First Advent Midweek Service, 2017. 7 PM Central Standard Time

First Midweek Advent Service, 2017

7 PM Central Standard Time

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Mid-Week Advent, Wednesday, 7 PM Central Standard

The Hymn #81 Gerhardt       O Jesus, Christ, Thy Manger Is  
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody  Psalm 2
The Lection - Isaiah 40 KJV
The Sermon Hymn #61     Comfort Ye My People  

Faith in the Promises

The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
The Hymn #552                                  Abide with Me

Isaiah 9

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Faith in the Promises

I have been intrigued lately by the emphasis upon covenant among my Old Testament students, so I asked them about Justification by Faith. Often someone has no idea about this. Many times they are reminded all the time of their covenant with God and how often they have failed their side. That is, their confession is long on sin but not balanced by faith in God's mercy and forgiveness.

So I ask each class about Abraham and Genesis 15, Abraham as the example of faith in the New Testament - Romans 4, Galatians, James, Hebrews.

I noticed that some stop where I used to stop. Abraham believed God would give him his own son, born of his wife. "He believed God and it was counted as righteousness."

Later, it was pointed out that Abraham's faith concerned far more than a son. God promised him that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky.

Isaiah 9 proclaims that unique Kingdom of God clearly. No other kingdom has grown steadily and continues forever. This is the child of promise, not the son of a ruler, but the Son of God. He is called "The Mighty God." As we will read in Colossians - The fulness of the godhead dwelt in Him. Jesus is not 1/3 of the Trinity - He was and is The Holy Trinity, God in the flesh - the Incarnation.

Genesis 3:15 predicted Satan's conflict with the Savior. Genesis 15 predicted the effect of the Savior. Isaiah 7 and 9 predicted the Virgin Birth and reign of the Son of God.

We can see how powerful this is by looking at the opposite - lack of faith in the Savior. As we can see in the libraries, the great and wise began writing against the Scriptures about 200 years ago. They had a great vantage point - the state subsidized university programs for ministers. Those who lose faith in the Word of God could live in peace and comfort while teaching others to disbelieve as they disbelieved.

There is a library worth of literature about this called The Life of Jesus Movement - scholarly books and journal articles, even summaries of the major arguments in long, windy journals.

Gradually, like a frost that moves across the nation as a cold spell looms, this rationalism took over. The ambitious students went to Europe and studied with the rationalists, bringing back elite European degrees and the ideas that went with them. They trained their seminary students to study the Scriptures and disbelieve what they studied.

People write me and say, "The pastors do not care about doctrine anymore and do not teach it."

"I asked our pastor to teach from the Book of Concord, to give some lessons, and he snorted. No chance."

"I see the same sermons preached by different men, so they are copying each other or using a common source."

To make up for the loss of doctrine - and interest in that doctrine - these rationalists substitute social activism. They become an ardent do-gooder society.

Gloria Steinem wrote a book about her life, which began in a very strange way, as her family bought and sold items as they worked their way across the US. However, most of the book is devoted to all her political campaigns and everything possible detail about them. Everything is very earnest and busy, reminding me that it was also the era when America went to pieces because of social activists like her.

I opened up a brochure about the United Church of Christ in New Ulm, because we bought their church. The brochure said, "It is difficult to get people to join our church." I thought - "No wonder - you do not believe in anything except all the world religions are the same. Why worship that?" So all they do is work on social activism.

All that leaves people with heavy hearts and no peace. All the good works in the world will not earn absolution. Christ has done that. But if the preacher points at the cross and says, "Jesus expressed solidarity with the poor," then the meaning of His suffering, death, and resurrection are lost.

It like hearing that one medicine alone will cure the malady, then seeing that one medicine taken away and replaced with colored water or a sugar pill.

a child is born, unto us a son is given
This is clearly the prediction of the Savior, a son. In Isaiah 7, the great and unique miracle will be the Virgin Birth. One can say this is about Jesus or simply wonder - because it only makes sense with one person.

and the government shall be upon his shoulder
He is the visible sign of God's reign, the face and voice of God, so He will ultimately govern after establishing His Kingdom.

 and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor
As we know from the Gospels, people ran to be near Him, to follow Him, to have dinner with Him, to hear Him speak.

The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
A child is called God and Father. Who could that be, except Jesus. As He said in many ways, "I and the Father, We are One." That is a mystery revealed by the Holy Spirit. In any language, it would be a contradiction, except it is the teaching of the Spirit. When Jesus speaks, the Father is speaking. There is no difference between the will and the Word of the Father, and yet they are two Persons witnessed by a third Person - the Spirit.

Jesus Is Kind and Loving, God the Father Is Kind and Loving
As I wrote many times before - what we hear from Jesus and see in Jesus is also true of the Father. The Father is not mean, angry, and vindictive, because He sees the Son in us.

The Prince of Peace.
My high school classmate wrote we should all pray for peace in this world. I said, "Peace exists wherever people believe in the Gospel."

Peace and forgiveness in Christ go together. There is no peace without forgiveness and no Christ without faith in Him. These passages are given to us to kindle faith and to renew and strengthen faith.

Why So Many Promises?
God knows how much we can be battered by the pain, loss, unwelcome tribulation. I hear about many examples and I pray for their specific problems.

These many Promises are revealed to us to show the great majesty, glory, and wisdom of God. Our first hymn, by Paul Gerhardt is a good example. He saw the irony of God's great work taking place in such modest circumstances.

O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is
By: Paul Gerhardt, 1607-76

O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is 
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O Lord, Doth lie the Word Made flesh for us; 
here-in Thy grace forth shineth.

He whom the sea And wind obey 
Doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness.
Thou God’s own Son, With us are one, 
Dost join us and our children in our weakness.

Thy light and grace Our guilt efface, 
Thy heavenly riches all our loss retrieving.
Immanuel, Thy birth doth quell 
The power of hell and Satan’s bold deceiving.

Thou Christian heart, Who ever thou art, 
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God’s own Child, In mercy mild, 
Joins thee to Him; how greatly God must love thee!

Remember thou What glory now 
The Lord prepared thee for all earthly sadness.
The angel host Can never boast
Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.

The world may hold Her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true treasure.
To Him hold fast Until at last 

A crown be thine and honor in full measure.

Mainline Protestantism Declared A Safe Space For Those Offended By The Gospel. Babylon Bee Speaks the Truth to the UniSynod - WELS-ELCA-LCMS-ELS-NALC-LCMC-CLC (sic)

Selective outrage is the theme for the media
and the mainline denominations, which include:
WELS-ELCA-LCMS-ELS-LCMC-NALC,
aka the UniSynod. Lutheran officialdom has
decreed the Gospel null and void through their precious Universal Objective Justification - UOJ.

Mainline Protestantism Declared A Safe Space For Those Offended By The Gospel:

"LOUISVILLE, KY—While some college campuses have established safe spaces where the disenfranchised can avoid the pressures, biases, and judgement of the world, mainline Protestant denominations are taking it one step further. The entire umbrella group has now been designated a safe space for those who would otherwise be offended by the gospel, sources confirmed Wednesday.

Speaking on behalf of a plethora of denominations including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church, a spokesperson issued the following statement: “We are in agreement that there is a great need for churches to rise up and create spaces that are safe for questioning and accepting our identities, doubts, fears, failures, and blatant sins. Effective immediately, we are declaring all mainline Protestant churches safe spaces, where there are no judgments, conviction, repentance, or gospel presentations whatsoever.”"

 Get on board if you want to be part of the
dying, killing UniSynod. They fund abortions
and voice their selective outrage toward anything
Christian or conservative.

'via Blog this'

 Some WELS pastors think she is cool, but Nadia represents the very dark side of ELCA apostasy.

I linked information about ELCA radicalism here, but that only means the weed has finally bloomed. What was once implied in the Leftwing euphoria of ELCA and its sisters in the UniSynod is now a documented fact. Watch the ELCA higher education appointments turn into Sherman's March through Georgia.

One by one, the LCMS-ELS-WELS made universal forgiveness and universal salvation their Chief Article. I am not exaggerating at all.

The dual dimwits Mark Zarling and Frosty Bivens named UOJ the Chief Article of Christianity, the article on which the church stands or falls, the master and price, the judge of all other articles of faith.

Bivens UOJ: The truth of justification, above all others, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. If this teaching were obscured or lost, attempts to show significant differences between the Christian religion and others would ultimately prove to be futile. Also, as revealed and emphasized in the Bible, all other doctrines either prepare for or flow from this chief article of faith. Without this truth, all others would mean little. This doctrine is the source or basis of the benefits and blessings which mankind receives from God. 
What precisely is this “master and prince, lord, ruler and judge” over other doctrines? Justification is a declaratory act of God, in which he pronounces sinners righteous. As revealed in the Bible, this declaration of God is made totally by grace and on account of Jesus Christ and his substitutionary life and death on behalf of mankind. To phrase it somewhat differently, God has justified acquitted or declared righteous the whole world of sinners. He has forgiven them.

When WELS leaders stick their hooves so firmly into their ravenous snouts - and no one notices for decades - then the remaining Christians are obliged to take notice.

One reader has explained the peculiar WELS spin on these matters, and they immerse everyone so thoroughly in their confused thinking that some feel a real struggle to hang onto the Biblical teaching. I have paraphrased this logic to avoid leaving bread crumbs that led to this person.

WELS UOJ Rationalism
They say - 

• One cannot make faith a cause for justification. Note that Pastor Paul Rydecki dealt extensively with that claim.
• Therefore, Justification by Faith is making faith a cause, so that is synergism (decision theology).
• These things are always said in a condemning, patronizing tone of voice.

Here is a warning from the LCMS side - "Do not make faith a work."

I cited this passage, knowing "work" was used in an ironic sense. John's Gospel is packed with irony.

John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.

Thus, according to Jesus, the primary work is faith in Him.

In a parallel statement, the primary sin is unbelief (not rejection of UOJ). Work is ironic because it diverts the attention from the common notion of work and emphasizes trust in the Savior.

John 16 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

No one refutes these Biblical arguments because they are unable to do so and fear the reaction of those they have deceived for decades.

We Have Always Taught This - Their Whopper Lie

The UniSynod - including ELCA - once taught Justification by Faith. That was a familiar phrase used when I became a Lutheran in the LCA  - in the 1960s. Now the same Chief Article is considered a denial of grace by ELCA and the rest of the UniSynod. That denial began some time ago and reached into all areas, like a slow-moving but never treated cancer.

Every part of the UniSynod taught Justification by Faith at one time, except perhaps the Little Sect on the Prairie. The ELS seems to have formed as a reaction, guided by Pieper the Parrot, who constantly repeated the errors of CFW Walther, BA. 

I hear from various quarters - how the local pastor is indifferent about Biblical doctrine. But of course. When UOJ has taken root, the effect is like novocaine to the brain. Everything is numb upstairs and no one even notices the vast contradictions between being born forgiven and being baptized to wash away sin.

If you believe the Scriptural witness to the Holy Trinity, then nothing good can grow from the denial of the Gospel, be it ever so well funded by Thrivent, the priapic St. Marvin Schwan Foundation, or the Siebert Lutheran Change or Die! Foundation.

Intersynodical Beatings Continue – WELS Working Hard with LCMS, ELCA, And the Nasty Buggers in the CLC (sic)

 So the SP says to Jim Huebner,
"How much longer can we keep them fooled?"

Intersynodical Beatings Continue – WELS:



"Intersynodical Beatings Continue

2017/12/05/ in Together
On Nov. 28-30, representatives from the Lutheran Church – Missouri Sect (LCMS), the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Sect (WELS), and the Evangelical Lutheran Sect (The Little Sect on the Prairie) met in Jacksonville, Fla., for the sixth annual meeting for informal discussions. The main topics covered up were the hire and fire Doctrine of the Call and a comparative review of the recently published Talmudic catechisms by WELS and the LCMS. The final version of the catechism for the ELS (2001) also was used in discussing the new editions of the explanations to the Small Catechism. In this 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation we especially oppose the work of Dr. Martin Luther in composing his Small and Large Catechisms of 1529.

The three synod presidents provided updates on the respective decline of their church bodies. Challenges and lawsuits also were noted in respect to pastoral training, the filling of congregational vacancies, and the relationships with international churches. The LCMS is part of the ILC (International Lutheran Conference), while the ELS and WELS are members of the CELC (Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference). Hence we are all Con-men. Get it?

 Everyone loves, loves, loves the NIV:
all are justified - we finally got the Bible
to agree with us!

None of the participants at these informal meetings anticipate a restoration of church fellowship between ELS/WELS and the LCMS in the near future, because we are already working together with ELCA now - a great blessing with Thrivent benefits. Yet, the sessions themselves were once again helpful as areas of agreement, as well as specific nuances of dogma, were settled in a cordial but frank manner. The representatives of the three synods have reluctantly decided to gather once again in the fall of 2018, if Thrivent funds the meeting.

Also in November, representatives of WELS and the ELS met with counterparts from the nasty little Cult of the Lutheran Confession (CLC sic). The CLC was formed in the 1950s when a number of congregations left the Wisconsin Sect because they believed that the sect was not acting sectsy enough to break fellowship with the Missouri Sect. The meeting was a continuation of formal doctrinal discussions intended to determine if fellowship between the synods can be restored before their troglodytes finally die.

In 2015 the group had composed a document entitled “A Joint Statement on the Termination of Luther's Doctrine.” Agreement on this joint statement is seen as a necessary first step in the doctrinal discussions. The ELS convention approved the statement in 2016; the WELS convention approved it last summer. The CLC (sic) convention discussed it and recommended further study by its pastoral conferences - after Dan Fleischer had a hissy fit about an NWC professor hurting his widdle feelings last century. The CLC (sic) will consider the statement again at its next convention, which we hope is live-streamed again.

Even if the Joint Statement is adopted by all three synods, other joint statements remain to be more fully discussed and resolved, with Thrivent grants, before fellowship can be reestablished. We pray for God’s blessings on these efforts to establish fellowship based on a full agreement in doctrine.

Serving in Christ,
President Mark Schroeder

Tags: Together12052017"

 Will WELS and the ELS approve Donkey Basketball
in the CLC?

 Note the UOJ code language,
not Justification by Faith.

According to blog sources,
Tiefel was the bar-tender,
which is like Don Patterson
teaching anger management. 

Not another Tiefel!
That may keep the WELS from
joining trotters with the CLC (sic).

 Will the conjoined WELS/CLC (sic)
name a saint day for St. Horst?
He served a WELS parish too,
just about every synod except ELDONA.

'via Blog this'

Sudden WELS Resignations - No Reasons Given

 Resigned!

RESIGNED

Pastors	Current call	Date resigned
Rev Douglas Carter	St John LC Watertown WI	11/29/2017
Teachers	Current call	Date resigned
Mr Benjamin Hansen	Immanuel LS Hadar NE	11/26/2017

The WELS and LCMS Dystopia - Nothing Will Grow with Sterile Dogma

Hundreds are reading this post about Mirthless Mark Schroeder and the disastrous WELS statistics.

A WELS member wrote about the new mission in his town (name and place omitted, to prevent the tarring and feathering of this man). He is worried that this mission may fail, just like many other Lutheran attempts in this town. He listed several that withered away, from the ELCA family of sects and the Synodical Conference.

He offered some details that were Church Growthy, but that is not the biggest issue.

The big issue can no longer be discussed. The UniSynod teaches forgiveness without faith, universal absolution as the result of God's grace, so each and every Lutheran sect is failing. They all look like bad copies of ELCA, because they are exactly that - working together, worshiping together, playing games with the hoi polloi. But it is a morganatic marriage - they are in bed together but keep the union a secret, even though Mark and Avoid Jeske is shoveling money on the dying corpses of ELCA, Missouri, and WELS. Still - shhh. No one knows, so do not tell.

 Confessing the Gospel (sic) - CPH's $90,
two-volume deposit of unfaith.

One LCMS pastor bragged he contributed to the latest Missouri disaster. I asked, "Does it teach UOJ or the Chief Article?" I posted my graphic of the Chief Article in case anyone became confused about such a simple question. Sometimes I just post my Walther graphic, which is also below. Nobody answers - not much of a confession, is it?

So I am saying, the problem with these missions - whether WELS, LCMS, ELCA, or ELCA lite (LCMC, NALC) - is the sterile weed seed they sow with fearful timidity and lavish funds.

LCMS-WELS used to pound their UOJ into anyone who dared raise an eyebrow at their cloddish dogma. LutherQuest (sic) formerly raved like those patients on medical shows who are succumbing to a rare tropical fever. But no more. Silence. I cannot even get a few choice quotations from Facebook to copy into this blog.

One problem is Confessing the unGospel. When people disbelieve - or is it dysbelieve?  - they have trouble confessing the truth. They cannot tell truth from falsehood and fall upon the old method of verbal abuse or sullen silence.

When arguing a point with our toddler, I would say, "The discussion is over," because I had record of losing debates with him. When I said, "No meat, no moca," he folded his arms and said, at the age of two, "No moca, no meat." So one day the argument ended with Little Ichabod saying, "The discussment is over."

 Like the other deluded WELS District Popes,
Buchholz always makes a big noise just before changing his mind. As Chemnitz wrote, quoting an old saying,
"The devil leaves a foul odor before leaving the room."

Likewise, Jon-Boy Buchholz folded his arms and said, "The discussment is over," after promising to debate UOJ versus Justification by Faith. The problem was - by lying to the congregation, then boasting to the district about foreclosure on the property, Buchholz inflamed and aggravated the issue. UOJ is not on the surface, because infallible WELS will not allow that. But the question bakes beneath the surface, like the coal mine that has burned below ground since 1962.

In contrast, where faith in Jesus is taught, people hear the Gospel and believe, experiencing and knowing the forgiveness of sin. We may stumble and stammer in expressing this Gospel, but that is far better than trying to remember the mystical maze manufactured by the doyennes of dogma in the UniSynod.

UOJ Script:

• God declared the entire unbelieving world forgiven when Jesus died on the cross.
• Or was it - God forgave the entire world when Jesus rose from the dead.
• Denying universal forgiveness and universal salvation is an attack on grace and my synod. And my uncle who wrote an essay on this topic.
• We have always taught this.
• Paul switched from Justification by Faith to UOJ when he moved from Romans 4:24 to Romans 4:25 - raised for our justification!!!!!!!!
• Paul fell back to Justification by Faith in Romans 5:1-2, which is why we never quote it, to UOJ in the rest of the Romans 5. Paul was very volatile, you know. So now we stick with his UOJ passages.
• Sure, Paul used to be clear about Justification by Faith in Romans 3, but we fixed that with the New NIV saying "all are justified." See how easy it is? - just wait for and help pay for a new paraphrase.

The accounting firm has already shown the trembling synodical leaders they are doomed. The ELS wrote their report some years ago. WELS has posted the facts on their website - 60% of their congregations will soon be too small to continue in the same way. Rather than closing many of them, the synod will merge them, which is a PR approach to closing, seldom an answer. In mergers, 1 plus 1 equals 1.2. The names are awkward too - First St. James Trinity Salem Lutheran Church, established 1901, 1945, 1958. 1980.

If the synod and congregation cannot teach the Justification of the Bible, then those non-Lutheran sects that do will continue to thrive.

 Your overpaid mission counselors will guide you
blindly into the pit.

WELS-LCMS-ELS Partner in Ministry: ELCA Presiding Bishop Shares Stage with the Most Radical ELCA Pastors - The Liberal Lutheran Church Today

 Close your eyes to this, like the good SPs do.
If you follow the embedded links, you will read many
blasphemies and obscenities, pansexualism
and bitter hatefulness.

Presiding Bishop Shares Stage with the Most Radical ELCA Pastors - The Liberal Lutheran Church Today:

"Presiding Bishop Shares Stage with the Most Radical ELCA Pastors
9/22/2017 5 Comments

Last week Elizabeth Eaton, the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took part in Augsburg University’s annual Christensen Symposium. The first half of the symposium was an "Address by Bishop Eaton" and the second half was "#DecolonizeLutheranism Community Panel with Bishop Eaton."

Giving credence to #DecolonizeLutheranism is a disappointing choice by the ELCA but even more ridiculous and shocking is whom Elizabeth Eaton is cavorting with on stage. They are some of the most extreme and radical ELCA leaders around.  "

 "Do not worry - WELS/LCMS Mark Jeske is on the board of
Thrivent, watching out for us, right Liz? Liz? Stop laughing."

'via Blog this'

Pastor Nathan Bickel Passed Away Today

Pastor Nathan Bickel

During the week I learned from his wife Joyce that Pastor Nathan Bickel was receiving home hospice care, after many hospitalizations. Nathan and Joyce participated in the service on Ustream last Sunday.

I mentioned in today's sermon that on a given Sunday, it may be first time someone hears the Gospel - or the last time.

Last Sunday was Nathan's last time at a worship service. He passed into eternal life this morning, at home.

We never met, but we were in touch during his early days of blogging. We had many friendly conversations via email during that time. I often linked his blog and gave him information for his political posts. I did not want to debate politics on this blog because there were so many other outlets for that.

As I have written many times before, streaming video is a great way to send the Means of Grace via the Internet for a very low cost. We pay a monthly fee and members have contributed toward getting the right equipment. I suggested the same to Pastor Paul Rydecki and anyone else who would listen.

Joyce wrote me that she would continue with our services. Others have added their names recently, which is quite gratifying.

In the end, what really matters to us? Eternal qualities matter most, and material things mean so little. God gives us forgiveness through faith in the Savior and blesses us in countless ways.

 Note the current website for Norma A. Boeckler -
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/norma-boeckler.html

The First Sunday in Advent, 20`7. Matthew 21:1-9. The King Arrives To Defeat Satan

 Norma A. Boeckler

The First Sunday in Advent, 2017

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time

The Hymn # 245            God Loved the World  
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 # 290      We Have A Sure  



The Hymn #306                  Lord Jesus Christ
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 #68            The Advent of Our King 

KJV Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.


First Sunday in Advent - From the Collects of Veit Dietrich
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, we bless and praise Thee forever, that Thou didst send Thy Son to rule over us poor sinners, who for our transgressions did justly deserve to remain in the bondage of sin and Satan, and didst give us in Him a meek and righteous King, who by His death became our Savior from sin and eternal death: We beseech Thee so to enlighten, govern and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may ever remain faithful to this righteous King and Savior, and not, after the manner of the world, be offended with His humble form and despised word, but, firmly believing in Him, obtain eternal salvation; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

The King Arrives To Defeat Satan

KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

The final journey to Jerusalem is so important that each Gospel devotes roughly 25% of its content to this time. Therefore, everything before can be considered an introduction to the death and resurrection of Christ.

Decades ago, one member said to me, "I never heard this before." She was referring to the information that the raising of Lazarus was the fuse that lit the Passion narrative. 

1. The event took place near Jerusalem.
2. Lazarus was a wealthy and well connected man.
3. Lazarus came with Jesus and was also targeted to be killed.

These details are revealed in the Fourth Gospel, with this statement by Jesus, that He had completed His mission by raising Lazarus. In other words, that was the final step in the Passion of Christ, The response was inevitable.

Jesus and the disciples knew that the powers in Jerusalem were utterly hostile and violent, yet He made arrangements to enter that situation and make clear His role as the Messiah.

As Luther said in his introduction to this sermon, a large part of the world has a superficial faith where they only know the basic details but do not apply this information to themselves. Thus it is not genuine faith at all. Genuine faith in Christ means not only that Jesus was born of a Virgin, died on the cross, and rose from the dead, but also that "He died for my sins, taking them all on Himself, so that I may be forgiven through faith, saved, and given eternal life with Him."

If we turn a gimlet eye at Christmas celebrations, we can detect the superficial view as the norm. Some use the decorations themselves to mock the Incarnation. Some may a point of enjoying the season without naming it. I always get broad smiles in my classes by asking -

1. "Does anyone get winter presents?
2. Does anyone say Merry Winter?
3. Does anyone celebrate winter?
4. Therefore, it is the Christmas break and not anything else. I refused to print or say Winter Break until the above happens."

The mainline denominations - which include the synodical Lutherans - encourage a superficial faith as a cover for no faith at all. So we must always emphasize God creating faith in us through the Gospel and sustaining it through the invisible and visible Word of preaching, teaching, and the Sacraments.

A sincere faith recognizes and confesses, "Jesus died for my sins, took them completely away, and made me a member of His family, His dear Father as my Father, Jesus as my loving brother."

Details All Planned and Executed
The superficial will find fault with all kinds of unusual details of Jesus' arrival, but they are revealed to us to show how this was all planned and predicted centuries in advance, so that everyone in Judaism and those attracted to Judaism would know that salvation had arrived precisely as God promised it would.

Some background is simply so impressive that we can hardly imagine how this could be anything but God's plan. Alexander the Great conquered the world 300 years before Christ. Before that, all the world was divided by languages. Alexander united those countries and tribes with the Greek language, which he made the language of commerce and educated people. Thus the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek made it a Book for the world, not just for the Jews. So Jesus spoke Greek to the masses and the apostles communicated in Greek, the universal language. 

We think of Palestine as ruled by the Romans during the ministry of Jesus, and it was, but first it was ruled by the Greek general who served under Alexander.

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.


So this is an important detail to add to the entry to Jerusalem. The people knew the Messianic verses, so the arrival was not ordinary. In fact, Judas Maccabeus made a point of entering Jerusalem the same way, but he could not claim what was not his. He won them independence for a time, but the Maccabean kingdom was short and ended up in Roman rule.

The animals would show people that Jesus, after raising Lazarus from the dead, was divine, a miracle worker unlike anyone else, and the promised Messiah.  

The Old and New Testaments support each other so much that the Old Testament does not make much sense without giving due credit to the Messianic Promises. Necessarily, the non-believers dismiss them and disconnect the Promises from the fulfillment in the New Testament. That has even been done among the Lutherans, where one LCMS commentary denied the Messianic Psalms. And the indifferent buy books for their congregations from ELCA, a sect that denies everything.

We should think of the Exodus in terms of Jesus' divinity, because it begins with the I AM in the Burning Bush. Many centuries later, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." In other words, He is the Voice in the Burning Burning saying that the Name of God is - I AM.

Every aspect of the Exodus speaks to coming of the Messiah - the blood sparing them them from the Angel of Death, the spotless lamb, the water from the rock (baptism), and the bread from heaven (communion). Most importantly, the strange serpent raised up is a hint at Jesus being raised up and John 3:16. Thus that particular episode makes little sense until the Atonement. That is why so many conversions took place immediately after the Resurrection of Christ, from the preaching of the apostles.

Each details builds our individual faith because we see how much God did over the centuries to teach us every detail of the Gospel of Christ.

4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

As Lenski noted, that Old Testament was fulfilled the moment the animals were obtained, most likely from someone Jesus knew well. "The Lord" was enough to get the animals for Jesus. Jesus sat on them because they went together, mother and child, and belonged together in the prophecy. 

The Old Testament Christians were those who believed in the Messiah before the Incarnation - beginning with Abraham. We can hardly picture the excited - and antagonism - caused by Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament after showing His divine power over death.

But He came in meekness, which was on display as He let the events of the Passion take place, even warning the villains what He could do if He wished. The antagonists hated Him all the more and sought to silence Him forever. They would show their power over Him, which meant He showed His power over them by rising from the dead.

The quality of Jesus here - meekness - is what He also taught His followers - "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

So He did not triumph with earthly power and might, but with meekness and lowliness. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly. And you will find rest for your souls."

Matthew 11:29King James Version (KJV)Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

The qualities of Jesus are the ones we should aspire to have, though faith. That is what gives us comfort and peace, because no human can ever exact revenge with true justice. And yet God does this without our help.

Thus peace of mind is the greatest gift God can give us, and that peace comes from forgiveness through faith in Him.

We were laughing about how the Bank of Evil accepted a debit from a card that was expired, when the account was very low. So they said, "Oh you owe us for that charge and for going in the red" (which they caused). And then they said, "Oh you have not paid that debt, so we are charging you another $30." If they had not stopped I would be in the news for equaling the national debt from a $25 debit against a $10 balance.

Thus people look at the debts accumulating - their sins - and growing no matter what they do. Just the opposite is true. The Holy Spirit forgives us our debts - completely - each and every day. Those who neglect the Gospel forget this, take it for granted, grow cold and eventually hostile against the Gospel they once appreciated. But hearing the Gospel builds faith and repairs the wounds of the day. The Gospel teaches us to be meek and lowly and to suppress the Old Adam.

And every time the Old Adam makes a startling re-appearance, we see how great it is to be forgiven through Christ, to understand how much He did to gather us and keep us in His flock.

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

So the disciples fulfilled the arrangements for this triumph as surely as any presidential motorcade. Warriors rode horses into a city. Jesus came in meekness. Those who knew about the raising of Lazarus came out of the city to meet Jesus and Lazarus, who came along. Those who saw the miracle followed Jesus from Bethany. (Lenski is especially good at noting the meaning of this miracle.)

We use this text or something similar for Palm Sunday, but it is also worthwhile in considering for Christmas. The birth of Jesus is just as meek and lowly - completely unthreatening, always appealing to all ages, especially children.

Parents have observed that a toddler barely old enough speak will say, "Look, a beebee." And they are delighted by the tiny one, who is so helpless and dependent. The toddler is already strong enough to toddle away and say no or play deaf. So a baby is a striking contrast to their grown up status, even when they still ear pull-up diapers.

So the entrance to Jerusalem is a recapitulation of the Birth of Jesus in certain ways. Some see exactly what it means. To others, it is one more bothersome commotion, if they even take note of it.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

This was a royal welcome, and it included the children, whose faith was expressed by their own shouts and exclamations. The rationalists say Jesus did not consider Himself the Messiah, so why did He enter precisely as promised? Don't bother me with the facts, they say. They troop off to find another problem.

The moment David was designated the future king, coming from Bethlehem, the path was set, about 1000 years before Christ. And that was preceded by Abraham believing God's Promise of an everlasting and growing Kingdom, centuries before that. And it started with the Promise of a Savior when Adam and Eve fell into sin.

As Luther taught from the Scriptures, it begins with faith. God gives us that faith when He commands, and this faith produces the fruits of the Spirit, because it is God's energy, the Gospel energy in the fruits of the Spirit.

Norma A. Boeckler