A Biblical Argument for Self Defense

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God gives temporal authorities the sword to punish wrongdoers. Joshua was judge of Israel, and instrument of judgment against the idolatrous Canaanites.

The news of this week is that there has been another mass shooting of innocent people. It happened in a Christian church near Fort Worth, Texas, during worship on the Sunday after Christmas. A gunman started shooting people in the church, and killed two people (including a security guard) before armed parishioners pulled out their own guns and shot and killed the murderer. This was a textbook case of how the freedom to carry concealed weapons by law-abiding citizens helps prevent more murders. But what does the Bible say about such things?

I should first say that I hate guns. I hate violence and the murder and injuries that are caused by guns. I believe that gun violence against people is evil and that the world would be a better place if no one ever used a gun to injure another human being. I am not generally a violent person, and I went into the ministry to save people, not hurt them. I do not own a gun, though I own a couple pocket knives that could possibly be used to save the lives of others, but more on that below.

When I was young and naïve, after the shooting of President Reagan, I was convinced to be in favor of some form of gun control. However, after further study and consideration I have come to reluctantly see the wisdom in the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. This limited “right” properly recognizes that we live in a fallen world, and there are times when violence and tyranny must be met by violence in order to protect the lives and freedom of innocent people. This freedom still makes me a little uncomfortable, but I am no longer in favor of broad gun control.

The nails and spear were not weapons which Jesus used against others, but He allowed them to be used on Him for our redemption.

As a Minister of the Gospel, I know that I am potentially a target for some evil person who is angry at God and has some murderous intent. I knew when I took my ordination vows that I was dedicating my life in service to God and to God’s people in the congregation where I serve. I also knew that if society changed (as it is in the process of doing) that I would be a prime target for those who seek to harm the church through violence. I pray that such a thing does not come to pass, but if it does I pray that I would stand firm confessing Christ as my Lord and Savior without fear of death, nor of anything that man can do to me. Christ is risen from the dead, and has promised to bring me with Him into His heavenly kingdom as His redeemed child. “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6)

There are some Biblical precedents for arming oneself for self defense and the protection of one’s neighbors. Abraham raised a small army and defeated several kings who kidnapped his nephew, Lot, and stole his property (see Genesis 14). Lot, and the others who were kidnapped with him were rescued and their belongings were restored. Also, in the Book of Esther, the Persian King who ruled over the Jewish captives in exile in Babylon, allowed the Jews to arm and defend themselves from those who sought to kill them. If you recall, the king had foolishly passed a law authorizing the killing of Jews, not realizing that his favorite wife, Esther, was a Jew. Even though the king was prevented by law from changing his foolish law, he issued another decree that the Jews could be well armed and fight to defend themselves against any who sought to destroy them (see Esther 8). This sounds like a recipe for civil war to have two opposing laws calling for violence, but it prevented a greater slaughter. The king also gave great honor to Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, who previously uncovered and foiled a plot against the king.

Jesus did not defend Himself at His trial, even though He was innocent. He trusted in God to judge Him and vindicate Him.

Generally, God-fearing people ought to flee violence and seek peace, but there are times when such things are unavoidable. Psalm 34:14 says, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Jesus also teaches that God-fearing believers ought to “turn the other cheek” when someone strikes you on the cheek (Matthew 5:39). Also Christ’s teaching in His “Sermon on the Mount” (see Matthew 5) shows that the Fifth Commandment (“You shall not murder”) also implies that we are to positively help support and protect our neighbor in his bodily needs, and not only refrain from murdering him.

Scripture doesn’t have a blanket command for self-defense, lest it be abused as an excuse to commit murder, but we are commanded to help protect our neighbor. As I mentioned above, I sometimes carry a knife, but I am not sure that I would use it to protect myself if I came under a threat. That could possibly seem to be self-serving, and just an excuse for murder, even though easily justified. I would, however, be much more inclined to use a knife or other weapon against someone who was attacking innocent people or those that I love, to protect their lives, if I was in a position to help in that way. Generally, though, I don’t view a knife as a weapon to be used against people. I am more likely to view it as a tool to open envelopes or packages or to cut things around the house or office that need cutting. Unlike a gun, a knife has many innocent uses around the home and the office. The only blood I have shed using knives is my own, when I have carelessly handled a sharp knife in one way or another. I hope never to see another’s blood by my own doing, whether for good or for ill.

I do not know if any of the members of my congregation bring a gun to church. If there are any who do, I would want to be assured that they are well trained and disciplined in its use. I would worry more that a child might accidentally get hold of someone else’s gun and hurt himself or others. However, if a gunman came into our church hell-bent on murder, then I would thank God for anyone who would put a stop to the murderous act. I don’t want any of the members of my congregation to kill anyone, unless they have to, but I would absolve the person who stopped a murderer, as long as it was clear that the murderer was the one who attacked first. Preemptive attacks on people who may or may not be contemplating violence are not justifiable, and are properly punished. Taking the life of someone is something that cannot be reversed, and should only happen if there is no other choice, like when a murderer is intentionally hurting innocent, unarmed people. There are consequences which affect the lives even of trained police officers and soldiers who must take the lives of others in the fulfilling of their duties. I would, without hesitation, comfort and absolve those who had to take someone’s life while protecting innocent lives and preventing more murder and injury.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

King Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:7 “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” This happens because God’s law is good and for our benefit, and because God created us, He made us to benefit from His goodness and we are always better off when we keep to God’s law. If we love our enemies as God has loved us all, then even our enemies will have to acknowledge the righteousness of our actions, and they will no longer be our enemies, but our friends.
 
Saint Paul writes in Romans 12:18-21 “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” God is a truly impartial judge, and we are all accountable to Him in the end. If there is going to be punishment, we ought to leave it to God, or to His servants here on earth. God has established the proper authorities to punish wrongdoers, and to keep the peace. If we seek vigilante justice ourselves, we are almost certain to take it too far.
 
Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We cannot make ourselves holy, but if we aspire to be sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit, we ought to strive to be holy in all we do or say. This should be the guiding rule when it comes to self-defense. We should love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). That means we ought to be hesitant to use violence against anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. Murderers are our neighbors, too, and if we can stop them without killing them, then they may be be brought to repentance and be saved. Jesus died to pay for the sin of murder, also. However, there is still temporal punishments for the sin of murder. After the great flood, God said to Noah, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)

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For further reading, see my December 2017 article on Anger.

 

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Prayer for the Church in Times of Persecution

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Background story: On November 5, 2017 a heavily armed man walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and killed 26 people and injured 20 more until a neighbor got his gun and came to the defense of the people of the church and drove away the murderer. Other neighbors pursued the gunman, who ultimately murdered himself last. This is by no means the first or last or worst persecution of Christians even in recent times, but it is the inspiration for this prayer. The prayer below can be used by and for all Christians in any place in times of persecution.

Let not your hearts be troubled Jesus goes to prepare a place for you.

Dear Lord Jesus, You have told us “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:10 and 5:4) We pray that you would bless all Your people throughout the world who are persecuted, and give your comfort to those who mourn the suffering and death of Christians because they bear Your name. Lord, we know that it is the will of Your Father that You will lose none of us whom the Father has given to You, and will raise us up at the last day (John 6:39), but many are lost to us, and we are grieved by our loss. 

Lord Jesus, send us Your Holy Spirit to teach us Your Word, and remind us of all that You have done to save us (John 14:26). Comfort Your people with Your peace. Strengthen Your people in faith that we may love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), bless and not curse them (Romans 12:14), that we may not be overcome by evil, but that we may overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Open the eyes and the ears and the hearts of this wicked generation to hear and believe Your Word that they may repent and be healed (Isaiah 6:10). 

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

Lord Jesus, You have told us that as they persecuted You, they will also persecute us (John 15:20). Let this be a comfort to us that just as Your Father raised You from death and the grave, You will also come back and restore us to life and raise us to glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). Forgive us our sins where we have contributed to the evil in this world (Luke 11:4), but, as we also forgive our enemies, enable Your people to be a light to the world showing them Your love and forgiveness (Matthew 5:14). You, Jesus, are the light of the world (John 8:12) who forgives all our sins and gives us everlasting life (Psalm 103:2-5).

Blessed Lord Jesus, You have called us to gather together to hear Your Word and to receive Your gifts of forgiveness and salvation (Exodus 20:8-11). Strengthen Your people that even in places of great persecution we may not give up meeting together, but that we may be encouraged to trust in You even more as the Day of judgment approaches (Hebrews 10:25). Send Your angels to protect all Your people(John 17:11), that even in persecution, we may remain strong in faith, trusting in Your love and forgiveness and salvation. Amen.

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Bible Verses

Matthew 5:10

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
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Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
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John 6:39-40

Jesus said, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
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John 14:25-27

Jesus said, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
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Matthew 5:43-45

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
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Romans 12:14

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
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Romans 12:21

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
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Isaiah 6:9-10

(The Lord) said, “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
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John 15:20

Jesus said, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
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1 Corinthians 15:42-43

“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.”
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Luke 11:4

Jesus said, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”
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Matthew 5:14-16

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
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John 8:12

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
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Psalm 103:2-5

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
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Exodus 20:8-11

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
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Hebrews 10:25

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
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John 17:11

Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name”
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Psalms 35, 69, and 109 are good prayers in times of persecution, but remember that Jesus endured the curses of our sin so that there is redemption in Christ even for the murderers who persecute Christ’s beloved people. You may pray that Christ’s enemies will be cursed temporally here on earth, but also pray that they may be led to repentance and trust in Jesus as their savior from sin, that they may become our brothers and sisters in Christ and receive the salvation that Jesus won for them, too, on the cross.

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Please share your thoughts and prayers by adding a comment below. I would love to hear from Christians throughout the world, so that I may pray with you and for you.

Jesus is the True Bread of Life

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Not all who heard Jesus teach believed in Him

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From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
(John 6:66-69)

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In our culture it is commonly accepted that in order to win someone to your point of view that you must convince them in some way, and whatever you do – you must not offend them. Offense seems to be the considered the great “sin” in our society, and yet people have such thin skin that they take offense as often as they take a breath. This is because from a young age we have been influenced by the television and its advertisements. The purpose of ads is to motivate you to spend your money on a certain product or service, but the way they do this is often through the use of deception, manipulation, and lies. We are bombarded with these messages from a young age, so that we don’t even question it after a while. Because of this we are familiar with lies, and offended by the truth.

Jesus doesn’t work this way. Jesus gives a hard teaching to His followers, and they take offense, and they start to leave Him. But Jesus doesn’t try to stop them. He doesn’t try to convince them. He doesn’t say, “No, you misunderstand me, this is what I really meant …” Instead, he piles it on. He gives them more reason to take offense so that many who had been following Him turned back and no longer followed Him. Jesus wasn’t being mean in doing this, nor was He naïve or foolish. He was teaching the truth, but the truth can be hard to accept at times, but the truth is always better than a lie. After many people left Him Jesus then turned to His twelve disciples and said to them, “Do you want to go away as well?” Jesus wasn’t going to compromise the truth even for His closest disciples. If they found it too hard to accept then Jesus would drive them away, too.

Peter spoke for the disciples and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The teaching of God’s Word is difficult, and it offends all of us at one time or another, because we are all sinners, and God’s Law condemns us for our sin – so we are offended. But God’s Word also teaches the Gospel which brings us salvation from our sin through the redemption which Jesus won for us. God’s word gives us eternal life! Are we going to take offense and turn away and run after something else which doesn’t give eternal life, or are we going to repent and trust in Jesus to save us?

What Jesus was teaching about which caused the people to take offense was food. Now you would not normally think that food would be a divisive topic, but you should remember that ever since the days of Moses the Israelites had lived under God’s ceremonial laws, which placed certain limits on the kinds of food that the people ate. For over a thousand years food was very much on the minds of the people, and what Jesus was teaching seemed to contradict that. Jesus was actually not contradicting the Old Testament dietary laws, He was fulfilling them!

Daily bread is a gift from God - even to all evil people

I assume that most of you have experience with food. Even if you were born yesterday you would still have one day’s experience with food. Food sustains life. It doesn’t give life, but food gives us the energy and nourishment to keep on living and to grow. Food is a necessity for us every day – or if you are like me, you may have stored up some extra food so that you can survive a day or two (or ten) without food.  

It is also a bonus that much of the food we eat also gives us pleasure. God has blessed us so that we can enjoy the food which sustains our life. It is a joy to eat a good meal. Though sometimes we can enjoy our food too much, so we must take our pleasure with food in moderation. If we use the pleasure we get from food to try to make up for some pain or sadness, then we can overindulge and then the food which ought to sustain our life can also damage it. Good food is a gracious gift from God, so enjoy your food, and thank God for it, but be careful not to overdo it.

But we need to remember that the food we eat does not give life, it only preserves it. No earthly food can keep you alive forever. There is no “fountain of youth”. If you watch the advertisements on TV without a discerning eye you might be led to believe that there is a certain food or medicine which can prolong your life indefinitely, if not make you live forever. However, it is not true. Even if there was a perfect food which provided all your needs and did not poison you, you would still die. Death comes as a result of sin, and sin is a disease which affects us all. You can have the perfect diet and exercise habits, and you will still die. That is our greatest problem.

Jesus is the True Bread from heaven

But, Jesus is the solution to our problem of sin and death. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51) Jesus is the bread of life, and He doesn’t just sustain our life of sin, instead Jesus gives us life without sin and death. Christ’s flesh is the bread of life because He sacrificed His flesh and blood to pay the price for our sin so that He could redeem us and give is eternal life. Jesus also said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

Well, maybe you can begin to see why the Jews were upset about Christ’s teaching. Jesus had not yet instituted the Lord’s supper, so they didn’t know what the Sacrament was all about, but then even today when we have the clear teaching of Scripture, many Christians still don’t understand (or don’t believe) what the Lord’s Supper is all about. Eating a man’s body sounds like cannibalism, which God has always forbidden. Jesus was not talking about cannibalism, but He does give us His flesh and blood for eternal life. When a cannibal eats a person he cannot do it without causing great bodily harm to his victim, and he doesn’t receive the whole person, but only a part; and it doesn’t give him life any more than eating an animal, so he treats his neighbor no better than an animal. These are all reasons why God forbids cannibalism, and condemns it as a terrible sin.

However, when Jesus gives us His body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper it is not like cannibalism – but not for the reasons you may have heard. Some unbelievers say that the Lord’s Supper is just a symbolic act – that the communicants don’t really receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. That is not true. Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood”. That is what He gives to us in the Lord’s Supper. But in the Sacrament we don’t just get a part of Jesus – we get all of Him. And though we eat His body and drink His blood, He is not harmed by this at all. Yet we get blessings far greater than any other food we may eat.

Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish with 12 full baskets left over after everyone had eaten their fill.

The Jews asked themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”, but this is the wrong question. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and when everyone had eaten their fill collected 12 baskets of leftovers. If Jesus desires to give His whole body and blood to each of the two billion Christians in the world who each only eat a small morsel of unleavened bread and drink a small sip of wine, then He can do it. Are we going to doubt Jesus – who died and rose to life again? “To whom shall we go? {Jesus} is the Word which gives us eternal life!”

If you find this hard to understand you should take comfort in knowing that no one can really understand this fully. It is a miracle from God – who can understand it? Yet though we do not understand it, we trust the clear words of Jesus that He gives us this great gift for our blessing. For our forgiveness and eternal life.

However, although everyone who eats the Lord’s Supper receives the Body and Blood of Jesus in the bread and wine, not all receive the blessings. Only those who believe the words of Jesus receive the blessings of forgiveness and eternal life. How this works is that those who believe receive the gift of Jesus and hold on to Him by faith, and never let Him go, and so receive the blessings. But when an unbeliever receives the Body and Blood of Jesus he denies the truth of what he has received and he rejects it and throws it away as if it were no more than a small piece of bread and a sip of wine.

This is one reason why the vast majority of Christian churches throughout history and even now throughout the world practice closed communion. In 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 St. Paul instructs the Corinthians saying,

“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”

Jesus gives us His body and blood in the bread and wine of the Sacrament for our forgiveness and eternal life.

We eat and drink unworthily if we do not believe. The Lord’s supper is for sinners, but only for those who believe, and those who share a common confession. We don’t commune with Baptists, or Roman Catholics, or heretical Lutherans, (for example) because we do not agree with their false teachings – even though there may be true Christian believers in all these churches. But we don’t want to give people the impression that we agree with false teaching.

The Reformed churches (Calvinist and Arminian) practice open communion because they do not believe the words of Jesus, and they also ignore Saint Paul’s warnings that “anyone who eats and drinks (the Lord’s Supper) without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

These are hard teachings. Perhaps you who are reading this doubt the clear teachings of Scripture because you think they are too hard to believe. Are you considering turning away and going somewhere else? To whom shall you go? These are the teachings of Jesus which bring eternal life. You may find teachers which are easier to hear, but they will not give you eternal life which is the true bread from heaven, Jesus Christ.

If you do not believe the words of Jesus you should refrain from receiving the Sacrament – at least until you can study the Scriptures and see that this is the true teaching of Christ for your salvation.

It is hard to trust the words of Jesus. No one can believe unless the Holy Spirit gives faith, but He works through the Word to give you that faith so that you may believe and that you may find your salvation in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus gave His life as a payment for your sins. Only Jesus comes to you in His sacraments to forgive your sins and give you eternal life. May God, the Holy Spirit, strengthen your faith so that you may say with St. Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

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For more on a similar topic see: Was Jesus Unloving?

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Number Symbolism in the Bible

by Pastor Paul Wolff

There seems to be different ways that people interpret symbolic numbers in the Holy Scriptures. I have studied the symbolic use of numbers in the Bible and I have found some very consistent interpretations for the numbers which make more sense than many interpretations I have heard. This is not to say that these interpretations are original to me, but that these are the best interpretations of how the Scriptures use numbers as symbols.

Not all the numbers in the Scriptures are used symbolically. A good part of the Scriptures are simple historical accounts and the numbers are simply counting things accurately without symbolism. A good example is the 153 fish (John 21:11) caught by the disciples after Christ’s Resurrection. There is no deep significance about this number except that it was a large number and the disciples must have felt the need to count them because they were impressed by this miracle that Jesus did for them. Another example is the seven days of creation. Although seven is used elsewhere symbolically, the creation account in Genesis 1 clearly describes each day as “evening and morning the (n^th) day” so this is not symbolic, but descriptive.

The proper interpretation of symbolic numbers is not difficult when you use a little common sense. When numbers are used symbolically they always refer to something concrete – something in history or everyday life that is easily recognizable as having something to do with a particular number. The numbers aren’t chosen at random, nor is there some great secret as to how the symbolic numbers get their meaning.

1 – The number “one” is not usually used symbolically. It is mostly used to describe a single solitary thing or person. When “one” is used symbolically it is used in much the same way as its descriptive use, which is to describe something or someone unique or particular. It is also used to describe unity of essence or purpose. I love it when the Old Testament describes God’s people acting under God’s direction “as one man,” which is to say that the whole people of God are acting to fulfill God’s Word as if they were all one person, or they are all together doing God’s work as he would do it.

God is described as “one,” which is descriptive, and not symbolic, even though God’s Triune nature (Father, Son and Holy Spirit – see “three” below) is shown even in the Old Testament. Right from Genesis 1:1 when the generic word for God is used to refer to the one true God it takes the plural form (“Elohim” usually means “gods”) but it takes masculine singular verbs. Also there is the triple “Holy” of Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” These are some ways the Old Testament testifies to the Triune character of God, yet there is still only one God – God is singular (“is” not “are”; & “His” not “their”).

from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan

3 – The number “three” refers to God, or things having to do with God, when used symbolically in the Scriptures. For example, the three days Jonah was in the belly of the fish is descriptive, and not symbolic, but it is also used prophetically to point to the three days (also literal, and not symbolic) Jesus was in the tomb. However, even these examples can be viewed symbolically as the work of God to bring salvation. First, Jonah, himself, is saved from God’s wrath and drowning by the fish, then Jonah is sent to bring salvation to Nineveh, which all points forward to the work of Jesus to pay for the sins of the world by his death and burial. The three days being important so that Jesus fulfills the Sabbath day rest by being in the tomb for the whole Sabbath day (see “seven” below).

4 – The number “four” refers to the world, or creation, or mankind when used symbolically in the Bible. We can think of the four points of the compass (north, south, east, west) to describe the world.

6 – The number “six” is very interesting when used symbolically in the Scriptures. “Six” doesn’t seem to have a particular meaning on its own, but only in its relation to “seven” (see below). The symbolic use of “six” describes something incomplete – as if it were trying to reach “seven,” but missed the mark or fell short. The most famous symbolic use of “six” actually triples the digits to “666” in Revelation 13:18. The tripling of the digits suggests that this has something to do with God (see “3” above), but it falls short in every way. This makes sense in Rev. 13 because this number is the number of the blasphemous beast which was allowed to make war on God’s saints for a time. The number of the beast is “666” because he tries to portray himself as if he were God, but he misses the mark in every way. The world may follow the beast, thinking he is a god, but God’s people are not fooled (see Matthew 24:24).

7 – The number “seven” refers to Christ when used symbolically. “Seven” represents Christ because he is both God (“3”) and Man (“4”) in one person (3+4=7). John addresses his revelation letter to the seven churches not just because they are seven particular churches, but the Revelation of Jesus is to go to all Christians because the Christian church is Christ’s church. The comfort of the Revelation is for all who belong to Christ in the church, wherever they are.

Even in the creation we can see it pointing to Christ. Although the seven days of the creation are literal seven days (see the introduction above), the creation culminates in a day of rest from work to the glory and worship of God. God didn’t need to rest from His work of creation, but He knew we needed both a day to rest from our work, and a day to worship Him and study His Word. The Sabbath day’s rest was fulfilled when Jesus rested in His tomb the whole Sabbath day after He died, and before He rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

The number “seven” is very often misinterpreted as a symbolic number in the Scriptures (according to my understanding). Interpreters often say that “seven” is a number of completeness, but I don’t find that in the Scriptures. The only way this would be a number of completeness is if it referred to a week (or a number of weeks), but I don’t really find it used that way symbolically. There is a better number which is used for completeness much more clearly (see “ten” below), and “seven” makes much more sense when we see it as symbolically referring to Christ and His work. Though you may see above that I mentioned above that “six” was incomplete in relation to “seven” that doesn’t necessarily point to “seven” as the number of completeness. I still see “seven” as symbolic of Christ and His work, which certainly is complete in all that He set out to do, but the symbolism refers to Jesus, and not to completeness as “ten” does.

10 – The number “10” (and multiples) signifies completion, or perfection, or fulfillment. Just as ten fingers or ten toes are a complete set for a normal person, so the number “ten” signifies the full number of something when used symbolically in the Scriptures. Many times this number is intensified to 1,000 (10³) which symbolizes the fullness of what God intended, as in Revelation 20 where the 1,000 years are not literally 1,000 years, but the fulfillment of the whole time which God has ordained for these events to unfold.

The Last Supper window from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan

12 – The number “twelve” represents God’s people, the church. In Old Testament times the church was the 12 tribes of Israel (after the days of Jacob’s 12 sons, of course). In the New Testament Jesus chose 12 disciples, and after His ascension Matthias was chosen to take the place of Judas, who killed himself, so there would be 12 Apostles to proclaim the Gospel beginning at Pentecost to make disciples of all nations – which continues to this day.

40 – The number “forty” is used quite frequently in the Scriptures, and it usually is not symbolic, but descriptive. However, it does show up many times in Scripture, and may have symbolic meaning behind it. If we apply my above descriptions to “forty” we might see it as 4×10 which is a completion of something having to do with the world. In Exodus the Israelites were made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, which was a time of testing and learning to rely on God for their sustenance, protection, and salvation. Many of Israel’s faithful kings were given reigns lasting 40 years, which seemed to show God’s favor for their faithfulness by their being given a “full” reign. Jonah’s message to Nineveh was that God’s judgment would come in 40 days, which was a time of testing that they used to good effect by repenting of their sins. In the Gospels, Jesus fasted in the wilderness 40 days, and had to rely on God, the Father, for survival, and He was also tested and tempted by the devil.

144,000 – The number “one hundred forty four thousand” in Revelation 7 and 14 is symbolic of all the people who receive the salvation won by Christ. We know this number is symbolic because in Rev. 7:9 John describes the 144,000 as “a great multitude that no one could count.” Since they can’t be counted then they must be more than 144,000 that he just described and so that number is symbolic. “One hundred forty four” is 12×12, which symbolically represents the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints, and this is multiplied by 1,000 which is 10³, which is the number of completeness raised to the third power. This symbolizes the complete number of God’s people in both the Old and New Testament times, which is the whole Christian Church.

Much more could be said about symbols in the Scriptures, but this is just a brief explanation of the way I view how numbers are used symbolically in the Holy Bible. Just because numbers are sometimes used symbolically in the Scriptures does not mean there is some mysterious “secret code” which must be discovered for understanding. The Holy Scriptures were written for our understanding, not our confusion.  The main thing to keep in mind when trying to understand the Bible is that the whole of the Scriptures point to Christ as our salvation from Sin (see John 5:39) so that we might believe in Jesus and receive God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life (see John 20:30-31 and John 3:16-17).

The Seductive Danger of Lies

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus called the devil the “father of lies”
and did not fall for the temptations.

When I first began teaching religion classes at the Lutheran school connected with the church where I was first called to be the pastor, I was really shocked at how freely and easily lies passed over the lips of the beautiful, precious children whom I was called to teach. I don’t know if that was something peculiar to Detroit or if it was just the wickedness of the time. It could have been related to the fact that many of our students were not Lutheran, but were members of neo-Pentecostal churches. I have since come to realize that the so-called “charismatic Christians” are very practiced liars. They all pretend to have special “gifts” like speaking in tongues, or hearing God talk to them, in order to make others think that they are closer to God. They claim this comes from the Holy Spirit, but that is a lie. Many charismatics will not think twice about contradicting the true Word of God found in the Holy Scriptures in favor of what they “feel in their heart”. I don’t recall now if those children who lied to me so frequently were all Pentecostals (I didn’t treat them any differently than anyone else – both Lutherans and charismatics need to hear the same Biblical teachings of Law and Gospel), but it is likely that this may be an explanation. Either way, I seem to recall that when I was in school lying was actively discouraged so that it was fairly infrequent, rather than being the normal thing to do. It still happened, (Lutherans lie, too) but the first use of the law did its work and lying was infrequent.

The temptation to lie comes from a desire to gain advantage over others which we wouldn’t have if the truth were known. We lie to try to evade punishment for a wrong we have done. We lie to flatter someone so they will think we are nicer than we are and so will favor us with their friendship. We lie to otherwise make ourselves seem better than we really are.

It is commonly said that the truth hurts. This is only because as sinners we are far too comfortable with lying and the ill-gotten “benefits” of those lies. Holy Scripture says something much different about the truth. Jesus says, “I am the truth.” (John 14:6) This explains a lot about the prevalence of lies in this world. Sinners, by nature, are inclined to follow the lies of the devil rather than the truth of Jesus. Jesus identifies the devil as “a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Our susceptibility to lies goes back to the Garden of Eden when Eve believed the lie of the devil who said, “You shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4), when God had said, “The day you eat of (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Eve believed the lie because the lie made it seem as if she would then be in control like God. By believing the lie Eve – and soon thereafter, Adam – brought sin and death not only to themselves, but also to all their descendants.

The prophet Jeremiah lamented the prevalence of lies among God’s people when he prophesied this: “‘[My people] make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,’ declares the Lord. ‘Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:3-6) It is very instructive that the lies are portrayed as deadly weapons shot from the mouth as arrows are shot from a bow. God is not being cynical, He is lamenting that the truth seems foreign to His people and the lies are destroying them.

The 20th century German Lutheran theologian, Hermann Sasse, noted the destructive nature of lies in a 1936 Essay titled “Union and Confession”. He wrote, 

“The lie is the death of man, his temporal and his eternal death. The lie kills nations. The most powerful nations of the world have been laid waste because of their lies. … Where man can no longer bear the truth, he cannot live without the lie. … For the power of the lie extends right into the church. … For men in the church are and remain poor sinners until their death. Lies have been told in the church because of cowardice and weakness, vanity and avarice. But beyond all these there is in the church one particularly sweet piece of fruit on the broad canopy of the tree of lies. There is the pious lie. It is the hypocrisy by which a man lies to others and the intellectual self-deception by which he lies to himself about what he actually believes. … What a fearful thought it is indeed that things are taught in the church which are not true, under the guise of the eternal truth entrusted to her. No atheism, no Bolshevism can do as much damage and destruction as the pious lie, the lie in the church.” 

Sasse was focusing on a lie which said that disagreements in doctrine are insignificant for unity in the church, but what he said could apply to any lie in the church. Lies kill.

You would think logically that if lies are so destructive that people would tend to avoid them out of a desire for self-preservation, but that is not the case. Jeremiah 5:30-31 says, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so.” We are tempted to believe that lies give us some benefit or advantage, and that makes us afraid of the truth, and fear leads to cowardice because of weakness. The lies told in church often are told to make the people think that their sinfulness is not as bad as it is in reality. Since no one takes pleasure in admitting his sinfulness, people love to hear the pious lies. It is much more comfortable to believe a lie which says that I am not such a bad person.

Political commentator Ann Coulter observed this, “People don’t get angry when lies are told about them; they get angry when the truth is told about them.” Coulter writes about politics, but what she observes comes from sinful human nature and has consequences in many aspects of life. Proverbs 29:12 says, “If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.” When such political considerations find their way into the church (and they always do find a way in) that is when the church gets into trouble. In a sinful society, such as our own, pastors feel great pressure not to preach the truth of God’s Law about the sinfulness of the people. If the pastors can make the people feel good about themselves then the people will reward the lying pastors and make their lives comfortable and easy. However, if the pastors persist in telling the truth, then the unrepentant people will turn away and go find some slick, lying, charlatan pastor who will tell them what they want to hear. The lie may be more comfortable to hear for the moment, but there is no salvation in the lie. If we think that our sin is not too bad then we will not feel a need for a savior and will only have contempt for Jesus.

Preaching Jesus as the savior for sinners is the very definition of the Gospel that God has revealed in Holy Scripture – the same Gospel which saves those sinners who hear it and believe it. The problem is that the Gospel presumes the Law. If Jesus is only the savior of sinners, then that condemns me if I would rather listen to the lies that tell me that I am really a pretty good person and my sin is not such a big problem. If I prefer the lie to the truth, then I will only hear the Gospel as condemning law. Even the pure, life-giving Gospel of Jesus will be a damning law to me if I believe that I don’t need a savior who had to die to redeem me. That is why the lie is so dangerous.

“Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:23) Those who sell out the truth harm themselves along with those who pay so well for their own destruction. But the truth of Jesus as our savior from sin is so valuable that we should treasure it and “buy” it no matter the cost. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:45-46) In one way, Jesus is “The Truth” which is the precious treasure more valuable than all the riches of the world. However, in another way, Jesus is the merchant who considered us to be such a great treasure that He gave up all He had to redeem us from our sin, so that we may be His own.

Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. … So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 9:31-32, 36) Jesus is the Truth who sets us free from our slavery to sin and lies.



* * *
Herman Sasse quote from The Lonely Way, p. 266-267, “Union and Confession” (1936), Concordia Publishing House, 2001.
Ann Coulter quote from How to talk to a Liberal (if you must) P. 10, Crown Forum, 2004.