Sunday, April 8, 2012

Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense, The Lutheran Hymnal #206





"Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense"
by unknown author, 1653
Translated based on Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878

1. Jesus Christ, my sure Defense
And my Savior, ever Iiveth;
Knowing this, my confidence
Rests upon the hope it giveth
Though the night of death be fraught
Still with many an anxious thought.

2. Jesus, my Redeemer, lives;
I, too, unto life shall waken.
Endless joy my Savior gives;
Shall my courage, then, be shaken?
Shall I fear, or could the Head
Rise and leave His members dead?

3. Nay, too closely am I bound
Unto Him by hope forever;
Faith's strong hand the Rock hath found,
Grasped it, and will leave it never;
Even death now cannot part
From its Lord the trusting heart.

4. I am flesh and must return
Unto dust, whence I am taken;
But by faith I now discern
That from death I shall awaken
With my Savior to abide
In His glory, at His side.

5. Glorified, I shall anew
With this flesh then be enshrouded;
In this body I shall view
God, my Lord, with eyes unclouded;
In this flesh I then shall see
Jesus Christ eternally.

6. Then these eyes my Lord shall know,
My Redeemer and my Brother;
In His love my soul shall glow,--
I myself, and not another!
Then the weakness I feel here
Shall forever disappear.

7. They who sorrow here and moan
There in gladness shall be reigning;
Earthly here the seed is sown,
There immortal life attaining.
Here our sinful bodies die,
Glorified to dwell on high.

8. Then take comfort and rejoice,
For His members Christ will cherish.
Fear not, they will hear His voice;
Dying, they shall never perish;
For the very grave is stirred
When the trumpet's blast is heard.

9. Laugh to scorn the gloomy grave
And at death no longer tremble;
He, the Lord, who came to save
Will at last His own assemble.
They will go their Lord to meet,
Treading death beneath their feet.

10. Oh, then, draw away your hearts
Now from pleasures base and hollow.
There to share what He imparts,
Here His footsteps ye must follow.
Fix your hearts beyond the skies,
Whether ye yourselves would rise.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #206
Text: 1 Cor. 15:35 ff.
Author: unknown author, 1653
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863
Titled: "Jesus, meine Zuversicht"
Composer: Johann Crueger, 1653
Tune: "Jesus, meine Zuversicht"

Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain.
The Lutheran Hymnal, #204



"Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain"
by John of Damascus, c. 750
Translated by John M. Neale, 1818-1866

1. Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness.
'Tis the spring of souls today:
Christ hath burst His prison
And from three days' sleep in death
As a sun hath risen.

2. All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From His light, to whom we give
Laud and praise undying.
Neither could the gates of death
Nor the tomb's dark portal
Nor the watchers nor the seal
Hold Thee as a mortal.

3. But today amidst Thine own
Thou didst stand, bestowing
That Thy peace which evermore
Passeth human knowing.
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #204 from
Text: Ex. 15:1-21
Author: John of Damascus, c. 750
Translated by: John M. Neale, 1859, alt. ab.
Titled:"Aisohmen pantes laoi"
Tune: "Schwing dich auf"
1st Published in: _Geistliche Andachten_
Town: Berlin, 1666

John of Damascus also wrote "The Day of Resurrection,"
The Lutheran Hymnal, #205.

Marine Drill Instructor Was the Voice of Bambi



http://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies/article/Marine-reflects-on-being-the-voice-of-Bambi-1924410.php


After decades of silence, a tough Marine has come forward with his clean little secret: He's the voice of Bambi.

San Antonio native Donnie Dunagan, now of San Angelo, was 6 when Walt Disney hired him to be the model and voice of the fawn in the 1942 animated classic, which debuted on DVD last week.

During his entire military career, Dunagan never confided to colleagues about being in Bambi.

"I was blessed to be in a leadership role for 25 years, either in counterintelligence or training troops," Dunagan said, "and if these animals I was leading had ever found out about Bambi — as much affection as I had for it — they'd have ridden me out on a rail."

Since he's come forward, though, he's taking renewed pride in his role.

"I go down the street now, and when some old Marine who knew me before yells, 'Hey, Major Bambi!' I love it to death," Dunagan said.

Dunagan made eight movies as a child after being discovered at a Memphis, Tenn., talent show. They included 1939's Son of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Tower of London with Basil Rathbone. But his career ended when his family fractured. He wound up in boarding homes, then joined the military as a teen.

"I adopted the Marines, and the Marines adopted me," Dunagan said.

Dunagan distinguished himself in the service. The curly-haired lad with the Southern drawl whom Karloff had hoisted on a monster's shoulder became the youngest Marine drill instructor ever. A boxer and devoted Harley rider, Dunagan served three tours in Vietnam and was wounded several times.

After leaving the Marines in 1977, he worked in business and kept mum about his childhood stardom, even as fans scoured phone books for him.

But Dunagan was nailed last June. A casual comment at a San Angelo banquet tipped off a local TV crew that they had a star in their midst.

Dunagan, 70, and Dana, his wife of 13 years, had moved to the town two years before so his stepson could attend college there. Only after his story came out "did we open the old boxes I'd sealed for 50 years, with newspaper clippings about my time in Bambi."

Disney contacted him soon after about participating in a DVD of Bambi. Dunagan appears in a featurette about the cast, then and now. He was always fond of the film and showed videocassettes of it to children whenever he could. Now he's getting DVD copies from Disney to give to orphanages.

Having come to terms with it, the Marine who was Bambi finally is speaking up.

This year Dunagan will make his first appearances at film fan conventions, to meet admirers and sign autographs.

"His autograph hasn't been out there since he was 4 or 5," said Donna Lucas, publisher — with husband Tim Lucas — of Video Watchdog, which ran a cover story on Dunagan in October.

Fans are ecstatic that he's finally come forward, she said. "This is one of the last living people who worked with Karloff, and he's got an incredible memory."

Though Dunagan loathes self-promotion, he finally allowed his wife to launch a Web site, www.donniedunagan.com, where he shares happy memories of kidding with Karloff and roaming Disney's studio.

"Mr. Disney was a positive, real leader. He was all over, doing everything. He had his sleeves rolled up, and people respected him and were happy.

"I knew there were phonies in show business, but not there, not at Disney. I think Mr. Disney was a pioneer — as a humanist, an environmentalist and an artist."

Disney encouraged naturalism in the kids. For a scene in which Bambi grimaces after being kissed by young deer Faline, "He told me to pretend I'd taken castor oil and make a face," Dunagan said. "I had to hold expressions of fear, happiness, joy or anger while the artists drew it."

He credits Disney for hiring children to voice small animals, instead of casting adults who'd use childlike voices. To this day, Dunagan hasn't met his co-stars, who recorded their lines separately.

Dunagan saw Bambi before its original release and was surprised by its most notorious scene: when Bambi's mother is killed by hunters off-screen.

"That was the only thing that bothered me," he said. "Nobody told me when I recorded the line 'Mother! Mother!' what it was about. But back then, there was a war going on, and a lot of children's mothers were dying. I think it was very, very smart to have it happen off-camera."

Dunagan is semiretired today. He lost his savings in the Enron debacle and has been tutoring and "doing what I can do." He says he'd "give you push-ups in the street" to get back into show business, as a performer or a technical adviser.

And the tough guy from Texas has a special place in his heart for the tender Bambi.

"Is there any incongruity in being a tough old Marine and loving Bambi? No, no," Dunagan said.

"I'm a sensitive man. When I had my first casualties as a lieutenant, I had a hard time controlling my emotions, but I had a strong sergeant with me who kept me from doing something stupid.

"I've been around some real tough guys, and I promise you on my honor: The strongest guys I've known in life would pick up a wounded baby kitty on the side of the road. Yet you wouldn't want to go against them in combat. That is not inconsistent. It is part of the same ethos."

Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012.




Easter Sunday: The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord - 2012


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




The Hymn #191               Christ the Lord                      2:97
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       
The Gospel              
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #188                Hallelujah                   2:20 

 Faith versus Feelings

The Communion Hymn # 206:1-5            Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense  2:81
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31

The Hymn #189   He Is Arisen Glorious Word               4:77

KJV 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

KJV Mark 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. 8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

Easter

Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst deliver Thy Son for our offenses, and didst raise Him again for our justification: We beseech Thee, grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that He may rule and govern us according to Thy will; graciously keep us in the true faith; defend us from all sins, and after this life raise us unto eternal life, through the same, Thy beloved Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.


Faith versus Feelings

Mark 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

Lenski points out that the women came to the tomb very early to finish the work they wished to do. Jesus died on Friday, so sundown was the Sabbath. After the Sabbath was over, Saturday evening, they had a little time to buy the expensive spices in liquid form. Powdered spices were used with the linen wraps (also expensive) that Joseph of Arimathea provided.

KJV Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

The Gospel of John records that Nicodemus, who came to Him by night (Nick at Night – John 3) was also involved in the burial, so faith overcame fear, in spite of Nicodemus high standing with the religious leaders and the criminal reputation of Jesus.

The women came to the tomb very early on Sunday, before the sun was up. Sunday, in the Jewish reckoning, began Saturday evening.

Some have trouble with “after three days” because we think in Western terms, with 24 hours being a day. Jewish reckoning counted each part of a day as a separate day, so Jesus died on Friday, was in the tomb Saturday, and rose on the third day, which could have included Saturday in our time.

That is why many denominations have an Easter Vigil very late on Saturday, reciting the Scriptures of the Bible. In Moline we had sunrise services, but the Greek Orthodox had Easter Vigil, which we attended at least once, as college students who knew some Greek.

2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Certain women were named in this group visiting the tomb. No men were present at this time. They were anxious to honor their dead Teacher, and they also wanted to speedy due to the effects of desert heat. (Note the contrast with Lazarus, when Jesus deliberately delayed His visit, so people feared being near the tomb, due to rapid decomposition.)

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

On the way they realized that they did not make plans for removing the stone lid from the tomb. The closing of the tomb was more of a lid that rolled in a groove. A boulder to fit the opening would have defied movement by several men. But a stone lid might be muscled aside by several men – not by the women.

Luther describes the condition of the women as being overcome with emotion and grief. When we are in that condition we are not going to think are plan carefully. The crisis of the moment fills our minds. They were rushing to do what women normally did at that time. There were prescribed rituals, which are still followed in many cultures.

Mark does not deal with the soldiers guarding the tomb. We have four narratives, plus additional details from Paul, so we have a complete picture from all of them. Roman soldiers were posted to guard the tomb, but they fled when the earthquake opened the tomb and showed it to be empty.

Why soldiers? Jesus was far more dangerous to the leaders than the liberals of today allow. He arrived in Jerusalem as a king, with the crowds hailing Him as the Messiah. He brought with Him Lazarus, who was proof of His ability to raise the dead – a claim no one else could make. The religious authorities were so anxious about Lazarus that they plotted against him, too.

The guards tell us that the civil authorities were sufficiently afraid, ironically bearing witness to Jesus’ power over death. They would make sure that nothing happened.

The litmus test of an apostate is the denial of the Virgin Birth and the physical resurrection of Christ. I have used that more than once. In 1987 I found only one ELCA seminary professor who could support the resurrection of Christ. That man conceded in print that it “probably happened.” But the fact remains that no one has ever denied the facts. They simply do not believe in the divinity of Christ, so that settles the question for them. It does not affect their concept of reality. They marvel that the disciples loved Him so much that they believed it to be true.

My favorite response to the litmus test was from this Disciples of Christ seminary student – “Those are not important issues.” She bragged that the Unitarians studied at the same school. I said, “Why not?”

KJV John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. 12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, 15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. 17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Our prepositions are often vague, but German and Greek prepositions are exact. The stone lid, very large, was not rolled aside in the groove, but thrown away from the entrance, flat on the ground, never to be used again.

Matthew tells us that an angel rolled the stone away and sat on it. It was not rolled aside in its groove in the regular way so as to be rolled back again to shut the entrance. No, it was hurled out of its groove by some tremendous power, thrown flat upon the ground in front of the tomb, thus making a seat for the angel who waited until the women drew near and then went inside the tomb. This stone was not again to be rolled in front of the entrance. It had been laid flat so that the tomb should stand wide open for all men to see that it was emptied of the body of Jesus, the bodiless wrappings lying undisturbed and flat just as they had been wrapped, mute but mighty evidence of the resurrection, John 20:5–10.
When the women looked up they saw the stone in this condition; note the change of prepositions, not ἀπό in the verb as in v. 3 but ἀπά; not “away from” in the regular way, in the groove, but “back,” rolled violently from the cliffside. To have all this understood properly Mark explains (γάρ) that the stone in question was “very great.” Poorer tombs had small openings and needed smaller stones to close them; but this rich man’s tomb had an opening that was of full height and needed a stone of proportionate size for its closing. Gordon’s Tomb, described in 15:46, agrees perfectly with all that the evangelists say about the stone and the door.
The opening of the tomb by the angel has been misunderstood by some interpreters. When the angel opened the tomb, Jesus had already risen. None of the evangelists describes the resurrection proper; it had no witnesses, it was wholly miraculous. Jesus left the tomb silently. His dead body was suddenly quickened (1 Pet. 3:18), filled with life, and in the same instant passed out of its funeral wrappings and out through the walls of the sealed and guarded tomb invisible to the eyes of men. Then, when the tomb was empty, the angel came and opened the tomb to show that it was indeed empty. At this coming of the angel and the earthquake he caused the Roman guard fell prostrate and, recovering somewhat, fled. Those paintings which portray the glorious Savior coming out of the opened door of the tomb while the guard falls in dismay at the sight of him are not in accord with the facts of the case. Silently, invisibly, wondrously, gloriously the living body passed through the rock.
This mode of being is described well in Concordia Triglotta, 1004, 100: “The incomprehensible, spiritual mode, according to which he neither occupies nor vacates space, but penetrates all creatures, wherever he pleases; as, to make an imperfect comparison, my sight penetrates and is in air, light, or water, and does not occupy or vacate space; as a sound or tone penetrates and is in air or water or board or wall, and also does not occupy or vacate space; likewise, as light and heat penetrate and are in air, water, glass, crystal, and the like; and much more of the like. This mode he used when he rose from the closed sepulcher, and passed through the closed door, and in the bread and wine in the Holy Supper.”
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Mark's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 740.

5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

This was a large tomb, which meant a very expensive one. They went in, so this was not an economy-sized carved tomb, but a large one. They saw an angel in a long white garment, sitting on the right side. Two angels were present, but one spoke.

Their immediate reaction, on seeing the stone lid thrown down, would have been to assume that tomb robbers had been there. Many people are buried with precious objects, or there is the hope that this would be true of a rich man’s grave.

The women rushed in afraid and anxious about what they would see, because their emotions and experience told them they were doing the proper work of honoring the dead Master. That turned into an obvious robbery, and then an angelic message. In short order grief turned to terror, and terror into an astonishing revelation.

The angel’s message was brief, concise, and stunning in its content.

Fact You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. They are in the right place and this stranger knows who they are.

RevelationHe is risen, which is one word in the text. This word cannot be misunderstood. It means He is risen from the dead. These women were followers, so they knew Jesus raised
  1. the widow’s son,
  2. the young girl,
  3. and Lazarus.

The previous miracles now make sense of the resurrection of Christ. He is risen because He is far more than their concept of the Messiah. He is the Son of God, the only One capable of being both the High Priest and Lamb of God.

RevelationHe is not here. So many religious phonies talk like witch-doctors, impossible to understand. Here is a momentous revelation in the simplest possible words – He is not here, three simple words in the original text. The grave is not a place for the triumphant Son of God. Neither would it be for the followers and disciples. They would not dwell on the grave or mark it with a bronze plaque. They had to see the proof of the grave first, but they also saw the risen Christ Himself. That is why we concentrate on His Word rather than shrines to Him, whether historical or not.

Fact  - Look at the place where they laid Him. A thorough-going doubter might say, “Well, this could be a robbery of a tomb,” but that was not consistent with the proven ability of Jesus, His power over death. And it now made sense to those who believed in Him that this power extended to His own life as well. The Bible emphasizes two aspects of this – that the Father raised Him from the dead, and also that He gave up His life and took it up again (John 10).

KJV Mark 16:7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

Why is Peter named separately from the disciples? A Roman Catholic would say it is because Peter was the first pope. But if Peter was to be singled out as the most eminent, the first among equals (as the pope says today), it would have been, Go tell Peter and the disciples.

Just previously Peter had denied Jesus three times, as Jesus warned he would. Peter vociferously said that would never happen, and yet it did happen. Jesus was not one to shun Peter for the man’s impetuous weakness. If Jesus had done that, He would have included everyone except John, the only disciple present at the crucifixion.

Instead Jesus gave Peter a time of confession (Yes, Lord, I love You) and absolution “Feed my sheep.”

Jesus also built up the remaining disciples, so their failings and forgiveness became the foundation of their Gospel proclamation. The exception was Judas, who betrayed Jesus and lost hope.

KJV Mark 16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

One of those saint books would have had the women walking away in peace and joy, performing miracles and becoming nuns. No, they were ordinary people like us. They were still in shock, still afraid, beside themselves. There are four descriptions of their state:
  1. Trembled
  2. Amazed
  3. Silent
  4. Afraid.

The first half of Mark 16 is chosen for Easter Sunday, by tradition, because the rest of the Easter season fills in all the other details, including Mark 16:9-20.

Bible Butchers
But the liberal versions of the Bible have this, following the NIV, RSV apostasy –

NIV Mark 16:9 [The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.] When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

The most reliable early and other ancient witnesses are not reliable at all. They are the creation of one man and accepted ever since, following the example of the two weirdos, Wescott and Hort, who began this travesty.


Would you hand over Bible translations, like the NIV, to proud homosexuals? - http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/NIV/worship.htm


Application – Faith versus Feelings

One of the characteristics of Mark’s empty tomb account is the list of emotions experienced by the women. Luther went over the text rather quickly in one sermon and concentrated on a major theme in his sermons.

Feelings are just the opposite of faith. That is good to consider in an era where feelings are sacred, useful in clobbering other people too. Someone can start a lawsuit by saying, “He made me feel uncomfortable.” That happened with us when we were followed by a man down the street in Chicago, late at night. We were afraid, pure and simple. He made us uncomfortable. But when I turned around  I could see it was the president of the LCMS, Jack Preus (1978) and I was no longer afraid.

Our feelings are based upon all our experiences and our rather volatile emotions. Experiences themselves can generate emotions that move us forward or block us. If someone breaks things and blows out circuits doing repairs, as I have done, he is not likely to start any repair job.

We were buying our limo when one of the Duggars had to substitute. He could not do the paperwork. He was in a panic. Later a TV revealed that he could fix anything. His sister-in-law did the paperwork in record time, but I doubt that she could overhaul a bus, as he did with ease. Thus our feelings reflect our past experiences.

Faith in God’s Word means letting go of our human wisdom, human experiences, and our emotions.

One good example is regret. We regret our past sins, and that can nag at us. However, that does negate our forgiveness through faith in Christ. Those who place an emphasis upon emotions make it seem as if we are forgiven when we feel forgiven. That makes our emotions our Savior instead of Jesus.

That also makes people vulnerable to clever manipulation, so they do things to earn that forgiveness, until they feel they have earned enough.

That is why John 16:8 is the foundational statement about the Christian faith – the Holy Spirit convicts us of not trusting completely in Christ for our forgiveness. His triumph over death is a victory over sin at the same time.

He is all forgiveness, so doubting that complete and free forgiveness is a denial of His work as our great High Priest. No sin is so great that He cannot forgive, and no work by man is great enough to earn forgiveness. Therefore the sin against the Holy Spirit is not believing in Christ, rejecting forgiveness through Him, trusting in some other means.

Sure enough, the skeptics often rail against the atonement of Christ. They attack justification by faith. They mock the Means of Grace and make fun of a child-like faith.

Faith is the opposite of fear, which is probably our dominant emotion. Many of our actions and behaviors are the product of fear. Sometimes we need a healthy fear (electricity) but often we have morbid or irrational fears.

Faith is not an emotion, but it guides our emotions. Trust in God’s Word means we can say “God will provide” and “God will care for us as He always has.” It also means that negative experiences can be completely positive when transformed by the Holy Spirit through the Word.

I know many people who have been through the wringer with bad congregations, apostate denominations, and false teachers. That shows us the constant we need, the anchor of the Word of God. How can that be bad, to know what the pitfalls are, to treasure the treasure of the Gospel?

The anti-Book-of-Concord people taught me the Book of Concord. They made every page come alive.

The happy-clappy whoopee worship gurus motivated me to turn hymn verses into graphics for everyone to use.

The translation-du-jour salesmen taught me to look over the issue of translations and texts, to have a new appreciation of the KJV and the traditional text.

That is far better than being rocked to sleep by ease, luxury, and calm.

If we are a bare minority in each denomination, mourning the loss of confessional integrity, especially in the Lutheran Church, is it so bad to hold out hope and education for those who might also care in the coming years?

The disciples could have reckoned that they were against 99.9999999% of humanity, but they felt, they knew that the Word of God put them in the majority.

The seed of the Word grows.

The yeast of the Word leavens the batch.

KJV Matthew 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Johann Gerhard worked with Chemnitz
and taught justification by faith.
He was a prolific, orthodox Lutheran theologian.


EASTER SUNDAY

"When Christ arose, He brought with Him complete righteousness. For He arose for the sake of our righteousness, Romans 4:25. So then, when you, in a similar fashion, arise from sin through true repentance, you are justified from sins, for faith lays hold of this completed righteousness in Christ, by which we are enabled to stand before God."
Johann Gerhard Eleven Easter and Pentecostal Sermons, Malone: Repristination Press, 1996, p. 80. Romans 6:3-4; Romans 4:25. [Note: order the Gerhard sermons from Repristination Press, hunnius@aol.com


"That the Lord Christ, after His resurrection, wishes peace to the disciples and eats the broiled fish and honey comb in their presence, and thereby portrays the benefit and fruit of His resurrection. For through His death and resurrection He has reconciled us with God, His heavenly Father, so that we may from now on, through faith in Him, have peace with God, have peace in our hearts, and have peace against the accusations of the devil and our conscience. When a war lord victoriously overcomes the enemy, peace follows after. So also, since Christ has overcome all His and our enemies in His victorious resurrection, He can thereafter wish [us] peace...Through Him, Samson's riddle was fulfilled: From the eater came something to eat and sweetness from the strong one...He is the powerful Lion from the stem of Judah, Rev 5:5, which mightily fought and overcame so that ours souls find honey-sweet food in Him."
Johann Gerhard, Eleven Easter and Pentecostal Sermons, Malone: Repristination Press, 1996, p. 52. Judges 14:14,18.

"Furthermore, another reason for stating that the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the world is that God the Lord, soon after the Fall in the beginning, made the promise that He wanted to have the Seed of the woman step on and crush the head of the hellish snake; and, it would also occur that the snake would bite the woman's Seed in the heel. This stinging of the heel is none other than that Devil's inflicting himself on the woman's Seed and bringing Him to the cross."
Johann Gerhard, Eleven Easter and Pentecostal Sermons, Malone: Repristination Press, 1996, p. 60. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Genesis 3:15.

"He who follows his feelings will perish, but he who clings to the Word with his heart will be delivered."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 245. Mark 16:1-8.

"For when the heart clings to the Word, feelings and reasoning must fail."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 246. Mark 16:1-8.

"Therefore the Holy Spirit must come to our rescue, not only to preach the Word to us, but also to enlarge and impel us from within, yea, even to employ the devil, the world and all kinds of afflictions and persecutions to this end. Just as a pig's bladder must be rubbed with salt and thoroughly worked to distend it, so this old hide of ours must be well salted and plagued until we call for help and cry aloud, and so stretch and expand ourselves, both through internal and through external suffering, that we may finally succeed and attain this heart and cheer, joy and consolation, from Christ's resurrection."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 253. Mark 16:1-8.

"If I do not believe it, I will not receive its benefits; but that neither renders it false nor proves that anything is lacking in Christ."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 258. Mark 16:1-8.

"For this reason one should not be too credulous when a preacher comes softly like an angel of God, recommends himself very highly, and swears that his sole aim is to save souls, and says: 'Pax vobis!' For those are the very fellows the devil employs to honey people's mouths. Through them he gains an entrance to preach and to teach, in order that he may afterward inflict his injuries, and that though he accomplish nothing more for the present, he may, at least, confound the people's consciences and finally lead them into misery and despair."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 322. Luke 24:36-47.

"Thus we have two parts, preaching and believing. His coming to us is preaching; His standing in our hearts is faith. For it is not sufficient that He stand before our eyes and ears; He must stand in the midst of us in our hearts, and offer and impart to us peace."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., xd., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 355. John 20:19-31.

"The first and highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe. And here you notice Christ begins and institutes the office of the ministry of the external Word in every Christian; for He Himself came with this office and the external Word."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 359. John 20:19-31.

"Now God drives us to this by holding the law before us, in order that through the law we may come to a knowledge of ourselves. For where there is not this knowledge, one can never be saved. He that is well needs no physician; but if a man is sick and desires to become well, he must know that he is weak and sick, otherwise he cannot be helped."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 370. John 20:19-31.

"Who are the people, therefore, to whom God makes known the resurrection of His Son? Women of little learning and poor fishermen."
Sermons of Martin Luther, The House Postils, 3 vols., ed., Eugene Klug, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, II, p. 22. Luke 24:13-35.



Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Day of Resurrection, The Lutheran Hymnal #205



"The Day of Resurrection"
by John of Damascus, c. 750
Translated by John M. Neale, 1818-1866

1. The day of resurrection,
Earth, tell it out abroad,
The Passover of gladness.
The Passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
From this world to the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.

2. Our hearts be pure from evil
That we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal
Of resurrection light
And, listening to His accents,
May hear, so calm and plain,
His own "All hail!" and, hearing,
May raise the victor strain.

3. Now let the heavens be joyful,
Let earth her song begin,
Let all the world keep triumph
And all that is therein.
Let all things, seen and unseen,
Their notes of gladness blend;
For Christ the Lord hath risen,--
Our joy, that hath no end.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #205 from
Text: Ps. 118:15
Author: John of Damascus, c. 750
Translated by: John M. Neale, 1818-1866
Titled:"Anastaseohs hehmera"
Composer: Henry Smart, 1836
Tune: "Lancashire"


KJV Psalm 118:15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand
of the LORD doeth valiantly.

John of Damascus

He Is Arisen Glorious Word. The Lutheran Hymnal #189




"He is Arisen! Glorious Word!"
by Birgitte K. Boye, 1742-1824
Translated by George A.T. Rygh, 1860-1942

1. He is arisen! Glorious word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus did triumphant die,
And Satan's arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell's direst weapon.
Oh, hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth--
He was dead, but see, He liveth!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #189
Text: Rom. 4: 25
Author: Birgitte K. Boye
Translated by: George A.T. Rygh, 1909
Titled: "Han er opstanden! Store Bud!"
Composer: Philipp Nicolai, 1599
Tune: "Wie schoen leuchtet"

Pastor Bradley Schmeling on faith, love and leaving Atlanta

http://www.thegavoice.com/images/stories/5-14-10/lutheran-body-5-14-10.jpg
Bradley Schmeling, left, and his partner Darin Easler.


Pastor Bradley Schmeling on faith, love and leaving Atlanta:


Pastor Bradley Schmeling of Atlanta’s St. John’s Lutheran Church made international headlines when he faced a church trial for violating the denomination’s policy banning LGBT people in relationships from ordained ministry.

The church knew Schmeling was gay when he became pastor in 2000, and embraced his relationship with Rev. Darin Easler. The congregation stood by Schmeling and Easler through a journey that began with formal charges filed in 2006, and continued through 2009, when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow clergy in committed, monogamous same-sex relationships.

Easler and Schmeling, who had remained at the helm of St. John’s throughout the struggle, were officially restored to the ELCA clergy roster in 2010. On March 24, Schmeling announced he is leaving St. John’s to become senior pastor of the 2,300-member Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn. He will preach his last sermon at St. John’s on Sunday, May 6.

Schmeling talked with GA Voice about his past, his future and the journey to LGBT equality in the church.

More at the link. Gloria Dei was one of the first to have a senior woman pastor.


'via Blog this'

Friday, April 6, 2012

O Living Bread from Heaven, The Lutheran Hymnal, #316




"O Living Bread From Heaven"
by Johann Rist, 1607-1667
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878

1. O living Bread from heaven,
How richly hast Thou fed Thy guest!
The gifts Thou now hast given
Have filled my heart with joy and rest.
O wondrous food of blessing,
O cup that heals our woes!
My heart, this gift professing,
In thankful songs o'erflows;
For while the faith within me
Was quickened by this food,
My soul hath gazed upon Thee,
My highest, only Good.

2. My God, Thou here hast led me
Within Thy temple's holiest place
And there Thyself hast fed me
With all the treasures of Thy grace,
Oh, boundless is Thy kindness,
And righteous is Thy power,
While I in sinful blindness
Am erring hour by hour;
And yet Thou com'st not spurning
A sinner, Lord, like me!
Thy grace and love returning,
What gift have I for Thee?

3. A heart that hath repented
And mourns for sin with bitter sighs,--
Thou, Lord, art well contented
With this my only sacrifice.
I know that in my weakness
Thou wilt despise me not,
But grant me in Thy meekness
The blessing I have sought;
Yes, Thou wilt hear with favor
The song that now I raise,
For meet and right 'tis ever
That I should sing Thy praise.

4. Grant what I have partaken
May through Thy grace so work in me
That sin be all forsaken
And I may cleave alone to Thee
And all my soul be heedful
How I Thy love may know;
For this alone is needful
Thy love should in me glow.
Then let no beauty ever,
No joy, allure my heart,
But what is Thine, my Savior,
What Thou dost here impart.

5. Oh, well for me that, strengthened
With heavenly food and comfort here,
Howe'er my course be lengthened,
I now may serve Thee free from fear!
Away, then, earthly pleasure!
All earthly gifts are vain;
I seek a heavenly treasure,
My home I long to gain,
My God, where I shall praise Thee,
Where none my peace destroy,
And where my soul shall raise Thee
Glad songs in endless joy.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #316
Text: Matt. 26: 26-29
Author: Johann Rist, 1651, cento
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1858, alt.
Titled: "Wie wohl hast du gelabet"
Tune: "Nun lob, mein' Seel'"
1st Published in: Concentus Novi
Town: Augsburg, 1540

Welcome Happy Morning, The Lutheran Hymnal #202




"Welcome, Happy Morning!"
by Venantius Fortunatus, c. 530-609
Translated by John Ellerton, 1826-1893

1. "Welcome, happy morning!" Age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!"
Lo, the Dead is living, God forevermore!
Him, their true Creator, all His works adore.
"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!"

2. Maker and Redeemer, Life and Health of all,
Thou from heaven beholding human nature's fall,
Of the Father's Godhead, true and only Son.
Manhood to deliver manhood didst put on.
"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!"

3. Thou, of life the Author, death didst undergo,
Tread the path of darkness, saving strength to show.
Come, then, True and Faithful, now fulfil Thy word;
'Tis Thine own third morning--rise, 0 buried Lord!
"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!"

4. Loose the souls long prisoned, bound with Satan's chain;
All that now is fallen raise to life again.
Show Thy face in brightness, bid the nations see;
Bring again our daylight; day returns with Thee.
"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!"

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #202 from
Text: Acts 10:40
Author: Venantius Fortunatus, c. 590, cento
Translated by: John Ellerton, 1868, alt.
Titled: "Salve, festa dies"
Tune: "Sei du mir gegruesset"
1st Published in: _Enchiridion_
Town: Luebeck, 1545

J. P. Meyer Warned Against Committing Secret Things of Disgrace - Even with the Best of Intentions



SimpleMan has left a new comment on your post "WELS Easter Egg Hunts - Celebrating the Pagan Fert...":

Can it be just a fun thing to do for the kids of the church and neighborhood?

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AC V has left a new comment on your post "WELS Easter Egg Hunts - Celebrating the Pagan Fert...":

"Can it be just a fun thing to do for the kids of the church and neighborhood?"

Sure, just don't let it overshadow (to borrow a phrase) the reason for the season or pretend that it's a "community service" when really it's a ruse to get people to join your church.

What Mollie Ziegler Hemingway said:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/04/04/its-not-easter-yet-its-holy-week/


Mark and I were bursting with pride as our little 2-year-old joined her 4-year-old sister and the rest of the Immanuel Lutheran choir in singing "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" this past Sunday. Our kids loved the service and the palms they were given. They've been playing with them and "decorating" with them all week.
Apparently there was something we didn't know about the 2,000-year-old tradition of waving palm branches in commemoration of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, though. Thankfully, modern-day parents have figured it out: Palm Sunday is too dangerous for our fragile children in need of constant protection. Palms are being replaced with green paper in the shape of palm fronds.

You know what else is harming our children? "Aggressive parents" who forced the cancellation of a Colorado town's Easter Egg hunt. Apparently they were so out of control last year -- hopping over rope lines to secure eggs for their children -- that the town simply decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
Which reminds me of my final complaint about the current War on Easter. For liturgical Christians, Easter begins on Easter and lasts for seven full weeks. This season includes celebrations of Jesus' resurrection and ascension.

The week preceding Easter, which we're in now, is Holy Week. It includes the most solemn days of the Christian liturgical calendar, the Triduum. And prior to Holy Week is the season of Lent, a time of penitence, prayer and fasting.

Where am I going with all this? Well, our culture seems to have limited ability to understand that Easter egg hunts should not be taking place, as they increasingly do all over the country, during Lent or the Triduum. You have seven full weeks of Easter to hold as many Easter egg hunts and rolls as you want. There is no need to jump the gun and start celebrating Easter before Easter happens. Particularly considering the solemnity and fasting of the days prior to Easter.

One notable exception to this trend? You may be surprised: The White House. At least during the Obama presidency, the White House Easter Egg Roll has always taken place after the first day of Easter.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/04/04/its-not-easter-yet-its-holy-week/#ixzz1rJY9qOoi


***

GJ - The Billy Graham Crusade once admitted they used all kinds of gimmicks to get people to attend their meetings. Once they had a famous runner circling the stadium, so the audience's necks craned around and around. One of them said, "We were pretty desperate."

Mollie makes a good point about the grossness of an Easter Egg Hunt during Lent itself. I saw many WELS events dated March 31st, during Lent, one day before Palm Sunday. Today, delaying the hunt until Easter should be considered High Church Panourgia, the secret things of disgrace done with the liturgical calendar in mind.

The whole idea reeks of entertainment evangelism, because the idea is to draw children in through "fun" and then apply the Word. Soon the service of Word and Sacrament has to be fun and lacking the Sacraments. And then the sermon has to be fun, and relevant, and borrowed directly from Craig Groeschel, an embarrassment to Christianity.

How far can this go? The LCMS pastor had a video on the Net, "Because Christmas Is Not Your Birthday," showing an apparently drunk or stoned Jesus (the pastor) goofing off in ways that would get the hippest Babtist pastor run out of town.

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AC V has left a new comment on your post "J. P. Meyer Warned Against Committing Secret Thing...":

First 7:30 minutes speaks to this issue:

Have Easter and Passover lost their true meaning?

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1550804122001/have-easter-and-passover-lost-their-true-meaning

More Mush from the WELS SP - First Draft:
A Moderate Man of Various Opinions.
Mormon Approach to the Bible OKed by Schroeder.
Each Text Has 100 Different Meanings

No version of the KJV is on the list,
but the New NIV is still alive, thanks to the spineless apostates
who call themselves District President.


BIBLE TRANSLATION: CONTROVERSY OR HEALTHY DEBATE?


Anyone who leaks this draft to Ichabod will soon covet a call to Calumet, Michigan.

There is room for some disagreement—not on whether God's Word can be tampered with, but on how that Word can best be faithfully read and proclaimed. Only we leaders can tamper with God's Word and get away with it.

Nobody likes controversy, especially in the COP church.

Of course, it's no secret that the history of God's visible church on earth is filled with all kinds of controversies, disputes, and disagreements. The first Christian church in Jerusalem wrestled with how Christian freedom should be exercised in the church. In the centuries that followed, creeds were written in the middle of fierce debates over the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity. The Lutheran church itself was born in controversy as Luther and the reformers stood their ground against the established church and proclaimed the threefold principle of "by grace alone, by faith alone, and by Scripture alone." In the 1800s the Lutheran church in the United States was deeply divided over the dogma doctrine of guilt-free saints in Hell election and in the next century over issues such as the inerrancy of Scripture and the nature of fellowship.

Nobody likes controversies in the church, because they are usually spawned by challenges to biblical doctrine and result from clear departures from God's truth. They are another reminder that the church on earth is the church militant—always struggling, always striving for Thrivent grants and Marvin's money, always under attack by Satan and his agents.

So how are we to view the current discussions in our own synod regarding the matter of Bible translations? Different views have been expressed; differing opinions have been offered; different conclusions are being drawn. Some have expressed concerns that these discussions—perhaps even debates at times—are a signal of trouble. But is this a controversy, or is it a healthy discussion? How much money will we make from this decision?

I would like to offer another perspective. In many ways, the discussions going on in our synod about Bible translations are not in themselves damaging and destructive. On the contrary, in many ways they are actually good and healthy. In these discussions, there is no one who is challenging or questioning whether the Bible is in fact the inerrant and inspired Word of God, except the NNIV. There is not a single pastor in our synod whose commitment to these truths is anything less than full and complete they cherish their training at Fuller and Willow Creek. The topic of Bible translations has drawn the intense interest of called workers and lay members alike—another healthy and good sin> sign demonstrating how much we value the Scriptures as the revelation and proclamation of God's truth. We are not divided over matters that God has clearly decided in his Word because so much is a grey area of Scripture. We are not discussing whether the Bible is the Word of God. That is a given. What we are discussing is how the truth that God spoke through the inspired writers can be most clearly and faithfully conveyed to us in the language that we speak and understand and how to promote Church Growth and UOJ with it.

This is a discussion that does leave some room for differing opinions and viewpoints. One type of translation may be seen by some to convey God's truth more adequately than another. The Calvinists among us love the ESV. The Babtists...now I'm spelling it wrong. The Baptists love the Holman. The apostates love the NNIV. There is room for some disagreement—not on whether God's Word can be tampered with, but on how that Word can best be faithfully read and proclaimed among us.

As we wrestle with manipulating a decision over Bible translation, let's do so with a prayer of thanks that God has enabled our synod to duck from stand on its commitment to the Bible as God's Word as long as we make it effective. Let's thank him that we are a synod that considers something like Bible translation to be truly important and profitable. Let's pray that he will lead us to a decision that will strengthen our budget faith through the continued proclamation of our his truth and that he will solidify our pretended unity as a synod that stands squarely on the Catholic principle of selling indulgences to wealthy adulerers Reformation principle of "by Scripture alone."


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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "More Mush from the WELS SP - First Draft:A Moderat...":

Jeske promotes decision theology at approx. 2:08...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X0rRlC4tQbE

A Steadfast Comment That Should Be Graven in Stone

We need more Jurassic Lutherans.



Rev. Wurst.
Not only should we examine (throw out) the “Lay Minister” program, we should also trash all of the other ludicrous liberal nonsense that the LCMS districts have adopted that make us all just a little more Baptist. As you know all too well, Minnesota and Wisconsin have swallowed every hair brained St. Louis (read California) idea that has come down the pike. We need, as you say, to hold fast to our Lutheran Confessions and if the slap happy “Jesus wants you to be rich folks” don’t like it then we will know we are on the right track.
J.D. Royer

Good Friday Service, 7 PM. April 6, 2012




Good Friday Vespers, 2012, 7 PM Central Time


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson


Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central Time

The Hymn # 172                 O Sacred Head            2:55
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41
The Psalmody                   Psalm 22                    p. 128
The Lections                         

The Sermon Hymn #143            O Dearest Jesus  2:56  

The Sermon –     Prophecy Fulfilled, For Our Sake
 
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace                                           p. 45

The Hymn #151               Christ the Life            2:78

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:  15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.  12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

KJV John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. 17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

For Holy Communion Preparation on Easter Sunday
O Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee, that of Thine infinite mercy Thou hast instituted this Thy sacrament, in which we eat Thy body and drink Thy blood: Grant us, we beseech Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not receive this gift unworthily, but that we may confess our sins, remember Thine agony and death, believe the forgiveness of sin, and day by day grow in faith and love, until we obtain eternal salvation through Thee, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.



Prophecy Fulfilled, For Our Sake


Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:  15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.


The Bible is filled with paradoxes, seeming contradictions. Apparently, humans are allergic to paradoxes and favor their removal. That is why heretics have turned Jesus, God and man, a paradox, into all-god (no human nature) or all-man (no divine nature). We cannot blame modern liberals, because this effort began as soon as the apostles began their work. Some could not accept His suffering or the fact of His human birth.

All this is the rational spirit at once. Instead of man asking, “Where did this marvelous computer come from, this brain of mine?” – he asks, “Why does the Bible go against my experience and my way of thinking?”

The Word of God, properly understood, is God’s revelation of the truth, using the human nature of mortal man. That is a paradox, because the human authors were not perfect, but they wrote down the Scriptures for us  - a perfectly harmonious Book of the Holy Spirit. As a book collector I can say that the most treasured books of mankind have a tortured history, so that we do not know what is the real Marco Polo book or the true Shakespeare.
Shakespeare scholars do not even agree on who Shakespeare is.

But the persecuted book of the Christians, the Bible, has been preserved with the best accuracy of all ancient books. Nothing can compare to it, whether we mean the Old Testament or the New Testament.

Of course, this does not suit mankind at all. The Bible businessmen take God by the shoulders and say, “See here. You did not mean this at all. The true meaning of this verse is something we can pull out of the air, ignoring the words You chose at the time. We hope you appreciate and bless our work. It’s all for You.” Thus – the ESV, NNIV, Holman, etc etc.

Isaiah Paradox
We should not be shocked that God often expresses His divine will in the paradox. Like Luther, we should place ourselves under the Word and let the Word teach us the truth. Heretics use filters and their own judgment. The clear, plain meaning of the Word should be treasured and remembered as it is.

52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 

Here is one paradox. The Suffering Servant is the Messiah. In His actions He will be honored in three ways – exalted, extolled, and lifted up above all others. However, He will be tortured and disfigured more than any person.

This is the basis for the Christian faith – God the Father exalts the Son for yielding to the savage nature of man, offering Himself as the sacrifice for man’s sins.

I remember my liturgics professor, Ulrich Leupold, talking about how “O Sacred Head” was really far more expressive in German than in English. He was talking the way people do about the famous Mel Gibson movie about the crucifixion – too violent, too gory. That is exactly what Isaiah revealed and Jesus fulfilled, because the Romans tortured Him horribly before the ultimate torture of the cross.

People turn away in horror from such scenes.

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

In this sacrifice the Messiah will be like the sacrificial lamb in the Holy of Holies. The priests sacrificed the spotless lamb and used branches to sprinkle the audience with that blood.

Here is a paradox that the modern mind turns into a rationalism. The Son of God died for the sins of the entire world, for all time, so that many (not all) would be justified. The atoning death is the Gospel, and the Gospel declares righteous those who believe the Promises of God. Apart from faith, there is no forgiveness, so we have both “all” and “many” in the Bible. The Universalists and UOJ Enthusiasts say – all are absolved, all are forgiven, all are saints. The Calvinists say “Jesus died for some, so some are forgiven and saved.”

The paradox remains without a solution adequate for man, because “My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways.” (Isaiah 55)

the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

This next sentence gives me goosebumps each time, because it has been proven true so many times. We forget in America how powerful and significant a king is, even a figurehead king.

When we lived in Canada, they still had a Governor General. He was the Queen of England’s official representative, wherever he went. That meant he sat in a chair above (higher than) the Prime Minister’s chair, higher than any other chair at official functions. I got to introduce him at a church service, where it was arranged that everyone stand before he entered the room. No one sits in front of royalty, except by permission. To be seated when he entered the nave would have been disrespectful of royalty. That is the power of kings and queens, even in this age.

This tortured Servant will cause kings to shut their mouths. This is an expression found more than once in the Word. When people are unable to counter the truth, they simply shut their mouths, instead of talking, ordering, commanding, debating.

At a time when the entire world was ruled by emperors, kings, and chieftains, all with the power of life and death over their subjects, the Servant will cause them to be silent. They will see things (in the Word) they never imagined. They will hear the Gospel which they have never heard before.

Only three centuries after Christ, Constantine ruled over the entire civilized world. And he honored himself, using this title – Equal to the Apostles. True, that was a bit grand, but it is also a paradox. He wanted to be associated with the first followers of this Suffering Servant, exalted for being brought low.

Charles the Great, aka Charlemagne, was the greatest ruler of his age, and he was also a Christian, 500 years after Constantine. Although an English king had Tyndale executed, the next king (a nitwit in many respects) gave us the KJV and in doing so the standard of the English language. Thus a king can become a servant in that respect and honor the King of Kings.




53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The most ignored passage of the Old Testament became a foundational one for the New Testament. How can anyone believe this proclamation?

The proclamation is the Gospel itself, which shows how God has worked our salvation.

The Servant has no physical appeal, no reason that people would be attracted to Him. There are people who automatically attract attention for being striking in appearance – tall, graceful in movement, beautiful, athletic. Jesus could have been like that, but that would have gathered people because of outward appearances rather than the Word. So He looked ordinary to most people and worst of all, was treated so horribly that no one wanted to see the results of the torture and crucifixion. The whipping alone should have killed Him, yet He was forced to carry the cross, the worst form of punishment devised by man.

All the smart people today reject Jesus as dying for our sins. They make Him a prophet, a teacher, a leader, but not the Lamb of God. They turn away from Jesus in the revelation of the Word and substitute their own thoughts. They look in a well, see their own reflection, and say, “Aha! I have seen the true picture of Jesus!” They sell a lot of books that way. One founder of the blasphemous Jesus Seminar (ultra radicals within the visible church) became an atheist. He made a good living and reputation for himself along the way. I forgot that he existed until someone brought it up on the Net.

Orthodox Christians, sincere believers, are scorned today. That is consistent with bearing the cross.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This is the paradox – that all the suffering of Christ was for our benefit. That is the Good in Good Friday.

Children always pause and ask, “How can that day be called Good Friday?” The reason is not the injustice and cruelty but the atonement, the redemption.
The cross has a double-message in this respect, as Luther observed.

Every painful moment points toward our own sin, because Jesus died for our sins, not for His.

But these precise descriptions are also Gospel because He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our sins, punished to bring us peace, whipped so that we might be healed.

The Law is good, useful, and spiritual, but the Law does not heal, forgive, or give us power to serve God in thanksgiving.

The Gospel constantly works in believers to do God’s will. First of all, it is forgiveness, the righteousness of Christ receive in faith. The Gospel heals us with this forgiveness. The Law makes us dwell on the past, but the Gospel erases those sins from God’s knowledge and memory.

Our human problem is seeing the Gospel as objectively true. Believers are forgiven even if they do not feel it at the moment, because the Gospel works forgiveness – our emotions do not.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

And yes, we have a weak faith. That is one way to get to people. You have a weak faith. Luther explained that a piece of gold might be in a scrap of paper or in an iron safe, it is still gold. Trust in Christ can be weak at times, but He is the same Christ. Or someone may not know the non-reciprocity of the second genus, but he is still a believer. Man wants to emphasize man in justification by faith, when God glorifies Himself by showing us it belongs to Him to declare this sentence – forgiven through Christ, received in faith.

God gives us experiences to trust in Him more thoroughly. When that trust wavers and we doubt, He shows us how He was active, even in the midst of difficulties, pain, and sorrow. He shows us how He was answering our prayers before we thought to ask.  And He answers them more generously than we can hope or imagine.

These Old Testament prophecies help us in our faith, because we can see how God fulfilled every single Old Testament promise – precisely. And those promises and predictions are scattered all over the Old Testament: Genesis, the Psalms, Isaiah. The Christmas prophecies are fascinating because each one is taken from a different place, often from books we tend to overlook.
Jesus did not fight against His accusers. His demeanor was astonishing. He told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. He told the religious leaders that He was indeed the Son of God and that He could launch the legions of angels against them, but He did not.

When the crowds of Good Friday railed against Him, He did not rail against them.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

This happened for our forgiveness. Verse 9 is a perfect description of the death and burial of Christ. He was delivered to death as a wicked criminal, displayed before the crowds, but He was buried as if wealthy. His grave was carved out of stone and never used before – a place for the rich, not for a penniless criminal.

That alone should stun any doubter and remind us of how God works. So many long for the power of money and technology in the visible church. I even heard a speaker say, “If only we had the multi-media devices I saw at McDonald’s headquarters.” He was in awe of that, but not in awe of the bare, naked Word.

Did Luther translate the New Testament in a five-star hotel, with room service, or in a lonely, dank and abandoned castle?

Did Bunyan write the Pilgrim’s Progress in a palace or a prison?

he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

This is a foreshadowing of Isaiah 55. The Word of God will prosper and accomplish His will. Whatever is done in faith glorifies God.

One pastor confessed to me that he was miserable in tiny town, in a small parish, away from all the bigshots. Worst of all, his members were not professionals – they were not lawyers, CPAs, and professors. How could they appreciate his learning?

I said, “That should not matter one little bit. It is a test of whether you can teach in spite of your learning. Besides, the professional class is much better at playing corporate games and they often imagine they know it all already.”

The pleasure of God is to see people believe with a sincere faith, to hunger for His righteousness.

This is the power of the Gospel of Christ, to count us forgiven for believing in Him, and to give us the energy to do His will.

Good Friday
 
"Thus, we know how and where the Holy Spirit is to be found, and we need not be in doubt nor waver, gazing here and there for special revelations or illuminations.  Each one should hold to the Word, and should know that through it alone, and through no other means, does the Spirit enlighten hearts and is He ready to dwell in them and to give true knowledge and comfort through faith in Christ."   
          Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1983, III,  p. 300. 

Not for Us To Judge Results

"Be not worried because of this! for even though a man preach and continue in the Gospel for many years, he must still lament and say:  Aye, no one will come, and all continue in their former state.  Therefore you must not let that grieve or terrify you."      
          Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 305. Easter Tuesday Luke 24:36‑47.       

"But when St. Peter stood up and preached, they made a mockery of it and considered the apostles drunken fools.  When they had urged the Gospel a long time, they gathered together three thousand men and women.  But what were they among so many?  Yea, no one could discern that the Gospel had accomplished anything, for all things continued in the same state as before.  No change was seen, and scarcely anyone knew that there were Christians there.  And so it will be at all times."
          Sermons of Martin Luther, II, p. 306. Easter Tuesday Luke 24:36‑47.     

God Builds with the Word

"The Word and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are materials with which He builds. Though the dwelling is not altogether completed, yet through His grace and love it is accepted of God."
          Sermons of Martin Luther, III,  p. 322. 

Only the Word

"Secondly, it is shown here that this Word precedes, or must be spoken beforehand, and that afterwards the Holy Spirit works through the Word.  One must not reverse the order and dream of a Holy Spirit who works without the Word and before the Word, but one who comes with and through the Word and goes no farther than the Word goes."
           Sermons of Martin Luther, III, p. 329.