Psalm 24,7-10; Zechariah 9,9. Populus Zion

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 24,7-10; Zechariah 9,9 (Jer 23,5-8) 0117

1. Sonntag im Advent  01

Populus Zion (People of Zion)  

Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg, Austria. ✠ 780 

27. November 2016 

1. О Almighty and Merciful God, You put to shame no one who waits for You; make us to know Your ways, and teach us Your paths, so that we know that in Your Son we are redeemed and made anew in holiness.  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving, humble and mounted on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, so that the King of Glory may enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, so that the King of Glory may enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory! Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving, humble and mounted on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.

  3. The Psalmist poetically describes a scene from the coronation of a king of Israel. This King is strong and mighty in battle; He is a Warrior King like his forefather King David. The people of Jerusalem rejoice and sing praises to this Davidic King. He enters Jerusalem riding on an ass. He is humble, yet a Justifier and a Savior. He is a Glorious King. 

4. What earthly king can match such pomp and circumstance? What man can elicit such jubilant praise? The Psalmist says this is no ordinary king; He is the Lord of hosts. Yea, He is God Himself, and He commands the host of His angelic army! Who is this King of Glory? He is Christ Jesus our Lord! 

5. On Palm Sunday Jesus ascended to Jerusalem as King and Savior. On this 1. Sunday in Advent, we proclaim with the People of Zion that the Christ whose birth we prepare to celebrate in a month is Jesus our Savior. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18,36). With a single petition, His Heavenly Father would send more than 72,000 angels to protect Him (Matthew 26,53), but as Jesus told Pontius Plate: I was born to bear witness to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My Voice (John 18,37). What is this truth? A: Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving. Thus when John the Baptizer sees Him, he cries out: „Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!“ (John 1,29). 

6. Advent prepares us to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, but it points us to the cross. A sacrificial Lamb must lay down His life to redeem the world. Jesus did not redeem us with money, force of arms or a mighty angelic host; He redeemed us in humility: suffering on the cross, bleeding out His life blood and vicariously dying for us. 

7. Ask anyone who has served in the military, or a policeman or a fire fighter, and they will tell you how heroic it is to put others’ safety before your own. They know the deep truth of Jesus’ words: »There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends« (John 15,13). Jesus did this for us, and in doing so He justified us and saved us. 

8. Advent prepares us for Christ’s birth and incarnation into this fallen world in the midst of our human misery and wickedness in order to redeem it. Irenaeus called this „Recapitulation“ (re-creation). As he expressed it: „The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself“ (Irenaeus Book 5 Preface). 

9. The Prophet Zechariah proclaims: »The Christ is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving.«, and the Apostle Paul declares: »Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old creation has passed away; behold the new creation has arrived« (2. Corinthians 5,17). Jesus draws near to make us a new creation, and He has done it with His incarnation. The Second Adam has entered the world of the First Adam to restore both mankind and creation to the pure and perfect state that God had created them to be. Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of this new creation and at His advent those who belong to Him will be the fruits of this new harvest (1. Corinthians 15,20). Jesus has overcome death at His first advent; He will destroy death at His second advent when He bodily raises all believers to live forever (1. Corinthians 15,26). Jesus has been victorious over sin, death and hell. His return will make that victory ours in the flesh, for He is our Savior who justifies us before God our Father.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Perfection of beauty from Zion, shine forth the illumination of Your Word so that all who hear it are changed into those who believe on You and desire to walk upon Your path of righteousness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Irenaeus. Against Heresies. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Revelation 21,1-7; Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Revelation 21,1-7 5716

Lezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 073 

27. Trinitatis; Ewigkeitssonntag  

Pontianus, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 235

20. November 2016 

1. О Merciful and Everlasting God, Heavenly Father: We thank You that You have revealed unto us the glory of Your Son, and let the light of Your gospel shine upon us: We pray, guide us by this light so that we may walk diligently as Christians in all good works, ever be strengthened by Your grace and conduct our lives in all godliness.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for 27. Sn. n. Trinitatis). 

2. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: „Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.“ And He who was seated on the throne said: „Behold, I am making all things new.“ He also said: „Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.“ And He said to me: „It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be My son.“  

3. In the classic 1976 sci-fi movie Logan’s Run is this dialogue at the end: 

P.A. System: Lastday, Capricorn 29’s. Year of the City: 2274. Carousel begins. 

Logan 5: No! Don’t go in there! You don’t have to die! No one has to die at 30! You could live! Live! Live, and grow old! I’ve seen it!  

4. The citizens of the Domed City were promised the chance for renewal and rebirth when their time for Carousel arrived. It was a lie; there was no rebirth and no resurrection. Some realized this and sought to escape the city and find Sanctuary outside where they could live out their days. 

5. The Holy Scriptures teach that there really is a last day but one much different to the one in Logan’s Run. The Earth, as we currently experience it, is a planet of chaos and corruption. Natural disasters threaten us, famines and warfare pursue us, and we have only ourselves to blame for this vile course of events. Our sinfulness, our sins, bring man’s inhumanity to man into our experience. Until Christ returns, our world will be a history of violence, genocide and other atrocities as we lurch from one calamity to another; such horrifying events will become more and more intense as we draw closer to the last day when Christ will bring this horrible wreck of human misery to an end when He returns. 

6. In John’s Apocalypse, chapter after chapter describes the pain and sorrow as the world falls sway to evil and destruction, but at the very end John’s vision becomes one of great comfort to Christians. John writes: »Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: „Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man!“« 

7. Jesus declares that He will make a new heaven and a new earth. This present heaven and earth will be destroyed with fire, but the destruction of heaven and earth is not an event to be feared, for Jesus will do this to remove the curse He had imposed upon fallen mankind and creation. Jesus will create a new heaven and earth in the image and likeness of the present, but all vestiges of sin, corruption and evil will be removed. This future, new earth will be a new Garden of Eden where men and women dwell in purity and in the eternal presence of the Triune God. The original Eden was such a place where Adam and Eve lived in harmony with creation, acted as faithful stewards of the same and spent the cool of the evenings resting in the refreshing presence of the Lord. 

8. Almost every creation myth in the cultures that span this earth contain a story how God and man dwelt together in harmony, but then man did something to sever that idyllic existence. Genesis tells us that the devil possessed a snake and convinced Adam that it was his right to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in doing so he would take his rightful and created place as god over the Earth. Curses and condemnations followed and mankind was kicked out of Eden.  

9. The tree of life was now out of Adam’s reach; and how we long to eat from that tree still today so that we may live forever! J.R.R. Tolkien mythic The Lord of the Rings has a great White Tree in the city of Gondor, the last great city of men. It was described as a tall tree with white bark; its leaves were dark green on top and bright silver underneath. Unfortunately, by the time of the events in Tolkien’s book, the White Tree had died but no one had the heart to cut it down, so it stood in the courtyard of the king as a dead husk of its once former glory. As Tolkien brings his story to a close, the new king, Aragorn, is told that a sapling of the White Tree exists. He climbs the mountain behind the city and retrieves it, cuts down the old tree and plants the sapling in its place. The following year the tree blossoms and blooms, signifying that the race of man will also flourish and bloom anew. The Apostle John tells us that the Lord will dwell in our midst, and from His throne will flow a river. On each side of this river will grow the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. When the Lord placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He intended for them to eat from the tree of life. In the new heaven and new earth, the tree of life that was lost to us will now again be before us, and we will be encouraged by the Lord to eat its invigorating, rejuvenating fruit. 

10. Jesus proclaims: „I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.“ In the beginning, Adam and Eve rebelled against Him, sought to become their own gods, and ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin entered the world, and death through sin. Our fellowship with God had been rent asunder. Mankind had been been overcome by a tree. In the middle, Jesus came to His created Earth. He submitted Himself to be sacrificed upon a tree, yes, a cross made from two planks of wood. Upon this cruciform tree Jesus died, and in His dying He overcame sin, death and the devil. By His death, Christ purchased our forgiveness. In the end, we will stand in God’s presence with the tree of life before us. The cruciform tree leads to the path where the heavenly tree of life grows. Jesus is Life Eternal, and through Him we will have access to the tree of everlasting life. 

11. Such are the joys revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. Many more glorious days and activities await us in the new heaven and on the new earth. The gospel bespeaks us righteous; bright with Christ’s own holiness (LSB 578,3). It is  as Phillip Nicolai writes in his hymn: 

To You Gloria is sung 

With human and angelic tongues,

With harps and with cymbals beautifully.

Of twelve pearls are the gates

We stand in the choir at Your city-state,

The angels around Your throne eternally.

No eye had ever beheld

No ear had heard

Such joy.

We gloriously 

Sing to Thee

The Hallelujah to all generations (Nicolai, v. 3).  Amen and Amen.  

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, make known to us the path of life, for in Your presence there is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore, so that we look forward to the last day as a time of renewal and rebirth in the resurrection that is promised to us along with the new heavens and new earth[1].  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.  

Nicolai, Philipp. ,,Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme“. (Awake, the Voice is Calling to us). Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright 2005 Lutherischen Buchhandlung. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2016. 

[1]  Gloria sei dir gesungen Mit Menschen- und mit Engelzungen, Mit Harfen und mit Zimbeln schön. Von zwölf Perlen sind die Tore An deiner Stadt, wir stehn im Chore Der Engel hoch um deinen Thron. Kein Aug hat je gespürt, Kein Ohr hat mehr gehört Solche Freude. Des jauchzen wir und singen dir Das Halleluja für und für (ELKG 121,3).

Romans 8,18-25. 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Romans 8,18-25  5616

Vorletzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 

26. Trinitatis  071  

Briccius, Bishop of Tours, France. ✠ 444 

Louis Brighton, ✠ 2015 

13. November 2016 

1. О Almighty, Eternal and Merciful God, who by Your Beloved Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, has established the reign of grace for us, so that we might believe the forgiveness of our sins, in Your holy Church on earth, since You are a God who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: We beseech You, graciously forgive us all our sins, through the same, Your Son Jesus Christ.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the 26. Sn. n. Trinitatis) 

2. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope so that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

  3. The Apostle Paul tells us that not only have men and women been subjected to a curse on account of mankind’s sin but that creation itself suffers under mankind’s curse. Natural disasters and calamities, like the recent earthquakes in Italy, ransack the Earth. Tyrants rule with an oppressive hand. Even the heavens shake in response to man’s wickedness upon man.  

4. Thus it is an old Lutheran custom to set aside one Sunday in the Church Year as a service of general repentance and confession. Our Lutheran hymnals contain Propers for Buß- und Bettag (Day of Repentance and Supplication; also called „Day of Humiliation and Prayer“ or „Day of Supplication and Prayer“). These Propers are traditionally appointed for use on the Wednesday before the Last Sunday in the Church year (the upcoming Sunday would then be Eternity/Christ the King Sunday) or the Wednesday in the Last Week of the Church Year (which usually is the day before the American Thanksgiving Day). The services originated in Germany after the conclusion of the European Thirty Years War (1618-48) as a prayer-service of confession, thanking God for His mercy and grace to His people. This service was used quite frequently in history. Dukes and rulers introduced them especially during times of tribulation (war, epidemic, etc.), and these days became rather popular. The historic setting of these services in the calendar year fits well with our American traditions too, as this puts it near our Election Tuesday and Thanksgiving Day, and our American political landscape certainly groaned and shook this past Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning! The outcry from some shows that man’s political vitriolic against man will not soon abate.  

5. Therefore, we pray for those who suffer loss from natural disasters, war and violence. We pray for our enemies, those who persecute us and for unbelievers to believe the gospel of Christ. We also pray for our elected leaders: that they would guide us peaceably and wisely, that God would bless our nation and that God would unite us together as a band of American brothers and sisters. The Psalmist reminds us: »Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God« (Pslam 146,3.5). 

6. We also confess our sinfulness. No nation is perfect and no politician above reproach. Our nation commits wicked actions. The weakest and voiceless among us are murdered. Some are downtrodden and oppressed. Others are not treated fairly and equally. Our nation has lofty ideals enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but we do not perfectly live up to them. For all that we repent, pray for God to help us be better Christians, better citizens, and pray that God leads us a nation committed to morality and virtue. Sixteenth century Lutheran hymnist Michael Weiße penned it this way: 

From deep distress let us cry to God with all our heart, 

asking Him by His grace to free us from the evil one 

And all sin and misery, 

Which our flesh has committed,

that the Father forgive us [1] (ELKG 188, Michael Weiße 1531).

7. The Lord hears our cries of repentance and listens to our petitions. »All who believe in Jesus Christ have the righteousness of God. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles« (Romans 3,22; Psalm 34,17). And St. Paul reminds us: »The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. We wait for it with patience.« 

8. In Christ Jesus, God forgave all our sin at the cross. He has made us righteous through the shed blood of His Son. He hears our prayers. He delivers creation and ourselves from the curse of sin and death. May this gospel comfort us and sustain us while we wait for it to be revealed at the second advent of Jesus our Lord.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the heavens declare You to be the Lord’s righteousness, and God Himself is judge; pour out upon us the blessing of the Holy Spirit so that we live humble and virtuous lives as Christians and citizens of this nation.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

[1]  Aus tiefer Not laßt uns zu Gott von ganzem Herzen schreien, 

bitten, daß er aus seiner Gnade uns will vom Übel befreien 

und alle Sünd und Missetat, 

die unser Fleisch begangen hat, 

als Vater uns verzeihen. 

2. Peter 3,3-14. 3. Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Peter 3,3-14 5516

Drittlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 070 

25. Trinitatis 

Leonhard, hermit, ✠ 559 

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden Confessor ✠ 1632

6. November 2016 

1. О Lord God, Heavenly Father, we most heartily thank You that by Your Word You have brought us out of the darkness of Papacy into the light of Your grace: We beseech Your, mercifully help us to walk in that light, guard us from all error and false doctrine and grant that we may not, as the Jews, become ungrateful and despise and persecute Your Word, but receive it with all our heart, govern our lives according to it and put all our trust in Your grace through the merit of Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for 25. Sn. n. Trinitatis). 

2. First of all you must know that scoffers will arrive in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say: „Where is the promise of Jesus’ arrival? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.“ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will arrive like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the advent of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 

3. Depending who you ask, some think 8. November will be the end for America and speak of it in apocalyptic, end of the world language. This year’s election seems to have filled more people with dread, and the political vitriolic is especially course this election cycle. Politicians with high unlikeable numbers, the threat of more warfare in the Middle East, increasing terrorist actions and natural catastrophes further fuel mankind’s uncertainty about the future and longing for the return of Jesus. 

4. Some scoff: „Where is Jesus? He promised to return; it’s been nearly 2000 years … perhaps He’s forgotten.“ Fallen human nature is impatient; with all our instantaneous access to news, information and other TV programming, our attention spans are even shorter. Now the 3 minute commercial break on TV shows or broadcast sports seems too long; we want the story and the game to continue now. At the heart of scoffing is unbelief: did Jesus really say He would return? If He did, then does His delay imply He is powerless to fulfill His promise? If He didn’t, then were words put into Jesus’ mouth and passed on as truth? The unbelieving scoffer would settle for either approach for it creates doubt as to Jesus’ truthfulness and power. Furthermore, it underlies the scoffer’s opinion of Christians: they are just fools to believe in Jesus. 

5. Others offer false promises of Christ’s return. We average a prediction of Christ’s return once every eight years, and they tend to be bizarre and convoluted theories that often prove the scoffer’s mockery that Christians are fools. Often end-time preachers pick a specific date or astronomical event for Christ’s return, and they are always wrong. Jesus teaches differently. »If anyone says to you: ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’, then do not believe them. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead people astray, if possible, even the elect. For concerning the last day no one knows that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father« (Matthew 24,23-24.36). 

6. The apostles also teach that the return of Jesus is the end of the world. »The day of the Lord will arrive like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth will burn. But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.« Just as the Flood in Noah’s day cleansed the earth of sinful men through water, so will the Fire in the last day purge the earth of sin and its curse. 

7. The prophets and the apostles tell us that before the world is purged, we ourselves are purged and refined in sanctification. »I will put them into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and purify them as gold is tested. They will call upon My Name, and I will answer them. I will say: They are My people; and they will say: The Lord is our God« (Zechariah 13,9). »In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith that is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ« (1. Peter 1,6-7). Our Liturgy contains numerous rites where we are purged and refined by the Holy Spirit. In the Litany we pray: O God, From all sin, from all error, from all evil; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from sudden and evil death; Good Lord, deliver us (LSB 288). In our prepatory rite of Confession and Absolution we acknowledge: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32,5; LSB 184). 

8. We long for the return of Christ Jesus, for we are wearied and burdened by false christs who promise salvation, by false prophets who offer false hope and law burdens disguised as gospel, by those who wear us down with their incessant dating of Christ’s return, by those who persecute our Christian brothers and sisters around the world, by those who ridicule and defame Christians in our society and by the cares and duties of this fallen world that weigh us down as if a millstone were hung around our necks. The pure gospel of the crucified and risen Christ soothes burdened consciences. Every generation sees its share of tribulations that threaten to overwhelm the Church. The gospel brings us this blessed assurance (seligste Versicherung): Fear not, dear Christians, fear not, for we are saved by Christ alone (solus Christus) and no one and no thing can snatch us out of Christ’s redeeming hands: not our sins, not false teachers, not the tribulations of the world and not even the devil himself. We are free; we are forgiven; we belong to Jesus. His vicarious and substitutionary death solves our real, deadly problem: (which is our) sin. There is now full and complete peace between God the Father and us. We are righteous and justified on account of Christ’s merits which have now been credited to us. This is the doctrine of justification that Christ Jesus established for you and your salvation. Let the world and the devil press against us with tribulations, doubts and despair! Our faith is purified in testing; our sins are purged away with the absolution. We have Christ, and He has rescued us from the fallen world and the hordes of devils that surround us. Christ is our Victor and Deliverer.  Amen and Amen.  

9. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, whose Divine Fire purifies the world, we give thanks to You, for Your Name is near, and You proclaim forgiveness and salvation so that we can faithfully live in Your Glory unto Your second advent.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.