Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy

(Part 5 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)
by Pastor Paul Wolff​

---

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

---

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

Mercy and grace are related because they are both expressions of love. Because all of us children of Adam and Eve are corrupted by sin, our love is imperfect – and so is our practice of mercy and grace. God’s love is perfect, and His mercy and grace are perfect. An easy way to distinguish mercy from grace is to think of mercy as God not punishing us as our sins deserve, and grace is God giving us good things which we do not deserve because of our sinfulness. However, in the Holy Bible, the meaning and use of the word “mercy” is much broader than this simple definition, and in practice both mercy and grace can often describe the same thing, which is nearly always God expressing His love in how He deals with us.

Jesus proclaims in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) Here Jesus encourages all God-fearing people (and everyone else, if they will listen) to have mercy on their neighbor, and God will have mercy on them, too. God certainly has had mercy on us all by sending Jesus to pay the price of death to redeem us all from our sin and death. Since God has already done this great merciful thing for us to rescue us from the punishment we deserve, we ought to also have mercy on others, even (and especially) when they sin against us. The blessing received by the merciful is that they will also receive mercy from God. God is certainly merciful to all people, though not all receive it because some reject God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and so they miss out on what God freely gives them.

God is the loving father who has mercy on his disobedient children and forgives our rebellion and sins.

The concept of mercy is common in the Holy Scriptures. There are between ten and twenty dozen occurrences of the word “mercy” in the Bible. This depends on which translation you read because in the Old Testament there are several different Hebrew words translated as “mercy”, and different translations sometimes translate these words as “love” (especially “steadfast love”) or “grace” or “kindness” (especially “loving kindness”) or “loyalty” (?) or “pity” or “compassion” instead of mercy. Most times it is not immediately defined, and assumes that the reader knows what mercy refers to, as in Psalm 23:6 which says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Though mercy is connected with “goodness” here, it is not otherwise defined. The concept of “mercy” is common in the Psalms, which served as the hymns (and prayers) of the Old Testament times, and still serve as the basis of our hymns today, too.

Psalm 25:6-7 says, “Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!” In this Psalm mercy is connected with God’s “steadfast love” (or “mercy”), and the effect of God’s mercy here is that He would “remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.” It is verses like this that show us that mercy means that God is withholding from us the punishment which we deserve on account of our sins.

In King David’s great Psalm of repentance after he was confronted with the guilt of his sin by the prophet, Nathan, David immediately begins by asking God for mercy. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1) Again, here God’s mercy and love are connected, and the expected result is that God would “blot out my transgressions.” The idea here is that God wipes away the stain of our transgressions and sins like a writer wipes away spilled ink on the page (or parchment). Later in the history of God’s people, Isaiah gives God’s people this message which calls to mind King David’s psalm of repentance. “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25) This is great good news for all God’s people because with sin comes death, and if God does not remember our sins, then we will be spared from sin’s punishment.

Jesus had mercy on the crowd who followed Him, and miraculously fed 5,000 people to satisfaction with five loaves of bread and two fish.

The best example in Holy Scripture which describes what God’s mercy (and its opposite) is like is probably Christ’s Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. You can find it in Matthew 18:21-35. In the parable the king forgives his servant a debt so large that he could never repay it. That is how God deals with us in mercy. Our sin condemns us to death, which is a debt that we can not pay without being destroyed. God, Himself, covered our debt by becoming incarnate (Jesus Christ) and taking the punishment of death, Himself, in order to rescue us from the death which would destroy us. In the parable the forgiven servant should have been so appreciative of the king’s mercy that he ought to have had similar mercy on his neighbor who owed him a small debt. However, he was overly harsh with his neighbor, and when the king heard about it he determined that his servant did not appreciate what he had done for him, and withdrew his offer of mercy and put him in prison until he had paid every last penny of the original debt – which was forever, because the debt was so large as to be impossible to repay. This parable shows us that God wants us to be merciful to our neighbors as God has been so much more merciful to us. If we truly understand and appreciate the great cost that our King (Jesus) has paid to cover our debts, then we will find it much easier to also show mercy to our neighbors who owe us much smaller debts. Though our neighbors’ debts may seem large to us, compared to what we are indebted to God, our neighbors’ debts to us are infinitely smaller, and ultimately insignificant in the long run.

In Psalm 103:8-10 David also combines God’s mercy and grace and describes it in this way: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” Here David praises God because of His mercy and grace because He does not punish us for our “sins” and “iniquities”. He goes on to emphasize this in verse 12 where he writes: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” This is another way of describing God’s forgiveness. If He removes our transgressions (sins) from us, then He will not punish us for them. Also, since God removes our transgressions “as far as the east is from the west,” then they can’t come back to condemn us. They are gone for good. This is the result of God’s mercy and grace, and it is also how we ought to forgive our neighbor.

Since God’s mercy is so closely connected with His forgiveness, we should also see that this Fifth Beatitude is related to the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We certainly should remember that God’s forgiveness is not conditional on how well we forgive our neighbor, but that “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) It can’t start with us, because in our sin, our mercy and forgiveness is either incomplete or lacking in some lesser or greater way. It must start with God because His mercy, love, and forgiveness is perfect in every case. Likewise, in the beatitudes, we receive mercy from God first, then in response to His mercy and forgiveness and grace, we have mercy on our neighbor.

Jesus has mercy on even the weak and powerless, as shown by His gentle rebuke of the disciples who wanted to send the children away.

The Holy Scriptures also give many examples of the mercilessness of sinful men. Solomon observes in Proverbs 12:10 “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” This proverb also shows that if a man is faithful to God, then his mercy also extends to how he treats his livestock. If he is wicked, he also is cruel to his animals. We easily recognize this when we see in the news that some celebrity abuses his animals then he is roundly chastised for his cruelty by everyone. Though sometimes people take this too far when they criticize people more harshly when they abuse their animals than when they abuse their children or spouse. Solomon also observes in Proverbs 21:10 “The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.” Such is the terrible nature of sin that those who love their sin more than they love God actually desire to do evil. They cannot even find it in their heart to have mercy on their neighbors. We can take comfort in Christ’s Fifth Beatitude in this for the opposite case. If the merciful receive mercy from God, then the unmerciful wicked person will not receive God’s mercy (until they repent of their sin and find forgiveness in Jesus). We also see this elsewhere where God condemns the unmerciful, such as Proverbs 3:33, “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.” This curse certainly can be removed when sinners repent and ask God for forgiveness. Since God is merciful, He is most eager to forgive and save all who repent and look to Him for salvation. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 145:8)

Jesus, Himself, had mercy on His neighbors at all times. Many times those who had desperate desires to be healed of various afflictions pleaded with Jesus to “Have mercy,” and Jesus mercifully granted them healing and forgiveness. In Luke 17:11-19 ten men suffering with leprosy saw Jesus at a distance and called out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus had mercy on them by healing them of their leprosy. In the next chapter, Luke 18:35-43, a blind beggar (likely the same man named Bartimaeus, in Mark 10) called out to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Although some of the bystanders told him to be quiet, He again asked Jesus for mercy. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” and he said he wanted to recover his sight, and Jesus gave him his sight back. In Mark 5, Jesus cast out many demons possessing a man, and after the man was cleansed and came into his right mind, Jesus told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Here Jesus shows that by rescuing the man from demon possession He had mercy on him. This is also interesting that although Jesus told the demons to go out of the man, He told the man to tell his friends that “the Lord” has had mercy on him. Here Jesus was acknowledging that He is God, or, at the very least, that His healings were done by the power of God, while not denying that He is the one true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus showed mercy to the family of Jairus by raising his daughter from the dead. See Mark 5:21-43

This is the first Beatitude in this series which is not quite so clearly a curse in the worldly sense. Few people would say that those who show mercy are inherently cursed by doing so. Though, it is not too difficult to find people who think that merciful people are fools. It is hard to show forgiveness to people who sin against you. Our sinful flesh would more likely want to “assert our rights” and repay sin with vengeful wrath, rather than withhold punishment and forgive. Showing mercy is a great witness to the Christian faith. You show you trust in Christ’s forgiveness when you forgive others.

Indeed, while it is hard for us sinners to have mercy on our neighbors, it was also difficult for God to have mercy on us and cover the great debt of our sin. When it comes to forgiveness, God can’t just “look away” and ignore sin. God is righteous and just, and must punish sin. Yet Jesus took the punishment for our sin Himself when He died on the cross. That was not an easy thing to do, yet, in mercy and love, Jesus did what was necessary to pay the price for our sin so that God could have mercy on us, while still properly punishing sin and pouring out His anger on the man, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, foretold what it would cost God’s Messiah to have mercy on us and heal us from sin and all sin’s consequences. He prophesied, “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.” (Isaiah 53:4-6) Another time, when Jesus healed a deaf man (Mark 7:31-37), He sighed or groaned upon healing the man. As I explain it in this article Jesus groaned because even in healing the sick and raising the dead, it cost Jesus suffering and pain because all illness and afflictions of the body are consequences of our sin. In healing us from all these, Jesus had to suffer for them in order to remove sin’s effects from us. This is what Isaiah meant by saying, “with his wounds we are healed.” This is another reason why Christians have confidence that on the day of resurrection we will be raised glorious and whole – as God intended us to be. Jesus has had mercy on us – at great personal cost – so that we may be healed from sin in body and soul. This also gives us peace of mind so that we may put aside our pride and, in love, have mercy and forgive those who sin against us. Jesus has done so much more to have mercy on you, that such knowledge makes it easier to have mercy on others. May Christ keep you in His mercy and lead you to be merciful.

---

Other articles in this series:

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are Those who Mourn, For They Will be Comforted 

Blessed are the Meek, for They Shall Inherit the Earth 

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

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

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for They Shall be Called Sons of God 

Coming soon:

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

The Symbolism of September 11, 2001 and God’s Judgment and Mercy

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

Disclaimer: Unlike my other articles in this blog, this article is not the Gospel truth as revealed in the Bible. This is my own interpretation of the events of history, and should be read as such. I could be right, or I could be wrong. There is no way of knowing from the Scriptures. This is not an interpretation of Scripture, but an interpretation of history. Discriminating readers should be very careful to distinguish between the two. Yet, I present these ideas here for contemplation and discussion, and as a call to repentance and to trust in God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. 

(All photographs by Pastor Paul Wolff)
 

One of the last photographs of the World Trade Center before the attack on September 11, 2001 This photo is on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum

I remember hearing an audio clip of a speech where President John F. Kennedy noted that everyone in his generation remembered where they were when they first heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This became ironic when President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The generation who were adults in 1963 had a similar reaction – they remembered where they were when they heard the news. In our generation the day was September 11, 2001. 

Twenty years ago today (as of the day this article was published) I was a pastor at a Lutheran Church in Detroit. It was a beautiful late summer day in Detroit with a perfectly clear blue sky and not a cloud in the sky. The weather was exactly the same as we saw on television in New York City. Our Lutheran school was beginning the day with a chapel service for the students and staff. Most Lutheran schools hold their chapel services on Wednesday mornings, and we usually did, too, but that year there was some scheduling conflict which caused us to hold the chapel services on Tuesday mornings. I did not lead the chapel service that day, but it was led by the school principal. I was sitting in the back of the church during chapel when the school secretary came and whispered in my ear that airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York. I asked, “Both towers?” When the answer was “Yes” I knew immediately that it was no tragic accident, but was a terrorist attack. 

On Tuesday September 11, 2001, nineteen Muslim terrorists simultaneously hijacked four airplanes in the Eastern United States and flew (or attempted to fly) them into significant buildings to murder and cause terror among the freedom loving people in the United States, and around the world. Those of us who are old enough to remember will never forget that day. It was such a shock that wicked people would do such evil things to cause so much senseless death and destruction against innocent people. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, our nation was not at war with anyone, but someone was at war with us. The man who planned this wickedness in 2001 was Osama Bin Laden, the son of a Saudi construction magnate. 

These watercolor paintings are from New Yorkers answering the question, “What color was the sky on 9/11?” From this we see that subjective feelings cannot be trusted to give an accurate representation of the truth.

Bin Laden had also been the guiding force behind a bombing eight years earlier in a failed attempt to destroy one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York, though he had escaped justice. In the investigations of the 2001 attacks it was discovered that Bin Laden chose his methods and targets specifically for their symbolism as well as their murderous and destructive potential. The hijacked airplanes were from United Airlines and American Airlines, both of which symbolized the United States of America. The targets chosen were the twin skyscraper towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon building in Washington D.C., and another Washington target which was most likely the White House or possibly the Congress building. These targets were also chosen for their symbolism. The World Trade Center was the symbol of American business and wealth. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States military, and symbolizes the military strength of the United States. The White House or Congress buildings symbolize the political power of the United States. Thus, in these three coordinated attacks, Osama Bin Laden was attacking the political, military, and economic power of the United States. 

However that was not the only symbolism at work on that day of evil and destruction. Osama Bin Laden intended to cause equal chaos and destruction in each of his targets, but he was only partially successful, and that has symbolic import from another perspective. One of the most shocking things about the attacks of 9/11/2001 was that we in America now felt vulnerable. Because of our geography we are distantly separated from Europe and Asia (and Africa, if any African enemy would ever desire to cause us harm). The great oceans of the Atlantic and the Pacific keep us far away from most foreign enemies and have done very well to protect us historically. The one exception before 2001 was December 7, 1941, and that attack was not on the North American mainland, but on a Naval base in Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor brought out the hidden strength of the still developing United States. It is common military wisdom that says that a nation cannot win a war by fighting on two separate fronts. In World War II, Germany, despite its great power, was stretched thin by fighting on a western front against England and France, and an eastern front fighting against the Soviet Union. However, once the United States entered World War II, we did not just fight a war on two fronts, we fought a world war against Germany in Europe, and another against Japan in Asia, and were instrumental in victories against both. The victories of World War II gave us a sense of invulnerability that was hardly questioned until 9/11. Yes, there were Cold War fears of an attack by the Soviet Union, but the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) successfully prevented either country from ever directly attacking the other (though it didn’t stop both from fighting proxy wars). The MAD threat had kept us safe from our most obvious enemy, but the Soviet Union fell in 1987 due to the unsustainable nature of Socialist Communism. The attacks of 9/11 showed another level of insanity and evil that few had thought possible. 

The other perspective of symbolism that I mentioned above is God’s perspective. I am not talking about the god that Osama Bin Laden would have given credit for the limited success of his terror plans. The Allah of Islam is a false god created by a man who wanted to steal other men’s wives and daughters for himself, and to steal their wealth as well. The Allah of Islam has no real power and is no threat, except what Jihadists may do in his name. The true God is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one God. He has real power, and is truly in control of all history. God had protected the United States and given us great power and success, such as had not been seen since the Roman Empire, but the events of September 11 showed that God was beginning to withdraw His protection from the United States, at least partially. In looking at the events of 9/11 I can also see symbolism in how God allowed Bin Laden to accomplish some of what he intended, and in how God caused him to fail. 

Plaque commemorating the dedication of the World Trade Center Towers April 4, 1973 recovered from the wreckage.

The most successful attack of September 11 was the attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York. Osama Bin Laden intended for this to be a symbolic attack on the wealth of the United States. The WTC symbolized the economic power of the U.S. and of its profitable trade with the world. The fact that God allowed this to be the most successful of the attacks could be a sign that our greatest weakness as a nation is that our greatest idol is our trust in our money and wealth. We think we are invulnerable because we are wealthy. This is actually where we are most vulnerable, and where Osama Bin Laden was most successful. God did not cause this evil, but He allowed it, to attack our idol and bring us to repentance. That was only partially successful also because people are stubborn, and we do not part with our idols easily or willingly. 

Here some people may ask why God allows such evil. They may imply that God is either unwilling or incapable of stopping evil, or that God is, in fact, evil Himself. These speculations are not true. God is more than capable of stopping evil, but in order to get rid of evil totally He would have to kill us all because our sin makes all people evil. God is merciful and loving, and He has provided for all people to be saved through faith in Jesus. God sets limits to the evil which afflicts us, but He allows evil to play out in some respects so that we can see that sin is deadly and that we cannot save ourselves, but must turn to Him for rescue, which He freely provides. Some ignorant atheists say the existence of evil is proof that God is uncaring or evil, but God has rescued us all from the evil effects of sin and death through the life and death of Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from our sin, and has promised to rescue from death all who believe in Him. There is no one who needs to be condemned because all who trust in Jesus will be saved. 

The next most successful attack on September 11 was the attack on the Pentagon. This was a partial failure. The plane did crash into the Pentagon, and killed a couple hundred people on the ground, as well as the innocent passengers in the plane, and the evil hijackers, but the damage to the Pentagon (the world’s largest office building) was relatively limited (especially compared to the WTC), and the overall effect on the United States Military was negligible. Here I believe God was showing that the U.S. military was partially vulnerable, but still a strong force not easily destroyed, but yet to be reckoned with. One could easily argue that much more damage was done to the United States Military several years later by U.S. President Barack Obama, corrupting the military from within by introducing wicked ideological requirements of the leadership and faulty training of the soldiers, rather than attacking it from without, but that is a topic for another time. In the years following 9/11 the U.S. military conquered Iraq and Afghanistan, but neither did they impose Christianity nor even religious freedom on the countries, and so these conquests were doomed to fail in the long run. I thought that the same constitution that was imposed on Japan after WWII should have been established in Iraq and Afghanistan, but no one asked me, and even that may not have worked in the long run either, because of the established Muslim authorities in those countries. Islam is not just a religion, but also a form of totalitarian government. That is why the establishment of democracy did not bring freedom, because the people simply voted to subject themselves to Islam. 

Flight 93 was headed toward Washington D.C. When the passengers tried to regain control the hijackers flew the plane into the ground in Pennsylvania.

The least successful attack on September 11 was Flight 93, which was presumably headed for a target in Washington D.C. Because the passengers were able to disrupt the plans of the hijackers that plane was not able to reach the target intended by Osama Bin Laden, and the hijackers just crashed it into a forest in Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board, but no one on the ground. The greater symbolism of this tragedy was that Bin Laden intended to attack the seat of political power in the United States, which he saw symbolized by the President or the Congress. Osama Bin Laden viewed the United States as a Christian nation and wanted to make it look like the god of Islam was greater than the Christian God. Bin Laden’s failures showed that the true God is still in control, and although there is much idolatry in the USA that make our nation subject to God’s judgment, there is still a strength here that cannot be shaken. That strength is not in the seats of power of the government or the military, however. The authority of the United States does not reside in the Office of the President, nor in Congress, nor in the Supreme Court (or lesser courts). The true power and authority of the United States rests in the citizens. The government was established by “We, the people” not the other way around. The strength and goodness of the United States has always come from the strong Christian influence which permeated all aspects of American life for so long. This could not be destroyed by terrorist attacks in 1941 nor in 2001. 

However, the Christian foundations of our country are more vulnerable to attacks from within. False teaching such as Neo-Gnosticism (and more) has, over the past century, slowly and steadily worn away the foundations of the Christian influence which helped make the United States a superpower working for peace, prosperity, and good throughout the world. From the beatniks to the sexual revolution; from the destruction of the family through divorce, birth control, wicked incentives for women to enter the workforce, and the insidious spiritual effects of child day care where children are brought up by people who don’t love them; we have become a nation of bastards who feel we are not loved, and are easily triggered to anger and despair. Even if we know better, we cannot act on it because we don’t believe we are loved by God and by our parents because so many of us have not known such love. The wicked abomination of abortion also must anger God, and September 11 may have been the beginning of God’s judgment against this national sin. These dysfunctional national sins are combined with a wicked Marxist–based education system which has not educated several generations of Americans to rule themselves justly, but has instead indoctrinated them to be subjugated and to submit to tyrants, rather than to unite with one another to fight against tyrants like free people. This is further combined with Christian denominations which have been compromised and weakened with false worldly doctrines so that even those who yet still profess Christianity, have a wrong idea about what Christianity is all about, so that, when persecution comes, many who profess Christianity will not have enough of Christ to hold on to, and will seemingly quickly fall away, rather than suffer with Christ. 

Saint Luke’s Gospel tells us in chapter 13 that Jesus was asked a question about a group of Galilean Jews who had been slaughtered by Pontius Pilate as they offered their sacrifices to God. Jesus responded that although they died in this way they were not worse sinners than other Galileans, but He also mentioned a tragedy where a tower fell and killed eighteen people, and said, “... unless you repent, you, too will all perish.” The thing we ought to take away from tragedies is that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, and unless we repent of our sins, we will all perish. This is also what we ought to remember when we remember September 11, and when other great tragedies come upon us. 

New York Fire Department Ladder Company 3 Fire Truck damaged when the North Tower collapsed. All 11 responding members of Ladder Company 3 were in the building and killed when it collapsed.

Despite the weaknesses and sins of the citizens and government of the United States, God is not the cause of evil, but He is still in control. This is neither a patriotic boast, nor is it a logical conclusion based on evidence. The evidence shows that we live in a wicked world run by evil sinners, and it seems like they can get away with anything they want. This is not true, it is just an illusion, at best; or a great lie of the devil, at worst. God is still in control, though He may let sinful consequences play out from time to time to show us the tragic reality of sin, so that we may truly know the wickedness which lies in the hearts of sinful men, and that we may repent and trust in Christ all the more fervently to save us and rescue us from all evil.  

 
The fact that God is in control and that Jesus Christ is ruling over heaven and earth does not come by seeing the signs, or interpreting the evidence. It comes by faith in God’s Word. Often the evidence seems to contradict God’s Word, but Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18) Christ’s obedience to God, the Father, earned Him the right to rule heaven and earth, because He is the perfect mediator between God and man, because He is fully God and fully man in one person, and because He paid the price to redeem the world from sin through His innocent suffering and death. The result of Christ’s rule and authority is shown when Saint Paul wrote, “We know 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) If this were not true, then Jesus would not have suffered and died for us, but because He did suffer and die, we know that He will protect us from all lasting effects of sin and evil in the world, even when those effects claim our temporal lives.

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This would not be a comfort unless “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

It can be a frightening thing when evil seems to win out over good in the world. King David noted this in Psalm 2:1-6. “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’” I like the idea of God laughing at the wicked plans of evil people on earth. In recent years in the United States we have seen much more brazen wicked acts, and more and more the perpetrators are becoming bold enough to begin to be open about their wickedness, and brag about getting away with such evil. They think they are something when they are nothing. God will have the last laugh, though in the meantime we mourn and weep (along with God – see John 11:35) for the death and destruction wrought upon the earth. Psalm 94:11 also tells us, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.” We pray to God in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” God’s good and gracious will is always done in His heavenly kingdom, and it is a blessing even here on earth whenever God’s will is done. Psalm 33:10-12 also tells us, “The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

In the Revelation that Jesus gave to the Apostle John, the angel who was explaining the imagery he was seeing told him, “They (the ten kings) will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings – and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:14) The “Lamb” is Jesus because He offered His life as an atoning sacrifice (like the sacrificial lamb) for the sins of the world. He is the King over all kings of the earth, and Lord over all rulers. This passage is a great comfort to God’s people because it shows that although the rulers of the world will make war against Christ and His followers, Christ will overcome them and bring with Him His faithful followers. This vision that Saint John saw also shows that the ten kings which make war against the Lamb (Jesus) also hate the prostitute, Babylon the Great, and “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” (Revelation 17:16) This is interesting because it shows that God allows these kings to come to power so they can destroy the evil city, Babylon, whose downfall causes the kings of the earth to “weep and mourn over her” (Revelation 18:9), but these ten kings also try to make war against Christ and His people, but Christ will overcome them. 

God can use evil men to accomplish His greater purpose, but limits the evil that they can accomplish, lest everyone is destroyed. We see that also in the Old Testament where God used King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to bring His judgment against the Idol worshiping Kingdom of Judah, but then God lets the Persians conquer Babylon lest they think too much of themselves. Then God moved King Cyrus to let the exiled remnant of Judah to return to their homeland, rather than keeping the Babylonian slaves (such as Judah) as his own slaves. 

Osama Bin Laden was a wicked, evil man who used people to cause murder, chaos, destruction, and terror. He convinced 19 young men (plus one more who had been arrested and was in jail on September 11, 2001) to kill themselves in a horrific way to murder thousands of innocent people. Osama Bin Laden lied to his followers and told them that it was the will of their god that they commit these vile acts of murderous destruction against unarmed innocent people who could not defend themselves, and who were not their enemies. Bin Laden promised his gullible, murderous followers that their god would reward them with honor, comfort, riches, and 72 virgin women for their pleasure, even though all such things are immoral, wicked, evil lies of Satan. Osama Bin Laden thought he was something when the events of 9/11 played out. Yet, God (the true God) still had mercy on him. Despite the whole population of the United States, and much of the civilized world, wanting Osama Bin Laden to be called to justice for the evil he had done, and despite a $25,000,000 reward for his arrest, God (the true God) allowed him to live nearly ten years longer before he was killed in an attempt to arrest him and bring him to justice. If you or I had a $25,000,000 reward for our arrest and capture, we wouldn’t remain free for a week, much less nine and a half years, but God allowed Osama Bin Laden to live because Jesus Christ truly is merciful. God does not approve of suicide, murder, and destruction, but God tells His people, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11) God gave Osama Bin Laden nearly ten years to repent of his wicked, murderous sins, but in the end he still was a murderous, evil man who preferred the lies of Satan to the mercy and forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. He died trying to kill those who were sent to bring him to justice. 

There is forgiveness in Jesus Christ for even evil people like Osama Bin Laden. Jesus lived and died an innocent death so that He could redeem all sinners, even the most wicked and evil people. God does not condone such acts of murder and terror, much less approve of them, but God is merciful and forgiving. It is a great comfort to Christians that Jesus offers free forgiveness to all who repent and trust in Him to save them. This includes even the most despised, wicked, servants of the devil, like Osama Bin Laden. I know that even some Christians have a hard time comprehending the full extent of God’s mercy and love, but it still is a great comfort that Jesus could forgive the worst sinners. If Jesus could forgive Osama Bin Laden, then He certainly will forgive me, who has not killed anyone, but who is nonetheless guilty of the commandment against murder by my occasional hateful thoughts against my neighbors. 

God is a loving father who forgives his disobedient children.

God’s will is that all sinners repent and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of all their sins, so that they will receive that forgiveness and be saved. Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7) Jesus shows the love and mercy of God in that He was willing to die for the worst of sinners. This is why Jesus will be praised for eternity. Every redeemed sinner in heaven will give eternal glory to Christ for rescuing him or her from death, and for generously giving them an eternal life without sin, suffering and death. 

Though Osama Bin Laden certainly deserved punishment in hell for the innocent lives he took, and the suffering he caused so many people, yet, I, too deserve the same punishment for my disobedience of God’s commands. It is actually a shame that Osama Bin Laden did not likely repent of his sins. Had he repented, he could have given great testimony of God’s love in Christ for forgiving the worst sinners, and Christians around the world, and in heaven itself, would have rejoiced in his redemption and salvation. If Osama Bin Laden had repented and believed in Jesus he still would have had to face temporal punishment for his crimes, but he could have been saved eternally. I published an article in November 2001 about a Biblical example of a terrorist who repented and became a Christian. The beneficial lesson is that sin causes sorrow, destruction, chaos, and death, and we are all guilty. Only Jesus Christ can overcome sin and death, and He has done so through His innocent suffering and death. Jesus lived and died so that we, sinners, can receive full forgiveness and the eternal life and salvation that He offers us freely through faith. Repent, sinner, and trust in Jesus and live. “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 8:38-39)

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” (Psalm 22:27-28)

Anger

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God destroyed the world with a flood in anger over their sin and violence, but He spared Noah’s family.

I remember a comic strip from when I was young which for many years I had pinned to a bulletin board in my room. The comic depicted a child in school taking a test with the question: “What was the cause of the U.S. Civil War?” The answer that the child wrote was only one word: “Anger.”

After a murderous gunman killed 26 people in a Texas church in 2017, and wounded all of the survivors in attempting to kill them, he was described as having “a lot of hatred inside him.” Such is the result of holding on to anger so that it is no surprise that the ancient Church listed anger or wrath as one of the seven deadly sins. The consequences of untamed anger are violence, murder, and war. There are clearly terrible things which result from anger, yet if we look at what Holy Scripture says about anger we might be surprised to find that anger is not always sinful.

Saint Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Because the Apostle encourages Christians not to sin in their anger, it follows that there can be anger without sin. We call that righteous anger. Righteous anger is anger over things that are wrong or evil. We should be angry when people sin against our neighbors and treat others in an unrighteous manner. God, Himself gets angry over sin because He didn’t create us to sin, but to be holy. We, however, have corrupted what God made holy, and have turned to sin. In the New International Version of the Bible a quick word search finds 256 occurrences of the word “anger” and 190 occurrences of the word “wrath”. Many of these are describing the anger and wrath of God. Yet God does not sin in His anger and wrath, even when He takes it out on those who sin against Him, or other people. God is righteous in His anger because He is holy, and because He loves us and doesn’t want us to do evil. He may let us see that there are wicked consequences to sin, but He does this to show us that we need His forgiveness and redemption through Jesus Christ.

Contrary to what Job’s friends thought God was not punishing Job but testing His faith to strengthen it.

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-16) He acted in anger. He even acted violently by overturning tables and driving the thieves out of the holy place. Yet, Jesus did not sin in His anger, and he certainly didn’t hurt anyone. God’s temple was to be a place where God’s people would go to find forgiveness and peace from God, not a place they dreaded to go because they knew they would be cheated by dishonest merchants. Jesus was always in control of His anger, and never hurt people in His righteous anger. Even when wicked people falsely accused Him of wrongdoing and beat Him and nailed Him to the cross to kill Him, He did not respond in anger, but forgave His murderers and let them kill Him so that He could pay for their sins so that they could be saved through faith in Him.

Yet, even though there is such a thing as righteous anger, it doesn’t mean there is no such thing as unrighteous anger. Jesus Himself teaches in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” We sinners are much more likely to sin in our anger than Jesus or His heavenly Father. So we ought to be careful in how we act according to our anger.

God gives authority to governments to punish wrongdoers as Joshua did in Jericho.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 29:11, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Since sinners are more likely to sin in expressing our anger, we need to keep it under control unless we are sure that we are acting properly to work for what is right. In that church massacre in Texas in 2017, the murderer acted out in great evil by shooting all those innocent people, but while that was going on, a neighbor to the church heard what was going on and grabbed his gun and went in and shot the murderer, wounding him, and drove him away before he could kill any more people. In a way, this man was doing the same thing as the murderer, shooting a gun at a person in a church, but he acted righteously to punish a murderer and protect those innocent people who were being attacked, and he saved the lives of many people.

Now, just because there is righteous anger, and even a righteous use of violence to punish wrongdoers, this doesn’t give us the excuse to exercise our anger in all cases, even when we can be justified in acting out in anger. Saint Paul counsels in Romans 12:17-21 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is what Jesus did at all times, and in doing so He won our salvation. Because God is righteous and holy, He is always right when He acts according to His anger and wrath.

Jesus did not act in anger when he was wrongly accused and forgave his murderers on the cross.

If punishment is called for, God will punish. However, if He can resolve the situation without violence, He is right in withholding His punishment in favor of forgiveness. This is why in most circumstances we should not act out in violence. If punishment is called for, God has established worldly authorities to carry out justice. In a just society the guilty are punished and the innocent are rewarded. In most cases citizens ought to let the authorities punish the wrongdoers. The church shooting described above is an exception. The situation was desperate, and there wasn’t time for the police to respond, so the neighbor had to act quickly to save lives, but he was able to stop the massacre without killing the murderer. After he fled from the church, some more neighbors followed him and were on the phone with the police so that they could come and bring the murderer to justice. This was proper also. Though the murderer did not let this happen and murdered himself last of all.

Because Jesus has overcome sin and death through His sinless life, and His innocent suffering and death in payment for our sins, all those who were wrongly murdered will live again, and those who murder will also live again. Jesus has destroyed the power of death. All who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins have been forgiven and will live in paradise as God’s beloved children. This includes some people who were guilty of murder in life, but who repented of those sins and trusted in Jesus to forgive them. On the other hand, those who reject Christ’s forgiveness will suffer God’s wrath for eternity because although Jesus paid for their sins and gives them life and salvation as a free gift, they reject the gift and place themselves under God’s righteous wrath. This may include both unbelieving murderers, and the otherwise innocent people they kill. In such a case the tragedy is compounded.

When Jesus returns in glory He will bring salvation to all believers and judgment for all who hate Him.

This is why we should leave vengeance to God. He knows who is forgiven and who should be damned. One who is a murderer today may repent tomorrow and be saved. Such a person we will greet in heaven as a beloved brother in Christ and will rejoice in his repentance and salvation, even those Christians whom he killed will rejoice in his receiving Christ’s forgiveness. Some people may complain that this is unfair, but do we really want what is fair? If God were simply fair and just, and not merciful, then we all would be condemned to death with no chance of salvation because we are all guilty of sins against God and against His people. What is fair is that we all ought to suffer hell for our sins. However, God is merciful and He took the punishment for our sins in our place when He became incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ. It wasn’t fair that Jesus had to suffer for the sins that you and I are guilty of, but Jesus acted in love to save us. Jesus wasn’t so much concerned with fairness as He was with doing what was necessary to save us from our sins. Although Jesus was innocent of all sins, He suffered death to rescue us all from death, and to win our forgiveness and eternal life with Him in His heavenly paradise. In the end, all praise goes to Jesus, who rescues us all from our sins.

---

 
Here is a small selection of Bible verses about anger.


Psalm 6:1  
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

Psalm 7:6  
Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

Proverbs 29:8
Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

James 1:19-20
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Colossians 3:5-10  
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

---

Blinded by Sin

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The transfiguration of Jesus is one of the great mysteries of the Bible. However, the mystery is NOT that we don’t really know what happened. On the contrary, three of the Gospels recount the events of the transfiguration so we know well what happened. The mystery is: what does the transfiguration mean?

What happened was that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain and the appearance of Jesus was transfigured so that he shone with a bright light. The ancient prophets, Moses and Elijah, appeared talking with Jesus about his upcoming “departure” in Jerusalem. Then a voice from a cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Needless to say, this doesn’t happen every day, and that is part of the mystery, but it was not unprecedented in the history of the world. In the exodus from Egypt, Moses was talking with God on Mt. Sinai, receiving the law for God’s people, and when he came down the mountain his face was shining because he had been in the presence of God. Moses’ presence at the transfiguration of Jesus gives us a clue about the meaning of this mysterious event. The shining light was the glorious holiness of God. The difference is that in the case of Moses the light was residual from God’s glory and it eventually faded away. In Jesus’ case, the light came from within Him. He was the source of the light.

When God created light on the first day of creation he did not create any “natural” sources for the light until day four so we must conclude that God, Himself, was the source of the daylight for the first three days of creation. Also, in the Revelation that Jesus gave to John on Patmos later in his life, John writes of the heavenly paradise, “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light.” (Revelation 22:5)

The question is, if Jesus was the source of the glorious light on the mount of transfiguration, why didn’t anyone see it in His life before then? Again, we can look back to Moses for a clue. When the Israelites saw Moses reflecting the holiness of God they could not bear to look at him. Sinners cannot bear the holiness of God, even the greatly diminished reflected glory in the face of Moses. Scripture tells us that “no one can see the face of God and live.” (Exodus 33:20) Moses received special grace from God to be in His presence, but even Moses was not permitted to see the full glory of the face of God.

Like everything that Jesus did in His life, it was out of love for us that Jesus hid His glorious holiness except for this brief time on the mountain with Peter, James, John, Moses, and Elijah. Sinners cannot bear holiness because it shows us just how corrupt we are because of our sin. We are all blinded by our sin. We see everything through corrupt, sinful eyes. This is a twisted view of reality. We are so used to sin and comfortable with it that we imagine that we aren’t so bad and that some of the things we do are actually so good that even God Himself must be pleased. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Sin corrupts us totally. Everything that we are and do is tainted by sin so that even our righteous deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) in God’s holy sight. For sinners to stand in the presence of God’s holiness would make us so aware of the corruption of our sin that we would die. Even to get a glimpse of God’s holiness (as the Israelites saw in Moses) would be unbearable. This is a function of the Law of God – to show us our sin. However, as Jesus tells us, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:17) So Jesus hid His holiness and lived an ordinary life no different from any other man, except that He was without sin – but even this He did quietly without drawing attention to Himself.

The glory of God’s holiness revealed in Jesus in the transfiguration is set in sharp contrast to the grotesque horror of the crucifixion, and yet, both events reveal the same glory of God. The holiness of God is not a pure abstraction, and it is not only made tangible by an unbearable light. The holiness of God is, more than anything else, expressed in a love that moved God to become incarnate as Jesus Christ as one of His created people to bear the sins of the world and to suffer and die to pay the price for our sin to redeem us. As Jesus hung dying on the cross He not only continued to hide His glory, but He endured God’s wrath over our sin to spare us from the punishment that we deserve. Jesus did not make us endure the guilt of our sin, but He endured the punishment of the sins of the whole world.

The hiddenness of Christ’s glorious holiness is a mystery that is only partially revealed in the event of the transfiguration. However, this is how God works in the world. Out of love for us, God does not blast us with His glory. God does not force us to love Him, nor does He force us to endure the unbearable reality of our sin. Instead, God is merciful to us and works through the means of His Word and Sacraments to show us our sin and our savior. The “weakness” of these “Means of Grace” is that they can be rejected by people. The strength of these Means of Grace is that God works through them to bring us the salvation won for us by Jesus on the Cross.

All people on earth live under the grace of God, and part of this grace is that we are blind to the full reality of our sinful corruption, just as we are blind to the glorious holiness of God. We should not attempt to perceive the holiness of God because in our sinful condition we are likely to be led astray by the lies of the devil. We may think we see a divine revelation, but it is most likely to be our own sinful desires within us. Yet God has given us His Holy Scriptures to show us our true savior, Jesus Christ, so that all who believe in Jesus are saved from their sins and will share in the glorious holiness of God, of which we see a brief glimpse in the Transfiguration.

The Freeing Power of Christ’s Forgiveness

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus shows mercy to Zacchaeus

The story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10 is a remarkable story which gives us great insight into the merciful nature and personality of God. As a result, this story gives great comfort to Christians, but it gives great torment to Pharisees and all who are self righteous or who think that they are gaining some favor with God by their righteous acts.

Zacchaeus was not a popular person. Nearly everyone looked down upon him both literally and figuratively. Zacchaeus was a very short man so most people looked down on him in that way. This would not have been a problem if Zacchaeus had held a respectable position in society, but he did not. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Tax collectors were despised in first century Palestine for two main reasons: First, they were seen as collaborators with the hated Roman government which was then occupying the vast majority of the civilized world. Second, tax collectors often took more money than they were required and kept it for themselves. Some people use wealth (and the luxury wealth affords) to comfort themselves when they are in disfavor with polite society – such as when they have come by their wealth dishonestly, or have used their wealth to circumvent justice.

Zacchaeus likely did this, too, but not on this day. He had heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho and, like many in that town, he dropped everything and went to see Jesus. The problem was that so many people had come out to see Jesus that “wee-little” Zacchaeus couldn’t get a glimpse of this great man of God, and no one was going to step aside so the chief tax collector could get a good view. But Zacchaeus had heard great things about Jesus and dearly wanted to see Him, so he climbed up a tree so he could see Jesus as He went by.

You would think that of all the people in Jericho on that day the last one whom the Almighty, Holy, Righteous God would honor with His presence would be the thieving chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, but you would be wrong. This is where we learn about what God is like. Remember that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15) He is God in the flesh. (John 1:14) Everything that Jesus does is exactly what God would do because Jesus is God. So when Jesus is in Jericho He calls Zacchaeus by name , and asks him to come down from the tree so He could stay at his house that day.

Moneybag for helping the poor

There were surely many more worthy people in Jericho than Zacchaeus to receive this great honor from Jesus, but that is the point of Jesus’ actions. It would have been a humiliating disgrace for any respectable person to be found in the home of such a despised thief, much less to give him honor in front of the great crowd who clogged the Jericho streets that day. Jesus, however, was not ashamed to humble Himself and be seen with sinners. After all, Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of servant.” (Philippians 2:6-7)

You may find some preachers today who might try to tell you that Zacchaeus had somehow made himself worthy of this great honor by climbing the tree or some such thing. That is nonsense, and exactly the opposite of what the Scriptures teach in Luke 19 and everywhere else. Jesus did not look down upon Zacchaeus, and it wasn’t because Zacchaeus was up in a tree. Jesus singled out Zacchaeus for honor because Zacchaeus was just the sort of person Jesus had come to save – a miserable sinner.

It is worth noting that Jesus does not make His honor conditional by saying, “If you clean up your act and make yourself worthy I will come and honor you with my presence today.” In fact, Jesus doesn’t even speak one word of Law to Zacchaeus. Jesus simply says, “I must stay at your house today.” Jesus doesn’t preach the Law to Zacchaeus because He doesn’t have to. The Pharisees and the rest of society had done a sufficient job of preaching the Law to Zacchaeus. He was well aware that he was a sinner, but that didn’t save him or bring him to repentance. What the Pharisees failed to preach to Zacchaeus was that God is merciful and forgiving. They didn’t want to preach this because it would have made them look bad to admit that sinners like Zacchaeus could have salvation as easily as they could.

The Father welcomes back the lost son

Jesus simply showed mercy to the despised tax collector and Zacchaeus is so honored that he immediately repents of his sin. Zacchaeus doesn’t receive Christ’s grace as license to continue in his sinful ways, instead he has been freed from the burden of the Law and eagerly repents of his wicked ways. Then Jesus tells why He honored Zacchaeus in this way by saying, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:9-10) This is not to say that Zacchaeus was saved because he was a descendant of Abraham, because in the next sentence Jesus clearly says that he had been lost and unsaved earlier, though still a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus was saved the same was as the rest of us (including Abraham) -- through faith in Jesus as our savior from all our sin. So like Zacchaeus, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) For if Jesus has redeemed a despised sinner like Zacchaeus, He has also redeemed me and you.

One last thing to note is that Jesus also doesn’t tell Zacchaeus that he must quit being a tax collector. When the tax collectors came to John to repent of their sins and be baptized (Luke 3:12-13) he only told them to be honest and don’t steal, but be satisfied with the wages they were paid by their Roman overseers. Zacchaeus could serve his neighbors in love in his vocation as a tax collector. Though the position was despised, it was necessary. If the Romans did not receive their tax payment they would have sent in the troops to take their tribute by force and many innocent people would have been murdered. Christians can take comfort that serving our neighbor in love does not always mean that our loving service is appreciated, except by God who wants what is best for us even when we don’t appreciate it.