this case, God did have to tell Jonah more than once what his job really was. I have been pondering this recently with one of my friends who was called to Canada. Would you uproot your family who had lived fifteen years in one place to move to a different country, to become citizens, to change schools, to endure the cold? I think for most of us we would definitely think twice before making that decision.
But that is the thing about God. He calls us to tell others about Jesus, and He does the rest of the work. There was no hope for Nineveh. They were ruthless, but by the power of the preached Word, by the conviction of the Law, especially these words, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” By these words and certainly the rest of the sermon, the whole city of Nineveh repented and believed in God. He worked a miracle. Jonah started as a coward, but God turned him around and sent him to the city. And Nineveh started as murderers, but they ended in sackcloth and ashes and turned a whole city to God.
We spend a lot of time thinking about the fascinating story of the Joppa high dive and the digestion of whales. But here is the message: And the people of Nineveh believed God. Imagine for a moment what happened, 120,000 souls turned and believed in God. The Lord used the most unlikely prophet to convert the most heathen city at that time.
Now, I have no desire to live in a city, and we continue to pray for those who do. But sometimes I’m jealous of Jonah, for his preaching converted 120,000 and I work to convert just 1,000 or 2,000. But I get ahead of myself. This is not my ministry; this is our ministry. This is not only our ministry; this is God’s ministry here in Curtis and the surrounding area. Together, we work to convert the people of our community to the church of Christ. It is tough work, but it is amazing work. We tell others about Jesus, and God will do the rest of the work of converting souls and changing hearts.
This is what He already has done in us, and like Nineveh, we believe in God and trust in Him for all things. Like Nineveh, God has relented against the disaster planned against us for our sins. Like Nineveh, Jesus died for us to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Like Nineveh, God’s Word goes out, and it does not return to God void, but it accomplished that for which He sent it, namely for your faith by His grace unto life everlasting.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear people of God, we ought never to wish that we were dead. It is perfectly normal to desire to meet Jesus in heaven and we certainly will when we die. But there is always a reason that we are alive, and we should never wish that we were dead. We are alive to spread the Gospel, we are alive to serve our neighbor; we are alive to worship our God.
And we ought never to wish that other people would die. We must protect and defend every human life regardless of circumstance. Life is a gift from God. We must never hope that so-and-so would die, that evil nation would be defeated, that despicable family would experience hardship, or anyone else. That is committing murder in our own hearts.
And that is taking life from others who God has created, loved, and died for. We are alive to spread the Gospel to our enemies, we are alive to serve those who hate us, and we are alive to worship God all our days.
I mention all this because Amos wrote about the judgment against all of Israel’s neighbors for the previous four chapters. This nation was unfaithful; that nation was murderous. This nation was sinful; that nation was worthless. And at least to some degree, the people would cheer for the destruction of others. Those people should die! Think of how it is today. That nation rises up against nation to annihilate each other, total war, bombs, rockets, and missiles.
We should give thanks that we are safe from warfare at this point. And we should pray to God that we do not enter into war. But there is definitely a bit of smugness in each of us when we think, “But they deserve to die. Those people are evil. That group hates Christians.” And we sit on our couches wishing vengeance on our enemies.
But then the Lord commands Amos to preach against the people of Israel and Judah as well. For it is well-known that no one is righteous, no not one. And that caused a moment of reflection. What? You mean that we also deserve to die? That we also are under judgment? That Your vengeance, O Lord, shall be exacted against us?
Three times in Amos 5, the preacher preaches, “Seek the Lord and live!” That was a call to repentance. For it was easy to cheer on destruction when it wasn’t happening to us. But here is that chilling realization that God shows no partiality. If anything, God expects more out of us than He does out of the pagan nations.
But the people were praying and praising for the destruction of others. This is what Amos means when He says, Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? Amos preaches to bloodthirsty, vengeful people who want to see the downfall of other nations. Amos preaches to self-righteous hypocrites who do not acknowledge that they have murderous hearts.
I remind you, we are alive to spread the Gospel, we are alive to serve our neighbors, and we are alive to worship God. Shouldn’t we spread the Gospel to Russia AND Ukraine? Shouldn’t we pray for war to cease in the Middle East?
These wars and rumors of wars are for us an example of what we deserve from the Lord: death. And this violence and threat is an example for us of what the day of the Lord would be for us if we did not have the Gospel. As Amos says, It is darkness, and not light,as if a man fled from a lion,and a bear met him. In our reading today, Amos provides a scary picture of the end of the world, a hopeless image of running from a lion to a bear which would end with the same result: death.
But this is not because the Lord does not love us. It is because the hearts of God are not gracious and merciful. It is because our souls want revenge. We want other people to die because they deserve it, because they are evil and we are not. Or so we think.
Consider these words from God through the prophet Amos: “I hate, I despise your feasts,and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,I will not accept them. I totally get it, when God is angry with us, His Word cuts us to the heart. To be sure, there is not much hope or Gospel in this passage today. God’s Word does cut us deeply in our hearts. This is how it happened with Cain after he killed Abel. This is what happened when Nathan confronted David about killing Uriah.
But let us learn this lesson today and not repeat the sins of the past. As Amos says, “Seek the Lord and live. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” I remind you, it is not God’s will to destroy us, to kill us. Rather, it is one of the major themes of Advent, that God is with us.
Do not forget that. God is with you. What a comfort that is when there is vengeance against all the nations. God is with you even when the cities are falling. God is with you even if you have to fight in a war. God is with you and it is not His intention that you ought to die, or that anyone else should die.
Seek the Lord and live, the Word says to you today. For our God has been gracious to us, the remnant of Joseph. God is gracious to us now, that He spares our lives. He spares us so that we can spread the Gospel to the nations who are warring against one another. He spares us so that we can serve our neighbors and even our enemies. God spares us destruction and woe so that we can freely worship Him here. God spares us that we can live now on earth, and eternally with Him in heaven.
For it is in heaven, as Amos says, that justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. What a beautiful picture. And what an obvious joy! That there is no war in heaven; there is ever-flowing peace. That there is no anger in heaven; there is ever-flowing joy. That there is no vengeance in heaven; there is ever-flowing grace. Like a stream, like the stream of living water, our Lord Jesus Christ shall reign with justice and righteousness as the eternal King of Kings.
