What was Jesus Like as a Boy?

by Pastor Paul Wolff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus is always doing His Father’s Business

Plagues in the Bible

by Pastor Paul Wolff
 
Psalm 103:1-5 “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

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God allowed Job to be afflicted but Job's friends blamed him for his troubles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Samuel 6  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

How to Avoid Going Your Own Way to Hell

by Pastor Paul Wolff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Why does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God is the loving Father who welcomes back the prodigal son.

I recently ran across a presumptuous atheist question which asked, “What kind of a god would send people to hell for not believing in him?” This sounds like a rational question. Yet, this is another example of the truth that “If you ask the wrong question, you are sure to get the wrong answer.” In this case the answer to the rhetorical question is that God must be unjust and cruel. That is always wrong when you are talking about the one, true, Triune God.

A better question to start with is, “Who ought to be condemned by God?” The answer to this question is everyone who disobeys God’s Law. God’s Law is good and truly righteous, as He is truly good and righteous. We all are sinners, and deserve God’s punishment. There is no one who can rightfully claim the moral high ground over God and honestly make the case that they are more righteous than He is. We all deserve to be condemned. If we start with this question, and properly answer it, then we can easily see that God is not to blame for anyone’s condemnation. We are all rebellious sinners, and we all deserve to be destroyed for our sin. 
 

Jesus honored Zacchaeus though he was despised by everyone. Read Luke 19:1-10

So why do we even have any hope for salvation? The answer is that, despite our sin, God loves us and He is not only just and righteous, He is merciful. God knew that we could not pay the punishment for our own sins without being destroyed, so He did the job Himself when the second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as Jesus, to fulfill God’s Law (this is called Christ’s active obedience), and to take the punishment which we deserved for our sins, which is death (this is called Christ’s passive obedience). Christ’s victory over death is shown by His resurrection from the dead, because He has destroyed the power of death over all people. Jesus won that victory for all people and gives it as a gift to all who believe.

Where does faith come into this? God accomplished our salvation by working in history with the Israelites, through whom God entered our world and won salvation in the person of Jesus, the promised Son of David. The Israelites kept a record of how God worked in history to bring about our salvation, so that everyone could hear about it and believe. God’s Word is the truth, and God doesn’t ask us to believe a myth or a fable (as some wrongly claim), but He presents us with the truth and asks us to believe the truth. Salvation couldn’t be any easier, because God did it all for us, and only asks us to believe in what He has already done. No person on earth should ever be condemned to hell because Jesus paid for their sins and gives them eternal salvation as a free gift. (see Romans 5:15-17 and 6:23)

Where does hell come into this? Jesus teaches that hell was never intended for people because ever since the very day that Adam and Eve rebelled against God and brought sin to all people, God promised a savior who would make everything right. In Matthew 25:41, in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus describes hell as “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” There was never any redemption possible for the fallen angels, but there was always redemption for fallen people through faith in God’s promise of salvation (fulfilled in Jesus Christ). There never was any reason for any person to be condemned to hell. 

Then why are some people condemned to hell? The only reason why some people are condemned to hell is that they reject Christ’s salvation. Jesus teaches in John 3:17-18, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” A person who does not believe God’s Word is essentially calling God a liar, and making themselves their own god. The unbeliever condemns himself because he rejects everything that God has done to save him. Romans 8:33-34 says, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” God is all about saving us, not about condemning us. Jesus took the condemnation for our sins so that we would not have to. 
 

Why would God die on a cross for me as a man? He did it because He loves you.

The best question to ask is: What kind of a God would suffer and die on a cross to save sinners from death and hell? Only the One, True God who loves His people would dare to become a man and suffer and die to redeem sinners. This shows the fallacy inherent in the original question. God is not about sending people to hell. Jesus suffered hell on the cross so that no one else would have to. This is not a God who is unjust and cruel. God is completely loving and merciful. Those who love their sins more than Jesus are condemning themselves because they reject the salvation that is theirs in Christ. It is not that God takes away their salvation or doesn’t give it to them. All people are given forgiveness and salvation as a free gift, and unbelievers, through their unbelief, say, “I don’t want it.” This is why we say that those people who are in hell are there by their own doing, and those who are in heaven are there completely by what Jesus has done for them. God is the one who loves you, and has redeemed you from your sins, and is not ashamed to be found dead on a cross and in a grave. Jesus did this to save you from hell. Trust in Jesus. He will not let anyone who believes in Him suffer as He did on the cross.