Psalm 119,89-90.105.114.116.123; Psalm 56,4. Sexagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 119,89-90a.105.114.116.123; Psalm 56,4 1417

Sexagesimä (2. Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  021 

Gabinus, Pastor and Martyr 296 

19. Februar 2017 

1. O Christ Jesus, Thou art the Most High over all the earth; be Thou our Light and Life so that enemies know that You alone are God and that Your people are enlightened and enlivened unto salvation and good works.  Amen. (Gradual). 

2. In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your Faithfulness endures to all generations. Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path. You are my Hiding Place and my Shield; I hope in Your Word. Uphold me according to Your Promise, so that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! My eyes long for Your Salvation and for the fulfillment of Your Righteous Promise. 

3. »In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.« This verse that begins today’s Introit resounds throughout the Holy Scriptures. In the Scriptures God and His Word are synonymous. Thus St. John the Apostle and Evangelist begins his Gospel by saying: »In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And 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 1,1.4.14). Jesus is this Divine Word made flesh, and what is said about the Word is thus said about Jesus. 

4. »Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your Faithfulness endures to all generations.« Here the Psalmist contrasts God’s faithfulness with our faithlessness. We have inherited this faithlessness from Adam. Our faithlessness often bears fruit in idolatry so that our sins stem from a lack of trust in God’s Providence or outright rebellion against His Will. The image of faithfulness used by the Psalmist is a powerful one. The heavens evoke thoughts of eternity. Every day the sun rises and sets. The moon waxes and wanes through its 29.5-day cycle. We see the bright evening star of Venus. The Big Dipper and other constellations inspire our imagination. The stars and planets have been observed in the heavens by mankind for thousands of years; they are dependable guideposts. Likewise, God’s Word; He is dependable, trustworthy and true. Beginning with Adam and Eve, generation after generation have looked to God’s Word for guidance and hope. 

5. »Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path.« We use a lamp to help us see. We light one so we don’t stumble in the dark. We use one to help us look for something we have lost. Sailors can use Polaris [1] to locate true north. In Revelation, Jesus identifies Himself as the Bright Morning Star [2] (Revelation 22,16); He is our Beacon in the dark that points us northward to our heavenly home. 

6. »You are my Hiding Place and my Shield; I hope in Your Word.« Jesus is likewise our Savior and Defender. As Martin Luther wrote in his hymn: Jesus is our Mighty Fortress and a Trusty Shield who helps us in every time of need that overtakes us (LSB 656,1). Jesus is our Shelter when the world’s tempests assail us with its persecution. He is our Shield who protects us from the fiery arrows of the devil meant to harm us.

7. »Uphold me according to Your Promise, so that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!« God’s promise is to redeem us from sin, death and hades. Our sin has put us in rebellion against God; the wages of our sin is death and separation from God; hades is the abode for those separated from God. God promised to redeem mankind from sin, to restore us to life after we have died and to unlock the gates of hades so that we are not imprisoned there. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise; He is our Redeemer and Deliverer. 

8. » My eyes long for Your Salvation and for the fulfillment of Your Righteous Promise.« St. Paul once wrote: »For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.« (Philippians 1,21-24). We all face the dilemma the Apostle Paul honestly wrote about. We enjoy living on this earth, but we also long to dwell in heavenly paradise with God, His angels and all the believers who have gone on before us. This temporal life is fraught with despair and hardships while the eternal life is blessed with joy and peace. 

9. Christ is our Beacon and our Light. He is the world’s Savior and no one enters into His Father’s Glory but through His Only Son. Jesus is the very Word who reveals our sin, exhorts us to repent and change our ways, guides us to live lives in conformity to God’s will and assures us that all is forgiven because Jesus Himself has redeemed us. This grace is passively received by faith in Jesus. We walk in His Light, and we are enlightened by His words. We meditate upon His words, and we edified by the life they impart. Jesus Christ is the Morning Star, Splendor of Light Everlasting and Sun of Righteousness who draws near and enlightens those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Voice is the very word of Your Heavenly Father; soften our hardened hearts so that we may receive and believe all that You tell us in the Holy Scriptures.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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[1]  Polaris is found by following the stars at the end of the ladle of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor). 

[2]  I am the Bright Morning Star; þe ic oþrum earendel. 

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.