Blessed are those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Shall be Satisfied

(Part 4 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

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Hunger and Thirst

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (justice), for they shall be satisfied.”

Once again in this fourth Beatitude, Jesus blesses those who seem to be cursed in the world. No one enjoys hunger and thirst. We want to be satisfied, but that is the point. We hunger for those things which nourish and sustain our lives, but we only feel the hunger pangs for that which we lack. When our stomachs are empty we feel pain, but when they are filled, then the pain goes away. When we feel hungry, our bodies remind us that we need to feed on that which gives us energy to work and nourishment to grow and to heal injuries. Food is a good gift from God, and hunger reminds us that we need “daily bread” to sustain and grow and heal our bodies, so, in general, we hunger for the good gifts of God which benefit us.

We should remember that sin has corrupted our desires so that we sometimes hunger for “junk food” which may provide calories to burn, but little to strengthen and heal. There are other ways that sin can corrupt our innate hunger to cause desires for too much or too little nourishment, but for most people hunger is a good natural bodily function which helps us remain healthy.

There is also a spiritual counterpart to physical hunger. This spiritual hunger causes us to seek that which nourishes us spiritually. A healthy spiritual hunger leads us to take in what is beneficial for our spirit. We should be careful about this because sin has corrupted our spirit so that we do not know what is good for us. People often feel some exuberant emotion, and think that they are having a “spiritual” experience, but it is still only a physical experience. True spirituality only comes from God the Holy Spirit, who gives us life-giving gifts. It is the Holy Spirit who is the most good for our spirit because He brings Jesus Christ to us for our forgiveness and salvation. The Psalmist writes, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2) Here the Psalmist makes a comparison between the body’s need of water, and the soul’s need for “the living God.” Physical thirst and spiritual thirst are not the same thing, but they are similar. The difference is that Spiritual thirst seeks after God, rather than physical satisfaction. Jesus also taught, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:27) This teaches us that there is something more valuable than food. Even the best food cannot sustain us forever. Because our bodies are corrupted by sin, no food can sustain us forever. This is why we hunger for the eternal blessings which only God can give us.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6) “Righteousness” includes all things which are right, especially those things which God considers good, right, and proper. God is truly righteous and holy in all things, and the things which He desires are also good for us because He loves us as a loving Father loves His dear children. Yet, we are all rebellious sinners, having inherited the guilt of sin from our parents, going back all the way to Adam and Eve. Because we are sinners, we are not the righteous people which we ought to be. This separates us from God and makes us His enemy, and subject to God’s righteous anger and punishment. This is why we hunger for righteousness. We hunger for the good things which we lack. Scripture says, “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 53:2-3) Since we are not righteous, we hunger for righteousness, and the good things which come along with righteousness and goodness.

Biblical Examples of Hunger for Righteousness

Jesus is the Living Water which springs up within His people to eternal life. (See John 4:7-14)

Once when Jesus was teaching (see Mark 10:17-27), a man came up to Him and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus then responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus was neither denying that He was good nor that He is God, but he was pointing out the fact that the man wasn’t intending to confess that Jesus was perfectly good and righteous, or that He was God. The man was just trying to flatter Him as people sometimes do. Being truly righteous, Jesus was neither flattered, nor did He think the man sincere, but he used this empty flattery as a way to begin teaching the young man about the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. At the end of this conversation Jesus told him to give away all his possessions which he had turned into idols. The man left sad because he realized that he was not as righteous as he had previously thought, and could not rely on his own righteousness to finally “inherit eternal life.” Jesus then teaches His disciples by giving the famous illustration, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples are astonished and asked, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God.” This shows that God is our righteousness and our savior. We can only be saved if God pays for our sins and makes us righteous. We sinners can no more make ourselves righteous than we can make ourselves inherit someone else’s wealth.

This story (which is also found in Matthew 19 and Luke 18) shows a young man who did hunger and thirst after righteousness, but initially believed that he had achieved this in his life, but, when confronted by Jesus, and God’s Law, realized that true righteousness can not be achieved by works of the law, but is only found in God. If we are to become righteous, we can only receive it as a gift from God, and not our own doing. All our works are tainted by sin. Saint Paul wrote in Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Here we see that God’s Law shows us our sinful condition so that we cannot attain true righteousness by anything that we do, but must instead rely on Christ to forgive us and make us truly righteous in His own time (that day being Judgment Day, which is also known as the Day of Resurrection).

Saint Paul also has much to say about man’s unrighteousness and the grace of God in Romans 7, where after an honest self examination, he ends up by saying, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25) Read the whole letter to the Romans for more than I can explain here. Saint Paul’s conclusion is that true righteousness must come from God as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ, or else we sinners can never achieve it. We, then, can never be satisfied with our own attempts to attain righteousness because all our works are tainted by sin. Yet, Christ has overcome sin through His life and death, and He will make us righteous as we ought to be in the life to come in His Kingdom.

Job hungered for righteousness. Though his friends mistakenly thought God was punishing Him.

There are many good examples of saints in the Bible who hungered for righteousness. When Job first heard that tragedy had struck and all his flocks and possessions and children had been killed and destroyed, he mourned his loss (see my article on “Blessed are those who mourn”), but then he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) Likewise, when Job was then afflicted with painful sores his wife told him, “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9) Yet, Job replied, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” Again, Job trusted that God was not evil, even though all these bad things were happening to him. He would not curse God, but trusted in God to save him, even recognizing that God may have sent all the trouble that he was experiencing. In this way Job hungered and thirsted for righteousness because he would rather suffer now at the hands of God than turn away from God and reject God’s righteousness and promise of eternal salvation.

Likewise, there are several times David was also a good example of someone who demonstrated hunger and thirst for righteousness. When Goliath challenged Israel to send their best warrior to fight him in single combat (see 1 Samuel 17), Goliath cursed Israel’s God when all the warriors were too afraid to step up. When David heard the Philistine cursing God he became angry with a righteous anger. Since none of the Israelites (from King Saul to Jonathan to even some of David’s older brothers who were in the army) were going to step up and defend God’s honor, then David was going to do it and show the Philistines that their God is the true God. The proof would be that God would give a teenage boy the courage and strength to defeat and kill the blasphemous giant pagan warrior, Goliath. Now, David was not your ordinary Israelite. God had already sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the next king, though it would yet be many years before David was crowned king. Yet God was with David, and David trusted in God so much that He was not afraid to stand against Goliath, even when King Saul and all Israel’s soldiers were afraid to stand up to Goliath. David was also given the courage to fight in God’s name and for God’s honor and glory. David’s hunger and thirst for righteousness was go great that he did not even consider the likelihood of his own defeat and death, but was willing to put his life on the line to show the Philistines (and the Israelites) that God is the true God, and should not be despised, as Goliath despised Him. David’s hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness was satisfied when God gave him the victory over the giant Philistine warrior.

David hungered for God’s righteousness even when it endangered his own life to do so.

David also showed similar hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness when King Saul was trying to kill David out of envy for the victories that God had given him (even though those victories also benefited King Saul and all of Israel). There were two instances where Saul was in reach of David’s sword, and all he had to do was to reach out and kill him, (see 1 Samuel 24 and 26) but David refused to lift his hand against God’s anointed king. In the second incident after David again showed Saul that he could have killed him, but did not, David said, “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 26:23) In the world’s eyes, David could have claimed “self-defense” for killing Saul, since the King was intent on killing David, even though David was not his enemy. Yet, for the sake of righteousness, David refused to strike down God’s chosen king, but trusted in God to deal with Saul as He saw fit. The reason David did not kill Saul was not for Saul’s sake alone, but for the sake of the promised Messiah (Christ). Saul was anointed by God and was a kind of a messiah (anointed one). Saul was anointed as King of Israel, but for the sake of God’s promised anointed savior (Jesus), David would not lift his hand against even an unfaithful King Saul (whom God had rejected because of his unfaithfulness) because he had been anointed by God to be king.

Jesus Hungered for Our Righteousness

Jesus did not hunger and thirst for righteousness in the same way that we do. Jesus was, and is, righteous in all things, so He didn’t hunger for righteousness as if He was lacking in any way. Yet, Jesus did hunger and thirst for our righteousness. Once, when Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, some Pharisees warned Him that Herod wanted to kill Him. Jesus already knew that it wasn’t just Herod, but many of the Pharisees also wanted Jesus dead, too. Jesus lamented this, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34) Jesus still kept on His way toward Jerusalem, trusting that it was God’s will that He should suffer and die to pay for the sins of all people – including those who reject Him. Jesus wanted us all to be cleansed of our sin and made to be righteous as God intended from the start. This is how Jesus hungered and thirsted for our righteousness: He would rather endure suffering and death than to let us all perish in our sins and unrighteousness. Jesus knew that the only way we could be made righteous is if He paid the price (death) for our sins so that we could be washed clean and made righteous through His blood. This is in some ways very different from our experience, but in other ways it is similar. Jesus lived by faith, just as we do. He suffered just as sinners do, even though He remained sinless, yet, He also had to trust in God to save Him from death as we also trust in God to save us because of what Jesus did for all of us.

Misplaced Spiritual Hunger

We hunger for that which we lack. This is why we hunger and thirst for righteousness.

There are also the spiritual equivalent of eating disorders which cause people to hunger for what seems good, but which actually is detrimental to the Spirit. After all, no one ever seeks what they believe is evil. Even the most evil person in the world does what he does because he thinks it is good and profitable in some way. Such people may be tragically wrong, but they still seek what seems good to them. Evil sometimes starts out small and simple, but as a person’s conscience gets more comfortable with sin the wickedness grows. It is important to remember that love desires what is best for your neighbor, while wickedness desires what I feel is best for me. Unrighteous people hunger and thirst for wickedness. They hold parades and celebrate all kinds of wickedness. Prostitutes and whores desire to kill their unborn children, and don’t want to hear how wrong that is, or how their children are a wonderful gift from God instead of someone to be murdered. They celebrate all kinds of sexual perversions from adultery to homosexual relations to all kinds of perverse behavior. There is never any satisfaction for wickedness. There can never be satisfaction for wickedness because God didn’t make us that way. Wickedness and sin always leads to more, and it is never enough. Only true righteousness in Christ can satisfy.

We see this in Genesis 4, God confronts Cain regarding his jealous anger. “The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’” (Genesis 4:6-7) Here God is encouraging Cain to seek righteousness, but Cain insists on hungering for envy, hatred, and eventually murder. God tells Cain that righteousness isn’t a “zero-sum game” as if Abel’s righteousness precludes Cain from also being righteous. If Cain was faithful, like Abel, then God would be pleased with them both. Cain had nothing to gain from killing his brother as if they were a rival for something that only one of them could possess (God’s favor) at the expense of the other. If they both were faithful to God, then God would be happy to favor them both. Cain, instead hungered for evil, and held on to his envy and sin, rather than repenting and hungering for righteousness. In the end, Cain found disfavor from both God and man, though God had mercy on him and protected him from those who might seek vengeance.

Jesus resisted the temptation in His hunger to turn stones into bread, so that He could be the bread of life for all who trust in Him.

The wise teacher says in Proverbs 4, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:14-19) Because of the devil’s temptations to make sin seem desirable (see Genesis 3:1-7), there are some people who see great profit in wickedness, and they take such pleasure in violence and evil that it becomes almost sacred to them, or, if not sacred, then they idolize what is profane. In this teaching, the “bread and wine” remind us of the Lord’s Supper where Jesus gives us His body and blood with bread and wine to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith. Yet the teacher notes that the wicked people “eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” This “unholy anti-sacrament” results in wickedness and violence. These people are like those who scream and yell and threaten (and commit) violence against those who seek to save the lives of unborn children. The pro-life people care more for the bastard children of the wicked than they do themselves, yet, the wicked get angry and violent when their licentiousness and murderous desires are exposed for what they truly are. This happens because the devil tempts us to sin by making sin seem desirable and profitable in some way. Godly people may be lured by temptation due to weakness, but when they realize what they have done they feel guilty and repent of the sin. When unrighteous people sin they neither admit guilt, nor repent, but take pleasure and “profit” in wickedness and try to curse anyone who would put an end to wickedness and violence.

None of this should surprise us because the Bible is very clear that sin corrupts us all. There is no one who is good, not even one. In Genesis 8, after the great flood, this is how God saw the world: “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’” (Genesis 8:20-22) Now you might think that God sent the great flood to get rid of evil in the world, so that only the good people survived, but Noah and his family were also sinners, having inherited sin from their parents like everyone else. When Scripture says that “Noah was a righteous man” in Genesis 6:9, it doesn’t mean he was without sin, but that he loved God and trusted God and listened to God’s Word which promised rescue and salvation. God does not condone sin and evil, but He provides for rescue in Jesus Christ. Noah trusted in God and God counted Noah’s faith as righteousness just as He did several generations later with Abraham (see Genesis 15:6).

Christians Hunger for the Lord’s Supper

Christians hunger and thirst for the body and blood of Jesus given in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, so that we can share in the benefits of the sacrifice Jesus made for us all.

In the Old Testament times when the prophets spoke about hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness they were often thinking about eating the roasted lamb of the Passover meal. The Passover was the salvation event of the Old Testament for God’s people Israel. Every year they were to remember it by preparing a male lamb for dinner with unleavened bread. This was to show the Israelites how the Messiah would come and offer His life as the sacrificial lamb to pay for the sins of the whole world. The annual Passover meal reminded the Israelites that God was their savior, and their eating of the sacrificial lamb made them participants in the blessings of the sacrifice. If Moses and the Israelites had refused to eat the lamb then they would have been subjected to the same treatment as the Egyptians. As the remembrance of this event became an annual celebration, the Israelites would have hungered for the meal as the time of celebration approached – hopefully hungering for the Salvation which God promised to provide for them just as He saved their ancestors.

Since, by the time of Jesus, the Israelites had been celebrating the Passover every year for over a thousand years (except for years of apostasy), they should have recognized its fulfillment when Jesus sacrificed His life for the sins of the world. Many did, and they spread the good news of Christ’s salvation throughout the world. Jesus also used the Passover meal as the basis for a new sacrament, since He fulfilled the Passover prophesy. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in which He gives His body and blood in the bread and wine of the sacrament in a miraculous way for the forgiveness of our sins, and the strengthening of our faith. In this way we participate in the sacrifice that was made for our sins (see 1 Corinthians 10:16) in the same way the Old Testament Israelites participated in the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Christians now hunger for this blessed gift, which is a taste of the eternal life which Jesus promises to all who believe in Him to save them from sin and death.

Jesus says that the blessing which comes to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness is that “they will be filled (or satisfied).” Our hunger for righteousness will be filled when Christ comes back and makes us holy and righteous as he is. Until that happens we hunger and thirst for it because it is unfulfilled, but when Jesus comes we will be satisfied forever in Christ. Until then we live in the assurance of faith in God’s promises. In the Revelation which Jesus gave Saint John, he sees a vision of those redeemed by Jesus, and they are described in this way, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16) Since the resurrection is a bodily resurrection, God knows our bodily need for food and drink, and will provide us with plenty for all eternity. John also sees this: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2) So we see that the new earth that God prepares for us to live forever has plenty of wonderful food and drink which will sustain us forever without death or decay. This is also something that we hunger for, since all we know is decay and death in this sinful life. Yet we are comforted in this life because God promises that we will receive this, so we trust in God’s promises as we await their fulfillment.

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Other articles in this series:

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are Those who Mourn, For They Will be Comforted 

Blessed are the Meek, for They Shall Inherit the Earth 

Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy 

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God 

Coming soon:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Christians are sometimes called “hypocrites” when they oppose the killing of babies while at the same time also support the death penalty for convicted murderers. The argument says that if Christians (and like-minded people of other beliefs) were consistent in their “pro-life” belief they would oppose all killing. Those who promote this argument think themselves quite clever that they have uncovered this supposed flaw in the logic and reasoning of people who are pro-life. They might be considered clever, except for overlooking one important thing: Justice.

The argument for the hypocrisy of people who are in favor of pro-life policies can be somewhat convincing to some people who don’t consider all the issues involved. The argument is so appealing that some pro-lifers actually do begin to oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers. This, however is not really what their opponents want. No one cares that murderers are spared the death penalty for a life imprisoned. What the critics of pro-lifers really want is for people to support abortion so that they may live an adulterous lifestyle without having to deal with the consequences.

The single reason why pro-life supporters are in favor of killing murderers, but not babies, is justice. This is not some cruel “social justice” which twists right and wrong to achieve a desired outcome, but real, true, justice where the innocent are spared and the guilty are punished. Unborn babies are innocent of any crime, and are deserving of life, while properly convicted murderers have, by their crimes, forfeited their right to life. It is that simple. This is the consistency of the Christian (and like-minded) arguments. We do not believe it is right to kill the innocent, but it is right to punish lawfully convicted murderers for taking the lives of innocent people.

Daniel was condemned to die in the lions’ den but God kept him from all harm.

The Biblical basis for the support of a lawful death penalty is found in many places in Holy Scripture. God sanctioned a proper administration of death penalty justice shortly after the great flood when He told Noah and his sons, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” This is further confirmation of the authority which God gave Adam before the fall into sin to rule over the administration of the earth. In the creation account in Genesis 1, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” As God rules over all creation, man (who was made in God’s image) is given authority to rule over the earth in God’s place. This is done in accord with God’s Law, of course, which is perfectly good and right. Even though the perfect image of God was corrupted in us by the fall into sin, God still gives mankind authority on earth to administer justice to curb man’s murderous sinful tendencies. Man is not given authority to make up his own rules which oppose God’s laws. That is, by definition, injustice, and not justice. “Social justice” is just another example of injustice, not justice, because it not only makes distinctions which God does not make (such as a multiplicity of “races” rather than the one created by God, and a multiplicity of “genders” rather than the two created by God), but because it also picks winners and losers based on arbitrary characteristics rather than on the merit and worthiness of the individual apart from any unrelated characteristic.

The Holy Bible also reinforces God’s allowance of a death penalty in the laws for the Israelites that God gave Moses after the Exodus from Egypt, and in the directions that God gave to Joshua 40 years after the Exodus to take the Promised Land and destroy the pagan peoples living there. Some allowances were made for mercy, however, as in the case of the Gibeonites (see my article on God’s Promises) and a select few others. The merciful nature of God is shown in the fact that God does not say that the authorities of all nations must execute murderers in every instance, but can determine how it is carried out according to their laws. God, Himself, spared the murderers Cain (though he was unrepentant) and King David (who was repentant after confronted by the prophet Nathan).

Here I would also point out the qualifications that I have noted above regarding the capital punishment of convicted murderers. It is important to note that God does not sanction vigilante justice. It is not given to individuals to determine who should die for their (supposed) crimes. The death penalty is only to be carried out by the proper authorities after a proper trial where evidence is given and justly considered. This is good in that the earthly authorities can carry out justice in support and recognition of the sanctity of life, but it is not good when wicked authorities sometimes misuse justice by killing the innocent or by letting the guilty get away with murder. In 1 Kings 21, King Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard after wicked Queen Jezebel had a couple false witnesses tell lies about Naboth so that he was falsely accused and put to death. God later arranged that Jezebel died a just (and shameful) death, but Ahab was spared the indignity of his evil wife’s death because he humbled himself and repented before the Lord.

God blessed Adam and Eve with children, and told them to multiply and fill the earth. From them come all people on earth.

Likewise, God’s desire for the protection of babies both before and after birth is well attested in Holy Scripture. At the creation of man in Genesis 1 Scripture says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” It is a great blessing that God gives children to parents to care for and to raise. It is only man’s sin which complicates the conception of new life and new people on the earth. Sinful man despises God’s gift of marriage and so engages in illicit intimacy apart from marriage, and despises the miracle of life which results according to God’s blessing. Bastard children who are unwanted by their parents (though not unwanted by God, nor unwanted by childless families looking to adopt) are still a blessing from God and deserve care and protection and love.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14) When Jesus said this His disciples had thought that His time was too valuable to waste on children as if they were worth less than adults. Jesus, however, corrected them. God loves children no less than adults, and there is much about a childlike faith that adults would do well to emulate. In Luke 18:17 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” It is quite telling that while Jesus exalts children and a childlike faith, the world despises children and wishes to kill them in order to satisfy their selfish desires.

In Jeremiah 7:30-31 God tells the prophet, “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” Here God is very clear that He detests abortion and infanticide. His people’s idolatry has led them to kill their children, and God strongly rebukes them. Not only did God NOT command nor allow the killing of children, but such wickedness never even entered His mind. It is not that God lacked imagination, but that children are a blessing from God, not a curse. This wickedness of the people of Judah was one of the contributing reasons why God sent the Babylonians to conquer and destroy Judah and take the few remaining survivors into captivity. The only reason why God allowed some to survive was on account of His promise to David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah who would redeem the world from this gross wickedness. Since God does not change forever, may He have mercy on those societies which mercilessly practice abortion and infanticide. God does have mercy, but his patience has its limits, and those wicked societies will face God’s wrath and destruction if they continue in sin without repenting (and that includes the United States of America).
 

John the Baptist worshiped Jesus before either was born. Babies deserve protection from conception.

On the other hand, God shows the value of even the smallest people when He told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Here God not only states that He knew Jeremiah and had a purpose in life for him before he was born, but God states that He is the one who formed Jeremiah in the womb. Children are not “accidents” at any time, but they are formed according to the blessing that God gave Adam and Eve at the beginning. From the moment of conception, children are precious to God and it is not up to us to decide whether they should live or die based on the whims of their parents, or worse, just on the wicked desire of the mother or father apart from the wishes of the other.
 
Now, just because I noted above that babies are innocent of any crime and not deserving of death any more than any other innocent person, that does not mean that they are without sin. King David wrote in Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Remember that although at the time he wrote this David had committed terrible sins worthy of temporal punishment, he was still the man who God chose to be the ancestor of the promised Messiah. Jesus was, and is still, known as the “Son of David”. If the great King David, whose descendant is the world’s savior, was sinful from the time of his conception, then we are no better. Babies in the womb need Christ’s salvation just as much as the most revered and respected adult. This is why when Jesus instituted Holy Baptism in Matthew 28 He told His disciples to baptize and teach “all nations” which includes everyone, even infants. This is why the Christian church has baptized infants as well as adult converts from the very beginning. This also carried on a similar practice to the Old Testament Israelite practice of circumcising the baby boys on the eighth day after birth. Even babies need the redeeming power of God to be saved. Christ’s practice of Baptism replaced the practice of circumcision and made it universal for boys and girls, and men and women. 
 

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6)

Jesus once called a little child and had him stand among His disciples and He said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6) We do children no favors by aborting them in the womb. Not all aborted children will go to heaven. Many aborted souls will be in hell to torment their murderers. Some aborted children may be in heaven. Just as the infant John rejoiced in the presence of Jesus in Luke 1:41, though both John and Jesus were still in their mothers’ wombs, so some unborn children may believe. The Holy Spirit calls all people to faith, and some may believe, even though they may not yet be fully formed. We also do them no favors in depriving them the joys (and the struggles) of life as believers in this sinful world. 
 
Christians are not hypocrites for trying to save the lives of innocent babies, while at the same time calling for the just punishment of convicted murderers. Christians are not opposed to giving some time for the guilty murderer to repent (such as the time to conduct a fair trial), because Jesus died to pay for the sin of murder as well as all sins. Because Jesus died for all people, there is no reason why the murderer should not be forgiven and receive eternal life, yet, in order to uphold the value of life in our societies, those who wrongly take life forfeit their own. The repentant murderer may die confident that his sins are forgiven by Christ, but for order and justice here on earth, it is sometimes necessary to put people to death for their crimes.

How Far does God go to Keep His Promises?

(and promises made in His name)
by Pastor Paul Wolff
 

David playing the harp

There is an odd little story in 2 Samuel 21 about God sending a famine against the Kingdom of Israel in the days of King David. What is strange is that by this time the Kingdom is pretty well established, and seemingly out of nowhere, God is punishing His people with an extended famine. When David asked God what was the reason for the famine, God answered that this was in response to something King Saul had done. What Saul had done was to attempt to destroy the Gibeonites, who were an Amorite people living in the land since before the days of Joshua.

The beginning of the story is found in Deuteronomy 7:1-6 in the days of Moses. God tells Moses and the Israelites that when He brings them into the land He had promised to Abraham and his descendants, they are to completely destroy all the peoples living there, including the Amorites and others. The Israelites were not to intermarry with them, nor make any treaty or covenant with them, but they must devote them to complete destruction. The peoples of Canaan were idolaters, and the Israelites were to completely destroy their altars and places of worship lest they fall into idolatry and come under God’s curse themselves (which they did from time to time.) God was very clear in His instructions about how they ought to deal with the people of Canaan.

Joshua made a treaty in God's name with the Gibeonites

Many years later, in the days of Joshua (see Joshua 9), the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that the Israelites had destroyed Jericho and Ai and they feared that they soon would be next. They devised a plan to trick the Israelites to make a treaty with them and not destroy them. The Gibeonites sent a delegation to Joshua dressed in old worn out clothes and shoes. The bread they had with them was dry and moldy, and their wine-skins were old and patched. They said they were from a very distant country and wanted to make a treaty with the Israelites. They said that when they left their home their bread was fresh out of the oven, and their wine-skins and shoes were new. The Israelites sampled their provisions, but they did not seek the counsel of the Lord. Joshua made a covenant with them and swore in the name of the Lord to let them live.

Three days later, Joshua heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors. The Israelites did not attack them, because of the oath that they made not to harm them, but they summoned their leaders and said, “Why did you deceive us?” The Gibeonites were very gracious, and humbled themselves before Joshua and the Israelites. They told of how they had heard how God had commanded Moses to destroy all the inhabitants in the land, and they feared for their lives. They said, “We are your servants, do whatever seems good and right.” Joshua cursed the Gibeonites to be the servants of the Israelites, being woodcutters and water bearers, but he honored the treaty he made with them and let them live. For their part, it seems that the Gibeonites were just glad to escape God’s judgment on the Canaanites, and they lived at peace with the Israelites and did not betray their part of the treaty.

The Israelites also kept their part of the treaty until King Saul tried to destroy the Gibeonites. Another strange part of this story is that Saul’s part in this story is not found elsewhere in Scripture. Apparently the chronicler who wrote the Book of Samuel did not think this particular misdeed of Saul’s was an important part of the story in a chronological telling, and he did not mention it until he wrote of God bringing the famine in 2 Samuel 21. David, however, knew the history (or looked it up in Scripture), and called the surviving Gibeonite leaders and said, “What shall I do for you to make atonement that you may bless the Lord’s inheritance?”

The rainbow is God's sign to Noah that He would not destroy the earth again with a flood even though the thoughts of man are only evil all the time. Genesis 6:5 and 8:21

The Gibeonites were still very humble and submissive before King David, as their ancestors had been hundreds of years earlier with Joshua, and hesitated to make demands to the King, but David repeated, “What shall I do for you?” They asked that seven of Saul’s remaining male descendants would be given to them to be put to death for justice for all the Gibeonites that Saul killed. David agreed to their terms, but he spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, because of the friendship he had with the son of King Saul. God honored this agreement and lifted the famine.

All of this begs the question: Why would God go to such great lengths to punish Israel for Saul’s misdeeds, many years after Saul had died, on behalf of a people whom He had condemned for destruction hundreds of years earlier, for the sake of a treaty Joshua had made against God’s command? The answer is that God keeps His promises. Or, in this case, God honors the promises made by His people in His name and on His behalf. Despite the fact that God had intended for the Gibeonites to be destroyed with all the inhabitants of Canaan, Joshua had sworn an oath in God’s name that the Gibeonites would not be harmed by the Israelites, and when Saul broke that treaty, God allowed the Gibeonites restitution for the sake of justice, and the honor of God’s name.

If God would go to these great lengths to keep this promise made in His name, even though He never wanted it in the first place, then what does this say about how God will regard His other promises? It shows that God can absolutely be trusted to keep all His promises, no matter what happens.

The very day that Adam and Eve sinned God promised to send a savior who would rescue them from their sin.

The main promise that God fulfilled was the promise He made to Adam and Eve when He cursed the serpent in Genesis 3:15. God promised to send the seed of the woman to crush the serpent’s head, though the serpent would bruise his heel. God remembered this promise, even though he destroyed the evil people in the days of Noah, but he saved Noah and his three sons, and each man’s wife (eight people). Likewise when Israel had turned against God and refused to listen to the prophets calling for repentance, God destroyed the ten northern tribes, and nearly wiped out the kingdom of Judah, but He saved a remnant among whom were the descendants of King David who would be the ancestors of Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise. He is a descendant of Adam and Eve through His mother, Mary, and conceived miraculously by the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is God incarnate, who paid for the sins of the world with His perfect obedience, and His innocent suffering and death in our place on the cross.

Compared with the Incarnation of God in Jesus, and the redemption He won for our forgiveness and salvation, the incident with the Gibeonites is of little consequence, but it shows that God honors His promises, and He can be trusted to remain faithful in big promises, and small.

We all ought to see ourselves in a similar situation as the Gibeonites. As the Gibeonites were condemned to destruction for their idolatry, so we are condemned to destruction for our idolatry and other sins. As Joshua promised to spare the Gibeonites, so the greater Joshua (the name “Jesus” is the Greek version of the name, Joshua, meaning, “savior”) has promised to spare us from the punishment due us on account of our sin, because He paid the price and satisfied God’s wrath by dying in our place.

Job’s friends were no comfort when they misrepresented God’s promises. Worldly wealth is not a sign of God’s favor, and poverty is not a sign of God’s disfavor.

Christians ought to be careful when their preachers or anyone make claims about the things God has promised. False teachers make claims about God’s promises which are not true. For example, the “prosperity gospel (sic)” heretics will tell you all day long that you will be rich and successful. However, just because God blessed Abraham and Job with great riches, that doesn’t mean that you will be likewise blessed. God could ask you to suffer like Job, or it is possible that you life may be like the beggar, Lazarus, in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Our reward is in heaven, not on earth. Always check your pastor’s claims against the Holy Scriptures. Even when your pastor quotes the Scriptures, double check the context of the passages which are being quoted, to make sure they really say what is being claimed. This goes for my parishioners, too. We all ought to be like the Berean Christians in Acts 17:11 who examined the Scriptures daily to see that the things that Saint Paul was preaching were true. (They found that indeed, he was preaching the truth. Jesus is the promised savior that the Old Testament foretold.)

Here is a sampling of a few of God’s promises which we can rely upon:

Hebrews 13:5-6 says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for (God) has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” God will never leave us, though, in His mercy, He remains hidden from our senses. This is a matter of faith, but since we can trust in God’s promises we can trust that it is true even (and especially) when it seems like we are alone and abandoned. This passage quotes from several places where it is repeated in the Old Testament. Some common sources are Deuteronomy 31, Psalm 37, and a couple phrases in Isaiah 41 also teach this.

Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus also repeats this at His final teaching before His ascension into heaven. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is a great comfort especially when it seems like God is far away from us and the world is falling apart around us.

More of Christ’s promises are found in Matthew 10:32-42 where Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” This is a comforting passage in times of antagonism and persecution, when the world turns against us and tries to get us to deny the forgiveness and salvation we have in Christ, our Lord. The world wants us to consider that they are gods and to worship and honor them, as they worship and honor themselves and others. There is no salvation there, but only in Christ Jesus. Jesus promises us persecution, but when we remember that He is always with us, and that He will honor a faithful confession in His heavenly Kingdom, then we can stand against the world even if we otherwise stand alone. Christ will have the final word on Judgment day, when He will bring His people with Him to live with Him forever in glory.