Isaiah 57:15  +  Acts 1:1-11  +  Mark 16:14-20

We can’t overestimate the importance of this day, of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus. Just as Christmas would be useless without Good Friday, and Good Friday without Easter Sunday, so it would all be useless without the work Jesus continues to do in the world, now ascended into heaven and seated on His throne at the right hand of God.

As we said a couple Sundays ago, if Jesus had remained bodily on earth, then the Gospel would have remained in one place, and Jesus would be far away from us. But that was never God’s intention. It was His intention that the Gospel be preached in all the world, “to all nations,” “to every creature,” not by His own mouth, but by the mouths of those whom He sent. And yet they would not go out alone. They would never be alone. “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age,” He told them. And as Mark concludes his Gospel, “they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word.” So Jesus’ Ascension doesn’t put Him farther away from us. It puts Him closer. Much closer.

Sometime after the resurrection and before the ascension, Jesus gathered His eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee and commissioned them to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” Mark and Matthew tell of the same event. Matthew puts it this way: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…” Jesus intended His Gospel for everyone, everywhere. No one on earth is left out. All are to hear the Gospel.

And what is the Gospel? Sometimes we use John 3:16 to summarize it. Here in Mark 16 we have another simple, beautiful summary: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. See how beautifully Scripture agrees with itself! Over and over gain the Gospel is proclaimed. All men are sinners. But Christ died for all and rose again.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned.

So salvation doesn’t depend at all on works. Not, “He who lives a saintly life,” or, “He who tries his hardest,” or, “He who earns God’s favor will be saved,” but “he who believes and is baptized.” Sinners are saved by faith in Christ, who died and rose again for us, by baptism, which is the sign and seal of the faith worked in us by the Gospel. That’s it. Where there is faith in Christ, there is Christ taking away sins and conquering the devil. But no matter how good a life someone thinks he has lived, “he who does not believe will be condemned.” Faith in Christ means you’re judged by His deeds, and your sins are covered under His blood. Unbelief means you’re judged by your own deeds, and all your sins cry out against you.

That’s it, the simple Gospel that has been proclaimed and is still being proclaimed in every corner of the earth, that God has sent His Son as the sacrifice for sin and now wishes to save everyone who believes in Christ and is baptized in His name, while He wishes to condemn only those who will not believe in His Son.

Once Christ had given the content of the Gospel to His apostles, as well as the command to teach and to baptize and to administer Holy Communion, His work in bodily form on earth was finished, and so, forty days after His resurrection, Jesus was taken up into heaven before the very eyes of His disciples, and He sent His angels to tell those men of Galilee to stop looking for Jesus on earth, to stop gazing up into the sky to try to see Him. No longer are we to look for Jesus on earth, except in the preaching of the Gospel. There He hides Himself. There He works with us and through us. There He accompanies us and sends His Spirit to build the Church. He has not left us alone. He just doesn’t want to be seen as an earthly King, setting up an earthly, carnal, political kingdom, but as the King of a spiritual kingdom that comes spiritually when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Now, as for this “sitting at the right hand of God,” that’s a big deal, too. The Psalmist foretold it in the eighth Psalm, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. That Psalm is about Jesus, who was made low for a little while during His time of humiliation on earth, but now has been exalted above every name to have dominion, lordship over the universe. Or as Psalm 110 says about the Christ, The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Jesus isn’t sitting idly up in heaven. He reigns at the right hand of God and rules in the midst of His enemies.

You understand what that means? It means that, while the non-believers of the world go around mocking anyone who still actually believes that Bible stuff, while ISIS murders Christians, while the world around you appears to be crumbling, Christ is actually defeating His enemies and ruling over His Church. It’s not for us to see. It’s not for us to figure out. It’s for us to believe. When you realize that your Redeemer, the very One who died for you and has called you by the Gospel into His eternal kingdom, the very One who has proven His love for you, is ruling over everything that happens in this world, you really do have nothing to fear. You really do have no reason to become discouraged or to despair, because nothing can happen in this world against the will of Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God. Things may look out of control, but nothing is actually out of control.

The festival of the Ascension means nothing to the world. There is no national holiday to celebrate the Ascension, at least not in this or in most countries. If anything, the Ascension of Christ gives the world the false idea that Christ is far away, and that they are the ones who are really in charge of this earth. But Christians know the secret of the Ascension—that Christ is now present in His Church in every place throughout the world where His Gospel is purely taught and His Sacraments rightly administered, and that Christ is the One governing every event of this world for the good of His body, for the good of His Church. And He will continue to reign, and to build His Church, soul by soul, until that job is done, too. Then He will come again in the same way His disciples saw Him go. Until then, rejoice in the Christ who is present with us in the Gospel. And rejoice that Christ, your Lord, reigns as King over all. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon by Martin Luther for the
DAY OF CHRIST’S ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN.

This sermon, which is not found in edition c, dates from the year 1523 and appeared in three pamphlet editions in the same year under the title: “A sermon by Dr. Martin Luther on the last chapter of St. Mark. While the eleven were sitting at meat Christ manifested himself and reproved them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, 1523.”

German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:169; Walch Edition, 11:1256; St. Louis Walch, 11:931.

Text: Mark 16:14-20 (KJV)

CONTENTS: CHRIST’S COMMISSION TO HIS DISCIPLES TO PREACH THE GOSPEL; CHRIST’S ASCENSION.
* The substance of this Gospel 1-2.
I. CHRIST’ S COMMISSION TO HIS DISCIPLES.
A. The Commission to Preach the Gospel.
1. How and why the Gospel is to be preached to all creatures 3-4.
2. The nature of the Gospel that shall thus be preached 5ff.
3. The way and means to preach the Gospel 6-7.
B. The Double Appendix Christ made to This Command.
1. The first appendix — faith and unbelief. a. How the papists interpret this falsely and how to refute their interpretation 8ff. b. The true sense and import of this appendix 9-10. c. How the whole institution of the monks and nuns is shattered to pieces by this appendix 11-13. d. An objection raised here and its answer 14-16.
2. The second appendix — holy baptism. a. Why Christ appointed holy baptism in connection with faith. (1) The first reason 17. (2) The second reason 18. (3) The third reason 19. b. That baptism is not work of man but a work of God
3. The third appendix — the signs, that shall accompany the preaching of the Gospel 21-22.
II. CHRIST’ S ASCENSION TO HEAVEN.
A. How and Why Christ’s Ascension is to be Laid Hold of by the Heart 23-24.
B. Why Christ Ascended to Heaven 24.
C. That Reason Cannot Grasp Christ’s Ascension, but Faith must do it.
1. The sense and import of this 25.
2. How this can be proved by passages of the Old Testament. a. The first passage 26-27 b. The second passage 28. c. The third passage 29. d . The fourth passage 30-33.
* That faith is an inexpressibly great thing 34.

THE SUMMARY OF THIS GOSPEL:
1. This text is explained contrary to the narrative of this Gospel, at which some take offense. They think that Mark omitted much here. But they are mistaken and do not take the pains to examine it; for Mark describes the total of all that happened from the time Christ arose from the dead until the Gospel began to be preached in all the world.
2. Therefore we must correctly understand some words in this Gospel, as when he says, “Afterward,” not on the day of his ascension, but on the evening of the day Christ rose from the dead, after ,he appeared to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. Likewise that the Evangelist says, “And he said unto them”, did not occur this day, but later, on another day upon Mount Tabor in Galilee, whither Jesus had directed them, as Matthew says.

For the words in Matthew 28:18ff agree with these, “all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you.” Also, when the text says: “After he had spoken unto them,” namely, forty days afterwards, as is recorded in Acts 1:3. Likewise, when the Evangelist says: “And they went forth,” is to be understood when they had visibly received the Holy Spirit etc.

SECOND SUMMARY:
1. The slowness to believe and the imperfections of the beloved saints are a great and strong consolation for us.

2. The apostles should preach the Gospel and nothing else; to all creatures and not only to the Jews, but also to the heathen, to princes and subjects, so that there may not be a place in the whole world where the Gospel is not heard.

3. But it is all in vain to hear the Gospel, if you do not believe it. Therefore all must be taught by God.

4. Unless you are constantly baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit until the end of your life, you will fall back again into unbelief.

5. For the sake of the unbelievers are the signs given, in order that thereby they might show the world, that what was preached to them was the Word of God. For the text speaks thus: “The Lord working with them, and confirming the Word by the signs that followed.”

6. The signs have already been performed, and therefore we consider the apostles of God holy; hence signs are no longer needed, by which we should know that their words and preaching are God’s Word.

7. But we should hearken to the answer given to the rich man: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” Luke 16:29.

8. The signs here mentioned shall be performed also in a spiritual sense even unto the end of the world. For by means of the Gospel the prince of darkness with all his serpents will be crushed as is taught in Genesis 3:15. A new confession is heard from those who are converted. If unbelief at any time enter our hearts or spring up before us, we can soon banish it through the Gospel, so that we may learn not to trust in ourselves. Besides this believers will patiently bear with the infirmities of others, try to help them, heal them and do all for them they can. These signs the disciples did, could be done in a literal sense at the present day if it were necessary.

9. Christ in his bodily, visible form departs; for this was the best way to teach them that his kingdom did not consist in human ordinances.

Therefore St. Paul says to the Colossians: “If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?” Colossians 2:20. Christ did this in order to rule in the hearts of believers, and be a high priest forever with the Father.

1. We are to consider today the article of faith in which we say: “I believe in Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father.” Our Gospel lesson briefly reviews the story of this ascension. But Luke treats the matter at greater length and writes, The Lord gathered all the disciples together, fully forty days after his resurrection, just as he had often shown himself to them, and spoke with them and gave them commandment what they should do, and as they were assembled together and spoke with him out at Bethany, whither he had led them, some asked him, saying: “Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And he said unto them: “It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” And when he had said these things, he blessed them and bade them good night and departed from them and was taken up while they beheld him and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they stood there, gazing after him, gaping at the heavens, behold, there came and stood hard by them two men in white apparel, who said: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.” Hereupon they returned from Bethany, from the mount of Olives, to Jerusalem and assembled in the upper room of the house where they were abiding, and continued with one accord in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus. This is the story of our Lord Jesus Christ’s ascension. Now let us consider the Gospel.

2. In the first place, there are in this Gospel two parts: one where the Lord commands the apostles to preach the Gospel in all the world; the other, treating of his ascension. We shall pass over the beginning of the text, where the Lord reproves their unbelief and hardness of heart, and take up the part where he says: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation.” Here you have in English what the Gospel really is, to wit: “He that believeth and is baptized, is saved.” In these words all is comprehended; he that has them, has the Gospel.

I. CHRIST’S MISSIONARY COMMISSION TO HIS DISCIPLES TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.

3. We have often said ‘heretofore that the Gospel, properly speaking, is not something written in books, but an oral proclamation, which shall be heard in all the world and shall be cried out freely before all creatures, so that all would have to hear it if they had ears; that is to say, it shall be preached so publicly that to preach it more publicly would be impossible. For the Law, which was of old, and what the prophets preached, was not cried out in all the world before all creatures, but it was preached by the Jews in their synagogues. But the Gospel shall not be thus confined; it shall be preached freely unto all the world.

4. There is no need, therefore, of commenting on the text as some have done, and saying that omnis creatura (every creature) means a man. For there is no indication in these words that the Gospel shall be preached to men alone, but it shall be cried out before the whole creation, so that earth shall not have a nook or corner into which it shall not penetrate before the last day. Such is the counsel of God, wherein he has decreed that even they who cannot read and have not heard Moses and the prophets shall, nevertheless, hear the Gospel.

5. What is the Gospel? It is these words which the Lord speaks: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

We have often said — and I think we ought to thoroughly understand it by this time — that the Gospel cannot suffer us to preach works, however good and great these may be; for it seeks to pluck us down from our presumption and to set and plant us solely upon God’s mercy, that his work and grace alone may be extolled. Therefore, it suffers us not to rely upon our works. For one of these two must perish: if I stand upon God’s grace and mercy, I do not stand upon my merit and works; and, vice versa, if I stand upon any works and merit, I do not stand upon God’s grace. For, “if it is by grace,” says St. Paul, Romans 11:6, “it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” I cannot say that God owes me a reward, but I must confess that he has given it to me entirely as a free gift.

6. Hence, he that would preach the Gospel must cast aside all works that are calculated to make men just, and suffer nothing to remain but faith, or I must believe that God, without any merit of mine and regardless of all my works, has granted me his grace and eternal life, so that I am constrained to thank him and say: I rejoice, praise and thank God that he has freely and out of pure grace given me this most excellent boon. Likewise that the Gospel is, as Scripture says, nothing more nor less than a declaration of the honor, praise and glory of God. As we read in Psalm 19:1-2: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Therefore, we must preach in a way that the glory and praise will be given to God and not to ourselves. Now, there is no greater praise and glory that we can give to God than this, that we confess that he, out of pure grace and mercy, takes away from us sin, death, and hell, and gives his beloved Son for us, and all his treasures to us. Such a confession must give glory and honor and praise to him alone.

7. And this is the trend of all those passages in the prophets where God boasts that he will establish a preaching that will show forth his praise; as when he says in Isaiah 43:21: “The people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.” As if to say: You hypocrites do no more than praise yourselves in your hearts and thus my praise must perish; for you make me a stern judge and an unfriendly God, so that secretly the people hate me and think within themselves: Ah, if we but had another God, one that would not require so much of us; such a one we would love.

Therefore, I will form for myself another people, which shall know me and love me. When they see that I will not regard their works but will give them every good thing freely, their hearts will teem with joy and will never weary of my praise.

8. Therefore, beware of glossing the text and seeking to improve upon the words of Christ. Our doctors and colleges have tried to better them and have said these words must be understood thus: “He that believeth” (understand: and doeth good works), “shall be saved.” Who authorized them to make that insertion? Do you think the Holy Spirit was too stupid to make it? Thus they have utterly obscured, yea, perverted, this precious statement with their insertion. Therefore, take heed and let no one make an insertion for you, but abide by the text as it reads and understand it thus: “He that believeth shall be saved” without his merit, without any works.

Why? For this reason: because God has caused to be preached and proclaimed unto us that he had his Son Jesus Christ come and take away sin and all evil. For he saw that we were not able to do it, that it was an impossibility for us to blot out sin with our works and powers. Otherwise he could have saved himself the trouble and expense of delivering up his own Son to suffer and die; and he has this preached to us in the Gospel.

9. Now what does such preaching call for? It calls for this, that! believe in it, for in no other way can! apprehend it. If you write it in a book, it will be of no use to any man, though you indulge in much thinking about it. Again, you may preach and speak about it, or hear it; it will be to no purpose. You must believe it and confidently rely upon it that the thing is as the Gospel says, that not your works but the Lord Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection takes away your sin and death. This you can not attain to except by faith.

10. Again, Christ says: “He that disbelieveth,” even though he be baptized, “shall be damned.” These words, too, you must allow to remain just as they are. For he does not say thus: He that disbelieves and does evil works besides; but, without any varnish he says: If thou hadst the chastity of all virgins, the sufferings of all martyrs, and, to be concise, if thou hadst all the works that ever were done by all the saints — if thou hadst all these in a heap, yet, if faith were lacking, all would be lost.

11. Therefore, this is the passage whereby all cloistery, priest-craft, monkery and nunnery is overthrown; for it is a lost case. Do what you will, the sentence is already passed and the decree is already gone forth: If thou disbelieve thou art condemned already. Thus heavily and mightily do these two sentences butt against all doctrine and doing that are founded upon the works and powers of man.

12. Now, place the two side by side, and you can rightly conclude: Where there is faith, there cannot be so many sins, but they will surely be swallowed up and exterminated by faith; where there is unbelief, you will never be able to do good works enough to blot out the least sin. Little, therefore as sin can stand in the presence of faith, so little can good works abide with unbelief. Therefore, nothing is needed, in order to do good works, but faith; and nothing more is required, in order to do sin and evil works, than unbelief. Thus it follows that he who believes has no sin and does nothing but good works; on the other hand, he who does not believe, verily, does no good work, but all he does is sin.

13. Therefore I say, however, you cannot have committed so many sins, neither is Satan such an invincible enemy of yours, but that all is taken away and forgiven as soon as you begin to believe. For through faith you have Christ as your own treasure, who was given to you for the very purpose of taking away sin; and who will be so bold as to condemn Christ?

For this reason, no sins can remain, however great they may be, if you believe. Thus, you are then God’s dear child and all is well, and whatever you do is all right. If you do not believe, you are damned, all you may do to the contrary notwithstanding; for since you have not Christ, it is impossible for you to blot out a single sin.

14. Now, since there is no other means for taking away sin than Christ, you might ask: How is it then, that we are nevertheless required to do good works; if as you say, all depends upon faith? I reply: Where faith is genuine it cannot exist without good works. Just as, on the other hand, where there is unbelief there can be no good work. Hence, if you believe, there must necessarily follow from your faith naught but good works. For, as faith brings you salvation and eternal life, so it also brings you good works; they cannot be restrained. Just as a living person cannot refrain from moving about, eating and drinking and laboring, it being impossible that such activities should cease while he lives, no one need command and drive him to do such works but — spare his life and he’ll do them; just as all this is true in the physical life, so nothing more is required, in order that good works may be done, than faith. Only believe, and you will do all of your own accord.

15. Thus, there is no need of your demanding good works of him who believes, for faith teaches him all that; and, being done in faith, all he does is well done and all are good and precious works, however insignificant they may seem. Faith is such a noble thing that it ennobles the whole man.

Now, it is not possible for a man to live on earth and not have anything to do. Hence all such works as are done by faith are precious works. On the other hand, where there is unbelief a man cannot be without works, either; therefore, such works are likewise all sin. Christ is not there, therefore all is lost. Hence, the statement of St. Paul to the Romans 14:23: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” As though he would say, on the contrary: Whatsoever is of faith is all grace and righteousness; that is a foregone conclusion. Hence, there is no need of asking whether good works shall be done, for they come of themselves, unbidden. Such is also the sense of the Psalmist, Psalm 25:10: “All the paths of Jehovah are lovingkindness and truth.” That is to say, when God works and creates faith in us, all that we do is lovingkindness, and all is truth; that is, all is done sincerely and not from hypocrisy. It follows, however, on the other hand, that all the ways of men are not lovingkindness but sheerest wrath, not truth but mere sham and hypocrisy, because they spring from unbelief.

16. Beware, then, lest under any circumstances you gloss the text, and say:

Faith alone is not sufficient; works, also, are necessary in order to justify.

For it is sufficiently clear from what we have said that works contribute nothing to this end. Nothing does any harm but unbelief. Works are not sufficient. If faith were present, all would be well. Therefore, as works contribute nothing toward the evil in unbelief, so in faith they contribute nothing toward the good; but unbelief alone corrupts all works and faith makes all works good.

17. But there is still one more thing here, that Christ says: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Here you might say: I perceive, then, that baptism is also required. To be sure it is, but baptism is not a work that we do. It is to be coupled, however, with faith, because God would not have faith to be hidden in the heart, but would have it burst forth and manifest itself to the world. For this reason, he ordained such outward signs, by means of which everyone may show and confess his faith, to the end that we may come to the holy cross. For, if faith were to be kept as a secret, hidden in the heart, we would be pretty sure of not having to bear the cross or to follow Christ; if the world knew not that we believed, we would not be persecuted.

18. In the second place, we would never be the means of leading a soul to repentance and faith if we did not openly confess the Gospel and observe an external sign whereby men might know who and where the Christians are. Now, God has so ordained that our faith should be manifested before the heathen; hence, whosoever is a Christian and has received baptism, is in danger of his life among the heathen and unbelievers. It is necessary that we receive baptism if we are Christians; or, if that is beyond our reach, that we say, at least: I sincerely desire to be baptized.

19. Moreover, the sign of baptism is given us also to show that God himself will help us, and that we should be certain of his grace, and that everyone be able to say: Hereunto did God give me a sign, that I should be assured of my salvation, which he has promised me in the Gospel. For he has given us the Word, that is, the written document; and beside the Word, baptism, that is the seal. So faith, which apprehends the Word, may be strengthened by the sign and seal.

20. But you see no work of man in this transaction; for baptism is not my work but God’s. He that baptized me stands in God’s stead and does not the work of a man, but rather it is God’s hand and work. God is the real worker. Therefore, I may and should say: God, my Lord, baptized me himself, by the hand of a man. Of this I may boast, and on this I am to rely, and say: God, who will not and cannot lie, has given me this sign to assure me that he is gracious to me and willing to save me and has through his Son given me all that he has. Thus, on our side there is nothing but faith alone; and on his side, only the Word and the sign. But we have dwelt upon this matter often enough and there is no need of enlarging upon it now.

21. The following portion of our text speaks of the signs that shall accompany them that believe. We will not discuss these either at present, but pass on to the other part that we have chosen to consider, and that treats of Christ’s ascension.

22. In passing, be it said, however: We must not suppose that the signs here mentioned by Christ are all the signs that believers will do, neither must we imagine that all the Christians will do them; but Jesus means: All Christians can and may do the signs. Or, if I believe, then am I able to do them; I have the power. Through faith I obtain so much that nothing is impossible to me. If it were necessary and conducive to the spreading of the Gospel, we could do easily the signs; but since it is not necessary, we do not do them. For Christ does not teach that Christians practice the spectacular, but he says they have the power and can do these things. And we have many such promises throughout the Scriptures; for example, in James 14:12, where Christ says: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.” Therefore, we must allow these words to remain and not gloss them away, as some have done who said that these signs were manifestations of the Spirit in the beginning of the Christian era and that now they have ceased That is not right; for the same power is in the church still. And though it is not exercised, that does not matter; we still have the power to do such signs.

II. CHRIST’S ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN.

23. Now we must consider the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first place, it is easily said and understood that the Lord ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. But they are dead words to the understanding if they are not grasped with the heart.

24. We must, therefore, conceive of his ascension and Lordship as something active, energetic and continuous, and must not imagine that he sits above while we hold the reins of government down here. Nay, he ascended up thither for the reason that there he can best do his work and exercise dominion. Had he remained upon earth in visible form, before the people, he could not have wrought so effectually, for all the people could not have been with him and heard him. Therefore, he inaugurated an expedient which made it possible for him to be in touch with all and reign in all, to preach to all and be heard by all, and to be with all. Therefore, beware lest you imagine within yourself that he has gone, and now is, far away from us. The very opposite is true: While he was on earth, he was far away from us; now he is very near.

25. Reason cannot comprehend how this can be. Therefore it is an article of faith. Here one must close his eyes and not follow his reason, but lay hold of all by faith. For how can reason grasp the thought that there should be a being like ourselves, who is all-seeing and knows all hearts and gives all men faith and the Spirit; or that he sits above in heaven, and yet is present with us and in us and rules over us? Therefore, strive not to comprehend, but say: This is Scripture and this is God’s Word, which is immeasurably higher than all understanding and reason. Cease your reasoning and lay hold of the Scriptures, which testify of this being — how he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God and exercises dominion. Let us examine some Scripture bearing upon this matter.

26. In the first place, Psalm 8:4-6 says of Christ: “What is man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him but little lower than God, and crownest him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” Here the prophet speaks to God concerning a man and marvels that God humbled, for a time, that man, when he suffered him to die, humbled him to the extent that it seemed as if God were not with him. But after a little while God exalted him, so that all things must obey him, both in heaven and on earth. To these words we must hold, to these words we must cling, in these words we must believe; for reason will not submit nor adapt itself to them, but says they are lies. Now, if all things are to be subject to this being and to fall at his feet, he must sit where he can look into the whole world, into heaven and hell and every heart; where he can see all sin and all righteousness, and can not only see all things, But can rule accordingly.

27. Hence, these are majestic and powerful words. They afford the heart great comfort, so that they who believe this are filled with joy and courage and defiantly say: My Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over death, Satan, sin, righteousness, body, life, foes and friends. What shall I fear? For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is ascended into heaven and become Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm. I challenge them to raise a finger against me or to injure a hair of my head against the will of my Lord Jesus Christ. When faith grasps and stands upon this article, it stands firm and waxes bold and defiant, so as even to say: If my Lord so wills that they, mine enemies, slay me, blessed am I; I gladly depart. Thus you will see that he is ascended into heaven, not to remain in indifference, but to exercise dominion; and all for our good, to afford us comfort and joy. This is one passage.

28. Furthermore, in the second Psalm, verses 7 and 8, we read that God says to Christ: “Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possessions.” Here you see again that Christ is appointed of God a Lord over all the earth. Now, if he is my friend and I am persuaded that he died for me and gave me all things and for my sake sits in heaven and watches over me, who then can do ought to me? Or if any man should do ought, what harm can come of it?

29. Furthermore, David says again in the 110th Psalm, <19B001>Psalm 110:1: “Jehovah saith unto my lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” And further on, in <19B005>Psalm 110:5,6,7: “The Lord at thy right hand will strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He will judge among the nations, he will fill the places with dead bodies; he will strike through the head in many countries. He will drink of the brook in the way; therefore will he lift up the head.”

30. Again in still another Psalm, David says ( Psalm 68:18): “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led away captives; thou hast received gifts among men, yea among the rebellious also, that Jehovah God might dwell with them.” And all the prophets took great pains to describe Christ’s ascension and his kingdom. For, as his sufferings and death are deeply founded in the Scriptures, so are also his kingdom, his resurrection and ascension. In this manner we must view the ascension of Christ. Otherwise it will afford us neither pleasure nor profit. For what good will it do you if you merely preach that he ascended up to heaven and sits there with folded hands? This is what the prophet would say in the Psalm Christ is ascended on high and has led captivity captive. That is to say, not only does he sit up there but he is also down here. And for this purpose did he ascend up thither, that he might be down here, that he might fill all things and be everywhere present; which thing he could not do had he remained on earth, for here in the body he could not have been present with all. He ascended to heaven, where all hearts can see him, where he can deal with all men, that he might fill all creation. He is present everywhere and all things are filled with his fullness. Nothing is so great, be it in heaven or on earth, but he has power over it, and it must be in perfect obedience to him. He not only governs and fills all creation (that would not help my faith any nor take away my sins), but also has led captivity captive.

31. This captivity some have interpreted to mean that he delivered the sainted patriarchs out of the stronghold of hell; but that interpretation does not benefit our faith any either, for it is not particularly edifying to faith.

Therefore, we must simply understand the matter thus: that he means that captivity which captures us and holds us captive. I am Adam’s child, full of sin and foully besmirched; therefore, the law has taken me captive, so that I am lettered in conscience and sentenced to death.

32. From this captivity no one can free himself, save only that one man Christ. What did he do? He made sin, death, and Satan his debtors. Sin fell upon him as though it would vanquish him, but it lost the day; he devoured sin. And Satan, death, and hell fared the same way. But we are unable to do this unless he be present to aid us. Alone, we must needs perish, But he, since he had done no sin and was full of righteousness, trod under foot Satan, death and hell, and devoured them, and took everything captive that fain would capture us, so that sin and death no longer can do harm.

33. This, then, is the power he causes to be preached, that all who believe in him are released from captivity. I believe in him by whom sin, death, and all things that afflict us, were led captive. It is a pleasing discourse, and full of comfort, when we are told that death is taken away and slain, so that it is no longer felt. However, it affords pleasure and comfort only to those who believe it. You will not find release from captivity in your works, fastings, prayers, castigations, tonsures, and gowns, and whatever more things you may do; but only in the place where Christ sits, whither he ascended and whither he led captivity with him. Hence, he who would be freed from sin and delivered from Satan and death, must come thither where Christ is. Now, where is he? He is here with us, and for this purpose did he sit down in heaven, that he might be near unto us. Thus, we are with him up there and he is with us down here. Through the word he comes down and through faith we ascend up.

34. So, we see everywhere in the Scriptures that faith is such an unspeakably great thing that we can never preach about it sufficiently nor reach it with words. It cannot be heard and seen, therefore it must be believed. Such is the nature of faith that it feels nothing at all, but merely follows the words which it hears, and clings to them. If you believe, you have; if you believe not, you have not. In this wise must we understand this article of faith, that Christ is ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God.

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Sermon for Rogate

Jeremiah 29:11-14  +  James 1:22-27  +  John 16:23-30

Today’s Gospel is about prayer. Yet again Jesus invites His disciples to pray. He’s already taught them the Lord’s Prayer. He’s already taught them by countless examples and parables how important prayer is. There are basically two kinds of prayers: prayers in which we ask God for things—either for ourselves or for others, and prayers in which we thank God for things. Our Gospel is about asking.

Jesus Himself instructs us to ask God for things, and in doing so, He reminds us just how needy we are, both as human beings in general and especially as sinful human beings. There’s never a time when we don’t need something from God—His help, His providence, His correction, His comfort, His forgiveness.

After three years of learning from Jesus, His disciples knew that God the Father always heard Jesus. In our Gospel, Jesus assures His disciples that the Father would hear them, too. In that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. In that day—when is that? Jesus had just told His disciples how He was about to go away for little while and then return, referring, first of all, to His suffering, death, and resurrection. That’s the key. Because Jesus suffered, died, and rose again, God the Father is willing to allow sinners to come into His presence, as long as they come in through the Door. And what did Jesus say? “I am the Door.” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.” Because Jesus made satisfaction for the sins of all, He now bids all men to believe in Him as the true Throne of Grace, and so to approach God the Father’s throne with confidence.

Notice that He says that we can ask the Father directly. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. Again we see that God’s willingness to hear our prayers is directly tied to faith in Christ. Not that our love for Christ or faith in Christ is a good work that earns the Father’s favor. But it is the means by which we laid hold of Christ’s work, even Christ’s Sonship in the Father’s house. Through faith and Holy Baptism, we are clothed with Christ Jesus and acceptable to God the Father.

That’s the first part of what it means to pray to the Father “in the name of Jesus,” to approach Him claiming one and only one reason why we dare to step into His presence: because of Jesus, His suffering and death for our sins, and His invitation for us to pray.

The fact is, no one else, except for believers in Christ, has permission to pray. No one else has access to the Father but Christ and those who are in Christ. Prayers of unbelievers are unacceptable, because they are unacceptable, because their sins still separate them from God. But it doesn’t have to be that way, for anyone. God invites sinners to find salvation in His Son, to be baptized in His name, to seek refuge in His wounds. As people are brought into Christ, they are also given permission to pray in the name of Christ.

To pray in the name of Jesus also means to pray like Jesus, to pray for the same things He prayed for, to pray with the same attitude with which He prayed.

How do we know that? Only by knowing the Scriptures. By knowing, for example, the Psalms, which are Spirit-inspired prayers. By knowing the Gospels that show us how Jesus prayed. By studying all of Scripture, to learn how the Spirit has always taught both Old and New Testament Christians to pray.

What stands out in the prayers of Jesus and in the rest of the prayers of Scripture is that, no matter what Christians ask for, no matter what Christians want from God, what they want most from God is that His name be glorified, that His will be done, because we know that God’s good and gracious will is always best and that our Father will always give us exactly the things we need and the things that will be beneficial to us. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray as Jesus prayed, “Not My will, but Thy will be done.”

Some things we know to be God’s will: to forgive the sins of all who look to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ; to walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death; to build His Church throughout the world; to preserve His Christians in faith by means of His Word and Sacraments; to give us our daily bread; and to produce in us all the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Other things that we desire—we don’t know if they are compatible with our Father’s will, if they are truly what is best for us. That includes many of the specific things we ask for. For example, “Grant me (or someone else) physical healing.” We don’t know if that is our Father’s will. So prayers like that, if we would pray in Jesus’ name, always include the assumption that what we want most, even more than the specific thing we asked for, is for our Father’s good and gracious will to be done.

When we pray in the name of Jesus, we have the promise from Jesus that whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. What do you need? Forgiveness? Mercy? The Father will give it to you. A stronger faith? Love? Wisdom? Strength? The Father will give it to you. Mercy and help for someone else? Deliverance from evil? The Father will give it to you, in just the right form, and at just the right time.

Remember that in all your prayers, both the ones you say at home and in the ones we pray together here in church. Your Father is listening and has promised to grant your requests, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Sermon for Cantate

Isaiah 12:1-6  +  James 1:16-21  +  John 16:5-15

Jesus’s eleven apostles were sorrowful when they heard Jesus talk about His imminent departure as they walked with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. They didn’t know where He was going, or why He was going. And they couldn’t imagine how it could be a good thing that He was going away at all.

You can understand that, can’t you? I mean, just imagine what it would be like if Jesus had never gone away, if He had remained on earth and were still dwelling in Israel or somewhere else in the world. Just imagine what it would be like… Hardly anyone would know Him. There would be no world-wide Christian Church, just the church that met where Jesus was. If Jesus had never gone away, then He would still be in one place on earth, and you would have to go to that place to find Him and to receive help from Him. If Jesus had never gone away, then prayers to Jesus would have to be in person, as they were during His earthly ministry, and Baptism and Holy Communion wouldn’t even exist as means of grace. There would be no preachers anywhere else but where Jesus was, and even if there were, their preaching would fall on deaf ears all the time, because it would have no divine power to create faith or to save. If Jesus had never gone away, then no one else on earth could forgive sins. No one else on earth could reconcile sinners with God. If Jesus had never gone away, it might be wonderful for the relatively few people who could live close to Him and interact with Him. But for the billions and billions of others, Jesus would always be far, far away.

That’s why He had to go away. As He explains to His apostles in our Gospel, It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Jesus’ “going away” on Maundy Thursday night also included His going away to suffer and die on the cross. The need for Jesus’ death, the need for His resurrection from the dead—that’s clear, isn’t it? He had to go away to the cross and shed His blood as the atoning sacrifice for the world’s sins. He had to rise from the dead in order to apply His blood to sinners through faith and to impart His righteousness to all who would believe in Him for our justification. But how does that happen?

It happens as the Helper, the Holy Spirit, brings Jesus and His righteousness to the world in a different way, a bigger and better way. And understanding that way, that manner in which the Holy Spirit works, is crucial. He works through the Word, through the preaching of the Gospel, which is, as Paul says, “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Why is it the power of God? Because it is the tool of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit sets the Son of God before our eyes in the Gospel, right now, in the present tense, so that the preaching and teaching that you hear actually has the power to bring you to faith in Christ Jesus and to work forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no Absolution, no Baptism, no Holy Communion, no power of God in the preaching of the Gospel, no divine help in the building of the Church. But with the Holy Spirit, there is.

Through the preaching of the Gospel, the Helper will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because, Jesus says, they do not believe in Me. Jesus is making a distinction here between the unbelieving world and His saints, His believers, His Church. So the Holy Spirit will convict or rebuke the world concerning sin. Why? Because they don’t believe in Jesus. We preach the Law of God, His commandments, His moral requirements, to the world. We proclaim what is right and wrong, and we proclaim that all have sinned against God’s Law. Where there is faith in Christ, there the blood of the Lamb of God has been applied and sins have been washed away so that they aren’t counted against believers. But where there is no faith, people are still held accountable for their sin—all of it. So through the Christian preaching that goes on throughout the world, the Holy Spirit rebukes the world for its sin—for not believing in the only One who takes away sin. And He threatens eternal condemnation.

We preach the Law also to Christians, but differently. Not so that believers in Christ should imagine they are now condemned again and outside of God’s grace, but so that Christians, too, may know that they stand only by faith, and that apart from faith in Christ they couldn’t stand for one minute before the holy God and His holy Law. The Law makes no one righteous before God, but only reveals our sin, which will result in condemnation for everyone who does not believe in Christ. So in the preaching of the Law to Christians, the urgency is revealed of continuing to cling to Christ our Redeemer all the way to the end of our lives. For those who are in Him, there is now no condemnation.

He will convict the world of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. The world either thinks it’s already righteous, or it imagines that it can become righteous. Ask just about any non-Christian you know, “Do you think you’re a good person? Do you think God would consider you a good person?” In our country, in our time, the vast majority would answer, “Yes!”, or at least, “I hope so!” or “I’m trying!” That’s because the world refuses to acknowledge that only Christ is righteous before God. Only Christ is a good Person in God’s eyes. So the Holy Spirit convicts the world and rebukes it for its self-righteousness and declares that all righteousness is wrapped up in Christ, who has gone away to the Father.

So how can anyone on earth be righteous if the only Righteous One has gone to the Father? Again, it’s the righteousness of faith. See what the Holy Spirit does! Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit takes of what is Christ’s, takes His righteousness, His record of obedience as God and Man, and declares it to you. He brought back the righteousness of the ascended Christ to the world on Pentecost. He applied the righteousness of Christ to those who were baptized—both then and now. He hands it out and covers the penitent with it. That is now mankind’s only connection to the righteousness that counts before God, our only link to Christ and all that is His—the much-needed work of the Holy Spirit.

And He will convict the world of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The unbelieving world’s judgment is severely flawed. People honestly think they can make up their own morality, their own rules, their own moral justice and get away with it. They deny the God of Scripture. They reject His commandments and create their own. They reject His pure doctrine and create their own false doctrine. They rejected Christ when He was here on earth and they reject Him still. So, no matter what “god” people claim to worship, if they refuse to repent of their sin, if they reject Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, then they have Satan for a ruler.

Is there any doubt that Satan is the ruler of this world? Have you heard of Ashley Madison? It’s a dating website—for married people looking to hook up with someone else. And what is this world’s judgment of such an abomination? The website boasts 34 million members spanning 40 countries, the second-largest dating website in the world. You know the stats on abortion well enough, and what is this world’s judgment? That it is a good and noble thing. If you’ve heard of the riots in Baltimore, then you’ve probably also heard people defending the violence that has been committed there. You’ve heard how frequently people now talk about a woman having a wife or a man having a husband, as if it were perfectly normal and acceptable, and you’ve heard phony “Christian” preachers going along with all of it. The world is indeed ruled by Satan.

But there is the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the true Christian Church, rebuking the world for its faulty judgment. People think they can get away with it, but the fact is, the ruler of this world is judged. The Lord Christ has come and crushed him already by His death and resurrection, and He will come again and cast him out into outer darkness forever. That should send shivers down the spine of unbelievers. Satan doesn’t win in the end. He’s already lost. Their god, their master, their leader and their ruler is condemned. And so will they be, along with him, unless…unless they repent during this day of grace, unless they heed the Holy Spirit’s rebuke and turn from their sin to the grace that is being offered in the Gospel.

That’s the point. The Holy Spirit convicts and rebukes the world now through the Gospel, so that they may repent and not be rebuked and convicted on the Last Day. This is the time of the Helper, the time of the Spirit, from now until Christ comes again. Now the Word of God is still sent out into the world. Now the Spirit rebukes with words, not with hell-fire. Now the Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the true faith. Now the Spirit comes with His much-needed help.

You haven’t seen Jesus. No one on earth has for nearly 2,000 years. He died and rose again and ascended into heaven long before you and I were ever born. All we know is a world where Jesus isn’t. But that’s not exactly true, is it? The Helper, the Holy Spirit, has brought our Redeemer very close to us, even grafting us into the body of Christ as branches are grafted into a tree. The Spirit alone could do this and has done it and will continue to do it until the end of this age. Sing a new song to the Lord for the much-needed help of the Holy Spirit! Amen.

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Sermon for Jubilate

Lamentations 3:18-26  +  1 Peter 2:11-20  +  John 16:16-23

This morning you heard the words of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, in his lament: And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. In our Gospel, too, Christ addresses the reality of grief and sorrow in the life of His disciples—grief and sorrow that would necessarily come, to them and to us, but only for “a little while.” Then the sorrow would give way to unending joy, as when a child is born after labor pains.

“A little while, and you will not see Me,” Jesus says, “and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

The immediate fulfillment of this saying of Jesus took place over the next few days, and over the next month and a half. He spoke these words to His eleven apostles on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday. In a little while, Jesus would be arrested and removed from their sight. Within a day, He would be crucified, dead and buried in the tomb, where they surely would not see Him. But then, again, in a little while, just two days later, they would see Him, because His suffering for sin would be finished, and so would His time in the grave. And even during that time in the grave, when they would not see Him? He wouldn’t be idle. He would descend into hell and pin the devil down and release the devil’s hold on believers. And then, after His resurrection, He had to go the Father. He had to return to the Father’s side from whence He came, because His mission on earth as a humble servant had come to an end. All of those things were hidden under Jesus’ general, cryptic statement, “A little while, and you will not see Me,” Jesus says, “and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

Why so general? Why so cryptic? Because the events of the future had to unfold naturally. It is not for men to know all the details of God’s plans, because we are not God. He has given us a very general outline of the future, with a few bullet points here and there and with a spectacular description of the grand conclusion at the end of this world’s history. But the details in between He has mostly left out, leaving His disciples to cling to Jesus’ Word and promises, no matter how cryptic, leaving us to cling to the bullet points that He has revealed, and to the glorious ending, without worrying about the details along the way.

Now, one of the bullet points, one of the future realities we can count on, according to Jesus, as disciples of Jesus, is sorrow. Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful. The disciples would know that sorrow when Jesus was removed from their sight, when He was buried in the tomb. Remember the sorrow of the women on Easter morning before they got to the tomb? Remember how sorrowful the two disciples were on the road to Emmaus, before Jesus showed Himself to them in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread? And all the while, the world was rejoicing that Jesus was finally dead.

But there’s another bullet point that comes after this one. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. Jesus’ disciples learned on Easter Sunday the meaning of these words. All their sorrow over losing the One they had trusted in as their Savior was replaced by joy when they realized, they hadn’t lost Him at all. He had conquered sin and death for them and now lives forever.

I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. No one would take their joy from them, because no one—not your enemies, not your persecutors, not the devil himself—could change the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and now lives to intercede before God for those who believe in Him. No one can kill Jesus again. No one can prevent Him from fulfilling His promises. No one can wrest the Lord Christ from His throne, no matter how hard they try—and they do try!

Jesus’ words in the Gospel extend beyond the crucifixion and resurrection. A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father. They really describe the whole New Testament era, from Christ’s ascension to His coming again. Jesus’ disciples didn’t see Him ever again on earth after He ascended into heaven. And they did have sorrow in this life as the world began to persecute Christians like the world had first persecuted Christ. But the grief and sorrow would last only a little while, and then they would see Jesus again.

They would see Him like Stephen did as he was being stoned to death, alive and sitting on His throne at the right hand of God. Or they would see Him when they finally closed their eyes in death and their souls were whisked away by the angels to His side. Or they would see Him on the Last Day when He comes in glory to judge the wicked and to turn the page on this world’s crying and sorrow and pain. At times, it seemed like it would never end, but in reality, it lasted only “a little while,” as God views things. And then the joy of eternal life in Paradise would begin. And through it all, the apostles and early Christians were sustained on both ends. They were sustained because of the hope of future joy, but also because of the fact of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

What Jesus said to His disciples remains true for Christians in our time. A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father… You now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

You don’t see Jesus. When you do see Him, the time of sorrow will be over. But now you don’t see Him. Now is the time of wrestling with the sinful flesh and with despair and with temptation. Now is the time of watching our children grow up in a world that is becoming more and more depraved by the day, and more and more hostile to Christ and to Christians. Now is the time of small Christian gatherings, of struggling churches, of loneliness and isolation, because so few people are willing to put up with sound doctrine. Now is the time of suffering and death. Now is the time of the cross. Now, for a little while.

But Jesus told us about all this ahead of time, didn’t He? It’s one of those bullet points of history, the grief and sorrow of Christians in this world. We mustn’t forget about those other bullet points of history: the suffering and death of Christ for your sins and the resurrection of the Lord Christ in the past, and the coming again of the Lord Christ in the future, the end of sorrow and grief after a little while. We mustn’t forget that no matter how successful Satan appears to be in this world, he is already defeated. Jesus already descended into hell to bind him, so that all who are baptized in Christ and believing in Him are free from the devil’s power, because our Redeemer lives.

We also mustn’t forget about that other bullet point right in the middle, how the living Christ promises to be with His Church always, to the very end of the age—this age of grief and sorrow, how He has given His Word and Sacraments to us and has promised to use them to forgive us and to build us up in faith and love until He comes.

As the weeping prophet Jeremiah concluded in his Lamentations, The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. Now is the time of the woman’s labor pains. But soon the child will be born. Soon the Christ will be revealed, and all His saints with Him. And the sorrow will be forgotten. And joy will come, in a little while. Amen.

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Today’s sermon at Emmanuel was preached by the Rt. Rev. James Heiser of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America. Only the audio is available today.

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Sermon for Quasimodogeniti

Job 19:25-27  +  1 John 5:4-10  +  John 20:19-31

Peace be with you! Anyone can say those words. They’re used, not only by Christians, but by Jews and Muslims as well. It’s a nice greeting, or a nice parting wish, nothing more—unless it has the weight of God’s voice behind it, unless God is the one bestowing peace. If God enters the room and says, “Peace be with you!”, then what do you ever have to fear again? You simply have to rejoice, because it means He hasn’t come to punish you or to condemn you, but that He wishes to grant you the gift of peace, and He wants you to relax and rest securely in the knowledge of that peace.

But when could such a thing ever happen—that God would walk into the room and proclaim “peace”? Well, as you heard in the Gospel, it happened on the day of Jesus’ resurrection—the first Easter Sunday. The women had come and reported the resurrection to the apostles, but the apostles had been slow to believe the report of their Christian sisters. They had even been slow to believe the sight of the empty tomb and the stone rolled away, in spite of the fact that the angel reminded the women about the words Jesus Himself had spoken before He died, that He would rise on the third day. The apostles didn’t believe it. They were afraid of the Jews and their murderous behavior on Good Friday. So they locked themselves in that upper room instead of going to Galilee where Jesus and the angels had told the women He would meet with His disciples.

But Jesus appeared in their midst. Now that He’s risen from the dead, He no longer chooses to abide by the laws of nature. His body is no longer confined to the limits of space and time. He is able to be wherever He chooses to be, whenever He chooses to be. On that Easter Sunday night He chose to be with His disciples, and the first words He chose to speak to them were, “Peace be with you!”

Then He showed them His hands. And there’s the mark of peace and the reason for peace: Jesus was crucified, hung on a tree made to be a curse for all those who were under the curse of sin. And He showed them His side. The mark in His side was from the spear of the soldier that caused blood and water to flow freely from Jesus’ dead body. It was no illusion; Christ had truly died. And yet, there He stood in the midst of His disciples alive again—alive to proclaim to them that His blood, shed on the cross, had truly made satisfaction for their sins, to proclaim to them that He had truly been raised from the dead, and truly lives to be our Advocate with the Father. And now, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

See what peace there is in the fact of Christ’s resurrection! This is God, the Son of God, who told His disciples, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. He and He alone has the authority to declare peace, because He and He alone is the Lamb who was slain. He alone has earned the forgiveness of sins for all people. He and He alone has the authority to forgive sins or to retain sins, and He has promised to forgive the sins of all those who believe in Him.

Still, it was to His disciples in that upper room that the risen Christ proclaimed peace. He doesn’t appear in our midst like that, so that we can gaze into the wounds on His hands and His side and hear His voice as the disciples did. He doesn’t appear in our midst to deal with us sinners. So the phrase, “Peace be with you!”—is there any way you can hear those words and know that God Himself is speaking to you?

There is. Peace to you!, Jesus said to His apostles. As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

This is a remarkable truth. The Lord Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, is the Judge. As He had said earlier to His disciples, the Father has given the Son authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. And now that same Jesus has sent His apostles out into the world. Just as Jesus was sent by His Father, so in the same way He sends His apostles and authorizes them to do what he alone has the authority to do: to pronounce judgment here on earth, to forgive sins or to retain sins, to give the peace of God, or to withhold it.

We call this authority to forgive or retain sins the power of the Keys, because Jesus had once said to Peter, I give you the Keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Here in our Gospel we see Jesus giving this authority to all of His apostles whom He directly sent out, as He had been sent. But then in the rest of the New Testament we’re told that the Christ also sends ministers of the Word in another way, as He calls them through the Church to be pastors, bishops, elders, or deacons, so that the power of the Keys didn’t die out with the apostles, but continues to be exercised until the end of the world through those who are called into the Office of the Holy Ministry.

So, through the office of the holy ministry, Christ does enter into the room and announce, “Peace be with you!” This is why I absolve you “by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word.” Because this office to which the Church has called me has the authority of Christ to forgive the penitent, or to deny forgiveness to the impenitent. When your pastor says to you, “Repent!”, it’s Jesus calling you to repent. When your pastor says to you, “I forgive you your sins,” it’s Jesus forgiving you your sins. When your pastor says to you, “I retain your sins,” it’s Jesus retaining them.

So when you hear a minister of the Word declare, “Peace be with you!”, you should hear more than a nice greeting or farewell. You should recognize it as the voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd, speaking to His sheep through His called and ordained ambassador. This is how He has chosen to deal with His people until He returns at the end of the age. When a pastor baptizes or administers the Sacrament, He is doing it on behalf of Christ Jesus who sent him to do it, so that the words chanted by the minister before Holy Communion truly bestow what they say: “The peace of the Lord be with you alway!”

You may ask, why has Jesus chosen to deal with us this way, through the means of grace, through the ministry of the Word? Why not walk into each unbeliever’s home to deal with him directly? Why not sit down at every Christian table, or go sit at every hospital bed, or come directly into every Christian church to preach a sermon or to proclaim peace? Why not stay on the earth and sit on a throne and reign visibly over the world?

I don’t know all of His reasons. But I do know this one: it is so that you, His dear people, may be blessed.

The Apostle Thomas wasn’t with the other ten apostles when Jesus appeared to them on Easter Sunday. And he refused to believe their story of Jesus’ resurrection, just as the ten had refused to believe the story of the women. Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.

Jesus gave Thomas what he demanded. And then Thomas was ashamed for having demanded it. Jesus said to Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. God determined before the foundations of the world that sinners should be justified and saved by faith. And He also determined how that faith would be created and sustained, not by sight, but by the work of His Holy Spirit in the preaching of His Word. He determined to do everything by means of His Word and Spirit: convicting the world of sin, convincing the world that Christ truly died for the sins of the world and is truly risen from the dead, convincing the world to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. In this way, the Spirit of God is glorified. In this way, believers are blessed.

Listen again to how our Gospel ends, with these words from the Apostle John: And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John witnessed all those things that Jesus said and did. John saw the risen Christ with his eyes. But he writes to those who have never seen or witnessed any of it. He could have given us more, he says, more evidence, more signs, more proof. He could have gone on and on and on. But God the Holy Spirit, who inspired John’s pen, decided, it’s enough. The appearance of the risen Christ to the apostles and first century disciples is enough. The holy ministry that the Lord Christ instituted is enough. What has been inspired by the Spirit and written by the prophets and apostles about God, about Christ, about the resurrection, about salvation—it’s enough. In the Word of God, we have all we need until the end of the age to believe and to keep believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, to hope in Him, to trust in Him, to receive eternal life in His name. Because the Word of God has the power of God’s Spirit within it, and the weight of God’s authority behind it. Peace be with you, declares the Lord. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection

Isaiah 52:13-15  +  1 Corinthians 5:6-8  +  Mark 16:1-8

Christians are dying around the world, some by natural causes, more and more by the hand of persecutors and wicked men. We’ve seen death here in our congregation since last Easter, and we may well see it again before next Easter. Death is taking its customary toll.

But Christians know a secret, which isn’t really a secret. We know what causes death, what drives death, and what empowers death to keep its hold on a person. We know it better than any doctor or any scientist in the world, because God has revealed it to us in His holy Word. The origin of death is the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. God warned them, but they wouldn’t listen. They sinned against God, and they died. We all inherit their sin. We all mimic their sin. And we die, too. “The wages of sin is death.” “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.”

People die, we die because we have sinned against God’s holy Law, and the Law is very clear: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” “The soul who sins shall die.”

Except for once. One time—and only once—a sinless soul died. One time a perfect, righteous, obedient Law-abiding Man was hung on a tree and died—the sinless Son of God who came from God and entered our human race in order to be that Man who died for all men.

But Christians know another secret, which isn’t really a secret. We know that Christ the crucified One is risen from the dead. His empty tomb proclaimed it. The angels proclaimed it. The faithful women proclaimed it. And later, all the apostles proclaimed it, along with over 500 other witnesses who proclaimed it. But most importantly, Jesus Himself proclaimed it, both before the fact and after, and the Holy Spirit of God has been proclaiming it in the Scriptures for thousands of years. Death couldn’t hold the Sinless One.

And so Christians know yet another secret, and this is, perhaps, the most important. We know what defeats death, what stops death, and even what reverses it once and for all for us sinners. It’s the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). Christ received the death penalty that we deserved for our sins, so that we might receive the eternal life reward that He deserved for His obedience. A blessed exchange!

Now all who have sinned, now all who are subject to death are called by this Gospel to repent and believe in Jesus Christ and to be baptized in His name for the forgiveness of sins. And those who have been baptized are called to live in daily repentance, drowning the old Adam, the old sinful self and rising each day to live a new life, a holy life, to keep God’s commandments, no longer as slaves to the Law, but as sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And we’re also invited to keep receiving the body and blood of Christ for our forgiveness and for our comfort in Sacrament of the Altar.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. This is why we often refer to the death of a believer in Christ as a “falling asleep,” because for those who believe in Christ, death is already defeated; it’s as harmful and as permanent…as a good night’s sleep. Death will soon be reversed for those who die in Christ, even as it was reversed for Christ Himself. Such is the power of Christ’s resurrection. Such is the power and the certainty of His promise.

Christians are dying around the world, and will continue to die until Christ returns. Death is still our bitter enemy, and it still brings much sadness with it. But we know a secret. Death has been defeated by Christ, and even death is now part of the plan as the risen Christ rules over the world. As the Apostle Paul says, Christ must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. And then, when that happens, listen to one final secret this morning, which the Apostle Paul calls a “mystery”: I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O  Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

A blessed and happy Easter to you all! Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12  +  John 18:1-19:42

I recently reminded someone that Good Friday was coming up, and she said, “Oh, that’s the sad day—the day Jesus died.” But is that right? Is today a day when we remember with sadness that Jesus died? Would God have you be sad and mournful on this day? I’ll tell you the truth, the only ones who should mourn and be sad on this day are those who still will not repent of their sins, who do not believe in Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the atoning sacrifice for their sins. For them, as long as they remain in unbelief, this day is the harbinger of imminent judgment and condemnation. They should mourn and be sad, because Jesus is the world’s Savior. There is no other. Those who will not be saved by Him will not be saved at all. But for those who believe, this day holds no sadness. What it holds, is wonder. Good Friday is a wonderful day.

What’s not wonderful, what’s not surprising is that Jesus should be so hated and mistreated by His enemies, and so forsaken and abandoned by His friends. None of that should make us wonder in the least. It’s at the heart of the human condition. We see it all around us. And if we’re honest, we see it within ourselves. The hatred of God, disobedience toward God, the mistreatment of God’s servants, the sinful weakness of believers, too—those are ancient attributes of mankind, and all the wickedness and evil we witness in this world, whatever form they take, are symptoms of the same sickness that lies at the bottom of every single heart. Are you shocked, are you amazed, do you wonder at the appalling actions of ISIS or of other Muslim extremists? Do you wonder at the adamant support for homosexuality in our country and at the hatred those supporters display for anyone who expresses a Christian opinion? You shouldn’t wonder at that. Those things are symptoms of the same sickness that lives in you.

Evil comes in many forms. Yes, the Muslim religion is inherently evil. Yes, the whole LGBT movement is inherently evil, and to support it is just as evil. So is all sex outside of marriage. So is all the selfishness or anger displayed within a marriage. So is the lust of the heart that is never acted upon. So is every twisting of God’s Word into false doctrine. So is laziness. So is skipping church on a regular basis. So is snapping at your neighbor in frustration. So is exalting yourself above your neighbor in your heart. All of these are forms of evil, and there are many, many more forms as well. Not all of them destroy a society, but all of them earn God’s wrath and displeasure. All of them earn death for the sinner. And without the new birth that God has given to believers in Christ, without the power of the Holy Spirit to restrain it in believers, the sin that dwells in every human heart would eventually erupt into the same kind of degradation and wickedness and rebellion in everyone.

So when you hear how Judas betrayed Christ, how the Jews raged against Him and called for His crucifixion, when you hear how Pilate abandoned justice for the sake of expedience, when you hear how the religious leaders mocked Jesus, how the soldiers mocked Jesus and twisted together a crown of thorns for Him, when you hear how they tortured Him and nailed Him to a cross and rejoiced to see Him suffer, do not wonder at any of that, and do not imagine that they were any worse than anyone who has lived since. It’s just sin, on full display. This is what sin does. It rages against God and against all that is right and good while often pretending to be godly and religious. This is what sin does. It crucifies the Son of God.

No, the depth of the depravity of man is not the thing to wonder at on Good Friday. Instead, the wonderful thing is the depth of the grace of God, who gave His Son so that sinners like that, so that sinners like us might be saved.

We have to wonder, not that Jesus was despised and rejected by men, but that “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.” God’s reaction to mankind’s rebellion was to punish Jesus for it, to send Jesus to suffer for it, to lay on Him the iniquity of us all. “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him”—Him, the beloved Son of God with whom God was well-pleased. Him it pleased the Lord to bruise on the cross rather than bruising us for all eternity in hell. Wonderful!

We have to wonder that Christ willingly went along with this plan. We wonder at His sincere, genuine love for His Father, at His willingness to drink the cup which His Father gave Him, and at His silence before His accusers, as a sheep before its shearers is silent, because His goal wasn’t to stop His execution, but to allow them to go through with it, according to His Father’s will. Wonderful!

We have to wonder at Jesus’ loving treatment of everyone throughout the Passion History, from His defense of His disciples who would abandon Him, to healing the servant named Malchus whose ear Peter had cut off, to the respect Jesus showed before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate, to His love for His mother, even while dying on the cross—sincere genuine love and willing obedience to the commandments, love for God and love for His neighbor, obedient to the last, no matter how much He Himself was suffering. Wonderful!

We have to wonder at the “It is finished!”, because it means that Jesus completed His mission to earn forgiveness, life and salvation for sinners, all by Himself, all without any help from any of us. His is the suffering, the blood, the death that atones for sin—not anything you or I could ever do. Someone Else has suffered for us. It is finished! It is wonderful!

And still part of the wonder of this day is that, even now, almost 2,000 years later, God continues to hold Christ crucified before the eyes of a thoroughly corrupt and sinful world in the preaching of the Gospel, still calling sinners to repentance, still holding out forgiveness, still urging sinners to believe in Jesus Christ and Him crucified and be saved before the Day of Judgment. The Word of God that you are hearing with believing hearts paints the death of Christ onto you, even as the Baptism with which you were baptized washed the death of Christ onto you. The Sacrament of the Altar puts the death of Christ into your very mouth. And now, wonder of wonders, God considers you to have died with Christ. God considers you to be righteous with the righteousness of Christ. And God has raised up a new-born creature within you, even as He raised Christ from the dead, to live before God in holiness and in obedience to His commandments, to be imitators of God as dearly loved children, to suppress and restrain your sick, sinful flesh so that it doesn’t do whatever it wants, because you have been crucified with Christ, and now you, Christian, no longer live, but Christ lives in you.

So, is today a sad day? Hardly. There were certainly sad things that happened on the first Good Friday. And Good Friday should still work sadness and sorrow in those who sin so securely and impenitently. But for the penitent who flee for refuge to the cross of Christ, God would not have you be sad on this day. He would have you find rest and comfort in the wounds of His Son. He would have you give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. And he would have you sit back and contemplate the cross of Christ in awe and wonder on this wonderful, wonderful day. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12:1-14  +  1 Corinthians 11:23-32  +  John 13:1-15

For 1500 years, from the days of Moses until Maundy Thursday, God’s people Israel were commanded to celebrate the Passover in commemoration of that night when God’s destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites who had painted the blood of the Passover lamb on their doors. Jesus was eager to celebrate the Passover meal with His disciples, because it would be the last Jewish Passover ever celebrated. Now, even though Jews have continued to observe the Passover for the 2000 years since that Maundy Thursday—in fact, tomorrow is the beginning of the Jewish celebration—the truth is, the Passover that Jesus celebrated with His disciples on Maundy Thursday was the very last legitimate Jewish Passover in history, even as it was the beginning of the Christian Passover that has no ending date, but keeps going on and on and on until the end of the world.

Let’s compare the Jewish Passover with the Christian Passover. And as we do, we’ll see just how far superior the Christian Passover is.

Both Passovers were instituted by God. The Jewish Passover was about deliverance from slavery in Egypt. That slavery was horrible. It was oppressive and painful and sometimes lethal. But it was still only temporal and only a superficial slavery—a slavery of the body, but not of the soul. The Christian Passover is about deliverance from a slavery that is far worse, a slavery of both body and soul, a slavery to sin and to death and to the power of the devil, all of which are far worse taskmasters than the Egyptian Pharaoh was. And worst of all, the slavery to sin cuts a person off from God and continues even after death, continues for all eternity.

The Jewish Passover involved a spotless young lamb. Actually, it involved thousands of spotless young lambs, one for each Israelite household in Egypt. Such spotless lambs were not at all uncommon or hard to find, and sheep were slaughtered all the time anyway. Their blood was not all that precious. But the Christian Passover involves a single Lamb, the Lamb of God, the only-begotten Son of God and Son of Man, one perfect, sinless life whose blood is infinitely precious. To slaughter a thousand lambs is nothing. But to slaughter the Lamb of God? That means…everything.

At the Jewish Passover, only the firstborn in the family was at risk, so only the firstborn was actually saved by the lamb’s blood painted on the doorframes of the house. But the blood of the Lamb of God is applied to the heart through faith, and it saves from death everyone to whom it is applied. It doesn’t just save the firstborn. It saves the whole family of believers by means of the death of the Firstborn—the Firstborn Son of God.

The Jewish Passover meal consisted (chiefly) of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The lamb had to be roasted in the fire. The bread had to be unleavened, both because of the haste with which it had to be made, and as a symbol of the sinlessness that was required to approach God. The herbs had to be bitter to remind them of their bitter slavery in Egypt. There are no bitter herbs in the Christian Passover meal, instituted by Christ on Maundy Thursday. All the bitterness of sin and death was tasted by Christ for us. The Christian Passover meal consists of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and the wine of joy and celebration.

It also consists of lamb. And you say, what? There is no lamb on our altar, no lamb included in our Christian Passover meal! Ah, but there is. Not the meat of an animal, but the very body and blood of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us on the cross—His body and blood that are truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine, so that the bread is His true body, and the wine is His true blood—the body and blood of the Lamb, a true communion with our Savior Jesus Christ in which He visits us here, in space and time, gives us Himself and unites us to His death and resurrection.

The Jewish Passover happened only once at the time of Moses. All the Jewish Passovers after that first Passover were mere commemorations. There was no more destroying angel, there was no more blood on the doorframes of Jewish houses; just a remembrance of God’s great deliverance of their Israelite forefathers. But the Christian Passover is more than just a remembrance of something that happened in the past. It’s an ongoing thing, an ongoing remembrance of Christ who not only died as the Passover Lamb but rose from the dead and now lives to save His people. The Lamb was sacrificed once for all, but His blood is constantly being applied to sinners through the Means of Grace, our deliverance from sin and death is constantly being carried out by Him, and His body and blood are offered to His people “as often as you drink it,” as often as we celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar. He continues to forgive us our sins by these Means, and by them He continues to preserve us in the faith and guard and protect us from sin, death, and Satan until He brings us safely into His heavenly kingdom.

The Jewish Passover was part of the Old Covenant that was always destined to pass away and be replaced by the New Covenant, the New Testament in the blood of Jesus the Christ. So we will never celebrate a Jewish Passover Seder at our church. It’s over. It’s obsolete. It has been replaced by something far, far better. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has given us His Holy Supper, the Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, which both replaces and surpasses all that came before. This is the Christian Passover—the Passover that we call “Easter” and the Passover meal that we call the Lord’s Supper. And we will continue to celebrate it, not only on Maundy Thursday, but every Sunday and sometimes in between for the rest of our earthly lives, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. Amen.

Source: Sermons