The Opposite of Murder

(Part Three in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus restored life to the daughter of Jairus after she had died. (Luke 8:40-56) Photo of woodcut from Valparaiso University Chapel

The opposite of death is life. What is the opposite of murder? If murder is the taking of life, then the opposite is the giving of life. Can you give life to another? A father and mother do give life to their child, and that is truly a great gift from God in so many ways. This is the opposite of murder, but that is a one-time event. What if that child loses his life or has it taken away? Can anyone give him his life back, or give him new life? Such a thing is impossible in this world. Once your life is gone or taken away, it cannot be returned or restored. This is why the sin of murder is considered so evil, and why the sin of murder is different than most other sins.

Martin Luther’s explanation to the Fifth Commandment in the Small Catechism says, “We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.” This shows us that there is more to keeping the Fifth commandment than simply refraining from murdering your neighbor. God also requires that we help preserve and protect our neighbor’s body and life. Luther got this from several places in Scripture, but it is taught most clearly in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22) Here Jesus shows that God’s concern for life isn’t just a sharp distinction between life and death, but is much more involved. We must help our neighbor whenever we can. When God confronted Adam’s son, Cain, about the whereabouts of his brother, Abel, Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was the elder brother, and should have been watching out for his brother and keeping his life protected, instead he murdered his brother (more on this in an upcoming article in my Biblical Vignettes on Murder series). We all should keep our neighbor’s life safe from harm as we are able (pun intended).

Jesus never committed murder, and He also did even more in the positive sense to obey God’s command against murder. When Jesus began His ministry and revealed Himself as the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, He also began to miraculously heal many people from all kinds of afflictions. Jesus healed the lame, and those suffering from all kinds of illnesses. He restored hearing and sight to those who were deaf and blind. In doing this, Jesus not only showed His divine power as God in the flesh, but He showed great love and concern for the life and well-being of all kinds of people. Jesus also raised several people back to life who had died. This is definitely the opposite of murder.

Jesus Restored life to Lazarus after he had been in the grave four days. (See John 11)

During His earthly ministry Jesus restored life to several people who had lost theirs. Jesus restored life to the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:40-56), the widow’s son in the town of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus of Bethany, who had been dead four days when Jesus called him out of his grave (John 11). In all these ways Jesus actively obeyed the commandment against murder, and fulfilled God’s Law.

Jesus didn’t stop there, however. It still was not enough for Jesus to restore health and life to a few sinners who had lost theirs. Every one of those people whom Jesus healed and raised from the dead also died later. These miracles were temporary solutions, but that wasn’t all Jesus did for us. He did much more. Jesus wanted to provide a permanent solution and cure for sin, sickness, and death, so He offered His life to God, the Father, in payment for the sins of the world. Because Jesus is the beloved Son of God who is sinless and perfect in every way, God, the Father, accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as full payment for the sins of all people of all time. By giving His life as payment for the sins of the world, Jesus also destroyed the power of death. Death is the ultimate consequence of sin, but Jesus died to pay for the sins of all people. Since the price for our sin has already been paid, we no longer have to die. Yes, there is still temporal death, which is a consequence of sin, and which must come to all sinners (except for those still alive on earth when Jesus returns on the last day), but this temporal death is now only temporary. In Acts 3:15 Saint Peter preached to the Jews after Christ’s resurrection, and told them that Jesus was the “author of life” – referencing His divine nature as God, the creator of all things, including people. The irony of Peter’s post-resurrection sermon wasn’t just that they killed the “author or life”, but that the “author of life” willingly gave up His life to redeem the lives of sinful people such as those who killed Him.

Since Jesus has overcome sin and death, when Jesus returns on the last day He will raise to life all people who have ever died on earth – from the first person to die, Abel (Son of Adam and Eve), to the last person to die before Christ’s return. This resurrection will not be temporary, like the raising of Lazarus (and the others), but it will be an eternal resurrection. For all who believe and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins the resurrected life will be a glorious life in paradise as God’s beloved children – adopted back into the family by Christ. For all who reject and despise Jesus and His work and gift of forgiveness and salvation for them, their resurrected life will be an endless hell of torment, suffering, and pain. Jesus paid for the sins of all people and provides salvation for all as a free gift, but those who reject the gift through unbelief do not benefit from it at all through their rejection. I believe a large part of the torment of the damned is that Jesus gave them forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift, and they rejected life in favor of death (their remaining torment is that they continue to hold on to their sin and hate God, though He is holy and completely good – so they are stuck with sin and death forever by their own choice).

We cannot give life and healing as Jesus did, but we can do what we are able to help preserve and protect our neighbor’s life. We can start by praying for our neighbor’s good welfare (including our enemies). We can also speak up to defend our neighbor against those who would harm them. Also, if we are able, or have special training, we can give aid and comfort to those whose life and health are endangered.

Another depiction of Jesus raising Jairus' Daughter from the dead. See Mark 5:22-24, 35-43

Jesus is the opposite of murder because He is the source of life, the salvation of those who are dying and those who are dead, and the giver of life everlasting. In John 5:19-21 Jesus taught, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” Jesus shows the nature of the Triune God as a loving God who desires the forgiveness and salvation of sinners so much that He would become incarnate as a man, and live and die to pay the price of death for sin so that whoever believes in Him would not perish in their sins, but would have eternal life in paradise with Him. This is not just a temporary opposite of murder, but a permanent life – the eternal opposite of murder, and the opposite of all death. Through faith in Jesus we will be restored by Him to be what God intended us to be (i.e. sinless and holy) to live an eternal, life without sin, suffering, and death.

“The Jews gathered around (Jesus), saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:24-30) Jesus gives life because He has paid the price to redeem all sinners. This is the perfect opposite of murder, because through His life and death, Jesus undoes the effects of sin and death. Jesus then freely gives forgiveness of sins through faith, and gives eternal life to all who listen to His voice and trusts in Him for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus does this because Jesus is equally God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is God’s will that we trust in Him and are saved from our sin to live forever with Him.

There is so much more in the Holy Bible about God’s work as the opposite of murder that this article could go on for many pages, but I will deal with some of them in later articles in this series.

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Articles in this series:

You Shall Not Murder

The True God Cannot Murder

Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

The True God Cannot Murder

(Part Two in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God Gave the Ten Commandments so we would know what is good and right.

You will sometimes hear atheists asking a rhetorical question which goes something like, “If God is so good, then how can he allow so much suffering and death in the world?” They may give some example of a situation where a number of innocent people were killed by evil people, or they will more likely mention a “natural disaster” or an “act of God” where many people die through no fault of their own, or of anyone else. These questions assume that God is unjust in allowing such tragedies to happen, or that God is unwilling or unable to stop evil, or that somehow God is the cause of such evil, and so is evil himself. Atheists love to ask such questions because they assume that God is evil, and they are good and holy. They assume this because they are the ones judging God and imagining that they find Him guilty. This way of thinking also absolves them (though only in the delusion of their own thoughts) of their murderous desires, thoughts and actions. If people think God is guilty of murder then they will feel free to do the same.

In truth, the One, True God cannot commit murder. The only true God is the Triune God – One God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. It is important, however, to understand that murder is the unjust taking of life. God may take someone’s life, but He is always just and righteous in doing so. Since God is the creator of everything and everyone He makes the rules which we must follow, and since He is the redeemer who paid for the sins of all mankind we know that God’s rules are good and are for our benefit. God is not the origin or source of sin and evil. Some of God’s good angels fell into sin and became demons first, and one of them lured Adam and Eve into sin through wicked temptation. As our creator and redeemer, God is intimately involved in the life and death of everyone who has ever lived in the history of the world, and all who will ever live to the end of the world. Yet, it is against God’s nature to commit murder. This is why God gave us the Fifth Commandment (as Lutherans, and most other Christians, count the Commandments), “You shall not murder.” God gave us this commandment because He does not murder, and so that we also would not murder. 

Sinful people commit murder because, since the fall into sin, our nature has been corrupted, and it is now in our nature to murder. God did not create people to murder, nor has God ever murdered anyone. God created Adam and Eve in His image, which meant that they were holy and pure and immortal, as God is. However, when they rebelled against God they corrupted their nature with sin, and brought condemnation and death on themselves, and all their descendants. Once people rebelled against God, they were no longer holy, pure, nor immortal. In this way murder (and every other sin) is “natural”, though that doesn’t make it right. The “natural” nature of sin (including murder) actually makes it wrong.

Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, including murder.

God had warned Adam and Eve that the penalty was death for disobeying God’s simple command. He said, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Once they broke God’s good, simple command, God was justified for putting sinners to death. Yet, God had mercy on Adam and Eve, and out of love He did not put them to death the day they rebelled against Him, as He could rightly have done, but instead, He promised to send them a savior who would rescue them (and their descendants) from their sins and make everything right again. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve lived a good, long life (for sinners – though it was infinitely shorter than it would have been had they never sinned against God) and they brought life into the world through their children. Though, Adam and Eve’s first born son also became the first murderer. Cain’s murder of Abel showed clearly that the corruption of sin is something we all inherit from our parents, going all the way back to Adam and Eve.

It is not God who murders ever, it is always people. Even when God does bring about the immediate death of someone it is always justified, since death is the result of sin, and we are all sinners. Life is a gift from God which we don’t deserve, but it is something which He graciously gives to us for a time. The reason there is so much sorrow and tragedy in the world is because of our sin, not because God is cruel and unjust.

God sent Adam and Eve out of Eden so they would not eat of the Tree of Life and live forever as sinners. But He also promised Salvation through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In a strange way , temporal death is a blessing from God, and not a curse, even though it is a result of sin. Living forever in sin is just about as good a definition of hell as anything else, though the true hell is much worse than life in this sinful world, because in hell there is no hope of rescue or relief or salvation. In this life God gives us all good gifts (even to all evil people), and there is always the possibility of salvation, so this life is not hell, even on our worst day. Remember that in the account of the fall into sin in Genesis 3, God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden after their fall so that they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever as sinners. This was done out of mercy, but God also promised to send a savior as the “seed” of Eve who would redeem them of their sins and “crush the head” of the serpent whose lies led them into sin and death. This promise was fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Everyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus to save them has the salvation which He won for them in His life and death. All who believe in Jesus are saved from sin and death, and we do not need to fear death, because we know that even if we die there is life and salvation in Christ when He returns to fulfill all He has promised.

Some may wonder about God’s judgment of the world in the great flood where only eight people in the whole world survived out of a population which could have been as many as one million. Did God murder a million people? The answer is no. God is holy and His judgments are just and right. God is our creator and He sets the rules. If He says, “Obey my commands or die” then we are condemned if we disobey the good rules that He created us to keep. When we die it is our own fault for disobeying the good commands of God. God does not murder. God is slow to anger and merciful (See Exodus 34:6-7). He forgives all who repent, but when stubborn people refuse God’s mercy, His anger is inescapable. When God kills, it is always righteous. We may not like His decisions, but no one can rightly accuse God of murder, especially when God is holy and innocent, and we all are sinful and murderous. We are even less able to accuse God of murder and wrongdoing when God provided for the free salvation (through faith) of all murderers and sinners through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Those who are so bold as to falsely accuse God of murder are selfish idolaters in the highest degree. (For more information on this subject, see my August 2017 article “Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?”)

Jesus taught Nicodemus about who God is and what He has done to save us all from our sins.

When anyone dies God is there to receive their soul, and to judge the state of that soul. If that person is a believer in Christ who belongs to God and has received forgiveness through faith in Jesus, then that soul rests in heavenly peace until the resurrection of all flesh. If that person is an unbeliever who has rejected Christ, then that soul lives in torment until the resurrection of all flesh. God is not capricious or cruel. God, Himself has provided forgiveness and salvation for all people. There is no reason why anyone should be condemned. If anyone is condemned to eternal death and torment, then it is because of their own choice to reject Christ’s forgiveness. Jesus said in John 3:18 “Whoever believes in [God’s Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

This is all a matter of faith. This does not mean that there isn’t plenty of evidence of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love; but our corrupted sinful nature is often blinded to God’s goodness, professing to think that we are righteous instead of sinful. Thus, we have to deny our fleshly desires which think that God is cruel or evil, and trust in God’s Word that He is merciful and forgiving, and the redeemer and savior of sinners. God’s nature and love are only revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. Each of us only knows God as we know Him through His Word in the Holy Bible. Those who reject His Word do not know God, and cannot know Him as He truly is. This is why we all ought to treasure the Holy Scriptures as God’s Word, and read and study them daily – so that we can know God’s love and trust that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) God is not cruel and cannot murder. God is the living God who gives life and forgiveness to us who are dead in our trespasses and sins.

Jesus teaches that the devil is the “father of lies” and a “murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44

I should note here that false gods do commit murder. You may ask, “How can a false god, who doesn’t exist, murder anyone?” The answer here is that it isn’t the false god who murders, but those who invent and perpetuate the mythology of the false god. Some false gods are created weak so that they can be manipulated by the people to do what they want, and so it gives the impression that they have power over “god”. Yet these false gods still murder because they lead people away from their salvation in Jesus, because all who trust in false gods have rejected God’s salvation in Jesus, and they are lost and condemned. Other false gods are created to make them seem impressive and powerful. Sometimes the more frightening and powerful the false god seems, the more control the religious leaders have over their people. Some false religions have the concept of a “holy war” where the religious leaders assemble armies to murder their neighbors and take their possessions. All this is done in the name of their god, but the effect of it is that when it is successful the religious leaders gain wealth through stolen goods, property, and slaves. Wherever false gods allow murder you will find murderers. 

I have found that people always try to be like their God, whether it is the true God or false gods. If people think their god is peaceful and kind, then they try to be peaceful and kind. If their god is a blood-thirsty tyrant, then they become tyrants and murderers. When false gods lead people to murder, this is from the devil. Since the devil hates God and all those whom God loves (i.e. you and me), he uses his lies to turn people into murderers to kill people and cause chaos and bloodshed. This is total wickedness. If one can be objective it is easy to see that false gods are more like the devil than the true God. The trouble is that it is hard to be objective where our belief in God (or even a false god) is concerned. Jesus shows us what the true God is really like. Jesus never murdered anyone, but instead healed people who were sick and injured, and He raised several people from the dead. This is the opposite of murder. (See my article on The Opposite of Murder.)

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Articles in this series:
You Shall Not Murder
The Opposite of Murder

 
Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

God’s Justice and Mercy at Christmas

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The Prodigal Son returning to his father to beg forgiveness.

I found myself praying for justice recently. Actually I have been fervently praying for justice since before last Christmas (See my 2019 Christmas article). But what if the gross injustice we see is part of a higher justice? It is a matter of faith that God is in control of all things as He tells us in His Word. However, God often uses evil to bring about His greater good purpose, and it doesn’t always seem like God is in control because for a time all we see is evil. The best example of this is the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus is the only human in the history of the world who never sinned against God nor man, but was convicted in an unjust trial and sentenced to die by crucifixion. God did not cause the evil, but He let sinful men do what sinners most want to do, which is to kill God. Yet God used that to accomplish forgiveness and salvation to all who believe in Him and who repent of their sins and trust in Him for forgiveness and rescue from sin and death.

If you find that your beloved child has become spoiled and rotten, what do you do? A loving parent will take away his toys and privileges until he cries. There may be nothing wrong with toys and privileges, because they were given out of love for the child, but if he begins to believe that he deserves them and can do with them what he wants, then it is time to teach him a lesson. If he has a temper tantrum and demands his way, then you spank him and make him cry even harder. “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” This is a paraphrase of Proverbs 13:24, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” Solomon also wrote in Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.”

What I was intending in my prayer for Justice was to ask God to let us do what is necessary to bring worldly justice to our nation and to the world. The power of the United States of America does not reside in the government, nor in its military, but in the citizens. We are clearly in the midst of an American Bolshevik revolution. It is relatively bloodless so far (though far from completely bloodless), but this is likely just the set up for a far bloodier affair if the past is a prologue to the future. Corruption in the United States is rampant, and it is obvious for anyone with the eyes to see. Many, however, have willfully blinded themselves to the obvious, but that is part of the problem. If even a fraction of the reports of voter fraud are to be believed, the American people expressed their power in an overwhelming desire for justice in reelecting President Trump. However, the Bolshevik Marxists could not let the will of the people get in their way and did what they thought was necessary to make it seem as if the Bolshevik party won even though their Manchurian Candidate seemingly won without hardly campaigning, and without even being able to draw a crowd on the rare occasions when he crawled out of his basement. The word “unlikely” doesn’t even begin to describe the outcome that we are being asked to accept without question.

“What is Past is Prologue” Inscription on this statue at the National Archives in Washington D.C.

The corruption seems to be widespread and deep. It is extremely likely that this is NOT the first time this has happened. They tried this in 2016, but didn’t fully anticipate the will of the good people of the United States. It likely also happened in 2012 when the worst President in the history of the USA was inexplicably (seemingly) reelected to office. The corruption is not just voter fraud. It is far deeper than that. We have a justice system to combat injustice and fraud, but it has apparently been thoroughly corrupted. We have a Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) which ought to investigate domestic corruption, lawlessness, and treason, but the organization has been corrupted from within, and only occasionally works for justice. The FBI often participates in corruption and covers it up, rather than seeking to prosecute it. Who do you call for justice when the investigators are unjust and corrupt?

The judicial system ought to be the final arbiters of justice, though we have known for a long time that far too many judges do not rule according to the law, but according to their own whims they give out injustice in place of justice. We, the people of the United States of America, elected President Trump to bring justice and peace and prosperity back to our nation, and he has done what he could to work toward that goal. In the past four years over 300 federal judges and three Supreme Court justices have been installed to rule according to the law in order to bring justice back to our nation. It is not enough.

Despite the clear evidence of massive voter fraud in several states, unjust courts have turned a blind eye to the evidence and, following the lead of the lying mass media, pretended that the clear evidence of fraud doesn’t exist. For four years the Marxist Democrats have been claiming without any evidence that President Trump came to power fraudulently, and now that we have real evidence that the other side is really trying to steal power and take over the United States, they pretend that there is nothing wrong. Where is the justice?

We see in the Bible many times where there is injustice, violence and bloodshed, the people of God have called out to Him for justice, peace, and retribution against those who persecute good, honest people. God is a just God. He wants justice, peace, and prosperity for all people, but how He brings it about is often not what we expect. God doesn’t do what we think is good and right, instead God does what is truly good and right. God’s way is always better, though it doesn’t always seem so at the time.

God called Moses to lead Israel to freedom, but the people had to wait over 80 years for the fulfillment of their prayers.

When the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt they cried out to God to send a deliverer who would rescue them from their bondage and lead them to freedom in the promised land. God heard their prayer and sent them Moses – as a baby. However, a baby is not capable of freeing an enslaved nation and it wasn’t until Moses was 80 years old (!) that God sent Moses to Pharaoh with the message from God, “Let my people go,” and with the authority to call down plagues on the Egyptians when Pharaoh did not let God’s people go free. Eighty years, plus how many more years had God’s people been oppressed before Moses was born? God’s ways are not our ways, but God’s ways are always better.

In the days of the judges when the Midianites were oppressing God’s people they cried out to God to send them a deliverer. God gave them Gideon. This time they didn’t have to wait 80-100 years. Gideon sent the call to raise an army, and 30,000 soldiers answered the call. In worldly terms it was a sufficient army to defeat Midian, or at least make life hard for the Midianites, and free the oppressed people of Israel. However, God told Gideon that the army was too large. He said, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave.’” (Judges 7:2-3) Twenty thousand of the soldiers left and went home. These were good people who wanted justice, but really didn’t want to become killers. They were willing to do what was necessary, including to kill or be killed, but they really didn’t want to be there if they didn’t have to, so they left with God’s blessing. Ten thousand soldiers remained, but God said that was still too many. He set up an arbitrary test at a brook, and those who were chosen were only 300 men.

In worldly terms, this was not enough to defeat the enemies and bring peace, but that was the point. If a great army had arisen and defeated the enemy then they would claim that they had triumphed, or that Gideon was responsible for leading them to victory and freedom. Then they would have taken pride in their own strength and power and they would have proceeded to become oppressors themselves. This is the trap of power politics: Use power to defeat the supposed “oppressor” then become the oppressor yourself until someone else comes along and defeats you. That way the bloodshed never ends. This is why power politics is the trick of the devil who seeks to destroy all that God loves, and all that is good.

Gideon and his 300 men blew trumpets just like Joshua did at Jericho but God defeated the enemies and gave the victory.

So Gideon and 300 men attack the Midianites with pots and torches and trumpets and a few swords, but it is God who fights against the Midianites, and turns their own weapons against them so that they mostly slay each other. The 300 Israelites do dispatch the few stragglers who remain, but it is God who fights and wins the victory and brings freedom to His people.

Likewise, in the days of the Roman empire and occupation of the Holy Land, the faithful remnant prayed to God for a deliverer who would rescue them from the oppression of the evil pagan occupiers. They were looking for a Moses or a Gideon or a David who would bring military victory and worldly peace and prosperity. But God had a much better idea. Jesus came amid reports that God was finally fulfilling the promise He had made over 4,000 years earlier to Adam and Eve, to send a Messiah who would undo the deadly effects of sin and death and bring peace and prosperity to God’s people. But Jesus was again not what the people expected.

As God incarnate, Jesus is the King over all worldly kings, yet He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus did not come to set up a worldly kingdom in a sinful world. That would just perpetuate the sinfulness and evil which is the cause of all of our suffering and sadness and dysfunctional angst. Instead, Jesus came to set us free from the bonds of slavery that is caused by sin. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36) Jesus came not just to set us free from evil people like George Soros and his minions who seek to enslave us and destroy all good in the world. Jesus came instead to set us free from all sin which separates us from God who loves us as His children and wants us to live with Him in holiness in His paradise in a new heaven and earth.

Jesus came in humility to drink the cup of God’s wrath over our sin, in order to redeem us

But Jesus could not do this by force of power. Power is a function of the law, and by God’s Law sin must be punished. If God punished all of us sinners as we deserve, then we would be destroyed. God does not play power politics because the result of that is only destruction. God must punish man for mankind’s sins, but God does accept a substitute on behalf of sinful man. If only there were a sinless man on earth who would be willing to accept God’s punishment for the sins of the world. The only problem is that we are all corrupted by sin. When Adam and Eve fell into sin all of their descendants were condemned to inherit that sinful corruption, and that is true to this day. “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10 and other verses as well as the rest of the Bible) The only solution is if God, Himself, became incarnate as a man and lived His whole life in perfect obedience to God the Father’s Laws, and then offered His life in place of sinners. What are the chances of that happening? Would God live and die as a man in order to redeem liars, cheaters, thieves, adulterers, murderers, and blasphemous idol worshipers? Such is the great love of God that He would do exactly that.

Jesus came in humility, not to conquer violent sinful men, but to take their place before the face of the almighty righteous God who must punish sinful men for their sins – or in the case of Jesus, punish the one righteous man who is God incarnate, in place of all the rest of sinful humanity. So Jesus came not to conquer, but to be conquered, that He may free us from the condemnation of sin and death. Jesus suffered the Father’s wrath over our sin, so that we may be rescued from that wrath which would destroy us. Jesus died to pay the price of sin, so that we may be freed from the sting of death. Yes, there still is death all around us, and we all may taste of death before Christ returns, but all that remains for God’s people is just a taste of death. Jesus drank the full cup of death so that the taste of death that we receive will not destroy us. Because Christ’s innocent death for us fulfilled God’s wrath over our sin, death no longer has a hold on us, as Jesus has conquered death and rose to life victorious over death.

Jesus suffered and died in our place to rescue us from sin and death

The death that Jesus died, He died to sin, so that the life He now lives He will share with all who trust in Him. For all who believe in Jesus have been adopted as children of God through the miracle of Holy Baptism. We have been redeemed by Jesus by His righteous life, and His innocent suffering and death on our behalf, and we have been washed clean of our guilt and sin by the shedding of His blood which is brought to us personally through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the very Body and Blood of Jesus given to us in the Lord’s supper.

“Trust not in princes, in mortal men who cannot save.” (Psalm 146:3) Whether or not there is a political or military solution to the political corruption and attempted takeover of the United States, we still have hope. Our God rules both heaven and earth. Whether we live as free men or as slaves, we are God’s children. Christ has redeemed us and set us free so that we will live forever with Him in His paradise. The troubles of this world are only temporary, though we may have to endure them for a hundred years (may God forbid this, but even so give us the strength to endure what must come). We need not fear tyrannical governors. We need not fear catching a bad cold that only kills 5 people out of every 1,000 who are infected. We need not fear worse diseases such as cancer, nor murder, nor violence, nor any death.

As Christ lives, so we shall live, even if we die. Christ has won the victory over sin and death and all the consequences of death which cause us so much sorrow and pain. Trust in Christ and live in hope. Christ has won the victory not for Himself, but for you. Jesus lives so that you may live with Him forever. Pray for peace and justice in this world, but do not be surprised if it does not come right away. God disciplines His children as a loving father disciplines his unruly child. It is not a sign of God’s disfavor, but of His love – that we may turn to Him and give Him the praise for our rescue, and not some worldly leader. We live by faith in the redemption won for us by Christ Jesus. That is a sure thing. May Christ give you comfort and peace, both now and forever.

Justice at Christmas

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for justice and for the benefit of God's people.

Justice means to act in accordance with what is good and right and in accordance with the law. This is especially true with God’s Law (summarized by the Ten Commandments), but also worldly, human laws which conform to God’s righteous commands.

Justice seems hard to come by by in our sinful world. The rich and powerful seem to pervert justice for their own profit and the accumulation of more power for themselves and their friends, while honest, hard-working people pay the price of injustice – sometimes with their lives. In 2019 it is even worse than that since there is a fad called “social justice” which purposely seeks injustice to further some imagined “greater cause” which no one has ever heard of before. Blatant racism is called “racial justice”; nearly every sexual perversion is given protected status in social norms, if not in law; and fascist violence is called “anti-fascism” and those who promote it commit violent destructive acts as the police stand by and watch. There is likely more, besides, but that is what I can think of off the top of my head. Those who promote “social justice” really aren’t interested in justice, but in destroying the foundations of society so that they can get away with doing what they want to do without fear of the punishment which they so richly deserve.

In the United States of America, President Trump is doing great work to appoint federal judges who promise to rule justly according to the law, and not make up new laws as they go along. This is an answer to prayer, as the Judicial branch of our Federal Government has been the most unjust of the three branches for many decades. There is no guarantee that even the best judge will give the best judgment in every situation because if they rule according to bad laws made by evil people they will return bad results, and also some judges can be corrupted by money and bad influence, but the problem with judges making up laws is that the citizens do not know from day to day what is legal and what is illegal because it changes on the whim of the false judge. So we are glad that we can have better judges who we hope will rule according to law, and not according to another unelected authority.

However, in the 2018 elections, the Democrats gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and immediately began to try to impeach President Trump even though there has never been evidence of any crime he has committed, much less an impeachable treasonous offense. President Trump has been amazingly open in his administration, but even when the documents are released to the public which exonerate the President’s actions, the Democrat leaders openly lie about what the documents say, even though we (who are able and willing to read) can clearly see that they are lying. The injustice is insane, though those who perpetuate the lies do so as if they don’t care who knows what they are doing. Their boldness is even more concerning because it shows how much lies are a part of their daily life.

A quick search of the Bible shows eleven dozen verses which speak of “justice” and more which similarly speak of “righteousness” and other synonyms of justice. God is greatly concerned with justice, and He is angry with those who pervert justice.

Justice means the Law applies equally to everyone.

In the days of Moses God gave His people just laws to live by so that they could live in peace with Him and with one another. For example, in Exodus 23:2-3 God says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.” Similarly, Leviticus 19:15 says, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” This shows that justice is a two way street. A just law applies to everyone equally. We ought not go along with the crowd or the "mob" just because they want a certain outcome, nor should we show favoritism to either the rich or the poor. Our tradition says that “justice is blind” in that it ought to treat everyone equally under the same law. There is not one law for the rich and another for the poor. There is not one law for the ruling class and another for the governed. We ought not to have a favored class and a disfavored class, nor a favored race, and an unfavored race – especially where what is favored changes as the wind blows.

God goes on to say in Exodus 23:6-7 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” A large part of justice is that the guilty are punished and the innocent are free to go about their lives and conduct business as they please. Honesty and integrity are virtues which ought to be rewarded while dishonesty and lies ought to be strongly discouraged by proper punishment. Furthermore, Exodus 23:8 says, “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.” Also, Solomon tells us in Proverbs 17:23, “A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.”

Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong … for he does not bear the sword for nothing. Romans 13:3, 4

Immigration and slavery also falls under the application of justice. Exodus 23:9 says, “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.” This is also a problem in the 21^st century. President Trump is seeking to control our borders so that we know who is coming in to our country. This is vitally important so that we can keep out those who seek to harm our citizens, and also that those who come in to work are not taken advantage of by those who would enslave them under the threat of reporting their illegal presence to officials who would deport them. Here the 21^stcentury Democrats are going back to their 19^th century roots as those who would take advantage of the underclass for their own power and profit. Here also some Republicans are not very helpful either. There are some Republicans who also seek to take advantage of slave labor from illegal aliens, and block the government from taking the necessary action to deal with the invasion crisis. However, we call these liberal Republicans “RINO” or “Republican in Name Only.” They are part of the problem, also. Likewise, Deuteronomy 27:19 tells us, “Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.” When people are in our country illegally they cannot receive justice, as they could if they were legal visitors.

Christmas shows the justice of God in action. God’s justice is true justice, but it contrasts with the justice of the world. In some respects it seems unjust and strange that the God who created and sustains the universe would condescend to become one of His creatures so that He could suffer and die in our place so that we might be saved from the just punishment for our disobedience and rebellion against God. Yet, this shows God’s mercy and love, as well as His justice. It shows God’s justice in that “the soul who sins is the one who will die.” It is people who sin against God, so if we are to be redeemed from our sin, our redeemer must be a person just like us, except without sin. Since we are all corrupted by sin, the only person who could be our redeemer is God incarnate as a man. God didn’t have to do that for us. He would have been perfectly justified and right in condemning us all to die, and we could not rightly say anything against that judgment. But God loves us, and wants us to be saved and sanctified that we might live with Him in righteousness and purity forever in His new creation. The only way that this could happen is if God became a man and did the work of salvation Himself for us.

The birth and life of Jesus shows God’s love and justice in action.

Jesus fulfilled God’s justice in two ways. First, He lived a perfectly obedient life as a man, and kept all God’s laws perfectly His whole life in His thoughts, words, and deeds. Second, Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice in payment for the sins of the world. Jesus, in effect, said, “Punish me instead, and let my brothers and sisters go free.” This was acceptable to God, the Father, and this is how Jesus won our salvation, so that everyone who believes in Him as their savior from sin is forgiven and has eternal life. Those who reject Christ’s forgiveness have still been forgiven, but they don’t benefit from the gift because they have rejected it by their unbelief. In this way we see how salvation is completely Christ’s doing, for which He is praised forever, and the damnation of the unbelievers is entirely their own doing and fault, for which they will regret forever.

In the justice of the world either you get what you deserve, which is punishment for your sin, or there is no punishment at all for sin, in which case sin and violence and death are rampant because there is no threat of punishment to curb the wickedness of sin. Neither of these situations is desirable. They both sound like hell to me. God’s merciful way of salvation is much better in every respect.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 28:5 “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.” It doesn’t make sense that God would die for His rebellious creatures, but love doesn’t always make sense. Yet, Jesus lived and died as a man out of love for all sinful people, that they all may be rescued from the punishment for their sin. It is wonderful and praiseworthy that Jesus would suffer and endure all the wrath of God for the sins of the world so that we might be saved from our sin and could live with Him in Paradise forever.

 

Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty

by Pastor Paul Wolff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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