Our Father in Heaven is Always Near to Us

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer 

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

Jesus said, “Pray then like this, ‘Our father, who art in heaven …’” (Matthew 6:9)

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The angel Gabriel was in heaven and on earth at the same time showing us that heaven is not far away.

We know from the Holy Bible that God resides in heaven, and that is a place which seems far away from us because it is a place which we have absolutely no way to get to on our own. Yet, God is never far away from us. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told His followers, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) This is not metaphorical (or “spiritual”), but it is real. Jesus is never far away even though He is in heaven. Jesus is with us always as He has promised. Those who say otherwise are calling Jesus a liar. We cannot get to Him in heaven, but He can easily get to us because He is with us always, even when He is in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

If you read Scripture carefully you can see that heaven really is not far from us here on earth, though we cannot access it ourselves. One of the earliest examples of God being near us is found in Genesis 9:16. This happens after the great flood when God gives the rainbow as a sign of His mercy and He promises not to punish us with another great flood, though our sins deserve it and much more. God says, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” It is interesting to note that the sign of the rainbow is for God to see and remember His covenant. The sign is not only for us. Though we should note that rainbows are only visible as bows to people standing on earth. I remember sitting in an airplane flying above the clouds during the middle of the day, and looking out the window and seeing on the clouds below the shadow of the plane surrounded by a complete circular prism of light. It wasn’t a half-circle like a bow, but a full circle. For God to see something shaped like a bow, He has to be here on earth with us, not above the clouds. This is a comfort because of the promise of the rainbow – that God will not destroy us because of our disobedience and sin, but will rescue us through Jesus. 

We also see that heaven is not far from us when the angel, Gabriel visited the priest, Zechariah in Luke 1:19. The angel told Zechariah, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” Now, Gabriel was standing in the temple in Jerusalem talking with Zechariah, but he was also, at the same time, standing in the presence of God (though Zechariah could not see God as the angel did). This is yet another example that heaven is not somewhere far away, but is very near to us, as God, who is in heaven, is very near to us. Our problem is that, as sinners, we do not have access to God, or His heaven, except through those earthly Means of Grace which God gives us to bring us a taste of heaven here on earth. Those Means of Grace are God’s Word, and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these earthly gifts, God gives us a little bit of heaven so that we may receive the forgiveness of our sins, and be strengthened in our faith, so that we may at last receive the complete fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ – the resurrection and sanctification of our bodies, and everlasting life in God’s paradise as His Holy children who have been redeemed by Christ Jesus, our crucified savior. 

God’s merciful promise of the rainbow also shows that He is near us always as He also promised.

Those who think heaven is somewhere far away do themselves a disservice by also thinking that Jesus is far away. The world very quickly starts to feel quite threatening and dangerous if we find that we are here alone and Jesus is far away. That is why Jesus reassured His followers at His ascension that He is with us always. (see Matthew 28:20 above) We should believe Jesus even (and especially) when it seems like we are all alone and in danger from worldly and spiritual temptations and dangers. 

We all can understand why Jesus seems so far away from us. We are physical creatures, and we cannot sense God’s heavenly kingdom with our physical senses, so we can feel vulnerable and alone when temptations and dangers are near. It is in those times when we rely on faith in Jesus to give comfort and assurance. Everything in the world may tell us that the situation is hopeless, and that the “great” powers of the world are too powerful to be overcome, yet, when we trust God’s Word, we can be assured that God is in control, and “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to (Jesus)”. (Matthew 28:18) We also have the assurance that, on account of Christ, God will protect us and give us good things so that nothing can steal away our salvation. (See Romans 8:31-39) God indeed is Sovereign and powerful, but He doesn’t use His power to force us to serve Him. God gave us His Son, Jesus, to win our salvation through His life and death, and then God gives us His Word to tell us all He has done to save us so that we might believe. Through this faith (i.e. believing God’s Word) and Holy Baptism, God adopts us as His beloved, redeemed, children. 

Since God now considers us as His children, He will not abandon us to sin, nor to our enemies in this world, nor to our enemies in the spiritual world. We cannot fully access the heavenly realm as sinners in a sinful world, but we don’t have to. We have God’s Word and His assurance that He is near and that He is in control – despite all evidence that we are alone and in danger. Christians need to believe God’s Word and trust in Him to protect us when in danger, and to rescue us from all sin and death as necessary. God keeps His promises and is unfailingly trustworthy.

What was Jesus Like as a Boy?

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Most images of this event in Luke 2 can be somewhat misleading. The boy Jesus came to learn, not to teach.

“And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:40-52)

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God’s Word is the greatest treasure on earth. There is nothing on earth that can give you the blessings that God’s word can give. God had the Holy Bible written to show us what He has done to save us, so that we might trust in Him and be saved through that faith. God Himself works through His Word to bring you forgiveness and salvation. Nothing else in all the world can save you from sin and death and give you eternal life in God’s paradise. That is why God’s Word is such a great treasure.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

God’s Word is such a treasure that God has made sure that from the time that Moses wrote the first five books about 3,500 years ago until now, the Holy Bible has been preserved so that at all times in history God’s people could hear it or read it and learn that God is our loving Father and creator and redeemer. God’s Word first shows us that we are all sinners, descended from Adam and Eve, and we would all be under God’s condemnation, but for God’s mercy. This is likely why more people do not appreciate this great treasure. Sinners don’t like to be reminded of the truth of our sin. We like to think we are better than we are, and more holy. The truth, however, is that we are rebellious sinners, and we all desperately need God to save us from death, which is the condemnation of sin. Every person who ever lived on earth before 1903 has died. That includes the one man who never sinned nor deserved death, but who gave His life to redeem us all from the curse of sin. That man is Jesus. We need to hear the truth of our sin, no matter if we want to or not. If we deny the truth of our sin, then we will deny the blessings God has provided for us in Jesus. But, as Saint John wrote, “If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

God became incarnate as a man to redeem sinners from sin and death.

God’s Word does not only tell us how bad we are, and how much we need a savior, but it also shows us what God has done through Jesus to rescue and redeem us from the consequences of our sin. God, in His essence, is a Spirit, and He is eternal and cannot die. In order for Him to provide for our redemption the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as a baby who grew into a man. He is like us in every way, except without sin. Jesus had to be a man so that He could not only keep and fulfill God’s Law, but so that He could offer His life in payment for the lives of all of us sinners. We might not know any of this, except for the fact that God had it written down and preserved for us to hear and read and know, so that we may be saved.

The Bible was not just written for you and me. God also had it written and preserved for Jesus, also. When Jesus read the Bible it was a little different! The Bible Jesus read was not different than what we read today, but Jesus is a little different than us because He is holy and sinless. Also, because the Bible is all about Jesus, it affected Him a little differently. Jesus once told the Pharisees, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

In His state of humiliation, Jesus did not remember being equal with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. He had to learn about God the same way we do – by reading the Holy Bible. Jesus also had to trust that the Bible is God’s Word, and is completely true. This was especially important when Jesus was dying on the cross. When He was suffering the Father’s wrath for the sins of the world, He only had to rely on God’s promises in the Holy Scriptures that this was God’s will, and that everything He was doing would work out for the glory of God, and the salvation of the human race.

God’s Law is good and righteous but it condemns sinners. Jesus had no sin and was not condemned by God’s Law.

God’s Law did not condemn Jesus – because He did not inherit the corruption of sin from His mother, and He committed no sin in His life. Jesus happily obeyed God’s Law because as the Son of God, the Commandments of God completely fit with His holy nature. Where we would naturally rebel against God’s commands, Jesus naturally obeyed God’s commands, and was happy to do so. We, too should be happy to obey God’s commands, because they are good and right and beneficial to each one of us and to our neighbors, but because we are corrupted by sin, we don’t always do so.

Also, Jesus had a slightly different perspective concerning the salvation promised for us. Jesus did not need salvation from sin, since He had no inherited sin. Also, because Jesus was sinless in everything He did, He was not condemned by God’s Law. However, Jesus was the one sent from God to pay the price for the salvation of us sinners. Though, because the price was the sacrifice of His life, the promise of salvation which gives us great hope and comfort was a death sentence for Jesus, if He was willing to endure it. Jesus would need to trust in God the Father to rescue Him from death if He accepted the Father’s will and desire that He would give His life in exchange for our forgiveness and salvation. The Father did not force Jesus to give up His life, and suffer and die for sinners, but because it was the Father’s will that Jesus would redeem us from our sins, then Jesus was willing to please the Father and do what was needed to save us from our sins – including innocently suffering crucifixion and God’s wrath over our sins, and dying to pay the price for sin.

Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year for the feast of the Passover. He doesn’t tell us if Jesus went with them also, but, whether He did nor not, the year he turned 12 was special. He had attained a certain level of maturity, and was likely allowed a little more freedom and autonomy than before. I’m sure it helped that Jesus was perfectly obedient and sinless, because Joseph and Mary knew they could trust Him to do what He ought to do. Though, on this occasion, what Jesus rightly did, was not particularly what they expected Him to do.

It is likely that Jesus came to learn about God’s mercy for His people in the events of the Passover.

Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus and the teachers talked about, but an obvious topic of conversation would have been the Passover, and its meaning for Israel, and for the Messiah. He might have asked something like, “What was the Passover all about?” They would have told Him, “The Passover was the salvation of the people of Israel. God had decreed that the firstborn in every household of Egypt would die. However, among the Israelites, God would accept a substitute – a lamb – who would be sacrificed instead of the firstborn. The substitute, the lamb, would die, so that the firstborn child would live. This showed God’s mercy and love.” Jesus would have learned that it is good and right to love God with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. God is a just and righteous God, but He is also merciful and forgiving to sinners, and loves them. Because Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He also felt the same way about sinners, even as a boy, and even later as a man.

If people sin against you, you likely would want revenge, or at least just punishment. You are not likely to suffer and die for the people who betrayed you, or hurt you, or murdered you. But Jesus is different.

When the twelve year old Jesus was talking with the teachers in the temple, He might also have asked what the events of the Passover had to do with the Messiah. If they didn’t have a quick answer, Jesus likely would have quoted other Scriptures which would have led them to the correct answer. “Why does Isaiah write, ‘Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’”? Something like this is likely why the teachers were impressed with the questions that Jesus asked. The events of the Passover were a prophetic type of how the Messiah would come and save the world from the condemnation of their sins. The Messiah would offer His life in place of all people – like a substitutionary sacrificial lamb, so that He would take the punishment of death, and so all people would have forgiveness. Not everyone would receive the benefits of this forgiveness, only those who believe, but the forgiveness was there for everyone, if they wanted it.

What this meant for Jesus was that He was the sacrificial lamb of God who was going to have to offer His life to God the Father in place of all sinners in the world, so that He would bear the punishment for our sin, so that we would be forgiven and live. The amazing thing about the love that Jesus had for God the Father, is that when Jesus realized that He would have to endure God’s wrath for all the sins of the world, and die for wicked, rebellious sinners like all the rest of us, Jesus did not reject this plan, but agreed to do it because it was God’s Will. Jesus was willing to suffer and die as an innocent lamb to pay for the sins of every wicked sinner who ever was conceived on earth, and whoever would be conceived until the last day. This is the great love that God has for us – that He would live as a man in a sinful world, and still die to save sinners!

Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The Word of God brings all this to us, but that is not the only treasure that God gives us. God also combines His holy Word with water in Holy Baptism to wash away our sins and to give us a new birth as God’s beloved children. Jesus also combines His holy Word with bread and wine to give each one of us His body and blood which he sacrificed to pay for our sins. Just as the Israelites in Moses’ day ate the sacrificial lamb who saved the firstborn from the Angel of Death, and thus received the blessings of that sacrifice, Jesus offers us His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper that we may receive the blessings of His sacrifice. These blessings include the forgiveness of sins, and victory over sin and death. Jesus shares these treasures with us to make us His children and keep us in the faith until he comes to take all His children to His heavenly kingdom where we will live forever in holiness with Jesus.

When Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem He told them that He had to be doing His Father’s business, but Jesus also submitted to His earthly parents and obeyed them like a good and holy child. All this Jesus did out of love for you, so that you may know the love of God, and trust in Jesus to save you from your sins. What a great treasure we have here today. May you treasure God’s Word as the most valuable thing on earth, and trust in Jesus to save you from your sins and give you everlasting life.

Jesus is always doing His Father’s Business

Be Strong and Courageous in the Lord

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

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God told Joshua, “Be strong and courageous for I am with you wherever you go.”

The context of Joshua 1 is that the prophet Moses has just died and God was giving directions to his successor, Joshua. Four times in Joshua chapter one God tells Joshua to “be strong and courageous,” and a few chapters earlier in the book of Deuteronomy (chapter 31) Moses tells Joshua twice to “be strong and courageous” and God tells Joshua the same thing once. One gets the idea that Joshua was neither strong nor courageous that he needed such encouragement.

One might think this despite the fact that 40 years earlier Joshua and Caleb were the only Israelite scouts of the 12 who scouted out the land of Canaan who were not intimidated by the Canaanites and their fortified cities and who courageously told the Israelites, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:7-9)

In an article from 2014 (Perfect Love Drives Out All Fear) I showed how courage comes from love, especially from the love of God above all things. Whether Joshua needed such encouragement or not, I do not know. Perhaps God was only reminding Joshua of His love for the Israelites to strengthen Joshua’s courage to do what needed to be done to take the land that God was giving to His people to prepare for the day when all His promises will be fulfilled and the Messiah would be born in that land who would save the world from their sins.

Jesus shows how God loves us like a loving father loves his children.

The courage that God gives to Joshua and the Israelites is not a generic courage to not be afraid in any circumstance. It is a very specific courage. It is a courage to remain faithful to the One True God in the face of all doubt and temptation that the world may use to try to turn you against God, or to fear something above God, which is idolatry. There are so many temptations in the world to doubt God, and to fear what the world could do to us. When Christ’s followers were turning away from him because they found His teaching hard (John 6), Jesus did not beg His disciples to stay. He gave them the opportunity to leave, too, saying “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter answered for the disciples, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Likewise Saint Paul had a similar courage from the love of Christ when He wrote to the Romans, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

If God is with us, as He has promised (See Matthew 28:20 where Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”), then what can the world do to us? The most the world can do to us is to make our lives a little more painful for a little while, and take away our lives, but as sinners we already suffer and we will all die at some point, but all who love Christ belong to God as His children and will live forever with Christ who saves us. Why should we fear the world? Why would we ever turn our backs on Christ who lived and died to save us from the wickedness of this sinful world?

Do not be tempted by the world’s sinful pleasures. Do not be afraid of their empty threats. Do not be discouraged. God has come down to earth to be with you and to save you from sin and death. Jesus lived and died to pay for your sin so that you will live forever with Christ in His heavenly paradise. Be strong and courageous through faith in Christ, for He is the Lord God who will be with you wherever you go.

God is Your Great Reward

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.’” Genesis 15:1

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Abram Believed God and He credited it to him as Righteousness

It is natural for people to think that we have to do something to make God think favorably toward us. This is yet another way that our sinful nature has corrupted our thinking and our attitude toward God. This is the pagan way of thinking about God. The pagan must manipulate his god in order to get something good, but in doing so, the pagan thinks he is greater than his god because if he gets what he wants, then the pagan is telling the god what to do. Then he views his god as his servant and he is the master.

The True God is much different than the pagan view of god. God tells Abram (later renamed “Abraham”), “I am your shield.” That is to say that God is the one who protects His people, of whom Abram is one. God needs no protection because God is almighty, but in His mercy and love He protects His people who are weak and vulnerable to the evil plans of sinners in the world.

God also tells Abram, “I am your great reward.” In the context of Genesis 15 Abram had just rescued his nephew Lot after he was kidnapped by evil armies. Abram assembled a small army of his household workers and defeated the armies of the four kings that overthrew the five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby kingdoms. Abram did not accept a reward for this valuable service, but gave honor and praise to God who gave him the victory. In return, God tells Abram, “I am your great reward.”

Abram recognizes that God is saying that He will give Abram some great blessing, but Abram knows he is old, and whatever good thing that God gives him will pass to his heir, of which he has none, and because of his advanced age, and the age of his elderly wife, he is not likely to produce an heir. Yet God promises Abram that his wife, Sarah, will give birth to a son and Abram’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Then the Scriptures say that “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Jesus said, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.” Jesus is our very great reward.“”“”

The blessing that God promised Abram was not only worldly wealth, though Abram was a somewhat wealthy person in worldly terms. The great blessing God gave to Abram was God, Himself. God said, “I am your great reward.” One of Abram’s descendants would be God in the flesh who would be the savior of the world – the salvation of all who trust in God to save them from their sins. This promise was first made to Adam and Eve on the day that they rebelled against God and fell into sin, and here it was repeated to Abram.

Scriptures say “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” This is why Christians look to Abraham as our Spiritual ancestor, even though he may not be our physical ancestor. We believe in the same God that Abraham knew and trusted. We recognize Jesus as the Christ, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all faithful people since Adam and Eve fell into sin.

God, Himself is our great reward. He is our savior from sin and death. He became incarnate as a man to take the punishment that we deserved because of our sin. Jesus endured God the Father’s wrath over our sin, and suffered the death that we deserved. He did this to rescue you from that same fate. We receive this salvation through faith, just as Abram was considered righteous by believing God’s promises. Do not be afraid. God is your shield and your very great reward.

Plagues in the Bible

by Pastor Paul Wolff
 
Psalm 103:1-5 “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 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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God allowed Job to be afflicted but Job's friends blamed him for his troubles.

The Bible verse above is a great comfort for Christians in times of sickness or injury. God is the Lord who forgives your sins and heals all your diseases. As I write this it is the end of the first quarter of 2020. The world has gone crazy about a deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), which nevertheless seems to only have a similar death rate as any influenza virus which makes its rounds throughout the world every year. People don’t usually panic over the flu, though it kills tens of thousands of people annually, but on account of this virus people have gone insane. It seems like most of the United States and several other countries have just about shut down over the fear of this virus. The vast majority of people who contract the disease recover from it, just like the flu, but people, reporters, and governments have still gone mad over this disease.

The world’s insane overreaction to this has made me think of Biblical plagues, so I did a study of plagues in the Bible. Every plague in the Bible comes and goes at the command of God to suit His good purposes. He is in control and that should make us fearful and comforted at the same time. Let us look at some representative examples that I found in my study.

Exodus 7:17  
“This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.”  
The purpose of the ten plagues in Egypt was to get Egypt’s Pharaoh (and the Egyptian people) to know that God is the true King over all kings and God over all gods. The Israelite people who were enslaved to the Pharaoh worshiped the true God, while the Egyptians worshiped a variety of gods which were all false. After ten plagues God showed that He is the true God who has absolute power over all false gods and even over the powerful kings in the world.

God told Moses that He would protect His people from plagues and diseases.

Exodus 30:11-12  
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.”  
God required this of the Israelites because they weren’t just another nation on earth, but they were also the visible church on earth. They were God’s representatives among the nations. Yet, the Israelites were sinners like everyone else, and no better, so God used the occasion of a census to require the Israelites to give an offering to God to ransom their lives. This was a typological prophesy concerning the messiah who was to come. He would pay the ultimate ransom to redeem the lives of all people from their sins. This periodic ransom was also a reminder to God’s people that because of our sin we are under the condemnation of death, were it not for the mercy of God who accepts the ransom of Christ in our place.

It is most likely a coincidence that in 2020, as I write this, we are in the process of conducting a census in the United States. The coronavirus plague did not come to afflict only the USA, but it originated in China, and afflicts most of the nations of the world. I don’t know how many nations are conducting a census in 2020, but I suspect that not all the affected countries are conducting a census. It is certainly not good that wicked, lawless judges prevented the Trump administration from asking how many people were U.S. citizens and how many were foreigners living here. The results of the 2020 census will be missing important information, but it is not clear that this is why God sent the coronavirus plague.

However, the coronavirus plague is a good occasion to repent of your sins, and trust in Jesus Christ to rescue you from sin and illness and death. In Luke 13:2-3, Jesus responded to a question about an incident which resulted in tragic deaths by saying, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” God protects His people from plagues and disaster all the time, but we should not grow complacent thinking that we are invulnerable or that we don’t deserve to die of the plague. We are all sinners and do not deserve life. You only live by the grace of God and the love of Jesus Christ who gave His life as a ransom for your life.

Jesus is the Good Samaritan who heals the wounds of His enemy.

Exodus 32:35  
“And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.”
After the Israelites made a golden idol and worshiped it as their god, the true God sent this plague upon the people to punish their idolatry. However, we ought also to remember what is written in Hebrews 12:6, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” This is to keep us trusting in God for forgiveness and the blessings of life, which we in no way deserve. Scripture goes on in Hebrews 12:7, “God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” This is a great comfort in a time of trial or disease. God is treating us as his beloved children to discipline us and make us trust in Him more so that we may receive greater blessings, and testify to others that God is merciful and will rescue us from all trouble.

Numbers 14:37-38  
“… These men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.”  
Again, in the days of Moses, God sent a plague which was specifically targeted at the ten Israelite scouts who gave a bad report about the land of Canaan, and tried to turn the people against God. God had already promised that He would take the land from the Canaanites and give the land to the Israelites as He had promised to their ancestor, Abraham. All ten of the unfaithful men died of this plague, but the other two Israelite scouts, Joshua and Caleb, survived because they were faithful to God and reported that the land was flowing with milk and honey, and that God would give this fruitful prosperous land to them as He had promised.

Jesus healed many people of disease, and He raised some from the dead, like Lazarus.

Numbers 16  
In Numbers 16 Moses recounts the wickedness of Korah and his followers who started a rebellion against Moses, whom God had chosen to lead the people. God sent fire which consumed 250 men who were community organizers rebelling against God’s appointed leaders. Then God sent a plague against the people, who accused Moses of killing Korah and his followers. The plague killed 14,700 people in addition to the 250 who died in the fire that God sent. Here God targeted those who were affected, and showed the people that He is in control, not Moses, nor any other of the people.

Numbers 25
Numbers 25 recounts a plague that God sent against the Israelites when they began sacrificing to foreign false gods, and indulging in sexual immorality with women who worshiped foreign idols. The plague killed 24,000 people until it was stopped when Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron (Moses’ brother), saw a man bring a Midianite woman into his tent right before the eyes of Moses and Israel. Phinehas took a spear and impaled the man and the woman, and then God stopped the plague.

Deuteronomy 28
In Deuteronomy 28 God gives blessings and curses to His people. God promises that they will be blessed if they trust in Him and do what He asks of them. God also promises that they will be cursed and have all sorts of bad things befall them if they forsake Him and turn to false gods. Among the curses are plagues and famine and all kind of trouble. God wants us to trust in Him for blessings because He is the only one who redeems us from our sin and death. We can’t do it ourselves, nor can we find any rescue in created things. Here the plagues are the Law of God put into action to dissuade us from rebelling against God. The blessings, on the other hand, are positive encouragement to trust in God in all things.

1 Samuel 6  

Jesus let Peter walk on the water but Peter lost faith and began to drown. Jesus rescued him from his troubles.

In 1 Samuel 6, in the days of the Judges, God allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark of the Covenant of God, because the unfaithful priests of God allowed it to be taken into battle without first consulting God as to whether they should do so. They were trying to manipulate God to do as they wanted, which is how the pagans view their false gods. Though God allowed the Philistines to capture the symbol of God’s presence among His people, He also used it to bring a plague to the Philistines in whatever town the Ark of the Covenant was residing at the time. The plagues did not stop until the Philistines gave an offering of gold to God and put the Ark on a cart drawn by two cows which had never been yoked, but had given birth to calves. The cows calmly pulled the cart straight to Israelite territory as if they were led by God Himself (which they were), and God stopped the plague he sent against the Philistines. Though God also struck down seventy Israelite men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the Lord’s Ark though this was forbidden for them to do so, and they should have known better. (see also Psalm 106)

2 Samuel 24  
In 2 Samuel 24 (and 1 Chronicles 21) God sent a plague against Israel in the days of King David because David conducted an unlawful census (remember God’s instructions from Exodus 30 above). The Angel of the Lord sent a plague on Israel which killed 70,000 people. When David repented of his sinful pride the Angel of the Lord was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David then bought the threshing floor from Araunah, though Araunah offered to give it to David for pleading to God to stop the Angel of the Lord from killing him and his men, but David insisted on paying a fair price for the site. That location later became the place where Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (See 2 Chronicles 3:1).

The Lord is my Shepherd He leads me by the still waters. He restores my soul.

There are many verses in Jeremiah’s prophesy where there is a recurring threat that God will send “the sword, famine and plague” against His people to destroy them unless they repented of their unbelief and idolatry. There are at least 15 occurrences of this formula in the book of Jeremiah warning the people to turn from their sinful ways so that God will relent from the destruction that he prophesied against them. Sadly, the people did not listen to God’s prophet, and God sent the Babylonians to destroy Judah and take the survivors into captivity and slavery in Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel picked up on Jeremiah’s formula and uses the same phrase several times to call the people to repentance in his day.

There are many other instances of plagues described and prophesied in the Scriptures. Without exception they all arrive and withdraw at the command and direction of God. He is in control of all plagues and disease at all times. This is a comfort to us because although God is the one who sends plagues, He is also the one who has mercy on His people who turn to Him and call upon Him to rescue them from their sin and death. We know that God will hear our prayer because in Jesus He became a man to suffer and die to redeem sinners from the consequences of their sin, so that they may be rescued from sin and death and be raised to life in His glorious kingdom where there is no “sword, famine, and plague” and where there is no sin and death. All who call upon Jesus to save them will live with Him in His glorious paradise forever in grateful devotion for the salvation won for us by Jesus.

May Christ keep you safe and healthy, or give you healing, as the plague comes through your town. Repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ to protect your life, and He will give you His precious gift of eternal life.

 

How to Avoid Going Your Own Way to Hell

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The prodigal son left his family to go his own way. He soon repented of his sin.

Lord, to You I make confession:  
I have sinned and gone astray,  
I have multiplied transgression,  
chosen for myself my way.  
Led by You to see my errors,  
Lord, I tremble at Your terrors.

Yet though conscience’ voice appall me,  
Father, I will seek Your face;  
Though Your child I dare not call me,  
Yet receive me in Your grace.  
Do not for my sins forsake me;  
let Your wrath not overtake me.

For Your Son has suffered for me, 
giv’n Himself to rescue me,  
died to save me and restore me,  
reconciled and set me free.  
Jesus’ cross alone can vanquish
these dark fears and soothe this anguish.

Lord, on You I cast my burden –  
sink it in the deepest sea!  
Let me know Your gracious pardon,
cleanse me from iniquity.  
Let Your Spirit leave me never;  
Make me only Yours forever.

(Hymn verses from “Lord, to You I make Confession”, Lutheran Service Book #608, or The Lutheran Hymnal #326, Public Domain)

This past Sunday we sang the above hymn in church, and as often happens, I found myself singing this hymn in my head throughout the week. This is why it is so important to sing good hymns in church so that even throughout the week our thoughts are properly focused on confessing our sins to God and trusting in Jesus to forgive us. What a great tragedy it would have been if we had sung some catchy little ditty which whitewashed my guilt and praised me for some supposed good in me rather than praising Christ for His work to redeem me and save me from my sins. I don’t want such nonsense being repeated in my mind because none of that can save me. It might make me feel good to sing about how good I am, but it is a lie and can only lead me to be content in my sin on my way to hell. Hymns like the one above are good to focus my attention where it belongs: on Jesus as my savior from sin. This is what gives true comfort and peace, and keeps my feet on the right path.

As I repeated this hymn in my mind this week I was struck by the line in the first verse which says, “I have … chosen for myself my way.” In this hymn this is my confession of sin. “Lord, forgive me for choosing to go my way instead of Yours.” This is completely opposite to the way of the world. The world’s ideal is similar to what Frank Sinatra used to sing, “I did it my way” (and countless other similarly themed songs from Sinatra and others). The world thinks it is a virtue to “go your own way” and to do what you want when you want. That seems to us like “freedom,” but it is actually much closer to hell than to heaven.

God condemned the Israelites saying, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” God sent judges such as Samson to rescue them.

In the Biblical book of Judges the wickedness of the Israelites is summed up by the last verse of the book, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The problem wasn’t a lack of a king. God was the King of Israel, but the people didn’t recognize God as their king and did what was right in their own eyes, but they did wrong in the eyes of God, their king. The pattern in Judges was that the people would turn away from God, then God would send an enemy such as the Philistines, or the Midianites, or others, to come and steal their wealth and their food and generally make life difficult for them, until they repented and turned back to God asking Him to rescue them. God would send a judge to defeat the enemy, and as long as the judge lived the people remembered God and prospered. When the judge died the people quickly forgot God and turned to idols and the cycle began again. It was a strong condemnation of God’s people that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  

There is some evidence in popular culture that choosing your own way is a bad thing. In 1976 Lindsay Buckingham wrote a song for Fleetwood Mac titled, “Go your own way.” It was a breakup song and he was essentially saying to his lover, “If you will not go with me on our way together, then you can go your own way, but I am going a different way.” This is a beautiful but sad song highlighting the painful effects of sin and betrayal and regret from broken relationships in this wicked world. To those who listen carefully, this song clearly communicates the heartbreak Mr. Buckingham feels over his lover’s betrayal. The problem is that the heartbreak is wrapped in such a beautiful song with the chorus repeating, “You can go your own way” that I can easily imagine people listening to it casually, but not thinking about it, might say, “Hey, I can go my own way! That is exactly what I want to do.” It may seem fun at first, but before long they find themselves sad and alone living a hellish life on earth and wondering why things aren’t as great as they had thought they would be.

There is also an early 21^st century movement known as MGTOW – “Men Going Their Own Way” which is a reaction against feminism. Feminism is, at its heart, essentially fascism for women. Feminists want to exercise power and control over men, but because that goes against the natural, God-created, order of things, no man will ever be content to let feminists have their way. There is a sense in which MGTOW is a move toward rationality, because an extreme male fascism is just as bad as a female fascism, and going your own way seems like a way out of the political power struggles of male-female relationships. However, men and women going their separate ways is sad and lonely. God made the woman for the man, and the man for the woman, and He blessed this marriage with children. If all men and women went their separate ways the entire population would be essentially dead in less than 50 years, and completely dead in no more than 120 years. This is just one example of how going your own way leads to death. There are many more ways.

The loving father forgave his wayward son and rejoiced at his return.

In Christ’s Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) the younger son seeks to go his own way and do what he wants. The loving father mourns for his son as if he were dead, but he lets him do what he wants, but prays that he will come back. We see this because once the wayward son realizes that he has sinned and is worse off than a pig, the father is out on his porch looking for his son and sees him coming when he is still a long way off. The father then runs to meet him and rejoices that not only is the one who was lost now found, but he who was “dead” is now alive! In the parable, the loving father represents God, who lets us go our own way if we want, but warns us that our self chosen way does not end well. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Sin always leads so sorrow, suffering, and death. Since all people are sinners, we all, by nature, seek to gratify our sinful desires rather than seeking to do good for our neighbor. Even when we think we are seeking to do good for our neighbor, we are more likely doing evil than good. Scripture says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) This is why we must repent of our sins and confess to God, “I have … chosen for myself my way.” The hymn verses above then look to Christ for forgiveness, healing, and restoration from all that has been broken by sin in our lives. We seek God’s face (v. 2) because He is the one who made us, and can restore us through His healing power, and through Jesus, He is the one who gave Himself to suffer and die to save me and restore me to set me free from the deadly consequences of sin (v. 3). It is Christ also who has sent the Holy Spirit to give me comfort in the midst of the loneliness and sorrow of this sinful world (v. 4).

Psalm 32:5
“I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

2 Corinthians 5:17-21  
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Psalm 51:3-11  
“For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.  
Against you, you only, have I sinned  
and done what is evil in your sight,  
so that you may be justified in your words  
and blameless in your judgment.  
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,  
and in sin did my mother conceive me. 
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.  
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;  
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.  
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.  
Create in me a clean heart, O God,  
and renew a right spirit within me.  
Cast me not away from your presence,  
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”