Detail from Matthias Grünwald’s Eisenheim Altar Painting. Inverted for purpose of display here.

“Rain down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness…” Is. 45:8

John the Baptizer Points Everyone to the Messiah
The coming of God in all His unveiled power at Mount Sinai was terrifying to the people of Israel. The thundering voice of the Lord puts sinners in fear of death (Deut. 18:15–19). God, therefore, raised up a prophet like Moses–the Messiah, the Christ. God came to His people veiled in human flesh. The skies poured down the Righteous One from heaven; the earth opened her womb and brought forth Salvation (Introit) through the blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of the Lord (Luke 1:39–56). The fruit of her womb is the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the One whose sandal strap John was not worthy to loose (John 1:19–28). In Jesus we are delivered from fear and anxiety. In Him alone we have the peace of God which surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:4–7).

Introit: Ps. 19:1, 4-6; antiphon Is. 45:8
Deuteronomy 18:15–19
Psalm: Ps. 111 (antiphon v. 9)
Gradual: Ps. 145:18, 21
Philippians 4:4–7
Verse: Ps. 40:17b
John 1:19–28 or Luke 1:39–56

From Luther’s sermon for this Sunday:

“When the first teaching, that of the Law, and baptism are over and man, humiliated by the knowledge of himself, is forced to despair of himself and his powers; then begins the second part of John’s teaching, in which he directs the people from himself to Christ and says: “Behold the Lamb of God that takes upon itself the sin of the world.” By this he means to say: “First I have, by my teaching, made you all sinners, have condemned your works and told you to despair of yourselves. But in order that you may not also despair of God, behold, I will show you how to get rid of your sins and obtain salvation. Not that you can strip off your sins or make yourselves pious through your works; another man is needed for this; nor can I do it, I can point him out, however. It is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He, he, and no one else either in heaven or on earth takes our sins upon himself. You yourself could not pay for the very smallest of sins. He alone must take upon himself not alone your sins, but the sins of the world, and not some sins, but all the sins of the world, be they great or small, many or few.” This then is preaching and, hearing the pure Gospel, and recognizing the finger of John, who points out to you Christ, the Lamb of God. Now, if you are able to believe that this voice of John speaks the truth, and if you are able to follow his finger and recognize the Lamb of God carrying your sin, then you have gained the victory, then you are a Christian, a master of sin, death, hell, and all things. Then your conscience will rejoice and become heartily fond of this gentle Lamb of God. Then will you love, praise, and give thanks to our heavenly Father for this infinite wealth of his mercy, preached by John and given in Christ. And finally you will become cheerful and willing to do his divine will, as best you can, with all your strength. For what lovelier and more comforting message can be heard than that our sins are not ours any more, that they no more lie on us, but on the Lamb of God. How can sin condemn such an innocent Lamb? Lying on him, it must be vanquished and made to be nothing, and likewise death and hell, being the reward of sin, must be vanquished also. Behold what God our Father has given us in Christ!”

Bach for Advent IV: Cantata 132

Event: Solo Cantata for the 4^th Sunday in Advent
Readings: Epistle: Philippians 4: 4-7; Gospel: John 1: 19-28
Text: Salomo Franck (Mvts. 1-5); Elisabeth Kreuziger (Mvt. 6)
Chorale Text: Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn

Christ’s members, ah, consider,
what the Savior has bestowed on you
through the pure bath of baptism!
Through the spring of blood and water
your garments will become bright,
which are stained from sin.
Christ gave as new garments
crimson robes, white silk,
these are the status of the Christian.

Here is the Soprano Aria from Cantata 132, text before video:

Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn!
Prepare the ways, prepare the path!
Bereitet die Wege
Prepare the ways
Und machet die Stege
and make the footpaths
Im Glauben und Leben
in faith and in life
Dem Höchsten ganz eben,
smooth before the Highest.
Messias kömmt an!
The Messiah is coming!

“God helps those who help themselves.”  It almost sounds biblical.
Some people think it comes from the Bible, but it doesn’t.  It’s
actually unbiblical, even anti-biblical.  In truth, God helps the
helpless, those who cannot help themselves.  God saves those who cannot
save themselves.

“We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”  If God helps
only those who help themselves, then we are in a heap of trouble,
because when it comes to sin we are powerless to help ourselves.
Prisoners can do nothing to free themselves; the dead can do nothing to
raise themselves.  God must come to us to help us.  He must reach down
to us, we cannot reach up to Him.  He must come and be with us.

The promise of this last night of Advent is the promise of Immanuel -
God is with us.  Immanuel was the word-sign spoken by Isaiah to a
panic-stricken king.  Ahaz’s enemies had struck an alliance.  Rezin,
the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel
had struck a deal.  Ahaz was the odd man out.  He cut a deal of his own
with Tiglath Pileser, the king of Assyria.  That would prove to be
Ahaz’s undoing.  Assyria would be like a flooded river pouring over its
banks, sweeping away Judah in the process.

Isaiah tried to warn Ahaz, and encourage him that God was with Him.
“Rezin and Pekah are nothing but smoldering stumps under the foot of
God’s judgment.  They have a plan but it will not stand and will not
come to pass.  You must trust Yahweh; take Him at His word.  But if you
will not believe, surely, you will not be established.”  Isaiah offered
a sign to Ahaz, but Ahaz refused.  It was the sign of Immanuel.  “The
virgin is conceiving and bearing a son and shall call his name
Immanuel.”  In nine months Ahaz would know that God was with them.  In
ten to twelve years, before little Immanuel knew right from wrong,
Rezin and Pekah would be history.  Immanuel would eat curds and honey.
Good and bad news rolled into one.  Agricultural land would be laid
waste.  Crops destroyed.  But there would still be plenty of milk and
wild honey.  Wilderness food.  It is back to the wilderness for God’s
people.  But God is with them.

Isaiah had a son.  His name, written in stone on a large tablet was
this:  Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  “The spoil speeds, the prey hastens.”
Destruction is at the door.  There are always two sides to God’s being
with us – destruction and salvation.  Immanuel and
Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  He is with us to save, and He is with us to
destroy whatever gets in the way of His saving us. When we pray “Thy
will be done,” we call upon God’s good and gracious will to save us. We
are also calling Him to break and hinder every will that opposes his
good and gracious will, including our own.  The Lord kills in order to
make alive.  He brings down in order to raise up.  He crushes in order
to create anew.

God’s last word is not death, but life.  Not Maher-shalal-hash-baz, but
Immanuel.  “The Lord is with you,” the angel said to Mary.  And the
Virgin conceived and bore a son.  Jesus.  Immanuel.  God with us.

God is with us in His Son Jesus.  He is the God who gets involved, who
puts on the uniform and plays the game.  He doesn’t sit by watching us
make a mess of things.  He doesn’t watch helplessly from His throne
heaven while we destroy each other here on earth.  He sets down his
crown, takes off his royal robes, puts on the workclothes of a
servant.  He takes on our humanity.  And in our humanity He humbles
himself to death on a cross.  Immanuel works and weeps and suffers and
sleeps and bleeds and dies.  He is with us in every facet of our
lives.  Nothing is left out of His being with us to save us.

The signs of Immanuel are all around us.  Advent calls us to them and
invites us to see them anew.  Where is God with you to save you?  In
the water of your Baptism.   There He is with you to make you His own -
the Spirit descending, the voice of the Father, Jesus at your side,
with you always to the end of the age.  You are joined to Jesus’ death
in Baptism, and He is joined to you.

He is with you in the word that speaks forgiveness to you.  “He who
hears you, hears me,” Jesus said of those He sent.  “Do you believe
that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness,” the pastor asks the
penitent.  That is the Immanuel question.  Do you believe that God is
with us in this word?  To hear this forgiveness as God’s forgiveness?
Such a gift Immanuel is to arrange to speak with us in a way that we
can hear Him!

He is with you in His Supper, His own body and blood, born of Mary,
sacrificed on Calvary, raised from the dead, enthroned in heaven yet
humbly mangered in bread and wine for you.  There is no greater His
being Immanuel for you.

Jesus is Immanuel, the only Immanuel there ever was, the only one there
ever will be, the only one you need.  When He appears in glory, He will
be the same Immanuel who came by the Virgin, who laid in a manger, who
died for you on the cross, who come to you now in His Baptism, Word,
and Supper.  The good news, on this last night of Advent, is that you
are never alone as one of the Lord’s baptized believers.  God is with
you.  Immanuel.

Thanks to Dr. Gene Edward Veith for this post.  Biblical Archaeology Review has a good scholarly discussion of why Christmas is celebrated on December 25. And it is evidently NOT because it was superimposed on a pagan holiday:

The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated.

Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmas’s origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus’ birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339–397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly don’t think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods.

It’s not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didn’t know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiah’s birth and celebrating it accordingly. . . .

There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250–300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character. . . . In the first few centuries C.E., the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 C.E. . . . .

There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus’ birth may lie in the dating of Jesus’ death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.8 But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus’ death and his birth.

Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d

This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice.

The article goes on to document other ancient sources that associate the day of Jesus’s conception with the day of His death, going back to rabbinic Jewish texts that make similar connections.

Jesus is both King and Cornerstone.  As King, he governs by His gracious reign of forgiveness and peace as the King of kings.  As Cornerstone, He sets all the angles square and unites His church together as one in spite of our sad divisions..

He is the potter, we are the clay.  He is the King, we are His
subjects.  He is the Cornerstone, we are living stones built into a
temple for His Name.  We want this, and then again, we don’t want it.
The sinful nature resents the potter, refuses the king, resists the
cornerstone.  Sin is the overthrow of God’s reign, the attempt to be a
god in place of God.  It is the rebellion of the clay against the
potter who shaped it.  It is our attempt to determine the lines of our
future and destiny, to be our own cornerstone.

The outcome is chaos and death.  A kingdom in which everyone is king is
no kingdom at all.  It is anarchy.  A building in which every stone is
the cornerstone is a pile of rubble.  Individualism ends in isolation.
It is death to family, to community.  It was not good that man was
alone.  God sets us into community.  Sin erects walls, both visible and
invisible, barriers to community.  We define the boundaries of our own
little kingdoms and vow to defend them to the death.

Christ has come as King and Cornerstone.  His coming was without the
trappings of royalty.  A virgin mother.  A manger crib.  A borrowed
donkey.  Royal robes worn in mockery and scorn.  His crown was made of
thorns.  His throne was a cross.  He is a beggar king in a kingdom of
beggars.

The crucified King is the King of kings.  The rejected stone is the
cornerstone.  As His second advent draws ever nearer, we are reminded
that His kingdom is not of this world, that His rule is eternal, that
He conquers with the sword of His Word.  As His baptized believers, we
are privileged to enjoy His reign even now through faith, to live under
Him in His kingdom, and to serve Him in everlasting righteousness,
innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives
and reigns to all eternity.

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

The following titles are now available for purchase and use on all Kindle devices and in all Kindle Apps.

The Church and The Office of The Ministry

Portals of Prayer: January – March 2013

Joyfully Aging: A Christian’s Guide

Reformation Heritage Bible Commentary: Colossians/Thessalonians

Testing the Boundaries to Lutheran Identity – Second Edition

Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.  And
the longest night.  Though it is the darkest day, the Advent candles
burn brightly.  The church calls from the darkness to her Lord, her
Dayspring from on high, who is “the joyous light of glory.”

God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.  God spoke Light into
the darkness.  Light is life.  Without lLght there is no life.
Darkness is death, the silence of God, the absence of God.

Our sin plunged the creation into darkness and death.  Sin loves the
darkness and hates the light.  Sin loves the death and hates the life.
Man turned away from God hides in the darkness.  Adam hid in the
darkness of the trees.  Judas betrayed his Lord at night.  Sin seeks
shelter under the cover of darkness.  Darkness cannot produce light.
It is nothing, formless and void, empty.  Light must be spoken into
darkness from the outside.

God sent His Son, the light of the world thrown into darkness.  He is
the light no darkness can overcome, the light of God’s love, His
promise of mercy.  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light
shined.”  Jesus is the Morning Star, the Dayspring, the signal of the
coming morning.  Day is at hand.  The Dayspring has risen.  The sun of
righteousness rises with healing in His wings.  He was born in darkness
that we might be reborn as children of the light.  He died in darkness
that we might live in the light of His life.  He rose at dawn to usher
in the new day of His resurrection.  He shines into our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who works through the Word, dispelling the darkness,
killing the death, bringing light and life.

Advent calls us out of the darkness to live in the light of Christ, to
be the children of the Light that we are.  “If we walk in the light, as
He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  The night is over.  The
Day has dawned.  Christ has risen from the dead.  He has cast the
bright beams of His light upon you.

Flee the darkness.  Confess your sin.  Expose the darkness, the death,
to His light.  Cling to the light of His Word.  Live in the warm
brightness of His Light.  “You will do well to pay attention to this as
to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning
star rises in your hearts.”

O come, Thou Dayspring from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

The Apostle Thomas (Hebrew or Aramaic for “twin”) was also called Didymus (Greek for “twin”); either his parents gave him a most peculiar name or else he consistently went by his nickname. Absent when the Risen Lord appeared to the other apostles on the evening of Easter Day, He refused to believe that Christ had indeed risen until he had seen him for himself. When he saw Him the following week, he said to Jesus, “My Lord and My God.”

Because of this, he has been known ever since as “Doubting Thomas,” although “Disbelieving Thomas” or even “Faithless Thomas” probably would be more accurate. See John 20:19-29 for the full account.

We also remember his earlier words, when Jesus announced His intention of going to Jerusalem, even though His life was in danger there: Thomas said to the others, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:7-16) Thus, we see that Thomas was sturdily loyal.

At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas was the one who responded, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” To this Jesus answered: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (see John 14:1-6)”

John 21
records Thomas as one of the seven disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee when the Lord appeared to them. Aside from these Biblical accounts, he appears only as a name on lists of the Apostles.

A few centuries later, a story circulated in the Mediterranean world that he went to preach in India; a community in the Kerala district claims descent from Christians converted by the preaching of Thomas. Among Indian Christians, tradition claims that Thomas was speared to death near Madras, and accordingly is often pictured holding a spear.

Since he was credited with the building up of the Church through his missionary journeys, a carpenter’s square also is a regular symbol of the apostle.

Bible Readings

Psalm 126
Habakkuk 2:1-4
Hebrews 10:35-11:1
John 14:1-7 or 20:24-29

Prayer

Almighty and ever living God, who upheld and strengthened Your apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in Your Son’s resurrection, grant us perfect and unwavering belief in Jesus Christ, our resurrected Lord and God, that our faith may never be found wanting in Your sight; through this same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Prepared by: Pastor Walter Snyder

I am thinking a lot this Christmas about the fact that for many people, more than would ever be willing to admit openly, there is very little, “merry” about Christmas. Are you feeling this way? If so, this message is for you.

You may be dealing with personal troubles and situations that cause you intense pain and anguish of heart and mind, soul and spirit. You see all the decorations around and you hear the music, and receive the cheerful, bright and wonderful greeting cards from friends and family. These things are yet more pointed reminders to you of a long-felt grief, or hurt, or sorrow, a reminder that while many are merry, you are not.

Our culture’s celebration of Christmas contributes enormously to this problem. Christmas is a time for family, so you are told. But what happens when your family is missing a beloved father, or mother, grandma or grandpa, son or daughter? What happens when Christmas for you is a reminder that you have lost a dear one to death? What about other problems that might be hurting your family at this time? What about the sickness that has you or a loved one in its grip? What if you have few, if any, immediate family with you, or for whatever reason, find yourself alienated from them?

Christmas can often also be a reminder of the failings of the past year that haunt you, a reminder of all your personal faults and the trouble that you may have brought on yourself, with your own sinful choices and actions. Oh, how sharp that pain is, and particularly so at a time of “happiness,” when you are feeling anything but happy.

How important it is then to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly at this time, a Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us, a Word through Whom all things were made, that have been made. It was this Word, sent from the Father, who came among us, to be your great Savior, from sin, from death, from the power of hell, to pour out his lifeblood as the perfect atoning sacrificial ransom for the sins of the world, for your sins, every one of them, even those you would not want another person to know about.

The best advice I can give to you if you are feeling lonely and sad at this time of the year is: reach out to people whom you know, and share your love with them. Dive deeply into the Word of God. Take advantage of every opportunity provided to gather with your fellow saints in Gods’ House for worship and to receive the true and lasting gifts of Christmas: forgiveness, life and salvation. These are the gifts that are truly what make for a Merry Christmas.

In spite of the loneliness, and in spite of the pain, and there is no denying either, there always stands Christ, with arms open wide, saying to you, “Fear not. I have overcome the world.” He says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled” and “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” This is not some kind of “magic formula” for you to recite that will just magically make all the pain go away, but you can, and you must, continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and pray the Psalms. These are the words Jesus has for you, for you to use and to pray. You can think those things that you ought, to set your minds on things above, and not dwell on those below. The “things above” are the beautiful and powerful truths that Christ reveals, in His Word.

Here are some powerfully comforting words for you from the Lutheran Confessions, that you should read very carefully and hold them close. Read these words out loud and then return to praying the Psalms. Recite them daily or as often as necessary when you feel a bout of gloom come over you at this time of the year:

“The doctrine that God in His counsel, before the time of the world, determined and decreed that He would assist us in all distresses,anxieties and perplexities, grant patience under the cross, give consolation, nourish and encourage hope, and produce such an outcome as would contribute to our salvation affords glorious consolation under the cross and amid temptations. Also, as Paul in a very consolatory way treats this, Rom. 8:28- 29, 35, 38, 39, that God in His purpose has ordained before the time of the world by what crosses and sufferings He would conform every one of His elect to the image of His Son, and that to every one His cross shall and must work together for good, because they are called according to the purpose, whence Paul has concluded that it is certain and indubitable that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor death, nor life, etc., shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Solid Declaration, Article XI.48-49.

So, indeed, in no matter what situation you find yourself, you can, and you will, have a “merry” Christmas, with Christ at the center, and by your side. You can say with the blessed Apostle: “I have learned the secret of being content.”I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:10-13).

Centuries ago, a Lutheran pastor wrote a beautiful Christmas hymn full of joy and comfort. And he was preaching to himself, for he was a man who had suffered the loss of a dear wife and the death of several children. He would be, during his career, removed from his office for remaining faithful to God’s Word, when he was persecuted and pressure to compromise. Pastor Paul Gerhardt wrote All This Night, My Heart Rejoices:

1. All my heart this night rejoices, as I hear far and near sweetest angel voices. “Christ is born,” their choirs are singing, till the air everywhere now with joy is ringing.

2. Forth today the conqueror goeth, who the Foe, sin and woe, Death and hell, o’erthroweth. God is man, man to deliver. His dear Son now is one With our blood forever.

3. Shall we still dread God’s displeasure, who, to save, freely gave His most cherished Treasure? To redeem us, He hath given His own Son from the throne of His might in heaven.

4. Should He who Himself imparted aught withhold from the fold, leave us broken-hearted? Should the Son of God not love us, Who, to cheer sufferers here, left His throne above us?

5. If our blessed Lord and Maker hated men, would He then be of flesh partaker? If He in our woe delighted, would He bear all the care of our race benighted?

6. He becomes the Lamb that taketh sin away and for aye full atonement maketh. For our life His own He tenders and our race, by His grace, meet for glory renders.

7. Hark! a voice from yonder manger, Soft and sweet, doth entreat: “Flee from woe and danger. Brethren, from all ills that grieve you you are feed; All you need I will surely give you.”

8. Come, then, banish all your sadness, one and all, great and small, come with songs of gladness. Love Him who with love is glowing. Hail the star, near and far light and joy bestowing.

9. Ye whose anguish knew no measure, weep no more, see the door to celestial pleasure. Cling to Him, for He will guide you where no cross, pain, or loss can again betide you.

10. Hither come, ye heavy-hearted, who for sin, deep within, long and sore have smarted. For the poisoned wound you’re feeling help is near, One is here Mighty for their healing.

11. Hither come, ye poor and wretched. Know His will is to fill every hand outstretched. Here are riches without measure. Here forget all regret, fill your hearts with treasure.

12. Let me in my arms receive Thee; On Thy breast Let me rest, Savior, ne’er to leave Thee. Since Thou hast Thyself presented now to me, I shall be evermore contented.

13. Guilt no longer can distress me; Son of God, Thou my load Bearest to release me. Stain in me Thou findest never; I am clean, All my sin is removed forever.

14. I am pure, in Thee believing, From Thy store evermore, righteous robes receiving. In my heart I will enfold Thee, treasure rare, let me there, loving, ever hold Thee.

15. Dearest Lord, Thee will I cherish. though my breath fail in death, Yet I shall not perish, But with Thee abide forever there on high, in that joy which can vanish never.

Notes: Hymn #77 from The Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal Text: Luke 2:11 Author: Paul Gerhardt, 1653; Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1858, altered.

Titled: Froehlich soll mein Herze springen

Composer: Johann Crueger, 1653 Tune: Froehlich soll mein Herze

Today we thank and praise God for His faithful servant, Katherine.

We pray:

O God, our refuge and strength, You raised up Your servant Katharina to support her husband in the task to reform and renew Your Church in the light of Your  Word. Defend and purify the Church today and grant that, through faith, we may boldly support and encourage our pastors and teachers of the faith as they proclaim and administer the riches of Your grace made known in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Katharina von Bora (1499–1552) was placed in a convent when still a child and became a nun in 1515. In April 1523 she and eight other nuns were rescued from the convent and brought to Wittenberg. There Martin Luther helped return some to their former homes and placed the rest in good families. Katharina and Martin were married on June 13, 1525. Their marriage was a happy one and blessed with six children. Katharina skillfully managed the Luther household, which always seemed to grow because of his generous hospitality. After Luther’s death in 1546, Katharina remained in Wittenberg but lived much of the time in poverty. She died in an accident while traveling with her children to Torgau in order to escape the plague. Today is the anniversary of her death. Source: Treasury of Daily Prayer (CPH: 2008), p. 1035.

Here are more details about Katie’s life.

Keys represent authority.  The one who has the keys has authority.
Shebna was King Hezekiah’s chief-of-staff.  He held the keys to the
palace.  He misused his authority by having his tomb carved where kings
were buried and enriching himself at his master’s expense.  The servant
wanted to be king.  And so he was stripped of his office, and Eliakim
was called to replace him.  Shebna had to turn in his keys.  It’s a
dire warning to all who hold authority not to use it for personal
profit.

God used this little bit of palace power politics to prophesy something
greater:  “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David;
he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall
open.”  Those words are applied to Christ in the Revelation.  He is the
one “who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who
shuts and no one opens.”

Sin locks the doors on us.  It makes our lives a prison of fear; it
places us in solitary confinement – isolated from God and from each
other.  Like the disciples in the upper room on Easter evening, we are
locked up into ourselves, locked away from others.  As we confess in
the liturgy, we are “in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”  No
matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we
are unable to break out of the prison.

But Christ has come and entered the prison.  He took on the Law’s death
sentence.  He stormed the gates of death and hell with His death.  He
turns the key to our cell.  He is the key, the key that unlocks us from
the Law and breaks the chains of death that bind us in fear. He sets us
free to live as free children in His free city.

Jesus is the key of David, who opens and no one can close, who closes
and no one can open.  And He entrusts the keys to His church, to bind
and loose from sin in His name.  He established the office of the keys
in the church, that is, the office of the ministry that turns the keys
which bind and loose in His stead and by His command.  We don’t have to
wonder where the keys to heaven are.  They are in the mouth of Peter
and of the pastor God has called and ordained to speak forgiveness to
you.  His mouth is the Lord’s mouth to forgive you.  The sins he
forgives are forgiven; the sins he retains are retained.  He turns the
key that unbinds you from your sin and frees you.  He does it not on
his own authority, but by the permission of the One who is the Key of
David.

Advent disciplines us in the discipline of being forgiven, of
delighting in the Key of David who unlocks us from our sin, of living
in the freedom of being the forgiven children of God.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!

And….The Apocrypha: Lutheran Edition is now available on Kindle. Click the image to go to the Kindle link to buy it:

You asked for it, you got it, Luther’s wonderful little treatise titled, A Simple Way to Pray, in a fresh new translation by Pastor Matthew Harrison, is now available as a Kindle title. Click on the picture below to buy it.

Today is the day appointed in my church to remember and thank God for Adam and Eve. After I share the prayer appointed for this day, please continue reading for why defending and holding fast to their historicity matters, a lot.

We pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, You created Adam in your image and gave him Eve as his helpmate, and after their fall into sin, You promised them a Savior who would crush the devil’s might. By Your mercy, number us among those who have come out of the great tribulation with the seal of the living God on our foreheads, and whose robes have been made white in the blood of the Lamb; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

I’ve been following debates/arguments/discussions/conversations about the historicity of Adam and Eve. For our Lord Christ, the fact of the creation of Adam and Eve by God, and their union to one another, ordained by God, is the very foundation of marriage and all human sexuality. Precisely because the Lord taught this, this has an enormous impact on how the Church and the faithful, should—no not should, that’s way too soft a word—absolutely must—affirm the historicity of Adam and Eve. Justin Taylor had a blog post recently on this, that puts it rather well.

Reformation21 reprints an essay by Michael Reeves (Theological Adviser for UCCF in the UK) on “Adam and Eve,” from the book Should Christians Embrace Evolution? edited by Norman Nevin (IVP-UK, P&R). In particular Dr. Reeves takes on Denis Alexander’s proposed “third way” of understanding Adam and evolution.

Here’s the conclusion:

When theological doctrines are detached from historical moorings, they are always easier to harmonize with other data and ideologies. And, of course, there are a good many doctrines that are not directly historical by nature. However, it has been my contention that the identity of Adam and his role as the physical progenitor of the human race are not such free or detachable doctrines. The historical reality of Adam is an essential means of preserving a Christian account of sin and evil, a Christian under-standing of God, and the rationale for the incarnation, cross and resurrection. His physical fatherhood of all humankind preserves God’s justice in condemning us in Adam (and, by inference, God’s justice in redeeming us in Christ) as well as safeguarding the logic of the incarnation. Neither belief can be reinterpreted without the most severe consequences.

by Pastor William Cwirla

Tonight is the third of the “golden nights” of Advent on which the
church sings her longing cry to Jesus to come and deliver her.
Tonight’s “O Antiphon” is the Root of Jesse, the promised shoot from
the stump of King David’s family tree that sprouted in the fulness of
time in the womb of the Virgin.

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples;
the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be
glorious.”  Leave it to the Lord to make an homely root His banner at
which all kings will be silent and all nations will bow.  Roots are
best left unseen, underground, invisibly drawing up nutrients from the
soil, feeding the branches which produce leaves and fruit.  Expose the
root and the whole tree dies.  But cut down the tree even to a stump
and it will return, so long as the root is alive.

The Root of Jesse is God’s Promise that David’s throne would stand
forever, that a son of David would establish his kingdom and sit on his
throne.  That promise is the root of Israel’s existence.  Even when the
tree was cut down, when Israel was reduced to a lifeless stump by her
Babylonian captors, the Promise lived in the Root.  “Then shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots.”

I think about that image at this time of year when chopped down trees
are a commodity.  We picked out the tree for the church and for our
living room this past week from a parking lot.  Row after row of trees,
cut down by the chain saw of Christmas commerce, leaving a lifeless
stump in the ground somewhere.  Those of you who have cut down trees
know what happens to those stumps.  They sprout.  It’s hard to stop
it.  You have to kill the root, and when the root is the promise and
love of God in His Son, you simply can’t kill it.  It always sprouts to
life.

Just when King David’s family tree seemed as good as dead, reduced to a
stump with Israel carted like a Christmas tree to adorn Babylon’s
living room, the promise of God sprouted in Israelite soil, in the
obscurity of Nazareth with the word of the angel to the Virgin, “You
will conceive and bear a son, and you will call His name Jesus.  He
will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
Lord god will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He shall
riegn over the hosue of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be
no end.”  King David greater Son, the promised Son and Successor .  The
shoot, the branch, the tree – the King in His kingdom.

Our sin goes all the way to the root.  Not only the fruit, but the
whole tree is bad, roots and all.  The axe of the Law must be laid to
the root.  We must die and rise anew.  It’s the only way to save us.
We must be grafted to new rootstock.  We must be joined to the stump of
Jesse, fed by the Root of Jesse, nourished by the Promise of God to
save.

God grafted His Root to our sin, nailing it to a cross.  The Root of
Jesse became a banner for the world to see.  Jesus of Nazareth.
David’s son, David’s Root, David’s Lord.  “”I am the root and offspring
of David,”  Jesus said in the the last of His I AMs (Rev 22:16).   He
was lifted up on the tree of the cross as a banner for the nations to
see.  As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness to be a
sacrament of healing, so the Root of Jesse was lifted up on the tree to
be the Sacrament of salvation.  Here is how God saves from sin and
death.  He sets the axe of the Law against His own Root, His Son, and
then joins you to His death.  The cross is the meeting place of God and
man, Law and Gospel, wrath and mercy.  There the Root absorbs your sin;
there He feeds you His righteousness.

When you make a graft into wood, you need to keep the graft moist.  The
life’s sap of the tree must flow into the branches or the graft and the
branch will die.  You were grafted to the Root of Jesse in your
Baptism.  Don’t let the graft dry out; always keep it immersed in
baptismal water.  Draw on His forgiveness, His life, His salvation.
You are living branches grafted to the living Root of Jesse. Jesus is
your Vine and your Root.   Apart from Him you can do nothing.  Joined
to Him, believing in Him, you bear much fruit.

Wait patiently on this Root of Jesse.  He is the source of your life,
who feeds and forgives you, who nourishes and sustains you, and who
will come to raise you.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.